Christians and Government Part 4

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Introduction

We have been considering for the last month how the Christian ought to behave toward the government. Today we wrap up this section of Scripture with some additional practical directives from Paul that help us orient our attitude correctly toward the civil authorities that have been placed over us.

To begin this morning, let’s summarize where we have been.

Paul begins his argument with a straight forward command: everyone is to be in subjection to the governing authorities. We might define subjection as a humble, deferential respect for those who outrank us in the civil sphere.

Paul then gives a two-fold theological reason for this: there is no authority except from God, and those which exist have been appointed by God. We saw this play out in the narrative of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon in the books of Jeremiah and Daniel. Nebuchadnezzar rose and fell at the command of God, and likewise all rulers, whether Nero in Paul’s day or Joe Biden and Gavin Newsom in our time, also rise and fall like Nebuchadnezzar at the command of God. As RC Sproul said, God casts the final vote in every election. He is sovereign over the rise and fall of rulers and will always accomplish His good purpose in every election, every coup, every revolution, and every change of power.

As we begin, there’s an important lesson for us there. Some of younger folks in this room will, I believe, witness the fall of the United States of America as we know it. That’s where the rubber meets the road for us, at least according to Paul. Even if the US becomes a Chinese or Russian colony in the next ten years, God is still sovereign and God is still good, and that stone that fell from heaven in Daniel 3 and destroyed all the earthly kingdoms and covered the whole earth, yeah, that kingdom is still spreading and still advancing and cannot and will not be stopped until it indeed covers the whole earth.

What then are the ethical implications of this theological reality? Paul tells us in verse 2: opposing civil authorities on earth is to oppose God’s ordinance, and opposition of that nature will receive condemnation. The language here is akin to that of Psalm 2. Our raging and vain plotting against the government is no better than the government’s raging and vain plotting against God Himself. God forbid that we be found raging and plotting in vain against the rulers that He has ordained in His providence to preside over us.

Paul then gives a logical reason to obey the command based on the purpose for which God has instituted and provided governments: to restrain evil behavior and promote or reward good behavior.

The practical implication is this: if you live your life in serious pursuit of the commands of Romans 12:14-21 you will have no need to fear the government.

Romans 12:14–21 LSB

Bless those who persecute you; bless, and do not curse. Rejoice with those who rejoice; weep with those who weep, by being of the same mind toward one another, not being haughty in mind, but associating with the humble. Do not be wise in your own mind. Never paying back evil for evil to anyone, respecting what is good in the sight of all men, if possible, so far as it depends on you, being at peace with all men, never taking your own revenge, beloved—instead leave room for the wrath of God. For it is written, “VENGEANCE IS MINE, I WILL REPAY,” says the Lord. “BUT IF YOUR ENEMY IS HUNGRY, FEED HIM, AND IF HE IS THIRSTY, GIVE HIM A DRINK; FOR IN SO DOING YOU WILL HEAP BURNING COALS ON HIS HEAD.” Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

If you don’t do these things, however, the government has the God-given right to execute justice by the sword. There’s an argument here for capital punishment but that’s an argument for a different time and place.

Paul summarizes in verse 5: it is necessary to be in subjection, for the sake of conscience, for the sake of wrath, and ultimately for the sake of God Himself.

So now we arrive at verses 6 and 7, where we will be spending our time today as Paul opens up a final implication of truth that God appoints rulers to their posts: paying taxes.

Pay Taxes

This is a tough one. Raise your hand if you like paying taxes. Nobody really likes paying taxes. Nobody really likes looking at the gross to net ratio on their paystub. Yet this is what Paul commands us to do.

Christians are to be model citizens in this respect. Christians should never be found guilty of tax evasion, tax fraud, or any other type of crime that fails to render unto Caesar that which is Caesar’s.

The Epistle to the Romans B. The Civil Magistrate (13:1–7)

If the magistrate is to perform the ministry which is given him of God, he must have the material means for the discharge of his labours. Hence the payment of tribute is not a tyrannical imposition but the necessary and proper participation on the part of subjects in the support of government.

