When Obedience to God Requires Resistance to Human Authorities, Part 2

WHEN OBEDIENCE TO GOD REQUIRES RESISTANCE TO HUMAN AUTHORITIES, PART 2 

Pondering the Depths and Implications of Acts 5:29

By Pastor Brian Wilbur

Date: May 25, 2025

Series: The Book of Acts

Note: Unless otherwise noted, Scripture quotations are from The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

INTRODUCTION

Good morning and welcome to Part 2 of “When Obedience to God Requires Resistance to Human Authorities.” What we are doing in this two-part sermon series – and really this is one sermon stretched out over two Sundays – is reflecting on the depths and implications of one verse, Acts 5:29, in which our Lord’s apostles declared, “We must obey God rather than men.”

This particular message is probably going to strike you as really atypical. Last week we were grounded in Acts 5:29 along with some other verses, but this morning you might walk away from the sermon and say, ‘Man, he was all over the place this morning.’ And that would be accurate. I’m kind of in ‘application world’ and I’ll be all over the place. One helpful way of thinking about this sermon might be to understand that it is designed to encourage you and equip you to think about some really important things that you ought to be thinking about. There was an elder, who served at Durkeetown Baptist Church in Upstate New York, who was a real disciple. He is with the Lord now. But he was fond of saying that unanswered questions have more value than unquestioned answers. And the point is that God wants us to understand, internalize, and own our beliefs. If you “have” the answer but you’re not really wrestling with it and really processing it and internalizing it, what good is that? And so, I hope that these thoughts today get you thinking and get you wrestling with things that you ought to be wrestling with in light of Scriptural teaching.

Brief recap of Part 1

Obedience to God and obedience to human authorities are not always at odds. Indeed, obedience to God sometimes requires thoughtful obedience to human authorities. However, in this sinful world in which we live, obedience to God sometimes requires resistance to human authorities. When human authorities are pursuing actions that contradict, undermine, or diminish God’s authority in your life, then you have a responsibility to resist.

Of course, being able to distinguish situations where you ought to cheerfully comply with human authorities from situations where you ought to courageously resist human authorities, is a matter of wisdom, spiritual maturity, and moral discernment. Last week’s Part 1 functioned to equip you and encourage you along these lines.

My fundamental plea in these two sermons is for you to always strive to enjoy the freedom of living under God’s wise and gracious authority. It is inevitable that oppressors will come and seek to take away our freedom, but we must stand firm in the truth of the gospel and in God’s great love for us.

A PERSONAL WORD

Before I get into the content of Part 2, let me share a little bit about why this two-part sermon series is important to me. After last week’s sermon, someone emailed me a question: “Is there a situation in Maine, the US, or the world in particular that has your attention to this? Something we are expected to comply with that we shouldn't or vice versa?” Let me share with you the answer that I sent back:

“Good question. My primary concern right now is not what is happening with federal or state government (though they often give us plenty to be concerned about!), but instead what is happening in authoritarian religious contexts, both in churches and in families. Though authoritarianism may not be a widespread problem in our immediate circles, it is a problem in certain "Christian"/"church" contexts that place a disproportionate emphasis on hierarchy, authority, and order, which then is often accompanied by oppressive, overbearing, and self-serving conduct. My desire is that people discover, rediscover, or be reminded that the Christian way is that human authority is limited…, every individual has dignity and worth, leadership is about serving people, and all of us need to be governed by love. So, I am talking about these things for the primary purpose of promoting wisdom and grace in our family relationships and in our church relationships, though the principles can also be applied elsewhere.”

So I’m not here to give you a checklist or a rulebook. I’m here to promote wisdom and grace from the Scriptures.

Having gone through difficult pastoral care situations in the past two-and-a-half years, having reflected on relational dynamics within my own household, having taken seriously the need on a personal level not to be hypocritical but to first of all take the logs out of my own eye, and having spent dozens and dozens of hours listening to survivor testimonies and reading books on the topics of domestic and religious abuse, I have become really sober-minded about the painful reality of dysfunctional relationships and the destructive ways in which people seek to exert control over other people.

