Christian Citizenship

Romans 13: 1 – 7.

Introduction.

Tomorrow we celebrate our greatest national holiday—the Fourth of July, or Independence Day. It is the 235^th anniversary of the day we declared our independence from England. In some ways, the signing of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776 was the beginning of the American Revolution. However, it was not the beginning of the conflict between American Colonies and the British government. By July 4, 1776, the American Colonists had been fighting against the British army for over a year.

The American Revolution was not the only revolution taking place in the 1700’s. In fact there was a larger, world-wide revolution taking place at the same time. We call this the Industrial Revolution.

The Industrial Revolution was driven by technology. Technological innovations began to change the way people in Europe lived their lives. It was no longer necessary for one family to provide for all their needs. Technology allowed for more work to be accomplished by fewer people. Families and individuals could use technology to produce excess goods to be sold or exchanged for other necessities.

In many ways the Industrial Revolution led the British to establish colonies in North America. They could capitalize on the American natural resources and use the American soil to grow more cotton.

One result of the Industrial Revolution was the creation of urban societies. Fewer people lived isolated lives on rural farms and began to move to cities and towns. As a result, we had to learn how to get along with each other—to live together in societies.

What do you think life would be like if there had never been an Industrial Revolution? For one thing, we would not live together in a society we call Lufkin, Texas. Instead, we would live as isolated families on segregated farm lands. We would raise our own crops and animals to provide our own food. We would make our own clothing from whatever resources we could gather. There would be very little communication between farms, and there would certainly be no electrical grid, running water or indoor plumbing. We would also not have access to public education for our children. Our children would spend their days working on the farm to provide for the family needs.

The Industrial Revolution changed that. Now we live together in societies. And, I believe, the American Revolution led to the creation of a great society—the United States of America. I have so much pride in my own country that I am willing to profess that we live in the greatest society the world has ever known.

After the American Revolution, our forefathers created the United States of America by writing our Constitution. The Preamble of the United States Constitution describes the purpose of the Constitution and the reason it was written:

We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure (sic) domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence (sic), promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.[1]

The key points of this Preamble tell us that the United States Constitution was written so we would know how to live together in a society.

…in order to form a more perfect Union… …to establish Justice, ensure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty…

Living in a society with other people is better than living as an isolated individual or an isolated family. The collective society assumes a responsibility to provide basic services to meet the needs of the individuals living in the society. However, living in a society also requires some form of governing authority in order to meet the needs of the society.

That brings me to a question about how you and I are going to live our lives. We are Christians, living in the United States of America. Our first allegiance is to Jesus as the Lord of our lives. At best, our allegiance to the United States of America is second to our allegiance to Jesus. How should Christians live in and relate to our society? How should Christians respond to those who govern our nation?

The Apostle Paul offers us words of instruction and words of warning about our relationship with the government.

Read Romans 13: 1 – 7.

1 Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God.

2 Consequently, he who rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves.

3 For rulers hold no terror for those who do right, but for those who do wrong. Do you want to be free from fear of the one in authority? Then do what is right and he will commend you.

4 For he is God's servant to do you good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword for nothing. He is God's servant, an agent of wrath to bring punishment on the wrongdoer.

5 Therefore, it is necessary to submit to the authorities, not only because of possible punishment but also because of conscience.

6 This is also why you pay taxes, for the authorities are God's servants, who give their full time to governing.

7 Give everyone what you owe him: If you owe taxes, pay taxes; if revenue, then revenue; if respect, then respect; if honor, then honor.

(NIV)

For the sake of context, we need to recognize where we find Paul’s teachings about government. This teaching follows Paul’s teachings about individual faith and the church as the Body of Christ in Romans 12.

In Romans 12: 1 – 2, Paul tells us that it matters what Christians do with our bodies. We are to present our bodies as individual, living sacrifices to God. This is a living and daily act of worship and service to God. Individuals become Christians by presenting their entire lives—including their bodies—to be used by God.

Then, in Romans 12: 3 – 8, Paul teaches us that individual Christians come together in the church to form the Body of Christ. In the church, no one Christian is more important than all the others. We are individually members of the same body. Just as a human body is not made of one body part, so the Body of Christ is not made of one individual Christian. We have been gifted with different gifts, which are complementary. We need each other to function properly as the Body of Christ.

In Paul’s theology, the Body of Christ is not limited to one nationality. The Body of Christ contains Jews and Gentiles, who are brought together by our love for Christ and our willingness to allow Jesus to lead our lives. Another way to express this is to say that there is a difference between your national identity and your Christian identity.

In the Old Testament, there was no distinction between these two identities—the People of God and the Nation of Israel were one and the same. However, the cross of Christ opened the People of God up to all races and all nationalities. As a result, we now face a different set of circumstances. Some Christians live in nations that are accepting of the Christian faith. Other Christians live in nations that are outright hostile to Christian faith.

Paul’s words in the Book of Romans are written to the churches of Rome. The Roman Empire of Paul’s day was very tolerant of most religions. Roman citizens were allowed to worship the Roman Pantheon of gods; they were allowed to worship the Empire; they were even allowed to practice the Jewish faith. However, the Romans refused to recognize the Christian faith as a legitimate religion. As a result, the Christians of Rome faced ridicule and persecution for giving their lives to Jesus.

I interpret Paul’s words as a kind of concession to the Roman government. He is instructing the Christians how to “get along” in a secular society.

The Roman political landscape was dominated by powerful men. There was only one way for a man to obtain power in this system. It all depended on his family of birth. If a man was born to a wealthy and powerful family, he had opportunities to achieve power as an adult. If a man was born to a poor and powerless family, there was no opportunity to achieve power or even to influence the government.

