Rebellion and Resistance

NHOP School of Pray - How to Pray for Government, session 8 of 12 NHOP.ca

Transcript

so welcome here everybody uh welcome to session number eight and uh today we're going to talk about a touchy subject it is probably the most negative of the bunch that we're talking about and we're talking about resistance and rebellion and uh and so so I'm going to start off in pray with with a word of prayer ref before we start because this is um you know we could we want this to come off really pastoral that's how we want this to come up pastoral because when you get into the nitty-gritty of it it is it's really heavy and uh it can be heavy but I think with what we've prepared and what Brad has prepared um it is very very Grace filed but I want to start off with with

with how I feel the Lord feels about um resistance and Rebellion but first we're going to pray so father we thank you for your goodness Lord I Thank you for the your your mercy I thank you God for the for this opportunity to to to bring and touch this this subject of rebellion and resistance and Lord I pray that we will have I pray for Brad and I As We Lay this out Lord that it will come with a in the right spirit and Lord I pray for the ears that they would hear this and then they would that it would receive it Lord and in the name of Jesus I pray amen so when we we think about rebellion one of the first things I think about when we think about rebellion I I I you

know for many many years I've I I remember the story in in Samuel when Samuel talks to Saul and you see this particular passage where he says to obey is better than sacrifice and uh and we're going to get to that and it's it's really important that when we are you know when we are you know we we've talked about being submitted um to authorities all kinds of authority we've talked about Authority in the local church and we talked about governing Authority in the lands and that we have have this posture of submission we have this posture of meekness James addresses that wisdom comes with a yielding and submissive component and that is really really interesting you know Jesus said talked

about blessed are the meek right and that whole thing about meekness we think of meekness that it is is is like it's being Beyond passive and even maybe passive aggressive and meekness is not like that at all actually Jordan Peterson does a great um a great description on what meekness is and he says it's like this meekness is like you being a a skilled skilled swords person right skilled Beyond skilled Olympic level skill and you have all this skill and you have the ability to do the utmost in damage but you choose to keep your sword in its sheath and that's meekness and that is when when we are walking in with seeing things that we don't agree with and we

don't like and you know Co for example that was I'm me in Alberta say still talk about Co I mean everybody talks I'm still here it's been years and they're still talking about Co and which is good because you know it's okay to talk about those things because things were were were kind of funky in that time but they're still talking about these kinds of things where they got hurt and where they felt they were infringed and and we were there was a lot of infringement of our our our rights and freedoms and things like that and and and even now we see this emerging of a digital uh a digital uh information uh digital ID um I even just saw something this week um I think it came out through

Garnet Janis and um Arnold bearon and they were talking about how the Liberals were slipping this potential nefarious thing through without going through um Parliament which is kind of sneaky and so there like I said there are tools that we can use the Apostle Paul had tools and uh and he used his tools and in the same way the Apostle Paul uses tools we can use our tools and uh so the Apostle Paul used the tools of being a citizen and that meant that when they tried to beat him up he said you can't beat me up because I'm a citizen although they've thrown him in jail and all kinds of things he still used those tools he used the tool that he said I'm going to

appeal to to Caesar in Rome and he used those tools in the same way we can use our tools um in in in uh our tools of of writing letters our tools of signing petitions our tools of of voting which is really really important I find it really interesting because there's a lot of dialogue out there we just came through an election cycle in the US and there were many that were saying I don't know if it's really scriptural for us to to to vote or not and we've been hear that here in Canada a little bit is it is it really something a Christian should be doing but I think it's part of using our tools so because the Apostle Paul used used the tools we should use our tools and these are the ways but

there was always an element with the Apostle Paul of meekness of humility and of uh of of honor and so that being said so we talk about all of this and then we talk about so when is it okay to be to be resistant or to rebel and Brad's going to unpack that after this a little bit but I'm going to talk about the the the spiritual significance of of rebellion and it comes predominantly out of uh 1 Samuel chapter 15 so if you got your Bibles take a look at that and you know like I said earlier um this is really something you know when you read this story in in 1 CH Samuel chapter 15 this is Harsh I mean it is really really harsh you know and God instructs Samuel to basically take out the Amal

