The Believer and Government

Romans 13, a very appropriate passage for today. And in introducing this passage on the believer and government, I'm going to read a section of Chuck Swindall's book. In his very insightful way, Chuck Swindall is able to take an issue and make us realize this is not just an academic issue, this is not just a lesson teaching type issue, this is where we really live. And so with these illustrations, let me borrow from him for a moment and introduce this subject for you. For the next few moments, and I'm reading from his commentary insights on Romans, for the next few moments, travel back in time with me and imagine yourself wrestling with a particular moral dilemma. You must either follow your Christian conscience or obey your government. We begin in 1760. You're an English man or woman. You were reared and educated in London where your family has lived for generations. You are loyal to the crown, even though you don't always agree with King George's policies. England has been good to you. Your family's business has prospered. In time, your father senses your need for adventure and proposes that you establish a presence in the colonies across the Atlantic. You're attracted to the risk and the possibilities of life in New England, so you plan the voyage, sail to America, purchase property, and begin building your business. When you arrive, there is talk of revolution, but nothing you feel compelled to heed. However, as the years pass, you understand why the colonists are upset. Taxes appear everywhere and threaten to drain your fledgling business, and the money doesn't appear to be returned in the form of government services. You have shared the injustices your American friends have endured, yet you are still a loyal subject of the crown. Time passes quickly. The question of revolution cannot be avoided much longer. You must choose your loyalty. What do you do? Your heart is in your homeland, but your conscience has taken root in American soil. Do you stay? Do you side with the English or do you oppose the people of your birth? Soon, a coalition of revolutionaries invites you to join them in arms. Do you become a minute man or do you distance yourself and pray for the red coats to come? Not an easy issue. Travel forward in time 100 years to 1860. You own a plantation in southern Alabama, 12,000 acres of cotton, corn, and peaches, and many slaves to do the work. The system has allowed you to prosper and increase your wealth year after year, and things couldn't be better for you and your estate. But you've recently placed your faith in Jesus Christ, and you now struggle because your pastor and uncommon man of courage is preaching against slavery. Your peers tell you slavery is moral and even justified by scripture, but deep down in the quiet of your soul, you know better. Then the issue confronts you in flesh and bone when a new president is elected to office in November of 1860. Your state secedes from the union in February of 1861, and all out war begins in April. What do you do? Do you release your slaves, abandon your family homestead, move north, and fight for the union army, or do you ignore your conscience, keep the slaves, and remain in the south. Fast forward again to the year 1936. You are a German Christian living in Berlin. A dictator mad with prejudice has been given immense power by growing numbers of undeserving and sometimes violent fellow citizens. But the future is bright for Germany. Prosperity has returned. People are working again. Your business is finally turning a profit, and the Berlin Summer Olympics will allow Germany to feel proud again. Meanwhile, some of your Jewish friends and neighbors have been forced to wear an ominous star of David and have been disappearing without explanation. With each passing day, you are pressured to choose your loyalty, support their furor, and the majority of your peers, or advocate for the fair treatment of Jews and other quote-unquote undesirables. Do you openly stand against your government, or do you recognize its sovereignty and obey its commands? It is not easy when you are in the situation. It is easy to read Romans 13 and think, I know what to do, I know what is right, I know what is wrong, and I would always choose what is right and what is wrong. But when you place yourself in a situation where you are forced to make very difficult choices that could mean life or death for you, it does not become quite the academic issue that some people like to make it. This has always been a difficult issue for believers. It is still a difficult issue today. How do I respond to my government when I don't agree with its policies? How do I support leaders that I may not have voted for or do not agree with? How do I respond to government issues? What is my responsibility as a believer? It is difficult today. It is no different than it was in the first century. It was difficult in the first century, too, when Paul penned these words. In fact, there were a number of swirling political issues that made it very difficult, no doubt, for Paul to step out on a limb and save what he did. For instance, if you were a Jew, you had pretty much two parties to choose from. You could choose the party of the Pharisees that said, we will not have a foreign ruler over us. And they would very quickly quote, do toronomy chapter 17 and verse 15. We will show that verse for you on the screen. Do toronomy 17, 15. Be sure to appoint over you a king, the Lord your God