Back to Normal?
When can we all just get back to normal?
There are a lot of questions I have been asking lately.
This is one of them.
The answer that I have received so far - through talking with other church pastors, sitting in on webinars, reading article after article and praying – is that we probably won’t be getting back to normal; at least not the normal with which we are all familiar.
There is a cultural buzzword, which I happen to think is over-used, that accurately describes our situation. That cultural buzzword is, “new normal.”
We will likely be able to resume meeting together as a church. We will rejoice together as we once did, and we will return to many of the same faith practices we enjoyed before we all went into quarantine. But when all of this is over, we will likely have to face a “new normal.”
We will have learned some lessons through this wandering experience. We are, in essence, wandering amid a very uncertain situation.
There were two instances in which God’s people wandered in the desert.
The first was when Abraham left his home in Ur to follow God’s leading toward a promised land. Abraham described his journey as a wandering to Abimelech.
“And when God caused me to wander from my father's house, I said to her, 'This is the kindness you must do me: at every place to which we come, say of me, "He is my brother."'"
(Genesis 20:13 ESV)
The book of Hebrews says this about Abraham:
“By faith, he went to live in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, living in tents with Isaac and Jacob, heirs with him of the same promise. For he was looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God.”
(Hebrews 11:9-10 ESV)
Abraham wandered in faith. He left his house and his home to live in the land of promise as if he were a sojourner in a foreign land. He determined that it is better to face the challenges (living in tents), with God than to enjoy the comforts of house and home without Him.
Abraham had a new normal; he embraced it and was lauded for his faith. The other example of wandering is when Israel refused to enter the promised land, and God sentenced them to wander in the desert.
Psalm 95 talks about this historical event.
“do not harden your hearts, as at Meribah, as on the day at Massah in the wilderness, when your fathers put me to the test and put me to the proof, though they had seen my work. For forty years I loathed that generation and said, "They are a people who go astray in their heart, and they have not known my ways." Therefore I swore in my wrath, "They shall not enter my rest."
(Psalm 95:8-11 ESV)
The book of Hebrews talks about Israel as well.
“For who were those who heard and yet rebelled? Was it not all those who left Egypt led by Moses? And with whom was he provoked for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness? And to whom did he swear that they would not enter his rest, but to those who were disobedient? So we see that they were unable to enter because of unbelief.”
(Hebrews 3:16-19 ESV)
There is a big difference between Abraham’s wandering and Israel’s wandering. Abraham was presented with a “new normal,” and he embraced it in faith. Consequently, Abraham is praised by the scriptures for his faith.
Israel was presented with a “new normal” by Joshua and Caleb, and they rejected it, seeking to stone the two faithful witnesses for their message of confidence despite the challenges before them. Their example is one scripture warns us against.
I know very little about what church life will be like once we have the option to return, but I have a hunch we will have challenges to face and a “new normal” to embrace or reject.
Brian
Now What?
What do you do in times of crisis?
I don’t know about you, but I feel more comfortable strategizing about things that I can control than I do thinking about things that I can’t control.
Unfortunately, apart from following the advice of state and local officials, there isn’t anything we can do to overcome the challenges of these present days.
What can we do when we encounter challenges we can’t control?
Two words come to mind.
Wait.
Trust.
For God alone, O my soul, wait in silence, for my hope is from him. He only is my rock and my salvation, my fortress; I shall not be shaken. On God rests my salvation and my glory; my mighty rock, my refuge is God. Trust in him at all times, O people; pour out your heart before him; God is a refuge for us.
Selah
(Psalm 62:5-8 ESV)
Psalm 62 gives us these two words in times of trouble.
First, David gives us the example of a man who understood that there are times in which the best approach is to wait on the Lord. David doesn’t advise a passive kind of waiting. We can be remarkably busy as we wait on God to do what only He can do. While we wait on God, we can pray. We can pray alone and pray with and for one another as we wait on God to move amid our circumstances. We can reach out to one another, and we can ask for help from one another. Waiting on God doesn’t need to be characterized by passivity. We can be busy serving God and others. However, waiting does acknowledge that our busyness can only be in expectation of God’s power.
