The year 2020 has experienced
unprecedented, widespread and global outbreak of the coronavirus. As a result
many governments have encouraged or imposed health measures to contain the spread
of this highly infectious respiratory disease. Handwashing/sanitizing, wearing
facemasks, maintaining a distance of at least a metre from each other and the
so called social-distancing are some of the protocols. The immediate
implication of the social distancing is the closure of institutions of learning
and worship centres. As I write Trinity Baptist Church Nairobi met lastly on
the 15th of March!
However, institutions and
businesses classified as ‘Essential Service Providers’ (ESP) have been
permitted to operate. These institutions include; hospitals, police-stations,
embassies, parliament, retail shops and food production companies. Doctors and
all medics, police and other security officers, retail shop attendants, etc.
are classified as ESP personnel.
The question that has been raised
over and over again is whether the church is an ESP. In this article, I’m
seeking to demonstrate the unique and essential nature of the church in
provision of exclusive and essential services to the public, which cannot be
provide any other way.
The
purpose is for
believers to be fully persuaded from the Scriptures that we have divine work to
do and to be more confident in doing it as unto the Lord. It is not meant to
either undermine the government or secure any preferential treatment by the
government. However, we pray and hope that the government would always
acknowledge the separation of civil and ecclesiastical authority by God and
uphold the freedom of worship.
We shall consider this under the
following headings:
1)
The Church is
the Embassy of God
2)
The Church is
the Hospital for the Undying Souls and Hearts of Men
3)
The Church is
the Only Custodian of Truth
4)
The Church is
the Minister of Love and Mercy
5)
The Church is
the Only Beacon of Hope
Caveat
When I talk about church, I mean
true churches where Christ Jesus is the Head. I do not mean each and every property
or premise bearing the name ‘church’ or denomination, but those that truly
represent Christ in truth, purity and godliness. Many, if not most, of the so
called churches are really synagogues of Satan, dens of heresy, and assemblies
of error. When I talk about Christians, I mean the regenerate (or born again)
believers; that is, all those redeemed by the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ.
These have repented of their sins and believed in Christ. Church attenders,
hypocrites, carnal/nominal Christians and false professors of the faith are out
of this church.
Is
the church, an essential service provider?
The answer is a resounding, YES!
The church of the living God, the body of Christ, is the very first essential
service provider on earth. Why is it that God, the infinitely holy God, does
not destroy the world which is so sin-infested? Is it that the Lord does not
see or hear the wickedness of men? Does He lack the power to act? No, the Lord
sees every unholy thought, every evil intent, every act of corruption, every
deceit, every lie, every flirting, every hint of pride, every unrighteousness
on earth. And if He was to mark our iniquities no one could be able to stand.
The reason why God does not destroy this world, even with all the sins
committed daily and continually, is because of His elect, His saints.
When God saw the wickedness of
Sodom and Gomorrah, He decided to destroy it. But before He did, He told
Abraham, His servant. And Abraham responded,
“Will you indeed sweep away the righteous with the
wicked? Suppose there are fifty righteous within the city. Will you then sweep
away the place? And not spare it for the fifty righteous who are in it? Far be
it from you to do such a thing, to put the righteous to death with the wicked,
so that the righteous fare as the wicked! Far be it that from you! Shall not
the Judge of all the earth do what is just? And the Lord said, “If I find at
Sodom fifty righteous in the city, I will spare the whole place for their
sake.”[1]
So the reason why God has not
poured fire and brimstone upon the earth is because of the righteous people in
the world. The church has this preserving effect upon the earth.
Why is it that He does not remove
those that He saves from this wicked world as soon as He saves them? These are
some of the reasons that show that the church is an essential service provider,
in the eyes of God, and so it should be seen as such by all and sundry.
1.
The Church is the Embassy of God
Therefore, we are ambassadors
for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of
Christ, be reconciled to God
(2Corinthians 5:20). There is no government or kingdom that has withdrawn their
ambassadors and consular officials because of the pandemic. As far as I know,
Mrs Sarah Serem is still in China even though the virus began there. Even with
the hundreds of thousands of infections and deaths in the US, Mr. Robinson Njeru
Githae is still in his office in Washington DC.
