Today, we received the following email from Compassion concerning their work in India.

“Earlier in the year, the Indian government placed restrictions on Compassion which meant we were unable to send funds to our local partners in India. The majority of our projects continue to operate to some degree in India, but most have very little money left and some have had to suspend certain activities. We’ve been working closely with the Indian government and have complied with all requests, including re-registration and government approval of all our local partners. However despite our best efforts, the situation has not improved.

I’d like to ask you to pray urgently for this situation.

We’re praying regularly as an organisation and will have a day of prayer and fasting on 6 December. I’d like to invite you to join us in prayer as we continue to try every avenue open to us.

Please pray:

• For our local partners delivering the Compassion programme in India. That, despite having very few funds left, they are able to continue to deliver support and care for the children in their communities for as long as possible.

• For those in senior positions in the Indian government. That they will deliver a favourable outcome for Compassion which allows our work in India to continue.

• For politicians in the USA. On 6 December, the Foreign Affairs Committee of the US House of Representatives will hear testimony from Compassion International about the situation with the Indian government. Please pray for Compassion staff as they prepare for this, and that the US government will respond positively to these submissions and will advocate strongly on behalf of the children in our programme.

• Above all, pray for the children living in poverty in India. That their needs are prioritised by everyone involved in these negotiations, and that Compassion is allowed to serve them. We currently have approximately 130,000 children in our programmes in India.

We are now at a critical stage with our India programmes as this will determine the viability of continuing our work in India. Our hope and prayer is that we are able to continue to reach out to the poorest of the poor and enable children to gain access to food, education and all the tools they need to break free from the chains of poverty. But without the ongoing co-operation of the Indian government, this will not be possible.”

A prescription is a recommendation that is put forward authoritatively (we would be foolish to ignore a doctor’s prescription which gives us the medication we need to help us in our illnesses, for example.) In 1 Cor 16:13-14, Paul issues some pithy prescriptions, commands that are expressed quite tersely with a good deal of vigour: ‘Be on your guard; stand firm in the faith; be courageous; be strong. Do everything in love.’

These imperatives or commands give us a snapshot of how we are to live. There’s a need for us to be watchful, attentive, on guard (see also Acts 20:30-31, Col 4:2, 1 Thess 5:6, Matt 24:42). Division and confusion often arise from within the church, so we have an obligation to be vigilant (Eph 5:14-20). The Corinthians seem to have been distressingly unstable in many aspects of faith; God doesn’t want us to be yo-yos, for Jesus does indeed, as the song says, give us stability! (see Col 2:6-7, Eph 3:16-17, 2 Thess 2:15) We are to grow up, to act like adults, not children (see 1 Cor 13:11), showing courage and strength in the face of adversity (see Josh 1:6-9, Eph 3:16, Ps 31:24). If we want to summarise this even further, Paul says, ‘Do everything in love.’ (1 Cor 16:14, see also Phil 2:1-4, Col 3:14, 1 Thess 1:3). Love is the one thing that should characterise us (see Jn 13:35).

God’s prescription for us, therefore, to live well is:

• Wake up & be attentive!
• Stand firm!
• Be strong! (made strong in Him… we don’t have to acquire our own strength, but can be strengthened with His!)
• Act in love!

A springboard is a strong, flexible board from which someone may jump in order to gain added impetus when performing a dive or a gymnastic movement. During the recent Olympic Games, we saw examples of divers and gymnasts using springboards to gain added height and momentum (e.g. in the vault, balance beam and uneven bars events in gymnastics, gymnasts use a springboard to start the event by springing onto the apparatus; in diving, the springboard enables divers to gain height so as to maximise their ability to turn and twist in the air before they hit the water.)

Our service for God can be motivated by all kinds of reasons: we may feel guilty that we have so much and others have less than us, so we try to compensate for this by giving our belongings or our time to help people; we may feel obliged to serve because we are people-pleasers who can’t say ‘no’ when someone asks us to do something. Service for God needs to be more than drudgery or duty, however. We need the springboard of God’s grace and love as our motivators.

Paul says that the household of Stephanas ‘devoted themselves to the service of God’s people.’ (1 Cor 16:15) He talks of Stephanas, Fortunatus and Achaicus refreshing his spirit. (1 Cor 16:18) How do we maintain agility and dexterity in our service for God? How do we get that added ‘oomph’, the additional height we need to keep on doing good?

Paul told the Galatians ‘Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. Whoever sows to please their flesh, from the flesh will reap destruction; whoever sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life. Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.’ (Gal 6:7-10) Perseverance and stability are needed in service, for there is much that is monotonous, boring and unexciting about any kind of work, even the service of God’s people! What puts spring into our step and zeal into our service is our daily reliance on God’s grace and love. We serve out of gratitude for all God has done for us; we are compelled to serve because we have tasted and seen that the Lord is good, merciful, gracious and kind. May all our service have this springboard that lifts us higher and puts a smile on our faces.

‘Life would be easy if it weren’t for other people’ is the title of a book by Connie Pedesta and Vicki Sanderson. I haven’t read the book, but the sentiment expressed in its title made me smile, for I often feel that way. It’s the same feeling that we have when asked how we are and we reply, ‘I’m alright; it’s everyone else who’s wrong!’ People can be so difficult to fathom and relationship problems can cause so much heartache, in the church as much as in the world. The picture we have of church as God’s family where love reigns supreme has to battle with the reality of sinners living alongside each other who often struggle to forgive, understand and love. Eugene Peterson writes, ‘Church is the textured context in which we grow up in Christ to maturity. But church is difficult.’ (‘Practise Resurrection’, P 11) That’s because church is made up of sinners saved by grace, people who are all learning together and who are growing into maturity.

