The Christian and Government (Fourth of July)
Tom Shrader works through Romans 13:1-7 to establish that all governing authority is instituted by God, meaning submission to government is ultimately submission to God Himself. He addresses the difficulty of this teaching by acknowledging that even repressive regimes fall under God's sovereign placement, while also clarifying the narrow exception for civil disobedience when government commands what God forbids or forbids what God commands. The teaching closes with a practical distinction between the church as an institution — which should remain cautious about political entanglement — and individual Christians, who are encouraged to be engaged, salt-and-light participants in civic life.
“The rule of thumb is this: if the government commands you to do something God forbids, or forbids you to do something God commands, then the Bible trumps the government.”
— Tom Shrader
Series: Standalone Teachings
Recorded: 2004 at East Valley Bible Church
Duration: 48 min
Themes: government, authority, submission, civic duty, politics, obedience, civil disobedience, citizenship, feeling anxious about politics, citizen, voter, struggling with corrupt leadership, young adult, new believer, feeling hopeless about culture, civic leader
Scripture: Romans 13:1-7, Romans 12:1-2, Romans 12:9-21, Romans 5, Daniel 2, Daniel 3, Daniel 4, Titus 3, 1 Peter 2:13, Acts 4:12
Theological Themes: romans 13, divine institution, God's sovereignty, sphere sovereignty, biblical ethics, church and state, natural law, common grace
Full Transcript
I want to wish everyone a happy 4th of July. It is a very special holiday. I will be honest with you — it was always my least favorite holiday growing up. To me, the 4th of July meant going outside and saying "ooh" and "wow" at fireworks, and I never enjoyed a minute of it. It was just never something I personally connected with as a celebration.
What it symbolizes, however, is important. It is a time when we sit down nationally and celebrate the Declaration of Independence. And I want to go on record — though I don't think I need to — being very clear that I am so happy to be alive at this time, in this place, and in this nation. I am very grateful for the economic system, the legal system, and the political and governmental system. I have said it before: I believe it is really the system that makes this country what it is.
A Season of Pessimism
Having said all of that, I want to talk about something I have been noticing. In the last few months, I have had more conversations flowing out of a gloom-and-doom attitude than I think I have had in years prior. People, for whatever reason — it may be the trouble in Iraq, it may be problems here at home, it may be economic — seem gripped by a real pessimism. I think it is intensified by the fact that we are in a presidential election year, so both sides are ratcheted up. Some of it ties together in the feeling that the world so many of us love, especially this part of it, is perhaps disintegrating around us.
This is also the time of year when many Christian periodicals and Christian television programs feature the Bible alongside the flag and red, white, and blue imagery. You get the idea that if Paul were alive today, he would be a conservative Republican, and that somehow the Bible has a position on education, the welfare state, national defense, and so many other issues. I think sometimes we do not really remember what the Bible actually says about the Christian and their relationship to government.
Since this is East Valley Bible Church, I thought it fitting on this 4th of July to take a look at what I have titled today "The Christian and Government," and to invite you to turn to Romans chapter 13.
Romans 13:1–7 — The Text
We are going to spend our time this morning on seven verses: Romans chapter 13, verses 1 through 7. They are a very important passage of Scripture. John MacArthur writes this:
> "These seven verses contain the clearest and most specific New Testament teaching on the Christian's responsibility to civil authority. Every Christian, no matter what form of government he lives under, is under command from God to maintain proper and useful submission to that government for the sake of leading a peaceful life and having an effective witness. This reoccurring theme of submission to society's controlling power is nowhere more forcefully dealt with than here."
I want to tell you that for some of you — especially those examining this passage for the very first time — you may have a very strong reaction to what we discuss today. I will speak autobiographically: I certainly did. When I first came to this passage of Scripture, I found it as difficult to deal with as the doctrines of grace, because it is so counter-cultural.
So let me read through these seven verses, and then we will take about 40 minutes to see if we can bring some understanding to them.
