Week Twenty-One - Increase

INCREASE

“The LORD shall increase you more and more, you and your children.”  Psalm 115:14

When the time comes for children to leave the nest there is a raft of emotions and soul searching questions for parents to face.  “Have I prepared them adequately?  Will they succeed in life? Will they survive?”  Questions like these and many others haunt parents as they try to help their children make final preparations for living outside the home.

In my life this meant sending them overseas to college and having to trust that they could navigate a new culture and find their way through the maze of driving, taxes, jobs, and friends.  I shuttered at the thought.  I had spent much time trying to prepare them, but when the day came I realized there were things I had failed to address, but it was too late.  They were out there and I was no longer by their side.

That is when God gave me this verse…”The LORD shall increase you more and more, you and your children.”  God assured me that He was the one who had taken care of me all through my life.  He would continue to take care of me, and more than that, He would take care of my children.  And not just “take care of them”, He would actually “increase” them.

This word means to add, increase or do again.  It has the idea of to join.  God was telling me that He would see to their success.  He would join Himself to them and cause them to increase. He would add to their lives all they needed and He would do it over and over again as required.  He would take over from me and be their Heavenly Father.  The best parent they could ever have – just as He had been to me.  When I left home, He took over in my life. He had increased me already and He would do the same for my children.  I had to agree.  He had blessed me abundantly and taken really good care of me.  How could I even doubt that He would not do the same for my children?
Through the years I have claimed the promise of this verse and over and over again the Lord has proved Himself faithful.  Truly He has increased me, but He has also increased my children.  They are living solid lives, faithful to the Lord and truly know the Hand of their Heavenly Father is involved-joined- in their lives.  We have much to celebrate.

What about you?  Do you see the hand of God in your life?  Do you trust Him to take over in the lives of your children?  There is no better place for them – turn them over to Him and watch what He can do.

INCREASE

“From whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love.”  Ephesians 4:16

I have always found this description of the joints working together interesting.  God designed the human body in such a fearful and wonderful way so that it all works together perfectly.  But this description in Ephesians is not about a human body, but a spiritual body – the church - a spiritual body that is fitted together and effectually works for the benefit of each member.

However, God opened my eyes to that last phrase, “maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love.”  Increase means literally, to increase or to grow, so, a mature church is self-propagating.  As you look back from verse eleven you see four distinct qualities of a mature church. 

Verse eleven – it has called and equipped leadership.
Verse fourteen – it has solid and accepted doctrine.
Verse fifteen and sixteen – it has a growing and united membership.
Verse sixteen – it is self-propagating – making increase.

It isn’t enough to have a good pastor, solid doctrine and a happy fellowship of members, a church must be increasing.  It is to be about growing.  This might be in numbers, but better in planting new churches.  Just as the human body self propagates, so should the church.  Making increase edifies – it builds up.  The more a church, then, is involved in increase, the stronger it will become.  To remain introverted is to decrease.  The church should be extroverted!  Exporters of the truth – carrying it on from generation to generation.  And that is to be done by church-planting.

Is your church extroverted?  Are they exporting the truth?  Are they involved in missions and church-planting?  That should be the goal.

INCREASE

 “When goods increase, they are increased that eat them: and what good is there to the owners thereof, saving the beholding of them with their eyes?  Ecclesiastes 5:11

“…if riches increase, set not your heart upon them.”  Psalm 62:10

Oh, the vanity of riches.  Haggai 1:6 tells us, Ye have sown much, and bring in little; ye eat, but ye have not enough; ye drink, but ye are not filled with drink; ye clothe you, but there is none warm; and he that earneth wages earneth wages to put it into a bag with holes.”  That is an apt description of our everlasting toil.  Though we strive to gain, it all is like putting our hard earned wages into a bag with holes.  Here today, gone tomorrow. 

God’s Word has much to say about riches.  These verses warn us about setting our hearts and hopes upon what we have gained.  Believing that a large saving account is a source of security is vain.  Going at life with the goal of “getting rich” causes us to miss the most valuable things in life – things that are eternal.

In the Sermon on the Mount Jesus warned about laying up treasures where moth and rust corrupt and where thieves break through and steal.  To live in this way is to be disappointed.  Genuine increase is not found here.  A healthier way to look at riches is to see them as a tool.  They provide the necessities of live, and sometimes, give us icing on the cake.  But they are only tools- a means to an end.  To see them as more than that is to be deceived.

Our heart and hopes should be based in the God of all provision.  Riches come from Him.  I like the way Solomon puts it in Eccelstiastes 2:24 “There is nothing better for a man, than that he should eat and drink, and that he should make his soul enjoy good in his labour. This also I saw, that it was from the hand of God.”

So, when riches increase – enjoy them, but do not set your heart upon them.  They are a gift from God and a tool, but nothing more.

