Approaching the Powers that Be

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This morning, I talked about the government’s responsibilities toward us, the kinds of things that we should look for in a leader, since we do have the opportunity to have a voice in choosing, the things that we should look for in leaders who are going to fulfill the responsibilities that God’s given them. Tonight, if you’ll turn with me to Romans chapter 13 again, we’re going to be in the same passage we looked at this morning. We’re going to look at it from a different and probably more obvious perspective of what it says about our responsibilities toward that government.

As I told you this morning, I believe this passage is like a coin. I brought a coin, not that you can’t visualize one. But it’s all made out of the same.

. . It’s sticky and fuzzy, but it’s all made out of the same material. It’s all made out of this.

. . I don’t know what they put in the coins anymore.

I know there’s nickel in here somewhere. It’s all made out of the same material. It’s all the same coin, but on one side, I’m looking at a minute man from Massachusetts, and on the other side I’m looking at George Washington. And so it’s all the same substance, but in describing the coin to you, I could look at this aspect of it and tell you what Washington looks like.

I could look at the other side, the other aspect of it, and describe to you the minute man, or I could even describe for you the ridges on the side and tell you what they’re there for, but ultimately it comes down to the same substance. Many passages of Scripture are that way. I’ve said to you before that any given passage has one interpretation.

It means what God intended it to mean. I don’t like to ask when we’re in a discussion, what does that Scripture mean to you? Because ultimately, whether it’s being asked of me or asked of you, it really doesn’t matter what it means to us.

It matters what it means. And any given passage of Scripture has one interpretation, I believe, one substance, one meaning, but can have multiple applications. It can apply to our lives in different ways.

This passage is one of those. It has one substance. It’s one seamless idea of God’s design for the government that rules over us and our response to it, but we can look at it from either one’s perspective.

And they don’t contradict one another, but they complement one another, depending on whose perspective we’re looking at. So tonight we’re going to look at our responsibilities to the government that we live under. Just to read the passage to you again, and I won’t go into as great of detail tonight since we’ve already covered the passage, covered various aspects of it.

But just to read over it again, it says in Romans chapter 13, verse 1, Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers, for there is no power but of God. The powers that be are ordained of God. Whosoever therefore resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God, and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation.

For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to the evil. Wilt thou then not be afraid of the power? Do that which is good, and thou shalt have the praise of the same.

For he is the minister of God to thee for good. But if thou do that which is evil, be afraid. For he beareth not the sword in vain.

For he is the minister of God, a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil. Wherefore, you must needs be subject not only for wrath, but also for conscience’ sake. For this cause pay ye tribute also, for they are God’s ministers, attending continually upon this very thing.

Render therefore to all their dues, tribute to whom tribute is due, custom to whom custom, fear to whom fear, honor to whom honor. And it’s perhaps easier to see from this passage our responsibilities even than what we looked at this morning. It starts out telling us to be in subjection to those who have authority over us.

Folks, I believe every word that’s written in the Bible and yet there are sometimes things that are hard for me to swallow and apply to my everyday life and the way I look at things. I’m not telling you that the Bible’s wrong. I’m telling you that I’m wrong and I need to work harder at getting in line with what the Bible says.

But reading a passage like verse 1 that says, There’s no power but of God. The powers that be are ordained of God. It’s hard for me to come to grips to because it’s hard for me to imagine that a madman like Kim Jong-Il was the dictator of North Korea for, what, 12 years?

Something like that. Because he was placed there. He was allowed to be there by God.

I don’t understand that. It was longer than 12 years. The math fails me right now.

He was allowed to be there because God allowed him to be. Now, does that mean God was pleased with him starving his people to death? Absolutely not.

Does that mean God was pleased with him oppressing them to the fact that they’ve got more concentration camps per capita than they ever thought about having in Nazi Germany? No, I don’t believe God’s pleased with that either. But somehow or another, Kim Il-sung and Kim Jong-Il and now the third one have been in control of North Korea because God allowed it, And yet I believe they’ll also stand before God and give an answer for the things that they’ve done.

