Romans 13:1-7 God’s Servant

Romans 13:1-7 (Evangelical Heritage Version)

1Everyone must submit to the governing authorities. For no authority exists except by God, and the authorities that do exist have been established by God. 2Therefore the one who rebels against the authority is opposing God’s institution, and those who oppose will bring judgment on themselves.

3For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to evil. Would you like to have no fear of the one in authority? Do what is good, and you will receive praise from him, 4because he is God’s servant for your benefit. But if you do wrong, be afraid, because he does not carry the sword without reason. He is God’s servant, a punisher to bring wrath on the wrongdoer. 5Therefore it is necessary to submit, not only because of wrath, but also because of conscience.

6For this reason you also pay taxes, because the authorities are God’s ministers, who are employed to do this very thing. 7Pay what you owe to all of them: taxes to whom taxes are owed, revenue to whom revenue is owed, respect to whom respect is owed, and honor to whom honor is owed.

God’s Servant

I.

Government. When you heard the readings earlier in the service, or maybe even as the theme of the day was presented, you knew government was going to come up in the sermon. How could it not? All three readings dealt with government.

Two of the things that are not supposed to be discussed in polite conversation are government and religion. You’re in a church, so you knew religion was going to be a topic of discussion here. But now that other topic is intruding.

As you can tell from the title of the Bible book from which our reading comes, Paul wrote this letter to the church in Rome. Paul used the blessings of the Roman government extensively.

There were those famous Roman roads—there had never been anything like the complex network making travel so convenient before in the history of the world. Those roads facilitated the spread of the gospel. Missionaries could travel to and from distant lands with far more ease than would ever before have been possible. They could expect the Roman Legions to be patrolling those roads, minimizing the danger from robbers and thieves as they traveled from place to place.

Paul was an official Roman citizen. It was an advantage not everyone had. It meant that when he was arrested, he could appeal to the government of Rome rather than having some hasty judgment imposed on him. He used his citizenship to his benefit as he traveled on his missionary journeys.

Of course, not everything about the Roman government was sweetness and light. This was the same government, after all, that had been instrumental in the death of Jesus. The followers of Jesus were often harassed because of their faith. It wouldn’t be long until this government entertained its citizens by sentencing Christians to enter the floor of the coliseum to face certain death.

Paul knew about the government under which he lived—both the good and the bad. With all he knew, Paul wrote: “Everyone must submit to the governing authorities. For no authority exists except by God, and the authorities that do exist have been established by God” (Romans 13:1, EHV).

II.

If I were a betting man I would bet that every adult who is listening to me today can come up with some gripes about government. Maybe most of the children, too.

One person thinks freedoms are being eroded, another person thinks some of those same so-called freedoms are a little too loose; that there are common sense restrictions that ought to be put in place by the government to constrain those freedoms to a degree for the good of everyone. One person believes taxes are too high, another thinks they are reasonable—maybe even too low for certain members of society.

Everyone here this morning happens to live under a government which says we have certain unalienable rights. Unalienable means rights that cannot be taken away from any individual. Sometimes people say these rights are “God given.”

The government under which we live has a constitution with a so-called “Bill of Rights,” which is the first ten amendments to the US Constitution. One of the rights enshrined in our constitution is in the First Amendment—the right to worship as an individual chooses.

Do you give much thought to governments around the world and how they treat the concept of worshiping as a person chooses? Perhaps terrorism and the subsequent military action by Israel in the Middle East has you thinking about that again. There are plenty of countries, not just neighbors of Israel, that ban Christianity, even in the 21st Century. Praying to God in the name of the Lord Jesus can cause a person to lose his or her life.

“Everyone must submit to the governing authorities. For no authority exists except by God, and the authorities that do exist have been established by God” (Romans 13:1, EHV). Paul didn’t make exceptions for a corrupt government in his decree. Everyone must submit to government. Even corrupt governments. Even wicked governments. Even governments, like Rome in Paul’s day, that persecuted Christians. Even governments that are oppressive and dictatorial. “For no authority exists except by God, and the authorities that do exist have been established by God.”

God intends government for our good—even those governments that seem to be evil. It seems natural for people to chafe under the seemingly heavy hand of government. Even a government that seems oppressive is there to keep things from descending into chaos.

