Civic Responsibilities
To live in God's will, we are to be good citizens.
Here's Gene to explain:
I've called this Principle "Civic Responsibility."
And you know, as I was reflecting on
what the apostle Paul says,
I have not found it very difficult
in the culture in which I live
to respect the government,
to live free from persecution at least.
Generally, it's been a good experience.
But God never promises us
that's going to continue.
Because even in our own culture
things are changing in terms of
how people at the highest level of government,
and in the media, literally view us as Christians.
And I'm more concerned for my children
and grandchildren than for myself.
But the fact of the matter is
when Paul wrote these words
about civic responsibility,
Christians in the New Testament world
had a really tough time
because they were often persecuted.
They were living in a pagan environment.
And so Paul addressed that issue
in that Roman world where
the emperor reigned supreme.
And sometimes even demanding worship.
And so Paul addressed this
with the concept of submission.
And he simply said:
Let everyone submit to the governing authorities,
since there is no authority except from God,
and the authorities that exist
are instituted by God. ...
Now let me just simply say that
what Paul is saying is:
Apart from government authority,
regardless of the paganism--
if there were not government authorities,
everything would be chaotic.
Everything would collapse.
And we've seen illustrations of that
in our world culture.
But generally speaking,
even the most pagan cultures
where you have authority,
you have certainly an amount of lack of chaos,
organization, some protection.
And so Paul is simply saying that
we should submit to those authorities
because God has instituted that to avoid
total chaos in our culture or society:
...So then, the one who resists the
authority is opposing God's command,
and those who oppose it
will bring judgment on themselves. ...
These are very wise
and practical words. He goes on to say:
...For rulers are not a
terror to good conduct, but to bad.
Do you want to be unafraid
of the authority?
Do what is good, and you will
have its approval.
Now Paul is writing and establishing
a general principle.
And we see from history
that that's not always true.
And we'll illustrate that a little bit later.
But generally speaking, even in the
most hostile cultures--hostile to Christianity:
If Christians do not oppose that government,
generally speaking there's protection.
There may be persecution
but there's an element of protection.
Now Paul even goes further
and calls government "God's servant."
We read in verse 4:
For it is God's servant for your good. ...
Speaking of what? Government.
Now he's not using the word "servant" here
as Jesus used the word "servant"
when He said : W are to serve one another.
He's not using the concept of servant
as we talked earlier in Principles to Live By,
where we are to serve one another in humility.
Here he is simply saying that
God has established governments
as a servant for our good:
...But if you do wrong,
be afraid, because it does not carry
the sword for no reason.
For it is God's servant, an avenger that brings
wrath on the one who does wrong.
So Paul is addressing Christians
who live within the Roman government.
Which was in many instances,
hostile to Christianity.
And yet, if Christians did not attack the government,
try to bring down the government,
Paul says: They will treat you right.
They will protect you if you do what is good
rather than what is evil.
So here we have a general principle.
In fact he gets very practical.
Paul gets very practical.
Pay your obligations to everyone:
taxes to those you owe taxes,
tolls to those you owe tolls,
respect to those you owe respect,
[and] honor to those you owe honor.
And Jesus addressed that issue too, remember?
When the Jews challenged Him
about paying taxes to Caesar.
He said: Render to Caesar what is Caesar's,
but to God what is God's.
So Jesus even recognized this.
And I say that because there are
some Christians who say: I'm not going
to pay my taxes because
the government is misusing my taxes
and using them even in ways that are sinful.
But see, Jesus said the government is responsible.
We're responsible to honor the government.
And ultimately God will deal
with the misuse of taxes.
And so here really in this
New Testament setting, we have
a very, very important principle
in relationship to our own government situation.
Listen to what Peter wrote when he said this:
Submit to every human authority
because of the Lord,
whether to the emperor...
And by the way, when Peter wrote this letter,
who was probably the Emperor?
Nero.
This was basically the same time
that Paul was writing his final letters.
When Nero--the evil Nero--was in power.
And so Peter wrote:
Submit to every human authority
because of the Lord, whether to the emperor
as a supreme authority or to governors...
And the governors are mentioned
in the book of Acts.
Felix was a governor.
Festus was a governor.
And by the way, when we see
how Paul related to them--
and also there's King Herod.
And Paul appeared before
all of these individuals.
And he did so with respect.
And yet he did not compromise
because they were interested in
hearing what Paul had to say.
So Paul really practiced these concepts
in his own life.
