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Good morning, First Baptist Church. Our scripture reading this morning is
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James chapter 1, verses 2 through 8. James 1, 2 through 8.
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Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds. For you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness.
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And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.
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If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given to him.
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But let him ask in faith with no doubting. For the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind.
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For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord. He is a double -minded man, unstable in all his ways.
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Let's pray. Our Heavenly Father, we're thankful that we could be here and gathered this morning.
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We're thankful, Lord, that you are a faithful God, that your hand of providence guides us and leads us.
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And we're thankful, Lord, that you are so very generous, that when we ask of things, you give generously.
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Lord, you fill our cup. You give us a superabundance of blessings. And we're thankful,
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Lord, that all of these blessings are found in Christ Jesus. So Lord, we praise you, we honor you, we pray that this morning as we open up your word that we would hear the words that are spoken, we pray that the
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Spirit would take those words from our ear to our heart, and I pray, Lord, that we would have wisdom in how we live these things out.
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We ask, Lord, that you would give us wisdom. Help us, Lord, to be skillful in our living.
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Help us to apply the truths of the Scriptures to our own lives. Help us, Lord, in our conversations that we have with others.
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We pray that in everything that we do, we would be gospel -centered, that we would be Christ -centered.
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And help us now, Lord, as we listen to this sermon. We just pray that it would be encouraging, that it would be edifying, that it would be convicting.
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And we pray, Lord, that we would live it out to your praise, glory, and honor. Thank you. In Jesus' name.
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Amen. Well, thank you,
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Jason. Today is the ninth
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Lord's Day that we have not met together as a congregation. I received a notice this morning.
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I read the official notice, but it has not been officially released as yet. But my understanding is that the
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Massachusetts state is going to open up houses of worship beginning next Lord's Day.
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And given the capacity of our church building, it appears that we'll be able to have anybody and everybody that would like to come be here next
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Sunday morning at 10 .30 a .m. That's our hope. It's not official yet, but that is what
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I think will take place. In the early days of Israel, the nation was comprised of 12 rather distinct tribes, each dwelling in their respective land grants that God had given them.
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Each tribe seemed to be rather distinctive. It had its own special and unique characteristic.
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And there are, in the Old Testament, several places where there are lists which identify these distinctive traits of these various tribes.
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One such list is in 1 Corinthians chapter 12. We have a list of men who joined with King David when he was forming his army early on in the formation of his kingdom.
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And so we read of the men of the tribe of Ephraim, who were mighty men of valor, famous men throughout their father's house, 1
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Chronicles 12, 30. The men of the tribe of Zebulun were those who go out to battle, expert in war with all weapons of war.
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And then the men of Dan were ones who could keep battle formation. A rather interesting and significant trait characterized the men of the tribe of Issachar.
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These men were of a different nature than the others, but they were also essential to the expansion of David's kingdom.
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It is said of the men of Issachar, the sons of Issachar who had understanding of the times to know what
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Israel ought to do. And so it would seem they were ones who had the ability to assess present dangers and threats to David's kingdom and were capable of leading and directing others in waging warfare.
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They had wisdom. They could look at the situation, assess it, and know how to respond appropriately.
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I remember years ago, reading of this verse being called, my attention was called to this verse by the publishers of the
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Banner of Truth Trust in their preface to a book I highly recommend entitled
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Knowing the Times. It was a collection of articles of D.
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Martin Lloyd -Jones, who was one, probably the leading reform figure in our estimation in the 20th century.
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He died in 1981. But the preface to this book wrote of the special abilities of Lloyd -Jones to speak to issues of Christendom that was taking place in the 20th century.
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And so this collection of articles in this book are quite good and they remain relevant today even though they were written, well, perhaps 40 years ago.
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Well, it was over the course of 20 or 30 years that he developed or wrote these articles. But Lloyd -Jones was one of these men whom
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God raises up from time to time who can see the present scene and speak quite clearly to it in the light of Holy Scripture.
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And so of Lloyd -Jones, the editors of the Banner of Truth Trust wrote these words. Along with other leaders of the
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Christian Church, the influence of Martin Lloyd -Jones will live in the future as well as in the past.
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Many of the issues raised in these pages continue to affect the lives of churches and are by no means settled.
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It could be wished that several of these addresses had been in print much earlier. They remain in a real sense tracks of the times and it is to be fervently hoped that they will be owned of God in this present form and used to prepare another generation, and then here it is, like the children of Issachar, which were men that had understanding of the times to know what
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Israel ought to do. Well, we could use some folks like that in these days.
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Men like the sons of Issachar who know what Israel ought to do respecting matters that are confronting us in today's world.
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May our Lord raise up such men and women. For some time now we've considered our need to address the issues and implications that our church has faced with respect to this coronavirus and the expectations and demands that our government and our communities have imposed upon us.
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I've been hesitant to address it until this morning, for it seemed that insufficient time had lapsed in order to assess the events that have transpired and assess the actions of those in authority.
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I wish I were a man like the sons of Issachar so that I might better understand the times and know what
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Israel ought to do, but I confess I feel inadequate to speak clearly and authoritatively on these matters, but perhaps we see things a little more clearly and distinctly than perhaps earlier, some weeks ago.
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And so I would like us to consider the course of action that we as a church have taken and why we've done so, and why we've not acted in ways that some believe we should have done or should be doing.
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We need wisdom that God gives to his people, the ability to see the world and events that take place from God's perspective according to his perspective, his purposes.
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We might consider the words of Solomon to his son in Proverbs 1, speaking that the need to attain this kind of worldview, see things from God's perspective, this is the definition of wisdom according to the scriptures.
