Phillip Krueger Page 1 2/9/2009
THE CHRISTIAN RESISTANCE:
HOW TO SAY NO TO EVIL
Exodus 22:28“You shall not revile God, nor curse a ruler “of your people.”
New International Version (NIV)
2-8-09
1. There are times in life that we will be asked to participate in something we
feel to be immoral, unethical, illegal, dishonest or unscriptural.
a) It becomes more complicated when the one asking us to compromise is
an authority over our life.
b) What should a Christian do when we are asked to cooperate with (or
look the other way) on something that we feel to be wrong or even evil?
c) “Someone has said before you say “no” to your boss, take a good look
at both sides—his side and the outside.”
d) The Bible tells us in 2 Corinthians 10:3-4 We live in this world, but we
don’t act like its people or fight our battles with the weapons of this
world. Instead, we use God’s power that can destroy fortresses. We
destroy arguments Contemporary English Version (CEV)
e) We can behave in such a way
that our Christian witness is actually strengthened
that God’s kingdom has a chance to work through us on people’s
hearts.
2. Here is a current example:
a) On November 4th a new president was elected by the American people.
b) He was sworn into office on Tuesday, January 20, 2009.
c) In terms of electoral votes it was a landslide; but the popular vote was
53% to 46%.
d) Many Christians did not vote for this President on scriptural grounds—
believing he supports and promotes many things the Bible forbids.
e) How can Christians stand up for truth in a wise and God-honoring
manner?
3. I found it interesting that President Obama asked Pastor Rick Warren to
give the prayer at his Inauguration.
a) That prayer was a sermon from a conservative Baptist minister.
b) Pastor Rick prayed for almost 5 minutes!
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c) Evangelist Dwight L. Moody once said, “I’d rather be able to pray than
to be a great preacher; Jesus Christ never taught his disciples how to
preach, but only how to pray.”
d) You should watch it on Youtube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rQ3i9Uu1PJg
e) Rick Warren preached the Gospel message as on and on he prayed!
4. Warren ended by praying the Lord’s Prayer.
a) The camera panned the crowds during the Lord’s Prayer.
b) Many were praying the prayer with Pastor Rick and many were not.
c) One, who sat in stony silence and clinched jaw, was President Barack
Obama. He chose not to join in.
d) Chuck Norris commented on this on his website saying, “God’s will is
not always done. … when you pray, ’Thy will be done,’ you’re saying … ’I
accept your plan, and I surrender to God’s control…Reciting the Lord’s
Prayer is pleading with God to erect his kingdom and execute his desires
on earth as they are in heaven. It is calling upon the one true God,
asking for his nature to overrun ours, his wishes to be fulfilled (not ours),
and his rule and reign to be established (not ours)…it is the most
"dangerous" prayer one can pray if one wants to continue to live selfishly,
misuse power and maintain control over others…Why would Warren,
who thoroughly understands the Scriptures, pray that particular prayer at
the transference of new political powers with whom he largely disagrees?
The answer is obvious…Warren was being as "shrewd as a serpent and
innocent as a dove."
e) Chuck Norris was quoting Jesus who said, I am sending you out like
sheep among wolves. Therefore be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent
as doves. Matthew 10:16 New International Version (NIV)
5. Obama took flack for allowing Rick Warren to give the prayer
(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=syIEoSIJHis&feature=related).
a) A reporter asked Obama: “Good morning sir I have a question about
Pastor Rick Warren. He holds a number of social views that are at odds
with your own views and with those of your very strong supporters. I’m
wondering what went into your decision for choosing him for this
prominent role at a time when you are dotting every “I” and crossing
every “T.” This sends some very important signals. Obama responded,
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“I think that it is no secret that I am a fierce advocate for equality for gay
and lesbian Americans. It is something that I have been consistent on,
and something I intend to continue to be consistent on during my
presidency. Even though we might have disagreements over certain
social issues, I would note that a couple of years ago, I was invited to
Rick Warren’s Church to speak despite his awareness that I held views
that were entirely contrary to his views on gay and lesbian rights and
when it came to issues like abortion. Nevertheless I had an opportunity
to speak… we are not going to agree on every single issue but what we
have to do is to be able to create that atmosphere where we can disagree
without being disagreeable…”
b) Rick Warren created an atmosphere where he could disagree without
being disagreeable!
