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(upbeat music) - Romans chapter 13, verses one through six, questions. - I want to
welcome you to our daily drive time devotions. We're in day two of our look at
Romans chapter 13.

You might remember that yesterday, we looked at the verses that talked about how
God has instituted, he has put into place every human government. And that
brings up a lot of questions. What does that mean?

In fact, there were so many questions about this from the research team that
helps me to think about the questions that people are asking about a chapter
that I thought I'd just take a day to answer those questions. Because when you
hear a phrase like God has instituted, God has put into place every human
government, it creates some questions. The exact phrase in the Bible is that
they are established by God.

And the question that I heard again and again as people looked at this chapter
was, does that mean that God establishes evil authorities? That God establishes
evil governments? Well, let's just sort of cut to the chase.

It is obvious that God allows those governments to be in existence. Nothing can
happen on this planet except that God allows it. Whether it be, you look way
back in history, a Pharaoh in Egypt or a Herod in Jesus' day, those were evil
governments.

Both of those leaders ordered babies to be killed. Now, to me, that's the
ultimate abuse of power for a leader. Both of those leaders, the Pharaoh in
Egypt, the Herod in Jesus' day, ordered babies to be killed.

And yet, God allowed both of those governments to be in existence. And in fact,
because we read their stories in the Bible, God used both of those human
governments in his plan. So when the Bible talks about governments being
established by God, does that mean that God establishes evil?

No, obviously not. God's established me. God's established you.

He created us. I do evil things. You do evil things.

So on a personal level, God created someone who can choose to do evil. And I do,
and that impacts my personal life. The same thing is true on a government level.

God allows governments to come into existence and governments to rule. And
sometimes the leaders choose to do what is wrong, choose to do what is evil. And
God does allow that for a time.

And he uses even the evil that they do in his purposes. Now, that does not mean
that God does not protect those who are punished by those governments. He even
allows those governments at times to do evil to the extent that they kill the
innocent.

But God protects the innocent. And he knows that life on this planet is not the
end of the story. If it were, there would be no justice.

But it's not. And so when you and I see things that seem so unjust in this
world, and it seems like they can never be set right, and we think, how could
God establish that kind of a government and allow that? Well, it's because he's
allowed us to have free choice in this world.

And sometimes human governments that are allowed free choice, choose evil. And
if this planet, this earth was all there was, that would be totally unjust. But
there will come a day when all will be set right.

There will come a day when justice will be done. And I look forward to that day
and eternity with him. God establishes all governments, and he uses even those
that choose to do evil in his plans.

I don't know how he does that. Same way that he uses the fact that I choose to
do evil. And he does not invalidate his plan in my life because of that.

But he continues to have a plan. So when we read that the governments of this
planet are established by God, that doesn't mean that God establishes evil. It
does mean though that he allows it, just like he allows it in our lives, and
that he uses it.

He uses it for his plan. The second question that comes out of Romans chapter 13
that I heard again and again, and that is, how do we personally honor those in
authority if they're not following God's law? When it comes to me, what do I do
if there's a corrupt government?

What if they impose rules or injustices that hurt the majority of people? What
do I do then? Do we have to endure a hardship and wait for God to intervene?

Many of you listening to this are in the United States, and we don't have the
same sense of this as some who are in countries where Christians are persecuted
or people who are not fed, or there is vast, vast suffering in a country because
of the abuses of a leader. Does this mean, many asked me, does this mean that
somehow we're in a no-win situation and God's just standing on the sidelines
watching and not helping, just letting things run its course? What do we do in
that case?

Where does the Bible speak of dealing with political corruption and how to fix
that? Well, how do we honor those in authority when they're not following God's
laws? You respect the government.

That's what the Bible says to do. You respect the government. That doesn't mean
you have to agree with the government, but you do respect the government.

For one thing, Paul reminds us, in a certain sense, you have to. He says in
Romans 13, one to six, they have the sword. They have the power of force over
you.

Today, it's a gun. They have the sword, and respect or not, you will do what
they say because of the power that they have over you. And so, the Bible says,
do it with respect.

Now, is it possible to have a submissive, respectful attitude and not obey an
ungodly law as an individual? Well, yes, of course it is. You do that by being
willing to suffer the consequences.

You suffer for doing what is right. You want to have integrity, but sometimes we
want to have integrity without having to suffer for it. Well, that is heaven,
not earth.

And so, we follow the example of Peter and John in the book of Acts. When Peter
and John were brought in before the governing authorities for preaching the
gospel, and they were told not to preach the gospel, how did they react? Well,
in Acts 4:19, here's what they said.

Peter and John replied, "Judge for yourselves "whether it is right in God's
sight "to obey you rather than God. " In Acts 5:29, Peter and the other apostles
replied, "We must obey God rather than men. " They said, "We have to preach.

" But they also had respect in that first phrase. They said, "Judge for
yourselves whether it is right. " They recognized we are under the authority of
these leaders.

And if they judged that it is wrong, they will throw us into prison. We will
have to suffer consequences for doing what is right. That's one of the ways that
you and I respect a human government, even when it sets up laws that are against
God's laws.

I remember years ago, sitting down with some of the leaders in the Church of
China, and hearing them talk about their respect for the place of government in
their society, even with all that had been taken from them. Some of these had
gone through persecution and been in prisons for not just years, but for
decades. And yet they still had in their hearts a respect for the place of
government in their society and what it meant.

Churches had been taken, Bibles had been burned, leaders had been in prison, but
they didn't lose their sense of respect. And I thought, I can learn something
from these men and women. I can learn how to hold on to a sense of respect for
the place of government, even when I don't agree with a ungodly law that's been
set up.

Here's the point in this. Don't fight the wrong battle. If we allow a disrespect
for government to seep into the extent that we think, the way to change society
is to change its government.

