Submission to Godly Authority
Tom Shrader exposits 1 Peter 2:11-17, grounding the call to submit to governing authorities in the prior reality of the believer's union with Christ—emphasizing that obedience flows from being accepted by God, not from earning His acceptance. He addresses the natural human resistance to submission, using Romans 13 and the broader context of Peter's letter to show that God has established governing authorities and that Christians honor Him by honoring those structures even when they are imperfect or hostile. Shrader applies this to everyday life, voting, and public witness, arguing that a distinctively submissive and excellent way of living can silence critics and draw unbelievers toward God.
“God doesn't call me because I'm qualified, just the opposite. I'm qualified because God's called me.”
— Tom Shrader
Series: 1 Peter
Recorded: 2012 at East Valley Bible Church
Duration: 47 min
Themes: submission, authority, government, obedience, citizenship, freedom, public witness, honor, struggling with authority, new believer, feeling rebellious, young adult, voter, citizen, questioning government, navigating cultural hostility
Scripture: 1 Peter 1:1, 1 Peter 1:13, 1 Peter 2:11-12, 1 Peter 2:13-17, 1 Peter 3:1, 1 Peter 5:11, Genesis 23:4, Psalm 39:12, Galatians 5:16-23, Matthew 5:16, John 15:18-20, Romans 13:1-2, 1 John 2:15
Theological Themes: union with christ, sanctification, soteriology, justification by faith, biblical authority, civil government, christian ethics, missional living
Full Transcript
The Foundation: Who We Are Before What We Do
Open your Bibles to 1 Peter. We are going to be in Chapter 2 as our primary text, specifically verses 13 through 17. I want to go back in a moment and spend a little time on verses 11 and 12, but let me first read you the passage. I want to read it from the New American Standard translation, and then from a paraphrase, and just let this sink in.
Here is the New American Standard: "Submit yourself for the Lord's sake to every human institution, whether to a king as the one in authority, or to governors as sent by him for the punishment of evildoers and the praise of those who do right. For such is the will of God that by doing right, you may silence the ignorance of foolish men. Act as free men and do not use your freedom as a covering for evil, but use it as bond slaves of God. Honor all people, love the brotherhood, fear God, honor the king."
Here is Eugene Peterson's paraphrase of those verses: "Make the master proud of you by being good citizens. Respect the authorities, whatever their level. They are God's emissaries for keeping order. It's God's will that by doing good, you might cure the ignorance of the fools who think you're a danger to society. Exercise your freedom by serving God, not by breaking rules. Treat everyone you meet with dignity. Love your spiritual family. Revere God, respect the government."
Verses 11 and 12: The Pivot Point
Now I want to go back and pick up where Tim left off and remind you of verses 11 and 12. This is hopefully going to be a very big point — either an "aha" moment where for the first time you make the connection, or at least a great reminder. I want to read to you from three commentators as they look at verses 11 and 12.
The first writes: "Peter begins the exhortation of his letter by addressing his readers as 'dear friends.' Before he begins his difficult instruction about how we are to live in relationship to unbelievers within society, though they may be estranged from their neighbors because of their faith in Christ, he reminds them that they have his apostolic affection. The verb 'exhort' introduces Peter's central concern and marks these verses as a transition to the body of the letter, in which Peter exhorts Christians to live in a right relationship with their society." So there is this exhortation coming — a pivot point — and Peter is going to give us instruction on how we are to live in this culture.
A second author writes: "Here Peter begins what is structurally the second half of the letter. Whereas the first part is primarily theological in focus with occasional application to life, this part is generally practical with emphasis on shorter theological statements. Whereas the first half contains general exhortations in holiness, in love, and in trusting God, this half is very specific instruction showing how believers are to practice holiness and trust in God in actual life situations." Though it is an oversimplification, it may be said that Chapter 2, verse 11, through Chapter 5, verse 11 — which takes you essentially to the end of the book — gives us specific application to the general teaching of Chapter 1, verse 1, through Chapter 2, verse 10.