Far too often, people are more concerned about promoting their image and brand than they are about ministering to the hurting people in their midst. Far too often, people are more concerned about protecting their reputation than they are about sacrificing their comfort in order to protect the vulnerable. Far too often, people are more concerned about controlling the outward behavior of other people than they are about patiently caring for people’s hearts. Far too often, people are more concerned about being “right” on all the issues than they are about demonstrating practical kindness and mercy to those who are weary and heavy-laden. Far too often, people take the Bible’s doctrinal and moral boundaries, which God has given to us for our good, and they mix it up with all their interpretations, traditions, applications, and cultural preferences, and they turn it into a straitjacket: they put the straitjacket on themselves, and they attempt to put the straitjacket on everybody else, and the result is a lot of hypocrisy, play-acting, judgmentalism, criticizing and complaining, pressure and fear. The straitjacket tells everyone that there is a “right” way to do everything, and people buckle under the weight, or pin medals on their straitjacket if they are proud. Those who are immature or poorly taught wrongly assume that the straitjacket is God’s will for their lives, because they assume that “wiser” human authorities know what they are doing.

In the last seven-in-a-half years, I have preached over 300 sermons from this pulpit. And over that seven-and-half years, very little has changed in terms of my doctrinal convictions and my understanding of God’s moral boundaries for our lives. But I have been undergoing a tectonic change in terms of how I carry these convictions and how I relate to the people around me. God has brought me low, taken the wind out of my sails, shown me my powerlessness apart from Him, and picked me up again to serve Him in the freedom of knowing that He is in charge and that He is good, that His work is the work that makes the real difference, that I must surrender myself to the work that He actually wants to do, and that I must participate in His work in the manner that He prescribes.

“If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.

“Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends.” (1 Corinthians 13:1-8a)

Far too often, people have made authority and submission the defining feature of human relationships. To be sure, authority and submission, rightly understood, is a God-given and good feature of many human relationships; but it is not supposed to be the defining feature. In fact, the exercise of authority without love is exceedingly dangerous. After telling children to obey their parents (Ephesians 6:1), the Lord tells fathers not to provoke their children to anger (Ephesians 6:3). Something is profoundly wrong when fathers who provoke their children to anger are angrily insisting on their children’s obedience. After telling wives to submit to their husbands (Ephesians 5:22-24), the Lord tells husbands to love their wives sacrificially, in the same way that “Christ loved the church” (Ephesians 5:25). Something is profoundly wrong when unloving and self-serving husbands forcefully insist on their wife’s submission. Something is wrong when the person in authority excuses their own disobedience but cannot tolerate the disobedience of those who are under their authority. It is hypocritical, a double standard, unjust, and dangerous. Where is the love, the humble service, the willingness to sacrifice, the readiness to take the log out of your own eye?

In the midst of our nation’s incivility, political resentment, continual finger-pointing and always blaming others; and jockeying for power and dehumanizing people through name-calling, stereotyping, lewd entertainment, manipulative advertising, and treating people like consumer cogs in an economic machine; and the frequent failing of religious institutions amid moral scandals and abuse cover-ups, I hope something better for South Paris Baptist Church. I’m not preaching this sermon because there is a systemic problem here; I want to forestall one! I hope that we will have the kind of humility under God’s mighty hand that leads us to not take ourselves and our reputations too seriously, that leads us to confess our sins in light of God’s never-failing grace, that leads us to continually trust God’s goodness and mercy, that leads us to value the image of God in every person we meet, that leads us protect those who are most vulnerable, and that leads us to invest generously in one another so that here in this place we can experience what it means to be a garden planted by the Lord, a tenderhearted community of repentant human beings who do justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with their God (Micah 6:8).

Let me pray:

Father, I pray that you would multiply grace, mercy, and peace to us through Jesus Christ, amen.

HOW TO RESIST HUMAN AUTHORITIES

Now to Part 2. Since obedience to God sometimes requires that we put up resistance to human authorities, we need to think about how to resist. And let’s be clear: how to resist authorities that ought to be resisted requires much wisdom. Nothing I say should be taken as a formula to mindlessly follow. Nor am I attempting to be comprehensive. Each of you must exercise your personal agency and moral responsibility as you seek to discern what you must do to honor God in difficult situations. All of us should encourage, instruct, and counsel one another, and pray for and support one another, but you have to decide when and how you’re going to resist.

