Essentials Of The Faith / Sunday Morning Sermon Series / Romans

Romans 13:1-7

INTRO: What I have here is the cause of great worry, stress and fear for most adult Americans. What are they? Financial records for the last 7 years. Receipts for everything  deducted on yearly income taxes. But, is it really all the receipts for the deductions made? That is the question! And that is what makes us worry so much about the dreaded word....AUDIT.

  How about this? Close your eyes. Picture yourself traveling down rt. 18 on the way to an appointment and you are running late. But if you hurry, you may be able to get there without being embarassed.

  There is a lot of traffic so you  look in your rear view mirror then up in the bushes ahead and decide to press you foot ever so slightly on the accelerator.

 This isn't so bad, so you press a little harder on the accelerator and you pass 3 cars and two trucks all the time looking to the right and to the left, in your rear view mirror and trying to see around the bend. Nothing!

  But out of nowhere  you hear a siren and see red and blue revolving lights....it's a state trooper, where did he come from, come on, you were looking.

EXP: Whether it's an income tax audit or seeing a state trooper following you, there is one common denominator ...fear, the fear of being caught breaking the law.

Background: Obey the government. We don't American like this text and some Christians have even said that it is not original to Paul's writing. So they don't do it.

 On the other hand, many governments all over the world have used this text to keep Christians under control in their countries.

ILL:  The S. African government when it saw it's people respond with civil disobedience over apartheid, responded by quoting Rom. 13:1-7 and said they were being unbiblical and must obey the government.

  Ancient Rome was like any city in the US today. Abortion was rampant, taxes were exorbitant and were unjustly used.

  And the believers living at that time, as in our time, were obligated to honor and obey the officials and laws of a heathen government.

TRANS: Why? Why obey a government that is at best heathen and worldly in it's laws and ideals and at worst down right evil, tyrannical and utterly sinful? Why? Because

I. God is the ultimate authority (vs. 1-2)

Read: Rom. 13:1-2

    A. All Obey
      First, Paul states that ALL are to be subject or in obedience to governing authorities.  There is no one abover the law.

    B. God is Sovereign
      Next Paul says that God alone has absolute authority AND that He has established authorities on earth.  Why do we obey the laws of our government? So we won't get caught and end up in trouble? Yes, but that is not the primary reason Paul gives us. His starting point for his argument is the doctrine of the sovereignty of God.

      God is the ultimate and absolute authority, He is Sovereign and those who exercise authority do so because God has established them in their positions.  There has not been one single ruler throughout history who has not been set in their position by God.

      Oh, really, you say. What about Nero who burned all of Rome and blamed it on the Christian. What about the Roman Emperors who fed Christian; men, women and children to the lions? What about Stalin, Hitler, Idi Amin? What about the current governments in China, Sudan, Afghanistan, and Libya who persecute, torture, rape and kill Christians in their countries?

      Yes! Whoever the governing authority may be, whether good or evil . They do not rule by chance, they rule because God has ordained and established their rule by His sovereignty and maintains their rule by His providence.

    How can I say that? Because God's Word says it first.

Read: Prov. 8:15-16, Dan. 4:17, 25, 32;  John 19:11a, Rom. 9:17

      This does not mean that the evil these rulers do comes from God, only that their authority to rule comes from Him.

      It is easy to accept God's sovereignty when we are given a Christian ruler or one of high moral character. But when an evil or ruler of low moral character rises to the top of a political system, we refuse to accept God's sovereignty.

      Unfortunately, I don't have the time to develop the doctrine of the sovereignty of God in this message. Fortunately, however, I don't have to because Lee and Peg are teaching this in the adult Sunday school. So take their class. Besides, I have read their material and they do a much better job than I could on this topic.

    C. Disobedience is to God
      Well, because God is sovereign and raises up whatever leaders He chooses, Paul tells us that if we disobey an earthly ruler, or governing official, we disobey God Himself. Did you hear that. If we disobey a governing official ( police officer, mayor, governor, president and the laws they make), we disobey God Himself.  And, it is right that we be punished. He goes on to tell us about that in verses 3-5 and I will get to that in shortly.

