Posts Tagged ‘fear of man’

“The High View of God” was the theme one year while I was teaching for Bible Study Fellowship. I remember how impressed I was throughout the year with the sovereignty, the wisdom, and the power of God, all clearly visible through His Word.

As we have been going through these months of sheltering in place for COVID 19 and now the rioting in our nation in the wake of the death of George Floyd, I am looking for the fruit of a high view of God from Christians across this nation.

We often quote Peter as he spoke to the Sadducees in Acts 5:29 that “we ought to obey God rather than man.” It must be that we often forget that a couple of verses later the scriptures tell us that the Sadducees were furious and wanted to kill them (Acts 5:33) because today, it seems, that if we make someone angry (furious, no less) we want to apologize for our stance and restate our views as nicely (weakly) as possible.

In Acts 5 a respected man stepped forward and spoke reason to the furious men and they stepped back. Peter never changed his stance of obeying God by speaking the truth of what he knew of Christ. His view of God was higher than his view of man.

Do American Christians have a higher view of civil government than we do of our God? The word of God should inform our understanding for what government roles are in every sphere of our lives (as it seems they want to control every sphere of them now).

Many point to Romans 13 saying that we should do whatever the government asks us, no push-back or questioning of their authority. This week my Pastor said, “In Romans 13 we (Christians) see it only as an obligation to the believer but we should also see it as a limitation to the civil government.”

He went on to explain that we have a responsibility to submit to governing magistrates when they are acting as “God’s minister for good,” or as His “avenger to execute wrath on him who practices evil” (Romans 13:4).  As we know, God defines “evil,” not the civil government.

We also have a responsibility to clearly (and peacefully) express to the government, and maybe even defy them, if we believe they have overstepped their authority.  They are as responsible to uphold the law of God as we are…even if they do not have a high view of God or His law. According to God they, like everyone else, are accountable to Him even if they deny it.

Understanding that there are possible consequences to our actions, we need to consider what we are saying and doing with regard to God’s law and our civil magistrates. We can comply with government edicts that do not defy God’s Word and still take a stance for the Lord when they do defy Him.

Recently, many Christians have stood against God and for their government by agreeing that healthy people should be quarantined (Numbers 5:1-4) and by refusing to gather as believers to worship and fellowship knowing God commands otherwise (Hebrews 10:25).

Many of us stayed home, wore masks, and kept our  “social distance,” agreeing with what was happening and screaming if anyone suggested we should obey God’s Word rather than trusting each other to be personally responsible and stay home, wear a mask, and/or keep our social distance if we had symptoms of the virus.

It has been apparent for many weeks that even though this corona virus was very serious for those who caught it, it was not as easily spread as originally suggested.*

Governing ourselves is a priority for those who have a high view of God. He emphasizes the importance of “self-government” and gives us the power of His Spirit in us to exercise it.  When we are “self-governed” (which means nothing more than exercising self-control), when we believe that God’s Word is greater than any other work or research done, when we truly trust that we need not fear, then we can be that one who speaks the truth and reason.

We will never be rid of illness and death in this life. Praise our great and awesome God that He has a place of no illness and death when He takes us from here. He will take us all from here at some point. When He does, will He find us choosing to  obey Him or to obey man?

This will be determined by whom we fear more, man or God.

*https://www.theblaze.com/news/asymptomatic-coronavirus-carriers-rarely-spread?utm_content=buffer868c4&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=facebook&utm_campaign=fb-glennbeck&fbclid=IwAR0Qe8xO-2XiIS6cx7gptlJ9vdFmEtHyuuT6e1nL1dn3POYSeyuzPsJZkZM