Religious Liberty

I Believe • Sermon • Submitted 10 months ago • Presented 10 months ago

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Good morning everyone, I trust you are all having a great morning as we worship the Lord together. It is such a blessing that we get to worship together here as a family and that everyone is able to come either in person, or online and join together in this amazing spiritual family. I want to welcome everyone, both in person and online, as we focus on the Lord together this morning. Listen, right now we want to let our kids go and learn about the Gospel in a way that makes sense to them. We really do have some great teachers here that prepare to teach lessons and spend time with your kids while we look at Scripture in here every week…and I know that they would love you to join in with them. Listen, if you are interested in helping out in the kids ministry, connect with me after church today and let’s talk about getting you plugged!

You know, thinking about teaching kids in a way that makes sense to them, yesterday we spent a few hours over at Mount Morris Christian Academy having a bit of a party. There were bounce houses, bbq, and I mean these were some amazing ribs and chops guys…wow, and of course cotton candy. We were able to connect with some folks and talk about the school and what God is doing there. There has been much conversation over the last few years about schools and what is, or is not permitted in schools. In our own area schools there was a small dustup over various ideologies that were being taught to kids that were to young to discuss them. That is what MMCA is partially about…teaching kids in a way that makes sense to them, and teaching in a way that actually builds them into the leaders of tomorrow…and we get a chance to be a part of that. Actually, there are so many ways that we can serve and participate in the school, Im telling you Im so excited about what God is doing over there, and we will be talking about that more and more over this next school year.

Do you know what is great though? We live in a country that allows us to teach our kids the way that we believe our kids should be taught. Actually, that is not true in many countries today. Actually according Pew Research Center, more than 80% of the world does not have true freedom when it comes to religious beliefs, which means that at least that percentage would not welcome a new Christian school. Even in the US there are areas that put so much regulation on private schools that it makes it practically impossible for parents to send their kids to a private or even home school their kids. That is actually kind of what we are going to talk about today. Today we are going to talk about religious liberty and how that plays out in different areas of life.

Before we do that though, we need to remember what we are doing here today. Over the past few months we have been in a series called, I Believe. In this series we are looking at the statement of faith of Leaf River Baptist Church so that we can understand what we, as a church believe about various topics. That is what doctrine really is…it is a fancy way of describing what you believe and what will guide your decisions. Actually I gave us a definition so that we can all be on the same page when we think about doctrine. Here it is...Doctrine is a set of guiding principles (stop and allow church to finish) that helps us navigate the twists and turns of life. I love that so much…What we believe can actually help guide us through the hardships of life…that is so helpful. You know, I have asked this question every week, but every week Im talking of people that have all kind of different circumstances going in their lives, and I know that you are going through various twists and turns…So here is the question, have you experienced any twist or turns in your life this week? See, even without you raising your hands, I can tell you that at least 50% of this room experienced some things this week that you were not ready to happen this week. How amazing is it that knowing what we believe can actually help us help us process those situations.

Of course that is not the only reason that we should know doctrine and theology. We should know this stuff because we are commanded to know this stuff. Our key verse throughout this series is

1 Peter 3:15 (ESV)

but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect,

It’s almost as if God knew that we would have questions ourselves and would have need to either answer our own questions, or at least know how to find the answers to our questions. So these are the reasons that we are looking at doctrine over the last couple of months. In that time we have looked at things like Who God is how he can be three persons in one God. We’ve looked at the church and Christian conduct, and of course we started this series looking at the Bible and seeing why we believe what the Bible says is true...

All that said…what are we going to look at today? Well, today we are going to look at

The Doctrine of Religious Liberty

Now, this is a little bit of a charged topic to be honest. It’s a little bit of a political topic, isn’t it…doesn’t that mean we can’t talk about this topic? How can we have a doctrinal statement of a political ideal? Well…to be honest, everything we discuss can become political, can’t it. Think about something like abortion. This is a moral and religious conviction for the sanctity of life, yet it has become a highly politicized topic as well…does that mean that the church should abandon the topic simply because politicians have decided to discuss it? Absolutely not…This is a moral conversation and our morals come from Scripture, therefore we must not abandon our beliefs to the jurisdiction of the state, when this is a Biblical issue…Now, before we get to far down a rabbit hole, lets take a look at what we believe as a church as far as religious liberty goes, and then we can look more fully at this issue from a Biblical perspective.

We believe that every human being has direct relations with God, and is responsible to God alone in all matters of faith. We believe that each church is independent and must be free from interference by any ecclesiastical or political authority. We believe that God has ordained the state to provide a society in which we may lead a quiet and peaceful life in all Godliness and honesty, and that He has ordained the church for the edification of the Body of Christ. If and when these two duties conflict, we ought to obey God rather than man. (Acts 5:29; Matthew 22:21; Romans 13:1-7; I Peter 2:13-17; I Timothy 2:1-3; Ephesians 4:12)

Ok, so that is where LRBC is coming from. Now, as you can see within this statement there are limits to various levels of authority, and when those levels are crossed, we have a mandate as Christians to look to Scripture. Now…this morning I am may say some things that will get some folks a little uncomfortable…Ill be honest, I was a little uncomfortable as I was studying this week, but the reality is that we must obey Scripture, whatever is said and we must be willing to look to the Law of the Lord above the law of the land…that is what religious liberty is truly about.

