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What God Wants
The Growth of Christ in Us
Day 1
Topic – God is Sowing a Seed
Mark 4:3 Behold, the sower went out to sow.
Mark 4:26 He said, So is the Kingdom of God: as if a man cast
seed on the earth.
So, ultimately, what is Christian growth? It is the growth of Christ in
us. It is the increase of Christ in us. He has been added to our being.
He's been joined to our spirit and now he needs to spread in us. This
is the reality of what Christian growth is. So, based on this, we have
the message title, "Christ's Growth in us". It's a different concept than
what we are used to. We are used to the concept the world has about
growth, which is developing myself as a person. That's why
motivational speakers are so popular. They sell millions of tapes and
have all these conferences about how to have a better marriage, how
to have better relationships, how to be a more diligent person, how to
succeed financially, how to have a good disposition, etc. And of
course the world just flocks to it, because everyone wants to be a
better person. But what's missing from this picture? Christ! Even as
Christians, we can start developing these kinds of things and miss
Christ. We can have a concept of Christian growth that misses Christ!
But God's focus is Christ!
Here Jesus is saying, “what is the kingdom of God like, what is it that
God is doing, what does God want?” He reveals that God is like a
sower who went out to sow a seed. God sowed a seed into us. That
is what the kingdom of God is. This is what God is after. God is
sowing a seed. (DB)
_________
The Savior (Matt. 13:37), who was the Son of God coming to sow
Himself as the seed of life in His word into men's hearts that He might
grow and live in them and be expressed from within them. This
sowing was the Savior's proclaiming of the gospel of God, which
brought in the kingdom of God. It was, as in v. 26, the sowing of the
seed of life in the word spoken by the Savior, indicating that His
gospel service was to sow the divine life into the people whom He
served. The growth of this life depends on the condition of the ones
served, and its issue differs according to their various conditions, as
portrayed in this parable.
This idea of Christ growing in us is unique. Does Christ need to
grow? He’s a complete person. He doesn’t lack anything. Why does
Christ need to grow? It’s not like he needs to go from point A to point
B and develop anything or learn anything. He’s God! But, the picture
the Bible portrays is actually one of Christ growing in us.
We can see this picture in the parable of the sower. The parable of
the sower is one of the most famous parables in Bible. In this portion,
Jesus gives us a picture of Christian growth, or the Growth of Christ in
us.
This parable is found in Mark 4, Luke 8 and Matthew 13. Mark 4:3
says “Behold the sower went out to sow.” And then Jesus says
“so is the kingdom of God, as if a man casts seed on the earth.”
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What God Wants
The Growth of Christ in Us
Lord Jesus. He is the one grain of wheat, and from this grain, many
grains have been produced. First Peter 1:23 says, "Having been
regenerated not of corruptible seed but of incorruptible, through the
living and abiding word of God." The Lord Jesus is the Word, and He
is also the seed.
Day 2
Topic - Christ is the Seed
Luke 8:11 Now the parable is this, the seed is the word of
God.
John 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was
with God and the Word was God…
John 1:14 And the word became flesh and tabernacled among
us, and we beheld His glory, as of the only begotten from the
Father, full of grace and reality.
We have to praise Him because He is not just the Word but also the
seed. Our God sent His Son to the earth and sowed Him as a seed.
The Lord Jesus did not come to preach but to be the Word. The Lord
was not just the One speaking the word; He was the Word itself. The
Lord was not just the sower; He was the very seed. God did not just
sow a few words; He sowed a man. The Lord Jesus was truly the
seed, the real seed.
Christ is the seed. Jesus said, “the parable is this, the seed is the
word of God.” In John 1:1,14, we can see that the word of God is just
Christ himself. “In the beginning was the word, and the word was with
God and the word was God…And the word became flesh and
tabernacled among us and we beheld his glory as of the only begotten
from the father, full of grace and reality.” Jesus said that the seed is
the Word. And we know that the word is Christ. So Christ in fact, is
the seed. God wants to sow this Person into us. (DB)
_____________
In the Bible, the words that come out of God's mouth are called God's
word, but the Son sent by God is also called God's Word. John 1:1
says, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God,
and the Word was God." This Word became flesh and dwelt among
us, full of grace and truth. We know that this refers to the Lord Jesus.
The word of God as revealed in the Bible sometimes refers to the
words which God has spoken and sometimes to the Word whom God
has begotten, that is, the Son of God. He is the Word, the living Word,
the Word of life. When you hear Him, you hear the Word. When you
see Him, you see the Word. When you touch Him, you touch the
Word. This is what 1 John 1:1 tells us.
