Good Government.

Nate Schlomann

[0:00] Go ahead and have a seat. Welcome again. My name is Nate. I’m one of the pastors here at [0:04] Village Church. I’m really glad to see you here this morning. I’m looking forward to our time [0:09] together this morning. We’re headed into a section of verses here in Romans and our study of Romans [0:14] that’s often been misused and misunderstood in the history of the church. And my goal this morning [0:20] is just that I would get us to think a little bit more carefully about this passage and what God has [0:25] to teach us about his intentions of the world and a passage that honestly the church the last few

[0:30] decades has not considered very well and very much about how this section of scripture may apply to [0:37] us. Romans 13, this passage is about the government. You really can’t get around that. And we’re not [0:42] going to be getting very specifically political this morning, but I think the things that we’ll [0:46] talk about, things that we will bring up will cause us to ask political questions. The verses [0:52] we have here, though, they go beyond politics. And what Paul is talking about in Romans 13 is [0:57] government and the nature of government in the world. And long before there were Republicans and

[1:02] Democrats, there was government. And long after there will no longer be Republicans and Democrats, [1:06] which the rate we’re going doesn’t seem like that might be all that long. There will still be [1:11] government in the world and government that we need to know as God’s people how to relate to. [1:16] And so that’s in the scriptures, that’s in our text this morning. And so we need to study and learn [1:21] from what Paul has to say here about the purpose of government. Because scripture does address this [1:27] topic. What is the purpose of government? What is its role? And how do we relate to it? So let’s dig

[1:32] right in. Romans 13 verses 1 and 2. Verse 1, let every person be subject to the governing authorities, [1:41] for there is no authority except from God. And those that exist have been instituted by God. [1:47] Therefore, whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who [1:52] resist will incur judgment. So there’s no question that Paul here is talking about the government [1:57] when he talks about the governing authorities. And we’re going to see that what he has in mind [2:01] is any level of authority that Christians in society may come into contact with. And to

[2:07] understand this text and how it applies to us in 2016 America and the here and now, I think one of [2:15] Paul’s things is that he’s talking about the fact that Paul put this in his letter to the Romans. [2:18] It might seem like kind of a random switch. We’re talking in Romans 12 for the last few weeks about [2:22] being a living sacrifice, submitting ourselves to God for the sake of the mission. Last week, [2:28] Steve got into the marks of a true Christian there in Romans 12, talking about all these [2:31] wonderful things that make up the Christian life. And then Paul almost seems to kind of swerve into

[2:36] detour here. Romans 13, you need to submit to the government. Don’t resist the government. [2:40] Why is Paul doing that? It seems random, but it’s really not random if you understand what’s going [2:47] on here. Up to this point in Romans, Paul has spent a lot of time talking about the inability [2:53] of the law to save us and how our righteousness is given by grace through faith apart from the law. [2:59] Paul references the law 74 different times in the letter to the Romans. Here’s one good example, [3:05] Roman 7, 6, but now we are released from the law having died to that which held us captive

[3:12] so that we serve in the new way of the spirit and not in the old way of the written code. [3:18] And what we’ve got to understand is to Paul’s Jewish audience, which was pretty significant [3:21] in Rome, the law and the government would have been thought of in very similar terms. To them, [3:27] the law was just the authority that they followed. And so when Paul spent all this time talking about [3:32] their release from the law, he doesn’t want the people that he’s writing to to be hearing that [3:38] and then to think, oh, well, we don’t have to obey any civil authority anymore. There’s actually a

[3:42] very practical reason why Paul gets to this as he’s going towards the end of his letter, [3:47] kind of explaining how all of the stuff that the first 12 chapters fits into the rest of [3:52] the Christian life. There’s actually a very practical reason for this section of verses. [3:56] Paul wants the people and especially his Jewish audience to know that freedom from the law does [4:02] mean lawlessness. And I realize that that might not be the biggest concern for us today in our [4:08] current culture. When we hear that we’re released from the law of God because of the work of Christ,

