When it’s time to say “No”

Breaking the law with Vadim Khurin

W

hen was the last time you broke the rules while driving? I was recently stopped on the highway. I exceeded the speed limit. When the policeman approached me, I came to an understanding that I disrespected the law and prepared myself to face the consequences as a result. After a short conversation with the officer, I received a ticket and a lecture that breaking the rules is forbidden.

Undoubtedly, the law is to be respected. Furthermore, in Scripture we have a command from Jesus Christ to be obedient to the law, to give Caesar what it rightfully his and respect those who represent the law.

Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God. Consequently, he who rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves. (Romans 13:1-2, NIV)

In the Gospels, we see Jesus fulfilling the established standards. He brings a monetary offering into the temple and attends the synagogue according to the regulations. But at a certain moment, Jesus says “No.” To say “no” to a law, rule, or tradition is always a challenge. I remember getting a job while attending the university. The job was not the best, but at that time I did not have many options. Then the day came to receive my first paycheck. Yet I was told that in this job, there was a special tradition that I had to buy alcoholic beverages for all my co-workers. Since I was already a Christian then, I told them that they could not count on anything other than a cup of juice. It was then that I experienced the pressure of the tradition. I did not have that job much longer. It is difficult to say no to a tradition. But it is far more difficult to say no to a law. When you say no to a law, you become a criminal. A criminal always faces the consequences.

In Judea, there was a law that prohibited work on a Sabbath, but Jesus healed a man. He said “no” to a law. According to another law, a woman caught in the act of adultery was to be put to death. Jesus protected her and said “no” to this law as well. “Yeah, but that’s Jesus,” someone might say. In the Bible there are many occasions when the law is broken. Rahab broke the law and hid men on an intelligence mission. When she was asked where they went, she pointed the chasers in the wrong direction. The mother of Moses broke the law and saved her son, and then she made her way into the palace in secret and became his nurse. Later Moses himself broke the law and came to the Pharaoh to request that he let the people of Israel go. Jonathan went against his father in order to save his friend David. The Magi, which came to worship Jesus, broke Herod’s law and never came back to his palace to inform him of the location of the newborn Jesus. Peter goes against the authorities in continuing to preach the gospel despite their efforts to stop him. Paul goes against the law of the system in which he was brought up and becomes a follower of Jesus. All of these people said “NO” to laws, rules, and traditions. They paid a big price for that, but they refused to change their opinions or behavior.

In Soviet times, prayer groups and gatherings were prohibited. But many people said “no” to this law. They gathered together to pray and to preach the gospel. For that they were thrown in jails and endured much suffering. Richard Vurmbrand, a pastor from Romania who founded the organization “Voice of the Martyrs,” spent 14 years in jail for his faith. He said NO to the law that prohibited him from having faith in Jesus Christ. Today, in many regions of the world, Christianity finds itself outside the government’s grace. But there are always those who say NO. Those who take the Bibles into such regions, those who go to these locations as missionaries, those who gather in underground churches knowing that it could be their last church experience ever.

So when are we to say NO? For too often, we simply adjust instead of choosing to oppose. We tolerate instead of fighting for the truth. Political correctness became the exemplary mode of conduct. Do we say NO when our faith is challenged? Are we prepared to continue to worship Jesus and to preach His Word even if it opposes someone’s interests? The Gospel always has and always will oppose the interests of those who choose to live in sin, rejecting the need for salvation. But Jesus came specifically for that. God needs people who can say NO to sin, temptations, and heresies. I know that there are still many questions with regard to the specific occasions when we are to say NO. One thing is certain. If we do not learn how to say NO when God wants us to, then we will hear a NO from Him once we find ourselves at the Gate of Heaven.

I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm - neither hot nor cold - I am about to spit you out of my mouth. (Revelation 3.15-16, NIV)

Indecisiveness to say NO in hopes to avoid problems—this is what makes one lukewarm. A compromise, which seems to be more advantageous than following the truth, leads us astray from Christ. Tolerance of sin and all its manifestations in our lives of the life of the church creates an illusion of false richness and complacency at the time when in reality we find ourselves to be blind and naked. This short, two-letter word can cost us very much. But silence and compromise will cost us much more.

