How many of you are planning to vote this Tuesday??
If you’re not planning to vote this Tuesday and you are a citizen of the United States of America, guess what? God planned a message just for you today! No, I did not plan this (I’m not that good!); but as we are studying the Letter to the Romans, the subject of government just happened to be today, 2 days before Election Day!! God’s timing is always perfect and His Word through the Bible is a light to our paths! Don’t you think we should listen to it very carefully?
Pray with me our commitment to the Bible……
Please grab a Bible, open it to Romans 13, and stand with me as we read Romans 13:1-7………
v1: We must all submit to governing authorities.
Why should we do this?
The rest of v1 and v2 give us the reasons……..
I thought it would be interesting to see what the original Greek word is for established in this passage; the word is tasso, which means to appoint, determine, ordain, or set!
a. authorities over us are God ordained!
What does this mean? If God is a loving God and desires what’s best for us and He ordains the authorities over us, we must deserve who we get as leaders! If we have good leaders then we should keep doing what we’re doing. If we have bad leaders then we must have work to do!
The leaders we have are a reflection of who we are!
And most leaders are elected by a majority right?
And so when we have opportunities to elect leaders, whether it is in church or government, we must vote because those leaders are a reflection of who we are.
If we don’t vote, we are allowing others represent who we are; in other words, if we don’t vote, we are just allowing other people to live our lives for us. A person who does not vote for leaders is really saying “I really don’t care how I’m going to live!” If you’re a citizen of the United States, what are you going to do on Tuesday? Pray and vote! If you’re not a citizen of the United States and you live here in America, please pray on Tuesday and plead to God for the right leaders to be elected.
By the way, be careful of political parties! The Democratic Party started 180 years ago and the Republican Party started 160 years ago. Does anyone know where the Republican Party started?? - Ripon, Wisconsin!
Now think about this; both the Democratic Party and the Republican Party are not even 200 years old and every year they amend their beliefs. Biblical Christianity is over 2000 years old and its Testament never changes and will be forever! What dominates your life, a political party or Biblical Christianity? It’s okay to join organizations or even churches; but when that organization goes against Biblical Christianity, that would be the time to say no! (more on this later because it ties in with our next reason for submitting)
We are all to submit to governing authorities because those leaders are ordained by God for us and secondly, we are to submit to governing authorities because:
b. It is a sin not to submit to governing authorities!
This is pretty straightforward isn’t it? Because God ordained the governing authorities for us, it is a sin to go against God. But let us note, just because the governing authorities are ordained by God, these authorities may not be godly!
It is a sin to go against God! So, we are to submit to governing authorities unless they ask us to go against God. Remember what I said earlier? If we have good leaders then we should keep doing what we’re doing. If we have bad leaders then we must have work to do!
Turn to Acts 5:27-29 with me……...
It is a sin not to submit to governing authorities but we must always obey God rather than men.
And so, we have two main reasons to submit to governing authorities. But in practical ways, what does this really mean to submit to governing authorities?
Looking at other translations helps. The NKJV, NASB, and NRSV states Romans 13:1-2 similarly: Let every person be subject to the governing authorities; for there is no authority except from God, and those authorities that exist have been instituted by God. Therefore whoever resists authority resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment.
Submitting to governing authorities means to be subject to the authorities and not resist them. We are to yield to the rules over us unless of course those rules are against what God says. Doesn’t this all make sense?
Remember the first three things a person should be committed to?
1. Believe in Jesus Christ as Savior and God.
2. Worship God always!
3. ??? = Yield to God the Holy Spirit!
When we focus on these 3 basic things about the Christian life, we will be able to love people and function the right way in society!
The way we deal with the rules over us is a sign of our faithfulness to God.
How are we dealing with rules in our lives? We might say “rules are made to be broken!” What do verses Romans 13:3-5 say? There will always be consequences to breaking rules, especially God’s rules.
And so, the question we need to ask is “what does God say?” This is why we all need to know the Bible! How do you know if a rule set by those over you are going against God if you don’t know what God says about it? We are to worship God with all our attitudes, minds, and bodies; and worship includes knowing God’s rules, through the Bible and obeying them.
Some might say that this may be stretching it because it is not directly cited in this passage; but we can certainly look at other passages about obeying all other authorities besides government, which God has ordained for our lives; our parents, our spouses, our employers, our teachers, and other leaders. We are to submit to all authorities set for us; but always remember, we are to obey God rather than men.
Now, let’s finish with a topic that is for sure – TAXES!
Just like us, Christians 2000 years ago were complaining about taxes; they were saying, “the church can really use that money, why should we send it to the government?” Paying taxes is God ordained because government is God ordained. Remember what Jesus said to the first disciples about taxes? Matthew 22:21, Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s.
Does this mean we just pay whatever tax the government tells us??
We must obey God rather than men! How can we obey this with taxes when God tells us to pay taxes? Thank God we live in America where the people still has a say! If we have to pay taxes but we need to obey God rather than men, shouldn’t we know if the taxes we pay support anything that disobeys God? And if there is something that our government is doing which is against God’s rules, shouldn’t we be doing something about it?
When was the last time you contacted your government representative?
Why do we have problems in America when it is founded on Biblical principles? Is the problem the non-Christians?
1. How strong are Christians in America in committing to worshiping God with all their attitudes, minds, and bodies?
2. How strong are Christians in America in yielding to God the Holy Spirit?
3. At best only 30% of Christians in America vote.
4. Do we know our government representatives and do they know what Christians stand for? Do not accept the lie that faith has no part in government because of “Separation of Church and State”!
You have probably heard this saying: We have met the enemy and he is us!
And quoting Tony Evans, “We have a messed up world because we have messed up countries. We have messed up countries because we have messed up communities. We have messed up communities because we have messed up families. And we have messed up families because we have messed up us!”
Will you make a commitment with God today to clear up the mess we’re in?
Please take a moment to pray.