So as much as I would like to say, these men have no business being in authority, believing what the Bible says, I have to believe that good or bad, our rulers are there, because God allowed them to be there, and I’ve got to come to grips with that. Again, it’s not easy for me to think. And we think sometimes in America, if the guy of the wrong party gets in, the guy I don’t like, I didn’t vote for him.

I won’t show him any respect, and that’s exactly the wrong idea to have as believers. I’ve been very critical of elected officials, and it’s not just a one-party thing, because I’ve been critical of the president more than I should have been. In Oklahoma last time, I ended up voting for the Democrat for governor last time, and she lost just like all of them did, because it was a bad year for their party that time.

And I criticize the Republican lady that’s in there now a lot more than I should have, and act like they have no business when they do wrong. They have no business being in office. I have to be reminded that they’re there because God allowed them to be there.

And my responsibility is to act toward them with an attitude of respect, whether or not they do the right thing. And I can respectfully speak out when they, we have that right, we can respectfully speak out when they do what’s wrong, but ultimately the whole idea of just attacking them and slandering them and folks, whatever party they’re in and whatever party we’re in, it’s wrong to slander those in authority over us. And again, I’m not saying we can’t speak out, because if you look at the Old Testament examples, there were some wicked, wicked kings that ruled over Israel and Judah.

And God sent His prophets to very forcefully, but also very respectfully in most cases, to challenge them on the things that they did. Look at Elijah. Look at Amos.

These men were sent to correct those in authority over them, but they never questioned the fact that God had placed them there for that time. And we’re told there’s no power but of God. The powers that be are ordained of God.

And as we read this passage, again, I’m right there with you, thinking we’re supposed to act how toward who? Toward these people? And yet we have so very little.

We have so very little to complain about in terms of their treatment to us relative to what’s been done before. I mean, we are, I think we’re losing our freedoms on a regular basis, but we are essentially free people. We are governed by a constitution that doesn’t grant us rights.

It recognizes rights that are inherent. And we’re free to meet here as we do every Sunday and every Wednesday and sometimes in between, and to worship God not just as we see fit, but as He sees fit to tell us how to worship Him. And we’re free to preach the truth of God’s Word.

And we’re free, for the most part, to go home and live our lives and take care of our families and work our jobs, again, for the most part. We have an incredible amount of freedom. It’s not always been so, and yet we’re so willing to rail against those in authority over us in direct.

. . And folks, when I say we, I mean me.

Those in authority over us in direct contradiction to what the Word of God says. I want to tell you a story. I told you last week that I’ve been reading this book called Protestant Persecution of the Baptists, and I know I have such a thrilling life.

I’ve chosen to read that, but it’s pretty interesting, historical book. In this book, I told you that what we did last Sunday as far as re-baptizing someone as an adult used to be considered a capital offense throughout much of Europe. And it was the Catholics, it was the Lutherans, it was the Calvinists.

They were all involved in persecution of those who re-baptized in that day and age. I read the story the other day and thought this fits perfectly with what we’re going to talk about tonight of two Dutch Baptists who when they were involved in all the things that we as Baptists do, preaching the gospel, salvation by grace through faith, preaching that there was nothing that saved us in baptism, nothing that saved us in the Lord’s Supper, that baptism was for believers only. These things that we as Baptists have traditionally held as the non-negotiables and some other things.

And when the Catholic King of Spain took over the Netherlands, they thought, we’ve got to get out of here because we’ve seen what’s happened in the Inquisition. That was not a good deal. So we’re going to Queen Mary of England, they called Bloody Mary. She was dead, or I don’t know if she was dead yet, but she was off the throne.

Elizabeth I was there. Surely a Protestant queen, she’ll be more sympathetic to us. So they fled from the Netherlands to England.

