How to respond to corrupt authorities and policies?
Sermon Notes
Today we’re continuing our teaching series on a book of the bible called Romans. It’s a series about renewing your mind for the transformation of your life, and what we’re talking about specifically today is governing authorities. How can we respond to our governing authorities, especially to corrupt governing authorities? I think both skeptics and believers would agree we have some governing authorities that are good, but we also have some that are corrupt. So how can we respond to both good and corrupt governing authorities? How can we respond if they create policies we disagree with, or policies that go against our beliefs?
It’s a very relevant topic for us today, because some of us wrestle with certain policies regarding vaccines, policies regarding gun control, policies regarding our public school systems education, curriculum, and the acceptance of transgender males in female sports...These are all very real, relevant policies our country is divided over, and today’s text teaches how to respond to such policies. It teaches us how to respond to governing authorities and policies, especially if they go against our beliefs. So let’s turn to Romans 13 and get into it. You’ll find Romans in the last quarter of the bible, and we’ll be in Romans 13:1-7. Title of today’s message is How to respond to corrupt authorities and policies? The big idea is to submit to governing authorities, but not to ungodly policies...Submit to governing authorities, but not to ungodly policies...
Here’s your context. Romans was written by the Apostle Paul who was a skeptic and enemy of Christianity, until 35 A.D. when he has an interaction with Jesus that changes his life, and he becomes a Christian. He writes this letter to teach others about Jesus and the gospel that transformed his life. In the first 11 chapters of Romans he focuses on the gospel and our vertical relationship with God, but in the last 5 chapters he’s focusing on our response to the gospel and how God wants us to live in our horizontal relationship with others. In ch 13:1-7 he’s focusing specifically on how God wants us to live in our relationship with governing authorities. He’s teaching us how to respond, to corrupt governing authorities and policies. Let’s check it out.
Romans 13:1-7 states, “Let everyone submit to the governing authorities...” I bet that verse isn’t on your coffee cups...I bet that isn’t one of your top 10 favorite bible verses...In fact I did a quick search on Amazon for Romans 13:1 gifts. The only thing I found were gifts with other verses on it, and a Yodeling Pickle...It was literally a toy pickle that yodels, and the description said it yodels for hours of mindless entertainment...It had over 10,000 reviews! But there wasn’t one thing with Romans 13:1 on it. It’s because we don’t like this verse. We don’t like the thought of having to submit to governing authorities. Now because we don’t like the thought of this, we have to be careful of not trying to soften it saying, “Paul must be talking about submitting to only good governing authorities. He wouldn’t want us submitting to corrupt governing authorities, so he must be talking about submitting to only good governing authorities.” We can’t soften it like that, because contextually Paul’s writing this during a time when the Roman Empire hasn’t been
Christianized yet. He’s writing this during a time when the Roman Empire and Roman governing authorities were way more corrupt and hostile toward Christians than what we experience in our context. For example, the Roman Emperor at this time was Caligula, and historically we know...
· He killed his mother and brother so they couldn’t challenge his throne.
· He committed incest with three of his sisters.
· He made his favorite horse a senator, and later promoted him to be the head consul.
· He once got mad at the weather and declared war on Neptune, the Roman god of the sea.
· He ordered the Roman army to whip the waves, and to keep seashells as their plunder.
· He removed the heads off the statues of their deities, and replaced them with his own.
· During gladiator games he’d take random people from the crowd, throw them into the arena against their will, to be attacked by wild animals for his own entertainment.
Now after Caligula we have Claudius, who was just as cruel. Then we have Nero, who came into power because his mother killed Claudius in his sleep, so her son Nero could take the throne. We know Nero was one of the most hostile, cruelest Christian persecutors in history.
· He burned Christians alive to light up the streets in Rome, and some historians say as the Christians were burning, he played the harp on his balcony like a tragic poet.
· He then blamed Christians for the fire, and had hundreds of Christians crucified for it.
· He also hosted a party using Christians as lanterns, burning them alive to light up the courtyard for his party.
· He one time got mad at his pregnant wife, and he kicked her to death.
· He later felt bad about killing his wife, so he found a boy that looked like is wife. Then he had the boy castrated, married him, and gave the boy his wife’s name.
