What is Apostolic Passion?

The term “passion” is used to describe everything from romance to hunger pangs. I don’t know what it means to you, but for me passion means whatever a person is willing to suffer for.  In fact, that’s the root meaning of the word. It comes from the Latin paserre, to suffer.  It is what you hunger for so intensely that you will sacrifice anything to have it.  The word “apostle” means a sent one, a messenger.  ”Apostolic Passion,” therefore, is a deliberate, intentional choice to live for the worship of Jesus in the nations. It has to do with being committed to the point of death to spreading His glory. It’s the quality of those who are on fire for Jesus, who dream of the whole earth being covered with the Glory of the Lord.

I know when apostolic passion has died in my heart. It happens when I don’t spend my quiet time dreaming of the time when Jesus will be worshiped in languages that aren’t yet heard in heaven.  I know it’s missing from my life when I sing about heaven, but live as if earth is my home.  Apostolic passion is dead in my heart when I dream more about sports, toys, places to

go and people to see, than I do about the nations worshiping Jesus.

I have lost it, too, when I make decisions based on the danger involved, not the glory God will get.  Those who have apostolic passion are planning to go, but willing to stay.  You know you have it when you are deeply disappointed that God has not called you to leave your home and get out among those who have never heard His name.  If you will not suffer and sacrifice for something, you are not passionate about it. If you say you will do anything for Jesus, but you don’t suffer for Him then you aren’t really passionate about Him and His purposes on earth.

If you don’t have it, how do you go about getting this thing called apostolic passion? Is it like ordering pizza at the door in 30 minutes or less, guaranteed? Is there an 800 number to call? Or better yet, just send us your special gift of $15 or more, and we’ll rush you some passion, express delivery, overnight mail. If you’re like me, you need help figuring out how to grow this thing called passion. I am motivated by reading how the apostle Paul got it. He chose it.

Paul says in Romans 15 that it is his ambition his passion, if you will to make Christ known. It began for him with a revelation of Jesus that he nurtured all his adult life.  Paul not only encountered Christ on the road to Damascus, he kept on meeting Jesus every day.  This revelation of Jesus, and his study of God’s purposes, gave birth to Paul’s apostolic passion.

Knowing Jesus and making Him known consumed the rest of Paul’s life.  He “gloried in Christ Jesus in his service to God” (Rom 15:17).  By comparison, everything else was dung, garbage, stinking refuse. Paul’s ambition was born from his understanding that God longed for His Son to be glorified in the nations. It was focused so that the “Gentiles might become an offering acceptable to God, sanctified by the Holy Spirit” (Rom 15:16).

Human enthusiasm cannot sustain apostolic passion. When God invests His own passion in you the desire to see His name glorified among all people you must build and develop what God has given you. Four things will help:

1.  Apostolic Abandonment

Too many people want the fruit of Paul’s ministry without paying the price that Paul paid. He died. He died to everything. He died daily.  He was crucified with Christ. This strong-willed, opinionated man knew that he must die to self.  He knew that in his flesh, he couldn’t generate the revelation of Jesus; he couldn’t sustain the heart of Christ. So he died.  He abandoned his life. He abandoned himself.

We live in a world of competing passions.  If we do not die to self and fill our lives with the consuming passion of the worship of God in the nations, we will end up with other passions. It’s possible to deceive ourselves into thinking we have Biblical passions when, in reality, all we have done is to baptize the values of our culture and give them Christian names.  We will have chosen apostolic passion only when our hearts are filled with God’s desire for His Son to be worshiped in the nations.

May I encourage you, dear friend, to give up your life?  I challenge you to pray this prayer: “Lord, be ruthless with me in revealing my selfish ambition and my lack of willingness to die to myself.”  I guarantee that He will answer your prayer and quickly.

2.  Apostolic Focus

The greatest enemy of the ambition to see Jesus worshiped in the nations is lack of focus. You can run around expending energy on all sorts of good ministries, and not get one step closer to the nations.  I don’t have anything against all the projects and ministries out there God’s people do them, and I don’t question their obedience to God.  But the Church has an apostolic calling, an apostolic mission.  God has called us to the nations.  We must focus, or we won’t obey.