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Proverbs 1, the Proverbs of Solomon, the son of David, king of Israel, to know wisdom and instruction, to perceive the words of understanding, to receive the instruction of wisdom, justice, judgment, and equity, to give prudence to the simple, to the young man knowledge and discretion.
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A wise man will hear and increase learning, and a man of understanding will attain wise counsel.
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To understand a proverb and an enigma, the words of the wise and their riddles, and then he makes this statement in summary, the fear of the
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Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction.
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And so we're in need of wisdom that we encounter as we encounter this fallen world about us in order to see things from God's perspective and know how he would have us act and react to what we experience, and thankfully we have the
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Lord's promise as Pastor Jason read earlier from James chapter 1, my brethren count it all joy when you fall into various trials, have we been counting it all joy with the trial that we've been enduring?
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Knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience or endurance, but let patience have its perfect work that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.
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If any of you lacks wisdom, we would confess that's our need, let him ask of God who gives to all liberally and without reproach and it will be given to him, but let him ask in faith with no doubting for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind, for let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the
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Lord, he's a double -minded man, unstable in all his ways. And so wisdom from God brings about a stability in one's thinking and one's character and we are in need of wisdom.
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And so our greatest desire and our greatest concern is that we fear God above all else, that we desire to know him and his ways in order to govern our thinking, to order our lives according to his word that he has graciously set before us.
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And so may he help us in this endeavor. And so again, when we consider that wisdom is attaining the ability to see this world and the events of this world from God's perspective,
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I thought it might be best to begin by making certain assertions that defend or justify biblical instruction and illustration about the nature of God and how he works in history.
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So we'll begin here, affirming these truths that we take as bedrock realities that should stabilize us and help us as a beginning point in addressing these matters.
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And so first of all, we affirm our God is sovereign and has sent this coronavirus upon our world at this time in history.
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God is sovereign over all that occurs. Now, of course, in this affirmation, it does not remove human responsibility and culpability.
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There may be guilty people, but as Christians with reform convictions, we should begin here.
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This is the overarching principle that we affirm that our God has called this virus into existence at this time in history and has caused it to spread throughout the world.
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God is sovereign. The Lord Jesus Christ is the sovereign ruler of history. And in affirming this, as we do, we affirm while God causes, of course, both blessing and calamity, he is righteous in all his ways.
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And so God could, for example, declare to Israel at one time, I will restore you to you the years that the swarming locust has eaten, the crawling locust, the consuming locust and the chewing locust.
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And then he describes these locusts, my great army, which I sent among you.
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God had sent this horde into Israel in order to punish Israel for its wickedness and to bring it back to himself.
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And so basic to our understanding of our God is that he is the sovereign ruler of history, that all things are ordered by him in order to accomplish his purposes.
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Arthur Pink, who happened to pass away the same year I was born, 1952, he commented on this verse, for of him and through him and to him are all things to whom be the glory forever.
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Amen. Here are Pink's words. Has God foreordained everything that comes to pass?
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Has he decreed that what is was to have been? In the final analysis, this is the only way of asking, is
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God now governing the world and everyone and everything in it? If God is governing the world, then he is governing it according to a definite purpose or aimlessly and at random.
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If he is governing it according to some purpose, then when was that purpose made?
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Is God continually changing his purpose and making a new one every day or was his purpose formed from the beginning?
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Are God's actions like ours regulated by the change of circumstances or are they the outcome of his eternal purpose?
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If God formed a purpose before man was created, then is that purpose going to be executed according to his original designs and is he now working toward that end?
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What saith the scriptures? They declare God is one who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will.
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Now, this would seem to be such an obvious truth that few would take issue with asserting it.
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And yet, even those in Christian churches, so -called, seem to be ignorant or forgetful of this fact.
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God is the sovereign ruler over history, calling events to take place in history in order to accomplish his purposes.
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And so consider his words, God's words to ancient Israel that are recorded in Amos 4, verses 7 through 10.
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Again, God was punishing them for their sin and calling them to repentance, but they did not respond and so he kept bringing his judgments upon the people, upon the land.
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I also withheld rain from you. When there were still three months to the harvest, that's when they needed rain most.
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I made it rain on one city, I withheld rain from another city. One part was rained upon and where it did not rain, the part withered.
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So two or three cities wandered to another city to drink water, but they were not satisfied. Yet you've not returned to me, says the
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Lord. And so what did he do next? I blasted you with blight and mildew.
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With your gardens increased, your vineyards, your fig trees, your olive trees, the locusts devoured them.
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Yet you've not returned to me, says the Lord. And then he declared,
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I sent among you a plague after the manor of Egypt. Your young men I killed with the sword, along with your captive horses.
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I made the stench of your camps come up into your nostrils. Yet you've not returned to me, says the
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Lord. God is sovereign in bringing his judgments upon people in history.
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And then we can read in Jeremiah 29, similar words, thus says the Lord of hosts, behold,
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I will send on them the sword, the famine, and the pestilence, disease, and will make them like rotten figs that cannot be eaten, they are so bad.
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And I will pursue them with the sword, with famine, with pestilence. I will deliver them to trouble among all the kingdoms of the earth, to be a curse, an astonishment, a hissing, a reproach among all the nations where I have driven them.
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Because they have not heeded my words, says the Lord, which I sent to them by my servants the prophets, rising up early and sending them, neither would you heed, says the
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Lord. Now there was a time when the leaders of our country understood this truth, that God is the sovereign over history, that trials and troubles of a nation were the work of a sovereign
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God who must be sought and appeased, if remedy and restoration were to be seen.
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If our leaders today understood this spiritual reality, they would not be relegating church gatherings as non -essential.
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They would be calling and requesting that we gather safely to seek our God on their behalf and pray that he would deal mercifully and graciously with our land.
