The church is not a place where perfect people go to play. It is a place where hurting people go to heal. And it is filled with people charged with a specific task.
What exactly IS the role of the Evangelical Church in a society struggling with a pandemic, racism, discord, and so much more? After numerous discussions with my children, I wanted to go through this logically for my own brain. I wonder sometimes, when Christians loudly proclaim their own rights to health or to certain freedoms, boldly walk into stores with or without masks, confidently go to each other's houses without practicing social distance or refuse to go anywhere, what are we trying to convey? When we talk of our rights, what do we mean? When we disagree with authorities, what is our basis? When I am angry, is it a righteous anger? What does the Bible says about this type of situation?
So what are the facts exactly? Christianity, after all, is an amazingly logical religion. We are charged as Christians to utilize our minds. So I would like to look at what the country knows now, and compare that with what the Bible commands us to do in these sorts of upheavals. We now know that countries who were quite strict on social distancing and masks seem for the most part to be doing a stellar job fighting the pandemic. We know that America is not lowering our infection numbers anymore, according to both state infection and hospitalization numbers. Certain businesses can open while others stay closed, depending on our locations. Churches are now included as essential operations and are allowed to meet.
Yes, we were informed incorrectly in the beginning about masks and social distancing, according to both past precedence and recent scientific institutions. But as of today, it seems fairly clear that both work to a certain extent. That fact is no longer a political issue actually, although many still treat it as such. It's simply a fact. Both liberal and conservative sides are now in tenuous agreement about the importance of social distancing and masks, as evidenced by federal governmental recommendations and increasing local mandates in both Democratic and Republican led states. It may be that some of our elected officials do not follow their own recommendations, but does that actually exempt me from following them? Here's what the Bible says.
Hebrews 13:17
Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls, as those who will have to give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with groaning, for that would be of no advantage to you.
Ok, so obey and submit to leaders - authorities will have to account for the rules. Sort of makes me relieved that I am not much of an authority. That's an awful lot of accounting to be responsible for. The rest of us have to account for whether we follow them. We will also have to account for HOW we follow them. Ouch.
Romans 13:1-5
Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment. For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive his approval, for he is God's servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God's wrath on the wrongdoer. Therefore one must be in subjection, not only to avoid God's wrath but also for the sake of conscience.
No person is exempt from following the governing authorities. God tells me to follow them and He is the ultimate authority. Who am I to choose to disobey? I need to know to Whom my obedience is owed. Because you better believe that sometimes I have a terrible attitude about obedience to certain people. The only way for me to change that is to remember that I owe Jesus my obedience because of the Cross.
Titus 3:1
Remind them to be submissive to rulers and authorities, to be obedient, to be ready for every good work
Again, I do not get to choose whether I obey authorities or not. As long as they are not directly charging me to disobey God, I am charged to obey them whether they are good rulers, bad rulers, someone I voted for, or someone I did not vote for. Bummer.
1 Peter 2:13-15
Be subject for the Lord's sake to every human institution, whether it be to the emperor as supreme, or to governors as sent by him to punish those who do evil and to praise those who do good. For this is the will of God, that by doing good you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people.
Every human institution. Does that mean I choose whether to follow the decisions of one official over another? No, we have a clear hierarchy in our land and I must follow that hierarchy. That means if the government issues recommendations and my governor issues mandates, I must obey the mandates. My agreement with the mandates doesn't seem to apply, as long as the mandate does not explicitly counter God's commands.
1 Peter 2:18
Servants, be subject to your masters with all respect, not only to the good and gentle but also to the unjust.
This has to do with servants. I can look at this several ways but one way is that we are to serve each other. We are to love all neighbors and serve everyone with respect. Whether they are good and gentle or whether they are unjust. I do not have the right to delineate between the two groups. This is sometimes hard for me to swallow.
1 Timothy 6:1-21
(You can go read the whole section but I will just include a small part of it here.)
