The Christian and the Use of the Law

[00:00:00] This audio sermon is provided by AnabaptistSermons.com and may be freely copied and distributed. You may not sell or edit this sermon. Our prayer is that you would be blessed by this ministry. I was ordained in about 1973 at 26 years old. In the early years of my ministry, due to some of the involvement of the program of the church, [00:00:36] I was thrown into a relationship with another young man that had been ordained close to the same time that I was. This man was in business for himself. I was working as an employee for a business in our community, and as we communicated and rode together in different things at different meetings, this man was in the excavation business, and one day he referred to being a little bit upset because one of his employees had upset one of his dump trucks. [00:01:17] And then as he was thinking about it, he had to realize that he is really only a steward of what God has given him And that dump truck really belonged to God And if God wanted to allow his dump truck to be upset, that was his privilege And I thought, boy, if only I could get to understand life from that perspective as well Well in several years as this man's business prospered and he became involved in larger and larger projects [00:01:57] He became involved in a multi-million dollar excavating deal And as the steps were laid out and payments were made in progress along the way It came to the last payment of the project which was in the millions of dollars And the man that he'd done the project for said, get it if you can. And I remember this same man who said, the Lord wants to upset his dump truck. [00:02:32] I guess that's his privilege. Now I raise questions, and he said, but if I don't get that million dollars, My business is broke, I am bankrupt, and I must have it to survive. What do I do? I'll do like Larry did yesterday. He didn't tell you, but Larry, I'm sure it wasn't yesterday, it was in a minister's meeting. [00:03:06] Larry Showalter told a story, and he left the ending of it to the end of his message, and I'm going to do the same with that one. Let me tell you another story. Here was a man. He had a question. Our question is the Christian and the use of the law. That's their title. What was he to do? He had a million dollar debt that was owed to him and without collecting that he was bankrupt. His question was, what do I do? [00:03:42] In 1981, several years later, I was called one morning about 4 o'clock by the local state police and asked to come to the local hospital to help to identify a body and to go along to the widow to give her the news of the death of her husband. [00:04:18] That's one of the situations of life I don't care to need to relive. But as I reflect back on that situation and the widow was left with, was it four children? Five? Young widow with five children. It was one of the saddest funeral messages I ever preached. She was involved in a car accident where both individuals, single people driving, or single individuals driving cars somewhere around the time of midnight. [00:04:57] Nobody observed it. Both were killed. There's some debate as to what really happened. until through the process of time they discovered that the other party that was involved's alcohol level was well over the level of what's permissible for driving. And anyway, this young widow, as we went on, funeral and things passed, [00:05:27] In the past, how was this young widow going to survive and support five children? One of the things that happened as she had an attorney that lived next to her, who was well-versed in the ways of the law, gave free advice, not always from the, quote, Christian perspective, But as time went on, several weeks had gone on and families began to look at this situation [00:06:03] and the attorney was aware of the insurance company that carried the insurance for the man that was driving under the influence that was the other party. And he told this young widow, he said, I know for a fact that that insurance company will never settle without a lawsuit. And as discussion went through the family, this young widow's, her husband's family began to encourage her that she should take the route of filing a lawsuit in order to be able to provide for her family in the years to come. [00:06:48] I can remember her coming to me one morning at church. And she said, what am I going to do? She said, I know what I believe. I know what I think the scriptures teach about using the law and taking lawsuits. but my husband's family is raising a question [00:07:21] how am I going to raise my children and encouraging me to take this step what am I going to do and I encourage her that I believe her position is right that if she followed the Lord that the Lord would provide but that was unknown I'll finish that story at the end as well. [00:07:55] I don't like preachers that tell stories because they get to their point and they never finish them but I will finish those two stories. But like they do with the some of the children's stories they always end at the exciting part and they don't tell you what the rest is until the next time. So what do we do as Christians? and the Christian using the law. There's a number of scriptures that enter into this concept [00:08:28] and possibly more scriptural principle than scriptural quotes, thus saith the Lord. There's some thus saith the Lord. But I'd like to take you through some of these scriptures first. And then after we look at the scriptures, I'd like for us to think about some historical precedent and then make a few observations of my own on regards to the scriptures and historical precedent and then look