The Lord's Instruction to Obey Officials

You know and how much things have changed even since then and I do side with Benjamin Franklin who said that those who would give up essential Liberty to purchase a little temporary safety deserve neither Liberty nor safety I do agree with that but one of the most important things to know in the passage that we're going to talk about today is the difference between Roman dictatorship and America and our American constitutional republic very different while Rome and that subjects were devoted to the Supreme dictator who was Caesar of course we are not devoted to a politician but to the principles contained in the Constitution at least we should be and so there's a little bit of nuance that we're going to go to but God's word is God's word God's word never changes the principles that are contained therein are applicable to all societies for all people for all time and so that's what we're going to be talking about today so if you would stand with me in honor of God's word as we talk about the Lord's instruction to obey officials we're going to be in verses 13 through 17 and God's word says this be subject for the Lord's sake to every

Human Institution whether it be to the Emperor as Supreme or the governors is sent by him to punish those who do evil and praise those who do good for this is the will of God that by doing good you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people live as people who are free not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil but living as Servants of God honor everyone love the Brotherhood fear God honor the emperor let's pray so Lord we just give to you this time I know that a lot of people may have been tempted to just check out whether we talked about what the passage was about and what Our obligation is as Believers so Lord help us to rightly divide the word of Truth help us to rightly apply it to our lives help us to be divided by it cut us Lord cut us deeply Lord if there's areas in our life where we walk in Rebellion Lord correct that there's areas that we need to grow in our understanding and give us knowledge Lord we just plead for wisdom and in our culture and our society that's so deeply politicized and divided and it's naturally so that way where where people are unwilling to listen to see varying perspectives or even to try to comprehend those things God help us as believers never to use those things to detract from your glory Lord we want to reach this world we want to make disciples we want to bring all things under your Authority and your Sovereign rule God and we know those things are but we pray that you would just help us as

Christians Lord to be supple in your hands God not according to the patterns of this world help us O Lord give us Grace in Jesus name amen well here we go Peter he was he was not a Roman citizen right like he was a subject to the Roman Empire but he was not a citizen unlike Paul he was he was born as a Roman citizen he was also a Jew but he had certain rights and Liberties that Peter did not have now Peter he lived under five Caesars he lived under Caesar Augustus Tiberius Caligula Claudius and finally this not so handsome dude Nero he was if you've studied churches at all this is maybe a boo word for a lot of Christians because he was a guy that was really terrible he was evil he was wicked he would he came to power in around 58 A.D and he was a very Wicked Man one thing that he did was he's the one that caused What's called the Great persecution of Christians now around the time of Peter's writing this letter about one tenth of one percent of the Roman Empire were Believers at this time that's roughly about 62 000 Believers in an area of this size 62 000 Believers that take up the entire Roman Empire of course this is in 117 A.D so about 40 years after this writing but you kind of get the sense of how large the area was 62 000 of a population of this size is not very big at all now this was a under Nero it was an absolutely horrific time Christians would have been rounded up if they were accused of being a Christian after the great fire in Rome which Nero caused he had to find a minority scapegoat to accuse which never happens with political leaders by the way and he accused Christians of

Causing that great fire and so great persecution happened Christians were rounded up they were brought before the Roman Imperial cult now the Imperial cult they would actually they were the ones that would worship the Emperor as a deity and they would command Christians to either offer sacrifices prayers pledge allegiance recant their faith or you could be beheaded if you were a Roman citizen or perhaps you could be tortured alive you could be cast into the pit with wild animals to be torn apart you could be forced into poverty and they could take all of your property they could take you and crucify you they could impale you in light you on fire those were some of the things that happened to Christians during this time it was an awful time for believers from really about 64 A.D until about 313 A.D and so for 250 years it was extremely harsh persecution and yet we read here from Peter to be subject for the Lord's sake the first instruction is this command it is a very clear command be subject it's it's an imperative word something that we are to do to be subject to our officials in government now we could debate all day about whether or not those officials should exist in our current government but Peter he expressly refers to the and to the governors now that word Emperor is pretty clear he's referring to Nero but he's not calling him Nero because this is for all people for all time so he's talking about any of our leaders that we have that we're Governor though is a little bit different it's the Greek word hegemon which is where we would understand it as our local leaders are maybe our Mayors or perhaps our Senators our governor and so that might be in reference to people like in Christ's time Pontius Pilate King Herod and folks like that

