Sermon Notes, October 30,
2016 AM
The Christian and
the Government
Steve W. Reeves
INTRODUCTION:
A. There was a group of politicians in New
England who decided to attend a political rally
in
the next county. They all piled into a
van and started out but never arrived. When
a day had passed and the politicians were
still missing, the local sheriff began to
search for them along a winding two lane
road that connected the counties. There
was no sign of the politicians. Finally he
saw an old farmer painting his fence. The
sheriff pulled over, rolled down his
window, and shouted, “Hey, have you seen a van
load of politicians come through here?” The
old man replied, “Yup, they missed the
curve and came right through my fence. Made a terrible mess of things. “Where’s the
van,” asked the sheriff, “T’warn’t no good
an more,” said the farmer, “so I took my
tractor and towed it behind the barn.” “Well,
what about the politicians? Where are
they?”
“Out in the back pasture,” said the farmer. “I took my front-end loader and
buried ‘em.” “You mean they were all dead,”
exclaimed the sheriff. The old farmer
replied, “well, they said they weren’t but I
never trust those politicians to tell the truth.”
1. We may laugh at this story but all of us
realize that the political, moral and spiritual
condition of our nation is no laughing
matter.
2. Like you I am disheartened by the lack
of moral and ethical behavior we have
witnessed in this election. I am
disturbed by the corruption, immorality and lack of
decency exhibited in our society.
3. Though I find all of these things
disturbing I am not surprised by any of them
because we the people have turned away
from God.
B. In
the summer of 1787 at the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia 81 year old
Benjamin Franklin said, “Have we now
forgotten this powerful Friend? Or do we
imagine that we no longer need His
assistance? I have lived, Sir, a long time, and the
longer I live, the more convincing proofs I
see of this truth: that God governs in the
affairs of man. And if a sparrow cannot
fall to the ground without His notice, is it
probable that an empire can rise without
His aid? We have been assured, Sir, in the
sacred writings that except the Lord build
the house, they labor in vain that build it. I
firmly believe this.”
C. The
Bible is not silent on matters pertaining to our government. Today I want to
speak to you on the subject, “The Christian
and The Government.”
I. THE HISTORY OF GOVERNMENT
A. In the pages of Scripture we can trace
the early history of government.
1. In the beginning there was no need
for government.
a. In a sinless world God enjoyed a
personal relationship with man and woman.
They
had no need He did not fulfill. There was no violence. There was no
need for laws to provide
protection and order. All of that changed when sin
entered the world.
b. After the fall of man there was
jealousy, selfishness, hatred and violence.
Brother rose up against brother.
2. As the world was populated God
allowed people to form cities and governments.
In Genesis 11 people built a city
with bricks and said, “Let’s make a name for
ourselves.” God responded by
confusing their language.
3. As the book of Genesis progresses you
read of more cities and kingdoms along
with kings and rulers.
B. When God chose Israel to be His chosen
people He gave them laws to govern
both religious and civil matters. Whenever
the people chose to rebel
against God’s laws the result was chaos.
Judges 17:6 – “In those days there was
no king in Israel; every man did what
was right in his own eyes.” Eventually
the
people of Israel wanted a king like
other nations. God was disappointed. He told the
judge, Samuel, “they have not rejected
you but they have rejected me from being
king over them” (1 Samuel 8:7).
C. As you read of the kings of Israel you
discover that there was infighting, treachery,
deceit and immoral behavior. When the kingdom
divided the northern kingdom
never had a righteous king. The southern
kingdom had only two righteous kings
(Hezekiah and Josiah).
D. Eventually other countries like Assyria,
Babylon, Persia, Greece and Rome
rose up and conquered Israel. It was
under the rule of the Roman government (who
allowed limited local authority) that
Jesus was born.
II. THE PURPOSE OF GOVERNMENT
A. There are two texts in the New Testament
that help us understand the purpose of
government. They are Romans 13:1-7 and 1
Peter 2:13-17.
B. These are the purposes that are set
forth.
1. The establishment of law and
order.
a. In Romans 13:1-2, Paul wrote, “Every person is to be in subjection to
the
governing authorities. For there
is no authority except from God, and those
which exist are established by
God. 2 Therefore whoever resists authority has
opposed the ordinance of God;
and they who have opposed will receive
condemnation upon themselves.”
b. Authority is not a bad thing. Can
you imagine playing a football or basketball
game without referees to enforce
the rules? Can you imagine the World Series
being played without umpires?
What if there were no authorities to enforce
building codes on our highways
or in our homes? What if we had no
authorities to enforce our laws?
c. God understands the need of
fallen men to be governed. Without it there is
disorder, violence and chaos.