We believe the churches of Rome were made of poor and powerless people. They had no voice in political matters and had no means of participating in the political processes. Therefore, Paul instructs the Christians not to resist the government. Resisting the government would only create more problems for the Christians.

Of course, you and I don’t live in the Roman Empire. We live in a more democratic society. The word “democratic” comes from two Greek words: demos = “common people” and kratos = “judge or rule.” Our nation is governed by the common people. We have a voice in the government, and (at least on paper) every person has an opportunity to be elected to public office.

In our Twenty-First Century, American context, Paul’s words do not mean the same thing they meant to his original Roman audience. They had no voice and no opportunity. We do. We ought to interpret Paul’s words as meaning Christians should operate within the system of government in which we find ourselves. Christians should be involved in the political system to make our society an even better place to live.

Government Is Established by God.

Notice that in verse 1, Paul tells us that government has been “established by God.” I think it is important for us to make note of something Paul did not say. He did not say, “The government is always right.”

We can get a better picture of what Paul is saying by comparing his words to the history of Israel as found in the Old Testament. There was a time when the nation of Israel was united under one king. Only three Old Testament kings held this office—Saul, David and Solomon. After Solomon, the nation divided into two separate kingdoms—The Northern Kingdom of Israel and The Southern Kingdom of Judah. Judah always had a descendant of David to serve as her king. Israel had many different kings and lineages.

The history of the Divided Kingdom tells us that some of the kings were good kings and some were bad kings. The good kings were the ones who listened to the Lord and followed God’s ways. The bad kings were the kings who led the people to chase after false gods. In every story of the bad kings, we discover that God held those kings accountable for their actions.

This is what I believe Paul is teaching us in Romans 13. God has established the government as a way to maintain order and civilization in human societies. However, we will not always have a good king. The king, the president, the government, etc. has a God-given responsibility to take care of the society. And, when the king, the president or the government strays from its God-given task, God will hold those people accountable for their actions.

The God-given assignment for government is to meet the needs of the individuals who live in society together. But that is not always what happens in our American political system. I once heard it said that most men go to Washington to do good and remain in Washington to do well. In other words, men and women usually enter into politics for the right reasons—to take care of the people. But, most of them stay in politics to take care of themselves.

We ought to read Paul’s teaching as a word of comfort for Christians who live in any political system at any time in history. God is still in control. Even if the government strays away from its God-given responsibility, God is in control. God will take care of the bad kings, the bad presidents and the bad governments. God will hold them accountable.

Two Motives for Obeying Government.

Christians ought to obey the laws of the land in which they live. Of course, obedience is a very complicated subject. It is possible for us to do the right thing for less than perfect motives. There are basically two motivations for obedience: fear and conscience.

If you have ever been a parent, you know about motivating children to obey out of fear. This is the reason why people spank their children and ground their teenagers. Children and teenagers do the right thing, because they want to avoid the consequences. We also see this in the way our modern legal system operates. If a person breaks the law, there are consequences. They break the law and get arrested. If they are convicted of the crime, they serve time in jail. Some people do the right things in life, because they don’t want to go to jail.

Back in 1997 – 1998, I worked with a student organization at Sam Houston State University. The students were beginning a worship service on campus. They had a band of college students to lead worship and asked me to come and be their preacher. I drove from my home in Waco to Huntsville to preach at the service. The worship service started late in the evening, so I had to drive home late at night. The first night I was driving back to Waco, I drove through Mart, Texas after midnight. There was only one red-light in Mart. I was hoping they turned it off after midnight…but they didn’t. And guess what…It was red when I came through town. I was the only car on the road, and the light was red.

As I drove up to the red-light, I thought through my options. I was the only car on the road. No one would know if I ran the red-light. But, what if someone was watching? What if there was a Mart police officer watching me? I stopped at the light. When the light turned green, I drove through the intersection and looked off to my right. There he was. Just out of sight. A Mart police officer watching the light.

I did the right thing out of fear of getting a ticket. Paul says it is even better to do the right thing out of a sense of “oughtness.” This is the right thing to do, and I am doing it because I want to be right.

Support the Government.

The last thing Paul teaches us about Christian citizenship is that it is important for us to support the government. The most obvious way we support the government is by paying our share of taxes.

I am not here today to promote one tax plan over another tax plan—either Republican or Democrat. I don’t think Paul is promoting one over the other. Instead, I think Paul is telling us to support the government and the people who run the government. They have a God-given job to do. Their God-given job is to make living together in a society better than living as isolated individuals. If they abuse their God-given jobs to make themselves wealthy off of taxpayers, they will have to answer to God for that.

Paul’s words remind me of the words of Jesus in Mark 12: 17. When asked about paying taxes, Jesus said, “Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s and (give) to God what is God’s.”

We can interpret Jesus’ words as a reference to money. We should give God his portion of our income and give to the government its portion of our income.

We can also broaden Jesus’ words to refer to our ultimate allegiance. On one hand, it is completely appropriate to be proud of your country and to celebrate patriotism. On the other hand, our ultimate allegiance is reserved for God alone…Our worship is reserved for God alone.

We do not worship the President of the United States...We do not worship either the Republican Party or the Democratic Party...We do not worship our nation. Worship is reserved for God alone.

Conclusion.

There is another way we can support our government. We can support the government with our prayers.

I once heard a story about a person who was troubled by their pastor. They did not like the pastor and thought it was time for the pastor to leave. They got some advice from a trusted Christian friend who told them, "If you want a better pastor, pray for the one you have."

The same thing could be said about our nation. “If you want a better president (country, government), pray for the one you have.”

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[1] http://www.usconstitution.net/const.html