GROWTH

GROWTH

Colossians 1: 9, 10; Psalm 144: 12; Zechariah 6: 9-13; Ephesians 4: 10-16

I have in mind to speak of the subject of growth. One is confident that the Lord has this specially in mind for His people now. What joy to think of the development of the work of God manifest when the Lord Jesus came in flesh. Think of such as Zacharias and Elizabeth, walking in all the ordinances of the law blameless; true priesthood was developed in them. Think of such as Simeon, who was marked by walking in the Spirit. It says, “He came in the Spirit into the temple”, Luke 2: 27 — not “by the Spirit”, but “in the Spirit”. Think of such as Anna, who continued night and day in prayers and fastings in the temple; of such a one as Joseph, “a righteous man” — characterised by righteousness; of Mary — “the bondmaid”, she says of herself, ready to surrender herself at all cost to the will of God. Think of the shepherds watching their flocks by night, faithfully serving in relation to what was entrusted to them, not drunken nor asleep in the night, but watching. These would show what development of the work of God in persons was ready to welcome Christ when He appeared. It says, “Once in the end of the world hath he appeared”, Hebrews 9: 26. These matured saints were here to receive Him; Simeon indeed did so actually in his arms.

What a joy it is to witness growth. We cannot explain it; “he knoweth not how”. Mark 4: 27, it says of the growth of the seed. But what a marvel to watch a plant develop, to watch an animal grow, to watch our children grow from babes. But how important must growth be in relation to what is spiritual and therefore eternal. It says of the lily, “Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow”, Matthew 6: 28. They are only here for a few days and then they are gone; yet they grow, and how they grow! What consideration, therefore, is due to the growth of that which is going to be for the pleasure of God throughout eternity. Could there be anything more important than to make room on our side for growth? Our time here is brief at best, when God is working in view of eternity, and I want to encourage every heart to make itself available to the matter of growth. Think of our blessed Lord in this matter — not that He needed that anything should be added to Him, for morally and characteristically everything He was He brought into manhood. Nevertheless, the thought of growth in the unfolding of what was there in Him is found in Scripture.

The angel speaks to the shepherds of the Babe — “Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger”, Luke 2: 12. But he says of the Babe, “Unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord”, Luke 2: 11. All was there — the Saviour was there, the Christ was there, the Lord was there. But all awaited the unfolding of the wonderful fulness that was there, step by step, as to what was proper to each period of the life of Jesus. So we have the Babe, and what marked Him as the Babe was perfect and intelligent dependence on God. In relation to any of us there is absolute dependence in any babe with little or no intelligence as to it, but the Lord says, “I was cast upon thee from the womb”, Psalm 22: 10. There was a conscious sense of dependence in Him as the Babe. We read of the young child Jesus, “the young child and his mother”, Matthew 2: 21, and everything that is beautiful in a child finds perfect expression in the young child Jesus. We read of “the boy Jesus”, Luke 2: 43, at twelve years of age, what is He doing? Perfect example for every boy and girl of twelve — sitting in the temple with the doctors of the law, hearing, and asking questions. Perfect expression of what is proper at twelve, for by then it is known, or should have been known, that He was committed to His Father’s business. This was true always of Him, surely, but it should have been known, as the Lord says, “Wist ye not?” Luke 2: 49. One would suggest that this is what is normal at twelve. It should be known that the boy or the girl is committed to the interests of God and has his or her place in the temple, listening and enquiring. But then we have the Man — “The man Christ Jesus”, 1 Timothy 2: 5 — “beginning to be about thirty”, Luke 3: 23, not to speak of that wonderful life lived in secret between twelve and thirty — a secret history under the eye of God that produced on earth an Eden for the divine pleasure, in the light of which the first Eden yielded little for God. At thirty years and onward we have manhood. Each of the four gospels portrays perfectly four blessed features of manhood, the kingly features of Christ in Matthew; His readiness to serve everyone in Mark, the Vessel of divine grace in Luke, and the One who expresses divine love in John.

I want to say a word or two as to growth in relation to us, and I have read these scriptures to bring four thoughts before us. The first scripture indicates how we grow — “growing by the true knowledge of God”, it says. The second scripture tells us when we grow — “that our sons may be as plants grown up in their youth”. That specially is the time to grow. The third scripture tells us where we grow, where our blessed Lord grew indeed; and thus where we are to grow — “he shall grow up from his own place”, whatever place that is. Finally, I would say a few words as to the goal of all growth, “till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ”. That is God’s terminus for His people. I trust these four thoughts will be clear to us, and that the Lord may help us to speak of them and to receive them.