2. Protection from evil.
a. Paul continued in Romans 13:3-4 –
“For rulers are not a cause of fear for good
behavior, but for evil. Do you
want to have no fear of authority? Do what is
good and you will have praise
from the same; 4 for it is a minister of God to you
for good.”
b. I am thankful for those in our
military who provide security for our nation. I am
grateful for local officials
like police officers and firemen who protect us from
harm . This is a God ordained
function of government.
3. Punishing evil.
a. Paul went on to say in Romans 13:
4, “But if you do what is evil, be afraid; for
it does not bear the sword for
nothing; for it is a minister of God, an avenger
who brings wrath on the one who
practices evil.”
b. Peter said government officials
are sent by God to punish evil (1 Peter 2:14).
t
III. OUR RESPONSIBILITY TO GOVERNMENT
A.
From the beginning of the church until now Christians have lived under many
different forms of government.
1. Some governments have been apathetic
to Christianity. When the church was
established the Roman government
provided a great deal of latitude for people
throughout the empire to practice
their own religious beliefs. They viewed
Christianity as a sect of Judaism.
2. During the reign of Nero from 54 to
68 A.D. the situation changed dramatically.
There was a rumor that Nero was responsible
for a fire in which a large section
of Rome was destroyed. To divert
attention away from himself Nero blamed
Christians.
a. Christians lost their civil
rights.
b. They were beaten and brutalized. Some
were murdered.
c. Early Christian writers like Tertullian
and Origen said that Peter was a
victim of Nero’s persecution of
Christians.
B. Whatever form of government we face both
Paul and Peter teach that Christians
have a threefold responsibility.
1. Be submissive.
a. Romans 13:1 – “Every person is to
be in subjection to the governing
authorities. For there is no
authority except from God, and those which exist
are established by God.”
b. Romans 13:5 – “Therefore it is
necessary to be in subjection, not only because
of wrath, but also for
conscience’ sake.”
c. Titus 3:1- “Remind them to be
subject to rulers, to authorities, to be obedient,
to be ready for every good
deed.”
d. 1 Peter 2:3 - “Submit yourselves
for the Lord’s sake to every human institution,
whether to a king as the one in
authority.”
e. What does it mean to be
submissive to the government? In Matthew 22:15-22
the Herodians and Pharisees, two
groups who were normally opposed to each
other, sought to trap Jesus by
asking Him if it was lawful to pay taxes to
Caeser. Jesus asked them whose
inscription was on the coin. When they
replied, “Caesar,” He said, “Then
render to Caesar the things that are
Caesar’s; and to God the things
that are God’s.”
f. The Bible does not say that we
are to submit to the government only if we
like it. The exception of this
principle is found in the book of Acts
with
Peter and John who kept on
preaching Christ after being prohibited to do so
by the authorities. When they
were asked why they did so they replied in Acts
4:19 - “Whether it is right in
the sight of God to give heed to you rather than to
God, you be the judge; 20 for we
cannot stop speaking about what we have
seen and heard. Later, in Acts
5:29 - “But Peter and the apostles
answered,
“We must obey God rather than
men.”
1.) If the government tells me
to do something that is against the word of God I
am going to stand with the
word of God.
2.) History is filled with
people who stood for God in opposition to governments
who opposed the truth.
2.
Be prayerful.
a. Paul instructed Timothy, “First
of all, then, I urge that entreaties and prayers,
petitions and
thanksgivings, be made on behalf of all men, 2 for kings and
all
who are in authority, so that we
may lead a tranquil and quiet life in all
godliness and dignity. 3 This
is good and acceptable in the sight of God our
Savior, 4 who
desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the
truth” (1 Tim.2:1-4).
b. Prayer can be a game changer!
When Peter was imprisoned in Acts 12 the
church came together to pray.
Peter was released.
3. Be Hopeful.
a. I am thankful to be a citizen of
the United States. There is a greater citizenship
that provides us with endless
hope.
b. My hope is not in the President
of the United States regardless of who that
person is.
c. My hope is not in the Supreme
Court of the United States. It is not supreme!
c. I do not mean to belittle either
of these institutions but as a Christian I must
always recognize that my
citizenship is in the Kingdom of God and I pledge
allegiance to Christ.
CONCLUSION:
A. 1
Peter 2:17 contains four short, concise commands. “Honor all people, love the
brotherhood, fear God, honor the king.”
B. I
urge you to do three things in the coming nine days.
1. Pray. 2. Prepare. 3. Participate.
C. I
want to invite you to come to Christ. Listen to what Isaiah said about Him. “For
a
child will be born to us, a son will be
given to us; And the government will rest on His
shoulders; And His name will be called
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal
Father, Prince of Peace” (Isaiah 9:6). Will
you come to Him today?
