When Jesus reveals himself to John on the isle of Patmos, he is holding seven stars in his right hand. (Rev 1.16) These seven stars are the angels or messengers of the seven churches (Rev 1.20) to whom Jesus will speak in chapters 2 and 3. These angels are not spirit angels but pastors of the churches. They are the ones to whom Jesus speaks directly, who are then expected to deliver his message to the churches and deal with the issues he addresses.
Symbolizing the pastors as stars is not incidental. Describing pastors as stars isn’t an empty image. Stars have a long history of governing in Scripture; a history that begins in Genesis 1. Stars, along with the sun and moon, are the lights in the firmament-heaven for “signs and festival times.” They are set up to rule the earth. (Gen 1.14-19) When Abraham was promised that his children would be as the stars in heaven, (Gen 15.5) that promise included ruling the earth. Jacob, his wife, and their sons were sun, moon, and stars in Joseph’s dream in which Joseph rules them all (Gen 37.9-11). When Isaiah describes the fall of Babylon, the rulers that will fall are stars (Isa 13.10).
Stars govern. They tell you what time it is and what is appropriate for that time. They tell you if it is a festival worship time or if it isn’t. They determine times and seasons for the church.
The church in America and her pastors seem to have lost this understanding of who we are; a truth, I believe, recently exposed in the pandemic lock-downs. There seems to be some confusion as to who’s in charge of the church’s worship; who determines the times and seasons of the church. When the government tells us to stop gathering–stop being the church–are we to obey without question just because we are told, even if we pastors believe it is not appropriate to forsake assembling?
There are some genuine jurisdictional dilemmas here. The civil government has an interest in the general welfare of the citizenry. That includes, of course, members of a church who live within their jurisdiction. God has made them his deacons to bear the sword, executing his wrath on evildoers. (Rom 13.1-7) If a church, for example, is hiding child molesters, the authorities have every right to prosecute the perpetrators. Evildoers exist both outside and inside the church under the civil authorities’ jurisdiction. Furthermore, pastors should be more than willing to hand over such criminals to the authorities. Both the civil authorities and the church share a common interest in promoting righteousness and punishing wickedness in society.
Wielding the sword is the responsibility of the civil magistrates. The church does not have that authority. Exercising the power of the keys of the kingdom belongs to the pastors of the church. The civil magistrate does not have that authority. The responsibility of exercising the authority of the keys of the kingdom includes gathering the church as well as saying who may not gather as the church. That authority rests solely with pastors and those who share in their ministry (e.g., elders).
There are times that the interests of the civil magistrates and pastors overlap. We all want justice and to promote the general welfare of the people in our regions. Where we differ at times is what the definitions of “justice” and “general welfare” are. When there is a difference, pastors are not being faithful to Romans 13 when they unquestioningly obey. We have the responsibility to determine whether or not the commands are just or even reasonable and then how they apply to the jurisdiction Jesus has given us.
“Will the government allow us to open our churches for worship?” frames the question in a way that betrays a wrong understanding of who controls the worship of the church. The question for pastors is, “Considering the present threats, the counsel of the civil magistrates, the medical community, and all my ecclesiastical authorities and counselors, is it wise to open our churches for worship?” The follow-up question is, “If we believe that it is right to open our churches for worship, are we willing to suffer the penalties that the civil magistrates may impose on us?” As pastors, we don’t have the leisure of passing the buck of authority concerning the worship of the church to the civil magistrates. That is the job Jesus gave to us. We are the stars governing the churches.
Our brothers and sisters who gather in underground churches in communist and Muslim countries are not in violation of Romans 13 because they insist on gathering despite the laws of their governments. Those governments don’t determine the times and seasons for their gathering for worship. They are weighing the cost to obey Jesus and be the church in the face of these government threats.
Ours is not the same situation. There are other complicating factors involved. Civil magistrates aren’t only forbidding some churches from gathering, they are also forbidding some businesses to open in a similar fashion. Their restrictions aren’t solely for the churches. Consequently, there can’t be a one-for-one translation from the underground churches to us. However, I have heard pastors say, “We must just obey the government. When they say we can open back up, that’s when we can open back up. They haven’t told us yet that we can’t preach Jesus over the internet, so they are not forbidding us to preach the gospel.” That sort of acquiescence is frightening to me because, first, we don’t understand what it means to be the church–a gathered assembly for the purpose of worship–and second, we don’t understand the authority Jesus gave us.
Whether or not a church opens for worship at this time is not really the issue. Who has the authority to determine the re-gathering of the church is the issue. The framing of these questions concerning who’s in charge is vitally important. If we don’t know who we are, who will?
