All talk?

I said I'd give you guys an update on what our vision as a church is for working with the poor here in Durban after our preach last week. Well, we've had the third and last in our mini series, so I'll tell you a little about that too. Sorry it's turned into a long one, but it is a serious topic and not something that's not readily lending itself to being packaged for our convenience. And as a major part of what I'm doing here I think it's good to do it justice here.

Drew preached last week telling us about God's heart for the poor. He referenced Jesus' great manifesto in Luke chapter 4: "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me to declare good news to the poor" including those who were mourning, hungry, sick, blind, and captive to powers stronger than themselves. It was a declaration of the season of God's favour coming to the earth, which Jesus said he was the fulfilment of. While there were many things said, I think what cuts to the heart of it was the statement that what will change the situation of the poor is an encounter with Jesus. While that can include people turning around to follow him, it is not always just that. Jesus did much in healing and teaching for people who never ended up following him, but their lives were definitely changed! No one left an encounter with Jesus the same, even if they didn't leave as his disciple. Philanthropy was around long before Jesus, but it was in Jesus' coming that he could say there was finally some "good news" to the poor, backed by the power of the "Spirit of the Lord". If we read the passage Jesus quoted from in Isaiah 61 we find not only are the poor helped, but they become "oaks of righteousness" and ones who rebuild what has been torn down. Those who were broken are healed and made healers of others who are broken. It's a radical change from a perpetual dependency that often comes with "missionary" and "humanitarian" work, as good as those things are. What is needed is for people to encounter Jesus Christ, here and now, as he operates through his people. They need to encounter his compassion expressed through our hands, his comfort expressed through our words, his healing expressed through mountain moving faith, his righteousness expressed in our integrity, his humility expressed in our willingness to be become lowly, and his saving love expressed in his death and resurrection. When we help the poor, brothers, we must bring more than ourselves to the table, even if we don't necessarily mention Jesus every time. But we must bring, by faith, his season of supernatural favour by the same "Spirit of the Lord" that was on Jesus.

One further point of conflict with our natural thoughts was God's reasoning in delighting in the poor. Jesus said he came to "proclaim the year of the Lord's favour". It's much more than proclaiming a year of "justice" or of "equality" - it's favour, i.e. above what is "necessary". God, being full of love and generosity, being eager to give his favour chose the poor. Why? We want to say, "Because they need it more", but the Bible never really gives that as a sufficient reason. It tends to say more that God gives to those that have nothing so that there can be no claim that they deserve it (quite what I was saying before with, "The poor don't deserve our help"). God wants it to be clear that his favour is given because he is favourable, not because certain people impressed him or had something he needs. For people to know truly that they are loved without regard for merit, that is certainly necessary. Rich and poor people are both equally "deserving" of God's favour as ones created by Him and for Him, but yet God seems to favour the poor because that allows is the freest of loves (not the compelled sort we tend to associate with working with the poor). It may seem like a side-issue, but it's actually central. If we are to be overflowing with favour it must be because we see God's overflowing favour and desire to give, not just a compulsion to help. Our Father is compassionate and is not unmoved by suffering, but He is more moved by His own swelling character of love.

Gary and Nicky summed up the mini-series this week by helping us think biblically about the issue of HIV in our culture. If HIV is considered a problem in Europe, it's a huge thing in sub-saharan Africa. Nicky, being an HIV trainer, gave us the rundown on how things are in South Africa. I don't remember all the numbers, but they were very very shocking. In KwaZulu-Natal, where we are, it is reckoned that anywhere up to 40% of people are HIV positive - a breathtaking figure! While it can be spread from parent to child at birth (approximately 60% risk, easily halved to 30% with early detection, and possible to reduce to 0% with a fair bit of cash), or from contaminated needles (either between drug users, or accidental infection, say in a hospital), or from blood transfusion (not too risky in SA, but much more so elsewhere in Africa), the overwhelming majority (as in about 95%) of cases are transmission by sex.

It's an interesting dynamic here. Sex is both taboo and also widely practiced. A sex industry is very evident, but the society as a whole would not really talk about it and generally think it to be the preserve of a certain shameful group. Young people, it would seem, get themselves into sexual relationships quite readily, but it's usually hush hush. In townships and more rural areas this is especially so - people with little else to do and little hope having casual sex, but not talking about the consequences. Ironically also with many the threat of contracting HIV just isn't such an issue as they reckon they'll always be poor and will die young - there's not a lot to ruin by becoming infected.

Because of the taboo nature of sex it does mean that there's also a great stigma attached to HIV. It's not just a disease - it's a statement that you've likely been doing something you shouldn't have been doing (which isn't necessarily true as you could get it from a cheating husband or wife, for example), and so people don't readily go for tests or seek help. HIV has achieved a very ominous status to the point where it is assumed that everything connected with it is a scary ordeal (e.g. even being tested).

