Word of the Year - Multiply!

Yes, math. I get all sorts of math questions as I browse facebook. I love the problems where people have to use the order of operations to get the answer. I am still amazed at the people that don’t remember “Please Excuse My Dear Aunt Sally.” You might be one of those people. LOL. The other day I was watching a video where they were showing the difference between the Korean and Chinese method for multiplying multidigit numbers. I don’t care, I love the old-fashioned method show above. I am not sure it is even relevant today because of calculators. But doing math by hand demanded you to know your TIME-TABLES and that really helped in doing mental math. Do you remember the “math races?” I have heard they don’t do them anymore because of hurting young students self esteem. (I am pretty sure I survived a few defeats here and there!)

The Bible also talks about multiplication. Five times in the Bible we are told to be “fruitful and multiply.” And before you get all bent out of shape, it normally means physically multiplying, having kids. That certainly is the case for Genesis 1:22 and 28. When Noah emerges from the Ark he is told the same thing in Genesis 8. But when the last two times this phrase is mentioned in the Bible is in Leviticus 26:9 and Jeremiah 23:3. Don’t get me wrong, God is still telling Israel to be fruitful and multiply physically. But, As I was reading these two scriptures and I was thinking about making disciples in our ministry, I was thinking about another second meaning for these two verses. When God spoke in Leviticus and in Jeremiah he was also talking about multiplying covenant believers. In the New Testament Covenant believers are followers of Jesus. God wants us to be fruitful in multiplying the believers in our communities, our nation, and around the world. 

This thought about those Old Testament scriptures fits perfectly with the Great Commission, (Matthew 28:19-20). It also fits the number other scriptures where we are told to GO OUT AND MAKE DISCIPLES. One of my favorites is this one:

“So we have stopped evaluating others from a human point of view. At one time we thought of CHrist merely from a human point of view. How differently we know him now! This means that aunoewho belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!

And all of this is a gift from God, who brought us back to himself through Christ. And God has given us this task of reconciling people to him. For God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, no longer counting people’s sins against them. And he gave us this wonderful message of reconciliation. SO WE ARE CHRIST’S AMBASSADORS; God is making his appeal through us. WE SPEAK FOR CHRIST when we plead, ‘Come back to God!’ For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ.” (2 Corinthians 5:16-21, emphasis added)

We are called to be Christ’s Ambassadors. We are called to GO and make disciples, teaching them and baptizing them. Jesus started this by sending his disciples off into Israel, two by two, early on in his ministry. He knew that his time of earth was short and that these twelve were going to be examples for us 2000 years later. 

So, are YOU going out, teaching and baptizing? When was the last time you got beyond asking some one to church? Sure that is a great way to open, but is that REALLY making disciples? Or is that inviting them so someone else can make disciples. Have you ever asked a friend to join YOU in a personal bible study? Have you ever invited a family member to study scripture with you. Have you ever asked them to learn along side you? 

I know it is easier to leave these tasks to the professionals, LOL! But God has called ALL OF US to make disciples. YOU ARE A PROFESSIONAL. You have the best guide of all, THE HOLY SPIRIT! Our church has a challenge this year to find three people to disciple, meet regularly to build relationships, study scripture, and draw closer to God in a personal way. Are you doing that? Are you MULTIPLYING? Are you showing FRUIT for your efforts?