An Ordinary Man: #16 Civil Disobedience

We tend to obey those we fear displeasing, whether it's civil authorities, peers, or God. For Peter and John, obeying God took precedence over obeying civil authority. Is it ever right to be disobedient? Civil disobedience, when done in obedience to God’s higher law, can be an act of true faith. This sermon argues that all authority derives its legitimacy from God, and we must obey Him above human authorities when their laws contradict His will. Acts 4:13-20 (Sermon Given 03/04/2012)

Transcript

Welcome, friends. You're listening to the Ultimate Outcomes Sermon podcast. Here's Richard Elwell with today's sermon.

Good morning. So I want to make sure the room is clear of all children before I ask my first question here. All the kids got to get to their class safely. Hello. The first question is. Yeah. Jonathan, you're old enough for this one. The first question is, is it ever right to be disobedient? Yeah. Boy, I grab a hold of that one. 

Is it ever right, or is obedience to ask the question the other way? Is obedience ever wrong? Is it ever wrong to be obedient? Can we ever, be disobedient? By being obedient, when is obedience disobedient or when is a matter of obedience? When it is a matter of obedience to disobey? That question was at the very heart of, the end of World War two and what we call the Nuremberg trials, the Nuremberg trials.  

And here we see a group of men being tried for, hideous war crimes, for being obedient. They were obedient to their commanding officers. They were obedient to the state. They did nothing but civilly obey. All of the time. Yet they were considered, wrong for being obedient. How can someone hold somebody accountable for obeying orders from a higher commander? 

From a commanding officer? Well, they can hold them accountable because sometimes to obey is to, disobey a higher authority. Because to obey commands to murder innocent people is an act of disobedience to a higher authority. The idea of the Nuremberg trials was that the German military military authority lost its legitimacy when it started asking to its people to do things that violate, nature's laws, the laws of God and the higher laws of humanity.  

Imagine for a second you were here at Cajon High School, and, you had a group of students in a class, and the teacher said, now we're going to have a group, project here today in class. And I want everybody to participate in the group project and the group project we're going to be doing today is to burn down the classroom. 

I'm going to be handing out gasoline to each one of you and, some matches, and we're going to pour it all over the classroom and simultaneously we're going to light matches. It's a little one of our science experiments. We're going to be doing. Who would be the obedient students in that class, the students that obeyed the teacher or the students that disobeyed the teacher.      

God calls us to obey those who are in authority over us. He has placed civil authority over us. However, he doesn't give that civil authority unconditional authority. And there's times at which we are obligated to disobey. If that civil authority goes beyond its conditional mandate. There there can be times when we must disobey our direct authorities in order to obey God, or a higher principle or higher authority.         

Today, as we continue in our series, and and entitled An Ordinary Man The Life and Teachings of the Apostle Peter, we're going to look at the foundational principles that Peter laid down, that everyone that's involved in righteous civil disobedience since then has taken a hold of, we're going to be looking at, what Peter does when he is asked to disobey God in order to obey the civil authorities. 

Last week, we saw Peter as he's talking to the Sanhedrin, the ruling leaders of Israel. He is talking to them, and he's telling them he's contrasting once again as he does throughout acts, the difference between what God has done with Christ and what they did with them. And one of the ways he did that was he said, you have rejected the chief cornerstone.  

You, the builders, have rejected the stone that God has chosen as the chief cornerstone, as the as the stone to which the whole building conforms. You have rejected Christ, this chief cornerstone. You have crucified him, and God has raised him from the dead and put him on the throne over all that there is. And, we'll look at Peter, creating an irrefutable argument that the Sanhedrin cannot, cannot, respond to, for the legitimacy of disobedience in the face of, of, of an illegitimate civil government.      

So today, as we look at this idea of civil disobedience, when civil authority asks us to reject what God commands us to do, we are called to, to be, disobedient to that civil authority. What makes an act of civil disobedience an act of obedience? Who were truly the obedient Germans in World War Two? Were they the ones that were herding up innocent Jews onto trains heading off to death camps? 

