We Need Real Secret Church - David Platt Was Right the First Time

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Robles and support the content you love on the fight -laugh -feast Network Hello there.

This is a D Robles and you're listening to a D on the fight -laugh -feast Oh Man I am

NOT impressed. I'll tell you that right now. I'll tell you why in a minute But one thing you might not know about me.

Actually, I was reminded of this this content By one of my patrons last night.

We had a patron hangout. We did it on Google meet and it was great There was like eight of us there and we just chatted for an hour about a variety of different topics

We laughed a lot. We had a good time Thank you so much for everyone that supports me on patreon.

And if you want to join our next Google meet let me know and we'll get it all set up for you but anyway

He reminded me of this content and I was just I I didn't I don't really know exactly what to do with this

But here's here's what I decided to do. So hopefully you enjoy this but you know to be honest like the last few days

I've kind of been a little bit, you know down in the dumps a little bit. You might say you might say I've been grieved saddened

That kind of thing you see that kind of you can see that kind of adjective used a lot in Big Eva But I've been thinking about all these churches that are that are still not meeting

You know what I mean? And and the reality is like, you know, look in the beginning, you know We were all kind of scared

We didn't know what to do And so I gave a lot of grace and a lot of leeway for churches that decided not to me

In fact, my church decided not to me and all that kind of thing But the you know, the more information that comes out more and more, you know

Jurisdictions are allowing churches to meet which by the way like churches don't need permission from the government to meet like that's not the government's purview

Right, the church decides whether or not to meet to worship God actually God decides and he's commanded that in his word so you don't actually need permission from the government to meet for worship, but It's amazing to me that that so many jurisdictions are removing the restrictions on churches that they've put on inappropriately and Still churches aren't meeting

I find that amazing and I've heard more than a handful of reports of mega churches

And churches of people that you would know Saying we're not gonna meet until 2021

If that and we'll see, you know, maybe we'll have a vaccine Maybe we won't who knows but we're not gonna meet for the rest of the year

Despite the permission that they've been granted again You don't need permission from the government to to meet but they've been granted permission by the government to me and they're still not meeting

That really has me sort of well, it has me grieved. It has me. It has me sad and it has me

Troubled you might say and you know what? I often do when I'm troubled or grieved or sad and or or whatever choose whatever adjective you want

Is often review my old notes like, you know I take notes on things that I read and and you know

I I keep all the books that I used to own for the most part and I'll I'll write notes in the margins I'll write notes in the in the you know, though, you know how there's like a few like blank pages at the end every book

I'll usually write about you know, what the book was all about in those pages I'll review those books because often

I find like when I'm troubled or grieved or saddened, you know, it's a it's a topic I've thought about before and so I'll be reminded of ideas or sermons or Bible passages that will help me through those moments of sadness and grief and troubledness

Anyway, and I did find something that That that was very very helpful, but then I was unimpressed afterwards.

You'll see why in a minute. There's a bit of a twist here So that's where my unimpressed face comes in because I found something awesome, but then

I was instantly unimpressed So what I want to do is you might not know this but I've been a podcaster for a lot longer than you know in fact,

I found a podcast that I did about this exact topic and Here it is.

Give me a moment to click over to the old podcast It's a really old podcast anyway, so I found fantastic content about the idea of Defying the government authorities

When it tells you to do something that God hasn't commanded or even just to spread his glory

Can you imagine that like? Defying the civil governing authorities all for the purposes of spreading the glory of God and this is a sermon

It's a it's a really good sermon It's a really good sermon and I'm gonna read to you a few paragraphs from it because it is so helpful to me

Knowing about how it is that you we know how and when you defy the civil governing authorities for Christ for God and it's a story

About Rahab. Do you know Rahab? It comes from Joshua chapter 2

Rahab was a prostitute in Jericho and Some Israelite spies came to her and she actually protected them

She hid the spies in her house. And then when the civil governing authority said hey, we heard there's some spies here

She hid them. She kept them from there She kept them from their from their clutches and she did it to spread the glory of God because she worshipped and honored

Yahweh and what's amazing about the story of Rahab is she lies to her countrymen

Jericho But she does it for the glory of God and the Bible commends her for that lie

The Bible commends her for hiding the Israelite spies. It says it's an example of faith.