6. This reminds me of another king who respected and listened to a holy man
named John (the Baptist)—
a) Mark 6:20 …Herod respected John; and knowing that he was a good and
holy man, he protected him. Herod was greatly disturbed whenever he
talked with John, but even so, he liked to listen to him. New Living
Translation (NLT)
b) In Acts the 17th chapter, the Apostle Paul preached to leaders in
Athens.
While Paul was waiting for them in Athens, he was greatly distressed
to see that the city was full of idols. So he reasoned in the synagogue
with the Jews and the God-fearing Greeks, as well as in the
marketplace day by day with those who happened to be there. Acts
17:16-17 New International Version (NIV)
Though he was greatly distressed by the evil surrounding him, he
chose to reason with them rather than to attack them.
He did not convert many with his gospel message, but he presented
himself in such a way that at the end of his sermon his listeners
responded, "We want to hear you again on this subject." Acts 17:32b
New International Version (NIV)
c) Jesus said, "Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may
see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven. Matthew
5:16 New American Standard Bible (NASB)
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d) Paul said …Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near.
Philippians 4:5 (New International Version)
Do you know someone who doesn’t want to listen to God?
It is best to present ourselves in a way that leaves the door of
communication wide open!
7. Because of how Rick Warren treated Barack Obama, God allowed him to
preach to a wider audience.
a) Hundreds of thousands were packed into Washington’s Mall.
b) More than 2 million stood along the inaugural parade route.
c) Nielsen estimates 37.8 million television viewers tuned in for the
inauguration ceremony.
d) 27 million watched online on CNN.
e) 9 million saw it on MSNBC’s site.
f) That’s over 100 million people!
8. That is a huge opportunity to share Christ and to pray for our country and
our world!
a) Magazines and newspapers nationwide continue to comment on the
preacher’s prayer.
b) AND the door is still open for Rick Warren to influence the President
of the United States in the future!
c) THAT’S HUGE!
9. I want to share with you five responses taught or modeled in Scripture that
are the starting point for Christians resisting evil.
a) How can Christians say “no” to evil…?
b) But, to do so in a way that allows the Gospel message to get through.
I. First, Christians Should Resist Evil through Prayer.
1. An adult Sunday school class was discussing the importance of prayer. One
woman remarked, “I do some of my best praying while I’m driving.” The
woman’s husband agreed, “I do my best praying while she’s driving too!”
a) Someone sent me this prayer: “Dear God, so far today, I’ve done all
right. I haven’t gossiped, haven’t lost my temper, haven’t been greedy,
grumpy, nasty, selfish or overindulgent. I have stayed totally out of
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trouble. I am very thankful for that. But, in a few minutes, God, I’m
going to get out of bed…and from then on I’m probably going to need a
lot more help. Amen.”
2. It is easy to get too distracted to pray.
a) We are impatient.
b) We don’t like to wait on anything or anyone—including God.
c) When we pray for God to change someone’s heart, sometimes God
doesn’t answer those prayers immediately.
3. The Bible tells us: The Lord isn’t slow about keeping his promises, as some
people think he is. In fact, God is patient, because he wants everyone to
turn from sin and no one to be lost. 2 Peter 3:9 Contemporary English
Version (CEV)
a) A wife prayed this prayer: “Dear Lord, I pray for wisdom to understand
my man; love to forgive him; patience for his bad moods; because Lord,
if I pray for strength, I’ll beat him to death. Amen.”
b) When things aren’t changing quickly enough we are tempted to take
matters into our own hands…and often end up making matters worse.
4. Evil is a spiritual problem.
a) It requires a spiritual solution.
b) That solution, for a Christian, is prayer.
