Category: Thought for the week

What is the most used four-word phrase in the Bible, used more than 360 times. It appears in Exodus 14:13. “Do not be afraid”. But why should we not be afraid? The reason is another four-word phrase: “I am with you,” Brian Townsend exhorted us recently.

We are not alone. God is with us, and for a wonderful purpose. “You will see the deliverance promised to you.”

But why are we exhorted not to be afraid, when God knows how prone to fear we are. Look at Paul, flogged, stoned, attacked by bandits, threatened with death. How did he keep going, conquering the fear? Forget what is behind and press on towards the goal, he urges us. That was his motivation to keep going – that God was with him and there was a reward before him.

Jesus must have been afraid too. He knew the agonizing death that was before him. He told his disciples about it several times, and he prayed to God about it, earnestly, sweating drops of blood.

How did Jesus manage? He knew he was not alone. And Paul knew this too. Both could see the future joy, resurrection, to eternal peace. That motivating promise is there for all of us too. Our Kingdom visions help us look forward positively. And God’s assurances are even more amazing than: No eye can see, no mind can even conceive of it.

This light at the end of the tunnel may be bright. Or thoughts and worries may make you afraid and cloud the light. But it is there nonetheless. God is with us and for us. Psalms tell us: Our soul finds rest in Him alone. If we cast our burdens on Him, He will sustain us.

Moses had times of fear. In Exodus 3, despite God speaking to him, he was afraid. In verse 12 we read of the comforting words God gave him. But he still doubted (Ex 4:1). His human weakness is not ignored. He is heped . Hebrew 11 lists all the hard times of being afraid [??], despite knowing God was for them. But God did not hold it against them. That is a comfort for us when feeling negative.

We have been given evidence of our Father’s control over creation. The 10 plagues on Egypt showed God’s mighty hand at work. The miraculous exodus of 2 million of God’s people, 430 years after 70 went down to Egypt with Jacob, are a glimpse of the joy God wants to give us; that we will run and not grow weary; that the ransomed will return with singing. That wonderful time, when fear will be a thing of the past, is the light before us, to drive out all fear.

As John says in 1 John 4v18: “There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear.” And Jesus left us with a clear message of encouragement. John 14v27: “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.”

God’s Spirit is in us and is active, if we will let it be, Matt and Coren Miles of Finsbury Park ecclesia enthused the Horley Praise Day on Saturday.

What is a chicken Caesar salad if the chicken, croutons, Parmesan cheese and mayonnaise are left out? A bowl of lettuce!. Just a bowl of lettuce. Missing all the good bits. And we are the same, if we leave the good bits out of our lives, the bits God wants us to include.

So, what are those good bits? What guides us? What is at the centre of our lives? Is it God, Jesus, the Bible, belief, faith, family, culture, love? For the Jewish community it is the Law. But what about us?

In Jeremiah 31:33 God takes the Law, which had been written on stone, and puts His law in our minds and writes it on our hearts. In Ezekiel 36:26 God gives us a new heart and puts a new spirit in us; He removes from us our heart of stone and gives us a heart of flesh. In 2 Corinthians 3:3 Paul explains how we show that we are a letter from Christ, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts, our hearts. The Law is transferred from being something outside us, on tablets of stone, to something inside us!

Turn to Acts. At Pentecost, the Jewish festival celebrating the giving of the Law, the Spirit came down on the 12 apostles, just as the Law had come down to the people from the mountain.

Peter recognised the change (Acts 2:37-39): “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off—for all whom the Lord our God will call.”

Paul picks this idea up in Romans 7: 1-6. It can seem a complicated and confusing passage. But the gist is that we could find ourselves like an empty bowl of lettuce, no longer married to the Law, because it died. But the Bible says we are not committed to a bachelor life, the love is actually still there, but we now love somebody else, the Holy Spirit. We serve in the new way of the Spirit and not in the old way of the Law.

The Holy Spirit is an important thing in our lives, it is guiding us and giving us our values. Without it our lives are like a Caesar salad with all the good ingredients taken out. Rom 8:1-2 -
the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free. And this theme recurs again and again in the Bible.

So, IF the Spirit dwells in you he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of his Spirit who lives in you (Rom 8:10-11). Why are we ashamed that the Spirit lives in us?

