By Rameshwar Yadav
You are the salt of the earth — you are the light of the world (Matt 5: 13, 14).
… The one who loves another has fulfilled the law. The commandments… are summed up in this word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” (Rom 13:8, 9.)
The first verse is from the Sermon of the Mount of the Gospel of Matthew. It is also called a handbook of Christian Ethics. But Matthew presents Christ as the King of Israel. As the king, Christ defines the character of those who shall enter into His kingdom. Thus, A.W. Pinks, one of the most influential evangelical authors in the second half of the twentieth century calls the Sermon on the Mount very differently: “It sets forth the Manifesto of the King. It contains the ‘Constitution’ of His Kingdom. It defines the character of those who shall enter into it. It tells of the experiences through which they pass while being fitted for that Kingdom.”
Also, the second quotation mentioned above is the command of the King. The king says one who loves another has fulfilled the law. He says ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself”. To fulfill this order, He builds His church everywhere. Now, we can see the churches of Christ in every nook and corner of this world. If the churches are everywhere to fulfill His orders then what they are usually doing in Nepal? How are they fulfilling His commandments during a calamity in Nepal? In April of 2015, the devastating earthquake has taken the lives of 9,000 and injured 22,000 people and now the present pandemic has been affecting the lives of millions of people of Nepal. This, it is the time to reflect upon our roles?
Crisis and the Church
Crisis and calamity are part of human life, so we must know that the Church of Christ deals with the life problem or the long-lasting problems confronting mankind, and their consideration is as relevant now. Thus, it is a source of deep satisfaction and great joy to His people to know that the body of Christ can help many to an understanding of the Christian faith, and will strengthen and buttress the faith of others because He wishes nothing better for the churches in the world and Nepal than that it should continue that work on a still wider scale to the glory of God.
But I observe the situation of the believers in Nepal and find it different than it should be. They are livings in fear. Because of this, they are not having a good relationship with people of other faiths in society. It is because they do not have the right understanding of their roles and livings there. They are living in ignorance and fear due to the sound knowledge of their faith. Also, I find some church leaders do not allow them to meet the believers and unbelievers who are living in the same society. They do not allow them to participate in society actively too. They do this because of some practical issues and fear of backsliding. If the believers do not involve in society and have a good relationship with the people, then how can they fulfill their ministries? How can they impact society with their testimonies? In other words, how can the church serve humanity with this insufficient knowledge and isolated life from other members of the society during crisis and calamity? If the church does not understand her role, then how can the church do her mission works? Having said that the churches are busy with church-centered services especially leader-centered services. But the children of God should not live an excluded life in this world. The fact is this, we can teach the believers but we should not control their lives because our God is the sovereign God who controls every affair in the lives of believers and unbelievers.
Christ’s Commission and the Church
During Crisis and Calamity, the life of individuals, our neighbors, society, nations, and the whole world got affected. Martian Lloyd Jones, a well-known preacher of the 20th century has said about the role of the churches during the crisis and pandemic in this way: “We know how that truth has to be applied in the realm of training children or in dealing with someone who is ill. The conditions may be such that the best interest of the child or the patient is served by causing temporary pain. It is a difficult task for the parent or the doctor, a task from which he shrinks and which he tries to avoid to the uttermost. But if he has the real interest of the other at heart he just has to do it.”
Further, he said, “Now is the principle which the Church is called upon to put into practice now if she is to function truly as the Church of God in this hour of crisis and calamity. That she shrinks from doing so, then there is no such thing as the Church apart from ourselves who compose and constitute the Church. It is always more pleasant to soothe and to comfort than to cause pain and to arouse unpleasant reactions. But surely the time has arrived when the situation of the world today must be dealt with and considered in a radical manner.” Otherwise, it could be fatal for the church. But we all must thank God for the marvelous and wondrous consolation which the Gospel alone can give.
At first, under the immediate shock of Crisis and Calamity, we needed to be steadied and comforted. But if the Church continues to do nothing but this, then surely we give the impression that our Christianity is very weak and lifeless. The ministry of comfort and consolation is a part of the work of the Church. Similarly, if she contents herself to help and to encourage the national effort and tries to add a spiritual gloss (polish) to the statements and speeches of the secular leaders of the country, she may well gain a certain amount of temporary applause and popularity and find herself being employed by the powers. In the end, she will stand discredited in the eyes of the discerning.
Christ’s Gospel as the Supreme Solution
We must realize afresh that our Gospel is timeless and changeless, it nevertheless is always contemporary. We must meet the present situation and speak a word to the world that none else can speak. There are many reasons why we should do so. The need of the world, its agony, its pain, its disease, call upon us to do so. But apart from that, we must do so. It is a part of the original commission given to the Church. She is a debtor in the sense. If the Church fails in this present crisis and does not realize that her very existence is at stake, the main result of the present troubled state of the world will be the end of the Church.
The great central question is this. Why is the world in its present condition? The first matter that must engage our attention is the view of the man himself, and especially in his relationship to God. He is out to show that the whole world is guilty before God. He does so by showing that all are without excuse because they refuse to worship and glorify God. They disown Him and turn their backs upon Him and say that they do not need Him. They renounce His way of life and shake off what they regard as the bondage and serfdom of religion and a life controlled by God. That is why man has always turned from God. He confuses lawlessness and licenses with freedom; he is, a rebel against God and refuses to glorify God. And then he proceeds to make his gods. That was not only the story of mankind at the beginning. To be kind and to indulge in vague generalizations about the man and his development, etc., and to invite him just as he is to follow Christ is not enough. Man must be convinced and convicted of his sin. He must face the naked, terrible truth about himself and his attitude towards God. It is only when he realizes that truth that he will be ready truly to believe the Gospel and return to God. This is the task of the Church.
Finally, the task of the church is our task. Shall we commence upon it by examining ourselves? Do we accept the revelation of God as given in the Bible or do we base our views upon some human philosophy? Are we afraid of being called old-fashioned or out of date because we believe the Bible? Further, is God central and supreme in our lives, do we glorify Him and show others that we are striving constantly to be well-pleasing in His sight? And, finally, are we doing all this gladly and willingly, not as people who are obeying a law but as men and women who, looking at the Son of God dying on the Cross on Calvary’s hill for our sins, are so full of thankfulness and gratitude that we can gladly say:
“Love so amazing, so divine,
Demands my soul, my life, my all.”
