Darrow Miller and Friends

Why God’s Laws Are the Only Protection from Tyranny

  1. Nations in Disorder – From Where Shall Help Come?
  2. Why God’s Laws Are the Only Protection from Tyranny
  3. What the Most BEAUTIFUL PSALM Teaches About A Flourishing Life
  4. God’s PERFECT LAW: Hope for the Human Race
  5. ONE LAW That Revives the Soul
  6. Gaining Wisdom in a World of Folly
  7. Precepts: The Unlikely Path to Joy
  8. Find the COMMANDS that Give LIGHT
  9. The Intimate FEAR that Promotes a PURE LIFE
  10. God’s ORDINANCES, Your REWARD
  11. A Human That Doesn’t Thrive is Like a Fruit Tree That Doesn’t Bear

Humans cannot live indefinitely without order. As families and nations disintegrate before our eyes we need a message from heaven. We are floundering in our own folly; there is a need of wisdom from on high.

The breakdown of societies and the growing chaos highlight the human need for order. Where will restored order come from? It can only come from either outside or inside the individual. If people order their own lives, an increase in external order is unnecessary. But when people are lawless, when their own lives are in chaos, external order is required to suppress the chaos. More government, more laws, more police officers are required to impose order. In a word: tyranny.

The only alternative is revival and reformation, free citizens learning to govern themselves internally based on the word of God and the Spirit of God. The order is sourced in heaven. David reminds us of this in his beautiful Psalm 19. But I’m getting ahead of myself.

Hugo Grotius (1583-1645), the Dutch theologian, lawyer and educational reformer, spoke bluntly about the need for Christian internal-self-government:

Hugo Grotius said individuals must govern themselves by God's laws
Hugo Grotius

“He knows not how to rule a kingdom, that cannot manage a province; nor can he wield a province, that cannot order a city; nor he order a city, that knows not how to regulate a village. Not he a village, that cannot guide a family; not can that man govern well a family that knows not how to govern himself; not can he govern himself unless his reason be lord, will and apatite be vassals; nor can reason rule unless herself be ruled by God, and be obedient to Him.”

Here’s another way to put it: citizens must practice virtue. The American lexicographer, Noah Webster, defines virtue:

Moral goodness; the practice of moral duties and the abstaining from vice, or a conformity of life and conversation to the moral law….The practice of moral duties from sincere love to God and his laws, is virtue…. Virtue is nothing but voluntary obedience to truth (Noah Webster 1828).

Only as individual citizens and nations are self-governed will chaos be held at bay and freedom restored. Nations are to obey all that Jesus commanded. In Matthew 28:20 Christ calls for citizens to be free and self-governing. Paul remind us that nations are to obey the gospel (see Romans 16:25-27).

Note that Jesus says people are to obey all that He commanded. The comprehensive nature of this command is reflected in His accompanying claim to have “all authority in heaven and earth” (Matthew 28:18). Accordingly, the comprehensiveness of the Great Commission in that  the church is to disciple all nations, teaching them to obey all that Christ has commanded.

What is included in “all that [Jesus] commanded”? Rules of holy living? The Ten Commandments? Yes, and much more. Jesus has in view an expansive, comprehensive picture of revealed truth. His expression “all that I commanded” is to be understood in keeping with other statements he makes, including, Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished. (Mat 5:17-18 ESV)

As the great English preacher Charles Haddon Spurgeon put it, this is “not merely the law of Moses, but the doctrine of God, the whole run and rule of sacred Writ.” Likewise no less than John Calvin himself has said:

… under the term law, he not only means the rule of living righteously, or the Ten Commandments, but he also comprehends the covenant by which God had distinguished that people from the rest of the world, and the whole doctrine of Moses, the parts which he afterwards enumerates under the terms testimonies, statutes, and other names. … in short, the whole body of doctrine of which true religion and godliness consists.

This comprehensive understanding of the laws of God may be called the Ordinances of the Kingdom of God or the “House Laws” by which we, as God’s vice-regents, steward creation. It is these ordinances that create the infrastructure upon which individual lives and nations are built and flourish. These include:

–              Physical laws – the physical world

–              Moral Laws – human lives

–              Metaphysical and Aesthetic laws

Into the midst of our broken world springs the beautiful and instructive Psalm 19 of David. Here we will find hope for our own healing and the healing of our nations.

–          Darrow Miller

This post is second in a series of ten on Psalm 19.