HIV suffers are very much like the lepers of Jesus' day. Gary spoke to us of Jesus' compassion on them and power to heal them in Luke 5, followed by Jesus giving healing to a paralysed man but being concerned first to grant him forgiveness of sins. Lepers were basically anyone with a visible and contagious skin disease of any kind. In the interests of keeping this from spreading to the entire neighbourhood lepers had to be seperate and were "unclean". Many took this to mean that they were defective, devalued people who deserved to be shunned. Jesus (and the OT) did not view them as this, but merely as people who needed to be seperate for the sake of others. The OT, I think, envisioned care and help being offered to the leperous, though with some seperation because of health reasons. Why else were they permitted to remain in the camp?

Jesus went right across what was culturally accepted and offered compassion to the leper. We also must push past the shame associated with this disease and reach out to the many who are dying with HIV/AIDS. But again, it is the encounter with Jesus that was important. Gary reminded us that we're not on a "world improvement program" - we reach the poor because it's God's heart, and we do so while preaching the gospel and saving people from far worse than HIV. What does it profit someone to be even healed of HIV and to remain in darkness and death apart from God? Our aim is not to fix everything or to create perfect comfort for all people, but to make God known.

Sounds a bit unfeeling, huh? Well let me take what Gary said and explain it a bit further. A "world improvement program" basically says, "People are all fine, but their surroundings need to be fixed. They need education, opportunity, healthcare, family support, justice, etc" - which they do. But we would be labouring on the finer points if we focussed only on these things (even though they are massive "fine points" that God calls many to spend their lives pursuing for His sake). The fact is that people are not fine and what is necessary is not just a change in circumstances, but a change in them. God looked at the world and decided that the root of the problem was not what happened to people, but where people stood in relation to Him - as enemies (A place where you can only really expect bad things! The Bible never has much problem with the question, "Why does God allow suffering?" but addresses the much more baffling one of, "How can a righteous God show favour to sinners who deserve His wrath?"). Hence Jesus came, taking on human flesh, and died to put an end to bring an end to that status for the creation and for all who would turn and accept Him as their Lord once more. God's "world improvement program" does include a change in the world where "He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away" (Revelation 21:4), and that as a consquence of the dwelling place of God being with man once more (previous verse), but it also includes a change in people through dealing with their sin and fallen standing before God. To be just about "world improvement" would be a fallacy. The gospel of Jesus Christ must be preached, the evidence of it's power and of God's compassion being seen in our works of kindness on His behalf. For indeed, "As you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me" (Matthew 25:40).

What struck me when considering this though is how all our efforts can only change external things. It quite reminds me of Jesus' statement in John 3 - "flesh gives birth to flesh". Even that which will really change the state of play in the world, conquering death, disease, disaster, and division, is done by God's power through the Cross ("If anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation" - 2 Corinthians 5:17) as a supernatural work. So all our efforts even for "world improvement", which is a concern of God's completely in line with the "spiritual" things of worship and eternal life, must really come from the power of God. Biblical logic dictates to me that if we are to do anything significant it must be that Jesus is in the centre and is making us fruitful. Biblical logic tells me that if we go out into the world as just flesh and blood, we will be marginal at best. Anything that is really going to "improve the world" must be accompanied by and come from a supernatural intervention of God - the favour of God. We must believe for and look for something beyond ourselves to come into this world when we work in it. We must be looking for what can only be described as God's kingdom come to make His will be done. I write this to myself, I write this to those who labour in "world improvement" at Beulah where I have left this work to others, and I write this to all who know Jesus. So often we're at best playing catch up to charitable organisations. I dream of days when people will not just look at the Church and say, "It's nice they're doing charity work too", but when they will look and say, "Their God is the hope of the world!" and that "mere" charity is seen as but a shadow and pale imitation what restoring work is happening through God's Kingdom power amongst us! Can I get an "amen"?

So after all that talk, was it just all talk? Well, we've started our food collection program to support the needy among us. Regularly we will either buy a batch of non perishable goods, or just pick up a few extras of things as we shop, and put them into storage for distribution to people among us in need as and when it's necessary. Many bags of food were brought to church for our offering this Sunday and we shared it out, each presenting a piece as a representation that we will each contribute to feed the hungry around us. We're believing it's a prophetic demonstration of what we as a church will do in much larger scale in the future.

We also collected nearly R10,000 in cash and IOUs, which is about £700. For a small church with a lot of students and in Durban, believe me that's a sizeable amount, and one we aim to replicate again and again. We're currently looking at projects involving HIV, pregnancy crisis, peer education, and probably some more. This will certainly help us to start. Please feel free to help us to continue by supporting us. Just let me know if you want to and I'll tell you how.

Making His Name of compassion known and restoring His world in His power


Andrew