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They would be as the pagan king, Cyrus, the king of Persia, who called for the return of the
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Jews to Jerusalem to rebuild their temple and then he bankrolled them in order to assist them in their return and to rebuild the temple, only asking, asking only in return that they pray for him and his sons.
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Here are the words of Cyrus recorded in the book of Ezra, moreover
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I issue a decree as to what you shall do for the elders of these Jews, for the building of this house of God.
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Let the cost be paid at the king's expense from taxes on the region beyond the river.
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This is to be given immediately to these men so that they are not hindered and whatever they need, young bulls, rams, lambs for the burnt offerings of the
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God of heaven, wheat, salt, wine, and oil according to the request of the priests who were in Jerusalem, let it be given them day by day without fail.
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And then here is the one request, the one condition that Cyrus imposed upon them so that they may offer sacrifices of sweet aroma to the
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God of heaven and pray for the life of the king and his sons. If we had time we could tell the story of how
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Cyrus raised up the empire, the
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Medes and the Persians and they conquered Babylon which was the world power of the day.
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And after it was all done it was said that Daniel in Babylon showed
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Cyrus the prophecy of Isaiah and Isaiah had mentioned Cyrus by name well over a hundred years before Cyrus was even born and that he would conquer
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Babylon. And when Cyrus saw this he became a believer, I'm not saying he was converted, but he believed in the
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God of Israel and this is what his motivation was. He wanted this God to be favorable toward him and his sons.
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But the fact is we're living in godless times in which godless men and women are governing our federal and state governments with a wholly secular worldview.
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But at the same time we know and affirm that our God has called them to their positions in office to govern us in the way that they are in these times.
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God is sovereign and so perhaps in spite of them and maybe even by using them the
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Lord and his sovereignty has called forth this coronavirus and has spread it across our world.
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Again, this does not take away human responsibility and the culpability of those who allowed this to occur through their failure or incompetence, but ultimately whether this virus originated in a
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Wuhan laboratory or a wet market is immaterial. Perhaps it came from some other initial cause even though it spread and devastation may be due to the failure of people in authority on every level.
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God in his providence brought this upon our world and we are to react and respond to these events with this knowledge.
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The beginning of wisdom is the fear of the Lord and this is how we can begin to address these matters and interpret them and understand what he would have us do in our world.
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And so what may we conclude from this? Well certainly first of all we are not to be fearful of what we see transpire about us and before us.
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As Christians we have a good God who has our best and eternal interest at heart and he'll not allow anything to happen to us that he has not ordained and ordained for our good.
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If God is for us who can be against us is what the apostle wrote in Romans 8 31.
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We're not as those who are unbelievers who are strangers to the covenants of promise having no hope and without God in the world.
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Yes there are times when we may think that we're but a small ship tossed about and we think that we too might perish but we should not fear.
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Read Matthew chapter 8 you recall it. Now when Jesus got into a boat his disciples followed him and suddenly a great tempest arose on the sea so that the boat was covered with the waves but he was asleep.
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Then his disciples came to him and awoke him saying Lord save us we're perishing. But he said to them why are you fearful oh you of little faith.
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And then he arose and rebuked the winds and the sea and there was a great calm. They were to be faulted for being filled with fear even as their little boat was being swamped by a storm that threatened them.
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They should have known that God was going to care for them and that their master the Lord Jesus would make sure that no harm would come to them.
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The fact is our God is in sovereign control of all that happens and we should not fear even when we might be experiencing what may appear to be significant danger to us.
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A confidence in the sovereignty of God and the commitment of God to his people that are in covenant relationship with him through Jesus Christ certainly they should be characterized as ones without fear.
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They ought to have a peace in their soul that cannot be rattled and people of the world when they witness this and see this ought to be impressed with the fact they believe in a
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God who's able to comfort them and assure them regardless of what is transpiring in this fallen world.
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And so we're not to be fearful of what we see transpire about us. Secondly in the light of God's sovereignty we're to fear
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God only and not fear what man can do or has sworn to do to us.
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The fear of man lays a snare but whosoever trusts in the
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Lord is safe. We desire to hear and do the will of God in our assessment response to the events of our times.
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Wisdom of knowing what God would have us do first lies here the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge but fools despise wisdom and instruction and that wisdom of course is found in his word the
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Bible as it reveals God and his nature to us and displays his ways to us his ways working in his world.
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And secondly God has various purposes that he has accomplished in his providence and so God both punishes evil workers even as he brings salvation and deliverance to his people.
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The other day I was reading about Abraham Lincoln how he saw the great slaughter during the days of the
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Civil War as acts of God's providence. Here are the words of John Piper regarding Lincoln, similarly the horrors of the dead and wounded soldiers assaulted him daily.
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There were 50 hospitals for the wounded in Washington. The rotunda of the
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Capitol held 2 ,000 cots for wounded soldiers. Typically 50 soldiers a day died in these temporary hospitals.
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All of this drove Lincoln deeper into the providence of God. We cannot but believe that he who made the world still governs it were the words of Lincoln.
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His most famous statement about the providence of God in relation to the Civil War was his second inaugural address given a month before he was assassinated.
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It's remarkable for not making God a simple supporter for the Union or Confederate cause.
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He has his own purposes and does not excuse sin on either side. Here are
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Lincoln's words in this public address, fondly do we hope, fervently do we pray that this mighty scourge of war might speedily pass away, yet if God wills that it continue until all the wealth piled up by the bondman's 200 years of unrequited toil shall be sunk and until every drop of blood drawn with a lash, speaking of slavery, shall be paid with another drawn with a sword, as was said 3 ,000 years ago, so still it must be said that judgments of the
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Lord are true and righteous altogether. That's the kind of leader we need today, is it not, who understands that there's a sovereign
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God in control of history and that he is to be yielded to, we are to humble ourselves before him and seek his face.
