After God had finished all of His creation, which culminated with His two masterpieces, Adam and Eve – the very first man and woman, the world was now fully created with days and nights, seasons and years set in place, and plants and animals filled the world. But God didn’t stop there. He told Adam and Eve to “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it” (Genesis 1:28, NASB). This was God’s mandate to Adam and Eve in the beginning.
Being fruitful and multiplying does not just mean bearing physical children, but spiritual children too. We read in Matthew 3:8 that John the Baptist exhorted the Jews to bear fruits worthy of repentance. Our Lord Jesus too spoke of bearing fruit numerous times during His earthly ministry – “Likewise, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit.” (Matthew 7:17, NIV)
The Apostle John goes on to tell us in John 15:2 (NIV) that, “He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful.” And verse 4 illustrates the vital union between us and Jesus: “Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.” The mandate of honouring God and bearing fruit is again emphasised in verse 8: “This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.” and “You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last” (verse 16). Finally, in Mark 10:30, our Lord promised to multiply “children” to those who follow Him.
Dear family, Scripture assures us that we can have lives that are pleasing to God and bring Him glory – whether we have physical children or not. This is because we can be spiritually fruitful and multiply the citizens of the Kingdom of God in Singapore. Let’s start by working towards our 1,728 goal, and in so doing, we will be at the starting point of obeying Jesus’ command to “go and make disciples of all nations”. (Matthew 28:19, NIV)
- Senior Pastor Nina Khong