Making a Collection

Posted on by korgrocker

“For you see, the believers in Macedonia and Achaia have eagerly taken up an offering for the poor among the believers in Jerusalem. They were glad to do this because they feel they owe a real debt to them. Since the Gentiles received the spiritual blessings of the Good News from the believers in Jerusalem, they feel the least they can do in return is to help them financially.”
Romans 15:26-27 NLT

A minister once suggested to a group of people that he was going to do something religious and have a collection. An ironic, vaguely humorous, statement that articulated what some people around him thought about Christians and their endless request for money for one need or another. If it wasn’t to be the organ fund, then it was to repair the church roof, and so on. My mother some years ago was very devoted with an orphanage project in Africa, to supply clothes, blankets and money. Appeals for these items and particularly money were popular and well supported in her church at the time. And that is how it was with Paul and the believers in Macedonia and Achaia. They were aware of the plight of poor people in Jerusalem and took up an offering to provide for them. Paul was asked to take the money to them, as he was going in that direction.

The motivation behind the Macedonian Christian’s desire to take up the offering was because of their gratitude to the Jerusalem believers, from whom their spiritual blessings had come. They had somehow heard that there were poor people in Jerusalem who needed their help, as had happened once before. We read in Acts 11:27-30, “During this time some prophets travelled from Jerusalem to Antioch. One of them named Agabus stood up in one of the meetings and predicted by the Spirit that a great famine was coming upon the entire Roman world. (This was fulfilled during the reign of Claudius.) So the believers in Antioch decided to send relief to the brothers and sisters in Judea, everyone giving as much as they could. This they did, entrusting their gifts to Barnabas and Saul to take to the elders of the church in Jerusalem”. 

In those days, there were no foreign aid programmes, supported from a country’s tax burden. There were no social security or universal credit schemes that would help the poor. Literally, people would starve unless wealthier people around them helped out from their resources. Jesus encouraged those early disciples to share everything they had, and we read the ethos prevailing in the early church, as recorded in Acts 4:32, “All the believers were united in heart and mind. And they felt that what they owned was not their own, so they shared everything they had”. 

Fast forward to the 21st Century and we find that there are many opportunities for taking up a collection. There are many charities that rely on the generosity of people, and not just Christians. “Crowd-funding” is a fairly new phenomenon, a technique that leverages the power of the internet to maximise giving opportunities. But in it all what we give is a personal matter between us and God. There are many verses in the Bible about giving – here’s one, Proverbs 19:17, “If you help the poor, you are lending to the Lord— and he will repay you“! I’m sure the believers in Macedonia and Achaia were richly blessed by their generosity, as we will be too in our giving.

Dear Lord Jesus. You gave us more than we could ever think or imagine. You gave us Yourself. We are so grateful. Amen.

Babylon is Fallen

Posted on by korgrocker

“He gave a mighty shout: “Babylon is fallen—that great city is fallen! She has become a home for demons. She is a hideout for every foul spirit, a hideout for every foul vulture and every foul and dreadful animal. For all the nations have fallen because of the wine of her passionate immorality. The kings of the world have committed adultery with her. Because of her desires for extravagant luxury, the merchants of the world have grown rich.””
Revelation‬ ‭18:2-3‬ ‭NLT

The bright angel had a declaration to make. He spoke out, shouted even, the final condemnation of the world religious system, which had finally collapsed, taking with it everything that is foul and corrupt. In his vision, John saw a literal city called Babylon. There is of course a possibility that this was the case, but the result will ultimately be the same. In John’s vision, Babylon imploded and ended up as a smouldering pile of ruins, spiritually, religiously, morally, economically, nationally, and even globally. Babylon is fallen.

The language John used to described the fall of Babylon in his vision is graphic. You can almost see the horror and disgust dripping from his pen, or feel the shivers of dread running up the spines of the observers. The words he used, such as “foul”, “dreadful”, “immorality”, “adultery” – they all capture the event. But he also observes something we might see little harm in – words such as “luxury” and “rich“.

The bright angel, with his shouts, exposed all that is wrong with the world religious system. I use the word “religious” because that is what our world culture has become. The religion of secularism, materialism, and godlessness, and including a spiritual system conforming to what Paul said in 2 Timothy 3:5, They will act religious, but they will reject the power that could make them godly. …..”. And, ominously, a component part of “Babylon” is those things that make our life comfortable – luxury and wealth.

