GOING VIRAL PART TWO
Most of us want the end result of multiplication, in our relationships, finances, health, joy factor, efficiencies, it’s the process to get there that we struggle with and sometimes if we are honest we really don’t know how to get that result.
Talk to any mathematician and they will tell you that there are rules governing multiplication
1. If you multiply anything with zero the answer is ALWAYS zero.
It doesn’t matter how large or small the number is it the answer is always zero. FOUR BILLION 300 MILLION MULTIPLIED BY ZERO IS STILL ZERO
In Matthew 25, that was given one talent but did nothing with it (zero) in fact he hid it in the ground, ended up with zero!
This parable starts off with the words “again the kingdom of Heaven is like”……it describes a master and 3 servants, all given resource according to their ability. So no one was disadvantaged, and all would be judged fairly. It wasn’t the AMOUNT that was measured as success by the master but the degree and effort of engagement
The first two guys ENGAGED in the multiplication process, but the last guy said
Matthew 25:24-24 Master, I knew you were a harsh man, harvesting crops you didn’t plant and gathering crops you didn’t cultivate. 25 I was afraid I would lose your money, so I hid it in the earth. Look, here is your money back.’
In his own words he was afraid.
He didn’t want to get engaged in the multiplication process because he didn’t think the results where going to benefit him!
There was no work or effort needed to bury it, he could get on with his own life and not allow the process of multiplication to “detract” from that.
He describes his master as harsh and someone who reaped where he hadn’t sown.
What they don’t realize is that it will cost them so much more NOT to multiply!
The master gave him all he needed to multiply and God has done the same for you and I. He’s given us resource and is looking for us to multiply it.
This guy didn’t waste money he wasted an opportunity to engage in the multiplication process.
For the other two guys who did engage the results were incredible.
- Their level of responsibility was increased,
- They were commended,
- They shared in the master’s joy,
- They were drawn further into trust,
- They were given more resource
If we apply this to Kingdom life it doesn’t matter how much or how little you have if you don’t engage in the kingdom multiplication process your result will be zero.
It doesn’t matter how much you have or you think you have if you don’t invest it, engage it, work with it you will end up with nothing to show for it.
You will go from church to church mad at God mad at leadership and end up with less and less knowing that inside you there is the POTENTIAL to multiply but you don’t like the conditions you have been given so far and you are waiting for the right ones.
or
2. Anything multiplied by one, is itself, it is never increased.
If you just keep what you have to yourself in isolation and multiply it without getting connected to anything or anyone else then you will be left with exactly what you started with! YOU
In math that’s about as complicated as I can go but in Biology anything that multiplies on its own just mutates,
Dermoid cysts tend to occur in younger women. These cysts can grow quite large - up to 15 cm across. These cysts often contain odd contents such as hair, parts of teeth or bone, fatty tissue, etc. This is because these cysts develop from cells which make eggs in the ovary, but have not been fertilized by sperm, instead they multiply on their own.
We need something EXTERNAL, OTHER THAN OURSELVES to be fruitful and to multiply.
God’s first command to mankind was to be fruitful and multiply, it’s a command not a suggestion.
Genesis 1:28 “God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply
Then again to Noah after the flood,
Genesis 9:1 Then God blessed Noah and his sons, saying to them, be fruitful and multiply in number and fill the earth.
The order of things are important here.
1. God blesses them (he kneels and blesses them, bends down to them, comes down on their level just like you would kneel before a child to embrace them and acknowledge them and give attention to their needs.) He gives them the resource to follow His command (REMEMBER THE PARABLE OF THE TALENTS?) HE GAVE THEM THE RESOURCE THAT THEY NEEDED
2. Then He asks them to be fruitful
The fruit comes through connection, engagement
Be planted, connected, flourish, grow, do things you never thought you could, react in ways you never thought possible. Grow something amazing, flourish, produce fruit, produce MUCH FRUIT
John 15:1,4-5 I am the true grapevine, and my Father is the gardener.
Remain in me, and I will remain in you. For a branch cannot produce fruit if it is severed from the vine, and you cannot be fruitful unless you remain in me.
5 “Yes, I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in me, and I in them, will produce much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing.
Connection is the first step in becoming fruitful, it provides the avenue for fruit to grow but if there is nothing life giving flowing in the connection, there will be no fruit.
It’s the sap flowing through the branches that supplies the nutrients for the plant to produces healthy fruit
The spirit is the life giving sap that flows and brings fruitfulness to the branch
John 6:63 The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you—they are full of the Spirit and life
Romans 8: 10-11 But if Christ is in you, then even though your body is subject to death because of sin, the Spirit gives life because of righteousness. 11 And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of his Spirit who lives in you.
Galatians 5:22 (The Message) But what happens when we live God’s way? He brings gifts into our lives, much the same way that fruit appears in an orchard—things like affection for others, exuberance about life, serenity. We develop a willingness to stick with things, a sense of compassion in the heart, and a conviction that a basic holiness permeates things and people. We find ourselves involved in loyal commitments, not needing to force our way in life, able to marshal and direct our energies wisely.
23–24 Legalism is helpless in bringing this about; it only gets in the way. Among those who belong to Christ, everything connected with getting our own way and mindlessly responding to what everyone else calls necessities is killed off for good—crucified.
25–26 Since this is the kind of life we have chosen, the life of the Spirit, let us make sure that we do not just hold it as an idea in our heads or a sentiment in our hearts, but work out its implications in every detail of our lives. That means we will not compare ourselves with each other as if one of us were better and another worse. We have far more interesting things to do with our lives. Each of us is an original.
We cannot be fruitful without being connected and having the Holy Spirit breathe life into us on a daily basis.
Are you disconnected?
How do you know you are disconnected?
Do a FRUIT check!
3. Then tells them to multiply
Inside the fruit is the seed that makes you multiply!
Genesis 1:11 And God said, Let the earth put forth [tender] vegetation: plants yielding seed and fruit trees yielding fruit whose seed is in itself, each according to its kind, upon the earth. And it was so.
You have to be fruitful first, then it’s the fruit that helps you multiply because in the fruit is the seed and in the seed is the power of multiplication.
So its our job to produce the fruit by staying connected to the vine and allowing the Holy Spirit sap to flow into our lives, AND THE FRUIT WILL GROW! What happens though as soon as we are corrected, as soon as we don’t like the methods someone is using, as soon as we get fearful we disconnect and the fruit that was forming falls off!
The longer a tree stays planted the better quality the fruit is, the better quality the fruit the more seeds it has, the more seeds it has the greater power of multiplication is holds!
You need the fruit to be able to handle the multiplication because multiplication can look inconvenient at times.
Sometimes it will feel inconvenient,
Sometimes it will feel like a burden,
Sometimes it will feel harder to get up the hills,
But in the long term you are doing life with them, multiplying what I have put in you into them and taking care of those that I love.
The fruit we have in our lives after God leans down and blesses us with the resource we need to multiply is the thing that attracts others to come and see what is going on, why we respond better than others to that nasty boss at work, why we can still have joy when our husband has moved out and is having an affair, when a business deal goes bad and we decide not to cheat on our taxes. When we have self-control and take that child who has been naughty into our arms and show them love rather than yell at them. Inside the fruit of the Spirit are the seeds to multiply.
THE ONLY WAY TO GET THE SEEDS IS FOR THE FRUIT TO GET DEVOURED
That’s what Church is meant to be like, we are all massive fruit trees planted, connected, flourishing, God has bent down towards us and blessed us, and we are meant to give away our fruit, love joy peace, patience, gentleness, kindness, goodness, self control
And in that fruit is the seeds to see that go viral and multiply