Were those the ones that were being obedient, or were they the ones that were defying civil authority, hiding Jews and, trying to protect the innocent from, the wrong edicts of government? You know, at a time with a limited perspective, the ones that we now call the righteous Gentiles, the ones that we now consider the obedient ones, the ones that we consider, the ones who are right and who have done what is right, would have been considered disobedient, to their civil authorities, and they would have been themselves subject to arrest and punishment.             

From our perspective, today we make movies documenting the righteousness of those who disobeyed, who had the courage to disobey and do what is right. Today's message. In today's message, Paul, excuse me. Peter develops that criteria when it is right to resist civil authority. Now we have to see this in light of that strong scriptural command in Romans chapter 13, where it commands us to submit to civil authority, we are commanded to to yield ourselves to the ruling civil authority that God establishes to protect us and to protect our property, and to protect the property of those around us.

But we see here in acts where, Peter defines the limits of the legitimate authority of the, of the civil authority that God establishes. There is a point where our obedience to civil authority can become disobedient to a higher authority, at which point our obedience becomes disobedience. We are all able to, you know, we are all able to make choices.    

And every choice we make, you might put it this way, every choice you make, whether it's a choice to come to church or what to eat for breakfast or whatever you choose to do, whatever you choose to do, you are obeying one thing and you're disobeying the opposite. Every choice we make as a as a choice of obedience and disobedience, between two conflicting, sets of forces, whatever we obey defines whatever we disobey and, whatever we choose to obey. 

At that very moment of that choice, we disobey the opposite. Every action we take is both an act of obedience and disobedience at the same time. For example, when I eat a piece of cake, what am I obeying? I'm obeying my taste buds. I'm obeying my desire to delight in the taste of that piece of cake. But at the same time, I'm disobeying a lesser desire that I have to lose weight.   

Always obeying and disobeying, something. At the same time. Who or what we obey is who or what we serve. Who or what we serve. Is a question that we want to ask ourselves. Do we serve God? Do we serve our Lord Jesus Christ? Do we serve ourselves? Do we serve our friends? Who are we obeying and who are we disobeying?                 

Today the message is entitled civil disobedience, and we're going to see the very foundation of when and why. Disobedience becomes obedience. Heavenly father, Lord, we come before you today. And as we look at, your word in Acts chapter four, Lord, verses 13 through 20, Lord, we we pray, father, that we would, be discerning. Lord, it is a very serious matter to say no to those in authority above us, but it's even more of a serious matter to say no to you.   

We pray, father, that you would give us the discernment to know when to stand and when to submit. In Christ's name we pray. Amen. All right, acts chapter four, verses 13 through 20. We're going to pick up, this week with some of this scripture. We read last week. So we can use it as the context for the main thrust of today's message.                   

So if some of these sound awfully familiar, it is because, they were part of last week's sermon as well. Verse 13 through 20, when they saw the courage of Peter and John and realize that they are unschooled, ordinary men. There are astonished. And they took note that these men had been with Jesus. But since they could see the man who had been healed standing there with them, there was nothing they could say. 

So they ordered them to withdraw from the Sanhedrin, and they conferred together. What are we going to do with these men? They asked. Everyone living in Jerusalem know this. They have done an outstanding miracle and we can't deny it. But to stop this thing from spreading any further among the people, we must warn these men to speak no longer to anyone in this name.      

They called them in again, and commanded them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus. But Peter and John replied, judge for yourself, whether it is right in God's eyes to obey you rather than God, for we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard.      

So here we see Peter and John were acting as faithful servants of Christ, healing the lame and preaching the truth that God had raised Jesus from the dead. He had placed him at the right hand of the father, that he was both Lord and Christ over all the very one whom the Jews had crucified. He was preaching to the Jews that God had, taken this one they had rejected, and he had established him as king over all.  

And their obedience to Christ came into conflict. When the civil authorities were commanding them to reject Christ, to stop teaching about Christ. And, they knew and they, they Peter knew and he normally would comply with the idea that he must submit to the civil authorities that it was his duty under God to be obedient to those who are in charge of the government.      

But in this case, he recognized they and they recognized to do so, would be to disobey God. Now, normally the civil authorities, are to be obeyed, like, you know, for an example, civil authority creates a traffic law and to disobey that traffic law is to be disobedient to God himself. To run a red light is not only to disobey, the civil authorities, but is to disobey the one who put those civil authorities in charge over us God himself.        

