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generosity

Abide: Love

May 20, 2020 by Joe Kappel

Complaining. It’s one of the chief responses I’m hearing about our situation.

Complaining that people can go to the liquor store but not schools. Grumbling that we can get our lawns cut by professionals but not our hair. Frustration voiced that we can gather in supermarkets but not in churches.

I know complaining is going on because I’m hearing it, but I also know the tendencies of my own heart. These 2 months of social distancing are taking their toll on all of us in different ways, and I get the feelings of frustration and understand the complaints that are being raised.

But no matter what is happening around us, Jesus calls us to higher ground to commune with Him, to abide in Him. What is it He wants us to focus on no matter if we are currently together or not? Let’s read today Romans 12:9–13

[9] Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good. [10] Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor. [11] Do not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord. [12] Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer. [13] Contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality. (ESV)

Love is one of the Holy Spirit’s fruits. Paul included love in the list in Galatians 5:22 and he writes it at the head of a list of love-based deeds in Romans 12. If you make a bullet list of the commands, here’s how I think they fit together…

Let love be genuine:

  • by abhorring evil and holding to the good
  • by loving one another with brotherly affection
  • by outdoing one another to show honor
  • by not being slothful but zealous to serve the Lord
  • by rejoicing in hope
  • by being patient in tribulation
  • by being constant in prayer
  • by contributing to the needs of the saints and showing hospitality

Love heads the list but also motivates the list. How can we fulfill any of those commands without first knowing the love of Jesus who lived out that list with perfect love for God and people? Abiding in Jesus means experiencing His love and learning to love others like He does.

When we see that bulleted list above or read it in scripture, we must see first the love of Christ. Wouldn’t it be wonderful to spend time with Jesus? To personally experience everyday life with Him? To know His love for us no matter what?

Friends, I know we all default to complaining, but our time must be spent in learning from Jesus how to love and then thinking of as many ways as we can to love others practically, no matter the season. We have a far greater call to love others right now and always with the love we always receive from God.

Some of the top ways I can think of to love others during these days:

  • Pray, and communicate to people that you’ve prayed for them specifically.
  • Write letters (the old-fashioned kind) if you can, sharing with people the truth of God, and the love you have for them, particularly what you appreciate about them.
  • Contribute to the needs of the saints. Yes, giving is a way to show your love for others. It often begins by focusing on someone else and thinking through their needs and asking God to give you the motive and way to share. Recently our family received a letter (the old-fashioned kind) and a check for a certain amount urging us to apply it in a way that would help our family. We were so encouraged by this, and we remembered in that moment the God who sees us and knows our needs.
  • Help others practically. It’s possible to maintain social distancing, even as we seek to honor the guidelines of Phase 1 here in Knoxville, while working in one another’s yards, helping pick up groceries for the elderly or at-risk, or dropping off a fun treat on the porch for people with kids. I’ve been so encouraged seeing people in our church body do all these things.
  • Think through ways to be hospitable, even with restrictions still in place. For one helpful perspective, you may want to read this article by Rosaria Butterfield.

What are some ways you can think to show love to others? Starting with this list and adding to it as you go, ask the Lord to help you love others as He loves them. Then purpose to show that love to others as you are able.

 

Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Gentleness, Self-Control

Filed Under: Abide Tagged With: brotherly affection, generosity, giving, hospitality, love, one another, serving

Global Perspectives on Coronavirus – Pt 8

April 1, 2020 by Joe Kappel

Yesterday I shared a portion of my interview with a contact in China. Today I’m sharing part 2. As I said yesterday, it’s helpful to take a step back from media coverage of China and see things through the eyes of believers there. One of the most helpful things I’ve heard in recent weeks is that the Chinese believer are praying for us here in America. Let’s get on with today’s Global Perspective to hear more from a family on the ground in Beijing.

Perspective from China, Pt. 2


How are Chinese believers responding to the virus?

Our church, and a couple of others in Beijing known to us, have gone online fairly smoothly. There are lots of social media groups (on WeChat, the ubiquitous platform in China) in which believers are sharing encouragements and prayers. Bible studies and prayer meetings are also happening via video-conferencing. We have been very impressed with how the more mature believers have continued to encourage everyone to keep being involved with one another even though we can’t meet. The teaching from our church has been solidly biblical, and neither dominated by the coronavirus situation nor minimising it. It feels like they really have done the best that anyone could do. The church also organised offerings in order to donate supplies to Hubei province in the early days of the virus, but the government has generally frowned on any civil society or charitable efforts and so we haven’t heard any more about further opportunities to give in that way since early February. Most recently people in our church have been praying for other countries and checking up with us about our friends and family back home, offering to send things to our families if needed.

