Transcript: Episode 0070
This transcript:
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WEBVTT 00:00:37.292 --> 00:00:39.472Welcome to the Stone Choir Podcast. 00:00:39.772 --> 00:00:40.752 I am Corey J. 00:00:40.772 --> 00:00:41.172 Mahler. 00:00:41.792 --> 00:00:42.992 And I'm still Woe. 00:00:45.152 --> 00:00:49.592 On today's Stone Choir, we're going to be discussing ecumenism in the trenches. 00:00:50.152 --> 00:01:03.892 We're going to do an episode today that as we were doing the prep for it, Corey and I have a number of things that we want to say, a bunch of comments that we want to make about this area, but we couldn't really find the skeleton holding it all together. 00:01:04.472 --> 00:01:11.432 So I just want to acknowledge up front that by the end of this, we're not going to have some five-point plan for how to fix all the problems that we're going to talk about today. 00:01:12.312 --> 00:01:24.532 But what we want to do is lay out some of the principles that all Christians should be carrying in our lives, including in the portion of our Christian lives that are in our churches. 00:01:25.052 --> 00:01:36.152 And we're going to talk some about the division there between the left hand and the right hand kingdom of God, where there are church things, and then there are political things, there are life things. 00:01:36.592 --> 00:01:38.292 And to some extent, those are separate. 00:01:38.892 --> 00:01:42.112 And we're going to talk about some of the circumstances that we're facing today. 00:01:42.592 --> 00:01:50.592 And we see them online, but although it's virtual, it's always symptomatic of what's actually in people's hearts and what's really going on in the world. 00:01:50.772 --> 00:01:56.732 So there'll be a number of places where we give examples of things that have happened on Twitter, and some examples are specific to us. 00:01:57.312 --> 00:01:59.032 None of it is about the internet drama. 00:01:59.172 --> 00:02:01.252 I don't want anyone to take that away from this. 00:02:01.572 --> 00:02:05.212 They're just simply examples of what is commonly believed among people. 00:02:06.412 --> 00:02:38.352 The reason that we're going to tackle some of the questions we are addressing today is that although we can't give you a roadmap for here is exactly how this thing is structured that we're concerned about, what we are already seeing, what we've seen in the last few years, a number of you who are listeners, we and a number of you who are listeners will be facing attacks in ways that are going to be addressed today where you're told in your church or you're told by pastors, here's what you can't say in the world. 00:02:38.752 --> 00:02:56.912 And so we want to address the fact even though we can't necessarily give you like, here's a dissertation on how to view all of this, there are specific things we can very clearly today draw lines around and say, this is impermissible behavior, this is necessary behavior, and then these are matters of wisdom. 00:02:57.232 --> 00:02:59.632 That's kind of the gist of the Christian life. 00:03:00.472 --> 00:03:22.552 And as we've said in past episodes, I think one of the things that we as Christian men need to get away from is the impulse that everyone has, well, you need to show me a Bible verse, because you don't find that in the Bible where God says you have to find a Bible verse to give you permission to do anything and absent that you can't do it, or if there's no Bible verse condemning it, you're free to do whatever you want. 00:03:23.192 --> 00:03:29.832 Scripture is not a blank check, and it's also not an explicit rule book of everything that's permissible. 00:03:30.152 --> 00:03:33.412 There are things that you can think the scripture has nothing to say about. 00:03:33.832 --> 00:03:36.712 You can think about things that are not contemplated in scripture. 00:03:37.312 --> 00:03:45.292 Scripture will dictate the moral law, absolutely, as the only place we're going to find the absolute moral law that governs the actions of men. 00:03:46.232 --> 00:03:55.312 And one of the reasons that Stone Choir exists is that we've discussed in many past episodes the problem that we are all facing today. 00:03:55.332 --> 00:04:19.172 The reason that the podcast exists, the reason a lot of you listen, is that as the new global religion is infusing itself into our churches, what we're finding is that the morality that has been held by Christians for thousands of years from scripture, from God, is being replaced either piecemeal or wholesale by a completely different morality from the world that no one's ever held before. 