With life there is always growth. Every kind of life grows. If something does not grow, it does not have life. Moreover, the growth of life is always for function. Every kind of life—whether animal life or vegetable life—grows for function. When a tree grows to a certain extent, it bears fruit. This bearing of fruit is the function of life. Animals also have their functions when they grow. Even when a small baby begins to grow, he has the function of life, and the more growth he has, the more function he has. Growth is for function.
The Bible tells us clearly that the church is the Body of Christ with many members, and all the members must function (Rom. 12:4-5). However, we must realize that function depends on the growth of life. If there is no life and no growth of life, there is no function. Function comes from growth, and growth is something of life. This is why Christianity has to have the system of clergy. Any kind of social body in the human community needs to hire someone to do certain duties. They also have to organize and form a board or committee from among its members, and they need to elect a leader, a secretary, and a treasurer. It is the same in principle in the so-called Christian churches. Because too many are dead in their spirit, they form an organization. There is no life and no function of life.
For many years my family was in such a place. However, I came out from that background, and so have many of you. Still, we do not know how much we have been influenced by that background. Not only so, but the Christianity that surrounds us still unconsciously influences us. We do not have the sense that if we do not practice the function of life as members of the Body, there is something seriously wrong. If we do not function in the Body, we need to take this seriously. There is no need for me to preach to you, but I would ask you to be aware that if you are a brother or a sister, a member in the Body, but do not function, that is seriously wrong.
We have to function, but function depends on growth. Why do many Christians today not function? It is because many Christians today do not grow. In the so-called churches today, it is hard to receive real nourishment, and there is no rich nourishment. Yes, there are some persons who have truly been saved and have life, but they do not have the adequate food. Today’s Christianity is mostly a religion of teaching. The church, however, has to generate people and save people. This is why in the seven parables in Matthew 13 the Lord came not to teach people but to sow Himself as a seed into us. He came not to teach our mind but to sow Himself as the seed of life to grow in our heart. This is not to teach but to generate.
The Lord put Himself as the life-seed into us in order that we may grow, not into a great tree but as small wheat (v. 3). The purpose of wheat is to feed people. When wheat grows, it produces grains which can be used as food. The enemy’s subtlety is first to snatch away the life-seed (vv. 4, 19). Second, he causes the heart to be hardened and stony so that the seed cannot grow, and third, he chokes the growth of the seed (vv. 5-7, 20-22). Eventually, though, the church must be like a little herb, like mustard. Mustard is good only for feeding people. The enemy, however, makes it into a great tree bearing no food (vv. 31-32). This is the situation of today’s Christianity. It has become a big tree without food but with many places of lodging for “the birds of heaven,” many evil persons and things. The church must be a little herb good for people to eat, but the enemy has changed the feeding nature of the church. It has become a “great tree” and has lost its function.
Today the Lord is going to recover the whole earth, but we are not here trying to be a big tree. Do not have that kind of thought. We must be delivered from degraded Christianity. The church on this earth is not for anything else but to grow as wheat to produce grains, or a little mustard herb, to feed people. A little herb can do nothing. It is good only for people to eat. In the church there is nothing but a wheat field, growing to produce not Ph.D.’s and professors but little grains to feed people. This is of basic importance. I hope that we all can see this.
I thank the Lord that right away after I was saved, He opened my eyes to see all these things, and He delivered me from the big tree. We have to realize that the Lord’s recovery is the recovery of life. The Lord imparted Himself to us, and He feeds us day by day; as a result, we grow, and we function. We have received life; now we have to feed and feast on the Lord. Then we will grow, and we will function. Function comes from the growth of life.