chooses. He must be from among your fellow Israelites. Do not place a foreigner over you, one who is not an Israelite. The Pharisees would quote that verse and say, we hate Rome. We do not recognize the authority of Rome over us. The Bible tells us only to have a Jewish king. So there is that party, both religious and politically in Israel. And then there is the party of the Herodians who say, we did not choose Rome. We did not choose the Roman Caesar. We should support him. We are heavily pro-Roman. And then you had this off-shoot little group of militia type guys, the zealots, who some people decided to go that far in the rebellion against the government. But it was not an easy issue for Jews in the first century to decide where to land on this issue. Added to that, Paul's writing to Christians in Rome. And in Rome, the Emperor Claudius, just a few years prior to Paul's writing, has expelled all Jews from the city of Rome over a dispute about a person. Roman historians call him Christus. It's Christ. And over this religious dispute, which the Roman government sees as a dispute among the Jewish religion, they have expelled all Jews out of Rome. Now by the time Paul writes, the Jews are back in Rome, but it's a political powder keg. It's a volatile situation in Rome about to blow any time. Added to that, there's been a tax revolt. In the mid-50s in Rome, there was a growing resistance against the taxation system of the Romans when Nero came to power in AD 54. He began to build all kinds of stuff and tax the people heavily. And there was a resistance movement by AD 58. There was a full-blown revolt in Rome. Paul writes in 57. Right at the height of that revolt. Right at the height of that concern. So Paul's not just writing in a vacuum here. Paul's writing in a context, historically, of real issues that people are grappling with. And the Roman Christians are saying, how in the world do I live out my faith when I despise my government? How do I live out my faith in the face of all these burdensome taxes that I don't agree with how they're being used? How do I live out my faith as a citizen? And so Paul addresses this issue. It's important for century believers. It's important to us today. Paul does, and this passage is he outlines for us the major responsibilities of government and of believers as citizens. He outlines the major responsibilities both of government and of believing citizens. And that's the way I want to approach the passage this morning rather than just working our way straight through the verses like we normally do. There really are two themes that are tied together in this passage. And that is the responsibility of government and the responsibility of us as citizens. And so I want to take them in that order. Let's begin with the responsibilities of government. The Bible does lay out. Paul here lays out very clearly the responsibilities of government. What are they? So the first one is to represent God's authority. To represent God's authority. Look at verse 1. Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities. Please remember the context again of what we're talking about happening in Rome at this time. And Paul is saying we should submit ourselves to the governing authorities. Notice what he says next. For there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God. Consequently, he who rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted. And those who do so will bring judgment on themselves. What Paul is saying here is that the governing authorities are instituted of God. They are placed there by God to be His servants on our behalf. Please understand that Paul is not talking about any particular form of government. He's not saying pure democracy is what God approves or representative democracy or benevolent dictatorship. There's not any particular form of government that Paul is talking about. He's talking about here it is the principle of government. The principle that God has placed over us authorities. And we are responsible to recognize them as an extension of God's authority over us. Whatever authorities over us, even if it's a Nero, an emperor who was infamous for executing his own family members, an emperor who was infamous for burning the slum section of Rome so he could build a bigger palace and the fire got away from him. An emperor who was infamous for persecuting Christians led the first major empire wide persecution of believers. Clothes, believers in animal skins took them into the Coliseum which by the way he built with the tax money and exposed them dressed in these animal skins to wild dogs. Now that's whose in power when Paul writes this. It's not the policies of the government. It's the position of the people. It is the principle of human government. But it is also the people who are in power that God is sovereign over. If you will look down at verse four, he's just mentioned in verse three, those who are in authority over us and he says in verse four, for he is God's servant to do you good. But if you do wrong, be afraid where he does not bear the sword for nothing. Notice here it is again, he is God's servant, an agent of wrath to bring punishment on the wrong doer. So what Paul is saying is that God has instituted the principle of human government over mankind that man is to manage himself through the process of government. He has also sovereignly placed whoever is in authority in that position. He is God's agent. Whoever it is, he's God's agent to carry out God's