August 2, 2026 - Submission to Authorities
Notes
Transcript
"The American public is angry with Congress. The belief that this Congress has accomplished less than its predecessors is markedly higher than at any point in the past nine years..."
"Public Disillusionment with Congress at Record Levels", Pew Research Center, April 25, 2006.
That statement, written in 2006.
"By almost every conceivable measure Americans are less positive and more critical of government these days. Rather than an activist government to deal with the nation’s top problems, the public now wants government reformed and growing numbers want its power curtailed. With the exception of greater regulation of major financial institutions, there is less of an appetite for government solutions to the nation’s problems – including more government control over the economy"
"Distrust, Discontent, Anger and Partisan Rancor", Pew Research Center, April 18, 2010.
This statement, written in 2010.
"The American public is deeply cynical about government, politics and the nation’s elected leaders in a way that has become quite familiar.
Currently, just 19% say they can trust the government always or most of the time, among the lowest levels in the past half-century. Only 20% would describe government programs as being well-run. And elected officials are held in such low regard that 55% of the public says “ordinary Americans” would do a better job of solving national problems"
When was this written? ..November 2015
And we know what happened after that.
A NON-POLITICIAN was elected to office…
Surprised?? - NO...
But even now - we look at Government - and KNOW - most ALL of it is corrupt…
And we literally have gotten to a place where we simply CHOOSE the lesser of two evils.
WHY?
Because any government structure is populated with - - men - sinful men and women.
AND BECAUSE of that….
we see a pattern here…. yes?
I hope so...
By and large, quite clearly, people are fed up with the government...
The decisions they make...
The stands they take...
Elections are no longer secure… it’s ALL a sham…
People are frustrated...and HAVE BEEN for a long time...
So what's the point?
Why all the government talk?
Well, today Paul's actually going to address how we should handle the government....and authorities in general...
We'll be looking at 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.
Now, you might think that these verses are a bit out of place....
Why is Paul now talking about the government?
Well, if we think back to chapter 12, it started out by saying - "Present your bodies as a living sacrifice...Do not be conformed to this world...but transformed in mind."
And so in chapter 12, Paul was laying out for us the Christian life...
How we deal with each other as believers...
How we deal with the world and unbelievers...
Exhortations on how we should live...
AND NOW...
How do we handle Government? Authorities?
We just mentioned it...and WE KNOW IT...
People are FED UP with the government...can't stand the government...
The reason Trump did WELL when he first ran??
People were done with POLITICIANS...
But what does Scripture say about our role in this?
SLIDE: Point 1
We submit to governing authorities...for the Lord's sake.
We submit to governing authorities...for the Lord's sake.
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…
When we say that "we submit to governing authorities for the Lord's sake"...
I think the first thing that comes to mind is this:
"if we don't submit to the government...if we choose to disobey the authorities, then OUR testimony will be tarnished"...
I think that may be the first thing we think of...as a reason why we SHOULD submit to the government...
Now, while that is a true statement, that OUR testimony would be tarnished to NOT submit...
Paul has something else in mind here...
Paul says - SUBJECT YOURSELF to the governing authorities...BECAUSE GOD IS THE ULTIMATE AUTHORITY...
AND it's BY GOD that those governing authorities HAVE ANY authority at all...
It's GOD who put those authorities in place...
"You mean - God put Bill Clinton in office?!! - Not the Democrats?"
"You mean - God put George W. in office?!! - Not the Republicans?"
"You mean - God put Obama in office?!! - Not the crazy people?"
Who's governing China right now?
Who's governing North Korea right now? Iran? Syria?
We shouldn't be shocked by this right?
you remember that Pharaoh guy?
...yeah God raised him up so that God might show His own power through Pharaoh...and that God's name would be proclaimed in all the earth...
As Pharaoh was growing up, making decisions to get himself to one day be Pharaoh...God was raising him up, to get him to be Pharaoh...for HIS own purposes...
The authorities we see around us...all over this world...
They are the very appointments of God...
God’s SOVEREIGNTY on display!
God’s WILL - moving in the world!
