Cancelling Worship Gatherings--Are We Obeying Men Rather Than God?

            It’s one of the most dramatic scenes in Scripture—Peter and John, disciples of Jesus, had been arrested for preaching in His name. They stood before the highest court in their country—the very same men who had put their master to death just months earlier—and they were told “not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus. But Peter and John answered them, ‘Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God, you must judge, for we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard (Acts 4:18-20).’” After continuing to preach, they were arrested again and asked why they had defied the court order. Their answer was straightforward and memorable: “We must obey God rather than men (Acts 5:29).”

            The conviction summed up in those words has lived on in the soul of the body of Christ ever since. Untold numbers of Christians have given their lives for violating prohibitions against preaching the message of Jesus Christ. This decision of the apostles has formed part of the bedrock of Christian ethics—if a human authority commands us to disobey God, we must instead disobey the human authority.

            These days in the United States, our churches are shutting the doors of our buildings due to recommendations (or in some places, mandates) from human authorities against gathering in groups. Perhaps these steps have forced you to ask the question, “Are we obeying men rather than God?” Could it be that we are being disobedient to God by cancelling church gatherings to comply with the dictates of human authorities? I believe the answer is “no,” and here’s why:

We are not being asked to change our message, only our methods—and even that is only temporary!

            Take a close look again at what the apostles were commanded in Acts 4:18—do not speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus. Our churches in the US have not been given any such order by the government. No restrictions have been placed on us regarding what we teach; the restrictions simply effect one method of how we teach—namely, by gathering in large groups. I don’t think we’re being unfaithful to God by making this temporary change to our teaching methods.

            In fact, the changes required right now may end up with churches expanding the reach of their teaching ministry! Churches that have never given much thought to how they use technology are being forced to now, and I’ll bet our churches will find ways to leverage the good aspects of technology for the glory of Christ. Many churches will probably make some changes that they’ll decide to keep once we are again “free to move about the country” (apologies to Southwest Airlines!).

            So don’t worry about the faithfulness of your church leaders right now. Do pray for them often, as we are all facing some bewildering situations right now. May God lead us and guide us for His glory and for our good.

Assessing Anger in Our Parenting

            For many of us, parenting is the last remaining frontier in which our anger has not been fully tamed. We’ve beaten anger back off the shores of friendship and even the wide plains of marriage, but it remains entrenched in the wild, untamed hill country of parenting. We don’t like it, don’t want to admit it, and even feel downright ashamed about it, but nevertheless, anger remains in our words and our actions toward our kids.

            Some parents among us grew up facing anger from their parents, and they swore up and down that they would not repeat those sins once their chance to be a parent came along. Yet here they stand with a bewildered look on their face as they have to admit once again, “I sound just like my dad (or mom).” It’s like the struggle that the Apostle Paul described in Romans 7:15—“I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate.”

            Why do we find such anger boiling up within us? Biblically, the answer is pretty simple—our hearts tell us that we deserve to be treated like God Himself, but our kids have different ideas. Please note: it is not that our kids make us get angry. They don’t have any such control over our actions. Rather, they simply act in ways we don’t like and we choose to react in anger. Our anger is always our own fault, not theirs. We have to accept responsibility before there will be any hope of change.

            How do we start to defeat this anger in our hearts? The process is not easy, but I believe it begins with this realization: anger cannot and will not produce any good results in our relationships with our children. None. Zero. As long as we entertain any thought that our anger might produce something good, we will lack the determination to put our anger to death. It’ll become like that can of random screws in your garage—you hang on to them because maybe, just maybe, they’ll come in handy someday. If you treat anger that way, you’ll be surprised just how often you pull it down off the shelf.

            Why am I so confident that anger will produce no good thing in your relationship with your kids? Take a look at James 1:19-20: “Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger; for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God.” That last statement is true both in me and in others. My anger doesn’t lead me toward godliness, and it doesn’t produce godliness in others, either.

            At least not true godliness—the kind that flows from the heart. Anger can be so deceptive in this way because it can produce an imitation of godliness. Our kids tend to shape up after we’ve unleashed a verbal barrage on them. It looks like it accomplished something, so we’re tempted to keep doing it. But “shaping up” shouldn’t be our goal as Christian parents. Cleaned-up behavior on the outside with dirty hearts on the inside isn’t what we’re aiming for. The grand, audacious, mind-blowing goal of this thing we call parenting is to lead our children to love God with everything they’ve got and to love others like they love themselves. Anger will not move us one inch closer toward that goal, though it might knock us backward by several yards.

            Now, we can all thank God that He so often accomplishes great work in our children’s hearts in spite of our anger. That is glory to Him, but it is no credit to us. We don’t want to use His kindness as some excuse to not get serious about putting our anger to death. While this isn’t the whole answer, the process at least starts in us when we look in the mirror and say, “I don’t have this all figured out, and I may not know yet what I’m going to do instead, but whatever it is, I will not speak or act in anger toward my kids again.” Will we still blow it at times? Probably, but praise God that the repentant heart will always find forgiveness through Christ! A humble confession to our kids will also do worlds of good—for them and for us. Time to stop reading and go find that mirror!