Strong and Gentle
When is it okay to disobey human authorities?
For some of us, this is an extremely uncomfortable question to ask. I believe we have to remember two important truths.
We are Citizens of Heaven.
First, we are foreigners in a foreign land now. You’ve had your citizenship transferred to a new country. In Christ, you are citizens of the Kingdom of Heaven. Your first priority is not to obey your nation or tribe but instead your God. If the United States passes a law forcing you to worship an idol, would you? No, of course not! Why? Because that is against what law? God’s Law.
I used to work in a print shop. I would sweep the floors, clean the printing press, grab these huge stacks of paper, and feed them into the press to print hundreds, sometimes thousands, of flyers or notes. I worked part-time, but sometimes on a Friday, I’d get called in to help because we’d be behind on the print jobs and needed to meet the project demand in time before the weekend arrived.
Since then, I've left that job, and now I work as a pastor at a church.
Now, if my old boss reached out to me and said, “Hey Scott, I know you aren’t an employee anymore and are on assignment with a new boss right now… But I order you to come in immediately because we’re super behind schedule.” What should I do? Do I leave my work and obey? Of course not. Why? Because that’s not where my loyalties lie. I’m no longer an employee there. I don’t obey that boss; I have a new boss. While I might do my best to serve in whatever way I can, the simple truth of the matter is that he is no longer my boss. It’s not that what I’m doing now is more or less important than what I was doing then, the point I’m hoping you hear is this: I have a new authority in my life that I am accountable to.
Way too many Christians get caught up in believing that some political party, some philosophy, or some way of doing things is worth our allegiance when the reality is that our allegiance is to the good news of Jesus and the Kingdom of God!
As my friend Jason Caine has so eloquently put it before,
“We are not going to let politicians we don’t know make us hate people we do know.” - Jason Caine
We are citizens of Heaven. God is our authority and we owe allegiance to him above all else. He has called us to love one another and to show grace, mercy, and forgiveness. Yet there is another truth that’s important to know.
God is in Control of Who Is in Control.
So many of those who confess Jesus as Lord and Savior are actually eager to disobey authority in our world today. This worries me, for I do not know if they are eager to disobey human authority for the sake of the Gospel, or for the sake of their personal preferences.
The underground church in the world at large disobeys human authority at great cost. In some countries in the Middle East, you can legally change your religion from Christianity to Islam, but you cannot legally change your religion from Islam to Christianity.
Imprisonment and death are just a few of the privileges that Christians in those places experience. They face persecution daily, some spreading the gospel in hushed tones in basements. Many have been and still are being martyred for their faith in Jesus.
Too many Christians are eager to fight but not to witness.
This is why Scripture says in 1 Peter…
"But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect, keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander.” - 1 Peter 3:15-16
I believe God wants us to become gentle in conduct and strong in conviction. He wants us to be tough and tender.
“…some believers have enemies because they lack love and patience, and not because they are faithful in their witness. There is a difference between sharing in ‘the offense of the cross’ (Gal. 5:11; 6:12-15) and being an offensive Christian!” - Warren Wiersbe
God is in control of who is in control.
Our response when God gets us in and out of trouble is to do what we have historically done for thousands of years now: stand and preach the Gospel to the people.