Focus on what?  I believe God wants a people for Himself.  Activity without a desire that God have a people for Himself is just activity not missions.  You can have evangelism without missions.  Short-term ministries are great, as long as they focus on raising up workers to plant churches.  You might say, “I’m not called to plant churches.”  Yes, you are!  It’s always the will of

God to have a people who worship His Son in the nations. You’ll never have to worry about making God mad if you try to plant a church. It seems crazy to me that people are under the delusion they need a special calling to save souls, to disciple them, and to get them together to love Jesus.  Whatever ministry you are with, you must understand one thing: church planting is not for us, it’s for God. We do it so God will have a people to worship Him!

3.  Apostolic Praying

A young man in Bible school offered to help David Wilkerson years ago when he was ministering on the streets of New York City.  Wilkerson asked him how much time he spent in prayer.  The young student estimated about 20 minutes a day.  Wilkerson told him, “Go back, young man. Go back for a month and pray two hours a day, every day for 30 days.  When you’ve done that, come back.  Come back, and I might consider turning you loose on the streets where there is murder, rape, violence and danger.  If I sent you out now on 20 minutes a day, I’d be sending a soldier into battle without any weapons, and you would get killed.”

You can get into heaven, my friend, without a lot of prayer.  You can have a one-minute quiet time every day and God will still love you.  But you won’t hear a “well done, good and faithful servant” on one-minute conversations with God.  And you certainly can’t make it on that kind of prayer life in the hard places where Jesus is not known or worshiped.  Here’s a challenge for you: Read everything Paul says about prayer, then ask yourself, “Am I willing to pray like that?” Paul said that he prayed “night and day with tears without ceasing with thankfulness in the Spirit constantly boldly for godly sorrow against the evil one.”

4.  Apostolic Decision-Making

If you live without a vision of the glory of God filling the whole earth, you are in danger of serving your own dreams of greatness, as you wait to do “the next thing” God tells you. There are too many over-fed, under-motivated Christians hiding behind the excuse that God has not spoken to them.  They are waiting to hear voices or see dreams all the while living to make money, to provide for their future, to dress well and have fun.

The Apostle Paul was guided by his passions. Acts 20 and 21 tell of his determination to go to Jerusalem despite his own personal anticipation of suffering, the warnings of true prophets, and the intense disapproval of his friends.  Why would Paul go against his own intuition let alone the urgings of prophets and weeping entreaties of close friends?  He had a revelation of greater priority, of greater motivation: the glory of God.

Apostolic decision-making starts with a passion for God’s glory in the nations, then asks: “Where shall I serve you?” Most people do the opposite. They ask the where-and-when questions without a revelation of His glory in the nations.  Is it any wonder they never hear God say “go!” They have not cultivated a passion for the passions of God.  All kinds of lesser desires can be holding them captive.  They might never realize it.

Present your gifts, vocations and talents to the Lord.  Press into God.  Stay there until you long to go out in His name.  Remain there and nurture the longing to see the earth bathed with His praise.  Only then will you be able to trust your heart if you hear God say, “stay.”  Only those who long to broadcast His glory to the nations have the right to stay.

If you have apostolic passion, you are one of the most dangerous people on the planet.  The world no longer rules your heart.  You are no longer seduced by getting and gaining but devoted to spreading and proclaiming the glory of God in the nations. You live as a pilgrim, unattached to the cares of this world.  You are not afraid of loss.  You even dare to believe you may be given the privilege of dying to spread His fame on the earth.  The Father’s passions have become your passions.  You find your satisfaction and significance in Him. You believe He is with you always, to the end of life itself. You are sold out to God, and you live for the Lamb. Satan fears you, and the angels applaud you.

Your greatest dream is that His name will be praised in languages never before heard in heaven. Your reward is the look of pure delight you anticipate seeing in His eyes when you lay at His feet and the just reward of His suffering: the worship of the redeemed.

You have apostolic passion!

We have seen in the past 3 sessions that evangelism is very close to God’s heart. He desires that all people to be saved, as 1 Tim 2:4 will tell us that “(God) who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.”And who does He choose to use to share this wonderful gospel by which all man can be saved? Us, the unreliable human beings. Rom 10:14-15a tells us, “How then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in Him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent?”

