One day I was meeting a friend for lunch at a restaurant new to me. I got out of the taxi at the correct street, thinking I needed to walk only one block. He called me to ask if I was almost there. I said yes I must be very close and gave him the number of the building. Then I looked across the street and realized I was not as close as I thought.
Here in Saigon, for whatever reason, street numbers are not kept parallel. If you are on the even side of the street, the building number might be 322. If you look directly across the street however, the number may be only 185. So when looking for a specific number, you pay attention only to the numbers on "your" side of the street.
Some people feel it is unspiritual to pay attention to numbers in the church. They feel rightly, that God cares about each individual and wants his servants to be faithful. Unfortunately, they then conclude wrongly that therefore it is not important whether 5 new people or 25 new people come to faith or join their Bible study or their church.
Maybe you have heard me teach on the subject that God cares about numbers. In Luke 15 Jesus tells three stories: 99 was not enough, the shepherd wanted 100 sheep; nine coins were not enough, the woman wanted all ten; one son was not enough, the father wanted both sons. When Jesus healed ten lepers, one returning was not enough, he asked "Where are the nine?". In the story Jesus tells of the talents, the good stewards didn't just add one talent to the five or the ten they had been given, they doubled the money.
As the story of the church begins in Acts, Luke notes that "3,000 thousand were added to their number that day"(2:41); "And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved." (2:47); "the number of men grew to about five thousand."(4:4)
Imagine a man whose five children are in a boat when they are caught in a bad storm and the boat capsizes. As he waits with anxiety to hear that his children are safe, a woman tells him that some of his children have been saved. When the father hears this he is relieved and doesn't care about the number - 2, 3 or 5, all that matters is the quality of the children who are saved. How foolish. Of course he cares about the number. And of course God cares about numbers when it comes to people.
God is concerned about faithfulness and also productivity. He cares about the church growing in quality and he cares about growth in quantity. He cares about us making disciples not just more church attenders. But He also wants us to make more and more disciples. Jesus does care about numbers. He wants us to reach more and more people so that His Kingdom, His rule will spread.
There is of course, a danger that if we pay attention to the growth in numbers of people in our group or in our church, we may start to feel competitive when we talk to people from other groups. If this happens, we will either grow discouraged because they are doing better or feel proud because our numbers are growing faster than others.
To prevent this, as when walking or driving in Saigon, just pay attention to the numbers on your side of the street. :)
Here in Saigon, for whatever reason, street numbers are not kept parallel. If you are on the even side of the street, the building number might be 322. If you look directly across the street however, the number may be only 185. So when looking for a specific number, you pay attention only to the numbers on "your" side of the street.
Some people feel it is unspiritual to pay attention to numbers in the church. They feel rightly, that God cares about each individual and wants his servants to be faithful. Unfortunately, they then conclude wrongly that therefore it is not important whether 5 new people or 25 new people come to faith or join their Bible study or their church.
Maybe you have heard me teach on the subject that God cares about numbers. In Luke 15 Jesus tells three stories: 99 was not enough, the shepherd wanted 100 sheep; nine coins were not enough, the woman wanted all ten; one son was not enough, the father wanted both sons. When Jesus healed ten lepers, one returning was not enough, he asked "Where are the nine?". In the story Jesus tells of the talents, the good stewards didn't just add one talent to the five or the ten they had been given, they doubled the money.
As the story of the church begins in Acts, Luke notes that "3,000 thousand were added to their number that day"(2:41); "And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved." (2:47); "the number of men grew to about five thousand."(4:4)
Imagine a man whose five children are in a boat when they are caught in a bad storm and the boat capsizes. As he waits with anxiety to hear that his children are safe, a woman tells him that some of his children have been saved. When the father hears this he is relieved and doesn't care about the number - 2, 3 or 5, all that matters is the quality of the children who are saved. How foolish. Of course he cares about the number. And of course God cares about numbers when it comes to people.
God is concerned about faithfulness and also productivity. He cares about the church growing in quality and he cares about growth in quantity. He cares about us making disciples not just more church attenders. But He also wants us to make more and more disciples. Jesus does care about numbers. He wants us to reach more and more people so that His Kingdom, His rule will spread.
There is of course, a danger that if we pay attention to the growth in numbers of people in our group or in our church, we may start to feel competitive when we talk to people from other groups. If this happens, we will either grow discouraged because they are doing better or feel proud because our numbers are growing faster than others.
To prevent this, as when walking or driving in Saigon, just pay attention to the numbers on your side of the street. :)
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