On Obedience to Civil Government, Part 2: The Cost of Obeying the Lord.

Another item worth highlighting from Romans 13:1-7 is that it calls earthly rulers "God's servant to do you good." Even in today's society, we can find that hard to believe. With rampant corruption in some nations' governments and representing special interest groups instead of the people in others, it becomes difficult to think many of these rulers can possibly have the best interests of the people anywhere in their hearts.

Yet, what is "good"?

God says He will work every circumstance in our lives "for [our] good" (Romans 8:28), to conform us to the image of His Son (Romans 8:29). This includes "trials of many kinds" that He brings into our lives to test our faith, develop perseverance in us, and allow us to become mature and complete (James 1:2-4). Serving under a ruler who dishonors God can be somewhat of a trial in itself, at times. But people in our cultures today tend to cry wolf at even the slightest hint of a trial.

Consider the people to whom the Apostle Paul wrote. They lived and functioned during the reign of the emperor Nero, considered one of the most wicked emperors in Roman history.

What do historians and students of Christian history think of when they first think of Nero? One of the first items - mere word association with Nero's name?

He killed Christians for their faith.

The Apostle Paul was saying that even Nero's authority was God-ordained, and he ought to submit to it - even if it meant "off with his head".

How would a Christian today respond to that?

If you identify first with Christ, you are in the best position. Responding to "Tell me, 'Caesar is Lord'" (or "[insert ruler's name here] is Lord") with "No, Jesus is Lord" would be almost a natural response to that - even if it costs you everything. As Martin Luther pointed out, a faith that costs you nothing is worth nothing.

If you are most modern-day Americans, you would either deny the faith to save your own skin or call in to every talk show affiliated with your political party and mobilize people who agree with you to pray for the persecution to stop.

And if you are listening to some of the prophets of today, you may say, "Down with Nero. We need a Christian emperor." And then you would mobilize your Christian countrymen to take him out.

A better question to ask is: what gives God the most glory? If an anti-Christian ruler kills me for my faith in Jesus Christ, my death brings God glory. It is easier for me to fade into the background of the world around me and become known as just a good, moral person ("the guy who doesn't ...") than it is for me to take a stand for God and let God make an example out of me to others as, "This is what your faith can cost you. The only other alternative to turning from your sin, denying yourself, and following hard after Christ is going to hell. Count the cost, and follow Him." Luke 14:26-27 reads, "If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters - yes, even his own life - he cannot be My disciple. And anyone who does not carry His cross and follow Me cannot be My disciple."

In Hard to Believe, John MacArthur writes,

"The manifestation of true faith is a commitment that no influence can sway. Of course you love your family... But if you're a real disciple, your commitment to the salvation found only in Christ is so deep, profound, and far-reaching that you will say no, if need be, to those you love for the cause of Christ. ...

"I pray to God I never have to make that decision, but I might. You may have had to make that choice because you confessed Jesus Christ, and it has been a burden on your family. But that's the way we prove the reality of our conversion. The one who says, 'I'm not willing to make that sacrifice', isn't genuine. ... You can't be His disciple and receive His salvation if your family means more to you than He does."

We can substitute anything other than God for "family" in that quote - including "country".

On Obedience to Civil Government, Part 1: Who, Them?

" 1Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God. 2Consequently, he who rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves. 3For rulers hold no terror for those who do right, but for those who do wrong. Do you want to be free from fear of the one in authority? Then do what is right and he will commend you. 4For he is God's servant to do you good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword for nothing. He is God's servant, an agent of wrath to bring punishment on the wrongdoer. 5Therefore, it is necessary to submit to the authorities, not only because of possible punishment but also because of conscience. 6This is also why you pay taxes, for the authorities are God's servants, who give their full time to governing. 7Give everyone what you owe him: If you owe taxes, pay taxes; if revenue, then revenue; if respect, then respect; if honor, then honor."

- Romans 13:1-7

The United States will have its off-year elections next week, so for that and some other reasons, I find it necessary here to address civil government and how the Bible says Christians ought to interact with their governing authorities.

Various sects within Christendom - Biblical and otherwise - have a wide variety of ways of viewing the Christian's involvement in politics. Some are wholly apolitical. Some submit to the government but endlessly rant about their unhappiness about the government. And some sects emphasize rebellion against the government, prophesy about the government being overthrown, and envision a state where Christians rule their country and/or the world.