[4:13] I don’t think we often think, well, I guess that means I don’t have to pay my taxes anymore. [4:17] I’m not getting my car registered anymore. I’m released from the law. That’s just not that’s [4:21] not where our brain goes. And it’s because we’re not culturally in that place where [4:25] that’s where we would be conditioned to think about that. But the Jewish people really were. [4:29] So Paul did have a real concern. He was concerned that they would start to think they didn’t have [4:34] to obey civil laws. They would become a lawless, anarchist people. And that would not make them a

[4:40] good witness in the society that he wants them to be a living sacrifice for, like we just saw [4:45] in chapter 12. So Paul’s primary concern with why he puts this section of scripture in here in [4:52] Romans 13 is he it’s a mission concern. He wants to make sure that his audience are going to be [4:57] missionaries, not lawless anarchists who are just fighting everyone because they think that no law [5:03] can bound them. A lot of Paul’s reason in addressing government in this passage comes from the idea we [5:09] saw last week in Romans 12, 18, where it says, if possible, so far as it depends on you, live

[5:16] peaceably with all and to be a living sacrifice to see others reconciled to God means being a good [5:21] witness of Christ and people who are living peaceably as much as possible aren’t lawless [5:28] people. So it does make sense why Paul is talking about the government here at this point in Romans. [5:34] Where this text gets tricky for us to figure out exactly what Paul is requiring us of in these [5:41] verses is that Paul didn’t just say don’t be lawless. Verses one and two on their own seem to [5:48] have some very specific commands without a lot of qualifications. It says be subject to the

[5:53] government and don’t resist it because God has established the government and that’s a pretty [5:57] straightforward command, is it not? There doesn’t seem to be a lot of wiggle room in that text and [6:03] we need to know if we’re being commanded to submit and to obey government and to never resist [6:09] government under any circumstances because if we are, that’s a pretty big deal and this becomes a [6:15] weighty text. One issue for us when we read these verses is most of us are removed from any serious [6:22] consequences of interpreting these verses as a firm command to never resist government, to always

[6:27] do what the government says no matter what. We’re kind of removed from a lot of bad consequences of [6:32] that thought and teaching but that’s not been true for a lot of Christians throughout a lot [6:37] of church history. This passage in Romans, I think it’s important for us to take a time out and kind [6:44] think about some history and understand what’s at stake in this passage. This has been used by [6:49] governments and authorities to justify abuse and oppression without facing any resistance from their [6:55] people because after all doesn’t Paul say be subject to the government, don’t resist the

[7:00] authorities because they’ve been appointed by God? There’s tons of examples in history especially [7:05] over the last thousand years of these verses just being abused by governments. Just a few real quick [7:11] I’ll highlight a few. The Roman Catholic Church and the Holy Roman Empire for a time they were [7:15] just kind of melded together church and state one conglomerate for 500 years before the Protestant [7:21] Reformation. They used these verses to justify all kinds of exploitations and positions of power [7:28] and abuses on the people. Bringing it more home a little personally, this text was used in this

[7:34] country for 100 years to silence opposition to slavery. It was used after that for 100 years to [7:40] keep Christians quiet about civil rights. This very verses were used in that way. So this is a [7:46] pretty weighty heavy text. In the 20th century especially in Europe but all across the globe [7:52] totalitarian governments have used these very verses to silence opposition and to garner support [7:59] amongst their people. Biggest example obviously 1930s Germany. These verses were used to keep the [8:06] German church silent in opposition to rising Nazism. So there’s some big themes and issues

[8:13] going on behind this text and how history has used this. As soon as you start to talk about how the [8:18] Nazis have used a verse the stakes have just been raised. This is a loaded text and because we believe [8:25] strict scripture is true and authoritative that means a lot to us. If this passage says we need [8:33] subject be subject to any and all government authority no matter what no matter what the [8:37] government does to never resist the government. That’s what it’s really teaching here. Scripture [8:41] is our authority and we have to obey that. So we need to know is that what this is teaching or

