I was watching an old Humphrey Bogart movie the other night, called Action in the North Atlantic. It was about the merchant marine in WWII, not about the navy. I was particularly interested because my brother Jeremy up in Alaska was in the merchant marine. And then I got even more interested, because the ship Bogey was serving on was taking supplies to Murmansk, in the north of Russia - and the Murmansk run was the most dangerous assignment of all. German submarines patrolled constantly, bombers stationed in the north of Norway could be called in at a moment’s notice, and the weather up there in the Arctic ocean was some of the worst in the world. A member of my first church was in the merchant marine and served on the Murmansk run. Or perhaps I should say survived the Murmansk run. An awful lot didn’t.
At any rate the reason I’m bringing it up is because they added to the story line a little conflict between the crusty old skipper who had cut his teeth going around the Horn in a sailing ship and the squeaky-clean young college graduate named Perkins who was assigned to him as a cadet - an officer in training. And at the very beginning of the film, the captain orders extra lookouts, Perkins asks, “Are you expecting an attack, Sir?” And the captain, quite sharply, says, “Let me give you some advice. The last thing you want to do, when someone gives you an order, is to ask questions.”
Even in the merchant marine, you have to obey orders, because lives may depend on it. It isn’t only military people who understand being under authority. As a matter of fact, in the Roman world, almost everybody was under some sort of authority or another. You didn’t have to be a soldier or a slave to know that. Women were under their father’s authority, and then their husband’s; men were under their patron’s authority, or the governor’s, or the emperor’s. And so the centurion’s response to Jesus could have been made by almost anyone in that world. “I also am a man set under authority, with soldiers under me; and I say to one, 'Go,' and he goes, and to another, 'Come,' and he comes, and to my slave, 'Do this,' and the slave does it." It was not the fact that the centurion understood authority that was the surprise, it was that he recognized Jesus’ authority.
We live in a very different age, don’t we. An old friend of mine back in Minneapolis used to wear a button that said “Question Authority.” It was a hangover from the 60's, mind you, the era of “Don’t trust anyone over 30" and other similar slogans advocating disrespect. This fellow never really grew out of that mind set, but then of course neither has our country. We not only question authority, we take active delight in undermining it. How many commercials do you see that celebrate pushing the envelope, breaking the rules, going outside the box?
And yet how many of our society’s rebels realize that all the freedoms they - and we - indulge in are only possible because almost everybody else does follow the rules? Bruce Feiler, in his wonderful book Walking the Bible, describes traffic in Cairo:
“This is what it takes to cross the street in Cairo. First you have to determine which cars are moving and which are not. This is not as easy as it might seem. Streets have no particular distinction between where cars should be driven and where they should be parked. Step onto a thoroughfare... and one is overwhelmed by the sheer number of cars. Cars in the left lane going in one direction, cars in the right lane going in the same direction. Cars on the sidewalk going in the opposite direction. Cars in the middle parked. Often the only way to tell which cars are operating is to feel the hood. A warm hood means the engine is running and it’s best to stand back. A cold hood means the car is stalled and the driver has stepped away - for a few days.”
Personally, I think that the occasional traffic ticket is a small price to pay for orderly, navigable streets. But then, I like order - it’s one of the reasons I’m a Presbyterian. Almost any kind of order is preferable to none at all. Example: conditions in Somalia were absolutely dreadful under the Siad Barre regime, but after it was ousted in 1991; turmoil, fighting, and anarchy followed for nine years. To this day only part of the country has any recognizable government at all. The best most of the rest of the people can do is cluster around a warlord and hope he’s strong enough to keep them safe from the one in the next valley over.
People need order in order to live decent lives. And government is needed to establish order. Whether it’s a crude feudalism like in Somalia, a monarchy like Jordan, or a republic like the U.S., people need someone to make the trains run on time. That’s what people said about Mussolini in Italy, back before WWII, and the Germans welcomed Hitler during the same period because of the failure of the Weimar Republic to get the country back on its feet again after WWI. People need order. People need stability. They need it so badly that they will embrace other evils in order to get it. Because unless there is someone in authority who can set the rules and see that people follow them, neither order, nor stability, nor safety, nor peace, nor justice can exist at all.
