SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 11/16/2022 10:44 AM
My Worship Time Focus:
PT-3 “The Provision Delivered”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Matthew
17:27b
Message of the verse: “go to the sea, and throw in a hook, and take the first fish that comes up; and when you open its mouth, you will find a stater. Take that and give it to them for you and Me.”
John MacArthur writes “Believers are to submit
themselves ‘for the Lord’s sake to every human institution, whether to a king
as the one in authority, or to governors as sent by him for punishment of
evildoers and the praise of those who do right’ (1 Pet. 2:13-14). The key to the command is that it is obeyed ‘for
the Lord’s sake.’ It is not that every
human law and ruler is godly and just.
Most of them are not and make no claim to be. But the institution and operation of government
are ordained by God for social order, and as a testimony to Him, human
government is to be respected and obeyed by His people even when it is unjust.” Now as we think about this statement we have
to realize that when it comes to things like abortion which goes directly
against the Word of God and the God of the Word then this is something that we
are not to follow. Peter talked about
things like this when he was first arrested as seen in the 4th
chapter of Acts as he stated that we have to obey God and not man when the two
things go against each other.
Now back to what MacArthur adds to his statement: “Obedience to civil law and government is not
to be done with reluctance or condescension but willingly, ‘not only because of
wrath, but also for conscience’s sake’ (Rom. 13:5). Christians should have an attitude of genuine
respect for human government, not because it is always deserving of respect but
because that is the will of their Lord, who instituted it for man’s benefit.”
Now as we look at to whom both Peter and Paul wrote to we
know that they were under the Roman government, and we know that that
government was certainly not friendly to believers during the time when they
wrote in their letters to believers.
However the apostles told them not only to be loyal and law-abiding
citizens but helpful citizens as well. I
remember a lonely very dark drive through West Virginia as I was driving our
family home from a vacation in Florida.
We were traveling through the night and so as I drove I had a tape in
the radio from Joseph Stoll who at the time was the President of the Moody
Bible Institute. The subject was about
how the Russians were about to lose control of the old Soviet Union. The leaders that he was talking about in the
sermon were saying that it was the Christian believers who were the best
citizens of that nation. These same
believers had been persecuted terribly by the leaders of the Soviet Union and
now they were saying that they were the best citizens about the time when it
was about to fall. That says a lot to me
about the character of those believers.
In fact these same believers were saying that the best thing that could
happen to the Christian church in America would be persecution, and looking at
our country today I can see it beginning to happen and unless the Lord returns
to take His Church home to be with Him soon it will only get worse.
We will conclude this SD with one more quote from
MacArthur’s commentary and then it is my hope to finish up this section which
is the last section of the 17th chapter of Matthew tomorrow.
“The early church did not start and insurrection against
Rome or a campaign against slavery, wicked and cruel as both those were. In fact the Holy Spirit took the words of
slavery (slave, bond-slave, bondage, servant, etc.) and made them the symbols
of Christian dedication and submission.
In His omniscient providence God also used the pagan Romans to spread
the Greek language, a universal language used to record His Word and carry it
to the ends of the known world of that day.
God used them to build a system of roads over which His messengers could
easily travel as they carried the good news throughout the empire. And God used the Pax Romana, or Roman peace,
to allow those messengers to travel in relative safety.”
11/16/2022 11:09 AM
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