Thus far in this series we have considered the matter of spiritual growth from the standpoint of our individual relationship with the Lord. We began by considering the verse,

I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth.
— 1 Corinthians 3:6

As we saw then, this shows it is only God Himself who can truly cause us to grow in Christ. (See “How Can We Grow In Christ?” • 1)

This same principle applies when we consider spiritual growth from the standpoint of the church growing through the gospel: the Lord must be the one to add the growth. Still, how much the Lord can do in this regard will depend to a large extent on our relationship with Him, and how much we ourselves have entered into the reality of the salvation He offers us in Christ.

As we saw in the previous Note, the saints in the early days in Jerusalem had indeed been saved from “this crooked and perverted generation,” so that they were now living in the reality of the new creation (Acts 2:40; see “How Can We Grow In Christ?” • 10.) As a result,

…the Lord added together day by day those who were being saved.
— Acts 2:47

The gospel at that time was so prevailing because the saints then had been so thoroughly delivered from Satan’s world system to live under God’s authority.

And the same will be true in our time: our gospel will be prevailing only if we ourselves have entered into the reality of its message. We surely do need to preach the gospel, but our preaching must be supported by our living. As Spurgeon put it,

The world does not read the Bible, the world reads Christians.

And in the very convicting words of Hudson Taylor,

The cause of want of success [in the gospel] is very often that we are only half saved ourselves. If we are fully saved and confess it, we shall see results….

We tell people that our Home is above, that all these things are transitory; does our dwelling look like it? Oh, to live consistent lives! The life of the Apostle was thoroughly consistent… No one could feel that his home was here; all saw that it was up there.
— Hudson Taylor, Volume II: The Growth of a Work of God, pages 405-406

May the Lord grant us to live such “consistent lives,” as those have have been saved from the world-system of today to live in the new creation, so that His gospel may go forth again in power in our time!

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—  28 May 2025 —