When you get into the thick of very difficult, heart-wrenching, and costly decisions, I’m not telling you what you must specifically do. That is for you to discern through prayer, reflection on Scripture, honest conversation with fellow believers, and a wise assessment of the circumstances and risks.

Furthermore, I want to affirm that it is good and right to seek help from all potentially helpful sources. Emergency hotlines exist for a reason. The police exist for a reason. The courts and judges and attorneys exist for a reason. The governing authorities are there to promote what is good and deter what is evil (Romans 13:1-7). Companies have HR departments and whistleblower policies for a reason. Trauma counselors exist for a reason. A good and healthy church ought to be one vital source of encouragement and support, but we are not the only place to go. Avail yourself of the many good resources that are out there.

When pondering acts of resistance to misguided human authorities, no one should recklessly apply biblical principles as if they are a magic bullet that will lead to immediate success. Daniel did get thrown in the lion’s den, though his life was preserved (Daniel 6); but that faithful preacher Stephen got stoned to death (Acts 7). Don’t be reckless, thoughtless, and naïve. Understand what you are doing. To the degree possible, make reasonable efforts to remain physically safe while you seek to discern what devotion to God looks like when wicked human authorities are troubling you. Since you are my neighbors, and since I am supposed to love you as myself, I want you to be physically safe. If you are willing to risk your physical safety, do that with eyes wide open. Even so, as important as your physical safety is, your spiritual safety is even more important. Whatever else you do, fly to the Lord for refuge and cast your burdens upon Him.

(1) Entrust yourself to God’s care

And let’s start there. The first thing you must do when contemplating resistance to human authorities is to entrust yourself and your cause to God’s care. For all who entrust themselves to the mercy and grace of Christ Jesus, the highest authority in the universe is for you. The High King of heaven leverages His authority, power, and resources for your good, because He loves you. This obviously doesn’t mean that nothing bad will happen to you. But in the hands of Jesus you are truly and everlastingly safe, and that needs to be your anchor point.

When you entrust yourself to God’s care, you are trusting the outcome to Him. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego resisted Nebuchadnezzar’s demand to bow down and worship the golden image that the pagan king had set up (Daniel 3). Their refusal meant that they would be thrown into the fiery furnace. They knew that God was able to deliver them from the fiery furnace, but whether God did or didn’t deliver them, they were resolved to remain faithful to God. They weren’t pragmatists preoccupied with a favorable short-term outcome. They were faithful servants of God who were committed to remaining true to their God. The outcome is always in God’s hands. Trust Him.

The wonderfully rich eighth chapter of Romans doesn’t promise you a life free of tribulation, distress, persecution, famine, nakedness, danger, or tragic death. What it does promise you is that those things will never be able to separate you “from the love of Christ” (Romans 8:35). Nothing in all the universe, including unjust human authorities, “will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 8:39) “If God is for us, who can be against us?” (Romans 8:31)

(2) Walk in obedience to all of God’s instruction

Second, at the level of your conduct – your words and deeds – actively obey the Lord and actively refuse to comply with corrupt and wayward acts of leadership. Even if human authorities are against you, the Holy Spirit is working in your life as you obey the Lord. Keep in step with the Holy Spirit.

Remember to keep the entire big picture of obedience in view, and don’t become too narrowly focused on the act of resistance. In situations where we are called to resist human authorities, we might get so caught up in the act of resistance that we forget the other things that God has called us to do. If you have to resist a human authority, do it, but do it God’s way, under the sway of the Holy Spirit:

“The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control” (Galatians 5:22-23).

If you have to resist a human authority, do it, but do it with a heart that is full of God’s grace:

“See that no one repays anyone evil for evil, but always seek to do good to one another and to everyone. Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” (1 Thessalonians 5:15-18)

Easier said than done, but strive to follow the Lord with all your heart.

