INTRODUCTION
Good morning, I am coming to you from my home today, in compliance to a Stay-at-Home order issued in our city. The COVID-19 pandemic is dramatically affecting our lives in many ways. Our daily routines have been disturbed. Many conveniences that we took for granted are removed. We all hope and pray for a speedy end to the disruption. But there are so many unknowns that it is impossible to predict exactly when that will happen. A terrible virus is at work. Our scientists are working diligently for better ways to control and cure the disease. Our health care heroes are doing all they can. Our government has passed a 2 trillion-dollar stimulus bill to rescue the economy from a steep recession. But I have good news for you this morning: God is also at work. He is on His throne; He is not passive; and He is working all things together for our good (Rom. 8:28).
My message today is entitled “Best Outcome for COVID-19 Pandemic.” There is a way this crisis can end that would leave us far better off than when it began. To see this possibility, we must understand the crisis for what it is. What is it? It is a wake-up call for the world and particularly for God’s people. I will not repeat the explanations I gave in the previous two messages. But we must know that God is sovereign in all this. If He did not send it, He is big enough to stop it. So, if you insist that God did not send this trouble, you must at least acknowledge that He is allowing it.
Based on Scripture, I believe that God does send trouble when it’s necessary for our ultimate good. He sent trouble to Jonah to get him turned in the right direction. What was God’s objective behind sending the storm and the fish Jonah’s way. It was to get Jonah aligned with His purposes. It was the salvation of many souls in Nineveh. Consider the persecution that came on early church in Acts 8. That persecution broke up their “holy huddle” and got them out into the harvest field. The end result of that disruption was an advancement of the gospel. Acts 8:4 says, “Therefore [the result of the persecution was:] those who were scattered went everywhere preaching the word.”i
The church today is being forced to send out the word through the Internet. Many of us have already been doing that. But we are also forced to step up our efforts by using additional technology. We have been posting our messages on the Internet. But now we must add to that for the sake of our congregations. But it may also be for the sake of the multitudes who are not yet in our congregations. This is our first Sunday to stream the service. We had to get out of our comfortable routine and develop new ways to proclaim Christ. God is always interested in the harvest. He is always seeking that which is lost.
So, there was the early church serving God in Jerusalem. But God had already said in Acts 1:8 that this gospel was not to stay in Jerusalem. It was to spread to Judea and Samaria and to the “ends of the earth” (NIV). The command in Mark 16:15 had already been given to “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.” Here is the good thing that came out of that persecution: “Therefore those who were scattered went everywhere preaching the word.” Any farmer knows you can’t keep the seed in one spot and get a good harvest. You have to scatter it in the earth. The next verse introduces a specific example of the benefits reaped: “Then Philip went down to the city of Samaria and preached Christ to them. And the multitudes with one accord heeded the things spoken by Philip, 6 And the multitudes with one accord heeded the things spoken by Philip. . . .” Many lost souls were swept into the kingdom. I doubt those early Christians fully understood what God would bring out of the persecution that came their way. But God worked His plan, and it moved them toward fulfilling the Great Commission.
To understand what’s going on in today’s crisis, we need to understand;
(1) God’s RELUCTANCE to Send Trouble and
(2) God’s INTENTIONS behind Sending Trouble.
I. GOD’S RELUCTANCE TO SEND TROUBLE IS ADDRESSED BY JEREMIAH
In the book of Lamentations Jeremiah reflects on all the troubles he and his people had experienced. He makes the following observation about God in Lamentations 3:31-33: “For the Lord will not cast off forever. 32 Though He causes grief, Yet He will show compassion According to the multitude of His mercies. [Notice the two words of God in that verse: (1) He causes the problem (2) But He shows compassion as the source of its resolution. The next verse expresses God’s reluctance to send trouble.] 33 For He does not afflict willingly, Nor grieve the children of men.” Like any loving parent, God “does not afflict willingly.” It’s not something He wants to do. But it is something He has to do at times—for our ultimate good. But His corrections are always an invitation to learn and improve. His corrections are always tempered with mercy and compassion.
God’s correction is not something we should despise or resent (Heb. 12:5) even though it might involve some unpleasantries. Hebrews 12:11 says, “No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it” (NIV). When we respond correctly to it, we benefit from it immensely.
