Christians in the Courtroom

Good morning. Wow, good. Welcome again.

Here I keep saying welcome and wonder, in some ways why I do I guess I'm welcoming you to Pennsylvania. I'm welcoming you to hear what I have to share with you. And yeah, most of all, I desire to have a welcoming attitude in how I present things.

I'm not here as someone who has learned everything and knows everything and am sharing these things with you to get you to know everything I do. I'm here to learn together and to hear from God what he would have to share with us. I have a lot of subject matter this morning to cover, and I am going to delve right in.

We sang our prayer this morning, come gracious spirit. We desire that the gracious spirit would move among us this morning and speak what he would have spoken. You can turn your Bibles this morning to First Corinthians, chapter six.

The title of the message is Christians in the courtroom. Christians in the courtroom. First Corinthians, chapter six, start reading in verse one.

Dare any of you have having a matter against another go to law before the unjust and not before the saints? Do you 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 we shall judge angels? How much more things that pertain to this life? If then ye 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? 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 one with another. Why do ye not rather take wrong? Why do ye not rather suffer yourselves to be defrauded? Nay, ye do wrong and defraud and that your brethren.

I don't think any of us would take that the Apostle Paul is complimenting the Corinthians in this passage. What he is giving them is some rebuke, I think we could call this. Here what we have in the church in Corinth is we have men who had a matter against.

It's what it's called here, a matter. They had some fault with someone else. I don't know whether someone owed them money.

I don't know what the issues were, but it was a matter that they had against another brother in the church. And they took that matter to the court of law, to a civil court. And there they had the decision made by an unbeliever.

And Paul says to them, he says, on matters like this, I mean, you could give that to the least among you. Is there not someone around there that's wise enough for something like this? And he does not thank them. He does not thank them for their way of solving the problems that they have in the church.

And I don't think he would us if we tried to solve matters that way. I do want to make a couple of comments here before we just move right on along. First of all, I would point out to you in verse one that it says there, dare any of you having a matter against another? So I take this to clearly be speaking about personal issues between people.

Personal in the sense that this is not about someone outside the church suing a brother or that kind of thing. This is brother to brother within the church where they are going to the law about it. So the question could be, is it ever right to report a brother or sister to the law? Is it ever right? I had a brother tell me a few days ago that probably about half of that, I think that's what he said, about half of the people couldn't care less about the subject matter and the other half are really into it.

I don't know whether that's the case or not, but I would imagine this side of the room is probably a little less interested than this side would be, generally speaking, for a subject matter like this. But I am going to get into a matter that affects this side of the room, probably at least on some of these things more than this side. I sure hope so.

In the state of Pennsylvania, as in many other states, they have what is called mandated reporters. Mandated reporters for child abuse. I have gone through that and been a mandated reporter for years.

Mandated reporters are those who have contact with minors on a regular, have contact and responsibility of minors on a regular basis. So teachers, people like we have a children's ministry, all of the teachers there are mandated reporters. As ministers of the gospel, we are mandated reporters.

Now, there are different schools of thought as to whether it's right for us as Christians to report someone else, another Christian or at least someone who has been a member of the church. Is it right to report them? I'll tell you at the outset what I told our church. I met with the parents and I solemnly told them that if there is something illegal going on, if they are abusing children, I will report.

If you are living in the world and claiming Christianity, you're going to be dealt with as the world. It is terrible what has gone on in plain circles. Can I just be clear? And I would imagine in a group this size, I don't have to imagine, a group this size, some of you have experienced abuse.

And so what I say here this morning, some of these things are probably, I don't want to dig up old wounds. In fact, I much more desire to be able to help you through all of those things if you haven't already been helped or find you help to help you through those things. But I say that just to give you a little bit here as we look at this here.

This scripture is not referring to situations like that where you have an abuser in the church. They are responsible to the law. If they're doing something illegal in that sense, then they are responsible to the law.

What I will also tell you, the other thing that I told our parents is, there is a statute here in Pennsylvania, as there is in many other states, where they call it clergy privilege. If someone abused somebody years ago and they come and make a confession to me, not only don't I have to go to law, I am not allowed to go to law. That's the statute in the state of Pennsylvania.