Evangelism is definitely something we must depend on God for since it is Jesus who gave us the responsibility. And there are 2 things specific to evangelism that we should be praying for:
1. Pray that God sends people out
2. Pray for opportunities and that the speaker might be clear
Pray that God sends people out
“When He saw the crowds, He had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then He said to His disciples, ‘The harvest is plentiful, but the labourers are few; therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out labourers into His harvest.’ ”(Matt 9:36-37)
Jesus saw that there was a need for people to be saved. His instruction regarding this need to the disciples was to pray that God would send people to reach out to them. This instruction is very applicable to us today. There still are lots of people who are yet to know who Jesus is, and many of our friends, schoolmates and colleagues still do not know Jesus. We should pray that God would send people to reach out to them.
Pray for opportunities and that the speaker might be clear
“At the same time, pray also for us, that God may open to us a door for the word, to declare the mystery of Christ, on account of which I am in prison– that I may make it clear, which is how I ought to speak.” (Col 4:3-4)
This passage shows us that we should also pray for opportunities to share and that those who share would present the good news clearly. Right opportunities could be the time like when your friends are considering a religion or pondering about life. We’re told to pray that for such opportunities for our friends to be open to the good news. And once they are open, someone must tell them properly what Christianity is all about clearly.
I remember the first time I was doing street evangelism. The person I chose to share the gospel to happen to speak only in Chinese, and I was struggling to find the right words. Sometimes other things can get in the way of sharing the good news, like nervousness, forgetting certain details, our poor explanation skills, etc… It’s natural for people to make mistakes here and there; hence we should pray that those who share the gospel to do so in as clear a manner as possible. Like you can pray that those sharing won’t be nervous, that they’ll understand the good news sufficiently well, and that the presentation would be understandable.
Conclusion
But as to whether these non-Christians will believe in Jesus, that is not our role. Changing hearts is God’s job. We just make the environment conducive for the change through making friends and living wisely to those outside.
And as we pray for evangelism, we are changing our perspective to become more like God’s. As we pray, we would go out and share, we would be the ones seeking opportunities, and we would be the ones seeking to be clear in sharing the good news.

“Making the most of every opportunity” refers more to our time rather than that of non-Christians. We are the ones striving to live a life that pleases God, and should strive to live for Him at every moment. The way to live for God is to live in a self-controlled, upright, and godly manner (Titus 2:11-14). Also, during the days that Paul wrote the letter, “making the most of every opportunity” would have meant not passing up on a good deal. Let’s not pass up on a good opportunity to please God by sharing the good news of Jesus Christ!
In the Way We Talk
Paul tells us to add one main thing to our conversations for one main purpose.
The One Main Thing
The ingredient we’re to add to our conversations is grace seasoned with salt. Grace would mean that our speech would be acceptable to others just like a gift would be. A Christian should then strive to let his words be acceptable to his friends, speaking in a way that would not cause them to get offended. And seasoned with salt would mean that the way we talk must be different from non-believers, and should be influenced by our understanding of who God is. So while those outside the church can identify with the way we talk, how we talk is also influenced by the good news, and if we can, to bring God into the conversations. Like we can talk about whether God was fair in allowing earthquakes to happen, or why God created some people to be smart enough to get A’s although they didn’t study, all to stir their interest in talking about God. We do not have to bring God or the gospel into every conversation. But I think most of us fall into the other extreme. When was the last time we talked about God to our friends, Christian or non-Christian? Since the good news of Jesus Christ is so important to us Christians, we should be telling others about Him.
In Singapore, we have more difficulty because once we offend those from other religions, we just might find our faces plastered on the front page of the local newspapers for running afoul of the law. This is where speaking in “grace” comes in which we were referring to earlier. When we do speak to them especially about God, we should do so graciously, so that we might not offend them while sharing with them what Christianity is about as much as possible.
The One Main Purpose
And the one main purpose is for us to answer everyone about what we believe in. Why should we be wise to them?
“Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory”. (Col 3:1-4) We should be wise because our lives belong to Jesus now. Keep living wisely, and keep speaking wisely.

Nicolas Wong

Most of my friends are similarly very hygiene conscious. While having steamboat, someone would take a mountain of a plate of prawns and cook them. But no one would eat it. The reason for this is that no one wants to take the extra effort to wash their dirty hands after peeling off the prawn shells. I know this, because I’m like that too.

However, I do wonder is this the stand a lot of us take when choosing who to make friends with. Like choosing not to make friends with people who have something we do not like about them, like their body odor, their arrogance, their kiasu-ness, their control-freak-ness.

“And doesn’t the Bible warn us against such people?” you may ask, “Proverbs 14:7 tells us to ‘Stay away from a foolish man, for you will not find knowledge on his lips.’ ”

What does the Bible tell us?

I admit I do have some area to grow in making friends. But let’s look at what the Bible really tells us why we should make friends with people outside Christianity.

