Our Dual Citizenship

INTRODUCTION

Dismiss Kids

Want to say how proud I am to be part of a missional church. Last Sunday, we had 1,000 people on our campus for Treats the Town.

Right at 300 people prayed with

9 gospel conversations

Yesterday, Mt. Meigs boys incarceration ministry… 15 prayed to receive Christ and will be discipled on Thursday nights.

>>TRANSITION<<

Well, this is a big week for our nation. Millions of Americans are going to go to the polls and cast their vote for the next President of the United States. I’m like a lot of you—I’m tired of the divisiveness and, honestly, the politics of it all. And, FYI, my new favorite feature of Facebook is the “unfollow” option.

I’m THANKFUL—so so grateful—to live in a country whose founders wanted nothing to do with a monarchy or a dictatorship and set our nation up in such a way that we have the freedom to elect (and even FIRE) our government leaders.

You know, I heard an older man say one time, “Politicians are like diapers. They both need to be changed often. And for the same reason.”

I’m also so grateful for those of you—and countless others—who have served and currently serve in our nation’s military to protect our freedom to vote. We’re going to honor you next Sunday for Veteran’s Day but I just want to say “thank you” today—I don’t think we can say that often enough.

My aim this morning is not to preach a political sermon.

Being a pastor means that you are a prophet. Not foretelling things yet to come…saying “thus says the Lord.”

A couple of important things:

1) The task of preaching—bridging two worlds together.

2) The task of pastoring—shepherding and speaking into what the Church is dealing with/wrestling with. I cannot and I WILL NOT tell you how to vote or who to vote for. One of the core Baptist distinctives is the freedom of the conscience. So, if you tell me you’ve prayed about something and searched God’s word and your conscience is dictating that you do or don’t do something—you have that freedom.

My text this morning is 1 Peter 2:13-17 so if you have a copy of God’s Word, I want to invite you to join me there.

I know there are probably a lot of you in this room—watching online—you’ve made up your mind who you’re voting for this Tuesday. But, there may be a lot of you in here that you’re wrestling with this. My goal today is to say to you, “Thus says the Lord.”

1 Peter 2:13–17 (ESV)

Be subject for the Lord’s sake to every human institution, whether it be to the emperor as supreme, or to governors as sent by him to punish those who do evil and to praise those who do good. For this is the will of God, that by doing good you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people. Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but living as servants of God. Honor everyone. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the emperor.

Main Idea While we have a temporal earthly citizenship, our ultimate eternal citizenship is the Kingdom of Heaven.

Peter addresses THREE key areas of our dual citizenship:

1) Our SUBMISSION

“Be subject for the Lord’s sake to every human institution, whether it be to the emperor as supreme, or to governors as sent by him to punish those who do evil and to praise those who do good.”

Here, Peter is giving a command and also providing us the right perspective of our relationship with the governing authorities of the land in which we live.

Context Peter isn’t writing to people living in a democratic constitutional republic. He’s writing to Christians who are citizens of the Roman Empire. They don’t have elections. They don’t have the freedom to vote for a new Emperor every four years. They’re stuck with the Emperor—most of whom persecuted them!

No human government or ruler exists outside the sovereign will of God. This is why Peter makes a subtle but powerful distinction in verse one. He says that we are to be subject—FOR THE LORD’S SAKE—to every HUMAN institution.

First of all, every government is a human institution. It is not eternal. It is not supreme. There are a lot in government who think they/it are supreme.

Romans 13:1 (ESV)

For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God.

God is sovereign. God is king. God is on the throne of heaven and will never abdicate or be voted out. This is why we, as Christians, are to engage politically for the good of our nation but we are NOT to hitch our wagons to any political party or leader.

Context The “emperor cult” of Rome and Christians being pressured/tempted to join in.

Secondly, Peter tells us the purpose of government leadership.

(vs. 14) — PUNISH evil doers and PRAISE those who do good // PROMOTE good and right and true and PUNISH evil.

Now, notice—the government leaders don’t DEFINE or DICTATE or DECIDE what is right and good and true. They DISCERN and uphold.

God is the one who is the source. His word…

We are to submit to the leaders of the land up to the point that our obedience—our submission—to them does not cause us to be disobedient to God.

We get to vote! Vote for the candidate who will promote and uphold what is right and good and true.

Second, in our relationship as believers to the government under which we live, Peter talks about…

2) Our SERVICE

Paul goes on to say, in verse 15…

1 Peter 2:15 (ESV)

For this is the will of God, that by doing good you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people.

Context:

We take living in the South and living in the United States of America and the freedoms we have for granted.

Peter is writing to believers living in a world where Christianity was a small kind of grassroots movement. We really don’t have a framework for understanding it.

Rumors/Falsehoods going around about Christians—cannibals, orgies, insurrectionists.

Views on Christianity today—irrelevant, out of date, fear mongers, hate speech, not welcome in the public square

FOLKS—NOTHING HAS CHANGED.

We aren’t called to make Christianity POPULAR or PALATABLE. The moment we do, we’ve comprised the truth.

The light and the dark cannot coexist. It cost John the Baptist his head. The dark cannot overcome the light but it is going to put up a nasty fight.

Just as our ultimate allegiance and submission is to King Jesus, our ultimate act of service is not to the state or to the nation but to the Kingdom of God.

We live by the “values/laws” of the Kingdom.

Christians should be the best citizens of every city, state, and nation.

We cannot reduce our impact to every four years when we vote.

I’ve said his before and I’ll say it again…if we are more concerned over who our lost friend/family member is voting for than where they are spending eternity, there’s a problem.

You’re going to go to the polls on Tuesday and you’re going to stand in line…probably shoulder to shoulder…with people

3) Our STAND

Four commands:

A) Honor everyone

So much rhetoric

B) Love the brotherhood

C) Fear God

So much fear.

The future of the Church/the advancement of the gospel is NOT going to be threatened by who is or who is not in the White House. If our mentality is that the Church is stronger because Trump is president or not…or Kamala is president or not…then we have a completely unbiblical and ungodly understanding of the gospel.

The Church of Jesus Christ will stand regardless of who the leader of the free world is.

In fact, as you look at the places in the world where the Church is growing and the gospel is advancing the fastest, it’s in countries where Christians are persecuted.

Could it be that God’s plan to send a great awakening to our country will involve the persecution of Christians?

D) Honor the emperor