Today, I would describe myself as mostly apolitical. In American parlance, I identified as a Republican until President George W. Bush's speech on the evening of September 11, 2001, announcing a "war on terrorism". I bolted from the party within weeks, saying that a war against an abstract concept rather than a specific group of people was an unwinnable war. I spent most of my college days as an unabashed "small-l libertarian", taking the time to read the entire U.S. Constitution and the entire Patriot Act in one sitting. What did it profit me? I became angry about the existing government, yet completely unable to do anything about it. So I ranted about it on campus with those who agreed with me, attended a protest against the Iraq War (where all I really did was laugh at the Bush impersonator), and let my life announce my identity. Computer science major first - I study hard; I stay up late seven days a week to write code; I never party. Libertarian second - big government is stupid and wasteful; these wars are not necessary; neither Republicans nor Democrats really let my voice be heard. Christian third - yeah, I attend a Bible study too.

I identified as a "minarchist" - one step below "anarchist". I wanted to have a government but viewed it as a necessary evil that needed to be stripped down to its most necessary functions: military, courts, prisons. And I wanted nothing to do with empires.

Then God switched my identity around and told me, "You are a Christian first."

The problem with being wholly indifferent to politics is that the Bible speaks much of government and how we ought to respond to those in authority. And here, we hear Romans 13:1-7 as a classic text on how we ought to deal with authority. First, we see that God is the One who establishes any and all kinds of civil authority. This includes any kind of ruler, Christian and otherwise.

For Americans, this means that we would not be right to say that Barack Obama should be our President, John McCain should be our President, or someone else should be our President. If we say such a thing, we go against the fact that God is sovereign over election results and He will put His chosen rulers in each position - whether they are Christians or not; whether they make society better or not; whether they are seen as capable rulers or not.

In Israel, He saw fit to allow kings to die and new kings to start reigning as mere boys, qualified by nothing other than their standing as kings' sons. And yet, God remembers King Josiah, who started reigning in Israel as a young boy, as the last king of Judah who did right in the eyes of God. Let us remember that when we want to incessantly argue from worldly wisdom that a candidate for office is unqualified based on their previous experience. God can and will use anybody to accomplish His purposes, whether it is a Daniel of great intelligence or Balaam's donkey, to whom He gave a voice.

Dillon Chase - "How He Loves Remix"

I saw some people have been looking for the words to Dillon Chase's remix of "How He Loves". I transcribed them around the same time that I did the words to his remix of "Here In Your Presence", so here they are. Again, please correct me if anything is not accurate.

"From the chosen of Israel to the present-day times,

God, we are inferior!

This blessing is mine.

I question to find myself truly acquainted with You.

I'm frustrated by what moves me to forget You.

Consumed with Your greatness; You prove to be gracious.

I view this throughout Your Scripture, read it, hear it, feel it.

Consuming my heart, produce from the thought

The depths of the sovereign grace.

God, You are great; I am not.

But You view me as bought.

You Who sought me when I kept on running,

Fingertips stripped away chains I was hugging.

I willfully spit in Your face with my lips.

You wiped it off and let Your blood drip.

"Oh, how He loves us! [Grace alone]

Oh, how He loves us, [Through faith alone]

How He loves us so! [In Christ alone, for Your glory alone]"

"In the heat of the storm, I'm seeking You, Lord.

Your lovingkindness is better than life!

I need You more than anything, You're

More than enough, my Treasure, my Prize!

Yes, You are God. Yes, I am fallen.

But You gave a calling that had to be heard.

You opened up the ears of my heart,

Came near my heart and actually turned.

I wouldn't have wanted to trust in the Gospel

And now I am brought to my knees; I surrender.

Your love overflows; it spills in my mouth.

I yell and I shout,

That Jesus is risen! Jesus is Lord! He's mighty to save!

Humbled by Your grace, I died to my ways!

I try to explain, but I run out of words!

I cry and proclaim Your wondrous works!

Oh, how You loved me first.

Oh, how I am nothing but dirt,

But You make me Your own. You cover my hurt

With Your love, not my works. Only by grace, You're taking me home.

Oh, how He loved us first.

Oh, how we're nothing but dirt,

But He makes us His own. He covers our hurt

With His love, not our works. Only by grace, He is taking us home.

"Oh, how He loves us! [By grace alone, through faith alone]

Oh, how He loves us, [In Christ alone, for Your glory alone!]

How He loves us so!"

"I pray that this world, in their sin and rebellion,

Would turn from their sin and begin to go tell them

That we who belong to the God Who has saved us.

Have hope and not hurt. He is the safe haven.

This here was the greatest. He's holy and just,

Gracious and merciful - that's not enough.

On top of that, He is sovereign 'cause

He receives all who He bought with His blood.

Nothing can keep Him from loving His people,

Not death, man, or satan can seek to

Snatch us from His hand. We're clutched by His grace

Kept by the Spirit, we're one in this race.

Safe in His hands, clutched by His grace:

what got us here was nothing but faith.