00:04:19.532 --> 00:04:29.992 And so suddenly right and wrong becomes a temporal matter, where people will say, yeah, this thing became a sin in 1945, this thing became a sin in 1861. 00:04:30.592 --> 00:04:37.952 And anyone who did it before then, either, well, they just didn't know any better and God changed, or everyone else is burning in hell. 00:04:38.172 --> 00:04:48.272 They all believe the very thing that we believe today, and they're wicked, and only the people who believe the things since the end of the Second World War, those are the only Christians and everyone else is evil. 00:04:48.972 --> 00:04:52.072 That's not how God works, that's not how morality works from God. 00:04:52.472 --> 00:04:54.292 If it's from God, it's eternal. 00:04:54.932 --> 00:05:04.412 And so when we see shifting sands in the moral space, that is when Christians have to perk up and say, wait a minute, where am I actually getting my morality from? 00:05:04.912 --> 00:05:17.572 Because God doesn't change, and if right and wrong are changing, and my ancestors, who I know were Christian, are suddenly guilty of sins that they had never been spoken of yet, something's bad, something's wrong. 00:05:18.172 --> 00:05:28.412 Either I've been lied to, and all my ancestors are burning in hell for believing what I believe, or I'm being lied to now by these people who are saying, here's a new morality, here's a new way to do things. 00:05:29.872 --> 00:05:40.392 So the struggle that we have today in the church, and I want to reemphasize something we said a couple episodes ago, there are three different types of churches. 00:05:40.652 --> 00:05:42.792 There's the capital C church that's all believers. 00:05:43.172 --> 00:05:53.152 There's the kind of the second level of churches, which are the denominations, they have different beliefs, different doctrines about certain things, and then have unity around other certain things. 00:05:53.592 --> 00:05:55.272 And then you have the individual congregations. 00:05:55.952 --> 00:05:59.872 And the first one is real, but it's intangible. 00:06:00.192 --> 00:06:02.392 The second one is completely imaginary. 00:06:02.872 --> 00:06:03.952 Denominations aren't real. 00:06:03.972 --> 00:06:04.872 They're corporations. 00:06:05.052 --> 00:06:05.792 They're agreements. 00:06:05.812 --> 00:06:09.072 They're near social agreements, but they're not a tangible thing. 00:06:09.532 --> 00:06:14.512 The local congregation is the tangible place where the Christian church is present. 00:06:14.972 --> 00:06:23.592 And so our Christian lives exist in the first spiritually and in the third at the local level practically. 00:06:24.072 --> 00:06:28.052 And in the second sort of governs like, where's your next pastor going to come from? 00:06:28.652 --> 00:06:31.732 If you're on vacation, where do you want to gather with other believers? 00:06:31.972 --> 00:06:37.912 You're going to want to gather with those in the same denomination because in theory, you should have similar beliefs and practices. 00:06:38.592 --> 00:06:47.512 And so we as Christians, although we have some of those differences, those divisions at the second level, we have doctrinal disagreements that are very important. 00:06:48.052 --> 00:06:57.692 And when we address some of those issues on Stone Choir, we're just frank, like Lutherans believe one thing, Roman Catholics believe another, Calvinists believe another, Baptists believe another. 00:06:57.712 --> 00:07:03.512 At most one of them is right and everyone else is wrong because we're making mutually exclusive claims. 00:07:04.372 --> 00:07:07.872 And then there's other things about the Christian life where we're in agreement. 00:07:08.392 --> 00:07:16.032 Even if it's only at a high level, like I believe whatever is in the Word of God, and then we will disagree sometimes about the details about what that means. 00:07:16.712 --> 00:07:22.192 The major premise of I believe scripture is a unifying premise that is shared by all Christians. 00:07:22.772 --> 00:07:27.132 And so when someone comes along and says, I don't believe what's in the Bible, let's do this other thing instead. 00:07:27.732 --> 00:07:30.152 That is a mark that they're outside of the church. 00:07:31.512 --> 00:07:34.912 In our Christian lives, we also exist in the left hand kingdom. 00:07:35.232 --> 00:07:36.872 We exist in the political. 00:07:37.112 --> 00:07:38.412 We exist in a community. 