A third author writes: "Peter moves to a surprising and urgent application of the teaching he has just given. He has been emphasizing the status that Christians have as the people of God, chosen by Him and drawn into privileged fellowship. They are a priestly nation, the recipients of God's grace and favor." And that raises the question I want to get at: why does Peter remind us of that status? Why does he go back?
Identity Before Imperative
The last time I taught from this text, in Chapter 1, verse 13, the passage began with the word "therefore" — "Therefore, prepare your minds for action" — and I made a point there that I want to make again today. Peter reminds his readers of who they are in order to prepare them for what they are called to do. Just because they are God's royal people, they can be servants. Their example is Jesus.
I made this point when I last taught through this text, and I thought it landed. I got an email from Aaron Klusman in which he basically reflected back everything I had said and went on to describe how significant it was to him. So either I did not make the point clearly enough, or many of you already knew it. I am perfectly comfortable if you already know it — but this is enormous.
All of the imperatives Peter gives us here flow from the fact that we are already in right relationship with Christ. Because I am chosen by God, because I am adopted as His child, because I am in union with Him — because I am a Christian, to use one of Paul's favorite phrases, because I am "in Christ" — now I can live this way. I behave this way not in order to be accepted by God, but because I am accepted by God. God does not call me because I am qualified. It is just the opposite: I am qualified because God has called me.
Living from Grace, Not for Grace
He doesn't say, clean up your act and then we'll talk seriously about you being My kid. He comes along in an act of His will, causes us to be born again, brings us into right relationship with God, and now says, because all of these things are true, now live like it. This is the pattern we've seen when looking at Paul's writings. In Ephesians, for example, he takes three chapters of what we would call intense doctrine with perhaps a little application, then arrives at chapter four with that pivot — the "therefore" — and says, therefore, because all of that is true, now we can talk about life. Now we can talk about how you should live, your relationships with your kids, your relationship with each other, your relationship at work, and how the Spirit should begin to work in your life.
That is a gigantic point, and if we miss it, all we do is fall into a bunch of religion. If we simply read a list — do this, don't do this, do this, don't do this — we've missed everything. Many people think exactly that way, and they'll say it, though not in those words. They'll say, "I'm thinking about coming to church, thinking about getting involved, but first I want to get my act together." God never says get your act together and then come to Me. He says, come to Me — that's the only way your act is ever going to come together, because you cannot put yourself back together on your own. You are a Humpty Dumpty. You've fallen, and God is in the business of putting you back together again.
That is a massive principle and truth: all of these imperatives flow from that "therefore."
Aliens and Strangers in This World
That is what Peter is saying back in chapter 2, verses 11 and 12. Let me read it again from the paraphrase: *"Friends, this world isn't your home, so don't make yourself cozy in it. Don't indulge your ego at the expense of your soul. Live an exemplary life among the natives so that your actions will refute their prejudice. Then they'll be won over to God's side and be there to join in the celebration when He arrives."*
Look at the terminology. He addresses them as "beloved," reminding them they are in this relationship, united in Christ — he speaks to them as those who know and love Christ. He then picks up imagery from Genesis 23:4 and Psalm 39:12, the imagery of aliens and strangers. An alien is one who lives in a place that is not his true home, and Peter says plainly: this is not home for you.
For the original readers, remember, chapter one verse one describes them as residing aliens scattered throughout various regions — scattered through suffering and persecution. This would have been great comfort to people who were wandering, perhaps uprooted, with little or nothing of earthly treasure. He is saying to them, don't worry about this. This isn't home. This isn't your final destination.
For most of us, the situation is perhaps a little different. Three or four years ago, if this passage were being taught, the observation would have been that things are pretty good and comfortable here — deals are closing, the economy is good, housing prices are increasing, jobs are plentiful, travel is possible. For those of us who find ourselves clinging to this life and quietly wondering whether heaven is going to be much better than this — whether there are moments where we think, this is heaven — Peter says: no, that is not the case at all. You are never going to be permanently happy here, because you were not designed to be permanently happy here. You get glimpses, moments of happiness, but those exist only to cultivate your thirst for heaven.