Peter, however, introduces a principle upon which all righteous civil disobedience is based. The theme of our message this morning is this civil disobedience can be an act of true obedience. Let's take a look at verses 18 through 20 again. Then they called them in again and commanded them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus.           

But Peter and John replied, judge for yourself, whether it is right in God's sight to obey you rather than God. For we cannot help, speaking about what we have seen and heard, most acts of civil disobedience are not acts of obedience to God. I wouldn't walk through an occupy movement going, boy, this is a bunch of guy people submitted to God's holy name.   

I wouldn't I wouldn't, look at their acts of civil disobedience as they're throwing rocks through windows or setting police cars on fire. Whatever they did up in Oakland, it's going, man, this is just really righteous self, you know, really righteous, civil disobedience here when, when a person disobeys the civil authorities in favor of their own will, there is no righteousness in that at all, and there's no righteousness and that kind of civil disobedience.  

I'm going to give you two examples of civil disobedience, righteous and unrighteous civil disobedience. One act of civil disobedience was just an expression of, of self-will and one which is, an expression of obedience to a higher principles, first act, a civil disobedience. Look at that. It's, someone thinks that they, their, idea of self-expression by doing graffiti on a privately owned wall is a good thing because they're obeying themselves.      

They're obeying their need for self-expression. And so they're defying the civil authorities and saying, we're not going to obey property rights. We're going to do what we want, when we want, where we want. And, and we think it's good because it's, it's art, it's artistic expression, it's self-expression. Now, clearly this is a violation of God's will.          

It's a violation of a civil will. It's a violation of, both God and man. But there is a principle that Peter lays out that was picked up by Saint Augustine, and it's been used all the way into our contemporary times, to justify acts of civil disobedience against the government. Probably the most prominent recent example in our lifetime here in America would be Martin Luther King, Martin Luther King, justification for what he did, the civil disobedience that he, participated in when he formed, marches without, without, proper permitting and violating the laws of the jurisdictions that he was under, for that violation.         

He was thrown in jail. And while in jail, there was a group of white, clergymen who agreed with the social injustice of the unequal, Jim Crow laws that he was fighting against in the South. And they had written him saying, Martin, we really agree with, your position. We really agree with the stand you're taking against, about the inequality of the laws being applied unequally to different people, the injustice of it all.            

But we want to, have you work this way through the courts, not for you yourself to break the law. We want to encourage you to to go through the courts and, King wrote an articulate letter, that's become famous. And he faces a lot of his arguments on Saint Augustine's arguments about, justice denied is, not is is not justice at all.         

And, and, you know, he develops these principles based on the idea that to, not to resist justice itself is to be disobedient to God. And he talks about how, you know, unjust the law is that the law that God has established is a law where a principle that all men are under the law and equal under the law, rich or poor, powerful or weak, king or subject.         

The law of God equally applies to all men and protects the rights and the property of each man. And based on this idea that, that that the government king's idea and the proper idea of the role of government is to protect the property rights of all men equally. And, when he when we talk about property rights, we mean it in a different sense than the way we say property rights today.     

We think of property as something, that is a possession that we have, which it is. But, our founders, when they were talking about property rights, had a much broader idea of property, for example, their idea of property was anything that we have the right to determine the disposal of. So, so my conscience would be part of my property, or my body would be part of my property, or my labor would be part of my property.     

Back in those days when you use the term property, you might instead of saying, my house is my property, you would say I have property over my house, meaning that I have the right to dispose of my house the way I want. That's what makes it my property. I have the control over that. And here are the Jim Crow laws.                

We're saying to people, you don't have property to yourself. You can't determine what you can do with your body. What other people have liberty to do. You do not have liberty to do so. The government was violating property rights. They're unjustly discriminating against people and violating their rights to their own person. And in this, justification, King says things like, justice, long delayed is justice denied.         

So that the idea if this if this issue isn't, focused on in the most effective ways possible, I am, by abiding by these unjust laws, actually disobeying God's law. What's his argument now? Peter first laid out this principle when he, he he actually irrefutably laid out this principle when he was talking to the Sanhedrin.                   

