The Christian & Government

As I mentioned last week, we're going to be taking a break from the Gospel of John, a short break, maybe for about a month or so. And so bring your whole life, right, bring the whole counsel of God for the teaching over the next several weeks.

And I've got a trip, and I won't have a national conference coming up in a week or two. And so we'll be out for a bit for that. But we would appreciate your prayers as we make our way to the Balmy state of Florida.

We're going to Orlando in July. I'm not sure if it was again, that was, but we are. And having the national conference, the Biennial National Conference for the missionary church.

Well, let's talk about more than that today. This morning, it's probably not a stretch to say, bear with me, go with me, I should say. And if you want to have a good argument with someone, or just a conversation that's going to be a downer, talk about the government.

Especially, especially if it's an election cycle, right, which, sadly, we're about to hear real quickly.

You probably know that as much as American politics consumes the minds of a lot of Americans, I hope you know we're not the only government in the world.

We're not the only government in the world, and we are not the only governments to have some problems. Right now, as I speak, major cities in France are on fire.

There's a little war happening in Ukraine. There's constant fighting in parts of Africa and in the Middle East, and then there's always the looming threat of what's happening or what could happen with North Korea.

Well, all just a few reminders that at the moment, our world and its many governments are far, far from what they could be. They are not ideal.

And so what is a Christian to think, specifically for you and I here today, what is an American, who I happen to be a believer, probably fixed most of us this morning, what is an American to think, a Christian American to think about the government?

Are we to give it our blind allegiance or civil disobedience or maybe something in between?

Are we to pledge our allegiance to the flag of this empire or protest all of its injustices? Or can we do a bit of both? I want to tell you this morning that good and faithful believers have done both.

They have pledged allegiance to a flag and to a country. Many of us here this morning have served the country. And some of us have put our lives on the line of our fellow citizens, which the Bible says is very, very honorable.

No greater love has anyone than this. But again, I want to talk about the government, not the armed forces. I want to talk about the government this morning.

And how different believers feel about this or that president or this or that court or military policy or immigration policy or financial policy.

I want to go beyond that and simply say, can we agree that we live in a fallen world? And can we also agree that a fallen world means fallen governments?

Because they're run by fallen people. Well, I want you to know that today is not about politics so much, so breathe easy. I'm not going to stand up here and tell you how you should feel about your government or a particular leader.

I'm certainly not going to be telling you who you should vote for. But I do want to talk about how a believer should relate to their governing authorities.

A little disclaimer before I do. I will not be able to touch on everything that can be said about this in a single sermon. But even if we can't say everything that needs to be said, I think we can at least say some things.

And toward this purpose, I want to ask you if you would open your Bibles to the book of Romans in the New Testament and find chapter 13. Romans 13.

The question is, how should a believer relate to their government? And I want to show you that this is what Romans 13 is all about. So, follow up with me as I read from Romans 13, beginning in verse 1, and we'll read through verse 7.

Let every person be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except from God. And those that exist have been instituted by God.

Therefore, whoever resists the authorities, resist what God has appointed. And those who resist will incur judgment. For rulers are not a jar for good conduct or to good conduct.

But to that, would you have fear of the one who is in authority? Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive his approval.

For he is God's servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid. For he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is God's servant, an avenger who carries out God's wrath on the wrong door.

Therefore, one must be in subjection, not only to avoid God's wrath, but also for the sake of conscience. For because of this you also pay taxes.

For the authorities are ministers of God, attending to the spirit of faith. Pay to all what is owed to them. Taxes to whom taxes are owed. Revenue to whom revenue is owed.

Respect to whom respect is owed. Honor to whom honor is owed. Let us go to prayer, shall we? Heavenly Father, this morning we just come to you and recognize our limitations.

Father, we come to you as a broken people. And we're aware that many of us are dealing with troubles, hurts. Lord, we are wounded. Some of us are tired.

Others of us are more ill and we're flying high and doing really well. And yet, Lord, we might be neglecting things even around us. And so we just pray for your eyes this morning to not only look upon our own lives and to see them as you see them,

but to look into your word and to learn on this subject of our governing authorities, Father. It will take wisdom. It will take discernment.

