Separation of church and state
Matthew 22: 15-21
One nation under God in the Pledge of Allegiance. A Ten Commandments monument in a local courthouse. A Manger Scene on the town common. In God we trust on our currency. What do you think of when you hear those things? For millions of Americans it’s the following: YOU CAN’T DO THAT, THAT’S A VIOLATION OF CHURCH AND STATE!
But is it? Is that true? Is it really unconstitutional to pray or hand out Bibles in school? Is it really wrong for politicians to form their views based on their faith? Is it wrong for the state to give churches “Tax Exempt Status”?
Let me get straight to the point and say NO! No its not wrong, no its not unconstitutional, No this is NOT a violation of the separation of Church and State! But what about all those who say YES? Yes, it is wrong, yes it is unconstitutional and yes it is a violation! Three statements to remember
1) Separation of Church & State does not mean that the church must stay out of the affairs of government and public life IT MEANS THAT THE STATE IS TO STAY OUT OF THE AFFAIRS OF THE CHURCH!
2) Those who tell you otherwise are either blatantly dishonest or they simply do not know, understand or care about the history of the United States of America!
3) This is an organized attempt primarily being carried out by those who have contempt for Christ, hate the Bible and despise the influence the church has had on Western Culture and they are literally willing to rewrite history in order to demonize the Christian Church.
That being said we can close early and all go home, I mean, what else is there to say?
No, this morning we are going to look at what America has believed traditionally and we will also take a look at what the scriptures say about the role of the church and government. Before we continue lets open in a word of prayer.
People have been worshipping the One True and Living God going all the way back to the early chapters of the book of Genesis. 6000 years of Godly men and woman, yes God has ALWAYS had His people. Human government however has not always been present on the earth but it was established early on, much earlier than most people realize.
Human Government first shows up on the pages of scripture in Genesis 9, which we estimate to be around 3000 B.C. give or take a few hundred years. How does human government come about? Through the might and power of men? No! It was (and this will be surprising to some) but it was ordained by God Himself. Genesis 9:6
Whoever sheds man’s blood by man his blood shall be shed for in the image of God He made man. In this passage God institutes human government in the clear form of Capital Punishment. Whose idea was the death penalty? Like it or not, it was Gods idea. Ironically one of the most common objections to the death penalty is this: But doesn’t God say in the 10 Commandments “Thou shalt not kill?” Yes, He does, but if you keep reading what is the penalty for killing another human being? That person must face the punishment of death so the proper rendering is “Thou Shalt Not Murder” but when it comes to the death penalty that is the power that God gives to the State, the power to punish evil doers!
I think it is important to note that capital punishment is NEVER abolished in the New Testament. In fact, it is affirmed by both Jesus and Paul
Matthew 26:52 But Jesus said to him (Peter), “Put your sword in its place, for all who take the sword will perish by the sword.
Acts 25:10-11 So Paul said, “I stand at Caesar’s judgment seat, where I ought to be judged. To the Jews I have done no wrong, as you very well know. 11 For if I am an offender, or have committed anything deserving of death, I do not object to dying; but if there is nothing in these things of which these men accuse me, no one can deliver me to them. I appeal to Caesar
Romans 13:4 For he is God’s minister to you for good. But if you do evil, be afraid; for he does not bear the sword in vain; for he is God’s minister, an avenger to execute wrath on him who practices evil.
I bring this up to make it abundantly clear that human government is ordained by God -Romans 13:1 “Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God and the authorities that exist are appointed by God.” So according to the Bible human government is ordained by God and its primary purpose is to restrain and punish evil.
You have heard the term “you can’t legislate morality”, that is absurd since the government’s primary job is to keep people safe by punishing evil. What do you call a society with no government? Anarchy! And how safe would you feel if there was total anarchy? We call government a necessary evil and I suppose there is truth to that but the real story is not so much that it is a necessary evil rather it is necessary because of evil!
Let’s now take a look at the Old Testament nation of Israel. Israel was a Theocracy, God was their king and God appointed men like Moses, Joshua and Samuel to faithfully lead the people in the ways of the LORD. The people didn’t get a vote, there was no Democratic process or ruling by consensus. The only separation of church and state was that Priests could not be kings and kings could not be Priest but both were to serve God in their divinely appointed roles. Priest (Levi), Kings (Judah)
So that was the situation in Old Testament Israel but what about the New Testament Church? Jesus told Pontus Pilate (the Roman governor) in John 18 My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, My servants would fight, so that I should not be delivered to the Jews; but now My kingdom is not from here.
The Bible says in 1 Peter 2 we are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation! We have a kingdom and that kingdom will come but until then although we are American citizens our true citizenship is in heaven.
