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Well, as we've said, we're looking
at the second paragraph of chapter 24 of our confession tonight.
We read there, it is lawful for Christians to accept and execute
the office of a magistrate when called thereunto. in the management
whereof, as they ought especially to maintain justice and peace
according to the wholesome laws of each kingdom and commonwealth.
So for that end, they may lawfully now, under the New Testament,
wage war upon just and necessary occasions. This paragraph shows
that it is right and proper for Christians to work for civil
authorities and exercise the duties of civil magistracy. In doing so, it outlines the
wonderful potential for good in this work, but also the limitations
that are placed upon it. Let's look at our subject from
this paragraph under three headings. Firstly, the legitimacy of this
calling. The legitimacy of the calling
of a godly magistrate. It is entirely right and good
for a Christian believer to engage in politics. We need to say that
and just hold it there in our heads. We've got this idea that
politics is in and of itself somehow a dirty profession. That is not true. Politicians
may indeed be, quotes, dirty, That's true as individuals. Many
of them may be. As a group, the majority of them
may be. And I'm not saying they are. I'm saying that is possible.
But that does not mean that the work of a politician is an inherently
dreadful thing that Christians should avoid. That is not true. It is entirely right and good
for a Christian believer to engage in politics and in the broader
sense in the civil magistracy, which would include the legal
profession or any kind of public service, including the police
force or the army. Perhaps I better put this on
rather than having it dangling down there. Not doing very well
tonight. There we go. Entirely right and good for a
Christian believer to engage in politics, the legal profession,
or any kind of public service, including the police force or
the army. Now, how do we know this? How
do we know? Well, we know it for a number
of reasons. Firstly, because the work of
civil magistracy is a work that God himself has legitimated.
We've seen that from paragraph one, haven't we? In our three
studies in paragraph one, we've seen that the civil magistrate
is answerable to God, the civil magistracy is called by God,
and the civil magistracy is empowered by God. that God himself has
appointed the civil magistracy. The civil authorities, the state,
the government as we know it today, is appointed by God. It's God's idea. It's God's intention
that government should function for the good of the people. We've
seen that to have a government, however badly they are doing
their job, and it's really important we remember this, however badly
a government is doing their job, it is always better than anarchy.
There is nothing worse than anarchy, literally. Because when anarchy
reigns, then sin has free course. And that is the worst of all
possible worlds. So God has ordained the civil
magistracy. How then can it be illegitimate
for a Christian to work in that civil realm? Secondly, we note
that it is a work we see many godly men in scripture doing. Even when the person or the rulers
who are over them are not godly men themselves. Countless times
in scripture we find very godly men, men who are commended for
their work, men who are living according to the law of God,
men who are pleasing God in their lives, serving in the civil magistracy. We've had these studies, haven't
we, in Daniel 1 to 6 already. And here is a man along with
his three friends, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, and they
are all working for the Babylonians, or then for the Medes and Persians.
And there is no hint of there being any problem with that.
There's no suggestion that they shouldn't be doing it. At no
point is it hinted at that Daniel shouldn't be serving Darius.
You know, Daniel 6, conclusion. Daniel should never have served
Darius in the first place. Is that the conclusion? Is that
what we were taught on Sunday evening? No, we were not taught
that. At all, because that would be
false. It was perfectly right and proper for Daniel to be serving
in that capacity, very high up as he was one of the top three
men in the kingdom. And Daniel's not the only one,
is he? We could think of many examples, but what about Mordecai
in Esther? Listen to this about Mordecai
in Esther 10. King Ahasuerus, and we know he
was a fiery, incendiary, selfish, nasty, despotic piece of work. King Ahasuerus imposed tribute
on the land and on the islands of the sea. Now all the acts
of his power and his might and the account of the greatness
of Mordecai, the Jewish man, to which the king advanced him. Are they not written in the book
of the Chronicles of the Kings of Media and Persia? For Mordecai
the Jew was second to King Ahasuerus and was great among the Jews
and well received by the multitude of his brethren, seeking the
good of his people and speaking peace to all his countrymen.