And so we pray that your Holy Spirit would give us that as we look into this, Father. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.

Now, before we dig into this passage of scripture, we're going to do that. There's actually another verse of scripture that I want to share with you that I think really in a lot of ways sets the stage for this whole discussion of the Christian and government.

And it's this reminder that Paul gives us over in Philippians. So let me just put this verse up here for us. Philippians 3.20. This is what Paul says.

He says, But our citizenship is in heaven. But that's again primitive. Our citizenship is in heaven. And from it, we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.

Not our preferred candidate. Not a president. Not a court. We await a real Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. It's true citizenship. I want you and I to understand.

Genuine, lasting, as in eternally lasting citizenship is in heaven. If you're a believer, and that should shape everything about how you look at this passage.

So whether you're an American or you're a Canadian, I don't know if we have any Canadians here this morning. Anybody? We have a few Canadians.

If you're maybe an American citizen, but also have Indian citizenship, or wherever it is that you're from. Ultimately, if you are a believer, you become Jesus Christ's subject.

You are a member of His government, and a citizen first and foremost of heaven. So I want to lay that down as kind of a foundational point before we jump into Romans 13, alright?

And as we get to Romans 13, I also want to give us a little bit of background, a little bit of context for what Paul writes here. We ask ourselves, what is the situation, governmentally, as Paul writes?

Well, Paul writes from within this thing called the Roman Empire, a pretty big empire, a very famous empire. The situation is that he is writing on his third missionary journey, and he is most likely in the city of Corinth.

He's writing a letter to a group of believers in Rome. The year is A.D. 57, and there is an emperor on the throne in Rome, and his name is Nero.

Nero is not a common name that many people use to name their children. Maybe if you have a miss by eating dog, you might name your dog Nero.

But probably not your son. Nero. Think about that. Some of us know about this fellow Nero, and how he became a very wicked and evil. I should say he showed his wickedness and his evil in the ways that he persecuted and treated Christians.

In fact, Paul's life ends under Nero's reign. But in 1857, things are actually pretty good. Nero's only about four years into his reign, and scholars tell us that he had a couple of really good advisors that really made the empire a pretty good place to live.

And so Paul writes this letter to the believers living in Rome. And if you're familiar with Romans, then you know for the first 11 chapters, it's pretty dense.

It's pretty heavy theology. Paul's writing to a church that's mixed of Jew and Gentile, and he knows that there are tensions. And he also knows that the tensions will only be pulled.

As these Jewish and Gentile believers realize what the gospel is, what the gospel does, and what its implications are. And you can really kind of summarize all the Romans in that sentence.

What is the gospel? What does it do? And what are its implications? So 11 chapters to explain this, and then he comes to chapter 12, and everything becomes very practical.

How does a believer live a holy life? Chapter 12 talks about this. Paul talks about living in harmony with each other, about living humbly and peaceably and serving one another in the body.

He calls believers to pursue what is good and not be overcome by evil. And it's on that note that chapter 12 closes in chapter 13, verse 1. Hopens.

And he turns his attention, his eyes, to the governing authorities. How should a Christian relate to their government? Well, Paul basically provides us with four directives here.

I'm going to flesh out these four directives, and then I'm going to take a little liberty. Because this is kind of a topical and expository sermon.

I guess we could call it an expository sermon. And I'm going to add a fifth book, number five of that directive, that will actually come from a different letter of Paul.

And I'll get there in the end. But today it will be a total of five biblical directives if you're taking notes for how every person should relate to their government.

First directive is this. And this is going to be the big one. Very big and maybe a bit abstract directive. Directive number one is this. Submit it to your governing authorities because any legitimate authority comes from God.

Any legitimate authority. And really you could say all legitimate authority comes from God.

We ask ourselves, was the Roman government a false name perfect? No, it was not. And neither is ours today. But it was a relatively peaceful empire.

And at this moment it had not yet become a murderous regime as it will soon. It was not like a Nazi Germany or a North Korea. It operated as a government where Paul could basically write and say, It's one that you can and should be subject to.