First, dear brethren, growth is by the true knowledge of God. The knowledge of God there, is conscious knowledge of God. That is the source of growth. It is not casual knowledge, it is intimate knowledge in the soul, not merely in the mind or intellect. There is nothing more blessed than to know God. Let us dismiss from our minds anything else as being of greater importance, for the Scripture says, “Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom”, Jeremiah 9: 23. The human wisdom which any may gather in this world does not add one thing to his spiritual stature. “Neither let the mighty man glory in his might”; whatever development of physical power a man may secure adds nothing to him for eternity, to his spiritual stature. “Let not the rich man glory in his riches”; whatever accumulation of riches any may have, does not in itself add one thing to him spiritually. “But let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth me.” How small we feel when we face the fact that growth is by the true knowledge of God. But one is assured that God is working that we may know Him. He orders, no doubt, conditions that provide for our knowing Him.

I am sure that Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego, and later Daniel, would come out of testing days knowing God consciously. I am confident that God is ordering the present sorrows in view of the extension of our knowledge of Himself. One feels assured that those who go through the present conditions with God will come out of them with an increased knowledge of Himself, and thus with more stature to contribute to what is of God. Let us not be overwhelmed with anxiety or sorrow because of the perplexities and the distresses; God is using them to add conscious knowledge of Himself and thus that we may grow. That knowledge, of course, is brought to us in all its fulness in Jesus, as the apostle Paul indicates, “For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. But we have this treasure in earthen vessels”, 2 Corinthians 4: 6, 7. The treasure was the blessed light that had come into his soul that had brought the knowledge of God to him.

Before I leave this first passage I would remind you that another element that contributes to growth is the mental milk of the word, especially for babes. As the apostle Peter says, “As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby”, 1 Peter 2: 2. The word discloses the thoughts of God to us, and we cannot grow without the word coming into our mind. Food for the mind results in growth. I am conscious of the continual need of guarding our minds. Continually we need to turn to the word, to the Scriptures, of course, to the ministry of the word by the Spirit, to the blessed Person of Jesus our Lord who is the Word, for every thought of God contributes to growth as it is received as pure mental milk.

I pass on to what I specially would speak about — when we grow. “That our sons may be as plants grown up in their youth.” I want to say a few words to the youthful. Youth is a time of the very greatest importance, loss of which can never be replaced. Dear young brothers and sisters, the time when growth is specially looked for, is in youth. The Lord would stir your hearts that your youth be not wasted. The apostle speaks to Timothy as a young man. It is clear that Timothy used his youth to great advantage; he kept with the apostle Paul and accepted circumcision at the outset, the judgment of the flesh. Nevertheless Paul says to him, “Flee youthful lusts”. Every gratification of these will delay growth in the youth. You say, Where can I flee? First flee to the Lord. By fleeing, you recognise that you are no match for that from which you flee. You say, That is cowardly. Never mind, flee, do not stop to argue, do not try to meet the situation in your own strength. Flee; flee to the blessed Lord; He will help. Then flee to your brethren. It was those who lagged behind that the Amalekite got — those in the rear, those who did not keep in touch with what was going on amongst the saints. The Lord would have us to use our youth as the time for growth.

What an example are those young men in Daniel’s day! They did not eat the king’s meat, nor drink his wine. The attitude of their mind was that they would not find their life and joy in what ministered to this world. They purposed in their heart that they would not defile themselves with the king’s meat. They would have pulse and water, food that produces true substance, so that when they appeared before the king they were fairer and fatter than all others. Dear young men, I would bring to your notice the importance of youth. Look back over men of God, whom has God used? Men available in their youth: Jacob, Joseph, Moses, Joshua, David, Solomon, Elisha, John the Baptist, Timothy. Look back over the history of those whom God has used in our day; they are men who grew up in their youth, and did not waste it. They made room for growth during the time when growth is normal. Let us not fill up our youth seeking to find gratification in this world, but let us find it in relation to what is of God.

The prophet Zechariah indicates where growth takes place, referring to the Lord personally, but bringing out great principle. It says of Him, “He shall grow up from his own place... and he shall bear the glory”, Zechariah 6: 12, 13. He accepted His place and remained there. What a place it was, Nazareth of Galilee! One of the most contemptible places in a contemptible area, in a contemptible province — Jesus of Nazareth! The words from His own lips were, “I am Jesus of Nazareth”, Acts 22: 8. It was not His selection, it was where the ordering of God placed Him. Joseph and Mary went down to Nazareth, and that was His place, and He grew up from His place. I beg every one of us, the young especially, to this come into our minds — the place to grow is our own place; not another place, not another sub-division, not another house, not another occupation, not another city, not another country, not another hemisphere. “He shall grow up from his own place.” Depart from that, and I doubt if there will be much growth.

