Romans Lesson 16

Final Lesson on the Book of Romans by Pastor Brian!

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:02

Welcome to Life in the Word, our verse-by-verse study of God's Word. This is Pastor Brian, and uh today I hope you'll join us as we continue our study in the book of Romans. Last week, Paul ended chapter 12 by exhorting his readers about their Christian lifestyle, how we live as Christian believers, and how we relate in that to unbelieving neighbors, employers, and others. And in Romans chapter 13, where we're at tonight, he discusses how Christians should relate to government. Remember, Paul's immediate audience was in Rome, the capital city of the mighty Roman Empire. Before the spread of Christianity, Judaism was a protective religion in the Roman Empire and thus protected by Roman law. However, those things could change at any time. As seen in AD 19, when all Jews were expelled by Rome by Emperor Tiberius, because they were proselytizing too much, and the Emperor was concerned this would infect Roman customs. Another expulsion happened in AD forty nine through fifty, for when Paul went to Corinth on his second missionary journey, there he met a Jew named Aquila, who had recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla because the Emperor Claudius had ordered all the Jews to leave Rome. According to Roman historians, the Jews were expelled because of continuous rioting by Jews over the name of a man Christus. This was likely a Latinized Christus or Messiah in Hebrew. Roman Jews had probably returned from Pentecost in Jerusalem and had become Christians because of the apostles' teaching there, and they brought their new belief of Jesus Christ as the Messiah to the Roman Jews, which not surprisingly brought great dissension. This caused riots that ultimately led to all Jews being exiled from Rome. And at this time, Christianity was now suspect as being seditious. The founder of this Christian sect, Jesus Christ, had been crucified under Roman law for leading a movement that challenged Caesar as ruler and God. Christians had been accused of defying Caesar. When Paul had visited Thessalonica a few years prior to the writing of this letter, his enemy stirred up trouble by going to the city officials and exclaiming, These men who have caused trouble all over the world have now come here. They're defying Caesar's decrees, saying there is another king, one called Jesus. And wherever the gospel was taken, it usually caused a spiritual upheaval because both pagan and Jewish systems were threatened by this new religion based on faith. And lastly, Christians were often blamed for social disturbances. Riots often ensued when the gospel was preached, not because the speakers, the Christians, stirred up the people, but because someone's power or livelihood was affected when people began to follow Christ and reject the local pagan idols. So here Paul urges believers to be careful in their relationship with the governing authorities. There would be enough persecution without bringing more on themselves by rebelling against the government authorities who could just as well serve them. So as we begin chapter 13, let me share a couple, three things about the institutions that God has ordained for human society. And there's three of them. In order, the first institution that was ordained was the family in Genesis chapter 2. God established a family immediately following the creation of the universe, and the family is the building block of any functioning civilization. In Genesis 2.24, God said, Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined or united with his wife, and they shall become one flesh. So the family was the first institution that God ordained. And I'll skip the second because we're going to come back. That's our topic tonight. Number three, he established the church. The New Testament church was established with Jesus Christ as the cornerstone. It describes, in Ephesians 2.20, it describes the church as being built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone. So the church is an institution that God has ordained for human society that is now spread across the world. And now back to number two that we'll look at tonight, and we'll see that after the worldwide flood, God established civil government. Shortly after Noah and his family disembark from the ark, the first responsibility given to civil government is found in Genesis 9.6, which says, Whoever sheds the blood of man by man shall his blood be shed. For God made man in his own image. This is the first civil law established for the protection of its citizens, beginning with capital punishment for anyone who violated the fundamental right of life as a gift from God. So that's when we see civil authority being handed out after Noah had disembarked the Ark. Now, tonight we're going to be looking at where Paul writes about the role of government and our responsibility towards governing authorities. And I'm going to do my best to answer four questions tonight in the course of our study. Question number one, what does the Bible say is the primary role of government? Number two, why should we submit to the governing authorities? Number three, when is it okay to disobey governing authorities? And number four, how did the Bible shape the United States government? In the first eleven chapters of Roman, it was highly doctrinal. It's a lot about justification, sanctification, redemption, regeneration, and glorification. Now Paul shifts his focus, and that began last week in chapter twelve. And the last chapters, last five chapters, twelve through sixteen, are going to be like that, are more practical for revealing how Christians should live their lives in this world. And this is a continuation of some of Paul's practical counsel to us. So why do we need to spend time studying about this? Why do we need to learn about government from the Bible? Well, because we have a moral obligation