> *"Let every person be in subjection to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except from God, and those which exist are established by God. Therefore, he who resists authority has opposed the ordinance of God, and they who have opposed will receive condemnation upon themselves. 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. For it is a minister of God for your good. 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 upon the one who practices evil. Wherefore, it is necessary to be in subjection not only because of wrath, but also for conscience' sake. For because of this you also pay taxes, for rulers are servants of God. Render to all what is due them: tax to whom tax is due, custom to whom custom, fear to whom fear, and honor to whom honor."*
Two Things That Jump Off the Page
When you read that passage casually, two things jump right off the page. Number one, citizens are to submit and to obey the government. Number two, we are to pay taxes. That is what Paul argues in verse 6 — because God has established these authorities, and because rulers are servants of God, you pay taxes.
It is worth noting that Paul uses that description — servants of God — three times within this short section. When we say "one nation under God," what we are acknowledging is not that the United States has some unique relationship with God. We are acknowledging that all authority, all governmental authority, is under God, responsible to God, and established by God.
Let me also remind you of the context. Romans chapter 12, verses 1 and 2, Paul says, "I urge you therefore." Paul is driving toward a conclusion. These first eleven chapters of Romans have been building to that point, and what follows flows directly from all that has come before.
The Foundation: Romans 12 and Supernatural Living
The book of Romans is filled with doctrine, filled with the story of humanity, filled with the story of how man would prefer to follow his own ways — that man will follow himself into blindness. We will profess to be wise and yet become fools. There is no one who is good, no, not one. All have gone astray. That is the condition of man, but God so loves the world that He sends His only begotten Son. Paul says it this way in Romans 5: "While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us."
Christ died so that you and I might have eternal life. Christ died so that there would be a way for a holy God to redeem a sinful man — and that is you and that is me. There is a way, a singular way: it is Jesus Christ. There is no other way that we can find acceptance before a holy God. All of religion is about man trying to reach out to a holy God. Christianity is about a holy God reaching down to sinful man and providing the one singular path of redemption.
That is what Paul lays out in those eleven chapters. And then he says, "Therefore" — therefore, brethren, because that is true — if you are a follower of Christ, present your bodies as a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable — some translations will say reasonable or logical — acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. In the Old Testament, we brought animal sacrifices. In the Old Testament, there was a whole form of sacrifice. Not anymore. Christ died, Christ fulfilled the law, and now you and I come not bringing animal sacrifice but bringing our entire life. That is what the body represents: present your bodies as a living sacrifice.
Now, the problem with living sacrifices is they like to scurry off the altar every now and then. They like to run away. So we need to be reminded again and again to present our bodies to God. Verse 2: "Do not be conformed, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind." One paraphrase says, "Don't let the world squeeze you into its mold." Another says, "Don't copy the behavior of the world." In other words, we are to live a life that is counterculture — what is natural is no longer acceptable for us, but we are to live supernaturally.
Living the Counterculture Life
Paul continues in Romans 12 talking about behavior — how we are to respond toward one another, how we are to live with one another, how our life is to be filled with, as verse 9 says, love without hypocrisy. We start to live in this supernatural way: be devoted to one another, give preference to one another. Verse 12: "Rejoicing in hope, persevering in tribulation, devoted in prayer, contributing to the needs of the saints, practicing hospitality." Bless those who persecute you, bless and not curse. Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep.
"Be of the same mind toward one another. Do not be haughty in mind, but associate with the lowly. Do not be wise in your own estimation." Do not be puffed up and prideful and arrogant. "Never pay back evil for evil to anyone." That is supernatural, is it not? The natural man's mantra is: I don't get mad, I get even. I pay back evil with evil. You deal me dirty, I'll deal you dirty — you can count on it, and you won't know when and you won't know where, so don't relax for a second. That is how I lived for thirty years.
"Never repay evil for evil to anyone. Respect what is right in the sight of all men. If possible, as far as it depends upon you, be at peace with all men. Never take your vengeance out on your own, beloved, but leave room for the wrath of God." "Vengeance is Mine, I will repay." "If your enemy is hungry, feed him. If he is thirsty, give him a drink." "Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good." That is a supernatural way to live.
Paul says: here is how you are to act. Here is how you act with other believers. Here is how you respond to those who persecute you. Here is how you respond to pain and hurt and anguish. And then he turns his sights and he talks about government.
Submission to Governing Authorities
Paul says this — let every person be in subjection to the governing authorities. "For there is no authority except from God, and those which exist are established by God." Now, verse 1 contains a word that presents an extraordinary problem for us. If we are going to really talk about supernatural living, there is a word in there that jumps right off the page. What is that word? Subjection. Submission.