It's it's faith Seeing faith through her works, right because we all know faith without works is dead and Rahab's faith was demonstrated in her lie to the government, which

I find So helpful in times when we're worried about potential persecution and coming in the future

Definitely way in the distant future. Definitely would definitely not in the year 2020 definitely not

But it's amazing and this is not the only time the Bible commends lying to the government In fact, the Hebrew midwives also did something similar

They refused to partake in the government's plan to kill the Israelite male babies.

They they lied. They said well, you know Babies here, you know that kind of thing and the Bible also says that that's an example of faith

See the faith without works is dead and the Hebrew midwives and Rahab Demonstrated their faith by their works.

And so I'm gonna read to you this section of this sermon. This is a great sermon I highly recommend the entire one.

It's online so you can get it for free. It's fantastic Here's here's the line.

I wanted to to read about It's titled she risked it all for the spread of his glory

Third characteristic as a result of this recipient of grace fearing

God talking about Rahab She risked it all for the spread of his glory

I want you to think with me about what Rahab was risking there in Joshua 2 if the king of Jericho knew that these men

Were still in her home and she was harboring spies if she was found out she would have been executed immediately and likely her family along with her traitor

Treason, no question Rahab was putting her life on the line

Risking it all This is why James this is why the author of Hebrews in chapter 11

Sets up Rahab the prostitute as a hero of the faith. Why?

Because she was willing to risk everything trusting God without hesitation without reservation and without qualification

The question I want to put before us this morning is where are the women of faith like that in this room?

Where are the women of faith who are willing to risk it all everything that is dear to you to put it on the line in trust radical trust of God Where are the men of faith in this room who are willing to risk it all in obedience to the

Word of God for the spread? Of the glory of God who are willing to do that which goes against the culture around them

I'm gonna repeat that who are willing to do that which goes against the culture around them

That which makes no sense that which risks everything because you believed in God Are we as a church as the people of God?

Thousands of years after Abraham was willing to sacrifice his son and thousands of years After Rahab risked her life on the line.

Are we as a church willing to take risks in obedience? to the

Word of God for the spread of the glory of God I'm gonna repeat that are we as a church?

Willing to take risks in obedience to the Word of God for the spread of the glory of God This is the story of redemptive history men and women who have passed down the baton to us

We cannot sit here in comfortable faith listening to the word but not risking our lives to obey it

Just like those who have gone before us. I Want to be totally honest with you

When it comes to this whole experiment thing There is a bit of fear in me. There's this question.

Are we really ready to do something like this as a church? Are we really ready for something like this?

I? Hear things and I have I have conversations with some who say we have we move so slow as a church

What are we waiting for? And then I have conversations with some who say we move so fast as the church.

Should we even be doing this? I'm gonna stop there because you can see the point of this

The whole idea is that we actually need to be doing something Regardless of if the counter if the culture around us says that we shouldn't be doing it

Regardless is if the culture around us says that it hurts our witness regardless of what they say

We need to do what God says And so, you know if God says to do

X and the culture says X is bad We still need to be willing to do X risking it all and that even means sometimes

Defying the civil governing authorities. That is so helpful. That is so helpful But one of the things

I found out because I love this sermon, right? One of the things I found out is the guy who preached this sermon also set up an organization to honor

Very many people that have to do this every single day of their lives the organization is called secret church and Secret churches is such a cool idea, you know, because the idea is that you know in like China, for example

Like you can't like sometimes you have to have, you know Essentially literally secret churches because the government's very hostile and and your fellow neighbor is very hostile to Christians And so you have to meet in secret like you can't meet in a big megachurch building comfortable chairs, you know coffee

Anytime you want it, you know parking lot stuff like that No You have to like duck and dodge, you know, the police officers and meet in secret and small groups and stuff like that In fact,

I'm gonna say I'm gonna read to you a little bit about what secret church is and it's you know It's it's it's it's it's a it's an honor honorary honorary kind of thing

Like we don't have to do that in the United States because you know We're allowed to meet for church and I can't even foresee a situation where we wouldn't be, you know allowed to meet for church

