Grace to you and peace from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
Ah, yes – the great American holiday, July 4, celebrated
with fireworks, picnics, hot-dog eating contests, and homemade ice cream. Veterans
will walk or ride with actively serving military personnel along the parade
route. Someone will sing “The Star Spangled Banner.” Politicians will give
speeches that sound like sermons and pastors will deliver sermons that sound
more like political speeches. Both will invoke God’s name and supposed favor
for their cause while implying His displeasure at the other side. They will
close partly praying, partly boasting, “God bless America.”
This is not one of those sermons. And for the next fifteen
minutes or so, I ask that you be neither the group that cheers nor sneers, but
instead, listen to the Word of the Lord and what it says for us as Christians
who are in, yet not of, this world. Perhaps you will agree; perhaps you will be
challenged. I pray the Holy Spirit will change your opinion of how to act and
interact as Christians who are also citizens.
St. Paul writes in Romans 13, “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. Therefore, whoever resists the
authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur
judgement. 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, 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. Therefore, one
must be in subjection not only to avoid God’s wrath but also for the sake of
conscience. For because of this you also pay taxes, for the authorities are
ministers of God attending to this very thing. Pay to all what is owed: 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 says governmental authority is a gift of God. Luther agreed
and placed government under the category of the 4th commandment, an
extension of the parental vocation by way of being God’s representative. Thus,
from the top floor of the White House to the humblest civil servants, all are
gifts. God places all authority as His representative on earth for the purpose
of good order.
Whether you like or dislike a particular government official
or office, and whether or not a politician believes it, understands it, or
recognizes it, they are God’s servant and representative. In our country, God
even uses the American voter. Take heart; fear not. He is God; I assure you, He
is in control. And, He does care how
government is run – it is His representative. He desires that it governs
fairly, in justice, for good order, with eyes toward the weakest and most
feeble. He desires that officials and citizens show love, mercy and compassion
to each other in word and action. He uses government so that First Article
blessings, such as protection and daily bread, can be administered. What God does not care about is who resides at
1600 Pennsylvania Ave, or the governor’s mansion, or the mayor’s seat. He
doesn’t care who has the majority in the county commissioners court or if there
are more donkeys or elephants in Congress. He uses whom He will.
You might be shaking your head and ready to argue this. That
can’t be true; God surely doesn’t want so & so in office. Remember: Paul
wrote Romans late in the first century. At that time, the Roman Empire was
ruled by Nero, one of the worst of all Roman emperors. He was not just a
heathen; he was wicked. He eagerly sought out Christians, persecuting them by
the hundreds. The gruesome death of Christians was a game, a sport to him. The
Romans considered him to be a god. Yet, it’s as if Paul is saying, “Even this
evil man who does wicked things to his countrymen and slaughters Christians for
sport is an instrument of God.”
This does raise the question of how and why God would use
someone so evil and unfaithful to be His instrument to represent Him. Why would
God allow a man like Nero, or Hitler, or Pol Pot, or the leader of ISIS to be
in control? It’s a question whose answer is largely hidden from us and we dare
not answer where the Scriptures are silent. We know this is true: “Those who
abuse their God-given authority…will come under the judgement of God,” if not
in this lifetime, in the life that is to come. (ROMANS, Middendorf, 1300n53).
It is also true that God is at work even when hidden behind someone who is, or
who appears to be, wicked and opposed to God. Under Nero’s persecution, the
church scattered, taking and spreading the Good News of Jesus with them. In the
Old Testament, Esther’s husband, King Cyrus, who was Persian, rescued Esther’s
fellow Judean countrymen from destruction. Daniel told King Nebuchadnezzar, who
vacillated back and forth in faithfulness, “The Most High rules the kingdom of
men and gives it to whom He will,” (Dan. 4:25). When He was on trial, Jesus told
Pilate “You would have no authority against me at all unless it had been given
you from above,” (Jn 19:11). We must leave the question with this: “it’s not
the wickedness of individual rulers that comes from God, but the establishment
of the ruling power itself,” (ROMANS, Middendorf, 1299n50). In a sense, it’s
distinguishing the office from the office-holder, but even then, God works
through that person in the office.
Regardless, all people – and especially Christians – are
called to be subject to, or to submit themselves to the authorities. When it’s
our party, our candidate, that’s easy (or at least easier) to do; when we
disagree, it’s much more difficult. Conventional wisdom says line up with signs
up! Protest! Burn, loot and plunder to show our displeasure! Spread ugly
stories on social media, call them names, make politics personal. Defy those in
authority, urge unrest, and dare them to arrest you until you get what you
want.
This is the way the world operates, not how you are called
to live as people of God in the world. There is much to repent of regarding out
attitude towards the government. With our words, our actions, our social media
posts, with the very thoughts in our hearts and minds, we sin against these men
and women whom God places in authority for His purpose. We hold anger and
hatred in our hearts. We seek to ruin reputations. It is easy, and it is
tempting to jump in – especially in the relative anonymity of social media. We
cast aspersions on those whom we don’t like. We lust for power, greater wealth, and whatever will get us more of each. We covet what
we don’t have. We carry those thoughts from an official or a party to those who
support him or her. We justify ourselves: it’s just words; not a big deal.
