Coronavirus

Meeting or no?

Many Pastors are struggling to do their best to minister to their congregations in this time of social isolation. We as Christians, still are compelled to function like the church.

Clearly a key element of a healthy church is fellowship. We also have a foundational belief that our Lord will watch over us when we are obedient to his will. Because of this, some will argue that failing to continue to have our church services reveals a lack of faith. That somehow, not trusting in God’s deliverance in the face of real danger equates to a disloyalty to God’s will.

As a practicing physician, I have had many instances where people have approached critical moments in their life feeling that they had to choose between faith and trusting in something of this world such as a medical treatment. Whether it was a decision to take an antidepressant, a decision to accept a blood transfusion, or even a decision to go through another round of chemotherapy, people often approach this as an either or decision.

I think its a time when we struggle and times of struggle are times when the enemy is pressing his attack. The questions we face today about choosing between our innate desire to gather in worship and our desire to be good stewards of the safety and health of our friends, family, and neighbors is a very similar quandry.

As a practicing physician, I have had many times when

So on one hand, we have a tradition from the apostles themselves to gather regularly in worship. On the other hand we have a real world need and government direction to not gather at all for the sake of the public well being.

So when we face things that give us uncertainty, we have two tremendous tools at our disposal for selecting our way forward. We have prayer and we have scripture.

I would certainly encourage everyone to pray in these certain times. Find out what God is calling you to do as his reflection in this world. Take time to pray and make sure you also set aside time away from the TV and away from the internet to listen for his still small voice as he answers.

I’d like to take a moment to share what I’ve gleaned from scripture as I’ve investigated this issue.

This series of verses provides an important teaching from Jesus. Rome was an oppressive government. The Jews struggled mightily under that oppression. The Pharisees set up Jesus figuring he’d either have to voice support for the oppressors or say something traitorous for which they could charge him.

Jesus essentially says that it doesn’t have to be either or. He expects that a good Christian will also be a good citizen of whatever government he lives under. Christ himself felt people had a duty of obedience to the worldly authorities placed over him.

Christ did not just give black and white rules. He gave us principles to live by and this is one of them. Every man must be a citizen of Christ’s kingdom and must also be a citizen of the worldly kingdom. Moreover we are called to be good citizens of both, not one or the other.

So applying this, if we stay home right now, how might this honor both?

The spiritual King calls upon us to love God and to love our neighbor as he has loved us. . We are called to a self sacrificing love. To a love that puts our neighbors needs above our desires. When we allow our concern for our neighbors well-being in this outbreak to take precedence over our deire to gather in worship, we are loving as Jesus himself asked us to love. Would it not be a sin to push forward with public gathering and jeopardizing the lives of a brother’s and sister’s just to impress one another with how strong our faith is? Just a thought.

Certainly our local authorities, our state authorities, and our federal authorities have all asked us not to gather for public worship. Obedience to government direction that is not immoral, actually honors God’s wishes. It is an opportunity to demonstrate care and consideration for our nonbelieving neighbors. It is an opportunity to glorify the Father by not pressing forward with our beloved traditions when they might bring harm to another.. Again, just a thought.

Scripture tells us that wisdom comes from the Lord.

The Lord provides us with knowledge and wisdom for a purpose. It is provided so that our needs in this world can be met. Disregarding the wisdom that God grants us is a pointless as disregarding and gift or blessing from our father. If the medical sciences tells us that gathering together is unwise and that it hazards our neighbor needlessly, then it might be a God-honoring action to heed that wisdom. Now that’s not to say that we always have every answer or that we even always have the answer right. But I do mean to say, that if God has given us the knowledge of how to survive this plague and if through exercising that knowledge we bring glory to him, then I think scripture calls upon us to be obedient to the knowledge he has granted us.

Finally, Jesus himself gave us a clear lesson on putting ourselves in harm’s way just for the sake of showing off God’s desire to protect us. Jesus was asked once by Satan to do something that demonstrated that he had real faith in the Father’s ability to protect him and Jesus told Satan he wouldn’t do it.

Finally

Read .

Jesus essentially says that there is no good reason to knowingly put yourself in harm’s way just to prove that God can do what you already know in your heart that he can do.

Whichever way you decide you come down on regarding the issue of suspending church, I would just ask that you continue to pray for your church and that you continue to carry forward the mission of your church in these uncertain times. Even if your church services have moved from the building to the internet or radio, spend some time today and every day loving your neighbor. Loving them as he loved you is the surest way to spread his good news in this world.