Writer: Vadim is from a Russian circus family and came to The Salvation Army in 1995 as a university student to play in a heavy metal/worship band (”Third Cross”) in the southern Russian city of Rostov-on-Don. He stayed, became a believer, the leader of “Third Cross”, and joined the Army. He married his longtime girlfriend Inna in a Sunday morning service and eventually they entered training to become Salvation Army officers. They were ordained and commissioned in 2002. Vadim, Inna and their children are presently serving in their second appointment in “Velikiy Novgorod”. Vadim’s interests include music, sports and reading.

5 Comments to When it’s time to say “No”

1. Vadim, a really challenging article. There are too many Salvationists, and other Christians, who are not prepared to say NO to the world’s value system.

   However, I’d like to turn the thought around a little and suggest that rather than saying NO to the sin, temptations and heresies, it would be better for us to simply say a resounding YES to our Lord. It is only through saying YES to Jesus in all areas of our life that we are truly able to allow the Holy Spirit to work in and through us. Obviously this will often bring us to a point where our response to a situation has to be NO, but we need to answer YES first!
Graeme Smith on July 19th, 2007

2. Hi Graeme! Thank you for your post. Yes you right, we really need to say YES to GOd and there we find strength to say NO to sin. Otherwise we’ll fight at any case and any reasons without knowing why we fight and is it worth fighting.
   Grace!
Vadim on July 19th, 2007

3. This is an interesting quote by Martin Luther King, Jr.

   “There is nothing wrong with a traffic law which says you have to stop for a red light. But when a man is bleeding, the ambulance goes through those red lights at top speed.… Disinherited people all over the world are bleeding to death from deep social and economic wounds. They need brigades of ambulance drivers who will have to ignore the red lights of the present system until the emergency is solved.”

   When I think of the Civil Rights movement especially, I realize that often there are laws put into place (still) which oppress those within certain margins - african americans, immigrants, homeless, single mothers, homosexuals, etc. I think of people like King when issues like this come up because of the way in which he lived as a mirror of Jesus - who at times purposefully railed against the conventional, politically correct status quo (and law) in order to give flesh to the first commandment - love your neighbor as yourself. Looking at King’s example, it seems that saying Yes, as Graeme pointed out, to the Spirit can have consequences that require us to say no to unjust laws, as well as finding ways to try to change them.
Jonathan Bukiewicz on July 23rd, 2007

4. This is a timely post - since we can essentially state that we are living in Babylon (with the world system of beliefs that is in place). I especially appreciated the paragraph about when to say no - I’m sure that Joseph (in Genesis), Daniel, Ezra, Nehemiah, and many others had to also answer these same questions. It’s interesting to study their lives . . .

   However, I think it is very important to point out that, according to Scripture, Jesus NEVER disobeyed the law. If he had, he would cease to be “eligible” for the sinless sacrifice - in Phil. 2, it says that he “made himself nothing, taking the very nature[b] of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death— even death on a cross!” This meant that even HE was in submission to God’s laws - by choice, of course.

   If you study Jewish law (then and now), it was not against the law to heal on the Sabbath. It was against the law for the man to pick up his mat and walk (or for the sick man stretch out his hand - in the other account). It was also against the law to condemn a woman in adultery without a trial and a trial could not be held without two witnesses. By asking for witnesses, Jesus was actually upholding Jewish law - he wasn’t circumventing it. When none could be produced, the woman was freed - NOT because Jesus said so at the time, but because God’s perfect law of justice freed her - a law that was already in place.

   Even when the disciples didn’t wash their hands before eating the bread, Jesus made a point that those who questioned him were placing traditions of man above God’s law. He didn’t nullify God’s laws - in fact, he placed it back into the proper place of authority.

   I realize that this is referring primarily to man’s laws that go against biblical principles of evangelism, living, etc - but I think that the premise must be made without referring to Christ himself breaking the law.

   thanks for presenting this.
M Sheppard on July 24th, 2007

5. Whilst I understand the sentiments in M Sheppard’s comment, I think we need to be careful when we suggest that Jesus did not break the law. It suggests that we believe that law-breaking in itself is a sinful act.

   Let’s look again at the two healing passages (John 5 & Mark 3) that Vadim raised. In both Jesus might not technically break the law, but he actively encourages the two men who he heals to do something that he knows full well will break the Sabbath law. In John he tells the man to ‘take up his bed’ and in Mark it is to ’stretch out his hand’.

   Can we truthfully say that telling others to do something that will break the law is not sinful, but to break it ourselves is?
Graeme Smith on July 31st, 2007

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