In Matt 5:17 Jesus says: “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.” We still have a law, but it is now the Spirit. But our tradition omits it.
Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God, Paul explains in 1 Cor 6:19. The Temple contains the Holy of Holies, in which is the ark of the covenant, in which are the tablets of the Law. In the same way, we have God’s Spirit inside us. Otherwise, we are a chicken Caesar salad with the good bits taken out, and we are to be most pitied of all, because we are trying to do it all ourselves and do not have the things God gave us at the centre: His Spirit in our inner being (Ephesians 3: 14-19).

God wants us to be eating the whole salad. If we live by the Spirit, we also walk by the Spirit.

OK. That’s clear. And?

The Holy Spirit is God’s power, to do. So, is the doing the problem, the idea that the Spirit does things? Indeed, it was not what Jesus said that wound up the Pharisees and Scribes, it was what he did, his miracles.

All through the Bible, when things needed doing, God gave people the Spirit to get things done. Noah, Moses, Samson, the Apostles. And interestingly it’s up to God who He gives the Spirit to, to get things done. It is not based on how good people are. In Acts, for example, some Greeks receive the Holy Spirit, before they have even been baptised.

So, the question for us, if the Bible says the Holy Spirit is inside us, is what is it doing inside us? It is not just making us feel good, it is there for a reason.

The parable of the talents tells how God chooses how much each servant should be given. The fact that he who received 10 coins produced 10 more shows His choice was right. And one hid his coin in the ground. So, the question for us is what is God’s power doing in us?

Look at the Acts of the Apostles, describing their works. It is actually the Acts of the Holy Spirit, and how it underpinned their actions, as detailed on almost every page. It’s not about the power to sit in an armchair and to not sin, to seek to really understand and to believe. It’s not for that. It is for us to DO.

It is strongly linked to the idea of whether we have been saved, are being saved, or will be saved. It is a debate that can split us. But Acts 2:46 says “those who were being saved.” Not had been, or will be. But are being.

A fluke? Paul says in 1 Corinthians 1:18 “who are being saved.” And in 1 Cor 15:1-2 “are being saved.” And 2 Cor 2:15 “are being saved….are perishing” It’s a dynamic process.

2 Cor 3:17-18 – we are being transformed. It is a very present tense transformation, by degrees.

So, do you want to change? Yes, we become Christians by changing, through baptism. But does it then stop? We soon recognise that baptism is the beginning of the transformation process. The change is being caused by God’s power to do, through the Holy Spirit – to change who we are and what we do, our values, the very core of us and the fruits, the outpouring, that results from those changes. And that’s why it is written on our hearts.

Galatians 5:16-18 tells us how the bad things we hold onto stop us from being transformed. If we try to carry the old ways of doing things, the yoke Christ offers us is very heavy. It only becomes light if we throw those old things away.

So, which comes first, faith or works? The fruit (works) come as a result of a strong tree (faith). The good things we do are a result, not of us, but of the goodness God has put inside us. We can’t just create good works ourselves. That would be like creating plastic (artificial) fruit.

Galatians 5:24-25 “Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.”

Transformation pushes us way beyond where we are comfortable. So don’t try to transform your own life, by your own effort, even though it is something we are all tempted to try. It only happens by God’s power. The Spirit gifts (healing, miracles, prophecy, discerning spirits, tongues, interpreting tongues, administration, helps, wisdom, knowledge, faith) are not ours, but God’s, given to us. They help us to jump out of the armchair and leave behind the old ways, because Christ’s way is a better way than our own way.

Heb 11 lists those who acted by faith, by a gift from God, as God used the Holy Spirit to get things done, for the common good (1 Cor 12:7). Abel offered God a more acceptable sacrifice than Cain, and all the other examples cited in Hebrews 11, came from faith, from God, through the Spirit, not from people being good.

Those people in Heb 11 all provide signs of the coming Kingdom. So, what’s our sign? Three spring to mind: baptism, breaking of bread, and church unity. They show forth the transformation; the proclamation of Christ’s resurrection; and unity around the faith. Are they done by us, of ourselves? No, but because God has given these gifts to us, for others to see.

So, let us shine, like John wants the seven churches to shine, as vessels of the Holy Spirit on fire, showing the fruits: love, joy, peace, long suffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.

Eph 2:18-22 – For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit. Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord.  And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.