amalekites uh he he says you need to take them out take everything take everything take their animals take their goods and kill everybody and and you know and and so let's just read the story anyway so Samuel said to Saul I am the one I am the one the Lord sent to anoint you King over the people of is Israel so listen to the message from the Lord this is what the Lord Almighty says I will punish the amalekites for what they did to Israel when they were waylay them as they came up from Egypt so this is like hundreds of years ago the Lord is dealing with the amalekites in now go attack the amalekites and totally destroy everything that belongs to them do not spare them put to death men women

children infants cattle sheep camels and donkeys they killed everything and you know just say man that is Harsh and I'm not going to get into the wise and wherefores but this is God's instructions so Saul summoned the men and mustered them to tum 200,000 foot soldiers 10,000 men from Judah Saul went to the city of amalec and set an ambush in the Ravine then they said to the the kenites go away leave the amalekites so that I do not destroy you along with them for you showed kindness to all the Israelites when they came up from Egypt so the kenites moved away from the amalekites anyway so we go down there I'm going to skip a bit down to diverse time then the word of the Lord came to

Samuel because um Sam Samuel rather Saul did not do everything that was required he did some of the things that were required and you know he spared the king and he kept the the choices animals and he kept the best stuff as as plunder and then he uses an excuse that well you know I'm actually didn't just keep that I actually kept that so that we could sacrifice them to the Lord so it all sounds like really good justifiable things right so he says no I'm I did this and I just thought this would be really good that we do this because you know I know God said this but I have a better idea and I think it'll be even a little bit better so anyway so here we go then the word of the

Lord came to Samuel I am grieved that you have made Saul King because he has turned away from me and has not carried out my instructions you know and so often and I'm really what I want to speak to here is leaders and because we've been talking about Authority and those in authority and those under Authority and so when God puts you in authority and you're carrying Authority and he gives you instructions it is so important that so often we move in presumption or we move in something that says well it's okay I think this is a good idea it's not as harsh you know I haven't had any words ever ever you know because we're in a spirit we're in a New Covenant and there's the even the prophetic word

is is is is is is about building and restorative and and and things like that so you don't even hear these kind of this this old time Old Testament prophecy you don't really see it manifest like that at all in the New Testament it's it's you know it's about edification exhortation and comfort that's that's New Testament prophecy but here it was a directive as a leader as a king over Israel on how to deal with a situation and he followed it probably 90% right most of us would think think that's a pass 90% that's pretty good right especially when you have a you know you know even if it was 60% that's is more than a pass we just had elections all you needed 51% right but here he he's he's he's

performing this task that the Lord has given him at 90% you know I used to be in the car business and I worked for Volkswagen for a little while and uh and we used to do these we used to get marked and we used to send surveys out to our clients and for us a pass H was 97% that was a pass that was like I thought that how unjust is that 97% and uh and if we didn't get 97% we failed so that was this that that was the the the corporation had put excellence there I'm not going to talk about Volkswagen in excellence right now and uh right Brad right and head gaset and turs that fail and stuff like that but anyway that was in their heart but here Saul says you know I'm getting most

of this right I'm getting most of it right so we take a look at what happens here so uh so anyway so so s Saul says you know I I've done this I've done I've obeyed I've done everything and then Samuel says but I what's the bleeding of sheep that I hear what's that cattle I hear and then Saul answers he says the soldiers it was the soldiers brought them from the amalekites they spared the best of the sheep and cattle to sacrifice to the Lord Our God but we totally destroyed the rest stop Samuel says let me tell you what the Lord said said to me last night and then Saul says tell me so although you were once small in your own eyes did you not become the head of the tribe of