In fact, he says be a good subject. Again, it's 1857. It's early in the era's reign. He has good advisors. And it is a relatively peaceful empire right now.

And persecution has not started. Not very much yet. Sure, there were some complaints. Every government gets complaints. And it's true that Paul had to, you know, some run-ins with the authorities.

Of course, it started with the Jews down in Palestine. And because of his appeal to Caesar, it had now worked its way up to Rome. Or what I should say.

But Paul has some interactions so far with Romans that are rather sensible and legitimate. I mean, he's traveling around the empire probably on ships where there are Roman soldiers.

So understand that as Paul writes this right now in 1857, it's from the perspective of a peaceful, relatively stable government. And Paul says, Submit to it.

Turn the dials of the 21st century. Cross the Atlantic. And come to America. And I would submit to you that we are at least as good as the Roman Empire, right?

Probably a good bit better. You and I have the benefit of this thing called the Constitution. We have a representative government, a democratic republic.

Our government, for all of its weaknesses, for the most part, go with me, for the most part, still says that many things are clearly wrong and other things are clearly right.

It's cheating. We might debate about what it is cheating, but we can at least agree that if it can be proven that someone is cheating, it's wrong.

Stealing. Killing. If I do something like property damage, if I damage my neighbor's lawn, or maybe I have a fender bender with this car, he can't get out of his car and come after me with a baseball bat.

I mean, he can't. But do we legal consequences? Because our government says you go to jail for that. Be relatively stable and peaceful government.

So Paul is telling you and I, be subject to our governing authorities. And here is his reason. He says, because there is no authority except from God.

What does he mean by that? He means that all authority about what is right and what is wrong, insofar as that authority against it rights, is ultimately coming from the supreme and eternal law giver, God himself,

from the just judge of all the earth, God. And he goes on to say that insofar as your government, your governing authorities, are not asking you to do something contrary to God's will, you should do it.

And I should submit to it. Because their authority over you as a citizen is legitimate. And it's legitimate because God has, verse 2, appointed it.

Some translations say ordained it. And before anybody goes off, let's be clear. Good way to talk about God's will. Theologians use these two categories.

I actually think they're pretty helpful. There is a distinction often made between God's perfect will, his perfect will, and his permissive will.

A perfect will from God is a world without sin. Well, guess what? That's not been the case for a long time. And God's permissive will is what?

Honestly, what you look around and see. So, you know, you take a subject like marriage, for instance. When a couple gets married, God intends what?

He intends that it be a life long. He says things like, till death do I part. Married for life is the perfect will of God. But sometimes things happen.

And scripture even says that, for instance, if one spouse abandons another and divorces another and goes off and begins a new life and marries someone else, that the spouse that's left is permitted by God's word to seek another marriage.

So the perfect will of God is to stay married for life. The permissive will of God says that in some cases I permit remarriage. So put this back to the government.

What about our government? What about our current president? I mean, if you don't like this one, come back to the last one. I would submit to you that probably everybody in this room is probably dislikes him who the current were the previous president.

And maybe both.

Were they, or is he, God's perfect man for the job? Is it like he has some kind of an English king? The divine rights? Well, not exactly. What Paul was telling you and I is that when a government is in place, in our case, when an election happens,

and a society decides to put leaders in place and order themselves with structure and have things like laws, you're supposed to abide by them.

Paul was telling you and I to submit ourselves, in our case, to the results of an election. Whether it's in a federal level, a state level, even a local level.

I may not like a candidate. You may not like a candidate. We might even have significant disagreements with them. And they might even be biblical and ethical disagreements.

And we don't have to agree with their thinking or their decisions. And we can even make our voice heard. But there is a call upon every believer to be in subjection to your governing authorities.

Here's what Peter, the Apostle Peter, adds over in his letter. He says, be subject for the Lord's sake. Check this out in 1 Peter 2, verse 13.

1 Peter 2:13

Be subject for the Lord's sake. To every human institution, whether it be to the emperor as supreme, or to governors sent by him to punish those who do evil and to praise those who do good.

Notice how Peter says it. Notice his rationale. Be subject. He says, not for the sake of that ruler, not based on how good they are or how much you agree with them.