19Though I am free and belong to no man, I make myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible. 20To the Jews I became like a Jew, to win the Jews. To those under the law I became like one under the law (though I myself am not under the law), so as to win those under the law. 21To those not having the law I became like one not having the law (though I am not free from God’s law but am under Christ’s law), so as to win those not having the law. 22To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all men so that by all possible means I might save some. 23I do all this for the sake of the gospel, that I may share in its blessings.

1 Cor. 9:19-23

Here Paul shares why he relates to everyone, and gives us 3 groups of people he makes friends with.

Why Paul become this slave?

Paul knows that he now has a place in heaven, and that he doesn’t have any responsibility to any man (Though I am free and belong to no man), but he makes himself to be a slave to them, having a certain responsibility, or a mission. This responsibility is to try to win as many as possible.

How does he become a slave?

He does this by subjecting himself to the way these people live their lives, while still living in a way that pleases God.

Paul then shares with us 2 groups of people and his strategies in reaching out to them.

1. The Jews

The Jews followed certain laws from Moses and norms in the way they lived. So although he isn’t under their law anymore, Paul still behaved as if he had to keep the law, so that the Jews would be

comfortable with him and his message. For example, in Acts 17:1-4, Paul went to the synagogue, where Jews would be talking about God, and shared with them that about how the Old Testament points to Jesus.

2. The Gentiles

Paul continued to live a life that follows Christ even though people around him in non-Jewish areas. For example, in Acts 17:15-34, Paul manages to speak to the people there, and spoke to them in their lingo about God by offering to tell them about the “Unknown God”, who is the only God, and the way to get right with Him. Even though the people of Athens had different beliefs and practices, Paul did not allow this to shake his faith in Jesus.

We cannot allow the ways of the world to sway us when we make friends with people outside, because we now belong to God. This means that we continue to keep what the Bible tells us is right while we maintain our friendships.

What this means for Christians today?

In every case, Paul did not use these people’s weakness (in keeping to their beliefs) as an opportunity to tell them that they’re lousy or inadequate in some way. Instead, he sought to identify with every culture to create opportunities to share the good news with them.

And Paul does this for the gospel, so that he can have the joy of being in partnership with God – this I believe is the true blessing.

Most Christians do have friends who are non-Christians. However, we often shy away from sharing the good news with them. Here is my challenge to you: have a plan to share the good news of Jesus with your friends. We can do better than just leaving everything to chance or merely hoping your friends would get interested.

And we should be sharing because we’ve benefitted from God’s love, and we want to experience the Father’s joys as His partners in the spreading the good news.

“Why do you go to church every week?” a friend once asked me. For some of my friends, they only visit their temples when it’s Chinese New Year or when they need blessings for one reason or the other. Another way to phrase their question is, “What is so great about church that you have to take 3 hours off your precious weekend after a long week of work, when you could be sleeping in?”

For some of Christians, we have been programmed to wake up every Sunday morning to make it to church already. Or maybe our parents drag us out of bed to go to church. Or there’s this person you’re hoping to network with to develop your career. And of course, maybe there’s an attractive girl in church you’d always wanted to chat up. What if someone asked us that question, what will our response be? Will we take that opportunity to share how great a Saviour we have in Jesus Christ? Or will we choose to maintain “religious harmony” and quickly change the subject? Scripture is very clear to us from Mark 16:15-16,

15He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation. 16Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.

This command to the disciples from Jesus is very applicable to us today. As long as someone hasn’t heard the good news would mean that the good news still can be spread. “Go… and preach” is an instruction for us to be the one who actively seeks to share.

There are 2 reasons which we should share the gospel with the lost.

1. Because we love God

8We are confident, I say, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord. 9So we make it our goal to please him, whether we are at home in the body or away from it. 1 Cor 5:8-9

Christians are God’s people, and our lives should be shaped by God’s priorities. 1 Tim 2:4 tells us that God “who wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth.” Since this pleases God we should be actively sharing the good news to everyone, especially non-Christians. And sharing the good news is also an instruction of Jesus from Mark 16:15. Hence I believe one aspect of a true disciple of Jesus is to share the gospel. We should try to seek out opportunities to do share. If all our friends are Christians, then make new friends.

2. Because we love those around us

I remember in the movie Titanic, before the ship set out for its final voyage, there was this man with a huge sign walking around, asking the people to repent from their sins to escape hell.