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And then thirdly, we understand God of course both saves and sanctifies his people through calamitous events in their lives.
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By his chastisements, the Lord sanctifies his people, producing in them humility, reliance upon him, and devotion to him.
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Here are some more words regarding Abraham Lincoln and his conversion to Christ. You don't hear or read a great deal about this.
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We had our friend Leo call us from prison yesterday and he was asking about Abraham Lincoln and things that he read about Lincoln's conversion and I was able to cite this quotation to him because I just read it this week.
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In 1862, when Lincoln was 53 years old, his 11 -year -old son Willie died.
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Lincoln's wife tried to deal with her grief by searching out new age mediums to communicate with her son in death.
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Lincoln turned to Phineas Gurley, pastor of the New York Avenue Presbyterian Church in Washington.
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Several long talks led to what Gurley described as a conversion to Christ. He's describing
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Lincoln. Lincoln confided that he was driven many times upon my knees by the overwhelming conviction that I have nowhere else to go.
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And so the Lord used the terrible tragedy and difficulties in Lincoln's life to bring
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Lincoln to salvation, to faith in Jesus Christ. This week we committed to the earth the body of one who is a member of what is often called the greatest generation.
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What made that generation great if it could be called that? Certainly it was the ordeal of the depression era of the 30s in which their values were shaped, their experiences equipped them in the depression to endure and overcome a great world war of the 40s from which they came forth victoriously.
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It's through great trial that good character is molded. This is a paradoxical matter.
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What is thought would ruin and destroy is actually the Lord's instrument for growth and strength.
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This is the way the Lord works. The Soviet Union was built upon the oppression and exploitation of the slave labor of millions in their gulag system.
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Alexander Solzhenitsyn endured decades of hardship in the Stalinist prison system, but through his experience he not only was converted to Christ, but his entire
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Christian worldview took shape in the gulags. And so one wrote of him, his imprisonment in Joseph Stalin's corrective labor camps led not to despair, but to discovery of goodness.
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And here is Solzhenitsyn's words in his classic book, The Gulag Archipelago.
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It was granted to me to carry away from my prison years on my bent back, which nearly broke beneath its load, this essential experience, how a human being becomes evil and how good.
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In the intoxication of youthful successes, I had felt myself to be infallible and I was therefore cruel.
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In the surfeit of power, I was a murderer and an oppressor. In my most evil moments,
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I was convinced that I was doing good and I was well supplied with systematic arguments.
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It was only when I lay there in a rotting prison straw that I sensed within myself the first stirrings of good.
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Gradually, it was disclosed to me that the line separating good and evil passes not through states, nor between classes, nor between political parties either, but right through every human heart and through all human hearts.
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And that is why I turn my back to the years of my imprisonment and say, sometimes to the astonishment of those about me, blessed you prison.
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I have served enough time there. I nourish my soul there and I say without hesitation, blessed you prison for having been in my life.
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The Lord uses calamities, uses trials to direct us and shape us and sanctify us and make us more like Christ.
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That's why James wrote in chapter one that you're to count it all joy when you do enter into trials.
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If we took this to heart, then our greatest concern and desire would be that we learn and benefit from what our
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Lord has taken us through at this time. To desire primarily to get back to normal, whatever that is, is not a very godly or biblical pursuit.
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Again, to cite James, my brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials.
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For what the Lord produces in us through these trials is what he declares in James chapter one verse two.
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And then fourthly, we would affirm that God works in the souls of both his people and his enemies in history in order to accomplish his purposes.
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God is sovereign over all people everywhere, whether they believe and belong to him or if they deny him and live in defiance of him,
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God is the sovereign God over all human beings. Through them all,
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God accomplishes his good purposes. Here are the statements of Arthur Pink regarding this matter in which he first spoke about God's method of dealing with the righteous, that is those who truly have salvation in Christ, and then
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God's method dealing with the wicked, those who are outside of Christ. First God's method of dealing with the righteous, he first,
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God exercises upon his own elect a quickening influencer power, quickening means making alive, enlivening, invigorating.
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He gives spiritual life to those who are spiritually dead. Secondly, God exerts upon his own elect an energizing influencer power.
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This enables people to serve him acceptably, gives them the desire as well as the strength and the ability to do so.
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Thirdly, God exercises upon his own elect a directing influencer power. This speaks of his control of them both inwardly and not just through outward circumstances but that too.
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And then fourthly, God exerts upon his own elect a preserving influencer power.
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We're kept by the power of God through faith until the coming of Jesus Christ. He preserves us.
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But just as he works in us who believe, he also works using the wicked to accomplish his purposes.
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What is God's method of dealing with the wicked? First, God exerts upon the wicked a restraining influence by which they are prevented from doing what they're naturally inclined to do.
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God keeps them from going farther than what he determines, this far and no more.
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Secondly, God exerts upon the wicked a softening influence, disposing them contrary to their natural inclinations to do that which will promote his cause.
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I can't help but think of this opening up of houses of worship. That wasn't the intention of authorities last week.
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It is apparently now. Well, granted there were some people that were making appeals.
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Pastors sent a very good letter last week to him and other influences, no doubt.
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But it was God, if anything, that has turned the heart of the ones in authority to permit the opening up of worship next
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Lord's Day across this commonwealth. Third, God exerts upon the wicked a directing influence so that good is made to result from their intended evil.
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Even though they intend evil, God brings good out of it. And the premier example of that is the wicked intentions of the
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Jewish leaders and the Roman authorities to put to death the Lord Jesus. And yet they are accomplishing everything that God had foreordained that they do in order to bring about the salvation of his people through the death of Jesus Christ.
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And then fourthly, God also hardens the hearts of wicked men and binds their minds.