Be subject for the Lord's sake. Be subject to every human institution. For the Lord's sake. You see, what Paul is doing here, and what Peter is essentially reiterating, is that there is a principle of authority.

There is an idealized sense of authority. What you and I might call the ideal of authority. Human authority in an idealized sense. The Bible is showing us that it's not wrong to have this.

It's not anti-Christian. For people to organize themselves and govern themselves and have laws. And by the way, yes, that includes laws about borders.

Anarchy is not holy. Of course, having said this, we may recognize that there can come situations and instances and policies

and maybe even laws where a Christian's loyalty to God conflicts with their ability to obey the government. There might even be policies of laws that we deem from a scriptural standpoint are anti-Christian or un-Christian.

Situations where God says one thing and your government says another. It's happened throughout history, throughout biblical history. Governing authorities, commanding or legislating things that are wrong and that go against God's will and God's ways.

That was just maybe a month ago where Matt brought up one from the book of Exodus. Do you remember this? Exodus 1, verse 17. What's happened is the Pharaoh has warned the death of all the Hebrew infants.

Exodus 1:17

We read that the midwives, the Hebrew midwives feared God and did not do as the king of Egypt commanded them. They engaged in civil disobedience and were commending for it.

And then again many years later, there's the day about the prophet Daniel. Daniel is a man, an interesting man, a prophet that dealt with not just one empire but with two.

And each of those empires brought different kings and different laws. So when the Babylonian king delivers his enix, then everybody has to worship this giant idol.

Daniel's three friends have to say this, Daniel chapter 3, verse 18. But if not, be it known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up.

Daniel 3:18

And then a couple of chapters later, it's Daniel himself on the hot seat. When this new Persian king government, led by King Darius, announces that nobody for 30 days can pray to anybody except the king.

And Daniel has to defy the law in Daniel chapter 6. And then we come to the New Testament, to the days of the apostles. These men who are faithfully following God's calling.

Daniel 6 · chapter mention

The Sanhedrin holds them in. The Sanhedrin commands them, stop, basically, cease and desist speaking in this name. And here's what they have to answer in Acts chapter 4, verse 19.

Acts 4:19

Peter and John answer them. Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than God, you must judge. But we cannot help speak, just but speak of what we have seen and heard.

And then it happens again just in the very next chapter, chapter 5, verse 29, where they deliver this famous statement where they say, We must obey God rather than you.

Acts 5, 29. So back to Paul's basic point here in these first two verses. Submit to your governing authorities because any legitimate authority comes from God.

And at the same time, we know from other scriptures that if it's a contravening authority, an authority that tells you to do something against what God says, then we as believers cannot submit and be subject to that.

So that's your first directive. Like I said, it's a big and abstract one. These next few are going to be much more straightforward. Directive number two.

Directive number two is this. Behave well and do what is good.

Hang on your best behavior and do what is good. First read by Karen Priest. You don't need to be afraid of the authorities if you're behaving well.

I think a lot of you, if you've ever driven by here, the building, or come into the parking lot during the week, a lot of you know that we are a popular town for the cops.

Right? Place cars here. A lot. And you know I come here to the church pretty regularly. And every time I pull into the parking lot and I see those cop cars, I don't hit my brakes in panic.

Right? I don't, I don't freak out and get nervous. Start looking around. I might even, because I'm glad they're here, frankly. Very nice and deterrent.

To anybody that might have bad intentions about our property. They're not a terror to me. Because I'm not committing a crime. I don't have drugs in the car or a dead body in the truck or a warrant out for my arrest.

Right? Please don't have them aware of. This is what Paul's trying to say to us this morning. You don't need to be afraid of the rulers. They all know terror for you if you're behaving well.

A good government that governs with legitimate authority, insofar as it for borders or reports of good conduct, good citizens shouldn't have to fear it.

They all know terror. For you. In fact, insofar as your government is using its authority, legitimately it actually functions in this, as God's servant for your dead.

Verse 4. You should have a clear conscience and feel good about the authorities when they're governing well. And again, on the flip side, verse 4, if you do wrong, Paul says, well, that's a different story.