And when they did so, they thought she was going to be more sympathetic. She wasn’t, unfortunately, because they insisted on rebaptizing. And the Church of England at that time wouldn’t stand for that.

They said, by force of law, we’re not going to let you do this. And so they arrested these men and they were being held in prison. They were being held on death row for the crime of rebaptizing and preaching the doctrine of salvation contrary to what the established church had said.

These men, folks, if any of us had anything to complain about, about our government, if we had any reason to rail against our government, any reason to slander our rulers, it wouldn’t be us, it would be them that had the reason. But I want to read to you just very briefly the letter that they sent to Queen Elizabeth I. while they are in prison, while they are on death row, they said, We believe and confess that magistrates are set and ordained of God to punish the evil and protect the good, which magistracy we desire from our hearts to obey.

We want to obey you. We want to submit to your authority. As it is written in 1 Peter 2.

13, Submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord’s sake, and for he beareth not the sword in vain, Romans 13. 4. And Paul teaches us that we should offer up all prayers and intercessions and giving of thanks that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty.

For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God, our Savior, who desires that all men should be saved, 1 Timothy 2, 1-4. He further teaches us to be subject to principalities and powers, to obey magistrates, and to be ready to every good work, Titus 3. 1.

Therefore we pray your majesty kindly to understand our right, our meaning, which is that we do not despise the eminent, noble, and gracious queen and her wise counsels, but esteem them worthy of all honor, to whom we desire to be obedient in all things that we may. For we confess with Paul as above that she is God’s servant, and that if we resist this power, we resist the ordinance of God. For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to the evil.

Therefore we confess to be due unto her, and are ready to give tribute, custom, honor, and fear, as Christ himself has taught us, saying, Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and unto God the things that are God’s, Matthew 22, 21. Since therefore she is a servant of God, we will kindly pray her majesty that it would please her to show pity to us poor prisoners, even as our Father in heaven is pitiful or merciful. Luke 6.

36 We likewise do not approve of those who resist the magistrates, but confess and declare with our whole heart that we must be obedient and subject unto them as we have here set down. And the background behind that was that throughout English history from Henry VIII through his daughter Mary and now on to his other daughter Elizabeth I, there had been wars of religion. There’d be a Catholic queen and the Protestants would try to kill her and overthrow the government.

There’d be a Protestant queen, the Catholics would try to kill her and overthrow the government. So anything that did not go along with what the monarch had established as the church and as doctrine, they said must be seditious. They must be revolutionaries and want to overthrow the government.

And the Baptists came in and these men said, we respect your authority. We don’t want to overthrow the government. We just want to be left to worship in peace.

And we want to obey you as God has commanded us to do. Ladies and gentlemen, if anybody had cause, if any brother or sister in Christ had cause to rail against an unjust government, it would be these two men who, by the way, were later executed for the crime of rebaptizing. And yet we don’t see that.

And if they, facing persecution for their faith, responded in so gracious and Christ-like a manner toward their oppressors, Folks, what right do I have to name call when somebody votes the way I don’t like? And if that convicts you, I’m sorry, that’s the Holy Spirit’s job because it’s convicting me too. But he tells us to be in subjection to those in authority over us.

He says, whoever resists the power, whoever resists the power resists the ordinances of God, and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation. Don’t take this word out of context, this word damnation. When we talked about good works, when I talked this morning about the innocent, we’re not speaking in spiritual terms here.

Paul, sort of out of character for the book of Romans, is speaking in eminently practical terms here. When he talks about good works, he’s talking about good citizenship. When I talked about the innocent, I mean those who have not broken the law, not those who are morally innocent before God.

And when he talks here about damnation, that word that’s behind that in Greek can be used for several things. And the word they’ve used here is damnation, but it also can mean condemnation. And he’s not telling us that disobeying the government will send us to hell.

