Sunday, April 18, 2021 PM

A New Sunday Night Series on Christian Resistance to the State

Back to your seats. Go ahead and open your Bibles to Genesis. We'll be in Genesis and then all over the place. We are starting a new series on Sunday nights, having finished up our study Sons of Issachar and then our study on the Bible, study of what the Bible says about itself.

We're going to start a new study on Sunday nights called A Doctrine of Christian Resistance to the State, which is not an area that has been well-traveled in a previous generation or two, but is all the more important in our time.

And when I say resistance, please don't get into your mind immediately thinking about, you know, armed resistance and, you know, who's the platoon leader and so on. I think it will become clear as we read the Scriptures and see how often did the people of God, how often did those who were believers in the Lord and his promises and followers of Christ, how often were they in situations where they had to choose obedience to God versus obedience to some civil authority.

And what happened and what are the dynamics of that? What did Jesus have to say about that? How did he disciple his followers and teach them what to do in those particular areas? And again, I know this is surprising, but civil governments don't always agree with the Word of God, you know, and they're not the same thing.

The Word of the State is not the Word of God. So we have a responsibility as followers of Christ to sort this out biblically, not to have an instinctual kind of response or even a pragmatic kind of response, but we need to know the biblical response.

We are in need of wisdom and knowledge and understanding, and the beginning point for all of that is the fear of the Lord. That being the case, we have to go to his Word and see what he has to say there, and then I think we'll have a lot of confidence in the approach we take, whatever those situations are.

One of the things that has thrown the need for this study into sharp relief is, of course, the last calendar year and prior, just how much authority does the civil government have to say to the churches and to the families and so on, thou shalt and thou shalt not, when the Lord has spoken differently, and is it right, is it biblical, is it fearing God to obey the state in every case, or is it fearing the Lord and wise to disobey the state on certain occasions, and who gets to say what those occasions are?

So you see there's a lot of important questions that are asked and need to be answered. So in some sense, we've got to go back to some of the basics that have been laid aside. We have to think about some essential truths and build our way up to answering some of the specifics, and so we need to begin talking about authority.

Who has authority, and how is authority mediated, how is authority administrated? We need to consider our obedience to God and our obedience to the state and how these things interact. So let's start with God's authority and his sovereignty.

God's Absolute Authority and Sovereignty

That's the first point in our outline for tonight. This is just the basic introduction. We're trying to see the parameters of what kind of a conversation we're going to have, and then that'll help us move forward.

Now when we think about God's authority and his sovereignty, we of course can begin by saying, well, that's absolute. He has full authority over everybody and everything. He's God. He made everything.

He has defined everything. He's the one who, by his own character, his own nature, defines what is right and wrong, true and false, and so on. So obviously everything begins there and so on. This is something that is expressed throughout the Scriptures, but at the end of Daniel chapter 4, Nebuchadnezzar, coming to his senses, says in verse 34, at the end of the time I, Nebuchadnezzar, lifted my eyes to heaven and my understanding returned to me.

I like that. He lifted his eyes to heaven and his understanding returned to him. Looking to the Lord, looking to God. By faith we understand. And I blessed the Most High and praised and honored him who lives forever.

Nebuchadnezzar, king of the most impressive of empires. For his dominion is an everlasting dominion and his kingdom is from generation to generation. All the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing.

He does according to his will in the army of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth. No one can restrain his hand or say to him, what have you done? That's a very accurate description of the authority and the sovereignty of God.

So when we go back to the book of beginnings in Genesis, we see how this plays out. In Genesis chapter 1 and verses 26 through 27, we are reminded that those that God has made in his image are subject to him.

Genesis chapter 1 verse 26, then God said, let us make man in our image according to our likeness. Let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, over the cattle, over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.

So God created man in his own image. In the image of God, he created him, male and female, he created them. God created man. Man did not come up with God. God created man and made man in his own image, according to his own parameters, according to his own design in a way that would amplify the goodness of God.