(3) Consider whether it is good and right to explain your resistance to the human authority you are resisting, and/or to confront the wayward human authority

Third, consider whether it is good and right for you to explain your resistance to the human authority you are resisting, and/or to confront the wayward human authority. In Acts 4 and Acts 5, the apostles explained their resistance and confronted the corrupt religious leaders. They made it clear to these religious leaders that they (the religious leaders) had killed the Messiah (Acts 4:10, 5:30). And after the religious authorities told them “not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus” (Acts 4:18), Peter and John replied,

“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)

The apostles’ position was straightforward: they were paying attention to God (His words and deeds), and they would speak accordingly, regardless of what others said. Peter and John were not asserting their own preferences; they were asserting what is right and true in God’s sight. “We must obey God rather than men.” (Acts 5:29)

The example of Abigail in 1 Samuel 25:1-35

One of the most fascinating examples of resistance to human authorities is found in 1 Samuel 25:1-35. That wise woman Abigail put up a double resistance: her first resistance was to act contrary to the idiocy of her foolish husband; and her second resistance was to appeal to the anointed future king to cease and desist from his wicked plan.

As it happened, David had been anointed as the next king, but he was on the run because King Saul, the chief political authority in the land, was persecuting him. So David himself was in a position where he had to act contrary to human authority. David and his men had been acting with goodwill to the people in the region of Maon where a man named Nabal lived, and so David had sent his men to Nabal and asked for provisions. But Nabal, who was a harsh and foolish man, responded defiantly and refused to show hospitality and kindness to David. David was furious at Nabal’s refusal. So David gathered and mobilized his men, and David intended to kill Nabal and every male member of his household. Now David was a godly man, but his plan in this instance was ill-conceived. Enter Abigail, Nabal’s wise and diligent wife. Acting contrary to the will of her husband, Abigail first of all made provisions for David and his men, and secondly she made an earnest appeal to David to stay his hand and not enact punishment against Nabal and Nabal’s household. David heeded Abigail’s plea and told her:

“Blessed be the LORD, the God of Israel, who sent you this day to meet me! Blessed be your discretion, and blessed be you, who have kept me this day from bloodguilt and from working salvation with my own hand!” (1 Samuel 25:32-33)

Abigail successfully confronted the future king and facilitated a positive change in David’s conduct.

Concerning husbands and wives

There are some people out there in apparently Christian settings who hold the position that wives should never rebuke their husbands. This position is wildly unreasonable and absurd. And yet, holding that position is a convenient way for selfish men to shield themselves from criticism while at the very same time insisting that their wives show them honor and comply with their demands. A husband’s job is not to extract honor from his wife as if from a subject; his job is to be honorable, respectable, and kind, and to honor her. The Lord may lead your wife to show you honor that you don’t deserve, but that’s between her and the Lord.

Now why do I say that it is wildly unreasonable and absurd to hold the position that wives should never rebuke their husbands? My reasoning is simple: before a Christian man and Christian woman are husband and wife, they are brother and sister in the Lord. And as brother and sister in the Lord, all of Scripture’s one another commands are relevant to their relationship. The Bible says to the entire Christian community, “[Exhort] one another every day, as long as it is called “today,” that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.” (Hebrews 3:13) Only a fool of a man would hold the position that his wife, the one human being who knows him the best, who sees his blind spots, who sees his patterns of behavior, who sees his typical responses to difficulties, who sees how he treats the kids – only a fool would say to his wife, ‘You cannot speak to me frankly about any perceived deficiencies in me, you cannot make an appeal or seek to rebuke and reprove me for my failings and sins, you cannot seek to promote God’s correcting and transforming work in my life. All you can do is pray, and other than that your only recourse is to stay silent and win me without a word, like Peter said.’ And there you have it, the foolish husband twists Scripture to silence his wife and shield himself from her ministry to him. He can correct her, of course, but she can’t correct him.

Of course, if you are the sort of husband who is unwilling to hear constructive criticism from your wife, then that leaves her no choice but to attempt to win you without a word (1 Peter 3:1-6). In such a case, there is no point in the wife being preachy and nagging you all the time. But that’s no credit to you. All it means is that you are the disobedient husband that Peter was talking about! But a believing and obedient (i.e., to the Lord) husband should have no problem hearing his wife’s direct appeals. A believing and obedient husband should treat his wife better than the pagan King Ahasuerus treated Queen Esther: when Esther approached him contrary to the protocols of the royal Persian court, King Ahasuerus held out his royal scepter to Esther and offered her up to half of his kingdom (Esther 5:1-3. A Christian husband should be more magnanimous and more generous than a pagan king! A believing and obedient husband is not preoccupied with the power dynamic in his marriage, but is preeminently concerned about pleasing the Lord, knowing the truth, walking in love, and growing in grace. And he invites help, accountability, and pushback from his wife, and from his kids. His pride was crushed at the foot of the cross, and now he walks in humility and is glad to receive help from all directions.

