Refuge Church (Utah)
Viral Times & Neighbor Love
Pastor Brian explains how the elders plan to relate to mandates that effect our corporate worship gatherings and why.
All right. Well, thanks for, thanks for being here, guys. This is a little bit of an unusual Sunday school hour. A bit of an unusual Sunday school hour. We're pausing from our normal study to talk about some current events. We could file this one under current events. And especially for those of you guys who don't normally come to Sunday school and you saw the notification and you set your alarms early and showed up. Thank you. This is important, our current kind of cultural moment, it gives us a stage to display a lot of different things about what we believe and what we don't believe. And so it's important, I think, and the elders agree that it's important that we take a minute and get on the same page, even if we don't all agree on every single way of kind of threading the needle on every. particular question we could possibly be faced with in our current kind of fever dreams and virus tyrants sort of era. But it is important that we get some principles under our feet so that we can be of one mind on the important things and we can love one another well and also love our neighbors well and make sure that we do that correctly. The love of neighbor is the second greatest commandment. You can sum up the entire law in the love of neighbor. And it is a phrase that's being thrown around quite a bit
entire law in the love of neighbor. And it is a phrase that's being thrown around quite a bit at this time. And as Christians, we should be the experts on the love of neighbor. People should be coming to us and saying, how do I love my neighbor, for example, right now? So what I'd like to do is pray and just ask for the Lord's help and then we'll get to work this morning. Father, thank you for your goodness and your mercy. Thank you for your transcendent and perfect rule over all things. We confess that you, God are the only ultimate, the only uncreated, the only absolute perfect, unlimited authority in all of existence. We confess that we are not unlimited in our authority, but also, Father, that we are not unlimited in our wisdom. And so we ask, as you instruct us to in your word, that you would give us wisdom. You'd give us wisdom by your word that it would be a light to our feet and a lamp to our path. Lord, use this time together. Use my weakness in my stumbling through to help your people. Please direct my words and direct our hearts, Lord. Give us unity together as your people as we confess our mutual submission to you as our one Lord, one faith, one baptism. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen. Okay, well, let's start with some some Khyper.
one baptism. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen. Okay, well, let's start with some some Khyper. theology if that's all right with everybody. Abraham Kuiper was a great 20th century theologian and he said a little paragraph during his day that I think is particularly relevant to us today. He said in any successful attack on freedom, the state can only be an accomplice. The chief culprit is the citizen who forgets his duty, waste away his strength in the sleep of sin and sensual pleasure, and so loses the power of his own initiative. Right? So one of the things that we saw last week, if you were here with us in the Sermon on the Mount, particularly is that we are a certain thing as the church. We are a certain thing. And one of those things that we are is a city on a hill. We're to be a bright, lit up, heavenly colony on earth, representing the rule of God, the reign of God, ambassadors of the gospel of God, We are to be representatives of the Word of God, living under its instruction. And so as we go out into the world and God salts the fields of the earth with us and lights up the world with us, we would be like a city that people would look to and they would see what is true about reality
And so as we go out into the world and God salts the fields of the earth with us and lights up the world with us, we would be like a city that people would look to and they would see what is true about reality and what ought to be and where things are not as they ought to be, all of the things that light does. Because we're in Christ, we are to be a part of that ministry on earth. And so we're told in that passage to let our good works shine before men so that they might see our good works and glorify our God in heaven. And that means that we're a people with duties. We have duties, certain duties. We have duties to God as individuals. We have duties in our homes. We have duties to one another in the church. We have duties to our unbaptized neighbors. We have duties in our workplaces, right? And we have duties in the civic realm. We have duties in the civic realm as citizens of heaven living with another citizenship and earthly citizenship in the United States of America. And again, there's a lot of talk of love of neighbor in the air right now. And the way we know the way that we're going to fulfill those duties in each of those spheres of obligation is going to come down to the love of God and the love of our neighbor. And we should not
and the love of our neighbor. And we should not be a people who are ignorant of how to do that. Right? It's not as if love of neighbor is even like a kindergarten class that we take first and then we go on to greater things. The love of neighbor is to infuse every school room, every class that we go through in life, from our kindergarten to our graduate level theology. Love of God and neighbor is to infuse all of it. So we ought to be experts, in a sense, though obviously we're imperfect in sinners and growing, in the love of neighbor. And right now, there are a lot of voices, very local voices, national voices, global voices, who would tell us that to uphold our Christian duties as citizens of America and to love our neighbors that we ought to be doing certain things, that we ought to be avoiding large gatherings. Oops, right? We ought to be avoiding large gatherings. We ought to be, at least if we're gathered, we ought to be wearing a mask on our face. Oops. We should be keeping, you know, a good, tall person laying flat on the ground distance between our friends who don't live with us and lots of other things. And it's evident that we might soon, and I'll give you clarity on where we're at in our context later, we'll get