Because the government has a legitimate right to punish, to carry out wrath on the wrongdoer. In fact, Paul did it go so far to say that it doesn't bear the sword in vain.

Paul is referring to punishment. In this case, he's referring to the ultimate form of punishment that the government can give, and that's capital punishment.

There's no way. And I'm explaining that another way. Paul is endorsing the Roman right to capital punishment. The person goes off and murders someone else in cold blood, and that's what we call first-degree murder.

Paul is saying that that government has the legitimate right to enact the death penalty. And if that offends us, maybe we need to hear the words from the Lord.

In Genesis chapter 9, verse 5, this is what the Lord says to Noah and his family after they come out of the ark. He says, From his fellow man I will require a reckoning for the life of man.

Genesis 9:5

Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man his blood shall be shed. For God made man in his own image.

Again, Paul's point here, Again, he's taking it to the end of the degree, capital punishment, the right to bear the sword. But the principle is that, the derivative sentence is that, the government has the right to enact penalties, to punish wrongdoing, whether it's for a capital crime, or it's for a petty crime,

or a misdemeanor. So they have the right to issue you your parking ticket if the man runs out, right? They have the right to pull you over if you're speeding.

And so Paul says to me, Well, do what's good. Because there is a sense of which God's wrath against people is being enacted in the penalties or infractions when you have a good government exercising legitimate good authority.

But look at the motivation that he highlights. Not just fear. He also adds something else in verse 5. Check it out. Here's another motivation for behaving well.

Verse 5. Not only to avoid God's wrath or punishment, but also, he says, for the sake of conscience. He's talking about your own conscience.

It means that even if you will never give cause, you as a Christian should still want to be a law-abiding citizen. Your own conscience, guided and informed by Scripture, your conscience convicted by the Holy Spirit,

this should compel you to live in accordance, to live in subjection to the principle of law. Christians are to be law-abiding citizens. And not just because they don't want to go to jail.

It should also be because they want to do what is right before the Lord. And God is telling us that obeying laws that are consistent with His divine authority, that is right before the Lord.

So now for our next two directives, I'm going to get really practical. And you say, well, why is that? And I'm going to tell you it's because Paul does.

So check this out. Directive number three. If Paul hasn't been stepped on your toes yet, he will know. Directive number three. Pay what you owe, including all your taxes.

How's that for a sermon point? I went to church today, and the pastor's point was to tell me to pay my taxes. But that's what Paul says. He goes from all this lofty, abstract talk to just getting very plain and saying, well, listen, Christians in the Roman Empire, I'm well aware as you are,

of all the things that the money that the Roman government collects is used for. War-mongering, expanding the borders, fighting in Britain. I'm aware that they take that money and pay soldiers to probably do things we wouldn't approve of.

Nevertheless, I'm telling you to pay your taxes. Pay to all what is quote number seven. It's pretty straightforward. And by the way, the principle is bigger than just taxes.

Pay what you owe people. That means if you take out a loan, you should pay it back. If you borrow money, you should pay your debts. Pay your own debts.

In fact, just a verse later, in verse eight, Paul's going to put it this way. Romans 13, 8. owe no one anything except to love each other.

Isn't it funny how quickly he does get the taxes? It's almost like all who, or maybe under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, could foresee that really nobody under any government at any time really enjoys paying their taxes.

I don't confess I don't enjoy it.

Especially when the government, again, as we noted, spends money in ways we don't approve of. But does he say, only pay if you approve of everything they do?

He does not. He says, simply pay your taxes. Verse seven, pay to all what is owed to them. Taxes, none of taxes are owed. Revenue to them. Revenue is owed.

It's interesting, but those terms are not interchangeable. Taxes and revenue, and really what we understand that they encompass just about every kind of tax that you and I would know today.

From the Roman poll tax, or kind of a head tax, which is like our income tax, to this category called revenue that would basically include all the sales taxes that would be levied on everything from goods and services and lands and houses, all of that.

Pay your taxes and your revenue. So what this means very practically is that you and I should willingly and unbegrudgingly pay our income taxes.