Second, David reminds us to trust and to trust at all times. During David’s time, the temptation was to put one’s trust in a multitude of so-called gods and goddesses. Israel was surrounded by nations that would hedge their bets theologically. They prayed to multiple gods, all in the hopes that if one failed, perhaps another might be able to help. David’s call to Israel was for the nation to forsake all others and to put their trust firmly, wholly and exclusively in the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. We don’t know how God plans to move in the midst of this situation.
We can’t presume that God will move according to our will. But we can wait on God to do what only He can do, and trust that He will be our rock and our salvation, our rock, and our refuge.
We can do what David urges us to do.
Pour out our hearts before Him.
Rejoice
Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice. Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. (Phil. 4:4-7 ESV)
There are times in which it is easy to rejoice, and then there are times in which it is more difficult to rejoice. Right now, we are all in the midst of a time in which it is more difficult to rejoice. The reality is that the effects of the fall are always with us. Sometimes they are less evident to us as tragedy is somewhere else on the globe. We are not as tempted toward anxiety when the world’s most significant troubles seem far away. But as we see the effects of the fall sweeping across our nation, drawing closer to us, we can all be tempted to be anxious. And yet the Bible tells us not to be anxious. Some of you may be thinking, “easier said than done.”
Rejoice…
I agree; it is easier said than done.
But the Bible doesn’t just tell us what to do; it also tells us how to do it.
The Bible doesn’t just give us a prohibition on anxiety; it provides us with a way to help us replace that anxiety with more helpful approaches toward the troubles of life.
The first practice the Bible gives us, instead of anxiety, is the discipline of joy.
Joy is, in fact, a discipline. We have often thought of joy as an emotion over which we have no control. But the Bible tells us that the way we become joyful is through the practice of rejoicing.
“Be glad in the LORD, and rejoice, O righteous, and shout for joy, all you upright in heart!”
(Psalm 32:11 ESV)
The way we find joy is through the process of rejoicing. This idea is the opposite of what we may find intuitive. We are likely to expect our practice of rejoicing to follow the emotion of happiness as if rejoicing is something that spontaneously happens when our hearts are happy. To be sure, there are instances in which the happiness of our hearts lead us to rejoice. But there are also cases in which our joy follows the practice of rejoicing. Through the process of rejoicing, we lead our hearts to joy.
It is through that joy that others see our “reasonableness.”
The word that the ESV translates as “reasonableness” is the Greek word “επιεικης” and it means, gentle, kind, courteous, and reasonable. Our joyfulness lifts our hearts, and that translates to the way to treat others. When we are joyful, we are better at loving others.
The other consequence of our joyfulness is that our anxiety gives way to both prayer and thanksgiving. We pray to God and bring our worries and concerns before Him. We give thanks to God, and we remind ourselves of the good things that He has brought into our lives even amid troublesome times; as we pray and give thanks, the peace of God guards our hearts and our minds.
God’s peace stands guard over both our hearts and our mind.
Our hearts are guarded by the Lord as the peace of Christ rules in our hearts as Col 3:15 tells us is the case for those of us who know Christ.
Our minds are guarded by the Lord as we continue to be transformed by the renewing of our minds, as Romans 12:2 tells us.
All of these are a consequence of choosing to rejoice rather than stew in anxiety.
So how are you choosing to rejoice today?
Could we put on some Christian music instead of listening to the news’s 24x7 coverage of the virus?
Can we spend less time stewing over things we can’t control and spend more time in God’s word?
Can we take some time with our families and share what we may be thankful for, even during this season of trouble and spend time rejoicing together?
I hope and pray that we will all draw closer to Him through this.
Grace and peace,
Brian
God's Sovereignty in Times of Fear
Don’t panic.
Don’t Panic.
Have you ever heard yourself say those words to someone you love who has found themselves in the midst of a life crisis? It is good advice to be sure, but sometimes the person receiving it needs a reason not to panic.
For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience. Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified. (Romans 8:19-30 ESV)
As we follow the advice of our civic leaders, avoiding large groups in order to reduce the risk of community spread of Covid-19, we must also remember that God is in control. Somehow, though we may not be able to identify how, all of this is meant for the good of those who love God and are called according to His purpose.
