What God Multiplies He First Reduces
E.A. Johnston teaches that God often leads His servants through seasons of reduction and refining to prepare them for greater fruitfulness and service.
In this devotional sermon, E.A. Johnston explores the spiritual principle that God often prepares His servants through seasons of reduction and refining. Using biblical examples like Moses, Joseph, Paul, and Peter, Johnston illustrates how trials and humbling experiences are necessary for greater fruitfulness and service. He challenges listeners to embrace God's pruning process with faith and surrender, highlighting the cost and reward of true usefulness in God's kingdom.
Full Transcript
Before God will use a man, he often will place him in a prolonged season of reducing. As Moses traded the rich fragrances of Pharaoh's court to walk behind a herd of stinking sheep on the backside of a desert for 40 years until Egypt was out of Moses and Moses was in with God at the burning bush. Or it could be a prolonged season of reducing as seen in the life of Joseph going from being his father's favorite to having his coat of many colors torn from him along with his reputation ruined for him in Potiphar's house and prison until he's forgotten by man.
We read in Genesis, Yet did not the chief butler remember Joseph, but forgot him? And it came to pass at the end of two full years that Pharaoh dreamed. And we can be sure, friends, those two full years were full of the reducing of a man to a fraction of what he once was so he could be a factor for God at Pharaoh's right hand to preserve a nation. As a branch must be reduced back by a pruning knife before it can bear more fruit, and as the gold in the refiner's fire must be reduced of all its clinging dross, so too a man must be reduced to nothing to be a fit instrument in the hand of God.
Seasons of reducing are precursors to seasons of productivity. God's way is in the reduction process, and some men need more reducing than others. The eminently schooled Apostle Paul has to be whipped and stoned and shipwrecked before he could write his worthy epistles.
Boastful Peter had to face public humiliation as a denier of Christ before leading 3,000 to salvation in one sermon, boldly proclaiming a crucified Christ. But some are not used of God as much as God wants to use them. They shrink back from the divine pruning knife.
They refuse to submit to the refiner's fire. Their usefulness is hindered by their self-preservation and their unwillingness to go out on a limb for God by faith. There is always a cost for usefulness because what costs counts and what counts costs.
The words of Jesus still ring true. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it, and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it. Years ago I met with God and made a vow to him, and that day I wrote in the flyleaf of my Bible the following words to him.
What is my life that I should keep it selfishly from me? I choose to lose it so completely and have it found in thee.
Sermon Outline
-
I. The Season of Reducing
- God often places His servants in prolonged seasons of reduction
- Examples: Moses in the desert, Joseph in prison
- Purpose is to prepare for greater use by God
-
II. The Process of Refinement
- Like pruning a branch or refining gold, reduction removes impurities
- Paul’s sufferings prepared him for ministry
- Peter’s humiliation led to bold leadership
-
III. The Cost of Usefulness
- Some resist God’s pruning due to self-preservation
- True usefulness requires surrender and faith
- Jesus’ teaching on losing life to find it
-
IV. Personal Commitment
- The speaker’s vow to surrender life to God
- Choosing to lose life selfishly to be found in Christ
- Invitation to embrace God’s refining process
Key Quotes
“Before God will use a man, he often will place him in a prolonged season of reducing.” — E.A. Johnston
“Seasons of reducing are precursors to seasons of productivity.” — E.A. Johnston
“What is my life that I should keep it selfishly from me? I choose to lose it so completely and have it found in thee.” — E.A. Johnston
Application Points
- Trust God’s process even when you feel diminished or humbled.
- Embrace trials as opportunities for spiritual growth and preparation.
- Surrender self-preservation to fully serve God’s purposes.