that we might soon, and I'll give you clarity on where we're at in our context later, we'll get specific on these things, what we aren't being asked to do as a legal mandate and what we are. But it's evident that whatever the case is right this moment, it's highly likely that we will face future mandates that are supposedly said to carry the force of law, that would intrude on the mechanics of this gathering, and even, I think, make it kind of de facto impossible for us to properly gather. I think, I hope I'm wrong, but that, I see it as more of an inevitability than as a possibility, especially if things go a certain direction in November and beyond and as the weather gets cold and case counts for it which must not be named goes higher. So we might be threatened with fines, penalties, all kinds of civic action, civil action, if we continue to gather as we have been, as a possibility. So I wanted to take this morning and the elders agreed, we got together and said we need to talk through some principles that we've kind of had and we've talked through, but we need to do that together with you guys and give you some principles. To date, it's been helpful in our area that we haven't had legal mandates that have intruded in the same way. And so we have been able to just
together with you guys and give you some principles. To date, it's been helpful in our area that we haven't had legal mandates that have intruded in the same way. And so we have been able to just kind of keep trucking as we would. But in light of the probability of these future regulations being legally mandated, we wanted to give you some principles for how we're thinking through these things and also how we intend to lead through, especially with respect to our corporate gatherings in these times of virus fears. So I'm going to give you first seven principles that are leading us here from the scriptures and then walk you through our current situation where we're at now, where we might potentially be in the future. Then I'm just going to give you our stance very directly, plainly. This is, okay, in light of these principles and this. possible future potentiality. This is what we're going to do. This is what's going to govern our future relationship to these mandates and why, along with what to expect from us in light of that stance. Like what should you expect to see the elders doing in terms of our public-facing communication outside of the church, as well as what we'll be doing privately that you wouldn't see otherwise with contacting different people and how we'll be speaking to those people. And then lastly, I'd just like to leave you with some exhortation as how to comport ourselves as Christians
see otherwise with contacting different people and how we'll be speaking to those people. And then lastly, I'd just like to leave you with some exhortation as how to comport ourselves as Christians right now in this time. So let's do some principles. And I couldn't not have a numbered list. So number one, first principle is that we do confess the goodness and even the glory of a godly civil ruler. That's foundational. We confess the goodness and the glory of a godly civil ruler and godly civil ruler and godly civil rule. Okay, we are a people who ought to be eager to receive God's blessing through just civil government, right? We don't believe that civil government is just a necessary evil that results from the fall, but like many other hierarchies of authority in the world, they're foundational things that God built into the world. Okay, the scriptures speak highly
they're foundational things that God built into the world. Okay, the scriptures speak highly of godly civil rule. The scriptures tell us that God has built certain hierarchies into the world in different spheres. So it's good for men to rule themselves, to rule their own spirit, to be self-controlled. The Proverbs teaches us. Self-control is a fruit of the spirit. So being ruled by the spirit of God, men rule their own spirits so that they don't sin. That's a good thing. That's a kind of hierarchy within the individual. It's good for that a husband is the head of his wife in his home. are called to submit to their own husbands. And that is a good thing. That's not, again, a result of the fall. That is a creational good. Hierarchy is not evil. We're Christians, right? We're not homogenous. We don't believe that there's just this lump of unvarigated, hierarchy-free, no authority structures in the world. We're Christians. We don't believe that. The headship of a husband in his home is a good thing. Parents rule their children. They have authority. The scripture is called children to obey their parents in the Lord. This is good. There's blessing that comes with that, along with cursing for those who throw off that discipline. In the church, pastors are even, the word rule is used for how pastors relate and elders relate to the church. Paul says that we are to honor elders who rule well, especially those
relate and elders relate to the church. Paul says that we are to honor elders who rule well, especially those who labor in preaching and teaching. That's in First Timothy. And so the elders shepherd and govern, and oversee, one of the things that that means is that they rule in the church. They have a certain kind of delegated authority within the local body. And then civil rulers are to rule in a sphere of civil government. It's a good thing. I don't believe that it's true that if there had been no fall, there would have been no civil rule. Man was called to take dominion, to multiply, to cultivate, to cultivate creation into glory in the name and bearing the image of God. In the future state, we're told that some will rule over ten cities, some five, some one. Civil rule. Civil rule, it's not a bad thing in itself. It's what is done with it that tells us whether it's good or bad. In 2 Samuel 23, the rule of a good king is compared to the light of the morning as the sun rises, right? In Psalm 72, it's compared to rain falling on moan fields, on moan grass. It's watering the earth, the rule of a godly king. And ultimately, that Psalm is looking forward to the rule of Christ as the king of kings. But godly rule is a good thing. Civil rule is a good thing. We're not kind of anarcho-libertarians, though we might overlap in certain things with certain libertarian ideas, but we're not libertarians.
But godly rule is a good thing. Civil rule is a good thing. We're not kind of anarcho-libertarians, though we might overlap in certain things with certain libertarian ideas, but we're not libertarians. We're Christians. It's first principle. And so from that, the second principle that we confess is that we are not to be scofflaws. That's not, the duty of a Christian is to have an eagerness to obey just civil authority. This is the teaching of Romans 13. If we look at the first passages, the first verses in that chapter, we're told that a ruler is doing his duty as a deacon, a minister of God to praise the good and punish the wrongdoer, that he bears the sword in this, and that he has given this ministry of retributive justice to vindicate righteousness and restrain evil. And as Christians, we want to live quiet lives, godly indicted. in every way working with our hands, we want to be a lawful people that he says in that passage that, you know, godly rule isn't a terror to the just. If a ruler is doing his job, he'll pretty much be out of the way of the righteous. The righteous just don't come under his jurisdiction. He won't have to worry about the righteous. He won't be a terror to them. Obviously, you're thinking like, well, they often are a terror to the righteous. Well, we'll get to that.
