Worship by Submitting to Authority October 15, 2017 Romans 13:1-7 Matt Rawlings

1 Worship by Submitting to Authority October 15, 2017 Romans 13:1-7 Matt Rawlings Romans 13:1-7 Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. 2 Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment. 3 For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive his approval, 4 for he is God's servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God's wrath on the wrongdoer. 5 Therefore one must be in subjection, not only to avoid God's wrath but also for the sake of conscience. 6 For because of this you also pay taxes, for the authorities are ministers of God, attending to this very thing. 7 Pay to all what is owed to them: taxes to whom taxes are owed, revenue to whom revenue is owed, respect to whom respect is owed, honor to whom honor is owed. When most of us think of the government, most of us don t naturally want to submit. How about you? What is your attitude towards the authority over you and towards government? Students, do you long to submit to the teachers and principles in authority over you? Do you see that how you submit to their authority reflects how you submit to God? Employees, do you love to submit to your employer? Do you see it as a way to worship God? fellow citizens no matter what country you are a citizen of do you willingly submit to the authority of your government? No one loves paying taxes. And when I pay taxes, I don t naturally think of worshipping God. Many do not love obeying the speed limit. Many are dissatisfied with government in some way. Some distrust the authorities and distrust the government. We all have heard the phrase trust me, I m from the government and chuckled, or rolled our eyes, because we don t really trust the government. Some think the authorities are corrupt, or that government in general is corrupt or that their leaders are corrupt and not worthy of following because they are immoral. So, what are we to do? How should we relate to those in authority over us? What do we do when we disagree with the authority over us? Should we resist the authority over us? Is it ok to rebel against the authorities? How should we think of the authorities over us? Is it even ok to have an adversarial or hostile or suspicious mindset? Deitrich Bonhoeffer was a German pastor prior to and during the second World War. In 1933, when Hitler imposed elections within the church, and advocated for Nazi s to take church offices and subvert the church, Bonhoeffer put vigorous efforts into the election, to campaign for independent, godly church leaders who opposed the Nazi party. In April 1933, Bonhoeffer was one of the first pastors to vocally oppose Hitler and encourage resistance to the persecution of Jews. He declared that the church must not only "bandage the victims under the wheel, but jam the spoke in the wheel itself." (David Ford, The Modern Theologians, p. 38) Bonhoeffer helped to draft the Bethel Confession which was meant to be a statement of faith affirming the Jews and opposing Nazi leadership. In September 1933, the national church held a synod in Wittenberg the birthplace of the reformation and they declared that no one of 1

2 Jewish descent could be a pastor or church official. In November, a rally of churchmen actually demanded the Old Testament be removed from the Bible. That led to a third of german pastors joining an emergency league. After much persecution, Bonhoeffer left Germany for the United States in 1939 but regretted his decision and he returned to Germany to intentionally undermine the Nazi, German government. He was forbidden to speak in public or to publish any writings. So, he joined the German military intelligence, and served undercover as a courier for the German resistance movement. Eventually, he helped in an assassination plot against Hitler that failed because the bomb went off across the table from where Hitler was and he was only wounded. He was jailed and hanged just two weeks before US soldiers liberated the concentration camp where he was held. Was Bonhoeffer right? How should we relate to governing authority? There is an independent streak in most of us as Americans that instantly says yes it is good to resist government it is good to rebel after all, our country is built on rebellion and the present form of our government only came together after a civil war 150 years ago. How does the gospel inform how we live? What does it look like to live as citizens of heaven and yet, be good citizens here on earth? Thankfully God speaks to how we should live in response to the gospel, in the passage we read earlier. Main Idea: Christ-followers worship God by submitting to authority. That is a difficult statement, isn t it? You see how we submit to authority is a reflection of whether we worship God and it displays our worship of God. So, I believe God wants us to consider our attitude and speech and actions in relationship to the governing authority over us and then to worship Him in these things. You might say, well, wait a minute, Paul didn t understand just how messy and corrupt government would become! Or maybe you think Paul was naïve. But, let s not forget the context that Paul wrote in. Let s not forget that Paul was very aware that Jesus was convicted and crucified unjustly under the Roman government s authority. Let s not forget that