Two Kingdoms
Living In Two Kingdoms • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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INTRODUCTION
INTRODUCTION
One of my first memories as a child is watching the show ALF.
In fact, if you go in my office, on my bottom bookshelf, next to my books about Student Ministry, there is an ALF stuffed animal.
I have owned that thing since 1987 and it has been washed and cleaned by my mother multiple times.
If you don’t know who ALF is, he is an alien from the planet Melmac and he crashed into earth and starts living with an earth family—the Tanner’s.
The original Tanner family of sitcom TV.
ALF’s name stands for “Alien Life Form.”
Throughout the series, he is getting into all sorts of hi-jinks as his culture clashes with the culture of the world that he lives in.
He is not from earth. He is from Melmac. He is an alien.
And yet, ALF is living on earth. He is a resident of earth.
And so he is a resident alien.
As silly as all of this may be, it is not hard to make the connection to the Christian life.
We are not aliens who crashed into this world, but we are aliens who have been called out of this world.
The good grace of God has plucked us up and transferred us from the domain of darkness, into the kingdom of the beloved Son.
So when Jesus prays for us in John 17, He says:
They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world.
Last week, we talked about how we all live in the common kingdom of man.
Here in the common kingdom of man, God—being merciful and kind—allows His rain to fall on the just and the unjust.
There is a common grace that He extends to all image-bearers.
And one of the glorious ways that He shows His common grace toward the common kingdom of man is by putting government in place after the flood.
The institution of the state is put in place by God to preserve society.
To punish evil and provide the way for a peaceful and quiet life.
The sword of the magistrate is a restraining force given to humanity by God, so that we do not destroy ourselves with evil.
And we are subject to this authority because we recognize that it has been put in place by God.
And yet, we see the Bible speak of another type of authority.
And we see the Bible speak of another Kingdom.
The redemptive Kingdom of the Son of God—Jesus Christ.
And if you are a believer in the Lord Jesus, you are a citizen of that Kingdom.
And yet—you live here in the common kingdom of man.
Zion is your home. The New Jerusalem is your destination.
But on Tuesday, you will vote on a senate seat for the state of Virginia.
So while we have been called out of the world, as opposed to crashing into the world, we are like ALF in the sense that we are resident aliens.
We are exiles.
We are sojourners.
But as resident aliens, it can be hard to understand how we relate to the authority of the state.
I believe Romans 13:5-7 will help us with that this morning.
I will read the verses from last week as well, for the sake of context.
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 judgment. 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 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.
THE TWO KINGDOMS (v. 5-6)
THE TWO KINGDOMS (v. 5-6)
REPEATED EMPHASIS ON SUBJECTION (v. 5)
REPEATED EMPHASIS ON SUBJECTION (v. 5)
Verse 5 beings with a repeated emphasis of “subjection,” in terms of the Christian’s relationship to the state.
In light of the fact the the magistrate is a servant of God, we must submit to the governing authorities.
And this is not just to escape God’s wrath coming at us through the sword, but to keep our own conscience clean before God.
Meaning—I don’t just avoid driving recklessly because I don’t want a ticket, I avoid it because it is dishonoring to God to be rebellious toward the governing authority that He has put in place.
I do not avoid stealing just because I don’t want to go to jail, I avoid stealing because it is dishonoring to God who says in His law, “Do not steal” —the God who says, “I will preserve society by making theft an action that is universally outlawed in all forms of human societies with property.
Verse 5 is about the heart in all of this.
You don’t just externally conform to the laws of society because you don’t want to get in trouble.
As a Christian, you know that God put the state in place, therefore, you seek to be subject to the state’s authority and laws because you want to honor God.
That means that our civic obedience and our subjection to governing authorities is actually worship.
This is a way that we bow our hearts before the Lord and say, “You are the One in control, not me.”
PAYING TAXES (v. 6-7)
PAYING TAXES (v. 6-7)
And then we get a very practical example from Paul about paying taxes.
The reason we pay taxes is because the authorities are ministers of God attending to the matter preserving our society and providing us with a peaceful and quiet life.
And when you pay your taxes to them, you are paying them what you owe them.