jurisdiction. He won't have to worry about the righteous. He won't be a terror to them. Obviously, you're thinking like, well, they often are a terror to the righteous. Well, we'll get to that. an eagerness to be a lawless people. We long for good laws. We long for just rule. We're eager to say to godly civil rulers, thank you for bearing the sword with honor and upholding justice. We're eager to be able to say that when the murderer murders and the civil magistrate bears the sword and sheds his blood as the scripture's command, we should be eager to praise and honor. that good action. We should be eager to thank the civil ruler for vindicating the cause of the righteous, for being a terror to the rapist and the murderer, to say, may the Lord bless and keep you and reward you, godly civil ruler. So number three, we're committed, therefore, to honoring, praying for, counseling, and submitting to those rulers whom God has in his providence raised up. Called to honor the king in 1. Peter 2. Paul shows us how to do this, even with Roman rulers like Festus, who is not a good ruler at the end of the day, and he honors him. He gives us an example of how to honor him. He also gives us an example of how to honor even a wicked Israelite ruler, as he speaks ill of the high
at the end of the day, and he honors him. He gives us an example of how to honor him. He also gives us an example of how to honor even a wicked Israelite ruler, as he speaks ill of the high priest, not knowing that the man he was speaking ill of was a high priest, and he didn't speak incorrectly, but he spoke ill, and he apologized. Sorry, I didn't know you were the high priest. So he gives us an example there of honoring. He didn't capitulate. He didn't sin himself, but Paul did honor the high priest. There's Roman, there's Israelite leadership, both of them, not particularly godly. Number four, we confess that the beating heart of godly rule is the law of God. It's the beating heart of godly rule is that they would not attempt to redefine good and bad. They're called ministers of God to praise the good and wrongdoer. They're not free to redefine what those terms mean. Man does not own the dictionary, right? We're not allowed to say that we get to define words. One pastor that I heard recently say that something that's stuck with me about this, that, yes, we're to render to Caesar what is Caesar's, but one of the things that does not belong to Caesar is the power to decide what belongs to Caesar. We're to render to Caesar, that which belongs to him, but we are not, and he is not free, to decide what belongs to him. Because believe me, he would decide that everything
We're to render to Caesar, that which belongs to him, but we are not, and he is not free, to decide what belongs to him. Because believe me, he would decide that everything belongs to him. So the beating heart of godly rule is the law of God. Rulers have duties as well. In Exodus 18, Moses was calling men to rule tens and 50s and hundreds, and it said that he was to call men who fear God, men of truth, hating covetousness, to be those rulers. Proverbs 1612 teaches us that it is an abomination to kings to commit wickedness for the throne is established in by righteousness. Psalm 72, that same Psalm about the royal son. I think we're going to sing it. Well, we are going to sing it this morning. I picked the songs. So Psalm 72 says that a good king brings peace, but then he explains how. He says he brings peace by righteousness. The peace is the result of something in its righteousness. It's not an imaginary peace. It's not peace peace peace when there's no peace. It's peace by righteousness. Number five, the authority of civil rulers is by no means an absolute authority. This should be obvious to us. The authority of a husband is by no means an absolute authority. A wife is not being disobedient to God when she refuses to submit to ungodly authority of her husband, even if he quotes Bible verses.
The authority of a husband is by no means an absolute authority. A wife is not being disobedient to God when she refuses to submit to ungodly authority of her husband, even if he quotes Bible verses. She is not to submit to sinning, right? And so the authority of civil rulers is by no means in absolute authorities. Civil rulers are ministers of God, not authorities unto themselves. They're deacons. They're not demigods. That's what the word that Paul uses in Romans 13 means. It's diaconos. It's a deacon. It's a minister. It's a servant. They're deputies. They're not divine. So our authority, or our obedience to their authority, therefore, is not to be absolute, but limited. It is not to be absolute. but limited, meaning that the people of God, both in the Bible, by the way, and out of the Bible. Just look up the butter rebellion sometime if you want to hear the Protestants owning the papists at some point, but yet Google it. The people of God have a long and storied history in and out of the scriptures of godly civil disobedience. Godly civil disobedience, saying no, we're not going to do that. The Hebrew midwives refused to follow the instructions of Pharaoh concerning the destruction of the male children of Israel.
Godly civil disobedience, saying no, we're not going to do that. The Hebrew midwives refused to follow the instructions of Pharaoh concerning the destruction of the male children of Israel. David fled before King Saul. He even roved the land with a band of outcasts, armed outcasts, by the way, and yet it could be argued that David honored King Saul more highly than any man in the land land while he fled from him with a band of armed rebels, in a sense. Okay? And he honored, if you read the story, David honored Saul more highly than his own instructors and helpers and guards and servants and courtly appointees. God's servants in Daniel 3, 18, said, be it known to you, O King, that we will not serve your gods or worship the golden image, which you have set up. He said, you must do this. They said, we're not going to do that. And then they proceeded to not do that. As Peter, the Apostle, declared in Acts 529. We must obey God rather than men. As Peter and Paul at various times refused to turn themselves in before the demands of rulers, Acts 1211, 2 Corinthians 11, 32 and 33, lower down from a city wall, running blockades, you know, getting out of Dodge, right?
refused to turn themselves in before the demands of rulers, Acts 1211, 2 Corinthians 11, 32 and 33, lower down from a city wall, running blockades, you know, getting out of Dodge, right? They ran from an arrest warrant. Hey, you need to come and appear before the tribunal because you're a lawbreaker and we would punish you. And they said, who, Paul, who's that? guy. One moment, I'll go get him. And then, boom, they didn't come back, right? They ran and fled. Resistance to tyrannical and godless rule is therefore not antithetical to rightly honoring civil rulers, nor is it the same thing as a kind of anarchic rejection of the civil order. So godly civil disobedience is not the same thing as saying civil rule is bad. It's not the same thing as dishonor. It's not the same thing as dishonoring authorities. As one pastor noted, in the Old Testament in Second Chronicles 23, Jehoiada defended the throne by removing someone from it. And those who helped him, the lesser magistrates, followed him, and what they did was right to do. He honored the throne by removing somebody from it who didn't belong there. More on that in a moment. Number six. It is essential, I think I'm on number six. Yes, number six. It's essential. It's essential.
