Act 5:29 Then Peter and the other apostles answered and said, We ought to obey God rather than men.

The apostles were once again arrested and brought before the Sanhedrin Council. The High Priest reminded them: “Did not we straitly command you that ye should not teach in this name? and, behold, ye have filled Jerusalem with your doctrine, and intend to bring this man's blood upon us” (v.28). But Peter and the apostles answered, "We must obey God rather than men” (v.29). What would we do if given the choice of being silent about our faith or going to prison? We know we need to be faithful even to the point of death (Revelation 2:10). We know we need to obey God rather than men. We know we need to take up the cross and follow Jesus (Luke 9:23). But, I fear many of us would be tempted to cave in to the fear of going to prison. We love our lives too much. Indeed, it is difficult to obey God, but not impossible. How difficult was it for these early Christians to obey God rather than men? They lived and worshiped in a hostile society. They were heavily persecuted for following and preaching Christ. Some were put to death. James, the brother of John was killed by Herod (Acts 12:1, 2). The apostles had already been jailed overnight for preaching Christ. They had been warned not to do so any longer. Still, they chose obedience to God. We are very fortunate here in this country we are not persecuted for practising our Christian faith. But we have brethren in some countries whose governments are hostile to the Christian faith; we need to keep them in our prayers. We thank God we do not need to make a choice on obeying God or men in this issue. Still, there are many areas in our lives we need to make a choice between obeying God or men. It may be issues that concern the truth. It could be issues that deal with our Christian living. We must remember: We must obey God rather than men.                                                    In areas of doctrines, we must obey God rather than men. Many are going around saying that baptism is not necessary for salvation; we must obey God rather than men (Mark 16:15; 1 Peter 3:21). Many are preaching all churches are the same; we must obey God rather than men (Matthew 7:21). Many are preaching that the adulterers can remarried and go to heaven; we must obey God rather than men (Matthew 19:9). In areas of Christian living, we must obey God rather than men. God teaches us to submit to those who have authority over us (Romans 13:1). But, there are times when we cannot submit to governments when they require us to do something that God calls sin! For example, if the government passes a law that approves same sex marriage, we must respectfully refuse to obey the law even if it leads to unpleasant consequences for the Christian who refuses to obey. When those situations come up, we must obey God rather than men. What about other areas in our lives? We know there are so many things in the world that are called sin by God but not by the world; we must obey God rather than men. God wants us to be holy (1 Peter 1:15, 16) and sin is against holiness. These are called sin in the Bible: immodest clothing, wine drinking, fornication, gambling, revelling, pornography, swearing, foul speech, hatred, strife, selfishness, unforgiving, divisive spirit, pride, and the list goes on. We must obey God rather than men: “Whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things” (Philippians 4:8). Obedience to God distinguishes us from unbelievers and denominations. Obey God!