This flies in the face of the attitude that many Americans have—particularly those of the libertarian persuasion and some who are conservative as well—which is, “Taxation is theft.”
Not according to the Apostle Paul.
He is saying that these taxes you render to the state are a debt that you owe the authorities God has put in place.
Paul doesn’t view taxes as an necessary evil but as a moral obligation.
And the expectation is that we would see it this way as well.
In the same way that the civil magistrate has an obligation to wield the sword justly and be accountable to God, the Christian has an obligation to pay their taxes to the magistrate.
If you struggle with this, thankfully we have a parallel passage to help us out in the gospel of Mark where Jesus speaks to the issue of paying taxes.
And they sent to him some of the Pharisees and some of the Herodians, to trap him in his talk. And they came and said to him, “Teacher, we know that you are true and do not care about anyone’s opinion. For you are not swayed by appearances, but truly teach the way of God. Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not? Should we pay them, or should we not?” But, knowing their hypocrisy, he said to them, “Why put me to the test? Bring me a denarius and let me look at it.” And they brought one. And he said to them, “Whose likeness and inscription is this?” They said to him, “Caesar’s.” Jesus said to them, “Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” And they marveled at him.
Jesus is being set up in a trap here.
The Pharisees are looking to catch Jesus and stump Him with a question and stir up strife against Him.
They are going to ask Him about paying taxes to Caesar.
If He says pay the taxes, He loses credit with the people.
If He says not to pay the taxes, He is an insurrectionist in the eyes of Rome.
They think they have Him cornered.
They approach Him with gross flattery and then they ask their question:
Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not?
Can we obey the law of Moses and pay taxes to Caesar?
Can we honor God and the emperor?
The question being posed is particularly tricky because it is referring to the Roman head tax.
Jewish people had to pay that just to live and breathe Roman air.
Just to exist in the land that they believed was theirs in the first place.
They hated this tax.
And the cost of the tax was a day’s wage—a denarius.
When they bring Jesus this coin in Mark 12:16, they are bringing a denarius and the coin reads:
One one side: Tiberius Caesar Augustus, son of Divine Augustus
Meaning, the coin depicts Caesar divine. As the son of a god. Blasphemous.
On the other side: Pontifex Maximus.
That simply means “high priest.”
Again—blasphemous.
And yet, Jesus says, “Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.”
Render — apodidomi is the Greek word…
not didomi
Didomi was the term used for paying taxes, but Jesus uses the term “apodidomi”
This is like Him saying, “Repay to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s...”
Again, you see this idea of us owing taxes to the state that God has put in place.
Even using coins minted with blasphemous phrases
Even when the Emperor is persecuting believers
Caesar gives you roads and water and infrastructure. Caesar restrains evil.
Caesar is owed his taxes.
This is all right in line with Paul’s teaching in Romans 13...
RENDER TO GOD WHAT IS GOD’S
RENDER TO GOD WHAT IS GOD’S
But that is not all that Jesus says. He does not simply say, “Render to Caesar...” or “Repay Caesar...”
He says, “render…to God the things that are God’s.”
We might pay taxes to Caesar, but no matter how much Caesar claims otherwise in coin or in conversation, we do not bow to Caesar as Lord.
God alone should be the recipient of our worship.
In Romans 12, Paul calls on believers to respond to the theology of the Gospel by rendering their lives to God as a living sacrifice.
I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.
Only God gets that.
Caesar gets none of that.
In fact, our subjection to Caesar is actually driven by our desire to be a living sacrifice before the Lord.
We know God put the governing authorities in place, therefore, we subject ourselves to them, as an act of worship to the Lord.
So Jesus is saying, “God has put Caesar in place to rule the common kingdom of man. Re-pay to Caesar that which you owe him. But your spiritual worship belongs to God as a member of His redemptive Kingdom.”
Give the state the tax revenue you owe them, but reserve your reverence for God.
This goes back to what we learned last week.
In Genesis 9, after the flood, God institutes human government as an imperfect, restraining agent of evil for everyone who lives in the common kingdom of man.
And since government does that, pay your taxes, like everyone else who lives in the common kingdom.