00:07:39.252 --> 00:07:43.092 The community doesn't by definition have anything to do with the church. 00:07:43.392 --> 00:07:46.712 And today that's absolutely the case because our lands have been paganized. 00:07:47.172 --> 00:07:55.412 It used to be that 500 years ago, if you lived in a land in Europe, whatever country you lived in, it was a Christian country. 00:07:55.892 --> 00:08:01.032 It was going to be a particular denomination that was generally politically governed. 00:08:01.392 --> 00:08:03.492 And that was what everyone was expected to adhere to. 00:08:04.532 --> 00:08:08.472 And you would assume that all of your neighbors were going to have the same beliefs as you. 00:08:09.232 --> 00:08:12.892 And any disagreements were not going to be big blow up things. 00:08:12.912 --> 00:08:15.472 And you didn't get the opportunity to shop around. 00:08:16.692 --> 00:08:18.392 And as Americans, like, oh, that seems terrible. 00:08:18.412 --> 00:08:20.492 I want to just do whatever I want to do. 00:08:20.512 --> 00:08:22.212 I want to do what's right in my own eyes. 00:08:23.052 --> 00:08:37.112 And while on one hand it's necessary for us to obey our consciences and not to commit to beliefs or practices that we don't believe are in accordance with scripture, on the other hand, it's the duty of the godly prince to get those things right in his lands. 00:08:37.832 --> 00:08:48.912 When the very first Lutheran foundational document was drafted, the Augsburg Confession, it was signed not by any pastors or theologians, it was signed by politicians. 00:08:49.332 --> 00:08:55.912 Every single man who signed the Augsburg Confession was a Christian man outside of the ecclesiastical hierarchy. 00:08:56.372 --> 00:09:00.612 They were effectively governors and mayors in Germany. 00:09:01.692 --> 00:09:06.292 That was who signed the very first document that defines what it is to be Lutheran. 00:09:07.032 --> 00:09:09.592 And that's kind of mind-blowing today. 00:09:09.612 --> 00:09:19.432 We pretend that's not even the case because we want to pretend that all theology belongs to a special class of church men who do special church stuff. 00:09:19.972 --> 00:09:23.732 And so the overall gist of today's episode, that's simply not true. 00:09:24.552 --> 00:09:27.672 The doing of the church stuff belongs to every Christian man. 00:09:28.312 --> 00:09:30.292 And that doesn't mean that every man does everything. 00:09:30.512 --> 00:09:31.832 That would be chaos. 00:09:31.852 --> 00:09:32.552 That would be wickedness. 00:09:32.572 --> 00:09:33.332 That's not what we're saying. 00:09:33.712 --> 00:09:41.632 What we want to do today is try to lay out that when we see some of these questions that we have today where what do I do in my community? 00:09:41.652 --> 00:09:43.132 What do I do in my Christian life? 00:09:44.452 --> 00:10:09.252 It's necessary to recognize that the model doctrinally that we have inherited from the Reformation era, for those who are post-Reformation denominations, those beliefs have been inherited from men who were in a fundamentally different cultural context where all their neighbors were Christian, their governors, their leaders politically were Christian, their laws were Christian. 00:10:09.472 --> 00:10:10.652 There was no democracy. 00:10:11.012 --> 00:10:13.192 There was no notion of, well, I'm just not going to do that. 00:10:13.612 --> 00:10:15.712 It was illegal in a lot of places not to go to church. 00:10:15.992 --> 00:10:18.532 Like that's unthinkable to us today. 00:10:18.832 --> 00:10:19.852 It was just the norm. 00:10:20.252 --> 00:10:25.352 It was the norm in many places for hundreds and in some cases over 1,000 years. 00:10:26.252 --> 00:10:29.892 That was what Christendom was like when these debates were originally being held. 00:10:30.492 --> 00:10:40.572 And so when we look back from this point today, back hundreds of years, we get confused because we don't realize that everything was Christian then. 00:10:40.892 --> 00:10:42.932 Whereas today virtually nothing is Christian. 00:10:43.432 --> 00:10:49.812 As we did in last week's episode talking about some of the very egregious, very basic doctrinal errors in our churches. 00:10:50.232 --> 00:10:53.752 Even the churches themselves are definitionally not Christian in many cases. 00:10:54.192 --> 00:10:56.132 At least some of the beliefs that are espoused. 00:10:56.772 --> 00:11:05.992 And so we're looking at a very tiny surface area of people who actually hold to what is scriptural and want to do what God says to do. 00:11:06.432 --> 00:11:07.412 And then we're in the world. 