So he comes to them and says: I understand your situation — this is temporary. You are an alien, a stranger. One author describes it as Peter reorienting their self-understanding with respect to the society in which they live.
The World's Hostility Is No Surprise
Never think that the world is simply going to embrace you because you love Jesus — that the world will say, "Oh, you love Jesus? We've been waiting for someone like you." The night before He was crucified, Jesus gathered His disciples and said, *"If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, and I chose you out of the world, because of this the world hates you. Remember the word I said to you, a slave is not greater than his master. They persecuted Me, they will persecute you. If they kept My word, they would keep yours also."*
Paul in his writing, Jesus in His teaching, and Peter here are all reminding us of what we know experientially. We are told that there are approximately ten times more Christians being martyred right now in history than at the time Peter was writing in the first century. That is happening all over the world, and persecution is present here as well.
Peter is saying: you are going to live in this world, and because you are not of the world — because you are counterculture to the world — there will be those times when you encounter scoffers, people who are, to put it generously, putting you down, leveling charges against you. That is the situation. He wants us to understand the situation clearly. And from there, he brings the specific direction for how to live within it.
Living as Aliens and Strangers
These commands run from here to the end of the book. And because you are beloved, because we are fellow brothers and sisters and coworkers with Christ, because we are aliens and strangers, this is what Peter wants us to do. Verse 11: abstain from fleshly lusts, which wage war against you. To abstain means to stay away from, to avoid. It is in a tense that carries the sense of an ongoing "do not indulge." This is not just for today — it is for the entire time we are here.
When we hear "fleshly lusts," our minds tend to go immediately to sexual desire. It may include that, but it is certainly much more. Turn to Galatians chapter five. This is Paul writing about walking in the Spirit and the conflict between the Spirit and the flesh. He says in Galatians 5:16 that the flesh sets its desire against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh — there is that waging of war. Verse 18 tells us that if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law, for Christ fulfilled that law.
Then Paul lists the deeds of the flesh: "immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissension, factions, envy, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these." That is what Peter means by fleshly lusts — the full range of what the flesh produces. But here is the counterbalance. Galatians 5:22 gives us the fruit of the Spirit: "love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control."
The War Between the World and the Spirit
Peter is saying that as aliens and strangers in this world, there is a war going on — the war between the world and its values, the war that Satan, his demons, and the flesh wage against us even as followers of Christ. He calls us to abstain from that. John writes it this way in 1 John 2:15: "Do not love the world or the things of the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes, and the boastful pride of life is not from the Father, it is from the world." And the world, he says, is passing away — there is a temporariness to it.
Here is the paradox: everything around us looks very much alive and very real, so much so that at the point of physical death we can feel as though we are moving from the land of the living to the land of the dying. But nothing could be further from the truth. We are in the land where everything is dying, and we will go to the land where everything lives forever.
Keeping Excellent Behavior Before Unbelievers
While we are here, verse 12 instructs us to keep our behavior excellent among the Gentiles — among the unbelievers. Some translations use the word "conduct." It refers to our day-to-day pattern of life, the way we live and carry ourselves. We are to keep that behavior excellent among unbelievers so that in the things in which they slander us as evildoers, they may, because of our good deeds as they observe them, glorify God in the day of visitation.
The way we live makes a difference. Because we are followers of Christ, there ought to be something visibly different about us. Someone should be able to follow us around and see it in the way we conduct our families, our work, everything. Jesus said it in Matthew 5:16: let your light shine in such a way that people see your good works. That is the privilege — to make the invisible God visible.