[8:48] is this not exactly what this is teaching. It doesn’t matter if that’s a hard saying. [8:54] That’s what scripture says. That’s what we’ve got to do and this is why I love going straight [8:58] through books of the Bible verse by verse. I can promise you I can guarantee you if we’re sitting [9:03] back there on a Monday deciding what to preach on Sundays we are not picking this set of verses. [9:08] It’s not fun. You guys got me up here talking about Nazis and slavery. I hope you’re happy now [9:14] but this is good for us. This really is good for us because God’s word talks about the government

[9:21] and it’s good for us to deal properly with what this text says. So we need to know what’s being [9:27] taught here is Paul telling us to never resist the government under any circumstances or is there [9:32] more to it than that. And I’ll let the cat out of the bag. We think there’s definitely more to it [9:36] than that. When we approach a passage of scripture like this we need to consider the context of the [9:43] passage and also we need to consider what other witnesses in scripture would say about this idea. [9:50] A basic principle of biblical interpretation is that you compare scripture with scripture

[9:55] and it’s the whole witness of scripture on a topic that helps you determine the meaning of any one [10:00] text. So when we consider other examples in scripture of how God expects his people to relate [10:07] to government we’re going to quickly find many many examples of where God approves or even praises [10:12] resistance to government or direct disobedience to those in authority. Again dozens of examples [10:19] to be found in scripture of this. I’m just going to mention a few for us this morning to consider. [10:24] Moses and the people of Israel opposed the lawful legal government of the Egyptians and God was

[10:30] behind that the whole way and Moses was only alive because his parents and other Israelites [10:37] directly disobeyed orders from their government. Rahab she defied her king in keeping the Israelites [10:44] spies safe in Jericho and even though the order that she had been given by government wasn’t [10:48] sinful wasn’t illegal at all she was simply told to report on what’s going on in the king’s kingdom. [10:54] Nothing wrong with that but God praises her as faithful for disobeying that order. How Daniel [11:00] found himself in trouble several times for refusing to obey the commands of the king and

[11:04] he’s called faithful because of it. So that’s three examples and what I really like about these three [11:08] examples. Hebrews chapter 11 mentions all three of these stories and it mentions them in the light [11:14] of this is an example of faith to be heralded as an example of what a faithful people look like. [11:20] Hebrews 11 you can go read it even actually specifically mentions their disobedience of [11:25] government and their refusal to follow orders that would have contradicted what was needed for the [11:31] betterment of God’s people at that time as a proof and evidence of their faith. We’ve also got direct

[11:38] testimony of the apostles in the book of Acts. When Peter and John were told to stop spreading [11:43] the gospel by the Jewish authorities Peter’s response was we must obey God rather than men [11:48] and even the example of the lives of the apostles is helpful for us. All of them [11:53] were either martyred or in the case of John exiled and often not always but often that was [11:58] at the hands of the government because they had directly disobeyed legal lawful commands from the [12:04] government. So there’s all kinds of examples of God clearly not requiring his people to submit to

[12:11] government at all times and God even praises people and calls them faithful for resisting [12:16] the authorities. So what’s happening then in Romans 13 verses 1 and 2? Is this just an instance [12:23] of scripture contradicts itself and we’re gonna have to be okay with that? No because scripture [12:28] doesn’t contradict itself and there is more going on here. The context of the passage helps explain [12:34] what’s happening and when we look at verses 3 through 5 verses 1 and 2 start to make a lot more [12:40] sense. So go there with me Romans 13 verse 3.