It's a clergy privilege because it goes back probably to the Catholics and, you know, the confession to the priests and that thing. But that's the law as it stands here in this country. I say these things, try to say them discreetly, but also say them clearly enough that it's understood.

So, yes, I do believe there is a place where Christians are called to report. Report illegal activity. I have reported when I have seen illegal activity out on the street.

I believe that the law is there. They are the ministers of God, as we looked at a couple of days ago. They are there to punish the evil.

That is what they're there for. And we'll look at that a little bit more. None of us is above the law.

We should never think that, oh, we're a Christian, so we're above the law. Never. We are, I would say, we're living above the law in the sense that it's so much higher than the law of the land that we don't have to worry about not conforming to the laws of this land.

When it comes to where we have to talk about things like child abuse, let it not once be named among us, is what I would say to all of us. Let it not once be named among us that we have these things, but we know that there have been these things in plain circles. Does that mean that it was a Christian that done it? I don't believe they were walking in the spirit by any stretch of the imagination when they did those type of things.

But, yes, people do sin. Men have sinned, grievous sins. And God does forgive, and I thank Him for that.

But I will say this, there are ministers today, I know, personally know of ministers who are convicted felons today because they didn't report. So I'm just telling you these things at the outset, because it is important for us to look at it seriously and to recognize the seriousness of these things, of where they can lead. And God forbid that any of you would fall into that type of a sin.

We already looked at Romans chapter 13 earlier. I'll just read a couple of verses from there again. Romans chapter 13, verse 3, for rulers are not a terror to good works.

So if you're doing what's right, then you don't have to worry. You don't have to worry about it. They're not a terror to good works.

Wilt thou then not be afraid of the power? Do that which is good, and thou shalt have praise of the same. For he is the minister of God to thee for good. But if thou do that which is evil, be afraid, for he beareth not the sword in vain.

For he is the minister of God, a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil. And in 1 Peter chapter 4, verse 15, we see a similar scripture there. But let none of you suffer as evildoers, or suffer as a murderer, or as a thief, or as an evildoer, or as a busybody in other men's matters.

So he's telling them here, don't let any of you suffer in this way. So, it's fine, and we should willingly suffer for righteousness' sake. But these type of things are not things to suffer for.

We cannot, that's what 1 Peter there, that's what he's dealing with. He's telling them, that's nothing to be thankful for when you're suffering for doing something that's wrong. You can't expect that there's any praise for that.

So be afraid if you do evil. They are God's ministers. I would say from this scripture here in 1 Corinthians chapter 6, we can, first of all, I'll just make my first point.

First of all, we can clearly see that members of the kingdom of heaven may not settle differences among themselves by means of litigation in the civil courts. Christians in the courtroom, that's one of the first things we can draw from this scripture. They may not settle differences among themselves by means of litigation in the civil courts.

I'd like to give you a story of a Mennonite group back in the 1870s. It was the Franconia Conference, and the Oberholzer group would have been over in Boyertown area. And they had a split, but they kept meeting in the same church house for years.

And then in the 1870s, the Franconia Conference went ahead and built a new meeting house. And then they gave stipulations to the Oberholzer group, telling them how they could use it or whatever. And the Oberholzer group, rather than abiding by what the Franconia Conference was asking of them, took them to court.

And they asked, well, basically what they said is they had rights in common so that it wasn't right for them to put these stipulations on them. So it actually went to court over the use of a church house. Can you imagine? And I'd like to read to you the statement that the judge made in that case.

Here it is, quote, It is to be regretted that the members of this religious organization should have such differences which they cannot harmonize. The Mennonite church is worldwide renowned for peace, brotherly love, and goodwill to all, and for the amicable settlement of all their difficulties among themselves in a Christian spirit. The court is the last place to which they should resort, and indeed never should until all other amicable modes at an honest method of adjustment have failed.

Once in court, immaterial how it may terminate, feelings of discord are often engendered that many years will not allay. Neighbors who before were friends are parted forever, unquote. That was a secular judge.

And I would have to say he had a lot of good to say to that church. I hope they listened. I hope they listened.

Years ago, I had some property. In fact, we lived along a two-lane highway. And they broadened it out to a four-lane highway and took out a good bit of my property there.