We are here to leave our loads, safe in fellowship, in love, centred around the huge love God shows us through His son. So, let’s try to leave our loads in the left luggage office, so we can enjoy the blessings God gives us, Rob Clements exhorted us last Sunday.

In Psalm 53:2 we find God looking down to see if there are any who understand, any who seek God. The message is clear. We, like David, should seek God, even in dark times. Ps 69 v32,33: “the poor will see and be glad, you who seek God, may your hearts live! The Lord hears the needy and does not despise His captive people”

And we are needy. Needy of the forgiveness and love that Jesus brings us, his captive people. We can feel captive, hands tied, in a kind of prison. That’s why Jesus says “seek first His righteousness”. That’s what makes us tick. We should focus on what Jesus tells and shows us.

We know how good it feels when we feel in tune with God. But it doesn’t last. We are patchy in our lives. Paul was the same, human like us, and equally frustrated. Just as it is going well, it goes wrong. He too was subject to the struggle (Rom 7:15), feeling the inner delight (v22) but feeling another law at work, making us prisoners!

He knew the answer, as he praised: “thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord,” (Rom 7:25). For the truly tremendous thing is that Jesus lifts us up, further than before, even when we fall.

Who rescues us? “In all these things we are more than conquerors, through him who loved us, because we know that in all things God works for the good of those that love Him, who has been called for His purpose.” Rom 8:31 – “If God is for us, who can be against us. He who did not spare His own son, but gave him up for us all.”

So, our response is to be for God in return. God has called us, so we respond by calling others, helping each other, so we really feel there is nothing separating us from the love of God, that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Paul has 3 suggestions to help:

• Rom 1:20 – God’s eternal power has been clearly shown, in His creation all around us. There is no excuse. So take time to see that and realise, His eternal power is demonstrated all around us.
• Rom 12:10,13 – Be devoted to one another, in brotherly love. Share and practise hospitality, as a group and as a team, working, celebrating and commiserating together.
• Rom 12:12 Be faithful in prayer, together and individually, in public and in private. Pray for one another.

It all means we need to let go of our individual blockages and sins – let them go from our clenched hands – to open those fists and give and receive as God intends.

What F word describes our ecclesia? Followers? Fellowship? Friends? Or family? Dan Fox, from Shirley ecclesia, encouraged us to think of our family in Christ at Horley, a family just like Joseph’s family of 66 members from all those years ago.

Like Joseph’s family, we all have one Father, even if we have different mothers. We have problems, just like Joseph’s family had problems. We are prone to fight, be jealous, commit bad actions. Each member is different. Some are more spiritual, others focussed on work and career, some of us doing things we shouldn’t. Ecclesias are by no means perfect. BUT, like a family, like Joseph’s family, we can show love.

In Gen 37:16 we find Joseph seeking for his family, just like Jesus, for whom he is so clearly a type. And the other 11 brothers clearly represent the disciples….and us, reflecting the range of character types in every ecclesia. Reuben, physically strong, but spiritually weak; Naphtali, doing things alone; Levi and Simeon, quick tempered and fast to react. And Judah.

In Gen 37:26 we find him taking an active role, trying to prevent Joseph from being killed. But then in Gen 38:1 he leaves the family and goes “down”, away from the ecclesia, the family, to spend time with an outsider, Hirah. And why? To make money.

Why doesn’t God prevent him from doing this and the bad things that follow? Simple. Because it is his choice, just as we have a CHOICE.
Fortunately, Judah recognises his errors, when he is humbled by Tamar, his daughter-in-law. He had been thinking of himself only, when he should have been thinking of his family too. Despite being outside the family, outside the ecclesia, God was still working on him

In Gen 43:1 he is back in the family, the ecclesia, and leading, as the family seeks salvation from starvation in Egypt, where Joseph now oversees the land. God has brought Judah back, a changed man, humbled and contrite like Paul (1 Cor 15), recognising God’s grace.

In Gen 43:8 Judah takes personal responsibility for his brother, Benjamin. 1 John 3:16 embodies the concept: “this is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers.”

In the same way, around us are all our brothers and sisters – Isachar, Reuben, Gad….. Would you be willing to lay down your life to prevent the spiritual death of any of them? Judah had recognised that our whole purpose in life is to seek, to look out for, each other.

Jesus’s mission was the same. Heb 2:9 “But we see Jesus…..now crowned with glory and honour ….bringing many sons to glory…but the one who makes men holy and those who are made holy are of the same family. So Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers.”