[13:12] So these verses greatly help explain verses 1 and 2 by describing the kind of government that Paul [13:18] has in mind when he tells Christians to be subject to the governing authorities and to not resist [13:23] them. A good government punishes bad conduct and approves and supports what is good and what we see [13:29] in these verses is Paul describing a good government and then describing what our response to that good [13:35] lawful government should be when it’s fulfilling its God-given purpose in the world and it’s [13:40] clear that Paul’s not giving a blanket command but a general principle to live by in relation

[13:47] to the government. What we learn from this text and what we need to understand and live out is [13:52] that good government is a gift from God. Good government is a gift from God. The government [13:57] that Paul describes here isn’t one that he was experiencing much at all at the time. [14:03] Roman rulers could be a terror to good conduct often at this time. Roman authorities would even [14:09] shortly after Paul writes this be putting Christians to death for their faith. They certainly [14:14] weren’t always punishing wrong. Paul was not at all unaware of the political situation of his time

[14:19] when he wrote this. He was dealing with the authorities. We see this in Acts but he was [14:22] dealing with the authorities all the time. So either Paul’s saying things about the government [14:27] in verses 3 through 5 here that he knows aren’t true or what he’s talking about isn’t every [14:31] government all the time and I think it’s pretty clear that what he’s talking about isn’t every [14:35] government all the time. He’s talking about an ideal, God’s intention for good government [14:39] in the world. And if Paul, this is why this is key, if Paul in verses 3 and 5 isn’t talking

[14:45] about every government all the time, which he’s clearly not, then the commands in 1 and 2 [14:49] can’t be for every government all the time. So it really helps us to understand what Paul [14:54] means when he’s telling us to be subject to government and not resist it. [14:59] So we can see from this text what a good government does and it’s pretty simple, [15:04] it’s pretty basic. A good government punishes wrong and approves what is good. [15:08] And this kind of government is a gift from God that Christians are called to submit to and we’ll

[15:13] see why more here in a little bit. But we see this exact same idea in other places in the New [15:19] Testament from other writers of the New Testament. Take Peter for example. In 1 Peter 2 verses 13 [15:26] he’s going to sound a lot like Paul. He says, [15:28] be subject for the Lord’s sake to every human institution, whether it be to the emperor as [15:33] supreme or to governors as sent by him to punish those who do evil and to praise those who do good. [15:39] For this is the will of God, that by doing good you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish

[15:43] people, live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover up for evil, but as living [15:48] servants of God, honor everyone, love the brotherhood, fear God, honor the emperor. [15:54] But Peter’s discussion of government here is very similar to Paul’s in Romans 13. [15:59] And every level of government is intended to punish evil and to praise those who do good. [16:03] That’s their God given mandate. That’s what God says government is for. And you’ll also note [16:08] that Peter’s reason for writing about submission to good government is very similar to Paul’s

[16:14] and his Jewish audience in Romans 13 when he was concerned that they would become lawless and be [16:18] bad missionaries. Peter says the same thing. He wants Christians to live peaceful lives, [16:23] as good witnesses in the culture to the goodness of God. And what is it that government can do to [16:28] help Christians and help anyone live a peaceable life? To help Christians be about the mission [16:34] of Jesus, it’s pretty straightforward. Government can punish evil and praise good. That’s what’s [16:39] needed to live peaceable lives and be about the mission. So the principle Paul’s giving us in

[16:45] Romans 13 is that we are to recognize the role that government plays in society as a good gift [16:51] God wherever we do find it. This has nothing to do with blindly submitting to evil. And we should [16:56] be generous and gracious in looking for good government and realizing that none of us are [17:00] always good. So no authority is always going to be good. But we need to recognize the good [17:05] functions of government where we see them. Any authority only has their authority because God [17:10] grants it. And when that’s used to punish evil and to praise good, we’re to submit to that and not

[17:15] to resist it. And this line of thinking also helps us to understand Paul’s final comments in [17:20] Romans 13 verses 6 and 7 when he starts to talk about taxes. It says verse 6, for because of this [17:26] you also pay taxes. For the authorities are ministers of God attending to this very thing. [17:31] Pay all to what is owed to them. Taxes to whom taxes are owed, revenue to whom revenue is owed, [17:37] respect to whom respect is owed, honor to whom honor is owed. And look at some of the qualifiers [17:42] there in verse 6 though at the beginning. How do we know what government deserves