Our Lord Jesus is the Word of God. He is also the seed of God. John
12:24 says, "Unless the grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies,
it abides alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit." This refers to the
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What God Wants
The Growth of Christ in Us
Day 3
Topic – The growth of the Seed
Mark 4:26-27 He said, So is the Kingdom of God: as if a man
cast seed on the earth - And sleeps and rises night and day,
and the seed sprouts and lengthens -- how, he does not
know. The earth bears fruit by itself: first a blade, then an ear,
then full grain in the ear.
Mark 4:20 And these are the ones sown on the good soil:
those who hear the word and receive it and bear fruit, one
thirtyfold, and one sixtyfold, and one a hundredfold.
Col 1:5-6 Because of the hope laid up for you in the heavens,
of which you heard before in the word of the truth of the
gospel, Which has come to you, even as it is also in all the
world, bearing fruit and growing, as also in you, since the day
you heard and knew the grace of God in truth;
Gal 5:22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace,
longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, self
control: against such things there is no law.
Acts 15:9 And He made no distinction between us and them,
cleansing their hearts by faith
What is a seed? A seed is a container of life. And the purpose of a
seed is to be sown into the ground, so that the life within the seed
would be released in order to produce an expression of that life. For
example, a corn seed contains the corn life. This corn seed is not
merely for display. You don’t just put it on a shelf. It would have no
purpose there. But if you put it in the ground, eventually the life inside
the seed will be released and there will be the expression - which is
the corn, the harvest. So here is the parable again. “So is the
kingdom of God, as if a man casts seed on the earth, and he
sleeps and rises, night and day and the seed sprouts and
lengthens. The earth bears fruit by itself, first a blade, then an
ear, then full grain in the ear.” The kingdom of God is like a man
casting seed on the earth. And when he casts that seed into the
earth, his expectation is that the life in that seed eventually will be
released. Eventually that life will be expressed. He is looking for
something to come out of that soil. If you sow a rose seed, it’s
because you want to see a rose bush. The rose bush is the
expression of the life in the rose seed. If you sow an apple seed, it’s
because you want to see an apple tree. The apple tree is the
expression of that life contained in the apple seed. Now God has
sowed Christ because he wants to see Christ! That’s what he is
expecting to see.
So God’s plan is very simple. He is sowing a seed, with the
expectation that the life in that seed will eventually be expressed. The
seed is planted. The seed gets into the soil and opens up. The life in
it begins to get into the soil. It starts to grow into the soil. Eventually
this growth produces something that you can see. Underneath the
soil, something is going on that you can’t see. But that seed is
growing and eventually there is the visible fruit. “The blade, then the
ear, and then the full grain in the ear.” It is a mystery. The sower
sows it and then he goes about his business. But that seed is living
and operating. That seed is operating to push its life out. This is
Christ in us!
So what will be the expression of this Life that has been sowed into
us? Galatians 5:22 says, “the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace,
longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, selfcontrol against such things there is no law.” If someone doesn’t
understand this principle of the seed, they are going to look at this as
a list of things that they need to do as a Christian, or as a list of things
they should have. Every good Christian comes to this verse at some
time and says, “I need love, I need joy, I need peace, I need
longsuffering, I need gentleness.” Our first inclination is to just go
down the list and start thinking “well, how am I going to get these
things?” And of course there are plenty of people who want to teach
you how. But, the important word in this verse is fruit. With fruit,
already there is an implication that a seed was sown and life is
developing! Imagine a gardener that’s very impatient. He plants the
seed, goes to bed and comes back the next day and says, “there’s no
rose bush! What’s the deal? Why isn’t there a rose bush?” So he
goes out and buys a plastic rose bush and sticks it on that plot of dirt.
Well, it may look real, but it’s not living. It doesn’t have the life. In the
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What God Wants
The Growth of Christ in Us
same way, it’s easy for Christians to fall into a trap of trying to build up
something artificial because of their impatience. But it’s not what God
wants. Ultimately, it’s something that God will have to tear down. I
don’t want to get to the Lord and have Him say, “you worked so hard
to develop all these good looking things, but none of them are what I
want. None of them are related directly to My life, and I’m going to
have to tear them all down.” God wants to see Christ! God has
sowed Christ as a seed into us, and His expectation is that this seed
will grow. The only thing God wants is for the life from this seed to
bear fruit. He only wants to see Christ. (DB)
_____________
God does not care for outward legalistic ordinances, which cannot
cleanse man's inward being; He cares for the inward cleansing of
man's heart. This corresponds with the Lord's emphasis in Mark 7:123. The cleansing of man's heart can be accomplished only by the
Holy Spirit with the divine life, not by outward ordinances of dead
letters.
