A sermon on Christianity and civil government
1. One of the most well known verses in the book of Acts is Acts 5:29.
2. Peter and the apostles made their beliefs very clear to the religious rulers.
3. They said if they forced to choose between obeying God or men, they would obey God.
BECAUSE OF THE CURRENT WAR, THERE IS A LOT OF
ATTENTION BEING GIVEN TO GOVERNMENTS AND THEIR CITIZENS.
A. In this country, there have been recent examples of civil disobedience.
B. Two of the most interesting demonstrations happened only a few days ago.
C. 2 recipients of the Nobel Peace Prize were arrested for demonstrating by the White House.
2. The information in Acts 5:29 provides us with information regarding Christianity & governments.
A. The first point to draw from this verse is that governments have power which comes from God.
B. We are hearing how governments have “no right” to do this or that.
C. The apostles, while speaking for God, indicated that governments do have certain rights.
D. In fact, civil authority has a great deal of authority from God.
E. Rom. 13:1 says civil authority is “ordained of God.”
3. It may be said that governments have no limits on their authority unless they violate God’s will.
4. This is the problem in Acts 5:29.
5. Peter and the apostles didn’t go around preaching against the government.
6. They only objected when the government asked them to violate God’s will.
7. The power of a government is similar to the authority we have.
A. If we are a Christian, what are we entitled to do?
B. We can do anything that does not violate God’s revealed will.
C. In the secular realm we may do whatever the government does not forbid.
D. A similar point is true concerning the authority possessed by civil government.
E. It has a full range of powers to do what needs done.
8. There are times when governments try or go beyond their God given authority.
9. An excellent example of this is found in Acts 5.
A. God told the apostles to preach.
B. In fact, heaven brought these men from a jail cell so they could continue the work.
C. The rulers wanted the preaching to stop; God wanted it to continue.
D. There was a conflict of wills and the rulers refused to budge.
10. When there are times when we must chose between God’s will & the will of a man or government,
11. We must choose the path given by God.
12. In this country we are rarely called upon to choose between God and government.
13. It is almost always the case that we are presented with a different situation.
14. What we normally find in America is willful disobedience to civil authority.
15. In other words, people decide to purposely oppose civil government.
16. This choice, even if the intentions are good, is wrong.
A. In Rom. 13 Paul told Christians to “submit” to civil authority.
B. We must submit in every instance unless we are asked to violate God’s will.
C. We may not like what our government does.
D. We may not approve of what it does.
E. We may want to object and we can object.
F. In all cases we must submit unless there is an attempt to force us into an act which is sinful.
G. This principle was true even in Old Testament times.
17. When the Hebrews were in Egyptian captivity they received an order.
18. The Pharaoh told them to kill all the male children.
19. This instruction came from the government but it was inconsistent with God’s will.
20. The midwives could not follow both commands and they had to make a choice.
21. Using the principle from Acts 5, they followed God’s will.
22. All of this information is pretty basic and probably known to most who are here.
THEREFORE, FOR THE BULK OF TONIGHT’S TIME, I WANT TO CONSIDER WITH YOU SOME THINGS WHICH ARE NOT SO WELL KNOWN.
