1 Peter 2:13-17 ESV
“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.”
As a general rule, we who believe in Jesus Christ are to be
people of God who obey our governing authorities – who obey the laws of the
land. We stop at red lights and at stop signs, and we yield when the sign says
to yield, and we slow down when the light turns yellow. And we pay our taxes if
taxes are due. And if we are on lockdown because of a virus, we comply. And we
drive the speed limit and we do not willfully disobey the laws of the land. But
there are exceptions to this rule.
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were ordered to bow down to
a statue or be thrown in a fiery furnace. Since God is the only one they
worshipped and bowed down to, they refused, and they were thrown in the fiery
furnace. But Jesus was with them in that furnace and they did not get burned
but they came out alive. Daniel was ordered to stop praying to his God but he
refused and he continued to pray where he could be seen, which was his
practice, and so he was thrown into a den of lions. But God rescued him.
The disciples were ordered to stop speaking in the name of
Jesus, and they refused saying, “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” (Acts 4:19-20). So there are exceptions to having
to obey the governing authorities, and mainly they are those situations where
the governing (or church) authorities command that we disobey our God and that
we sin against him. We never have to obey sin. We never have to do anything
that is immoral like telling a lie in order to obey the law of the land.
So, it is important that we understand this for many
Christians are worshiping governing authorities. In America we were taught
early on to put hand over heart and to pledge (vow) allegiance (faithfulness,
loyalty) to our government. That is government worship. That is not about just
obeying the laws of the land. And so many people are following government heads
and church leaders blindly because they are convinced they have to. But we are
to be people of discernment and we are to be those who test these people
against the Scriptures, and we don’t follow those who are not following Jesus
Christ with their lives.
For there are many wolves in sheep’s clothing out there.
They are many charlatans, liars, deceivers, manipulative, charmers, and entertainers
who captivate the people with their charming ways, and so many people follow
them blindly like those who would follow the pied piper to their deaths. But here
we need to understand the times in which we live.
Read Revelation 13. It has it down pretty well. For there is
a beast rising which has authority to make war on the saints and to conquer
them and to deceive the minds of many people. And then there is a second beast
which makes the earth and its inhabitants worship the first beast, and those
who refuse are slain. And this brings to mind what I already mentioned, and
that is from early childhood, not only in the public schools were we trained in
government worship, but also in the gatherings of the church. So the
institutional church got us to worship the government.
And worship goes way beyond just obeying the laws of the
land. It is, in this case, blind loyalty to other humans who do not have the
mind of God and may even be part of this beast network. I know that the US
government serves this beast and that our de facto government is not who we see
on television, for they are just puppets. But our de facto government, who are
the ones ruling the world, in truth, are a group of people of prominence and
wealth and power and influence in the world. And they are the ones who are
making the decisions for the people of the world.
So, just know that we live in a day and age of great
deception and not everyone is who he claims to be, and we are to bow down to
and worship God alone. And there is so much evil going on right now behind the
scenes and we just can’t trust most people to be who they say they are, sadly.
So we need to be people of discernment who test whatever we hear from the
mouths of preachers and teachers and government heads and the news media and
big pharma, etc. so that we are not deceived.
And we are to live as though we have been set free from our
slavery to sin and not as people who use their freedom as a cover-up for evil,
which many are doing today, claiming God’s grace covers all their deliberate
and habitual sin against God. And we are to live as servants of the Lord Jesus,
doing what he says to do, no longer making sin our practice, but now we are to make
righteousness and obedience to our Lord what we practice. And we are to be
people who fear God, who revere and respect him and who honor him with our
lives. And please be people of discernment and test everything.
Testing what we hear:
The Prayer
Written by David Foster, Carole Bayer Sager,
Alberto Testa and Tony Renis
I pray you'll be our eyes
And watch us where we go
And help us to be wise
In times when we don't know
Let this be our prayer
When we lose our way
Lead us to a place
Guide us with your grace
To a place where we'll be safe.
I pray we'll find your light
And hold it in our hearts
When the stars go out each night
Remind us where you are.
Let this be our prayer
When shadows fill our day
Lead us to a place
Guide us with your grace
To a place where we'll be safe.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cqFCbtRz1Z0
Caution: This link may contain ads
P.S. This is not an endorsement of the singers other than as
musicians
No comments:
Post a Comment