Church is Essential

THE CHURCH IS CHRIST’S AND CHRIST IS ABOVE ALL

While civil government is invested with divine authority to rule the state, neither of those texts (Rom 13; 1 Peter 2) (nor any other) grants civic rulers jurisdiction over the church .

I believe that God in Scripture has established three institutions within human society: the family, the state, and the church.

Each institution has a sphere of authority with jurisdictional limits that must be respected.

A father’s authority is limited to his own family.

Elder’s authority (which is delegated to them by Christ) is limited to ecclesiastical matters.

And government is specifically tasked with the oversight and protection of civic peace and well-being within the boundaries of a nation or community.

God has not granted civic rulers authority over the doctrine, practice, or polity of the church. The biblical teaching limits the authority of each institution to its specific jurisdiction. The church does not have the right to meddle in the affairs of individual families and ignore parental authority.

Parents do not have authority to manage civil matters while circumventing government officials. And similarly, government officials have no right to interfere in ecclesiastical matters in a way that undermines or disregards the God-given authority of pastors and elders.

Said another way, in Scripture there has never existed the prerogative of civil government to order, modify, forbid, or mandate worship.

When, how, and how often the church worships is not subject to Caesar.

Caesar himself is subject to God. Jesus affirmed that principle when He told Pilate, “You would have no authority over Me, unless it had been given you from above” (John 19:11).

And because Christ is head of the church, ecclesiastical matters pertain to His Kingdom, not Caesar’s. Jesus drew a stark distinction between those two kingdoms when He said, “Render therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.”

Our Lord Himself always rendered to Caesar what was Caesar's, but He never offered to Caesar what belongs solely to God.

As pastors and elders, we cannot hand over to earthly authorities any privilege or power that belongs solely to Christ as head of His church.

Pastors and elders are the ones to whom Christ has given the duty and the right to exercise His spiritual authority in the church (1 Peter 5:1–4; Hebrews 13:7, 17)—and Scripture alone defines how and whom they are to serve (1 Corinthians 4:1–4).

They have no duty to follow orders from a civil government attempting to regulate the worship or governance of the church. In fact, for us to allow government to dictate and overstep their boundaries is in fact a sinful act.

The biblical order is clear: Christ is Lord over Caesar, not vice versa. Christ, not Caesar, is head of the church.

Similarly, the Church does not in any sense rule the state. Again, these are distinct kingdoms, and Christ is sovereign over both. Neither church nor state has any higher authority than that of Christ Himself, who declared, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth” (Matthew 28:18).

History is full of painful reminders that government power is easily and frequently abused for evil purposes. Politicians may manipulate statistics and the media can cover up or camouflage inconvenient truths. So a discerning church cannot passively or automatically comply if the government orders a shutdown of congregational meetings—even if the reason given is a concern for public health and safety.

The former prime minister, Theresa May, stated yesterday in Parliament: “My concern is that the government making it illegal to conduct an act of worship with the best of intentions sets a precedent for a government with the worst of intentions”

Back in March we closed because as was stated in the letter I wrote to you at the time:

“It was our decision to suspend the services not based on the recommendation of the government, which at the time was only ‘advice’ (however strong that was) but on a principle of love for one another and for our community at large.The reason why I feel this is important to emphasise this is because the government can never legislate on something that pertains to the Lord alone.”

Emphasising that in March we closed the week before the lock-down was instituted, out of prudence and not because government said so.

But alas this time around we are not in the same situation, we now understand how this virus transmits and how to mitigate those risks.

The chief medical advisers of the government when asked about this with regards to churches had this to say:

“We haven’t got good evidence on the exact value of each intervention on ‘R’.”

“We produced a paper suggesting what that might be in different areas, but really said ‘Look, this is not an exact science at all.’ And therefore I’m afraid it’s a rather blunt instrument”.

The MP for Bolton North East followed up by asking: “Since the 4th of July, when we’ve had these national relaxations, how much transmission do you think has taken place within places of worship? Is it statistically significant or quite negligible?”

“I don’t think we have good data to answer that with any degree of certainty.”

The Government advisers claim the decision on churches  is a “part of a package” of measures which is expected to bring the rate of infection (‘R’) down, but that people should not attempt to “pick apart” how effective each individual intervention might be.

Ask yourself, is it safer inside this building or at ASDA? Is it safer here or at Tesco’s?

Why are garden centres and schools and Premier League Football and horse racing allowed to continue but not our worship of God? What is the god honouring attitude here? What is it that the Lord would have us do?

As elders we have no right, in fact, we have a duty to keep those boundaries clearly defined.