Paul was often mistreated by various government officials in the towns he visited. But let us not forget that Paul would still appeal to Rome for justice. Context in Romans is important. Context was important when Paul wrote the letter to the Romans. It was not just important then either, it is critically important to understanding and applying God s Word now as well. It was precisely in the midst of a corrupt, over-reaching, domineering, invasive government that Paul wrote these verses. Paul has written about how we live a life of worship to God in our relationship to each other, in our relationships to others and in our relationship to our enemies. Now he writes about how we as Christ-followers worship God, by submitting to the governing authority. Look in verse 1, he writes, Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. When Paul wrote his letter, he knew the tendency would be for some to think that this command doesn t apply to them. There were those who disliked the very form of government they were living under. And that would be understandable since the Roman emperor had relegated the senate to a largely ceremonial position with no real authority or power. There were those who disliked the leaders in government because they were unethical and immoral. And this may have been the majority of the church, because Nero was the one in power and he was severely unethical and immoral. 2

3 There were those who disliked the government because they disagreed with the policies, practices and real-life decisions of the government. Doubtless many of those in the church had been displaced under the previous Emperor Claudius when he expelled all of the Christians from Rome families were broken-up, jobs and homes would have been lost all unfairly. Now, they were under the reign of Nero, who was widely considered corrupt and tyrannical. He had his step-brother Britannicus poisoned shortly after he began his reign. His policies were seen as self-serving, meant to bolster his own reputation at the expense of the people. He was seen as a fickle, emotional leader, who once tried to eliminate taxes and then ended up raising them more than before. But, knowing that the Christians in Rome were not under an ideal government and that they would likely and justly disagree with the Roman government, Paul wanted to make sure that everyone in the church understood that no matter what their political party or governmental preferences were, every person needed to obey this command from God. Every person, or more literally, every soul, everyone who is alive, is to be subject to the governing authorities if you re alive, if you have a soul, this command applies to you. The difficulty of this command isn t limited to those who lived back then is it? If we have been saved by God s grace and brought into His kingdom, made His children and loved by Him, our reasonable response is to worship God by being subject to the governing authorities. This is still a challenging command for us today isn t it? Some may not like our current government. Some may believe that leaders are corrupt, immoral and unethical. Others may disagree with the ruling political parties or not like the leaders in place. We are not a church that takes political sides, but we are a church that seeks to be disciples of Jesus Christ, who are faithfully living for His kingdom, by submitting ourselves to His rule and reign. One of the ways that we present our bodies as a living sacrifice to God, in response to His many mercies, is to be subject to the governing authorities. There is no exception clause here that permits us to not subject ourselves to a particular form of government. There is not an exception clause that allows us to not subject ourselves to the governing authorities if we don t like them or don t agree with their policies. There isn t an exception that says we only need to do this if the leaders are Christian or morally upright either. Now, Paul lays out at least three grounds for why we should submit to the governing authorities. The first reason for why we should submit to the governing authorities is 1. Because God has appointed all authorities (vv 1-2) This is not a new idea in the Bible. Daniel 2:20-21 Blessed be the name of God forever and ever, to whom belong wisdom and might. 21He changes times and seasons; he removes kings and sets up kings In Psalms, Asaph wrote, Psalm 75:7 but it is God who executes judgment, putting down one and lifting up another. In the New Testament, in John 19:10, we read of when Jesus stood before Pilate. He wouldn t defend himself and answer the charges brought against him: John 19:10-11 So Pilate said to him, " ou will not speak to me? Do you not know that I have authority to release you and authority to crucify you? 11 Jesus answered him, You would have no authority over me at all unless it had been given you from above. 3

