Jesus loved to set forth the nature of the Kingdom in terms of growing
things. He likened it to a grain of mustard seed which grew into a tree,
and to a lump of leaven which leavened the whole of three measures
of meal.
These are both apt pictures of the Kingdom and His plan for its growth.
Its realization depends upon the germination and final fruition of the
truth. It therefore depends upon the passing from one to another of its
master secret.
The dream of Jesus was a pretentious one. It meant not only the conquest
of the planet but the conquest of it at its most difficult point. In such
a conquest guns and navies are helpless. A greater than a military program
is necessary. Jesus chose the greatest of all plans—the passing of the
message from lip to lip through the channels of everyday conversation.
Under his plan, each person is charged to be a witness of what he knows.
The result of any problem in progression is startling. It is surprising
how quickly a whole planet could be evangelized if the message grew in
its sweep according to such a mathematical law. If each person who knows
Jesus passed the knowledge of his experience on to two others, the outward
rim of things could be touched in a little while. Such a plan is not only
numerically adequate, but it is the only plan which is
numerically adequate.
The Christian program tends to the making of more and better Christians
because the plan of personal evangelism makes every believer an
evangelist. One is a little more wholly committed to the gospel he has
passed on to others. A philosophy of words is very apt to become a
philosophy of life. The sense of being a witness has steadied many a
trembling Christian to a new strength and resolution. Responsibility is
a wonderful tonic.