Because the natural man says, nobody is going to tell me what to do — ever. You can drive through some pristine mountain country and see those beautiful yellow signs: "Curve Ahead" — untouched, unscathed, looks brand new. A sign that says "Dip in the Road" — brand new. Then there is a sign that says "No Shooting" and it is filled with bullet holes. Nobody is going to tell me whether to shoot or not. That is the way we talk about it all the time.
I will be in the mall and I will see the railing and it will say "Wet Paint — Do Not Touch." And like every other person in the world, I will go right ahead and touch it. Sure enough, it is wet. There is something about it — the minute it says do not do it, I am drawn to it. That is the natural man. Nobody is going to tell me what to do.
The Problem with Submission
Here is what Paul says, though: submit. Let me speak a little autobiographically here, because I discovered early on that this word "submit" is problematic. I was a little naive — I had not been teaching very long — and I was teaching through the book of Ephesians and I came to the passage that says, "Wives, submit to your husbands." That seems straightforward enough to me. So I am in a class —
The Christian's Responsibility to Government
Let every person be in subjection to the governing authorities. That word, *hupotasso*, is a military term referring to soldiers who rank under, or are in subjection to, an absolute authority. In this sentence it is in a passive imperative — it is a command, something we are to do willingly. In the New Testament Greek lexicon, under this word, the comment is made that in a non-military use it was a voluntary attitude.
When I teach on wives submitting to their husbands, I am always asked: "Is Susan submissive to you?" I say yes. Then I am asked to give an example of where she was submissive, and I honestly cannot think of one — because I believe that more than an action, submission is an attitude. I see wives who are obedient, but you can tell there is no joy in their lives. They are doing it, and every indication is that it is, at that moment, killing them. So part of this whole idea of submission is attitudinal — it is with a happy heart.
We are always looking for the exception. Someone asked W.C. Fields once whether he ever read the Bible, and he said, "Only for loopholes." That is what we are looking for — the angle, the loophole. Every time we talk about wives submitting to husbands, the minute we get there, I get the question: "What if he doesn't?" Submit to your government? "What if they don't?" We are working our way through Romans, and we are at Romans chapter 13. I thought this was not the week to take somebody faint of heart to Bible study.
As I tread into this, I do so carefully. I do not want to unnecessarily offend you, but I do think it is important, especially as this momentum builds — this idea that Jesus is a conservative Republican, an American, and a capitalist. We have to be really careful here. Right now, for example, there are arguably more Christians living in communist China than in the democratic United States of America.
Let me be clear about where I stand: I am a committed pro-free market capitalist. I love it. I am simply saying there is a temptation to make a linkage between Christianity and the United States of America that may not be biblical. Since we are East Valley Bible Church, we ought to at least examine this.
Seven Reasons for Submission
Paul gives us seven reasons for this command in the verses that follow. You can easily spot them as you work through the passage, and I will touch on some of the highlights. To me, the driving force is the very first one: government is established by God.
"There is no authority except from God, and those that exist are established by God." All governmental authority is from God. Now, many people have no problem saying that after 9/11 God provided George W. Bush because he was the man needed to guide us through that time. I have no problem saying that about Abraham Lincoln or George Washington either. That is not too difficult to handle.
But let us expand that just a little. God also gave us many other leaders — and then we move beyond the ones you are probably thinking of, because there are more predictable minds at work here. I am talking about the Hitlers, the Stalins, and Mao. What do you do with that? Are you telling me that what we saw in China and Russia, and in repressive governments around the world, was all established by God? That is what the Bible says. The Bible says God raises them up and God puts them down, and God probably has in His own mind some purpose in that.
Ray Stedman writes this: "Not only are the forms of government brought into being by God, but the very people who occupy the offices are placed there by God. God is neither a Republican nor a Democrat. He is not a socialist or a Marxist or even an American. The biblical picture is that God not only sends us good men, sometimes by His grace to lead us and heal us, but He also sends us bad men at times to punish us — we seem to deserve them. For when the Hitlers and the Stalins and other ruthless individuals come to the throne of power, God has put them there because that is what the people needed at a particular time in history." This is the biblical position.
