Special Insights No. 12
Second Quarter 2007
Adult Sabbath School Lessons
“Thy Word Is a Lamp Unto My Feet”
(Produced by the Editorial Board of the 1888 Message Study Committee)
Growing Through the Word
To sum up Christian grow there
are specific elements that cause it. This growth comes in and by the
Word of God, Christ, the Holy Spirit, love from and to God, surrender,
and faith.
A pastor friend told of his sincere desire, as a boy, to become tall.
He decided to stretch himself to his desired length by hanging himself
on the family cloths line. To his chagrin he learned that that was not
the way to become tall! Sometime later he discovered that by eating,
drinking, and exercising he grew to over six feet tall.
As in the physical realm, so likewise in the spiritual. As we learn
to feed on the word of God—the bread from heaven,— to drink
from the Fountain of the water of life and to bask in the rays of light
streaming from the “Sun of Righteousness” we will grow up
into the full spiritual stature of men and women in Christ Jesus.
Consider the Power of the Word of God
We need only to go to nature to understand the power of the Word: “Since
the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen,
being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power
and Godhead” (Rom. 1:20).
In nature we see the power of God’s word. The universe’s
far flung stars and planets, earth’s granite rock substructure,
the lofty trees, the various flowers, the tiny seeds, the microscopic
universe are all a manifestation of the word of God. He spoke and they
became the very thing stated. “He spoke, and it was done; He commanded,
and it stood fast” (Psalm 33:9). I went with a beet farmer to
his field on a spring day. As we looked the field over he observed that
his crop was coming along nicely. I could not see anything. Getting
out of his truck I made my way to the field, and kneeling down I could
see tiny shoots of beet stems coming up from the ground. When I plucked
one of the stems, all that remained on my fingers was a transparent
green moisture. I marveled that those beet stems, made up mostly of
water and a bit of green colored covering, could push their way up out
of the ground, moving small clumps of dirt that probably were a thousand
times the weight of a single stem. This truly was a demonstration of
the power of God’s word in nature.
That same creative energy is in the written word. It is the seed that
God plants in the human mind that causes growth as in a garden or a
forest of trees. God’s people are “called trees of righteousness,
the planting of the LORD, that he might be glorified” (Isa. 61:3).
This righteousness increases with steady growth, as do trees; and because
they are planted by God, they will bring forth fruit, and consequently
God will be glorified in their lives.
We are God’s planting. Consider further how likeness to the growth
of plants is carried out. We may learn that salvation from sin (a life
of righteousness) is like the casting of seeds into the earth: “As
the earth brings forth its bud, as the garden causes the things that
are sown in it to spring forth, so the Lord GOD will cause righteousness
and praise to spring forth before all the nations” (Isa. 61:11).
In the growth of plants from a tiny seed we have a marvelous illustration
of growth in grace, which is the growth of God’s kingdom of righteousness
within the heart and mind of believers. A tree that stops growing, like
the plucked beet stem, is dead. But as long as it remains rooted in
the ground where God placed it, His power continually works through
it, until it has accomplished His purpose for it. Likewise, the power
of God is manifested even in the weakest of men who believe, until they
have been brought to the place designed for them, which is “the
measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ” (Eph. 4:13).
Christ is the Seed of God. And He is the Word of God made flesh. When
He dwells in our minds and hearts by faith,—when the seed springs
up in us,—we also are “filled with all the fullness of God”
(Eph. 3:17-19). Every one who believes receives all the fullness of
the life of Christ, the true Seed, through the written word. This is
how Christ dwells in us as Paul wrote: “Let the word of Christ
dwell in you” (Col. 3:16). This is how “the righteous shall
flourish like a palm tree, he shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon”
(Psalm 92:12).
Essentials to Growth: Most people can tell what is necessary for a
plant to grow, but hardly anyone seems to understand what is necessary
for a Christian to grow and develop. But we can learn this from the
library of nature. As we have considered, a Christian is a plant in
the garden of God; and like any plant in a garden, spiritual plants
need plenty of water, good soil, and sunlight.