at some situations that we're faced. [00:09:04] Let's go first to Matthew 5. Matthew 5, verse 25, and I'll try to give you time to turn to these scriptures and we'll look at them. I think it's important that we can see what God has written for us to see. Matthew 5, verse 25, says this. Agree with thine adversary quickly, whilst thou art in the way with him. [00:09:37] Lest at any time the adversary deliver thee to the judge And the judge deliver thee to the officer And thou be cast into prison Verily I say unto thee, thou shalt by no means come out thence Till thou hast paid the uttermost farthing The concept of having an agreeable spirit and not a contentious spirit A little bit further in Matthew 5, where probably the very well-known passage of Scripture in regards to nonresistance, beginning in verse 38. [00:10:20] Ye have heard that it hath been said, An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth. But I say unto you, that ye resist not evil, but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also. and if any man will sue thee at the law and take away thy coat let him have thy cloak also. I didn't say that. That's what Jesus said. I want to re-read that. But I say unto you [00:10:53] that you resist not evil but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek turn to him the other also. and if any man will sue thee at the law and take away thy coat let him have thy cloak also and whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile go with him two miles give to him that asketh thee [00:11:26] and from him that borrow thee turn not thou away Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbor and hate thine enemy. But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you and persecute you, that ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven. For he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust. For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? Do not even the publicans the same? [00:12:04] And if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more than others? Do not even the publicans so? Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect. Now you can pick out many principles from that scripture. Number one, we don't resist evil. Number two, we turn the other cheek when someone hurts us. We're willing to be hurt again. [00:12:39] If we're sued to take our coat, we give him more than was asked. Huh? Yeah, that's what it says If we're sued to take our coat, we give also our cloak If a Roman soldier compelled me to carry his burden for a mile and he was the oppressor in that day he was the ones that were holding Israel down they didn't like their dictatorship, their rule [00:13:13] But if he asked me to carry it a mile, I would tell him, I'll carry it too. If someone comes to me and asks to lend or to borrow, I'm to give. I don't only love my neighbor, but I love my enemy. I pray for them which persecute me. [00:13:51] Let's go to 1 Corinthians chapter 6. 1 Corinthians chapter 6 verses 1 through 8. This speaks about the Christian and the courts of the land. Dare any of you having a matter against another, go to law before the unjust, and not before the saints. [00:14:24] Do ye not know that the saints shall judge the world? And if the world shall be judged by you, are ye unworthy to judge the smallest matters? Know ye not that ye shall judge angels? How much more are things that pertain to this life? If then you have judgments of things pertaining to this life, set them to judge who are least esteemed in the church. I speak to your shame. Is it so that there is not a wise man among you? [00:14:55] No, not one that shall be able to judge between his brethren. But brother goeth to law with brother, and that before the unbelievers. Now therefore, there is utterly a fault among you because you go to law with one another. Why do you not rather take wrong? Why do you not rather suffer yourselves to be defrauded? Nay, you do wrong and defraud, and that your brethren. [00:15:27] I want to define that term defraud there. The English dictionary simply says defraud is to take something from someone by fraud or swindle or cheat or chisel or bilk. And we understand that we don't defraud. Right? We don't defraud. But are we willing to allow ourselves to be defrauded? [00:15:57] It says here, Now therefore there is utterly a fault among you, because you go to law with one another. Why do you not rather take wrong? We don't live in a culture that helps us to learn that principle. Why do you not rather take wrong? When something hurts me, we live in a culture that gears us for revenge. Why do you not rather take wrong? [00:16:32] Why do you not rather suffer yourselves to be defrauded? You mean I'll allow myself to be cheated? Yeah. Turn to Matthew 19. You look at this passage of scripture, you're going to say, now wait a minute. [00:17:03] How do you get this involved with the Christian's use of the law? I've become convinced that this is a primary reason, primary basis, primary motivation, One that we often times fail to look at in the whole concept of the Christian's use of the law. Matthew 19 beginning at verse 16 And behold one came and said unto him, Good master, what good thing shall I do that I may have eternal life? [00:17:41] And he said unto him, Why callest thou me good? There is none good but one, that is God. But if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments. And he saith unto him, Which? Jesus said, Thou shalt do no murder, thou shalt not commit adultery, thou shalt not steal, thou shalt not bear false witness, honor thy father and thy mother, and thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. The young