A GOOD TIME TO DISOBEY

Presented by

Blake Brown

In my sermon, "The Importance of Obeying God," I talked to you about how important it is for us to obey. For example, everyone needs to obey God. People need to obey the laws of the land. Soldiers need to obey those who give them orders. And children need to obey their parents.

But did you know that there are times when it is good to disobey? In fact, there are some times when we must disobey! Let me give you an example from the Bible. At one point in their lives, God’s people were slaves in Egypt. The king of Egypt, who was known as the pharaoh, was a wicked man. He saw that God’s people were growing in number. And he became afraid that they might try to take over his kingdom. So, he came up with an evil plan, which is explained in Exodus 1.

Pharaoh knew that ladies in Egypt often helped the women among God’s people when they gave birth to babies. Pharaoh also knew that sometimes the women among God’s people gave birth to a baby girl, while sometimes they gave birth to a baby boy. The king told the ladies in Egypt that when they helped a woman among God’s people give birth to a baby girl, they should let the little girl live. But anytime a woman gave birth to a baby boy, the little boy should be killed. Pharaoh thought that if he killed all the baby boys, he could keep God’s people from growing too powerful and taking over his kingdom.

The women of Egypt, however, knew that it was wrong to murder. So, they disobeyed their king. Anytime a lady among God’s people gave birth to a baby boy, the ladies in Egypt let the little boy live. Was God happy that the ladies in Egypt disobeyed their evil king? Yes! Genesis 9:6 teaches us that murder is wrong. Exodus 1:20 tells us that when the women of Egypt did what God said they should do, instead of what their evil king had ordered them to do, God blessed them.

There is a story in the New Testament that teaches the same thing. Peter and some of the other apostles were preaching the Gospel. They were telling people what to do to be saved from their sins. They also told people how to become a member of the Church of Christ so they could go to heaven. The Jewish leaders did not like this, so they told the apostles that they could not preach about Jesus any more. But Peter said to the Jewish leaders, “We must obey God instead of men” (Acts 5:29). After that, what did the apostles do? The Bible tells us in Acts 5:42 that “they did not stop teaching and preaching about Jesus.” Peter and the other apostles kept right on preaching the Gospel. The apostles in the New Testament were like the women of Egypt in the Old Testament. They obeyed God, but they disobeyed evil leaders.

It may sound strange at first, but believe it or not, there is a good time to disobey. Of course, God wants us to always obey Him. But if someone tells us to do something that God has said is wrong, then God wants us to disobey them! It is always OK for us to do what is right. But it is never OK for us to do what is wrong.