00:11:07.632 --> 00:11:12.152 We're in a neighborhood, we're in a community, we're in a nation, and we want to do what God says. 00:11:12.972 --> 00:11:22.192 But the methodologies and the structures that we've inherited from past centuries when the church was much more involved, aren't working today. 00:11:22.692 --> 00:11:25.132 And no one's really been talking about why they don't work. 00:11:25.512 --> 00:11:33.872 And so what we're seeing now as Christian men are becoming reinvigorated and saying, hey, wait a minute, I'm seeing abject wickedness in the world. 00:11:33.992 --> 00:11:34.892 I object to this. 00:11:35.292 --> 00:11:36.212 I want to fight it. 00:11:36.472 --> 00:11:38.032 I see it as a spiritual war. 00:11:38.852 --> 00:11:46.572 Rather than our church bodies joining us and going to war against wickedness, in many cases, they are saying, hey, wait a minute, leave that alone. 00:11:46.592 --> 00:11:47.412 That's none of your business. 00:11:47.632 --> 00:11:48.312 You can't do that. 00:11:48.332 --> 00:11:48.932 That's political. 00:11:49.212 --> 00:11:50.332 You're not allowed to do that. 00:11:50.932 --> 00:12:04.292 And so we're going to talk about today is where we, as Christians, must draw the line on what is permissible to be said to us from within the church is a very delicate thing because we're not advocating rebellion. 00:12:04.512 --> 00:12:09.052 Many will accuse us of that because they accuse and accuse and accuse because they're satanic. 00:12:09.332 --> 00:12:10.532 That's their second nature. 00:12:11.192 --> 00:12:11.992 That can't be helped. 00:12:14.092 --> 00:12:20.352 The problem is that there are some cases where it is necessary to rebel against, it's always necessary to rebel against false teaching. 00:12:20.832 --> 00:12:28.552 If a man who says, I'm a pastor who says I'm from God, and I'm going to tell you to do something that's not scriptural, you must disobey him. 00:12:29.212 --> 00:12:39.332 And the fact that there is an office or a title, that there's a machinery of denomination behind it, is no excuse for us doing that which is Christian. 00:12:39.972 --> 00:12:44.572 That second tier, the denominational bodies, do not define Christianity. 00:12:44.832 --> 00:12:45.612 Scripture does. 00:12:46.092 --> 00:12:49.072 Scripture defines who is in the capital C church. 00:12:49.912 --> 00:12:56.092 And it's our duty in our local communities to make sure that our local congregations remain a part of the capital C church. 00:12:56.592 --> 00:13:08.692 And if that second layer, those denominations, are breaking ranks with Scripture, they're breaking ranks with history, if they are joining with the new global religion against Christian men, that doesn't change the battle that we have. 00:13:09.332 --> 00:13:15.492 But it does mean that a lot of things that we may be faced with doing today, they're going to be challenging. 00:13:15.692 --> 00:13:30.432 They're going to be things that require tremendous prayer and consideration and wisdom to make sure that we don't sin by rebelling against God, even as we're fixing the places where those who claim to speak in God's name are in fact the ones who are in rebellion. 00:13:30.952 --> 00:13:34.032 And discerning that is a tremendously difficult problem. 00:13:34.252 --> 00:13:54.212 But today it is one of the crucial problems that we as Christian men in the West face, that we have these intermediary bodies that are claiming to be from God, that in some cases are actually denouncing what is in Scripture, and then they're trying to prevent us from addressing it and from living Christian lives in the world, which is our duty to God. 00:13:54.812 --> 00:14:02.672 And we have to discuss that and what we are obligated to do so that we don't run afoul of God's word. 00:14:03.012 --> 00:14:07.632 God gives us commands about these things, and we are duty bound to obey him. 00:14:08.092 --> 00:14:09.072 It doesn't save us. 00:14:09.332 --> 00:14:13.132 It's because we are saved that we respond in love and say, I'm going to do what you want, God. 00:14:13.592 --> 00:14:19.832 And so when we go into the world, the other six days a week, not on Sunday, we have to be Christians on those days too. 00:14:20.372 --> 00:14:28.052 And living as Christians in those days is going to mean doing things that some of our pastors are saying, you're not allowed to do that. 00:14:28.412 --> 00:14:32.692 And so the discussion is, well, there are things that pastors are not allowed to do that we are. 00:14:33.132 --> 00:14:37.532 And that's something that historically has not been really even relevant. 