There have been many politicians over the years that have created and voted on bills that would either strengthen or weaken the religious liberty that God has spelled out in Scripture. There are some that would cave to the larger, or louder crowd in order to appease the masses, but what we read in Scripture is that you cannot serve two masters…So…we chose as a church to spell out what religious liberty is, so that when we are tested we can answer with a Biblical response, and not an emotional response...

So, with that out of the way…what is Religious liberty? Well this topic, based on our statement of faith, breaks into three separate levels of authority, and we might actually add an additional level today so pay attention. However, the question that I want to encourage you with is a description of religious liberty. You see, we are free as creations of God to do anything we might desire. Actually all the way back in the beginning you will remember that God told Adam he could do whatever he wanted, but there was simply 1 thing that he was not allowed to do without consequences. That is an amazing amount of freedom that God gave to Adam, with just one small piece of submission. Did you catch that? There was simply one area that Adam was told he needed to submit in order to experience this amazing amount of freedom and liberty to go anywhere and be the master over the whole planet. The problem is that Adam wasn’t able to experience the fullness of his freedom because he was unwilling to submit accordingly.

The same is true for us today. God has laid out various borders for us to show submission accordingly, and within those borders we have an incredible amount of freedom if we are willing to submit to those who God has granted authority over us. We see this played out in four different aspects of our lives, and Id like to briefly show those to us today. Since we don’t have all day, I will simply briefly fly over these concepts and ask that you continue to study on a personal level in your home.

The first and most important level of liberty is that of

Self:

Personal autonomy....Yeah, this is pretty self explanatory, and honestly one that is largely not even questioned, especially here in the U.S. where we were built on the idea of personal freedom, right? I mean, in theory…no one can tell you what you can and cannot do, you are free to make whatever choices you choose to make. You also however, must be prepared to deal with the consequences of those choices. Now when we look at our own choices we recognize the most important choice we will ever make.

Revelation 3:20 (ESV)

Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me.

This is a personal invitation to a relationship with the Lord. Each and every one of us is free to make that choice to open the door, or keep it closed…You see, you have personal freedom in your relationship with the Lord, meaning that God does not force you to have a relationship that you don’t want.

However, that is not the only freedom you have. Look at this

1 Corinthians 6:12 (ESV)

“All things are lawful for me,” but not all things are helpful. “All things are lawful for me,” but I will not be dominated by anything.

You see, as a Christian you have freedom to do any number of things…but are they helpful to you, or harmful to you? Then as you are living in your freedom, you have to deal with the consequences of those actions. For instance…you have the freedom to eat any amount of food, and you have freedom to so many types of food…however, some of those foods may cause consequences that you are gonna have to deal with.

Here’s the other things though. Our personal autonomy doesn’t go on forever…actually , you have to realize who is in authority over you.

1 Peter 2:13–17 (ESV)

Be subject for the Lord’s sake to every human institution, whether it be to the emperor as supreme, or to governors as sent by him to punish those who do evil and to praise those who do good. For this is the will of God, that by doing good you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people. Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but living as servants of God. Honor everyone. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the emperor.

So here we see that even in our freedom, we must submit to various levels of authority. One that is not mentioned in our statement of faith, but is important is

Family:

Yeah family is a level of authority that we are called to submit to. Your religious liberty remains in effect, however, family is a place that God has called us to submission. Look at

Deuteronomy 5:16 (ESV)

“ ‘Honor your father and your mother, as the Lord your God commanded you, that your days may be long, and that it may go well with you in the land that the Lord your God is giving you.

So while you have freedom in your relationship with the Lord, and individual autonomy in the choices you will make. The Lord has instituted a mother and father for you to submit to in matters of practice as you grow to maturity. Now, for men…get ready for this, the Lord appointed you as the head of your family to care for and carry your family to reach maturity in the Lord. Listen…that means even if its hard and you don’t wanna do it from time to time…Look at

Ephesians 5:23 (ESV)

For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Savior.

So men…make sure you are stepping up into your responsibility and not abdicating your God given role as leader, to your spouse, or worse, to you children as modern culture demands. One of the things that the father does, or should be doing is brining your family to church where there is a whole other level of authority and submission. So, lets look at the

Church:

What kind of authority and submission is found within the walls of the church? Well, you see God instituted the church as an organization, giving her leaders and guidelines on what those leaders should be doing. For instance the pastors, or elders of a church have a primary role...

Ephesians 4:11–13 (ESV)

And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ,

So there is a role that pastors and elders must fulfill, This is not an easy role, but it is an important role amen? Well, there is also a command for you as members of LRBC.

Hebrews 13:17 (ESV)

Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls, as those who will have to give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with groaning, for that would be of no advantage to you.