Every human authority has been appointed
by God (Romans 13:1). He who appointed emperors and kings, presidents and prime
ministers, requires them to submit to Him. But they tend to be drunk with power
and to abuse their authority. The church is the conscience of the society to
remind them that they are accountable to God who appointed them. The church
represents the interests of the owner of the universe. God desires all men to
be saved to come to the knowledge of truth (1Timothy 2:4). Therefore the church
prays for kings and all those in positions of authority so that there is peace
and dignity on earth (1Timothy 2:2-3). The church also instructs all to obey
authorities.
It should also be remembered that
this world has been held hostage by the devil. And the only deliverer is
Christ. The way by which salvation and deliverance is possible for the world is
through faith in Christ. It is the church that upholds the manifesto of heaven
by which there is the hope for the world as the embassy of God.
The message of the gospel we bear
is the will of the King of kings. In this message of the gospel, God is making
his appeal to the world through us. This is the only way by which the wicked
world and sinful men can be reconciled to the infinitely holy God.
When Felix Carey, one of the sons
of William Carey, was appointed ambassador in Calcutta, his father sought to
dissuade him and he wrote, “Felix is shriveled from a missionary into an
ambassador”. It is this understanding of the church’s exalted place before God
that informed Carey’s position.
2.
The Church is the Hospital for the Undying Souls and
Hearts of Men
While people are now in panic
because they fear contracting the Covid_19 caused by a virus, they forget that
there is a greater and worse fatal sickness called sin. All are sick of sin
(Romans 3:23) and this leads to death (Romans 6:23). And all need the Physician
(Matthew 9:12; Mark 2:17; Luke 5:31). Christ is the Great Physician who heals
the sick. It is Christ who is the way, the truth and the life (John 14:6). It
is Christ who is the resurrection and the life (John 11:25). The church exists
to proclaim this good news to the world.
One of the great problems with
this sin-sick world is that the general unwillingness to admit the sickness of
sin, or even to have it diagnosed. While the church diagnoses and treats this
disease through the gospel, the world prefers anything else but what the church
offers. It is this disdain for medication that makes the world consider the
church so disdainful. It is this same reason that causes the civil leaders to
usurp authority and lord it over the church by pronouncing the closure of
churches even when they do not have the authority to do so. The church is not
under the civil authority, it is an ecclesiastical authority under the rule of
Christ and any leader purporting to legislate how the church is to conduct
herself is simply mistaken.
The church treats the invisible
part of the human being – the soul. There are surgeons who can operate human
hearts and brains. But no human doctor can heal a broken heart, or a hopeless
soul or a twisted or seared conscience. There is no medical doctor, even the
most learned or experienced who can offer any medication to deal with these
human problems. Yet, pastors are physicians of the souls of men. I know a
celebrated doctor in the last century, Dr Martyn Lloyd-Jones, who served as the
assistant physician to the Queen of England’s doctor. Knowing this truth, he
decided to become a physician of souls and for 30 years served as the pastor of
Westminster Chapel in London. Dr. Lloyd-Jones rested from all his labours on 1
March 1981.
Christ has sent the Great Surgeon
of the hearts of men – the Holy Spirit. The human problem is in the heart. We
need the wonderful operation of the Spirit who removes the heart of stone and
replaces it with the heart of flesh. (Ezekiel 36:26). This service is only to
be found in the church of Christ.
The church is concerned in human
beings welfare now, and in the life to come. We bear the message of resurrection
– life after death. We show people that though they may die, yet they shall
live again, whether they are well or not.
3.
The Church is the Only Custodian of the Truth
The media houses and journalists
are at large. Journalists are allowed to go to different locations even during
curfew hours, even to the areas that have been locked down. And why? Because
they should be reporting to us what is going on, in real time. The right to
information and freedom of expression is one of the fundamental human rights. And
whatever became of the right of worship which is also on the Bill of Human
Rights?
How sure are we that these media
houses are not simply shaping the public opinion and telling people what they
want to hear? After all that is what the fourth estate is all about – to inform
the public and shape public opinion. Yet the house that does not simply bear
the news but the good news, the house of God, has been deemed as non-essential
service provider. We read from the Scriptures from 1Timothy 3:15 that the church
is the church of the Living God which is the
pillar and buttress of truth. The church proclaims the good news of Jesus
Christ who is the Way, the TRUTH and the Life – NO one come to the Father
except through Him (John 14:6)
The Bible bears the message of
God that sets the standard of morality
and foundation for ethics. The
church not only preaches the truth, but remains as the only custodian of
morality. We live at a time when the moral fabric of the society is breaking.
This is because both the church and her message have been rejected.
