Romans 13:1-7

For a handful of years, I used this passage to teach campers why they should obey their parents, respect their teachers and listen to their coaches. Those are all good things that teenagers should do, but most of these verses are about what is going on in our hearts. In Romans 12, we learned that chasing after holiness reveals certain things about our walk with Jesus Christ. I think verses 17, 18 and 21 are key to understanding why Paul would drop some verses about leadership.

I think how we apply these verses can be complicated unless we are crystal clear about spilling Jesus all over the place.

I want to begin with 1 Timothy 2:1-2.

1 Timothy 2:1–2 ESV

1 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.

The “king and all who are in high positions” is not what leads us to a peaceful, godly, dignified life. The prayers, intercessions and thanksgiving leads the way. Pursuing holiness will take us much further in life than whatever leader we’re rooting for this week.

When we decide to chase after holiness, we grab a chair, sit down at the table and intend to feast on holiness. Except, we almost have to overstuff ourselves to get a “complete, balanced pursuit of holiness.” Kind of like this picture.

Not many people eat breakfast like this. For most, give me one thing to eat now and I’ll eat something else later. Today, I offer one ingredient today that will help us pursue holiness.

Main idea: My pursuit of holiness surrenders to God’s appointed leadership.

Romans 13:1–7 ESV

1 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.

Paul doesn’t discuss any of the “what if…?” questions about leadership because our integrity never depends on the integrity of another person. Acts 5:29 makes it clear that we should obey God rather than men.” Paul doesn’t have to discuss those questions if we pay attention to why God appoints leaders in our lives. The “what if…?” questions become irrelevant if we chase holiness and spill Jesus all over the place.

In our text, I see four reasons why God appoints leadership in our lives.

Verse 2 - God appoints leadership in my life to redeem my soul from judgment.

Other than leadership, tell me some things in the Bible that God has appointed. All of those, we could keep making a list. All of them are for our good and his glory. When I think of appointment and judgment together, I think of Hebrews 9:27-28. Resisting what God has appointed in our life is a crash-course with judgment. Surrendering to what God has appointed while we are pursuing holiness paves the way for us to eagerly wait for him.

Verses 3-4 - God appoints leadership in my life to grow my sanctification.

None of us had to learn how to sin. It is natural for people to avoid a person they have sinned against. For example, if you talk about a person behind their back and you hear they found, it’s natural to avoid that person because we don’t always like to be confronted with our sin. If we never have to be confronted about our sin, we don’t have to avoid people. That’s this verse ~ the pursuit of holiness. God has appointed leadership in our lives for our good.

I have done a lot of stupid, sinful things. I don’t think I’ve ever gotten away with any of them. Jot down Numbers 32:23.

All of us need people in our lives that help us do good. All of us need to be lovingly called out on our sin. I hope you have a person or two that will lovingly and graciously do that. I hope that you have a teachable spirit and you receive what they have to say. All of us get a “needs improvement” with our sanctification. All of us need to continue growing in Christ. All of us could use a little more holiness.

Christian Beliefs by Wayne Grudem.

Verse 5 - God appoints leadership in my life to grow my discernment.

We can either celebrate what God is doing or complain about what people are not doing. Celebration is possible when God uses leadership to cultivate our heart and keep us tender to the Holy Spirit’s leading. The more tender our conscience is toward the things of God and the deeper we grow in godly discernment, the more we chase after holiness, the more likely we will eagerly wait for him. Celebration will come off our lips more often than complaining.

Verses 6-7 - God appoints leadership in my life so I can fulfill citizenship duties.

I suspect 2025 in the US will look different than 2024, good or bad. That happens with leadership changes. I think citizenship is a puzzle and every person is a piece of that puzzle. I would be a horrible politician because it seems like politics is filled with drama. Those men and women are in positions of making difficult decisions every day of their lives and there is no way to satisfy all people. I can’t imagine doing their job without Jesus. I remember when we were making decisions about church services and COVID. I described those conversations like walking on the yellow lines in the middle of US-223. People approaching at high rates of speed believing their agenda is the most important and let’s not cause an accident. Those opinions were mostly about masks, empty pews and Sunday School.

That is minimal compared to conversations our governmental leaders have every day. One of our puzzle pieces is to pay our taxes, so they can do their jobs. The text doesn’t tell us to pay if we like their job performance. It says they are servants of God, so pay your taxes. If you think they are too high, OT Israel’s tax rate was 23%.

The rest of verse 7 says to pay revenue, respect and honor to whom it is owed. Looking back at verses 1-2, all leadership is instituted by God. I think the last half of verse 7 points to the Lord as the creator and sustainer of leadership institutions. Our posture as citizens, as we chase after holiness, should spill Jesus all over the place.

I lay this at your feet to consider. If surrendering to leadership was automatic, I don’t think God would need to include it in Scripture.

Here is an invitation for February. Let’s commit to pray daily for three things. First, our governmental leaders on all levels. Second, that God would increase our holiness by convicting us to celebrate the leadership he has placed in our lives and remove complaining from our lips. Third, that Jesus would be spilled all over the place while we pray.