to government, and we need to understand that God's design behind the government and what our responsibility is to that. Paul wants his readers to understand the role of government and our response. So let's begin reading the first seven verses of Romans chapter 13. Verse one, everyone must submit to governing authorities, for all authority comes from God. And those in positions of authority have been placed there by God. So Paul tells his readers to submit. I don't know what submit means to you, but I look at it as it means cooperation, particularly in this case, cooperation with the government, a loyalty, and a willingness to obey. These are wise words to the small group of believers living in this massive structure of the Roman Empire. Verse two. So anyone who rebels against authorities rebelling against God what God has instituted, and they will be punished. Would you like to live without fear of the authorities? Do what is right and they will honor you. The authorities are God's servants sent for your good, but if you are doing wrong, of course you should be afraid, for they have the power to punish you. They are God's servants sent for the very purpose of punishing those who do what is wrong. Verse five. So you must submit to them not only to avoid punishment, but also to keep a clear conscience. Six, pay your taxes too, for these same reasons, for government workers need to be paid. They are serving God in what they do. And verse seven, give to everyone what you owe them. Pay your taxes and government fees to those who collect them, and give respect and honor to those who are in authority. So let me pray here. Father, we pray that you would give us greater understanding of the importance of government and our responsibility to it. So shape our thinking into your word, and we thank you, Lord, for this time you've given us in Jesus' name. Amen. Now, despite the bad rap that politicians often get, mostly deservingly, I want you to notice that if you haven't already done so, that Paul not once, not twice, but three times refers to government leaders as servants in those first seven verses, those who are to serve God. Some translations use the word ministers. Leaders in government are actually God's ministers. And because God has established government as one of the institutions for a human society, those leaders, whether it's a king, a prime minister, or a president, they are God's servants. Someone that God uses for his purpose and for the people's overall benefit. Now you might not think of a political leader to be God's vessel, God's servant that he uses for the overall benefit of people, especially if you don't vote for that person or you don't like that person's policies. But bear in mind that when you look at the Bible, God often used people we would never have voted for or agreed with to govern nations. Because God had a purpose in that. God used some pagan leaders like Pharaoh, King Nebuchadnezzar, King Darius, and several others. I mean, look how God used sinful King Saul. How about King Solomon? As wise as he was, he did some very foolish things, one of which was introducing child sacrifice to the country because he was influenced by one of his pagan wives that he married. So like Saul and Solomon, God used many of the kings of Judah and Israel who were horrible, terrible men that subjected great pain and suffering on the Jewish people. And God primarily used these type men and women for two reasons. Sometimes it was for discipline. In their suffering, the people would then be kind of groan and start to cry out for the true and living God, as we saw many times. Secondly, God allowed these various leaders in order to spawn a revival in the land. In our days, we see this in these countries like China, North Korea, Pakistan, India, Eritrea, Iran, and many other nations where Christianity is illegal. But yet God has placed these leaders there that have caused this illegal Christianity to be illegal and Bibles to be confiscated so that the churches will grow. I mean, the more these leaders of many nations attempt to crush Christianity, the more it grows. That's how God often uses these evil governments to grow his church. And here's the truth you need to know. When a church is attacked and destroyed, more churches will rise up. For every believer that is murdered, bring several more people to saving faith in Christ. Every evil the devil uses to destroy the church, God turns around for good. So let's go on here. Sorry, I'm just a little lost in my papers here. So, God uses both good and bad leaders in government to fulfill his plans and purpose. So we must make room for the providential hand of God to work in our national leaders. In Daniel 2.21, it says that God raises up kings and he disposes them. He exalts them and then he removes them. Daniel 2.21 makes room for the fact that God is prudent providentially orchestrating government leaders for the overall benefit of the people, whether again it is to move them to a place where they're crying out for God because they've neglected God or it spawns revival in the land. So we don't always know what God is up to, but we must recognize that no authority is given or put in place except that which God has established. He's instituted government as part of three main institutions to help with human society. And Paul says we have an obligation, therefore, to respect authority, pay taxes where taxes are due, and to have and to give honor to the kings or presidents, and to be good citizens. And this is incumbent upon us as Christians. Christians should be the best citizens. Now that doesn't mean we always agree with everything, okay? You have to remember Paul is writing here in the first century AD. This is the Roman Empire, and the Roman leader during this time was the Roman Emperor Nero. Nero was no friend of Christians. Quite the opposite. Nero, Nero, history records, would dip Christians alive in hot tar and light