TO PROTECT AND TO SERVE
That motto is used to describe the original description of our federal government’s purpose. It is primarily to protect "we the people" from those in our society that would hurt us so that Americans can live in the pursuit of happiness.
That being said, it would be sheer fantasy to think that a federal government can do all this to every single community in this great land. We are far too big and cover too large of an area for that to be possible. To accomplish that, we would have to have a government police force that numbers in the millions.
So, what have we done? We have created a tiered form of authority, with each tier responsible for a certain area to protect. We have allowed each state to have its own state police, which patrol the boundaries of that state, and then we have allowed each county to have a county police department that does the same thing for the different counties within the state.
And, carrying that down even further, we have established local police departments for every city and town within those counties. We have had to do it this way in order to have each citizen fully protected in the best possible way. Most of us have been raised to think of the police as our friends and protectors.
That is how we see the police. Now, let’s take a look at how God view our policemen:
MATTHEW 5:9 reads;
“God blesses those who work for peace, for they will be called the children of God.”
Policemen of all levels are our peacemakers. They are the ones who stand in the gap and try to keep the peace, all too often in an ever-increasing world of violence.
God is a God of orderliness. He is not a God of chaos or upheaval. He instituted a hierarchy in all areas of life, and one of those hierarchies are our authorities. In the Old Testament, we see where God told Moses to appoint judges who would hear cases involving the Israelites so that peace could be maintained.
Keeping an orderly society was so important to God, that He even gave us specific instructions on how to handle those people who do not honor the sanctity of life.
GENESIS 9:5-6 -
5 “God will require the blood of anyone who takes another person’s life. If a wild animal kills a person, it must die. And anyone who murders a fellow human must die. 6 If anyone takes a human life, that person’s life will also be taken by human hands. For God made human beings in His own image.”
Having a peaceful society is necessary in order to enable the people to worship God. And to keep the peace, we must have peacemakers. But peacemakers must sometimes enforce the peace by taking troublemakers into custody and/or punishing them.
ROMANS 13:4 gives us a warning concerning our actions and how policemen could be involved.
“The authorities are God's servants, sent for your good. But if you are doing wrong, of course you should be afraid, for they have the power to punish you. They are God's servants, sent for the very purpose of punishing those who do what is wrong.”
But God not only gave us the police to help protect us and to serve us by keeping the peace in our society, He gave us instructions on our relationship with the police.
TITUS 3:1 tells us,
“Remind the people to be subject to rulers and authorities, to be obedient, to be ready to do whatever is good …”
And when someone does something terribly wrong to us, we are to let the policemen, God’s appointed servants, handle any retribution.
ROMANS 12:19 says,
“Do not take revenge. Leave that to the righteous anger of God.”
When we take it upon ourselves to right a wrong, we will invariably let our emotions get in the way of good judgment because we are under the influence of Satan. This can cause us to either overact or do something that we should not do, or even cause us to miss-judge our actions and do something that will end up hurting ourselves. Leave all revenge up to God and His servants, the police.
God has specifically called us to obey all duly appointed authority.
HEBREWS 13:17 reads,
“Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over you, as those who will have to give an account. Let them do their duty with joy and not with groaning, for that would be of no advantage to you.”
It never ceases to amaze me how many people think. Years ago, I knew a man who had nothing good to say about any authority at all. He was solidly against having anyone in command, saying that all they did was push others around so they could get what they wanted.
I noticed two things about this man. The first thing I noticed was how he acted like a dictator in his own home, demanding everyone else obey his every wish or risk punishment.
The second thing I noticed was when he was mugged one evening as he walked home from work. He told me later that he could not understand why the police were not patrolling the area to keep things like that from happening.
I reminded him that he had earlier told me that all cops should just go home and let people be free to live their lives without interference. And then I asked him to explain his difference of opinions. As I had anticipated, he could not do so and finally had to concede that he was the one with the wrong attitude.
I am using a lot of Scriptures in this short message because I do not want any doubt in anyone’s mind just how important it is that we accept, obey, and even thank God for every authority over us, including our different levels of policemen. This is a message that I firmly believe should be preached over and over again to every person in our society!
When you have any level of authority openly being against another level of authority, we know that those who are opposing are being ungodly and acting in a sinful way. We can see this today in New York City and other places. I will even go so far as to give a prophecy of my own: Those who are busy throwing insults against our policemen will someday be very sorry they did so, because the day will come when they will need those same policemen they are busy disobeying today.
I think it is safe to assume that every person in here today is a law-abiding citizen and we all appreciate and honor our men and women in uniform, no matter what level of authority they might be in. But it is also necessary for people like us to have an understanding of just what God wants in a society and what He does not want. And what He does not want is people running around behaving like mindless animals who have no care for anyone else but themselves.
That kind of heart and mindset breed idleness and evil. Evil will prohibit any peace in life and will even keep believers from worshiping our God. For humans to prevail in God, we must be able to cope in a society, and for that to happen, we must rid sin from that society. Hence, we have something that is God-ordained, and that is our different levels of police departments.
We all know that JOSHUA 24:15 says,
“As for me and my household, we shall follow the Lord.”
But I want to go on record now and say,
“For me and this church, we shall obey the Lord and esteem His servants, the policemen He has appointed to be our peacemakers.”
Chief, it has been our honor to have you speak to us today, and we invite you back at any time it suits your convenience. And if there would be anything we at this church could do for you and your department, please do not hesitate to ask us.
Let us pray:
