You Are Being Tested (This is How You Can Pass the Test)

For two thousand years the church has been characterized by a lot of different things, some good and some not so good. Self discipline, compassion, mercy, charity—these are extensions of the heart and teaching of Jesus. When the church is at its best it has a desire to grow into the people of God that He called them to be, to carry the Gospel, remain faithful, to worship God and love people. The church has, over the years, been ravaged by persecution and tested by every kind of trial and temptation imaginable, and yet generation after generation the church has prevailed. Jesus said He would establish His church and the gates of Hell would not be able to stand against it. The church has been trusted with a mission. God has called us to the only thing worth doing in this life, He has called us to be the light of the world. He has called us to embody love and to be the agent of hope wherever we are. The faithful have always known that life is better when we join together, when we gather in faith around the promises of Jesus. When we stand united against the common enemy of everything that is good. 

But none of us should pretend that it has always gone well. Or that it’s always been easy. There have been times when the church has joined the enemy, when its promoted hate rather than love, bondage rather than freedom, and darkness rather than light. There have been too times when the church has failed in the mission that has been entrusted to us. But hope was never lost. The light was never completely extinguished. There have been times that have tested who we are but they have never changed who we are. God has always been faithful to call His people back to Him. His kindness leads to repentance, and repentance means to turn away from sin and back to Christ.

What ravishes our church now is a unique and rather clever attack of our ancient enemy. A great evil threatens us, not with war and violence and other obvious tactics, but it is every bit as deadly. We are divided. We are isolated. We are driven more by sadness and fear and anger than we are by faith. This current challenge attacks the very nature of who we are. 

Because of COVID-19, both the virus and the response to it, we are losing the vulnerable. We are unable to physically be with some of the people we love. We are unable to gather in person around the Word of God and promises of Jesus. We are as terrified at the thought of losing our sources of income as we are at losing the people we love. We are angry that government bureaucrats with suspicious motives are overreaching the authority we gave them and treating us like children. We are angry that many people are not taking this viral threat serious enough and putting others at risk. It breaks our heart when we hear about someone who’s been robbed of their life and their future. Where is the church supposed to be in all of this? Is it okay to be sad. Is it okay to be afraid, or angry. We are emotional people, it’s how God made us. It’s okay to feel our emotions. It is not okay to let those emotions drive us to sin. It’s not okay to abandon our calling and our faith. It is not okay to stop being the church, to forget who we are and stop loving people. It’s not okay to lose ourselves in all this and stop pointing to the life and hope we have in Jesus. 

We are being tested. For the sake of the church, which is the hope of the world, we must pass it. 

Sad. Afraid. Angry.

It is understandable to be sad. Every one of those statistics we hear on the news, every one of those numbers is a person that someone loved. Someone’s grandmother, or grandfather, or teacher, a friend, or someone’s mom or dad. Death is our enemy, it is not our friend. We mourn the loss of our loved ones but we do not grieve as those who have no hope. On the night when Jesus was betrayed, He was explaining the very sad things that were about to happen to Him and to all of them, He said,

“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” [John 16:33]

God cares for you, cast your cares on Him. This is part of the light that the church brings into the world. Sadness may test who we are but it must not change who we are. 

It’s also understandable to be afraid. We are bombarded with the message that we should be afraid. The media in their desperate pursuit of selling soap have learned that nothing sells as well as fear. We will glue our faces to the television if they can convince us that we’re in danger. They infect our conversations and our dreams and poison every waking moment with news of coronavirus outbreaks, the dangers of shopping and breathing and whatever else. They do this because they want to manipulate us. Control us. And we let them. We pay them to do it. We fork out their subscription fees and buy into their hysteria just the way they want us to. Don’t misunderstand me—There are terrifying things in this world, but we don’t have to be afraid like people who are without faith. We are supposed to be courageous because we believe that the God who is in control of all things—even the terrifying things—that He loves us. He’s for us. He wants us to be brave in the face of all this darkness and evil. 

In Isaiah 41:10 it says, 

“So do not fear, for I am with you;

do not be dismayed, for I am your God.