What Peter is describing is this: people look at us, and in the midst of the most difficult and horrific circumstances of life — in this case, in the midst of being slandered and persecuted — there is something in us. The way we respond, the way we suffer, the way we live is so compelling that it may lead them to glorify God. He is not making a guarantee. The word is "may," and no time frame is given.
No Shortcuts, No Timeline
That idea carries over into 1 Peter chapter 3, verse 1, where Peter says, "In the same way you wives, be submissive to your own husbands, so that even if any of them are disobedient to the word, they may be won." There is something distinctive and different about a believer, especially in how they handle difficult circumstances, and that difference may lead others to faith — though not necessarily quickly or on any predictable schedule.
We sometimes see couples come in where one spouse is at fault and asking, "What do I need to do?" And the next question is always, "How long do I need to do it? Is this a week? Three weeks?" The answer is no. It is about getting into the right position that God would have us in for the rest of our lives — husbands loving wives, wives respecting husbands — so that on that day, some may be converted. They will glorify God and see Him for who He really is: Lord, Master, Savior, Redeemer. And at least part of what God uses to convert them is the way we respond.
My friend Larry Wright used to say it this way: you may be the only Bible some people ever see. People are watching. The moment you invite someone to church and they decline, or you share your faith with them —
The Weight of Being Watched
When you tell someone you are going to a Bible study or a priority living event, they immediately begin judging your life. They are looking at you through a microscope. Whereas you give yourself the benefit of the doubt, they are not going to. What God is saying in His Word is that as they watch you in these most difficult circumstances — and submitting to government is one of the most difficult — they see how you respond. For the people Peter is writing to, this is a government that is persecuting them, taxing them, and beating them. When they respond with submission and obedience, someone watching says either, "They're nuts," or, "They have something I don't have." The intent is for that observer to say the latter — and then to ask what that something is. That is exactly what Peter introduces.
The Primary Text
Let us get to the primary text for this morning. Verse 13: "Submit yourself for the Lord's sake to every human institution, whether to a king as one in authority or to governors who were sent out by the king." And here is why that government exists: "for the punishment of evildoers and the praise of those who do good."
The word "submit" is a military term. It means to arrange in formation under the commander — to line up under. That word has a lot of time invested in it for me personally, and it produces a gut response. That response is less visceral for me now, which I assume reflects some level of maturity God is doing in my life.
Romans 13 and Delegated Authority
When God saved me, Larry was teaching the book of Romans, and we came to Romans 13 — the classic passage on government. Paul writes: "Every person is to be in subjection to his governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those which exist are established by God. Therefore, whoever resists authority has opposed the ordinance of God."
What Paul is saying is this: government is a delegated authority of God. When I am disobedient to government, I am disobedient to God. God has at least four institutions that touch most of our lives: government, the church, the family, and work. Within each of these He has established an authority structure. Within the church there are elders. Within the family there is husband, wife, and children. It is not complicated what He says — children obey your parents, husbands love your wives, wives submit to your husbands.
This means that if I am not loving my wife, my problem is not simply that I am sinning against her — I am sinning against God. If a wife is not submitting to her husband, she is not submitting to God. These are the delegated authorities He has put in place.
The Gut Response to Submission
The moment I hear the word "submit," I want to ask, "Well, what are the exceptions?" The very first time I taught on wives submitting to their husbands, we were driving home afterward and I asked Susan what she thought. She said she was not sure. I mentioned that about half the people there did not seem to receive the Word very well. She said that might be the case, and when I asked why she thought so, she said it might have been the way I taught it. In retrospect, she was probably right.
The bottom line is this: none of us want to be told what to do. So when a group of women hears "wives, submit to your husbands," the first question is, "What about the exceptions? What if he — " and then comes a long list. Yes, that guy — the one you freely chose. I had the same flinch the first time I encountered submission to government. What if they waste my tax dollars? What if they do not do what they are supposed to do?
Exceptions Are Rare
Here is what Scripture teaches: there are some exceptions, but they are rare — that is precisely why they are called exceptions. In essence, unless the government commands you to sin or forbids you from doing something God commands, you submit to them. Why? Because that government is established by God. Their misuse of authority is their problem, and He will deal with their sin. Your role is to submit.