Very interesting text, isn't it? Mordecai was elevated to
the second highest position in the entire empire under King
Ahasuerus who was, quite frankly, a nasty piece of work. And what
did Mordecai do? He did good. It was perfectly
legitimate for Mordecai to take up that position. And what about
Joseph in Genesis 41? Joseph interprets the dream for
Pharaoh. And Pharaoh says to him, I want
you to be over my house and my people. Genesis 41 verse 40. I want you to be second in the
kingdom. I want you to be my prime minister.
Now, what does Joseph say? Does Joseph say, no, this is
illegitimate. This is against God's law, against
God's will. I shouldn't be doing this. It's
okay for me to interpret the dream for you and speak God's
word to you, but taking part in civil government, no, that's
not for anybody who is godly. Joseph doesn't do that. And he's
clearly a man of principle, isn't he? He's already walked out on
Potiphar's household because the wife tried to defile him. So he's a man of principle. He
knows God's law. And he's not gonna do anything
that is against God's law. And yet Joseph is more than content
to serve Pharaoh. And what does he do serving Pharaoh? He follows the instructions and
he Basically, in the end, amongst other things, he feathers Pharaoh's
nest, doesn't he? He looks after Pharaoh's interests.
He serves him faithfully. Pharaoh ends up owning, basically,
all of the land of Egypt, all of the people of Egypt, all of
the cattle of Egypt, and this is all Joseph's doing. And you
think, how can that be right? It is right. Perfectly good. No hint in scripture that Joseph
behaved wrongly. So we know the civil magistracy
is legitimate for a godly person. A, because the magistrate itself
is ordained by God. B, because many in scripture
take up this position and do so with great honor and great
commendation in the scriptures. But also thirdly, it is a work
that many godly men have taken up down the centuries unto great
usefulness. Take a man like Oliver Cromwell,
he's been mentioned recently as the last man who cancelled
Christmas. How extraordinary that a man
of such stature and of such godliness as Cromwell should be remembered
for something like that. It's a complete misrepresentation
of the man, by the way. No, Oliver Cromwell was responsible
for establishing in our country freedom of religion. It was under
Cromwell in the 17th century as Lord Protector in that time
when there was no king because Charles I had committed treason
against his own people and plotted the overthrow of his own people
in cahoots with other nations and other groups. He lost his
head as a result of that. Cromwell took up the law protectorate
and he established freedom of religion in this country. And
the principle of freedom of religion has been established ever since.
It was under Cromwell that Jews were allowed to be Jews and Roman
Catholics were allowed to be Roman Catholics. Quakers were
allowed to be Quakers and Baptists were allowed to be Baptists.
I mean, back then we would be on the pail and so on. Amazing work that Cromwell did
at that and many other things. What about William Wilberforce
somewhat later? who was so instrumental in the
abolition of the slave trade, and it was his Christian faith
and his Christian convictions that drove him on in that battle
over many, many decades to bring down that wickedness of the slave
trade. Or what about Lord Shaftesbury,
who also, as a believer, championed the cause of the oppressed, and
working with local hero Robert Peel, engaged to defend the cause
of the oppressed, to bring in many laws that reduced the hours
of work that people had to work in those days, improved the conditions,
made sure they got paid a decent wage, and so on. He did so much
good, and he was driven in that by his faith. So it is entirely
legitimate for godly Christian people to be engaged in the civil
magistrate, or to use more contemporary terminology, to be involved in
public service, to be employed by the state, to do work on behalf
of the state. But notice here, in this paragraph,
the wording that is used, it is lawful for Christians to accept
and execute the office of a magistrate when called to it. When they
are called to it. Called by whom? Called by whom? Well, not called by the authorities,
but called by God. The writers of our confession,
whenever they use a phrase like this, called unto something,
they are referring to the divine calling. and the reformers and
the Puritans had this tremendously high view of a Christian's calling. It was Luther who began this
process, wasn't he? When he referred to the scullery
maid, or the launderer, or the housewife at the kitchen sink,
or the person mucking out the pigs, or whatever the job was,
whatever a Christian does in his life, he is called to it
by God. Paul brings this out, doesn't
he, in Colossians 3, when we do everything we do as unto the
Lord, even if it's mucking out the pigs die. We do it as unto
the Lord. Why? Because we are called unto
it by God. And here is this recognition
that there is a calling to the office of the civil magistracy. This is a vocation. And some Christians are called
to this vocation. I wonder if anybody listening
to this might think to themselves, maybe that's me. Maybe this is
something that God is calling me to at this time. Somehow today we've lost this
sense of vocation and calling as Christians in the general
sense. Yes, we recognize that there
is a calling to the ministry and that's quite right. There
is a calling to the ministry, but then everything else is just
a job. That's not how our forefathers in the faith saw it. Everything
is a calling. And to be engaged in civil magistracy,
to work as a servant of the state, to be a public servant, is a
calling. And it's a very important one.