Submission to Authority
What Paul says regarding government is rather startling, yet it is clear from this passage: we are to submit to those authorities. John MacArthur picks up the same theme, noting that the autocratic, ruthless, demonic regimes of Adolf Hitler, Joseph Stalin, and Mao Zedong were no exception to God's command to be in subjection to civil authority. Paul repeats this in Titus chapter 3: "Remind them to be subject to rulers and to authorities, to be obedient and ready in every good deed." MacArthur also references 1 Peter 2:13: "Submit yourself for the Lord's sake to every human institution, whether to a king as the one in authority or governors as sent by him for the punishment of evildoers and the praise of those who do right." The will of God is that we submit to government — good and bad.
This is tough material, and it certainly requires us to respond and live in a way that is supernatural. One of the reasons we are to submit to government is that all government is established by God. The second reason flows logically from the first: if I am in rebellion against the government, I am in rebellion against God. Robert Haldane, in his commentary on the book of Romans, writes this: "The people of God then ought to consider resistance to the government under which they live as a very awful crime, even to resistance to God Himself."
Chains of Command
Here is what the Bible is saying: God has established chains of command in our lives. There is one at work, one at home, one at church, and one in government. When I am not responding to the authority above me in that chain of command, I am disobedient to God.
Consider the family. If you are a wife who does not submit to your husband, you are not merely disobedient to your husband — you are in rebellion against God. If you are a husband who is not loving his wife, nurturing her, and caring for her with understanding, then you are in rebellion against God. If you are a child who is disobeying your parents, you are rebelling against God. These are enormous stakes, and that is the point being made: God has given us this authority structure, and when we do not submit to it, we are rebelling against Him.
God Raises Up and Puts Down
We ought to submit because all government is established by God. Daniel chapter 2 tells us that God raises up kings and puts them down. Nebuchadnezzar himself confirms this in Daniel chapter 4. Nebuchadnezzar was king, and Nebuchadnezzar was a God-hater. He said to the people, "I want you to worship me — I am going to build a golden idol," which many believe was a statue of himself, "and when the music strikes up, I want you to fall down and worship that statue." And yet God established him as king. Just as easily, God took him right down. He made Nebuchadnezzar live seven years like a cow, wandering in the pasture and eating grass.
At the end of those seven years, Nebuchadnezzar came to his senses and said, "Now I see there is a God who reigns and lives forever and ever, from generation to generation. There is this one God, and He raises up and He puts down." There is not a week that goes by without someone asking me who is going to win the presidential race in November. My answer is simple: whoever God wants to win. It does not mean you do not campaign or work toward an outcome, but God is sovereign. All power belongs to Him, and He has delegated that power to those who are in government.
Government Restrains Evil and Promotes Good
The third reason we are to submit is that those who are in rebellion will be punished. The second part of verse 2 tells us that those who oppose governing authority will receive condemnation upon themselves, "for rulers are not a cause of fear for good behavior, but for evil." Government exists to restrain evil. Even the worst form of government is better than anarchy. Even the most wicked regimes often do an efficient job — albeit through extraordinary means — of suppressing thievery and murder.
A fifth reason is that government is there to promote good. It is established by God for the protection of our lives and the protection of our property, and we ought not fear it if we do good. If you want to drive down the 202 with a clean conscience and without checking your rearview mirror, drive the speed limit. What do you have to fear? If you live within the rule of law, you have nothing to fear.
The Sword and the Conscience
The sixth reason is found in the second part of verse 4. Romans chapter 13, verse 4 says that government "does not bear the sword for nothing. It is a minister of God, an avenger who brings wrath upon the one who practices evil." The sword is there to punish evildoers and to inflict punishment on the criminal.
Finally, there is the matter of conscience. Verse 5 tells us: "Wherefore it is necessary to be in subjection, not only because of wrath" — meaning you do not obey only because you are afraid — but for the clarity of your own conscience, and for the ability to sleep and have peace of mind.
Placed Here Sovereignly
So here is what Paul says in these five verses. He says our relationship with government is this: every person is to be in submission to the government, because all government is established by God. That is why, when we say we are proud and pleased and thankful to be in America, we can look around and see a variety of places we would not want to be living. God has placed us here sovereignly, under this extraordinary form of government.
