SPEAKER_01: Welcome to the First Preds Sermon Podcast, where each week we dive into scripture, wrestle with truth, and discover how faith intersects our lives.
SPEAKER_01: God's word meets us where we are, challenging, shaping, and calling us into something greater.
SPEAKER_01: No matter where you are on your journey, you belong here.
SPEAKER_01: And we're praying that this sermon might help you take a next step in faith towards Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: Hey, let's dive into today's message together.
SPEAKER_00: This is Romans chapter 13, verses 1 through 7.
SPEAKER_00: Let everyone be subject to the governing authorities.
SPEAKER_00: There is no authority except that which God has established.
SPEAKER_00: The authorities that exist have been established by God.
SPEAKER_00: Consequently, whoever rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves.
SPEAKER_00: For rulers hold no terror for those who do right, but for those who do wrong.
SPEAKER_00: Do you want to be free from fear of the one in authority?
SPEAKER_00: Then do what is right and you will be commended.
SPEAKER_00: For the one in authority is God's servant for your good.
SPEAKER_00: But if you do wrong, be afraid.
SPEAKER_00: For rulers do not bear the sword for no reason.
SPEAKER_00: They are God's servants, agents of wrath to bring punishment on the wrongdoer.
SPEAKER_00: Therefore, it is necessary to submit to the authorities, not only because of possible punishment, but also as a matter of conscience.
SPEAKER_00: This is also why you pay taxes, for the authorities are God's servants who give their full time to governing.
SPEAKER_00: Give to everyone what you owe them.
SPEAKER_00: If you owe taxes, pay taxes.
SPEAKER_00: If revenue, then revenue.
SPEAKER_00: If respect, then respect.
SPEAKER_00: If honor, then honor.
SPEAKER_00: This is the word of the Lord.
SPEAKER_02: All right.
SPEAKER_02: Good morning, church.
SPEAKER_02: Amen.
SPEAKER_02: The Lord reigns above it all, over everything.
SPEAKER_02: So good to be together.
SPEAKER_02: So good to see you filling up this place of worship.
SPEAKER_02: The Lord reigns above it all.
SPEAKER_02: He's worthy of all honor, all power, all glory, all praise, the best that we can offer from our hearts.
SPEAKER_02: Amen.
SPEAKER_02: We're going to be dipping into Romans 13.
SPEAKER_02: Let me pray for us and we'll get started.
SPEAKER_02: Jesus, we thank you for the word that was read.
SPEAKER_02: We thank you, Jesus, that when we open our Bibles, this is not just some ideas on a page.
SPEAKER_02: But Lord, you have inspired this word.
SPEAKER_02: You accompany this word by your spirit.
SPEAKER_02: Even as we read it, you use your Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_02: You come into our lives, you open our minds, you soften our hearts, you guide us, you correct us, and we're praying for that, Lord, so that when we walk out of here, when we walk out of this place, we can genuinely turn around and say, I heard from the Lord.
SPEAKER_02: May it be so, Jesus, for all of us.
SPEAKER_02: In Jesus' name we pray.
SPEAKER_02: Church said.
SPEAKER_02: Amen.
SPEAKER_02: All right.
SPEAKER_02: We're in Romans.
SPEAKER_02: Romans gives us a chance to talk about just about every topic there is when you study through Romans.
SPEAKER_02: That's the glory of studying through Romans in a year like we're doing.
SPEAKER_02: And so today, Romans 13 brings us to a topic that I imagine is a topic that you just never think anything about.
SPEAKER_02: I just I can imagine that this is something that just has never occurred to you to talk about at all.
SPEAKER_02: Politics.
SPEAKER_02: I mean, I know.
SPEAKER_02: I know you just live your everyday life, you know, you're running your life, taking care of your family, doing your job.
SPEAKER_02: It never really occurs to you that there's something happening in Washington, D.C., or maybe something's happening in Denver.
SPEAKER_02: I mean, it just never occurs to us to talk politics, right?
SPEAKER_02: Wouldn't that be nice?
unknown: Try not to.
SPEAKER_02: Try not to, exactly.
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, politics has migrated, hasn't it?
SPEAKER_02: It's migrated from one of those topics that old books of etiquette would say, do not bring this topic up at dinner.
SPEAKER_02: It's rude, you know.
SPEAKER_02: Politics.
SPEAKER_02: Now it's migrated to what?
SPEAKER_02: Where politics is actually, it's like the only real conversation we're all having as a people.
SPEAKER_02: And it penetrates every part of our lives.
SPEAKER_02: Art is politics.
SPEAKER_02: You know, Hollywood, movies, music, um, sports.
SPEAKER_02: I used to love watching sports center because there's no politics, you know.
SPEAKER_02: That was nice.
SPEAKER_02: Those days were nice.
SPEAKER_02: You know, education is politics, religion.
SPEAKER_02: When I get together with pastors, um uh we all just kind of bemoan how politics has entered into uh the the church and and how every sermon is scrutinized, every phrase is scrutinized.