And Christians need to consider, am I called to this? Sproul has this very helpful
quote on this point. He says, the Reformation concept
of vocation, which has been largely obscured in our culture today.
The idea of vocation is that God calls people to their life's
work in many different spheres. God gifts people in different
ways. And it is not only church-related jobs that are to be considered
a calling or a vocation. Just as God calls people to the
gospel ministry, so he also calls the ministers of the state to
perform their tasks. He calls farmers to farming,
businessmen to business, artists to art. The first people said
to be filled with the Holy Spirit were the artisans whom God called
to fashion the holy vessels and the furniture for the tabernacle
in the Old Testament, Exodus 31. The spirit did not come upon
them to preach the gospel or to minister as priests and prophets.
The spirit gifted them to produce works of art, to be musicians
and to be sculptors. And then he says something that
might jar with us a little bit, but it's really important. As
Christians, we should think of our careers as vocations. We
should be a banker because God calls us to be a banker. If banking is a legitimate enterprise,
and it is by the way, and contributes to the general welfare of human
beings, which it definitely does, then it is a legitimate sphere
of labor in which a Christian may be engaged. God's will and
does call his people to be bankers as well as to be civil servants,
servants of the state in the broadest possible sense. So it
is entirely legitimate for Christians to be public servants, even when
the people for whom they work are not believers. And even when
the political situation in which they find themselves is far from
holy. So the legitimacy of the godly
magistrate. Secondly, the potential of the
godly magistrate, the potential. In such a position and calling,
there is great potential for good. And there may be many different
aspects to this work of civil service. Depending on the particular
responsibilities and the job description, it can include all
the most obvious forms of public service, But there is a special
focus here that our forefathers in the faith bring out. And what
they bring out reflects the biblical priorities, which might not necessarily
be our priorities. I wonder, when you think about
politics, when you think about government, what do you think
are their top priorities? What are the number one, number
two, number three? Well, here they are in this paragraph. And it's really important that
we understand the priorities of government, of the civil authorities,
and get them in their biblical order, and don't put them in
a different order. What is the first thing here?
It is justice. In the management whereof, as
they ought especially to maintain justice. Justice is right up
there. So to work in parliament, For
justice is to work towards, in many ways, the highest calling
of the public realm, to establish justice. to work in the courts
or to work in the police force and to establish justice in these
realms or in any other particular aspect of public service where
justice is what is in view, that should be something that Christians
are particularly drawn towards. Historically, there's been a
disproportionate number of Christians working in the law courts and
in parliament. and in the police force, because
Christians ought to have a particular concern that justice be done. Turn with me to 2 Samuel 23,
this is a passage that the writers of the Confession themselves
highlight in the texts. 2 Samuel 23, David speaking as
king, He says, verse 1, now these are
the last words of David. Thus says David, the son of Jesse.