man said unto him, All these things have I kept from my youth up, what like I yet? [00:18:15] Jesus said unto him, If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven, and come and follow me. But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions. Now let's not stop there, let's go on. Then said Jesus unto his disciples, Verily I say unto you, that a rich man shall hardly enter into the kingdom of heaven. [00:18:54] And again I say unto you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God. When his disciples heard it, they were exceedingly amazed, saying, Who then can be saved? But Jesus beheld them and said unto them, With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible. Then answered Peter and said unto him, Behold, we have forsaken all, and followed thee. [00:19:28] What shall we have therefore? Jesus said unto them, Verily I say unto you, that ye which have followed me in a regeneration when the Son of Man shall sit in the throne of his glory, ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. Notice verse 29 And everyone that hath forsaken houses, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my name's sake, shall receive an hundredfold, and shall inherit everlasting life. [00:20:11] But many that are first shall be last, and the last shall be first. I have become convinced, as I have observed life in the last number of years. Now this is an interesting audience here this morning. I don't normally preach to a lot of people that are older than I am, but I am today, I believe. I'm usually preaching to people that are younger than I am. And I'm not that old yet. [00:20:42] I turned 60 in January, and I'm still feeling good and young. And my wife and I were just talking the other day. We have a lot of things to praise the Lord for. We have a few aches and pains, but we're in good health. But as I've observed life, I have observed that affluence does some things to us. Number one, I believe affluence makes it hard for us to trust God. [00:21:18] Now you think about that a little bit. Makes it hard for us to trust God. Number two, if I can't trust God, it has a bearing on my use of the law. Right? If I don't trust God, then I've got to put my trust somewhere else. [00:21:49] And I put my trust in trying to build up all the protection and all the things I can to save myself and what I've got. My friends, I'm afraid affluence has done the Christian community, and I think Satan knows this, a tremendous, has given us a tremendous challenge. Jesus knew it. He said it is hardly possible for a rich man to enter into heaven but he says with the grace of God it is possible. [00:22:22] And may I suggest to you that every one of us here is a rich man. Every one of us here is wealthy compared to the majority of the world. Where do we place our trust? In fact, as Christian Americans, and I'll include Canadians, As Christian Americans, we have so much that we almost don't need God. [00:22:55] We can do everything for ourselves. Think about your own life. And when I get to the point that I haven't learned to trust God on a daily basis, Then I either put my trust in my bank account and I put my trust in the law and helping me to keep it. And that gets dangerous. [00:23:27] I'd like to read a quote, if I can find it here, amongst some of the things I've gathered together. And when it comes to doing this, I'm not always as organized as I ought to be. But this is an interesting quote that I found in a book written entitled Anabaptists Four Centuries Later. These men were evaluating statistics. They evaluated basically the very liberal Mennonite church, Mennonite church, the general conference Mennonite church, the Mennonite brethren, the brethren in Christ, the evangelical Mennonite church. [00:24:06] But one of the things that they looked at is this concept of involvement in the political realm and in the use of the law. A particular interest is the significant inverse correlation. Inverse means that as something goes this way, the other thing goes that way. That's an inverse correlation. Our particular interest is the significant inverse correlation between Anabaptism and political participation. [00:24:41] The greater the assent to Anabaptist doctrines, the greater your assent to what the Anabaptists taught and believed from the biblical perspective, the less the participation in the political process. Do you see that as you look around you in the Mennonite world? The greater your belief in biblical doctrines of separation of church and state, the greater your belief in trusting Christ, the greater your belief in the things that your forefathers believed, the less your participation in politics and the use of the law. [00:25:24] Here's what it says here. In one sense, this can be interpreted as loyalty to the 16th century position of the thoroughgoing separation of church and state process. But then they have another one here. It says this supports our previous conclusion, this whole idea that those that believe in Anabaptist perspectives and believe in the things of scripture. I don't like that term. Technically, when we go back to this thing of our Anabaptist forefathers, we need to realize that the goal of our Anabaptist forefathers was to found a New Testament church. [00:26:02] A church based on New Testament principle. And you can take the concept of Anabaptist forefathers, if you can find them in scripture, and they always said, show me in the scripture. If I'm wrong, I'm willing to see it. The Anabaptist attempt was to go back to the New Testament to build their groundwork for their faith. And I think we do ourselves a disservice to take us only back to our Anabaptist