Wed PM 8/4/21
Notes
Transcript
Thoughts from our missionaries are so important. They see what we have sometimes been de-sensitized to!
Read letter from Bill Hawk
These things are so because there is no fear nor respect for God’s authority and by default then for other governing authorities.
The other trouble is that human authorities have no respect for God’s laws nor authority. These people are consumed by trying to wriggle out from underneath God’s laws. They fight, scheme, lie, and commit atrocities so they can become people of influence and power whom can legalize what God calls lawlessness. They don’t believe nor care that their responsibility as authorities is to uphold and hold people accountable to God’s standard. Lets’ have a look at Rom 13.
Rom 13
Rom 13
v2 “whoever resist authorities resists what God has appointed.” We should never, never disobey any laws that are Biblical or immoral. God appointed these things. A time is rapidly coming when we must disobey our rulers. Lawlessness pervades our governments. Ruling authorities are actively rebelling against God by leading people in rebellion against God’s good laws.
v.3
3 For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive his approval, 4 for he is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God’s wrath on the wrongdoer. 5 Therefore one must be in subjection, not only to avoid God’s wrath but also for the sake of conscience.
What if the authority is evil? What will we receive from that authority? What will our peers think when we rebel against authority? Are we as the church prepared to act graciously and lovingly to those of our members who refuse to obey government? Can we engage in loving, “Help me understand” conversations with our brothers and sisters?
6 For because of this you also pay taxes, for the authorities are ministers of God, attending to this very thing. 7 Pay to all what is owed to them: taxes to whom taxes are owed, revenue to whom revenue is owed, respect to whom respect is owed, honor to whom honor is owed.
We pay taxes because we desire and need our government uphold God’s standards. God’s people hate lawlessness. I found Nate’s point on Sunday interesting that Christians, more than any other group, have a strong dislike for the political party that they oppose. I fear, as I think Nate does, that this dislike is based on a wrong Gospel (the US is God’s saving gift to the world!) Christians though who fear God should have a strong dislike for the wicked actions of all people who are opposed to God, but are willing to pray for their salvation and should opportunity arise, have Gospel conversations with them.
I think the basis for Bill Hawk’s surprise is based, in part, in...
11 Besides this you know the time, that the hour has come for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed. 12 The night is far gone; the day is at hand. So then let us cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light. 13 Let us walk properly as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and sensuality, not in quarreling and jealousy. 14 But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.
These evil actions used to be repressed by our governing authorities and by the Christians who feared God and boldly upheld His standards. Certainly these evils used to take place under the cover of darkness. Publicly, these wicked deeds were scorned, privately, they were embraced. Today, lawlessness is so commonplace during the light of day that there is little scorn, little accountability, and little shame in doing these deeds. In fact those who do these deeds are embraced as heroes of modern thought.
We need to pray for our neighbors & fellow citizens to love Godly authority. We need to pray for our own governor and those who should be holding him accountable for his own evil deeds. We need to pray that, should God enact justice, another God-spurning governor does not fill the void.