What was the response the Jeremiah suggested? Lamentations 3:40: “Let us search out and examine our ways, And turn back to the Lord.” That was the response God was looking for in Jeremiah’s day. It is the response He is looking for today. The examination of the way we’re living is a necessary prelude to the turning back to the Lord. We may not even realize our need to turn (repent) until we ask the Lord to search our hearts for anything displeasing to Him (Ps. 139:23-24). The examination of our ways may take some time with the Lord. Our hearts may have to be settled before we can hear what He has to say. We may need to spend some time in Scripture measuring our ways with the holy standard of His ways.ii
Even though Israel was the people of God, they tended to drift away from God. They would experience God’s goodness; then start taking that for granted; pull back from Him in their hearts; and fall into idolatry. It is the natural tendency of our flesh as well. When God’s people do that, He sends prophets to call them back to God.
The pattern we often see in Scripture is that people don’t want to hear true prophets because their message calls them into obedience to God’s commandments. Instead they want to hear “smooth things” that don’t challenge their preferred lifestyle. Isaiah was one of those prophets called by God to warn God’s people of coming judgement. In Isaiah 30 that prophet talked about Israel’s reliance on Egypt for solving their problems. Why would they do that? Because they could work on the problems with Egypt without addressing their own sin and selfishness. In verse 9 Isaiah said they were rebellious and “Children who will not hear the law of the Lord.” I suspect they were very willing to hear the promises of the Lord. I’m sure they took great comfort in the fact that they were children of Abraham (Matt. 3:9). But what they did not want to hear about was the commandments of God, and the implications of those commandments for how they were to live their lives. Isaiah 30:9 said they are “Children who will not hear the law of the Lord.” They did not want God’s boundaries on their behavior. They minimized the importance of His commandments. They kept their religious services. They continued to go through the motions of serving God. But down deep they were going their own way, and they did not want to hear anyone challenge that.iii
Isaiah further describes them this way in verses 10-11, “Who say to the seers, ‘Do not see,’ [prophets were sometimes called seers] And to the prophets, ‘Do not prophesy to us right things; Speak to us smooth things, prophesy deceits. [the Hebrew translated smooth in this context means flattering things:iv it needs to feel good; it should not disturb us; it should not call into question what we’re doing];11 Get out of the way, Turn aside from the path, Cause the Holy One of Israel To cease from before us." Notice how God is referred to there: “the Holy One of Israel.” It is the holiness of God that they don’t want to hear about. People don’t mind hearing about the love of God—especially if it is a twisted kind of love that does not challenge their sin or place any restrictions on them. It was “the law of the Lord” that they did not want to hear—the commandments that they were supposed to obey.
When people will not hear prophetic warnings, then God speaks louder in language they cannot easily dismissed. He speaks to them through trouble—unpleasant circumstances. In the fish’s belly Jonah seemed to hear God better than before. Over the years God sent a number of disturbances to get Israel’s attention. Each disturbance got a little worse. Each disturbance was an opportunity for them to consider their ways “And turn back to the Lord” (Lam. 3:40). Finally, God sent Babylon to take them into captivity and destroy their way of life.
There is something about God’s judgments that we should consider in our current crisis. When God sends judgment, you’re not going to wiggle out of it by your own efforts. It will box you in! Amos described it this way: “It will be as though a man fled from a lion, And a bear met him! Or as though he went into the house, Leaned his hand on the wall, And a serpent bit him! (Amos 5:19). The imagery is of a man fleeing from a lion, and he runs into a bear. Or he runs into his house for safety, leans on the wall with a sigh of relief, and a serpent bites him. Our current crisis is like that. We have the threat of this deadly virus chasing us. Our remedy is social distancing. But that is crashing the economy. Our solution is to fix that with a two-trillion-dollar stimulus. When we get our $ 1,200 check, we may lean on the wall with some sense of relief. But that additional debt is undermining our long-term financial stability. While we’re dealing with COVID-19 we must also be careful that our freedoms are not compromised in the process. A solution that is only concocted by man’s ingenuity often has unforeseen consequences. I’m not against the actions being taken to deal with the pandemic. In fact, it would be disturbing if nothing were being done. I’m simply pointing out the complexity of the matter and the necessity of looking to God and getting His solution. If God’s solution is repentance, and we do everything else but that—the problem will not be solved.
The 70 years of judgment decreed for Israel was measured by their disobedience concerning the sabbaths. In His covenant with Israel God commanded them to give the land a sabbath every seventh year. They were to reap their crops for six years and trust God to provide from that in the seventh year. In the fiftieth year (the year of Jubilee which would follow the sabbath of the 49th year) they were to observe an additional sabbath. But greed and unbelief drove them to ignore those commandments. In Leviticus 26 God had warned them that if they did not live in obedience to Him, He would send judgment. Here’s what He told them in verses 33-35:
“I will scatter you among the nations and draw out a sword after you; your land shall be desolate and your cities waste. 34 Then the land shall enjoy its sabbaths as long as it lies desolate and you are in your enemies' land; then the land shall rest and enjoy its sabbaths. 35 As long as it lies desolate it shall rest — for the time it did not rest on your sabbaths when you dwelt in it.”