authority over us. It doesn't mean that government is always going to do what's right. It doesn't mean that every government will do everything that God wants it to do in our sinful nature. Man perverts and twists every institution God has made, whether it's the government or the home or the church or whatever institution it may be. We have a tendency to pervert that so it doesn't mean everything the government does is right. It does mean that the principle of government that God has placed over us is of God. It goes all the way back to Genesis 9. When Noah walked off the ark, one of the first things God told him was, I'm going to establish human government. And there are going to be certain rules about human government and we'll see some of those in just a moment. But I'm going to establish the authority of mankind to legislate and oversee his own affairs through the principle of human government. God has established both the principle of government and he sovereignly places people in power regardless of whether or not you voted for them. God is sovereign in that. Daniel knew that. Daniel speaks these words to King Nebuchadnezzar. Now please, before we show the verse, I want you to understand King Nebuchadnezzar is not a benevolent Christian dictator. King Nebuchadnezzar has forced his way into Judea and ripped all the priceless, highly qualified young men away from their families and taken them captive to Babylon. And he's made two other excursions and visions into Judah ending with the destruction of the city of Jerusalem, the destruction of the temple, the carting off of all the temple goods, and most of the people going into captivity, being taken away. That's who we're talking about. And when Nebuchadnezzar has this dream and Daniel interprets it, look at what Daniel tells him in Daniel chapter 2 verse 21. Speaking of God, Daniel says he, God, changes times and seasons, he deposes kings and raises up others. He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to the discerning. So God raises up kings and God takes them down. God's in control of that. Sovereignly, he's in control of that. Later, through a series of circumstances where God humbles Nebuchadnezzar in chapter 4, Nebuchadnezzar makes this comment on his own. Nebuchadnezzar says this in Daniel chapter 4 and verse 17. The decision is announced by the messengers. The holy ones declare the verdict so that the living may know that the most high is sovereign over all kingdoms on earth and gives them to anyone he wishes and sets over them the loliest of people. God is sovereign over the nations. God raises up people even the loliest of people to it sometimes rule over nations. And Nebuchadnezzar learned that the hard way, that it was God who was in control. Even later, when Daniel is chastising Belchazar for his shameless display of a drunken orgy even using the temple artifacts and temple vessels in his drunken feast, Daniel reminds Belchazar of what happened to Nebuchadnezzar. And notice these words in Daniel 5 verse 21. And his body, speaking of Nebuchadnezzar, was drenched with the dew of heaven until he acknowledged that the most high God is sovereign over all kingdoms on earth and sets over them anyone he wishes. Belchazar, this is what Nebuchadnezzar learned, you will learn the same lesson tonight because on that very night, Belchazar would be taken down by the army, the Meads and Persians. So Daniel recognised that no matter who is in authority, God is sovereign in placing them there. They are an extension of God's authority. Jesus recognised that Jesus is on trial. He's standing before Pilate, the Roman procurator, the representative of Roman authority in Jerusalem. And in his trial, Jesus is not responding and so Pilate says this to him in John 19. Do you refuse to speak to me, Pilate said, don't you realise I have power either to free you or to crucify you? Jesus answered, you would have no power over me if it were not given to you from above. He did not question Pilate's rightful power and authority. He just said you need to recognise it comes from God. And the ultimate supreme authority is God. So the Bible clearly recognises the fact that governing authorities are to represent God's authority over us. And remember again the context in which Paul was writing, Nero on the throne with all of his amazing debauchery and Paul writes, submit yourself to the governing authorities. There's no authority except that which God has established. The principle of government and even the persons in power are sovereignly arranged by God. Now I will quickly admit and the Old Testament bears this out. Sometimes God sends rulers along as His punishment to people. That does happen. I will not make any further comment on that regarding any portion of the United States history or any other country in the world. But sometimes that happens. It does happen. So we are to understand government is to represent God's authority. Secondly, the responsibility of government is to protect the good. To protect the good. Look at there in verse 3. For rulers hold no terror for those who do right. But for those who do wrong. Do you want to be free from the fear of the one on authority? Then do what is right. And He will commend you. Government is supposed to protect those who are good. And we ought to be thankful to God for those who serve to protect us. For our law enforcement officers, for our firefighters, speaking like a West Virginia, right. For firefighters. We ought to be grateful