Yes, number six. It's essential. It's essential. that we don't neglect to rightly read our place in history, as well as to rightly understand the nature of whatever administration and rule that we find ourselves under in the providence of God. Okay, not all governments are equal. The highest authority in any given government is not always the same thing. For us, it's essential that we recognize that we are a part of what constitutes the governing authorities of Romans 13 that we're commanded to submit to insofar. as we can without disobeying God was what? It's our written constitution. That's a part of our governing authorities. In fact, if we were to appeal to the highest authority governing our land, as Paul did in Acts 22, when he appeared before a tribunal locally that was about to flog him unlawfully, real civil magistrate, real authority, he appeared before them. They said, go flog him to examine himself. And he said, he appealed to what? He appealed to the law of Rome. He said, local government, you're not a law into yourselves. Our very law says that you can't flog a Roman citizen as you are about to do. And they didn't. He appealed to the authority within the system. Later, Paul does this in Acts 25. In Acts 25, same thing. He's appearing before a local tribunal, a local government, and they are not giving him justice, baldly not giving him justice, playing politics with him, trying to please the Jews, keeping him incarcerated when they
tribunal, a local government, and they are not giving him justice, baldly not giving him justice, playing politics with him, trying to please the Jews, keeping him incarcerated when they knew that he had done no wrong before their law. and so what did he do? He appealed to the highest governing authority in their system, which was the emperor. He said, I appeal to the emperor. The right of a Roman citizen to appeal to the highest authority to say, take me to the highest guy and let him judge my case. Paul appealed higher than his immediate authority. Now, we have to understand that if we're to do what Paul did here in our context, and I'm going to get to why this is not the most important, part of this conversation, but it is a part of the conversation, that for us to appeal to the highest authority in our land is not to appeal to our sheriff. It's not to appeal to our mayor. It's not to appeal to state senators or state Supreme Court. It's not to appeal to federal leaders. It's not even to appeal to the president of the United States. For us, in our context, to appeal to our highest legal authority is to appeal to our written constitution. That is a very wise feature of our governing system. And it's there because Christians put it there, by the way. Christians put it there because they read the Bible, and they knew that men were fickle and loved power. And so they made it very difficult for any one thing to have ultimate kingly power in the land.
put it there because they read the Bible, and they knew that men were fickle and loved power. And so they made it very difficult for any one thing to have ultimate kingly power in the land. And so expressions of ultimate kingly power from American rulers is on the face of it. You don't need a Ph.D. and constitutional law to know this. Wicked and unlawful. It's wicked and unlawful. It's wicked and lawful. Regardless of how many lawyers, no offense to the lawyers in the room, tell us that the Constitution allows for it. For us to appeal to the highest authority is to appeal, at least within our system, to be clear, is to appeal to our written constitution. Okay? And we'll get into our current situation, but I want to say this lastly number seven, because this is very, very important for us to recognize not just in reading our own place in the system, but also to read our place in history and how we got here. We need to understand that we confess that overbearing and tyrannical rule is one of God's primary means of judging a wicked nation. It's 1 Samuel 811, right? Proverbs 292. We could look, when the righteous rule, the people rejoice, but when the wicked rule, the people mourn. Right? One of the ways that God brings judgment on a people is by saying, you can have what you want. You want it a state to be God. Here you go. I'm going to give you some.