Let all who are under a yoke as slaves regard their own masters as worthy of all honor, so that the name of God and the teaching may not be reviled. Those who have believing masters must not be disrespectful on the ground that they are brothers; rather they must serve all the better since those who benefit by their good service are believers and beloved.
I don't get to choose whether I am respectful or disrespectful, and I am not to lord it over others, when I am blessed enough to be under a believing leader. Any leader, believing or unbelieving, deserving or undeserving, should have the respect and good behavior of every follower of Jesus under them. It does not say that we have to like everything that happens and everything they do. But I am to be respectful and obedient.
So as a Christian, my first and foremost calling is to submit to Christ. There are many more verses talking about Christians and earthly authority. They are all along the same veins. Because Christ calls me to obey and submit, if I am His, I am responsible for knowing this. Because what authority does Jesus have?
Matthew 28:18
And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.
Yes. He has all authority. I may not like to follow the authority of someone I do not respect, did not vote for, do not agree with. I certainly struggle with this. But the fact that I struggle with it or disagree with it does not excuse me from my responsibility to obey the charges of my God. And He does NOT say groan and weep as I disrespectfully submit. I am to do this with joy. Joy because I am obeying Christ. It may be hard for me, but if I'm struggling, then I need to go back to the Cross and look at exactly why I am forgiven. I need to look at the beauty of the process through which I am covered from the wrath of God. If I insist on disobeying, on dragging my feet, on making sure everyone around me knows how miserable I am, then I am disobedient. I am throwing the gift of grace back into the face of God. Let me repeat that, for my own sake if not for yours. After I look at what He has given me, am I seriously going to throw that gift of grace in the dirt?
But what if it's really hard? What if I really strongly disagree? And what about verses like this one?
Acts 5:29
But Peter and the apostles answered, “We must obey God rather than men.
Let me refer you and my own heart back to the previous verses. Yes we must obey God rather than man. For myself, the humanity inside of me wants to rebel, wants to have things my own way, wants to insist that I have rights, that I deserve better. But what does God say? Submit to and obey your earthly authorities as you would unto Me. At times a very very bitter pill to my heart.
What if the laws of the land contradict the laws of God? Then we are absolutely to stand up and follow God. But in every other case we are to follow the law of the land.
So what about this distance and masking? What does this fall under? For we are to have community. We are to stand up as Christians, as a visible reflection of the image of God. Does that mean that we can resist these two orders, believing that they go against the laws of God? Are they indeed sins? Nowhere in the Bible is it even hinted that staying 6 ft away from people is a sin. In fact, Jesus taught from a boat at one time. I cannot say for certain, but I must assume he was further than 6 ft away from the rest of the people. If not, they certainly could have jumped in there with him! Yet they were together, learning as a community. So I cannot say that this recommendation goes against God's command for community. We can still gather. That has not been taken away. Just because we have to do it differently does not mean it is gone. So no, I cannot rebel against 6 ft of social distance. And masks? Nowhere in the Bible does wearing a mask or taking off a mask determine my salvation. I have complete confidence that if I were to be involved in a horrible accident which resulted in half of my face being burnt off, that would in no way affect what happened for me at that Cross. I do not look at a woman forced to wear a face covering in a foreign land, forced to hide and yet still a Christian, and say that because of her facial covering, she is disobedient to the Word of God. And so, I think I can safely say that I cannot claim wearing a mask in any way goes against the Word of God. In fact, I read that by insisting on certain beliefs that I know are true (ie eating food sacrificed to idols will not hurt the Christian), I can actually hurt the belief of a young newbie if I am not careful. So if one of us insists that someone should wear a mask because of our rights to health, or one of us insists that to do so infringes upon personal rights, then both of us are in the wrong. We would both be arguing or judging based on self, rather than loving each other while basing our actions on God's Word. So I must wear a mask, based on God's commands about obedience to secular law. And since that mandate is based upon evidence that a mask and distance might help save a life, I must also obey based on God's command to love my neighbor as myself.