Jesus’s whole mission is to seek us, to keep us alive. So let us remember how we are a family and lay down our lives for the spiritual good of each other too.

How strong is your faith? Do you have the faith and confidence in God to really believe we are His children and servants, with all that entails? Last Sunday Robin stepped in for Jim Bilton to remind us of the strength of conviction available through Christ.

Indeed, we could be the very tools with which the final shackles are struck off the gates of the Kingdom. Yet, despite this great potential, our lives can seem small and petty, a round of the mundane, leading to feelings of meaninglessness and futility.

If last year was not a year of significant progress for you, does that make you apprehensive for the future? If so, look to Paul. His desire, like ours, was to always do good. Yet he couldn’t seem to make that happen. Instead he saw himself doing wrong, even when he didn’t want to. How human!
Indeed, it is the sin within that acts. And, thanks be to God, through Jesus Christ our Lord, that sin can be blotted away. This is the very nature and purpose of our religion – to believe, really believe, so we can derive those benefits. Because, let’s face it, evil is no part of God. It is a self-inflicted human wound.

So, what reasons, during the tests and trials of life, including all the small mundane ones, do we have for believing that a higher power is working for the good of all creation, and for our benefit?

We know the victory was achieved through the apparent weakness of Christ, the only perfect man. True religion teaches that we do not need to be snared in our old selves. True peace of mind comes with our attempts to serve him. Nothing more. Not mysticism. Just Christ’s “easy burden” of simple belief, acted out. Paul did this, and it amazed the Jews. God protects His true servants. As Peter says: “We did not invent clever stories.” Abraham believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness. Not that he only believed. He acted on his belief too – through his preparedness to sacrifice his son Isaac. As James says, faith without deeds is no good.

So, maybe 2010 was not good. No matter. It is buried. What matters is the opportunities that remain to us. Do not be despondent, be cheerful. We are part of God’s family and He will look after us. God did not spare His own son, graciously giving us all things through him. “I will surely bless you and give you many descendants.” And we are those descendants if we do His will. And if we do, that will rid us of the fear and despondency that can catch us out.

“If God is for us, who can be against us.”

Sometimes our thoughts become dominated by what we want! We lose sight of what we actually need. There is a huge difference between the two. We might want more material possessions, experiences and opportunities. By contrast, God knows what we actually need.

Last Sunday Barry reminded us of Stewart’s encouragement to just stop between tasks, between all our rushing about, and recognise God’s role in the world and in our own individual lives.

Barry reminded us about the blessings of fellowshipping together, especially through Gathering, the Gospel, and Giving. These are things we need to build our characters in the way God wishes us to, to promote His message and to be a lightstand for the Gospel message.

In Acts 20 Paul commits the Ephesians to God and to the word of His grace: “which can build you up and give you an inheritance among all those who are sanctified.”
That is why these are the things we need. So much more valuable than what we often want.

Gathering: probably the area where we all have most room for improvement. Joining together and appreciating each other’s company meets a need we have, for the right focus in our lives. Maybe it pays to reflect how much effort a speaker makes preparing the topic for the gathering. All we need to do is turn up and receive one idea to make it worth our while attending!

Gospel: this is all about ministering to each other. Through grace we have a great reason for common fellowship, because we have such a great thing in common. And our fellowship, which is all about joint actions, and only uses words when necessary, will bind us together more strongly.

Giving: to each other and gracefully receiving too. Remember, it is more blessed to give than to receive. Here the emphasis is on giving as in sacrificing something out of love, as opposed to donating, which involves little real effort. Jesus knew the difference. His giving is the one thing that makes us know for certain that Jesus loves us – his sacrificial gift of his life, given in service to his Father, for us.

If we confuse wants with needs we are on dangerous ground. If we choose to care for another, we choose to benefit them, which involves sacrificing ourselves, showing our love. If they do something in return, with the same motivation, the love grows. If it is done to meet a want, it is more about paying a tax, an obligation, done grudgingly, with no sacrifice and no love. This applies at an individual and ecclesial level. And it works at God’s level too. So, what will you do for God and for Jesus, to show your love? Something you want to do, or something you need to do?