Hell is a real place, and Mark 16:16 tells us that hell awaits those who do not believe in Jesus. I believe the reality of hell is not just for us to tell our non-believing friends where they’ll be going, but also to motivate us to point them the way to eternal life in Jesus Christ.

Our role is not to make sure our friends believe, for we have no control over their faith. Our role is to go and share the gospel. If they believe, then we help them to grow in their faith. If they don’t, we can keep praying that God would open their hearts and minds to the gospel.

Conclusion

God has shown us His love for us by sending His Son to take the punishment of death for our sins. We never deserved it, nor can never earn it. What is left for us is to respond in gratefulness to His loving grace and live to please Him.

Sharing the good news then should be one of our priorities as a Christian. We know the judgment that will befall on our friends if no one shares the gospel with them, a matter of eternal consequence.

BY NICOLAS WONG

The goal:

To develop one strong, inter-generational worship service in which to glorify God and to grow together.

The advantages:

The excitement and synergy of the combined service: a larger crowd matching the energy of the teens with the stability of the adults gives a balanced mix that can help the church grow spiritually and numerically.

Intentional intergenerational learning, relationships and trust can best take place if both generations are together often.

Bypasses the tricky transit of youths into the main service, a hurdle in many churches which results in youth leaving church (See Leadership Journal online article titled, “Is the era of age segregation over?”).

More effective use of our church resources (musicians, technicians, time, space) which are currently stretched.

The criteria for successful integration:

The combined worship service have to be changed from what it is now. The changes will accomodate the teenagers and young adults, and assume that the adult has the grace and generosity to embrace the unfamiliar, eg.music style.

The youths will partner the adults and be significantly involved in the whole worship service and Sunday experience.

Inter-generational learning and interaction has to be intentional and not left to chance. Teaming up in music, worship leading, altar prayer, ushering, catering, prayer leading, etc.

The youths will still have a platform outside the integrated service where their group identity is nurtured. (See the below table “Youth ministry functions and activities after integration”)

Concerns

The youths may feel a loss of group identity.

The youths may have less avenues of service as grown-ups dominate and if there are opportunities, may feel intimidated or inferior.

The youths may not be satisfied with changes made to music style, sermon relevancy, and the presence of parents.

We will take seriously the feedback of the youth and though we cannot fully satisfy everyone in everything, we will do what we can even as we do what is best for all concerned.

The preparation leading to the integration(in Aug 2010):

October- December 2009:

Communicate with Youth exco and youth cell leaders and consider their input. Communicate with the CLT how the Lord is guiding the leadership about this and consider their input. Merge English Adult and Youth worship ex-cos into a joint core group and begin team building.

January to July 2010:

The whole January 2010 will be combined services and sermons will focus on the kind of disciple we want to build and how we are going to build them. We will start tweaking the service with a view to integration.

In the first Sunday of February, we will communicate with the whole church the plan to integrate the service and prepare them for the August launch.

The joint worship ex-co will work together to redesign the combined worship services to accomodate the youths and young adults(every first Sunday, the March school vacation, the June school vacation will be combined services where we fine-tune the various aspects of the integrated worship service). The services will be evaluated, with feedback and dialogue with the lower and upper secondary students. We will make  necessary adjustments before the full launch in August 2010.

August 2010:

Integrated Worship Service launched. From here on all the Sunday services will be combined Youth-Adult English.

Kenny Chee

22 October 2009

Dr Philip Huan has consulted with us and the results are these key components of ministry structuring: Firstly, core product, which is, an agreed list of the traits we want to develop in the members God entrust to us. Secondly, the core process, which are the stages of the discipleship journey, its balance and the plugging of the gaps in between the stages. Thirdly, the core program, which are, the main instruments in the church that God will use to shape his people. In our case it is the church service, cell system and prayer gatherings. Fourthly, core pastoral leadership, which is the roles of the pastors and elders working together in harmony and mutual respect, to guide the process and discipleship journey. This article aims to describe the core product.

The discipleship journey must begin in the church with an end in mind. The core product spells out the kind of traits we want embodied in the members God entrust to us. Dr Philip Huan, our church consultant, guided G 20 or group of twenty pastors, elders and ministry heads and zone supervisors form all the component congregations: the kids, the youth, deaf, Chinese, and English Adult. After studies, discussions, prayer, and collation and summarizing we categorized all the results under each letter of the acronym S.W.O.R.D. The acronym stood for Service; Worship; Outreach; Relationship; Discipleship.