The Roman historian Suetonius, who wrote two volumes on the lives of the Caesars, made note that during the reign of Nero particularly, it was common to hear complaints regarding taxes and those who collected them. Paul speaks directly into their cultural reality, and also to ours, by reminding Christians that to be a good, peaceful, above-reproach citizen, is to willingly pay taxes as determined by the ruling officials, and to likewise respect and honor those who are assigned to collect them.

Why are we to pay taxes? Paul gives two reasons:

Rulers are servants of God

Paul appeals back to his original argument. Taxes are to be paid because these rulers are servants, leitourgioi, of God. To support government by tax dollars is to support the work of God that He is accomplishing through them.

John Murray says this:

The Epistle to the Romans B. The Civil Magistrate (13:1–7)

John Murray goes on to explain that the use of this terminology of servanthood brings dignity to the office of ruler, and that when the Christian obediently and joyfully submits to God by paying taxes, it is a form of worship, and that it can be rightly said that those who are given jurisdiction and rule in the civil sphere are worship leaders. That is a unique and quite radical way to conceive of the role of the IRS in our own day, but nevertheless is exactly what Paul is implying by using this word.

For Paul, paying taxes is part and parcel of our whole-life worship of God, and we should do so with joy.

This is the first reason we ought to pay taxes: rulers are God’s servants. He gives a second reason also: they devote themselves to this very thing.

Rulers are devoted to serving God through ruling well

Paul makes an interesting linguistic connection here. He actually is equating paying taxes to supporting the ministry of the government with giving financially to the church to support the ministry of the gospel.

The language here is remarkably similar to that of 1 Ti 5:17-18

1 Timothy 5:17–18 LSB

The elders who lead well are to be considered worthy of double honor, especially those who labor at preaching the word and teaching. For the Scripture says, “YOU SHALL NOT MUZZLE THE OX WHILE IT IS THRESHING,” and “THE LABORER IS WORTHY OF HIS WAGES.”

and 1 Cor 9:9-11

1 Corinthians 9:9–11 LSB

For it is written in the Law of Moses, “YOU SHALL NOT MUZZLE THE OX WHILE IT IS THRESHING.” Is God merely concerned about oxen? Or is He speaking altogether for our sake? Yes, for our sake it was written, because the plowman ought to plow in hope, and the thresher to thresh in hope of sharing the crops. If we sowed spiritual things in you, is it too much if we reap material things from you?

The Christian ought to consider their responsibility to pay taxes in the same realm and plane as their responsibility to tithe and provide financial support to their local church.

Just as a good, faithful, and responsible churchman gives, so also a good, faithful, and responsible citizen gives as well.

Render Dues

Verses 7 gives us a second command from Paul, connected to the first and in a way springing forth from it, but larger, more general, and more widely applicable to all people and all situations.

Simply put, we are to render whatever is due, to whoever it is due. Based on the theological reality that all rule and authority is derived from God Himself, and indeed given by Him, our responsibility to act in reverential fear and honor toward those authorities.

John Calvin says:

Commentary on the Epistle of Paul the Apostle to the Romans Chapter 13

we ought to obey kings and governors, whoever they may be, not because we are constrained, but because it is a service acceptable to God; for he will have them not only to be feared, but also honoured by a voluntary respect.

We see that Paul is connecting these commands regarding the government back into his original command back at the beginning of chapter 12: we are to present our whole selves as a living sacrifice to God in worship.

God has ordained authority, He has invested His own authority in it, and we are responsible to honor them for God’s sake.

Principles

There are a number of principles here that I wish to draw out as we conclude our time together in this study of the Christian’s relationship to government.

Governments have God-ordained responsibilities

Paul clearly teaches here that God has designated and laid out in his moral will what governments are to do. The list is actually rather short: restrain evil using the death penalty. How do we delineate what is evil? It’s easy: use the second table of the ten commandments. Punish murder. Punish adultery. Punish theft. Put restraints in place to prevent these evils from happening, and leverage the power of the sword to do so.

