Politics, Taxes and the Lordship of Jesus - Submitting to authorities in Romans 13

Thank you, Father, for making yourself known to us and

showing us the way of salvation through faith in your Son.

Teach us through your word and equip us for every good work,

for the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Amen. Common wisdom

says that if you want to have a peaceful dinner conversation, there are 3 topics

you must avoid. Politics,

religion, and money.

Today we're tackling all 3. So hang on to your seats and hopefully it

doesn't get too tense. The reason why we're talking

about this is because Romans 13 addresses all 3 of these taboo

topics. And so

the question is, how ought we as Christians today People

like you and me, whose faith is in the Lord, relate to our

government? It's an increasingly relevant question.

The narrative in the news at the moment is about how there is

so much mistrust of the government.

Governments on both sides of the political divide are proposing and

passing laws that go against God's Word in

the areas of Christian freedom to preach and even to pray and

in moral areas of life and death and sexuality.

So let's talk politics and religion. And just so things don't

get too tense, we're going to leave money for later in the sermon.

Now, as we read Romans 13, we need to remember that the Roman

government, especially in the first century, was not a friend of

Christians. Jesus, when he lived,

he lived under the governing authority of Rome and its king.

And when the religious authorities handed Jesus over,

they handed him over to Rome and they

crucified Jesus. It was the government

of Rome that often was the initiator of Christian persecution.

And yet we read in Romans 13, God's teaching to us through

the Apostle Paul on how we are to relate to the governing authorities.

Verse 1, let everyone be subject to the governing authorities.

Now we'll unpack what that means in a moment,

but before we do, it's helpful to put this passage in context.

Because when we do that, we see that this command to submit or

be subject is part of a broader exhortation in Romans chapter 12

Romans 12 · chapter mention

and 13 To live our whole lives for Jesus,

to bring glory to Jesus in all that we do,

to live with renewed, transformed minds as

the Holy Spirit works in us, not conforming to the

pattern of this world. And we can only do that through faith

in Jesus. Jesus was crucified

by Rome. He died for our sin. And he

was raised so that we could have eternal life. Romans 6:23

Romans 6:23

says, the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life

in Christ Jesus our Lord.

What a Father's Day gift, the ability to put our faith in the

Lord Jesus Christ and have eternal life.

And this means that the command to be subject to the governing authorities

is in the context of our worship of Jesus and

of us being saved by him.

And here this morning, we need to remember that as we

serve Jesus, that Jesus is the one who has the greatest

authority. Throughout the letter to the Romans, Jesus is called

our Lord. In Romans 10:9,

Romans 10:9

a Christian by definition is someone who declares that Jesus

is Lord. And believes that God

raised him from the dead. Jesus is the Lord above all lords.

In the Great Commission, Jesus tells us himself that all authority

in heaven and on earth has been given to him.

And one day when Jesus returns, every knee will bow,

every tongue will confess that Jesus is Lord.

We as a church here this morning recognize the lordship of Jesus

as we seek to worship him.

As we think about submitting to the governing authorities, this has 2 implications.

The first is that as we submit to Jesus our Lord,

we're actually being political. Michael Jensen

has written a book called Subjects and Citizens, and this is one of the major

points that he makes. He says by calling Jesus Lord,

we are saying that our governing authorities, whoever they may be,

are at best second in charge.

They are not the ultimate authority. Jesus is.

The second thing that's worth noting is just to remember how Jesus

exercised his authority while on earth.

He did so through humble service, through love,

through sacrifice, through dying on the cross for

our sins so that we could be forgiven. And here in

Romans, Jesus does not call us to war with the authorities but

to submit. So that's our context. We're living with Jesus

as Lord. Well, let's now look

at our governing authorities. As we think about our governments—

local, state, federal— it's helpful for us to understand what

God's intended purpose for them is. Especially as

we're called to submit to them. So if you don't already,

it'd be great to have your Bibles open at Romans chapter 13.

Romans 13 · chapter mention

Now, we're going to look at what our governing authorities are and

then we're going to look at what they are not. First,

in Romans chapter 13, verse 1, our governing authorities are

Romans 13:1

established by God. Verse 1, let everyone be

subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except

that which God has established.

While we can easily point to the human ways governments are established, like the process

for voting, pre-selection of candidates, etc.,

God is the one who ultimately establishes all governing authorities.

It means in verse 4, because they are established by God,

they are God's servants. Whether they realise it or not.

Just because a leader doesn't acknowledge God doesn't mean that they are outside of

God's authority. So they

are instituted by God. The second thing our governments are is they are

maintainers of justice. In verse 4, they bear the sword

and are agents of wrath to punish the wrongdoer.

Our governments are there to administer justice. To restrain evil.