I thought about that when a friend this week used the phrase “sabbath rest” in reference to our Stay-at-Home confinement. Perhaps we are being given an opportunity to cease from our greed—cease from our excessive busyness—and seek the Lord. Since Israel did not obey God and give the land its sabbath, God gave 70 years of captivity in which He got those sabbaths anyway. In the concluding chapter of 2 Chronicles we are given this summary of the events.
“Furthermore, all the leaders of the priests and the people became more and more unfaithful, [The trend was going in the wrong direction; it had to be interrupted. I wish I could say that the church is becoming more and more godly. But I honestly see a trend in the other direction. More and more we are looking to the world for ways to do church. More and more we are drifting from God’s plan.] following all the detestable practices of the nations and defiling the temple of the LORD, which he had consecrated in Jerusalem. 15 The LORD, the God of their fathers, sent word to them through his messengers again and again, because he had pity on his people and on his dwelling place. 16 But they mocked God's messengers, despised his words and scoffed at his prophets until the wrath of the LORD was aroused against his people and there was no remedy. 17 He brought up against them the king of the Babylonians, who killed their young men with the sword in the sanctuary, and spared neither young man nor young woman, old man or aged. God handed all of them over to Nebuchadnezzar. 18 He carried to Babylon all the articles from the temple of God, both large and small, and the treasures of the LORD's temple and the treasures of the king and his officials. 19 They set fire to God's temple and broke down the wall of Jerusalem; they burned all the palaces and destroyed everything of value there. 20 He carried into exile to Babylon the remnant, who escaped from the sword, and they became servants to him and his sons until the kingdom of Persia came to power. [No listen carefully to the next verse.] 21 The land enjoyed its sabbath rests; all the time of its desolation it rested, until the seventy years were completed in fulfillment of the word of the LORD spoken by Jeremiah” (2 Chron. 36:14-21, NIV).
Circumstances have changed for many of us. Our busyness has been interrupted. But maybe that’s a good thing. Maybe now we will have time to seek the Lord. The sabbath’s we just read about were a part of the covenant between the Lord and Israel.v In the New Testament the principle of worshipful rest remains, even though the external manner of observance has changed.vi If we are driven by greed and selfish ambition, we are in danger of violating the principle just as much as Israel was. We too are to seek first the kingdom of God and trust Him to take care of us.
So, God decreed 70 years of captivity for Israel. Once that decree was made, nothing could change it (Jer. 4:27-28). It did not come until many opportunities to avoid it had been offered and rejected. But there came a point when the door of opportunity closed. In the days of Noah there was ample opportunity for that generation to repent. But when the door of that ark was shut, there was no opening it until the judgment had passed. People think God is somehow obligated to leave the door of the ark opened indefinitely. No, He gives space for repentance. In some situations, God relents and mercifully cuts the judgment short. In Exodus 32:14 God did not send a judgement on Israel in answer to Moses’s intercession. God delayed the judgment on Nineveh when they repented. But sometimes a decree is made in heaven, and it simply has to be endured.
So, we learn something about the heart of God by observing His patient reluctance to send trouble. That understanding is enriched even more when we realize His intentions behind any trouble that He sends.
II. GOD’S INTENTION FOR SENDING TROUBLE IS ALWAYS REDEMPTIVE.
People get upset when they hear about the wrath of God because they assume it is the same kind of wrath they have. The wrath of man does not work the righteousness of God (James 1:20). Man’s wrath is driven by self-preservation. God has no worries about self-preservation. He is eternal, and nothing can threaten His wellbeing.
Man’s wrath is provoked with he perceives a potential treat to himself or to his goals. The lower brain, the amygdala, triggers a flight or fight response that can easily lead to destructive behavior. People should learn to manage that anger so that it does not produce negative results. But the basic motivation behind human wrath is selfish.
God is never motivated by selfishness. God is love. His wrath is provoked because something is threating the wellbeing of His creation, especially people made in His image. His wrath is righteous indignation aimed at the sin and the destruction sin brings in people’s lives. God never gets ticked. He never loses His reasoning powers. He never lashes out irrationally. His response is always appropriately measured. Most importantly it is always motivated by a love for His creation. It always behaves in the best interest of others.