Thus says the man raised up on high, the anointed of the God
of Jacob and the sweet psalmist of Israel. The spirit of the
Lord spoke by me and his word was on my tongue. The God of
Israel said, the rock of Israel spoke to me. He who rules over
men must be, what's the first thing he must be? He must be
just. ruling in the fear of God and
if he is just. He shall be like the light of
the morning when the sun rises, a morning without clouds, like
the tender grass springing out of the earth by clear shining
after rain. Justice is number one. One of the great problems we
have in politics today is that number one is utility. Our politics is entirely utilitarian. What is going to work? What is
going to do the most good, however that is defined? That is not
where we begin. We begin with what is just, what
is right. That's God's number one priority,
justice. And that's the first calling
of any civil magistrate is to establish justice. And then on
the back of justice comes peace. Are you hearing Bible texts in
your mind? Righteousness and peace, justice and peace. And these are to go together.
If there is to be peace, there must be justice. True justice
will produce peace. Now peace is broader than justice. It feeds out from justice, it
depends on justice, but it's broader than justice. Included
in peace would be things like social equity, perhaps foster
care of needy children, perhaps conflict resolution, preventing
divorces, caring for the vulnerable, religious liberty, freedom of
speech. Even economic prosperity and
healthcare can be included in the outworking of the concept
of peace. All those things which lead to
peace and foster peace and produce peace. But you can't have it
without justice. Justice has to come first. If
you seek peace by bypassing justice, you will do more harm than good.
And that is why if you put healthcare above justice, if you put education
above justice, if you put social action above justice, then you'll
get it all wrong. That's one of the things that's
gone wrong with our government for many, many years now, not
just this government, but government upon government upon government
upon government have got this wrong. They have minimized justice. Justice and righteousness and
truth, what is right and good and true is to be set aside for
the sake of pursuing peace and prosperity. It's the wrong way
around. But nonetheless, the pursuit
of peace is still a good thing. As long as it's under justice,
as long as it feeds out from justice, it must be good. We turn to Psalm 82, another
text which is quoted here. Psalm 82, verse 1, God stands
in the congregation of the mighty. He judges among the gods in inverted
commas. This is a reference to the great
of this age, those who have power and authority. And God says,
how long will you judge unjustly? Notice where God begins. He begins
with justice. How long will you judge unjustly,
which leads to or manifests itself in showing partiality to the
wicked? Which then means that the poor
and the fatherless are not defended. You must defend the poor and
the fatherless. You must do justice to the afflicted and the needy.
You must deliver poor and needy and free them from the hand of
the wicked. Can you see how justice is producing
peace here? How do you get harmony between
the poor and the rich? Only if there is justice, only
if there is equity, and that then produces peace. It produces
harmony. When the wicked are punished
and the poor and the fatherless are defended, you have justice
that produces peace. And this concern for peace is
very much on Paul's mind in 1 Timothy 2 when he calls Timothy to pray
for all those who are in authority for kings. That we may lead,
verse 2, a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence. That we may lead a quiet and
peaceable life. It is good to pursue peace. What potential for good there
is when you have a civil magistrate who is a Christian, who is always
seeking what is just, what is right, what is good in order
to produce peace. But what happens when the peace
is broken by wicked men? Well, the magistrate then must
launch his war against the wicked. And that warfare, as we've seen
already from paragraph 1, the wielding of the power of the
sword, which God has given to the magistrate, may need to be
done within the realm, or it may need to be done to defend
the realm. But whether it is done by the
police force wielding the sword, or the army wielding the sword,
it is all legitimate. And so we read at the end of
paragraph two, they may lawfully now, under the New Testament,
wage war upon just and necessary occasions. They have the authority
to do that. And so it is perfectly permissible
for a Christian to be in the police force, to be in the marksman