Can anyone RESIST God’s will?
OK, SO WE submit to the governing authorities, BUT to what extent?
Do we do WHATEVER they say? REGARDLESS of what it is?
Answer - NO...
SLIDE:
BECAUSE -
Our subjection to the governing authorities, should ITSELF be under it's own subjection to God.
Meaning - there's a higher level here...
The government is NOT ultimate in our lives...
Let's look at 1 Peter 2:13-17
13 Be subject for the Lord’s sake to every human institution, whether it be to the emperor as supreme,
14 or to governors as sent by him to punish those who do evil and to praise those who do good.
15 For this is the will of God, that by doing good you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people.
16 Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but living as servants of God. 17 Honor everyone. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the emperor.
So, we see here...
We are to be SUBJECT to every human institution...
WHY?
FOR THE LORD'S SAKE!
Now, how does that play itself out...
what does verse 16 say?
"Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but living as servants of God."
We are FREE - living as SERVANTS of God...
We are FREE - living as SLAVES of God...
FREE...SLAVES
FREE...SLAVES
FREE (ultimately) from the emperor, or the governor...
Because we're servants of GOD...
AND BECAUSE we're servants of God - we are to subject ourselves to those in authority...
These verses here tell us to DO GOOD in order to silence the FOOLISH...
and back to Romans 13...
Verse 3 will help us by saying the same thing...
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,
Paul is saying - Rulers are not going to REWARD bad conduct...
They will reward GOOD conduct...SO do good.
Be in subjection to the authorities placed over you by God...
God is honored in our subjectedness to governing authorities...
We are lining ourselves up to live IN HARMONY with God's plan over our lives.
So...We submit to governing authorities...For the Lord's sake
So...We submit to governing authorities...For the Lord's sake
Why else?
SLIDE: Point 2
We submit to governing authorities...for our good.
We submit to governing authorities...for our good.
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.
Now, this point here seems to be pretty obvious...
Submit to governing authorities for your own good.
That if you don't subject yourself to them...you'll be punished.
That's obvious!
BUT, we all know as we look around the world, there are TOO many people out there that don't understand this...
That if you subject yourself to the authorities, you will be in better shape than if you DON'T subject yourself to the authorities.
There are people out there who feel that they should be allowed to do WHATEVER THEY WANT....
REBEL against the authorities...
and still find themselves in a GOOD place.
We've seen where people will blatantly disobey the authorities...
PUT those authorities in danger...
find THEMSELVES now shot as a result...
and THEY sue the authorities for responding that way...
Some people don't get it.
We've ALSO seen people obey the authorities...
DO what they say...
and yet still find themselves shot by the authorities...
In those cases we MIGHT say - Well see, I'm not going to subject myself to the authorities (cops) because I'll get shot anyway...
But that's NOT our calling...
We're called to submit...
AND IF God chooses for us to walk thru a trial...then He has a reason for that.
BUT we're not called to NEGLECT submitting ourselves to governing authorities...
Why...?
Why...?
For OUR GOOD...
verse 4 tells us...
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.
It's this phrase I want to focus in on...
"FOR YOUR GOOD"
As we've seen, there's a clear practical side of this - Do good, and you'll stay out of jail...
But..
But..
There's also a very Spiritual side to this - "For your GOOD"...
Based on some of our experiences, we might say - OK, I see that governing authorities are in place for MY GOOD...
BUT DEFINE good.
Why?
Because we're not naive...
We see injustice happen all the time....
In families...
4 Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.
We see injustice in communities...
in the business world...
In courts of law...
Even by Rulers and Governing Authorities...
1 Woe to those who decree iniquitous decrees, and the writers who keep writing oppression,
2 to turn aside the needy from justice and to rob the poor of my people of their right, that widows may be their spoil, and that they may make the fatherless their prey!
WOE to these people God says!
And so clearly, Paul is not telling us to DO WHATEVER the governing authorities tell us to do...
REGARDLESS of what it is...
We are to do GOOD...God clarifies it for us...DO GOOD...
Good in relation to what is lawful according to Scripture...God's truth...