And yet, when we see Pilate interrogating Jesus before His crucifixion, what does Jesus say to Him?
So Pilate entered his headquarters again and called Jesus and said to him, “Are you the King of the Jews?” Jesus answered, “Do you say this of your own accord, or did others say it to you about me?” Pilate answered, “Am I a Jew? Your own nation and the chief priests have delivered you over to me. What have you done?” Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would have been fighting, that I might not be delivered over to the Jews. But my kingdom is not from the world.”
What kingdom is Jesus talking about?
It can’t be the common kingdom of man because the common kingdom of man is very much a part of this world.
In the common kingdom, the rain falls on the just and the unjust.
That’s in this world. That is this earth that believers and unbelievers all live in.
So then, Jesus must be talking about the kingdom He spoke of when He announced the beginning of His ministry in Mark 1.
and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.”
He is talking about the redemptive kingdom of God that you enter into by faith.
So then, we know that God rules over not just one, but two kingdoms.
The common kingdom of man
And the redemptive Kingdom of the beloved Son.
1. God rules over the common kingdom of man and the redemptive Kingdom of the Son.
1. God rules over the common kingdom of man and the redemptive Kingdom of the Son.
This is why Jesus can say, “Render to Caesar what is Caesar’s and render to God what is God’s.”
Give your taxes to the one that God has put in place to govern the common kingdom.
Give your worship to the One that God has put in place to govern the redemptive kingdom.
THE ORIGIN OF THE REDEMPTIVE KINGDOM
THE ORIGIN OF THE REDEMPTIVE KINGDOM
We know that the human institution of government finds its roots in Genesis 9, but where do we find the establishment of the redemptive kingdom?
Well first of all, you recall that God made a covenant of works with Adam.
Adam is to be kingly priest who has dominion over creation and works and keeps the garden like the Levites worked and kept the temple.
But Adam disobeyed God and broke that covenant and when he did that, sin’s curse took effect in the world.
One day, a perfect King Priest will come and rule the world again, but until then, the imperfect government of humanity that God has granted authority restrains evil and provides a level of peace.
But in Genesis 15, God calls Abraham out of the common kingdom of man and into the redemptive kingdom of God as covenant worshipper.
And he brought him outside and said, “Look toward heaven, and number the stars, if you are able to number them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring be.” And he believed the Lord, and he counted it to him as righteousness.
And he said to him, “I am the Lord who brought you out from Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land to possess.”
Abraham is still a member of the common kingdom of man.
He still exists in society.
That is evident as he rescues Lot from Sodom before its destruction.
He still lives in the midst of the evil world and his family is impacted by the sin that is around them.
And yet, Abraham and his people are covenant worshippers.
They are pilgrims in a land that is not their home.
By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place that he was to receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going. By faith he went to live in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, living in tents with Isaac and Jacob, heirs with him of the same promise. For he was looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God.
Once again in Genesis 17, you see covenant made between God and Abraham. This is where circumcision is established.
When Abram was ninety-nine years old the Lord appeared to Abram and said to him, “I am God Almighty; walk before me, and be blameless, that I may make my covenant between me and you, and may multiply you greatly.” Then Abram fell on his face. And God said to him, “Behold, my covenant is with you, and you shall be the father of a multitude of nations. No longer shall your name be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham, for I have made you the father of a multitude of nations. I will make you exceedingly fruitful, and I will make you into nations, and kings shall come from you. And I will establish my covenant between me and you and your offspring after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your offspring after you. And I will give to you and to your offspring after you the land of your sojournings, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession, and I will be their God.”
This is a crucial passage for understanding God’s redemptive kingdom.
First of all, circumcision is distinguishing God’s people from the rest of humanity.
He is setting apart His people who are citizens of His kingdom.
They still belong to the common kingdom of man, but they bear the seal of the redemptive kingdom of God.
Secondly, God promises that kings will come from Abraham.
This lays the foundation for Jesus, the Second Adam, the King who rules the nations with a rod of iron, to come forth.
David would come from the covenant family of Abraham.
And David would be promised that a king from his line will sit on the throne forever.
That King is Jesus.
