Okay.
It's hard to believe that we are in the ninth consecutive week
of not meeting together in this building for worship.
But Lord willing, we will be together next Sunday, May the 24th.
We're going to have three services.
Hopefully you already know that, that 8 o'clock at 9.30 and 11 a.m.
Now, since we will be practicing social distancing,
things will look a little different.
But I think once we get together, everything will just feel right
because we're back together as God's people,
worshiping Him, praising Him, studying His Word together.
It's going to be a great day.
I think it'll be a real special day as we come back together
after all this time apart.
Now, as churches begin to regather,
expect to hear and see things that are critical
of the fact that we have not been meeting,
that we've closed our doors in response to this COVID-19 pandemic.
Some will criticize Christian leaders
for not taking a stand against the government.
Some are going to say all this is, is Christians have compromised.
They've caved in to government overreach.
In fact, some are already saying that.
Well, I have refrained from addressing this issue
throughout our time of being away.
It's been my goal, my prayer, to bring messages from God's Word
that comfort, that encourage, that give hope during this time.
But today, our final time together online,
away from publicly gathering together for worship.
Today, I want us to look at three biblically-based reasons
for why it was right for us to do what we've done
and not be together as a way to combat the coronavirus.
First, we have demonstrated love by stopping our large group gatherings.
We have demonstrated love by not meeting together.
Let me explain how that is.
Most of you are familiar with the way Jesus responded to the question,
what is the greatest commandment?
It's recorded in Mark chapter 12 and in Matthew chapter 22.
Look with me in Matthew 22 as we read this, beginning in verse 36.
Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the law?
And he said to him,
You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart
and with all your soul and with all your mind.
This is the great and first commandment.
And a second is like it.
You shall love your neighbor as yourself.
On these two commandments depend all the law and the prophets.
And note that Jesus was only asked one question.
What's the greatest commandment in the law?
Well, Jesus answered that question, but he continued.
He did not stop.
And he went on to say,
And a second is like it.
You shall love your neighbor as yourself.
Jesus made it very clear.
Our love for God cannot be separated from our love for people.
If we love God, we must love people who have been created in his image.
Now, Jesus further explained our responsibility to love our neighbor in Luke chapter 10 in the story of the Good Samaritan.
Many of you are familiar with that story.
Well, Jesus told it in response to the question,
Who is my neighbor?
The story of the Good Samaritan is Jesus' answer to that question.
Here's the answer.
Whoever God places in your path that has a need that you can meet,
Well, that's your neighbor.
That's who you are to love as yourself.
Now, to love our neighbor as ourselves, let's just think about it practically.
That means we seek the welfare.
We seek the good of whoever God places in our lives to the best of our ability.
Now, we can apply that in a lot of ways.
It needs to be first applied at home.
People we live with.
Some of you know what it means to apply it with the people you work with,
maybe the people in your neighborhood,
or occasionally a stranger God brings into your life that you need to love as that good Samaritan did.
But right now, let's apply the principle of love your neighbor as yourself to the coronavirus pandemic.
Health care experts have found that one of the most effective ways for stopping the spread of this virus
is to practice social distancing.
That's why the CDC issued around mid-March a directive that called for the cancellation of any gathering over 50 people.
And they said to do that for the next eight weeks.
Well, you know that it wasn't long before they lowered that to 10 people.
And in South Carolina, we have been told that we are to limit public gatherings to no more than three,
or three are even prohibited.
Now, the CDC's advisory resulted in the cancellation of virtually every large event,
every large group gathering in our country,
including all sports events.
Now, think about that.
That was huge in this country.
And then it was followed by schools, restaurants, businesses.
Churches were either ordered or advised to close for the same reason.
All these other businesses, large group gatherings, sports, were shut down
to stop the spread of the coronavirus and save lives.
Loving our neighbor as ourselves,
it means that we seek the welfare of the people around us.