SPEAKER_02: Is this supporting my side or the other side?
SPEAKER_02: Is this is this going my way or or that way?
SPEAKER_02: Uh, pastors, we all just kind of complain about that.
SPEAKER_02: We complain about a lot of things, to be honest, but we all just kind of complain about that because we've all felt it, and I felt it too.
SPEAKER_02: Listen, people have left first pres because first pres is too liberal.
SPEAKER_02: Is that surprising?
SPEAKER_02: People have left first pres because first pres is too conservative.
SPEAKER_02: I had a couple who uh uh longtime friends actually, and and they they left the church and and I reached out to them.
SPEAKER_02: I said, What is it?
SPEAKER_02: Um can we talk about it?
SPEAKER_02: Is it something I said?
SPEAKER_02: Is it something somebody else said up front?
SPEAKER_02: Can we can we talk about this?
SPEAKER_02: And um and they said, It wasn't anything you said, it wasn't anything that anybody said up front.
SPEAKER_02: Here's what it is.
SPEAKER_02: We can't sit and worship with people that post that on Facebook.
SPEAKER_02: I can't help, I can't do anything about that, right?
SPEAKER_02: Romans 13 is gonna challenge us.
SPEAKER_02: What about life together?
SPEAKER_02: We're gonna take these next few chapters of Romans under this heading of life together.
SPEAKER_02: What does it mean to be the church?
SPEAKER_02: And then the first question that we're gonna ask is, okay, in life together, what do we owe the government?
SPEAKER_02: What do we owe the state?
SPEAKER_02: And also what do we owe one another as the body of Christ?
SPEAKER_02: We talk about this topic, church and state.
SPEAKER_02: The first verse that pops into your mind.
SPEAKER_02: Does anybody have it?
SPEAKER_02: What's the first verse that pops into your mind?
SPEAKER_02: This is a real risk.
SPEAKER_02: I'm like, guess what's in my pocket, you know?
SPEAKER_02: You know what it is?
SPEAKER_02: The first thing that comes to your mind, and really an organizing verse is what Jesus said.
SPEAKER_02: When Jesus was asked about uh gig the coin, and he looked on the coin and had a picture of Caesar on it.
SPEAKER_02: Do you remember what he said?
SPEAKER_02: Render to Caesar.
SPEAKER_02: Yep, it's in Matthew 22.
SPEAKER_02: So give back to Caesar what is Caesar's and give to God what is God's.
SPEAKER_02: This is actually hugely defining.
SPEAKER_02: This is a powerful moment.
SPEAKER_02: It helped to define all of Western civilization.
SPEAKER_02: Give honor where honor is due.
SPEAKER_02: And church, let me say it just our commitment to being the family of God together, your commitment to being part of the church, part of the movement of the church, it's got to be bigger.
SPEAKER_02: It's got to be bigger.
SPEAKER_02: Even then your heart's commitment to your country or to a particular political party and a preferred vision of our common future.
SPEAKER_02: Family of God's got to be bigger.
SPEAKER_02: It's got to be bigger.
SPEAKER_02: We try very hard in our teaching to present the kingdom of God from scriptures as it intersects with our contemporary life.
SPEAKER_02: That's what we're trying to do up here.
SPEAKER_02: So sometimes we get that right on target, sometimes we're a little off.
SPEAKER_02: I know that.
SPEAKER_02: But what we're trying to do is present the kingdom of God in scriptures intersecting with our contemporary life.
SPEAKER_02: And what that what is that gonna do?
SPEAKER_02: What that's gonna do is that's gonna correct your politics, no matter what side you're on.
SPEAKER_02: It's gonna push you.
SPEAKER_02: And when you feel that push, like, oh, I'm feeling pushed by what I just heard up front.
SPEAKER_02: I'm getting pushed.
SPEAKER_02: Well, I guess, I guess that means this church is just they've there, this church is off the rails now.
SPEAKER_02: They've just gone Democrat.
SPEAKER_02: I guess that means this church, they're just they've just totally gone Republican.
SPEAKER_02: No, you're getting pushed.
SPEAKER_02: And all of us are going to be pushed and corrected in our worldview by it by looking at the kingdom of God.
SPEAKER_02: You see?
SPEAKER_02: And the kingdom of God, by the way, is not the golden mean in between the two political parties of our current country, okay?
SPEAKER_02: I'm not saying you take the political platform on the right and on the left and average them and find the kingdom of God.
SPEAKER_02: Thank you, thank you.
SPEAKER_02: That's now the kingdom of God is so much bigger.
SPEAKER_02: And so the privilege we have of being life together in the church is we're part of something that's so much bigger, all-encompassing, and it's gonna push you a little bit.
SPEAKER_02: Romans 13 is the most comprehensive passage on Christian civic responsibility in the Bible.
SPEAKER_02: It is, this passage.
SPEAKER_02: And when it's read, it comes as a surprise to all parties.
SPEAKER_02: And I'm not talking all parties in the U.S., I'm talking all parties, all times, all history.