I mean that no way not in America. We've got the we got the Bill of Rights here But so but let me just you know, it is a symbolic kind of meeting but but let me tell you about it

So the idea behind secret church, it comes from David Platt spent spending teaching and ministering among underground

Asian house churches Due to hostility from the government from the surrounding community and even from their own family many of our brothers and sisters in Christ around The world are forced to gather in secret sometimes at the risk of their own lives

The plight of our persecuted brothers and sisters also explains why prayer for the persecuted church is a major part of every secret church gathering

We remember those who cannot meet openly Asking God to sustain their faith to change their hearts and the actions of their persecutors and to use their witness for the spread of the gospel

You see the the witness that he's talking about is doing what God says regardless of what everybody else says

That's the only witness that Christians ought to be concerned with doing what God says

Regardless of what everybody else thinks about it because the truth is if we were if we were obsessed with our witness like to get people to like us then we couldn't always do what

God says because because God often says to do things and to say things and to believe things that the

That the government doesn't like and that our friends and our neighbors don't actually like and so this is like, you know a meeting where they get together and they have church for hours at a time because that's what they do at the secret church because they

They don't know when they're gonna get a chance to meet again So they meet for hours at a time into the wee hours of the morning And so this secret church organization does that they'll meet for like the entire evening all the way to like 1 a .m

And you know, it'll be a different kind of worship service than what we're used to here in the United States And again, it's very symbolic

I get that but I but I appreciate it because it's attempting to show Solidarity with those who it's not symbolic for who they like the government has actually told them

They can't meet or they've made it very difficult to me or their neighbors shame them for meeting and stuff like that And so they have to do it in secret so they don't cause a big scene.

They don't cause a big ruckus They don't get thrown in jail. They don't get cited and stuff like that And so it's a symbolic thing

But I like it because it's something that is is attempting to show solidarity in it and I have no doubt

No doubt at all that if and if somehow God brought persecution upon the church in America that we would be doing this

Real secret church not the symbolic kind real secret church. No doubt in my mind

And so I commend the organization to you. I commend the sermon series to you about Rahab and the spies really good stuff

So by now you probably see what I'm doing here It's just such a it's so ridiculous the contrast between David Platt of 2009 and David Platt of 2020 and maybe there isn't a contrast maybe as soon as the pressure is put on him

That's when you fold because the reality is like the secret church stuff is such a farce at this point

It's obviously a farce. I mean this sermon is actually really good. He talks about risking it all This is a line from the sermon

He says when you believe God for who he is God in heaven above the earth when you believe this

God, then you are willing to risk it all and Elsewhere, he talks about risking your risking your financial situation risking your life risking your health risking

You know everything risking it all it's all -encompassing He's talking about a radical trust in God a radical thing like where everything's just you know

You're not throwing caution to the wind necessarily But but at least willing to do what God says at risk to your own life to your own family's life to your own situation to your own economic standing to all of that stuff and then we turn to 2020 when there's a virus and Listen, like I said in the beginning here, you know, we didn't know what the virus was in the beginning

But now we do know what it is. It's like, okay It's not the flu But the death rates are comparable and you know

They're very unlikely to get it doesn't even spread as fast as the flu and like flu kills almost as many people

Regularly with a vaccine, but now we don't even have a vaccine and okay It's a little bit more deadly than the flu But it's it's essentially along the same lines and and we have just thrown all of that radical stuff has gone out the window

Secret church is a joke secret church is a joke secret church. It's church is role -playing We've been talking about role -playing a lot on this channel and on this podcast and it's like, you know

You'll fight yesterday's battles. You'll fight battles that you have nothing to do with very ferociously and bravely, but your own battles you abandoned

Abandoned your own battles. Yeah, everyone's talking about how race a racist George Whitfield was that was yesterday's battles

That was last that's last century's battles. The battles today are Jamar Tisby's are racist that battle you abandon the

BD on your willies are racist that battle you abandoned Eric Mason says racist stuff all Day long that battle you abandoned the ones you could actually do something about it's like when

Lincoln freed the slaves And every territory he didn't control. It's like this is LARPing It's just it's just all nonsense and it really it's it's it's not only as it doesn't impress me

That's why I didn't have that's why I had my not impressed face on earlier, but it actually really makes me angry because These people have made careers selling books conference speaking gigs, you know

You pay to do the secret church thing the live stream simulcasts for secret church because you know, that's it's very secret

All this stuff you pay money for these for this stuff and there and yeah and because these guys are these are the guys man

These are our leaders. They're ferocious. They're Following the Word of God. They're ferocious. But then when it comes to the battles that are at hand right now, where are they?