armed unit of the police force, and if necessary, to shoot and
kill a criminal. on orders and it is perfectly
legitimate for a Christian to be in the army and to pick up
his weapons and to kill the enemy. This is ordained by God. This
is a public service which these men do. So in Romans 13, we've
already studied this, but just to remind you of this text, Romans
13, 3 and 4, rulers are not a terror to good works, but to evil. Do you want to be unafraid of
the authority? Do what is good, and you will
have praise from the same, for he is God's minister to you for
good. But if you do evil, be afraid, for he does not bear
the sword in vain. For he is God's minister. So the civil magistracy, the
government, the civil authority as a whole has the right to wield
the sword. But that means that particular
individual human beings will have to hold the sword and thrust
the sword and use it to kill. And that is entirely legitimate. In fact, when you think of all
the acts of public service to which a person can be called,
there is no act of public service which carries with it a higher
cost than this, is there? When we send our young men to
war to fight, they put their lives on the line. And I don't
want to be overly political at this point, but is it really
right that these men should be paid so little and treated with
so little respect in our culture when these are the people who
are risking their lives for our safety under the legitimate calling
of God? I think it's something we should
consider. So there is justice, there is
peace. This sometimes means that warfare
has to be waged and that's perfectly legitimate. But all of this,
going back to the context of paragraph one, is for the public
good. That God is glorified in the
public good. And that is really the summary
calling to which every Christian magistrate says his Amen. If I work for the state, if I
am called to be a public servant, then my calling is unto the public
good. I want to do good, I am here
to do good. And it is this that every public
servant, everybody who works for the public authorities should
be striving for this. It's very interesting, the book
of Proverbs speaks so much about the righteous king. And really,
when you read king in Proverbs, we can broaden that out. It's
anybody in authority, any public servant really. So let's substitute
that public servant for king here. So Proverbs 16 verse 12,
it is an abomination for public servants to commit wickedness.
For a throne is established by righteousness. We must pursue
what is right, what is good, what is just. Proverbs 20 verse
28, mercy and truth preserve the public servant. And by loving
kindness, he upholds his power, his authority. Wow, if that were
written above every public office and followed, we would do a lot
better than we do today. Or Proverbs 29, Proverbs 29,
verse 4, the public servant establishes the land by justice,
but he who receives bribes overthrows it. And verse 14, the public
servant who judges the poor with truth, his authority will be
established forever. So this is the calling of public
office. It's a great calling. It's a
noble thing to which believers ought to aspire. And there's
tremendous potential here, isn't there? Since the objective under
God, to whom you will answer ultimately, since all authority,
even in the civil realm, comes from God, God has called you
to do what? To pursue the public good. And
that's your job if you work, as we say today, for the public
sector. That's your job, is to pursue
the good of your fellow citizens. But not only do you pursue the
good of your fellow citizens in the direct job which you have,
your job description, but you pursue the good of your fellow
citizens as a public servant simply by being a Christian in
that context. Now this is true of every Christian,
wherever you are, whether we're in the private sector or the
public sector, it applies to all Christians. But thinking
about Christians working in the public sector now, what does
this mean? There's a remarkable passage
in Luke 3, isn't there, where John the Baptist is speaking
to categories of public servant. And he says, Verse 10, while
the people are asking, what shall we do? And he said to them, he
who has two tunics, let him give to him who has none. He who has
food, let him do likewise. Then the tax collectors, public
servants, also came to be baptized and said to him, teacher, what
shall we do? And he said to them, collect no more than what is
appointed for you. It's a remarkable answer, isn't
it? He doesn't say. Give up the civil magistracy.
You're working for dirty people and it's dirty money and they're
spending the taxes on all the wrong things. Give it up now.