For many of us, hearing that for the first time produces a real visceral response. But that is exactly what God says. All the kings, all the governors — even the ones hauling people off, beating them, and abusing them in all sorts of ways — that government is the one to submit to. In our context, that means the president, the Congress, the state, and local representatives.
The Government's Role and Our Response
Government's job, as Peter describes it, is to execute justice, to preserve peace and order so there is not chaos in the land, and to praise those who conduct themselves well. For us, there should be a constant prayer going up to God — thanking Him for government and praying that those in authority would fulfill the role and desires He has for them, even as we submit to them.
But our submission is not conditional. It is not "I submit if." Our relationship with government is the same as that of a husband and wife. We do not say to a wife, "Submit to him — if he does all these things well." The challenge is not when he is fulfilling his role perfectly. The biggest challenge is when he is not. We will be talking about this more on November 4th — which will likely either increase or decrease church attendance that day.
Submission and Silence
Submit. That is the command. And why? The answer is the same idea found in verse 12: "For such is the will of God that by doing right you may silence the ignorance of foolish men." People look at you, slander you, gossip against you, lie about you, maybe physically persecute you. It is God's will that that hostility would be stopped against you — and here is how: by you doing right, and then God intervening. You submit to authority.
I come at this again, and when God saved me, as I said, I heard this early on and I responded against it. I told Vince last week — and this just shows probably a lack of faith on my part — I said, "Man, you're launching this thing, and all these new people are coming in, and week one you're talking about submission to government." But it may be just a great opportunity to proclaim the gospel and to show that truth, to show that difference. Especially as you see hostility growing more and more toward the fundamental, the evangelical Christian church, the message is: we are the best citizens. We are talking submission all over the place, and doing it.
A Story from Larry's Bible Study
I started going to Larry's Bible study and continued going, and after a period of years God grew me and began to redeem me and use me in a variety of ways. One of those was simply to persistently talk to people about Christ, and he would do that in a number of different ways as God opened doors. One of the tools I used was Larry's Bible study, so I had two guys in my office that I called — or met with face to face — every week to go to Larry's Bible study, for maybe a year, a year and a half.
Larry, at that point, was back in the Book of Romans, moving steadily through it, and we were coming to Romans 13. I thought, I am not going to call either of them this week. But both of those guys called me and said, "You have called for a year, a year and a half, two years, every week — you didn't call this week. I'd like to come this week." So we went. Larry started with "Submit yourself to government, everyone," and about five minutes into it, one of them got up and left. The other one was a little more polite, stayed through it, and said — as Joe Biden would say — this was the biggest stuff he had ever seen. He said he would never be involved in this again.
And that is kind of what you would expect from somebody who does not know Christ, because the minute you hear the word "submit," you say, "Nobody is going to tell me what to do." It is like the wet paint sign — of course you want to touch it. Over and over and over again. And that does not go away. That goes all the way back to the garden, does it not?
Back to the Garden
The serpent comes along and says, "Really, can you trust God? Can you really trust Him? Because He really said that? He is just messing with you. Look at this fruit. Doesn't it look good? Don't you think it tastes good? It would make you like Him." And so now, even for those of us who know Christ, that is the struggle.
He is saying, listen, you have got to understand you are in a war here. It is not a war of flesh and blood — it is a spiritual battle. And He did not leave you alone. He left you with the Spirit and the Word and prayer. You are in the midst of this. If I rebel against the government, in this case I am rebelling against God. He said, "I have placed these men here."
God Places Leaders in Authority
Just look at how polarizing this is. I will give you three names: Bill Clinton, George Bush, Barack Obama. Just those last three presidents have literally caused the country to split right down the middle. If you are on the other side of wherever they stand, it is not just that they are an opponent — you hate them, you cannot stand them. I talk to people on both sides of this all the time.