Paul says: “For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to evil. Would you like to have no fear of the one in authority? Do what is good, and you will receive praise from him, 4because he is God’s servant for your benefit. But if you do wrong, be afraid, because he does not carry the sword without reason. He is God’s servant, a punisher to bring wrath on the wrongdoer” (Romans 13:3-4, EHV). Government generally rewards behavior that keeps things neat and orderly and punishes behavior that disturbs the peace in society.

III.

Bible history shows that God is in control, even when it doesn’t look that way. In the First Reading for today God’s people were exiled from their homeland in Babylon. The government there was always a challenge to the faith of believers in the true God. Still, God was using that government for his own purposes.

The history of God’s people in Babylon mentioned four familiar figures. The first person we know best by his Jewish name: Daniel. As for the other three, we recognize their Babylonian names: Shadrak, Meshak, and Abednego.

Daniel, Shadrak, Meshak, and Abednego followed the same dictum Peter and the Apostles used when told they must stop proclaiming the name of Jesus: “We must obey God rather than men” (Acts 5:29, EHV). Shadrak, Meshak, and Abednego were rescued by God’s hand from a blazing-hot furnace. Daniel was protected from the mouths of the lions while he waited to be hauled out of the pit the next day. Not one event in history was able to thwart God’s plan to send his Son, Jesus into the world.

The Christmas story reminds us that God controlled history so Jesus would be born at exactly the right time. Jesus on trial before Pontius Pilate shows that God controlled an evil government and misguided church leaders so that his plan of salvation would come to a conclusion with the innocent Jesus hanging on the cross as he suffered the wrath of God to pay for the sins of the world.

Even the spread of the gospel after Jesus rose from the dead was facilitated by government. The Jews were dispersed all over the Roman world because of hardships imposed by the government. Pockets of Jewish people would start a synagogue. Roman roads facilitated Paul and the other Apostles visiting many synagogues and proclaiming the name of Jesus there.

Government restrictions on the gospel led people chancing harrowing ocean crossings so they could have freedom in worship of God. God granted a government here in the United States that permits us to freely express our Christian faith.

Government simply can’t stop God. Both good and bad governments have been used by God to carry out his plan of salvation and to make sure the message of salvation has been made available to you and has been heard by you.

IV.

“[Government] is God’s servant for your benefit... “6For this reason you also pay taxes, because the authorities are God’s ministers, who are employed to do this very thing” (Romans 13:4, 6, EHV).

Without a doubt there are things that you don’t like about our government. God has truly blessed us in this country. We have the right and privilege of participating in government. Citizens here elect our own leaders. If you don’t like those who currently lead, make sure you participate in the process to choose different ones. If you do like them, let them hear about your support for what they are doing, and support them if they stand for reelection.

“The authorities are God’s ministers, who are employed to do this very thing. 7Pay what you owe to all of them: taxes to whom taxes are owed, revenue to whom revenue is owed, respect to whom respect is owed, and honor to whom honor is owed” (Romans 13:6-7, EHV).

Everyone who gets a paycheck can take the time to see what has already been withheld for taxes. If you own your home, you get the joy of your property tax bill; if you rent, you still pay—it’s calculated into the rent. Revenue includes all the hidden fees you might not recognize as taxes: the tariffs on imported goods, the registration fee for your car, the little extra fees you may or may not pay attention to on all your utility bills.

Then Paul mentions respect and honor. Its easy to poke fun at your least favorite politician; I’m certainly guilty of it. Those in government, whether we like them or not, are due our honor and respect. They are God’s representatives in government. They show up in that long Prayer of the Church that follows the Creed in our worship service. Year after year, week after week, no matter which political party the governor or the president or other elected leaders are in, you can hear them mentioned in the Prayer of the Church. We ask God’s blessings on those elected officials and others appointed to positions of authority. We ask God to help them make decisions that will benefit us as citizens, and decisions that continue to allow and promote our freedom to worship our Savior-God.

Government. What a blessing God has made our government to us! We ask God to continue bless our government and those who serve, so we always enjoy the peace of gathering here to worship him without restriction. God bless you as you live under the government that has been established by God to serve you. Amen.