00:14:38.152 --> 00:14:39.892 And today is vital. 00:14:39.992 --> 00:14:44.652 And so as we discuss this today, I just want to say at the outset, we're not saying be rebellious. 00:14:44.672 --> 00:14:45.612 That's a terrible thing. 00:14:46.012 --> 00:14:51.852 We are saying we need to understand that Christians have a duty seven days a week, 24 hours a day. 00:14:52.252 --> 00:14:55.612 And it is a different set of duties than our pastors have. 00:14:55.852 --> 00:15:01.372 The clerical class has a very specific scope of their duties that is much more circumscribed than ours. 00:15:01.912 --> 00:15:09.512 And we need to figure out where that clear division is so that we are not led astray by those who don't understand what they are supposed to be doing for God. 00:15:11.412 --> 00:15:21.712 So we may not have a five-step plan in order to address all of these problems, and so be able to say, do this, this, this, and this, and then everything will be fine. 00:15:22.872 --> 00:15:31.172 However, we can make one firm recommendation with regard to where we need to start in addressing some of these problems. 00:15:32.072 --> 00:15:36.152 And that is that we need to eject a certain term from our vocabularies. 00:15:37.152 --> 00:15:43.172 The word layman needs to be eradicated because it is not a thing. 00:15:44.412 --> 00:15:59.032 It is a false category that has been created in order to prop up a pastoral class and make them appear as if they are rulers, as it were, in the church, which is not the role of pastor. 00:16:00.572 --> 00:16:20.032 Now, before certain individuals get up in arms, yes, pastors do in a certain sense rule in their congregations, but they do so because they have been called by the congregation to serve in a certain role, and that, of course, is the role of pastor. 00:16:20.592 --> 00:16:21.952 But what does a pastor do? 00:16:22.832 --> 00:16:23.872 What is a pastor? 00:16:25.092 --> 00:16:31.012 Well, fundamentally, and of course, this is going to be the Lutheran answer, but it is also just the answer from Scripture. 00:16:32.472 --> 00:16:41.352 The pastor publicly teaches from the Word of God and administers the sacraments in the gathered church. 00:16:43.352 --> 00:16:46.352 That is fundamentally the duty and role of the pastor. 00:16:47.692 --> 00:16:53.892 When a pastor goes beyond that, he is acting outside of what it means to be a pastor. 00:16:54.532 --> 00:16:58.332 And this is one of the problems that we see so often these days. 00:16:58.352 --> 00:17:18.072 We will have pastors on social media or elsewhere who are relying on that authority they have because of the collar, which we'll get to the collar, but they're relying on that supposed authority they have in order to make pronouncements about things that are totally outside the scope of the office of pastor. 00:17:18.872 --> 00:17:25.092 And when they do that, not only are they misleading, they are actually violating... 00:17:26.332 --> 00:17:36.232 well, they should be violating the ordination vow, but perhaps it's not explicitly in there in some cases, but they are violating the duties given them by God with regard to being a pastor. 00:17:37.552 --> 00:17:44.292 Part of the problem is that the office of pastor has been conceived of as granting authority. 00:17:45.792 --> 00:18:00.292 Now, on the one hand, it does so because, as I just said, the Lutheran stance, and I would assert, as with any Lutheran, the scriptural stance is that there are certain duties that flow from the office of pastor. 00:18:00.652 --> 00:18:04.752 And that does include the privilege of preaching in the gathered church. 00:18:05.272 --> 00:18:09.032 That is something that we do not just let anyone stand up and do. 00:18:09.652 --> 00:18:14.932 Now, does that person necessarily have to be specifically a pastor, that specific word? 00:18:15.312 --> 00:18:20.312 The answer is no, because that's not actually even what the Lutheran confessions teach. 00:18:20.872 --> 00:18:22.312 He has to be rightly called. 00:18:22.852 --> 00:18:26.432 It just so happens that we typically call those men pastors these days. 00:18:27.452 --> 00:18:40.572 But the problem is that it is perceived, it is considered to be this granting of authority, when in reality the inverse, practically the exact opposite, is more true. 00:18:40.992 --> 00:18:44.692 It is a restriction of what the pastor may properly do. 00:18:45.412 --> 00:18:59.752 Because as Woe has said many times in previous episodes, and on social media and elsewhere, when a pastor speaks, he binds consciences, and so he must be certain that he is speaking the truth. 