5. Praying for kings is a major theme in the Bible.
a) David prayed for King Saul’s repentance.
b) Daniel prayed for King Nebuchadnezzar.
c) Esther prayed for her husband (the king).
d) God changes our attitude toward someone when we pray for them!
e) Dr. Robert McCracken was a minister of a church in Canada. For some
reason, a woman in his church took a dislike to him and communicated
her feelings to others. Eventually the word reached him. He decided to
try to resolve the conflict. He went to her house. After knocking a few
times he heard a faint sound inside. He knelt down and looked through
the mail slot to see if anyone was there. To his surprise, he saw eyes
staring back at him. The woman laughed and said, “Pastor, this is the
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first time we have seen eye to eye.” He responded, “Yes, and we had to
get down on our knees to do it.”
6. Jeremiah prayed for the evil king of Israel.
a) The king did not turn to God, so here was Jeremiah’s response:
b) …if you do not listen, I will weep in secret because of your pride; my
eyes will weep bitterly, overflowing with tears, because the LORD’s flock
will be taken captive. Say to the king and to the queen mother, "Come
down from your thrones, for your glorious crowns will fall from your
heads." Jeremiah 13:17-18 (New International Version)
c) Jeremiah did not gloat over the coming downfall of his political enemies.
d) His heart was broken in prayer for them.
7. Paul lived when the Roman Caesars were in power.
a) They were not Christians and most were extremely wicked.
b) Paul writes Pray for kings and others in power, so that we may live quiet
and peaceful lives as we worship and honor God. 1 Timothy 2:2
Contemporary English Version (CEV)
c) How many of us have been praying for President Obama every single
day?
8. We need to pray that the President and our other leaders take their
direction from God.
a) Proverbs 21:1 says The king’s heart is in the hand of the LORD; he
directs it like a watercourse wherever he pleases. Proverbs 21:1 (New
International Version)
b) God can direct the heart of the President of the United States, and all of
those in power even as he can direct the heart of our spouse, of our
children, of our family members and work associates.
c) We need to remain faithful in prayer and not give up.
9. It matters how we resist evil.
a) In the Garden of Gethsemane Peter fought against evil by swinging a
sword and cutting a man’s ear off.
b) Jesus told him to put away the sword.
c) Jesus then healed the man’s ear reversing the damage Peter had done.
d) When Peter had the opportunity to pray, he slept through that.
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e) When a civilization falls, part of the blame will fall on the people of God
who did not listen when God said, “If my people who are called by my
name humble themselves, and pray, seek my face, and turn from their
wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and
heal their land.”
f) I’m going to ask you to join me in a prayer right now for our new
President.
II. Christians Can Also Resist Evil through Appeal
1. In addition to prayer, sometimes, evil can be dealt with through a good
appeal.
a) I read about a new pastor who had not even finished putting away his
books when the Minister of Music rushed in and began to complain
about the Minister of Education. Finally the new pastor called for a halt
until the Minister of Education could be summoned. Once he was in
the office, the pastor asked the Minister of Music to continue his
complaints. He refused. The pastor said, “All right, you two step into
the hallway and work this out. If you can’t reach an agreement in 15
minutes, I’ll have to let both of you go.” In five minutes they were back.
The conflict was ended and they decided to be friends.
b) While praying, many times, issues and difficult situations can be resolved
through good, heartfelt communication.
2. As Christians, we can make appeals to our elected representatives by letter,
email and telephone on important moral and Biblical issues.
a) In fact 2 Corinthians 5:20 says that …we are Christ’s ambassadors; God
is making his appeal through us. We speak for Christ when we plead,
“Come back to God!” New Living Translation (NLT)
b) usa.gov will give you the contact information you need to appeal to any
local, state and federal official.
3. Elected officials are interested in what their constituents think.
a) They want to know how people feel about the issues.
b) They care about polls!
c) Elected officials use the following rule of thumb:
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Each phone call to their office represents 10 other people with the
same opinion;
Each email represents 100 people;
Each call to their Washington, D.C. office represents 500 people;
Each letter represents 500 people; and
Each visit represents 1,000 people.