In September 2009, we had a strategic planning retreat at Batam. the participants were pastors, elders and the three senior leaders. The Spirit was stirring our hearts and there was the feeling that SWORD was not as resonant and consonant with our church history and core value and it was proposed and accepted that W.R,P,F. be the new acronym used instead and all the traits should be re-categorized under them. Surprisingly, WRPF captured all the traits and included the church’s distinctive values of missions and intercessory prayer.

WORLD- evangelism and missions

REVIVAL- work of the Holy Spirit (gifts and fruit of the Sprit)

PRAYER- prayer (intimacy and intercessory)

FELLOWSHIP – discipleship in community (making disciples through community)

Over the next five years we will emphasize the traits under the following acronym:

2010 – focus on developing WORLD(evengelism and missions); and PRAYER(intimacy and intercessory prayer)

2011 – we will focus on REVIVAL( gifts and fruit of the Holy Spirit) and FELLOWSHIP (discipleship in community)

2012 – FELLOWSHIP

2013 – WORLD

2104- REVIVAL

Therefore in 2010, the programs planned will be deliberate and intentional in making disciples who will cultivate the traits of being compelled, compassionate and to have a community impact. It will also work at building disciples who seek God with intimacy and intercessory prayer. We urge the church to join ranks in being united in purpose and strategy.

KENNY CHEE

(based on slides presented by Alvin Lim, President, Board of Elders)

1

Matthew

Suffered martyrdom in Ethiopia , killed by a sword wound

2

Mark

Died in Alexandria , Egypt , after being dragged by horses through the streets until he was dead

.

3

Luke

Was hanged in Greece as a result of his tremendous preaching to the lost.

4

John

Faced martyrdom when he was boiled in huge basin of boiling oil during a wave of persecution in Rome . However, he was
miraculously delivered from death. John was then sentenced to the mines on the prison island of Patmos . He wrote his prophetic
Book of Revelation on Patmos . The apostle John was later freed and returned to serve as Bishop of Edessa in modern Turkey . He died as an old man, the only apostle to die peacefully.

5

Peter

He was crucified upside down on an x-shaped cross. According to church tradition it was because he told his tormentors that he
felt unworthy to die in the same way that Jesus Christ had died.

Perhaps this is a reminder to us that our sufferings here are indeed minor compared to the intense persecution and cold cruelty faced by the apostles and the disciples during their times for the sake of the Faith.

“And ye shall be hated of all men for my name’s sake”- Jesus.

One of the most striking visions that John saw is the fall of Babylon, first announced in Rev 14:8 and narrated in detail in Rev 17-18. In John’s vision, Babylon the Great is visualized as a “Woman dressed in purple and scarlet and adorned with gold, precious stones and pearls” (17:4) whom John labels as a prostitute – “the mother of prostitutes and of the abominations of the earth” (17:5). This Woman-harlot is also depicted as a Queen “seated” on many waters/nations (17:1, 15; 18:7) and is accused of getting the world drunk with the wine of her fornication (17:2). The “fornication” of the Woman-Harlot with the kings of the earth is not literal sexual immorality but such heightened sexually degrading imagery is a metaphor for international maritime trade carried out for the benefit of the Woman identified by John as “that great city which reigns over the kings of the earth” (17:18). Yet, this great city is not a literal city (cf. 11:8; 16:19) but a symbol for an economic system that exploits the weak, persecutes the saints (17:6; 18:20, 24), traffics in human slaves (17:13) and exults in the accumulation of great riches and the abundance of luxury (18:3). Most scholars think that through this Woman-harlot image John condemns the economic exploitation of the late first-century Roman Empire and its control over the nations of the Mediterranean world. For all these, says John, God’s judgment will come on Babylon in one hour and she will be burned up and completely destroyed (18:8-24).

What has John’s vision on the destruction of this oppressive economic system to do with the current global economic crisis? We have to be careful how we interpret the book of Revelation to fit the current economic climate of the 21^st century C.E. Though it is my view that Revelation is indeed prophetic and speaks of End-time events, it is best to exercise caution in how we equate the specific verses and passages of Revelation with current political and economic developments in the world. I would think that the present economic crisis does not bear much resemblance to what is described by John in Rev 17-18. Though there are certainly lessons to be learnt and principles to be garnered from John’s vision, it is far-fetched to argue that the world economic system at present is exactly the kind of exploitative system that John describes in Rev 17-18.