A reality check

Please don’t misunderstand me: I’m not telling you that you must confront the human authority that is troubling you. I’m only telling you to consider it. Sometimes it may be wise, and at other times it may not be wise at all. In this vein, I need to give you all a reality check, because I don’t want anyone to rush into danger without knowing what you might be getting yourself into. When considering whether to confront and reprove wayward human authorities, remember what Scripture says:

“Whoever corrects a scoffer gets himself abuse, and he who reproves a wicked man incurs injury. Do not reprove a scoffer, or he will hate you; reprove a wise man, and he will love you. Give instruction to a wise man, and he will be still wiser; teach a righteous man, and he will increase in learning.” (Proverbs 9:7-9)

Whatever you do, do it with your eyes wide open to the risks. If you are dealing with an honorable human authority that has fallen into sin, an honorable human authority would be willing to hear your correction and reproof. But if you are dealing with a fundamentally and consistently wicked human authority, they will almost certainly retaliate against you and punish you when you call them to repent. It is not for me to pressure you to reprove scoffers and fools. You must exercise your own moral agency and discern what the Lord wants you to do.

The example of Amos Fortune

But I do want to tell you about two individuals who were not fools: Amos Fortune and his wife Violet.[1] Amos had been born a prince in Africa around the year 1710, but as a teenager he was cruelly kidnapped and sent away on the Middle Passage until he was presented for sale in Boston Harbor in 1725. Amos was purchased by a man who didn’t think that slavery was right and who treated Amos like family. As I read the Newberry Medal winning biography about Amos by Elizabeth Yates, it was evident that the Lord’s grace was upon Amos in remarkable ways. Amos had dignity and humility, and he treated others charitably. Eventually Amos was able to obtain his freedom at the age of 59. Amos was an excellent leather tanner and could make a decent living from his work.

In 1779, at the age of about 70, Amos paid the sale price of fifty pounds in order to set a woman named Violet and her daughter Celyndia free from slavery. The next day Amos and Violet were married and began a happy life together. A critical moment happened about 10 years later. Amos and Violet had been living on the property of Parson Ainsworth. Meanwhile, Amos had been saving up money and putting the bills and coins into an iron kettle, and he had his sights set on purchasing 25 acres of land for himself and his family. But Amos was also a tenderhearted, compassionate man, and there was a very needy woman in the community who, with her several children, lived in poverty. This very needy woman had shown no ability to improve herself and her situation, even though the town had attempted to help her. She was lazy and slothful. But Amos wanted to help her, and he got to thinking that he would use the money that he had saved up to buy a property for himself, and instead he could use the money to buy this other woman a house and give her family a fresh start.

But Amos’s wife Violet thought that this was a very bad idea. The biographer Elizabeth Yates writes, “Never in her life before had she questioned what Amos did, but he had given her freedom when he made her his wife, and she was determined to use her freedom now.”[2] So, Violet took the iron kettle with the money in it, and hid it out in the field in a place where no one would find it. When Amos discovered what had happened, he obviously wasn’t happy, and the two of them had a frank conversation. The previously happy home was temporarily beset by tension and grief, and this led Amos to take an overnight hike into the mountains in order to hear from God. When Amos returned, he had a change of heart and was resolved to use the money to buy a property for himself, his wife, and his daughter. Unbeknownst to Amos, Violet had already returned the iron kettle to its normal place, as Violet had decided that she wouldn’t hide the money any longer, but would return it to her husband. Now I say all of that, in order to tell you what Amos then told his wife: “It [the money] belongs to us both, and you were right to guard it.” Do you see how the good man Amos Fortune regarded the actions of his wife? Not as insubordinate, not as unruly, not as sinful, not as arising from a rebellious Jezebel spirit, but as right. Violet was right to guard what was theirs. And off they went together to purchase the twenty-five acres of land.