forefathers. We need to go back to the New Testament. Now here's what they said. This concept of this inverse correlation supports our conclusion [00:26:37] that the shift from non-participation position, that's in politics, from the non-participation position to a selective or full participation in the political process is the consequence, is the consequence at least in part. Now notice what they're saying the reason for this event is. The reason it happens is in part, number one, because of the higher education of members and their increasing urbanization and general rise in socioeconomic status. [00:27:19] That means the wealthier you got, the higher you got in the latter society, the more you became involved in the government, the more you became involved in politics, the more you became involved in the use of the law. May I suggest that affluence has pushed American Christianity more and more and more into using the law to protect their possessions. What did the Bible say about Jesus? [00:27:54] The birds of the air have nests, and the fox has a hole. But the Son of Man has what? Nowhere to lay his head. Who's going to sue him? Let's go to another, Luke 9. My wife says, you ought to mark the middle of your message. [00:28:31] I thought I had plenty of time. Luke 9, Scripture is the most important anyway. Luke 9, verse 57 and 58. Let's look at what we have here. We may have to limit a few. And it came to pass, you know, my session, if you look at your program, doesn't have a stopping point. But I'll try to get you out of here before I launch. Luke 9, verse 57 and 58. [00:29:04] And it came to pass that as they went in the way, a certain man said unto him, Lord, I will follow thee whithersoever thou goest. and Jesus said unto him Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests but the son of man hath nowhere to lay his head. Now it just referred to that. But this man came and said I'm going to follow you Lord. And he turned around and said look I have nothing. You go on in that passage back to Luke 14 verses 25 to 35. [00:29:40] There were great multitudes with him, and he said unto them, If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yet in his own life also, he cannot be my disciple. And whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple. Now let me suggest something to you. We have a lot of definitions of this cross and some people have the wrong definition. [00:30:12] Some people talk about all the difficulties that come in life as their cross and I'm sorry that is not their cross. What you're taking up as a cross is something that you take up voluntarily because you have committed your ways to follow the Lord Jesus Christ and you have taken up your cross regardless what it's going to cost you even if it costs you your life I'm going to follow him. That's the cross. Now here he goes on and he says this, and where was I? Verse 28, thank you. [00:30:49] For which of you, intending to build a tower, sitteth not down first and counteth the cost, whether he has to finish it, lest happily, after he hath laid the foundation, he is not able to finish it all, that, behold, they begin to mock him, all that see it begin to mock him saying this man began to build and was not able to finish or what king going to make war against the other king sitteth not down first and consoleth whether he be able with ten thousand to meet him that cometh against him with twenty thousand or else while the other is yet a great way off [00:31:19] he sendeth an embassage and desireth conditions of peace so likewise whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath cannot be my disciple And I didn't put that three-letter word there. Jesus said it. So then, let me read it again. So likewise, whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple. Salt is good, but if the salt have lost its savor, wherewith shall it be seasoned? [00:31:52] It is neither fit for the land nor yet for the dunghill, but men cast it out. And in Matthew he said, trotted underfoot. Do you have any idea why Christianity in America is being trodden on their foot? It's because Christians don't live like Christians. They have lost the savor and men cast them out and trod them on their foot and that is true in regards to the use of the law. Matthew 12, 14-21 has a host of things. [00:32:25] I'm only going to bring out one. God says recompense to no man evil for evil but return good for evil He says in that passage of scripture he says vengeance is mine I will repay saith the Lord When somebody hurts you it is not your job to get him God says I'll take care of him Vengeance is God's Whether he hurts you materially or physically or how he hurts you That vengeance all belongs to God [00:32:56] In fact, I'll give you one Old Testament reference here. That is Micah 6.8. This is what it says. And you may know what it says. It was in our Sunday School lesson not too long ago. He hath showed thee, O man, what is good. And what doth the Lord require of thee? but to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God. [00:33:41] What does that term mercy mean? That term mercy, when you talk about God's mercy and Christ's mercy for us, he gave us what we really didn't deserve. When you love mercy, you are following Christ's example and you need to be able to give to others kindness that they don't deserve. Love mercy. That's a Christian principle. What do you think would have been the world's response? [00:34:21] Let's put it this way. Back in October 30th, last year, just as past October 30th, Brother James Gearing and myself served on a nonresistance program with the Mid-Atlantic Youth at Blue Ball Mennonite Church. And my assignment