SPEAKER_02: Look at this.
SPEAKER_02: Verse 1.
SPEAKER_02: Let everyone be subject to the governing authorities.
SPEAKER_02: For there is no authority except that which God has established.
SPEAKER_02: The authorities that exist have been established by God.
SPEAKER_02: Church, where's this letter being read?
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, look on the top of the page, like the letter to the Romans.
SPEAKER_02: This is in the middle of the Roman Empire.
SPEAKER_02: Who's in the room when this letter?
SPEAKER_02: Are you surprised yet by this text?
SPEAKER_02: Who's in the room?
SPEAKER_02: They're surprised.
SPEAKER_02: They're shocked out of their shoes.
SPEAKER_02: Why?
SPEAKER_02: Half the room are Romans, Roman citizens who've now come become believers in Christ.
SPEAKER_02: And they're trying to figure out what is it that I'm a Roman citizen and I'm also a single citizen of the kingdom of God.
SPEAKER_02: What does that mean?
SPEAKER_02: And then the other half of the room is who?
SPEAKER_02: The other half of the room are Jewish background believers who came to know the Lord.
SPEAKER_02: And you know what happened to them?
SPEAKER_02: They got kicked out of Rome.
SPEAKER_02: Emperor Claudius expelled all the Jewish people from Rome.
SPEAKER_02: Imagine your government telling you you have to leave Colorado Springs and you can't come back.
SPEAKER_02: That's what happened to them.
SPEAKER_02: And they're just back.
SPEAKER_02: After five years about of being out in exile, they're just getting their feet back under them.
SPEAKER_02: And somebody stands up and reads this letter and says, you need to be subject to all the governing authorities.
SPEAKER_02: You mean Claudius?
SPEAKER_02: You mean Emperor Nero?
SPEAKER_02: You mean Pontius Pilate?
SPEAKER_02: I'm gonna need more information, right?
SPEAKER_02: I'm gonna need you to help me out.
SPEAKER_02: What Paul does in this letter, what the Word of God does for us is it gives us this baseline, this experimental control, this kind of true north.
SPEAKER_02: And what is it?
SPEAKER_02: It's this.
SPEAKER_02: Give honor where honor is due.
SPEAKER_02: Give respect where respect is due.
SPEAKER_02: The Lord is sovereign over all authority in all times.
SPEAKER_02: What do I owe to my government?
SPEAKER_02: What do I owe to the state?
SPEAKER_02: Even if I disagree.
SPEAKER_02: If there's anyone who has any authority at all, in so much as they have any authority at all, it stems from God.
SPEAKER_02: I think I owe them honor.
SPEAKER_02: I think I owe them respect.
SPEAKER_02: Start from there.
SPEAKER_02: Now, it doesn't say the word obey.
SPEAKER_02: There's a difference.
SPEAKER_02: And I want you to have this difference in mind between obey and what does it say?
SPEAKER_02: Be subject to, submit to, be reverent toward, give due respect.
SPEAKER_02: So hold on to that point.
SPEAKER_02: We'll get there.
SPEAKER_02: Romans 13 tells us that authorities and power demand our respect, even authorities we don't agree with.
SPEAKER_02: God has granted authorities to our leaders.
SPEAKER_02: Now, church, as much as we thrive, and I know we do, as much as we thrive on cynicism, on sarcasm, as much as we love a hot takes podcast, you know, and just like rolling through the news of the day, and and uh and we love that feeling of superiority and judgmentalism and you know what I mean, and that tone of like, uh, I could do it so much better if I were in their shoes, you know, I can't believe they're doing this.
SPEAKER_02: Don't you love that stuff?
SPEAKER_02: Be honest.
SPEAKER_02: No, you better not, because I'm about to tell you not to do it, right?
SPEAKER_02: But all of us, all of us, we we thrive on that.
SPEAKER_02: We like, we we soak that up.
SPEAKER_02: Oh, I soak that up.
SPEAKER_02: Listen, what this is saying is that that's not what God is asking of you as a citizen of your government, of your of your state.
SPEAKER_02: And and it's not good for your soul.
SPEAKER_02: It isn't.
SPEAKER_02: Honor for leaders is derivative of the fifth commandment of the Ten Commandments, honor your father and your mother.
SPEAKER_02: Honor for leaders is something that is commanded in the letters of both Paul and Peter.
SPEAKER_02: They say the same thing.
SPEAKER_02: Honor for leaders is what Jesus was referring to when he said to his followers, render unto Caesar what is Caesar's.
SPEAKER_02: They've got to give honor and respect where honor is due.
SPEAKER_02: I've been personally, I've been uh before long before the sermon, I was kind of captured by this uh this verse, and it came out of Exodus, it came out of my devotional reading, but it's Exodus 22, 28, and it says, Do not blaspheme God.
SPEAKER_02: And I was like, I got that.
SPEAKER_02: Like I'm pretty sure I'm trying, you know.