Or if you're here today and you're an employer, you should pay your payroll taxes. It means we should pay our sales taxes. Now, most of the time, we don't have a choice about it.

It's just collected from us. But there's this invention, I think it was Al Barth, in the 90s, called the Internet, or someone did. And the government is catching on and most Internet transactions now collect sales tax, but some of them don't.

Are you aware of that? You can buy things off the Internet and not have to pay sales tax. Ha, ha, ha. The IRS says you're supposed to report that.

And I'm supposed to report that. And we're supposed to pay, in this case, the state of Indiana, sales tax. Pay your property taxes. That was really hard for me.

This idea that I'm going to pay my house forever, ever and ever, is never paid off. But then again, the St. Joe County, that I live in, provides me with a lot of services with that money.

I get the law enforcement outside. I get the roads to drive in. I get the infrastructure in this county. Here's something I'll share with you.

Something that happens a lot in my neighborhood. In my neighborhood in particular, and I hope my neighbors aren't watching. But then again, if you are, you know what's popular in my neighborhood?

It's popular to hire out your landscaping. But they all use the same crew. And they all use the same crew. And in conversations, I've encouraged me to use the same crew.

And I do it myself. And they say, use this crew because you can pay them in cash. You can pay them under the table. But that's not right. That's against the law.

And as a believer, I can, in good conscience, participate in transactions and dodge taxes. Can I? Sometimes we're tempted not to report all of our income.

You have those side jobs. You do that contract work. And maybe you are paying cash. Tip income. Did you know that there is a process in the IRS books for reporting tip income?

It is reportable. And that's just not if you're getting caught otherwise. Remember, Paul talks about conscience. Now you know you can thank me after service.

Now you know that you're not supposed to pay people under the table. And may your conscience afflict you.

And it is me. Listen, I can't say that I know Paul's mind for sure. But to me, it sure feels like you picked out a couple of areas here at the end of this passage where he knows that Christians are going to struggle the most.

paying what we owe when it comes to our taxes is just and right and we should do it. But that's not the only thing he says to pay is to take a look at this fourth directive number four.

Number four. He says to pay the respect and honor that you owe to your civic leaders. Verse seven again. Pay to all what is owed them. Respect to whom respect is owed.

Honor to whom plotter is owed.

Am I going out on a limb to say that when we pay our leaders respect, we probably won't wear t-shirts that say let's go bread. We probably won't adorn our cars with bumper stickers that make fun of and ridicule our leaders.

We probably won't talk about our nation's leaders or state leaders or local civic leaders around our families in ways that are disrespectful which is a real struggle for me personally because I don't like a lot of what they do and I use words like idiots

but Paul is challenging me right here. We always have to bear in mind simply because someone does something I disagree with that does not give me the right to withdraw my respect and my honor especially when as God sees it these

are authorities that have his authority behind them in so far as their authority is legitimate. So I think to myself maybe someday I'll get a president that I'll really like and maybe I won't.

Maybe someday I'll get the perfect governor or mayor who I think is going to really wise and great job and maybe I won't and maybe you won't but it's the office that we are to respect and our honor too in fact a few verses

before this passage back in chapter 12 again chapter 12 verse 10 Paul calls us to how do one another in showing honor and he's talking about believer to believer you know getting competition with each other who can show the other the most honor how do one another in showing honor so believers are going to show honor

to one another but look at what he says here about leaders to respect his own honor to them honor his own you want to know a great place to find very very little respect and no honor for cynic leaders social media

but our Lord calls you and I to rise above this and to pay our leaders the respect and the honor that their offices their offices are owed does it mean that we can't disagree no does it mean

that you can critique and oppose thinking or policy or laws that are antithetical to scripture by no means you can even express that in our country we do it in ways that are honorable so very quickly how should a Christian

relate to their government or direct it so far number one submit to governing authorities because they have legitimate authority that comes from God number two may hate well and do what's good thirdly pay what you owe including your taxes fourth pay the respect and honor that you owe to your civic leaders and here's

where I'm going to throw in that fifth one number five pray for your leaders pray for your leaders so we can live peaceful quiet godly dignified lives slave apostles no Paul just a different letter first Timothy