them up to be human torches in his garden. So as Paul is writing this letter about God's ministers, he's writing about Nero himself. Nero would be the one seven years later who would actually have Paul executed. He would cut Paul's head off, and yet still Paul writes about this guy among all leaders as one of God's servants. He's God's minister. I mean, that's very challenging, isn't it? I mean, there has to be an understanding. An understanding as Christians that God is supremely on his throne. He is sovereign. He's in control of all things. He's the one that we obey first and foremost. But he uses human leaders that we don't even agree with or want anything to do with possibly sometime to accomplish his purpose. So how do we respond to our leaders? You don't have to like the government leaders. I don't know that Paul necessarily liked Nero, but nevertheless, God can still use a government leader because of them or in spite of them for some overall purpose. So here are the four questions I was going to answer. First, what does the Bible say is the primary role of government? And before we answer that specific question, let me share this. The preamble to the United States Constitution reads in part as follows We the people of the United States of America to form a more perfect union, establish justice, ensure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity. So in general, the preamble to the United States Constitution defines the primary role of our government, empowered only by the Constitution, to be the promotion and protection of five main things. In summarizing it, these are justice, peace, safety, liberty, and the overall general welfare of its citizens. But when you look at a biblical definition for the role of government, the Bible just narrows it down to two core missions. And you can see those, the first one in chapter 13 at verse 3, to cultivate the good. For the authorities do not strike fear in people who are doing right, but those who are doing wrong. So would you like to live without fear of the authorities? Do what is right, and they will honor you. To cultivate the good. That's the responsibility of government, to maintain to maintain a healthy society. And number two is found in verse four, to punish the evil. Look at verse four. The authorities are God's servants sent for your good. But if you are doing wrong, you should be afraid, for they have the power to punish you. They are God's servants sent for the very purpose of punishing those who do wrong. So Paul tells us that the two main responsibilities of government are to cultivate the good and punish the evil. I mean, the government serves as guardrails for society. And when government properly fulfills its duty to cultivate the good and punish the evil, it helps to maintain a free, prosperous, and orderly society. Thus, that's why it is important that we have this privilege of living in this country, the United States. That's why we need to exercise the vote very wisely, and we need to vote for men and women who most align with our biblical values. And I say most closely because Jesus is never on the ballot. So there will be people that you don't agree with, but you're like, okay, who most closely aligns with some of our biblical values? So that if we vote men and women into office who most closely share our biblical values, then it will go a long way to producing the policies and procedures that cultivate the good and punish the evil in the society. And you know what happens when government neglects God? We're seeing it more and more increasingly, aren't we? Who then becomes the moral authority? And what ends up happening often is politicians just end up legislating or enacting certain procedures based on whatever the latest wind is, whatever the current majority thinks. And then they give themselves over to whatever the masses believe and whatever the winds say. Instead, we should be guided by a standard that is unchanging, which is the truth of the Lord and his word. When you abandon that, now it becomes very subjective morality. There's no objective truth when we deny God's word. The man becomes his own authority, and we're seeing much, much, much of this happening in our society and in our world today. Ideally, ideally, government should be guided by God and his word. And thus we have the ability as Christians to exercise this wonderful freedom of voting. We must do our part to vote, to vote our values, and let our biblical worldview be known through the ballot box. And recent studies by two well-known Christian organizations have revealed biblical worldview appears to be lacking in the church. One study stated that only 4% of Christians has a biblical worldview, and the other study found that 10% of Christians have a biblical worldview. So what is a biblical worldview? Well, a biblical worldview is a framework for understanding reality, interpreting all of life, like morality, money, politics, and relationships through the lens of scripture rather than culture. It's based on the belief that God's word, not human opinion, is the ultimate truth. And it's not limited to spiritual topics, but applies to every area of life, including work, education, and entertainment. It's making decisions based on the beliefs that the Bible is the infallible word of God. It acts as a lens through which individuals view God, view humanity and creation, centered on the narrative of creation, the fall, redemption, and restoration. So how do you develop a biblical worldview? Well, first you must recognize God as the sovereign creator of all things and understand that humans are made in his image with a specific purpose. Developing a biblical worldview is a long-term process of aligning your internal belief system with God's word so that scripture becomes the lens through which you interpret every aspect of life. I mean, it's not a quick transformation at all, but a renewing of the mind that requires consistent