What he’s saying here is that if we resist the power of our rulers, we’re resisting the power of God, and we invite the punishment that we deserve. He’s talking about those who would stand in opposition to the government and say, you won’t rule over me. Again, for rulers are not a terror to good works, but to the evil.

Wilt thou then not be afraid of the power? If you desire not to have any reason to fear your rulers, Do that which is good, and thou shalt have the praise of the same. Again, we’ve already gone through most of this passage, so I won’t go over this again in great detail.

But tonight, first of all, we need to learn as far as our approach to the powers that be, that Christians should be subject in spirit toward their rulers. He tells us in verse 1, Let every soul be subject to the higher powers, for there is no power but of God. The powers that be are ordained of God.

And a man asked me this morning, how does this work? talking about when the government expects you to do things that God doesn’t approve of. Well, at that point, then we have to decide what’s most important to us.

Hopefully, we will be on the side of obeying God. We should be on the side of obeying God. But what this verse is telling us, I told him, is what this passage deals with is more the condition of the heart than our actions.

Most things in the Bible deal with the condition of the heart primarily, because what happens outwardly is the fruit, and what happens inwardly is the root. But this is more about the condition of the heart. And folks, where we can obey the government, where we can obey our rulers, we should.

Where God’s law will not allow us to observe man’s law, we must obey God’s law. And yet our attitude should never be one of thumbing our nose at those in authority over us. He says to be subject.

Folks, that’s a state of mind. And as hard as that is for me, I want to tell, I’m so glad Brother David’s not here tonight, I want to tell government officials, who do you people think you are? And yet, that’s the wrong attitude to have.

Yes, I may think the taxes are too high, not just here anywhere, I may think the taxes are too high, but unless they violate God’s law and I don’t see where they do, I’ve got to pay them and I’ve got to be respectful about it. We’re supposed to be subject in spirit toward our rulers. There’s a difference.

There’s a difference when we’re compelled to obey God’s law over man’s law. There’s a difference in doing it out of humility. Like these men and saying, you know, we want to obey you, and yet we must obey God.

And saying, I don’t have to obey you. There’s a difference. And folks, anybody who’s ever had children or worked with children or dealt with teenagers working at a fast food line, folks, we know the difference, don’t we, of doing it because we have to or because we can, and we know the difference between a genuine attitude of respect.

And what God expects from us is respect toward our rulers because He’s placed them there. Second of all, Christians should be obedient in action toward their rulers, where we can. Christians should be obedient in action toward their rulers.

Not only are we to be subject to subjection in spirit, this attitude of respect, but He tells us in verse 2, Whosoever therefore resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God, and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation. That word resist means to set oneself in opposition too. That if we as Christians, if we as Christians, just because we’re citizens of a higher kingdom doesn’t mean we don’t obey the laws while we’re here, when we can.

And when he says that if we, well, he says that if we set ourselves in opposition to our rulers, we set ourselves in opposition to the ordinances of God and we invite the just and deserved punishment. Folks, it’s not fitting for Christians to talk about how awful it is that we violate God’s law and then just flagrantly violate the law of the land around us. Again, I’m not talking about things that violate God’s law.

I’m talking about the speed limit. I’m talking about the tax code. I’m talking about we know what the law of the land is.

And we as Christians have a responsibility to obey those that God has placed in authority over us when to do so does not contradict the law of God. We have a responsibility. Christians should be subject in spirit toward their rulers.

Christians should be obedient in action toward their rulers. And it’s not in my notes, but again, I’ll add, when we can. And folks, most of the time we can.

Let’s be honest. Most of the time we can. If we don’t, it’s because we choose not to, not because of any pains of conscience. Third of all, and finally tonight, Christians should pray for God’s guidance for their rulers.

Christians should pray for God’s guidance for their rulers. I don’t want to belabor this point too much because several weeks ago, we talked about this very thing, I believe, out of the book of 1 Timothy, and talked about praying for those in authority over us. Do you remember that?