And many of you have probably heard of this, but there's a thing called eminent domain, and basically which means for the sake of the good of others, they can take the property from you. They don't have to ask you how much you're willing to take for it and pay you what you ask for it, like you would normally do if there's not an agreement between two people, you're just not going to get it. No, they can just come in and they can take it, and that's what they did.

They came in, they told me how much they would give me for the property, and then it was up to me to either take it or tell them that I wouldn't agree to that sum of money. I felt the sum that they offered was much less than it was worth to me. So I told them that, no, I'm not going to take that.

And they got back to me and said, well, we'd be willing to give you this much. It was a significant amount more. Anyway, just to give you, I'm trying to give you real-life examples here.

This is a situation, I don't feel guilty for having told them that I believe the land is worth more than that. I don't want to settle with you for that. But if they would have come in and say, that's all we'll give you, and if you want more, you're going to have to fight it in court.

I would have just taken what they would have given me. But they gave me the option to negotiate. They gave me the option to tell them, no, I won't do that.

And then they were willing to up the price. And I ended up settling with them. They did, when we came to the last agreement there, they let me know that this is as far as they're willing to go without going to court.

And I settled with them for that. I still thought it was a little bit on the low side, but you know how that goes. What if you're sued? What if you are sued? What then? Do you just say, sorry, I can't be sued.

I'm a Christian. I don't believe in going to court. I'm not going to allow it to happen.

Again, let's look at some scriptures and see what the Lord has to say about that. Matthew chapter 5. I think we have some clear scriptures that give us instruction on many of these things. And it's good for us to look at them and then to conform our lives to it.

Matthew chapter 5, verse 25, Agree with thine adversary quickly, whilst thou art in the way with him, 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. There in 1 Corinthians, Paul said to the Corinthians there, why do you not rather suffer wrong? Doesn't that go along quite well with what Jesus here is telling them there? Agree with your adversary quickly.

I think that should be our heart. I think it should be our heart that if they come and they say, you look, you did this, you try to agree with them. If your neighbor decides that the property line should be over on this side, further than you think it really is, and maybe even the surveyor has said, it's not where the neighbor says.

I know an actual experience of someone who, he had, I think, a 150 acre farm, and after he bought it, he got surveyors in to survey the property, and they went through, surveyed the property, and the neighbor was some kind of mad. Because they put the property line at a different place than he either thought it should be or where he wanted it to be for sure. And he came over and he let the man know, that's not where the property line is, I can show you where it is.

And so he showed him where it was, and they tried to negotiate, but there was no giving on the part of the neighbor. That neighbor was going to have it his way or else. And the one that had the surveying done, he was part of the church at the time that I was with, he tried to negotiate, he tried to settle, tried to say, could we put the line over here a little bit further? I'm willing to move it a bit.

No, no budge. So finally, he said, you put the stakes where you want them, and we'll get the surveyor to draw the deed up that way. That's what they did.

I think that was an honorable thing to do. I think that was an honorable thing to do. Agree with thine adversary quickly while you're in the way with him.

In verse 38, You 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 law and take away thy coat, let him have thy cloak also.

And whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile, go with him in twain. Give to him that asketh thee, and from him that would borrow of thee, turn not thou away. Again, I think that just agrees with the example, the story that I told you.

We're going to move on. You could also turn to Luke chapter 12 or Luke chapter 6, where we see some of the same being said there. But I'll just go to the last verse there in verse 36, where he says, Be ye therefore merciful, as your Father also is merciful.

Again, like the message yesterday, we're merciful because God is merciful. We show mercy and love and kindness to those around us because that's the attribute of God. And we as God's children show it forth to the world.

We're not here to claim all of our rights. And then in Luke chapter 12, you could look there and you'd see basically the same thing about the adversary and how the adversary could take you to the magistrate and so on and so forth. And for the sake of time, we're not going to look at that this morning.

So having said what I've said up to this point, let's ask the question, are we ever entitled to defend ourselves in a court of law? Are we ever entitled to defend ourselves? Is retaliation or retribution ever right? And in order to answer that question, I'd like to look at an example in Acts chapter 25. First of all, are we entitled to defend ourselves? Let's see, where do we break in? I think you all know the case here. It's when the Apostle Paul was before Festus and he's making his case.