for all of those people who are enabled to help and protect us. All of those who serve us in that way. One of the responsibilities, God-given responsibilities of government, is to protect those who are good. Now, on the other side of the coin, that should cause government officials to recognize for those who are doing good, we have no right to harass, to sow over institutionalized things and make so many restrictions that we actually end up damaging those who are doing good. We over regulate, over legislate so that we're hurting and harming those who are doing good. The process and the procedure and the responsibility of government to protect the good. But it is also the responsibility of government to punish the evil. Just as much as it is to protect the good, it is also to punish the evil. Verse 4. For he, speaking of that governing authority in verse 3, for 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 wrong doer. Verse 4. Is that last statement of verse 4 that I'm particularly interested in here? The governing authorities are God's servant, they are agents of wrath, to punish, to bring punishment on the wrong doer. In other words, it is the government's responsibility to punish those who do wrong. It is not up to the individual citizen to do that. That's a responsibility of the government. If someone steals from me, that does not give me the right to go and steal from him. It is the government's responsibility through the proper judicial and law enforcement officials to apprehend and prosecute that person for their crime. It is the government's responsibility. It is not my responsibility to take the law in my own hands. The vigilante kind of justice that is so often glorified in movies today, where Hollywood places someone in a position that we sympathize with because they are not being treated right. They take the law into their own hands and just massacre everybody who has done them wrong. That is glorified in the movies today. It has no part in the thinking of a believer. It has no part in our response. It is the responsibility of human government to punish evil. I will say that a centerpiece of that responsibility and authority, I believe, the Bible teaches, is capital punishment. Do you see what Paul says here in verse 4? He says, for he is God's servant to do you good, but if you do wrong, be afraid. Now notice this next phrase, for he does not bear the sword for nothing. Paul had a couple of options in Greek words to choose for the word sword. One of them could have been the dagger that was worn by Roman government officials, authorities, to indicate their authority, but that is not the one he uses. He uses the word for the long sword that was used in executions. That does not necessarily mean he is strictly teaching capital punishment here, but he chooses a word which indicates that as the government seeks to avenge wrong, it does have that option. Let me give just a little bit more background on that. I do not want to take too much of a rabbit trail here, but in that very initial statement of God to know about human government, look at what he says in Genesis chapter 9 and verse 6, the foundational centerpiece of human government is this statement, whoever sheds human blood by humans, shall their blood be shed for in the image of God has God made mankind. God takes very serious of the fact that he has created humans in his image. We share something by way of moral likeness in representing God on this earth that no other creature shares. And the ability to have a relationship with God is strictly up to is left to humans, not to other creatures. So there's something we we have that's unique in all of creation. And God highly values that. And he says one who capriciously and I believe later legislation under Moses would bear this out, one who takes the life of another will forfeit their own life. Now there were certain restrictions placed on that under the law of Moses as there should be, but the issue of capital punishment, I believe, is an issue that the Bible supports. Jesus remember what he said to pilot we saw earlier when pilot said I have the power to either set you free or to crucify you. Jesus did not correct his his perception of the ability to carry out capital punishment. He just said I don't disagree with that. I'm not debating that point. I just want you to know the authority you have is God's. You would have no authority if it were not God's. When Paul was before Festus arguing his case and giving his testimony in Acts chapter 25. Paul made this statement in Acts 25 11. He said if I have done anything worthy of death, I do not. I do not fear to die. You see, he recognized the Roman government had authority to execute the capital punishment, the death penalty, if necessary. Now I believe the Bible teaches capital punishment, but along with that I would say that that must be guarded very carefully with a pure justice system that ensures everyone gets a fair trial and that no one is wrongly accused. I think any government that does or any state that does have capital punishment and its laws should also be very, very serious about giving whatever time it takes to make sure a person has truly committed that crime before their life is taken. There are some cautions because there has been abuse of that. No question. I would caution strongly against the abuse of this as I would the use of it. But it is the responsibility of government to punish the evil. Forth responsibility of human government