And he says to the Sanhedrin, judge for yourself what a great way to start this out. I'm going to just put this back over into your lap. Judge for yourself, Sanhedrin. You're the ones that are in charge of, disposing of God's law and God's will. You're the ones that are over our civil, discourse. 

And you're the ones that are trying to get man to obey God. So you just judge for yourself in the sight of God, the one in whom you are representing, what you think is right for us to obey you or for us to obey God, would have been really tough to be there that day as a member of the Sanhedrin.   

Well, I mean, what a pickle they were in. They couldn't say, oh, it's you're it's right. You should obey us and not obey God. They were the ones charged with the oversight of of promoting God's law. And now Peter was asking them, if they should obey, disobey God in order to obey them. And there was just this dead silence.   

It was a stubborn silence. It was not a repentant silence because Peter's argument and his logic were irrefutable. They had nothing to say to him because they didn't want to say, you're right, Peter, keep on preaching Jesus. But on the other hand, how could they say he was wrong? How could they say it would be better for you to obey us and disobey God?       

In this case? Peter and John determined they must they absolutely must disobey the civil authorities because God's will was in conflict with their will. It took courage for those men to confront the civil authorities, the one that had the power to wield the sword, the one that had the power to do what they did with Christ, to do to them.                               

But they feared one sword more than the sword that was in the hand of man. They feared the sword of God's truth more than they feared. The sword of civil authority. The theme again this morning is civil disobedience can be an act of obedience. And point number one is we obey those whose displeasure we fear the most.          

If we want to think about who or what we obey, we obey those who we want to displease the least, those that we want, whether it's ourselves or whether it's somebody else, or whether it's God or whether it's, the civil authorities we obey those whose displeasure we fear the most. Verses 19 and 20. But Peter and John replied, judge for yourselves whether it is right and God's sight to obey you rather than God, we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard.                  

Basically the idea here is, we cannot stop pleasing our Lord no matter what cost. Your disfavor, brings against us. We're not willing to stand and suffer the disfavor of our Lord Jesus Christ. We want to please and serve him, and we can't stop serving our Lord. Despite the threats that you level against us.                                     

We all face, conflict of interest that we need to choose between all the time. What's more important, pleasing God pleasing ourselves or pleasing others? How we honestly answer this question determines who or what we obey, and conversely, it determines who or what we disobey. You know, every teenager has this, has this conflict is there growing up?                                  

Do I obey myself? Do I obey my friends, or do I obey my parents? What group will I obey? And we come up with this term peer negative peer group influence to just describe a condition when a teen cares more about what his friends think than what his parents think. And, it describes how how a greater influence can pull, a child away from the will of his parents because the kid cares more about what the parents think.                                         

Are there things that we fear more than our fearing God's displeasure? Whatever, or whoever we fear displeasing the most is who we obey.                                    

Again, civil disobedience can be an act of true obedience is our theme. And point number one is we obey those whose displeasure we fear the most. And point number two is all authority derives its legitimacy from the highest authority. Verse 19, all authority derives its legitimacy from the very highest authority. But Peter and John replied, judge for yourself, whether it is right in God's sight to obey you rather than God, we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard.                  

To reword this phrase, it could be said when is it right to obey you, our civil authority? And the answer to that is it's only right to obey you when your authority is being legitimately derived from God, the highest authority. God uses civil authority as his agent to bring law and justice, to protect us and to protect our rights, and to protect our property and to protect our, our, our our freedoms.          

They have the legitimate right to wield the sword, to bring justice and to punish evil and to punish lawbreakers. And as long as they are functioning as the legitimate arm of God's authority, we must obey them. What is true of civil authority is also true of all authority. The authority of a teacher is derived from God. The authority of a parent is derived from God.  

The authority of an employer is derived from God. The authority, of every organizational structure where one man, whether it's a CEO or whether it's a correctional officer and the prisons all authority is derived from God. And, if we function outside of God's authority, our authority becomes illegitimate. We can never appeal to, ourselves as being the highest authority.