Everything has been provided by the Lord for His garden. His plants
simply are to assimilate what they find. However, there is a perversity
about plants of the human kind, that is not seen in nature. The Lord,
through Jeremiah, stated that although He had planted His people “a
noble vine, a seed of highest quality. How then have you turned before
Me into the degenerate plant of an alien vine?” (Jer. 2:21).
There is no fault in what God has done; but an evil principle finds
its way into a plant and perverts its nature, causing degeneracy and
ultimate loss of what is good. A plant always turns towards the sun;
but in God’s spiritual garden some plants try to grow in some
other way. Some try to grow by something thought to be inherent within
themselves. There is no growth attained this way. A plant cannot make
itself grow by exerting itself; yet many people think they must exert
themselves in order to grow. But Jesus asks, “Which of you by
worrying can add one cubit to his stature?” (Matt. 6:27).
Who would think of exerting himself, or stretching himself, in order
to grow physically? True, exercise most certainly influences growth,
but it is not the cause of growth. There is nothing that man can do
to cause it. The principle of development is in every human organization
by nature. If one secures those conditions, such as eating and drinking,
this principle can operate to the best good of the individual and growth
will occur. Likewise in the spiritual world. God implants the principle
of growth at the new birth, and only needs right conditions to cause
the babe in Christ to grow up to the full stature of spiritual adulthood.
While it is true that man can interfere with this principle, and repress
it, he cannot create it.
A plant grows and reaches up and becomes stronger by simply looking
to the sun. Because of the influence of its rays, the plant reaches
up toward the source. The plant responds and grows and is drawn to the
source of its life. In the soil it finds water and the various elements
needed for life and growth, and by the principle of assimilation, which
it has as long as it continues to look to the sun, draws up the elements
through its roots and into the stem and leaves. The plant simply lets
this process continue according to the law of assimilation which the
Creator gave it.
So it must be with the plants in God’s spiritual garden. We cannot
grow by looking at ourselves; we cannot grow by looking at other people
around us. We are to look at the “Sun of righteousness.”
We are to simply let the process of assimilation go on according to
the law of beholding and thus change (2 Cor. 3:18). We are to “Let
this mind be in (us), which was also in Christ Jesus.” If we let
it, it will be in us. God longs for any person to let Him work in him.
Man is constantly doing something to hinder God’s work. He is
continually putting self in God’s way. He refuses to submit his
will to God’s will. A significant difference exists between plants
and human beings. This difference is in the realm of choice. Man can
stop the work of Christ in his life. This is where the surrender of
the will comes into play. Although the term “surrender”
is not found in Scripture, the concept is. Surrender is the substance
of Christ’s teaching. This submission of the will to God is the
crucifixion of self. This death is necessary for spiritual growth and
maturity. This is the experience of justification by faith. God lays
the glory of man in the dust and then does for him that which is impossible
for him to do for himself.
In the plant kingdom, if there is no growth, there is no life. Life
means growth. And finally, when the plant is fully matured, then comes
the harvest. So it is in the life of God’s people. We are now
in the harvest time, which is the end of the world, but also it is the
beginning of eternity for the believer as he is garnered into the heavenly
granary of God.
Another essential for the maturation of the harvest is the Water of
Life in the form of the “latter rain.” We have been living
in the time of this maturing and finishing rain since Minneapolis, 1888.
If we turn from the “Sun of Righteousness” we can prevent
the “latter rain” from watering us. But as we allow the
“Sun of Righteousness” to draw us to Himself, the latter
rain will fall into the soil of our experience and all the spiritual
nutrients needed will be drawn up into the character of our lives and
ripen us for the harvest. Belief in the word of God, and the nutrients
of this word will cause growth, development, and maturity. So let us
“Let the word of Christ dwell in” us.
—Gerald L. Finneman
(Note: A series of CDs on these lessons recorded
by this Robert J. Wieland is available from the office of the 1888 Message
Study Committee: 269-473-1888.)
Listen to the audio recording for Lesson 12 now in MP3 format.
Read Special Insights 13 |