Right? One of the ways that God brings judgment on a people is by saying, you can have what you want. You want it a state to be God. Here you go. I'm going to give you some. rulers that think they are gods. And they're going to act like their gods. And they're going to think that they get to define what belongs to Caesar. And they're going to decide that that means everything. Overbearing and tyrannical rule is one of God's chief means of judging a wicked nation. And under that principle, we can be certain that we're a nation under judgment. We're a nation under judgment. I'm not trying right now to parse out to the 10th decimal point exactly how which thing is related to which part of God's judgment, right? Not necessarily going to do that. I'm not going to say, well, this hurricane hit because of this exact sin. But I do know that disaster doesn't befall a land, save the Lord does it. That's what Amos teaches us. Does disaster befall a land? Save the Lord does it? No is the answer. No. So whenever disaster hits, whether that is a human-created disaster, as many of these situations we're facing right now are, or a natural disaster or anything in between, we can know that that fell under the providential sovereign hand of our good God who delights to display his glory in salvation through judgment, to deliver his people even as he judges his and their enemies and glorifying himself in it. And so we can be certain that our nation isn't,
who delights to display his glory in salvation through judgment, to deliver his people even as he judges his and their enemies and glorifying himself in it. And so we can be certain that our nation isn't, to some degree, under judgment. That, of course, I mean, we have 60 million dead children to our tally. How could we not be? We've called homosexual relationships marriage. We've done manifold wickedness under the guise of law. This is legal to do. So overbearing and tyrannical rule is one of God's chief means of judging a wicked nation. So even as we resist unjust rule, we recognize that God often uses wicked nations and wicked rule as a spanking spoon for his people, right? So Assyria invading Israel, Babylon, captivity. It's God using a wicked nation like a big spanking spoon to discipline his people because he's good and he loves us and he will not let us languish in our rebellion. So let's talk about our current situation because there are things to thank the Lord for and then there are things to ask the Lord for. So the initial requirements this week that rolled out on the governor in his office and some
initial requirements this week that rolled out on the governor in his office and some appointed health czar of some sort basically came out and said this is what we're going to do. We're going to divide up the state and counties and based on their positive cases of it which must not be named, we will give different restrictions, okay, different restrictions. So high, moderate, and light, something like that, three levels. And I'm we're in a moderate county, Salt Lake County, it would be high county. In a moderate county, most public gatherings would be limited to 25 or fewer with enforced mask. We would, we would have to tell you, you must wear a mask or we'll turn you away. We would have to come and get out our Catholic nun ruler and whack you if you came too close to another brother or sister and stop breathing in one another's proximity, right? I'm having a hard time staying of the straight face, but And more, we would also be required to track every one of you that came in the door and write your names down and your contact information and at request, provide that to the state and say, these were all the people that were here so that they can do contact tracing and say, well, this person was at a Walmart with someone who was positive, and so they then went to church, and so now we're quarantining everybody at church for 14 days. And they have that information,
this person was at a Walmart with someone who was positive, and so they then went to church, and so now we're quarantining everybody at church for 14 days. And they have that information, they have your number, they have your name, rank, and serial number. So those are some of them. There are more requirements as well. That's a moderate county. The high counties were more strict, lower gatherings and that sort of thing. So that was the initial requirement on the face of it. It's a bit sneaky because what you tend to do, what they tend to do is that when you go in the initial ones and you go on the website and you try to search church religious organization just to see, did they say anything specifically about church gatherings, usually you'll find zero results or just kind of articles of what the LDS church was doing. So at first, we couldn't find anything. Other churches were coming out and saying, we can't gather with these. You know, we just can't. We're not, we can't comply with these, so we're going to go to online church. All right. Later, there's a clarification. I have it here just in case anybody complains in the neighborhood just as a, well, you know what, we would still be doing this even if we didn't have this. Well, I just gave my cards away. But, oops, it's foreshadowing. Okay, there you go. It's foreshadowing. But here's where they say, religious gatherings are not public events. Religious gatherings are not public events. So right now, you're not violating a thing, right, by being here. Nor have you been, by the way, at any point from our understanding,
events. Religious gatherings are not public events. So right now, you're not violating a thing, right, by being here. Nor have you been, by the way, at any point from our understanding, though the government loves to pass lots of laws that nobody knows about so that later they can do whatever they want, I suspect. So you're not breaking any laws. There's no indication that you will be in the future for gathering with us. Praise God. I'm thankful for that. Exemption. But we're supposed to love our neighbors, right? And what are we? We're a city on a hill. We're a city on a hill. We're supposed to be the people that the community looks to and says, there is a bastion of freedom under God's free grace. There it is. Right. That's what it looks like. All right. We're called to love our neighbors. I believe that if we fail to prophetically rebuke as needed those rulers who are oppressing our neighbors, that we fail in our duty to rightly love our neighbor. And so I think it would be a mistake for us merely to say, oh, they exempted us. Forget about all those businesses, people who are losing their livelihoods and ability to provide for their families because of it which must not be named, which 99.9987% of you will survive.
because of it which must not be named, which 99.9987% of you will survive. Forget about those guys. We've got our exemption. I believe that that that would be wrong for us to do. So, I'm going to give you two things. I'm going to give you a statement of what we're going to do, and then the reasons why, just very plainly, I've already alluded to many of them through principle. But our statement, which will make public, is that we decline, we will decline to consider any decree, whether by a legislator or governor or presidential decree, as legitimate insofar as it restricts the free exercise of our gathered worship. And when I say restricts our free exercise, I mean attempts to require us to make you wear masks, attempt to require us to keep you apart. I don't just mean like we might be able to gather 24 at a time in this room far apart with stuff on our face. I mean, if they attempt to force contract tracing, contact tracing, size restrictions, that we will not consider those to be lawful orders. And even if they were ruled lawful orders, we would still consider them not to be lawful orders. So we will not now or in the future be restricting our gatherings. We reserve the right, of course, as we always do as elders who are called
