“But Peter and the apostles answered, "We must
obey God rather than men.””
(Acts
5:29 ESV)
After
Jesus ascended into heaven, and after the Holy Spirit empowered the apostles,
they faithfully proclaimed the gospel.
But, just as the ministry of Jesus brought the ire of Jewish leadership,
so too did their ministry. The activity
of the apostles was seen as something to be stopped.
After
Peter and John healed the lame beggar in Acts 3, and after Peter preached to
the crowd that assembled, they were arrested.
We’re told that the captain of the temple and the Sadducees came upon
them, greatly annoyed because they were teaching the people and proclaiming in
Jesus the resurrection of the dead.
The next
day, they stood before the high priest along with the rulers, scribes, and the
elders. Fearing that word of this
miracle, and the message of the apostles, would spread among the people, they
commanded the apostles to no longer speak or teach in the name of Jesus. Peter and John replied to them, saying
(Acts:19-20) : “Whether it is right in
the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God you must judge, for we
cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard.”
In Acts
5, we see that the apostles were once again arrested. And they were reminded of the order that had
been given them. The high priest said to
them (Acts 5:28): “We strictly charged
you not to teach in this name, yet here you have filled Jerusalem with your
teaching, and you intend to bring this man's blood upon us.” Peter and the apostles
then answered him, as we see in the above verse, by saying they must obey God
rather than men.
For many
years in this nation, the church has had freedom. When it came to obedience to the Lord and the
state, the two have not been mutually exclusive. Obeying the Lord did not mean disobeying
men. It did not mean acting in
disobedience to our government leaders. And
obeying the government did not mean violating the will of God. But it seems
this is now changing.
The
freedom experienced by congregations hasn’t changed…yet. However, we are seeing
changes when it comes to individual believers.
We are told that we must lay aside our faith and act according to the
conscience and the morals of American society.
Christian
bakers have been told that they must bake cakes for homosexual weddings. One such couple was forced to close their
business after being fined $135,000 and issued a gag order when it came to
speaking about their views regarding gay marriage. A similar case is also taking place in
Colorado.
We’ve
also seen Christian business owners being required to provide abortion services
and birth control in their health insurance even when it violates their
faith. We’re being told that the freedom
of religion doesn’t apply to individuals in our nation, but only to churches.
I expect
that we’ll see more and more of this as time goes on. The American people no longer seem able to
stomach Biblical teaching and values.
And it seems that our government and courts will stop at nothing to
force Christians to adopt their judgments and values.
Like the
apostles, we may be forced to make a choice.
We may have to choose whether we’ll obey the government and disobey God,
or to obey God and disobey the government.
And, like the apostles, I pray we’ll make the right choice.
That
being said, if it comes to this, we must be prepared to face the consequences
of our disobedience. We may face
harassment by our neighbors. We may face
fines. We may face the loss of our businesses and homes. We may face arrest and imprisonment. But these things in no way compare with the
blessing God has in store for his faithful.
And what an opportunity it provides for the people of God to share Jesus
and the hope we have in him.
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