Satan's damage is also to change the nature of the small mustard, signifying the church in life, which is good for food supply, into the nature of a tree, signifying the big Christendom in confusion, which is good for lodging the evil ones, signified by the "birds" (Matt. 13:31-32). The mustard plant is small, but Satan changed the nature of the mustard into a great tree. The mustard signifies the church in life, which is good for food supply, but today's Christendom is a big organization, like a big tree. Instead of being good for food, it is good for lodging the evil ones, signified by the "birds."
The church should be small in nature and in function, not big as Christendom is. We Christians who follow the Lord Jesus are relatively small in number, but Satan has made Christendom very large. This is a damage to the church. This is why in the recovery we do not like to have anything as a big facade.
We need to note that the three items above under Roman numeral I (the wayside, the rocks, and the thorns) frustrate the growth of the life seed in the believers and restrict the multiplication of Christ through His believers; whereas the two items above under Roman numeral II (the tares and the mustard seed becoming a great tree), on the one hand, bring in a mixture among the components of the church, and on the other hand, change the nature of the church and make the appearance of the church abnormal.
Today the appearance of Christianity is altogether abnormal. In the church life, we do not have titles or assigned pastors as great speakers. The genuine church is not something great but is like the small mustard that produces food for the satisfaction of God and man. For the proper church life, we need to have the fourth kind of heart, the good earth, for growing Christ, and we need to be small, not great. The Lord Jesus told His disciples that they were a little flock (Luke 12:32). We should be the little flock following the Lord (1 Pet. 5:2a; Acts 20:28). If we are not, we are abnormal. The church is little in number compared with the world. The church as the little flock is a little herb for the supply of life, not a big tree for the birds to lodge in, not a huge religion like Christendom.