27 And when they had brought them, they set them before the council. And the high priest questioned them,
28 saying, “We strictly charged you not to teach in this name, yet here you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching, and you intend to bring this man’s blood upon us.”
29 But Peter and the apostles answered, “We must obey God rather than men.
Yes, Romans 13:1 applied to Peter and the apostles...
"Let every person (Peter and the apostles) be subject to the governing authorities..."
BUT who is our ULTIMATE authority?!
God is...
Peter and the apostles not only KNEW that....but they LIVED that out.
They preached ANYWAY...
They spread the Gospel ANYWAY...
OBEYING God...
There are other examples of this in Scripture...
Daniel
We know the story of Daniel...
Daniel was about to be promoted to oversee the whole kingdom...
..and these other high officials became jealous.
They tried to find something against Daniel, but couldn't because Daniel was faithful.
So what did they do?
5 Then these men said, “We shall not find any ground for complaint against this Daniel unless we find it in connection with the law of his God.”
So what were they doing??
They were trying to lay before Daniel, an option...
Either obey the laws of men which WAR against the Law of your God...
OR
Obey the Law of your God - and be punished for doing so
This was their plan!
Do we see this today? - ABSOLUTELY!!
"Tax dollars going to fund abortions"
“Christian bakery owners being asked to bake cakes for same-sex weddings”
“Christian business owners being told who they must hire”
“Men who THINK they’re women should be allowed in women sports”
We see the very same thing today!
But what happened with Daniel.
6 Then these high officials and satraps came by agreement to the king and said to him, “O King Darius, live forever!
7 All the high officials of the kingdom, the prefects and the satraps, the counselors and the governors are agreed that the king should establish an ordinance and enforce an injunction, that whoever makes petition to any god or man for thirty days, except to you, O king, shall be cast into the den of lions.
8 Now, O king, establish the injunction and sign the document, so that it cannot be changed, according to the law of the Medes and the Persians, which cannot be revoked.”
9 Therefore King Darius signed the document and injunction.
Ok, so now there was a law in place that you couldn't pray to anyone other than King Darius.
10 When Daniel knew that the document had been signed, he went to his house where he had windows in his upper chamber open toward Jerusalem. He got down on his knees three times a day and prayed and gave thanks before his God, as he had done previously.
11 Then these men came by agreement and found Daniel making petition and plea before his God.
And we know the rest of the story.
Daniel gets tossed into the lions den...
Daniel ignored the law saying to pray to King Darius....
and instead prayed to God.
IN ANOTHER CASE - we find 3 men ignoring another king of the earth so as not to break their own conscience...
Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego
King Nebuchadnezzar had made a golden image that everyone was supposed to worship.
Whenever music would play in the city, the people were to fall down and worship the image...
AND if you DIDN'T fall down and worship it, you were to be thrown into the fiery furnace...
So what did Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego do?
The music played, and they didn't fall down to worship...the image..and what did they say?
16 Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego answered and said to the king, “O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter.
17 If this be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of your hand, O king.
18 But if not, be it known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up.”
So they get tossed into the furnace...
And yet nothing happens to them.
God chose to deliver them...
And so looking at these stories...what caused the people to obey the laws of these men?
Why did the people obey the law that said - you can only pray to King Darius?
Why did the people fall down and worship the golden image?
Answer: FEAR
They either feared the lion's den...
OR
They feared the fiery furnace...
But let's look back at 1 Peter 2: 13-17
13 Be subject for the Lord’s sake to every human institution, whether it be to the emperor as supreme,
14 or to governors as sent by him to punish those who do evil and to praise those who do good.
15 For this is the will of God, that by doing good you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people.
16 Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but living as servants of God.
17 Honor everyone. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the emperor.
Fear who?
Fear God...
Now, putting all the biblical pieces together, we see that yes, we are to:
Submit to the governing authorities placed over us...
BUT that THAT submission must also ITSELF be submitted to the HIGHEST authority...God
SO THAT - if a governing authority tells us to do something that VIOLATES the commands of God...
...we SUBMIT to God and NOT man.