SPEAKER_02: Do not blaspheme God, or what does the rest of that say?
SPEAKER_02: Or curse the ruler of your people.
SPEAKER_02: I thought, hmm.
SPEAKER_02: And then I and then you look at Paul and he quotes that in Acts.
SPEAKER_02: He quotes that same verse, but he only quotes the back half of it.
SPEAKER_02: He says, Do not speak evil about the ruler of your people.
SPEAKER_02: And I'm like, Huh.
SPEAKER_02: Right?
SPEAKER_02: That can't be right.
SPEAKER_02: There's got to be some second translation or something, you know, in here.
SPEAKER_02: There's gotta be some cross cross-reference.
SPEAKER_02: Do not speak real.
SPEAKER_02: I mean, Pastor Tim, what about when they make it really hard?
SPEAKER_02: Right?
SPEAKER_02: Or maybe I'm the only one in the room who's ever felt a little embarrassed by leadership.
SPEAKER_02: Is there anybody else?
SPEAKER_02: I'm not making I'm saying pick your leader, okay?
SPEAKER_02: Do not curse the ruler of your people.
SPEAKER_02: Wow.
SPEAKER_02: What if you made room for that?
SPEAKER_02: What if we tried that on?
SPEAKER_02: You like the person in power, you don't like the person in this power, you're in seasons, you know, it changes a lot in our country.
SPEAKER_02: You're in seasons where this is my guy, this is my guy, this is my person, I'm behind this person.
SPEAKER_02: If they're not, do not curse the ruler of your people.
SPEAKER_02: How do I do that?
SPEAKER_02: You make room in your mind for the sovereignty and power and everlasting authority of God.
SPEAKER_02: You say, God, I trust that you are sovereign, that you are over all things, so much over all things, that if someone's in power, if they've got authority, I know that it derives from me.
SPEAKER_02: And so I want to make room in my heart for the possibility that this ruler that's in place is there for a reason.
SPEAKER_02: And I'm gonna give honor and reverence and subject subjection to that ruler.
SPEAKER_02: Do you understand?
SPEAKER_02: Just like a little bit enough.
SPEAKER_02: And what does that allow you to do?
SPEAKER_02: Well, what does the Bible teach us to do?
SPEAKER_02: That allows me to pray for my rulers.
SPEAKER_02: I'm gonna pray for anyone who's in the mantle of authority above me.
SPEAKER_02: I'm gonna submit my prayers to God for their well-being, that they would have wisdom, that they would have, uh, that they would have uh conviction of the of the scriptures, that they would do good things, and that they would pursue the common good under God's common grace.
SPEAKER_02: That's what we're looking for, you see?
SPEAKER_02: Now, I know you're asking this question.
SPEAKER_02: What if what if they're a jerk, right?
SPEAKER_02: Isn't that the question you're asking?
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, what if they're way off?
SPEAKER_02: You know, it's way off.
SPEAKER_02: We submit uh to government because God has put them in place.
SPEAKER_02: We pray for them.
SPEAKER_02: Church, this does not mean blind acceptance.
SPEAKER_02: This does not mean a blanket toleration of injustice.
SPEAKER_02: Here's what happens.
SPEAKER_02: We should not read this passage and then read back over some moments in history where uh terrible people, tyrants were in power, pulp pot, idiom mean, Adolf Hitler, put your name in there.
SPEAKER_02: And you and you just say, uh, look, Lord, I'm not gonna take this and read back over that and say that because you give all authority and they were in power, what they did was your fault.
SPEAKER_02: God is not the author of evil.
SPEAKER_02: God is the author of good.
SPEAKER_02: How am I gonna sort this out?
SPEAKER_02: The leader is in place in service to God and service to the people.
SPEAKER_02: And so there's a difference between obey and submit.
SPEAKER_02: Obey is a word that we use for God.
SPEAKER_02: I obey God, I submit to my leadership.
SPEAKER_02: There's a little bit different.
SPEAKER_02: What if they come in conflict?
SPEAKER_02: Peter and the other apostles replied, Do you know this moment in Scripture?
SPEAKER_02: We must obey who?
SPEAKER_02: We must obey God rather than men, than human beings.
SPEAKER_02: When the command of the civic leader and the demands of God clash, church, go with God.
SPEAKER_02: Thank you.
SPEAKER_02: Go with God.
SPEAKER_02: But here's what Romans is teaching us.
SPEAKER_02: Be ready to bear the consequences.
SPEAKER_02: Next verse.
SPEAKER_02: Consequently, whoever rebels against the authorities, rebelling against those whom God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves.
SPEAKER_02: Now, that's not saying damnation from God, that's saying judgment.
SPEAKER_02: The civic authorities, the powers that be, are going to be upset that you chose obedience to God over your obedience to their commands, and you're going to pay a penalty.
SPEAKER_02: Be prepared to take civic punishment for faithfulness to Christ.
SPEAKER_02: It happens.
SPEAKER_02: Verse 3.