Jesus taught about the power of money in His parable taught in Matthew 6:21, “Wherever your treasure is, there the desires of your heart will also be.” and in Matthew 6:24, He said, “No one can serve two masters. For you will hate one and love the other; you will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and be enslaved to money“. 

We pilgrims have to be discerning when it comes to having comfortable lives. If we are fortunate enough to enjoy luxury and wealth, we must hold what we have with open hands. Always aware that our riches, no matter how modest, must be under our control, not controlling us. One day, the world system, of which luxury and wealth is a part, will collapse. As Jesus said in Matthew 6:19-20, “Don’t store up treasures here on earth, where moths eat them and rust destroys them, and where thieves break in and steal. Store your treasures in heaven, where moths and rust cannot destroy, and thieves do not break in and steal”. Eternal Heavenly treasure will be the only commodity of value when we pass from this life.

Dear Father. We know that You wish to richly bless Your children. Please help us to be good stewards of what You have entrusted to us in this life, and help us discern and seek out those things of Heavenly value. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

The Great Prostitute

Posted on by korgrocker

“One of the seven angels who had poured out the seven bowls came over and spoke to me. “Come with me,” he said, “and I will show you the judgment that is going to come on the great prostitute, who rules over many waters. The kings of the world have committed adultery with her, and the people who belong to this world have been made drunk by the wine of her immorality.””
Revelation‬ ‭17:1-2‬ ‭NLT‬‬

The seal and plague judgements are behind us and a separate scene is playing out in John’s vision. It is almost as though the main plot or narrative has been put on hold while a cameo appearance of the “great prostitute” takes place. Although we can read, and accept, what John saw literally, the only way we can make any sense of it is by interpreting it symbolically. The problem is that there can be several interpretations. 

So perhaps one interpretation is that the “great prostitute” is a form of religion. Not Godly in origin of course, but perhaps of a form based on a philosophy or with roots in a mystical or even Eastern religion. In recent times we have seen the emergence of spiritual disciplines such as Yoga or Mindfulness. In the 1960’s Transcendental Meditation was popularised by the Beatles. These are techniques or processes that many have claimed are beneficial for mental health, but they are all human based and exclude any involvement or recognition of God. They encourage us to look inward into ourselves, which may not be the most healthy practice for humans. There is, however, the possibility that John saw graphically, pictorially, a world religious philosophy or cult that had, at its roots, an anti-God, pro-self, pro-beast bias and perspective.

But why did John refer to it as the “great prostitute”? He described something that had become a global, God-substitute phenomenon, global because of the reference to “many waters”. And we see widespread acceptance of this beast-inspired religious cult by the world rulers, who apparently embraced it whole-heartedly. But there’s a problem for those who follow the “great prostitute” instead of God. We read the first commandment given by God to Moses, in Exodus 20:3-5, “You must not have any other god but me. You must not make for yourself an idol of any kind or an image of anything in the heavens or on the earth or in the sea. You must not bow down to them or worship them, for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God who will not tolerate your affection for any other gods. I lay the sins of the parents upon their children; the entire family is affected—even children in the third and fourth generations of those who reject me.” The beast-inspired global cult collides with God’s laws, as we are seeing in this chapter in Revelation. The “great prostitute” epitomises the wickedness and evil involved in the worship of anything except God Himself, and provides a focus point with a parallel to sexual sins.

We pilgrims have to be careful in this life. There is emerging from our academic institutions and politicians, amongst others, a philosophy that will not tolerate dissenters. Those who disagree with their points of view or ideologies are labelled as bigots or worse, and their alternative views, even if established on tradition, are closed down. That will be a sign of the global religion promoted by the followers of the “great prostitute”. And in these days the dissenters, perhaps us pilgrims included, will keep quiet rather than get involved in a public, social-media-fuelled, spat. So we pray. 

Dear God. Please grant us the wisdom to speak when there is value and keep quiet when there is not. Please help us to find the words that breathe life, Your life, into those we speak to, and we pray for Your Spirit to lead and guide us as You desire. Amen.