For the past two months,
we have shown love by not meeting together
to avoid exposing anyone to the coronavirus
or spreading it.
Now, everybody I know has at least in some way
tried to avoid exposing themselves to this virus.
I know I have, and I'm sure you have as well.
Why have we done that?
Well, in light of the second commandment,
it's because we love ourselves.
We take care of ourselves.
And that's not being selfish or sinful.
It's really just being human, isn't it?
The reason Jesus said to love your neighbor as yourself
is because we naturally love ourselves
and take care of ourselves.
If I go outside and cross the street,
I'm going to stop and look to make sure no cars are coming.
I'm going to take care of myself
and not step out in front of a car.
You do the same thing.
You know, every year there is a rise
in the number of flu cases around.
Sometimes it's a large number of people
coming down with the flu.
Every year I take note of that.
I try to avoid being around people who have the flu
because I don't want to catch it.
And I know most of you do the same thing.
All normal people do things like that.
It's a part of our God-given sense of self-preservation
or self-love.
Just as we try to avoid exposing ourselves
to anything that would harm us,
including the coronavirus,
love should compel us to do the same thing for others.
Just as we love ourselves,
we look out for ourselves.
So we should love others and look out for them.
This is the reason why so many churches
all across this country have voluntarily
stopped meeting together publicly
once it became known
that it was best to avoid large public gatherings.
Once it became known,
that's one of the best ways to stop
the spread of this terrible virus.
Now, we here at Pickens First Baptist,
we voluntarily chose to stop meeting
the week of March the 15th
when the governor closed our schools.
My thinking was,
children, that age group,
is the least likely group
to have complications from the coronavirus
that are serious and life-threatening.
Now, if DHEC says it's time to close schools
because of the coronavirus,
that said to me,
it's time for us to stop gathering as a church.
I also realized the last Sunday that we met,
on March the 15th,
as I was just looking around during the services,
we had a lot of individuals sitting here
who are in the CDC's at-risk group
for developing life-threatening complications
from this coronavirus.
I realized, I thought about it that morning
as we were going through the service,
that if we had an outbreak of this
among our church family,
we very well could see some of our members die from it.
And then that Monday,
schools were canceled.
I knew we must stop meeting.
And every other leader in our church
was in agreement.
The first and most important reason
why we've stopped meeting together
in our large group gatherings on Sundays
is because we love our neighbor as ourselves.
It's been the right thing to do,
the loving thing to do.
That's not the only reason.
Look at this.
We have done our duty
by stopping our large group gatherings.
We have a God-given responsibility
to obey government authority
unless that authority requires us
to sin against God.
You know the passage from Romans chapter 13
that stresses this.
Look with me if you would.
Romans chapter 13.
The entire section is verses 1 through 7.
Let's just read verses 1 through 4 right now.
Paul writes,
Let every person be subject
to the governing authorities.
For there is no authority except from God,
and those that exist have been instituted by God.
Therefore, whoever resists the authorities
resists what God has appointed,
and those who resist will incur judgment.
For rulers are not a terror to good conduct,
but to bad.
Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority?
Then do what is good,
and you will receive his approval.
For he is God's servant for your good.
Now think about when Paul wrote that,
what his government leaders were like.
Paul wrote that living under the pagan Roman government.
The emperor at that time was the brutal Nero.
So obviously,
Paul is not commending
that government
or that emperor.
His point though
is that God uses all kinds of government,
all kinds of government leaders,
even evil ones,
to accomplish his purpose.
Now I want to be real honest.
I am like most Americans today
in that I don't really trust our government.
I'm not very trusting at all
when it comes to thinking about
our government right now.
I agree wholeheartedly
with my favorite president,
Ronald Reagan,
when he said,
the most terrifying words
in the English language are,
I'm from the government,
and I'm here to help.
But the Bible is clear.
God calls us
to obey governmental authority
whether we trust it or not.
The exception,
and this is obvious,
the exception is that,
is when that authority
tries to force us
to disobey God
or sin against God.