We preach love for the neighbour
as for oneself. We bear the golden rule – whatever
you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and
the Prophets (Matthew :12). We bear the message of peace because we are
peacemakers (Matthew 5:9). After all our King is the Prince of Peace and the
King of righteousness. We do this work of peace-making better than the police
and all prisons combined.
4.
The Church is the Minister of Love and Mercy to the
World
While there are many
philanthropic and charitable organizations, most of which were began by
Christians, yet the church is the one that offers the love of God in Christ to
the world in word and deed. The church itself is the great evidence of God’s
love to hell-deserving sinners, whereby His rich grace and mercy has rescued us
from the punishment we deserve. When the Lord Jesus did his ministry on earth,
he healed the sick and fed the hungry. He sought the lost and the destitute and
gave them hope and destiny.
The Christian church has
faithfully served, and through the various world crisis helped. In the 1st
Century pandemics, the church came through to offer relief and mercy to the
suffering. History is littered with signs of such men and women of Christian
faith like Dorcas Tabitha of Acts 9:36-42), Martin Luther (during the Bubonic
Plague), William Carey in India, Florence Nightngale among others.
There is no doubt that
Christianity is a religion of love. Charitable work is given without any strings
attached. True believers would simply give, without letting the left hand know
what the right is giving. We see politicians giving help and they have the
audacity to print their pictures on facemasks, sanitizers, etc. because for
them it is to score political mileage. We give to show God’s love to a
suffering world.
Any self-respecting church has
their mercy ministry busy at a time like this. When we distribute food, we
don’t tell the world. We simply serve the needy.
5.
The Church is the Only Beacon of Hope
This sin-sick and sin-ridden
world is steeped in misery and hopelessness. People are not just dealing with
one sickness of the Coronavirus but also many other illnesses some even
terminal like cancer. All the misery as a result of sin is still with us today.
Family conflicts have been heightened by this pandemic. Financial pressure has
been greatly exacerbated by the lockdown. The labelling of some job as
essential service so that businesses have been shut down. As I write, the
Kenyan government estimates that more than half a million people have lost
jobs. The Central Bank of Kenya claims that most small scale business will shut
down. In simple terms people are suffering spiritually, emotionally,
economically and physically. They need help. They need not just a few thousand
shillings, or food packs, but solid joy and lasting hope, which is only found
in Jesus Christ.
Distress and depression cannot be
dealt by the superficial methods that the state tends to gravitate towards.
Psychological counselling or psychiatric therapy, are not able to bring healing
to the human heart. The heart is the wellspring of life (Prov. 4:23). And for
it to flow with this life, it has to be connected to Christ who is the Fountain
of life (John 4:14). Show me a single institution that can successfully offer
this wellspring of life to human beings?
Men have undying souls. There is
no hospital that treats these souls except the true church of Christ that
administers the true gospel. There is healing only by the blood of the Lamb of
God who takes away the sins of the world. Only the church gives an indefinite
expiry date to the souls of men. Hope beyond the grave cannot be done by the
doctors who only treat the body.
Conclusion
Now show me any other institution
on earth that discharges these duties? Neither the president nor the police can
effectively take the responsibilities that God has assigned to the church.
Neither the magistrates nor the judges of the Supreme Court can fulfil the
righteousness that God demands of us. Neither parastatal corporate entities nor
private companies are able to faithfully represent God on earth. It is the
church which is the body of Christ.
To fix our confidence or our hope
on this world is the height of human folly. It is like bird that builds its
nest upon a tree that is being cut down, or decorating a cabin of a sinking
ship. This virus demonstrates that the axe is at the root of all our earthly
comforts. We all are banking on the hope that the virus is going away perhaps
next week, maybe next month, maybe next year... but who knows? The curfew and
inter-county lockdown has been extended again and again yet the numbers
continue to rise.
If you were wise you would not
try to put up your nest upon a dying tree, nor put your comforts upon a sinking
ship, nor build your house upon the sands, but that you would anchor your soul
upon Christ, who is the Rock of Ages. Then you would belong to a biblical
church, where Christ is enthroned, and the truth of his gospel is espoused and
lived. Then you would belong to the community of believers for whom Christ
bought, and for whom he gave his Spirit, and for whom He is interceding, and
for whom He soon shall come to take to be his royal bride.
Please read the rest of the verses Genesis 18: 27-33 and see that God
said that it is within the realm of his holy justice not to destroy the
righteous with the wicked and so for the sake of even 10 He was would have
relented from destroying Sodom and Gomorrah.