The Lord Jesus, of course, left Galilee; He came to Jerusalem. “He must needs go through Samaria.” But every movement from Nazareth was as sent. It is perfectly right to leave one place, or indeed one occupation, or if need be, one hemisphere for another, if sent. Sent means you are under orders. It does not involve any will of your own in the matter. Jesus went from city to city, for He says, “therefore am I sent”. It is too late for some of us to profit by this word, it may be, but I beg the young to accept the place in which the ordering of God has sent them, whether it be the home or the family setting, the occupation, the subdivision, the city, or the country, where in the ordering of God you are. That is where you will grow. Many think, If only I could be somewhere else. You will never be in a worse place than Nazareth. That is where Jesus grew, from His place.

Some of the most humbling periods in my life have been when I took myself out of the hands of God, and I have seen the restless activity of will and discontent in others that would constantly change from one thing to another, one occupation to another, one city to another. The result is stagnation rather than growth. You will find that those whom God enlarges are those who quietly and consistently go on in their place, whatever that place is.

God’s ordering is in all these matters, as also in the service He would have us render. Philip was prospering in his service, but the angel of the Lord said, Go down to “the way that goeth down from Jerusalem unto Gaza, which is desert”. He might have disputed that. The angel of the Lord represents God’s control of the position; His governing and ordering said, Go down to the way to Gaza, which is desert. When he arrived at the way to Gaza, the Spirit said, “Go near, and join thyself to this chariot”, Acts 8: 29. That is to say, as submitting to God’s ordering in our circumstances, we are available to the Spirit for service. If Philip had refused the ordering of God through the angel, he would not have been a vessel that the Spirit would have used. I again would remind you of the great loss that many have suffered who have constantly changed their location, their occupation, their city, or their country, through some form of discontent with the ways of God. Such movements hinder growth. God’s providential ordering today takes many of our brethren into military camps. I am sure they will grow there because it is their place in God’s ordering, not by their own choice. If it were the latter it would be intensely serious, but it is God’s ordering through His minister — the government; it is for the time being their place, and it is where they will grow. We can be assured of this, that many will come out, if God orders that they should, with definite increase of stature.

A word now as to the great goal that God has in mind — “until we all arrive at the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, at the full-grown man, at the measure of the stature of the fulness of the Christ”, Ephesians 4: 13. What a conception; “Till we all come”. God’s work will go on in view of all coming to this. All gift of any kind is an endowment by Christ, in view of all saints coming to maturity, to the full-grown man. What a fountain of supply is in Christ for this. The word goes on to speak of the supply — “every joint of supply”, it says. The supply is in Christ. One and another in the body are joints to bring something from the Source of supply, but what a supply! Great enough to bring every saint on earth in the whole dispensation into maturity, and maturity involves correspondence with Christ, that “we may grow up to him in all things.” The blessed Lord Jesus is the Source of supply, great enough to affect His people in all things, excluding nothing, that we should derive from Him what will impress His character on all, and in all things. What a magnificent conception, that all should reach maturity, and that the impress of Christ should be on all things, that we should grow up to Him in all things.

One more word. The body builds itself up in love, and this growth of the body, “the assembly, which is His body”, Ephesians 1: 22, 23, is by supply being brought into it through the joints and through the effectual working of each part. Now why should any of us exclude ourselves from this blessed service? I appeal to every brother and sister here — Why not be an active contributor? It is not because there is no supply, I am sure of that. “In him dwells all the fulness of the Godhead bodily”, Colossians 2: 9. Ephesians speaks over and over again of His fulness, a magnificent word — fulness! Draw all that you may, there is still fulness, there is no possibility of exhausting the fulness, as John says, “Of his fulness have all we received, and grace for grace”, John 1: 16. But the drawing out from the fulness never reduces the supply; our side is the effectual working of each one part. What is so greatly needed is for each one part to operate as in touch with the supply. In spite of the weakness and public breakdown, what times we would have together if every brother and sister would make themselves available. Do not elect yourself out of this. “For he that hath, to him shall be given”, Mark 4: 25. The more you tap the supply, the greater the sense you will get of its boundless reserves, and your joy will be great in being a joint to carry something for the body that will make for “its self-building up in love”.

I only call attention to this wonderful passage in relation to growth, “Till we all come...” There is enough in Christ to bring every saint on earth into maturity — “Till we all come... unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ”. Thus we are no longer babes tossed about by every wind of doctrine, by the cunning teachings of the apostate world around us, systematised error that holds men and takes their hearts away from thoughts of God and of Christ. As full grown men we are not swept away by these dreadful teachings, which 1 Timothy 4: 1 calls “doctrines of devils”. Not merely are they the thoughts of men’s minds, but they originate from satanic influences.

May the Lord help us, for we have but little time; at the longest we have but little. The apostle John says, “It is the last hour”, 1 John 2: 18. This period is closing rapidly, and I commend to every one of us here the matter of growth: the source of it, the true knowledge of God inwardly; the time of it, specially in youth; the place of it, where God has put us; the end of it, conformity to Christ. May the Lord help us to make room for these thoughts, for His Name’s sake.