In Australia, it means police, courts, laws, regulations,

fines. It doesn't mean that they will do

justice perfectly,

but in general, a governing authority will maintain justice and restrain

evil. Whether it's criminal justice, whether it's preventing

oppression, whether it's making sure that poor are not taken advantage of.

The third thing authorities are for is that they

are for our good. History shows that without

ruling authority, society collapses into chaos,

looting, and anarchy where everyone does what is right in their own eyes.

Even a flawed government is better than no government.

And the fourth thing that governments are They

are there to create peace in our times. We're actually

going to jump to 1 Timothy chapter 2 where we see this,

1 Timothy 2 · chapter mention

where the Apostle Paul says, I urge you then first of all that

petitions, prayers, and intercession, and thanksgiving be made for all people,

for kings and all those in authority, that we

may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness.

Good authorities have the ability to bring peace to our time, and peace is

good, isn't it? It's good for us generally,

but it's also good for the flourishing of the Good News of Jesus.

So governments are instituted by God for justice,

for our good, for peace.

And, you know, next time you go to vote,

we can think about the purpose of government from God's point

of view. We want to vote for the person or the party that we think

will be able to best deliver justice and peace.

Different parties and people will think, will have different ways of

how they might achieve that. Some will stress deterrence, others underlying

social causes, whatever it might be. Either way,

we can prayerfully consider who we're going

to vote for. So we've seen

what governing authorities are. What are they not?

Well, governing authorities are not perfect. You probably don't need me

to tell you that. In fact, some are just plain evil.

All humans are sinful, which means all humans are rebellious against God,

and that includes our leaders. In Psalm 2,

a picture is painted of all the kings of the earth gathering together

against God and against his King Jesus.

But at this God laughs because God knows how futile it is to resist him.

The same authorities that God institutes for our good are still sinful,

are imperfect. Their policies and decisions won't always

bring justice, won't always bring peace. In fact,

often they may do the opposite. Think about

Rome. They crucified an innocent man,

Jesus, as a criminal simply because it was politically

expedient. There's no justice in that.

And this helps us to have a realistic view of our leaders. They are not

Jesus.

The second thing governing authorities are not is that they are

not our savior. Jesus is.

There's a tendency today to rely on our governments for

that which only Jesus can give. In Subjects

and Citizens, Michael Jensen writes of our desires for governments. He says,

in our frustration and anxiety, we want them to be preservers and transmitters

of our national identity. We want them to give

expression to our dreams and aspirations. We want them to build ideal or

close to ideal societies.

He's just highlighting that we can overemphasise the role of government by

attributing to it what should be reserved only for Jesus,

the ultimate authority. Our leaders hold office,

but Jesus holds eternity. Our governments

may pass legislation, but only Jesus is the one who will bring about true

justice. And so our hope should

never be in a change of government or in a change of government policy,

but always in Jesus.

Now knowing what authority— governing authorities are and what they are not helps

us to have a sober view of governments, but it also helps us to think

about what it means to be subject to them.

So we've talked about politics, we've talked about religion. Now let's talk about the 3rd

taboo topic: money.

One key way we show our subjection to the authorities and

in turn our worship of Jesus is by paying tax.

Verse 6: This is also why you pay taxes,

for the authorities are God's servants who give their full time to governing.

Give to everyone what you owe them. If you owe taxes, pay taxes. If revenue,

then revenue. If respect, then respect. If honor,

than honor. I don't know about

you, but I've never met anyone who enjoys paying tax.

Last year I had a tax debt.

It's one thing to pay tax when it automatically comes out of your payslip each

week. It's another when you have to press the button that says

process payment on the computer screen and you're handing

over your money to the tax department.

And yet taxes, they pay our officials, but they do much

more than that. They pay for our roads, our welfare,

lots of things that make Australia a good place to live.

But even when our government does not use taxes for our good, when they

are excessive or the money is being spent on things that we do not approve—

and remember, this is written in a context where tax collectors were considered the

worst of the worst type of people.

Because they charged more than they needed to.

Part of being subject to the governments is paying taxes.

Christians should not be known for exaggerating our tax deductions.

Your accountant should see, if you have one, evidence that Jesus is

your Lord in what you claim and don't

claim. Legitimate deductions are completely fine

to claim with a clear conscience. Our government allows that.

That's fine. But we ought to deal honestly. We don't want to be pushing

into that grey zone of maybe this is being deceitful,

maybe it's not, just to shave off a few dollars.

We want to be honest.

To think about a couple of other areas where we submit

to our government. What about when behind the wheel?

They didn't have cars back when Romans was written, so I think that's maybe why

it doesn't get a mention here. Christians ought

to be known for obeying the rules of the road. I don't know if

you're like me, we drove to Billow yesterday, you know,

long straight roads, 100-kilometer speed limit,

but if we drove just a little bit faster, we would have got there quicker.

Or what about that red light when you're in a rush?

