Family And Church Growth
Is No Excuse To Neglect The Civil Magistrate

Let us not fall back on the importance of church growth or family solidarity as an excuse for neglecting the civil magistrate. There are those who would excuse themselves with an argument like this:

My understanding of how the kingdom comes would direct me toward a different emphasis, one that operates based upon a bottom up, decentralized approach, rather than a reliance on a top down policy. The emphasis for reform cannot and must not be civil action. It must begin in the lives of fathers. Let’s try our hand first at successfully turning out a righteous, non-rebellious generation without losing our children.

The Bottom-Up Argument

There are elements of truth in this statement, but I fear it runs contrary to the pattern we observe in the Old Testament. In spite of the fact that individuals and families were in disarray, God still addressed disobedience and expected compliance to His law at every level: individual, family, church growth, and nation.

God did not excuse or delay obedience to His law at the level of civil government. For example, in Micah 3: 1, 5, 11 the rulers, prophets, and priests are all called to repentance and conformity to God's law in the present.

This pattern is repeated over and over and over in the Prophets. It was the responsibility of the Prophets to call the king, as well as the people to obedience to God's law. They did not focus exclusively on teaching individual families. This is not “top-down,” it is multi-level responsibility.

The "Bottom-Up" argument is an excuse to relieve us from our Biblical responsibility at every level. Frankly, I think that the emphasis in the Old Testament is on kings, not on fathers. This comports with Ps 2: 10-12, where it is the "Kings of the earth", not individuals, or fathers, or families, that are especially singled out for submission to the King of kings.

The prophets are repeatedly calling the kings to repentance, not fathers. Probably because they are the federal heads of the entire nation. Saying this does not dismiss the importance of church growth nor family growth.

Mending Church-State Relations
Differs From Political Action, Per Se

Please remember, we are not talking about political action here. We are talking about the Biblical doctrine of church and state. We are talking about a Biblical emphasis on evangelism and discipleship being focused on civil magistrates, especially when it comes to the efforts of church leaders.

The leaders of the church have an emphatic Biblical responsibility to teach the magistrate the law of God, that can not be delegated or delayed for the sake of church growth. The Kingdom of Christ is here and now, not in the “sweet by and by.” The church has a positive responsibility to the state that it cannot shirk, regardless of whatever responsibilities it may have to individuals or families.

If the state is way out of line it is the church leaders that must shoulder the responsibility to call it back into line. That is the clear teaching of the Old Testament. Examples are everywhere: Samuel and Saul, Nathan and David, Elijah and Ahab, and on and on. Ambrose rebuked Theodosius and Deacon Alcuin crossed the English channel to instruct Charlemagne.

In like manner the elders of your local church need to be in touch with the Mayor, the County Council members, etc. If not, they will discover too late that opportunities for church growth are severely limited. Unless we are reverting to dispensationalism, how can we evade that responsibility. Laymen can help, but elders must lead in this matter.

The Reformers (Calvin, Knox, etc) did not limit the Reformation to individuals, families, and church growth, but applied it at every level of society. Calvin was active in the City Council and Knox was active at the national government. This in spite of the fact that they were very concerned about reclaiming and purifying the doctrine of individual justification before God.

They did not use the fact that there was a great need for individual justification to excuse themselves from their obligation to instruct the civil magistrate. In other words, they did not resort to the "Bottom-Up" excuse. The "Bottom-Up" argument sounds spiritual at first blush, but I don't think it measures up to the standard of Scripture. Upon examination, it is actually found to be a rationale for passive disobedience.

Not An Either/Or Proposition

In summary, it is not an either/or proposition. Church leaders in the Old Testament and during the Reformation called for conformity to God's law at every level of society, including the civil magistrate, no matter how bad conditions were. In fact, the worse the conditions, the greater the need they saw to confront and instruct the civil magistrate, not put it off for another generation.

They recognized this as their Biblical obligation. They did not limit their ministry to church growth and the family. We do not have the luxury of deciding that we are going to obey some of God's commandments today and delay obedience of others to some indeterminate time in the future. This is like placing our spiritual debt and responsibility on our children and grandchildren.

Some will point to WWII as a great example of Americans rising to the occasion in the face of a great crisis. They praise the fact that American Christians did not retire to nurture their families when the battle was raging. The men engaged the enemy. How is our situation today any different -- in many ways it is a much greater danger. Instead of Hitler half a world away it is the tyrant in our midst.

But, instead of engaging the enemy we retreat into our homes to nurture our families. How about the example of Nehemiah where the whole family was out on the rampart rebuilding the wall? Jesus will conquer the nations not by guns and bullets like WWII, but by the Word proceeding out of His mouth, but are not we His mouthpiece to the leaders of the nations?

So the question is: At what point in the past 500 years did God change the rules that applied all the way from OT times to the Reformation, that would excuse church leaders today from this obligation to confront and instruct the civil magistrate?

Return From Church Growth to America Betrayed Homepage