00:19:00.432 --> 00:19:07.012 And additionally, he should not be speaking outside of those areas that have been delegated to him. 00:19:08.192 --> 00:19:12.252 And there is a limited subset of things on which a pastor should speak. 00:19:12.872 --> 00:19:18.172 And so no, a pastor should not be pontificating on social media about politics. 00:19:18.772 --> 00:19:21.412 That is not within the office of pastor. 00:19:22.112 --> 00:19:30.132 But when he speaks, he's still asserting, I'm a pastor, and therefore I am binding your conscience with regard to this political stance. 00:19:30.152 --> 00:19:36.492 And we see this all the time, from pastors from one end of the political spectrum to the other, on social media and elsewhere. 00:19:36.832 --> 00:19:41.432 They appear on TV and all sorts of places, and make these claims in the name of God. 00:19:42.692 --> 00:19:50.032 Incidentally, that's going to be a violation of the Second Commandment in some cases, because they are teaching falsely in the name of God. 00:19:51.392 --> 00:19:59.832 But the central problem is that they are asserting they have this authority that they do not have, an authority that does not pertain to that office. 00:20:00.512 --> 00:20:04.032 The office of pastor is largely restrictive. 00:20:04.652 --> 00:20:06.952 It tells a man what he cannot do. 00:20:07.772 --> 00:20:11.972 Yes, it also tells him what he must do with regard to the gathered church. 00:20:12.712 --> 00:20:22.672 But if he exceeds the scope of those duties, he is no longer acting as a pastor, even though he is still probably representing himself as a pastor. 00:20:23.472 --> 00:20:30.232 Now, of course, there are those who may have an anonymous account or something, and that's a different matter, because then he's not asserting he's a pastor. 00:20:30.792 --> 00:20:41.812 He may very well be focusing on things on which he should not be focusing, because a pastor who is properly serving his congregation is going to be a very busy man. 00:20:42.672 --> 00:20:49.292 He's not going to have the free time to post thousands of posts on Twitter or whatever it happens to be. 00:20:50.352 --> 00:20:55.412 He should be focusing on his congregation, on the souls entrusted to his care. 00:20:56.052 --> 00:21:06.452 And so one of the things that we need to do as Christian men, not laymen, as Christian men, is stop believing that we need to look to pastors for every answer. 00:21:07.392 --> 00:21:08.372 That's simply false. 00:21:08.592 --> 00:21:11.332 That is not the way that God has organized things. 00:21:11.352 --> 00:21:12.912 Because it's not the way that Scripture teaches. 00:21:13.352 --> 00:21:16.592 If you want to go and actually find a verse, I welcome you to try. 00:21:17.292 --> 00:21:27.272 But if you read Scripture and understand the way that God has organized things, or just look at the world that he created, he has handed out different abilities to different men. 00:21:28.192 --> 00:21:30.472 Some of those men are good at politics. 00:21:30.952 --> 00:21:34.912 That may be the office to which they are called, the skills that they have been given. 00:21:35.972 --> 00:21:36.712 That's not a pastor. 00:21:37.812 --> 00:21:41.452 A pastor has no right to tell that man how to run his state. 00:21:42.632 --> 00:21:49.312 Now, if that man has questions about Scripture or about scriptural morality, he can consult a pastor by all means. 00:21:50.092 --> 00:21:58.712 But the pastor has nothing to say to him when it comes to organizing the political sphere, because that is outside of the duties of the pastor. 00:21:59.252 --> 00:22:08.632 And so if he injects himself into that, he has exceeded the scope of his office, and he is acting improperly at best and probably sinfully. 00:22:09.872 --> 00:22:18.672 And so we as Christian men need to get it out of our minds that pastors are this special class that act as a conscience for society. 00:22:19.192 --> 00:22:20.272 That is not their role. 00:22:20.732 --> 00:22:21.892 That is not what they do. 00:22:22.472 --> 00:22:25.432 You do not get to outsource that as a Christian man. 00:22:26.352 --> 00:22:27.772 And that's, of course, part of this. 00:22:28.212 --> 00:22:31.012 There are those who want to be able to not deal with these issues. 