4 Paul says in the second half of verse 1, that there is NO authority except from God: For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. It couldn t be clearer even though this is a very uncomfortable truth. There is no authority that is in place that is not from God and instituted or appointed by God. God is the one who grants authority even when we don t know why and He uses whatever means of human agency necessary. Even authorities that we may not like or that may not be honorable. This truth should definitely affect how we think about the government and those in authority over us. It doesn t mean that we believe that all authority is good and godly. In many cases throughout history, rulers have been downright evil. The Assyrian king was evil and yet, God spoke to his people in Isaiah 10:5 and called the Assyrians, the rod of His anger. Evil Assyria was God s instrument of discipline. But, after using Assyria, God would punish Assyria as well. Now, Paul says that the reason we should be subject to the governing authorities is not because they are good but because all authority is put in place by God and they serve at His will. Now, that should lead us to a humble attitude when we have a complaint or a critique about those in authority. It should also give us confidence that God is able to put the right people into places of authority and it should enable us to trust God even when we have corrupt authorities over us. The reason I am not dismayed by the current political climate and the reason I am not worried is because I trust that God is able to raise up and remove all authorities. This truth should also make us sobered. In our own time and in our own perspective, we don t know why some authorities have been or are in power. But we are sobered that God has a divine purpose that is working through everyone who is in authority. That should make us stop before we gossip about or slander those in authority. It doesn t mean we will agree and it doesn t mean we don t have a part to play in government either. In fact, I hope that Christian men and women would seek to participate in government and participate in the political process out of a motive to honor God and to spread His kingdom, for the common good. I think for too long, Christians have gotten their relationship to government wrong in two ways. The first way Christians interact wrongly with the government is to think that because God appoints all authority, that our salvation comes through worldly government. This is the mindset that thinks and acts like political activity is what will save us or that acts like we are called to put a theocracy into place. When the reality is that we never are encouraged to do that and we don t have any examples of this in the New Testament at all. Paul used the political system for his own protection and for the spread of the gospel but he didn t encourage anyone to see their salvation in government. No government was the means by which he sought and at times received protection to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ. So, when someone in power assaults the freedom of speech, or the freedom of assembly or the freedom of religion, we should seek to do whatever we can legally, to keep these freedoms, so that we can preach the gospel freely. The gospel is the goal, the kingdom of God is the goal and Jesus said my kingdom is not of this world let us keep that in mind, even as we subject ourselves and participate in government. Secondly, the other error we can fall into is that of removing ourselves from the political process and from participation in government altogether. If we truly believe that God appoints all authority, we should seek to work with those authorities to bring about what God calls good and 4

5 to resist what God calls evil. Let s not check out of participation because of the right belief that we are citizens of God s kingdom because we still exist as citizens here on earth too as did Paul, when he appealed to Caesar, so that he might continue to preach the gospel. God uses authorities to bring about good so let us work with and through authorities to bring about good. But what about resisting the government when we disagree? Well, lets look at what verse 2 says, Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment. So, when someone is in a place of authority, it should give us pause before we rebel against them or refuse to submit to them. We better be sure that we are resisting out of godly motives and in obedience to Scripture. There is a place for a godly resistance, but we need to be careful that we are absolutely convinced through the clear teaching of Scripture that we need to resist the authorities. Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego resisted the command to worship King Nebuchadnezzar and were thrown into the fiery furnace but God approved of their resistance and delivered them from the fire. Daniel resisted the command to pray to King Darius only and was thrown into the lions den and delivered by God as proof that his resistance was good. The Egyptian midwives refused to kill the Hebrew males when they were born and Moses was one of those babies, who led the people to victory. In the New Testament, Peter and John disobeyed the Sanhedrin and preached the gospel even though they were commanded to stop. In acts 5:29 Peter made it clear why and said, But Peter and the apostles answered, We must obey God rather than men. Or in our era, Martin Luther King, among other things he resisted, protested an unjust ruling that would not allow him to march in Birmingham for the right to vote. He didn t take civil disobedience lightly though and he wrote, You express a great deal of anxiety over our willingness to break laws. This is certainly a legitimate concern There are some instances when a law is just on its face and unjust