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What God Wants
The Growth of Christ in Us
Day 4
Topic – The Condition for Growth – Good Soil
Mark 4:1-20 And again He began to teach beside the sea, and
a very great crowd was gathered unto Him, so that He
stepped into a boat in the sea and sat down, and all the crowd
was on the land, facing the sea. And He taught them many
things in parables and said to them in His teaching: Listen!
Behold, the sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some
seed fell beside the way, and the birds came and devoured it.
And other seed fell on the rocky place, where it did not have
much earth, and immediately it sprang up because it had no
depth of earth. And when the sun rose, it was scorched; and
because it had no root, it withered. And other seed fell into
the thorns, and the thorns came up and utterly choked it, and
it yielded no fruit. And others fell into the good earth and
yielded fruit, coming up and growing; and one bore thirtyfold,
and one sixtyfold, and one a hundredfold. And He said, He
who has ears to hear, let him hear. And when He was alone,
those around Him, with the twelve, asked Him about the
parables. And He said to them, To you it has been given to
know the mystery of the kingdom of God, but to those
outside, all things are in parables, In order that seeing they
may see and not perceive, and hearing they may hear and not
understand, lest they turn and it be forgiven them. And He
said to them, Do you not know this parable? And how will you
know all the parables? The sower sows the word. And these
are the ones beside the way, where the word is sown; and
when they hear, immediately Satan comes and takes away
the word which has been sown into them. And likewise, these
are the ones being sown on the rocky places, who, when they
hearª the word, immediately receive it with joy. Yet they have
no root in themselves, but last only for a time; then when
affliction or persecution occurs because of the word,
immediately they are stumbled. And others are the ones
being sown into the thorns; these are the ones who have
heard the word, And the anxieties of the age and the
deceitfulness of riches and the lusts for other things enter in
and utterly choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful. And
these are the ones sown on the good earth: those who hear
the word and receive it and bear fruit, one thirtyfold, and one
sixtyfold, and one a hundredfold.
No heart is automatically ready for the seeds to grow. We should not
take this parable in a doctrinal way. We should not think that there are
four kinds of hearts, and ask, "Which kind of heart do I have?" All of
us have the first three hearts. We have a heart of traffic, a heart of
rocks, and a heart of thorns. But we may not have the fourth heart, the
good earth. So we must tell the Lord, "I know I have the first three
hearts, and Lord, I'm not the good earth. So Lord, have mercy! I give
myself to You. By all means, do whatever You want to do in me. I
consecrate myself to You. You can plow me. You can purge me. You
can do whatever You must do. You can arrange all the environments,
arrange all the situations, give me all the leadings, and do all the
things within me so that my heart can be a place for You to grow."
Then our heart can become the good earth.
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What God Wants
The Growth of Christ in Us
Day 5
Topic – The Condition for Growth – Good Soil
Lk 8:15 But that which is in the good soil, these are those
who in a noble and good heart hear the word and hold it fast
and bear fruit with patience.
Eph 4:16 17 That Christ may make His home in your hearts
through faith, that you, being rooted and grounded in love…
Gal 4:19 My little children, for whom I travail in birth again
until Christ be formed in you
Prov 4:23 Keep your heart with all diligence; for out of it are
the issues of life.
Eph 5:25-26 Even as Christ also loved the Church and gave
Himself for Her, that He might sanctify Her, cleansing her by
the washing of the water of the word.
Heb 10:22 Let us come forward to the Holy of Holies with a
true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts
sprinkled from an evil conscience and having our bodies
washed with pure water.
So what do we do? Let’s say I’ve gone a week, something has come
in and my heart is cold. The Lord seems so distant. What does that
mean? Am I trapped? Do I need to be under condemnation? Am I
ruined? No! I just need to come back and have my heart treated.
This is a common thing that happens with soil. This is why people
stand out in the yard with a hose, watering a patch of earth for that
grass to grow.
In the same way, we have something to treat our soil with. What the
Lord has for us is living water. In Ephesians 5:26 “Even as Christ
also loved the church and gave himself for her, that he might
sanctify, cleansing her by the washing of the water of the word.”
The Lord loves us. He wants to take care of our heart for us. He has
a prescription for the heart. He has a prescription to soften that heart
back up, to moisten it, and make it an atmosphere conducive for
making His home there. It is the living word! When we come to the
word, we just need to open our heart to the Lord and say “Lord I love
you, I miss you, I feel distant from you. But I need to come to you and
touch you. I need you to water me. I need you to soften my heart
again.” The Lord is faithful to do this part. If we come to Him in this
way, and open ourselves to Him, and feed on His word, He will supply
us with all the water and nutrients to condition our heart again so that
it is suitable for Him. The only part for us is the daily diligence of
taking care of our heart, tending it, making sure there are enough
nutrients and water going in it. If we do that, that life spontaneously
will grow! There eventually will be the fruit of Christ. His personality,
His life, His nature will be exhibited in us! (DB)
___________________________
The good earth is a heart that is rich and moist. It is a heart that has
the readiness to bear fruit. What does this mean practically? This
means that the heart is ready to be plowed. If we want the fruit to
come out of us, our heart must be ready to be plowed. There is a
verse in the Psalms, "the plowers plowed upon my back" (Psa. 129:3).
