Someone once said in humor, “We have the best politicians that money can buy!” But what is sad about this humor, is that many times when it comes to our public officials it is the truth.
Sometimes I wish we could do to our politicians what a company did to a farmer.
Illus: An elderly farmer wrote to a mail-order house as follows: “Please send me one of the coal stoves you show on page 317 of your catalog, and if it’s any good, then I’ll send you a check.” Soon the old farmer received a letter from the company that said, “Please send the check first. If it is any good, then we’ll send the stove.”
Sometimes it seems like we ought to let some of these fellows serve their time in office, then, if we think they did a good job, we will pay them.
As we read about these politicians doing the things they do, some get aggravated and say they will never vote again!
The behavior of these politicians should have the opposite affect. That is, we should be so excited about going to the polls that we cannot wait to pull the poll lever to vote them out of office.
THAT IS ONE THING WE CAN DO!
Paul was very much aware of situations like we find ourselves in today.
But no matter how much these politicians may aggravate us, there is no excuse for us not to have a Christ-like attitude as we deal with them.
Paul writes to Titus to tell him how we are to conduct ourselves with those who are in charge of our government.
Before we get into this passage that deals with our responsibilities, I would like to remind you that this passage was written during the time when the evil, ruthless dictator, Nero, was in power.
I mention that, because when we have people in office that we do not care for, we have to always remember that we are to respect the office they hold, even if they themselves do not respect it.
Paul suggested five things we citizens should do:
I. WE SHOULD OBEY THE LAWS
Look at Titus 3:1. We read, “Put them in mind to be subject to principalities and powers, to obey magistrates…”
Look at the word, “subject”. This is the word “hupotasso”, to be under obedience, put under, subdue unto, submit self unto.
This is the same thing the Lord commands a woman to do when she marries a man.
Look at Eph. 5: 22. “Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord.”
The word “submit” is the same word that is used for “subject.”
A woman has to be careful who she selects for a husband, because of what is required of her in the relationship.
And the citizens of a nation have to be careful who they place over them in government, because once they make that choice, they have to be willing to submit to their authority.
Something that we do not take as seriously as we should, is the election of people that we must SUBJECT ourselves too.
• It is shocking that generally a third or a little more of the electorates make the decisions about who will rule this country of ours. Generally, two-thirds do not even bother to vote.
• It is shocking that many, when they go to the polls, know very little about the candidates they are voting for.
Illus: Voters know all about actors, actresses, and athletes whose lives affect them very little, but they do not know a thing about those they put in office who will affect their lives greatly.
We as citizens should have great concern about who will govern us for the next two to four years.
Because we do not take advantage of this God given right-
• Our elected officials passed laws that take half of what we make. We now work for the government from January to the second week in June.
Sometimes we feel like the man who was asked, “Does your wife pick your clothes?” He said, “No, only my pockets!”
• Our elected officials passed laws so that every time we buy a gallon of gas, over thirty-four cents a gallon goes to taxes.
• Our elected officials passed laws to vote themselves large salaries, and after a few years they can draw retirement for the rest of their lives. Congress is the only job in the world where you can work two years and draw a retirement.
• Our elected officials passed laws so they and their families have free medical care the rest of their lives.
• Our elected officials passed laws so that our tax dollars have to support a failing public school system, that most of the time they will not send their children to, but we do not have a choice where we send our children.
• Our elected officials passed laws that are sympathetic to the homosexuals.
• Our elected officials passed laws that promote abortion with our tax money.
• Our elected officials passed laws that favor the beer and liquor industry. This industry has destroyed millions of lives and homes, and has caused millions to die premature deaths on the highways.
I want to say again, one of the great concerns that we citizens should have, is about who will GOVERN US the next two to four years.
Once people get into these high offices, God’s Word teaches us that we are to SUBJECT ourselves to them and obey them.
Every country deserves the kind of government they have elected to govern them.
For example, we as a nation deserve the kind of government that we have today.
If we do not want to obey people like this, we should not elect them to office.