Israel the Lord anointed you King over Israel and he sent you on a mission saying go and completely destroy the wicked people the amalekites make war on them until you have wiped them out why did you not obey the Lord why did you pounce on the plunder and do evil in the eyes of the Lord but Samuel says but I obeyed the Lord he says I went on a mission for the Lord as assigned me I completely destroyed the amalekites and brought back AA AAG their King the soldiers took the sheep and the cattle and the plunder the best was devoted to God in order to sacrifice them to the Lord Our God in gilgal and then this then Samuel says this does the Lord Delight in Bert offerings and sacrifices sorry here

got as much as obeying the voice of the Lord does the Lord Delight in sacrifices as much as obeying his voice and this is so important when we're in that place of resistance that are we hearing the voice of the Lord are we moving on something that is that God is speaking or are we moving on something that we are offended with that we are upset with and not seriously we see all kinds of things in government that upset us I mean even last week you know this this m this motion from uh Ian what's her name last name Marcia Ian uh the minister of women and and children and uh and she brings forth this this Ways and Means motion to basically um to say yep uh we're going

to go after nonprofits if they it's not if they're Pro lifee it's interesting if they're not pro-abortion there's a big difference there and they've crossed this line it's not about being there and so now what do we do and yes this is something that's what we deal with so this is now what we need to do is we need to be listening to the voice of the lord lord what are you saying and how do we deal with this and do we deal with this out of anger yes there's righteous anger do we deal with us out of something or are we just going to deal with us out of uh what's offending us are we going to deal with us in the way the Lord speaks to us and give us strategy because he'll give

us a strategy and the strategy might not be du anything right except we're going to pray or it might be something very very specific but we want to be able to hear what he's saying right and and do it exactly like he says and that's what's important so anyway let me go back to the the the top of that verse is does the Lord Delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the voice of the Lord to obey is better than sacrifice and to heed to hearken to listen to heed is to Listen and Obey it's not a matter of just listening and hearing the sound of the Lord but it's actually hearing and doing and this is so important that there is a hearing and doing and we say

this often when we're praying you'll hear us Lord give us eyes to hear eyes to see ears to hear and courage to watch because many times we see we hear but we don't necessarily engaged and I think it is so so important in this hour especially now we're in a new season there's a changing season and God is doing wonderful things across the the nation and is important that we see what he's doing we hear what he's saying and we do what he says I've been saying that for like two years now and this is it to heed is better than the fat of rams for Rebellion is like the sin of divination or witchcraft that is the way the Lord carries Rebellion you know we just think of it

sometimes we fluff it off we go oh you know if I miss then the Lord will forgive me and he will because he's faithful and just to forgive us our sins but what I'm talking about there's a side of God that we often don't don't there's a Holiness to God that we miss many many times and we say the Lord will speak to us and we'll only do it partially and you need to know that there's a side of God because he put it in the book that says you know I mean what I say and I say what I mean and it is important that we come to that place of being those obedience Servants of the most yes we're Sons yes we're daughters but there also servants yes God is father but he is also holy

awesome and terrible and terrible not mean meaning like it tastes yucky but in terrible that he is a terrifying and awesome God and too often we come with with with ah you know what I'm going to do this and this is okay and I'll let this pass and let pass I mean I'm firing at 90% but here you know God says something really really significant that it's the the the it's about the you know like he he he equates it to Witchcraft working from a completely different Spirit working from a completely opposite spirit and this thing this Brat's going to touch this on on opposites because even when we see that see see the government doing things that we don't like we are not to be shaking our

fists we're supposed to come with meekness with humility humility and actually you know in this point Saul actually repents but the Lord says no you're no longer King and that's what cost him now we're not in that day anymore and I'm really gracious for for Grace but too often we can rely on Grace Grace Grace Grace Grace and we we don't carry the Lord rightly we don't honor the Lord rightly you um David said this one of my favorite things he says how can I give to God that which costs me nothing and too often we are we can be frivolous and not take the seriousness of our assignments and it's so important that when God gives us assignment he's serious right and when you think of it

you know when I think about the assignments the Lord gives us and what we carry and and if you think about about the assignment of the lost you think about the assignment of the lost and reaching out to the lost and preaching the gospel and if we don't preach then they go to hell that's serious and you know we can get our eyes off track of the main stuff yes and know we pray for government and we do my main prayer prayer for Parliament Hill is is that all those those members all those staff become be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth that's the prayer and I live and I speak like I'm preaching the gospel all the time to them and I'm sharing all the time when I

have an encounter with people and bringing what I believe the word of the Lord is saying to them doesn't matter where I go I do this that's the assignment go into all the world and preach the gospel that's the assignment but back to coming into this place of rebellion so when we're we see things that happen in government we see things that happen in local church right even in local church there are often the the the accusations come out and it is so important that we move in a spirit of weekness and humility and not accusation you know Revelation 12 we see this I'm going to read this and uh and then he says then I heard Revelation 12:10 then I heard a loud voice and