SPEAKER_02: Submit to government authority because God has commanded them to bring order and peace, and this is good.
SPEAKER_02: Verse 3, for rulers hold no terror for those who do right, but for those who do wrong.
SPEAKER_02: Do you want to be free from fear of the one in authority?
SPEAKER_02: Then do what is right, and you will be commended.
SPEAKER_02: Okay.
SPEAKER_02: The more you break the speed limit, how do you feel?
SPEAKER_02: Awesome, right?
SPEAKER_02: Like way ahead of that guy.
SPEAKER_02: Like, I'm gonna get there like a full 30 seconds faster than that, dude.
SPEAKER_02: You know?
SPEAKER_02: I actually had I had this this true story.
SPEAKER_02: President of a seminary uh told me once, Tim, you can always get away with 10%.
SPEAKER_02: You can always get away with 10%.
SPEAKER_02: What does he mean?
SPEAKER_02: Like, it's 35?
SPEAKER_02: You can get away with 38, right?
SPEAKER_02: Right, right, right?
SPEAKER_02: I'm looking at a police officer right now.
SPEAKER_02: You don't have to tell us.
SPEAKER_02: And so it's but it's like you got like, okay, it's 35.
SPEAKER_02: I'm going, I'm going 38.
SPEAKER_02: I'm feeling all right.
SPEAKER_02: I'm going 40.
SPEAKER_02: How do you feel?
SPEAKER_02: I'm going 42.
SPEAKER_02: I'm going 45.
SPEAKER_02: I'm going 50.
SPEAKER_02: Church, I would never go 50.
SPEAKER_02: But when you go, how are you feeling?
SPEAKER_02: How are you feeling?
SPEAKER_02: What's going on?
SPEAKER_02: Are your heart rate's getting very your eyes are scanning, right?
SPEAKER_02: Scanning, scanning, scanning, scanning, scanning.
SPEAKER_02: I got Google Maps up telling me where the police are.
SPEAKER_02: Not me.
SPEAKER_02: You, I'm not not you, other people.
SPEAKER_02: When we break the law, he's saying you're gonna feel fear.
SPEAKER_02: You're gonna feel anxiety.
SPEAKER_02: Have you been evading taxes for 30 years?
SPEAKER_02: I I can tell you you're a great guy.
SPEAKER_02: You know, I can come along and love you like I love you, bro.
SPEAKER_02: But you're gonna be really torn up inside.
SPEAKER_02: Are you building your family on an illegal foundation?
SPEAKER_02: An illegal foundation, you know, and you know, uh, whatever I build here, it's on a foundation that's at some point someone could come and say, that's not that's you broke the law, and they could take it all away.
SPEAKER_02: You're gonna feel fear.
SPEAKER_02: And there's no amount of me or the church or brothers and sisters in Christ saying, no, you're a great guy.
SPEAKER_02: You're gonna feel that fear.
SPEAKER_02: The more you speed, the more you feel that fear.
SPEAKER_02: You're breaking the law.
SPEAKER_02: And so, lesson go slow, breathe easy.
SPEAKER_02: All right, drive slow, enjoy it.
SPEAKER_02: Because you know why?
SPEAKER_02: Here's the truth now it's good for the gospel and it's good for your soul to obey the law, to honor the law.
SPEAKER_02: Why?
SPEAKER_02: Because the law, the government, has the sword what's That.
SPEAKER_02: For the one in authority is God's servant for your good, but if you do wrong, be afraid.
SPEAKER_02: For rulers do not bear the sword for no reason.
SPEAKER_02: They are God's servants, agents of wrath.
SPEAKER_02: Agents of wrath to bring punishment on the wrongdoer.
SPEAKER_02: What this passage is telling us is God empowers the state with proper force to do what?
SPEAKER_02: To restrain the evildoer.
SPEAKER_02: It's a common grace for our common good.
SPEAKER_02: The sword, they are God's servants.
SPEAKER_02: And so you start to, and you can in your life groups and your Bible studies, you start to, in this passage, you start to see, oh, I'm building now an entire model of the biblical reason for civil governance.
SPEAKER_02: I mean, what does government do?
SPEAKER_02: It restrains evil, it celebrates good, it it it it uh judges uh disputes, uh, it protects the populace.
SPEAKER_02: It's it's a good force.
SPEAKER_02: It's a common grace for the common good.
SPEAKER_02: The sword, the sword.
SPEAKER_02: Listen, that's folks, that's people.
SPEAKER_02: That's some that's some of us, isn't it?
SPEAKER_02: The sword, CSPD, the sword, United States Army, United States Air Force, the sword.
SPEAKER_02: Anyone who's put on the uniform to serve.
SPEAKER_02: These are men and women who put their lives on the line to oppose chaos, to restrain evil, even at the risk of their own well-being.
SPEAKER_02: We say thank you, don't we?
SPEAKER_02: Honor is due.
SPEAKER_02: And we say, wait a minute, how can a Christian be the sword?
SPEAKER_02: How can a Christian play that role?
