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(upbeat music) - Romans chapter 13, verses one through six. - Welcome to our
daily drive time devotions through the book of Romans. Hi, I'm Pastor Tom
Holliday, and this week we are looking together at Romans chapter 13, this is
day one of our look.

At that chapter, we're going to be looking at verses one to six. As we open up to
this chapter, Romans 13, it is a chapter that begs us to ask the question, how
do we affect the world around us without the world affecting us? How do we do
that?

As believers, as those who are faith, who should be salt and light in this
world. Do we just stay away from the world and somehow try to affect it that
way? Well, that's not going to work because then you're not interacting with the
people that you want to influence.

Do we become exactly like the world so that they will like us and feel like they
relate to us? Well, that doesn't work either because there is no difference.
There's nothing that can attract anybody if you become exactly like someone
else.

Romans 13 is an important part of doing what Jesus told us to do, to be in the
world but not of the world. And it's a part of what we began talking about
together last week in Romans chapter 12, a new way of thinking. Remember last
week we talked about a new way of thinking about worship, a new way of thinking
about our relationship to others in the church, a new way of thinking about our
relationship to others in everyday life, a new way of thinking about our
relationship to our enemies.

In Romans chapter 13 we take a look at a new way of thinking about our
relationship to society, to just the culture that's around us. In order to have
healthy relationships with the world that's around us, what do we need to do as
believers, as followers in Jesus Christ? How can we be the salt and light that
we need to be?

Well, Romans 13 doesn't answer all of the questions about that, but it answers a
few very important questions that aren't really answered anywhere else in the
Bible. This is the chapter that you turn to to find out particularly how does a
Christian relate to the government of the country that they are in. This is what
the Bible has to say in Romans chapter 13, beginning in verse one and reading
through verse five.

Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no
authority except 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. For rulers hold no terror
for those who do what is right, but for those who do wrong. Do you want to be
free from fear, fear of the one who is in authority?

Then do what is right and he will commend you, 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 wrongdoer.
Therefore, it is necessary to submit to the authorities, not only because of
possible punishment, but also because of conscience. In this passage, Paul gives
us two major responsibilities towards the government of the country that we live
in.

First of all, he says you need to give them your respect. And then in a minute,
he's going to tell us something else very practical that we need to do that might
be surprising to you that this is in the Bible. But he begins by saying give
your respect, give your respect.

How do you continue to respect the government that's around you? Even in light
of maybe a disagreement, or if you're listening to this and you're in a country
that's not a democratic country like the United States of America, and you don't
have an opportunity to even vote on some things, you don't like the way your
government's going, how do you continue to give your respect? What does the
Bible have to say about this?

Well, here's a couple of answers that Paul talks about. You give your respect to
your governing authority as an authority of God, and number two, as a minister
of God. Talks about those two things.

They are first an authority of God. And in verse two, he actually says that
disrespect for a government authority equals disrespect for God. Now, notice it
says for the governing authority, it doesn't say a particular kind of
government.

This is not only respect for a democratic government where the people get to be
involved. This is a respect for whatever kind of government. Remember, when Paul
wrote this, they were under the government of a leader named Caesar who
controlled and ruled everything.

Some people take this to mean to only respect the government of the kind of
government that I like, or even to only respect the government when it has the
direction that I want. God is not a Republican. God is not a Democrat.

It's not as if you can only respect the government when your party is in
control. How does this work? This thing of respecting the government, and yet
I'm a servant of God.

I sometimes have a difference of opinion with the way the government is saying
to do things. Well, Philippians 3:20 reminds us that we are a citizen in very
many ways of two worlds. As a believer in Jesus Christ, we have a relationship
not only to the government, the state that we are a part of, but we have a
deeper and longer lasting relationship to God's kingdom.

And over the centuries, there have been four different kinds of ways that the
state and the church have tended to relate to one another, historically. Four
ways. The first way is Erastianism.

That is the idea that the state controls the church. The state is totally in
control, and they control the church. We still see that in a lot of governments
in the world today.

A second way of doing this is called a theocracy. That's where the church
controls the state. The church is in charge and tells the state, what the
government want to do.

A third way is Constantinianism, which is where the state favors the church, and
the church accommodates the state. It's sort of a halfway in between. Sort of a
best buddies kind of a way of doing this.

And a fourth way is what you see in more democratic kind of governments, a
partnership. The church and the state recognize the God-given responsibilities
of each. Now, obviously, most of us would choose the fourth, but whichever one
you happen to be in, whatever government happens to control your country, the
truth of the matter is, we respect that government as an authority of God.

That's how you have respect. And you also respect the government as a minister
of God. In fact, that's the word that is used here.

It's a minister of God. God's servant in verse four. That's the word minister.

Paul affirms three times that the state has authority from God. And then he
affirms three times in this one passage that it is a minister of God. It's a
minister of order.

It's a minister of justice. Now, what this means is next time you get a ticket
as if you ever would, but let's say you got a ticket. What you should do is look
at the police officer and say, you know, you have really ministered to me today.

The truth of the matter is we don't feel like it's ministry when it happens, but
it is. It is ministry. And if right now you're driving and you happen to see a
police officer in a car driving by or a highway patrolman in a car driving by in
a few minutes, take a minute to pray for them right now 'cause they have a tough
ministry.