is to carefully use the citizens money. You were hoping we'd get to this, weren't you? Carefully use the citizens money. Look at verse 6. This is also why you pay taxes, Paul says, for the authorities or God's servants who give their full time to governing. It is not just saying, well this is their full time job, they've got to be supported somehow so you just open your pocketbook and pay for it. It is not just that, that give full time to is an expression which literally means to give careful attention to, to take seriously the responsibility of governing and to make sure that one is conscientious and responsible in how that is done. Obviously Paul connects that to paying taxes. So that is incumbent on government officials to use those funds wisely, to carefully use citizens money, not to waste it. That puts a corresponding responsibility on us to make sure that it's not being wasted, that we should be aware of our senators, congressmen, state, federal, how they're voting, what their voting record is, whether or not they are wisely using the funds that are not theirs but are the citizens. So we have the responsibility of government, but Paul also addresses the responsibilities of believers as citizens. What responsibilities do we have as citizens? Well just like the first and major responsibility of the government is to act as God's representative of authority, the first and major responsibility Paul deals with here for us is to submit to that authority. To submit to that authority, look at it again, verse 1, everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities before there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God. Now look at verse 2, consequently he who rebels against this authority is rebelling against what God has instituted and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves. So we have to submit to the authority, not only because of possible punishment but also because of conscience. So what he's saying is if government is representing God's authority then we are supposed to submit to governing authorities as an extension of God's authority. And we're to do that not only because of fear of punishment, you know if I don't obey I get thrown in jail. It's not just that, I mean that's pretty significant motivation, but it's not just that Paul says also for conscience sake in verse 5 which means my relationship to God. God tells me in his word this is what I'm to do and I am bound in my conscience to obey God's word. So it's a spiritual issue, not just a citizenship issue. To submit to the governing authorities over us and he says if you resist, you're resisting God's authority. That's pretty serious. And resisting God's authority he says brings judgment in verse 2. Obviously the punishment of government officials but also God's judgment is in view there. So that's pretty serious. And I recognize that sounds very black and white. It's really not quite that simple. If this were the only passage on human government we would say no matter what the government says to do, we are duty bound by conscience to obey the word of God and say we've got to do what the government says. If this were the only passage but there are other scriptures which make it clear that there are some rare exceptions. And by the way even the choice of Paul's word indicates that Paul says submit to the authorities over you. He does not say obey. He could have chosen that word but he does not use the word obey. Obey could have communicated the idea that I'm to keep every law no matter what it is, no matter what it says. Submit is a word, it's a military term. It means to place yourself in the hierarchy in the order of command that God has stipulated. It does not necessarily mean that every law you must obey but you must recognize the authorities over you and you must submit in the context of that hierarchy of authority to government. For instance there are some rare exceptions. I believe two rare exceptions in the scriptures where we are allowed to disobey governmental authority. One is if the government commands something which is immoral. Example would be Exodus chapter 1. When Pharaoh tells the Hebrew midwives if a baby boy is born you kill it right there. We don't want any more Hebrew baby boys in Egypt. So kill it. And what do midwives do? They disobey. They disobey because that was an immoral command. That was obviously against the moral nature of God. The second reason why we may choose to disobey governmental authority is if the government gives a law passes a law that violates the command of God. Not just a moral issue but violates a command of God. Several examples of this in the scriptures. Just very quickly we remind you many of you will recognize these Daniel chapter 3. Nebuchadnezzar after seeing Daniel's vision and having it interpreted to him in chapter 2, he decided he was going to build his own image and it's going to be all about him. And he's going to require everybody in his kingdom to bow down to this image. So he passes a law and eating that says everybody will bow down cause all of his government officials together, all of his high ranking people says you are going to bow down to this image. And there are three Hebrew young men who love God, who know what the mosaic law teaches about not worshipping any other image or any God, any other God or any image. And they say we will not do that. They remain standing civil disobedience because the government commanded something that was against the word