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About 
Darrow is co-founder of the Disciple Nations Alliance and a featured author and teacher. For over 30 years, Darrow has been a popular conference speaker on topics that include Christianity and culture, apologetics, worldview, poverty, and the dignity of women. From 1981 to 2007 Darrow served with Food for the Hungry International (now FH association), and from 1994 as Vice President. Before joining FH, Darrow spent three years on staff at L’Abri Fellowship in Switzerland where he was discipled by Francis Schaeffer. He also served as a student pastor at Northern Arizona University and two years as a pastor of Sherman Street Fellowship in urban Denver, CO. In addition to earning his Master’s degree in Adult Education from Arizona State University, Darrow pursued graduate studies in philosophy, theology, Christian apologetics, biblical studies, and missions in the United States, Israel, and Switzerland. Darrow has authored numerous studies, articles, Bible studies and books, including Discipling Nations: The Power of Truth to Transform Culture (YWAM Publishing, 1998), Nurturing the Nations: Reclaiming the Dignity of Women for Building Healthy Cultures (InterVarsity Press, 2008), LifeWork: A Biblical Theology for What You Do Every Day (YWAM, 2009), Rethinking Social Justice: Restoring Biblical Compassion (YWAM, 2015), and more. These resources along with links to free e-books, podcasts, online training programs and more can be found at Disciple Nations Alliance (https://disciplenations.org).

9 Comments

  1. Antonio

    July 31, 2013 - 9:13 pm

    Just read this and the last blog post. This subject burns in my soul. I am called and function as an evangelist. Saving souls, healing the sick and setting people free from bondage are my favorite things to do. However, at the same time I have always had a great interest in seeing the Kingdom of God manifested in everyday life . Recently I watched two documentaries that tore my heart. One was on Juarez, Mexico and the other was on the drug trade. Add those two with my ongoing concern with the ongoing drug and gang violence in Chicago and hear I sit now pondering on action. I cried out to Father, “What can we do, The kingdom is big and powerful enough to bring change to these areas.”
    I remember watching a transformation video by George Otis in bible college about small town in Guatemala I think. The village had both a spiritual and economic revival. When the kingdom hit, the jails and bars closed and their economic production multiplied greatly. So my question is how do we do that same thing in other hots spots of the world?

    • admin

      August 2, 2013 - 1:55 pm

      Antonio,

      Thank you for your thoughtful comment on our recent blog.

      Nations have been transformed in the past and they can be transformed again today. But this is a work of God, and a work of repentance (2 Chronicles 7:14) and reformation. It is not “magic.” Many Christians today think if they pray then something magic will occur.

      Here are some resources that you will find helpful:
      – “Why the Church is Not Discipling Nations” in PDF OR video format
      England Before and After Wesley
      – The book, Discipling Nations: The Power of Truth to Transform Cultures. Antonio, this book has been found helpful by people around the world who have asked the same question that you have. It has been translated into 13 languages. If you have not read it, you can order it here.
      – We have started a blog series at Darrow Miller and Friends from Psalm 19. This explores how the law of God creates the framework for nations to flourish.

      Darrow

    • Mike Phillips

      October 7, 2013 - 6:50 pm

      I have seen those videos. You can still find them on youtube – although I don’t have the link. They are phenominal and I share them when I can.

      • Darrow

        October 18, 2013 - 3:08 am

        Hi Mike

        I do not think that oil is necessary justification for declaring war. Personally, I think that the “Just War” theory, first articulated in Christian thought by Augustine and Aquinas, set criterion for a nations consideration in declaring war. Because of the destruction of human life, a nations should not easily go to war. Aside from the question of a nations engagement in war, there are many demonstrations of love, compassion, and justice that may be manifest by Christians in places like Syria. How does the church speak and act into places in the world where there is wonton violence and corruption before a war breaks out?

        Thanks Mike,

        darrow

  2. Jon

    August 1, 2013 - 11:43 pm

    Great article!

    I am curious as to how you feel about “theonomy.” It is a word I come across in my various online discussions.

    Do you consider yourselves at DNA to be “theonomists?”

    • admin

      August 2, 2013 - 9:20 pm

      Hey, Jon, thanks for a great question. In reply Darrow wrote a new post which is scheduled for publication on Monday.

      Gary Brumbelow

  3. Antonio

    August 2, 2013 - 7:38 pm

    Thank You

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