I wish I knew more about rural congregations, or churches in other cities, but I can only really speak intelligently about a small section of the church in Beijing. There has been more fear than I believe is appropriate in the congregations known to us, but there are also very wise voices speaking into those situations, and the church leaders seem to be doing a great job.

What should American believers learn from China’s experience through the coronavirus?

Prepare for months of disruption to church life, and plan creatively and positively to support the lonely and vulnerable, even if you can’t go to visit them right now, and to strengthen the faith of all other believers. Get used to gaining what you can from online meetings, and from lots more phone calls, but hunger for the day when you can meet again in significant numbers to enjoy face-to-face fellowship and worship together in person.

Humility and patience are vital. This is certainly true inside the home — you’ll now be spending more time with a smaller number of people in a confined space, and that will test the quality of love and forbearance. As for outside the home, don’t insist on personal expression and freedoms in the moment if it would increase the risk of others catching the virus.

Exercise sober judgement when you hear conflicting things from politicians, medical experts, media voices, etc. When in doubt I recommend listening to the medics — they are much less likely to be lying to you or shooting off their mouths than the politicians, who tend to say something different depending which day of the week it is (clearly some politicians are much worse than others in this regard). Doctors here in China warned of the virus weeks before the local government in Wuhan was prepared to admit its severity. In America you have the opposite problem — not too few voices, but too many!

Cherish the fact that our treasure is not here on earth. And comfort those who are anxious using gospel truth, not with platitudes. It may well be that the Lord will open up conversations with unbelieving family members, colleagues or friends who are especially afraid, or who are grieving, and the good news of Jesus is what they need to hear, from a loving ambassador of Christ, whether there is a virus going round or not.

If there are people you see in need because they have lost their jobs, don’t hold back in generosity. If you are a landlord and your tenants are suddenly unemployed, don’t throw them out. I know of a few cases in Beijing where landlords have made a lot of trouble for out-of-town or foreign tenants, and the coronavirus itself is bad enough without cruelty and profiteering of any kind making it worse. Millions of people in China have already suffered economically because of the coronavirus, and their large savings accounts may tide them over for a while. But Americans tend to have less saved up than the Chinese, so in times of crisis, many people around you probably have very little buffer in place.

If no one hoards and panic buys toilet paper then there is enough toilet paper. Think very seriously when you load up your shopping cart about what the Lord would say to you. Are Christians here in this world to do as the world does or to live out a better way?

Don’t talk about praying more — just pray more.

Filed Under: Articles Tagged With: Beijing, China, church, community, coronavirus, covid-19, faith, fear, generosity, love, love others, pray, Prayer

Many Thanksgivings

November 29, 2017 by Joe Kappel

Many Thanksgivings.

Initially my mind fills with images of parades on TV, family laughing together, football and amazing feasts with more dishes than I can eat yet try anyway!

Many of my Thanksgivings have been filled with those things, and I’m thankful.

But more solid than those delights is the truth I’m learning about our great God through the Bible and through your example at West Park.

2 Corinthians 9 describes the collection of money for the famine relief in Jerusalem. The Corinthian believers were at a crossroads: either they would believe in the abundant grace of Jehovah-Jireh and give or they would hoard and focus on their own needs exclusively.

Paul taught them, and by extension us today, that “God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work. (2 Cor. 9:8).

God is able. Not God will (as good as that would be) but that He is able. This draws our attention away from our misplaced security in things or even the misplaced security in what God will do for us and compels us to look to God alone, for He is able to make all grace abound to us for every good work. As we look to God, trusting in His all-sufficiency, we will want others to know what we know and experience what we experience:

All grace

All sufficiency

In all things at all times

In every good work.

God frees us to be generous toward others, to meet needs, to give without expectation of receiving. For this is how our God is toward us His people.

Ultimately our faith-fueled generosity leads to “many thanksgivings to God” (2 Cor. 9:12).

This thanksgiving weekend, thank you, beloved brothers and sisters, for showing me what generosity looks like. This month of trusting God has reminded me that thanksgivings should be many and not just one day. Through your generosity in the offering, the Thanksgiving boxes and the shoe boxes, I’m blown away and give to our Father the many thanksgivings He deserves.

 

Filed Under: Articles Tagged With: generosity, Knoxville TN, Thanksgiving, West Park Baptist Church

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