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And in this way, God again accomplishes purposes. Knowing that God works in people's hearts to accomplish his purposes should not result in us being totally passive in our attempts to resist and correct wrongdoing and our efforts to promote truth and justice.
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But a knowledge of God's sovereignty over all people, both in their outward behavior and their inward thinking, should enable us not to be unduly disturbed or distressed when we observe what people do or what they fail to do.
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God is our sovereign God. And then fifthly, God's purposes in the details of history are beyond our ability to predict or to assess.
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We need to learn this lesson. What we mean by this is that God more often than not accomplishes his ends using the evil of men and the dark actions of his providence.
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God often works in ironic ways. We think that some event portends disaster, but instead
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God brings his deliverance through that event. Job could write of God at work in his suffering.
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He does great things past finding out, yes, wonders without number. A great fish swallows
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Jonah. That great fish was the salvation of Jonah, bringing him back to a place where he ought to be.
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And so this is why we are to walk by faith, not by sight, because we don't see and understand
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God's purposes. The word of God is full of ironic events and ironic sayings that fall out to the furthering of God's purposes.
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Joseph's brother sell him into slavery in Egypt, but God exalts Joseph in Egypt so that he becomes the deliverer of his brothers and their offspring.
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David is the youngest and the least of Jesse's sons. He was but a shepherd following his father's sheep.
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No one would have thought God would direct Samuel, the prophet Samuel, to him to anoint him as king.
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Even Samuel didn't think it was David initially, but God made David become the shepherd of Israel and one of the clearest types of the
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Lord Jesus himself. And then in the New Testament, there are examples of Jewish leaders making derogatory comments about Jesus, but God turned them about that they were glorious truths and promises that speak of Christ's character and work.
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The Pharisees and scribes sought to discredit Jesus. This man receives sinners and he eats with them, but this became unintentionally a word of hope and encouragement to many sinners from that time even until today.
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God accomplishes his most notable work in ironic ways in order to humble mankind and to demonstrate to the world that he alone is
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God. We've told the little fable, maybe too many times, I don't know, about the
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Chinese farmer who wisely taught his neighbors that we're incapable of assessing what events are actually good and what events are actually detrimental to us.
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There once lived an old wise Chinese man who was a farmer in a small village. One day his only horse, for which he was totally dependent, ran away.
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His neighbors came to him to console him in his loss, but to their surprise, he asked the question, how do you know it was bad?
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The next day his horse returned with two wild horses following it. When the neighbors heard this, they came to the old man to celebrate his good fortune, but the old man responded to them, how do you know it was good?
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The next day the old man's only son attempted to break one of the horses, but instead fell off the horse and broke his leg very severely.
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The neighbors again gathered to offer their sympathy, but the old man asked him, how do you know that it was bad?
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And then the very next day, the warlord came to the village and took away all the able -bodied young men.
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The old man's son remained with his father. Now that's a very practical fable, as it were, a fictional story, but it illustrates the truth so well that we hope all of us would understand and affirm.
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We are incapable of discerning the will of God based on our observance and assessment of events that transpire in our lives.
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God's ways are past finding out. We have what he's revealed to us in his word.
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Everything else is beyond our capability of assessing and judging rightly.
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And so the word of God should inform us, and the word of God should direct us in how we think and how we respond to situations.
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And so even though we may have to deal with the errant and capricious designs and dictates of people in authority that encroach upon our lives, we should be careful in drawing conclusions and making declarations that we may later need to modify or even withdraw when
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God's plans has unfolded to us. Certainly we should be patient and not anxious or unduly angry, but trust ourselves to our
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God who's not mismanaging the events that come into our lives. Our peace should not be contingent on circumstances, but should be grounded in our understanding of who our
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God is and what he has permitted and promised us in Jesus Christ.
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Well now let's deal with a matter that is not an easy one to work through, and that's my own admission.
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And that's this question, how are we to react and respond to the government authorities who place restrictions upon us as a church and obstacles before us that limit our liberty and hinder our serving and worshiping our
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Lord? How do we deal with this? And so we might answer a few questions.
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First one is this, what kind of opinion and attitude should we have toward authorities in government?
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First, let us consider the state and its relationship to the local church.
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Is our secular government the adversary of our church or is it our friend? The fact is that God has ordained them both.
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God has established four arenas of authority in the lives of his people, there is the church, the state, the family, and the workplace.
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The scriptures give very clear instructions on how Christians should regard and respond and react to those categories of human authority.
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Within the local church, Christians are to submit to church leaders that God has ordained for them.
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The scriptures declare, obey those who rule over you and be submissive for they watch for your souls as those who must give an account.
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Let them do so with joy and not with grief for that would be unprofitable for you. Hebrews 13, 17.
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Within the family, wives are to submit to the leadership of their husbands. Wives submit to your own husbands as to the
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Lord, Ephesians 5, 22. And children are to submit and obey both their parents.
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Children obey your parents and the Lord for this is right, Ephesians 6, 1.
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In the workplace, the employer or supervisor is in authority and he should be obeyed.
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And citizens are to submit and obey the laws of governing authorities over them. For example, we read in 1
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Peter chapter 2, therefore submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the
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Lord's sake, whether to the king or supreme or to governors or to those who are sent by him for the punishment of evil doers and for the praise of those who do good.
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For this is the will of God, that by doing good, you may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men as free, yet not using your liberty as a cloak for vice, but as bond servants of God.
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Honor all people, love the brotherhood, fear God, honor the king.
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We are to obey civil authorities, even every ordinance of man, and we are to do so for the
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Lord's sake. Our submission to civil authorities is not conditioned on whether or not we perceive that they're doing rightly or that they're concerned for our best interests.
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God has established the powers that be, not only has he ordained their offices and the degree of their authority that they exhibit, but he's placed the very ones who are presently in their positions of authority.