saying in from Heaven saying now have come the salvation and the power and the kingdom of God and the authority of his Christ for the accuser of the Brethren who accus them before God day and night has been H there so that tells us that there is an accuser in heaven that is bringing accusations night and day to everybody he's he's accusing you he's accusing your family he's accusing your neighbor he's accusing Justin he's accusing Danielle he's accusing your pastor he's accusing everybody and believe me I don't want to be in Allegiance with an accuser that is not where my allegiance is so when stuff is stinking around you it is important that you're not a part of being an

accuser now are there mechanisms that when we get hurt and gu of course and that's what I love about the gospel is we come in if there's if there's if there's relational breakdown the scripture tells us clearly what you do you got to fix it you got to deal with it you got to deal with it right away and you go to that brother and if that doesn't work then you bring two so there are mechanisms there's tools so that that offense doesn't fester and and rise up and so on that I'm going to just leave you so here it is rebellion the Lord the Lord counts as witchcraft and so it's important that we are obedient to whatever he tells us eyes to see ears to hear courage to do and is so

so important because it matters because God God has a plan and a purpose he's full of grace he's full of Mercy it's all it's it's wonderful but it's but it's important that we take the assignments that he gives us seriously and that we follow through and number two that we do not do these things out of a place of accusation but we come from from that place of humility of Humber there for the grace of God go I and that is how I I want to posture myself I just wanted to jump in with a couple examples of times where Rebellion or resistance is actually approved or Sanctified you could say in the Bible there's a few examples of it um maybe a disputed number I've got roughly 11 here

um roughly a dozen for you that uh are examples of when Rebellion or resistance is is okay in the Bible and just a couple things about that so some examples for you um one uh first off the Hebrew midwives and Moses parents in Exodus uh Exodus 1 and two um how Pharaoh had ordered all male Hebrew children to be slaughtered at Birth but they disregarded that command and and uh preserved as many of them as they could uh second we have in the story of Esther we have morai who in Esther 3 he refused to bow to hmon who had been promoted by the king and this was before Hon's plot it's actually the thing that provoked Hon's plot uh to murder the Jews but uh morai refusing to bow down before hmon

uh third we have Esther herself who appeared before the king though she wasn't summoned which was against the law of the land uh in Daniel 1 we have Daniel Shadrach mhach and Abednego who refused uh the food and wine of the king's court uh that they were offered as the Nobles of uh Judah the young men of Judah who had been taken into Exile and were being retrained uh um indoctrinated really and in the ways and culture of of Babylon but they refused those things to remain faithful and loyal to the Lord in whatever ways they could so we see that in Daniel 1 Daniel 3 we have Shadrach mhach and Abednego who refused to bow down before Nebuchadnezzar's gold statue um and

we're thrown into the fiery furnace because of it uh Daniel 6 we have Daniel himself ref um ignoring or disobeying the law about praying only to King Darius and uh he went to the Lion's Den because of that one uh number seven moving into the New Testament we see the wise men who uh who followed the star came and and saw um Jesus as a child uh and they were warned in a dream not to go back the way they had come though they had told Herod yeah we'll tell you when or Herod had asked them to come back and Report when they have found the child so that so that I too may go worship him um but the wise men didn't return that way they never never uh replied to Herod um yeah and more on

that in a minute uh number eight we have Peter and John in Acts 4 who were ordered by the Sanhedrin threatened to no longer speak or teach in the name of Jesus and then in the next chapter we have the apostles in Acts 5 who were arrested for preaching Jesus and uh if you remember an angel let them out of prison and they went right back into the temple preaching again and when they the religious leaders sent for them in prison where are they they're not here oh they're out in the temple preaching again and that's where we saw Peter say you know the the line that often gets quoted you know you decide for yourselves should we obey God or man um 10 we have Paul who his preaching was

