The Christian and Civil Disobedience
Romans
13:1-10
Today
is September 11, 2005. Today marks
the four year anniversary of an event that permanently altered the history of
the United States of America. Do
you remember? Do you remember the
sounds, the scenes? Do you remember
the images of the first World Trade Center tower burning as a jetliner burrowed
deep into the second tower in a fan of fire?
Do you remember the first tower collapsing to the ground like a child’s
sand castle? Do you remember the
firefighters covered with soot emerging from a gray haze that resembled the
entrance to hell? Do you remember
fathers and mothers choosing to plummet to a cement grave rather than being
engulfed by fire? Do you remember
the lines of emergency nurses and doctor waiting for the wounded to come, only
realizing that there were more dead than wounded?
Do you remember the aftermath…people wandering the streets of NY with
the photos of loved ones, seeing in everyone’s face a desperate truth?
Do you remember the F-16’s flying over Washington like it was a third
world no-fly zone? Do you remember members of both parties of Congress singing
off-key “God Bless America,” on the steps of the Senate?
It
is the last image that I want to focus on today. As our country was plagued with fear, doubt, frustration,
shock, disbelief, our government sang. And
not just a song, but a plea for God Himself to act in the way that only He
could…to bring blessing and good out of some of the world’s darkest evil.
That is an image we rarely see…an image that in no uncertainty links
God and our government. This is image is a visual expression of the common purpose
that exists between God and government.
You
see, too often, Christians separate God and government.
And if they do see God at work in government it is through the
conservative Republican agenda. We limit the impact of government to the Capital and we keep
God in Sunday School and in churches. But
I want to argue today that you do not understand God or government until you see
the bridge between them. God works
in and through our government to accomplish His purposes and your attitude
toward government can reflect your attitude toward God Himself.
I believe that we will discover today that we learn to serve God and love
others around us as we learn to submit to our government.
Let’s take a look at Romans chapter 13.
The
point of our discussion today is that we need to submit to authority.
Here is the command – every soul needs to submit to powers.
It is our responsibility to subject ourselves to that authority.
The verb “subject” in 13:1 is in the reflexive tense, meaning that we
are to “subject ourselves.” We
are to make a rational, voluntary choice to submit to those that God has placed
over us.
Today
we are answering the question, “Why?” Why
does God give such a strong decree for His children to submit to the government?
I think that God answers that question for us in three ways.
(1) Because God is the source of their authority
(2) Because they are aligned with God’s purposes (3) Because submission
to the gov’t helps us maintain a clear conscience.
So,
why do we need to submit to government? Because
the source of their authority is God. Notice 13:1…“There is no authority except for God.”
We have a very American way of looking at those that serve in
governmental positions of authority. We
believe that we elected them, that they got where they are because the people
voted and the majority chose each particular candidate.
But, we are wrong. God
placed them there. You were used by
God to put the people that he envisioned in positions of governmental authority. They have been ordained by God to rule, meaning that they
“have been placed and thus stand in arrangement from God.” You see this in John 19:11 where Jesus says of Pilate, “You
would have no authority over Me, unless it had been given you from above.”
God hand-picked those who serve in authority.
George W is hand-picked as was Clinton, and Hillary will be hand-picked
should she ever serve. Michael
Chertoff, our secretary of Homeland Security was hand-picked and so on.
And
you are thinking…”Well, I don’t understand because there are some very
crooked, corrupt people in positions of authority.
There are people that abuse their power to accomplish selfish gain.”
And…you would be right. But,
it is important to note that Paul wrote these words to the Roman church when
Nero and Claudius sat on the throne…Roman emperors who gained pleasure from
torturing and imprisoning those that were of faith.
The questions that we face are the same questions that the Jews in
Paul’s day faced. Should we subject ourselves to leaders who aren’t
interested in spiritual things? How
about those leaders who aren’t truthful and are in it for themselves and not
the benefit of society? And God’s
response is, “Submit to them as you would submit to Me.”
Spiritual quality is not the issue.
I submit because of the source of the office, not the character of the
office-holder.
Verse
2 says that those who line themselves up against the authority of the government
line themselves up against God. And
God does not take that lightly. Notice…”Therefore
whoever resists authority has opposed the ordinance of God; and they who have
opposed will receive condemnation upon themselves.
People who line themselves up against God lose.
You bring trouble upon yourself as you choose not to submit to the
authority that God has placed there.
The story
is told of a captain of a ship who looked into the dark night and saw faint
lights in the distance. Immediately he told his signalman to send a
message" "Alter your course 10 degrees south." Promptly a return
message was received: "Alter your course 10 degrees north."
The
captain was angered; his command had been ignored. So he sent a second message:
"Alter your course 10 degrees south--I am the captain!" Soon another
message was received: "Alter your course 10 degrees north--I am seaman
third class Jones." Immediately the captain sent a third message, knowing
the fear it would evoke: "Alter your course 10 degrees south--I am a
battleship." Then the reply came "Alter your course 10 degrees
north--I am a lighthouse."
God has
placed lighthouses in our lives … rules and regulations that we may not like
coming from people that we have our doubts about, but if we don’t change our
course and subject ourselves to them we will end up shipwrecked.
You submit to light house no matter how large and mighty your ship is.
But we
should not only submit to authority because their authority is from God, but
because they work in God’s purposes. The
purpose of their authority aligns itself with God’s purposes.
God has set up governmental authorities to keep evil in check.
They strike fear in the hearts of those who decide to act outside of
God’s ordinances, who decide to act on their own behalf at the expense of
others. I love the simplicity in
which Paul presents this idea. If you want to live apart from fear of the government, do
what is right. It’s that simple.
