Locusts in the Church

There is a term that is used in Joel describing the locust - which seems to refer to the people who were takers while not being givers or developers of anyone - just eating.

Peter refers to this in Acts in addressing people in Jerusalem - in reference to Rome's occupation of the Judean area and its deterioration of the Hebrew faith and discipline of following God.

I think that maybe the consumer term we use today might be somewhat relevant to this description.

The question is - Have we become simply locusts in our concepts of church and the body today?

Consider the evidence in the terms we use without restraint to describe the body and church:

• - I'm not being fed
• - Church Growth
• - Relevancy
• - Fulfilled
• - Spiritual appetite
• - Church discipline (meaning created justifying not giving (supposedly of a commitment) when they don't like something - or treating someone as an outcast when they don't like something they did).
• - Blessing (meaning changed to acquiring material things - rather than receiving the endorsement of God)
• - Provision (meaning changed to gaining material things - rather than the providing of God's purpose throughout generations)
• - Outreach (meaning bringing someone into our group - rather than extending ourselves out on their behalf)
• - Love (meaning you do what I like - rather than I am sacrificing myself for you)
• - Meet my needs

There are certainly many others - but you get the idea and probably have many more that come to mind.

There were four contexts of giving that address the invasion of the weeds and thorns (lust and cares and concerns of the world in a person's soul) in the composition of growing fruit - so long as we want to work that is, and not just eat our fill.

• Participation - everyone participates in giving something to create a body's meeting (financial participation is simply contributing to the expenses of the meeting or service offered - and of course is not really giving, but is rather, just not stealing)
• Tithe - everyone gives to the storehouse to create a resource in care of the community's well-being (of course govt taxes compete with the tithe for resource and allegiance of people today - and determines who we really believe should address welfare needs of our society - for if we don't tithe to a common storehouse for community needs (this is not a church service expense) then we say we believe we should pay the government to do the welfare work in the wake of our neglect.
• Offering - love sacrifice given for the minister's and missionary's well-being - whose work it is to create the supports and facilitate the the development of the ministry of the body.
• Alms - personal resources set aside to feed the poor and those who come to your door.

Consider that there are not really corporations to give to - because a Corporation is simply a business structure of individual profit centers and this of course corrupts the pure giving nature the church is supposed to maintain in being committed to developing and resourcing simply people and purposes focused by personal obedience in regard of God

Consider how we have created the habit of seeing our involvement in church as needing to satisfy us, meet our needs, help us feel God - rather than being the manner of our sacrifice purely to God for the sake of getting rid of the weeds (of course if we don't like weeding - or working, this may not translate very clearly).

Consider how the ministering agents who plow and plant or grow and harvest - aka: facilitate the services giving the opportunity for people to express worship (sacrifice) to God in the fashion of the use of people's gifts -have been so neglected in love offerings (which the vocational minister is called to live by) that they have had to retreat to the shield of Government employment (NPO - 501c3 - aka: the force of equal welfare management) to address how the Body of Christ has treated those (the least and teachers) whom they were instructed to give double honor to - because they are called to lead in giving by making themselves vulnerable by the nature of the work of growing givers or fruit bearers.

Consider these words in 2 Tim. 3:2

In that time people will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, arrogant, evil speakers, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, holding nothing sacred (everything is a consumable), disloyal, rejecting grace,

Have you slid into the business model of the locusts, so much that you have become a consumer of the church and its resources for the sake merely your appetite?

Does it not say somewhere..."and their god will be their stomach..."

So, have we become the locusts today - simply by seeing ourselves primarily as consumers?

Are we the generation of locusts prophesied about - or do we actually want to work (as opposed to just being about finding ways to take money and eat up our worldly welfare) for an eternal living?

DL