It would seem that God is a big believer in “small government.” For Paul, an ideal government system is non-interventionary, and basically exists to leverage justice and the threat of justice to curb evil so that humans can flourish.

Philipp Melancthon, Martin Luther’s protege, said this:

Romans 9–16: New Testament, Volume 8 13:6–7 Pay What You Owe

Here is also an important word about the diligence that is required of magistrates. For Paul says, “They attend diligently to this,” that is, to the service of God, that is, to the propagation of true worship and to the defense of discipline and peace, which are divine benefits. And diligent attendance is a great effort of the mind, which does not relax its care, vigilance and labor, even as it is most true that government is a burden to which no human wisdom can be equal. Nevertheless diligence, which he here calls care, is required of magistrates, which God helping is successful.

Christians have God-ordained responsibilities to the government

Whether we like it or not, all Christians have a responsibility to the government, and that responsibility is this: be a good, peaceable, decent citizen, pay your taxes, and have an attitude of honor and respect toward the governing authorities, even when and perhaps especially when they are evil, and not fulfilling their God-ordained responsibilities they way they should be.

Practices

I want to summarize now what I believe the Christian’s responsibilities are to the government in a practical way. How do we take these truths to our own lives?

Pay your taxes

This one is easy, straight out of the text today. You might be tempted to find loopholes, you might be tempted falsify your W2, or whatever else to get out of paying taxes. Now I am not saying that you are to be foolish with your resources. If you take the time to study US tax code you will find that there are ways to save money on your taxes that are fully within the bounds of the law. Leverage those as you have opportunity, by all means, but as Christians we cannot promote or participate in tax evasion schemes or try to defraud the government in some way.

Martin Luther puts it in a way only Martin Luther can:

Romans 9–16: New Testament, Volume 8 13:6–7 Pay What You Owe

See how good it is to pay taxes and to obey! By this you help to protect the pious and to punish the wicked. And so don’t let it irritate you

We affirm this against those who say that Christians shouldn’t pay taxes to governments who use those tax dollars for evil.

We live in this reality right now. Every paycheck I take gets money skimmed off the top which supports California abortion sanctuaries. Should I stop paying my taxes because of that? No. Why? Let me answer the question with a question: whose money is it anyway? Is God not sovereign over Gavin Newsom? Is God not sovereign even over the evil that pervades the California state assembly and it’s legislation? How easily we forget that God reigns and rules and ordains and decrees His will amongst these evil people.

Perhaps, and I pray to God that this is true, that God will one day say to Gavin Newsom the same thing He said to Pharaoh: For this reason I raised you up, Gavin, in order to demonstrate my power in you, and in order that my name might be proclaimed throughout the whole earth.

Remember, this was the government that ordered the slaughter of all baby boys under the age of two. That’s abortion on steroids. God raised that government up and He raised it up on purpose, and He has done the same with our government. I have to trust that promise and cling to that promise as a Christian in California every time I open my wallet to pay my taxes.

Obey the law

This is an implication out of both verses 6 and 7. We are required to obey the law as laid out by the civil authorities. We are to obey the speed limits, we are to abide by building codes, we are to hold proper business licenses. This is what it means to be a decent, orderly, and peaceable Christian citizen.

We affirm this against those who would claim that the Christian is only to obey the law of the land if it coincides with the law of God. The Bible does not teach theonomy or Christian reconstruction. We have a moral obligation as Christians to be law-abiding citizens wherever we find ourselves, and to obey whatever laws are in place there.

Now we must make a distinction here, as we have said before. We are not to obey the laws of the land if the laws of land require us to disobey the law of God. If the law of the land forbids something that God’s law requires, we obey God rather than men. Likewise, if the law of the land commands something that God’s law forbids, we obey God rather than men.

Here’s a real example that parents in California might face soon: affirm your child’s claims that they were “born in the wrong body.”