As the goodness of God is mediated through us, the glory of God is manifested in us. This is the image of God. He made us with a very particular purpose in mind, a design in mind, and so he has authority and sovereignty over us.

The image of God is subject to him. All of us are personally, each one of us is personally responsible before God. Each one of us personally is held accountable before God because he is our maker, and he made us in his image.

Therefore, he made us for a particular purpose. And whether or not we live up to the uniform that we're born with, the image of God, whether we are faithful to that uniform or not faithful to that uniform, that matters.

God made us for a particular purpose. Are we living accordingly? This is something of what Romans chapter 3, verses 19 through 20 is talking about. Romans chapter 3, verses 19 through 20. Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law that every mouth may be stopped and the whole world may become guilty before God.

Now it's an interesting thing to observe. Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law. I one time asked somebody, I said, well, who's under the law? Who's under the law?

They said, well, the Jews are. I said, well, of course they were given the law through Moses, the written law, but Paul has already stated that the law of God is even written upon the heart, upon the conscience.

So even if somebody has not received a written revelation of God, the law, they are still under the law of God. That's what this verse says. It says that all are under the law of God. All the world is guilty before God.

Every mouth may be stopped. No excuses. Verse 20, therefore, by the deeds of the law, no flesh will be justified in his sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin. It goes on to talk about that salvation and being right with God is a matter, it's a gift of God, it's the grace of God, it's the righteousness of God through Jesus Christ, whom we must trust to be as our Savior and our mediator and our representative before God.

But this is an emphasis here that every person is accountable to God. Every person is responsible for God. And it said, well, what if they've not been told anything about who God is? They're made in his image and we are assured in the scriptures that even though they may suppress the truth and unrighteousness, they do know the truth.

The Family, the Household, and the Image of God

Now, the image of God is subject to him and the family is subject to him. God made the family. After we find God making Adam and Eve in his own image, we see particularly in chapter 2, God made Adam in his own image, formed him out of the dust of the earth and breathed the breath of life into him and he became a living soul, became a living being.

And he put the man into the garden to tend it and to keep it and he gave him particular instructions. You may eat freely, eat of all the trees in the garden, but the one tree you may not eat of is the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

Meaning, Adam, you don't get to decide good and evil for yourself. That definition of good and evil belongs to God and God alone. The individual is set up as accountable and responsible before God and then God said, it's not good for the man to be alone, so I will make a helper suitable for him.

And to stress the point to Adam that he was all alone, God brings past the parade of the creatures and Adam beheld what God had made and whatever name he gave to the creature, that was its name. But among them was found no helper for Adam, who has been specially created and now God will specially create Eve.

And God puts Adam into a deep sleep and he removes a rib from Adam's side. So Adam is put under and he has surgery and from the wound in the first Adam's side, the first Eve was formed. So I know Genesis 315 is called, you know, the first gospel, but I don't know.

When the bride is made out of the wound of the first Adam, it kind of reminds us about the second Eve being formed out of the wounds of the second Adam. So we have God creating the family, God makes Eve specially for Adam, and he brings her to him and he launches into poetry, verse 23.

And then we have this in verse 24, therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife and they shall become one flesh. Read it again, therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife and they shall become one flesh.

Jesus gave absolute, wholehearted approval and endorsement of that. This is the way it's been from the beginning. This is exactly the way it's supposed to be. God created a family. God defines the family, husband and wife.

God defines the family, parents and children. God defines the family. What makes up a new family? Right? When child leaves the one family to be married and then that's a new family. God made the family.

He defines the family and the family is to be submitted to God. So if we were to read through the entirety of Ephesians 5, verse 22, all the way through chapter 6, verse 9, what will we find? We would find that the husband is to care for his wife according to the instructions of God.

So his relationship to his wife is to be done in a way that's submitted to the Lord. And the way that the wife submits to her husband, so the way that the husband loves the wife, and then the way that the wife submits to her husband is also defined by the Word of God.

