Bold Faith: Obeying God Amidst Human Authority

“Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John and perceived that they were uneducated and untrained men, they marveled, and they realized that they had been with Jesus. And seeing the man who had been healed standing with them, they could say nothing against him, but when they had commanded them to go aside of the counsel they conferred amongst themselves saying, ‘What should we do with these men for indeed that a notable miracle has been done through them is evident to all who dwell in Jerusalem, and we cannot deny it. [00:00:01]

But so that it spreads no further among the people let us severely threaten them that from now on they speak to no man in this name.’ So they called them and commanded them not to speak at all nor teach in the name of Jesus, but Peter and John answered and said to them, ‘Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you more than to God, you judge, for we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard.’ [00:00:51]

And so when they had further threatened them they let them go, finding no way of punishing them because of the people, since they had all glorified God for what had been done. For the man was over forty years old on whom this miracle of healing had been performed.” Let us pray. O Father, give us ears to hear of the boldness of Peter and John before this august body of authority and instruct us by thy Spirit on how we are to act in similar circumstances. [00:01:30]

Back in the eighteenth century the philosopher Montesquieu, when he wrote his book The Spirit of the Laws said that the maintenance of all forms of tyranny depends and relies upon the ability of the government to keep the people afraid. That’s why you have purges. That’s why you have secret police. That’s why you have mass execution in nations that follow that sort of regiment. And what Montesquieu said was that it only takes one person, one Lech Walesa with enough courage to withstand the tyrant to bring down their powerful regime. [00:05:05]

Well throughout history we have seen individuals who have swum against the current, who have stood against powerful obstacles – Mahatma Gandhi. In our own country, Martin Luther King stood against the authorities of his day. He defied those authorities and raised all kinds of questions about the legitimacy of civil disobedience. [00:05:55]

And it was out of that principle of submission to the civil magistrate that Mary and Joseph made the arduous journey to Bethlehem, risking the life of both Mary and the unborn infant Jesus. Out of this deep affliction and inconvenience they made the journey to obey the authorities that were over them. So the principle that comes to us again and again in Scripture is the principle of submission to those who are in authority. [00:08:12]

But always the question arises: Is it ever legitimate, is it ever ethically right to refuse to obey authorities who are over you? That’s the question I want to look at this morning in light of the text that I just read. Let’s look again at what’s taking place because we continue to deal with the reaction of, not only the people, but the authorities that ruled over the Jews in Jerusalem to the healing of the man who had been born unable to stand or to walk when he was healed by Peter and John by the Gate Beautiful. [00:08:55]

And they realized that they had been with Jesus” What a statement. How many sermons could we get just out of that one line? How many times has anybody ever said to you, “Oh I know about you. I can tell that you’ve just been spending time with Jesus.” Nobody’s ever made that connection to me. They talk about my connection to the Stealers or the Penguins or to the Irish or whatever, but nobody says, “Oh he must have just been with Jesus.” [00:11:00]

Now let me ask you this morning, if the apostles, at that moment, decided, “The supreme court of the nation has spoken. It is our obligation now to obey.” And suppose Peter and John came out of there, and the people said, “Well what’d they say?” And Peter said, “My lips are sealed. I’m never going to speak about what’s-His-name again.” Had that been the response of the apostles, we would not be here this morning talking about it or listening to a story about it, would we? [00:14:57]

But all of a sudden Peter and John are in the worst of all possible conflicts of ethics: a conflict between ruling authorities. Every child knows what it’s like when the child goes to the mother and says, “Mamma, can I go to the movie tonight?” And mother says, “No.” So what does the child do then? Goes to daddy. “Hey dad, can I go to the movies tonight?” Tries to set one authority after the other, but it doesn’t work because father always says, “Go ask your mother.” [00:15:41]

We are always to obey those in authority over us, unless that authority commands us to do something God forbids or forbids us from doing something that God commands. The husband says to the wife, “I want you to earn some extra income for us by turning to prostitution.” Not only may she disobey him, she must disobey him. On the other hand, a woman’s married to an unbelieving man, and the man says to her, “You may not go to the church on Wednesday night and join the choir.” [00:19:24]

Do you see how this can be very painful and very costly when we are caught in this vice between two authorities that differ? And we can never use the copout, “I’m just obeying orders,” as a license or an excuse for sin. But the other side of it is this: Just because God gives us the right and the responsibility to disobey when an authority over us commands us to do something He forbids or forbids us from doing something God commands, that is not a license to be disobedient just when we disagree with the authority, or if the authority is exploiting us, or if the authority is afflicting us, bringing us discomfort or inconvenience. [00:20:42]