Good Evening, Lord!
Words of Comfort
May the LORD give strength to his people! May the LORD bless
his people with peace! (Ps. 29:11 ESV)
Prayer of Confession
Almighty God, unto whom all hearts are open, all desires
known, and from whom no secrets are hid; cleanse the thoughts of our hearts by
the inspiration of your Holy Spirit, that we may perfectly love you, and
worthily magnify your holy name; through Jesus Christ, your Son, our Lord.
Amen.[1]
Catechism Reflections – The Fourth Commandment
Honor your father and your mother.
What does this mean? We should fear and love
God so that we do not despise or anger our parents and other authorities, but
honor them, serve and obey them, love and cherish them.
Since, according to this Commandment, we are to honor,
serve and obey the authorities in our lives we should never disobey … even if
they ask us to do things that are sinful and wrong, right? Well, not so fast!
There was an incident early in the history of the church
when Peter and John were arrested because they had healed a lame man and were
telling people about Jesus, who had been crucified but was now raised from the
dead. They were brought before the same court that condemned Jesus to death,
and that court demanded that they stop teaching in Jesus’ name. These are real
officials with authority telling Peter and John to stop talking about Jesus.
Listen how these two apostles answered, “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.” Later, after being arrested with all the
apostles in front of the same court, Peter said, “We must obey God rather than
men.”
This is the principle that we follow: When we have to
choose between obeying God or obeying an earthly authority we are free to
disobey the earthly authority. Now, that does not mean that we will be free
from the consequence of disobeying the earthly authorities. All of the Apostles
were beaten and almost all of them were eventually executed for obeying God
rather than the powers that be. Many Christians have gone to jail for following
the Word of God rather than the Law of the Land.
I say we are free to disobey, and we can courageously do
so because Jesus has called us out of this world into the kingdom of God. We
live here as aliens and strangers, our home prepared for us in the resurrection
of the dead. But even in our disobedience we are led by love. We are led by love
of God who is the ultimate authority we seek to follow, and we do not want to
dishonor him by our behavior. We are also led by love for our neighbor, and our
parents and other authorities are certainly our neighbors whom we sometimes, in
love, must call to repentance because they too sin.
This is not a light matter. God’s design is for the
authorities in our lives to be a blessing to us. To rightly disobey those
authorities is to conclude that they have stepped outside of God’s will. And
that is a sad state of affairs. But it happens, and we must be ready to extend
the same grace and love we have received even as we disobey the earthly
authorities in our lives for the sake of obeying the God who loves and redeems
us.
Questions for Meditation
What does this reading teach you?
What does this reading lead you to be thankful for?
What behavior, thought, or attitude does this reading
challenge? What sin does it lead you to confess?
How might you pray for God to have a richer impact on your
life through this reading?
Lord’s Prayer
Our Father who art in heaven,
hallowed be Thy name,
Thy kingdom come,
Thy will be done on earth
as it is in heaven;
give us this day our daily bread;
and forgive us our trespasses
as we forgive those
who trespass against us;
and lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.
For Thine is the kingdom
and the power and the glory
forever and ever. Amen.
Verse of Benediction
To the King of the ages, immortal, invisible, the only God,
be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen. (1 Tim. 1:17 ESV)
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