INCREASE

A man’s belly shall be satisfied with the fruit of his mouth; and with the increase of his lips shall he be filled.  Proverbs 18:20

“We ought to take as great care about the words we speak as we do about the fruit of our trees or the increase of the earth, which we are to eat; for, according as they are wholesome or unwholesome, so will the pleasure or the pain be wherewith we shall be filled.”  Matthew Henry

We will be increased by the words we have sown.  If we want to find fulfillment and peace in life, we need to learn to talk better.  Improved speaking will be blessed in many ways by God, by others, and will even benefit our own soul.

Taking time to consider our words will save us from uttering foolish or hurtful words which bring us pain in life and conviction in our conscience.  Solomon knew that the more words spoken, the greater the chance of sin. “In the multitude of words there wanteth not sin: but he that refraineth his lips is wise.”  Proverbs 10:19

Uttering every thought that comes through your mind without filtering is unwise.  Dominating conversation in order to hear yourself speak is foolish.  Using words to manipulate or deceive is truly unkind and evil. 

How many times have you been guilty of leaving others bleeding from wounds inflicted by your tongue?  Your tongue should be used for the health and wealth of others, but many times others are left feeling angered, grieved or confused by our words.  Most people suffer in silence, but the guilt is still real and when you are told of the pain and damage you have caused, it is an embarrassment and a burden on your soul.

The law of sowing and reaping means that we will receive back in life what we give out.  I don’t know about you, but I want to receive kind and encouraging words from those around me on this path of life.  So, I am best to make sure that is what others hear from my voice.

The increase of your lips can be directly related to the improvement you can make to your speech by learning the rules of wisdom for the tongue and lips.  The Book of Proverbs is full of instruction on the tongue.  Consider these: 

Proverbs 15:28 “The heart of the righteous studieth to answer: but the mouth of the wicked poureth out evil things.” 

Proverbs 16:23 “The heart of the wise teacheth his mouth, and addeth learning to his lips.”

So, learn to guard your speech, limit your words and think before you speak. Rule your spirit and be gracious making every word helpful and kind. Reject harshness and talebearing. Purify your thoughts. Work harder at learning to listen. Seek always to build others up.

Consider how will you feel in the Day of Judgment, when you must give an account for every idle word to the Lord of glory? (Matt 12:34-37)

Let me leave you with this - Give instruction to a wise man, and he will be yet wiser: teach a just man, and he will increase in learning.  Proverbs 9:9

INCREASE

“But shun profane and vain babblings: for they will increase unto more ungodliness.”  II Timothy 2:16

I just could not leave this thought without sharing a further definition of “increase”.  Here the literal meaning is to beat forward, to lengthen out by hammering as a smith on a forge. Metaphorically it means to advance, go forward or promote.  Let’s take this verse apart a bit and then we will draw some conclusions for our own application. 

The admonition to “shun” means to stand above or separate from.  “Babblings are intemperate words delivered with a loud voice. In the context of the verse this is referring to false doctrine and those that promote it.  They are exemplified as ones who use forceful rhetoric to put forward their agenda.  We are told to stand apart from them, to separate ourselves and look to see what will be their end.

They will increase unto more ungodliness.  Their path will literally be stretched out or beaten forward to make way for more ungodliness.  One commentator put it this way:  the image is as, “They pretend progress; the only kind of progress they make is to a greater pitch of impiety.” (lack of religious respect: a lack of due reverence for God)

Matthew Henry simply put it this way:  “The way of error is downhill.”

And is that not what we see today?  As man tries to promote his humanistic and secular agenda upon the things of God we see an increased lack of respect for God, His Word and true holiness. Man’s path literally is increasing into more ungodliness. It is going downhill.

So what should be our response and application of this verse?  First, I think we need to not be so simple as to listen to the loud voices.  God’s voice comes quietly and reverently.  The loud voices, those that are accepted by the world and that try to weaken or alter doctrine, should not be the voices we are following.  We need to stay true to God’s Word and step back from those who are not.

Further, we need to be examining our own lives to see where error may have crept in.  We will find it in places where we have accommodated lower standards, slacked off in practice of spiritual disciplines, or lessened our devotion to God.  The loud voices will tell us that we are being too narrow or too strict.  They will seek to comfort us by assuring us that we need to be relevant or more modern.  They will lure us with the promise of a happier Christian life if we will just give a bit in a few places.  Don’t be fooled.  There is no such thing as a “happy Christian life”.  There is, however, the truth of a blessed Christian life.  That comes from honouring and reverencing God and His Word.  It is sourced in obedience and respect.  Only there will you be truly “happy.”

What voices are you listening to?  Where have you let up in your doctrine or standards?  Is your path increasing in godliness, or is it declining?