And that can happen. If I could only change the government, then the gospel
would get out. And so my whole goal becomes to change the government.

Then all of a sudden, the job of the church has been changed. We're trying to
change governments instead of trying to change people. And let me just tell you
right now, you cannot change this world by changing governments.

We've tried that again and again and again. You can only change this world by
changing people's hearts. And even more significant than that, you can't change
eternity by changing governments on this planet.

The only way to change somebody's destiny for eternity is to change their heart
right here and right now. And so the church can never get into the business of
trying to change governments. The church has to always be in the business of
changing people's hearts.

And so Paul is saying, watch out here. Don't get on the wrong task. As much as
you might disagree with the government, you focus on the task of sharing the
good news.

Now what about when it's more than just a disagreement? What about when it's a
matter of moral right and wrong? What if a government ordered you, for instance,
to murder an innocent child?

You may think that's crazy, but Herod's government did. Pharaoh's government
did, as we talked about at the beginning of this. What do you do then?

Well, you say no. Respecting the power of that government over you, you may have
to endure punishment for saying no. Or if the state ordered you not to worship
Jesus, what do you do then?

You worship him. You realize there may be consequences because you're under the
authority of that government, but you still choose to do what is right. We in
America have not had to face many consequences like this, but there are brothers
and sisters all over the world who are facing consequences simply because
they're choosing to do what is right.

There's a third question behind Romans 13, one to six, and that is particularly
for those who are in nations that are more free. What about our nation? What do
we do when leaders don't live up to our expectation?

Well, the answer is not in politics. It's in changed hearts. The good news of
Jesus Christ is not good news to change America.

It's good news to change Americans. God's not trying to change countries. He's
trying to change individuals and people.

Now, yes, we should work for and vote for the best leaders that we can, but the
purpose of that, by the way, is not to make your life easier. That's the
motivation of most people in elections. How can I elect a person who's going to
make my life a little bit better, a little bit easier?

And that's probably not a bad motivation, but it's not a high enough motivation
for those who are citizens of a higher kingdom. When you're a citizen of the
kingdom of God, you're looking to give the greatest freedom to tell the good
news around the world. That's what we want to see happen.

So what do you do when a leader doesn't live up to your expectation? Well, I
have found that as believers in Christ that because of our convictions about
God's truth, we often paint a picture in our mind that is different from
reality. People, by the way, are doing the same thing because of their
convictions about political parties in the U.

S. today, demonizing people because they're a different political party. And
Christians are, unfortunately, fitting into that mold sometime.

And so we see someone who votes against prayer in schools, for instance, and we
call them corrupt. Now, they may be, I don't know, they may be corrupt, or it
may be simply that they disagree. Even believers have differences of opinion
about how the issue of prayer in school should be handled, but that's not the
issue here.

The issue is, what do you call someone? How do you see someone when they don't
live up to your expectations? It might be that they're corrupt.

It might be that they just disagree. And so you have to realize, why is it that
they don't live up to my expectations, and what can I do about it? Now, with
that said, that we don't want to demonize people, we do live in a democracy, those
of us that are in America, and it is our duty to speak up for the truth, to vote
our moral conscience before anything else, and to not bow to the popular opinion
of the day.

That is the way that we are light in a dark world. All of these questions that
we've talked about, what about evil governments? What about when those who are
in authority are not following God's laws?

What about when leaders don't live up to my expectation? All of these questions
revolve around one, one key decision in my life, and that is the decision to be
light in a dark world. And how do you be light in the dark world?

Well, you don't do it just by pointing out that things are dark. You should be
honest about the state of the world today, but that is not enough. There are
some who seem to think that if they just say how dark the world is, it's going to
make it a better place.

It's okay to be honest about the truth, but it's not enough. The world also
needs light. So you live with a different kind of respect for government.

You live with a heart that would not be there, except for your love for Jesus
Christ. You don't say words of hatred toward another person because you love
Jesus Christ. You don't demonize people, but you'll learn to reach out to them
in love because you love Jesus Christ.

You don't hate the government that you're a part of. You love the people that
are running that government because you know that they need Jesus Christ. Your
heart has changed, and because of that, you are light in a dark world.

You change the world because Jesus Christ has changed you. As we pray following
this look together at Romans chapter 13, verses one to six, I'd like to pray for
each of us. I'd like to pray for you and lead you in a time of prayer for
yourself.

We are all citizens if we're followers of Jesus Christ of two kingdoms, and
let's pray together that God would use us in both. Our Father, we pray as
citizens of a country on this earth, and also as citizens of a higher kingdom,
your kingdom, that's going to last forever. We pray that we would be able to follow
your leadership.

Help us to respect the government that we're a part of on this earth, and God,
help us to look forward to the kingdom that we're going to be a part of for
eternity. Lord, help us to be honest about the darkness that's in our world, but
God, help us to also be light in this dark world, the light that people need, a
little bit of light in a dark room can make all the difference in the world. Our
Father, help us to be honest with you about our frustrations that might be a
part of the country that we're in, the citizenship that we have in this world,
but also, Lord, help us to look forward with anticipation to what it's going to
mean to be a part of your kingdom.

Help us to realize we're never going to find our hope in a human government. We can
only find our hope in you. And Father, help us to be grateful for what our human
governments do give us, and to express that gratefulness to those who serve us
in that way, to express our gratefulness to them, but also, Lord, right now, we
express our gratefulness to you, because we realize that all who serve us, all
who serve us, are a sign of your grace in our lives.

We wouldn't have anything without you, and so we tell you that we are grateful
for your grace and thankful for your ministry to us, through whatever means,
because of your love for us. Thank you, Father. Thank you, Jesus, in your name.

Amen. Tomorrow, we're going to take a look together at Romans chapter 13, verses
seven to 10.