Keeping Unity Amid Pandemic Differences

C.S. Lewis once said that everybody loves the idea of forgiveness, until someone actually has something to forgive.  Unity can be the same way.  Unity is easy when everybody agrees, but when there are differences, unity is kicked to the curb.  Many churches are reeling right now because there are differences when it comes to wearing masks and other responses to Covid.  Arguments are happening, accusations are being leveled, and people are taking stands about what they believe is right.  It is amazing how a little bit of pressure can reveal the cracks in a congregation; which means this is a splendid time for teaching and shepherding.  Shepherding is always important, but when the heat is on there is a premium on helping people wrestling with what God says and dealing with previously hidden areas of weaknesses.  

So, what exactly are the Covid issues that are churning in the church?  The biggest issues that are bringing division are whether to wear masks and when to exercise civil disobedience against governmental orders.  I would like to use this post to encourage the unity we have and strengthen it where there might be wavering.  I want to work through some of the issues before us and bring some scriptural teaching to bear that I think will stabilize us in these shaky times in the church.  

First, it would be helpful to fix in our mind the different orders of separation in church life.  First order issues are ones where disagreement means Christian fellowship is severed because someone is promoting damning heresy.  For instance, if a person denies the Trinity, undermines the gospel or encourages a homosexual lifestyle, these are matters where we reject their assertion that they are a brother or sister in Christ.  Such a person is separated from the life of Christ because of what they are teaching or doing.  Second order issues are ones where disagreement means you can fellowship as Christians but not in the same local church and/or denomination. These would be matters such as modes of baptism, charismatic issues or the role of women.  They are so significant that people cannot serve together in the same church because the differences of scriptural understanding are too different.  Lastly, third order issues are those matters where disagreements mean people fellowship as Christians in the same church, walking and serving together while holding different positions.  These issues would be things like beliefs about end times or whether video screens should be used in worship services.  Christians who disagree on these matters can discuss them thoroughly and then set them aside to do life together as members of a church and/or denomination.  

How does this help us for the matters before us?  For the most part, we are in a third order issue.  There may be some exceptions and I will come to those in a moment.  When it comes to wearing masks, we are talking about an application of the command to love your neighbor.  Being in the realm of application, there has to be a lot of space given for differences.  There are a thousand circumstances that come into play, and we need to be willing to let people make their own determinations about how they think they are going to best love the people around them.  There will be disagreement, but that must not be the occasion for strife, anger and division. Those responses are clearly sin and must be dealt with apart from whatever the occasion was.  

What about the issue of authority?  The standard operating procedure of Christians is submission to authority.  It should be a rare occasion where Christians buck authority.  Christians are to be ones given to a submissive attitude because the start of the Christian life is submission to the Lordship of Christ.  Therefore, Christians should be those ready and willing to do whatever they are told by those God has put over them.  Disobedience to an authority needs to arise from a clear conflict between what God says in Scripture and what a lower authority says.  With submission and authority set in our mind, let’s look at the issues pressing upon the churches.

First, in some regions businesses and churches have freedom to make their own determinations about what they will do.  If a church sets up a policy where masks are required or where masks are not required, then members should be ready and willing to take that direction.  What happens if a certain member believes so deeply that to not wear masks would be to put people in true danger?  In that case, that person should wear a mask diligently, but still recognize other people have many reasons for not wearing.  But what if such a person believes there is no sufficient reason and it is disobedience to God?  He has moved the issue from a third order issue to a second order issue, or at least he is on the brink of doing so.  If it becomes that significant for a person, where every Sunday would be viewing people and leadership as mishandling God’s word and calling, then he should resign his membership and find a church where he can serve without violating his conscience.  There should be no division or strife.  It is a conscience issue that has become so significant for an individual that he should bless his former church, but move on to another congregation.  

Secondly, what about the issue of overlapping authorities?  Governments have authority to protect people, and churches have authority to protect people.  Should churches heed governmental orders?  As stated above, Christians and churches should always be ready and willing to submit to everything that they can do while still obeying God.   And yet there will be times when governments overreach and call for actions that violate what God calls his people to do.  At times it will be clear that governmental overreach is happening, and at other times it will not be clear if that is happening or not.  America is big, with many different jurisdictions, and it is not always clear.  There are complexities.  There are many churches in many different areas with different situations and different mandates.  Churches are going to come to different conclusions, and we need to be ready to exercise our Christian liberty muscle.  Romans 14 is given to us for this very reason.  Christians and churches can come to different understandings about when and how to submit to government, or when and how to disobey government.  And churches taking different positions can all be faithful to Christ in those differences.  

There are clearly risks involved in this.  We can convince ourselves that we can submit when in reality it would be compromising God’s Word.  Fear can grip us and we can hide behind Christian liberty.  Paul warned about this in Galatians 5:13 when he said “do not turn your freedom into an opportunity for the flesh.”  We need to be very careful.  Fervent discussions must be held.  There should be push-back and challenges to our biblical interpretation and application.  But what there must not be is strife and disunity.  We need to cling to the Scriptures together for the sake of the gospel.  This must be our utmost priority and the area in which we are “of the same mind” (Phil.2:2).  But if a disagreement becomes so strong and so different, that is when it moves into a second order issue and Christians separate to different churches.  Even in this case, the separation should be with blessing and grace, not animus and disdain.    

The point of all of this is that challenging times always means perplexing questions, hard conversations and different conclusions.  But none of that should mean strife, anger and division.  Instead, there should be grace, patience, forbearance, hard work, gentle love, deepening Bible study and ultimately unity in Christ.  Sin must be confronted, but a firm grasp on God’s word needs to define when sin is the issue as opposed to matters of conscience.  May the Lord expose our weaknesses and shore them up by his Spirit and his Word.