I will strengthen you and help you;

I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.”

Fear may test who we are but it must not change who we are.

And it’s certainly understandable to be angry. I’m probably a little more in touch with my inner rage monster than with my scaredy cat or sad boy. I’m more tempted to let my anger boil up over all the things that are happening. The way so many of our hopes and dreams have been put on hold, or shut down, or destroyed completely by some politician’s attempt to look like they’re doing the right thing. Every little coffee shop, or restaurant, or business was someone’s dream. More than that, it was someone’s livelihood. It’s how they made a living. It was their life. The Bible says in Deuteronomy [24:6] that It is wrong to take a person’s tools, or their business, because the owner uses it to make a living. It’s the darkest kind of sin to take away a person’s ability to provide for their family. Add to that the mask shaming and morality bullying of the people who with all the good intentions in the world would condemn anyone who chooses freedom over safety or survival over compliance. Then there’s the unhelpful sarcastic preaching of the skeptics who think it’s all a bunch of hype, dismissing the sacrifices that people are making as herd mentality and cowardice. Too often the split between these two camps is along the same familiar party lines that we’ve all come to expect. All of this is infuriating—I have to work hard at not letting my anger take me to unfaithful places. In Ephesians 4:26 it says

“Be angry but do not sin”

Which is kinda like saying be hot but don’t sweat because in James 1:20, one of my favorite Bible verses, I should have it tattooed in reverse across my face so I have to read it every time I look in a mirror, it says

“The anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God.”

I’m fond of the myth of righteous anger but giving in to anger almost always leads to sin. Anger may test who we are but it must not change who we are.

The burning question that faces the church today is not whether we will get through this or not, because of course we will. The real question is who are we going to be when this is all over? Will we have been patient, brave and determined to persevere in our faith like the church of old. COVID-19 is literally a cold—a really bad cold. Are we going to let a cold prove that we’re not who we thought we were? Are we going to let it rob us of joy and hope? Are we going to let it succeed in driving us to selfishly give in to our sadness, and fear, and anger? Are we going to fight with our neighbors and give in to pettiness rather than love? Are we going to be defined, as the church, by what we are against or what we are for? Who are we going to be? Are we going to be a pawn of our enemy? Or are we going to be the church, the people of God in Christ.

Jesus said, “I will build my church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it.” Jesus says the church will prevail, so I have never doubted that it will. You can’t break something that Jesus has blessed. A church that is built on the sure foundation of Christ the solid rock will stand. As long as we know that we are the people of God who are in Christ. The redeemed of the Lord. People who are given the authority and commission to love the world in His name. The name of Christ. As long as we know that before we are anything else we are Christians, then we will not fail this test that is before us. 

And thanks be to God, many of you are doing just that. I'm thankful for all my fellow brothers and sisters who pray for an end to this outbreak and an end to these draconian measures to control it. The church is a people of prayer. I’m thankful to all of you who have been faithful in gathering around God’s Word online, singing in your living rooms, staying connected to your church, checking in on each other, and continuing to support your ministry in every way possible—including faithful giving, participation in Zoom Bible studies, discipleship groups, leadership meetings, and recording all the little pieces for our worship services. The church is a people of faithful worship. I’m thankful for all of you who have cheerfully gone along with the stay at home orders even though it might have been difficult and costly. The church submits to the authorities that have been placed over it. I’m thankful for all the times you wanted to rant and blow off steam on social media but remembered that you are to be people of peace and bring the hope of Christ into the world—not be used as a pawn to stir up more sadness, fear and anger. The church is to be known by our love for one another. And I’m even thankful for those who prayerfully and carefully say what needs to be said while remaining kind and gracious. In other words, being angry but not sinning. The church speaks the truth in love no matter what the cost. I’m thankful for the members of the church who continue to be the light of the world that we are called to be.

