Scripture Introduction
How are we to interact with government? One extreme seems to vilify everything from Washington, hoping to have little or nothing to do with the state, and fantasizing about a world in which they have even less to do with us. The other side seems to deify the state, assuming that it alone can solve the plethora of problems which the church seems too self-absorbed even to notice. Between the extremes, most Americans, I think, prefer an uneasy truce – some power transferred to Columbus and Washington, in exchange for some comfort and care, and a little bit of autonomy and freedom.
For those who desire to be informed by the Christian faith, or who are interested in the history of the topic, the Bible offers some principles for the role of government and our relationship to it. The state is important, and it is limited. As God’s minister, the magistrate has responsibilities only he can fulfill, and as the people of God, we have duties which belong exclusively to the church and families. Those who honor Jesus as Sovereign Lord need not deprecate government to prevent its being deified. The State is not our savior, but neither may it be our scapegoat. We must bless those whom God has placed in authority over us, while (at the same time), worshipping Jesus Christ, the Lord of the state.
Our study this morning will certainly not cover all of that! We will, however, by God’s help, ground ourselves in a few key starting points from Genesis, as we consider the beginning of… human government.
[Read Genesis 8.20-9.7. Pray.]
Introduction
So there is no confusion, let me note, first, that Genesis 9.6 establishes the right and responsibility for the creation of governments on the earth, and gives to them the power to execute capital punishment for certain crimes, namely, murder. Any philosophy of the state which refuses to acknowledge this fundamental truth is certainly less than Biblical, and will, in the long-run, be detrimental its citizenry. I don’t want to be thought of as some kind of liberal advocate for coddling criminals!
With that said, however, we must be equally concerned to emphasize that this passage is not about the death penalty. Yes, it ends with that terrible and necessary punishment for the most heinous of crimes. But too often those who are not interested in a Biblical answer are allowed to frame the question, and the Christian response sounds like a shrill cry to kill more people. God is not saying that; in fact, just the opposite; these verses are preeminently pro-life.
After disembarking from the ark, Noah surveys a world in which animals, plants, and people have been wiped away, like the dust of a chalk mark obliterated by an eraser. Noah and his family would have wondered, therefore, “Is life sacred? Is this to be the pattern for dealing with us from now on? Would mankind, or animal-kind, or any-kind survive? Does God care about us and this world?” God’s answer is three-fold:
• First, he promises the permanence of life: “never again will I strike down every living creature” (though the intention of man’s heart remains evil). The flood was a sign of the seriousness of sin and such devastation will not be repeated until the final judgment when the world is destroyed by fire;
• Second, God plans for the propagation of life: “be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth”; and
• Third, God provides for the protection of life: if one among you, failing to appreciate the dignity and worth of a human, kills another, “by man shall his blood be shed.”
Dr. Allen P. Ross, professor of Old Testament and Hebrew, and translator and editor of the New King James Version of the Bible, is surely correct when he says: “The unity of [this] passage is based on the value of life: after the flood, people might think that life was worthless to God, but God’s commandments to and covenant with Noah showed that the contrary was true” (Creation and Blessing, 203-204).
If we are to be faithful to this text and to God’s covenant promises, we must see Genesis 9 as God’s speech on the sacredness of life. To get there, please note…
1. We Must Cherish the Image of God in Our Neighbor
C. S. Lewis preached in a sermon, “It may be possible for each to think too much of his own potential glory hereafter; it is hardly possible for him to think too often or too deeply about that of his neighbor. The load, or weight, or burden of my neighbor’s glory should be laid on my back, a load so heavy that only humility can carry it, and the backs of the proud will be broken…. There are no ordinary people…. Next to the Blessed Sacrament itself, your neighbor is the holiest object presented to your senses” (The Weight of Glory, June 8, 1942).
Lewis believed that, because, as he observes in Mere Christianity (174-175): “God will make the feeblest and filthiest of us into a god or goddess, dazzling, radiant, immortal creature, pulsating all through with such energy and joy and wisdom and love as we cannot now imagine, a bright stainless mirror which reflects back to God perfectly (though, of course, on a smaller scale) his own boundless power and delight and goodness.”
One morning, John Donne heard funeral bells tolling and wrote: “All mankind is of one author and is one volume; when one man dies, one chapter is not torn out of the book, but translated into a better language; and every chapter must be so translated…. No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main. If a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as well as if a manor of thy friend’s or of thine own were. Any man’s death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind; and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.”
Donne and Lewis are both thinking about what it means that humans are made in God’s image. It sets us apart and places on us a burden only humility can bear. Therefore, we who would see this text applied to society, must make it ours personally. Three ways we might do so:
First, we must let it change us. Many Christians are concerned about the death penalty; fewer meditate deeply on the weight of our neighbor’s glory. Questions like, “Do I take people seriously? Do others feel appreciated by me? Do I communicate respect and honor?” An abstract assent to the image of God or reciting the command to love our neighbor, will not suffice; God would turn our lives upside down with this truth! Jesus does precisely that: “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.” “If you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.” “If anyone would sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well.” God does not ask if we know the command to love our neighbor; he asks if our neighbor knows that we love them.
Second, realize how hard this is to do. Paul told the Galatians that “the whole law is fulfilled in one word: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’” If we imagine our hearts eager to love others, we do not yet know ourselves. While this principle calls us to cherish the image of God in others, only God can provide the willingness and strength to do so because he alone truly rejoices over his image in humanity. Governing ourselves by this principle will require much prayer and meditation on scripture and work of the Spirit, as well as depending on grace and forgiveness when we fail.
