Insights Into The Covid-19 Church Era –Part XXXIX
“To obey is better than sacrifice.” (I Samuel 15:22)
The Covid-19 generation has yet to learn the meaning of sacrifice. Americans born in 1915 witnessed World War I, the Spanish Flu pandemic of 1918, the Great Depression of the 1930’s, and World War II, which all required great sacrifice for survival. The stood in soup kitchen lines and had victory garden. Although our current generation lives better than anytime in the history of man, we’ve lost the meaning of sacrifice. When Covid-19 hit, the government bailed everyone out, preventing soup kitchens. Americans responded by screaming or their “rights” while becoming callous to sacrificing for others. Many refused to even wear masks or give up partying for social distancing, a small sacrifice to prevent the spread of a highly contagious disease.
Of great concern is America’s attitude toward obedience. Many are willing to practice civil disobedience to gain their rights by marching in mass for civil rights. Another segment of the population revels in rebelling, focusing on the restoration of Confederate memorials and preserving the Rebel flag, and refusing to follow mandated restrictions when fighting Covid-19. Even the evangelical branch of the institutional church has joined in refusing to follow some mandated restriction claiming their right of the Separation of Church and State.
Last post we proposed that the Covid-19 era church needs to rediscover new wineskins filled by the Holy Spirit because “When the Spirit of Truth comes, He will guide you into all the truth, for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak, and He will declare to you the things that are to come.” (John 16:13) The new wineskins will come when the Holy Spirit speaks, so we must be obedient.
If the Holy Spirit instructs us to read and follow Matthew 25, will we respond by feeding the hungry, clothing the homeless, giving drink to the poor, take care of the sick, do prison reform and not only release many prisoners but house, nurture, lead then to Jesus, and disciple them? Will we accept the stranger, the currently jailed immigrants, their children, and DACA recipients? How? The Holy Spirit will instruct, guide, and direct us in creating new wineskins to hold this new wine of love and compassion.
How will we respond if the Holy Spirit tells us to earn back the trust of the non-Christian public by being willing to “love our neighbor as ourselves,” (Matthew 22:39) or better yet be willing to “lay down our lives for our brethren” (I John 3:16)? How? Again, the Holy Spirit will instruct, guide, and direct us in creating new wineskins to hold this new wine of love, compassion, and unconditional acceptance.
How would we respond if the Holy Spirit tells us to give up meeting in our buildings, because He wants moveable tabernacles not immovable, stationary Temples or physical structures, and wants us to expand 21st century technology to become a world-wide Church under the banner of King Jesus rather than a splintered factions of disunity. Since every attempt organizationally in the past has failed, how are we to do it organically? Of course, you know the answer: the Holy Spirit will instruct, guide, and direct us in creating new wineskins that will prepare the Bride, the Church, the “ecclesia”, the community of believers in Jesus Christ, for His, the Groom’s return.
But all this requires obedience to the leading of the Holy Spirit, not just sacrificing. I’ve witnessed the institutional church rebelling against the Holy Spirit during the Charismatic movement. It was not pretty and was devastating. When God moves, obedience is mandatory if the Church wishes to produce good, lasting fruit. Man’s human nature since sinning in the Garden of Eden is to rebel, to be disobedient. The very Children of God He freed from Egypt became known as the Children of Disobedience when in the Wilderness of Sin. The Church’s Covid-19 generation does not want to earn that title. “To obey is better than sacrifice.” Let’s begin listening, obeying, and putting new wine into new wineskins!