Exodus 3:14
“And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you.”
Exodus And Moses said unto God, Who am I, that I should go unto Pharaoh, and that I should bring forth the children of Israel out of Egypt? 12And he said, Certainly I will be with thee; and this shall be a token unto thee, that I have sent thee: When thou hast brought forth the people out of Egypt, ye shall serve God upon this mountain. 13And Moses said unto God, Behold, when I come unto the children of Israel, and shall say unto them, The God of your fathers hath sent me unto you; and they shall say to me, What is his name? what shall I say unto them? 14And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you. 15And God said moreover unto Moses, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, The LORD God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, hath sent me unto you: this is my name for ever, and this is my memorial unto all generations. 16Go, and gather the elders of Israel together, and say unto them, The LORD God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, appeared unto me, saying, I have surely visited you, and seen that which is done to you in Egypt: 17And I have said, I will bring you up out of the affliction of Egypt unto the land of the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites, unto a land flowing with milk and honey. We should tell them like Joshua that times were difficult, and we could worship in our church building but that didn't stop us from worshiping in our home. Like Joshua said in Joshua 24:15 15And if it seem evil unto you to serve the LORD, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.
Someday we are going to tell our children and grandchildren about 2020 Covid-19 Virus. We will tell them about this virus and all of these changes that we had to make. We will talk about social distancing and how big corporations turned over their production to provide essential medical equipment. Maybe we will end up talking about how America’s economy roared back or maybe we will tell them how it didn’t. Maybe we will tell them about loved ones that passed. At least we will have a good story to tell.
I wonder what we will tell them about our worship services. Will we explain that the reason why we did most of our worship virtually was because of the Covid-19? Will we say that we used to have freedom to assemble before the Covid-19? Will it still be as important to us?
We need to realize that by our actions and attitude, we are actually telling them a lot right now. Here are some possible messages you are sending to your kids:
If we are making no effort to worship, we are telling them that worship was never really that important.
Our attitude may tell them that things you do around other people are different than the things you do when no one is watching. Maybe we can't get to our building of worship but we can still get to Jesus. We may be telling them like Joshua said in Joshua 24:15 “And if it seem evil unto you to serve the LORD, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.” We should tell them like Joshua that times were difficult, and we couldn't worship in our church building but that didn't stop us from worshiping in our home.
Hopefully it’s not the case for you and your house. Hopefully you are telling them that we worship God whether we have 500 people or whether we are alone on the Isle of Patmos like the Apostle John. Hopefully you are letting them know that worshipping in spirit and in truth does not depend on where you are (Jn 4:21). Hopefully we are telling them that this isn’t something we do; this is who we are.