He doesn't just say, look, you do with me what you want to do. I'll take it, whatever. You look down in verse 10 of Acts chapter 25.

Paul made his case. He talked about how that he had offended no one. There was nothing that he was guilty of.

He was not guilty. He should be set free basically. He made his own case there.

But then he goes on in verse 10 and he says this, Then said Paul, I stand at Caesar's judgment seat, where I ought to be judged. To the Jews have I done no wrong, as thou very well knowest. For if I be an offender or have committed anything worthy of death, I refuse not to die.

But if there be none of these things whereof these accuse me, no man may deliver me unto them. I appeal unto Caesar. Then Festus, when he had conferred with the council, answered, Hast thou appealed unto Caesar? Unto Caesar shalt thou go.

So, not only didn't Paul accept the sentence that was being handed down in that court, and I don't know whether he knew what the sentence was going to be there, because it does seem like they hadn't sentenced him because of what we can read about the conversation that they had afterward. But it does seem like he was very willing to appeal. He was very willing to, because he was a Roman citizen, he had the right to appeal to the Roman emperor and he did that.

I think that we can do the same in the country that we live in today. We are allowed to use the laws that are in place. Again, these laws are what for? For the protection of the good and for the punishment of the evildoers.

And so, I think it is okay. And I know, I should say this at this point, I know that there are probably, in your own churches that are represented here this morning, there's different views on this. And take your church's view, not mine, on these things.

I don't want in any way to change anyone's opinion as to their church leadership and what your authorities are telling you. But I'm trying to take the Word of God and share with you what I see in it. So, I do believe that we are entitled to defend ourselves.

We are entitled to use the court system that is in place when they are charging us with something that we're not guilty of. It's not wrong for us to appeal, to take it further if we need to. What about hiring attorneys? There are those that would say in 2 Corinthians 6, verse 14, be not unequally yoked together with unbelievers, for what fellowship has righteousness with unrighteousness, and what communion has light with darkness? There would be those that would say that gives us reason to think we shouldn't hire someone to represent us.

That's an unequal yoke. I don't personally see it that way. I don't personally see that it's wrong for us to use an attorney who has experience and understanding in the law to be able to take it before a judge and to appeal a case.

I personally don't see it as something that would be a problem to do. Although, again, when we began here, remember what we looked at. Agree with your adversary quickly.

That should be our heart. To not stand up for our own rights when it comes to property and civil cases and those type of things. I don't think we should be there to make sure that all of our rights are not being trampled on.

We should be willing to have them trampled on. But by the same token, when we know that we have the ability where the law of the land is on our side, then it's not wrong for us to take that, I don't think. In Acts chapter 28, verse 19, Paul says this, but when the Jews spake against it, I was constrained to appeal unto Caesar, not that I had ought to accuse my nation of.

So he's again just making the case there of him appealing to Caesar. So now I'd like to move to the second point. I believe it is inconsistent for the Christian to be the aggressive party in a suit at law against another person, even when legal justice is on his side.

That would be what I would take from first Corinthians chapter six. Even when we are in the right, Paul's, and this again is one of those things, I'm giving you my thoughts on it. I know that there can be differing views and opinions on it.

I'm not giving this as thus saith the Lord. I'm just giving you what I see in Scripture when he says, why do you not rather suffer wrong in first Corinthians chapter six there? I see that as a principle that we should be willing to just rather suffer wrong than to take it to that point where we are the aggressive party. Number three, when a Christian is summoned to court, charged with violation of the law, he may employ the services of an attorney in his behalf.

I believe that that is acceptable and not unscriptural. That's my opinion. And again, like I said, it's one of those things looking at the Scriptures that we have on the subject.

That's where I come out at. I just wanted to make it clear so all of you understand where I'm at. And again, this is not where I can say, thus saith the Lord.

It's again what I read and what the principles show and what I take from it. And number four, I would say this, in case a civil suit is brought against a Christian is not necessarily inconsistent with the principle of non-resistance for him to defend his case before the court by legal means. Although every effort should be made in the spirit of love to make settlement out of court, even in case of an unjust plaintiff.