And of course the pattern given in Ephesians 5 is that of Christ and the church. So the way husbands and wives relate to one another is defined by God and the way we do that should be submitted to God.

Then there are instructions for fathers for their children. How do parents, how does a father relate to his children? That is to be done according to the Word of God. That's to be submitted to. He can't just do it whatever way he wants to.

He has to do it in a way that pleases the Lord. And then the children, the way they submit to their parents, is as unto the Lord. And then because the household in the Greek οἶκο νάμας, where we get our word economy from, we get our word economy from the Greek word for household οἶκο νάμας.

So part of the household is also the way that masters treat their slaves and slaves treat their masters. For there were many different masters and different slaves within the Christian Church. And the way that the masters were to treat their slaves as part of their οἶκο νάμας, their household, their livelihood, their fields, their businesses, and so on, they had to remember that they have a master in heaven.

And so they treated their slaves in a way far differently than the pagans did. And then the slaves, who were Christians and believers, submitted their obedience to their masters in a way that would please the Lord, not just simply about, you know, what was acceptable, what they could get away with, and so on.

So the οἶκο νάμας, the whole household, was submitted unto the Lord, and everything was done according to His standards. So the individual is accountable to God, the household is accountable to God, including the οἶκο νάμας, the whole economy is submitted to God, the way things are handled.

The Church Is Subject to God

Also the church is subject to Him. Genesis chapter 4. Now, again, well, you know, Adam, the very beginning of human individual responsibility, Adam and Eve, first family, and then what about the way God is worshipped?

What about the way that those who are made in His image are to gather to worship Him? What are the things they're supposed to do? And so on. God is the one who defines that, not man. So in Genesis chapter 4, begin reading in verse 1.

Now, Adam knew Eve, his wife, and she conceived and bore Cain. And she said, I have acquired a man from the Lord. Then she bore again, this time his brother Abel. Now, Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground.

And in the process of time, it came to pass that Cain brought an offering of fruit, of the fruit of the ground, to the Lord. Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat. And the Lord respected Abel in his offering, but he did not respect Cain in his offering, and Cain was very angry, and his countenance fell.

So who gets to decide what kind of worship is acceptable to God? God does. That started off very early. By the end of the chapter, we're hearing about men were calling upon the name of the Lord. They're worshiping Him, even though they're not, maybe even at the gates of Eden, they are still calling upon the name of the Lord and worshiping God.

But God gets to define how that is done. The Church, the gathering of God's people, those who are called out to worship and revere the Lord, we are to do things the way that God wants them to be done.

The Church is subject to God. Acts chapter 20, let's take a look at that. There are many other passages we can look at. I'm trying to show you something of the beginning of these thoughts in the Bible, and then we can see something about how they're worked out in later times, still within the scope of Scripture.

So Acts chapter 20, verses 25 through 31. Paul speaking to the elders of the Church of Ephesus, and indeed now I know that you all among whom I have gone preaching the kingdom of God will see my face no more.

Therefore I testify to you this day that I am innocent of the blood of all men, for I have not shunned to declare to you the whole counsel of God. Therefore take heed to yourselves and to all the flock among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which he purchased with his own blood.

Did you hear how the church just got defined by the Trinity? Okay. For I know this, that after my departure, savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock. Also from among yourselves men will rise up, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after themselves.

Therefore watch and remember that for three years I did not cease to warn everyone night and day with tears. Paul's point is his parting exhortation to the elders of the church at Ephesus is, this is God's church.

You have a position of authority because of the Holy Spirit. Jesus died for this church. He paid for his bride with his own blood. This is not yours. You are stewards, you are under shepherds, but this is not yours.

This belongs to the triune God. In fact, yeah, everybody in the church has been baptized in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. This is God's church, not man's church. The savage wolves were leading the people astray for their own purposes, for their own means.

The wolves feed on the sheep, right, to sustain themselves. The steward-shepherds are serving the flock for the sake of the one who owns the flock. See, that was a sharp difference, the shepherds versus the wolves.