…but did you see that responsibility? Your leaders are keeping watch over you and will have to give an account to the Lord for what is done…So, your leaders have been placed in authority over you, you are free to submit to that authority or ignore that authority. However, you will have to accept the consequences of those decisions as well…either through amazing blessings of the Lord, or through a church that is always struggling in various ways…and Ive seen both to be honest. Of course that leads us to the larger entity that has authority of each and every one of us, and that is the

State:

Listen, we have gone over so much this morning, and I truly feel I have not even scratched the surface of each of these levels of authority, and the state is obviously the largest of all organizations that excerpts control of her citizens, so how do we deal with that if we are to have religious liberty? The only way...is to look at Scripture and see what the boundaries of that authority is so that we now where submission begins. Turn over to

Romans 13:1 (ESV)

Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God.

Did you know that those governing authorities get their authority from God? That God is bigger than the state and that there is no authority excepts what has been established by God. Now, I know some of you would say, but wait a minute…we are living under some pretty evil governing authorities…I mean I just read about a law that is being pushed to make it illegal to council with women who are seeking to have an abortion. So, you say we are living under some evil authority, and I would agree…but that doesn’t change the Scripture. We think that our authorities are evil largely because of the tyranny that they impose on the unborn. However, do you know under what government Paul wrote this letter. When Paul wrote this letter talking about being subject to authority he was likely living under Nero’s rule. To be clear, Nero burned 3/4 of Rome and blamed it on the Christians in order to vilify the Christians more to the masses. He then took Christians and beat and tortured them with things like the feeding them to wild animals for entertainment of the masses. This is the government that Paul is writing about…so, what does that say about you and I living under the government we live under and still maintaining religious liberty?

First, lets look at the rest of that passage in Romans

Romans 13:2–7 (ESV)

Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment. For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive his approval, for he is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God’s wrath on the wrongdoer. Therefore one must be in subjection, not only to avoid God’s wrath but also for the sake of conscience. For because of this you also pay taxes, for the authorities are ministers of God, attending to this very thing. Pay to all what is owed to them: taxes to whom taxes are owed, revenue to whom revenue is owed, respect to whom respect is owed, honor to whom honor is owed.

Now, I know what you are thinking…what we see here is that the civil authority is to do no evil to its citizens, yet we see evil being poured down every day…like I said before, the tyranny to the unborn as our state attempts to entice people to come on a murder vacation. Yeah, I heard a brand new term last year…abortion tourism. That is disgusting. So, how do we resist that evil, while still submitting to the authority over us?

Well we remember the story of Peter and the Apostles in Acts. Im just going to tell you a story here. Peter has been preaching, actually just a couple of chapters before this Peter is preaching and over 3000 people come to Christ and repented. You see, Peter told them that they were sinners, and that the Jesus they had put to death had died for their sins, but he also rose from the dead, therefore paying the price for their sin. Now, this has upset the order in Rome and so they have now been arrested and released, but as part of their release they were instructed to not to teach in Jesus’ name anymore. That was their governing authority that told them not to teach about Jesus anymore…So what did they do?

Acts 5:29 (ESV)

But Peter and the apostles answered, “We must obey God rather than men.

That is exactly how we must live our lives of religious liberty while also submitting to the various levels of authority that has been placed over our lives.

As believers, you and I have a direct relationship with God, this is the primary area of religious liberty. Each area of authority is subject to that original point of liberty. If there is a time that your parents or your husband leads you to step away from faith in the Lord and no longer discuss the Lord…you must obey God and not man. If there is a time that your church decides that Scripture is not applicable anymore…you must obey God and not man. Finally, if there comes a day, and it will come, that you are told you are no longer allowed to discuss the Lord with your coworkers or your neighbors, or anyone else that you come into contact with…you must obey God and not man. Of course…that means you must obey God to begin with.

To be clear…Nazi Germany was filled with confessing Christians, like almost every German was a Christian. However, they were so focused internally that they not only accepted Nazi rule and subsequent massacre of the Jews in Germany. There were a handful of pastors that were jailed for dissent, but most just stayed quiet because you can’t talk about politics in church…Well, do you remember earlier I said that everything can become political, so, as Christians and as a church, we MUST stay Biblical and Obey God rather than man...

This morning let me encourage you to not squander your religious liberty as a believer but embrace and lean into the liberty that you have been given, including submitting to the proper authority. Don’t squander the liberty that God has created for you by only talking about Jesus at church…Don’t squander that liberty by being nervous to say something at work or at the store. Don’t squander the liberty that God has given you by ignoring your role in your family, or in your church, or maybe even running for some level of political office. We have the opportunity to make a difference in our community through what we do on Sunday mornings...and even more so by what we do through the week. God has opened up doors of ministry for you individually, as well as us as a church, such as partnering with a brand new, much needed Christian School in Mount Morris. Don’t let those opportunities fly by without even attempting to participate in what God is doing all around you. Reach out and let’s talk about how God is leading you begin living in liberty as a new believer, or how God is leading you to follow in baptism, or some other step of faith that God is leading you to...

Galatians 5:13 (ESV)

For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.