They are there to instill order and keep evil from accomplishing its
desires. They are there to act out
against evil. The language that
Paul uses is, “it does not bear the sword for nothing.”
I have something in my hand and I am not afraid to use it.
I
remember growing up with my brother and having this exact thing play out.
We would be playing cops and robbers or that kind of boy-like game, where
violence was an intricate part of the game.
What would start as an accidental grazing of the shoulder with our
“bow-staff” would quickly escalate. It
was about one-upmanship. “You
grazed my shoulder with that stick. Now
I will have to chop off your middle toe.” “Ahh,
you chopped of my middle tow, you now owe me your first born son.” The evil would continue to be perpetrated against one another
until a certain figure would turn the corner.
And for most of you I doubt I will have to tell you who that figure would
be. I remember one particular
instance as I delivered a fistful of fury into my brother’s gut, my Father
turned the corner on the house. His
communication was without words, but I knew exactly what he was saying.
“Boys, if you don’t end this, I will.”
Sometimes he would even run his fingers across the top of his belt.
That message comes across loud and clear.
So as we sat around the kitchen table for the next hour and a half
contemplating our fate, evil began to subside.
It took all of fifteen minutes before we were talking again to one
another, laughing and carrying on. The
relationship would not have been restored had a strong voice not been introduced
into our relationship. Had my
father not been willing (and in time past, he had) to use the belt around his
waist, or his tool of enforcement, evil would have continued and order would
have been lost.
Government
functions the same way as my father. They
carry the sword, the “belt”, or a 9 mm with the intent to use it against
those who perpetrate evil. They
carry out God’s orders, to be an “avenger who brings wrath on the ones who
practice evil.” We are to submit
to government because God is using them to hold back evil, to keep it from being
as bad as it could be. Paul refers
to them as ministers of God. Have
you ever thought of government as members of our team; seeking to bring God’s
purposes just as we are? So, how do
you respond to posted speed limits? What
is your response to the government’s actions in the Middle East?
How have your thoughts developed concerning the governments response to
Hurricane Katrina? Do your thoughts
begin with the premise that God has placed the government in these positions of
authority and they are they to prevent evil from carrying out its desired
destruction.
Not only
should we submit to government because their authority is from God and because
they align themselves with God’s purposes, but because submitting to
government is consistent with our consciences.
Our conscience is satisfied when two things happen (1) when we give the
government what it is due and (2) when we pay our debt of love to our neighbor.
Did you
know that ever since 1811 (when someone who had defrauded the government
anonymously sent $5 to Washington D.C.) the U.S. Treasury has operated a
Conscience Fund? Since that time almost $3.5 million has been received from
guilt-ridden citizens. Our
conscience works in such a way to prevent us from gypping the government.
Paul says that because of conscience we should submit to our government,
and he is further defining submission as giving the government what it is due.
We ought to support the government as we would support any other minister
of the gospel. The word Paul uses is “render” which carries the idea of
paying back. Because the government
thwarts evil and “ministers” on God’s behalf we should give them what they
are due…namely taxes, custom, fear and honor.
Think
about what we get from the government. How
bad could it have been on 9/11? How
bad could it have been in the flooding of the Gulf Coast? What if we did not have any government to respond, never mind
the speed in which they responded? Think
about the places in Africa, in the Sudan, where people are being needlessly
slaughtered and women raped while the government stands silent or participates
in this grotesqueness. Think about
how some governments have been able to do little in the face of AIDS or offer
any assistance to its people. Or
how about in some countries as the government in tied up in politics too busy to
relieve its starving people? We
have it good.
We
don’t understand what life would be like without government.
Recently in the Superdome in New Orleans we had a good depiction of what
it would be like without our government in place.
. We need our government to function as God has called us and
we need to render them what is due for their services.
Have
you ever thought about the fact that our relationship with God is influenced by
how you pay your taxes? We have
received incredible blessings from our government and we need to joyfully
support them in the mission that God has called them to carry out, whether it is
with money or with respect.
But
conscience not only says that we ought to support our government, it says we
need to support one another in love. Notice
verse 8…”Owe nothing to anyone except to love one another; for he who loves
his neighbor has fulfilled the law.” The
argument here is that as we learn to submit to the government we fulfill the
second greatest law…”to love your neighbor as yourself.”
The government helps us to live in accordance with God’s ways.
I
know that this would never happen to any of you, but I got a speeding
ticket…once. It was after
midnight and I was heading home from my brother’s house in Annapolis and as I
rounded the hill just before the Rt. 3 exit, I saw him.
But it was too late. In 15
seconds the blue lights were flashing. The
first thought in my mind…”I’m going to court for this one.”
And besides 83 in a 65 isn’t that bad…
As I went to court I had every reason why I should not receive the 2
point and $75 fine. I was the only
one on the road, I was going downhill, and my wife had called me earlier and
asked that I “hurry” home. But this is the wrong attitude.
As the policeman handed me the ticket I should have said “Thank you.”
(Of course I don’t recommend that you say that to him.)
Have
you ever thought about why we have speeding laws? So that people like me don’t run over other people.
It is for the protection of others.
You see, those laws exist to help us fulfill one of God’s laws.
And not just any law but the law that carries the second most weightiness
in all of Scripture. “Love your
neighbor as yourself.” I can’t
love my neighbor if I am running over him.
The government is the extension of God’s hand.
So,
today my point is SUBMIT TO THE
GOVERNMENT. They are given
authority by God to carry out His purposes and work the things that are most
important inside of us as named by our conscience. Submit to and support the government. But how? Let me
give you some suggestions…
God
will bless you as you submit to the government and align yourself with His
thoughts and purposes. They need
your prayers as any other minister of God.
Let’s pray…