The church is subject to God. God owns the image, right? We're his copyright, we're his trademark, okay? So God owns us, he owns the family, he owns the church, and he owns the state. So we go to Genesis chapter 9.

Genesis chapter 9. Recall that the flood has concluded, the earth was filled up with violence, and so God filled up the earth with water, and he brought an end to an era of extraordinary evil. But this great cataclysmic event did not change the heart of man.

No amount of water can ever cleanse a man or even all of humanity from the outside, right? Nothing external can clean what's on the inside, and God acknowledges this at the end of chapter 8. He's proving his point.

And now in chapter 9, what are we going to do about the violence? Because that's why the flood came. All the violence upon the earth. So what are we going to do about the violence? And God says, here's what we're going to do.

Genesis chapter 9, he says in verse 5, "...surely for your lifeblood I will demand a reckoning from the hand of every beast, I will require it. And from the hand of man, from the hand of every man's brother, I will require the life of man.

Whoever sheds man's blood, by man his blood shall be shed. For in the image of God he made man. And as for you, be fruitful and multiply, bring forth abundantly in the earth and multiply in it.". In other words, we're going to keep going with this creation mandate, be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth, and subdue it.

This is going to stay in effect. We can't really be accomplishing that if everyone's trying to kill each other. So here's the thing. If anybody murders anybody else, if somebody, if one man kills another man, by men that man shall die.

So there is a need to bring together a group of men to say to the murderer, you have done wrong, you will now die. And that's how God said the case should be resolved. And this is the very first time in the Bible where we're saying, oh, there's a need for a civil government.

Okay, so we have personal responsibility, self-government, we have the family, family government, we have the church, ecclesiastical government, and then the state, state government. Now, all of these spheres of authority, there's all these different decisions that need to be made.

Well, the state, let's say this, the state is not the family, and the state is not the church, right? Okay, the church is not the state, and the church is not the family, and the family is not the state, and the family is not the church.

Okay, we have to start with the basics. But all three spheres of authority are submitted to who? Unto God. And any authority mediated and administered in those spheres is derived authority from God. Whatever anybody entrusted with authority does in any one of those spheres is doing so under the authority of God himself.

With that in mind, let's go to Romans chapter 13. And it says, let every soul be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except from God. Remember Jesus said to Pilate, I have the authority to set you free or to crucify you, and Jesus says you would have no authority except what has been given to you from heaven.

There is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God. Therefore, whoever resists the authority, resists the ordinance of God, and those who resist will bring judgment on themselves.

For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to evil. Do you want to be unafraid of the authority? Do what is good, and you will have praise from the same. For he is God's minister to you for good, but if you do evil, be afraid.

For he does not bear the sword in vain, for he is God's minister and avenger to execute wrath on him who practices evil. Therefore, you must be subject not only because of wrath, but also for conscience' sake.

For because of this, you will also pay taxes, for they are God's ministers attending continually to this very thing. Render, therefore, to all their due, taxes to whom taxes are due, customs to whom customs, fear to whom fear, honor to whom honor.

We are told in the Scripture that wives are to submit to their husbands, that children are to obey their parents, we're told that church members are to submit to their elders, we are told that citizens' subjects are to submit to their ruling authorities in the government.

Now, what happens when orders from the state conflict with orders in the family, conflict with orders in the church? Who is the arbitrator, or what is the arbitrator between these things? The Word of God is, because God has authority over all the spheres of government.

But it's important for us to recognize that what God has created is good, that what God has created is good, and it is purposeful, and it is useful, and he has our good in mind. And so we've got to begin to think about how these things interact.

Particularly, we're going to talk about a doctrine of Christian resistance to the state. Is it ever right for Christians to resist the state? If we read Romans 13, and all we do is read a few phrases from Romans 13, and that's all we have, then we're going to come away and say, it is never right to resist the state.

But Romans 13, and some of the phrases in Romans 13 do not exist in a vacuum. We have to read all the seven verses of that chapter and put it into its context in Romans, and put it into the context of the rest of Scripture, for interprets Scripture.