[17:49] our support? What is attending to this very thing that the authorities are doing that makes them [17:54] ministers of God? The attending to this very thing there in verse 6 is punishing evil and praising [17:59] good. Good government is a gift from God when it’s doing its job and it deserves our support, both [18:05] our verbal support and our tax dollars. That’s what Paul is saying because his concern is that [18:10] these people would not be lawless anarchists but would be good witnesses in society. Paul doesn’t [18:16] want Christians to take their freedom in Christ from the law and start thinking that they cannot

[18:21] pay taxes. That attitude is not going to help the mission. I feel as an aside here to mention, [18:26] I’m not saying if we think the government is bad that’s a free for all to not pay taxes. We will [18:31] address that in a little bit here but don’t go there yet because now we do need to get back to [18:37] what has made this text so tricky and so harmful at times throughout church history. If good [18:46] government is a gift from God, that has to beg the question then what is bad government? [18:52] Because a lot of governments in the world and a lot of the authorities we interact with

[18:56] don’t reflect this vision of good government, of punishing what is evil and praising and supporting [19:02] what is good. A lot of governments in the world, the governments we know, at times our own government [19:06] depending on what it’s doing doesn’t reflect that vision for what a good government is. [19:11] So what about bad government? How do we know if a government’s bad? [19:15] There’s a principle in interpreting scripture that often when God gives a command not to do [19:21] something there’s also an implied command to do something. A couple examples, when God says

[19:27] don’t murder, there’s an implied command that we also are to value life. We are to prevent murder [19:33] if we can. We are to see life as valuable. When God says do not steal, there’s an implied command [19:38] also respect personal property. If you find something, return it. Keep others from stealing [19:43] if you can. This is an interpretation of scripture that’s used all throughout the Bible and has a [19:51] long history in the church and the church has also cautiously applied this principle here in these [19:56] verses. So that would look like this, if we’re commanded by God to submit to good government

[20:02] and not to resist it, we also have an implied duty then not to submit and to resist bad government [20:08] in appropriate ways. And because if good government is an aid to living peaceably into [20:14] advancing the gospel and being about the mission, then bad government is a hindrance to that. [20:19] It needs to be resisted when it prevents us from submitting our lives to God. And that is the [20:25] example that we see in scripture and some of those examples I read and especially the apostles in Acts. [20:32] We’ve already seen a number of these examples and there are many others we don’t have time

[20:36] to cover, but scripture is clear that we’re to honor God above man when the two come into conflict. [20:42] And so I think to fully apply the principles of what God is teaching us in Romans 13, 1 through 7 [20:48] about government and the nature of government, we do need to consider that sometimes submitting to God [20:53] means resisting bad government. Sometimes submitting to God means resisting bad government. How do we [20:58] know when government is bad enough that it requires resisting? Well obviously one thing is pretty [21:05] clear. If good government is punishing evil and promoting what is good, bad government is failing

[21:10] to punish evil and promoting what is bad. So that’s kind of easier to recognize. Still doesn’t make [21:16] it so easy to know what to do in those situations and we’ll talk about that a little bit. But there’s [21:21] a little bit more to it than that though. Don’t forget what Paul’s purpose in writing these seven [21:25] verses in Romans 13 are. He wants the people in Rome to be good missionaries. Paul always has mission [21:31] in his mind when he’s writing his letters. And so I think that framework also helps us know when [21:38] bad government is bad enough that we need to resist it. When government interferes with the

[21:43] mission of God, with the advancement of the gospel, that is bad government that does need to be [21:48] resisted, that Christians even have a duty to resist. So mission is the key to thinking through [21:53] this. Things worth resisting more heavily are things that compromise the mission of the gospel. [21:59] The freedom to live and to live peaceably. If we’re not alive we can’t be about the mission. [22:04] We can’t live peaceably. That’s what we see throughout these texts from Paul and through Peter. [22:08] We’ve got to be able to live peaceably to be about the mission. It doesn’t mean that the church stops