was coping in a world of terror. And you figure preaching that one once. Coping in a world of terror. We talked about some of the horrible things that are happening in our world today. [00:34:53] We talked about some of the school shootings and some of this kind of thing. And Monday morning, that was Saturday evening, Monday morning the nickel mines event unfolded. And all of you are aware of the situation of the shooting and the massacre of the children in that Amish schoolhouse. Let me ask you a question. What would the world's response have been if the Amish would have responded with, you hurt us, we're going to get all we can get. [00:35:26] We're going to sue this man that did it. We're going to sue the police for not being there on time and doing their job better. We're going to sue everybody. What would the response of the world have been to that Amish community, which what you see today, and I have an article here, and I don't have time to read it. The U.S. News and World Report, the thing that they saw was forgiveness for wrongdoing. Unconditional forgiveness. Yes, I understand the Amish have problems, same as we do. But there was something that came out that was obvious, [00:35:59] and that was that they refused to take vengeance into their own hands. Sorry I don't have time to take that further. Looking at the whole concepts of this, let's look at a little bit of history and do this quickly. Go right there and find my notes. [00:36:34] I said I'm not as organized as some people up here. What about historical precedent? Well, I've done a little bit of research and I realize the scripture is really where we want to go. But thinking about the historical precedent in the church. History of the Christian Church Set of books written by Schaff published in 1910 by Erdmann This was written in the time of, he was going back referring to the time of Tiberius [00:37:04] One of the most evil Christian persecuting emperors that you had in Rome He says, then too the conscientious refusal of the Christians to pay divine honors to the emperor He's saying what brought their persecution? What was it that brought their persecution? Here's what it says it was. The conscientious refusal of the Christians to pay divine honors to the emperor and his statue and to take part in idolatrous ceremonies at public festivities, their aversion to the imperial military service, [00:37:36] their disregard for politics and depreciation of all civil and temporal affairs as compared with the spiritual and internal interests of man. Their close brethren, brotherly union, and frequent meetings He drew upon them the suspicions of hostility because they refused to get involved in all the political realm and all the things of government and stayed separate with their vision of staying committed to the lordship of Jesus Christ and his kingdom. It brought them hostility of being a group that was going to subvert the government and attempt to take over. [00:38:10] And so they were persecuted and destroyed by the Romans because of that. If I come back further in history, the count near the time of the Constantine and his Nicene Council, the ecumenical council they had, you have this group called the Montanists, and I realize that they were heretical in some situations, some aspects of their beliefs. But this is what Tertullian writes. Tertullian's writing indicates that they disapproved of infant baptism, the oath, and worldly conformity and dress. [00:38:47] They defended the principle of nonresistance in the prayer of healing. Now that's in that year of time. If I come down a little bit later, we have the Waldenses, and in some of their writings we have this. It may be said that for their use of the scriptures they were to a considerable degree independent of the possession and copies of the Bibles. At that time they didn't have reprinted Bibles. The printing press hadn't been invented. They only had a few copies of the Bibles. [00:39:19] So they memorized it. Individuals memorized it. They tested all teaching of the Roman church by the scriptures and rejected that for which they found no foundation. Their antagonists, the enemies of the Waldenses, wrote They believe every point respecting God together with all the articles contained in Apostles' Creed He adds that on many points their teachings differ from that of the Roman Church The Waldenses believed that Christ in the Sermon on the Mount gave the rules of life for the Christian They taught the principles of nonresistance and did not permit going to law before the civil courts [00:39:51] That was back in the years from 400 to 1200 A.D. somewhere they did not permit going to law before the civil courts they would take no part in the civil government nor accept worldly offices the swearing of oaths they held to be distinctly forbidden by Christ attending places of world amusement such as a ballroom or theater were not tolerated church discipline was a rule and strictly administered you can come on to later on [00:40:22] as we come into the reformation time In the development of the Swiss Brethren and the Anabaptist movement, Conrad Grebel writes one time to Tom Munster, who was involved with the Anabaptist debacle where they were looking for the return of Christ and set up their own kingdom here. Conrad writes to Thomas Munster saying this, The gospel and those who accept it are not to be protected with a sword, neither should they thus protect themselves. [00:40:53] True believing Christians are as sheep in the midst of wolves. Listen, when it comes to the use of the law, we need to understand that concept. We as Christians are as sheep in the midst of wolves. They must be baptized