Someone might ask how hell can be in the best interest of others. First it is only allowing what the individual insists on. The absence of God is hell. To be cut off from the flow of His life is eternal death. He is the only source of life. To reject Him is to reject life. That leaves the person with the only alternative: death. Life is found in relationship with God. No one can have eternal life without submitting to a relationship with God. C. S. Lewis put it this way: “There are only two kinds of people in the end: those who say to God, ‘Thy will be done,’ and those to whom God says, in the end, ‘Thy will be done.”vii
Secondly, it is not in the best interest of others to let a rebel loose on them. One reason prison is a terrible place is the people you encounter there. They are selfish, violent people who had to be incarcerated to protect the general public. What would you think of a judge who sent no one to prison—who allowed serial killers, pedophiles, rapists, and other violent criminals to roam the streets freely? Those unrighteous judges would be violating the public trust. Even hell is in the best interest of others.
Nahum said, “The Lord is slow to anger and great in power, And will not at all acquit the wicked” (Nahum 1:3). That is how justice is maintained in the universe. That is how peace and security is assured for the godly. The Psalmist said, “The Lord is merciful and gracious, Slow to anger, and abounding in mercy” (Ps 103:8). Anybody who experiences God’s wrath has trampled over and rejected His offer of mercy. When we read about the wrath of God in Scripture, we must not assume that it is the same kind of wrath expressed by fallen humanity. The nature of God’s wrath is something altogether different from the wrath of man. It was only after many rejections of God’s mercy that God sent the 70 years of captivity on Israel. And even that judgment was a loving expression of God’s mercy and kindness.
In Jeremiah 29:10-11 we’re given a clear statement of God’s motives and intentions behind the 70 years of trouble. What was God’s objective behind the disturbance? Did He have 70 years in which He forgot to be good? No, He never varied from seeking the highest good for His people. His intentions toward you and me are always good. Follow with me as we read Jeremiah 29:10-11: “This is what the Lord says: “When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will come to you and fulfill my good promise to bring you back to this place. 11 For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”
God’s plans included correction, but that correction was pointed toward a good outcome: “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” All of that goodness and blessing will flow out of relationship with God. God’s purpose in the disturbance was to bring them in right relationship with Himself so He could bless them. Jeremiah 29:12-14: “Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. 13 You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. 14 I will be found by you,” declares the Lord, “and will bring you back from captivity.” The end result was that they would seek God with all their heart, find Him, and enjoy His blessings.
A problem Israel had that may exist today is this: they could not see where they were doing so badly. They went to church regularly. They sang their songs during the service. They put in an offering. Why would God judge nice people like that? The standard is higher than you might think: “when you seek me with all your heart.” The seeking, the worship, must flow out of a heart sincerely seeking God. It must be wholehearted. Token religion is not enough. It is not enough to “throw God a bone” every now and then. He will not be marginalized. An incidental church service for two hours on Sunday morning is not seeking God with ALL your heart.
In Malachi God confronted His people about their true spiritual condition. They were shocked! The conversation God had with them is enlightening.
In chapter one God confronts their disrespect toward Him. Even the priests had despised His name. God says in 1:6, “A son honors his father, and a servant his master. If I am a father, where is the honor due me? If I am a master, where is the respect due me?" says the LORD Almighty. "It is you, O priests, who show contempt for my name. "But you ask, 'How have we shown contempt for your name?'” (NIV). Their standard was so distorted that they could not see how disrespectful they were being to God. God answers their question in verse 7: “You place defiled food on my altar. . . .” They were making offerings, but those offerings were not up to standard. Verse 8: “When you bring blind animals for sacrifice, is that not wrong? When you sacrifice crippled or diseased animals, is that not wrong? Try offering them to your governor! Would he be pleased with you? Would he accept you?" says the LORD Almighty.” They were supposed to be bringing the best of the flock. But because of the condition of their hearts, they were giving God the leftovers.
How do people offer to God leftovers today? Sometimes they give things to the church that should have been thrown away. I remember receiving a riding mower that was totally worn out. The couple bought themselves a nice new mower. Instead of throwing the mower away (nobody would have paid for it), they donated it to the church. These people were millionaires. When Christians expend themselves on work and play all week, then come to church Sunday morning totally exhausted, they are giving God their leftovers. That two-hour service becomes a time to chill, rather than a time to actively worship God. While externally this might be different from giving God crippled or diseased animal, in principle it is the same thing.