You must obey me because it's me. The only legitimate authority is you must obey me because I am representing what's right and what's good. I asked permission for from Ryan for this story. It's a story about his two sons. One of his two sons. His little six year old, Caleb the other day went to grandma's house without having. 

He had kind of overlooked eating breakfast and, he went to grandma's house without eating breakfast. And when he got to grandma's house, he was hungry. And grandma was given the instruction. Grandma and grandpa given the instruction not to give him his snack until like 1030 or something like that. And so Caleb was hungry and, was trying to figure out a way to, get breakfast, which he normally, prepares for himself in the morning, cereal or something like that. 

And, and so he's talking to grandma and grandpa, and he says to, his grandparents, Ezra, who's eight year old brother, he says, Ezra told me this morning I wasn't allowed to eat breakfast.   

We try it at every age.     

Now, even a six year old should know that his eight year old brother only has legitimate authority over him when he's acting as an agent of his parents. For example, Ezra would have perfectly, legitimate authority over Caleb if he said, don't run across the street. That would be authority that he should obey because it's an extension of the legitimacy of his parent's authority.   

But you're not allowed to eat breakfast. Every kid should know that. That wouldn't be an extension of his parent's will. All legitimate authority is derived from God. Who placed. And notice this. We've been saying this for, weeks now because Peter emphasizes it so much. Who placed who at the right hand of the father, who placed who as a sovereign over the whole universe, who is an and who is an authority over all things?    

To whom does all authority derive its legitimacy? Jesus Christ, Jesus of Nazareth, whom God the Father raised from the dead and placed at the right hand, placed him at his right hand, and he sits there even now with authority over the whole universe, waiting for his enemies, to come to his, to kneel to him. And we are among those who have been at amnesty with him, and he's made peace with us at the cross, and we are voluntary enemies, being turned into allies as we yield to his authority and conform to his will.  

One day all men will kneel, whether they like it or not. We are among those who love him and love his ways and want to conform to what is right, good and true.     

Whoever we are and whoever we're over, whatever degree of authority we have in our homes or on our jobs, we gain the right to lead others only under one condition, and that is that we are following God himself, that we're following what is good that we don't violate, others rights in our, superintending over them. And that the purpose of all leadership is to develop and to protect, not to exploit that scene.  

So clearly in Christ Himself. Again, civil disobedience can be an act of true obedience. And point number one is we obey those whose displeasure we fear the most. And point number two, all authority derives its legitimacy from the highest authority. I'd like to conclude this morning by reading from Luke chapter 12, verses four through nine. These are in the words of Jesus Christ himself.  

And he says this I tell you, my friends, do not be afraid of those who can kill the body, and after that can do no more. But I will show you whom you should fear. Fear him who, after killing the body, has the power to throw you into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him. Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies yet not one of them is forgotten by God.      

Indeed, the very hairs on your head are all numbered. Do not be afraid. You are worth more than many sparrows. I tell you, whoever acknowledges me before men, the Son of Man will acknowledge, will also acknowledge him before the angels of God. But whoever disowns me before men will be disowned before the angels of God. Heavenly father, we come before you and, you are the standard by which we seek to conform ourselves.   

You are the tuning fork to which we seek to, harmonize with you are the consonant. Note that our dissonant notes we try to bring into conformity to. And Lord, as we do that, we need your help. We yield to you, our soul, our mind, our hearts. And we just ask you to move in us. We invite your spirit into us, to bring us in line with the cornerstone, to bring us in line with the capstone, with the keystone. 

So that we might be, lined up in the beautiful building, the temple of people that you're building for your inhabitation.    

You are the Lord Jesus Christ. You are Lord, you are King of kings and Lord of lords. You are Lord for ever and ever and ever. And nothing can change that. True in Christ name we pray.   

Hey friends, thanks for listening to the Ultimate Outcomes Sermon podcast. Ultimate outcomes is a nonprofit organization founded on the biblical principle that knowing and applying God's truth makes a difference in the quality of our lives. Is our prayer that this podcast, those resources, bless you and your churches as much and as blessed. All of us have learned from the teachings of Richard, Elwell.                                     

Thanks for listening and for more resources visit www.Ultimate outcomes.org.