Walk out. Leave your job. He doesn't say
that does he? He says do your job but do it justly. Do it rightly. Do it honourably. Do it before
the Lord. Don't lie in your pockets. Just
be a Christian. as a public servant. Or verse
14, the soldiers asked him, saying, and what shall we do? And he
said to them, leave the army immediately. Put your swords up, never fight
again. This is not what he says, is
it? And John the Baptist was a pretty
fiery guy. He certainly wasn't afraid to
tell people what they should and shouldn't do. After all,
he said to Herod, you're committing adultery being with your brother's
wife. You need to put her away. So he was bold. But he says,
he doesn't say that to them. He says, do not intimidate anyone
or accuse falsely and be content with your wages. Be content with
your wages. Wow. Let's not go too much into
that one, but what is he saying? He's simply saying, be a Christian,
be a servant of God, be godly in your work. And as you work
in the civil realm, you'll make a difference, you'll do good. Just be a beatitudinal person. Be the kind of person described
in Matthew 5, poor in spirit, mourning for sin, meek, considering
others more important than yourself, hungry and thirsting for what
is right, being merciful, showing pity and kindness, having a pure
heart, seeking peace, and being ready to suffer persecution. This is how we fulfill our potential
for good in public service. Think about a Daniel, how much
good did he do? Think about Mordecai, how much
good did he do? Through Mordecai the entire Jewish
race was saved. It's because of what Mordecai
and Esther did that Jesus could be born. Big deal. Serious public good done because
of the way that they lived. Joseph, look at him saving the
then known world from famine. and particularly important, his
own family through whom Christ would come. So much good was
done. Look at a Cromwell. So much good
was done. Look at a Wilberforce. So much
good was done. A Shaftesbury. So much good was
done. Just these three men together. Millions of people across the
Western world today benefit from the work of these three men.
If it's freedom of worship, freedom of religion, we owe it to a man
like Cromwell. If it's the freedom from slavery
and freedom to be subjected to enforce slavery, we owe it to
a Wilberforce. If it's all the multiplicity
of laws that protect the downtrodden and the poor and the abused and
the suffering, it's a Lord Shaftesbury. We owe it to him. So much good
done by Christians in public service down through the centuries. We seem to have forgotten this
today. And it's really important that we think about it, the potential
for good. But thirdly, finally, not only
legitimacy of the godly magistrate and the potential of the godly
magistrate, but finally the boundary of the godly magistracy. And
this is something we're gonna come back to when we look at
paragraph three. But let's introduce it. There is a clear boundary
for the Christian working in the public sector. And that boundary
needs to be drawn very clearly. Remember back to the title for
this section from chapter 21 of the confession onwards, God-centered
living, freedom and boundaries. Yes, the Christian is free to
work as a public servant and to center on God in what he's
doing as a public servant, but there must be a boundary around
what he's doing. And he must not cross that boundary.
Now, there's two aspects to this boundary. The first is a general
thing. The first boundary concerns the extent of the powers that
any civil authority is able to exercise under God. Remember
what we've said from paragraph one. The civil magistracy is
of God. The civil magistracy is legitimized
by God, answerable to God, called by God, empowered by God. And
what the magistrate then can and cannot do is determined by
God. God decides that. He's under
God and he will answer to God. And we'll look at the detail
of that in paragraph 3, but what we've already seen from paragraphs
1 and 2 is what he is to do is to pursue the public good by
rewarding the good, punishing the evil, establishing justice,
promoting peace, launching warfare upon evil. This is the calling
of the civil magistracy. It's very specific and it's really
quite narrow. It's a lot narrower than we today
think it is. The boundary around what civil
government should be concerning itself with is a lot smaller
than we in our culture today believe it to be. And we've got
to be biblical here, not just accepting the way our culture
thinks and behaves. Remember that the civil authority
is just that, it is civil. Their power is limited to the
civil realm. This means they have no authority
in the spiritual realm at all. None. The civil authorities have
no right to interfere in any way in what is done in the spiritual
realm. That's really important. So any
civil magistrate who's a Christian and sees the civil magistracy
crossing that boundary, no. No, we don't go there. It means that the civil magistracy
must not overreach itself. It must not stray out of the
civil realm into the spiritual realm. It must rather fulfill
its calling to ensure that there is full freedom in the spiritual
realm. For those to whom God has given
authority in the spiritual realm to do their spiritual work and
furthermore, A godly magistrate will be very concerned to make
it explicit that what the civil realm is doing does not have
the power to save, does not have the power to bless, and does
not have the power to touch the spiritual realm at all. This
is so important. Today, government gives us the
impression that they have the power and the right to do things
that they do not have the power or the right to do. The government
cannot save you. The government cannot preserve
your life. In whose hands is your life? God's hands. The government
is not God. And one fears today that government
sets itself up as being like unto God with a small g. We have
the power to save. They don't. They never did. They
never will. Their power is much less than
they give the impression of it being. And because they're constantly
overreaching the legitimacy of their power, this causes so much
trouble. Now a Christian magistrate will
understand that. A Christian magistrate will understand all
the time, hold on guys, what we can do here is far less than
what we're giving the impression of. We need to rein ourselves
in. And that is one thing that modern governments need to do
in the West. We need to rein ourselves in.