Safe in His hands, clutched by His grace:

what got us here was nothing but faith.

"Oh, how He loves us!

Oh, how He loves us!

Oh, how He loves us!

Oh, he loves!

"And we are His portion

And He is our prize

Drawn to redemption by the grace in His eyes,

If His grace is an ocean, we are sinking.

And heaven meets earth like an unforeseen kiss

And my heart turns violently inside of my chest

I don't have time to maintain these regrets

when I think about the way that He loves us.

Oh, how He loves us!

Oh, how He loves us!

Oh, how He loves!"

- Dillon Chase, "How He Loves Remix", available on the Pause mixtape.

Dillon Chase - Here in Your Presence Remix

"Let's bring everything into perspective. Let's see, regardless of what happens now, let's live in light of eternity whenever we're at the presence of Jesus Christ. It's good news for His people.

"We look at ourselves and see that we're passing away.

The fact is, we actually fade.

Every day that passes, we face

The fate of this world - collapsing one day, because

This world is fallen; don't think that it's perfect,

Got hurricanes, floods, fires that are burning.

But there was a time when all of it worshiped

The God who created it for His own purpose.

But now it awaits: the day when He comes

To settle things straight - the Savior, the Son

of God the Father, will make all things one

Heaven and earth will fade away, but

The City He'll build will endure forever

Now you feel burdened, but there you will never,

light as a feather. The God who you treasure,

He sits on the throne as He reigns with all splendor.

Your body is groaning from pain and sin,

But please, wait, remain content.

I promise it will be amazing when the Lamb who was slain has us raised with Him.

And this is the day that we'll gaze at Him and we'll glance at our bodies that are saved from sin.

Then we'll see the wounds that remain on Him

And we fall on our face and start praising Him! Yes,

"Heaven is trembling in awe of Your wonder.

Kings and their kingdoms are standing amazed, because

Here in Your presence, we are undone!

Here in Your presence, heaven and earth become one!

Here in Your presence, all things are new! [Maranatha, Lord; come quick!]

Here in Your presence, everything bows before You!"

"So when trials are pressing and your faith is tested,

Remember the Holy Spirit that's indwelling

No matter the weapon the enemy's flexing,

You don't need to fear; you're always in His presence.

From days, hours, minutes, to seconds,

We eagerly wait to be freed from this wreckage

Struggles and strife, we're still not neglected

We have His love because we've been predestined,

Designed to reside in the body of Christ,

Adopted from what tried to rob us of life.

This world is evil; you're probably right,

Full of sinful humans who are lost without light.

So what is the motive to shine as a lamp?

Fix your mind on the time when the Bride would dance

With Christ, the Groom, the Head of the Church

An eternal legacy destined to work!

This is our hope. This is our promise.

If you're doubting the truth, know that He's sovereign.

Shout from the roof that your God is awesome

And know He's your daddy; you can call Him "Abba"

No sword will sever; no death would it cease.

Christ is the Victor; His work is complete.

We have the victory. We have the peace.

So fight the good fight till the final defeat!

"Heaven is trembling in awe of Your wonder. [Yeah!]

Kings and their kingdoms are standing amazed [This is what we say, Lord! This is what we sing to You!], because

Here in Your presence, we are undone! [You're holy, Lord; You're holy!]

Here in Your presence, heaven and earth become one! [They become one, Lord. You're the King of it all!]

Here in Your presence, all things are new! [All things are new to You, Jesus; You make all things new!]

Here in Your presence, everything bows before You! [And now that I know this, Lord, I live for You!]"

"Take away cash! Take my career! Take all that I have!

It got us to where You can take away money and take away food

But that doesn't mean much to me, dude, it's true:

Who do I have but Jesus? That's right.

He is all I'll need in tragedies; they have disease [?]

I'll cast them at the precious feet of Jesus.

Let's sit at the face and scream, "I am free!"

And put sin in its place; it was nailed to the tree.

Turn to your Savior; don't be moved for nothing.

In Him find your joy 'cause one day He'll be coming.

On Christ, the solid Rock, I stand. All other ground is sinking sand!

On Christ, the solid Rock, I stand. All other ground is sinking sand!

Let's bring it back to where we are now,

With babies aborted and tossed to the ground

Enslavement to sin, addicted to drugs,

Anything for a fix while the kids need a hug

One day the Savior will come as the Judge.

The wicked will be cast away like the flood.

While they are here, don't hold a grudge.

Go preach the gospel and save whom He loves.

Children will die. Ones will be lost.

Persecution will come. We will all pay the cost.

At the end of the day, we are the conquerors,

reign with the King who redeemed every part of us.