of God. Second example, Daniel 6, another ruler, Darius, Middle Persian kingdom and Darius is kind of swindled and tricked into passing a law that nobody can pray to any other authority, any other God except me, the king. And Daniel says, can't do that. So he continues to pray to God even if the risk of being thrown into a den of lions as punishment, he continues to pray because Darius has commanded something which is contrary to the word of God. The apostles give us a couple of examples in the book of Acts. They are told not to preach in the name of Jesus. And notice what their response is in Acts chapter 4. It's on the screen for you. Then they call them in again. These are the authorities now. Call them in again and command them not to speak or teach it all in the name of Jesus. But Peter and John replied, which is right in God's eyes to listen to you or to him. Notice there's a direct contrast here between what man has said and what God says. So he says, you be the judges of who we're supposed to obey. As for us, we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard. We'll leave the decision up to you, or you when, when man's law and God's law collide, which one do you obey? Well, obviously, if government is an extension of God's authority, the Supreme authority is God. And if the two collide and disagree, you obey God because he's the Supreme authority. That's what Peter was saying. So they throw him in jail. The angel, the Lord delivers him from jail that night. The next day, they're found teaching in the temple again. And notice what happens in Acts chapter 5. They arrest them again and say, we gave you strict orders not to teach in this name. He said, yet you have filled Jerusalem with your doctrine, your teaching and are determined to make us guilty of this man's blood. Peter and the other apostles replied, here's the classic statement of civil disobedience. We must obey God rather than human beings. Now that's not in every situation. Okay. It's not like you disobey every law. It's only when human authority and God's authority collide and disagree. When government issues a decree that is against the word of God, then we must choose to obey the Supreme authority who is God, which means we will have to disobey that law. There's another example in the book of Revelation where when the Antichrist is ruling over all the earth and he stipulates that everyone must receive a mark in the forehead or the hand. To show allegiance to the Antichrist without that, you will not be allowed to do any commerce by sell anything. Can't do any business. Can't buy anything in the store and there will be people who knowing it will cost them their lives will say no because that command goes against the command of God. My allegiance is to God. I will not worship a man. So there are examples in Scripture of civil disobedience, but only when the government commands something that is immoral or commands something that is directly opposed to the commands of God. I will also say this. There are times in the Scriptures when God raises up leaders to deliver people from oppressive governments. This has very interesting application to what happens in our world today. There are times when God raises up leaders to deliver people from oppressive governments. God raised up Moses to deliver his people from Egypt. Judges were raised up. Look at this verse in Judges chapter 2, in verse 16. The Lord raised up judges who saved them out of the hands of these raiders. Different nationalities would come in and raid the nation of history and out of that oppression God raised up judges to deliver them. We are not going to take the time to look at these verses. In Hebrews 11 God lists a whole bunch of people who were military deliverers. Samson, Barik, David, Jeff, others who were military deliverers and God praises them for their faith in delivering from oppressive governments. God sometimes does that. It is not that every revolution is wrong. Now just take that home and think about the American revolution. You make up your own mind. That is a very interesting dilemma by the way. We have to move on time wise. Responsibility of government to submit to believers to submit to the authority to live within the law. For rulers hold no terror to those who do right but for those who do wrong. Do you want to be free from the fear of the one in authority? Here is the command. Then do what is right and he will commend you. If I leave church this afternoon and I drive home on 460 and I do 55, I have no fear of anything of authorities. If I get out on 460 and drive 70, I will be constantly looking at my rear view mirror. Why? Fear of the authorities. If you are doing right, you have no fear of the authorities. If you are doing wrong, you have every reason to fear them. Because you have done wrong. The implication is and the command is do right. Just obey the law. If you obey the law, you have nothing to fear. Obviously again we know there are certain situations where it doesn't work out that way because of how man has perverted governments across the world. But it is still incumbent on the believer to live within the law. The third responsibility we have, and I know you want me to do this real quickly, and that is pay your taxes honestly. Pay taxes honestly. I recognize this is not an easy subject, not a comfortable subject, not a popular subject. I recognize there are only two kinds of people who hate taxes, men and women. I understand that. But the Bible teaches