THE KING/PRIEST OF THE REDEMPTIVE KINGDOM
THE KING/PRIEST OF THE REDEMPTIVE KINGDOM
So what happens when Jesus, the Second Adam, is born?
Well, Satan tries to destroy Him.
He tries to destroy Him through murderous Herod.
He tries to destroy Him in the wilderness temptations.
He tries to destroy Him through Judas’ betrayal.
He tries to destroy Him through the Cross itself.
Just as he destroyed the First Adam, the Dragon tries to destroy the Second Adam.
But unlike the First Adam, the Second Adam is not destroyed.
And not only is He not destroyed, but He accomplishes the destruction of the Deceiver by succeeding where Adam failed.
Jesus dies on the Cross and offers Himself up as an atoning sacrifice and in doing that, He is our great High Priest.
Jesus then resurrects and ascends and receives the name above all names.
He is Lord.
He is the King of Kings.
So the First Adam is a King/Priest who failed, but Christ, the Second Adam, is the King/Priest who kept covenant and obtained the right to the nations and intercede for His people in the temple of God forever.
Those who turn from their sin and put their trust in the King/Priest who has come from Abraham’s line, have their faith credited to them as righteousness just like Abraham.
And the failing First Adam is no longer their representative.
Now, it is the Second Adam—their King, whom the Spirit of God has regenerated them to love and to obey.
KINGDOM PEOPLE
KINGDOM PEOPLE
And what all of this means is that we are redemptive kingdom people.
We exist in the common kingdom of man.
We have addresses here and we get mail.
We pay bills.
We vote.
We have kids and get jobs.
But we have been called out into the redemptive kingdom of God.
Jesus’ kingdom that is not of this world.
The Second Adam’s kingdom.
He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
So there is what theologians calls a “two kingdoms reality.”
There is the common kingdom of man.
Government. Industry. Infrastructure. Movies. News. Culture. Social media. Education.
There is the redemptive kingdom of the Second Adam.
Dr. Scott Aniol’s book, Citizens and Exiles has been particularly helpful for me in preparing for this message and in it he defines the redemptive kingdom like this:
God’s specific rule over his redeemed people…The redemptive kingdom includes only those who submit to the King and involves a redemptive relationship with God. The common kingdom involves temporal, physical matters. The redemptive kingdom involves spiritual matters.
Scott Aniol
One day, when Jesus returns, He will unite these two kingdoms again.
God’s perfect design will be realized on the New Earth when Jesus rules as the King and intercedes for us as our High Priest.
But until then, we represent the kingdom of God in the kingdom of man as His kingdom ambassadors.
Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.
And our local churches are kingdom outposts. They are embassies.
Until Jesus returns, we advance the Kingdom’s purposes here on earth and we grow the kingdom soul by soul, until all of the King’s citizens come in the gates by faith.
2. We represent the redemptive kingdom of God in the common kingdom of man.
2. We represent the redemptive kingdom of God in the common kingdom of man.
We are not Gnostics. We do not separate the spiritual and physical.
We recognize that we belong to Jesus’ kingdom, which is not of this world, and yet at the same time, we live and move and breathe here in this society.
Romans 13 is well aware of that.
Paul is getting right down into the all of the veins that the blood of theology flow through.
He is getting into all of the practical implications of life.
And he is saying, “You belong to the same redemptive kingdom of Abraham by faith” (that’s Romans 4), but while you exist as a living sacrifice in the common kingdom of man, live in subjection to the authorities that God has put in place.
Pay your taxes.
Be a good citizen.
Taxes to whom they are owed.
Revenue to whom it is owed.
Respect to whom it is owed.
Honor to whom it is owed.
In other words, as we represent the redemptive kingdom, we should be the best citizens in the common kingdom.
We understand that the state is there to restrain evil.
We understand that the state is there to provide a level of peace.
We understand that God has put this in place because He is gracious toward His creation, even those who do not worship Him.
And we know that rulers are not a terror to good and that is great because we love to good.
God calls us to not grow weary in doing good.
So pay your taxes. Pay your debts.
Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s.
Also, give respect and honor.
Don’t just grit your teeth and pay your coin.
Respect the magistrate for the evil they restrain and the peace they do provide.