[22:12] advancing in the face of that, believe me. You can hear story after story of churches that are facing [22:18] great persecution. The beginning of the church in Rome, China in the last hundred years, churches [22:23] that face persecution do grow because God is amazing and he works through his people. [22:28] But the common method of the mission going out is by people like me and you living peaceable lives [22:35] proclaiming the gospel throughout all that we do. And that is what God calls us to as the ideal and [22:42] as what we are supposed to be attempting. So anything that interferes with the freedom to

[22:47] speak the gospel publicly, anything that interferes with the freedom to live out the gospel publicly, [22:52] these would all be things that bad government might implement that should be resisted. [22:59] If those in authority are opposed to those things, they’re doing the opposite [23:02] of punishing evil and praising good. And in order to know when to resist government because we need [23:08] to submit to God instead, I think one thing is we must develop a much more robust understanding of [23:14] all that God has called us to submit to in our lives. And we started that process in Romans

[23:20] chapter 12, looking at being a living sacrifice for the sake of seeing as many people as possible [23:26] reach with the gospel. But that’s something that we’ve got to consider more in our life is what [23:31] do we need to submit to God? The Great Commission tells us to make disciples and to teach them obey [23:37] all that Jesus has commanded. Usually we just focus on the first part, to make disciples. It [23:42] says to make disciples and teach them to obey all that Jesus has commanded. And I think one of our [23:48] biggest discipleship issues in the church is a small way to small vision of the scope of all that

[23:55] Jesus has commanded that we are to submit to him. He demands our entire life and so there’s a lot [24:00] more for us to submit to God than usually we realize. And that means that there’s a lot more [24:06] for the government to interfere with than usually we realize. Submission to God is just as much about [24:12] what we do as it is what we don’t do. So the apostles, we look back at their example in Acts [24:18] 4 and 5, they had to disobey government, not because the government told them to do something [24:23] that was sinful, not because the government forced them to do something wrong, but because it tried

[24:30] to prevent them from advancing the gospel in the way that they thought they should. They were [24:35] prevented from living out the gospel publicly and so they resisted that. And after that happened, [24:40] Peter and John, they were told by the authorities, don’t keep spreading the gospel in this way. [24:44] They didn’t go back to their house and said, well, oh well, we can’t spread the gospel that [24:48] way anymore. I guess we’re going to have to figure out a different method. Now they knew that what [24:52] they were doing was right and it was the way that the gospel needed to be advanced. And so for them,

[24:56] that was a reason to resist the authorities at that time for them. But we’ve got to be wise [25:03] if we are thinking about when it’s appropriate to resist authority. There is a way to resist bad [25:09] government without being known as a divisive, lawless people. Our goal is, and we’ve got to [25:15] keep this in mind, to live peaceably, to seek the good of others, not to wind up in jail. [25:20] So here are some general thoughts to consider when it comes to resisting bad government. [25:27] We should pay our taxes, even if the government isn’t all good. We can disagree on tax law because

[25:32] it makes it harder to do good and to live peaceably, but the government is still fulfilling some of its [25:38] God-given duties and punishing wrong. And as long as we’re able to proclaim the gospel publicly [25:43] and clearly and speak up for good government, it’s not worth it to be lawless over money. [25:49] It’s just not worth being seen as a troublemaker in society over that. Some things are worth it, [25:55] but not that. In general, we should try to not break the law. There are usually better ways to [26:01] resist and ideas are what really matter. And we’ll see more of that here in a little bit.