This is the type of corrupt, hostile, dark governing authorities Paul’s facing when he’s
writing this...It was a way more corrupt, hostile, dark context than ours...In fact as Paul’s writing this, he’s anticipating Caesar can read this letter, which would put the lives of Christians living in Rome at risk. So when he says submit to governing authorities, he’s strategically communicating the gospel message in ways that won’t create red flags with the Romans. He’s making it clear to the Romans that he isn’t coming to Rome as a political agitator, he’s coming as a peaceful follower of Jesus. He isn’t coming to Rome saying #notmyCaesar!...#notmyPresident!...He’s coming as a peaceful follower of Jesus and to teach others about Jesus. He’s being very strategic in the way he’s writing so it won’t create red flags, and so he can keep spreading the message of Jesus. Again vs. 1, “Let everyone submit to the governing authorities, since there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are instituted by God.” Notice Paul says the governing authorities are instituted by God, meaning God has greater authority over our governing authorities. Paul’s saying the world has a lot of mini kingdoms with mini kings and queens in positions of authority, but they’re all under God’s greater authority because God’s the greater king with the greater kingdom. Psalms 103:19 states, “The Lord established his throne in heaven, and his kingdom rules over all.” God is the greater king, with the greater kingdom, who rules over all other kingdoms. As believers we need to remember we’re living as citizens in an
American Kingdom, but we’re primarily citizens of God’s Kingdom. We need to remember to live as good citizens in our American Kingdom, without neglecting to live as good citizens of God’s Kingdom. Paul says in Philippians 3:20, “Our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.” What Paul’s saying is we need to live as good citizens in the world, as we wait to enjoy our citizenship with Jesus in heaven. He’s saying we need to live trusting God’s greater authority over all other governing authorities. We need to live trusting God’s greater authority, even in the transitional seasons of leaders being removed and replaced. A lot of people get excited when their leader gets in, and they panic when their leader gets removed. But a Christian never has to panic, because our King Jesus never gets removed.
Vs. 2, “So then, the one who resists the authority is opposing God’s command, and those who oppose it will bring judgment on themselves. 3 For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Do you want to be unafraid of the one in authority? Do what is good, and you will have its approval.” The reason Paul says we shouldn’t resist the authority, is because he just said in vs 1 they were instituted by God for a reason. He’ll give us a few of those reasons later, but for now it’s important to notice he doesn’t say we shouldn’t ever resist. He says we shouldn’t resist, but he doesn’t say we shouldn’t ever resist. I mean he just taught us that God’s authority is our primary authority, which means if governing authorities ask us to do something against God, then we should resist since God’s our primary authority. The greater submission is to God not our government. So being a good citizen is about respectfully submitting to what our governing authorities want, but also respectfully resisting their policies that are against what God wants. We should follow what our governing authorities say, until it goes against what God says. This kind of resistance is what theologians call civil disobedience. It’s where we participate in public nonviolent disobedience against certain policies, to reform the policies. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr was a great example of this. He respectfully submitted to authorities, while also respectfully resisting their racist policies. We also have numerous biblical examples of this. For example...
· In Exodus Pharoah feared the growing Jewish population, so he created a policy to murder every Jewish male baby. But the midwives resisted, and helped the babies live.
· In Babylon King Nebuchadnezzar made a 300 ft statue of himself, and created a policy demanding everyone to bow down and worship it. But three men named Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego knew this violated God’s command for us to not worship any other gods. So they resisted, despite facing death in a fiery furnace.
· In Babylon the government also created a policy prohibiting people from praying to God for 30 days. But Daniel resisted, he still prayed to God three times a day, despite being thrown in a lion’s den.
· In Israel after Jesus was born, they called him King of Kings, Lord of Lords. When King Herod heard this he created a policy to murder every firstborn Jewish male. But Mary and Joseph resisted, they left the country instead of handing Jesus over to Herod. · In Acts chapter 5 when Peter and the apostles were on trial, the Sanhedrin ordered them to stop speaking about Jesus. But Peter and the other apostles resisted saying, “We must obey God, rather than people!”
All these people including Paul, respectfully resisted. They participated in civil disobedience, because they refused to go against God as their primary authority. So like Paul said we should respectfully submit and not resist our governing authorities. But that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t ever resist. If our governing authorities create policies that go against what God wants, such as prohibiting us from praying and teaching the bible, or policies violating God’s moral laws and the 10 Commandments. In those situations we shouldn’t submit, we should respectfully resist. Vs. 4, “For it is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, because it does not carry the swordfor no reason. For it is God’s servant, an avenger that brings wrath on the one who does wrong.” Paul’s giving us two reasons, two purposes God allows governing authorities in the world. He says the 1st reason is for your good. Our governing authorities are supposed to work for your good, for the good of their citizens, to promote the general welfare of their citizens. The Constitution of the United States says, “We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare...” This is exactly what Paul’s saying! He’s saying our governing authorities should promote the good and general welfare of their citizens! So the 1st reason for governing authorities is for your good, and the 2nd reason is to carry the sword. Our governing authorities are to carry the sword, meaning protect their citizens from evil things that’ll harm their citizens. The sword imagery implies using force, law enforcement, militaries if necessary to protect their citizens. Without these things, without governing authorities having the sword to protect their citizens, we’d have anarchy and evil being unhinged without restraint. It’d be horrible like the movie The Purge, but way worse. None of us would want to live or raise a family in a society like that, which is why we should be very thankful for our governing authorities in law enforcement and our military. Our law enforcement officers have taken a lot of criticism over the past several years, and there are certainly some law enforcement officers that should be held accountable for their sinful actions. They should be held accountable for not doing their jobs in promoting and protecting good. But there’s also a lot of great law enforcements officers who are promoting and protecting good! They don’t deserve our criticism, they deserve our thanks. We should be thankful for every governing authority who’s fulfilling their God given responsibility to promote good, and protect the good of their citizens. Without them anarchy and evil would become unhinged. They’re in place to promote and protect good. Vs. 5, “Therefore, you must submit, not only because of wrath but also because of your conscience.” In other words your conscience should tell you having governing authorities in place and doing what we can to support them, is a good thing for us to do as citizens. We don’t have to always agree with their policies, in fact our conscience prompts us to resist their policies that are against our biblical values. But our conscience also tells us having governing authorities in place and doing what we can to support them, is a good thing for us to do as citizens.