At least 3 Biblical truths apply to this: Truth #1: God created them male and female. There is a gender binary. Cancel me for saying it if you want. Two genders only. Truth #2: God knit each of us together in our mother’s wombs. The implication is, if God did the knitting, and you turned out wrong, God made a mistake. God cannot make mistakes, therefore there is no such thing as a “transgender.” The only mistake in that equation belongs to the person who claims they’re transgender. Truth #3 which is really a command: train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old, he will not depart from it. The implication is, parents have a responsibility to train up their children in a morally upright manner that respects and honors God’s design and God’s truth.

So when the government tells me that I’m not allowed to do that, I obey God rather than man.

On a side note, there’s an incredibly easy solution to this, and a solution that, if taken seriously by Christians, would rapidly transform our world: homeschool your kids. The only way the state can get involved in the lives of your kids is if you give them access, and the only real way they get access is in the public schools. Remove your kids and tell all your friends to remove their kids. Homeschooling is remarkably simple these days too. Everything a kid needs to know can be taught with books and closely curated access to the internet. Then when they’re old enough, make them go get a job in the real world. That’s basically my autobiography right there.

Christians are to obey the law, plain and simple. The only time they’re excused from that is when the law forbids something that God requires, or requires something that God forbids.

Be a model citizen

Christians are to be decent, respectable, orderly, and peaceable citizens, and set the standard for what living well in the world looks like.

JV Fesko says this:

Romans Conclusion

The world around us engages in all sorts of rebellious behavior against their governments. People are verbally disrespectful, financially evasive, and even resort to violent protest and armed conflict. Such conduct is antithetical to how Christians are supposed to act. As those who have been united to Christ, we are to conduct ourselves as living sacrifices. We are most certainly citizens of the kingdom of Christ, but we also live under the authority of the civil government. Our salvation in Christ is no excuse for disobedience, even to unjust governments. Our prayer should be that, rather than be swept up by the conduct of the unbelieving world, we would heed Paul’s divinely inspired Christ-shaped counsel. Daniel lived in Babylon and embodied the principles Paul sets forth. In the words of the children’s hymn, we should “dare to be a Daniel” toward the governing authorities.

Show respect and honor where it is due

Listen to the words of Spanish Reformer Juan de Valdes:

Romans 9–16: New Testament, Volume 8 13:6–7 Pay What You Owe

So servants should honor their masters with exterior and interior respect, as I earlier said with regard to children, and this is what St. Peter means. It is also important to counsel masters not to be tyrannical with their servants, but for them to remember that both of them have the same heavenly Father and Lord. They should, therefore, treat them not as slaves but as brothers. Dealing with this commandment, you should also say that everyone is obliged to obey, respect and honor prelates, priests, princes—those persons who administer justice—since they are established by God. Finally, you should say that children and adults should respect and honor their teachers and elders both in age and in dignity, since even nature teaches us this when we naturally call an old man “father” or “uncle” and an old woman “mother” or “aunt.”

de Valdes here applies this text to all authorities, not just those in the government. He really sees this as an outworking of the fifth commandment, to honor your father and your mother. Fathers and mothers are the authority figures which all people recognize earliest in their lives, and in the Ten Commandments, I think, serve as a categorical head for all authority. So we are to honor parents, elders, government authorities, our bosses at work, and all those who outrank us in authority.

The German Reformer Tilemann Hesshus gives us three practical ways to do this, which he calls three acts of honor:

Romans 9–16: New Testament, Volume 8 13:6–7 Pay What You Owe

Honor is reverence and piety joined with true faith, by which we not only declare our subjection by some kind of external gesture, but rather acknowledge with true affection of the heart that the civil ruler is the ordinance of God and that he was appointed for our good. By our honor we also love and fear him as we would a parent and as one who acts in the place of God on earth; we pray to God for our ruler and for the preservation of the civil order; and we even forgive and cover over their weaknesses and errors. Therefore honor contains three noteworthy actions.