4. Entreaty and appeal is prevalent in the Bible.
a) Daniel appealed to King Nebuchadnezzar
b) Daniel’s approach toward Nebuchadnezzar ended with Daniel leading
Nebuchadnezzar to the Lord (Daniel 4:34).
c) Joseph appealed to Pharaoh.
d) Nehemiah appealed to the King of Persia.
e) Esther appealed to the King rather than criticize him for a foolish
decision.
f) They all advanced the kingdom of God by respectfully appealing rather
than simply renouncing them.
III. Christians Might Have to Resist Evil through Non-
Compliance.
1. Let me explain:
a) If the government outlawed Christianity and demanded that we deny
Christ, would you do so?
b) You would break the law?
c) If you refused to support something that is forbidden in the Scriptures
you would be resisting evil through non-compliance.
2. There is a famous story in the Bible of noncompliance.
a) In Daniel chapter 3, King Nebuchadnezzar made an image of gold 90
feet high and 9 feet wide and commanded everyone in his kingdom,
“Whoever does not fall down and worship will immediately be thrown
into a blazing furnace.” Daniel 3:6 New International Version
b) Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego said to the king, “Oh
Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before you in this
matter. If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is
able to save us from it, and he will rescue us from your hand, oh King.
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But even if he does not, we want you to know, oh King that we will not
serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up.” Daniel
3:16-18 New International Version
c) I read somewhere, if there’s a fire in your house, the last thing you want
to do is run around in the burning house like you see on TV.
Apparently, the temperature at head level may reach 600° and the heat
could destroy your lungs. The only way to survive is on your hands and
knees. At floor level, the temperature may only be 150° and crawling
quickly to an exit is the one way to withstand such conditions.
Sometimes things in our lives become so superheated that the best way
to survive is by getting on our knees in humility and helplessness before
God. It may be the only way to survive the heat.
d) They refused to participate in something evil and God chose to rescue
them from the fiery furnace.
3. Exodus 1:8 says, “Now there arose a new king over Egypt, who did not
know Joseph.”
a) Up until this time Joseph had lived in peace with the ruling pharaohs.
b) All that suddenly changed with the new administration.
c) God’s people, Israel, came under severe oppression.
d) In Exodus 1:15-16 The king of Egypt said to the Hebrew midwives,
whose names were Shiphrah and Puah, "When you help the Hebrew
women in childbirth and observe them on the delivery stool, if it is a
boy, kill him; but if it is a girl, let her live." New International Version
(NIV)
e) Here is a king sanctioning the death of babies.
4. Did the midwives obey the king’s order?
a) They risked their own lives by refusing to do so.
b) The midwives, however, feared God and did not do what the king of
Egypt had told them to do; they let the boys live. Then the king of Egypt
summoned the midwives and asked them, "Why have you done this?
Why have you let the boys live?" Exodus 1:17-18 New International
Version (NIV)
c) This was resistance through non-compliance!
They feared God more than they feared the pharaoh.
They chose to do the right thing even at the risk of their own lives.
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d) God approved!
e) …God was kind to the midwives and the people increased and became
even more numerous. And because the midwives feared God, he gave
them families of their own. Exodus 1:20-21 New International Version
(NIV)
5. Yet, disobeying governing authorities has cost many Christians their lives.
a) Dietrich Bonhoeffer was part of the Christian resistance in Nazi
Germany.
b) He was a German Lutheran pastor and participated in the German
Resistance movement against Nazism.
c) He wanted to do something about the Holocaust of the Jews, where 6
million innocent people were killed by Adolph Hitler’s policies.
d) Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote The Cost of Discipleship in 1937, which
spoke about resisting the National Socialist Movement.
e) Bonhoeffer was arrested on March 1943, imprisoned, and executed by
hanging shortly before the war’s end.
f) Noncompliance is reserved for those rare cases where authority is
forcing you to do evil.