that we are to pay our taxes honestly. Before we jump into it, let's just all get this out of the way first. Let's do a collective moan and groan on count of three. One, two, three. Okay, got that out of our system. Now let's look at verse six. This is also why you pay taxes. For the authorities are God's servants who give their full time to governing. Now notice verse seven, give everyone what you owe him. If you owe taxes, pay taxes. If revenue, then revenue. Two different kinds of taxes actually talked about there. The word for taxes, the first word, is the word which actually means normal kinds of taxes like income taxes, property taxes, things which go to fund the government to be able to do what they do. The second word, revenue, is taxes on goods. It was used in the New Testament times of export, import taxes, tariff kind of taxes or sales tax. Any tax on merchandise, if that's owed, we're to pay that. Okay, what he's saying is we are to honestly pay our taxes. You say, I don't like the way the government uses my money. Well, do you think Paul like the way Rome was using it? For crying out loud, we have any idea if you read any history about what Nero was doing with the Roman tax money? That's not the issue. I think in our kind of democracy, we have the potential to be able to examine voting records and call people to question if they're misusing funds for sure. Paul didn't have that benefit. The principle is basically, you pay the taxes you owe, they will have to answer to God for how they use it or in our form of government. They'll have to answer hopefully to the electorate, to the people who act as good citizens. But where to pair taxes? Okay, that's probably enough said about that, isn't it? Let's move on. We are also number four to show proper respect for authority. Proper respect for authority. You see there, verse seven, give everyone what you owe him, be a taxes taxes, revenue than revenue. Now notice the next two. If respect, then respect, if honor, then honor. Again, two different words. Respect having to do with an understanding that you respect the position. That's the context here. You respect the position. Regardless of whether or not you like the person or whether or not the person in his own personal life or her own personal life has earned your respect personally. That's not the issue here. The issue is respect for the position of authority. We are to show respect for that. The second word, honor, is actually word which talks about it means reverence. It means the way you act toward and speak about someone. I'm supposed to honor governing officials, even Nero. Remember Paul's writing to Romans. You say it says if I owe him honor, give him honor, right? Please don't misread the verse. Paul is saying we do owe all four of these things. That's a given. He says give everyone what you owe him. I'm going to give you four examples of what you owe governing authorities. There's no question about whether or not you owe this. He's just saying if in one example, it's taxes, then do that. If in another example, it's the if has to do with the different examples he uses. Not whether or not you owe those things. You do owe them. I do owe them. I owe honor to people who are in elected positions over me. It doesn't matter whether I voted for them, agree with them, support their policies. I'm to honor them. Do you realize that the way you talk about the president of the United States, the way you talk about our governor, the way you talk about our senators and congressmen, the way you talk about law enforcement officials can either hold up those positions of authority to your children or ingrain in them a rebellion. You can't end them a rebellious attitude toward all authority. Even God's authority. And that is why you need to honor authorities over you. Now the bottom line is this in all of what Paul is teaching. We may disagree. We may differ on many political issues, but we must agree on these basic biblical principles. We may disagree on which political party to be affiliated with. That's not the issue. We may disagree on who to vote for. That's not the issue. We may disagree on who to support and what policies to support. That is not the biblical issue. Let me say this and I hope it's understood. There is a place in the church for people along a great spectrum of those kinds of things as long as they're not violating biblical issues of morality. We've got to agree on those. But what we must agree on, whether you're a Democrat or a Republican or an independent or whatever you may be, what we must agree on is the biblical principles. Of the responsibilities that government has and our responsibilities as believing citizens to submit to the authority, to live within the law, to pair taxes honestly, and to show proper respect for the authority over us. Would you pray with me please. Father, help us to take seriously as a reflection of how we live out our faith, of how we live out the righteousness you've given us. Help us to take seriously as a reflection of that, our responsibility to live under authority, even government authorities. I pray, Father, that you will help us to elevate the positions of people over us in the midst of our children and others around us so that our testimony will not be solid and dirty to look like the world. But we will hold high your standard of authority. May we be good citizens knowing that ultimately our citizenship is in heaven and you are our authority. We ask in Jesus' name Amen.