in its application. For instance, I was arrested Friday on a charge of parading without a permit. Now, there is nothing wrong with an ordinance which requires a permit for a parade, but when the ordinance is used to preserve segregation and to deny citizens the First Amendment privilege of peaceful assembly and peaceful protest, then it becomes unjust. I believe Martin Luther King was in accordance with Scripture. But, when we believe that we must resist an unjust law, we need to be certain that we are indeed resisting because Scripture speaks to the issue, and make sure we are not resisting God. Well, the second reason why we must submit to the governing authorities is 2. Because authorities approve good and punish evil (vv 3-4) 3 For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. The reason why God sets up rulers at all, is that it is better to have rulers than anarchy. And rulers are meant to uphold morally good conduct in society and to be a terror to bad conduct. Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority? If you don t want to fear punishment, the Scripture is plain. Then do what is good, and you will receive his approval Do what is honorable or morally good, so that we can receive the approval of those in authority over us. 5

6 The reason why this is good, is that we want the approval of those in authority so that we can continue to do good and to honor and represent Jesus and to preach the gospel. So, we should be the best, most obedient citizens on the planet. We should be a model of good, morally upright, honorable behavior in our community. That means not only should we seek to obey the letter of the law of the land but we should seek to do what is honorable in regards to the law of the land. That means, when there is a silly sign closing a trail, or blocking waterfalls, or saying not to climb on the rocks, that we need to do good of obeying it, even though it may be ridiculous and we think it is totally unnecessary and doesn t apply to us. Not that I ve had that happen three or four times when we ve been outside with our family in the past month. Or that it happened as recently as last week when they still have the Swamp Rabbit Trail closed between the zoo and Falls Park, after a year, when it is after hours, when they aren t working there and the trail is open on weekends but I can t use it on weekends and we go there on Mondays! But we turned around at the sign anyway. I know that is silly, but I want to honor God and that is why I obeyed the authorities silly sign. This has implications for us that we have to wrestle with. If we don t want to fear a speeding ticket, we shouldn t speed after all we don t normally speed to honor God or to obey some biblical command. Now, there are some, (like me, but I m not saying me), that say that the authorities actually approve of going up to 10 miles over the speed limit, so it is still good to go 9 miles over and you will receive approval. You have to do what your conscience allows. But the principle applies to every law. If the law prohibits an action, we need to obey, because the authority behind the law is given by God. So, yes, Christian, the law applies to you and we are called to do what is good in regards to the authorities over us. 3. Because authorities are God s ministers (vv4-7) We see this reason explained all the way from verse 4 through verse 7. Look at verse 4 it is surprising really Paul writes, for he is God's servant for your good. The wording here is pretty striking. The word for servant is the same word that can also be translated as minister or deacon. The authority that God has put in place is God s minister, for your good. The reason God has given us authority is for our good even when the authority may not be good. Now, we don t endorse bad authority by any means. But the ideal purpose of authority is for our good. That means that we should try to support authority and seek their good. That is why we must pray for those in authority that they would act as ministers of God, and carry out His good purposes. Paul explained why we should pray for those in authority in his letter to 1 Timothy. 1 Timothy 2:1-4 First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, 2 for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way. 3 This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, 4 who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. It is good for us to be able to live a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way, and that is some of the good that God intends for us through authority. If people take the law into their own hands, we would not be able to live in peace but we would be rightly fearful. It is wrong for those who protest an injustice to then commit crime or vandalize in the name of 6

