WHAT HAVE I TO FEAR?

“The Lord is my light and my salvation Whom shall I fear? The Lord is the strength of my life; Of whom shall I be afraid?” Psalm 27:1

COVID hit America like a dust storm out of nowhere. It blinded us so fast as a nation that we had no idea how to react. Of all the things we expected in 2020, a global pandemic was at the bottom of the list. The pandemic, of course, cast the world into a fervor of panic. It seemed at first that this virus would claim its tens of millions. Draconian measures were instituted by governments to contain this invisible enemy. Fear gripped the globe. The media painted the disease with words reminiscent of Armageddon. In the midst of this God dispatched a man from heaven, an angelic messenger, to asses the situation. His mission was to see how the churches were handling the pandemic. The world was gripped by fear. But what about the churches? The report came back. It was not encouraging. The report showed that Christians were as fearful of the virus as earthlings. Many had stopped going to church and had settled in for a long spiritual nap as they watched their pastor in front of a TV screen. God’s people who in former days had once risked fellowship under brutal Roman dictators had suddenly morphed into skittish little gophers content to hide in their own little holes until the danger passed. The church of God which once marched triumphantly to the guillotine, and stood toe to toe with evil British monarchs, and set up missions stations among hungry cannibals had suddenly settled for a safe life holed up in their basement. The reasons could be listed as many. Perhaps their boldness went limp when faced with risking their earthly palaces. Or maybe they had lost their ability to fight for anything through years of intoxicating pleasure.

Or maybe it was plain fear.

Ahh, fear. No emotion is so powerful or debilitating. What is sinful fear? Simply put, sinful fear is to respect something more than God. When something is feared it changes one’s behavior much or little depending on how deep the fear. In itself fear is not sinful. Normal fears are healthy. They protect from harm. But a sinful fear is that which causes people to do things that disobey God or causes them to ignore His primary place in their hearts. One measure of knowing if one has a sinful fear is to ask oneself the question, “Does my fear of something cause me to disobey a command of God or prevent me from actively pursuing his will?” Both tests are important.

So for example a manager might fear his offending his boss or fear getting fired from his job more than reporting things honestly. That is a sinful fear. A person might fear losing a friendship so much that he refuses to reprove a friend who is clearly in sin. That is a sinful fear. Or a person might fear being caught doing something dumb more than being honest to others about his true motives. The list goes on.

We are currently in the midst of a so-called pandemic. It is wise to adjust to a dangerous thing. Precautions are in order when something threatens one’s wellbeing. That is a given. But as we survey the Christian landscape we find there are many who are fearful of this virus to a sinful extent. How do we know this? Let’s look at two examples of a sinful fear.

First, the Bible commands that God’s people meet together for fellowship. Hebrews 10:24-25 says, “And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling ourselves together as the manner of some, but exhorting one another and so much the more as you see the Day approaching.”

Everywhere in the Bible the physical, tactile gathering of the people of God for worship, prayer, breaking bread and fellowship is commanded in the word of God. This is true in the Old Testament. The entire nation was commanded to assemble. In Deuteronomy the children of Israel were often commanded to gather together as we read, “Assemble the people, men, women, and little ones, and the sojourner within your towns, that they may hear and learn to fear the Lord your God, and be careful to do all the words of this law, and that their children, who have not known it, may hear and learn to fear the Lord your God, as long as you live in the land that you are going over the Jordan to possess” (Deut. 31:12).

The assembling of God’s people in the Old Testament is never given as an option. It is a divine command. They were to meet together for public worship, for instruction and to keep the feasts. No exceptions. This latter reason is found clearly in God’s command for Jewish males to assemble three times yearly during the high feasts. We find the command in Exodus 34:23-24. It is interesting how God frames the command. We read,

“Three times a year all your men are to appear before the Sovereign LORD, the God of Israel. I will drive out nations before you and enlarge your territory, and no one will covet your land when you go up three times each year to appear before the LORD your God.”

Notice God makes no exception for this command. Every Jewish male is to go to Jerusalem at the appointed time. Ahh, we can hear a Jew object, “But what if my field gets attacked while I am in Jerusalem? After all, the surrounding nations have been eyeing my fields lately.”

Notice what God says, “No one will covet your land when you go up three times each year.” God knows all about the inconvenience of obedience. He knows all about the potential risks of obedience. But God never relaxes his commands in order to accommodate our inconveniences… or our fears. Instead he promises divine protection to those who obey. God in effect says, “I will protect you in the course of obedience, but obey you must.”