But I just have a question for you. Do we have anywhere in the Bible, and for fun, let's limit to the Old Testament, do we have anyone in the Bible in the Old Testament on an individual level, on a family level, on the church level, or at a state level resisting the state?

Daniel, Daniel, Daniel. Daniel, Hananiah, Azariah, Mishael. Resist the state. That's an individual resistance, right? There's a wisdom tradition there about wisely resisting the state. Mordecai would not bow to Haman, right?

Mordecai would not do what the state said he had to do. You know, everybody bows to Haman. You have to bow to Haman, too. He's like, nope. And boy, that caused a ruckus, didn't it? Do we have any examples of, let's say, a religious figure confronting a political figure in the Old Testament?

Okay, Nathan the Prophet. We're in that passage in Samuel. Nathan the Prophet confronting David, a civil authority. He's like, hey, you are the man. Elijah confronting Ahab and Jezebel after they murdered Naboth and stole his property, right?

Nope, you can't do that. So you have resistance, that's resistance, saying no, we're gonna bring this to the light, and no, we're, you know, we're not gonna go along with you in the darkness, but we're going to expose the works done in darkness, and then we're going to oppose those things vocally, visibly, right?

This one's a little bit harder. Do you ever see a family, on the family level, resisting some civil governance? So how did Moses' family resist the state? What now? Right. Yeah, yeah, so Jochebed did not drown her baby child in the Nile, as instructed by the state, right?

This is for the greater good, drown your baby. Yes, yeah, the midwives, so on. So we have an example there. There's lots of good controversial ones, which would be fun to talk about, but of course you do have Jacob's family resisting Shechem and Haran, or Hazor and Shechem, and Levi and Simeon going and taking care of business after the men of Shechem raped their sister.

Interesting, Jacob bought a plot of land in that area. He was gonna settle there, and then the civil government, the civil government at the highest levels stole Jacob's daughter, raped her, would not give her back, and Jacob's son Simeon and Levi went and took care of things.

Of course, there's always the discussion, did they do the right thing? Well, in any case, we have a family resisting a civil government, so it counts as an example. Another family that resisted the civil order of things, the local way of, this is the way we do things, Gideon.

Gideon went out with some of the men from his father's household and blew up the local shrine to Baal, hence getting his name Jeru Baal, his nickname, you know, Baal Smasher, and when the men of the city were ready to lynch Gideon for that, his father stood by him and said, nope, we did the right thing, and you ain't gonna stop us.

Okay, family resisting the civil way of things. We also have on a, we have at a, you know, what happens when the state resists the state, when some lower level system of government, civil governance, resists a higher level of civil governance?

Do we see that in the Old Testament? We certainly have, what was the danger that God said to his people when they were going to go into the land of Canaan? What was the danger that they would get into the land of Canaan, and then they would do what?

What would be really bad if they did this? They would worship the idols, and what else? Intermarry, because they would just acclimate to the culture around them and just become Canaanized like all the other tribes around them.

They'd just be like one of the tribes. But in fact, Joshua led the people of Israel in direct resistance to those who were obviously the ones in charge in Canaan, under the direct order of the Lord. In the book of Judges, we see time and again resistance from a local level, a local governance versus a much wider, larger governance, especially when the people of the Lord, people of God were under judgment, and foreign oppressors were in charge of their entire, of their land or a portion of their land.

And then they would, a tribe would get their, the heads of their clans together, and then they would go resist some, you know, mercenary empire that was troubling them. So you see state resistance against a larger state, a local group gathering together to oppose a greater.

So you see this time and again, we have the same thing with David's resistance, not only to Saul but also to Absalom, and then we see it with Nehemiah. Nehemiah was given special provision from the emperor to do some things in Jerusalem and surrounding areas around Jerusalem, and there were other factions of the state who were getting together to resist, and Nehemiah resisted in a variety of ways.

He never went to war, but he did arm everybody. He did arm everybody, and they had a bit of a stare-down moment where everybody was doing what they were going to do, building the wall while wearing their swords.