George Bush was a great example. He was a man who was perhaps not seen as the sharpest knife in the drawer, and people would just launch into him. Certainly the current president is as polarizing as any of them have been. And God is saying, here is your role.
My sense is that a number of you, in casting a ballot, may have voted for men who are not in office right now. And your position is, "I didn't pick this guy." Okay — you did not, but God did. God placed these men in their positions. Your role is to submit to them. It is not to say, "I will hold back until we get the man I want." That is always our pattern with submission: I will submit when everything is the way I want it. But that is not the biggest test of submission. It is like love — "I will love her when she..." or "I will love her if..." No. The call is to submit to them.
Why? First, because they are established by God. Second, because He has told you to. Third, on a practical basis, this may be the very way that He silences opposition — that He draws people in, that your life becomes so compelling, that you become such a light that they cannot resist it and cannot stay away. Maybe they start out intrigued by you, thinking you are almost odd, and as they get to know you they realize it is not odd at all, and it is not just you — it is supernatural. That is what He is saying.
Free, Yet a Bond Slave
Verse 16: "I want you to act as free men, but do not use your freedom for covering for evil, but use it as a bond slave of God." He wants you to understand that you are free, but your freedom is not freedom to do wrong. You are a bond slave. Consider the irony of that language — you are free and yet a slave. Because you are in Christ, you are free from your sin and the consequence of your sin, and free to do the will of God. Do not abuse it. It is not a license. You take your freedom and place yourself in bondage to God. You were a slave in bondage to the world system — now you are a bond slave of God.
The Transformed Life of a Servant
Paul says our role now is like that of Christ. "Have the mind in you that was also in Christ Jesus, who came not to be served, but to serve." Our lives are transformed. When Paul starts writing about humility, there was not even a Greek or Latin word that meant humility. This concept is so foreign to who we are as humans. Paul is calling us to be like Christ, the suffering servant. We see over and over again, as they beat Him, as they crucified Him, He submitted — and at any point He could have stopped it.
God says He has a plan for all of our lives and for all of these systems, and it includes submitting — submitting and submitting — to Christ, becoming a bond servant of Christ. In that, we become His hands and feet wherever He places us. That submission begins to affect everything we do.
Submission Affects Every Part of Life
It affects how we park. Tom cannot understand going to the grocery store, taking a cart, loading your things into your car, and leaving that cart in the middle of the parking lot. He admits he is a lazy man, so he parks next to the cart return — there are one or two spots at the Fry's at McQueen and Warner where he parks every time, right next to where the cart goes. There is something fundamentally wrong with leaving a cart in the middle of a parking lot. That cart return is there for a reason. You are not the exception. It matters, and people are watching.
That is what Peter is saying, and it may sound silly, but submission affects everything. That is why he gives us the summary in verse 17: "Honor all people." Be courteous to all people. Be kind to all people. If it says do not walk somewhere, do not walk there. You may have a thousand reasons why you should, but it is common courtesy.
Tom and Sandy were out for her birthday dinner the other night, and six times he said "thank you" to the server, and six times the server replied, "No problem." No problem is not the answer to thank you. It is common courtesy — it is holding a door. Honor all men. Be kind, courteous, and respectful to all people, at all times and in all places.
The Four Commands of Verse 17
Peter then says, "Love the brotherhood." That is an obligation among fellow Christians — a strong, deep love for one another. We care about people in general, but we care specifically about one another, those who say they are Christians.
Then he says, "Fear God." We honor Him, we love Him, but there is a reverence toward Him. We do not fear or revere all men or all brothers in that same way, but we fear God — it is a deep respect for who He is.
Then he says, "Honor the king." And here is what is subtle: to a king reading this, Peter has placed the king on the same plane as all people — honor him, just as you honor all people. He does not say fear the king, as he says of God. God is feared; the king is honored alongside everyone else. Tom believes the king would have caught that distinction, even if it is subtle to us today.