Every tear dry, every failure destroyed:

Nothing to describe what we'll feel with that joy,

As we'll sing with the church that He bought with His blood

The chorus forever will sing up above:

"Wonderful, beautiful, glorious, matchless in every way

"Wonderful, beautiful, glorious, [You are] matchless in every way

"Wonderful [Sing to You!], beautiful [O Lord!], glorious [undone, right here, right now!], matchless in every way

"We are amazed... You are glorious!

"Wonderful [wonderful!], beautiful [beautiful!], glorious [glorious!]...

"Jesus, we thank You, Lord, for freeing us from this body of sin,

and on top of that, promising the reality of our resurrection with You, Lord:

wonderful, beautiful, glorious, matchless in every way!"

- Dillon Chase, "Here In Your Presence Remix", available on the Pause mixtape.

(I transcribed the lyrics. Please leave a comment and let me know if there are any mistakes.)

Godly Fellowship, Part 10: Some Closing Meditations.

"After the show, after the set, after the music stops, what's next?
Will there be fellowship, prayer, disciples, will you open your Bibles after the music stops?
After it’s over, after it ends, after the music stops, what then?
Will you understand that Christ is King?
Or will you just like the words we sing after the music stops?"
- Lecrae, "After the Music Stops"

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"The fellowship of the church is part of God's good news to men. It imparts to the gospel one of its most thrilling notes—that when Christ saves a man He not only saves him from his sin, He saves him from his solitude."
- Frank Colquhoun, Total Christianity

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"[O]ur thoughts and words and feelings concerning our fellow men are His test of our humility towards Him."
- Andrew Murray

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²⁰"My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in Me through their message, ²¹that all of them may be one, Father, just as You are in me and I am in You. May they also be in Us so that the world may believe that You have sent me. ²²I have given them the glory that You gave me, that they may be one as We are one: ²³I in them and You in me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that You sent me and have loved them even as You have loved Me. ²⁴"Father, I want those You have given Me to be with me where I am, and to see My glory, the glory You have given Me because you loved Me before the creation of the world. ²⁵"Righteous Father, though the world does not know You, I know You, and they know that You have sent Me. ²⁶I have made You known to them, and will continue to make You known in order that the love You have for Me may be in them and that I Myself may be in them."
- John 17:20-26

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"In and of itself, your longing for acceptance isn't a bad thing; God, in fact, created you for acceptance. This longing, however, was meant to be satisfied by God alone. But because of sin, we look to things smaller than God for it - things incapable of providing this infinite approval we crave. Your deep longing for acceptance can only be satisfied when you're accepted by the One Who made you for Himself. If you embrace what Christ has done on the cross for sinners, you're in! Your infinite hunger for approval will be forever satisfied, because you'll be unchangeably accepted by the only One Who offers eternal acceptance. You'll no longer have to depend onfinite things like your size, your stuff, or your smarts to get you in so that your life will matter. Once you understand that in Christ you're accepted by God, you're free and empowered to live unfashionably, because you won't need the acceptance of the world around you. You won't care if you're in with them, because you'll already be in with Him."
- Tullian Tchividjian, Unfashionable.

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"O Lord, we honor you for the gifts you have given in our churches - all of these men and women of whom the world is not worthy. And if we could do just a small part in our small days to be another stone - another living stone - in Your building, we would be thrilled with that - as long as we are built on the cornerstone."

- Kevin DeYoung.

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"You know, I have talked to so many old missionaries - seen them in nursing homes, seen them buried.... I have never in my life heard a missionary that regretted that he gave so much or that he invested too much in eternal things! But I have met countless men who have regretted investing everything in this world. You want to live for that which is profitable. Listen: Every Bible study, every bit of prayer, every Godly fellowship, every sitting under Biblical preaching is an investment in eternity. ... Everything lost for the sake of Christ is not lost at all! Everything kept outside of His name is lost! We shouldn't live as fools but should live as wise. We should walk circumspectly, knowing that time is fleeting, strength is fleeting, physical beauty is fleeting, wealth is fleeting; it's all fleeting. But he who does the will of God abides forever."

- Paul Washer, “Things Applicable for God’s Servants”

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"We also tend to worry [too much] about being good examples to the outside world... We ought to also concern ourselves with being examples to our brothers and sisters in Christ. How my life has benefitted from examples! I have known men and women who glowed with Christ. What an example they have been to me! The greatest thing I could do for the world: if I could just somehow bring them all onto one platform and just let you look at them - the glory, the kindness, the love, the knowledge! And I need them! ... We ought to surround ourselves with godly men and women who are alive, and with godly men and women who are dead - because though they are dead, they still speak."

- Paul Washer, “Things Applicable for God’s Servants”

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“Let there be something of benevolence, in all that I speak.”

- Jonathan Edwards.