Matthew 13:23 (ESV)

As disciples, our goal is to allow God to multiply us as we abide in Christ.

One of the images of a disciple is that of multiplication (x), not addition (+) or God forbid (!), subtraction (-). You see, God redeems His people, transforms them, in order to multiply them! As Pastor Edmund Chan puts it in his book, Mentoring Paradigms, “Our God is a God Who multiplies. Most Christians see God as a God of redemption (a God Who redeems and restores His people) but fail to see Him as a God Who multiplies” (page 110).

“As for what was sown on good soil, this is the one who hears the word and understands it. He indeed bears fruit and yields, in one case a hundredfold, in another sixty, and in another thirty.” (Matthew 13:23 ESV)

As disciples, understanding the theology of a multiplying God is vitally important for it has great implications. You see, the Church is called by God not just to make converts but also to build them up so they would multiply spiritually. Following this theology, the goal of Kum Yan’s Discipleship Roadmap is therefore to convert the lost, disciple believers, grow them to be disciple-makers and see to it that they become disciple multipliers, ‘thirtyfold, sixtyfold, a hundredfold’ (Matthew 13:8). Jesus demonstrated this theology while He was on earth. He redeemed, transformed and multiplied the disciples in His three years of ministry. As disciples, our goal is to allow God to multiply us as we abide in Christ.

People, we need to understand that the theology of a multiplying God is a fact, not a fiction, for it is rooted in the life-transforming and eternal Word of God. At creation, God commanded Adam to be “fruitful and multiply” (Genesis 1:28). God told Noah to be “fruitful and multiply” (Genesis 9:17). God told Abraham He would multiply him exceedingly (Genesis 13:16; 15:5; 17:2, 20; 22:17). To Isaac, God will multiply (Genesis 26:4, 24). To Jacob, God will multiply (Genesis 28:3; 35:10-11). To Moses, God will multiply (Exodus 32:13). To the remnant of God, God will multiply (Jeremiah 23:3). God is a multiplying God, make no mistake about Him!

What about us? Do we see ourselves as God’s vessels of multiplication, such that we not only multiply disciples but also grow spiritually, as the Holy Spirit enables us? Specifically, how are you bearing fruit for Christ, such as deepening in your relationship with Him, growing in the fruit of the Spirit, and in reaching out to the lost? Shalom.