First, the success of the world economy in the past two or three decades has brought many Third World and developing countries out of poverty. For example, though there are still many poor people in China, India and Indonesia, yet significant sections of these countries’ populations have experienced prosperity and economic well-being. It is a prosperity shared by many nations in the world, though inequality and inequitable distribution of wealth exist in the many parts of the world. Second, there is no large scale persecution of the believers in the world today as a result of international trade as envisaged by John to happen in the End-time. Many Christians living in different nations of the world take part in trade that are morally legitimate and as a result rightly share in the economic prosperity. Third, at present there is no one dominant economic power or centre in the world though many would consider America as fulfilling that role in some measure, being by far the biggest economy in the world. Yet with the financial crisis engulfing America today, we see that the American economy is just as much dependent not only on the economies of the developed world like the European Union and Japan but also on the emergent economic powers like China and to a lesser extent India, Brazil and ASEAN.

Nevertheless, I would want to suggest that John’s vision of Rev 17-18 is relevant and offers many insights into the global economic situation today and how it might emerge in the future. First, world trade today is mainly driven to obtain great riches (cf. 18:17). While seeking profit is not wrong in the New Testament, even in John’s Revelation, but profiteering, i.e., the excessive drive for larger profits without ethical controls is surely one of the causes of the economic crisis today. When CEOs of Corporations, Banks and International Investment companies pay themselves and their senior staff huge sums (billions in US$) in bonuses while their companies face bankruptcy or seek government bail-out, something is very wrong somewhere. Put simply, it is greed. Greed or covetousness is condemned as idolatry elsewhere in the Bible (Eph 5:5; Col 3:5). Second, a significant amount of international trade is driven by the love of luxury which is denounced by John (Rev 18:3, 9). The materialistic world loves nothing better than gold, silver, pearls, fine clothing, and all kinds of citron wood for branded furniture, bronze, iron and marble and fine foods (18:12-13). As Christians, we need be watchful that though we live in the world, we do not become like the world in seeking after pleasures and abundant luxury. We should not confuse our needs with our wants and fall into the temptation to engage in questionable trading practices in order to obtain wealth and luxury. Third, we also see a world that seems unable to redress the severe imbalances and inequality between rich and poor countries. Two-thirds of the world’s population lives in (relative) poverty while the rich becomes richer and the poor becomes poorer. Trade imbalances and injustices occur when dominant economic powers that set the rules for international trade and control the international institutions seek to benefit themselves and as a consequence oppress or marginalize the poorer nations. Fourth, in recent years we have seen a rise in human trafficking around the world where human bodies and souls are traded as slaves to work as sex slaves or workers at sweat shops with no or minimal pay and thus suffer unthinkable oppression and harm to their human dignity in every sense of the word.

If these exploitative trading practices and inhumane values become more and more entrenched in the current (and future) international economic system, Christians will find it increasingly difficult to engage in trade without compromising their faith. God’s people are left with two options. First, we must continue to engage the world by becoming the salt of the earth and the light of the world (Matt 5:13-14). We will seek to transform the world’s values with the Gospel of Christ and our testimony of God’s power and righteousness in every aspect of life. As Christian traders we will seek to uphold ethical commercial practices in our business dealings at all times and refuse to compromise our Christian standards. We will seek to uphold and advance the rule of law that facilitates fair trade practices and promotes equitable distribution of wealth between nations so that the forces of injustice and lawlessness are kept at bay. But if having done all, the economic system of the world should one day become like Babylon of Rev 17-18, then Revelation’s call to the Church is clear: “Come out of her, my people, lest you share in her sins, and lest you receive of her plagues” (18:4).

- Dr Tony Siew is a lecturer in New Testament, Trinity Theological College, Singapore. He is the author of “The War between the Two Beasts and the Two Witnesses: A Chiastic Reading of Rev 11:1-14:5″ (LSNT 283; London & New York: T & T Clark, 2005). He had read law and theology at the University of Canterbury (LLB), University of Auckland (BTheol), and University of Otago (PhD). He was Barrister & Solicitor of the High Court of New Zealand (1987), Advocate & Solicitor of the High Court of Borneo (1988); He is an ordained minister of the Sidang Injil Borneo (SIB) Sabah, Malaysia. He is also an avid blogger at Revelation is Real.

