Many churches across the globe will not gather together this Sunday. And it’s possible that here in the US this will be the case for Easter Sunday. The government has not yet mandated that we not gather—but many are deciding that love for neighbor means we should not gather.
We are called in Scripture to submit to our authorities. (Romans 13:1) Right now, in the midst of a pandemic, we ought to submit to the directives of organizations like the CDC. When our governing authorities aim to do us good then our submission to that authority is clear. But this submission is not absolute. Our ultimate authority is God. And so the Christian position has always been to obey the governing authorities unless they require you to go against the will of God (and this expressly outlined in Scripture).
Some have balked at this idea. Isn’t Hebrews 10:25 clear that we are to not neglect meeting together? So then doesn’t Hebrews 10:25 override the call to submit to our governing authorities? I suppose it would if Hebrews 10:25 taught that we MUST gather together in a church building on a Sunday morning. But does it mean that?
“not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.” –Hebrews 10:25
In this section of Hebrews the author is reminding us that we have been given, through Jesus, unfettered access to God (10:19-21). This truth motivates certain actions. First we are to draw near (22), secondly we are to hold fast our confession (23) and lastly we are to consider how to stir up one another to love and good works (24).
If you took grabbed a marker and decided to go all Thomas Jefferson on your Bible and blotted out “not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some” what you would have is a simple encouragement to stir up one another. It’s a basic call similar to all the other “one another’s” throughout the New Testament.
But the Spirit of God put that little section about not neglecting to meet together there for a reason. So what is it doing in this passage? It’s connected to the phrase “but encouraging one another”. They are alternatives. One way of living is to encourage one another to continue grabbing ahold of Christ. The other is to neglect one another.
The word for neglect is a very strong word. It means far more than just skipping a Sunday or two. It’s the same word that Jesus cried from the Cross (Matthew 27:46) when he felt forsaken by God. It’s the same word used in 2 Timothy 4:10 of Demas who deserted prisoner Paul. It’s not a word of “oops, I’ve kind of let this discipline slip in my life”. No, it’s a word of “I am intentionally abandoning you.”
So when we find ourselves in a pandemic we aren’t disobeying Hebrews 10:25 by not gathering together for a season out of love and concern for one another. In fact, not gathering together is probably more in keeping with the spirit of Hebrews 10:25.
But there would be a way to disobey Hebrews 10:25 during a pandemic and that would be to go completely underground. Hebrews 10:25 calls us in this season to continue to check on one another and to continue to find creative ways to “encourage one another daily” even if we cannot be in physical proximity. It should be our deep desire to gather together in an assembly with other believers. We were made to worship together. But there are seasons in which this grace is not given to us. This is one of those seasons. And so let us heed the instruction of Hebrews 10:25 and love one another deeply in this trying season.
—
Photo source: here
2 Comments
Comments are closed.