Respecting Authority? Part 2

Moore's Corner Church

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Respecting Authority? Part 3

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Thank you for listening to this message from the ministry of Morse Corner Church in Leverett, Massachusetts.

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Morse Corner is a non -denominational church that is committed to the preaching and teaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

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Our church was founded in 1896 by two students of the famous evangelist

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D .L. Moody. We seek to encourage and edify the body of Christ through the proclamation of God's word through the ministries of the local church.

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If you'd like more information, visit our website, morsecornerchurch .com. We hope you enjoy the message.

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And there's another wind sweeping through the church, another example that I had given.

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And I have to say, I am hearing things from evangelical pulpits that I never thought that I would hear.

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This new trend of social justice, where churches, pastors are leading their congregations in prayers of repentance over slavery and segregation.

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Listen, I thought we did away with that. No, I'm glad we did away with it. We did away with it, and it's in the past.

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And I highly doubt people in churches, especially in New England, are guilty of those things.

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You know what it comes down to. They're telling their people, you need to repent because you have white skin.

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That's what it boils down to. I'm not guilty of these things that happened in the past.

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You know, it doesn't matter, but this is how the devil gets his foot in the door. Because instead of preaching the word of God, now you're chasing after the culture.

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And there are so many examples where the teachings of the Bible are so clear, but what do men do?

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They compromise the teachings of the Bible to please men. And compromises that are made, they show what?

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A lack of respect towards the Lord and His word. So while the culture is saying one thing, the

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Bible says something else on that matter. Ezekiel chapter 18 verse 20 makes it very clear, abundantly clear, that you are responsible for your own actions.

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You are not responsible for the actions of others, never mind your forefathers who lived generations ago.

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One final example I gave was how Caesar, and we've talked about this in the past, and I'm not going to go on at length.

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But Caesar is thinking that now he's head of the church. And Caesar is telling people that you need to shut down your church.

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But what does the Lord say? The Lord says do not forsake the assembly.

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So who are we going to side with? Caesar or Christ? But here's the point.

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The devil is so subtle, he can use just about anything to get a foothold in the church, in government.

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He'll get a foothold in your home, in the workplace, anywhere. One final comment on the subject.

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You may say, yeah, but Romans 13, right? Romans 13, submit to the governing authorities. We do not want to show a lack of respect towards the governing authorities.

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Therefore, this is the mindset, do whatever the government tells you to do. Wrong. The highest law in our land, according to government, is the

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U .S. Constitution. And the First Amendment recognizes that we have the right to assemble.

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But again, what do we see? A lack of respect towards the Constitution and the

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First Amendment. So yes, we obey the governing authorities, but what is the authority given to government?

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We acknowledge to collect taxes, that's part of it, okay, we understand that. But basically to punish evil, to reward those who do good.

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It is that simple, but we are living in a day and age where evil is being rewarded, and those who do good are often the ones being punished.

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And what's the title of the message? Lacking respect for authority. So as Christians, we don't want to be in that category.

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We do not want to lack respect for the authority, which is why we pray for those in authority.

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We've been doing that. We pray for those in authority, even when we disagree with them.

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See, here's the thing. This is a beautiful thing. It is hard to hate somebody when you're praying for them.

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Maybe that's why God tells us to make supplications and prayers for all men.

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But let's finish what is said here in Ephesians 5. The husband is the head of the wife, and now

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God has given authority, or God who has all authority, gives a command to the husband.

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What does he say to husbands? Husbands, love your wives just as Christ also loved the church and gave himself for her.

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So really, husbands are given an even greater responsibility in that husbands are to be willing to die for their spouse.

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Any God -fearing man would lay down his life for his spouse, just like Christ laid down his life for the church.

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And now in chapter 6, let's move ahead to chapter 6.

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Once again, we see the command. Children, obey your parents in the Lord. See, this must be important.

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He's repeating it. The Bible repeats it many times. But look at verses 5 and 6.

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Bondservants, be obedient to those who are your masters according to the flesh, with fear and trembling, in sincerity of heart as to Christ, not with eye service as men -pleasers, but as bondservants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart.

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Now, to make this applicable today, usually we would apply this to the workplace, right?

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Now, people who lack respect for God, lack respect for their parents, for their elders, for family members, they certainly are not going to have an issue lacking respect for their boss at work.

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And let's face it, most everybody here at one point in time has had a bad boss or a supervisor that was just completely unfair.

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But you know what? That's life. That's life. If it's that bad and you just can't take it, go get another job.

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But like with everything else, who is this for? You work hard at your job and do the right thing at your job for the boss's sake?

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Well, yeah, but it's really for Christ's sake. Ephesians 6, that service, do it as unto

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Christ. So honor your parents for Christ's sake, respect your elders for Christ's sake, submit to your own husbands for Christ's sake, husbands love your wives for Christ's sake, work hard at your place of employment for Christ's sake.