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They are there due to the appointment of God. They may not be concerned at all for the best interests of the ones that God has entrusted to them, but we are to obey them because God in his sovereign purposes has moved them to command us as he has determined that they do.
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And so even if the human authorities are godless, unjust, unloving, we are to submit to them because God has appointed them and God is controlling them in his sovereign power in order to accomplish his ends and purposes for which you and I may be clueless.
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And so the apostle wrote of this manner of total subjection in 1 Peter 2, 18 through 25.
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Servants be submissive to your masters with all fear, not only to the good and gentle, but also to the harsh.
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For this is commendable, in other words God is approving of this, if because of conscience toward God, one endures grief, suffering wrongfully.
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For what credit is it if when you're beaten for your faults, you take it patiently, but when you do good and suffer, if you take it patiently, this is commendable before God.
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For to this you are called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example that you should follow his steps, who committed no sin, nor was deceit found in his mouth, who when he was reviled did not revile in return, when he suffered he did not threaten, but committed himself to him who judges righteously, who himself bore our sins in his own body on the tree, that we having died to sins might live for righteousness, by whose stripes you were healed, for you were like sheep going astray, but have now returned to the shepherd and overseer of your souls.
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The Lord Jesus submitted to human authority, knowing that his father would accomplish his purposes through that.
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Secondly, we would affirm, or we might answer the question, are we to obey all laws uncritically?
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Of course not. Of course we are not to obey man's laws, if in doing so we would disobey
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God and his laws. I do not know of anyone who would suggest that we should.
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Peter responded to the Jewish authorities who challenged the apostles, did we not strictly command you not to teach in his name, speaking of the name of Jesus, and look you failed
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Jerusalem with your doctrine, and you intend to bring this man's blood on us, and Peter and the other apostles replied, we ought to obey
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God rather than men, Acts 5, 27 -29. But can it be legitimately said for us today, are the governing authorities presently strictly commanding us not to teach in his name, when they are restricting all citizens, not just churches, but all citizens from gathering in groups of more than ten people, as one rightly said, they are not trying to, or rather they are trying to protect us, not persecute us.
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And I think that's an important distinction to work through. But even if what they were dictating to us may seem to be rather capricious and useless, it's within their
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God -given jurisdiction to do so. There's a popular blogger, reform blogger,
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Tim Chaly, I've heard of his name for a handful of years, Jason put me on to him some months ago, and I receive his email just about daily, this blog, and he wrote this little essay not long ago, and he betrayed a spirit in it that I thought was rather unique, and as I read it
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I wish it characterized me more than it does. Here were his words.
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I was asked the other day what I was thankful for in the midst of a pandemic, he's a
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Canadian by the way, my answer surprised even me, I'm thankful for government. It was surprising but true.
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Even as I sit at home during a long forced lockdown, even as I wonder whether anyone really has a master plan, even as I scratch my head at some of the measures being enacted, even as I grow in my concern about some of the liberties being curtailed,
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I've never been so thankful for government. I'd even say I've never been so thankful for God's good gift of government.
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As Christians we understand that God is the ultimate authority over all that is. We understand as well that rather than exercising this authority directly,
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God delegates it to human beings. He delegates some of it to civil government, some of it to the church, some of it to parents, and so on.
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As Paul insists at the beginning of Romans 13, there is no authority except from God and those that exist have been instituted by God.
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This puts a clear calling on each of us, let every person be subject to the governing authorities. If we wish to submit to God, we must submit to the authorities he has established.
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Said otherwise, obedience to God manifests itself in obedience to government. Christians may dispute the exact parameters and governmental authority, but surely we can at least agree that matters of public health fall under the jurisdiction of the state.
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It is the role of government, not church, to enact policies that protect and preserve the health of the nation.
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And when the government enacts such policies, it falls to us to submit to its authority. After all, whether our governmental leaders know it or not, they're acting out of an authority that's been conferred to them by God.
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And right now I'm thankful that God had the wisdom to institute government for times and situations like this.
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I'm thankful government has accepted the responsibility and is acting upon it. I'm experiencing the joy that comes with obeying
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God's duly appointed authorities as they act within their mandate. That's not to say
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I necessarily understand every decision or that I necessarily agree with every action, the various levels that government have taken, but that's the very nature of submission.
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This is important. That's the very nature of submission. God doesn't call us to follow leadership only when we fully agree with it.
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It has struck me that the New Testament's posture toward civil leaders is generally positive. It seems to nudge us toward the assumption that governments are acting wisely, not foolishly, that our opinion toward their actions should generally be favorable, not skeptical, that our words about them should be supportive, not rebellious, and that our response to their decrees should generally be submissive, not resistant.
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Romans 13 is not about the limits of governmental authority, but about the goodness and necessity of Christian obedience.
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And the same is true of 1 Peter 3, Titus 3 .1, not to mention Matthew 22.
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Of course, there are times when obedience to a higher authority means we must disobey a lower authority.
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Peter and the apostles answered, we must obey God rather than men. But we may do this only when that lesser authority is overstepping its bounds or when obeying government would be disobeying
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God. For every other occasion, God gives us a sober warning. Whoever risks the authorities resists what
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God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment. When government acts within its mandate, we must obey.
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When we fail to obey, we risk judgment, God's own judgment, as it's carried out by the state.
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But conversely, when we obey, we gain joy, the joy that always comes with obedience.
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But even then, we owe more than mere obedience. We also owe respect and honor.
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As every parent learns from their children, it's possible to act in strict obedience, yet in a way that is disrespectful and dishonoring.
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It is the context of the Christian's relationship to government that Paul commands, pay to all what is owed to them.
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Taxes to whom taxes are owed, revenue to whom revenue is owed, respect, here it is, respect to whom respect is owed, honor to whom honor is owed.