Trans:  Once the sovereignty of God becomes the framework of our world view,  the grid through which we see life, we will better be able to understand our responsibility to our civil authorities.

 And that leads us to Paul's next statement concerning our submission to the government. We are to be obedient because

II. The responsibility is ours (vs. 3-5)

Read: Rom. 13:3-5

    A. Be obedient and don't worry
      Paul begins by saying that if you don't break the law, if you obey your civil authorities, you won't have to suffer the fear and worry of getting caught and punished. If you don't speed, you won't get stressed out having to look all over the road searching for a hidden police car. And you won't get an expensive ticket and have your insurance rates go up. If you only take legitimate deductions, you won't have to worry about problems with an audit with it's penalties, fees and even jail time. It's simple. Be obedient.

    B. Disobey and fear the 'sword'
      However, if you choose not to obey civil authorities, if you choose to break their laws, understand that God has given them the power to enact judgment on evil and disobedience. That is what is meant by 'bearing the sword'. They have the power and authority to inflict punishment and even death. (capital punishment) This is necessary because humanity is sinful and needs authority to maintain social order.

      It is also necessary because we were told in Rom. 12:17-20 that we are not to repay evil for evil, not to take our own revenge. Verse 4 says  'it (government) is an avenger who brings wrath upon the one who practices evil.' See the connection. God may choose to be our champion by using those He has placed in civil authority to punish evil done to us.

Trans: We have a responsibility before God and all humanity to obey our civil authorities because they are servants of God for our good. Finally, we are to be obedient to our civil authorities because

III. The respect is theirs (vs. 6-7)

Read: Rom. 13:6-7

     We are commanded to render or give to all what is due them. If we owe taxes..pay them, if we own a custom or duty charge, pay it, if they are in a position that deserves our fear, respect and honor, give it to them, with out compromise.

      When we do not pay what is owed we show disrespect to the law, the officials who make the laws and God who raises up the officials.

      We may deplore the politics of a government official. We may be appalled at the immoral behavior of an elected official.

      But we must remember that even though the person is sinful, the office exists at  the discretion of God. Even in our dissent we must show the highest level of godly character.

Conclusion
     Speaking of dissent, I'd like to end this message by asking the question Paul does not bring up. Is there ever a time we are not to obey our civil authorities? Are there limits to our obedience?  YES!

1. Evangelism: Christians can not recognize the authority of any government and must disobey it when it forbids the preaching of the Gospel. We have a God given mandate to evangelize. We call it the Great Commission.

     In Acts 5, Peter and John were given strict orders by the governing officials not to preach of this Jesus and they responded in Acts 5:29 with 'We must obey God rather than men'. And I believe this has implications for missionaries as well.

     Christians are not to obey any civil government that forbids them from sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ even if it means being kicked out of a country, imprisonment, or death.

2. Morality: No government has the right to command Christians to perform immoral acts.  Eph. 4:5 tells us that no immoral person will inherit the Kingdom of Heaven.

     Corrie ten Boom and her family were right to hide Jews and thereby save their lives even though it was against the law.

     Deitrich Bonhoeffer was right to speak out against Hitler and to organize an underground church.

     The church today must never allow the government to dictate any kind of immorality to it..such as the forced hiring of homosexuals to positions in the church as a means of anti-discrimination and tolerance.  If this happens, we must disobey. There can be no compromise with immoral behavior.

3. God's Word: No government has the right to tell Christians to do anything that is against God's Word.

 Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego were commanded to bow their knees to a false God. They refused. (Dan. 3, Ex. 20) This contridicts the law that say we are to have no other gods before Jehovah, nor are we to worship any graven images or idols.

 Herod commanded the Magi to tell them where the Christ child was. They refused, God told them in a dream to disobey Herod. And they did. (Matt. 2)

 What does all this mean? In practical terms...

 It means we pay our taxes, we keep to the speed limit.

 It means if you are drafted, you serve.

     It means we obey the government so long as it does not violate God's Holy Word.

 It means we make ourselves model citizens to the glory of God.

 On a more practical spiritual level it means...

 We recognize the sovereignty of God in the raising up of civil authorities and governing leaders.

 We are to obey these leaders because they exist for God's good purposes.