The "Separation" of church and state - part 1

Quick review - three spheres of government are?

and what is foundational to all three of these spheres?

who created all of these spheres?

God did - this is why we don’t care what the supreme court says - marriage is between a man and a woman.

the supreme court doesn’t define the family, God already did.

1 Peter 2:13-17 “Be subject for the Lord’s sake to every human institution, whether it be to the emperor as supreme, or to governors as sent by him to punish those who do evil and to praise those who do good. For this is the will of God, that by doing good you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people. Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but living as servants of God. Honor everyone. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the emperor.”

Consistent Christians are not anarchists - not those who would just simply disregard the live.

every Christian who reads the Bible knows we hsould submit to our governing authorities.

but - what are the limitations?

do we just submit no matter what?

‘where are you hiding the jews...”

But lets ask this question - where does the authority of the governing folks come from?

Rom 13 - calls authorities God’s servants - and the word? Diaconos - deacon.

The governor - the elected official - the magistrate - they have authority because they are put their by God.

1 Peter 2:15 “For this is the will of God, that by doing good you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people.”

our submission to our authorities should silence those who would accuse us of a lack of submission.

What’s the big problem -

well these sorts of passages are picked out - out of context - to the point where many believe that our submission to the elected officials the government is absolute.

well - what other submission do we think should be absolute?

not fathers - and defintely not pastors.

I gotta tell you - most of the time I think I’m lucky when somebody listens to me.

Here’s the deal - NO human authority should be considered as absolute.

So how do we do this?

we don’t cherry pick passages - we interpret every passage in the light of all other passages.

We need to keep in mind a few things about the author here

one - he’s about to be executed - and he knows this. Jesus told him

Two - he said plainly to his other governing authorities that he refused to stop proclaiming the name and gospel of Jesus.

Acts 5:29 “But Peter and the apostles answered, “We must obey God rather than men.”

and there is a time coming where folks he is writing about WILL be thought be poorly of. They’re going to be accused of all kinds of things.

1 Peter 4:7 “The end of all things is at hand; therefore be self-controlled and sober-minded for the sake of your prayers.”

1 Peter 4:13-16 “But rejoice insofar as you share Christ’s sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed. If you are insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you. But let none of you suffer as a murderer or a thief or an evildoer or as a meddler. Yet if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in that name.”

It’s important for us - in answering the question of how to submit - to charify those three spheres and how they function again.

each sphere of government (church family state) that God created don’t exist as a hierarchy.

in other words, the family doesn’t exist under the state or under the church

the church doesn’t exist under the state.

the state doesn’t exist under the church.

in other words - the bylaws of each of these spheres was written by God and they don’t submit their bylaws to another sphere for approval.

you don’t seek the approval of the state for teh way God has told you to run your household - duh. Everybody gets that.

but the caveate here is that there is the role of the teaching ministry of the church - which does what?

it INFORMS the other spheres on how they should function. - but that doens’t mean those spheres exist in submission to the church - that’s not the same thing. That’s the picture of a roman catholic state - in which the state/government submits to the pope.

do a quick survey of western history if you want to see how well that worked out.

now we know that’s a bad idea

but you know where we all got in trouble in 2019 and 2020 -

many folks thought that the state was over the church.

The proper understanding here

the three governments are in a system of checks/balances - independent of each other - but they have a degree of overlap.

families abuse of children? the state should intercede

but does the state get to tell us who can be members of the church and who cannot be? of course not.

Now lets say you get robbed. Somebody breaks into your car and takes stuff.

are they allowed to do that? no of course not. but does that change the fact that it’s happening?

such is the reality for many in the church.

the state doesn’t get to - but often it does anyway.

The state didn’t get to determine when churches were “non-essential”

and yet...

But what if that happens again? What should we do?

do we just stand up and fight for the principal of the thing?

well - if you’re being held at gunpoint for 2$ in your wallet - do you risk your life for 2$?

no. that’d be dumb.

but that doesn’t change the fact that the Bible says it’s wrong.

so you don’t come back later on and say “oh well that’s a gray area”

no… it’s not gray. it’s blakc and white - the difference is you decided your life was worth more than 2$.

and see - this is partly what it means to be FREE in Christ.

even when the magistrates are getting it wrong - we are still free. even when they’re subjugating us and there’s nothing we can do about it.

but… if there is something we can do about it.

if the cost-benefit analysis says… nah. it’s time to push back.

this is highly strategic. takes wisdom.

there are times to fight and times to hide and wait it out.

The state says “you have to send your kids to this public education institution… and we’re going to teach them about the benefits of homosexuality and put them through our sex ed class” - well.

So - how do we separate church and state?

well - we remember that they’re separate.