I've seen so much recently about personal rights. And I know if something that I perceive as my own personal right is crossed, I often get irritated if not downright mad. So where did my personal rights come into this situation? If I am covered by Christ, then I accept the fact that He lived the life that I should have lived in order that I should receive His life. And He experienced the death and wrath of God in order that I would not. What does that do to my personal rights?
1 Corinthians 6:19-20
Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.
Have I accepted Christ and the price He paid? Yes? Then my debt has been paid. And I am not my own. If I accepted His payment, then I relinquished my rights. I am now charged with obedience. I am NOT REQUIRED to obey to ensure my salvation, for that is not dependent upon my actions. And I will sin. But the more I get to know Him, the more I can appreciate what He sacrificed. And the more I appreciate that, the more I want to obey. But my salvation is not based on my ability to obey.
Although it's hard to grasp, joy, tremendous joy, does come through following the leading of God's Word. Accepting Christ brings a wonderful amazing freedom. Giving up my rights to Him opens up my life in a way in which it has never been opened up before. My fears decrease and my boldness increases. I have a confidence that someone without Him and His Spirit cannot understand fully. BUT I am not my own. I have responsibilities. I have to crawl back to that Cross and remember. I will not just magically follow His edicts. I have a choice, and this is the time to use it. I go to Him and to His Word and I listen, and then I walk forward in His light. And that light can be blindingly, painfully bright. It shows me what I don't have always want to see about myself. It shows my pride, my anxiety, my unwillingness to rest in Him. It shows where I believe I still own myself. It shows where I believe my rights, what I want, trumps what God has given. I believe I know better at times. I may say I don't, but how do I act?
So bringing this back to the present situation, will I or anyone that I know die of covid? That is something none of us can know until it happens. Is the chance that I will spread covid either directly or indirectly enough to get my attention? Do I know that God commands that others shall know of Christians by our love? That we are to love our neighbors as ourselves? That what this means is my rights do not supersede those of my neighbor? And my right to health does not come before someone else's rights to something else?
Here we are. We know the government recommends social distancing and masks. If you are in North Carolina then you know that we now have a mandate to wear masks out in public, as do many states. We have been clearly ordered. Now what do we, as Christians, do? I may be completely wrong in my suppositions and conclusions. I have been before. But when I look at the Bible, when I search, I believe that I have a clear mandate to follow authority in this case, submissively and joyfully, with respect. I do not believe there is any evidence that social distancing and wearing a mask are sinful. So my way is clear. I will stand up and I will fight the right battle. I will not hate those who refuse, those who put personal rights, whatever they are, ahead of what God has ordered. I am not allowed to do that because of my love for Christ. And I will fight with myself. And I will fight with God, because I am here on a broken world in a broken body with a mind that wants my own way, with a mind that's so easily forgets what was done for me, what was paid for me. But I will crawl back and I will look up. And I will stand up again and I will crumple up that ball of self-righteousness and fling it right to God, confident that He will pull it from me. And when I stumble again I will crawl back. Because I know I will stumble. I crawled into the church and God helped me stand up. Some days I'm convinced He held me up by my shoulder straps. I am embarrassed at how often I fail Him, and encouraged that no matter how many times I do fail, nothing I can do can take away a salvation from Him that was freely given. He has freed me to fail, freed me to stand, freed me to crawl, freed me to obey, freed me to submit, freed me to fly. I have been freed by Someone who loves me more than I can imagine. And reminding myself of that fact makes me hope that I can walk forward with a new maturity, where I react on the basis of His Word, rather than the basis of my emotions. My salvation is not resting on my actions or the actions of someone else. My salvation rests upon His grace, His mercy, His actions, His Word, His life, His death, His obedience, His Resurrection. So I can rest in His Peace.
If you are a Christian, I urge you to stand up. To look at His Word. Talk with others if you need to hash things out, but keep the conversation focused on the actions of Jesus, on the words of the Bible. In this world of social media, look at what you and your children post. Our values are right there for the world to see. Are you standing on your own rights, or under the Cross? Are you loving your neighbor? Are you an example of Christ's love to all the nations?
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