This means that when God works with us, and deals with our person,
He is actually plowing us. To plow is to take away all the frustrations
which can hinder the growth of the seed. To be plowed is to be
purged of stones and thorns. God has a way to purge us out. When
we have a lot of stones in our heart, then God will come in to plow. He
will allow some environment to come. He will arrange some situations.
He will work out some experiences just to purge the rocks within us. If
we want to be the good earth, and out heart is truly ready, it means
that we are telling the Lord, "I am ready for you to plow."
It is easy for God to come in and plow when our heart is ready. He will
take away whatever the obstacles are which frustrate the growth of
the seed. When we have too much traffic and our heart has become
hard, then God will soften it. When we have rocks within us which
make our heart too shallow, then God will purge them out. When we
have thorns outside of us which are choking our growth, then God will
clear the ground. He will plow us and purge us. He will take care of
our heart, and make it the good earth.
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What God Wants
The Growth of Christ in Us
Day 6
Topic – God Causes the Growth
Mark 4:26-27 He said, So is the Kingdom of God: as if a man
cast seed on the earth - And sleeps and rises night and day,
and the seed sprouts and lengthens -- how, he does not
know. The earth bears fruit by itself: first a blade, then an ear,
then full grain in the ear.
James 5:7 Therefore be long-suffering, brothers, until the
coming of the Lord. Behold, the farmer eagerly awaits the
precious fruit of the earth, exercising long-suffering over it
until it receives the early and late rain.
1 Cor 3:6-7 I planted, Apollos watered, but God caused the
growth. So then neither is he who plants anything nor he
who waters, but God who causes the growth.
Although the saints may water others, growth comes only from God
Himself…..Because growth comes from God alone, those who water
others must help them to contact God. Thus, the best way to be
watered is to contact God. …..Paul knew that the Corinthian believers
needed feeding, watering, and the additional supply of life. They
needed to be fed with solid food, they need to be watered continually,
so that they could grow in life. These are the very things we need in
the church life today. We need not only be fed with solid food. We
also need to water others and to be watered ourselves.,,But in
watering others we should not solve their problems or presume to do
God’s work by trying to help others grow. Instead, we should simply
take time to contact God together. Then others will be watered, and
God will give them growth through the additional life supply. May we
all see that what is urgently needed is the growth in life. May we live in
a way which produces the growth in life, and may we function by
planting, feeding, watering, and also by leaving the actual growth to
God. (1
___________________________
cause the growth. We do plant, we do water, but it’s because we
have the expectation. We have the faith and vision – “God planted a
seed in me and this seed is a living operative Person. He’s operating
in me to produce something that He’ll be satisfied with. I don’t need to
worry about it so much. I don’t know what the fruit will ultimately look
like, but I know when my heart isn’t close to the Lord and that’s the
only part that he wants me to take care of.”
To me, this vision is liberating. All of us can testify that we fall into the
trap again and again - trying to make God happy and trying to
produce that “plastic tree” that looks like the fruit of the Spirit but that
has no life. All He wants us to do is to bring our heart to Him. All he
wants us to do is to keep a heart that’s soft and open to Him. He is
operating to produce what he wants. Most of the frustration comes
because we’ve entered into our own efforts to try to produce what
God wants to produce. I think that 99% of the frustration in my life as
a Christian is that I’m frustrated that I didn’t see that rose bush grow
out and I tried to put a “plastic bush” there and no one liked it. But the
Lord doesn’t care about that. He’ll just take it out of the way. He says
“just bring your heart to me, enjoy me, love me.” He is love! He loves
to be in our heart, He loves to grow in us and the Father loves to see
this seed growing! The Father loves to see this fruit! So He’s going to
make it to come to pass! As Christians the only thing we have to be
aware of is the condition of our own heart. What’s the condition of my
love for the Lord right now? And the only thing we need to do about it
is to come to the Lord and let Him treat us. This is very simple. If we
live this way, God will get want He wants. That Life will grow, and He
will have an expression of Christ that satisfies Him.
God is the one who causes the growth. 1 Corinthians 3:6-7 “I
planted, Apollos watered, but God caused the growth. So then
neither is he who plants anything nor he who waters, but God
who causes the growth.” Ultimately, it’s just God. God’s going to
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