That happened to the early church leaders
and they show us
how we should respond
when that happens.
In Acts chapter 5,
it says this,
but Peter and the apostles answered,
we must obey God
rather than men.
Now,
our government
and healthcare leaders
have overall
acted responsibly
as God's servants
for your good
during this pandemic.
They have tried
to stop
its spread
by not allowing
any large group gatherings
nationwide.
Churches
and Christians
have not been
singled out.
We,
as individual Christians,
as a church,
we have not been targeted
because of who we are
or what we believe.
Think about it.
Christians
have not been forbidden
from practicing
their faith.
President Trump
has issued
at least
two
national days
of prayer,
you might say.
Governor
McMaster
has begun
most of his
updates,
his news conferences
with a chaplain
leading in prayer
and many times
ending his prayer
in Jesus' name.
That's something
to be thankful for.
Churches
have not been forbidden
to preach the gospel.
To the contrary,
churches have been
encouraged
by government leaders,
government
McMaster,
President Trump
and others.
We have been
encouraged
to preach
and teach,
have your worship
services online.
WIFF.
They posted
on their website
for several weeks
a long list
of churches
and their websites
where people
could go
and watch
a worship service
on Sunday
or any other day.
That was commendable
of WIFF.
WIFF.
Think about this.
Local
church
Bible teaching,
local church
preaching
has been more
widely available
through the internet
during this crisis
than ever before.
That's something
that we need
to just
thank God for
and thank
the government
leaders that we have
who have done this.
Now,
I am well aware
that there are
liberal Democrat
governors and mayors
around this country
that have done
their best
to prevent
churches
from doing
what they lawfully
should have done
like having
drive-in services.
The liberal
Democrat
governor of Illinois
right now
is not allowing
churches
to reopen
unless they
limit the size
of their crowd
to 50
or less.
I'm sure
there are
other mayors
and leaders
doing something
similar
right now.
But so far,
let's be honest,
so far,
these actions
have been
the exception,
not the rule.
And President Trump's
Justice Department,
under the leadership
of Attorney General Barr,
they have come
to the defense
of these churches.
They have stepped
up and said,
this is not right,
this is not going
to be allowed.
They have defended
our First Amendment
rights
to freely exercise
our faith.
Those are leaders
that we need
to commend,
we need to call
attention to,
we need to support,
we need to pray for
and thank God for.
We must always
be on guard
against government
overreach.
We must always
be on guard
against the government
intrusion led by
today's liberal
and socialist
Democrats
in Congress
and liberal
activist
judges.
Always,
we've got to guard
against this.
But in dealing
with this
pandemic,
we as a church,
along with
thousands of churches
across the country,
we have done
our duty
by complying
with our government's
right call
to stop
all large group
gatherings
for a time
to try to stop
the spread
of this deadly
virus.
Now that states
are beginning
to ease
restrictions
and allow
larger groups
to meet,
businesses
to open,
it's right
for churches
to be among
the first
to resume.
But churches,
we must be
responsible.
We must do
this as safely
and as wisely
as we can.
Now we have
a plan here
at Pickens
for how we're
going to resume.
A lot of the
details have been
explained in a letter
that went out
to the church
this week
from Gil Stewart
and me.
There's information
in this week
and last week's
newsletter.
I want to encourage
you to read
this information.
Be prepared
to come
next Sunday.
Let's do church
together
in a safe way,
in an orderly way,
but in a good way
that helps us
worship the Lord.
Now there's
a third reason
that I want
to quickly
point out
that explains
why we haven't
met for public
worship for nine
weeks.
Look at this.
We have shown
wisdom by stopping
our large group
gatherings.
You know,
some people
refer to the
book of Proverbs
as a manual
on wisdom
and it certainly
is.
Among the things
that it emphasizes
about wisdom,
it emphasizes the
importance of
listening to people
who are wise
and knowledgeable.