So, how was your first week of the new year? Another week closer to God’s Kingdom? Another week of good works, building towards a more Christ-like personality? Another week of laying down strong growth towards the
character God wants you to be?

Last Sunday Stuart Walker exhorted us to seize the opportunity of the New Year to resolve to commit ourselves to a closer walk with Jesus towards God’s Kingdom.

A week later it is easy to reflect on how tough that walk can be. Not just thwarted by wilful acts of disobedience, but hampered by the seemingly never-ending onslaught of daily life, preventing us from doing the things we want to do and pushing us into actions we never intended.

Amidst these challenges, stop, and ponder. God has showered upon us rich blessings – a knowledge of the Word, rich fellowship, the necessities for daily life, and forgiveness of our mistakes through Christ, What rich blessings! Furthermore, all those slips and mistakes we make, despite being so unintended and so unwelcome, are helping us towards the characters God wants us to be – provided we learn from the experiences. Like a tree growing in the forest, some years are good for growth, some less so. But even the tough times produce growth – as we adapt our characters to cope with the
knocks we take, Charles suggested in last Sunday’s family service.

We need not lose heart. Look back over the years, at where you have come from, and think about where God is taking you. Think of that ancient Great Basin Bristlecone Pine, known as Methuselah (left). What has it gone through that has influenced the development of the growth rings that run through its trunk, as it stands in California today, aged 4,844 years! Our mortal lives are shorter, but filled with incident. So, surely, our three top priorities must be to:

• Recognise more clearly the hand of God in our lives and the affairs of the world around us;
• Review the many blessings we have in our daily lives;
• Reaffirm our number one priority to be developing our relationship with God.

Perhaps then we will see that come what may, we are continuing to lay down successive rings of growth, some stronger than others, but all contributing to the overall character God so wants us to become.
As a result, perhaps we can approach the year ahead with greater confidence, And we can have in mind the image painted so clearly in Jeremiah 17:7, as suggested by Julia Ricci in last week’s Prayer Circle e-mail.

May God be with us all as we strive to walk in his paths until Christ returns.

CONFRONTED with a snarling Bengal tiger how would you feel? Confident? Scared? Fearful? Probably completely petrified!

The problems we face in our lives can have the same effect. Illness, exams, work —all can hit our confidence and fill us with FEAR!

More than that, fears from this life can be compounded by spiritual fear. Do we serve God as we should? Is God there? Is God for, or against, us?
Here’s one view of fear:

“Fear is life’s only true opponent. It can defeat life. It is a clever, treacherous adversary. It has no decency, respects no law, shows no mercy. It goes for your weakest spot, and it finds it with unerring ease (sounds familiar?). It begins in your mind, always. One moment you are feeling calm, self-possessed, happy. Then fear, disguised in the garb of mild-mannered doubt, slips into your mind like a spy.

“You can’t believe this doubt in your mind, and fight back. But you are poorly armed. Doubt beats your disbelief with little trouble, turning it into anxiety.

“So reason steps in. You are reassured—reason is well prepared.

“But, to your amazement, despite superior tactics and a number of undeniable victories, reason is laid low. You feel yourself weakening, wavering. Your anxiety turns to dread and now fear hits your body. Every part of you, in the manner best suited to it, falls apart. You make rash decisions. You dismiss your last allies: hope and trust. And there you have it: you’ve defeated yourself! Fear, which is but an impression, has triumphed.”
We’d love a life without fear. To conquer it every time. How much more could we do for God then!

Yet, it is when we are at our weakest that God is strongest. Fear creates the vacuum into which God steps.

In 1 John 4 & 5 fear is tackled, with 1 Jn 4 v18 at its heart. These chapters of love explain why, with God’s love, we need no longer fear FEAR.

No need to fear God: be in awe of His power, yes. But not quake with fear. He loves us. And living in His love, there is no need to fear what the world throws at us, be it snarling tigers or far worse. God is in control. Just trust!

GOD’S plan is all about recycling broken, messed up people and making them into new creations through Jesus, Rob C exhorted us recently.
We are a part of that plan, which moved into effect when Jesus rose from the dead. The Kingdom is now among us, because the thoughts of it, the message of it, has been put out into all the world.

And we are ambassadors for this wonderful process. The principles have been initiated. Jesus has risen. We can be baptised. And we can secure repeated forgiveness through the love God has lavished upon us, represented to us by the bread and wine.