When I had you all stand up, those of you who were here that night, and had you stand up, and we went through president and vice president, and I said, sit down if you don’t know who the president is, sit down if you don’t know the vice president. And some of you got almost the way to the end. We were getting down to the county officers that I didn’t even know all of, and I thought this isn’t going to work out.

Some of you all were still standing. But we went down all the way through state representatives and state senators and said these are the people that we should be lifting up in prayer on a daily basis. Because what they do in one way or another affects us.

It affects our children and our grandchildren. It affects people that aren’t even born yet. And we need to be in prayer for God’s guidance.

Folks, it tells us that they are the ministers of God for good. They are here for our good. That doesn’t mean they don’t abuse that from time to time.

God’s intention is for them to be here for our good. Many times they’re not. and my response and maybe your response is to get mad at them and fire off an angry letter.

And again, nothing wrong with writing letters, but my response is to rail against those in authority when my response if I was really doing what God wanted me to should be to hit my knees and to pray for these people. Some of the problems we have about obeying them, some of the problems we have about being in subjection to them when they do the wrong thing could very well be alleviated if we talk to God about them instead of talking to them about them. Because quite honestly, God’s in more of a position to do anything about them than they are.

Amen? God’s in more of a position to fix them than they are. We have a responsibility to pray for those people.

We have a responsibility to pray for those in authority over us. And it’s easy. I will tell you, it is easy to pray for those that we like.

It’s hard to pray for those that we have issues with. And yet, it’s all the more needed. It’s all the more needed.

There was a prayer time that was held one Sunday up the Oklahoma Capitol building. And we were to, those that showed up were to go into the chambers and sit in the seat of a representative and pray for them. And I had a good friend who was a member of the state house and was very tempted to go sit down in his seat.

His wife actually even offered to get up and let me sit there and she’d go pray for somebody else she knew. And I said, no, you know, I was going to go sit in his seat and pray for him, but you being there may be a sign that I was not supposed to. And there was a lady who was a member of the state house that I could not stand because of some of the ways she voted.

And I saw over there her chair was wide open. I thought, God, what are you telling me here? And you know what?

I went and sat there and I prayed for her. My attitude was completely different about her from that day forward. And folks, we need to pray especially for those we don’t agree with.

Especially for those that we don’t agree with. 1 Timothy, again, I’ve already referenced it, but just to read it to you, says, I exhort therefore, this is in 1 Timothy 2, 1 and 2, I exhort therefore that first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men, for kings and for all that are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty. It’s not just for their good, although that would be reason enough, but it’s for our good too, because if we’ll pray for them and pray for God’s guidance for them and they’ll hear from Him, then it’s to our benefit because we can live peaceable lives.

We can go about working for the Lord and living good lives without the oppression, without the intrusion, without all the things that they could possibly do to us. We need to pray for our rulers. We need to pray for those in authority over us.

Folks, as the elections come up, I want to invite you to pray for those who aren’t even in authority over us yet because some of the challengers may win in various races. We better start praying for them now because they’re going to need it. Anybody, even a good man, gets into office and the temptations of power and influence are there to meet them on day one.

And ladies and gentlemen, we better pray for them now. And so I’m going to invite you, I’m going to challenge you along with me that we pray for our folks as often as we pray for each other in this church, and we should pray for one another daily. So we should pray for the rulers, those in charge over us.

And I’m not saying you have to run down the government directory and pray for everybody every day, but we ought to be praying for our leaders on a regular basis. I’m going to challenge you to start praying with me for those who are already in office and those who are running for office, the ones we like and the ones we don’t like, that we may live a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty. Folks, just as much as our government has a responsibility to us, according to the Bible, we have a responsibility to our government.

We have a responsibility to respect it, to be subject in spirit. We have a responsibility to demonstrate that respect by being obedient in action, and we have a responsibility not only to that government, but to ourselves and to God to pray for God’s guidance for those in authority over us. It’s for our own good.