I'll end this part of my message because I want to go in now into jury duty. I'll end this part of it with this. I believe the spirit and teaching of the entire New Testament is that the Christian should be ready to suffer wrong rather than to offend another by taking vengeful or punitive action against him.

That is what I believe is the principle is what we see in the New Testament. I believe that is something we can see as clearly as day. If I can say it that clear.

Going on, I'd like to, I know that I have a young bunch here. So I don't know if any of you have ever, but I'd be interested to know, have any of you ever been called or summons to jury duty? Let me see a show of hands. Okay, I see a couple.

All right, well, if the world stands for a length of time, I'm guessing the majority of you will get that. You will get a summons to appear and to serve as a juror. What are you going to tell them? What are you going to tell them? What's your responsibility as a United States citizen and as a heavenly citizen? What is your responsibility? So what is a jury trial? I'm going to give you a very short and brief history.

A jury trial is a lawful proceeding in which a jury makes a decision or finding of fact. That's just very short. The history of jury trials goes back at least to 500 years before Christ.

What they did in Greek and Roman society both is they would have juries of as many as a couple hundred would be sitting on the jury and they would make decisions on guilt or innocence. And it was from that that obviously, maybe not obvious for some, but for many of you probably know that a lot of English law came from the Roman law. So in the Roman Republic, the era of classical Roman civilization, the beginning of the overthrow of the Roman kingdom traditionally was dated to be around 509 BC.

In both Rome and Greece, the juries could be several hundred people or even a couple thousand. It's hard for us to comprehend and I'm not going to go into the details, but when you read up on it, you can figure out how they did it. It wasn't like... For here in the United States, in a criminal jury trial, it has to be unanimous.

As I understand it, in a criminal jury trial here in the United States, it has to be unanimous. In a civil trial, it doesn't. It doesn't have to be unanimous in a civil trial.

The United States legal system was separated from the English one at the time of the American Revolution and the types of proceedings that use juries, not all proceedings here in court are open for jury trials, but the type of proceedings that are are the ones where they were tried by jury under English common law. Those are the kind that today in America are the ones that are also tried in jury trials. I'll say this.

I don't think that a judicial system where they have a trial by jury is a bad thing or an unbiblical thing. I, in fact, think it's good and maybe biblical. I'll explain further.

We looked at Romans chapter 13 a couple of days ago. Where we clearly see that the powers that be are ordained of God. They are ordained of God.

They are ministers of God, it says there. He is the minister of God to thee for good. I believe that we can see in Romans chapter 13 three things that I'll point out here again this morning.

And that is, number one, he is the minister to serve the law-abiding element of society. That is who the civil government is for. Is for, they're serving the law-abiding citizens of this country.

Number two, they are to create a fear of doing evil. And number three, to punish the evildoer. Those are the things that civil government is there for.

And jury trials fit within that scope. They fit within that scope. Why do I share with you about jury this morning? Because I am jealous that when you go before a jury or before a judge, if you're going to tell him I can't serve on a jury, I'd be glad if you can give him a good testimony and scriptural reason of why you can't.

I would be glad if you could go and you could give them a good, sound testimony. Why do I say that? I'd like to give you a story. And as far as I can tell, I don't know this lady personally, but I believe it to be accurate.

She was called, summons to jury duty. She was called before the judge and he asked her some questions and she whispered her answers to him. Basically, whispered her answers to him.

After several times of this, he was getting a bit exasperated and the judge said he would find her in contempt of court if she didn't speak up so that the entire court could hear. She then, and all she would, okay, all she would say over and over to any question was, thou shalt not pass judgment. That was what she would say whenever the judge asked her.

Judge got exasperated and asked her if her religious beliefs prevented her from being on a jury. She just repeated her little chant. He then said, you will answer my question properly or my bailiff will throw you in jail for contempt of court and someone will pass judgment on you.

She then answered yes to the previous question. Finally, the judge asked what she would do if Osama bin Laden bombed her house. Would she think he was wrong? She said, thou shalt not pass judgment.

The judge demanded an answer and she said, I don't know who Osama bin Laden is. The judge then asked, explain to me how you even consider yourself a citizen of the United States. She refused to answer.