00:22:31.612 --> 00:22:37.212 Well, if I can just push this off onto a man in clericals, then I don't have to deal with it. 00:22:37.232 --> 00:22:38.072 I don't have to think about it. 00:22:38.772 --> 00:22:39.872 You don't get to do that. 00:22:40.932 --> 00:22:43.192 As a Christian man, you have duties. 00:22:43.692 --> 00:22:46.252 Among those is to know the Word of God. 00:22:46.592 --> 00:22:50.932 And that's not just from sitting in the Sunday service and listening to the sermon. 00:22:51.572 --> 00:22:58.732 It is also incumbent on you to read and meditate on the Word of God, to know what it teaches, to know how to apply it to your life. 00:22:59.652 --> 00:23:03.892 And you don't just get to shunt all of that off under the pastor and hope that he'll do the best. 00:23:05.632 --> 00:23:07.952 That is dereliction of duty on your part. 00:23:09.512 --> 00:23:21.252 Just as it is wrong for the pastor to inject himself into politics, it is wrong for you as a Christian man to think that you can just outsource your duties to God and have someone else do them. 00:23:23.072 --> 00:23:26.452 One would think as Protestants, some of this would make sense. 00:23:27.192 --> 00:23:47.332 Because obviously, in the old Roman Catholic system, you had a much greater connection between the state and the church, to the point where the Pope pretty much told princes what they could and could not do, and could even command them to make pilgrimages as penance for telling the Pope he was wrong. 00:23:47.332 --> 00:23:49.192 That happened a number of times historically. 00:23:51.212 --> 00:23:56.512 We no longer have that, and as Protestants, we have never believed that was correct. 00:23:57.112 --> 00:23:59.772 That was the Pope overstepping his authority. 00:24:00.272 --> 00:24:06.592 He was becoming a secular authority instead of what he was supposed to be, first among peers as a bishop. 00:24:08.252 --> 00:24:18.912 And so we shouldn't have this problem, this mindset of a clerical class being elevated over and above the hoi polloi, the average Christian man. 00:24:19.932 --> 00:24:21.932 And yet to some degree, we've imported that. 00:24:22.552 --> 00:24:25.112 We sort of kept some of the vestiges of that around. 00:24:26.312 --> 00:24:29.612 That needs to be ejected from the mind of every Christian man. 00:24:30.492 --> 00:24:32.532 We're not saying the pastor is not important. 00:24:32.952 --> 00:24:35.132 Pastors are vitally important. 00:24:35.752 --> 00:24:44.692 And if you have a godly pastor, if you have a faithful shepherd, by all means you should be grateful and you should pray for him, and aid him when and where you can. 00:24:47.032 --> 00:24:48.552 But he is also a Christian man. 00:24:49.532 --> 00:24:58.612 He is not some special class, elevated above the rest of Christian men, who can order them around, who can tell them what to do in all areas of life. 00:24:59.532 --> 00:25:01.732 He has a very circumscribed area. 00:25:02.452 --> 00:25:11.732 That is his area, hopefully of expertise, that is his duty to be an expert, but that is his area in which he has rightful authority. 00:25:12.712 --> 00:25:14.852 Outside of it, he has no authority. 00:25:15.792 --> 00:25:24.432 If he attempts to exercise authority outside of that area, he is acting beyond the scope of his office, and you can ignore him. 00:25:25.952 --> 00:25:31.212 You can in fact tell him that he should not be doing that because he has exceeded the scope of that office. 00:25:31.352 --> 00:25:33.052 He is acting inappropriately. 00:25:34.492 --> 00:25:38.512 Because a pastor is a sub-agent is the way to think of this. 00:25:38.532 --> 00:25:42.552 I will link an article in the show notes that goes over this in more detail. 00:25:43.392 --> 00:25:51.812 But the pastor is a sub-agent, and he is a sub-agent of the church, the church being the agent. 00:25:52.392 --> 00:25:55.612 And of course, an agent needs a master, the master is Christ. 00:25:57.092 --> 00:26:08.772 A sub-agent cannot have any greater authority than the agent that employs the sub-agent, which means the pastor cannot have any greater authority than the authority the church has. 00:26:09.252 --> 00:26:10.812 Well, what authority does the church have? 00:26:11.612 --> 00:26:13.372 That which is granted in Scripture. 00:26:13.972 --> 00:26:14.472 That's it. 00:26:16.372 --> 00:26:20.332 Scripture is not the grant for all political authority. 00:26:20.932 --> 00:26:28.352 Scripture is not the grant for all authority or belief with regard to the social or cultural life of a people. 00:26:28.912 --> 00:26:31.712