Grace For Your Day January 4

In his book, The City of God, the 4th Century theologian, Augustine, wrote that there is a city of God and a city of man. He said that, when we read the Bible, we see that there are two kingdoms in this world: God’s kingdom and man’s kingdom and, when they disagree, our loyalty always lies with God. When the two kingdoms clash, our allegiance lies with the Lord. As Peter told the political leaders of his day in Acts 5:29: “We must obey God rather than men.”

This is a real issue for us today because the government of British Columbia has recently passed several health orders demanding that the churches close. They have issued several statements requiring that the churches in the province shut down in order to help prevent the spread of COVID-19. While the health benefits of such an order have already been debated on both sides, the reality is that this is the first time in Canadian history when the government has done this. To my knowledge, it is the first time in the province’s history when the authorities have given such a strong order to the church. This raises the question: What are we supposed to do about it? How is the church supposed to respond to such a demand?

To answer that question, we are going to begin a new series this Sunday entitled “The Christian & The Government.” It will address several issues such as:

•  “How Does a Christian Respond to the Government?”  
• “What is the Role of the Government?”  
• “What is the Role of the Church?”  
• “What Part Does the Kingdom of God Play in All of this?”

The goal of this series is not to be controversial but to help calm things down. The goal is to help our people see that the Bible has answers to questions like this. We have no reason to fear. We have no reason to be afraid because the Word of God provides a solution to every challenge that we face. Our goal in this series is also to help unify our church because, as we all know, this is a divisive topic right now. It has caused trouble in many congregations and we do not want it to do that here. We want to draw closer together as a result of what we learn.
All of this is to say that the series will begin this Sunday morning on January 10 and last until January 31.

After that, we will go back to the Book of Ephesians. We will pick up where we left off with our discussion of the family. Please pray that the Lord will use this material to bless our church. Pray that He will use it to help us stay strong in the faith in such a difficult season. Also, please pray that the Lord will help us to follow the Apostle Paul’s words in First Corinthians 16:13-14:
Be on the alert, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong. All that you do must be done in love.

Paul says that the church is to conduct itself in strength and in love. We are to stand firm and be strong and we are also to do everything in a spirit of kindness. This is not the time for cowardice in the church. This is the time for courage. We cannot cave in and compromise on what the Bible has commanded us to do. However, this is also not a time to hate one another or to even hate the government. They have their job to do and we have ours. The difference is that our job calls us to submit to the Lord above all else which is what we are trying to do.

May the Lord bless all our efforts! – Jeremy Cagle