Most likely, this pandemic is the greatest disruption of your life. Depending on where you live and what you do, this crisis has affected you in a deeply personal way.
Whether you are a small business owner facing bankruptcy, a mom turned homeschool teacher, an employee enjoying the benefits of telecommuting, or a first-responder risking your life every day to fight this invisible virus, each of us have a different story of how this pandemic has impacted us.
As a pastor, my most surreal moment was preaching last week to an empty room. On what is traditionally the highest attended Sunday of the year, churches across the nation were vacant. For the first time in American history, churches could not gather together to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Though our experiences differ, there’s one thing we have in common. We all have serious questions.
There are many directions we could go for answers, such as the manipulation of the coronavirus data for political objectives; the government overreach usurping our liberties; or even the compelling evidence that globalists are seeking to establish a one-world government.
However, as a pastor, my number one focus is on what the Lord is saying to the church in this hour.
The Lord Thinks Differently Than Us
Over the years, I have discovered the hard way that the Lord’s thoughts and my thoughts are often diametrically different (Isa. 55:8-9).
If we are honest, most of us just want the Lord to tell us that everything is going to be fine. In just a few months, our nice, comfortable lives will go back to normal. The American dream that we have been pursuing will be restored by mid-Summer. Our sports, entertainment, restaurants, vacations, and most importantly, our economy will come roaring back stronger than ever. We long for the Lord to say, “Don’t worry My child. Do not fear. I will bless you. Just wait a few more months and I will restore what the locusts have eaten.”
But if we truly want to hear the Lord’s voice and heart concerning this crisis, we have to be ready to hear something that is not even on our radar, something that is completely outside of our frame of reference.
Most importantly, we have to guard against offense, for the Lord’s voice often contradicts the deepest desires of our hearts.
What Would Jesus Preach on Passover
As I pondered what to preach on Passover/Resurrection Sunday, I asked the question what would Jesus say during this tumultuous Passover?
The more I thought about it, the stronger my hunch. Jesus would likely say something similar to His John 6 Passover message. After all, Jesus delivered this message when “Passover. . . was near” (John 6:4).
After waiting on the Lord in prayer, I’m convinced that John 6 is a timely message for the global church during this pandemic. If you want to take a deeper dive into John 6, you can watch Part 1 and Part 2 of the series I started a few weeks ago.
In John 6, when Jesus sought to transition the self-seeking crowd away from fitting Him into their life to making Him the life they lived by, He gave seven steps that serve as a guide to living by His indwelling life.
Let’s look at two of these steps now.
1. Stop living for the temporal.
Jesus told the crowd, “Do not work for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you, for on Him the Father, God, has set His seal” (John 6:27).
Focus on the phrase “do not work for the food which perishes.” What, exactly, is this perishable food? It’s everything temporal in this life, including food, entertainment, vacations, sports, fashion, earthly success, and the praises of people. It’s living your best life now.
This doesn’t mean that we can’t enjoy delicious food, a relaxing vacation, and God’s abundant blessings. It doesn’t mean that we can’t watch sports or be entertained by an engaging movie. It means that we don’t live for these temporary pleasures. We don’t toil and spin our lives away—working 60 to 70 hours a week until we retire—for the transient things of this life.
Hopefully this pandemic has revealed just how fleeting, temporal, and shakable our earthly treasures are. Everything that is not built on the rock of Jesus Christ is sand that will collapse when the end-time pressures increase.
Jesus is urging us, “Stop trying to fit Me into your life. Stop working endless hours for a life that can only offer you temporary pleasure. Stop trying to fit Me into your box. Stop serving and obeying Me when it’s convenient for you.”
Take this crisis to evaluate your life. Ask yourself whether you are living for the temporal or the eternal.
2. Start living for the eternal.
When the crowd asked Jesus, “What shall we do, so that we may work the works of God,” His answer was brilliantly simple (John 6:28). He told them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He has sent” (John 6:29).
Jesus reduced the “works of God” to the “work of God.” He turned their attention from the things of God to the God of all things. He refocused them from the many external things to the one internal thing, which is the “one thing” that Jesus told Mary would never be taken from her (Luke 10:42). Intimacy with Him.
Jesus Christ is the beloved Son in whom the Father is well pleased. Jesus Christ is God’s ultimate intention. Just like the Father told the disciples, He also says to the church: “This is My beloved Son. . . listen to Him” (Matt. 17:5).
Jesus Christ is our destiny. Knowing Him, loving Him, worshiping Him, and partnering with Him is why we were created.
Sometimes people hear this and think that sounds boring. Some won’t say it, but they think that’s a little disappointing. Let’s get on to something more exciting. If this is what you think, it only reveals how little you know Him.
When John saw the resurrected, glorified, and ascended Christ, he comprehended firsthand that Jesus is everything. Christ truly is the beginning and the end. He is the bread of life that can deeply satisfy every human heart.
With the economy and the world’s activities coming to a screeching halt, the Lord invites us to enter His rest—to enter into His eternal work, which is found in a person, the Lord Jesus Christ.
During this divine reset, the Lord has given the world a selah moment. Selah means to pause and consider. It’s used 71 times in the book of Psalms. The Lord has practically forced us to pause from our business-as-usual lives and to consider what and who we are living for.
In this divine pause, consider what life source you are living by—your self-life or Christ’s uncreated, indestructible life. Your soulish life or Christ’s overcoming, resurrection life.
This selah moment is divinely intended for us to enter fully into God’s perpetual Sabbath rest, which is found in His beloved Son (Heb. 4:9-11).
Take this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to press in to know the Lord like never before. Live for eternity rather than the fleeting pleasures of this life.
We will look at the rest of these seven steps in future posts.
