By Joe
Slater How can God’s word “grow”? We think of a
tree growing, or a child growing, but God’s word? Three times the book of Acts speaks of
God’s word growing. First, after resolving the complaint about some widows in the
Jerusalem church being neglected, “Then the word of God grew, and the number of
the disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem” (Acts 6:7). Obviously, the body
of truth (i.e. the gospel) didn’t become any larger. But unrest within the
church discourages the spread of the gospel; once that issue was settled God’s
word was proclaimed enthusiastically, resulting in numerous conversions. Second, after the death of Herod Agrippa I
(the one who killed James and wanted to kill Peter), Acts 12:24 says, “But the
word of God grew and multiplied.” God dealt with the murderous monarch in due
time. Meanwhile, Herod’s brutal behavior couldn’t stop the spread of the
gospel. Finally, the inspired record states, “So
the word of the Lord grew mightily and prevailed” (Acts 19:20). The first word,
“So,” points to the reason the Lord’s word grew, as shown in the two previous
verses. Some believers evidently hadn’t made a clean break with pagan occultism
(“magic”). When they confessed their deeds and demonstrated the fruit of
repentance by burning their expensive books, the gospel made tremendous
advances. God’s word spreads (grows) when Christians
are united, when Christians evangelize despite persecution, and when Christians
show genuine conversion by turning away from their previous ungodly practices.
God’s word will grow today when we pay heed to these very things.
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