SPEAKER_02: Okay.
SPEAKER_02: Christians see the use of force as an act of love when they play this role.
SPEAKER_02: So how does that what are you talking about?
SPEAKER_02: How can that be an act of love?
SPEAKER_02: Christians see the use of proper force restraining evil as an act of love.
SPEAKER_02: Imagine with me, someone is about to harm a child.
SPEAKER_02: There's a child, and some it their their full intent is to harm a child, to kill this child, and you're there and you have the power to do something about it.
SPEAKER_02: What is the most loving thing to do?
SPEAKER_02: To walk away and leave it?
SPEAKER_02: Leave it to the Lord?
SPEAKER_02: Or to step in?
SPEAKER_02: Because the Lord put you there with that power and authority to restrain that evil.
SPEAKER_02: You see?
SPEAKER_02: See, brothers and sisters, I'm I'm not a pacifist.
SPEAKER_02: I may have sounded like one last week we were talking about leave vengeance to the Lord, but I'm not a pacifist.
SPEAKER_02: Sometimes the Lord execute the Lord has the sword to restrain evil and to celebrate good, and it's necessary as an act of Christian love.
SPEAKER_02: Leaving vengeance to the Lord, trusting God to avenge, and taking responsibility and love to stop evildoers are not mutually exclusive.
SPEAKER_02: That, in fact, is what God has charged the government to do as a ministry, as a service.
SPEAKER_02: And so here's how it goes.
SPEAKER_02: For the one in authority is God's servant for your good.
SPEAKER_02: But if you do wrong, be afraid, for the rulers do not bear the sword for no reason.
SPEAKER_02: They are God's, say that word with me.
SPEAKER_02: They're God's servants.
SPEAKER_02: Wow.
SPEAKER_02: God's servants, agents of wrath to bring punishment on the wrongdoer.
SPEAKER_02: That word servant is the word diaconos, where we get the word deacon in the church.
SPEAKER_02: How many deacons do we have?
SPEAKER_02: And this is why I thought we should issue broadswords to all of our deacons with like the one P logo on the hilt.
SPEAKER_02: You know?
SPEAKER_02: That didn't go anywhere.
SPEAKER_02: But I thought it was a good idea.
SPEAKER_02: This use of force, this use of the sword is a service, it's a ministry, a common grace for the common good.
SPEAKER_02: And we thank those uh who raised who take on that mantle for us on our behalf.
SPEAKER_02: But Tim, what if the state is corrupt?
SPEAKER_02: What if the leadership abdicates its ministry?
SPEAKER_02: What if the government and its coercive powers are used not to stop evil and cultivate good, but all that coercive power of the government is being used to call what is good evil and to force people to do evil things and call them good.
SPEAKER_02: Does that ever happen?
SPEAKER_02: Yes, it does.
SPEAKER_02: What about that case?
SPEAKER_02: Well, then, Christians, then we're living into our conscience and our ultimate allegiance to God alone.
SPEAKER_02: We live into that distinction between obey and submit and give due honor and reverence.
SPEAKER_02: Here's how John Stott put it the state's authority is derived from God.
SPEAKER_02: Thus, the state is a divine institution with divine authority.
SPEAKER_02: Christians are not anarchists or subversives.
SPEAKER_02: But also, whenever laws are enacted which contradict God's law, civil disobedience becomes a Christian duty.
SPEAKER_02: Amen.
SPEAKER_02: What did Daniel do?
SPEAKER_02: Daniel stood up to King Darius.
SPEAKER_02: And Darius said, You're gonna pay a penalty, man.
SPEAKER_02: I'm gonna throw you in a lion's den.
SPEAKER_02: I don't know why he just kept a lion's den around to throw people in.
SPEAKER_02: I'm throwing you in the lion, and what did what did Daniel say?
SPEAKER_02: I'm in the Lord's hands.
SPEAKER_02: The Hebrew midwives, Pharaoh said, when the child comes out of the womb, you kill it.
SPEAKER_02: What did they do?
SPEAKER_02: I'm not gonna do that.
SPEAKER_02: The Hebrew midwives, they're built up with the courage to disobey the order of Pharaoh.
SPEAKER_02: You're gonna get in a lot of trouble.
SPEAKER_02: You got Pharaoh telling you to do this.
SPEAKER_02: I can't, I'm not.
SPEAKER_02: I trust the Lord.
SPEAKER_02: Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego.
SPEAKER_02: Stop your prayers.
SPEAKER_02: If you don't stop praying to your God and start praying to this idol that represents me and my authority, here's what's gonna happen to you.
SPEAKER_02: I'm going to chuck you into a fire.
SPEAKER_02: I'm going to chuck your body into a furnace.
SPEAKER_02: I'm gonna I'm gonna burn you up like this.
SPEAKER_02: And what did they do?
SPEAKER_02: I'm in the Lord's hands.
SPEAKER_02: Whatever you gotta do, man.
SPEAKER_02: I obey God.
SPEAKER_02: I obey God and Him alone.