The judge then called his bailiff and said, get her out of my courtroom. I hope none of you leave that type of a testimony in court. I hope that you can go in there.

Yes, you'll be nervous, but you can go in there and you can in a clear way communicate why you will not serve if you won't. And I'd like to give you some reasons why I give. And by the way, I'll just say this.

Years ago already in Tennessee, I've gotten called to jury duty a number of times in my lifetime and did get called there. But I had drawn up for our church there already just a short little statement of our beliefs and scriptural reasons why we believed what we did. If you would have any interest, I'd be glad to share that with you.

So reasons why we wouldn't serve. And I know in the country we live in, the Christians, the Christians, many of them say if we don't serve, it's our civic duty. Many people would say that.

It's our civic duty to serve. If we don't serve, it's going to be who knows who off the street that probably isn't going to pass a right judgment. So we should be doing it.

What is our response to some of those things? So the example of our Lord, if you would look in Luke chapter 12, Luke chapter 12, verse 13. And again, I'm going to move very quickly here because I don't have much time. Luke chapter 12, verse 13.

And one of the company said unto him, Master, speak to my brother that he divide the inheritance with me. And his response to him was this. And he said unto him, Man, who made me a judge or a divider over you? So I think Jesus here is given an example that this is not in the scope of what he's called as a son of God, as a. As I'll just leave it as the son of God to do, I don't believe that we as followers of the son of God are called to it either.

That's my personal feeling. The number two, the two kingdom principles, which we've looked at earlier this week, and I'll just read a couple of scriptures in John chapter 17, verse 16. They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world, as Jesus there.

And in John chapter 18, verse 36, Jesus answered, My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight that I should not be delivered unto the Jews. But now is my kingdom not from hence.

We know the scripture that we looked at in Matthew chapter 4, verse 8, where Jesus was shown all the kingdoms of the world by Satan there, by the devil, and was promised that they would be given to him. I think Jesus taught that we are not only to refrain from resisting evil, but that we are to return good for evil. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus said, Ye have heard that it has been said.

And then he would go on and I say unto you, in Matthew 5, verse 40, And if any man will sue thee at the law and take away thy coat, let him have thy cloak also. Imagine you are called to make a judgment between a Christian and an unbeliever. The unbeliever is clearly in the wrong.

But you say the Christian should do as the Bible says. Which, what does the Bible say? If they sue you at the law and take away your coat, give them your cloak. So you, sitting on the jury, and we're just making this up, of course, you're sitting there on the jury and you know justice would be to get the coat back.

But you say no, give them your cloak yet. That would be what we see here in Matthew. Number three, judge in the church, not outside.

We are called to judgment. Let no one tell you that you as a Christian are not allowed to judge. You are called to it.

In 1 Corinthians 5, verse 12, For what have I to do to judge them also that are without? Do not ye judge them that are within? In ESV it says it this way. For what have I to do with judging outsiders? Is it not those inside the church whom you are to judge? That's our calling, brothers and sisters. We are called to judge inside the church.

We are to make righteous judgments in the church. Paul makes it clear in 1 Corinthians 6 that he expects them to judge in the church, to make right judgments within the church. Here in 1 Corinthians 5, verse 12, he makes it clear that what have I to do to judge outsiders? That's outside the scope of my responsibilities.

That's basically what I think he's saying there. And again, I'll mention to you there, why do you not rather suffer wrong? Number five, I am called by Jesus to live by turning the other cheek. That's my calling as a follower of Christ, as a citizen of the kingdom of heaven.

It's no longer an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. If you were on the jury, you're there to make the eye for an eye and the tooth for a tooth to make the right judgment. Justice.

Disentanglement is another thing that I believe is important for us to recognize. In 2 Timothy 2, verse 4, No man that woreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life, that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier. So, he's making it clear that we should not entangle ourselves with the affairs of this life.

Can you make this anything other than the affairs of this life? Serving on a jury? I can't. To me, that's clearly what it is. It's the affairs of this life.

But God has chosen you and I to be a soldier in the army of Christ Jesus and let us serve valiantly in that one. Let us do our duty there. Let us be so passionate about this service in the army of the King of Heaven that we don't have time for these things.