A. I want to zero in on the word “obey” in Acts 5:29.
B. This is a key word which is crucial to understanding and applying this passage.
C. In the New Testament there are two main words which mean “obey.”
2. The first of these words is “hupotasso.”
A. This is a word which occurs in passages which are familiar to us.
B. In fact, this is the most common word in the New Testament to describe obedience.
C. It first occurs in Lk. 2:51.
D. Jesus was “subject” to Mary and Joseph.
E. That is, He was obedient.
F. The second time the word occurs in the New Testament is Lk. 10:17.
G. The demons were “subject” (obedient) to the Lord’s people.
H. This is the word Paul used in Rom. 13:1 concerning governing officials.
I. The text says let every soul be “subject” to the “high powers” (civil rulers).
3. In the Corinthian letter this word is applied to the Holy Spirit.
4. Paul said the “spirits of the prophets” are subject (under the control) of prophets.
5. In verse 34 of 1 Cor. 14 this word is applied to Christian women in a public setting.
6. There is a time when they need to be in “subjection.”
7. All things have been “subjected” (same word) to Christ (1 Cor. 15:28).
8. This is the same term Paul used in Eph. 1:22 when he said the church is “subject” to Christ.
9. It is used in Col. 3:18 in regard to a wife’s relationship to her husband.
10. It is applied to Christians and their relationship with God in Jas. 4:7.
11. It is the word which describes servants and their relationship to masters in 1 Pet. 2:18.
12. This word has the ideas of yielding, subordination, subjection, and obedience.
13. It may be described as being “under” someone.
14. This term means that we know and accept our rank (role) in society.
15. There are, as I noted, plenty of places where this term is applied to Christians.
16. To us, the concepts of subject, obedience, and yielding to another may not be new news.
17. In the first century this was a brand new thought.
18. Hupotasso was basically a New Testament word.
19. The idea of people having and keeping their place was a new thought in Paul’s day.
20. Even now this is a “new concept” because many in our society believe that everything goes.
21. People do not want to be told there is a place for them and they need to fulfill their role.
22. Men want to be women; women want to be men; things are mixed up.
23. Hupotasso says that we have a role (function) and we are to fulfill it.
24. This is an important term but it is not the word used in Acts 5:29.
THERE IS A SECOND WORD IN THE NEW TESTAMENT WHICH ALSO CONTAINS THE IDEAS OF OBEDIENCE AND SUBJECTION.
A. This is the term used in Acts 5:29 and a few other places:
B. Acts 5:32; 27:21; Tit. 3:1.
C. This second term is compound word.
D. The first part of the term has the ideas of “influence, persuade, convince.”
E. The second part of the word describes authority, magistrate, or superiority.”
F. When the 2 parts are combined the idea is submitting or obeying a person who has authority.
2. This definition is very helpful.
3. Who are Christians to obey? Who are we to listen to?
4. We have no business listening to and obeying any crackpot who claims to be an expert.
5. The word in Acts 5:29 means we are obligated to obey those with authority.
6. We need to obey those who have power and superiority.
7. If this were the only guideline we could easily be exposed to dangerous situations.
8. In God’s wisdom there is an additional point about submitting to those who have authority.
9. We obey those in authority unless the power giving us instructions asks us to violate scripture.
10. This is precisely what we find in Acts 5:29.
11. Would the apostles have obeyed the rulers? Yes.
12. Being Christians they wanted to obey and they were ready to obey.
13. However, they were incapable of being obedient because officials asked them to violate God’s will.
14. The word which is used is extremely helpful in understanding how we respond to civil authority.
15. When we know where else this term is used our knowledge is broadened even further.
A. After Acts 5:29 this term appears in Acts 5:32 – READ.
B. The word “obey” is the same in verses 29 and 32.
C. Tonight is not the time to try and sort out what verse 32 means.
D. Suffice it to say that the general idea is that God is pleased.
E. If God gave His spirit to obedient people He must have been happy with them.
16. God has the ultimate authority and He requires us to always obey Him.
17. When we can obey both heaven’s rules and the restrictions of our governments, we need to obey both.
18. If we are forced to choose between the two, we must always choose God’s will.
19. Acts 5:32 tells us
that making such a choice will always be right.
20. Let’s take a look at another place where this second word is found.
A. Our next passage both offers another illustration of what the word means + application.
B. The text is Acts 27:21.
C. Paul was on board a ship.
D. The conditions (verse 4) were not ideal.
E. Sailing was slow (verse 7) and the voyage became dangerous (verse 9).
F. It was so bad Paul spoke about the conditions – verse 10 – READ.
21. The people in charge should have listened to Paul but they didn’t.
22. Verse 11 – READ.
23. Things got so bad cargo was tossed overboard (verse 18).
24. All hope finally vanished (verse 20).
25. Now we are ready for verse 21 – READ.
A. The word “hearkened” is identical to the term used in Acts 5:29, 32.
B. I previously said this word contains the sense of authority.
C. From Paul’s experiences on the sea he was not a novice. He was experienced at sea travel.
D. Experience made him, to some degree, an “authority.”
E. He may have also received a divine message from God about the voyage.
F. Paul said his judgment should have been listened to and obeyed.
G. The people did listen but didn’t obey and they paid the consequences.
H. Both meanings of this word (authority and obedience) are found in Acts 27:21.
26. This account can be directly related to the Christian life.
27. We must listen to and do (obey) what God says.
28. This is precisely what we find in Acts 5, though it made the officials angry.
29. Earlier I noted that this word is found 4 times in the New Testament.
30. We have looked at three of the places where it occurs.
A. We are now ready for the final passage.
B. This is found in the book of Titus – Tit. 3:1.
C. This text is somewhat similar to Acts 5:29 because it deals with rulers and authorities.
D. READ. Tit. 3:1.
31. God tells us to “be in subjection” (same word) to those who are in power.
32. This word indicates that governments have power and we need to obey local and national leaders.
33. The person who is a Christian wants to obey the government and does obey.
34. A true child of God is not like the Noble Peace prize winners who got arrested.
35. We may protest and register objections but we always work within the law.
36. The only time we go outside the law is if we are being forced to violate God’s will.
37. At a time when our nation is seeing people engage in civil disobedience we can set the standard.
38. We can also share the information from Acts 5:29 with others.
39. Within the last 2 weeks a non-Christian asked me about “my belief” and civil government.
40. The person who is a New Testament Christian can answer this question.
41. Tonight we hope that you are a Christian.