Quantity or Quality?

Which is more valuable to you: a bunch of tiny blemished diamonds, or a massive perfect diamond of the same karat? Well, the answer seems obvious: a massive perfect diamond. These are rarer, and far more costly than the others. These, when they are discovered, are prized and valued more than any other substance on earth!

Now let's ask the same question about Christians: which is more valuable: a whole bunch of carnal and selfish believers, or one selfless and sincere believer. The answer, in my humble opinion, remains the same. The single, sincere and sold-out Christian is of far greater worth to this world than many believers by name only. He will surprisingly accomplish more too, even though he may be alone.

In your Christian experience, do you prefer quantity or quality? Are we able to possess both? I hope.

Does your church emphasize large numbers OVER individual and corporate spiritual substance?

Is Christian depth and maturity casually traded for masses of people and their checkbooks?

The answers to these questions are easy to discern, but it just may offend you!

The Bible seems to present an interesting scenario when approaching this subject: On the one hand, crowds and crowds of people followed the Lord Jesus during His earthly ministry, and thousands upon thousands were saved because of the ministry of the early church and the disciples. We are even told to go out into ALL NATIONS to preach the Gospel.. surely this involves QUANTITY. The Bible even uses such quantitative statements as is found in 1st Timothy 2:4. Referencing the Lord, it says, "Who will have ALL men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth." Again Peter says God is "...not willing that any should perish, but that ALL should come to repentance" (2 Pet 3:9). Large quantities are indeed God ordained! Who can argue? Jesus Himself came because of His love for the WHOLE WORLD (Jn 3:16)!

However, on the other hand, we see the Lord describing what such masses of converts are to be doing: becoming disciples! Matthew 28:19 says, "Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost." This word for "teach" in the Greek actually means, "to become a pupil; to disciple; to enroll as a scholar." In other words, Jesus did not limit such evangelism to a conversion experience, so why should we? Evangelism simply gives others the key to open the door; it is the code to come in. However, loitering around the entrance to this arena is highly frowned upon! We need more true doorkeepers - those who not only make the Gospel "accessible" by dispersing such "keys", but who also act as propellants to those who are chasing God's Spirit! What point is there to possess the key if we never searched and explored our new unlocked atmosphere? Mere conversions are not what God is after. They are good, of course, and we are eternally grateful, but shouldn't we find out what all these flocks of people are now doing? Who are they becoming? Disciples? If not, their conversion seems to be vain. Their keys are growing rusty. What a frightening thought!

Let's humbly ask ourselves, should such QUANTITY come at the expense of genuine QUALITY? I do not believe so. The Lord Jesus, I am convinced, would rather have a handful like David than an army like Saul. He surely prefers a remnant of men like Enoch to an entire race of men like Cain. Do you believe this?

If this is indeed true, that quality is to be exercised over quantity, then why is our current church paradigm so backwards? In today's world, churches must have at least 5,000 members to be considered "successful"! But is this right? Again, I simply do not believe so. Such large assemblies are not even patterned for us in Scripture, so how can we honestly say they are divinely accredited now? Are they permitted? Of course. But I tremble in fear when I contemplate the masses of potentially un-discipled believers there. It seems to be such a difference to that of the early church.

In the book of first Samuel, we get a brief glimpse into our current discussion. Observe:

1 Samuel 1:1-2 "Now there was a certain man of Ramathaimzophim, of mount Ephraim, and his name was Elkanah, the son of Jeroham, the son of Elihu, the son of Tohu, the son of Zuph, an Ephrathite: And he had two wives; the name of the one was Hannah, and the name of the other Peninnah: and Peninnah had children, but Hannah had no children.

How sad for poor Hannah! She had no seed to call her own.. and to top it off, Elkanah's other wife was prospering with seed! How humiliating!

Later, Hannah does have a son (after much prayer), and she calls his name Samuel. Samuel is her one and only child, surely her pride and joy. This boy Samuel grows up to become one of the greatest prophets the world has ever seen! Of him, the Bible declares that not one of his words ever fell to the ground (1 Sam 3:19)!

Interestingly, however, we don’t even know the names of Peninnah’s children, even though there were so many. Why is that? Because the Holy Spirit always emphasizes QUALITY over mere QUANTITY, and so should we.

The ideal situation would be to possess quality AND quantity.. neither being disposed of at the expense of the other.. a innumerable mass of genuine, sincere, discipled, sold-out believers. The world would surely then be a different place. It's coming, I assure you!

As for me, I would rather be a priceless and fanciful jewel in the hand of our Lord, than one of many like-minded, yet sinfully stained "gems" for Him to refuse. I want the brightness of my quality (if there be any) to catch his eye! May he say, "Wow, what a glorious diamond! I must have made this!"