America was built on a foundation; some say that foundation is the Judeo-Christian faith. I wouldn’t argue with that. Some say the foundation is our founding documents including the constitution, I wouldn’t argue with that either except I might ask what principals led the founders to write these documents – The declaration of independence says the following We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.
Clearly the founders of this country recognized Gods hand of providence, that it was God who was in control, it was God that was guiding our nation. But what about this so called separation of church and state?
The phrase “Separation of Church and State” appears nowhere in any of our Nation’s founding documents, the phrase was coined in a private letter written by Thomas Jefferson. The first amendment to the US Constitution does state however that "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof
In other words, the government cannot make the Presbyterian Church the “official church of the state” neither can it tell people when and where they are allowed to worship. This applies to Federal, State and Local Governments.
There is nothing difficult about this, if a high school football team wants to say a prayer before a game the public school system has no right to forbid them, but neither can the school punish a child for not wanting to taking part. The government has no right to tell people how to worship nor do they have the right to stifle religious expression.
Most people who talk about the separation of Church and state with all due respect have no idea what they’re talking about. What they want is a separation between the State & God. They want to remove God from society, they want to take away our religious liberty and if they had the power they would persecute us like the Sanhedrin persecuted the early church!
As of this moment proponents of this warped understanding of “church & state” want to make it seem like Christians can only practice their faith in private, if you’re not in church or in the privacy of your own home you better SHUT your mouth!
This is not what the separation of church & state is all about! Again, the separation of Church and state means the state has to stay out of the affairs of the church.
We can easily prove this by looking to our history - consider the following examples.
-The Founding Fathers openly spoke about their Faith. George Washington once said “it is impossible to rightly govern the world without the Bible”.
-When Presidents are sworn in, they are sworn in on a Bible
-In the early 1800’s it was not uncommon to hold church services in the Halls of Congress.
-In God we trust is not only on our coins it is inscribed on the wall, front and center in the chamber of the House of Representatives.
-We could go on and on with examples like these that absolutely prove that the free exercise of the Christian faith was allowed not only in public but in governmental buildings. Historically this has never been a problem. The problem is we went through a social revolution in the 1960’s and the mindset that came out of that revolution now dominates our nation’s colleges and Universities. Now of course this antichrist mindset was around long before the 1960’s but that’s when it really gained traction in our Nation. Now half the members of the supreme court hold this godless point of view and the high court has taken it upon itself to reinterpret the constitution of the United States.
You will actually hear constitutional scholars talk about our constitution as a “living document”, that is code for we can make it say anything we want since the job of the court is to interpret the law. The court now has the power to reinterpret not only the constitution they are reinterpreting and rewriting history and there are millions of Americans who are willing to go along with them.
Pslam 2:1-3 Why do the nations rage, And the people plot a vain thing?
2 The kings of the earth set themselves, And the rulers take counsel together,
Against the Lord and against His Anointed, saying, 3 “Let us break Their bonds in pieces
And cast away Their cords from us
So how are we to respond? What does God tell us in His Word?
Matthew 22:17-21 - Tell us, therefore, what do You think? Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not?” But Jesus perceived their wickedness, and said, “Why do you test Me, you hypocrites? Show Me the tax money.” So they brought Him a denarius and He said to them, “Whose image and inscription is this?” They said to Him, “Caesar’s.” And He said to them, “Render therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.”
Romans 13:1-7 - Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God. 2 Therefore whoever resists the authority resists the ordinance of God, and those who resist will bring judgment on themselves. 3 For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to evil. Do you want to be unafraid of the authority? Do what is good, and you will have praise from the same. 4 For he is God’s minister to you for good. But if you do evil, be afraid; for he does not bear the sword in vain; for he is God’s minister, an avenger to execute wrath on him who practices evil. 5 Therefore you must be subject, not only because of wrath but also for conscience’ sake. 6 For because of this you also pay taxes, for they are God’s ministers attending continually to this very thing. 7 Render therefore to all their due: taxes to whom taxes are due, customs to whom customs, fear to whom fear, honor to whom honor
Acts 5:27-29 And when they had brought them, they set them before the council. And the high priest asked them, 28 saying, “Did we not strictly command you not to teach in this name? And look, you have filled Jerusalem with your doctrine, and intend to bring this Man’s blood on us!” But Peter and the other apostles answered and said: “We ought to obey God rather than men.
And finally let me say this. I love this country and we ought to be good citizens of it. A matter of fact Christians should be some of the best citizens, there is no call to revolution rather we are called to pray for those in authority over us
1 Timothy 2:1-3 Therefore I exhort first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men, 2 for kings and all who are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence. 3 For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior
We need to pray for this Nation, we need to pray for all our leaders and when we pray, no matter how things may appear on the surface we must recognize this infallible truth, It is Gods hand that is guiding human history, and His will WILL BE DONE!
