Excerpts from: Christ, not Caesar, Is Head of the Church
Christ is Lord of all. He is the one true head of the church (Ephesians 1:22; 5:23; Colossians 1:18). He is also King of kingsโsovereign over every earthly authority (1 Timothy 6:15; Revelation 17:14; 19:16). As His people, we are subject to His will and commands as revealed in Scripture. We cannot and will not acquiesce to a government-imposed moratorium on… corporate gatherings. ๐๐จ๐ฆ๐ฉ๐ฅ๐ข๐๐ง๐๐ ๐ฐ๐จ๐ฎ๐ฅ๐ ๐๐ ๐๐ข๐ฌ๐จ๐๐๐๐ข๐๐ง๐๐ ๐ญ๐จ ๐จ๐ฎ๐ซ ๐๐จ๐ซ๐โ๐ฌ ๐๐ฅ๐๐๐ซ ๐๐จ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐๐ง๐๐ฌ.
โ โ โ โ
We ๐๐ค ๐ฃ๐ค๐ฉ ๐ฃ๐๐๐ ๐ฉ๐๐ ๐จ๐ฉ๐๐ฉ๐’๐จ ๐ฅ๐๐ง๐ข๐๐จ๐จ๐๐ค๐ฃ to serve and worship our Lord as He has commanded. The church is Christโs precious bride (2 Corinthians 11:2; Ephesians 5:23โ27). She belongs to HIM alone. She exists by His will and serves under His authority. He will tolerate no assault on her purity and no infringement of His headship over her. All of that was established when Jesus said, โ๐ย ๐ธ๐ช๐ญ๐ญย ๐ฃ๐ถ๐ช๐ญ๐ฅย ๐๐บย ๐ค๐ฉ๐ถ๐ณ๐ค๐ฉ; ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐จ๐ข๐ต๐ฆ๐ด ๐ฐ๐ง ๐๐ข๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ดย ๐ธ๐ช๐ญ๐ญย ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ต ๐ฐ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ช๐ตโ (Matthew 16:18)…
โ โ โ โ
The honor that we rightly owe our earthly governors and magistrates (Romans 13:7) does not include compliance when such officials attempt to subvert sound doctrine, corrupt biblical morality, exercise ecclesiastical authority, or supplant Christ as head of the church in any other way.
โ โ โ โ
When officials prohibit singing in worship services, they attempt to impose a restriction that in principle makes it impossible for the people of God to obey the commands of Ephesians 5:19 and Colossians 3:16. When officials mandate distancing, they attempt to impose a restriction that in principle makes it impossible to experience the ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ that is commanded in Romans 16:16, 1 Corinthians 16:20, 2 Corinthians 13:12, and 1 Thessalonians 5:26. In all those spheres, we must ๐ฌ๐ฎ๐๐ฆ๐ข๐ญ ๐ญ๐จ ๐จ๐ฎ๐ซ ๐๐จ๐ซ๐…
โ โ โ โ
We cannot accept and ๐ฐ๐ข๐ฅ๐ฅ ๐ง๐จ๐ญ ๐๐จ๐ฐ to the intrusive restrictions government officials now want to impose…
We offer this response without rancor, and not out of hearts that are combative or rebellious (1 Timothy 2:1โ8; 1 Peter 2:13โ17), but with ๐ ๐ฌ๐จ๐๐๐ซ๐ข๐ง๐ ๐๐ฐ๐๐ซ๐๐ง๐๐ฌ๐ฌ ๐ญ๐ก๐๐ญ ๐ฐ๐ ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ญ ๐๐ง๐ฌ๐ฐ๐๐ซ ๐ญ๐จ ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐๐จ๐ซ๐ ๐๐๐ฌ๐ฎ๐ฌ…
โ โ โ โ
โWhether it is right in the sight of God to give heed to you rather than to God, you be the judgeโ (Acts 4:19). And our unhesitating reply to that question is the same as the apostlesโ: โ๐๐ ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ญ ๐จ๐๐๐ฒ ๐๐จ๐ ๐ซ๐๐ญ๐ก๐๐ซ ๐ญ๐ก๐๐ง ๐ฆ๐๐งโ (Acts 5:29).
โ โ โ โ
John MacArthur
{I may not agree with everything he says, but I appreciate his stance in this season.}
Grace Community Church
Sun Valley, CA
https://www.gracechurch.org/news/posts/1988