Besides the other side is doing it worse than me. We see people as enemies. How
many relationships have been destroyed, how many families have been separated
because of political disagreements? Jesus warns that it is as much a sin to do
that as it is to assault the man or woman when He says if you call a man
“fool,” you are guilty of murder.
More than that, we sin against God Himself. Ours is a sin of
idolatry, gross idolatry in line with ancient Israel. A god is anything in
which we place our fear, love and trust, and for all too many, god is the trinity of the Constitution, the Declaration of Independence and the Dollar, and our candidate, our politician, our party is its anointed savior. When we do
speak of God, it is more of a nationalistic deism that we confess rather than the
Triune God of the Christian faith. We misuse God’s name in pretending to speak
for what He approves or disapproves.
Your submission to their authority doesn’t depend on
opinion, agreement, party affiliation, or anything else. There are no
qualifications given or exceptions made. If you choose to stand against the
authorities, you also chose to stand against God. You follow the law of the
land, because those laws are established through the authority of God. IF you
don’t like the laws, the policies, the decisions of the government, then follow
the law of the land in how to change those rules. Yet do it with the grace and
compassion of a man like Paul who well understood what it is to suffer under
the laws of the land for the sake of Jesus.
It is interesting that God used His own chosen, earthly
representative to be the instrument by which His Son was sacrificed. The Jewish
leaders, Pilate, the judicial system – all were guilty of murder of an innocent
Man who humbled Himself to be born under the Law of God and man. Jesus did not
argue; He did not call down an angelic swat team to rescue Him; He did not
summon the wrath of God to stop a corrupt political process. Instead, He prayed
for the forgiveness of those who killed him. He prayed for the forgiveness of
those whose sins He carried. He died for those who loved Him and stood at the
foot of the cross weeping, and He died for the people who denied Him and mocked
Him even to His dying breath.
Paul is deliberate and careful in his word choice. To be subject
to, or to submit to is not the same thing as blind conformity and total
obedience in every instance. The early
church knew that there will be times that we must obey God rather than man
(Acts 5:29).
There will be times that the Church, the body of Christ, may
choose to be noncompliant and directly disobey human authorities when they go
against God and His Word. For the last 50 years, Christians chose to protest laws
and the services who provided life-ending abortion services. Christians did so,
knowing that various civil charges could be brought against them. Laity and
pastors received a criminal record. Yet, their conscience told them that they
must stand up for life and the Word of God regarding the sanctity of human life
and against the rules and laws who said otherwise. But, even in their protests,
they were usually gentle, compassionate, and eager to share the love of Jesus
with those who needed to hear of His grace. Another example: some countries
have laws that make preaching or teaching against homosexuality and the LGBTQ
lifestyle to be a hate crime. Lutheran pastors in Finland and Canada have been
arrested and charged for breaking the law in their preaching. I will not be
surprised if such a law happens here, eventually. If it does, clergy and
congregations will have to make the difficult choice – do we obey God and His
Word and proclaim sin as sin, or do we go along and get along for the sake of
careers and tax benefits? Even so, it remains that we are subject to the
temporal governmental authority, even if that involves punishment for the
stance the Church must take.
“Neither America, nor democracy, nor capitalism, nor
socialism, nor military might, nor diplomacy can even come close to beginning
to solve the problems that exist in this world. Even in America, without
Christ, we are without hope. And really, what a wonderful message of joy that
is. It is not man that will change the world, but Christ alone, for in the end,
the world cannot be changed; it is fully and completely at enmity with God.” (Lutherans for Life Facebook post, July 3, 2022)
So, what are we to do? Pray for them. Not about them,
lamenting and complaining to God, but for them, carrying their names and
offices to the ears of the Almighty. St. Paul wrote to Timothy, “I urge that
supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all
people, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a
peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way. This is good, and it
is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all people to be saved
and to come to the knowledge of the truth.”
Again, notice – Paul doesn’t say pray for those whom you
like. Without qualification, pray for all…in high positions. Pray for their
wisdom to make Godly decisions, their compassion for the weak, their strength
of character. Pray that they stand against temptation for arrogance and resist
corruption. Pray that they listen and hear. Pray that they understand their
authority comes from God and that they are His agents. Pray that they defend
the innocent and seek appropriate justice against those who harm others. Pray
they are led to repentance for what they do wrong, knowingly or
unintentionally. Pray they govern with humility. Pray for fellow citizens, that
they see officials as God’s representatives. Pray that selfish idealism ceases.
Pray that people stop seeing government as their god. And pray that you may be
a witness to Christ – His Word, His compassion, and His love in a world that is
evermore without truth, without mercy, and without grace. Pray that others see
Christ in what you say and do, that they may too may be saved and know what
true freedom is: eternal salvation through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.
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