And now, Lord, look upon their threats and grant to your servants to continue to speak your word with all boldness.” Acts 4:29 ESV
As most of you are aware, a fellow Southern Baptist Church in Minneapolis, MN was overrun by a planned political protest this past week during their normal Sunday morning worship service. What should we think about this? What should be our reaction? How should this affect our meetings at Redeemer?
Let me first begin with some perspective. The book of Acts records the founding of the early church. It was an exceptional church that was not persecuted in some way for believing in and publicly preaching an exclusive gospel of repentance and faith in Jesus Christ. Persecution toward early Christians consisted of being heckled, pushed around, beaten, dragged through town, falsely accused, imprisoned, and stoned. This was not isolated to the early church. I’m currently reading through Justo Gonzalez’s, The Story of Christianity (a church history). In many ways it’s the story of the Christian church defending sound biblical doctrine and surviving one persecution after another. Christians down through the ages have been falsely accused, publicly slandered, arrested by soldiers inside church buildings, fired from their jobs, exiled to the wilderness, imprisoned with excessive cruelty, burned at the stake, and countless other hardships. Yet, the church carries on generation after generation!
Today, we personally know Christians that have been imprisoned, falsely accused, physically attacked, lost their jobs, and killed for the sake of being associated with Jesus and His church. It is important to have this perspective when examining the current state of religious liberty in America. We have enjoyed unprecedented religious liberty in America for 250 years. It has been a great blessing and allowed biblical Christianity to thrive.
What happened in Minnesota was wrong, and a desecration of sacred worship. These protestors forcibly broke up a Sunday morning Christian worship service to create social media video footage. However, we must not blow it out of proportion related to the history of Christian persecution. We should condemn it for the wrong that it is, plan for how we will react to such a possible event, pray for boldness, and carry on as the church in the world. May those against us come to repentance and salvation in Jesus!
It is important to note that it is the role of government to use its policing powers to create space for peaceful religious liberty. The Lord has ordained that government “bear the sword” against evil and make way for the prosperity of a peaceful society (Romans 13:1-7). The government does not establish religion or conduct religious services but creates peaceful space for people of various religions to peacefully worship. This is religious liberty. The sanctuary of a Christian church is a sacred space. It is a space that has defined boundaries and exists for a singular sacred purpose – the worship of Jesus Christ. It is a place for the gathering of the church (God’s people), but it is not closed to outsiders. In the missional call of Jesus, we are ever seeking to bring the lost into the fellowship of the church that they might be saved from the guilt of their sins and have peace with God. However, for religious liberty to exist, the public must respect the privacy of worship spaces. It is certainly not a place for protected protest speech. If protesters are free to disrupt any service they choose at any time, and for no reason – then we no longer truly have religious liberty.
Our reaction as a church should be exactly as that of the church in Minnesota. The Pastor rightly called the people back together later that day, after the media posturing had ended, finished his sermon and encouraged the church to not lose heart! We must never give way to fear, paranoia, or anxiety over these issues. We should give our anxieties to the Lord and pray for peace. We should continue to pray for our enemies, that they may come to salvation. We must continue on in worship, discipleship, and the ordinances of the church. We must be bold in the face of evil!
It is important to note that there is no threat of such protests in our area, much less inside our church. However, if a protest similar to this ever happened at Redeemer, I will ask the congregation to orderly and quickly depart the sanctuary and pick up children as needed. Those with good self-control and confidence should help the more anxious to depart. If you have the sense that a person is in the church for the purpose of causing a public disturbance, please let an elder or deacon immediately know your thoughts. Once the sanctuary is empty, the elders and local law enforcement will work to clear the protestors over time.
The Lord has always watched over Redeemer and will continue to do so in the future – for He is faithful! Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in Jesus (John 14:1).
May the Lord strengthen His church to carry on in hope and joy,
Pastor Vic