SPEAKER_02: Sometimes these things come.
SPEAKER_02: Obey God, serve the leadership.
SPEAKER_02: Charles Hodge wrote the gospel is equally hostile to tyranny and anarchy.
SPEAKER_02: Verse 6 This is also why you pay taxes.
SPEAKER_02: Oh, good, because I was kind of wondering, weren't you?
SPEAKER_02: Why do I have for the for the authorities are God's servants who give their full time to governing?
SPEAKER_02: Government is a service, a ministry, a common grace for the common good.
SPEAKER_02: What do we owe the government?
SPEAKER_02: We owe the government taxes.
SPEAKER_02: It's not unchristian to pay your taxes.
SPEAKER_02: I'm sorry.
SPEAKER_02: We owe the government taxes.
SPEAKER_02: How much taxes?
SPEAKER_02: That's up for debate, right?
SPEAKER_02: We can talk about that.
SPEAKER_02: But the teaching is clear.
SPEAKER_02: Give everyone what you owe them.
SPEAKER_02: If you owe taxes, pay taxes.
SPEAKER_02: If revenue, then revenue, if respect, then respect, if honor, then honor.
SPEAKER_02: Taxes in this passage was referring to the money that was actually collected in the provinces and sent all the way to Rome.
SPEAKER_02: My money is paying for Emperor so-and-so in Rome.
SPEAKER_02: Revenue was the money that was collected by fines and licenses locally.
SPEAKER_02: It funded the local government.
SPEAKER_02: I don't like what's going on around this local government.
SPEAKER_02: Hmm.
SPEAKER_02: Give revenue.
SPEAKER_02: Respect.
SPEAKER_02: Respect is reverence and veneration for those who are holding the mantle of high office.
SPEAKER_02: Esteem.
SPEAKER_02: Esteem is the honor due to anyone who's serving in a place of public service.
SPEAKER_02: Give what is due.
SPEAKER_02: Honor is due.
SPEAKER_02: Soldiers know this.
SPEAKER_02: You soldiers, you know this.
SPEAKER_02: What happens when someone comes, an officer of a higher rank?
SPEAKER_02: What do you have to do?
SPEAKER_02: You have to salute.
SPEAKER_02: And the whole time you might be thinking, this is the worst doggone company commander we've ever had, right?
SPEAKER_02: And what do you do?
SPEAKER_02: You give the salute.
SPEAKER_02: Because you salute the office, you salute the rank.
SPEAKER_02: Honor is due.
SPEAKER_02: How about for us?
SPEAKER_02: I study Romans 13, church, and I think about the long history of the church and humanity, all the leaders, all the governments that the church has endured.
SPEAKER_02: And I look at this call to give honor to those governments.
SPEAKER_02: I think about the church being asked to give reverence, to give due honor to governments and dictators and things that are in power, horrible situations.
SPEAKER_02: And I think about how the church endured all of that.
SPEAKER_02: And I come back to leading us in our time as a people of God.
SPEAKER_02: And sometimes, church, I cannot believe that we complain about our country.
SPEAKER_02: And I cannot believe that we break relationship with brothers and sisters in Christ over the perspectives of these two political parties and their preferred visions of the future as they each strive to find the common good.
SPEAKER_02: We gotta hold on better than that.
SPEAKER_02: Life together means giving honor where honor is due.
SPEAKER_02: And I'll say this never in the history of the world was there a government more constructed for our participation.
SPEAKER_02: Do you know that?
SPEAKER_02: A government of the people, by the people, for the people.
SPEAKER_02: We get to vote, we get to participate in this.
SPEAKER_02: What an honor.
SPEAKER_02: Jump into it.
SPEAKER_02: And further, as we want to engage, as we want to be civically engaged, uh I do want to say this.
SPEAKER_02: The cheapest truths, the deepest truths are not shouted in the streets by mobs.
SPEAKER_02: They're not.
SPEAKER_02: Matthew is describing Jesus, and here comes Jesus, who's shifting the whole world on its head.
SPEAKER_02: And here's how Matthew describes Jesus and his engagement with the world.
SPEAKER_02: He quotes Isaiah and he says this in Matthew 12 Here is my servant whom I have chosen, the one I love in whom I delight.
SPEAKER_02: I will put my spirit on him, and he will proclaim justice to the nations.
SPEAKER_02: This is a figure who will shift all nations and bring justice.
SPEAKER_02: And look at this.
SPEAKER_02: He will not quarrel or cry out.
SPEAKER_02: No one will hear his voice in the streets.
SPEAKER_02: A bruised reed he will not break.
SPEAKER_02: He's not looking to smash somebody down.
SPEAKER_02: A smoldering wick, he will not snuff out till he has brought justice through to victory.
SPEAKER_02: In his name, the nations will put their hope.
SPEAKER_02: Jesus never used the mob, and the mob never served Jesus.
SPEAKER_02: Civic discourse, faithful participation and political leadership, voting, elections.
