The Responsibility Of Christian Citizenship

The Responsibility of Christian Citizenship

CCCAG, October 27th, 2024

Scripture: Romans 13:1-7

Introduction

Does anyone want to fast forward to November 5th yet? Just be done with the elections.

It’s exhausting. I had 24 spam calls on my phone this last Tuesday, and many of them were political robocalls.

As exhausting as they are, presidential elections have always fascinated me.

As most of you know, I grew up spending the school year in Kenosha, and my summers in Hayward.

Because the vast majority of the people in Kenosha worked in union manufacturing, or in jobs that were close to the union shops, Kenosha was a Democratic Stronghold.

In Hayward, the opposite was true- mostly Republican or at least very traditional and conservative.

So throughout my childhood and teen years, I lived in two very different environments and heard the arguments from both sides. In fact, whenever we went up to Hayward for deer hunting, we all had to agree that political discussions were off-limits.

That tactic made sense to me for a long time- keep your opinions to yourself and don’t rock the boat.

As much as we might want to do the same thing- be a political turtle- pull our heads inside our shells and just stay safe, Jesus has not called to that.

We do not hide our light under a basket- we let it shine so all can see Jesus.

So what does that look like?

What does God ask from those of us who follow Jesus in relation to earthly governments?

Should we just let the world go its way, and we go ours?

Should we just be separate and satisfied with what Jesus has done for us and stay out of politics? The whole system is so corrupt, so fallen, and so wicked that there is no redeeming it.

Should we ignore our national earthly citizenship and just focus on being a good citizen of heaven?

We will discuss those questions this morning, and the Apostle Paul addressed them in this chapter of Romans.

Keep in mind that the Holy Spirit is guiding Paul to write this scripture to a church in a city that was the Capital of the Roman Empire-

That government- Actively killed Christians

-Promoted pagan worship that included throwing babies in bonfires.

-Enforced worshipping the emperor as God

-Allowed all kinds of perversion to be celebrated and encouraged.

Some of this sounds a little close to home, doesn’t it?

Yet, God established HIS Church in the middle of that mess- to stand for his truth and spread the message of salvation through Jesus Christ.

So God wants us to be engaged, so let’s see what the bible has to say about our responsibility when it comes to interacting and living under human government.

Rom 13:1-6

Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God. 2 Consequently, he who rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves.

3 For rulers hold no terror for those who do right, but for those who do wrong. Do you want to be free from fear of the one in authority? Then do what is right and he will commend you.

4 For he is God's servant to do you good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword for nothing. He is God's servant, an agent of wrath to bring punishment on the wrongdoer. 5 Therefore, it is necessary to submit to the authorities, not only because of possible punishment but also because of conscience.

6 This is also why you pay taxes, for the authorities are God's servants, who give their full time to governing. 7 Give everyone what you owe him: If you owe taxes, pay taxes; if revenue, then revenue; if respect, then respect; if honor, then honor.

NIV

Prayer

This scripture in Romans teaches us a few things, and the first thing I want to talk about this morning is that-

I. God has established human government

There are many different kinds of governmental systems in existence today.

You have monarchies in which people are ruled by a king or queen

You have theocracies- where a religious system, usually Islam, controls the government.

You have socialism which is in most of Europe and Canada where the government directly runs many industries and limits freedoms

You have communist governments like China where the government controls every aspect of your life.

You have dictatorships like North Korea, where one man has absolute control over everyone.

Then you have the US. What kind of government do we have?

Most Americans will say it’s a democracy. That’s not true in the strictest sense. Democracy runs on the will of the people- in other words, the majority rules.