So much has been published and republished, debated, and then argued, discussed, and then posted about the impact of COVID on the church. The impact has not just been about church times, the change of offerings, streaming provider, hand sanitizer in the lobby, and the odd box of masks left on the counter. COVID has woken the church up to some hard truths about itself.
The pulpit is now a device, we can’t meet in certain places and mayors threaten to shut down services if the church does not comply – And the first argument we make for the church is a constitutional one and not one based on biblical truth. Authorities ask us to shut down a building that we have inadvertently made an idol and called it the church. But the building is not the church. If we think that the shutdown of our buildings is an attack on the church, we have already identified ourselves as someone who does not genuinely know what the Church really is. Authorities are not attacking the biblical version of the Church at all. They are attacking a physical structure and system with or without good reason only to incur our human wrath and irritation. But when they genuinely attack what the Church really is, they will face a whole lot more wrath than just a few preachers in the courts.
We take offense because of the limitations that COVID has created all because a version of the church, that we have created, has been limited. It is so much easier to call a building the church and protect meeting in it at all costs than to be the Church and protect the Gospel at all costs. We are offended because our how has been amended and we have a vague memory of scripture that actually tells us what the church is and why WE need to be the church.
I read all the time that statistics are not as they should be, or media has been adjusted, or that we need to see the real facts about whats going on. And to counter the so-called falsified reasonings behind this attack on the church and Christian values, we bring an untrue version of the church to the table, we mitigate Jesus’ divine ability to protect His Church, circumvent His impending return to rescue the church from the same world that’s getting on our nerves, and post to as many people as we can about how authorities are anti-christian. The world we live in will always be in conflict with the Kingdom we serve in! (John 18:36 – any version will do) Politicians from any side of the spectrum will get it wrong. God’s way is not the way of the world. We are not going to fix this by adopting an accusatory position, in fact, WE are not going to fix this world at all. We are going to watch Jesus and His Gospel, and all the prophetic Word that has been spoken about the bride, the Church, His body, all come to pass. If we are going to win anyone to want to be a part of the greatest movement of all time then we have to change our approach to what Church is and return to knowing deeply that WE ARE THE CHURCH and that through Jesus, we are the hope of mankind. We are here to provide hope not arguments.
Let’s not fight fake news with a fake church! Now more than ever we need to be authentic, real, vulnerable, repentant, and ready to just be a group of genuine disciples that unashamedly worships Jesus FROM WHEREVER THEY ARE!
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