Romans 13:1–4 NKJV

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. Therefore whoever resists the authority resists the ordinance of God, and those who resist will bring judgment on themselves. For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to evil. Do you want to be unafraid of the authority? Do what is good, and you will have praise from the same. For he is God’s minister to you for good. But if you do evil, be afraid; for he does not bear the sword in vain; for he is God’s minister, an avenger to execute wrath on him who practices evil.

God has ordained the state as a delegated authority; it is not autonomous authority, it’s a God given authority whether they recognise it or not. The state is to be an agent of justice, to restrain evil by punishing the wrongdoer, and to protect the good in society. When it does the reverse, it has no proper authority. It is then a usurped authority and as such it becomes lawless and is tyranny.

The early Christians died because they would not obey the state in a civil matter. People often say to us that the early church did not show any civil disobedience. They do not know church history.

Why were the Christians in the Roman Empire thrown to the lions?

From the Christian’s viewpoint it was for a religious reason.

But from the viewpoint of the Roman State they were in civil disobedience, they were civil rebels. The Roman State did not care what anybody believed religiously; you could believe anything, or you could be an atheist. But you had to worship Caesar as a sign of your loyalty to the state. The Christians said they would not worship Caesar, anybody, or anything, but the living God. Thus to the Roman Empire they were rebels, and it was civil disobedience. That is why they were thrown to the lions.

God’s authority alone is supreme and limits every form of human authority. When human authorities command us to disobey God, or they forbid us to do what God commands, then we must reply with Peter and John, “We must obey God rather than men” (Acts 5:29).

When we sin against God, we may not offer as an excuse that we were commanded to do so by lawful authority. This was the “Nuremberg defense” of Hitler’s associates: they claimed they were “only following orders.”

Jesus was submissive to his parents (Luke 2:51), but he did not follow them when his heavenly Father called him elsewhere (Luke 2:49).

Of course, it is almost too easy for us, when we simply disagree with an authority, to devise reasons as to why God would have us disobey. We should remember that for us God’s will is limited to Scripture, and that we need to be rigorously careful in our determinations of God’s will from Scripture.

The Bible never tells people always to obey every single command of a civil government. Instead, Paul wisely says, “Let every person be subject to the governing authorities” (Rom. 13:1). To “be subject” to a government in general does not mean that one always must obey every command of that government.

An important principle here is that individual passages of Scripture should be interpreted in the light of the whole teaching of Scripture. There are several passages in which God clearly gave approval to his people who disobeyed a government that was commanding them to carry out a sinful action.

Therefore, the teaching of all of Scripture, when rightly understood, is that God tells his people to be subject to governing authorities, but that we have no obligation to obey when the government commands us to sin (that is, to disobey something that God commands us in Scripture). No example in the Bible disproves this principle.

God does not hold people responsible to obey the civil government when obedience would mean directly disobeying a command of God himself. This principle is indicated by a number of passages in the narrative sections of the Bible.

One clear example comes from the early days of the Christian church. After Jesus had commanded the apostles to preach the gospel (see Matt. 28:19–20), the Jewish governing authority, the Sanhedrin, arrested some of them and ordered them “not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus” (Acts 4:18). But the apostles Peter and John answered, “We cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard” (v. 20), and later Peter proclaimed, “We must obey God rather than men” (Acts 5:29).

This is a clear affirmation of the principle that God requires his people to disobey the civil government if obedience would mean directly disobeying God.

Other passages also establish this. In Daniel 3:13–20, King Nebuchadnezzar commanded three Jewish men—Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego—to bow down and worship a golden statue that he had erected. But they refused and said, “We will not serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up” (v. 18). God showed his approval of their actions by rescuing them from the burning fiery furnace (vv. 19–30).

When Pharaoh commanded the Egyptian midwives to put newborn Hebrew baby boys to death, they disobeyed, and God approved of their disobedience (Ex. 1:17, 21). When it was against the law for anyone to come into the presence of King Ahasuerus without being invited, Esther disobeyed the law, risking her life to save her people, the Jews (see Est. 4:16). Daniel likewise disobeyed a law that prohibited him from praying to God (see Dan. 6:10). In addition, when King Herod commanded the wise men to return and tell him where the newborn King of the Jews was to be found, they were warned by an angel not to heed this command, so they disobeyed Herod and “departed to their own country by another way” (see Matt. 2:8, 12).

John Calvin put it this way:

But in that obedience which we have shown to be due to the authority of rulers, we are always to make this exception … that such obedience is never to lead us away from obedience to him, to whose will the desires of all kings ought to be subject.… And how absurd would it be that in satisfying man you should incur the displeasure of him for whose sake you obey men themselves! The Lord, therefore is the King of Kings.… If they command anything against him, let it go unesteemed

WORSHIP GATHERINGS ARE ESSENTIAL

I suppose the real question is but are church gatherings essential?

Now I realise that we all agree that church is essential, and that is a good thing, but what I argue is that worship gatherings are essential.