In chapter 2 God addresses the condition of their marriages. In verse 13-14 He says to them, “Another thing you do: You flood the LORD's altar with tears. You weep and wail because he no longer pays attention to your offerings or accepts them with pleasure from your hands. You ask, "Why?" It is because the LORD is acting as the witness between you and the wife of your youth, because you have broken faith with her, though she is your partner, the wife of your marriage covenant.” (NIV). On the surface it all looked very sincere. They were flooding the Lord’s altar with their tears. But all the while they were being unfaithful to their wives.
In chapter 3:8 God asks them, “Will a man rob God? Yet you rob me. "But you ask, 'How do we rob you?' "In tithes and offerings” (NIV).
They were not seeing their religious activity in the same way God was seeing it. They thought they could give God token service and He would accept it. But He didn’t accept it. The standard was given by Jesus when He quoted the first and greatest commandment: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind” (Matt. 22:37).
When Jesus walked among the lampstands in Revelation 2 and 3, He acknowledged the right things that churches were doing. But that did not stop Him from confronting the sins either.
The church at Ephesus was full of good works, they were discerning, they persevered under hardship, and labored for the Lord. That sounds like a pretty good church. But listen to what Jesus then says in Revelation 2:4-5. “Nevertheless I have this against you, that you have left your first love. 5 Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent and do the first works, or else I will come to you quickly and remove your lampstand from its place — unless you repent.”
The church a Pergamos had stood faithful in the face of severe persecution. Some were even martyred. But Jesus says this to them: “But I have a few things against you, because you have there those who hold the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balak to put a stumbling block before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed to idols, and to commit sexual immorality. 15 Thus you also have those who hold the doctrine of the Nicolaitans, which thing I hate. 16 Repent, or else I will come to you quickly and will fight against them with the sword of My mouth.” Does that sound a little harsh to you? These are people who had stood firm under severe persecution. But they were tolerating things God wanted them to confront. They were tolerating false doctrine and sinful lifestyles. We see something similar with the church at Thyatira.
Perhaps more relevant for our time is the church at Laodicea. They thought they were “all that.” On the surface they seemed to be highly successful: rich and in need of nothing. The way they saw themselves was very different from the way the Lord saw them. If we don’t measure according to the standard of God’s word, that can happen to us as well. The reason a builder uses measuring tapes and levels is you can’t tell whether something is off unless you compare it to a true standard. We can’t compare ourselves with ourselves and know how we’re doing. We are not at liberty to make-up our own standards. We must open our hearts and allow the Holy Spirit to apply God’s standards.
Years ago when Jeanie and I went to the Brownsville Revival we thought we were doing pretty good. We were pastoring a solid, growing church. The church had a good outreach. I was preaching what I felt was an uncompromising message. But when we got into that revival atmosphere we immediately came under conviction. The first thing we had to do was repent. We were repenting of things we didn’t even notice before we got there. The good news is this: when we came back from that revival we were operating at a higher level. The repentance was an essential part of that transformation.
The best outcome we can have from the current crisis is a closer walk with Jesus. Nothing would be better than God’s church seeking Him with all our hearts. Some might think the restoration of retirement fund values and investment values would be a good outcome. God can do that. But the outcome He is pursuing is you and your relationship with Him. What if the church emerged refined and full of the Holy Spirit? What if the church turned to God with ALL her heart? No more half-hearted service. No more lame or blemished sacrifices. No more fudging on the tithe. The best outcome for COVID-19 pandemic is right relationship with God—a quality of Christianity that is empowered to reach lost souls and turn this world right-side up! Wouldn’t it be wonderful to be part of that?
PRAY
ENDNOTES:
i All Scripture quotes are from the New King James Version unless indicated otherwise.
ii Isaiah 55:6-11; Ps. 25:4-5; 81:13-14; 103:7; 119:59; 128:1.
iii For more on this see Isaiah 1:10-31 and Matt. 15:8.
iv See Strong’s Concordance (O.T. 2513).
v The sabbaths had a special significance in God’s relationship with the nation of Israel. In Exodus 31:13 God said it was a “sign” between Him and the nation. As a nation they violated that conventual relationship.
vi I do not have time to explore this difference in observing sabbath in the New Covenant versus the Old Covenant ((Mark 2:27; Col. 2:16-17; Heb. 4:1-11). I mention it because some might think we are calling for the observation of sabbaths in the same way Israel was obligated to do in their covenant with God.
vii C. S. Lewis, The Great Divorce (New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 1946) 75.
