Positive defiance - Will you obey God or man?
"But Peter and John replied, “Do you think God wants us to obey you rather than him?" (NLT) Acts 4:19
One sad spectacle I observe in Christendom today is the unhealthy tendency of those who profess to be Christians to pay heed to the voice of men rather than God’s. You will hear the average church attendee saying “my pastor says” when he is questioned about why they do such and such in their church.
I have a vague recollection of a conversation I had with my friend in junior high school. He was a dutiful student of the Bible and we were all part of the Spiritual Union. I asked him why they baptize infants in his church and he admitted that he has not really thought about it so he could not readily give me a theological foundation for that practice. However, he quickly added that it was a church tradition. Realizing that I was not convinced, he went ahead to ask his spiritual leader and he came back to school with answers more confusing than amusing. He said a lot of things but he couldn’t quote scripture that unquestionably supported his claim. Finally, he said, “My pastor says baptizing infants or not is not relevant to our salvation.” I stared at him in jaw-drop astonishment. The only word I could let out was “Wow!” I was stunned. I walked away wondering, “Is it about pleasing God or man?”
Three guys I admire a lot in scripture are Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. Like Peter and John, when they were threatened to obey man and neglect God they defied even at the risk of their lives – I call that “positive defiance.” They would rather die obeying God than to live obeying man.
“But even if he (God) doesn’t, we want to make it clear to you, Your Majesty, that we will never serve your gods or worship the gold statue you have set up.” (NLT) Daniel 3:18
In the era where most jurisdictions are championing human rights, we do not face the same risk the heroes of old endured for defying men, yet we are literally coerced into swallowing hook, line, sinker what men say about our spirituality. We treat the word of God like a ‘fast food’ sold in delicatessens and convenience stores. We get it fast and gulp it down in a second, without thinking about what we are ingesting.
Granted, our spiritual leaders are ideally the oracles of God (1 Peter 4:11) but they are not His substitute. We should examine every word from the pulpit critically in the light of scripture. We should not behave like my friend who erroneously thought church practices and traditions have no bearing on our salvation.