[26:05] Paul doesn’t want us to be known as lawless people if we can help it. In our resistance, [26:10] we shouldn’t fail to recognize any good in government. Paul in Romans 13 doesn’t have any [26:16] specific government in mind here. And it’s because no government is all good. And we know that. We [26:21] just know because we’re human people. No government is all good. Likewise, almost all governments [26:26] aren’t all bad. And so we need to be able to recognize the good government does do when it’s [26:31] God-given mandate to punish evil and promote good. Resistance to bad government should be more

[26:38] about education than arguing. I think that is something that we probably really need to [26:42] consider heavily. Are we resisting bad government because we want to see good government or do we [26:48] just want to be arguers? That’s important. Not every instance of bad government is worth our [26:53] time resisting. Sometimes it’s enough just to acknowledge it and move on to things that matter [26:58] more. Because the primary way that we resist bad government is by advocating for good government. [27:04] Romans 13, one through seven gives us a vision for a good government that helps us to live

[27:10] peaceably and advance the gospel. And God has graciously granted us to live in a time and a [27:15] place where we do have a voice in our government. And I know that we live in a time where it seems [27:19] like that’s diminishing, but it’s still there even historically compared to what most people [27:23] have experienced. We have more of a voice in our government and in our processes than most people [27:29] in history have had. And so I want to end on a final thought this morning, which is the best way [27:35] in our current context to faithfully apply the teachings of Romans 13 is that we have the

[27:40] opportunity as Christians to advocate for good government. And a takeaway that we need to receive [27:46] from this text is that if God is going to give us these insights as he’s done in his word to what [27:51] good government will look like, that will help us to live peaceably and advance the gospel as [27:56] much as possible. If God’s going to give that to us, then as people with a voice in our political [28:01] system, Christians do need to advocate for good government. Earlier we talked about how throughout [28:08] church history, tyrants and bad governments have used these words of Paul here in Romans 13 to

[28:14] silence Christian opposition to their oppression. In our culture, we’re so distanced from that, [28:19] that I don’t think we think about, we think about that when it comes to a bad interpretation [28:23] of this text. I don’t think we’re in danger of approving tyrants to that regard. I think what [28:28] we’re in danger of doing much more often is justifying apathy with these words. I think [28:33] we’re in danger of justifying not caring about the government because of misunderstanding Paul’s [28:40] writings in Romans 13, one and two. We might say things like, I know that policy is not good for

[28:46] people, but we just need to respect authority. I know that leader is calling sin good and calling [28:51] what’s good bad, but God has appointed him to lead and we need to submit to that. I hear people [28:56] saying, don’t criticize our leaders. We only need to pray for them. Of course we need to pray for [29:01] our leaders. We have several texts telling us to do just that, but that’s not an excuse not to [29:07] advocate for good government, which does require criticizing bad policy. So just last week we saw [29:14] in Romans 12, verse 21, that we are to overcome evil with good, but understand this evil to be

[29:22] overcome doesn’t cease to be evil to be overcome just because it calls itself the government. [29:27] So there’s a Christian duty to advocate for good government that does what God has mandated to do, [29:33] to punish wrong and to praise good. So I want to leave us with some thoughts on what advocating [29:39] for good government might look like for us. A good government ultimately flows from God’s goodness [29:45] and we have the responsibility to explain God’s goodness to a culture that is running away from [29:51] him. Who else is going to do that other than his people, the church, for as long as we have a place

[29:56] to speak up and to speak into culture and talk about the goodness of God and what a good government [30:01] should look like, it would be unloving for us not to speak up for a government that praises good [30:06] and punishes bad. And when we’re thinking about how to advocate for good government, [30:12] we need to understand, and this relates to the last point, but we really do need to understand [30:16] that every act of government is moral and has moral judgments to it. All legislation is moral, [30:23] and the idea that the government can be morally neutral is just absurd. Government punishes what

[30:29] it views as bad and it promotes and rewards what it views as good, and there are moral judgments [30:34] involved in any action the government can take. It can’t get around that. And so we’re a people [30:40] that believe we can only know what is for our good and what is for our bad by looking at our creator, [30:45] seeing how we are designed, how we are made, and seeing what his word says about us. And so we need [30:50] to be faithful to studying the word, understanding what goodness is, and being able to tell the [30:55] culture around us what is good. Our responsibility is to advocate for the biblical definitions of

