As some states and local governments again try to place interdicts upon the Church, it is good for us to continue to reflect upon our current situation and insist upon the distinction between civil and ecclesiastical authority.
Rev. Heath Curtis recently preached an excellent sermon on "Church and State." Download and read the whole sermon below.
The Church is capable of governing her own affairs and caring for her own people. When our worship is forbidden by the State, or when the manner, dress, mode, or actions of our worship are controlled and regulated by the State, then things are out of order. The worship of the Church is commanded by God. The word “Church” itself means “gathering.” When Jesus founded a church, he founded a gathering of people who worship Him. The physical gathering of the people of God is essential to what the Church is; indeed, that gathering is the very definition of the church. Jesus instituted the unfettered preaching of the Word, the laying on of hands, baptizing, and a common meal of His Body and Blood under the forms of bread and wine. These things are God’s, not Caesar’s. -- Pr. Heath R. Curtis