be restricting our gatherings. We reserve the right, of course, as we always do as elders who are called to shepherd and govern that, sure, there might be something. Maybe there's a wildfire that hits the east bench, and it's getting close and we're choked with smoke. And so we have to say, hey, this Sunday we're going to go somewhere else. So we're going to wait until the fires out. We reserve the right, of course, to make those kinds of decisions. But this is not that kind of situation. Right. Again, we do believe that the civil authority has a certain authority in very limited circumstances to do certain emergency sorts of things. We wouldn't kick fire marshal out if our building was on fire and we didn't know it. And he came in and said, you need to leave the buildings on fire. We wouldn't say, well, what about our First Amendment rights, fire marshal? We would leave in an orderly fashion with our children. And we would pray that our building didn't burn down, right? But the state is not free to determine what an emergency is unilaterally. Okay. And one of the, this may seem obvious, but one of the features of an emergency is that the people in the midst of it should be able to tell that they're in the midst of it. And this does not seem to be that sort of case. We do not seem to be in a legitimate state of emergency. So we won't be considering those as lawful. We'll be peacefully declining to follow those mandates. Okay, two reasons why. The first is, again, the lesser reason,
state of emergency. So we won't be considering those as lawful. We'll be peacefully declining to follow those mandates. Okay, two reasons why. The first is, again, the lesser reason, but it's still an important reason that we have biblical examples of appealing to, which is our own system of law. It is a clear invasion. of our rights as described by the highest governing authority, our written constitution. If Congress shall make no law respecting or restricting the free exercise of religion, how much less does a single president or governor have the right? If they can't even convene and pass by two-thirds majority to tell us not to do this, how could one guy the whole thing we didn't want in our constitutional republic be able to do that by decree or fiat? We don't believe that that's lawful. extent that for 50 or 60 years, or much more than that, actually, we've been considering those as lawful. We've sinfully allowed for our neighbors to have their rights trampled down. Sinfully. Okay, so we won't be continuing now. Number two, and this is the much more important reason why even if the Supreme Court ruled that governors do have the authority in this situation to do that, let's say they did that. Because technically in our republic, that would mean that that's what our Constitution says. That's what it's supposed to mean. But they also, nine people in
to do that, let's say they did that. Because technically in our republic, that would mean that that's what our Constitution says. That's what it's supposed to mean. But they also, nine people in black robes also decided that the Constitution somehow provides you the freedom to murder a child just because it's in the womb and not out of the womb. So clearly they get it wrong sometimes. Clearly they get it wrong sometimes. But the more important reason that we would still not submit to those sorts of orders is because to do so in this specific situation would constitute grave sin. We're commanded to gather. We're specifically commanded in Hebrews not to forsake the assembling of ourselves together, to do all of the things we're commanded to in scripture, for the word to be preached and received, for the scripture to be read publicly, for men of pray, lifting holy hands without quarreling, for us to receive the Lord's supper together, for us to baptize, for us to sing to one another in Psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs. Things like mask requirements, social distance requirements, contact tracing requirements, gathering size restrictions, we believe, constitute us enforcing sin because we believe that for the elders if we got up and we said you must wear a mask to come to church, that we would be sinning against you, right, that we would be sinning against you. If we said, no hugging if you don't live in the same house, I believe that we
you must wear a mask to come to church, that we would be sinning against you, right, that we would be sinning against you. If we said, no hugging if you don't live in the same house, I believe that we would be sinning against you. Unanimously, the elders, we believe we would be sinning against you to do that, to enforce that. Now, Again, we're not all of the same mind on every particular. We'll ask you if we think that you're in error, but we're not going to say to you, like, we're going to tell you exactly how you have to do all of this. We're not going to tell you what you have to do when you walk into Walmart. We're not going to do that either. We might instruct you, if you come and ask, we might give you some advice, but we're not going to enforce those sorts of mandates. And here's possibly more important, because a lot of these mandates, basically they serve as a de facto indefinite suspension of gathered worship. They might say 14 days, but the reality is we know that they lie. That's not 14 days. We're like eight months into the 14 days, right? 14 days to stop to slow the spread, and we're on day like 234 out of 14. So we just don't trust those limits, and we're absolutely convinced on principle that digital substitutes are not permissible replacements for the gathering of the people of God. So no matter how slick the video is that we put
trust those limits, and we're absolutely convinced on principle that digital substitutes are not permissible replacements for the gathering of the people of God. So no matter how slick the video is that we put out, it's not church. It's not the assembling of ourselves together. If it were, then why don't we all just pick whatever church we love the best in the whole world and listen to their sermons? And you could find way better sermons than my sermons. You could find way better singing, probably, I'm sure. You know, you guys have good voices, but let's be honest with ourselves here, then what we can produce together. And you could just say, that's my, you know, every week. We gather together. If that's not permissible before it, which must not be named, then why would that indefinitely be permissible now? It's not. It's not an adequate substitute. We don't believe that that constitutes church, ecclesia, gathering, called out assembly. It doesn't constitute that. It can be a helpful aid. It can be a supplement. Feel free to watch good sermons and listen to them online. Please, those are great. I do the same thing. But if we forsake the gathering together without very legitimate reason individually, which does exist. There's such thing as shut-ins that we have to go to as pastors. But that would not be adequate. To do so would be to sin. We believe it would be to sin. It would be to lead you into sin. Even if you were eager for that to be the case, even if you were like, yes, we really believe we should go to online. I think a lot of us are the same mind. There are probably