Where are they? They're happy to take your money to tell you about yesterday's battles, and it's it's really annoying.

I Don't like it now Let me just calm down because I don't want to act too triggered But just think about what

I just read from from Rahab and about sort of the the secret church about how you should risk it all you should risk your neighbors not liking you the government be

Not liking what you do and all this kind of stuff and it's like like think about this

Like we can't meet for church because this is McLean Bible Church is not I don't know if they're still not meeting

But for they didn't meet for a very long time, even though they did March for racial reconciliation

They did do that, but they didn't meet for worship, even though God commanded them to meet for worship

This is their whole reason for existing is to worship God on the Lord's Day That's their whole reason for having a church building is to meet there at that church building to worship

God on the Lord's Day And they said that we can't do it because there's a risk of large and indoor gatherings

The same David Platt that said when you know the God of the universe You should be willing to risk it all to obey him says this the risk of large indoor gatherings is too great

It's too great The same David Platt who said you should be willing to risk your life and your health the way

Rahab did says Here's it's too risky to meet for worship

And this is he even has a response for those who say let's stay open So that way those who are willing to risk it who are willing to follow your book radical and risk it all

Should still be able to meet here's what he says to that He says some might wonder why not just open the buildings for those who are comfortable with the gathering in person fair question

I mean, that's a very good question That seems to be the only logical thing to do open up the building say you don't have to come

But if you if you're willing to risk this to come worship God on a Sunday, then you can come Here's his response to this our gatherings each week require large and very diverse

Group of people to work in a number of hands -on roles to make them possible We do not feel comfortable requiring or expecting staff and volunteer leaders to serve in this way if we are not yet sure about the

Respective best practices for large -scale indoor gatherings. In other words, it's too risky.

I know back in 2009 I said when you know God you should be willing to risk it all to obey him and to spread his glory which

Every Sunday on the Lord's Day. That's what we're doing declaring the glory of God every

Lord's Day Every church around the world gathers at least presumably to declare the glory of the

Lord Nothing could be better for our public witness to the world. Yeah, the government's not gonna like it Yeah, the Karens are gonna get mad all that stuff.

It doesn't matter that witness doesn't matter Obeying God is what matters right? But but David Platt 2009 says we should be willing to risk it all like Rahab David Platt 2020 says it's too risky this virus that kills less than 1 % of the people who get it.

It's just way too risky Unbelievable absolutely unbelievable any attempt at reopening right now will necessarily exclude large portions of our church both in number and demographic

So it's so we're not meeting to preserve unity. You see we're not meeting to preserve unity that Again, what is the point of secret church?

Right, like like if they're not willing to meet and I understand that because when I'm sick,

I don't go to church So let me ask you let me ask you this. Let's let's let's try to let's try to follow this logic

So next flu season when coronavirus we got the vaccine. Everything's good My kids get sick with the flu and I don't

I can't come to worship because they're sick with the flu Does that mean that we're if we still meet on Sunday, then that's this just disrupting the unity of church

So we can't have church unless everyone's there The logic of this stuff just it doesn't make any sense

Like this is you can tell they're flying by the seat of their pants, right? Like David Platt's really good when he sticks to the text.