Let those who have ears to hear understand what it means to put humility, patience, teachability, and love in the center of every human relationship.

And by the way, let me tell you how I learned about this story. I have read the entire book now, and it is a beautiful book, but that’s not how I learned about this story. I learned about this story because Charlotta pulled a Violet on me! And it was very effective, and I’m pleased to say that it facilitated my repentance. And then I wanted to read the book for myself, and I did. It’s a beautiful book.

It is okay to flee from oppressive human authorities

Fourth, it is okay to flee from oppressive human authorities, whether they be political, religious, or domestic. There is a paradox when it comes to persecution and oppression. On the one hand, we are willing to humbly suffer persecution as a result of our courageous faith in Jesus Christ and because of the work He has called us to do. And yet, on the other hand, it is often appropriate, prudent, or even necessary to flee persecution. I can’t give you a formula for figuring out when to remain and suffer, and when to flee the suffering. There are multiple factors to weigh, including the likelihood of making a successful escape; whether you can accomplish more good by staying or by leaving; how your decision to stay or leave will affect other people, especially children; and, of course, the intangible sense of what you sense the Lord is prompting you to do. But it is important to know that fleeing from oppressive authorities, and helping others to do so, is an honorable path.

The Lord orchestrated jailbreaks for the apostles in Acts 5 and for Peter in Acts 12. David fled his oppressor, King Saul. Jesus “went away” from the angry people in Nazareth who were attempting to kill him (Luke 4:28-30). Some of Paul’s students helped him escape from Damascus, where his enemies were seeking to kill him: “[they] took him by night and let him down through an opening in the wall, lowering him in a basket.” (Acts 9:25) Shortly thereafter, the Christians took Paul away from Jerusalem, where people “were seeking to kill him” (Acts 9:29).

There is a time to endure oppression, and there is a time to escape from it.

A WORD OF APPLICATION TO SOUTH PARIS BAPTIST CHURCH

Finally, let me say a word of application to our congregation. I have preached this two-part sermon series with the intention that you apply these principles and applications within the context of your actual relationships, and that includes your relationships here at South Paris Baptist Church.

By God’s grace, I perceive a lot of health here within our church family, a lot of love for one another, and a lot of freedom to serve the Lord with our gifts. May God’s grace continue and increase all the more in our midst! But I do want to share a line of thought that needs to be spoken.

Some time ago someone with concern told me that he had heard somebody else refer to South Paris Baptist Church as ‘Brian’s church’. Now I have no idea the attitude or intent with which the words were spoken. Sometimes people do rather innocently identify a local church by the name of its pastor. Be that as it may, I do want to state categorically that this church is not my church. This pulpit is not my pulpit. This organism and organization called South Paris Baptist Church is not my business venture. This church is the church of God. This church is headed by the Lord Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit is the One who equips and mobilizes the members of this church for Christian ministry. This pulpit belongs to the Word of God.

In saying this, I do not deny the legitimate leadership responsibility and influence that pastors and elders have. But if we pastors and elders are worth our salt, then we want you to obey God rather than men; we want you to be equipped and encouraged to obey God rather than human authorities; we want you to demonstrate loyalty to God and His Word, not to us; we want you to be the kind of people who will stand against us when we are in the wrong.

As a pastor, I want you to be convinced and transformed by what Scripture says, not by what I say. And therefore you need to be deeply immersed in the Scriptures, and you need to be discerning and thoughtful hearers of sermons, so that you can weigh what is said and make sure that what is said from this pulpit aligns with the Word of God.

In the same vein, it is good for you to think carefully about leadership decisions or recommendations, to ask questions and express concerns, and to discern if leadership decisions or recommendations are wise applications of biblical principles and biblical priorities. The kind of unity that we want to have as a congregation is not a uniformity and group-think unity that comes about because everyone feels pressured by high-control leaders to get in line. That is not the profile of a healthy New Testament church. Rather, in a healthy New Testament Church, Christ Himself is the center of gravity; humble and honest engagement with the Scriptures is the pathway to transformation; kindness and respect prevail throughout the congregation amid the many differences and maturity levels that members have; and the whole thing works properly because all of us are increasingly in the habit of displaying sacrificial love to one another.