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In the very same way, we must pay the full measure of our taxes, we must pay the full measure of respect and honor.
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When I pull all this together, God's delegated authority, the necessity of submission, the role of government in acting to protect and preserve the health of the people, the call for respect and honor,
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I find myself joyful, grateful. I'm joyful to obey the mandates of my government as it tries to lead to a grueling opaque situation.
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I'm grateful for God's good gift of government, and grateful even for my government, again, he's
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Canadian, behind it, I see him, in its authority, I see his.
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Of course, this government will lead imperfectly. They will make poor decisions, they'll make mistakes, they'll even act sinfully at times.
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They are, after all, human beings and subject to every kind of frailty, sin, and limitation, but God was not unaware of what was in the heart of men when he commanded through Peter, be subject, for the
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Lord's sake, to every human institution, whether it be to the emperor as supreme or to governors as sent by him.
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That's a good essay. I'm sorry for the length of it, but I thought it would be appropriate and beneficial for us.
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I have to admit, I'm generally an anti -government kind of guy. That's the way I was raised.
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That's the way our constitution is written. The greatest threat to individual liberty is government, and I've always held that in my thinking.
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But I think that this writer is probably closer to the spirit of the scriptures than I tend to be. Let us ponder these matters and not be too quick to pass judgment and make pronouncements lest we find ourselves fighting against God.
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The belief that you only need to submit to someone in authority if he or she is leading you rightly and lovingly is not biblical.
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True submission is demonstrated when you comply even when you disagree, maybe vehemently so, with the motivations or the wisdom of leadership over you.
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But can you imagine how our military would function if servicemen only submitted and obeyed the directives of officers when they agreed with their commands?
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It would be chaos. But may we never resist or rebel? We cannot address that here and now, but we can say the first step to be taken is to learn how to appeal to authority in a spirit of humility while showing respect and rendering honor.
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The individual in authority may not personally be worthy of honor. He may be a fox, like Herod, Jesus called him as such, but the position that he occupies is ordained of God, and God has placed that man or that woman in that position, and therefore due regard is to be given to him or her.
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Yes, in a spirit of humility and respect, it's appropriate to call on an authority to his
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God -given responsibility and accountability. That is what our Lord did with Pontius Pilate.
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When Pontius Pilate said to him, aren't you going to talk to me? Don't you know I have the power to crucify you or the power to release you?
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And Jesus called him to the fact that you have that power because God, the
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Father, has given it to you, implying that you're accountable to him for how you exercise that authority.
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And Pilate took it to heart, for we read from that time on, Pilate sought to release him. It was to the church in the city of Rome, the capital city of the
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Roman Empire, that Paul wrote these words, let every soul be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God.
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Therefore whoever resists the authority resists the ordinance of God, and those who resist will bring judgment on themselves.
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And then he explains why, because God has appointed rulers with certain designs, and they have responsibilities, of course, to be ministers of God for that which is good and wholesome for society.
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And therefore, verse 5, you must be subject not only because of wrath, but also for conscience' sake.
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For because of this you pay taxes, for they are God's ministers, attending continually to this very thing.
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Render, therefore, to all their due, taxes to whom taxes are due, customs to whom customs are due, fear to whom fear, honor to whom honor.
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It was only eight years earlier that Emperor Claudius had exiled from the city of Rome all the
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Jews, as well as the Christian Jews at the time. And you can read about this in Acts, we won't go over that.
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And it was probably because of the great violence that was being done in the Jewish synagogues, because people were coming in and preaching
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Jesus Christ as the Messiah, and there was such division and difficulty between the
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Jews and the new Jewish Christians, the Emperor got fed up with them and cast all the
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Jews out of Rome. Now you can imagine these Jews and the Jewish Christians lost everything.
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They lost their homes, they lost their livelihood, they lost their goods. But God used this, for example, to bring
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Aquila and Priscilla to Corinth, where they met the
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Apostle Paul and became his companions in the ministry of the
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Gospel. And they were there who helped Apollos, who only understood the message of John the
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Baptist. They revealed to Apollos the true nature of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and he went on to greatly convince many, many
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Jews that Jesus was the Messiah. And it was due to the ministry of this husband and wife.
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And they were there in Corinth because of the sovereign action of God overseeing
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Emperor Claudius kicking the Jews out of Rome. And they suffered for it, but God used that to accomplish his purposes.
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In this passage of Romans 13, the Apostle declared, for one to resist the government authority, resist the ordinance of God.
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In other words, God regards the one who resists the government's authority and laws as resisting him.
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Of course we understand we are not to obey governmental authorities, if in doing so it would mean disobeying
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God. That's the one exception. But there are those who disregard the instruction or edicts of authorities because they disagree with the manner in which they're being led.
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They do not seem to have an attitude of respect or submission or honor to governmental authorities.
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The Word of God says with regard to our attitude toward government authorities, render therefore all their due, honor to whom honor.
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But I've heard some Christians literally disparage Romans 13, mocking its language.
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And in so doing, certainly they're not rendering honor to whom honor is due. It would seem that they show no regard or honor to governmental authorities, which is itself a violation of the teaching of God's Word.
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They seem to exhibit a vitriol and disgust for any and all human authority within the government realm.
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But when I read and hear the manner that some Christians speak regarding the government and its authorities, I do not hear the words or witness the attitude that should be theirs as Christians.
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Their spirit does not align with, say, the spirit of Joseph in Egypt or Daniel in Babylon, who had to live within oppressive political conditions.
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Honor is not to be rendered to government officials because their actions are necessarily honorable or righteous.
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Honor and respect are to be rendered through our speech and attitudes toward government authorities because God has ordained their position and God has appointed everyone specifically to their positions.
