A New Beginning

The Lord Addresses Noah

Previously God spoke in His heart

New Relationship With Nature

New Relationship With Each Other

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.”

How Should the Church Interact With Politics?

Submit to our government as long as it isn’t contrary to Christ

Be engage politically

Separation of Church and state is a falacy

The Church has been a driving factor in social change for the good since it’s formation

Woman’s rights

Slavery

If it weren’t for the actions of the church within England, slavery would not have ended in the west

People like:

William Wilberforce

Charles Spurgeon

John Wesley

Charles Finney

Harriet Beecher Stow

Sojourner Truth

They all spoke out against the sin of slavery

Imagine if abolitionists took the stance of speaking out against the sin but not pushing for legislation also

The call here is to be active

Both our nation and our world needs Christians in positions of authority

Our theology should drive our ideology

We need to be careful that this is true

Too often our political ideology drives our theology

It’s important that it’s the other way around

We must recognize that our personal values are set by Scripture; not the donkey or elephant

Political change should always be secondary

In some area’s political change is important

Area’s like slavery in the past and abortion today

But our goal should be heart change first, then law change