interpreted as Rebellion against Caesar you see that in the second half of Acts 16 and the first bit of Acts 17 um his very preaching that Jesus is Lord we've touched on this before his very message Jesus is Lord means that Caesar is not and that's perceived as an act of rebellion and then 11 we have in Revelation 20 kind of a you know a passage that's interpreted a number of ways but something I think we can all agree on the ones that it indicates who are resurrected to reign with Christ in this Thousand-Year Kingdom whatever that is uh they are noted to have been those who refused to worship the Beast to worship His Image or to receive his Mark and that's in Revelation 13 and 14 and then

like I said Revelation 20 so there's about a dozen examples for you there of times where people of God men and women of God acted contrary to the laws of the governing rulers and so just a couple things I want you to I want to pull out for you from this uh first of all each of these examples of resistance have one of these following conditions in common one the issue is a matter of life or death okay so we see that in the story of Moses we see that in the story of Esther with her appearing before the the king um to appeal on behalf of the people of Israel um whose lives were being threatened and we see it in the in the wise men who didn't return by way of

Herod because they figured or they were warned Herod would not go to worship the baby but kill the baby so um in those three examples in particular it was a matter of life or death that the people refused to obey based on so that's the first one the second one is the issue is a matter of worship or a question of primary Allegiance and so that's all three examples in Daniel with Shadrach Meshach Abednego and Daniel that's the the issue with Peter and John and the apostles in Acts um it's the issue of the resurrected Saints in Revelation 20 they were all matters of Allegiance or worship that was being challenged and they refused to obey based on no know we

worship Yahweh alone our allegiances to him first and foremost and we obey you up to the point that your dictates tell us not to obey him and so that's kind of the the the line there um kind of a uh like a like a secondary one to that one is um when the issue is a matter of conscience and we see that in this in the story of morai um refusing to bow to hmon now this one is a kind of a gray area yet and I think some Christians take this one and expand on it and use it as an excuse to resist or disobey when maybe it's not needed uh these ones require thoughtful sincere consideration uh I think of it I've heard of it called like uh it's kind of like triage it's how severe or significant is this

question um to does it does it uh does that justify an act of resistance or Rebellion against the government um you know I think the one that comes most readily to mind for us in our culture is you know from three four years ago uh there were a handful of pastors who decided to in direct contravention of of the laws of the city or or Province to open their churches during lockdowns and that's that's a debatable one um so uh really the two clear ones I would say stick with these two clear ones is it a matter of life or death or is it a matter of I am being told not to worship and not to obey God um really that's a high bar that scripture sets for when this sort of thing is is uh is approved

of and really we only have those 12 examples over the span of like 1600 years so it's not something that happened frequently okay uh as I say you know in some notes Here the these situations are exceedingly rare for us especially in our cultural experience and context um but in the case that it is Justified or that it is called for uh there's a couple of uh of characteristics that are consistent in each of those dozen examples of resistance number one the resistance is characterized as civil disobedience and not Revolution okay in each example the act of resistance was not outward Rage or violence against the offending authorities but actually an act of

submission to really to God's Authority is what's going on there it's bold but it's not belligerent okay it's always done in meekness and often with a dash of cunning in there it's like Jesus submitting his will and going to the cross again we've said this before we Embrace The Way of the cross in how we walk any of this out it's never belligerent it's never aggressive or violent or or full of Rage but it's actually done in a in a spirit of meekness and it's and the second part of it kind of goes along with this the act of resistance and each of these examples is done with the understanding the person who's doing the resistance in has the understanding that there are

consequences to pay and they and they submit to those consequences think of Daniel he openly prayed to you know the god of his fathers uh in plain view of people around him uh from you know in front of his window and in his home upstairs and it got him sent to the Lion's Den and even you know Chris has mentioned this before even when he's pulled out the next morning alive his first words to King Darius are not how dare you you know what about my rights has nothing to do with that there's no anger his first words are long live the king right so there's a there's there was a submission to the consequences and not only that there's no ill will harbored against those offending

authorities but there's still This Heart of Love it's that love your enemies bless those who persecute you they each of them EMB body it in this in these examples even the apostles you know we looked at Paul how a couple weeks ago how he didn't when he did revile the the high priest he took it back when he realized what he had done and uh even the apostles they're they're not belligerent you know they didn't break out of prison and you know preach with this era of we're going to shove it down your throats you Sadducees it was more the angel let them out told them to go preach so they did and like think of Peter's response like well you tell us should we be obeying God or