So, how can we live for Jesus, when we are so pernicious and self-centred?

Simply believing should help, believ-ing that we are new creations, forgiven, each and every day.

So, do we believe, and do we act like we do —showing by our actions that we believe we are an active part of God’s great plan, and that it is our role, our duty and our privilege? Do we extend this message to others?

Paul wrote to the Philippians about our citizenship in heaven, where God is, and that through Christ’s work we are already closer to where God is.
We are ambassadors, part of the plan and part of the challenge too. We do well to reflect on the renewal God offers us, and to think of our role in creation, as stewards, doing something with it for God, to steward what we have been given for Him, seeing it as a token of more to come, as we look forward to the restoration of Eden and better things to come.

God promises a new heaven and a new earth, the ultimate restoration of His Creation, all dedicated to its creator. This “new” in Rev 21 is kaianos “renewed” – not neos “brand new.”

This renewal will take place on earth, all very different from a “pie in the sky when you die” Heaven.

Through baptism we start to go through the process of transformation, which will ultimately end in the Kingdom. We are already a part of God’s new Creation, IF we believe, and accept that through God’s grace we are reconciled to Him through Christ.

PRAY in all things, especially in our travels, Russ exhorted us last week.

In 2 Kings 3 the three “wise monkeys” – the kings of Israel, Judah and Edom—did not seek God’s guidance or support as they set out on a journey, to attack Moab (v8). Indeed, they did not really prepare for the journey at all. Choosing the desert way, a circuitous route, they ran out of water within 7 days! Elisha was called for, and this holy man explained how God would provide a miraculous intervention— supplying water for the men and their animals, and confusing the Moabites, who thought the water was blood and went to plunder the camp, only to be completely routed themselves.

God met the needs of the men and their animals, and overcame the Moabites too, by providing water in valley. “This is an easy thing in the Lord’s eyes” (v18). It is a salutary lesson for us all.

Whether we are travelling for leisure, work or to preach the Truth, we should approach travel wisely and seek God’s support through trusting prayer. Indeed, we should bring all matters to God in prayer, no matter how great or small they may be. God is Lord over all things, great and small.

A simple walk in Wales, highlights the point. The weather seems fine, the boots are new and a walking guide has been bought. All goes well. But the walk is tiring, over fields and hills. Soon it becomes apparent that with no food, or water, or survival equipment, the walkers are very vulnerable. One trip, one fall, a twisted ankle, a broken leg—and then what?We have an obligation to prepare for our travels carefully, taking a responsible approach. And an essential part of that preparation is prayer.
In Jeremiah 51 travel occurs again. This time God is sending a force to destroy Babylon. “I will send foreigners to Babylon” (v2), he explains. And their purpose? To rescue God’s children, even though they continue to sin. “For Israel and Judah have not been forsaken by their God, the Lord Almighty”(v5). Encouragement indeed!

What might Jesus say to the World Bank (and us)

The World Bank is an organisation that started in 1944, with the aim of providing support to countries ravaged by the Second World War, explained Rob Evans last Sunday evening. Today, 66 years later, the World Bank has 10,000 staff and 187 members countries, offering low- or no-interest loans to help some of the most needy people in the world.

In 2009 it gave $47 billion in loans to finance 300 new projects and 1800 that were already running. That sounds like very good work indeed! But the World Bank has also been accused of losing $100 billion to corruption since 1946. It has an expensive, modern headquarters and has been criticised for forcing Western finance models on beneficiary countries, including deregulation, privatisation and budget equalisation, things that may not best suit those countries.

So, what might Jesus say to such an organisation? Indeed, what might Jesus say to any organisation involved in managing money—be it the world’s banks, which caused a $14.5 trillion loss in global wealth recently, or…….us!

The Bible provides plenty of pointers. 1 Sam 2:7-8 reminds us that the poor have always been with us, and always will be. Matt 25 21-30 explains the importance of managing what God gives us properly—the importance of good stewardship. 2 Cor 8 14-15, emphasises the need to share and share alike, for everyone’s benefit. Ecc 11 1-2 urges us to be astute and think about risk and reward, spreading our investments wisely. We should give as we receive from God. We should give out, because God gives to us, and He has much more to give than we can ever match.

And most poignant for us, the banks and the World Bank: 1 Timothy 6:17-19 (NIV)

“Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share. In this way they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life.”