We FEAR God - not man.
And if punishment or trial comes our way due to our SUBMISSION to God, then we know that REGARDLESS of what happens to us...
...Whether we get tossed into the fiery furnace...
Or into the lion's den...
WE KNOW BEYOND the shadow of a doubt, that it's FOR OUR GOOD!
Was it for his GOOD that Daniel got tossed into the lion's den? - YES...
Was it for their GOOD that Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego got tossed into the fiery furnace? - YES!
Hard to believe?
26 For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul?
Let's put this verse MORE in context...
24 Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.
25 For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.
26 For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul?
So yes, we submit to governing authorities, SO LONG as those governing authorities are themselves in submission to God.
We FEAR God...not man.
BECAUSE...
We ultimately know, that life on this earth is not ultimate...there's something better to come!
Something FAR more glorious to come!
THEREFORE....
SLIDE: Point 3
We submit to governing authorities...for the good of others.
We submit to governing authorities...for the good of others.
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.
We are to model for the world, the GOODNESS of Christ...in obeying the laws of the land.
Yes, so for our own conscience sake...
Remember how we've been talking about (WHO WE ARE) dictates what we do...and Paul's been calling us to GENUINE LOVE...
That IF we're Christians, and we do what is dishonorable...we display HYPOCRISY...!
And THAT hypocrisy sears our consciences...BEING IN CHRIST.
SO YES, we model for the world the GOODNESS of Christ, for our own conscience sake, but we also do this...
FOR THE SAKE OF OTHERS...
To show them Christ.
v6
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 has ordained that there would be civil laws that we would follow...
..and in following them...
...we live out a sort of parable that points to the much greater Authority in our lives - God Himself...
Paul says - Pay to all what is owed to them (taxes, revenue, respect, honor)...
And this command reflects what Jesus Himself did while on earth...
24 When they came to Capernaum, the collectors of the two-drachma tax went up to Peter and said, “Does your teacher not pay the tax?”
25 He said, “Yes.” And when he came into the house, Jesus spoke to him first, saying, “What do you think, Simon? From whom do kings of the earth take toll or tax? From their sons or from others?”
26 And when he said, “From others,” Jesus said to him, “Then the sons are free.
27 However, not to give offense to them, go to the sea and cast a hook and take the first fish that comes up, and when you open its mouth you will find a shekel. Take that and give it to them for me and for yourself.”
Who would love to be able to pay their taxes this way???!!
What does it say - Earthly kings take taxes from others, NOT sons...
THEREFORE...
the sons are free.
We are FREE in Christ...
Yet, Christ, who paid taxes, says - "Pay your taxes!"
Don't give offense it says - SUBMIT yourself....pay your taxes
Maybe you pay the taxes you're supposed to pay in here...maybe you don't...
But the command is - pay your taxes...
Pay to all what is owed them!
To forsake doing this is to display a FEAR of MAN, and not a FEAR of God...
If you're a son of God in here...a child of God - then you're FREE to OBEY GOD...
FREE to pay to ALL what they are due.
When we neglect this...we display for the world that THIS WORLD is OUR treasure...
That I have to HOLD onto my STUFF, because I have to make this life - MY BEST LIFE NOW....
And that's the opposite of Christianity.
Let your good deeds shine before men that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven...
Our good works are a tool that God uses to draw men to Himself...THROUGH Jesus...
So what have we seen today?
SUMMARY
We Submit to Governing Authorities:
For the Lord’s Sake
For Our Good
For the Good of Others
CLOSING:
We know that it seems our world is fast approaching it's destruction...and it is...
We look at those IN POWER all around the world, and we WORRY.
Yet the bible tells us - BE ANXIOUS in NOTHING...
not only that...
But the Bible tells us, as we've seen today...that God has planted those in power...
That everyone who is in power in this world has been granted to be in that position BY GOD...
FOR HIS purposes...
THEREFORE:
...as we model Jesus to the world in subjecting ourselves to governing authorities, ALL OF WHICH, at the same time, being subject to the HIGHEST authority - Christ Himself.
Let's pray...
