Church Is Closed? Work Out Your Own Salvation!

1 Corinthians 16:19: Aquila and Priscilla salute you much in the Lord, with the church that is in their house.

Yup.  That's how they did it in the beginning.

Church was actually in somebody's house.

They didn't all go to some sterile building with a coffee nook and a five piece band to get you warmed up. . .

And when they were done, they didn't rush you up to the altar to grab a tiny cube of bread and thimble of grape juice (hey, maybe that's how Jesus fed the multitude?  Yo, everybody, gather round, just chip off a scale from this fish, and pass it on to your neighbor. . .) and then rush you out the door.  No, they took their time, had a real meal and actually spent more than 45 seconds contemplating the significance of the Lord's death and resurrection.

Do this in remembrance of Me. . .

Do we really think we are partaking worthily if we take communion like we're at a drive-thru??

It may be we're better off this coronavirus Easter just staying put and having church in our own home.

It may be we're better off not warming some pew, paying half-attention to somebody who's more interested in saving The Economy than in saving our soul. . .

But when He had turned about and looked on His disciples, He rebuked Peter, saying, Get thee behind Me, Satan: for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but the things that be of men. And when He had called the people unto Him with His disciples also, He said unto them, Whosoever will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it; but whosoever shall lose his life for My sake and the gospel's, the same shall save it. For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?

The visible church in America tends to savor the things of men a little too much.

It might just be a blessing this Easter Sunday to sit at home alone, or with family members old enough to have an adult conversation, and consider the state of our soul.

The virus has caught the world's attention. . .a large part of the world has been snapped out of its routine.  In truth, we see the world in a Panic!®.  It's easy to laugh at Trump and say he's been all over the place with this virus crisis, but everybody else has, also.  The world is thrown out of order, and nobody knows the right way to put it back. [Let's hope they put it back different, but that's a topic for another day].  

An opportunity is being missed. . .

I doubt the people who are a few hours away from being bound to a ventilator are wondering when they should go back to work. . .

Let's be honest, the Panic!® ain't coming from the folks with tubes down their throat. . .the Panic!® is from those who are thinking about their future in this world.

Money. . .when do we go back to work?. . .what about these bills?. . .how long can we afford to lock down?. . .all the businesses that might fail! 

What a waste of Panic!®.

I'm sure the ventilator people are in a panic, also. . .but their panic don't carry very far, and it ain't part of The Panic!®.  

The ventilator people, before they lose their reason, before they are put in a medically induced coma as the last pause before the grave, their panic is the panic of death, and I would wager a goodly amount that a fair number of them were not contemplating the things of men, but were wondering after their own souls.

I may die.  Is there anything after?  Was this all there was?

You can't convince me that many of the ventilator people did not ask after God.  Death is bigger than them, so they seek something bigger than death.

That panic is not part of The Panic!®.  The ventilator people are only factored into The Panic!® as a number in the death column that hangs as a black cloud over the living, and as a burden to Panicked!® *health care workers.*

Let's not pout this Sunday if we can't go into one of the offical church buildings for the Easter ritual. How many sermons would have been about soothing our panic, but it would be The Panic!® of the things of men.  God is faithful to restore our job, our household, our America.  We don't need to hear that. . .

We don't need to be reassured about the future of America.  The future belongs to the Kingdom of God. 

We have a chance this Easter Sunday to have church in our own homes, to sit alone or with our adult family members and try to locate our lives.  We might not have many more chances before the world starts up again and swallows our souls. . .

Let's sit under that shadow of death and ask ourselves what we know about our future.  

Is there anything after?  Is this all there is?

If we believe there is a Kingdom of God, what do we know about it?  Is there a place for us in it?

I would wager most of us haven't spent an hour in the last year, in the last ten years, thinking about it.

Most would laugh at such a suggestion, but since The Panic!® hit, perhaps the laughter is cut with just a bit of nervousness?

Back in the days when people didn't know any better, when they actually wondered about eternity, the apostle Paul advised:

Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.  For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure. 

Most of us will survive The Panic!® and return to our lives with a sigh of relief.  Yet a week, a month, a year later, some private panic is certain to infect.  But if we knew that Jesus was risen and that we had a place in His Kingdom, we'd be immune.  So let's not pout this Sunday if we can't go into one of the church buildings for the Easter service.  Let's stay at home, alone, without the interference of the ritual.  Let's dust off our souls and take the time to work out our own salvation. . .