Trusting God in Days of Pandemic
Ephesians 3:14–21 – ... with God in Days of Pandemic
Fourth Sunday in Lent – March 22, 2020 (am)
There are several things I want to do in today’s sermon that don’t necessarily all flow together very smoothly. But I think that’s okay. If you find anything these days that’s flowing together smoothly, you let me know. I’d love to see it!
We have a sweet passage before us today. It could have been chosen for any number of reasons. But the primary portion I’ve been drawn to is vv.16-17. In our ESV it reads like we’re starting in the middle of a sentence but niv expresses the thought well. 16 I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, 17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith…. Paul is praying that the Father will [strengthen us] with power through the work of his Spirit such that we will think and speak and live by faith—such that we will be more fully transformed into His likeness, more aligned with Him in (our) inner being, to walk in a manner worthy of [our] calling (4:1).
Our inner being is the place where we’re strengthened by His Spirit. As Paul wrote to the Corinthians: 2Co416 … our outer self is wasting away, but our inner self is being renewed day by day. This is the place where we’re strengthened with the (Spirit’s) power to trust Jesus, and then to live in that trust.
I can’t think of a better word for us to hear this morning than this! I can’t think of a more appropriate or timely word. These are not days in which it’s easy to live by faith. All the things we were hearing about coronavirus even just a few weeks ago feel up in the air right now. It doesn’t just hit older and immune-compromised people. Children are not entirely unthreatened by it. Many will be hospitalized by it.
If ever there were a time when our eyes could be drawn away from Christ toward the waves of fear and doubt, right now is such a time! And if ever our trust could be fixed in the good intentions of our persistent efforts, right now is such a time.
Our safety as we see it is tied up with how consistently and thoroughly we wash our hands, how conscientiously we maintain our social distance, how deliberately we sequester ourselves from public life.
But that’s not where our safety comes from. That’s not how our health is maintained. Yes, each of these disciplines is important in a time of pandemic. And as we’ve stated, adhering to them is not just an exercise in self-protection; it’s how we best love one another.
But our faith is not fixed in these practices. They are not the ultimate means by which we’re kept safe.
There is one God in heaven Who is King and Lord of all. There is one God in heaven to Whom every entity in this universe is subject. Even the occasional virus that’s new to finite and vulnerable human beings has been known eternally by this great and glorious God! And we are His. He is our… Father. We are His image-bearing creatures. And He reigns over us. He has named us, each and all (15).
No virus will touch us unless He has given it permission. No virus will take us unless He has appointed it to do so. And if the washing of our hands and the keeping of our distance has resulted in our sustained health, it’s not because those practices are fool-proof. It’s because our God has purposed them as the means by which we’re being taught to walk by faith in Him, and the way in which He has willed to achieve His purpose in us.
According to the riches of his glory he [strengthens us] with power through his Spirit in [our] inner being so that Christ may dwell in our hearths through faith. God our Father strengthens us inwardly through the work of his Spirit so that, through faith, Christ may take up residence with us, and enable us to [grasp] (niv) the limitless dimensions of God’s love for us!
No virus can touch that! And no human effort can displace it! That is our power. That is our hope. That is our deliverance and confidence and life! Yes, that is where we live! And when we live there, it makes all the difference!
When we live there, old things like fear and dread and hopelessness [pass] away. They die! And new things like courage and confidence and hope are born (cf. 2Co.5:17). They live! That’s what happens when the life [we] live in the flesh [we] live by faith in the Son of God, who loved [us] and gave himself for [us] (Gal.2:20).
Those new things give us the [strength] to stand up straight and tall when the world arounds us is cowering in fear. They enable us to step out love when the world around us is retreating into dread.
My friends, it’s in days like these when the difference between God’s holy and dearly loved children (Col.3:12) and the people of this world shows up most clearly. It is in days like these when our trust in God causes us to stand out for His glory.
Honor the CDC guidelines for the prevention of disease as your expression of love for your neighbor. But step into the gap wherever it opens up to bring aid and comfort to those who are suffering, even if it compromises your health to do so. We have a higher calling than self-protection. We are called to lay down our lives for one another, for our neighbor, in imitation of Jesus, who lay down His life for us (Eph.5:2; Joh.15:13).