Submission and Taxes: Two Commands for the Christian
As repressive as the Chinese government was, and as it persecuted and slaughtered the church, in the midst of that persecution we saw that church expand. Without any missionaries coming in, only from the church evangelizing in its own community, we saw that church grow from about 5 million people to 70, 80, 90, 100 million people. That provided exactly the government that those people needed. It seems odd to us, doesn't it? It doesn't make sense to me, but it's what the Scripture says.
This passage says really two things about us and our government. Number one, submit. That was the easy part. Number two, verse six: pay your taxes. Because of this — because all government is established by God, because rulers are servants of God — you are to pay your tax. That word *tax*, *phoros* in the Greek, is most commonly used of taxes paid by individuals, especially to occupying forces, and it carries a combined sense of income tax and property tax. In Paul's time there would have been other taxes as well.
Paul's Context: Submitting Under Nero
Remember, when Paul is writing this, he is writing to people living under a king who was arguably the worst king in the history of mankind. This king was taking Christians, impaling them on poles, and lighting them on fire to illuminate his garden at night so he could party. He was the one feeding Christians to lions as recreation and amusement. And nowhere in this passage does Paul incite his readers to rebel against government — and he is addressing a government that is severe.
In fact, here is what he says: pay the tax. Remember, that is how they tried to trap Jesus. They said, "Jesus, should we pay our tax or not pay our tax?" If He said pay the tax, the Jews would roll up and say, "Look at what He is doing — He is supporting the Roman government." If He said don't pay the tax, they would go to the Romans and say, "He is preaching insurrection. We have Him." And what did He say? "Give to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's." He was saying: you are temporarily and temporally under this government, they have control over you in the temporal realm, and what they say, you do.
No Exceptions: Pay What Is Owed
If they say the speed limit is 55, it is 55. If they say the tax is 99%, it is 99%. And you are to pay it. I know how that feels — I don't like it either. I look at that pay stub and I see all this money going to the government. I know that every time I pump a gallon of gas, they are getting another 30 to 50 cents. Every time I go out and buy a dinner, they get another chunk of change. Every time I turn around, they are dinging me here and dinging me there.
Don't you think taxes are too high? Yes, I do. Don't you think they waste money? Yes, I do. Don't you think they spend money on things I wouldn't spend it on? Yes, I do. What should we do on April 15th? Pay our tax. That is what God tells us to do. Now, if you want to address all those other issues, go deal with them — you have ways of doing that within the structure. But to not pay your tax is not an option.
The Book Called *God and the IRS*
I was doing a series called Financial Foundations, and one of the sessions was on paying taxes. A man came up to me afterward and said, "If I give you a book, will you read it?" I said no. People come up to me all the time and ask that, and I am not going to let someone I barely know dictate what I am going to read. He said he was going to give it to me anyway, and I said I would look at it.
He gave me a book called *God and the IRS*. There was a picture of a cross and then a hammer and sickle on the cover, so I sensed a bias on the author's part. I was intrigued enough that I scanned it — about 120 pages. It was written by a pastor, and his whole premise, as he took Scripture and twisted it around in a convoluted way, was that somehow Romans 13:6 did not mean pay your taxes, or that there were exceptions. Do you see exceptions here? There aren't any.
So I went back to that man and he asked, "Did you read the book?" I said I had scanned it. He asked what I thought. I said it was awful, terrible, and anti-biblical. The more we talked, the more I realized there was an angle. There is always an angle. It is like when somebody says, "I want to come and see you — I don't have an agenda." Of course they do. Everybody has an agenda, and there is nothing wrong with that. So I knew if I pushed and prodded and pulled, I was going to find it.
When Obeying God Means Disobeying Government
So two questions. Number one, am I to submit always? Is there ever an exception to this? Is there ever a time when civil disobedience or disobeying the government is appropriate? The answer to that is yes. And before you race out there, it is .0000001% of the time. Oftentimes, when we teach this, the first thing is, what's the exception? And somebody wants to say, well, if you were in Nazi Germany — I'm in Gilbert. I'm not in Nazi Germany. So the question doesn't mean anything to me. It's hypothetical. I don't know what I'd do.
Do I have times, biblically, where I look at these men and I see appropriate times of rebellion against the government? Yes, I do, but it's always in a very limited scope. The rule of thumb is this: if the government commands you to do something God forbids, or forbids you to do something God commands, then the Bible trumps the government.