Again, I've shared earlier how that we are strangers and pilgrims. We're foreigners. And so, we are called to live here as aliens, not part of the system, not part of the government.

I'll just give you an example where a judge made an interesting statement or judgment. In 1995, a Colorado jury convicted Robert Harlan of kidnapping and murdering 25-year-old Rhonda Maloney and shooting a bystander who tried to help. That judge, John J. Vigil, overturned Harlan's death sentence because, listen to this, because jurors illegally used Bibles.

He overturned the sentence, the death penalty, because they illegally used Bibles while deliberating and quoted a reference to an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. The crimes Harlan committed, the judge said, were among the most grievous, heinous, and reprehensible he had seen in his 18 years as judge. If any case merits the death penalty, there cannot be serious debate about this case being that case.

That's what the judge said about it. But because they mixed the state, the church and state, he wouldn't allow it. I need to try to wind this down quickly here.

I believe that another principle here that I'd like to just point out and it goes with these other points and I'm just going to mention it. All of us are probably can quote it by memory. Romans chapter 12.

I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service and be not conformed to this world. Because you're transformed, be not conformed to this world, but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. I believe that is something that as you're transformed, you should no longer be conformed to this world.

And I'd just like to again go to the early Christians and give you a couple of examples from them that this is what the church believed from the earliest days and there was a remnant that believed this all through history. It's something that I believe that when it comes to Christians in the courtroom, it's something that we see that has not just happened since the Anabaptist movement or in the last few hundred years here in this country. It's something that we see early on.

Like I said, juries were something that they had in Roman society. Tertullian in 160-220 AD said this, I owe no duty to forum, campaign, or senate. I stay awake for no public function.

I make no effort to occupy a platform. I am no office seeker. I have no desire to smell out political corruption.

I shun the voters booth, the jury man's bench. I break no laws and push no lawsuits. I will not serve as a magistrate or a judge.

I refuse to do military service. I desire to rule, govern over no one. I have withdrawn from worldly politics, from the life of secular society.

Now my only politics is spiritual. How that I might be anxious for nothing except to root out all worldly anxieties and care. And then another place he says, And shall he apply the chain in the prison and the torture and the punishment who is not the avenger even of his own wrongs? Nowhere did Jesus say, Go into the world and strive to make it a better place.

He told us go into all the world, preach the gospel, the good news of salvation and make disciples. In Mark chapter 10, I'd just like to point out and it would be good to read more, but Mark chapter 10, I'll just point out verse 42. Jesus there says, But Jesus called them to him and saith unto them, Ye know that they which are accounted to rule over the Gentiles exercise lordship over them, and their great ones exercise authority upon them.

But so shall it not be among you. But whosoever will be great among you shall be your minister. And whosoever of you will be the chiefest shall be the servant of all.

For even the Son of Man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister and to give his life a ransom for many. If you served on a jury, that's exactly what you'd be called to do is to exercise authority. That's exactly what you'd be called to do.

Christians understand the way God works. To participate in a system in which men exalt themselves in the seeking of high offices to endorse, to validate, to agree with a corrupt system with terrible fruit, emphasizing vanity and pride. Democracy is completely opposite to what God expects of all people when He commands them to humble themselves and to be the servants of all.

In closing, the God-ordained purpose of the state is this. To serve the law-abiding element of society. Number two, to create a fear of doing evil.

And number three, to punish the evildoer. And finally, number four, to protect the law-abiding. The God-ordained purpose of the church, number one, to serve God and glorify Him.

Number two, to fulfill the great commission of going to all people to make disciples, baptizing and teaching those who believe. Number three, to administer the church according to the word of God and maintain its purity. And number four, to exhort, edify, and admonish one another.

Can you see the clear difference in responsibility and accountability for the church versus civil government? May God bless you. May He give you wisdom. And may He strengthen you to do that which is right.

In a society that is departing, in a society that is more immoral and in more decay as the days go by, may you shine as lights in the world and may His glory be beheld in you and in your brothers and sisters. God bless you all. Or write to us at Ephrata Ministries, 400 West Main Street, Suite 1, Ephrata, Pennsylvania, 17522.

You are welcome to copy this message for free distribution. This ministry is supported by your donations. May the Lord Jesus bless you.