Prayerful reflection is an important aspect of Ignatian spirituality. St Ignatius Loyola, founder of the Society of Jesus, was especially keen on this prayer of reflection on the day. For the Jesuits he founded, he insists on two 15-minute periods of such prayer each day. This prayer has variously been called the Examen, the Examination of Conscience, and, more recently, the Examen of Consciousness, or the Review of the Day. It is almost as if Ignatius were saying, “How can you say you are living a Christian life if you never reflect on it? How can you say you are doing God’s will if you never look to see what you are really doing? You want to serve Christ and live a more Christlike life, well then, reflect on how your day has been, and let the experience of the day teach you what it will.”

Most Christians believe God is working through his Spirit in their lives – unfortunately few reflect on this crucial fact of their lives. The Examen is a short prayer exercise which can help develop in me a greater awareness and sensitivity to the concrete ways God has been working in my day for me. This greater sense of God with me leads me to a more accurate and spontaneous response to the initiatives of his presence. Traditionally there are five aspects or moments to the prayer of Examen, and on any one occasion perhaps one or more aspects will predominate. So these five aspects are not a syllabus to be got through. I give any one of these aspects the time I desire and need.

The First aspect is the fostering of an attitude of thanksgiving or gratitude. There is nothing that has not been given me. I am always on the receiving end of gift. I myself am God’s greatest gift to me- I am the gift by which I can know every other gift. I am the gift in which I can know my own giftedness. So I spend what time I need to become aware of my need to be grateful, to see the giftedness of my own life and living. As this gratitude touches me I express it how I will to Father, Son and Spirit.

The Second aspect is to ask for light. I beg the Spirit to enlighten me to see what the Spirit wants me to see. In other words, it is not my analysis of the day which is important. Nor is it my judgement of what is fine or fitting that is central. Nor has this enlightenment anything to do with my own leanings towards a morbid introspection. I ask the Spirit to show me in the everyday events and people of my life where and how God was present and working for me. I am seeking to find God. The Examen is positive. Without this prayer for light I could all too easily poke around within myself in such a way that scabs are knocked off wounds that would heal very well if only I left them will alone.

The Third aspect of the Examen is to play back the day in such a way as to find God in all of that day of mine. I remember the places I have been in; I recall the activities I undertook; I see the people I was with. In other words: places, occupations, people. I ask the Lord to show me where he was present, in me and in others. To say that God is everywhere may be very true, but it is not very helpful here. It is probably more helpful to remember that God has been acting for me wherever I notice the traces of the Spirit in those places, in those occupations, and among those people of my day. So where have I been aware of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, trustfulness, gentleness, and self-control?(Galatians 5:22,23). I notice each place and express my gratitude. Where I was able to open myself to the work of the Spirit I give deeper thanks. Where I closed myself to those gifts, I ask for sorrow and express my repentance, in some appropriate way seeking reconciliation.

The Third aspect of the Examen automatically flows into the Fourth aspect, which is the deepening of the gifts of sorrow and gratitude. I beg the Lord to deepen my awareness of not allowing him to work for me in his gifts, or of not allowing him to work through me for another, or through another for me. I praise the Lord for those times I did let him work for me, when I co-operated with his gifts.

On any one occasion of praying the Examen I may just wish to take one gift of the Spirit, for example joy. I see where I noticed joy in my day, and give thanks; the places where I entered into the joy of another, or allowed another to enter into my joy; the times joy was shared. These were the concrete moments when God was acting and working in his gift of joy for me and for others. Conversely, I become aware of the times and places when I prevented God acting for me in his gift of joy; when I would not enter into the joy of another, or when I was a kill-joy. I see this now and express my sorrow. And so similarly with the other gifts of the Spirit which are being continuously poured out on my life moment to moment.

The Fifth and final aspect of the Examen is to take a look ahead and to ask for what help and guidance I will need. I can foresee fairly clearly the next day, or half-day: what places will I be in? what people will be with me? what occupations will I take on? or be involved in? With this person I will need the gift of patience; in this place, perseverence; with this occupation, the gift of gentleness, if someone is not to be unduly hurt, etc. I ask for what I see I need very simply and humbly with trust in the loving providence of Father, Son and Spirit – God-with-me.

The practice of the Examen will help foster a growing sensitivity to God, the Trinity, moment to moment at work with me and for me, and through me for others, and through others for me. My life becomes one of greater ease in ’seeking and finding God in all things’, as St Ignatius would put it.

David Keith Townsend, SJ

Sunday, 17th April, 1983.