The first is recognizing the wisdom and kindness of God in establishing civil order and to love the ruler as a servant of God and a guardian of your life and property. Joseph not only revered the Egyptian king with an external gesture, but he also loved him with true affection of heart, as a servant of God. Thus Daniel said to the Babylonian king, “O king, live forever.”

The second action is to pray daily for the ruler, as God prompts one by his own Spirit, to give thanks that God has given godly and wholesome princes and that he does not permit tyrants to destroy everything as their desires dictate. Thus Jeremiah orders the Jews to pray for the Babylonian king, and Paul says in 1 Timothy 2, “I urge that above all prayers and intercessions be made for all people and for kings.”

The third action that pertains to the honor owed to rulers is respect and reverence, so that we do not misinterpret the dubious deeds of a ruler but rather put a good construction on them. Let us even pardon some errors and lapses and ascribe them to the massive burden of the affairs of state and the weakness of human nature. For as Solomon says, “There is no one on earth who does not sin even when doing some act of kindness.”

Pray for the governing authorities

1 Timothy 2:1–2 LSB

First of all, then, I exhort that petitions and prayers, requests and thanksgivings, be made for all men, for kings and all who are in authority, so that we may lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and dignity.

The first and best thing we can do in relation to government is bring it to the throne of grace. Our weekly prayer list has had an item for this for years now. We’ve left this item on the prayer list permanently for this reason. The most important thing we can do for our leaders as we respectfully and honorably subject ourselves to their authority is to pray for them, and especially if they are particularly evil leaders and authorities.

Influence the governing authorities

Christians are to look for opportunities to build Christian influence in their communities. I think some Christians have a tendency to just isolate themselves and don’t bother to look for ways to impact the culture and the civil landscape for Christ.

We can exert massive influence over our culture and over our society by living ordinary lives of faithfulness. We might look at our world and our culture and our government and feel discouraged by the godless behavior of many in the public sphere. Here would be my encouragement to you: Do something about it. I mean work hard to effect Biblical, Spirit-wrought change in your circle. Not someone else’s circle. Your own circle. With the people that are six feet away from you. This is simple advice, but not necessarily easy to follow. Here’s what you do:

Be vocal. Speak the truth to our neighbors. Strike up conversations over the back fence like Tim the Toolman Taylor and Mr. Wilson. Angelenos live a weirdly frantic lifestyle that ends up leaving us actually pretty isolated, despite the fact that we live in one of the largest and densest population centers in the world. You’d be surprised at just how much positive influence you can have on your neighbors just by engaging with them regularly. It doesn’t have to be a long conversation. Learn their names, greet them with a smile, and wait for them to ask you where that persistent joy comes from.

Find yourself a good local church, namely West Hills Church. Get involved. Build relationships with people, real relationships, over shared life experiences. Get in people’s lives and then speak truth to them. Build them up in sound doctrine and strong ethics and a clear Biblical worldview. Eat dinner and go shopping and go to the beach and watch a movie and go hiking and go to a Trojans game together, and in all of those contexts show Christ to each other.

Commit yourself to the hard disciplines of daily time with God. Alone, you and a Bible and the Lord. Hear Him speak and then speak to Him. Do it every day, and then teach those around you to do the same.