So let me just repeat this to give you
a running flow here:
Submit to every human authority
because of the Lord, whether to the emperor
as the supreme authority,
or to governor's as those sent out by him
to punish those who do what is evil
and to praise those who do what is good. ...
And remember now, we're looking
at God's will.
Beginning with Romans chapter 12,
where we're to present our bodies to the Lord.
Renew our minds in order to
discern what is the good, acceptable
and perfect will of God.
And so here the apostle Paul is
outlining for us a very significant aspect
of doing the will of God.
Now as we'll see, it's not always easy
to practice that Principle.
But let me just finish what Peter said:
...For it is God's will that you
silence the ignorance of foolish people
by doing good.
Submit as free people, not using your freedom
as a cover-up for evil, but as God's slaves. ...
You see he's actually addressing the fact
that Christians should live godly lives,
not evil lives in the government situation
in what they find themselves:
Honor everyone.
Love the brothers and sisters.
[And] fear God.
Honor the emperor.
What was that?
Honor the emperor.
An evil man like Nero?
It doesn't mean you agree with them.
It doesn't mean that you are
honoring this person as God.
It's simply respect because God has
established authorities.
Now not all of those authorities
continue to do what is good.
And that leads us to a very practical question
in relationship to practicing this principle.
And that is:
How does the application of this principle
differ in various governmental systems?
Well let me say first of all, going back to
the Roman government and the
Jewish government in Jerusalem.
What happened when the
apostles there in Jerusalem were
beginning to proclaim the gospel
in the midst of Judaism.
Which was really an authority
through the Sanhedrin that was
delegated by the Roman government.
What did Peter say and the other apostles?
We must obey God rather than people.
They had a direct commission
from Jesus Christ.
And they were carrying out that commission.
And when the Judaistic leaders said: Stop.
They said: We must obey God rather than man.
What happened? They went to prison.
They always maintained respect
but they went to prison.
They were flogged because of
their commitment to truth.
What happened to James, the brother of John?
He was the first apostle to be beheaded
because of the governmental system
that was operating in Jerusalem.
Namely the Sanhedrin.
What happened to Paul eventually?
He literally was beheaded by the evil Nero.
And he's the one that was saying:
Submit to government authorities.
He was in prison because he was
proclaiming the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Consider a man like William Tyndale
who lived in the 16th century in England.
Who looked about him and saw that the Bible--
that the common people
didn't have a Bible in their own language.
Our language--English.
[He] began to translate the Bible.
And he did translate the Bible into English.
You know what happened to
William Tyndale under Henry the Eighth?
Because he translated the Bible into English.
He was actually arrested,
put in prison, strangled,
and burned at the stake
for translating the Bible into English.
Because it was a threat
to Henry the Eighth.
And a threat to the hierarchy of the church.
Because if people could read the Bible
in their own language, namely English,
they would see the hypocrisy in the
leadership in England at that time.
Particularly in Henry the Eighth.
So God never promised that we would
not pay a penalty.
Particularly as those who are called
in a very special way to proclaim
the gospel of Jesus Christ.
But let me conclude with something
that is always in the will of God
regardless of our circumstances.
Regardless of the kind of government
that we have--and government leaders.
Here it is. Paul wrote to Timothy and said:
First of all, then, I urge that petitions,
prayers, intercessions,
and thanksgivings be made for everyone,
for kings and all those
who are in authority...
Now Paul had just been in prison--
the first imprisonment.
And he had been released.
And when he wrote this to Timothy
who was in Ephesus,
he was thinking of obviously of Nero--
a very evil man as emperor.
He was thinking of Herod,
a very evil king that he had appeared before.
And shared, as you read the book of Acts.
He was thinking of Festus, a governor.
And Felix, another government
where he had shared.
But by the way, if you go back
and look at all of those presentations,
he was actually invited by those leaders
to share why he was incarcerated by the Jews.
And he did so with grace.
In fact at one point, he actually
apologized to one of these leaders
because of his attitude
when he was sharing.
So Paul practiced this.
But the fact of the matter is,
his life was ultimately taken by
the very man that he was praying for.
And that's Nero.
But what is the purpose for praying for
all those in authority?
And this is where it's very important
for us as believers today:
...so that we may lead a tranquil and
quiet life in all godliness and dignity. ...
But there's something beyond that.
It's not just to have a comfortable existence.
But to have a comfortable existence
so we can share the Word of God
and live out the Christian life.
And Paul says this.
He outlines this when he said:
...This is good, and it pleases God our Savior,
who wants everyone to be saved
and to come to the knowledge of the truth.