Respect Authority
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What has been instituted by God.
What has been instituted by God.
This week a woman, a mother of 3 children got into an altercation with ICE officers in Minnesota. They approached her, she didn’t yield and was shot by an ICE officer. This has caused a big stir across the country with many people. They are rallying, in some cases I saw them throwing snowballs at the officers and things are tense because now the mayor of the city and governor of the state fear that civil unrest may happen. The issue of immigration is once again a firebrand in our nation. Some people are using scripture to say that we should not be treating people in such a way and indeed there is some truth in that. The Isrealites were definitely told to be kind to the foreigners in their land.
Now it’s coming out that a Hilton Hotel in Minnesota is discriminating against DHS and ICE personnel that are trying to book rooms in their Hotel. If you work for such departments they have been turning them away. This is particularly strange to me since this type of discrimination was supposed to have been outlawed in our nation. I suppose now if you disagree with someone’s job it’s okay for you to say that they can’t use your services.. Sure, businesses reserve the right to refuse service but most smart businesses only do so if you are disruptive to the business and other customers.
In Philadelphia the police chief of the Sheriffs office is chanting the name of the lady who died and is calling out ICE and threatening to arrest federal agents if such an action happens in this city and is calling them fake. She is making a statement that will pit the local police against the federal police. Correct me if I am wrong, but, the last that I checked the Federal government is over the local government. So our nation is in crisis and I understand that it is making people uncomfortable.
Today it appears that if you disagree with what someone does or what they have done it’s okay for you to write them off and not give them service and to ostracize them. Before someone thinks that I am a proponent of this current administration I will remind you that I am an independent. I am not on either side of our political parties, this is because despite what either side will try to tell you I know that both sides have faults both side have done wrong things and I want to follow what Godly principles in all that I do.
Yes, I vote and I think that we should. Before I vote I do my best to seek what God wants before I get into the booth. At the end of the day, I need to align myself with Him in all things.
This made me think what does God have to say about what is going on today? This lead me to Romans 13: 1 - 7
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.
God is a God of order and as such he has a system of covenants, a husband as the head of his wife, the parents as the head of their children, elders as the head of their congregations, and the government as the head of it’s citizens. None of these heads are supposed to dictators over those whom God has placed under their authority.
25 But Jesus called them to him and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. 26 It shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, 27 and whoever would be first among you must be your slave,
In God’s kingdom those that are given authority are supposed to be servants to the people that are under them. Their headship is is for the good of those who submit to their legitimate authority. Now here is the part that a lot of christians may have a hard time understanding, but, it is the Word of God. God has placed governmental rulers over us, and we should submit to those authorities, recognizing them as God’s agents.
A lot of people are going to think, whoa! This president isn’t christian, he’s a republican, he lied, he should be in prison he only thinks about money or the last president wasn’t christian and all he and his administration thought about was social justice!
Romans 13:1 is stating that our governments stand under another authority that of God. Yes, there is an institutional separation between church and state, but there myst never be a separation between God and government. The closer God is to a government and it’s citizens the more ordered the society will be. The further God is from the government and it’s citizens that more chaotic the society will become.
Romans 13:2 While governments are under God’s authority, this verse applies to individuals and governments equally. Whomever resists the authority of God whether it’s a person going against the government or the government going against God, they are opposing God’s command and will bring His judgement on themselves.
I have to tell you that this struck me differently… If God has placed this government over me. And I should believe that he has since God is sovereign. Maybe I should speak less on the wrongs that I see and pray and meditate more. I know that his ways are not our ways so I should trust that He knows what he is doing. Indeed the bible shows many times that God allowed Isreal to be ruled by those that did not acknowledge God because Isreal themselves did not acknowledge God. It’s a very humbling thought!
Proverbs 8 is about wisdom. King Solomon could have had anything from The Lord and he chose very wisely when he chose wisdom. All wisdom comes from God and it helps us to live life his way.
13 The fear of the Lord is hatred of evil. Pride and arrogance and the way of evil and perverted speech I hate. 14 I have counsel and sound wisdom; I have insight; I have strength. 15 By me kings reign, and rulers decree what is just; 16 by me princes rule, and nobles, all who govern justly. 17 I love those who love me, and those who seek me diligently find me.