I honestly he is I love his sermons when he sticks to the text this sermon on Rahab is actually really good faith works man

Faith works and you demonstrate your faith by your works and Rahab did that she risked it all

Very good point David Platt of 20 2009 David Platt of 2020 says, you know, if you get the sniffles

That's that's too risky. We can't meet as a church because that would disrupt the unity of the church The credibility of our witness is the is the most unbelievable one in my opinion by God's grace

We are spurting God's love across our city and around the world in many ways beyond what we were doing before This pandemic members of our church have banded together to provide meals

Thousands upon thousands of families and it at -risk communities The gospel has been shared with every single one of those families and many have come to faith in Christ Thousands more have joined us for online worship and including many who have also come to faith in Christ So as we read stories of church gatherings resuming in other places and see examples of staff and attenders

Inadvertently transmitting this virus across their community. We then consider the size of our church and the reach across the city

We want to be extremely careful to display the wisdom of Christ as we exalt the name of Christ in short We want to be agents of the gospel and we don't want to do anything that might undertake

That we might undertake to hinder that eternal message In other words if the Karens are gonna get pissed at us for having worship service

We shouldn't have it because that'll damage our witness, right? And if someone gets sick at our if God sees to it that somebody gets sick at our gathering

Then that's an excuse to not obey the command to gather, right? So it's about the witness to the world because we want to please the world, right?

Even though David Platt in 2009, you know, he's talking about secret church the frequently asked questions

He's talking about hostility from your community and family. So you have to meet in secret

That's what secret church was all about I thought but but I guess you know in 2020 when when when it actually comes to your

Situation when the government tells you you can't meet Well, then we got to listen, right?

There's no secret church for us. This is just this is like When I talk about LARPing live -action roleplay

That's what this is what I'm talking about. This is the most Big Eva live -action roleplay I have ever

Seen there's so much role -playing in Big Eva. They talk big and bad about bad about yesterday's battles, but today's battles

They're nowhere to be found. In fact, the people that do fight the battles they get they get scorned from Big Eva it's not even that they won't fight the battles of today like people like David Platt and Joe Carter and And gospel coalition and ERLC.

It's not even just that they won't fight today's battle That would be fine if you're just gonna abandon the battle fine

But they go even further They talk they write think pieces about those who are fighting the battles.

They're fighting for the wrong team They're hating their neighbor and that kind of thing So it's even worse than lot than LARPing because at least in LARPing it's harmless, right?

People a bunch of adults get together. They have styrofoam swords and they fight each other. It's harmless. It's stupid, but it's harmless But in this situation, they're

LARPing. Yes, but then they're also shooting us in the back like they're on our team, right? They're in our foxhole and then a bunch of us get up and say, okay, we're gonna charge the enemy line

And we're charging the enemy line We're trying to we're trying to take some ground and we're getting shot in the back By those people who were too scared to fight today's battles.

That's Big Eva in a nutshell That's Big Eva in a nutshell shooting your friends in the back as they fight the battle that you should be fighting

Anyway, I hope you found this podcast helpful God bless Don't forget to tune in next week on Thursday for AD on the

Fight Laugh Feast Network Look you might be thinking

I'm being too harsh on David Platt here But I I I challenge you to square the secret church rhetoric and the radical rhetoric and all this stuff and that sermon about Rahab I challenge you to square that with what's going on today.

You can't do it You can't do it. If you want to try my email is open. Of course, I'll read them

But it's just like look I I don't hate David Platt, you know, I don't dislike him But I want to encourage you to fight today's battles

David Because you're writing great books about all this stuff that you have no control over but the stuff you have control over Where are you man?

When we need guys like you we need guys like you That's what gets me so angry because it's like you guys are capable you are capable

And I want to encourage you to use your capabilities that were given to you by God your your pen that is so effective man

I've been I've been impacted by your writing by your preaching and all of that. So I know you can be effective

But let's let's put aside all this worldly. I want to have a good public witness

So therefore I'll do anything you say kind of thing. Let's put that aside Remember the people in Asia man.

Remember the secret church stuff because we need that now we need a secret church now So at the very least like I would want you to be on our team

I want you to be charging the line with me. You know what I mean? There's a lot of us It's not just me. There's a lot of us charging line

I want you to be there with me because I think you can be very effective and I personally would feel much better if Giants like you would join the fight

I'm gonna go either way But I'd like you to join the team But if you're not gonna join the team

Could you at least tell your buddies to stop sniping us from the back like that would be pretty helpful I don't want to have to read these stupid think pieces about how all you guys who are not doing it the way

I'm doing it Hate your neighbor. You're disrespecting authority. You're breaking the fifth commandment like that is so Stupid and your words from 2009 prove that it's stupid.