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So this principle basically applies to every area. Whenever you see a command in scripture, ultimately you are obeying it for the

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Lord in his sake. But again, the more time goes on, the more you see a lack of respect for authority.

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Now, there's another area that we're seeing now where we are seeing a complete lack of respect for the police.

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And we've all had encounters with the police. Well, usually, hopefully by getting pulled over, getting a speeding ticket.

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And if you're a young person, even if you don't have your license yet, you need to pay attention.

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If you are pulled over by the police, you need to know one thing. Do what they tell you to do.

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It's yes sir, no sir, yes ma 'am, no ma 'am. If they tell you to keep your hands on the steering wheel, keep your hands on the steering wheel.

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Unless it's something completely outrageous or illegal, do what they tell you to do.

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Now turn to Matthew chapter 26, Matthew 26. Listen, just on a practical level, if you don't want the ticket, be polite, be cooperative.

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Show them the proper respect. If you feel an injustice was done, take it up in court.

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But just think about this. Think about how many problems in our society could be resolved instantly if people just did two things.

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Obey the law, cooperate with the police. Is it that much to ask? But there's a fundamental lack of respect towards authority.

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And you know where it comes from. It comes from a lack of respect towards God. I mean, that's the root problem.

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Now in Matthew 26, what do we see? We see the arrest of Jesus. Now was

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Jesus guilty? No. Was this unjust, an unjust arrest?

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Yes it was. But look at Matthew 26, starting in verse 47. And while he was still speaking, behold,

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Judas, one of the twelve, with a great multitude, with swords and clubs, came from the chief priests and the elders of the people.

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Now his betrayer had given them a sign, saying, Whomever I kiss, he is the one.

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Seize him. And immediately he went up to Jesus and said, Greetings, Rabbi, and kissed him.

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But Jesus said to him, Friend, why have you come? Imagine that.

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Friend, why have you come? This is not the response that you would expect. Jesus shows kindness.

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He knows Judas is betraying him. And yet he shows kindness and even respect to Judas. And he certainly didn't deserve it.

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And it says, Then they came and laid hands on Jesus and took him. And suddenly one of those who were with Jesus stretched out his hand and drew his sword and struck the servant of the high priest and cut off his ear.

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His ear. And I don't think he was aiming for his ear. And we know from the other gospel accounts that this was who?

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Peter. Yeah, this was Peter. And Peter was operating in the flesh. And this is what the flesh wants to do.

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When you see an injustice done, you want to lash out. That's what the flesh wants to do.

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Repay evil for evil. But what does Jesus say to Peter in verse 52? But Jesus said to him,

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Put your sword in its place, for all who take the sword will perish by the sword.

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And Peter did what Jesus asked him to do because he recognized that Jesus was the authority.

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Jesus was both his Lord and his King. And just one statement about the kingdom.

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Jesus, remember in the Great Commission, he has all authority in heaven and on earth.

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And later on in the gospels, he would say, My kingdom is not of this world.

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If my kingdom was of this world, my subjects would come and fight. But his kingdom is not of this world.

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His kingdom, the kingdom of Christ right now, is a spiritual kingdom. And how do you know if you are in that kingdom?

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Well, if you are born again, born from above, you show that you are in the kingdom of God by obeying the king.

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Jesus is the highest authority. He is the king. So we obey and respect him.

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So Jesus is the king. But what about earthly kings, presidents, prime ministers, governors?

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What about them? Well, first Peter 2 .17. So Peter, at this point that he's writing his epistle, has grown in the faith.

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Okay? And what does he say? The same man who tried to lop off Malchus, the servant of the high priest's head, what does he say now?

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And he has the Holy Spirit within him. Honor all people, love the brotherhood, fear

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God, honor the king. But here's the situation we're in today.

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And you know this is true. People lack respect for authority because they themselves view themselves as the final arbiter of truth.

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And this is how it plays out. Well, I would respect the president, but I don't feel he's worthy of my respect.

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I would submit to my husband, but I don't feel he's worthy of respect. How do you like it if a man says, you know,

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I would love my wife, but I don't feel she's worthy of that love. Or if somebody said, I would respect the police, but I don't feel they're worthy of my respect.

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Do you really honestly think that Jesus is in heaven saying, oh, you don't feel that there were, oh, nevermind.

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Everything I said, the word of God, the commandments, just scrap all of those because you don't feel.

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Do you really think that's the way it works? And listen, we all struggle with this.

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There's people who have done us wrong, things that we see going on that are unjust. We all struggle with this temptation, but it doesn't work like that.

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And if you get enough people thinking that way, what do you see? You see chaos. That's exactly what is going on now.

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So where does this lack of respect begin? Well, God has put certain things in place to restrain evil, to restrain sin.

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And one of those things that he has put in place is the conscience. We all have a conscience that tells us the difference between right and wrong.

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We have the 10 commandments. We have the law of God written on our heart. And yet what do people do?

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They ignore it or they just willfully turn away from God. And then the other restraint is the family.

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But sin, infidelity, and an unjust court system has so broken down the family.