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego: A Biblical Example
Here's an example. Turn to the book of Daniel. Let's take a look at Daniel and his three friends for a second. Daniel chapter 3. Daniel and Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego are Jewish boys living in the land of Babylon. They were taken there as captives and have been assimilated into the culture. They are in positions of authority, but all of a sudden, there is something to which they cannot comply.
Look at verse 1 of chapter 3. Nebuchadnezzar the king made an image of gold. Here is what he declares in verse 4: the herald proclaims loudly that every person, everywhere in all the land, when they hear the music and the bagpipes play, they are to fall down and worship the golden image of Nebuchadnezzar the king. And whoever does not fall down and worship shall immediately be cast into the midst of a furnace of blazing fire.
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were men toward whom the Babylonians felt a certain jealousy. Those accusers knew what these three men were made of, and they were confident that when the bagpipe played, they would not fall down and worship — and sure enough, they did not. So the accusers observed this and went to Nebuchadnezzar. In verses 10 and 11 they said, in effect, did you not make this law that the moment the music plays, everyone is to fall down and worship? And yet Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego do not.
Look at the second part of verse 12: "These men, O king, have disregarded you. They do not serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up." Then Nebuchadnezzar in a rage and anger gave orders to bring Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in. He asked them: is this true? Are you rebelling against me?
They answer in verse 16: "O Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to give you an answer concerning this matter. If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the furnace of the blazing fire, and He will deliver us out of your hand, O King." They were saying, in essence, you are asking us to worship a false god, and our God has said that He is to be the Lord and Him alone. He is a jealous God, and there are to be no other gods that we worship. And if you are going to throw us in the fire, that is fine — He is able to deliver us.
"But Even If He Doesn't"
One of my favorite verses in all of Scripture is Daniel 3:18: "But even if He does not." We love the deliverance part of the story. They get thrown into the fire and they come out. And it has a happy ending. Now we expect that every time we get into a jam, if we do the right thing, God is just going to deliver us right out of it. Well, that is not necessarily so.
Rendering What Is Due
Before getting to those questions, the text makes clear what we owe: pay the tax, render to them what is due. The tax, and the custom — which would have been an additional, separate tax — pay that, and give them fear, reverential awe. Pay them respect and honor.
I confess this is difficult. When I was in college and Richard Nixon was president, there were many people who were very upset with him. Those who were his supporters would at least say, if you cannot respect him, then respect the office. From 1992 to 2000, I heard that repeated over and over again: you may not like the president, but respect the office. That is exactly what the text is saying. You are to have respect for a person because of the position they hold. Even if, in your estimation, they do a poor job in that position, you are not the final authority to judge whether they ought to be there or not. God raised them up, and you are to obey them.
When We Rationalize Our Disobedience
I had a man come to me once, and I stayed with the conversation long enough to find out what was really going on. I kept asking, why is this important to you? When it was all said and done, he owed $269,000 in back taxes and was trying to find a way that God would relieve him from that debt. I told him the only thing I could see involving God in that situation was that Chuck Colson might become his new neighbor — because he ought to go to jail. He was a thief. I do not mean that harshly. I am simply making the point.
That is what we do, though, isn't it? We can laugh at that particular instance because it seems obvious, but we do the same thing with our own sin all the time. We take a sin, structure some convoluted reasoning, and convince ourselves that God is endorsing our disobedience or rebellion — and He is not. Pay the tax. Render to them what is due.
Civil Disobedience: The Exception to Submission
The three young men in the fiery furnace demonstrated remarkable spiritual maturity. They said He is able to deliver us, but even if He does not, He is still God, and we have no choice but to obey Him. So if the government came along and said we can no longer worship, that when the bagpipe blows we must stop and worship another god — if the government prohibited our worship and commanded us to worship another god — at that point we would rebel against that government. I pray to God we never have to be tested like that. But if the government said the upper tax bracket is 75%, we would pay the tax.
You see a very similar incident in Acts chapters 2, 3, and 4, where Peter is delivering extraordinary sermons and people are responding — 3,000, then 5,000 total. That is where Peter says, in Acts chapter 4, verse 12, there is salvation in no other name but Jesus. The authorities pull him in and tell him to knock it off. Peter responds: "Whether it is right in the sight of God to heed you rather than God, you be the judge." He continues: we cannot stop speaking what we have heard.