7 justice. That is not good and it does not lead to a peaceful and quiet life, that is either godly or dignified. Instead, living a peaceful, quiet life, where we seek to be godly and dignified is good and pleasing to God. The implication in Timothy at least, is that this is the best way for us to be witnesses of the gospel to a lost and dying world, so that all people might come to the knowledge of the truth. Authority is for our good and they are meant to uphold good and bear the sword against evil. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. Government has been given the authority to bear the sword of God s justice and carry out His wrath on those who do wrong. For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God's wrath on the wrongdoer. As ministers or servants of God, the authorities are supposed to avenge injustice and wrong-doing. Where those in authority do that well, there is a good moral order and people can flourish in safety. Where authorities don t carry out their God given role to avenge wrong, then chaos and disorder reigns. Notice something though it is not our place to avenge it is the place of the governing authorities. This isn t a duty we share with government. We know this because earlier, in Romans 12:17 & 19, God says repay no one evil for evil and then never avenge yourself. The reason why we can do this is because we trust God to avenge us and one of the ways God avenges wrong here and now is through the governing authorities. 5 Therefore one must be in subjection, not only to avoid God's wrath but also for the sake of conscience. God has given the governing authorities as His ministers, so we obey because we don t want to incur God s wrath. But also, the reason why we can and must subject ourselves to the governing authorities, is out of respect for God and for the sake of our own conscience. We know it is wrong to disobey God and when we blatantly disobey the government, we are disobeying God. This should make the alarm bells of our conscience go off. But for the sake of protecting our conscience as well, we need to ensure that we obey the authorities, so that we preserve the integrity of our conscience and so that it can still function reliably for us. Now, in verses 6-7, Paul gives some very unpopular and difficult applications. These aren t the only applications of these verses, but Paul is saying look this isn t just about obedience and compliance with the law, it also means that we need to pay taxes, even if we think that they are unjust or unfair. 6 For the same reason you also pay taxes, for the authorities are ministers of God, attending to this very thing. The motivation for paying taxes flows from remembering that we are obeying God by doing this. He says again, the authorities are ministers of God attending to this very thing tax collection! So, God supports taxation to support His causes being carried out through government. Paul isn t making this idea up Jesus taught the same thing when he said, render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's." In Jesus s day, as well as later in Paul s time, the Roman government tax was difficult on the people who lived in the empire. Our worship and our ultimate loyalty and obedience belongs to God, but where rendering to Caesar doesn t cause us to disobey God directly, we should pay taxes to Caesar. Paul clarifies things further though and says, don t just pay the annual income 7

8 tax, you also need to pay whatever taxes or fees that are owed, which included the poll tax, as well as whatever revenues were levied on them: Pay to all what is owed to them: taxes to whom taxes are owed, revenue to whom revenue is owed But lest they think that just paying the taxes and obeying the authority was all that was required, Paul says, do it with a good heart do it with respect and honor: respect to whom respect is owed, honor to whom honor is owed. This speaks to our attitude. We are to give those in authority our respect, because we owe it to them as God-ordained authorities, not because they ve earned it in our eyes. We are to show honor to those who are in authority over us, again, not because they are honorable but because God has placed them in authority. Now, I want you to notice one last thing. Notice that this whole passage is really all about God. Authority is from God. Authority is instituted by God. If we resist authority we resist God. We saw that the governing authority is God s servant multiple times. The authorities carry out God s wrath. Again, in verse 5, we need to avoid God s wrath that they carry out. And in verse 6, the authorities are God s ministers. You see, in seven verses, God is mentioned as the motivation 7 times. But really, this whole chapter is just the reasonable, or logical outworking of what it looks like to live as worship to God, in view of His mercies. What it looks like to present our bodies as a living sacrifice to God, holy and acceptable to God, includes such mundane, common things, like submitting ourselves to the government, obeying the law of the land and paying taxes. Because all of life is meant to be lived as worship to God especially in the mundane moments and in the midst of this world that is not our ultimate home. All in response to God s mercy towards us and for the glory and honor of God ultimately. Main Idea: Christ-followers worship God by submitting to authority. 1. Because God has appointed all authorities (vv 1-2) 2. Because authorities approve good and punish evil (vv 3-4) 3. Because authorities are God s ministers (vv4-7) Ultimately, we submit to governing authority because we want to worship God and submit to Him. 2017 Redeeming Grace Church. This transcribed message has been lightly edited and formatted for the Website. No attempt has been made, however, to alter the basic extemporaneous delivery style, or to produce a grammatically accurate, publication-ready manuscript conforming to an established style template. 8