So here we are: we fear God, we understand who He is, and that understanding now affects all of life. We may not always like our brothers and sisters, but we can love them. And we will honor all the people in our lives.
Faith, Government, and Voting
As we talk about the role of government, Tom raises a few things, particularly with an election approaching. He has been receiving many questions about voting — about how Jesus would vote. He believes he knows the answer on some issues, though perhaps not everything. As we vote, we should be concerned about what God says and about God's values as we look at the ballot and at candidates.
Tom's friend Jamie Rasmussen, the senior pastor at Scottsdale Bible Church, was preaching a whole message that day on voting. Jamie was apprehensive about the pushback he might receive, and Tom told him he did not see how much pushback there could be, because the message was simply this — in Tom's own words, not Jamie's: "I won't tell you who to vote for, but I don't mind telling you how to vote."
In a recent debate, a moderator framed a question as a matter of faith, asking two Catholic candidates how their Catholic faith affected their position on abortion. Congressman Ryan said something that made complete sense to Tom in his opening statement: "My faith has to affect everything that I do." We have said the same thing. If faith should affect the kind of parent you are, the kind of neighbor you are, whether you push a grocery cart back to the return, then it ought to affect how you govern.
Ryan spoke about abortion and the position that life begins at conception, and he carried that conviction through. The Vice President made what Tom considers the most paradoxical statement — that he is personally opposed to abortion but would never want to legislate against it. The question Tom always wants to ask in that moment is: why are you opposed to it? The answer consistently comes in the context of defending the weakest in society, and there is no one weaker, no one with less of a voice, than the unborn. Tom believes God is clear on the issue of abortion.
Issues Where Scripture Speaks Clearly
There are two or three issues on which Tom believes you can speak with clarity from Scripture. Abortion is one. Marriage is another — God has a clear view on that. The Bible is also concerned with freedom and responsibility. These are important issues for us to consider as we engage in the political process.
Tom had a wonderful moment at the Arcadia campus during a four-week class he was teaching — something along the lines of "Our Faith and Politics" or a similar title. He was there as part of the very first session, and the conversation continued from there.
Civic Engagement and the Christian Citizen
The point being made here concerns civility in the whole process. There are two poles visible in how people approach this. On one side are those who say that if we can just elect the right person, everything is going to be perfect — but that is not going to happen. On the other side, a position that is alarmingly growing, are those who say politics is dirty and nasty and they want no part of it. At the very least, every Christian should vote.
This is important: if you get involved in issues, you are going to get pulled into politics. If your child comes home with troubling material from school and you object, you will find yourself before a principal, a superintendent, a school board. If a strip club is going up down the street and you do not want it there, you will end up at city council, at zoning hearings, working through all of that. Politics is not something dirty and filthy simply because sinful people are in it.
God has blessed us — not to be living under Nero's Rome, but to be in this country, with an amazing system. What makes America great are not the American people. There is no genetic advantage that one people holds over every other people in the world. What makes America great is the system itself. The challenge now is to preserve that system of freedom — life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness — not guaranteeing everyone happiness, but guaranteeing everyone a shot at it.
You need to be engaged, and you need to be informed and wise. Look carefully at whether there are biblical principles at play in the lives of individual candidates and in the propositions placed before you. But consider this: whatever the outcome of your vote, your response as a believer is to submit. Why? Because in submitting to the government, you are submitting as to the Lord. That is the result of a transformed heart.
The Cross as the Foundation
That transformation of heart took place — and takes place — because of what happened at Calvary. That is where we stop, every week, and remind ourselves what Christ did on the cross.
Father, thank You that You changed our hearts. While there are amazing things that await us in heaven, You have left us here, and our hearts are still in a struggle — at war between flesh and Spirit. Father, we pray for this country, for the candidates, for the president, for the Congress, for state legislatures and legislation. Thank You for this town. Make us the best citizens in this country. We ask it in Christ's name, amen.