study, reflection, and practical application to God's word. Developing a biblical worldview involves moving from being a hearer of the word to a doer, transforming one's mind to discern God's will. Last week in lesson 12, verse 2 said, Don't copy the behaviors and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God's will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect. Friends, we need to soak our minds. We need to saturate our minds with the Word of God and then live it out, put it into practice in our daily lives. So that was question number one. Number two, why should we submit to government authority? And the short answer is because there will be consequences if we don't. Verse 4 again. They are God's servants sent for the very purpose of punishing those who do what is wrong. And if we decide, you know, I'm not gonna pay my taxes, which some very notable people in our country have done. Anyway, if you're caught, you're gonna have a penalty. You're gonna potentially go to jail. And so we have to understand that there are consequences if you do not obey the government. There are consequences to pay, and the Bible tells us that we have an obligation to obey the governing authorities. I don't like paying taxes, but I do it. It is, to be honest, one small privilege of living in a great country like this. It helps funds our military and helps to take care of some of the general welfare of our society. Nobody likes to take pay taxes, but if you break the law, there's going to be consequences. Peter echoes Paul in 1 Peter 2, verse 13. For the Lord's sake, submit to all human authority, whether the king as head of state or the officials he has appointed, for the king has sent them to punish those who do wrong and honor those who do what is right. It is God's will that your honorable lives should silence those ignorant people who make foolish accusations against you, for you are free. Yet you are God's slaves. So don't use your freedom as an excuse to do evil. Respect everyone and love the family of believers. Fear God and respect the king. That was that that's that was Peter. So there is an honor that is due governing authorities, especially as Christians, because we respect the king, the president, the whoever. Titus said the same thing. Paul in his letter to Titus, Titus chapter 3, verse 1, remind the believers to submit to the government and its officers. They should be obedient, always ready to do what is good. They must not slander anyone and must avoid quarrels quarreling. Instead, they should be gentle and show true humility to everyone. But then the question is, okay, we have a moral duty, especially as Christians, to obey governing authorities. But is the government always right? And the answer is no, and that brings us to question number three. When is it okay to disobey governing authorities? Well, whenever the higher law of God conflicts with the lower law of man, or whenever your conscience would be violated if you had to obey civil authorities, then the answer is that you are to disobey in order to honor God supremely, who is higher than any earthly king, any earthly president, or any earthly government. Hopefully those will be rare cases. Hopefully, but we are not only free to disobey whenever man's laws contradict the higher law of God or our conscience as follows of Jesus Christ, but to me we are to be obligated to disobey if it contradicts God's word. I'm not advocating for anarchy. I'm simply saying that God does not expect us to comply with laws that either violate God's word or our conscience as followers of Jesus Christ. In those cases where God's word or one's conscience is violated, you not only have the freedom to disobey, but you have the moral duty to exercise civil disobedience. So let me give you three quick examples from the Bible when this happened. One is Exodus chapter 1. Pharaoh is the king, the most powerful man on the planet at the time, and he gave an edict that all baby Hebrew boys upon their delivery were to be murdered because Pharaoh was trying to control the Hebrew slave population. He saw that it was potentially getting out of hand and fear the Hebrews could overpower the Egyptians. And so Pharaoh gave this order to the Hebrew midwives. They were to kill any baby they deliver that was a boy. But the Hebrew midwives, the Bible says, disobeyed Pharaoh's command because that's murder. These women chose to obey the higher order of God. And we see the same thing as we go through Daniel. Daniel and Lion, he disobeyed the king made uh, you know, and Shadrach, Meshach, and Abedno, all of them were to bow down to Nebuchadnezzar to his statue, and they said, No, we have one God. And they all had a consequence to pay, but God rescued from those consequences. And in Acts chapter 5 is another example of this. Peter and John were out preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ in the public square. The government said, You're not going to do any of that because we don't believe that Jesus is the Messiah. So shut your mouths and stop preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ. Well, they wouldn't because they had a mandate from the Lord to go out into all the world and make disciples of all men. So they're just fulfilling God's mandate, and the government tries to shut them down. So they're thrown into jail, later released in Acts 5.29. But Peter said we ought to obey God rather than man. Like we have a moral duty to obey God that's higher than any human authority. So there are many, many times when civil disobedience is necessary, and we see much of it in the Bible. And we'll see this going all over the world today. As I said earlier, there are many nations where the gospel of Jesus Christ is not allowed. But many are preaching it and it's costing them. Many are imprisoned in horrible conditions, and many others have been killed for their disobedience for their obedience to God's word. You know, a few years ago, uh