Vs. 6, “For this reason you pay taxes, since the authorities are God’s servants, attending to these tasks. 7 Pay your obligations to everyone: taxes to those you owe taxes, tolls to those you owe tolls, respect to those you owe respect, and honor to those you owe honor.” Paul’s saying we should still pay taxes, even though some of our taxes are funding things that aren’t aligned with
biblical values. One of the reasons we should do this is to help fund some of the good things our taxes are going to. Our taxes are funding some good things like paving our roads, national defense, international trade agreements, and paying for our first responders. If you’re ever in an emergency and need to call 911, you should be thankful our taxes are paying the first responders coming to save your life. If you resist paying taxes it’ll certainly take away funding from the bad things our taxes are supporting, but it’ll also take away funding from the good things too. So we should pay our taxes to fund the good things, but we should also fight for tax reform against the bad things. In Matthew 22 Jesus says, “Give back to Caesar what belongs to Caesar.” He says this even though he disagreed with a lot of the things the Romans were using tax money for, such as funding the Colosseum and crucifixions. Both Jesus and Paul disagreed with those things, but they still told us to pay our taxes so we can support the good things our taxes are going to.
The point is there will always be disagreements with our governing authorities when it comes to their taxes and policies. Our governing authorities are sinfully flawed people just like us, which means their taxes and policies will be sinfully flawed too. Paul’s teaching us how to live as good citizens in our sinfully flawed governing system. Sometimes as Christians we spend more time complaining and criticizing our governing authorities, than we do praying and serving our cities in ways that promotes the good and general welfare of our cities. Jeremiah 29:7 says, “Seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you...and pray on its behalf.” So instead of just complaining and criticizing, the Lord wants us to be praying and serving our cities in ways that promotes the good and general welfare of our cities. The Lord wants us to resist and speak up against any corrupt authorities and policies, but to also be praying, serving, even voting to elect new authorities with new policies, for the good and general welfare of our cities.
The Big Idea:
This big idea is to submit to governing authorities, but not to ungodly policies...Submit to governing authorities, but not to ungodly policies...In China there were believers being harassed by the Chinese police, for gathering to worship. When an IMB missionary named Nik Ripken asked them about it, here’s what they said: The Police say, “If you don’t stop these meetings, we’ll confiscate your house and throw you into the streets.” We respond, “Do you want my house? Well you need to talk to Jesus, because we gave the property to him.” The Police say, “Well we don’t have any way to get to Jesus, but we can certainly get to you! We’ll take your property, then you and your family will have nowhere to live!” We respond, “Do what you must. But then we’ll be free to trust God for shelter, and for daily bread.” The Police say, “If you keep this up, we’ll beat you and put you in prison!” We respond, “Then we’ll be free to trust Jesus for healing, free to preach the good news of Jesus to the captives, free to plant churches in prison.” The Police Say, “If you try to do that, we’ll kill you!” We respond, “Then we’ll be free to go to heaven, and we’ll be with Jesus forever.’” These believers in China knew the Chinese governing authorities could take away everything they had, including their lives. But they also knew the one thing they couldn’t ever take away, was the joy of spending eternal life in heaven with Jesus. We need this kind of faith in America...We need this kind of faith because too many are panicking saying, “We can’t take 4 more years of Biden...We can’t take 4 more years of Trump.”
City Awakening our savior comes from heaven not the White House. Our salvation comes from Jesus not a president. Our salvation comes from Jesus dying for our sins on the cross, not from a president flying in on Air Force One...Paul, the Christians in Rome, the Christians in China, they never got to vote for their candidate to be in power, but the reason they were able to respectfully submit and resist, is because they knew Jesus held the highest position of power. The reason they didn’t panic despite facing persecution, is because they knew they had a resurrected savior who’s always in power! They knew Jesus is a greater king, with a greater Kingdom, and he’s always in power! Jesus is still alive, he’s still in power, which means you can always rely on him in your darkest hour or your final hour. You can always rely on him, even this very hour...Let’s pray...