Democracy is practically sacred, nowadays... But one can, through democratic processes, choose to commit all kinds of evils. If ten people vote to kill and eat the ninth, it is democratic, but it is wrong. That is why our founders created a republic, rather than a pure democracy, which is too easily captive to demagogues, swayed by the moment’s appetites and fears. John Adams said: "Remember, democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes, exhausts and murders itself. There never was a democracy yet that did not commit suicide." U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Marshall said, "Between a balanced republic and a democracy, the difference is like that between order and chaos." My own favorite observation about democracy is from H.L. Mencken: "Democracy is a form of worship. It is the worship of jackals by jackasses." [Walter Williams, 05/2002]
Americans would love to think that democracy is the form of government God likes best. And certainly democracy - or its structured cousin, the republic - seem best to reflect Biblical principles like the priesthood of all believers and individual responsibility. But Scripture displays various forms of government. So when you ask, "What kind of government does God want?” there isn’t give a simple answer, like “monarchy” or “democracy.” The right government for any given people at any given time is whatever God has brought into being. God allows all kinds of rulers and regimes to rise, taking into account the history and habits of the people, the level of maturity and self-discipline which they have attained, and the prevailing moral climate. Each government has its purpose in that time and place. No form of government can flourish - whether democracy or dictatorship - unless the underlying conditions are there to sustain it.
Now, any government can change. And will. The only permanent government which God has ordained is that of his son. Christians and other citizens are permitted - even encouraged - to work to better the world they live in, to change their cirumstances for the better. But the point Paul is making is that whatever form of government you find, God is behind it. No state or government is - in itself - out of God’s will, because it isn't, even though its leaders may proclaim opposition to God or to Jesus. Communism and fascism are subject to the will of God whether they acknowledge it or not, just as the Egyptians and Assyrians served God’s purposes in OT times. As Daniel said, standing before the Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar, one of the most powerful monarchs the world has ever seen, “God changes times and seasons, deposes kings and sets up kings.” [Dan 2:21]
Paul wrote this letter to Christians living in the capital city of the empire, Rome itself. Rome had already passed through several forms of government. It had been a monarchy, a republic, a military dictatorship, and now it was an empire. And God was behind all of them. Furthermore, not only is God behind the forms of government, but he is also responsible for the incumbents. Now, keep in mind that Nero had just begun his reign as the fifth emperor of Rome, and his shenanigans make Bill Clinton look like Little Bo-Peep. And yet this astonishing verse says. “There is no authority except from God, and those authorities that exist have been instituted by God.” [Rom 13:1b] And do you remember when Pontius Pilate tried to get Jesus to answer him, threatened, “Do you not know that I have power to release you, and power to crucify you?" Jesus answered him, "You would have no power over me unless it had been given you from above.” [Jn 19:10 11].
All of the very people who occupy positions of power are put there by God, whether they give you hope or hives. So if you thank God for George Bush, remember that he also gave us Ted Kennedy; if you thank God for Tom Daschle, remember that he also gave us Jesse Helms. God is neither a Republican nor a Democrat. He isn’t a Socialist, or a Marxist, or even an American! God in his grace does us good leaders, but he also sends us bad ones, whether to punish us or push us out of complacency or both only he knows. And more often than not we don’t deserve any better. Therefore, when Hitlers, Stalins, Pol Pots, Arafats, Putins and other ruthless individuals come to power, God has put them there because that is what is needed at that particular time in history, whether to shape the people into something new or to use them as a weapon against disobedient neighbors. When you are tempted to rail against a government, be aware that the anarchy that follows the destruction of an authority may be worse than the authority itself.
The next verse is a controversial one: “Therefore whoever resists authority resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment." [Rom 13:2] There are people who use this statement to justify everything the government does and to condemn all attempts to call it to account. But what this verse seems to be teaching is that since God is behind all governments, then anyone who tries to overthrow the government is opposing God. This presents us with some interesting dilemmas, considering that the only clergyman to sign the Declaration of Independence was a Presbyterian, and considering the spiritual giants who have opposed the totalitarian regimes in the Soviet Union and China. We could spend the rest of the hour just introducing the idea of civil disobedience, and how and when to resist unjust government. But we don’t have time. In a nutshell, the state has no right to command the worship of the people or to forbid their obedience to the Word of God. Government is not God; it is merely his agent.