We need, as Christians, to promote a much more minimalist view of
the state. We should expect far less from
the state than we do. The state does not have the power
to do all the things it claims it can do. We should expect far
less from the state and far more from the church. Far less from
the state and far more from families. Far less from the state and far
more from individual citizens. That is biblical. The Bible expects
far more from the individual citizen and far more from the
family and far more from the church than it does from the
civil authorities. And that's a shift of mindset,
isn't it? A couple of quotes on this which I think are helpful.
The first from Augustine. Augustine says, civil government
is a necessary evil made necessary because of evil. We are sinners
and we have a propensity to violate other human beings, to commit
injustices or cause bodily harm. We may take property or threaten
life and people need to be protected by the civil magistrate who is
instituted and ordained by God to bear the sword. The magistrate
has legitimate power and authority to protect us from one another.
You see, our fathers in the faith had a much, much lesser view
of how much the state should be doing. According to Augustine,
the state should be protecting us basically from killing one
another, or from stealing from one another, or from doing evil
towards one another, and then enabling us to be free to do
good under our own steam, full stop. That was their view. Not all the million and one things
we expect the state to be doing today. This was Francis Schaeffer
writing in the 1970s in America. He said that his biggest concern
for the church and for the people of the United States was what
he called statism. the increasing encroachment and
dominion of the federal government in the lives of people, in the
school, in the community, in the church, in all areas. One
cannot turn around without bumping into the federal government. That was his major concern, and
since he said that, the intrusion of the federal government in
the lives of people has greatly increased. That's R.C. Sproul.
And since Schaeffer and since Sproul, it's got worse, hasn't
it? A lot worse. So the Christian
magistrate understands what is not the role of the state, draws
that boundary, and calls us to a much more minimalist view.
What the state can do, what the state should do, what the state
can achieve, and what it should be preoccupying itself with is
often different to what they're doing and less than what they're
trying to do. And if they did what God called
them to do, and they applied themselves to that rather than
all the other things that they think they should be doing, they
would do it a lot better. So don't invite the state to
do more than God has called it to do. and suspect any civil
authorities that promise more than they can deliver. How many
political manifestos have to fall flat on their face again
and again, election after election after election, before we will
wake up to the fact that they are all promising far more than
they can ever deliver. And the thing is, they shouldn't
be promising it. Those political manifestos should be about, I
don't know, a hundredth of the length that they are. let's be
honest about what the state can do. The Christian magistrate
understands that. But the second aspect of the
boundary he draws concerns his own behavior. And this is the
thing that we will come back to. The behavior of the public
servant, the individual Christian working for the public sector,
the behavior of that Christian will have a boundary around it. I will draw a boundary around
what I am prepared to do, and that is the boundary of God's
law. I will be bounded by the law of God. I will work within
the civil magistracy. I will work as a public servant
within the law of God, and I will not cross the boundary ever once
for any reason. Now, that is where the individual
Christian working for the state must stand. It is, as we have
here in paragraph two, according to the wholesome laws of each
kingdom and commonwealth that we operate. It is according to
conscience, paragraph three, that we operate, yielding obedience
to the Lord, paragraph three, that we function. So what does
this mean? What do we need to do? Well,
there's three things, and I'll draw to a conclusion with these
three things. They're really, really important. I'll just bullet
point them, and we'll come back to them. One, we need to know
the law of God. We need to know it. So many Christians
are ignorant of what the Bible teaches about all the stuff and
nonsense that's out there today. We need to know the law of God. We need to be lawyers. Bible
lawyers. We need to have an excellent
understanding of what the Bible teaches on all the key issues
of the day. We need to know it inside out
and upside down. We need to be absolutely crystal
clear on these things. Especially those contentious