you right like it's it's there's not this belligerence or this raging against the authorities but there's actually a spirit of submission there's a humility in it and uh two verses I want to or two passages I want to um just kind of add here they're from two of the main passages about um submitting to authorities from 1 Peter 2 little bit after the verses we've quoted before he says starting in verse 18 servants be subject to your masters with all respect not only to the good and the gentle but also to the unjust that's a tough one uh for this is a gracious thing when mindful of God one endures Sorrows while suffering unjustly for what credit is it if when you sin and are beaten for it

you endure you know so what there's almost that thing of like if you do wrong according to the law like according to the rules you're going to suffer for it right like that's just that's plain it's it's not like there's a get out of jail free card offered in these examples there is a consequence to pay and part of this whole thing for us is entr trusting God with the Judgment of those rulers who made unjust laws um and so that's a difficult thing for us to walk through um verse 21 for to this you have been called because Christ also suffered for you leaving you an example so that you might follow in his steps Christ is our example were to follow in his steps and he suffered and died in

unjust death that's that's the epitome of take up your cross and follow me okay verse 22 he had committed no sin neither was deceit found in his mouth but when he was reviled he did not revile in return when he suffered he did not threaten but he continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly that's the first one and then Romans 13:2 Paul says whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed and those who resist will incur judgment and yes there's a part of that you know you'll incur judgment for resisting a you know an authority you shouldn't have to resist but you know Paul himself was martyred by a neero for preaching that Jesus is Lord and not Caesar um so he he

lived and died by his own statement there as well so uh there's just two quotes I want to finish with for you one is from uh uh from Chuck houlon saying uh from from kingdoms and conflict he said rightly exercised civil disobedience is really Divine obedience but when Christians engage in such activities it must always be to demonstrate their submissiveness to God not their Defiance to of government did you catch that there it's always an act of submissiveness to God not Defiance against the government and then this one from John Calvin uh he said you know so going back in the day here obedience to ruling authorities is never to lead us away from obedience to

God okay so that's the dividing line there uh how absurd would it be that in satisfying men you should incur the displeasure of him for whose sake you obey men themselves so here's what he's saying there the reason we obey these authorities is because God has commanded us to and so and so that obedience that command to obey ends when their commands when man's commands tell us to no longer be obedient to God that's the that's really the dividing light that's that's where that's where it's permissible but that's uh in in Calvin's wording there I want you to catch this we submit to governing authorities because God has commanded us to and he has said this is this is how I want you to walk is in

submission to these governing authorities not in rebellion and resistance lashing out like we see others in the world do many times um but actually there's this thing and it's it's it's interesting something about the this the way of the Cross and this this call to obedience that we obey even when it costs us and when it's going to cost us we don't run or fight back we submit to that cost right it's that submission to the consequences um and that's that's an interesting thing that's again that's that was Jesus pattern he submitted to the death of the Cross and in so doing he got victory over sin in the grave and he got victory over the governments and rulers of the earth and

the pattern is the same for us Revelation 1211 they overcame by the blood of the Lamb the word of their testimony and they did not love their lives even unto death overcoming looks like not loving Our Lives even unto death okay so just a few examples there there are a few examples of Sanctified Rebellion you could call it in the scriptures but note that it's always a matter of life and death or it's a matter of a question of worship and primary Allegiance um being challenged those are really the only two times we see we see it approved of or validated in scriptures and if we are to walk that road number one it has to be in meekness not belligerent not violent not rageful

it's done in meekness and that's that's a good example of the definition of meekness it's strength under control it's I have the strength to say no and stand and take the consequence for it that's meekness and so it's it's done in meekness and that second part like who mentioned done with the understanding that there's a consequence to pay and it's not running or hiding from that consequence it's choosing God over man and so that's what we see in scripture about when resistance and Rebellion is okay all right right so bless you pray that you're able to wrestle with that stuff uh with God and that he brings you to a place of peace and conviction where you can obey well we can submit well and

then if we're ever called on to we can resist well in the spirit of of what Jesus demonstrated for us the the example he gave us all right thanks bless you e