in anxiety and trouble, tribulation, persecution, suffering, and death. They must be tried in the fire and must reach the fatherland of eternal rest, not by overcoming body enemies with a sword, but by overcoming spiritual foes. They use neither the worldly sword nor engage in war, since among them taking human life is ceased entirely, for we are no longer under the old covenant, but we are under the new covenant. [00:41:33] And let me suggest to you that's one of the reasons why Christians don't participate in the use of the law more than they have to. I'll get in there and we'll look at some reasons where that happened. But the government was established to keep law and order and justice amongst ungodly people. You and I as Christians in the kingdom of Jesus Christ have been given the responsibility to deal out love and mercy and God's forgiveness. Totally opposite. Let me suggest to you that the law is established by the government and it does not operate on Christian principles. [00:42:10] The same as the government does not. We are part of the kingdom of Jesus Christ. I could go on and read others from the aspect of the Schleitheim Confession and others in regards to the use of the law. But basically the whole use of the law was that as Christians we should stay away from it as far as possible. Now, let's think a little bit about some observations I made and then go on to some principles very quickly or some questions that we'd have. And then I need to finish my story here as well. What are some observations? [00:42:44] Sometimes we need those skilled in the law to help us know how to obey the law. The law has become so complex that we don't always know what to do. Whether it's wills, or agreements, or estates, or deeds, or death certificates. When my father and my stepmother died, and I was part of the ones that have the power of attorney and the ones that were given the responsibility to execute the will and the things, I didn't know what to do. I didn't realize, and I learned this, that you can't spend their money until you have a certificate [00:43:18] from the law to allow you to do that. There's things that you need to know about the law. There's some things in which to operate legally we need to understand. Sometimes we need an attorney to tell us. It's not written in such language you and I as common people sometimes don't always understand. And agreements is that way. Sometimes the fine print in agreements, we don't know what they're saying. And we write them on ourselves. We'll say things we don't want to say. And so the law sometimes is essential to help us to be legal. that we need to have somebody to help us. [00:43:51] When a Christian is summoned to court and charged with a violation of the law, he may need an attorney to lead him through the legal procedures. And that is often very true, whether it's a plea bargain in regards to an accident or what it may be. We really don't always understand all the things that are involved. Another observation, it is consistent for a Christian to sue a law even when legal justice is on his side. You may be legally correct, but it's still inconsistent for you to sue at law, according to scripture. [00:44:29] Another observation, the Christian needs to make every possible effort to settle the dispute outside of court, even if it means he will be defrauded. Mennonite encyclopedia would bear that out. in some of the concepts of the use of the law they would bring out the fact that we need to make every effort with the attitudes of Christ with the feelings of mercy and the spirit of reconciliation and the concept of forgiveness we need to take every effort to try to settle things outside of court and I suggest to you there's means today [00:45:00] such as arbitration and some of those kind of things that you can go the route where it doesn't have to come to a court case necessarily unless someone is simply desiring to take it there. But as Christians, our goal needs to be to settle things outside of court and even allow ourselves to be defrauded if it is necessary. All actions, regardless, all actions whether in court or out of court should be representative of the ministry of reconciliation. [00:45:32] Nothing should ever happen that builds a wall hindering us from extending love, mercy, and forgiveness and the gospel to the other parties involved. Think of that when you think about what you're doing to the other parties. Are you going to be able, after this is all over, to go and share Jesus Christ with them? Have you shown love? Have you shown mercy? Have you showed them the forgiveness of God? And you can go after it's over and extend that to them. Okay, what about some questions that we have? [00:46:06] And I'll try to run over these very quickly. Should a Christian report a crime? Paul's nephew, Paul told his nephew, go to the centurion, tell him what you know. And I think as Christians, if we know crimes, I think sometimes it, in fact, I think it behooves us to notify the law. Oh, we don't press charges. But I think we need to let the law know so that they can fulfill their responsibilities as God has given it to them. Should the Christian use the courts to settle disagreements? that's very obvious in 1 Corinthians 6 [00:46:38] it's not where the Christian should be what does a Christian do about unpaid bills and delinquent rental fees that's a good question what do I do if someone doesn't pay my bill I've asked a lot of questions of this thing and I don't have all the answers yet in fact I told some brothers I may raise more questions than answers and so I sat down yesterday morning I took time and I run over to an old order Amish bishop