Paul concludes his letter to the Corinthians by writing about a variety of other people, whom he loved in the Lord. Some of these we know a little about from other parts of the Bible (Timothy, Apollos, Aquila and Priscilla all feature in Acts and two of Paul’s letters were written to Timothy); others we know very little about (Stephanas and his household, Fortunatus and Achaichus, for example.) The truth is that the majority of Christians will never be well-known or famous; we will never be ‘household names’ to millions. Nonetheless, this final chapter of 1 Corinthians (like the last chapter of Romans) is a great encouragement to the ordinary person, seeking to live life to God’s glory.

Stephanus, Fortunatus and Achaichus are mentioned as having refreshed Paul’s spirit (1 Cor 16:18) and being deserving of recognition and honour. Stephanas and his whole household are commended for their devotion (addiction!) to serving God’s people. (1 Cor 16:15) Timothy is as dear to Paul as if he were his own son and entrusted with valuable work, deserving of respect, not contempt. (1 Cor 16:10-11) This insight into people show us Paul’s love and respect for people and remind us of the truth that everyone is valuable.

No church can afford to ignore the people who are its members. Church is a living organism, described through different metaphors throughout the Bible: a body (1 Cor 12:12-27, Rom 12:4-5), a spiritual house (1 Pet 2:5, Heb 3:6), a temple (1 Cor 3:16, 1 Cor 6:19-20), a building (1 Cor 3:9), a field (1 Cor 3:9), a bride (Rev 21:2), an army of soldiers (2 Cor 10:3-5, 2 Tim 2:4), a family (Matt 12:49-50), a flock (1 Pet 5:2) and a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession (1 Pet 2:9-10). The New Testament is adamant, however, that church is not the building where people meet (despite our dictionary definition of church as this!); it is a group of people who are called out from darkness by God into His wonderful light, into fellowship with Him and each other and into a life of holy, dedicated service. God’s plan is for His people to shine His light into the darkness and to demonstrate His character to a world which is lost without Him. The individuals who make up church may never be well known or famous by the world’s standards, but we can be sure that each will receive a reward from God for whatever good we do (Eph 6:8, Heb 11:6) as we labour faithfully for Him.

At the end of 1 Corinthians 16, Paul signs off by mentioning grace and love: ‘The grace of the Lord Jesus be with you. My love to all of you in Christ Jesus. Amen.’ (1 Cor 16:23-24) This letter contains probably his most famous passage on love (1 Cor 13), and it is significant that he talks about those who do not love the Lord being cursed (1 Cor 16:22), since for Paul, love is the ‘most excellent way’ and must guide, direct and motivate all we do. It’s not enough to do good if our motivation is not right, and love – God’s selfless agape love – has to be the source from which all actions flow.

It is also significant that Paul ends this letter, as he began it (1 Cor 1:3), by mentioning grace. Grace – that rich, undeserved favour God lavishes on us – defines our whole relationship with God. We are saved by grace through faith (Eph 2:8). Alexander Whyte said, ‘Nothing can change, or alter, or turn away sovereign grace.’  We don’t have to earn God’s favour, but we simply receive it through the work of Jesus Christ our Lord. Every letter ascribed to Paul in the New Testament concludes with a mention of grace:

• The grace of our Lord Jesus be with you. (Rom 16:20)
• May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. (2 Cor 13:14)
• The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit, brothers and sisters. Amen. (Gal 6:18)
• Grace to all who love our Lord Jesus Christ with an undying love. (Eph 6:24)
• The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. Amen. (Phil 4:23)
• Grace be with you all. (Titus 3:15)
• The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. (Philemon 1:25)
• Grace be with you all. (1 Tim 6:21)
• The Lord be with your spirit. Grace be with you all. (2 Tim 4:22)
• The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. (1 Thess 5:28)
• The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. (2 Thess 3:18)

Grace and love are the defining characteristics of Christianity. They give hope to all and enable us to face the trials of this world with steadfastness and stability. We are not defined by our perception of ourselves, by other people’s judgments or by the accusations of the enemy, but by the grace of God which wraps itself around us, carries us, heals us and restores us. That totally spontaneous gift from God to mankind – generous, free, totally unexpected and undeserved – becomes our spur and motivation to live as God does, distributing love, mercy and grace to all we meet. No wonder we so often need adjectives to describe this grace! – amazing, outrageous, unbelievable, astounding, magnificent, unstoppable! May our eyes ever be open to the grace of God and our hearts ready to receive His love, but may we then ever be willing to pass on that grace and love to others as the true evidence of His reality in our lives.

Update from Compassion:

“Our Haitian staff and church partners have been working tirelessly to distribute food, water and hygiene kits. Some of our staff members have gone above and beyond, personally arranging the distribution of extra clothing and supplies in the places where the need is overwhelming. Temporary shelter has also been provided for families whose homes are deemed unsafe.

Please be assured that we have not received any news on Bedline or her project which is a good sign that all is well. Our colleagues in Haiti have informed us of all the children who have been affected now and we have contacted those sponsors, therefore we can confidently say at this point that her and her family are well and were not affected by the hurricane. We would only hear if a child has been affected in some way.”