Earlier in the sermon I said that some people make the whole issue of authority and submission the defining feature of relationships, and sometimes this is done in church settings. Recently I came across comments online that someone in another church had made about church life: “Church is about following the leadership that’s in charge…. The pastor sets the agenda, and says, “This is what we’re doing, and everybody falls in line.”” That’s not right. As a paradigm for church life, that is not right. A local church is not like the children of Israel being led by Moses through the wilderness to the plains of Moab: God met with Moses, and Moses relayed God’s words to the people, and the people were responsible to follow God’s will as revealed through Moses. Moses was a pivotal figure appointed by God during a formative stage in God’s plan of redemption. Moses prefigured the greater Deliverer who would one day come to lead a greater exodus, not out of Egypt, but out of sin and death. Christian pastors are not patterned after Moses. Christian pastors are not ‘the Lord’s anointed ones’. Christian pastors have no special access to God’s throne room. Christian pastors teach from a publicly available resource (the Bible) to which you all have access. Christian pastors are not mediators between God and their congregations.

“[There] is one mediator between God and men [i.e., people], the man Christ Jesus” (1 Timothy 2:5). There is one God and Father, one Lord and Savior, one Spirit and Counselor. High-control religion operates on the principle that the higher-ups get to interpret and dictate God’s will for your life. High-control religion keeps ordinary people stuck in immaturity, self-doubt, fear, and bondage to human authorities. In high-control religion, the leaders say, ‘We obey God; you obey us; and when you obey us, you are obeying God.’ That’s rubbish, and that’s dangerous. In high-control religion, the leaders intimidate, threaten, and punish their desired subjects, just like the religious leaders did to the apostles in Acts 4-5. If high-control pastoral pressure is what keeps a congregation together, I want absolutely nothing to do with it. If congregational unity is achieved because everyone feels compelled to fall in line with the pastor, I want absolutely nothing to do with it. In high-control church settings, the senior leader is indispensable. In New Testament Christianity, Jesus is indispensable. In high-control church settings, the senior leader’s words are indispensable. In New Testament Christianity, God’s words are indispensable.

Wise pastors and elders want everyone in the congregation to be well-taught, confident in the Lord, strong in His grace, and well-equipped to be faithful contributors to the church family. In New Testament Christianity, church leaders say what Paul said to the church in Corinth:

“Not that we lord it over your faith, but we work with you for your joy, for you stand firm in your faith.” (2 Corinthians 1:24)

Pagan leaders lord it over their subjects (Luke 22:25). Jesus said: “But no so with you. Rather, let the greatest among you become as the youngest, and the leader as one who serves.” (Luke 22:26) In New Testament Christianity, the aim of church leaders isn’t to get congregants to serve them so that their leadership is glorified; instead, the aim of church leaders is to serve congregants so that they are strong in the Lord, so that the entire body of believers is resilient and radiant in the light of the Lord, and so that Christ is glorified. In New Testament Christianity, church leaders marvel at God’s work in and through the congregation, and will say things like what Paul said to the church in Rome:

“I myself am satisfied about you, my brothers, that you yourselves are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge and able to instruct one another.” (Romans 15:14)

Brothers and sisters, it is time to reclaim the grand truth that each and every believer in Jesus Christ is a priest unto God: as priests, we worship our God, offer spiritual sacrifices, bring our praises and petitions before the throne of grace, and declare the incomparable worth and excellence of our Redeemer (see 1 Peter 2:4-10 regarding our being a holy and royal priesthood). And in terms of our identity as holy and royal priests, no one ranks higher than anyone else. What freedom and joy and purpose and mutuality and love would descend upon us, if we would take these things to heart. So then, let us be all the more resolved to obey God rather than men, and to glorify Christ rather than human authorities: 

“To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood and made us a kingdom, priests to his God and Father, to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.” (Revelation 1:5b-6)

ENDNOTES

[1] The information in these few paragraphs is drawn from Elizabeth Yates, Amos Fortune: free man. New York: Puffin Books, 2007 (originally published in 1950). See especially pages 128-145.

[2] Ibid., p. 129.