that I knew I know there's a lot of stories about how the Amish handle things that maybe aren't the way they should be, but I'll tell you what, I think they could go to some of our people and tell stories about us that weren't handled the way they should have been. [00:47:15] But I sat down with these old Amish bishops that I learned to appreciate over the years, and I said, Amos, I said, you're in the shed business. He's building these little lawn sheds. I said, what would you do to me if I bought a shed and didn't pay you? well he said I try to convince you you ought to but he said I wouldn't use the law he said I may call you up and ask you if you'd pay I may appeal to your integrity and your honesty and everything else but he said if you refuse to pay me then that's just the way it is [00:47:47] I said would it make a difference to him if it was a million dollars well he says why should it why should it Stories take time. I worked for a man that was, and I need to tell this, it bears a point. I worked for a man, and he was charged with product liability. [00:48:22] It was a product liability case where it was a feed company and this farmer had health problems with his cows and he brought it back to the feed company and said it was your recommendations, your feed, your program that caused my problem, you owe me this much money. And of course in trying to work through this they got some expert witnesses in to look at their action, to look at everything else, and some of you are farmers, you know what I'm talking about, this kind of thing. But they got these witnesses in, we got one from Penn State, the veterinarian was there and everything else and they looked at this whole situation and finally the expert witness from Penn State went to the farmer and he says this, he said look, he said I've evaluated this whole thing and he said there's no way that the feed nor the feed recommendations cause you a problem and if you think otherwise, take it to court. [00:49:10] Well, my employer heard that comment, and he was a Brethren man, and that wasn't the way he operated. After he had an opportunity, he went to this farmer and he said this. He said, look, he said, I heard what our expert witness said. He said, we don't operate that way. He said, we've looked at the scenario. We've looked at all the situations involved. We don't feel it was our fault. But, if you think I owe you something, then you let me know what it is and I will pay it. [00:49:51] He got a bill for $2,500. And I saw him personally take the next statement and deduct that amount from his fee bill. Why did he do that? Because he suffered himself to be defrauded. Listen, when we come to the point, I can't take, I personally could not take the principles of Scripture and put somebody out in the street that hasn't paid his rent. [00:50:25] I couldn't do it. There's other areas that, you know, I just couldn't do it from a scriptural perspective. Should the Christian press charges when he's a victim of a crime? I don't think he should. Should the Christian serve as a witness? That may be something you need to think about. Should the Christian ever defend himself in court? Paul did. In fact, you have six chapters, 22 through 25 in Acts, are basically Paul's defense before the Jews, before Festus, before Felix, before Agrippa. [00:50:59] He defended his position in Christ. He gave his testimony. Is it ever right for a Christian to suit a law? I don't think so. To what extent can the church deal with apostasy? Here we're dealing with the church and the law. Back in the time of the Reformation, when our Anabaptist forefathers were persecuted, the church, quotes the professing Christians, used the law to persecute the true Christians. The church never uses the law. No, the only extent to which the church can deal with problem situations is the extent of excommunication and reduction of fellowship. [00:51:40] That's as far as the church can do. We can't use it alone. And may I suggest to you when churches and if our nation, if the breakdown between the separation of church and state occurs within our nation as a lot would like to see it happen, You're going to be facing a situation in which the true Christians are going to become persecuted by those that are professing Christians That always happens that way And they're going to use the law to do it Let's finish my stories and then I'll leave you to go [00:52:12] That man that had a million dollar debt that he couldn't collect Used the law to collect it He's no longer in the pastorate. He gave that up. And that was the beginning of a downhill slide for that man spiritually. He's no longer with his wife. Just things went downhill. The young lady that was looking at her family, what shall I do? [00:52:45] She called me one Saturday afternoon shortly after she had shared that with me. And she told me, she said, this is my decision. I've decided that I'm not going to sue. Because if I get money that God doesn't want me to have, it's simply going to be the undoing of my family anyway. and so I'm going to do what's right. [00:53:20] Monday morning, it's a Saturday, she called me and told me her decision. Monday morning before lunch, that insurance company that never settles without a suit called her and said, we want to settle on a court. Would you be willing to do that? Listen, when we trust God, and are willing to trust God, God will provide what is essential for us, but we've got to trust Him. [00:53:56] We're going to put our trust in our resources? We're going to put our trust in the law? We're missing the point. We've got to learn to trust God. Thanks for your patience. I'll turn it back to the moderator.