[31:01] things because that is what we know is best for people. Advocating for good government does not [31:07] mean that there needs to be a law for every sin, so don’t hear me saying that. But since all laws [31:13] ultimately are a moral judgment, what this does mean is wherever the government is passing laws [31:18] or implementing legislation, we’ve got a duty to advocate for what is good. Do we really believe [31:25] God’s definition of good is ultimately what’s best for us? I think we don’t often consider the [31:32] audacity of the claim that Jesus is God. The claim that Jesus is God, that changes everything,

[31:39] and that means that everything that Jesus has said is good for everyone, whether they agree with it [31:44] or not. That claim is going to get you called arrogant and narrow-minded, and there’s just no [31:50] way around it. But we do believe that Jesus is God and that what he says is good is good for [31:56] everyone. And so for everyone’s good, we have to advocate for that. One thing that we need to [32:02] consider in advocating for good government is that there’s a strong tradition in the church that [32:07] also interprets the verses that we looked at today in 1 Peter and in Romans 13, interprets these

[32:13] verses as also implying the limitations of human government. A human government is designed by God [32:20] to punish evil and to praise good. And when government steps outside of these boundaries, [32:24] it may be doing more than it’s designed to. And if it is, that’s never going to be for the good [32:29] of people. It’s never going to be for their betterment. So one thing when we’re thinking [32:33] about advocating for good is we need to consider whether good government is limited to the roles [32:37] that we do find here in Scripture that government is praised for. Don’t be apathetic about good

[32:44] government. God cared enough about good government to put these verses in Scripture in several [32:50] different places. And because of that, we should care enough to consider whether the actions of [32:55] the governments and authorities we come into contact with represent good government as God [33:00] has defined it. Apathy is just not an option for us as Christians. It’s not loving to be apathetic [33:06] when God has placed things in his word for us to read and understand. So lastly, and I think it’s [33:13] important to understand this, it’s our responsibility to advocate for good government,

[33:17] but that doesn’t mean we should expect to get our way. In fact, increasingly it’s clear we should [33:23] expect not to. So this is not about whether or not we can win. That mindset is not going to be [33:29] helpful here at all. That’s not what determines whether or not we should speak up and present the [33:34] case for Scripture’s definition for what’s good for people. This really is where we do rest in [33:40] God’s ultimate authority and God, as we’ve seen in these two texts from Romans 13 and 1 Peter, [33:45] it’s God who ultimately is in charge of the authorities that are placed over us. And so

[33:49] our responsibility is to seek to live peaceably whenever possible. And when that’s not possible [33:55] because of bad government, we can still rest knowing that God knows what he’s doing, that he [34:00] is in control of that. So this morning as the band comes up and we conclude, I want us to make sure [34:07] that we’re remembering why these verses in Romans about government were written to us. [34:12] Don’t forget that this is an issue of mission. We desire to live as peaceable people in the world, [34:20] advancing the mission of Jesus and advancing the gospel everywhere that we can. That’s the reason

[34:25] why God writes to us about government. We’ve got a mission to be about, we’ve got all that Jesus [34:31] has commanded us to live for, and that’s going to happen best when government is good in allowing [34:35] us to live peaceable. So that’s why God wrote this to us. Right now we’re going to go into a time of [34:41] communion. It’s something we do every single week here at Village Church as we remember the cross, [34:46] remember what Jesus has done. If you are a believer, these tables are open to you. There’s also [34:51] tables there in the back. The bread represents the body of Christ that’s been broken for us.

[34:57] The cup represents Jesus’s blood shed for us, coming into us, giving us life. Don’t forget [35:03] we’ve got a mission to live for. If you are a believer, if you have accepted Jesus as your [35:07] Savior, you have a mission to live for. You need the desire to live peaceably to advance that mission. [35:13] And this is a good time just to remember that we can only do that. We can only accomplish the [35:17] mission of Jesus because of what Christ has accomplished for us on the cross. So when you’re ready, come.