things that are being actively promoted in our utterly godless
society. What does the Bible teach about
abortion? We need to be absolutely crystal
clear on that. What does the Bible teach about
contraception? Are you crystal clear on it? What does the Bible teach about
sexuality? What does the Bible teach about
gender? category that has been created
today that never existed before. What does the Bible teach about
marriage? About relationships? About personal
identity? And so on and so on and so on
and so on. We need to know very clearly what the Bible teaches. Get that picture from Sunday
night in your head. It's not just that Boris Johnson
and the cabinet sitting around that table should have the Ten
Commandments up on the wall and should check everything they
do against those Ten Commandments. That is absolutely true. But
as Christians, we should be checking everything we're asked to do,
particularly if we work in the public sector. We should be checking
everything we are asked to do against the law of God. We need
to understand God's law. Think about a man like William
Wilberforce fighting against a massive, overwhelming public
opinion which said that the slave trade was fine. How was he able
to keep fighting and fighting and fighting and fighting and
fighting against that because he knew the law of God, he knew
it was wrong. You've got to be a man or a woman
of conviction. We need to know God's law and
we need to say, this is what God says. Secondly, we need to
know really clearly. No fuzziness, no generalities,
no confusion, no gray area. We need to know really clearly
what we are being asked to condone, what we are being asked to support,
and what we are being asked to do. So many Christians live in
fuzz land. Well, I'm not entirely sure what
I'm being asked to do here, so I'll do it, hoping it isn't so
bad. They have a fuzzy view of God's
law. They don't really know what the Bible says. They have a fuzzy
view of what they're being asked to do and they just meander along.
We need to have a crystal clear understanding of what God's law
is and we need to have an equally clear view of what we are being
asked to do. We must not believe what we are
told on the BBC. or on ITV, or on Channel 4, or
on Facebook, or on YouTube, or wherever you get your news. Don't
believe what you're told. These are the people who hate
God. These are the people who say,
fact, there is no God. Fact, the world is billions of
years old. Fact, you can have a woman's body and actually be
a man and the other way around. Fact, fact, fact, fact. Saying
as facts things that we know are not true from Scripture.
Why then do we believe everything else they tell us? Why do you
turn on these news media and believe them? Question it. Of
course, some of the things they say will be true. Some of them
won't be. How do you know the difference? We've got to be clear. We've got to know. And when it
comes to what we're being asked to do in the workplace and in
our job, we've got to know, does this support? A way of thinking,
and a way of living, and a way of behaving that is anti-God. Well, that is not the public
good then. You cannot do it. And that's the third thing. Once
we know what God's law is, and once we know what we're being
asked to do, then we draw a boundary around what we are being asked
to do, and we ask, is it outside or is it inside? And if it's
outside, we simply don't do it. We say no. And we don't say no
quietly. We just say no. We don't have
to put it on Facebook. You don't have to put it on social
media. You just have to tell the person
who is asking you to do. whatever it is that is against
God's law, you simply say to them, I'm not doing that, and
I'm not doing it because it's against the law of God. And the
law of God is the public good. The law of God is justice. The
law of God is peace. The law of God is righteousness.
The law of God is goodness. The law of God is truth. And
you are asking me to go against God's law, and I will not do
it. And if that means that you're going to discipline me, I will
take the discipline. And if that means you're going
to sack me, I will take the sack. Look at Daniel, that was his
position. Look at Shadrach, Meshach, and
Abednego, Daniel three, that was their position, it must be
ours. But we can't do that if we don't know exactly what God's
law says about a thing and exactly what it is we're being asked
to do. And then we can say yes or no or ask further questions
because it's not clear, whatever it is, we get clarity and then
we do. what is right. Well, we'll come
back and look at these things again. They're so important.
Let's pray.
The Godly Magistrate - 1689 confession ch.24 para 2
Series 1689 Baptist Confession
| Sermon ID | 1128201135531629 |
| Duration | 53:00 |
| Date | |
| Category | Sunday Service |
| Language | English |
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