SPEAKER_02: As Christians, let's get involved.
SPEAKER_02: That's how we change affairs in this nation.
SPEAKER_02: That's just Pastor Tim, okay?
SPEAKER_02: Life together.
SPEAKER_02: Church.
SPEAKER_02: We're the people of God.
SPEAKER_02: We've been united in a higher purpose.
SPEAKER_02: You might have just you turned your heart to Jesus Christ, you found salvation in Christ.
SPEAKER_02: You come into the church, you're not quite sure.
SPEAKER_02: What am I getting to be a part of?
SPEAKER_02: You're getting to be a part of something that is so much bigger, so much bigger than nations or governments or parties or political figures.
SPEAKER_02: So much bigger.
SPEAKER_02: We're gathered together on a mission.
SPEAKER_02: And so what?
SPEAKER_02: You might come up to me and tell me, you know, Tim, next time the election comes around, I I'm voting.
SPEAKER_02: I think I'm voting for Genghis Khan.
SPEAKER_02: Like, okay.
SPEAKER_02: And you think, uh, I'm I'm voting for Barney the dinosaur.
SPEAKER_02: You remember Barney?
SPEAKER_02: Say, oh, well, okay.
SPEAKER_02: You know, I'd love to have civic discourse about that.
SPEAKER_02: Like, I'm curious.
SPEAKER_02: What's the preferred future you're looking for?
SPEAKER_02: How do you believe that this will bring the most good for the most people in biblical conviction?
SPEAKER_02: I'd love to talk.
SPEAKER_02: I'd love to talk and learn more about you, your heart.
SPEAKER_02: But let me tell you this.
SPEAKER_02: You are my brother in Christ.
SPEAKER_02: You're my sister.
SPEAKER_02: We are the family of God, the church.
SPEAKER_02: Whatever you think about how to be good in this nation or how to be uh how to be uh arguing and and and uh and and trying to to bring about the best for for your kids, your grandkids, it matters.
SPEAKER_02: I know it matters.
SPEAKER_02: It matters to me, but we are family, we're the people of God.
SPEAKER_02: We have been united on a mission called the Church of Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_02: And this church is going to endure as nations rise and fall, as empires come and go, the church of our Lord Jesus Christ will prevail.
SPEAKER_02: The gates of hell will not prevail against it.
SPEAKER_02: And we will be on this mission and in this family for eternity.
SPEAKER_02: You're mine and I'm yours, and we are on a life together in Jesus.
SPEAKER_02: And this mission of ours is bigger than a preferred future of a political party in our season, in our nation.
SPEAKER_02: It's bigger than that.
SPEAKER_02: And so I hold on to you, hold on to me, and we're gonna be on mission for Jesus together, whose name is above all names.
SPEAKER_02: Amen.
SPEAKER_02: And our mission is not to gain votes, our mission is to save souls.
SPEAKER_02: If we do this mission well, even as those fully engaged in civic discourse and government, engaged in our culture, if we do this mission well, we're gonna see conversations of every type become opportunities to talk about Jesus and his saving grace and his saving love as his gospel is presented and eternal souls are transmitted from everlasting death to everlasting life.
SPEAKER_02: That's our mission.
SPEAKER_02: Give honor where honor is due.
SPEAKER_02: Honor is due to those in leadership.
SPEAKER_02: Honors due to one another, brothers and sisters in the family of God.
SPEAKER_02: Honor is due, church.
SPEAKER_02: Honor is due to the Lord Jesus Christ, whose name is above all names and whose government will have no end.
SPEAKER_02: King of kings, Lord of Lords.
SPEAKER_02: Amen.
SPEAKER_02: We give honor to Him.
SPEAKER_02: Let's pray.
SPEAKER_02: Lord, so much to think about, to wrestle through.
SPEAKER_02: It matters to us, Jesus.
SPEAKER_02: And so we we want to do it right, we want to do it well.
SPEAKER_02: We think about our neighbors, we think about our nation, we think about our world, we think about our kids, our grandkids.
SPEAKER_02: Lord, we want the greatest good for the greatest number and biblical conviction.
SPEAKER_02: Shape our minds and our hearts, help us to know how to engage.
SPEAKER_02: But Lord, make us your people who stand for you in unity, who hold together and love one another, and help us to give honor where honor is due, most of all to you.
SPEAKER_02: It's in Jesus' name we pray.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: Hearing God's word is just the beginning.
SPEAKER_01: What connected with you?
SPEAKER_01: What challenged you today?
SPEAKER_01: Maybe it's surrendering something, stepping into community, or simply trusting Him more deeply.
SPEAKER_01: Whatever it is, don't leave it for later.
SPEAKER_01: Act on it today.
SPEAKER_01: We're praying that this message moves you closer to Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: And we'd love to walk with you in that journey and answer any questions you've got.
SPEAKER_01: Connect with us by visiting firstprezcos.org.
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SPEAKER_01: Check in next week and we'll continue to grow in our faith together.
SPEAKER_01: See you next time.