Do I Obey Those In Authority Series

“Do I Obey Those In Authority?”

Acts 4:15-22

As we continue in our text we come upon a very relevant subject; do I obey those in authority?

This is not an easy subject because the answer is yes and no.

Romans 13 would be a great place to understand about obedience to those in authority; yet I see many examples when disobedience is not only permitted but required.

Illustration:

In the early 1770s, more and more colonists became convinced that Parliament intended to take away their freedom. In fact, the Americans saw a pattern of increasing oppression and corruption happening all around the world. Parliament was determined to bring its unruly American subjects to heel. Britain began to prepare for war in early 1775. The first fighting broke out in April in Massachusetts. In August, the King declared the colonists “in a state of open and avowed rebellion.” For the first time, many colonists began to seriously consider cutting ties with Britain. The publication of Thomas Paine’s stirring pamphlet Common Sense in early 1776 lit a fire under this previously unthinkable idea. The movement for independence was now in full swing.

July 2, 1776 the Continental Congress voted to adopt a resolution dissolving their relationship with England and on July 4, 1776 it was unanimously voted upon and later a copy was sent to England where it was not received well by King George.

In Congress, July 4, 1776:

The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America, When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.--Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.

We know this to be the Declaration of Independence of America but in our text we see much the same.

I. The Meeting Of Leaders Acts 4:15-17

15 “But when they had commanded them to go aside out of the council, they conferred among themselves, 16 Saying, What shall we do to these men? for that indeed a notable miracle hath been done by them is manifest to all them that dwell in Jerusalem; and we cannot deny it. 17 But that it spread no further among the people, let us straitly threaten them, that they speak henceforth to no man in this name.”

It seemed to not matter that a miracle had been observed, they just wanted to know what they could “do to these men.”

There was no denying the miracle that was seen by so many and “we cannot deny it.”

In other words “don’t confuse me with the facts, my mind is already made up.”

Vs. 17 let’s threaten them - Threaten “To declare the purpose of inflicting punishment, pain or other evil on another, for some sin or offense.” Webster’s 1828 dictionary

II. The Demands Of The Leaders Acts 4:18

18 “And they called them, and commanded them not to speak at all nor teach in the name of Jesus.”