This is why I have no problem honoring our military and our law enforcement or standing out of respect for a flag or a dignitary.
As Christians, we are free to render to Caesar as an act of worship to the Lord.
Next week, verses 8-10 will allow us to press in further on all of this.
There is much more to say about the good that we do in this world as kingdom representatives.
There is much to say about how Christians glorify God in the common kingdom and how we can end up missing the point if we are not careful.
But that will be next week.
THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN CHURCH AND STATE
THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN CHURCH AND STATE
But for the final bit of our time this morning, I would like to spend some time thinking through the relationship of the church to the state.
We know that the church universal expresses itself in local churches.
Kingdom outposts.
But what is awkward is that these kingdom outposts exists in the common kingdom of man, which is ruled by the magistrate.
So what do we do with that?
Do they have authority over us?
These are important questions for us to ask.
BAPTIST PREACHER TRIALS
BAPTIST PREACHER TRIALS
It is a question that was certainly being asked at the genesis of our nation.
Not far from where I grew up, in 1773, there was a trial for a Baptist preacher named John Weatherford.
George Whitefield’s open-air preaching had turned the colonies upside down and the Baptists who were raised by congregationalists up in Massachusetts, started migrating south.
They were fairly radical.
They refused to baptize their children.
They said everyone in the church was equal.
And many of them were preaching out in the open, gathering anywhere from 50 to 200 people.
And the problem with that is that Virginia was an Anglican stronghold.
It wasn’t like Massachusetts, where those congregationalists came to escape the crown.
Virginia was a bastion for the church of England.
And if you didn’t have a license to preach, you couldn’t hold worship services in the commonwealth.
To get a license, you had to go to the capital and take an oral exam to prove you knew theology.
You had to agree to all but six of Anglican tenets of faith—you could pick which six you disagreed with.
And once you were approved, you got the license. No money changed hands.
Presbyterians and Methodists were happy to play by the rules, but the Baptists, being the grandchildren of the Puritans, said, “I’m afraid not.”
The magistrate of Chesterfield County was Archibald Carey.
He was a hard-nosed man who believed in enforcing he law.
So he arrested the Baptists.
In 1773, he arrested a Baptist named John Weatherford.
Weatherford was not deterred. He pulled himself up on the bars of the jail window and preached to his congregation as they gathered outside.
The persecutors who hated him would run up and cut his knuckles with little knives, but he would just keep going.
Eventually, for his protection and to make the crowd disperse, they built a wall outside the jail window.
But Weatherford preached anyways and his people would gather on the other side of the wall.
They would raise a flag up to let him know they were there and listening.
Soon they started climbing the wall, so Carey laid a sheet of glass on top to keep them off.
Eventually Weatherford was let out because an anonymous friend paid his bond.
It was later revealed that his the anonymous donor was Patrick Henry.
Weatherford’s case became a very important moment in the early fight for religious freedom in America.
He is a man that many should feel a debt to.
But his case is also an example of how things go wrong when the relationship between the church and the state is misunderstood.
ERASTIANISM AND PAPISM
ERASTIANISM AND PAPISM
There are essentially two ways that people err when it comes to understanding the relationship between church and state.
One of those ways is what you would call “Papism.”
Papism is when the church rules the state.
This was the scene in the Holy Roman Empire as the pope didn’t just rule the church, but a political realm.
The problem with this is that when the church rules the state with the sword, conversion can suddenly become coerced.
The weapon given to the civil authority with which to accomplish its unique task is…the sword. The fact is that swords are not good weapons for the purpose of moulding or ruling men’s consciences.
Sam Waldron
The church’s mission is to see souls converted into God’s kingdom by believing the Word of God through the power of the Spirit of God.
It is not to go throughout the earth gathering conversions by the blade of the sword.
The second way that you see people misunderstand this through a perspective called “Erastianism.”
Erastianism is when the state rules the church.
Erastus was a Swiss Reformer who lived in the 16th century.
He was a medical doctor and by all reports a very good one.
But he was not a great theologian.
He essentially taught that those who lead the church are just messengers of the Word.
They have no authority.