We talked last week about some practical ways to do that out in the world, with any neighbor in need. I’d like to talk this week more about how we can do that with one another.
We’re likely just now beginning to realize how much Christian fellowship actually means to us, how unpleasant it is to try to get along without regular contact with one another. I’ve been hearing person after person among us say that: I’m not sure how I’m going to make it in a season of isolation like this. And they aren’t talking about people in general, but about the body of Christ.
First, we need to remember this. We need to learn this lesson during this time apart and not forget it when we’re able to come back together. We love one another! We need one another! We were made to love and need one another! And there’s no joy in being apart from one another.
Praise God for technology that can facilitate our corporate worship during this season of forced separation. But let’s also note what it lacks. It can never replace the joy of looking into one another’s actual eyes or shaking one another’s warm hand. It can’t replace a hug or a touch on the shoulder.
By live streaming we could never tell that this one was at a bonfire last night or those two use the same shampoo or that one had garlic for dinner.
So, second, we can’t let ourselves make the mistake of thinking that we’re unifying our worship by recorded music and preaching during this season because virtual gathering is just as good as actually being together in the same room. We’re doing it only because knowing this body is singing together in many different places around this area all at the same time helps us remember how sweet it is when we do it together in the same room, and how much we long to be back together again.
Therefore, third, we need to name what is missing in our lives during these days even though we’ve had this time together this morning. And that is our actual contact with one another. Something needs to replace the lingering around this room that happens after each and every one of our gatherings here—the conversations, the laughter, the spontaneous plans to head out somewhere for a bite to eat or an evening of games or a heart-to-heart dialogue.
We need to be in touch with one another through the week. Your brothers and sisters need to hear from you. And you need to hear from them. So, don’t wait! Take the initiative. Don’t take the risk of sitting around wondering if you mean enough to someone for them to give you a call. Give them a call! Make it Facetime, if you’re an iPhone user, or a Google Hangout or Skype.
Take good care of one another while we’re forced to keep our distance. Isolation is the breeding ground for fear and anxiety. Don’t let that happen to one another. Learn, my friends. Learn what you mean to one another to the praise of God’s glorious grace (1:6). And take good care of one another because Christ [dwells] in all of your hearts by faith.
Four things now I need to mention before we go: first, communion will wait until we’re back in the same room together. May we long for that even as we long for the marriage supper of the Lamb (Rev.19:9). And let’s let that image throw yet another log on the fire of our longing to celebrate communion together as one body in this one place.
Second, we have a Benevolence Fund for those in financial need. Contact our Deacons. We’re here for one another.
On this same subject, I am so grateful to God for the work so many of you have done to help us decide on best practices during these unusual days, and then on how best to implement those practices. I couldn’t even begin to list all of you, but your service to God in this way is just one more expression of your love for this body.
And let me throw in one more reminder for how we can display that love to the outside world. Never go out without thanking someone who has to be out—clerks in the grocery store who make it possible for us to buy food, gas station attendants, delivery people, garbage collectors.
Third, as soon as I’m finished here, our Worship Team has built a season of prayer into today’s service. Just punch Pause on this recording—how many times have you wished you could do that in church?—then use the prayer prompts we have provided. Under the Order for Sunday link on the homepage, click the top option to the right, Readings and Lyrics, then down near the bottom of that listing you’ll find bullet-point items for prayer:
For those who are ill and isolated
For hospital staff and medical researchers
For the persons and areas hit hardest by the disease and its societal consequences
For wisdom and understanding for our national and local leaders as they make hard decisions
For the church’s wise, self-sacrificial love at home and abroad
For Christ’s glory throughout the world.
Fourth and finally, as you pray and then as you finish this service and head off into the strangeness of this coming week, I urge you to do so confident that you are being strengthened by faith in Christ to walk in a manner worthy of the calling you have received (4:1), [knowing] this, that you’re filled to the measure of all the fullness of… him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within [you] (19-20).
Stop the recording now and spend some time in prayer. Then you can hit Play to finish with us here or you could just stay with the service materials and finish it yourselves in your living rooms.