When Paul wrote these words to the Romans, he was reflecting on a reality that has become very clear to us during this time. The creation, which God pronounced good in the book of Genesis, has been subject to futility. In other words, viruses weren’t the original plan. The disobedience of our first parents in the garden unleashed a host of undesirable consequences, among them, are the things in this world that cause sickness. The creation itself has been groaning in anticipation of its healing. As Christians, we recognize that the world has fallen far short of God’s original intention for His creation. We recognize that sickness and injury are a result of the tragic consequences of the fall, and yet God has not left us without hope in the midst of this fallen world. He has sent His Son to redeem us from the consequences of our own sins and also from the corruption of the creation that surrounds us.
There will come a day in which Christ will return and abolish all sickness, injury, and death from those who have received Him. Until then, we trust that our Sovereign God is taking our every life experience, both positive and negative, and working them together for our good. That’ doesn’t mean that everything is good. Viruses aren’t good, cancer isn’t good, chronic pain isn’t good nor are other tragic events like the death of a loved one. God is weaving all of those dark threads together with the brighter ones, the blessings that we enjoy every day, to be part of our life’s tapestry that we present before Christ in glory. God knew us before we were born, He predestined us to be conformed to the image of His Son. He has called us by His Word, justified us by the blood of His Son, and we will stand glorified before Christ when the troubles, tears, and worries of this life have long since passed into ancient history. Don’t panic, this is all just temporary. Until then, let us love one another, care for one another, pray for one another, and do all we can to protect one another.
Grace and Peace,
Brian
The Phantom Mailer Strikes Again
About once every three months I get a call from a member of our community who has received anonymous correspondence from someone who has torn out pages from a tract that we don’t use or a resource that we don’t recommend and has then told that person to come to our church. I’ve come to affectionately refer to that person as Baptist Fellowship’s “Phantom Mailer.”
Here is my plea to the Phantom Mailer.”
Please Stop!
You aren’t helping!
This time the” Phantom Mailer” tore a page from a “bible in one year” reading plan and sent it anonymously to a woman in Hebron. Her comments to me was that it was “creepy” to receive that correspondence with no personal name, no contact information, no return address but with our Church’s name and incorrect service times listed.
I agree, “creepy” indeed.
My hunch is that the “Phantom Mailer” doesn’t even attend our church. How could they? They never have the service times correct. But if that person ever happens to stumble across this blog then, please, hear this pastor’s plea, for the sake of the gospel, stop it.
You are driving people away from our church.
Do you realize that not a single person has ever come to Baptist Fellowship because of your anonymous correspondence? On the other hand, the calls from the community that I have received have come from frustrated and angry people who will likely never come to Baptist Fellowship or any other bible believing church precisely because of your anonymous contact with them.
More importantly, you are driving people away from the gospel.
No one has ever thanked me for those anonymous letters you send, no one.
Everyone I have heard from is now suspicious of the message of the gospel because of the suspicious method that you are using, every single one.
Phantom Mailer, please learn what 1 Peter 3:15 means. Sharing Christ must be done respectfully, gently and most importantly, personally.
Jesus personally called the disciples to follow Him, He didn’t send an anonymous letter.
Peter personally preached the gospel in Acts chapter 2, he didn’t send an anonymous letter.
Paul personally wrote to the churches and his proteges.
This is because none of them were ashamed of the gospel they were sharing.
As a pastor, I don’t read anonymous mail.
I don’t read it because anyone who isn’t willing to put their name on what they send either doesn’t have the courage to say it with their name attached or they are too ashamed of what they said, or the way they said it, to be held accountable for their own words.
So, please, Phantom Mailer, don’t discredit the scriptures or the gospel by sending invitations to our church like it is anonymous mail that I wouldn’t read.
If you, Phantom Mailer, would like to learn how to share the good news of Christ then here is how I would recommend you do so. Incidentally, this is how we have taught people to share the gospel for years at Baptist Fellowship.
1. Introduce yourself to the person with whom you wish to share the gospel.
2. Get to know them, show genuine concern and caring for who they are as a person. Be a good listener.
3. Pray diligently for them.
4. Buy them a cup of coffee and share your faith in a gentle and respectful manner.
5. Invite them to come to the same church you attend. Be a good example.
Finally, a word of encouragement to the many people in our congregation who faithfully and personally share their faith regularly in such a fashion.
I am grateful for you. I am proud to serve as your pastor.
If you happen to know our “Phantom Mailer” would you please direct them to this blog? I am sincerely hoping and praying that 2019 marks the year I stop having to do damage control from the “Phantom Mailer.”