IV. Christians Should Attempt to Avoid Evil (Whenever
Possible)
1. One husband attempted to avoid conflict in his marriage.
a) He said, “My wife and I have an agreement. I don’t try to run her life
and I don’t try to run my life.”
b) In Galatians 5:7-8, the Apostle Paul says, You were running the race so
well. Who has held you back from following the truth? It certainly isn’t
God, for he is the one who called you to freedom. New Living
Translation (NLT)
2. The Wasp, one of America’s great aircraft carriers in World War II, sank
on September 15, 1942.
a) When the ship caught fire and began to go down, the soldiers were
ordered to abandon ship and to swim away from the vessel immediately.
b) They jumped overboard and all had life jackets but many held on to the
sides of the ship.
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c) When the vessel plunged beneath the surface, these sailors were sucked
down with it to a watery grave.
d) They thought a ship that big ship promised safety and security so they
disobeyed their commander’s orders.
e) Sometimes, instead of relying on God’s orders, people cling to false
security.
f) They will be sucked down by hanging on to things that God forbids.
3. I have seen Christians who have been sucked into ungodly relationships and
behaviors.
a) Christians who know they should not be sexually active before marriage.
b) Christians who cling to activities that are absolutely forbidden by God.
c) God is pleading for everyone to avoid—to get away from that evil!
d) The Bible says, Do what is good and run from evil so that you may live!
Then the LORD God of Heaven’s Armies will be your helper, just as you
have claimed. Hate evil and love what is good… Amos 5:14-15a (New
Living Translation)
4. Sometimes the only way we can resist evil is by avoiding a person or
situation completely.
a) I read about a man traveling in Jamaica. He noticed a curious shrub
growing near the roadside. His guide informed him that the island
people called it the “wait-a-bit” bush. When he inspected it closely, his
clothes barely touched it and he found himself snared by thorns which
resembled fishhooks. The more he tried to free himself, the more he
became entangled by its barbs. Finally, he had to rely on his friend to
release him from his hopeless situation. Satan has many “wait a bit”
bushes along the road of life. We can become easily hooked by some
evil habit or evil person. They compel us to “wait-a-bit” with them. The
best thing to do is to avoid them completely!
b) …through the fear of the LORD a man avoids evil. Proverbs 16:6b (New
International Version)
c) The highway of the upright avoids evil; he who guards his way guards his
life. Proverbs 16:17 (New International Version)
d) It is to a man’s honor to avoid strife, but every fool is quick to quarrel.
Proverbs 20:3 (New International Version)
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e) Test everything. Hold on to the good. Avoid every kind of evil. 1
Thessalonians 5:21-22 (New International Version)
5. Some people act as if they think they are God.
a) The teacher of an adult Sunday School class asked a husband and wife
to act out the burning bush portion in his lesson from the Old
Testament. The husband was asked to supply the voice of God and his
wife would read Moses’ lines. All was going well until they got to verse
15. The wife mistook her husband’s dialogue for her own and read
God’s portion saying, “Say to the Israelites, the Lord, the God of your
fathers…” The teacher interrupted her saying, “Wait a minute, you’re not
God.” Her husband responded, “I’ve been trying to tell her that for 18
years.”
b) Some people go against God’s commands.
Often, they begin to behave as if they were above God’s direction.
Avoid this type of person whenever possible.
V. Christians Should Resist Evil While Remaining Respectful
of Authority
1. Some people reject almost all authority.
a) Jude 1:8-9 The people I am talking about are behaving just like those
dreamers who destroyed their own bodies. They reject all authority and
insult angels. Even Michael, the chief angel, didn’t dare to insult the
devil, when the two of them were arguing about the body of Moses. All
Michael said was, "The Lord will punish you!" Jude 1:8-9 Contemporary
English Version (CEV)
b) We don’t have to agree with people in authority in order to show them
proper respect.
2. Whether we voted for this new President or the current leadership, we need
to respect authority.
a) We need to pray for our new President.
b) Pray for our local, state and federal officials.
c) Let’s pray that the president and all of our leaders will follow God’s
direction as they lead the United States of America and the world.