1 Timothy 2:1

chapter 2 verses 1 and 2 first holy writes first of all men I urge that supplications prayers intercessions and thanksgiving be made for all people for kings and all who are in the nine positions that we may lead a peaceful

and quiet life godly and dignified in every place supplications prayers and intercessions all kinds of prayers pulses every dimension of prayer and that last term intercessions is actually a term that's often used when there's a superior

and an inferior and you're making a case you're pleading before the superior god is calling us to do that for our leaders he's calling you to pray for your president for your conference for your state leaders and local leaders he says to do this to pray

and intercede and be thankful for all people but especially for your leaders government authorities whose actions and decisions and what they wake up the next morning tomorrow morning thinking would be a good idea those things have impact on people or countries to pray for them because they have great ability

to impact your life I think we've seen that in just the last few weeks the last week great impact on our lives and what kind of lives do we want to live he says peaceful and quiet let me press it a little bit here because you can easily

give like a rocking chair image of the porch I just want a peaceful quiet life leave me alone that's not exactly what Paul means when he says peaceful and quiet understand that when you're talking about a Roman empire that's been acquired by conquering and killing people you're talking about an empire that is still not

content with its borders he's basically saying peaceful and quiet in the sense that no one's trying to exterminate their people pray for a peaceful and quiet life because right now he can say to his fellow Christians in Rome we are all enjoying the gift of a pretty good government we know that Paul by this time

and living and what scholars look back historians look back and call the Roman peacetime the Pax Romeva a period of about 80 years isn't it ironic or providential that the birth of the church happened in this peacetime in this relative quiet and secure time

that created a rich and fertile environment a rich soil for the growth and spread of the gospel and that's ultimately what's in view here Paul's saying a viewpoint that takes into account not just the earthly moment and your earthly citizenship but the heavenly perspective

that is looking to spread the gospel peaceful and quiet because peaceful and quiet allows you to share the gospel with your neighbor peaceful and quiet because peaceful and quiet allows Paul to jump on ships and travel all over the mediterranean which he did Paul wants

to hire specific leaders and governments so that believers like you and me can live out our lives and our calling in an environment free from trouble so that the watching world around us can see our good lives and see that we have the hope of christ and see even that we have

respect and honor for leaders we disagree with which in itself is a just holy here's what Peter adds in 1st Peter chapter 2 verse 12 he says this give your conduct among the Gentiles honorable so that when they speak against you as evildoers they may see

your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation so what's another way that a Christian should relate to his or her government and its leaders you should pray for them you should pray for your government and you and I should train up our children and our grandchildren

in ways that hear us praying about them and not simply kind of space because governments are temporary you know I was thinking I'll probably only be a citizen of the United States for a few more decades but the Bible reminds me that my citizenship in heaven is eternal

and if you're a Christian so is yours too so in the meantime folks let's heed God's word here let's heed this instruction from Paul and let's follow these directions let's ask if we could have Thomas come and please as he does let me

ask you just once again bow your head with me and let's pray heavenly father as we think about this subject today even on a weekend like this one this 4th and July weekend we think about the gift of a peaceful quiet government we do thank you we do praise you that we

can right now gather publicly that we can teach freely from your word we praise you and thank you that we go home Lord to refrigerators that can be full that we can drive safely Lord on the roads we thank you for the many ways in which our society is able to thrive

where we can get up and go to work and go home and take care of homes and interact with neighbors without the threat of something bad happening father so father we give you great thanks for a government that allows a peaceful and quiet life but lord more than that there are other things that you call us to and we

pray this morning that you would help us remember that we are a people on mission and we pray that you would help us to be discerning discerning about our governing leaders discerning about how we equip our own families and yet lord help us where it is hardest in these particular areas that by your grace and

sovereignty you have specifically touched on paying our obligations even our taxes by paying our respect and our honor to our civic leaders and submitting to them and lord we know that we can't do this without your help we need your holy spirit help us father to be both good citizens of heaven

but also here on this earth and give you great praise in jesus name we pray amen as as as as as as as as as

as as as as as as as as as as as as as as as as as as as as as as as as as as as as as as as as as as as as as