Third, appreciate how great is this privilege. The offering was taken in wooden bowls. You were careful not to drop them, because that would be awkward and embarrassing. But what if you knew those were platters on loan from the Smithsonian, discovered at a archeological dig in Israel, dated from the time of and maybe made by a carpenter named Jesus? We would feel honored to touch them and especially careful how we handled them. God allows us to relate to people he has made in his own image! We must cherish the image of God in our neighbor.
2. We Must Support the Government Instituted by God (Genesis 9.6)
This brief warning is far from a complete description of human government. But to assure us that life will be protected from the evil in men’s hearts, God gives the basic structure for the creation of the state. Most Christian and Jewish Bible students consider this the beginning of human government.
Martin Luther: “God establishes government and gives it the sword to hold wantonness in check, lest violence and other sins proceed without limit.”
James Boice: “The many failures of human government must not blind us to the truth that government is nevertheless directly and divinely established. That is, the authority of the state is from God….”
H. C. Leupold: “By this word government is instituted, this basic institution for the welfare of man….”
So if we value the image of God imprinted on mankind, how do we relate to this divine institution?
2.1. We must be involved in the work of the state
I know that people in government pry where they should not and interfere in things that are not their business. But these problems will not be solved by shunning. Christians should be civil citizens, par excellence, for the state is God’s idea. Yes, it is necessary because we are sinners, but it exists because God is gracious. If the rule of government is broken, who better to repair it than those who know Jesus and love his word? Let us not complain, but participate in our government.
2.2. We must submit to the laws of the state
Genesis 9.6 allows the punishment of “Whoever” sheds blood. The New Testament parallel in Romans 13.1 says, “Let every person be subject to the governing authorities.” This divine institution extends over us all, and submission is required of everyone, always, and everywhere, unless obedience to the state puts us in direct disobedience to God.
2.3. We must bring our hearts into submission to the will of the state
Most Christians try to obey the law, especially the big ones. We might never rob a bank, yet we can easily steal respect when our hearts are angry and bitter. In Romans 13, when God explains the submission we owe those who rule over us, he says that we must give them our honor as well as our taxes, because their authority is instituted by God. And though several Bible texts that ask me to pray for those who rule, I find none that allows me to complain about them. My relationship with the government requires a work of God in the heart.
2.4. We must appreciate the government’s purpose and power
The heart of mankind is so desperately wicked that were it not for the state’s restraining power, none of us would long survive. Theft, murder, violence, vandalism, arson, gambling, bombings, muggings, drugs, terrorism – these and other crimes would overrun our cities if we eliminated the police and fire department and FBI and other branches of government which wield the sword. God favors us with the gift of the coercive power of the state.
Additionally, in our county, there is almost complete freedom for us to do exactly what God tells us – to multiply and take dominion, to do good and proclaim Jesus. We have virtually unfettered peace, prosperity, and freedom to worship and evangelize. The church is not weak and failing because of the government; it is our lack of passion for the kingdom of God which dampens the light of the glory of Christ in our state.
2.5. We must remember that government legislates morality
Genesis 9.6 does NOT say, “Whoever does something the king does not like, his blood shall be shed.” There is no divine institution of tyranny. Instead, this text expects the state to enact laws consistent with God’s standards. Murders must be punished because God says that murder is wrong.
Some suggest that morality cannot be legislated. It is true that laws cannot make people good. But that is not what is usually meant. In fact, morality must be legislated because every law is moral and the state cannot be neutral. Our government either punishes murderers, or it does not. Our laws either reflect God’s goodness or rebel against it. Even refusing to make a law legislates morality.
But here is great hope and opportunity for Christians! Our faith has just as much right to direct the law as any others, since every law implements someone’s beliefs. Let us salt the governing process and legislate God’s morality.
2.6. We must give the state what it most needs
Proverbs 11.10: “When it goes well with the righteous, the city rejoices, and when the wicked perish there are shouts of gladness.” What our government most needs us a godly citizenry. When Israel is taken into exile, God does not tell the Babylonians how to treat his people; God has Jeremiah explain to his people how they are to act in a foreign land. And when Christians are suffering under the tyranny of Rome, God tells us how to submit and be godly.
Does God care if the governments of this world are godly? Yes, of course, absolutely! But he cares through his people placed in this world to salt the state and to light the halls of government. Our country most needs a godly church.
3. Conclusion
Most of you are familiar with the IRS. Did you know when you put the words "The" and "IRS" together, it spells "THEIRS?" That has nothing to do with the sermon; I’m about out of time and wanted to share that with you.
George Liddell’s poem says:
Give me a man of God—one man
Whose faith is master of his mind,
And I will right all wrongs
And bless the name of all mankind.
Give me a man of God—one man
Whose tongue is touched with heaven’s fire,
And I will flame the darkest hearts
With high resolve and clean desire.
Give me a man of God—one man
One mighty prophet of the Lord,
And I will give you peace on earth,
Bought with a prayer and not a sword.
God has handed the power of the sword to the state. Neither a parent nor a pastor has the right to execute capital punishment, no matter how badly a child or church member behaves. But that power will not win men’s souls.
There is another king, the baby Jesus, and of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end. He does not rule with the sword, but by the word, touching the hearts of people and revealing himself as a gracious, wise, holy, and generous king. While the state rules in this world, its power will one day die with it. God’s will last forever. May you answer his call to receive a citizenship in heaven, one that will never fade or fail, and in so doing, become the best of citizens of these human states, for the glory of God and the good of his church. Amen.
