On Obedience to Civil Government, Part 3: "God and..."?

When sentiment and political allegiances drive the Christian's response to government, and they relegate Scripture to a secondary shaper of their beliefs or ignore it completely, God can easily leave the center of their lives and can easily stop being the focus of their meditations. Any sayings of "God and _______" are problematic, because they set God on the same level of importance as (or only symbolically higher than) the other item, usually "country". And it results in a divided loyalty, a divided heart.

Yet, at the same time, God has not called us to ignore country either. We do well to pray for everyone that we can, in any sphere of life:

"1I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone— 2for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. 3This is good, and pleases God our Savior, 4who wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth. 5For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, 6who gave himself as a ransom for all men—the testimony given in its proper time. ...

"8I want men everywhere to lift up holy hands in prayer, without anger or disputing."

- 1 Timothy 2:1-6, 8.

The "lift up holy hands" in verse 8 implies that these prayers for leaders are not half-hearted and passionless! It is an impassioned plea before God for Him to save our leaders, for Him to keep them following Him, and for His name to be glorified to the utmost in our countries and among His people - regardless of what that means for us. And the "holy hands" posture is not intended as a gesture to look pious, but to indicate an ultimate dependence on God, a committing of our way to the Lord. As A.W. Pink writes, "Nothing is too great and nothing is too small to commit into the hands of the Lord." Let us also fast, if we have any question of our passion for Christ or have sensed that we have made any idol that God must smash.

So, as a responsible (earthly) citizen of the United States, I exercise my right to vote, and will vote for the best candidates on the ballot based on my conscience. Yet never does God call me to yell at Him over the results of an election. Whether the people who I vote for win or not, I am still going to praise God for who He has always been, the work that He has done, the work that He is doing, and the work that He will do. I will give an account to God over how I receive the leadership of these officials. And He has said to obey them, according to His perfect will, wherever it does not cause me to disobey Him. This obedience magnifies the glory of God and increases the joy of those whom I obey.

"15Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise—the fruit of lips that confess His name. 16And do not forget to do good and to share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased. 17Obey your leaders and submit to their authority. They keep watch over you as men who must give an account. Obey them so that their work will be a joy, not a burden, for that would be of no advantage to you."

- Hebrews 13:15-17

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.