Nothing changes in the New Testament. The Bible commands that God’s people meet together for fellowship. Hebrews 10:24-25 says, “And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling ourselves together as the manner of some, but exhorting one another and so much the more as you see the Day approaching.” One must note that God gives this command despite the fact that Christians were being plundered of their goods (vs 34). Wouldn’t it be right for God’s people to stay at home rather than risk plunder? Or how about when the church was formed at Pentecost when 3,000 were saved at Peter’s preaching? What was the first thing these new believers did? Let us listen to the word of God. The saints continued “daily with one accord in the temple, breaking bread from house to house, and eating their food with gladness and simplicity of heart” (Acts 2:46). The infant church immediately assembled because this is what the people of God have always done. Not to meet together is not only risky for the state of one’s soul, it is disobedient.

In both Old and New Testaments God operates on the same principle. He never changes. The people of God are commanded to meet and meet publicly because this brings great glory to His name. And in the course of obedience we can expect God to protect and bless us.

There is another command we must here review. It is aimed at church leaders specifically. In 1 Peter 5:2 we read, “Shepherd (command) the flock of God which is among you, serving as overseers, not by compulsion but willingly, not for dishonest gain but eagerly.”

Shepherds are commanded to shepherd, no matter what the circumstance. Shepherding cannot be done remotely. It cannot be done over a TV screen. It cannot be done when the shepherd is miles away from the flock. Shepherding is done when the shepherd walks and talks among his people. But it seems the pandemic has prevented many pastors from exercising their pastoral duties. Many are putting government mandates before their divinely given shepherding mandates. During this pandemic many pastors deliberately stay away from the sheep. Of course they have good reasons. They must obey the government. But what about obeying God instead? Which brings up the question if a government mandates something that is contrary to a divine command what is one to do? I think the answer is obvious.

One pastor who understood the tension was Charles Haddon Spurgeon. In 1854, at the tender age of 20, a Cholera Epidemic hit London and took the lives of over 10,000 people in a city of about 3 million. Spurgeon against the advice of some good friends continued to visit the dying beds of his parishioners. He was firm in his calling to preach and to shepherd and so he walked in the confidence of a God who could protect him. God did protect Him. About this Spurgeon said,

“All day, and sometimes all night long, I went about from house to house, and saw men and women dying, and, oh, how glad they were to see my face. When many were afraid to enter their houses lest they should catch the deadly disease, we who had no fear about such things found ourselves most gladly listened to when we spoke of Christ and of things Divine.” (Autobiography 1:371).

Spurgeon knew that he must shepherd his flock at any cost. Dedication to his calling and obedience to God outweighed any fear he might have in contracting the disease. This must always be the Christian response when we are facing things we fear. Our fear of God must trump any penultimate fear we have about anything else. Better said, the fear of God ought to eliminate every other fear. After all, you can only fear one thing supremely.

The pandemic took the world - and the churches - by surprise. Suddenness can cause us to lose our bearings. Certainly that is what happened when the pandemic began. Many churches thought it wise to close up shop. Perhaps this was wise given all the unknowns. But now we have a better perspective on things. We have learned much about COVID and we have learned about ourselves. More importantly we have had time to reflect on the word of God and what it says about sudden disasters that befall us. What are we to do when nations fall? What are we to do when markets crash? What are we to do when pandemics hit? The principle never changes, we are to obey God and rest our case in his all-wise care. This is what churches of yore have always done and this is what we must do.

Should churches meet together during the pandemic? Do they have a choice? God has commanded them to meet. God has commanded them to meet in flesh-to-flesh proximity. Some churches have been able to obey the government and find innovative ways to meet together without leaving any of the sheep behind. This is commendable. We are to obey the government whenever possible. But there are a whole slew of churches that have simply shut down and gone remote with their services. Not only is this not “the congregation of the saints” but it is a clear stroke of disobedience. Fear has gripped so many that they disobey the word of God. That is a sinful fear. In addition many pastors/shepherds have receded into their own studies to broadcast sermons remotely without ever touching one of the sheep placed in his care. Again, this is clear disobedience to the word of God. Fear of COVID or fear of the government has immobilized these men from doing what God has clearly called them to do. This causes me to question their call at all.

When it is all said and done, the damage done by the pandemic will be infinitesimally small compared to the damage fear has wrought in our churches. Many sheep will never again return to church. And for the many that do, the spiritual damage sustained will set them back for years to come. In addition, many pastors who have not answered their call during this time and left their sheep to flounder will have much to answer before God. Sadly, in the day of judgment, many will be rooted out as hirelings.

The pandemic has done much to change America. Among many things it has revealed a latent and noxious fear existing in the hearts of many professing believers. We wish we could report differently. We cannot. Our hearts have been revealed once again and they are found wanting. We are, after all, the timid, fearful, immature people that prophetic voices have warned us about. But there is always grace and in that grace there is always a chance to man up and begin obeying. The risks will be there. But faith IS risk. And the risk for not obeying is far more dangerous than any risk one might incur for obeying God. In fact, come to think of it, there is no risk for obeying God.