God clearly states that through Him Kings, princes and nobles reign. This indicates that God is sovereign! He is in control, he calls on us love wisdom and to seek after it diligently. Whenever we heed God’s “seek and find” commands, he promises to deliver what we are looking for. Our government from top to bottom needs wisdom, we need to seek it for ourselves as well as for our government.
Romans 13:3
Gives us a definition and summary of the role of government. Resist evil and promote good. The challenge here is defining evil and good. Most the the time we like to think that our government promotes as good aligns with the Bible. When it doesn’t we must do what it good before God and trust him with the political results. This is where we are in our nation today, we need to continue to do what is good in God’s eyes and trust him. The biblical responsibility of government is to maintain a safe, just, righteous and compassionately responsible environment for freedom to flourish.
Romans 13:4-5
Twice Paul calls the governing authorities God’s servant which reinforces their role. Whenever God is removed from government a vacuum it created in which government seeks to be God. We are seeing this today in political agendas and comments, all of the sudden we think that capitalism is the problem and we should become a socialist nation. The problem with socialism is that they seek to solve all your problems WITHOUT God. In many socialist countries they want you to worship their leader because that leader is supposed to even the scales and make everything good for you.
The government will run the grocery stores, the government will own all the land, the government will own your home and since the government knows best everything will be all right.
When this was written the Roman government was in power under Emperor Nero. Before him was Claudius and the infamous Caligula. Under the romans the Jews were taxed, the did have some autonomy especially in religious matters but their refusal to worship Roman gods did fuel some suspicion. The time that Paul lived in was a relatively peaceful time in Rome despite the fact that Paul was imprisoned by Roman authorities.
Roman was a massive empire that governed with an iron hand. We should not forget that Christ died on a cross because it was a roman form of punishment. He was flogged because that also was a roman form of punishment for “common” people. Crucifixion was reserved for non-citizens, slaves and rebels and it was a brutal slow death. if not that you could be sentenced to fighting beast in the arena, forced to work in the mines ( this was deadly work ), you could be thrown into a sack with animals, ( dog, snake, rooster, or a monkey) or simply thrown off a cliff. ( these were all Severe punishments for Non-citizens or those of low status. )
If you were a citizen or an elite they may send you into exile, you could be beheaded or you could be sentenced to fight for your life as a gladiator. So you see the movie Gladiator had some truth in it. This doesn’t seem like a government led by God in Paul’s day anymore than it appears that our government today is led by God! Yet, we are told that they are God’s servant. One thing that opened my eyes is that the Romans created roads that allowed people to travel more easily throughout the empire.
These roads were used by Christians to go about the great commission of spreading the Word throughout the world.. God is sovereign! We may not understand it but He has a plan regardless of the government that is in place. Our role as God’s servants is to point those the govern us to the truth of God. If we don’t “one nation under God” will become “one nation under chaos”
Romans 13:6-7
Pauls words in these verses echo those of Jesus. Pay taxes to those you owe taxes and give honor to those you owe honor. When the Pharisees tried to trip up Jesus, they wanted to pit him against the government because they knew that if they could he would be brought up on charges.
17 Tell us, then, what you think. Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not?” 18 But Jesus, aware of their malice, said, “Why put me to the test, you hypocrites? 19 Show me the coin for the tax.” And they brought him a denarius. 20 And Jesus said to them, “Whose likeness and inscription is this?” 21 They said, “Caesar’s.” Then he said to them, “Therefore render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.”
We owe the government for the things that it does for us and we should honor those things and pay them. We owe them earthly honer. What we can never do is give our government and the leaders of our governments our hearts. They can’t have our ultimate allegiance, we were created in the image of God and not in the image of government rulers. God is above all.
1 May the Lord answer you in the day of trouble! May the name of the God of Jacob protect you! 2 May he send you help from the sanctuary and give you support from Zion! 3 May he remember all your offerings and regard with favor your burnt sacrifices! Selah 4 May he grant you your heart’s desire and fulfill all your plans! 5 May we shout for joy over your salvation, and in the name of our God set up our banners! May the Lord fulfill all your petitions! 6 Now I know that the Lord saves his anointed; he will answer him from his holy heaven with the saving might of his right hand. 7 Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the Lord our God. 8 They collapse and fall, but we rise and stand upright. 9 O Lord, save the king! May he answer us when we call.