Paul told Titus, as he preached to his congregation in Titus 3:1, “Put them in mind to be subject to principalities and powers, to obey magistrates, to be ready to every good work.”
We are to OBEY the laws of the land even if these are the kind of people we elected to govern our lives.
It is obvious, as a nation, we cannot select which laws we are going to OBEY or DISOBEY. If we did, we would have anarchy in the streets. Lawlessness would be rampant.
WE SHOULD OBEY those we have elected, but also-
II. WE SHOULD NOT CRITICIZE THEM
Paul suggests that for a society to function as a good society, there are three things we should do:
A. SPEAK RIGHT
Look at verse 2, we read, “…To speak evil of no man…”
When God’s Word says we should speak evil of NO MAN, we generally interpret that to be anyone except the politicians.
We have adopted the idea that all politicians are fair game, and it is always right to CRITICIZE those who govern us.
We should not criticize them for two reasons:
(1) These are the people we have chosen to reign over us. Either by voting for them or by refusing to vote for them, we chose to put them in office.
But another reason we should not criticize them is because-
(2) These are the people who may be doing a good job.
All politicians are not a bunch of crooks that do not know what they are doing.
It is not fair to criticize them because the only thing we know about politicians is what a liberal biased news media wants us to know.
Our liberal press wants to run the country. They want to decide who will be in control of this country.
Anyone that tries to keep up with the news can catch the news media in one lie after another.
And it is not fair to judge the politicians on what we hear from the biased news media that is in control today.
It could be that if we were in the same position that some of these politicians are in, facing certain issues that concern people, we would be doing the same thing they are doing.
And the last thing a person needs when they are doing the best they can do, is to have people criticizing them.
The answer to having a just society in which to live, is learning how to TALK NICE TO EACH OTHER.
Talking out of anger, and destructive criticism, never gets us anywhere.
WE SHOULD SPEAK RIGHT, but another thing we should learn how to do is-
B. BE NICE
God’s Word says, WE SHOULD NOT BE BRAWLERS.
Listen, there are some folks walking around looking for a fight. They are hot heads looking for trouble.
Proverbs 3:30, says, “Strive not with a man without cause, if he have done thee no harm.”
Now there are situations that we should be willing to fight for and even die for, but God’s Word says we are not strive with anyone, “…Without cause, if he have done thee no harm.”
Wouldn’t this be a wonderful place if people spent as much time as they could, thinking of ways to HELP PEOPLE instead of HURTING PEOPLE?
Look at verse 2. We read that WE SHOULD BE GENTLE.
This is the opposite of being a BRAWLER.
A brawler is always looking for a way to attack, and he/she does not care about how much damage they do in the process.
Illus: A brawler will attack a house fly with a sledge hammer. He may kill the fly, but he destroys the place in his effort to kill the fly.
But a gentle man can solve the problem without the destruction.
Conclusion:
We who love this nation, know that we are a land of laws. And these laws are not always going where we would like them to go.
For example, during the year 2000, we all heard a great deal about the young boy, Elian Gonzales, that escaped Cuba with his mother. She drowned, and he spent two days on the sea, floating in an inner tube. Later he was rescued by two young men and brought to America. This divided our nation.
(1) One group said his mother sacrificed her life to get him here, and he should be allowed to stay.
(2) Another group said he had a living father in Cuba that wants him to return to Cuba. He should go home.
Since his father had left him and his mother, many felt that he had given up his rights as a father.
But regardless of how we feel, and how much we might dislike Castro, the law of the land says he should belong to his father.
We cannot select which laws we like or dislike, and only obey the ones we like.
Illus: Jack Kemp said, “People obey the law for one of two reasons: they either love God or fear punishment. When both of these break down, the result is an environment that breeds violence, poverty, and anarchy.” (Christian Reader, Vol. 32, no. 3.)
Sometimes it looks like many do not obey the laws of this land because they do not LOVE GOD, and they certainly do not FEAR ANY PUNISHMENT.
I. WE SHOULD BE OBEDIENT TO THE LAWS
II. WE SHOULD NOT CRITICIZE THEM
