I was at a Baptist church recently. The pastor was preaching on prayer and the text for the lesson was Acts 4:23-31. By Acts 4:23-31, the Jerusalem congregation numbered almost 10,000 people (if Acts 2:41, Acts 2:47 and Acts 4:4 are anything to go by.) The pastor told us that the apostles along with their congregation disobeyed the civil authorities so as to be obedient to Christ's commands. These were authorities which had been instituted by God (as per Romans 13:1-2.) Nevertheless, the congregation disobeyed the authorities, and apparently with God's blessing: Acts 5:32 says that God only gives the Holy Spirit to those who obey Him and Acts 4:31 relates how the Holy Spirit was poured out afresh on the congregation. They disobeyed the civil authorities because to obey them would have meant disobeying Christ's clear command, including the command to make disciples, baptise in the triune Name, and teach obedience to Christ's commands.
The pastor seemed oblivious to the irony of what he was teaching. His church had just come out of a two-year period where the civil authorities effectively banned the church from meeting. The state told the church to disobey Christ's command not to give up meeting together (Hebrews 10:25) and the church obeyed the state without question. And in doing so, the church forced those whose conscience demanded that they meet together to act against their conscience. Not a good look, given Romans 14. It would have been far better to have permitted those who wanted to stay at home to stay at home and permit those who were convinced of the need to obey Hebrews 10:25 to do so.
He went on to speak glowingly of the power of Christians praying, referring to Acts 4:24-30 which records the church praying for boldness, the meeting place being shaken and the Holy Spirit equipping the members of the congregation to continue their work. But where was his church's boldness during 2020-21? Whatever power may be in prayer, the example he and his church had given to the wider community was that the state rules the church and that the church lives by every word that proceeds from the mouth of Mark McGowan and his Chief Medical Officer. Should another pandemic come along (monkey pox perhaps?) where will their local community find the church? Probably hiding under the table, as much enslaved by the fear of death as anyone else (Hebrews 2:15).
