The Christ Of The Crisis

NOTE:

This is a manuscript, and not a transcript of this message. The actual presentation of the message differed from the manuscript through the leading of the Holy Spirit. Therefore, it is possible, and even likely that there is material in this manuscript that was not included in the live presentation and that there was additional material in the live presentation that is not included in this manuscript.

› Engagement

Earlier this week I went to Costco to pick up some items that we needed at home. I had heard some rumors about the chaos that I might expect there and sure enough, they were true. That was apparent the moment I turned into the parking lot and had a hard time finding a parking place. And once I finally got inside the place was packed. As expected I was not able to get the toilet paper and paper towels that we actually needed because of the way people have been hoarding those items. So in another week or so, I might to borrow some toilet paper from any of you who have 3 or 4 cases in your garage.

I understand that things have actually gotten worse since then and that some of the Costcos around the state have actually had to close because the number of people in the store exceeded the limits of the fire code. I’ve also noticed crowded conditions and long lines at the grocery store.

Obviously our entire community has been impacted by the coronavirus pandemic. And we’re certainly trying to be proactive as a church to do what we can to help prevent the spread of that disease. And I’ll be talking about some of the things a little later. But I wanted to take some time to address this situation more pastorally this morning and to discuss how that we should approach this kind of crisis as disciples of Jesus.

I had originally intended to continue our current sermon series on Rhythms of Grace this morning and begin to talk about the rhythm of rest. In fact I finished that message on Thursday and started working on my slides to accompany the sermon. But Friday morning I sensed that I needed to change plans and share this message instead. Lord willing, we’ll pick up with the message on rest next week.

› Tension

We really shouldn’t be surprised that those who don’t know Jesus are responding with panic and fear, but as His disciples, our response should be radically different. So I want to use the Bible this morning to help us all understand that there is another, better way for us to respond.

› Truth

Go ahead and turn in your Bibles to Acts chapter 16. You’ll find the book of Acts right after the four gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. You can follow along as I begin reading in verse 16.

[Read Acts 16:16-34]

As Paul and Silas were serving Jesus, they found themselves in quite a crisis, didn’t they? While the crisis they faced was quite different than the one before us today, the way that Paul and Silas respond offer us some great guidance on how we ought to respond not only during this crisis, but also any other time we face one.

Paul and Silas were busy serving Jesus by proclaiming the gospel in Philippi. So when they came across a slave girl that was demonized, they did what they had done on other occasions - they cast out the demon. They did that because they were more concerned about her spiritual condition than about whether or not her owners could make a profit off of her.

The owners of the slave girl were understandably upset and got the crowd to join them in attacking them. Paul and Silas were stripped and beaten and thrown in jail. While this might not seem to be relevant to the current coronavirus situation, there are actually a number of parallels here:

• The first thing we see here is that being a disciple of Jesus does not mean that we will always be protected from harm. The coronavirus does not discriminate based on whether or not someone is a disciple of Jesus. So if the outbreak does get worse, that means that some of us in this room will get infected. As we’ve talked about before, Jesus warned us that as His disciples we are not immune to difficulties here on earth.

John 16:33 ESV

33 I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.”

• We also see that people are by nature selfish and that they will go to great lengths to protect themselves even if that means hurting others. So we really shouldn’t be surprised that people are hoarding things like toilet paper and hand sanitizer. As we’ve said often before, we shouldn’t expect unbelievers to act like believers.