So when it comes to civil disobedience, the rule of thumb is this: if the government is commanding you to do something God forbids, or forbidding you to do something God commands, there is the exception.
The Church, the Individual, and Political Involvement
The second question that comes up, especially at this time in the political calendar, is about involvement between the church and the political system. I make a distinction — and I will speak personally here, as I did not discuss this with the elders beforehand, though I think most if not all would agree — between us as a church corporately and you individually. As a church body, we are very cautious to distance ourselves from the political realm.
On March 6, 1999, Governor Bush — now President Bush — spoke at Second Baptist Church in Houston and made this comment: "I believe in the separation of church and state. The church is not the state, and the state is surely not the church. Anytime the church enters into the realm of politics, the church runs the risk of losing its mission, teaching the Word of God. Politics is a world of give and take, a world of polls, too many polls, of human vision. The church is built on the absolute principles of the Word of God, not on the word of man." He then added: "But I want to make it clear — we will welcome, and should welcome, the presence of people of faith in the political arena. It is essential that the believer enter the arena. Just as your faith helps to determine how to live your life, your involvement in politics helps determine how we will function as a democracy. Democracy is only as good as the people who are willing to participate in it."
So if you are waiting for us as a church to become a political dynamo, it is not going to happen. We will provide opportunities to register to vote, encourage you to vote, and encourage you to understand the candidates and the issues. There is not a place, I think, for us institutionally — but there is absolutely a place for you individually. You go get them. You are the ones called to engage, and we encourage you to do that.
Christians Already in the Arena
I was once at a talk delivered by the Reagan administration's liaison to the continent of Africa. This man gave an extraordinary discussion about Africa, what he had seen, and what the Reagan administration was doing there. Afterward, in what was a Christian gathering, someone asked the inevitable question: do we need more Christians in government? I thought, here we go. But this man said, no, we really do not. We just need the ones who are already there to act like Christians — to stand up like Christians and to behave like Christians.
And I would say that is equally true at Intel, at the city of Tempe, the town of Gilbert, at Sears, at school, and everywhere else you work. We do not need more Christians there. We need the ones who are already there to stand and be salt and light in the midst of it.
Keeping the Church's Mission Clear
So to bring these two penetrating questions together: is there a time when civil disobedience is warranted? Yes — if the government commands you to do something God forbids, or forbids you to do something God commands, that is the exception. And what is the role of the church? The role of the church is to encourage you to participate in this grand system of government — at the very least to be engaged in voting and to be knowledgeable at that level. But many of you need to be more deeply involved. God is moving you and providing you opportunity to be in that arena.
I do want to draw an important distinction, though. When I first became a Christian, I knew Jerry Falwell because of the gospel of Christ. Now you know Jerry Falwell because of his political involvement. I would argue that the former is far better than the latter. George Bush is exactly right: the church does not do a very good job when it starts mixing in politics, and it can drift very quickly away from its real mission.
In 1983, I was in Washington, D.C., with what was the forerunner of the Family Research Council. We were in a congressman's office — the man is still in office, out of Virginia, and has been there for a very long time. The discussion was about our involvement and whether we were going to wade into the political system. He said this four times: "Boys, you are getting ready to go swimming with the sharks." He was speaking of the political system, and we need to be careful in that area.
Gratitude on the Fourth of July
On this day I celebrate with you a happy Fourth of July, with a reminder to be thankful to God for the great country He has given us.
The Christian and Government
As we obey Him, we glorify Him. As Gary and the team come and close our time of worship, we are reminded of this as we sing from a heart that has been transformed.
Let us pray together. Father, thank You for the truth of this word. Thank You for Your Son, Jesus Christ. God, do not let us be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of our mind. God, we pray that our heart, all that we do, all that we say, all that we think, brings honor and glory to You.
Father, thank You for living in a country that has at its core value freedom. But remind us again that it is Your Son, Jesus, who sets us free — sets us free from the real bondage, the bondage of sin and slavery to our own lusts. Father, thank You that we can live supernaturally even in this world. We pray it to You in Christ's name, amen.
We are going to ask you to stand as we sing those very words of commandment.