It would be to lead you into sin. Even if you were eager for that to be the case, even if you were like, yes, we really believe we should go to online. I think a lot of us are the same mind. There are probably people listening in line who totally disagree with what I'm saying. And I'm saying that even if you totally disagree and you think that those things are adequate, we think you're wrong. It's not that we just disagree. We think you're incorrect. We think you've made an error. And so we're not going to lead in that way. Okay? So we will decline to consider any of those sorts of decrees, injunctions, whatever, as lawful. We might take them as good advice and consider them and put them to you to consider, but we will not enforce them and we will continue to gather. So two last things, what to expect and how we should comport ourselves as an exhortation. So what to expect from us. Some of this you'll see, like, we'll be here on Sundays. That'll be obvious at 8.30 and 10. So you'll see that. And hopefully you'll see it because you're here as well. Some of this you won't see. So we wanted to fill you in both on what you'll see and what you won't see from the elders. What you will see gathering and worship without enforced masks or social distancing. You'll see instruction or will occasionally like this speak to these issues in different formats. and we will attempt whenever we hear, you know, a specific thing, like we're going to enforce this
You'll see instruction or will occasionally like this speak to these issues in different formats. and we will attempt whenever we hear, you know, a specific thing, like we're going to enforce this mandate in this way, we'll attempt to instruct you as how we believe that we should relate to that, even though we said we're not going to stop. There are attitudes we ought to have and maybe things we can say even as we respectfully decline, obedience to these. What you won't see, or you will also see a public statement, a public statement from us, because again, we've been, you know, praise God, we've been exempted. So no health officials going to show up at the door and start ticketing people today or in future Sundays unless they change that. So praise God for that. However, just because they've exempted us doesn't mean they've exempted the vast majority of our neighbors in the vast majority of situations. So we're going to be putting a public statement out as the pastors of the church saying that statement that I told you. We're thankful. We believe that Godly civil rule is a good thing. We're eager to honor you. We're praying for you as we do weekly in our liturgy, not just because of it which must not be named. We pray for civil rulers because the scripture tells us to. We do that together every week. We've been praying for Governor Herbert, all kinds of different officials. So we're going to tell them that. We've sent them all letters. Some of them have sent letters back and thanked us for that. And so we have some relationship established on a very small level,
officials. So we're going to tell them that. We've sent them all letters. Some of them have sent letters back and thanked us for that. And so we have some relationship established on a very small level, but it's something. And we will be telling them, we're eager to honor you. But for these reasons, we will not consider, thank you for exempting us, but we will not be considering any future injunctions as lawful. And we will decline to obey them, but rather put the ball in the court of our people and ask that you would entrust them with that dangerous thing, which is freedom, to determine their own reaction to certain dangers inevitable in the world, in a fallen world. And then we're going to exhort them to repent of their injunctions and to not nanny their citizens, but to free them and let their citizens and business owners make their own free decisions between parties concerning their economic activities, gathering, whatever. And we're going to exhort them to do that. And then we'll pray for them publicly. And we'll aim for a tone of honor, respect, love, Christian charity, understanding that leadership is difficult. We know that on a small level. Of course, they're governing far more people than we are, but we understand that it's difficult to make decisions. Like this, you know, where some of you might not agree, not everybody will certainly agree. Some people just, you know,
people than we are, but we understand that it's difficult to make decisions. Like this, you know, where some of you might not agree, not everybody will certainly agree. Some people just, you know, have left our church because we kept gathering and didn't require masks. Some of the, some of the angriest phone calls I've ever fielded as a pastor, which was surprising to me, was for the simple fact that we didn't tell you you can't come in the doors unless you have a mask on your face. So I know that will happen. We understand, to a small degree, and many of you do, all of you do, moms, it's not always popular to tell your children to govern them. It's not popular to govern in, we're fallen. We don't always agree. And so we understand that it's difficult, but we would like to exhort them to not sin against their people. And privately, something you won't see is that we'll be privately reaching out to all of these parties. Our sheriff, Ryan, Weaver County Sheriff, Ryan, Arbon, Arbon, yeah, Arbon. I wrote it down this morning. We'll be reaching out to him privately, many of you have, which thank you, keep doing that, asking him, telling him our intent, and then asking him to refuse to enforce these. We'll be reaching out to our mayor, and we'll be reaching out to the governor at least, and attempting to get some kind of private, or at least, you know, it's probably going to be digital if they granted in these days. But some kind of way of
reaching out to the governor at least, and attempting to get some kind of private, or at least, you know, it's probably going to be digital if they granted in these days. But some kind of way of talking to them and letting them know our mind and giving a private appeal. And the reason we're doing this, let me just, this isn't in my notes, but I'll just tell you, the reason we're doing that, again, not just doing our own thing secretly, is because we're a city on a hill. We're supposed to be the thing that people look to and say, this is what we should be doing, right? This is what justice should look like. And we don't just want to leave our neighbors because we have an exemption. But even just practically, we've seen, I just spoke with pastors outside of our state, but a pastor's at a local church that, you know, didn't control the community by any means, as much smaller congregation than the population of their community, but through their private appeals and public teaching, their sheriff said, we will no longer enforce the mayor's mandates. And so the mayor is still issuing mandates, but the police are no longer enforcing them because the sheriff said, we're not going to do that. And that happened, that would not be happening, if not for that church in that community. And so whether we were successful or not isn't the point, but we ought to be faithful to prophetically, to function prophetically in the community,
not for that church in that community. And so whether we were successful or not isn't the point, but we ought to be faithful to prophetically, to function prophetically in the community, in appealing for justice for our neighbors. So we will be doing that. And again, we see this in scripture, not just disobedience, but also public rebuke. Daniel publicly rebukes and disobeys the king, John the Baptist publicly rebukes Herod for us, just for sexual immorality, by the way. Not just, you shouldn't have done what you did in your bed. That was wicked. Don't do that. And he ended up with his head cut off for it. Paul rebuked the high priest. Christ rebuked the high priest. Psalm 2. Every time we sing it, we're publicly rebuking all the rulers of the earth and telling them to kiss the sun, lest he be angry and you perish along the way. So every time we sing that, we're holding a little peaceful protest of wicked rule. So let me leave you with this. How should we comport ourselves in this? And I would encourage you to public honor and not slander. So display an attitude of humility as we approach our leaders. Humility, again, is not silence. Humility is not agreement. Humility is not even not rebuking. All of those things are consistent with humility. Again, sometimes honoring the king highly requires us.