In my letter in March I wrote to you saying:

“It is a command of God, that the church meets (Hebrews 10:25). They are not given any conditions in which this command should be violated. Indeed, the believers to whom this command was written to, were enduring sufferings beyond anything we are going through. And yet the priority of meeting as far as it was possible was binding.”

The church by definition is an assembly. That is the literal meaning of the Greek word for “church”—ekklesia ( from where we get our anglicised word ecclesiastical) —the assembly of the called-out ones. A non-assembling assembly is a contradiction in terms.

Christians are therefore commanded not to forsake the practice of meeting together (Hebrews 10:25)—and no earthly state has a right to restrict, delimit, or forbid the assembling of believers. We have always supported the underground church in nations where Christian congregational worship is deemed illegal by the state.

“But private devotion or online is just as good as gathered worship.”. Many things could be said on this point but for brevity I’ll point to:

The point of the psalmist is that the Lord delights in the public worship of his gathered people (Mount Zion=Temple=Jerusalem) even more than their private worship as individuals or families (in the dwelling places of Jacob). Since the death and resurrection of Christ, in the New Testament the people of God are the living stones comprising the temple of God, built upon Christ as the chief cornerstone (1 Cor. 3:16; Eph. 2:21f; 1 Pet. 2:5). So the gates of Zion today are found wherever a true church gathers to worship to Triune God in spirit and in truth. And the Lord delights in that worship even more than all our personal devotions.

But we are to gather that’s the reason why Paul was so eager to go to Rome and fellowship with them physically (Rom 1:15)

We are a flesh and blood people, and Christianity is a flesh and blood religion. This spiritual/physical dichotomy is foreign to the Bible. We are saved body and soul.

I realise that many will not be attending in the next 4 weeks, but whatever you do I plead with you don’t forsake this precious truth. Don’t give in to the temptation of allowing gathered worship to be downplayed as an optional in the Christian Faith.

David Clarkson, lived through the great ejection and he wrote a sermon on this verse here are his conclusions:

The Lord is more glorified by public worship than private. God is glorified by us when we acknowledge that he is glorious, and he is most glorified when this acknowledgement is most public.

There is more of the Lord’s presence in public worship than in private. He is present with his people in the use of public worship in a special way: more effectually, constantly, and intimately.

God manifests himself more clearly in public worship than in private. For example, in Revelation, Christ is manifested ‘in the midst of the churches.’

There is more spiritual advantage in the use of public worship. Whatever spiritual benefit is to be found in private duties, that, and much more may be expected from public worship when rightly used.

Public worship is more edifying than private. In private you provide for your own good, but in public you do good both to yourselves and others.

Public worship is a better security against apostasy than private. He who lacks or reject public worship, whatever private means he enjoy, is in danger of apostasy.

The Lord works his greatest works in public worship. Conversion, regeneration, etc., are usually accomplished through public means.

Public worship is the nearest resemblance of heaven. In the Bible’s depictions of heaven, there is nothing done in private, nothing in secret; all the worship of that glorious company is public.

The most renowned servants of God have preferred public worship before private. The Lord did not withdraw from public ordinances, though they were corrupt. Public worship was more precious to the apostles than their safety, liberty, and lives.

Public worship is the best means for procuring the greatest mercies, and preventing and removing the greatest judgments.

The precious blood of Christ is most interested in public worship. Private worship was required of, and performed by Adam and his posterity, even in a sinless state, but the public preaching of the Gospel and the administration of the sacraments have a necessary dependence on the death of Christ.

The promises of God are given more to public worship than to private. There are more promises to public than to private worship, and even the promises that seem to be made to private duties are applicable and more powerful for public worship.

We don’t gather to tick a religious box, we gather because our gatherings are meant to inspire, instruct, propel, encourage, admonish us to Christian godliness

Church Gatherings are essential. It’s in them where we get our spiritual nourishment, through the preached Word and the “one-anothering” service and love to each other.

Answering objections

It might seem that this is a decision taken to make or prop oneself up, it isn’t, in fact this decision is one that is not going to win us any applause or standing. The easy decision to be made in this case would be the decision of not gathering.

But brothers and sisters our decisions are not to be ruled by the path of least attrition but by the word of God.

When you called me to be your pastor I swore to faithfully discharge my duties as a minister of the Word. The Word is clear!

We’ve been talking about Martin Luther a lot this past week, in the council of Worms, when asked to recant he answered:

“Unless I am convinced by the testimony of the Scriptures or by clear reason (for I do not trust either in the pope or in councils alone, since it is well known that they have often erred and contradicted themselves), I am bound by the Scriptures I have quoted and my conscience is captive to the Word of God. I cannot and will not recant anything, since it is neither safe nor right to go against conscience. May God help me. Amen”