It is his agent for very specific purposes. It is there to encourage good behavior, and to prevent and punish bad behavior. “For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Do you wish to have no fear of the authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive its approval; for it is God's servant for your good.” [Rom 13:3-4a] Do you fear getting a speeding ticket? Would you like to be free of that fear? The remedy is simple! No, I’m not advocating getting a fuzz-buster. I mean radar detector. Just keep your speed down. No officer will give you a medal, but - trust me - the police appreciate good and careful drivers. “But if you do what is wrong, you should be afraid, for the authority does not bear the sword in vain! It is the servant of God to execute wrath on the wrongdoer.” [Rom 13:4]
In this passage we see the state has two basic functions. First of all, governments are to protect us from evil. That is, they are to provide security for the people. They are to protect us from attack from without, “provide for the common defense” as the preamble to the constitution puts it, and from crime and turmoil within our borders, “domestic tranquility.” For that purpose, it is not only right but necessary for governments to have armies and police systems and courts of justice to preserve us from evil. For the second function, we have to go on a little further to v. 6: “For the same reason you also pay taxes, for the authorities are God's servants, busy with this very thing.“ [Rom 13:6] But because today is Memorial Day, I want to focus particularly on the state’s authority from God to “bear the sword of God to execute wrath on the wrongdoer.”
Scripture clearly teaches that the government is authorized by God to use force. Those who use arms to keep or restore peace and justice are God’s servants. That word is the same one we get deacon from. This includes both the police and the military. One is to preserve the peace within our borders, one is to deter and punish aggression outside our borders. They are operating with God’s authority. The policeman giving you a ticket is God’s deacon, ministering to you for the common good. Furthermore, the sword is the symbol of the delegated right to use force, even to the taking of life. Because the chaos and anarchy of having no one at all willing or able to use force to deter wrongdoing is far worse than most of the errors and abuses.
Even when a government’s use of the sword is misguided, those who obey their superiors and put their lives on the line are God’s agents for countering evil and establishing order. As such they are to be respected - at least in principle.Those who use their positions to commit atrocities, I hasten to add, are due neither honor nor respect. But when acting under legitimate authority, according to agreed-upon rules, members of the military may be honored and remembered. This weekend we honor those who served our country, the living and the dead alike, and rightly so.
When the state uses these servants of God in the right way, for the right cause, to establish justice and ensure peace, there is no higher calling. Jesus said, “No one has greater love than this, to lay down one's life for one's friends.” [Jn 15:13] Now I know that people join the military and the police for a variety of reasons; for adventure, for challenge, for a GI bill education - even for the uniform. But once they are there, they are under authority. When the state says, 'Go,' they go, even into danger, even to wounds or death. They have given themselves to something larger than themselves. Perhaps they call it their country, perhaps they call it freedom, perhaps it is for their buddies. They may not even recognize it as love. But that is what it is. Neil Roberts, the Navy Seal killed early in Afghanistan’s Operation Anaconda wrote the following letter to his wife: "I consider myself blessed with the best things a man could ever hope for. I loved being a SEAL. If I died doing something for the Teams, then I died doing what made me happy. Very few people have the luxury of that."
Many of us vividly remember the Vietnam war. I’m not going to debate the rights and wrongs of our national policy. But the treatment our servicemen and women received when they returned was shameful., as was the anti-military sentiment that infected too many of our citizens. One of the many unfortunate after-effects of the Vietnam War is that with our all-volunteer forces, an increasing divide is growing between those who serve and those who do not, those who respect authority and those who do not. The contempt for the military sown in that day has taken deep root in part of our culture. The police, too, often feel isolated and alienated from their communities. They receive more criticism for the few cases of abuse than they do honor for the many far more common acts of self-sacrifice and heroism. One of the gifts September 11 gave this country was a renewed appreciation of our need for and dependence on these men and women - who lay down their lives for each other - and for us.
What we perhaps don’t realize is that Christians are - like the merchant marine - also under authority, civilians enlisted in the same cause. We are people who should know how to say “Yes, sir!” and go to our action stations. Because we, too, are sworn to a cause higher and larger than ourselves, and part of our calling from is to help strengthen and defend the civil society that our soldiers and police are authorized - when necessary - to kill for, and for which they often die. We may not be called to die for our neighbor, but we are called to live for them - and which is easier? Is it harder to die for a cause or to live for one?
Those whom we honor here and around the country this Memorial Day have shown us what it means to fulfill their God-given calling. We honor them best by showing the same faithfulness in fulfilling our own.