For an example,
look at this
from Proverbs 23.
Apply your heart
to instruction
and your ear
to words of
knowledge.
You know,
there's a lot
that scientists
and healthcare
professionals do
not know
about the
coronavirus.
But there are
things they do
know and we
need to listen
to them about
those things.
They know that
the coronavirus
is highly
contagious
and that it
is potentially
fatal to anyone
but especially
senior adults
and people
with underlying
health problems.
They know
that avoiding
large group
gatherings
and practicing
social distancing
is an effective
way to deal
with it,
to prevent
it spread.
therefore,
I have no
doubt
that we have
acted wisely
in not having
public services
over these past
few weeks,
not having
large group
gatherings
along with
everyone else
in our country.
It's not what
we wanted to do
but it was a
wise thing
to do.
You know,
we have joined
with other
churches
voluntarily
throughout our
country
to comply
with our
government
and health
care leaders
directives
in order to
try to protect
lives,
in order to
try to save
lives.
We've done that
for the benefit
of our church
family and those
we come in
contact with
outside this
building.
But more
than that,
we have sought
to fulfill
our God-given
responsibility
to love our
neighbor as
ourself,
to fulfill
our Christian
duty of
obeying proper
governmental
authority
and we have
acted wisely
to the best
of our ability.
Now,
the coronavirus
is still a
serious threat
but we can't
stop living
life
because it's
present.
Some liberals
and socialists
appear not to
even care about
destroying our
economy and
our nation.
But wise
leaders do
care and
they are
leading us
to start
rebuilding
and reopening
and for
churches to
regather.
Wise leaders
are telling us
we've got to
be very,
very careful.
We've got to
do this
slowly.
We've got to
do this in
steps.
We've got to
protect lives
as we
reopen the
country.
We're going
to do our
best as we
regather next
Sunday morning
to be as
careful and as
safe as we
possibly can.
But I want to
make this clear.
we cannot
provide a
germ-free
environment.
It will not
be a germ-free
building when
you come on
Sunday.
Therefore,
if you are in
the at-risk
group for
developing
serious
complications
from the
coronavirus,
I want to
encourage you to
prayerfully and
carefully evaluate
whether or not
you should come
back to church
right now.
I think you
ought to be
very careful
about going
out in public
and just going
about your life
as you used to
right now.
Know this for
sure.
You will not be
sinning against
God if you wait
a while longer
to come back to
church.
You will not be
doing anything
wrong or cowardly
if you don't just
get out and about
and pretend that
all is well.
But for all who
are planning to
come, please
practice social
distancing and
follow directions
next Sunday.
We're trying to
make our building
as safe as
possible for
all of us.
But once we
get here next
Sunday, once we
get here and
get focused
together, let's
forget about the
coronavirus, the
pandemic and all
this.
Let's worship the
Lord wholeheartedly
together as the
Pickens First
Baptist family.
I'm looking
forward to it.
I'm looking
forward to seeing
you.
I hope if it's
wise for you to
get out, I hope
to see you next
Sunday morning,
either at 8,
9, 30 or 11 as
we join together
to worship and
praise our great
God.
Let's pray together
now.
Father,
Father, we pray
that as we come
together next
Sunday morning,
that you will help
us to truly
enjoy being in your
presence, being with
one another, and
being the people of
God at worship.
Lord, we pray that
you will keep us
safe.
We pray, Father,
that you will
enable us to act
wisely and
responsibly.
We pray that for
all churches.
And Lord, we pray
that throughout our
country, as more and
more businesses
open, that you'll
keep us safe.
We pray, Father,
that we will not
see a big jump in
the number of
coronavirus cases.
Lord, bring it to
an end, we pray.
And help us to
restart our country.
Help us to reopen
businesses.
And help us,
Father, to
regather as your
people.
And help us,
Father, to live as
your people.
Loving you,
loving others,
in the best
possible way.
And it's in Jesus'
name we pray.
Amen.