Every minute of your faithful service to the Lord as His people on earth brings a little more hope to the world around us, and brings us a little closer to better times. I’m thankful for everything the members of the church are doing to help protect the vulnerable and bring comfort to those who have lost loved ones. For all the times you have stepped up and offered hope in the face of despair. For continuing to point to Jesus no matter what.

With God’s help, we are facing this strange enemy, both the disease and the cure, and I want to assure you of this— that if we love each other and are resolute in our faith that we will pass this test. The early church and the saints of old were faithful through many dark times such as these and they carried the light of the Gospel, keeping it safe, and trusting it to us. We have to carry this same light through the present and hand it safely to the future. 

This is from the Queen’s COVID speech the other day, she said “On the day you embrace your mother again, your father, your sister or brother, your friend or your coworker, you will have endured a great challenge, proving yourself patient and resolute in your sacrifice for your fellow man.” 

She wanted to encourage her fellow Brits to stay the course and make sacrifices for their neighbors. Which is always a good and noble goal for all of us.

But this is what you know, that people outside the church don’t know: Although we will always have more to endure, although a life of sacrifice is always called for—better days are always ahead. No matter what happens, we will be with our friends again, we will be with our families again, we will meet again. If not in this life, then in the life to come. 

On that day, we will not only have proven ourselves to be as faithful as the church that came before us, but our perseverance will make sure that those who come behind us, our children and their children, that they will also know the love and grace of God. They will need us to faithfully pass these treasures to them so they will be able to endure challenges of their own. When our part of this race is run, we will have held onto our strong identity in Christ. We will have turned to Jesus when everything seems so fragile, and trusting in Him, we will have passed the ultimate test.

Until then we must continue to be the Church in our time. We must move forward with a renewed commitment to hold the light of Christ higher than our sadness or our fear or our anger, we need to hold up the faith that He has given us so that the world will have a little more light and a lot more hope. 

I used to lay awake in bed at night, arguing with my friends in my head. I’d have conversations with them at school or after school about Jesus—and then I’d lay there trying to fix everything that went wrong the first time. I just wanted them to see Jesus the way I saw Him. I wanted them to know that God loved them. That He was real. That it was all true. That Jesus had given His life and rose from the dead so they could have hope. That death wasn’t the end. That this isn’t all there is. That there is hope and meaning. But people are never argued into faith. That’s not how it works. People aren’t really argued into anything. 

You can’t change anyone’s mind by fighting against them. They’ll just dig in deeper. But you can change their heart by loving them. You can stand beside someone and walk with them until you become friends—then they might be interested in what you have to say and where you want to take them. These days, the church is more known by what we’re against than what we’re for. I’m hoping we can change that. God is for you. And He wants you to be for other people. It won’t be easy, everyone’s all dug in. That’s why the way we have to worship God is to love people. If we’re going to be the church, the people of God in Christ that carry the light of the Gospel, the hope for the world, if we’re going to be a church that passes this treasure on to the next generation. If we’re going to pass the test, then this is who we have to be and what we need to do.

I’ll close with these words from Hebrews chapter 12, Paul is also talking about the church and difficult trials they were facing. Instead of passing a test, he says it’s like running a race:

Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, (this would be the saints of old, the church that handed faith to us) let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us. We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith. Because of the joy awaiting him, he endured the cross, disregarding its shame. Now he is seated in the place of honor beside God’s throne. Think of all the hostility he endured from sinful people; then you won’t become weary and give up. After all, you have not yet given your lives in your struggle against sin.

And then in verse fourteen it says this:

Work at living in peace with everyone, and work at living a holy life, for those who are not holy will not see the Lord. Look after each other so that none of you fails to receive the grace of God. Watch out that no poisonous root of bitterness grows up to trouble you, corrupting many. Hebrews 14

For two thousand years the church has been characterized by a lot of different things, some good and some not so good. We are being tested. It’s okay to be sad. It’s okay to be afraid, and it’s okay to be angry. It is not okay to abandon our calling and our faith. It is not okay to stop being the church, to forget who we are and stop loving each other. For the sake of the church, which is the hope of the world, we must pass this test. And I have every reason to believe that with the help of God, we will. AMEN