They're serving God in very difficult situations. The Bible says you respect the
government as an authority from God and as a minister of God. Now, the question
here is always?

I mean, aren't there times when you can't respect certain governments? Remember,
again, these words were written in the Roman Empire where there was a Caesar who
eventually one day under this rule of the Caesars would declare themselves to be
God and ask people to worship them as God. As wrong as that was, these words are
still inspired by the Holy Spirit.

When Paul calls the government servant, the first two times he uses the word
diakonos, which is deacon or servant. The third time he uses a Greek word
liturgos, which means the priest, the servant of God in that way. Pretty
powerful words to show that God has instituted a government.

Now, I know there are tons of questions behind this. Good governments, bad
governments, and so tomorrow as we talk together, we're going to really focus in on
how does this work with all the philosophical questions of good and bad
governments? But let's be personal right now.

Instead of being philosophical, how about you? How are you respecting the
government that God has put into our country? Are you respecting it as an
authority of God and as a minister of God?

That's what God encourages us to do in these verses. Number one, you submit to
the government by giving it your respect. But number two, he says, you submit to
the government.

And this is where some of you may just not like what's in the Bible. Number two,
you submit to the government by paying your taxes. Yep, it's right there in the
Bible.

You pay your taxes. In verse six, this is also why you pay taxes. For the
authorities are God's servants who give their full time to governing.

This whole idea of taxes and customs has obviously been there for thousands upon
thousands of years. If you can't be happy about being taxed for any other
reason, then be happy that you're fulfilling God's will in paying them. When you
pray, "Thy will be done," well, God says right here in verse six that part of
his will is that we pay taxes.

Now, I know some of us may not like that, but God says, "Do that," because this
is a way of respecting the government. And he says to do it out of good
conscience. And in the next verse, he says, you do it out of good conscience,
not just as a duty, but out of a heart, as a moral obligation.

Don't be like the guy who wrote an anonymous note to the IRS and said, "I
cheated on my taxes last year, "and I have not been able to sleep "due to a
guilty conscience. "So enclosed is $250. " And then he said, "PS, if I still
can't sleep, "I'll send you the rest of the money.

" Now, don't do it that way. It's a good conscience. You're doing it because you
know it's the right thing to do.

And as much as you may hate taxes, you may see the waste that is in government,
there are some small things being paid for, like the roads you drive on, and
someone to come to your house when it's on fire, and people who make sure that
the water is safe to drink, and education for the next generation. There are
some pretty significant things being paid for by the taxes that we paid. And
Paul paid taxes.

And those taxes that he paid in part went to support the great Roman army and
the great Roman roads. And although he may have disagreed with a lot of things
that that army was used to do and the roads were used to do, that army and those
roads are what gave him the freedom to travel safely throughout the Roman empire
to spread the good news. So God used even the taxes that he paid to open the
doors to share the good news.

As Paul here talks about paying taxes, he reminds us that it's not just a
monetary debt, it's an attitude debt. You fear and you honor the government. And
Jesus taught this principle.

In Matthew 22 verse 21, when the disciples were asking Jesus about whether they
should pay taxes or not, you remember the famous phrase, he says, "Render unto
Caesar what is Caesar "and render unto God what is God's. " Jesus did not say
that we should not pay taxes. In fact, he encouraged us to.

He encouraged us to pay taxes. You pay taxes, that's the part that's very
practical, hard for us to swallow, and yet is also very significant because it's
an expression of a second thing, and that is the respect that we have for the
government that God has put into place. Now, tomorrow we're going to talk about the
fact that God has put all governments into place and what that means.

You may have a question about that. Set that aside for tomorrow, and right now,
let's pray. Let's pray for something you may not pray for very often.

Let's pray for our government. You may be in the United States as you listen to
this. You pray with me for the government that we're a part of.

You may be listening to this in another country. Be a citizen of another
country. I encourage you to pray for the government of the country that you are
a citizen of.

Our Father, we stop right now, and we take a moment to pray for our government.
We thank you, as you've told us in your word, that this government has been put
into place and is an expression of your authority, and Lord, we pray that they
would take that very seriously, that they would see, God, the need to provide
safety to all citizens, and to listen to you, and to find in you strength to
lead. Lord, I pray even for governments that don't look to you and try to find
in you strength to lead, that they would be brought up short to realize that,
God, you are in control, in your perfect timing, and they would see that you are
the one that is in charge of all human events.

We pray for ourselves, Father. We pray that you would help us to respect the
government that we're a part of, by respecting not only their authority, but
also respecting their ministry, and we take a minute right now to thank you for
maybe something we don't often thank you for, the ministry of our government
each and every day. Thank you for the safety that they provide our homes.

Thank you for the water and the power that's provided. Thank you for the
education that's provided, and Lord, we pray for those who are ministers of God
to us in these ways, that you would give them right now, in this moment, this
day, strength to lead, wisdom to lead, and a deep sense of the stewardship of
their leadership. Lord, protect our government leaders from selfishness.

Protect our government leaders from a sense that it's all about their
leadership, and help them to see that it's all about those that they lead. We
ask this together, Jesus, in your name, amen. - Well, join us tomorrow as we
take a further look at some questions that you might have about these verses in
this chapter, Romans chapter 13.