Frankly Speaking - October 23, 2019
October 23, 2019
All they asked was that we should continue to remember the poor, the very thing I was eager to do.
Galatians 2:10 (NIV84)
Remembrance equals participation. (Bruce Waltke)
These words from the Apostle Paul are part of a defense he mounts against people questioning the legitimacy of his ministry. It seems like he was always at the center of some controversy. He makes clear that other apostles in Jerusalem recognized his call from God to go to the Gentiles and made it clear that Gentiles did not need to become “Jews” (circumcised) to be part of the church. They just had one concern: that they not forget the poor.
That seems to me to be a remarkable little note. It is so easy for forget the poor … the needy, disadvantaged, oppressed, under-resourced, or displaced. The fact is, the Bible views all of us as “poor” from a spiritual standpoint, and the same compassion that moved God to reach out to us spiritually also moves us to have compassion for physical kinds of needs. God views us in our entirety as physical souls.
We talked a few weeks ago about how powerful the word “remember” is. It occurs more than 200 times in the Old Testament alone, and it never means simple mental recall. It always means to do something. And to not remember is to forsake or reject. For example, to “remember the Sabbath” means to observe it. When God “remembered” the plight of the Israelite slaves in Egypt, he did something about it. “Remembering” is why we have memorials and preserve historical sites and create museums. We “remember” by doing.
The greatest population of needy people and one of the most significant people movements in history is taking place today, right under our nose. An extraordinary 71 million people around the world are displaced right now. One third of them are in the Middle East and they are some of the most UNreached people in history. We are conditioned by media and news reports to view this from a purely secular standpoint, but we must learn to see things through a biblical lens, from God’s standpoint. In Ralph Winter’s words, “Every major decision you make will be faulty until you see the whole world as God sees it."
As a church we have been very proactive and strategic in having a hand in what God is doing through the global refugee crisis. Out of tragedy God is bringing great opportunity, and we are in a position to take great advantage of it.
For several Sundays we have presented updates on what our partnership with World Relief is producing in Jordan. This Sunday we are inviting people to contribute to a special offering to support that ministry. Our goal is $30,000 and it is above and beyond our regular budget. Would you make a special offering – in any amount – this Sunday? If every family gave $60, we would easily reach our goal, just one way of “remembering the poor.”
Frank