Rockhampton has got so many traffic lights. You get to

that, you're in a rush, you come up and you're like, that light's red.

I can make it. No, no, I really can't but I'm going to anyway.

Are you known as a Christian for obeying the road rules or

disobeying them?

A further point of submission and I think this is a particularly Christian one.

It's not found in Romans but 1 Timothy again. We are to

pray for our governments.

In our prayer book, we pray for our governing authorities.

We are to pray for our leaders because God is active in world affairs.

He can work in and through our leaders, which he has instituted

to bring about justice and good and peace.

And so it's important that we continue to pray.

I want to set you the challenge this week of at least once praying

for the leaders of Australia.

Pray for Anthony Albanese. Pray for David Christopherley or

Tony Williams, even if you didn't vote for them.

Ask God to give them wisdom that they

would rule to bring about justice and

peace. Now, why do we do

these things? Why do we submit? Not just to be good citizens,

but because we have been saved by Jesus. He is our

Lord. We are his subjects.

Now, this does raise the question, what about not submitting?

The general principle here is that we should submit to the governing authorities.

We don't want to take away from that. However,

as we mentioned before, we live with Jesus as Lord,

and by its very nature, it is saying that there is a greater authority than

our governing authorities in this world. And at times,

that's going to lead to conflict with the authorities when

they ask us to deny the Lordship of Jesus and his directives.

There are a number of examples in the Bible where worldly authorities are

disobeyed because obedience to God was more important.

Daniel in Babylon is ordered not to pray,

but he does. His 3 friends are ordered to

bow down and worship a statue of the king of Babylon,

but they refuse. Peter and John in Acts

are ordered to stop sharing the good news of Jesus. Something Jesus explicitly

commanded them to do. But they don't stay

silent. In each of

these 3 examples, while defiant,

they're honouring Jesus as Lord.

But it's also noteworthy that they submit to the consequences of that decision.

Daniel was thrown into a den of lions.

Daniel's friends were thrown into a pit of fire and Peter

and John were thrown into prison.

And so there are going to be moments as Christians

where the right thing to do is to disobey the governing authorities,

but we submit to the consequences. And so if the

government orders us to stop telling people about Jesus, we should not stop.

If the government orders us never to read God's Word again, we should

not stop reading and hearing from God's Word.

And that may have consequences.

It did for Jesus.

Jesus submitted first to God.

He knew that what was about to transpire as

he went to the cross was going to save the world from their sin.

So that when we, through faith, put our trust in him, we can have eternal

life. But then he also

submitted to the authority of the day.

Jesus, as he went to the cross, he could have called upon legions of

angels to come and stop the miscarriage of justice

that was happening. But he didn't.

He submitted.

Now, one of the things that's also different for us than from in Rome is

that we live in a democracy. That gives us certain freedoms.

We have the ability to write to our MPs and say,

yes, we agree with this policy. No, we think you're making a terrible,

terrible decision. We can and we ought to make use

of that. We have the ability to vote our governments

in and out.

We should make sure that we vote wisely, prayerfully.

We should pray for elections,

that the person who does get voted in is someone who will seek peace and

justice and our good.

We have a lot of freedom. It's legal

at times to even protest.

But even as we do that, we want to make sure that we're doing it

with an attitude of Jesus is Lord.

And we do so remembering this command

that we are to submit to our governing authorities.

I think there's definitely a point where Christians should not protest any longer.

But we can make use of the avenues that our government does give us for

letting them know what we think.

So, we've covered all 3 of the taboo topics: politics,

religion, and money. And the reason

that Romans mentions these 3 is because a life lived in worship

of Jesus affects all 3. We might not want to talk about

them, but God does.

We live with Jesus as our Lord. That brings us great joy

that will flow over into the way in which we submit to the governing authorities

of the day. It's one of the ways

we follow Christ, who submitted himself Even to death

on the cross for our sin.

And it's really helpful, just for a little bit of perspective,

to remember that Jesus is Lord and he is Lord

forever. Our future is secure with him.

A governing authority, whether they be good or bad,

they're only in power for a moment in history.

But Jesus is eternal and we worship

him. Let's pray.

Heavenly Father, we thank you that Jesus is Lord of all.

We thank you that he used his authority to come and become one

of us, to die on the cross for our sins,

submitting to the Roman authority of the day.

But we thank you, Lord, that he did not stay dead, that he is risen.

That through faith in him we can have eternal life as we submit to him

as Lord of all. We ask, Lord, that you would help us as

we live with Jesus as our Lord to submit to our governing authorities.

We also pray for the worldly authorities

of our time. We pray for Anthony Albanese and David Crisafulli and

Tony Williams. And we ask, Lord, that You

would enable them to rule with wisdom, that the

laws that they introduce would bring about peace and justice.

And we pray all these things in Jesus' name.