when we were at the height of the COVID and all the mandates were now about shutting the churches down. Nobody really knew how severe this was, but out of abundance of caution, our church, like many others, shut down. And you remember the phrase the government was using slow the curve. We didn't know what it was all entailed since there hadn't been an epidemic or pandemic since 1918. So, okay, we'll close our doors, we'll do our part to slow the curve. So we shut down for a few weeks and then we began to notice, hey, wait a minute, I can still go to Home Depot. Home Depot's still open. The liquor stores are open, abortion clinics are open. Strips strips clubs are still open. The government considered them all essential so they could remain open. And so all of a sudden we began to ask, why isn't the church still open? Then finally, President Trump issued a statement that churches were essential. So we also saw a CD report that 75% of young adults ages 18 to 29 years of age were having suicidal ideals, ideas. They couldn't stand the idol isolation. That seemed more detrimental than the virus itself. So we opened our doors back up through and even though local government authorities told us not to, and we took several precautions to not spread the virus, and we started live streaming those who felt it aborted to stay home. Many churches around the country, especially in California, because of that, are still facing lawsuits over their opening of their doors during COVID, which defy the governor's orders. One church in California was fined two and a half million dollars. Their case is up before the Supreme Court this month. So Hebrews 10.25 says, let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another, especially now that the day of his return is drawing near. Many churches came together because of God's word was higher authority than what the government was saying. So let's get to the last question. How did the Bible shape the United States government? And before we answer that, you need to find this I found it interesting, and I hope you do, that a couple of University of Houston professors a few years ago reviewed 15,000 writings of the 55 of our founding fathers. You can look this up on Google, and out of the 15,000 writings that they inspected, they determined that 3,154 of those writings had a specific, significant impact on our Constitution. And of those 3,154 writings, the Bible was quoted 16 times more than any other source. 94% of the quotes were based on the Bible. 34 came directly out of the Bible, and the other 60% used the Bible to form their opinions. Example, the idea of three branches of government originated with John Locke in his article, Two Treaties of Government. The founding fathers substantiated the idea of three branches of government from Isaiah 33 22. And here it is. For the Lord is our judge, judicial, our lawgiver, legislative, and our king executive. He will care for us and save us. Isaiah 33.2 was the basis for our founding fathers to decide on the three branches of government. Articles 1, 2, and 3 of the Constitution provide for the legislative, executive, and judicial branches, and then they said that each branch must have separate powers. Why? Well, here's the reason why. They based that answer on Jeremiah 17, 9 that says, the human heart is the most deceitful of all things and desperately wicked. Who knows how bad it is? See, our founding fathers knew they needed to have checks and balances because the human heart is evil. That's when the separation of powers between the three branches of government came from. And do you know where the idea came to give tax exemption to church? The most it might surprise you. It came from Ezra chapter 7, verse 24 that says, I also decree that no priest, Levite, singer, gatekeeper, temple servant, or other working worker in this temple of God will be required to pay tribute, custom, or tolls of any kind. And one last quick one, then there's many, but lastly, the last one I'll share with you is the natural-born citizen to be the president of the United States came out of Deuteronomy 17, 15. Be sure to select as king the man the Lord your God chooses. You must appoint a fellow Israelite. He may not be a foreigner. Listen, the Bible has shaped the United States government, hasn't it? It did. For the first time, man was to be a self-governing government and was not to be of a dictator. It was to be a safeguard for society to promote the good and punish the wrong. We are to be a self-governing people, but how can you be a self-governing people without the Lord? Which is why John Adams, the second president of the United States, said the Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other. Without the moral authority of God, without people being self-gun governed under the moral authority of God, you have chaos. And we're seeing much, much more of this today, aren't we? I mean, listening to the lies, the hate, the accusations coming out of our government leaders, I feel like we're nearing a civil war sometimes because God is totally left out. Few of our leaders believe in God. So I'm going to leave you with this tonight. We're done with this. We're going to finish out this part of chapter 13. I want you to spend some time praying for our leaders. We're called to pray for them. We're called to encourage them. We're called to support them. Pray that they'll come to know the Lord. So we're done for now. We're going to be taking a break. I'm going to be taking a break and we'll come back in August 5th. And August 5th, I'll be teaching a lesson. We'll be going through and finishing the chapter 13 of Romans. Then we'll go on for the next three or four weeks and finish Romans. And after that, we'll be going into the book of Mark, probably starting around next September. So while we're away, I hope you have a wonderful summer. Thank you for joining us. And we hope you'll be back with us in August. Blessings.