silence. Humility is not agreement. Humility is not even not rebuking. All of those things are consistent with humility. Again, sometimes honoring the king highly requires us. to rebuke him. David honored Saul, and he fled and rebuked him. So public honor. Don't revile your rulers unjustly. I'm not saying don't criticize them with accurate information, but don't slander them, meaning don't ascribe to them things that you aren't certain are true. We want to give them the same measure of charity that we would want for them talking about us. We wouldn't want them to put a headline in the news tomorrow that says local church holds anarchist rally and encourages citizens to take up arms. We wouldn't want that headline because it wouldn't be true about what we're doing right now, and we wouldn't want to do that to them. So another one would be, again, we don't all agree on this. Every pastor right now is attempting to lead through these things in accordance with what they believe to be correct in biblical principles. So if you don't agree with us, do feel free to come talk to us. We would be very happy. Top on the phone, talk with you, and have a conversation about that. But we would ask you do that
Top on the phone, talk with you, and have a conversation about that. But we would ask you do that privately before you do that publicly, that you would, if you have an issue that you don't go post on Facebook about how ungodly your pastors are because they're whatever it is, we'll give you at least good reasons. Like, you don't know the half of it. I know much more about my own sin than you do. So talk to us privately if you have an issue. If you have questions, we'd be happy to ask. Or if you have a situation that is, you know, obviously we're on particular situations, feel free to ask us for counsel on that. How should I do this at work? How should I do this here with these issues? We would encourage you not to be, this kind of goes along with public honor, but some of us might end up getting tickets or certain things like that. You know, some Christians have been arrested for sorts of things nationwide. So don't, let's just be plundered if we need. And that, again, doesn't mean silently plundered. It doesn't mean not following our legal avenues of redress or using that plundering as a big, fat stage to glorify God. But we would encourage you. If the health officer comes into the church, the security team is not going to throw him over their shoulder and pitch him onto 26th Street. So just so you know, and please don't do that. you have an urge. Please, please don't do that. We would be polite, firm, courageous,
shoulder and pitch him onto 26th Street. So just so you know, and please don't do that. you have an urge. Please, please don't do that. We would be polite, firm, courageous, humble, and direct, not obfuscating, saying this is why we won't, this is why we're telling them, this is why what we're doing and why we're doing it, and we would have you know that. And then lastly, this is the most important one of all, repent of your sin. Okay, repent of your sin. Again, tyrannical rule is one of God's primary judgment. for wicked people. Okay, repent of your sin. G.K. Chesterton once said that the first and most obvious bribe of the slave is free love, and he meant sexual immorality. It's the first and most obvious bribe of a slave. If you want to subjugate to people, the most important way to do that is to get them to be subjugated to sin. Get them to be enslaved to pornography and wicked things in the dark so that when they are supposed to be light and prophetic witnesses in salt, they're impotent. They have no power to bring because they're not in fellowship properly with the Lord. And so we're to be a people whose good works shine before men. So repent of your sin. It's that simple. We ought to be, if we're calling rulers to repent, we ought to be the first ones to be repenting. We ought to repent before them, call them to repent and then keep repenting of our sin. And how do we do that? We turn to Christ
if we're calling rulers to repent, we ought to be the first ones to be repenting. We ought to repent before them, call them to repent and then keep repenting of our sin. And how do we do that? We turn to Christ to be clean and to be washed in his blood. We have a hope even through our sin. So don't hear me saying, if you're a sinner, there's no hope for you. And basically we think it's all your fault. All of us are sinners. And all of us need repentance. So we should be working to live Christ-like virtuous lives so that they would not, our enemies would not have legitimate things to say and to charge us with. Okay? So be a repentant people. I'm going to pray. And then we do have a little bit of time. I think we got like maybe, we're not going to do like open, in Q&A right now, but we've got 30-plus minutes before the service, and we'll be milling around. The elders are, Pastor Joshua, Kevin, and Dan, and I will be just kind of around. We'd love to talk to anybody who would like to speak with us. I'm going to pray, and then we'll do that. Father, thank you that you are a good and faithful, Father, that you discipline us. We thank you even for this difficult providence that we find ourselves in in our nation. God, we know that it is a good and wide and just turn of events as you intend, that you intend to bring glory to your own name
difficult providence that we find ourselves in in our nation. God, we know that it is a good and wide and just turn of events as you intend, that you intend to bring glory to your own name through it, and we know that you are doing that. You intend to reveal what is hidden, and you intend to call to account what needs to be called to account. You intend to strengthen your people through this, not to weaken us. We know you don't mean this for our ill because you've promised that you're working all things together for good for those who love you and are called according to your purpose. So we ask that you would give us faith and the eyes of faith to see what you're doing, to trust you, Lord, to be a people who would not fear men, who would not fear death, who would not fear what is fearful, but that we would fear you and that we would obey you. So thank you, Lord. Be glorified in us, your people. Be with us as we gather. We again confess our need for wisdom and strength by your grace and through your hand. And we thank you that you freely offer and provide it through Christ. It's in His name we pray. Amen.
Amen.