What Is the Recession For?

As we hear from more and more folks that are being impacted by the economy, we here in Northern Virginia actually have a lot to be thankful for. The turn-down hasn't impacted us as severely as many others.

Yet, even here in "recession proof Wash. D.C." we all know of folks close to us that are experiencing hardship, it not we ourselves.

What happened?

Aside from years of fiscal neglect and irresponsibility, there may be more to this faltering economy than meets the eye. The following short article, written by David Mathis, appeared on John Piper's blog today:

This week's sermon: "What Is the Recession For?"

God is sovereign over all finances. Any economic recession—global or personal—is never less than recession-by-divine-design.

When the economy plummets, God has his purposes—perhaps thousands upon thousands of purposes. Some of these purposes he has made known in his Book.

At least 5 of them are:

1. To expose hidden sin and so bring us to repentance and cleansing.
2. To wake us up to the constant and desperate condition of the developing world where there is always and only recession of the worst kind.
3. To relocate the roots of our joy in his grace rather than in our goods—in his mercy rather than our money, in his worth rather than our wealth.
4. To advance his saving mission in the world—the spread of the gospel and the growth of his church
5. To bring his church to care for its hurting members and to grow in the gift of love.

2 Corinthians 8:1 2 might be the clearest "recession text" in the Bible. It describes the roots of the joy of the Macedonian believers in their "recession." In their "severe test of affliction" and "extreme poverty," their abundant joy "overflowed in a wealth of generosity."

Their generosity didn't come from prosperity but from God's grace—and this grace rooted in "our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich" (2 Corinthians 8:9).

As I shared in our first sermon for 2009, this will be a year of opportunity for the Body of Christ. As people see their worldly belongings falter and fail to sustain them, they will come looking for spiritual answers. Where will they go? Many will go, perhaps for the first time, to church. And we have to be ready. We have to be prepared. We have to be armed with God's love, mercy and forgiveness and the truth of His word.

How does this look on Sunday morning?

We have been seeing a lot of new faces at our church. It's time for each of us to get out of our comfort zones and begin ministering to those new folks. How? Stop and chat. Get to know their names. Invite them to lunch (it's OK to go dutch). Show some interest in them and who they are/where they live/ what they do. In short, reach out to someone we don't know.

These are the open doors God is providing for us. Let's rely on Him to walk through them with us and share His love with someone who may desperately need it.