The entire church is in subjection to the state and the only authority the pastor has is given by the state.
The only authority the church has is given by the state.
The problem with this view is that it is not what Romans 13 teaches.
Romans 13 is not about the church as an institution being subject to the governing authorities, but about individual Christians being subject to the governing authorities.
And that is important to keep in mind.
In fact all of the New Testament passages we have looked at in this series thus far have been about just that—how the individual believers relates to and prays for the state.
And so an alternative to these two extremes, built off of what we have learned so far in this series, is this:
3. The church and the state are separate authorities, with separate origins and separate purposes.
3. The church and the state are separate authorities, with separate origins and separate purposes.
The state is here to restrain evil in the common kingdom of man.
The church is here to advance the redemptive kingdom of God.
The state is here to provide a level of physical peace.
The church is here to preach peace for the soul.
The state has been given a sword to cut people off from the physical land of the living if they commit evil.
The church has been given the keys of the kingdom of heaven to bind and loose.
I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.”
The church hold open the door of redemptive kingdom and say, “Anyone who repents and believes can come in.”
The church also closes the door when there is no faith as a warning that the unbelieving must repent and trust in Christ.
Warning them that one day that door will shut forever.
This is church work—not state work.
The state has no authority to do this.
The state is in place to ensure that the second table of God’s law is tended to.
That property is not stolen.
That people are not murdered.
That people are not slandered.
That marriages are not destroyed without repercussion.
The church is in place to call the world to the first table of God’s law.
To worship God.
To repent of idols.
To revere His name.
And to find rest in Him.
The state belongs to the order of nature…we are in the realm of grace…The church belongs to the realm of ‘special grace’ and the state to ‘common grace.’
Martin Lloyd-Jones
Another way to say that would be to say, “The church belongs to the redemptive kingdom of Christ. The state belongs to the common kingdom of man.
PRACTICAL IMPLICATION
PRACTICAL IMPLICATION
Now here is the practical implication of this:
If the church is not subordinate to the state and the state is not subordinate to the church, then who do they both bow down to?
The answer, of course, is God Himself.
He is the Head over all things and the magistrate is accountable to Him.
He is the Head of the body of the church and the church is accountable to Him.
And both the church and the state must see to their obligations.
The state must preserve in the way God has designed.
The church must multiply in the way that God has designed.
And while both must maintain their duties that they have been assigned, they also must must stay out of each others duties.
The church and the state have to both say, “We are separate from each other,” and not intrude on each other’s business.
The church’s job is not to change the state. That is not the mission Jesus gave us.
The state’s job is not to rule the church. That is not the purpose God ordained government.
THE CHURCH EXISTS IN THE COMMON KINGDOM
THE CHURCH EXISTS IN THE COMMON KINGDOM
I am going to close here in a moment, but before I do, I think that in light of what is happening in Southern Baptist life is worth stopping to say that our religious freedom has its limits.
If the church has a matter of civil justice on its hands—like someone has committed a crime—she still deals with the authorities.
Because the church has to be godly enough as an institution to recognize that once again—their purpose is not to rule in civil matters.
They can execute church discipline, but if civil justice is at stake, the magistrate must be alerted.
CONCLUSION
CONCLUSION
As the band comes, I want to tell you a tragic tale.
I want to tell you how the ALF series ended.
ALF is about to go home to Melmac.
His time as a resident alien is almost over.
He will finally be with his people again.
But just as he is about to be picked up, a government aircraft comes and scares off the aliens and they kidnap ALF and he is never seen on TV again.
You probably think I am joking but I am not.
This is actually how ALF ended.
It was supposed to be a cliffhanger, but they never got a fifth season, so it just ends that way.
It is a terrible ending for our resident alien.
But that will not be our ending.
Not at all.
For the union of dominion and worship will be reinstated when the King-Priest returns in glory on the clouds.
The Bible tells us what will happen that day.
The temporary governments of the common kingdom will be gone.
The 7th trumpet will sound and There will just be the perfect government of Christ.
Then the seventh angel blew his trumpet, and there were loud voices in heaven, saying, “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever.”
Until then, represent the Lord well.
Pay your taxes.
We will pick it up here next week.