Get your children out of the public school system and train them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. Yeah, this means you will need to sacrifice. Smaller, older cars. Smaller, older houses. Clothes from Walmart instead of the mall. But I promise you this: you and your spouse are two people. You only have so much influence. But what if you, in keeping with God’s design, made a half dozen copies of yourselves and trained them up to be men and women of conviction and principle and exemplified Godliness to them for 18 or 20 years, and then after that helped them find another person who shared those same convictions, and gave your blessing to that union, and then when they, by God’s grace, have children of their own, you take that same level of responsibility with your grandkids as you did with your kids, so that those little kiddos know, like I did when I was a kid, that when they go to papa and nana’s house, it will be fun and you’ll get to eat hot dogs and nana cookies, but after dinner, it’s time to listen to papa teach the Bible. Here’s what truly wild about this, from a mathematical perspective. If Sarah and I have six kids, and they each have six kids, and each of those 36 grandkids have 6 great-grandkids, by the time I’m in my 80s or 90s, that’s 258 people that, by God’s grace, will be walking with the Lord and having a positive Christian impact on the world around them. You might think such a thing is fanciful, but this is my own experience. Tom and Bonnie Watson, in 1969, committed to raising their kids in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. In 1993, their daughter Jennifer got married to Scott Christensen, a man who shared her same Christian convictions, and in 1994 their son John married Karin Fairweather, who likewise shared those Christian convictions. In 1995, Ashley came along, followed by yours truly in 1996, Anna and Andrew in 1997, Abby in 1999 and Luke in 2000. There was a short gap and then John Jr. came along in 2003, Jeremy and Matthew in 2007, and Jack in 2008. By God’s grace, Ashley, Anna, and Abby have all married Godly men, and myself and my brothers Andrew and Luke have all married Godly women. So a few weeks ago, when I got copies of the photos from Matt and Abby’s wedding, all the photos were great, but two stood out and made me get a little misty-eyed: the first is the picture of the whole family, 24 of us now, 24 testimonies to the faithfulness of God through faithfulness of my grandparents. That picture has 5 pastors, 5 pastor’s wives and 6 lay leaders in churches representing 5 different cities. That’s a picture of how to have influence on the culture. It’s not through rallies, it’s not through debates, it’s not through viral internet videos. It’s through training up a child in the way he should go, so that when he is old, he will not depart from it, and then doing it again, and again, and again. The second photo is of my grandparents, Tom and Bonnie, with their two great-grandchildren, Rex and Sadie. My papa is 84 and my nana is 75. They will not be around forever. But their legacy of Godly faithfulness lives on in the lives of those two babies, not yet one year old.

Work really hard at work you love for the glory of God and shine a light in the workplace. I tell you, one of the most gratifying things for me is to be able to lead a team in the sphere of industry to success and productivity to the glory of God. God has given me a great opportunity to lead by serving and within that to have a positive Christian influence on the world. At SERVPRO, I try to model and build into all of our employees a common, natural ethic that is based in the teachings of the Scripture. Things like do unto others as you would have them do unto you, be faithful over little so that you will be made master over much, and look out not only for your own interests, but also the interests of others.

Vote. We’ve been given a privilege in this country to have a voice in our government systems. So get out there and vote. Get out there and talk to others about how their vote is a reflection of what they believe about God and Christ and who they are in Him.

I think you will find that if you are Biblically faithful and consistent in every area of your life, in every sphere that you have, whether you have one child or ten, whether you have lots of neighbors or one, whether you lead a team of hundreds or have two desk-clump buddies, you will begin to exert a steady and consistent and positive influence in the lives of people around you. If we all did that, I think we would find that, without ever lifting a finger in resistance or opposition to the government, while being consistently at peace with all men, respecting what is good in the sight of all, we have a strong and positive influence on the world around us.

It’s like Nehemiah’s wall. That’s a big wall with a lot of parts to build, but if each person focused on the section of the wall in front of his house, the thing will be built in no time. The same is true for our influence in the world. If we focus on the people within six feet of us, we’ll find that slowly but surely, God, through His Spirit, will work to effect real good and real change in our culture and in our society, and such good will spread to the point of impacting and influencing even the governing authorities themselves.

So you wanna build a Christian nation? You wanna have Christ rule over our culture and civilization? This is the way. Not through violent revolutions. Not through loud rebellions. Instead, it’s through preaching the gospel, discipling others, and watching Christ save people so that eventually, you don’t have to impose a Christian morality on the culture. The culture willingly submits itself to the the law of God because the Spirit is dwelling within them and sanctifying them in obedience.

It might sound fanciful or far-fetched. But then again, maybe that’s just the impetus we need to get out there and start evangelizing and discipling the nations.

Conclusion

Christians are to submit to the government. They are to live decent, orderly, and peaceful lives. They are to pay their taxes. They are to render to all what is due them. This is the way of Christ.