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Public health is a legitimate responsibility of government. God has given the responsibility and the authority to government to preserve and protect the life of its citizens.
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And though they're blatantly inconsistent in that they promote abortion as an essential service, even when they declare a gathering for church as non -essential, we cannot set aside their edicts very easily.
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And God may have in his providence directed them to impose those very sanctions for our good, even if it was not their intention to do so.
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And by the way, quarantine is biblical. Quarantine has been a historical practice throughout the world and throughout history, including biblical history.
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Leviticus 13 and many other places suggest this. But we need to answer this question.
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What are the clear command of Hebrews 10, 24 and 25? Not to forsake the assembling of yourselves together as a church.
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It is said by some that we are sinning by obeying the government rather than obeying
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God. We're sinning by not meeting to worship on the Lord's day. They look at Hebrews 10, 24 and following as a game changer.
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There we read, let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another so much the more as you see the day approaching.
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They argue that we are forsaking the assembling of ourselves as churches and therefore we are blameworthy.
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But it may be that they have taken this passage of Hebrews 10, 24 and following and really are making it say more than it does.
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They would define forsaking the assembling as any refusal or failure to attend church on the
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Lord's day and therefore not to meet due to this pandemic is to disobey
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God. That would be their charge, their conclusion. And so the charge that we are sinning is one that we take seriously.
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But considering all the factors, I do not believe that it's a legitimate charge. First, precisely speaking, we're not violating
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Hebrews 10, 24 and 25 in what it was addressing by the author to its readers.
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The verse was not speaking of those who simply failed to meet regularly, but it was addressing those who refused to meet because they were fearful of being seen and associated as Christians in the church for they would, as a consequence, suffer political persecution, maybe personal danger.
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They were Jewish Christians who were afraid of persecution for being Christian. Increasingly, Rome perceived
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Christianity not as a Jewish sect as it formerly had, which would have been permissible under Roman law, but rather Christianity became viewed as an illegal religion.
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And these Jewish Christians could avert hostility and persecution by distancing themselves from the church and its gatherings and returning to practice
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Judaism only. They were literally forsaking the Christian faith in their failure and refusal to gather in their churches.
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We're not guilty of this. We're not racking up sin week to week by obeying governmental directives.
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We're providentially, we would say God is directing civil authorities, we're providentially to limit the assembly of people, churches or otherwise, not just churches, for a time until they determine a safer society.
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If we knew that a hurricane was going to hit us next Sunday, next Lord's Day, and we decided not to meet because of the danger in doing so, we could not be legitimately charged with transgressing
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Hebrews 10, 24, 25. And if we've been prohibited from gathering for a limited time due to the danger it would pose to one another, it would not necessarily mean we are violating
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Hebrews 10, 24 and 25. Fourthly, we affirm prudence and scripture require us to submit to our civil authorities in this matter.
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Frankly, this is not my personal preference, for as I admitted by nature I'm a rebel and in my conscience, however in my conscience
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I must bow to God's word and providence in this matter. I admit I'm clawing and scratching while being drug in this direction, but it must be so.
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If the time came that we became convinced the state was deliberately attempting to silence our testimony of the gospel as a church, we would change our course.
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We do not do what we do out of fear, although I've been charged with that,
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I'm a coward because we don't meet on Sundays. I think I've proved myself over the many decades,
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I'm no coward, I'm not afraid of anything with respect to the word of God and the declaration of God's word.
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Out of concern for our Christian brothers and sisters, particularly our senior and vulnerable members, we must act cautiously.
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Consider the Skagit Valley Chorale in Washington State, perhaps they wish they had a prohibition of 10 and assembling when their choir gathered for practice fairly recently.
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One of the choir members felt ill not knowing the nature of his sickness, he met with the group anyway and within two weeks 52 of the choir members tested positive for the virus and two died.
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We must be concerned for our church's testimony in the community as well. Yes concerned for those that are vulnerable in our church, but concerned for the community in our testimony as well.
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Without condemning the actions of some others that they've chosen to take, we believe that our testimony for the gospel would be damaged if we acted in defiance of current restrictions placed upon us.
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We would be perceived as not caring for others in our community, perhaps even being complicit in the spread and continuance of this disease.
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If a qualification of a pastor, now listen to this, if the qualification of a pastor of his church is that he must have a good testimony among those who are outside lest he fall into the reproach and the snare of the devil, should this not also be true of the local church itself?
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We have a good name in our community, through our food and clothes closet ministry, the assistance we give to many, and the involvement of our church in community events, we've established in the minds of many outside of this church that we are a positive source of strength and health to our community.
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We have non -Christians recommending to our church people in need, for in doing so they know that people will be well taken care of by us.
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If we were to defy governmental restrictions regarding meeting at this time, how would the people of our community view us?
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It would appear to people that we are being callous with regard to one another, and to them. Not only are we not doing what we can to arrest and diminish the virus, they would regard our actions and behavior to be contributing to the problem and placing them in greater danger as well.
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We would in effect damage our witness for the gospel by our insistence to do what we want to do.
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Let us pray that our Lord lift these restrictions upon us. I wrote these words about a half an hour before I got the notice that it's supposed to be announced tomorrow, from what
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I understand, that they're opening up houses of worship. We closed with this.
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Let us pray that our Lord lift these restrictions upon us. The king's heart is in the hand of the Lord, like the rivers of water, he turns it wherever he wishes, and so let us pray to that end.
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And we have been praying to that end, and it may be the Lord has answered our prayers. Praise God if that's the case, amen.
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Let's close. Thank you, Father, for your word. Help us, Lord, as we try and navigate these things and be true to you and to your word.
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So give us wisdom, our God, give us grace, help us to be humble before you and one another, for we pray in Jesus' name, amen.