And their enemies took a look at that and said, I guess it's not worth it. So that there was actual resistance. And we'll talk more about that when we talk about the doctrine of the lesser magistrate.

So we're just making some observations, just very surface-wide observations in the Scriptures. We have a multitude of examples wherein the civil government says to the people of God, whether an individual or a family or a church or at a lower civil government level, the civil government says, thou shalt.

But God has said, thou shalt not. And then there's resistance to that, at some degree, some form of resistance. It could be as simple as Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego saying, we're not going to bow down.

Burn us if you want. God will deliver us if he wants, but we're not going to bow down. Alright, that's resistance, all the way to other forms. Now, so at some level we have that. So individual, family resistance, church resistance, and so on.

We see that when the government, when the civil government says, thou shalt. But God has said, thou shalt not. There's resistance. Also, when the civil government says, thou shalt not. But the Word of God says, thou shalt.

Okay, when there's disagreement between the Word of God and the Word of man, resistance is required of the righteous. Resistance is required of the faithful. And that's a pattern that we see throughout the Word of God.

Practical Questions About Christian Resistance

Noting that pattern, then, we're going to have to spend some time examining, well, practically speaking, how do we proceed? How do we know that we're doing the right thing? What is the right, what are the right things to do?

And we need to spend some time thinking about that. Yeah, so there's going to be all sorts of things that come up in the future. Certainly, already we've experienced things where our local municipality is stating, thou shalt not.

Gather together. Or thou shalt not gather together unless you do this, this, and this. Alright, here's your head coverings and here's your new holiness rituals that you have to go through. And then we have been in resistance to the local municipality already as a church.

I don't know if you knew that or not. But we've already been in resistance by simply gathering and worshiping Christ according to our convictions, according to the thou shalt of the Word of God. But I want us to think about, okay, you know, is that right?

Okay, is that biblical? And then what does that look like? What should our attitude be? In case XYZ, how do we respond? And so on. So it's a robust theme in the scriptures and we need to spend some time thinking about it because we've not seen the end of opposition to Christianity, opposition to Christian families, opposition to the church, opposition to Christian individuals from the civil government.

We have not seen the end of that. It's going to be a lot more in the near future, so we need to think about how to respond biblically. I've also asked the elders to be prayerfully considering these things so I can call upon them for additional wisdom and input because we'll have to be making decisions, you know, as a whole, as elders and together, and as a church together, we'll have to be making some decisions about what to do and when.

So with that in mind, any word from the elders before we conclude? Or any question that we need to answer in the near future? Yes, Dwight? You think it'll be hard to discern? Yeah, probably. Yes, yeah.

And that's something that some situations, well, this is not going to be all that clear. There are going to be questions that, you know, leave us with, hmm, I wonder how we would answer that. The good news is is that the more we look at the Word of God, the more clarity we will receive, and sometimes we'll be led to asking better questions or locating the responsibility at a different place than what the controversy is about.

And I find that, of course, the Word of God is sufficient for all of those things and for more. Yeah, so in his church history, we have dissent from governing authorities, Luther's dissent from the Holy Roman Empire, and dissent from the Roman Catholic Church certainly would be, as you read through that, it's like, you know, he's trying to figure out, you dissent, and there was a lot of mess that went along with that.

Not everybody dissented in a biblical way, and, right, yes, yes. Yes, and this is three and a half years after he nailed his 95 theses to the door of the Wittenberg chapter. Three and a half years later, he's at this critical moment of siding with the Word of God rather than the governing authorities.

So Charles V was there, and officials from the Roman Catholic Church, and of course they're ready to lock him up and then kill him and so on. So that's, so in the course of three and a half years, how far Luther had come, never anticipating that he would be there.

So that's the thing, we don't anticipate where we're going to be in three and a half years from now, but we know our responsibility is to be as ready as we can with the wisdom of the Word of God. Okay, well let's close by singing the doxology together.