Now this command to be subject is the same word that people that Peter is going to use to describe the relationship that a bond servant has with their master or that a wife is supposed to have with her husband and so this does not mean to be servile automatons right it doesn't mean the word passively submitting and just letting everything happen without a Discerning mind but the command is to subject yourself to the leadership and come what may God's will be done most importantly though this command is about the attitude of our heart no man would want a wife who begrudgingly follows his leadership or no employer wants an employee that constantly needs to be goaded and prodded to follow instructions this is a voluntary subjection to the governing authorities knowing that they have been placed there by the Lord for our benefit Peter also he gives us his rationale for it for the Lord's sake this is the whole purpose because Christians aren't called to be anarchists okay you might see that being promulgated in our society remember that anarchy is totally opposed to the created Order of Things Christians are called to by their obedience to the government glorify God and Adorn the Gospel of Jesus Christ through a life well lived God he has ordained human institutions throughout history and he has vested them with the authority that they have remember that civil rulers are God's idea Anarchy is therefore unbiblical in government is Biblical so what does this mean does this mean that we are to just obey everything unquestioningly well not really let's talk a little bit about how to obey the rationale for honoring government how are we to obey we are to obey the government in every area that the Lord has given them

Dominion over okay Robert Culver he noted that the state owns neither its citizens nor their properties Minds bodies or children all of these things belong to their Creator God who has neither given to the state rights of imminent domain an example of how our church obeys you guys might remember back in 2000 in 2004 when you all started building that new wing of the building you know what we had to do before we could build was we had to draw up Blueprints and make sure that everything was up to code right we had to make sure that there were emergency exits that the sprinkler system was up to code we had to make sure that there were fire hydrants and in all the right spots we had to make sure that things were handicapped accessible we had to make sure that stairs were at the right you know step height and all those different things and some people they might be tempted to label that as something like government overreach right but could you imagine what that person the inspector would think if a church was constantly fighting them on every single issue whoa what would happen if they were treated badly if they said no we're not going to do that's government overreach you know our church we do things like we pay taxes because that's what we do we have we run our we submit ourselves to regular inspections to our facilities so that we can run our We Care Early Education Program we do that constantly we have a business license that the city of Camden Tim requires for us to have and we do those things even while we may disagree with some of them

Because we are subject to them and we see several Godly examples of obedience to hard things in Scripture can you imagine how hard it was for David to submit and honor King Saul even though he's trying to be like pinned to the wall with a spear it was still such a great love that David had for King Saul or maybe Daniel Daniel he submitted to the wicked King Nebuchadnezzar who forced them to become eunuchs that might be a hard situation to serve under course Christ himself subjected him his whole life to Pontius Pilate and we see time and time again in Scripture and throughout history God using righteous submission for his glory and others good and we believe that every event happens because God has ordained those events to happen yeah he does so in such a way that he's neither the author of evil nor sin and so God he has Sovereign rights over all creation and that goes from election results to raising up dictators even to the results of democratic forms of government but we do not obey the government as its ultimate Authority amen the ultimate Authority is God alone he has revealed his will in the word of God and so let's talk a little bit about when to disobey and the examples that we see in Scripture of civil disobedience some of you are like yeah this is good stuff right here right some laws some rulings some civil commands are so grievously sinful as to make Civil Disobedience not nearly permissible but righteous and even mandatory Christians should never disobey God's Authority when he speaks clearly on an issue even when a lesser Authority like the state demands it firstly we can look at the example of the Hebrew midwives in

Exodus chapter 1 the king of Egypt said to the Hebrew midwives one of whom was named shifra and the other Pua when you serve as Midwife to the Hebrew women and see them on the birthstone if it is a son you shall kill him but if it is a daughter she shall live but the midwives steered God and did not do as the king of Egypt commanded them but let the male children live and so here you have a positive example of Civil Disobedience for the glory of God they are set forth as a righteous example of us of people who live by faith instead of violating their conscience in the word of God they feared the Lord and they obeyed him because God is the ultimate Authority not man we also see another example of Shadrach Meshach and Abednego you guys remember this when we were in The Book of Daniel and Daniel chapter three here's what it says Nebuchadnezzar he had made this huge golden statue right on the plains of shinar 90 feet tall and he called all of his leaders to come and worship it's going to be amazing in Daniel chapter 3 verses 4 through 5 it says you are commanded o peoples Nations and languages that when you hear the sound of the horn the pipe the liar the Trigon harp bagpipe and every kind of music you are to Fall Down and Worship the golden image that King Nebuchadnezzar has set up Shadrach Meshach and Abednego this is skipping on ahead in verses 16 through 18. This is how they hey how they responded Shadrach Meshach and Abednego answered and said to the king o Nebuchadnezzar we have no need to answer you in this matter if this be so our God whom we serve is able to Deliver Us From The Burning fiery furnace and he will deliver us out of your hand oh King but if not be it known To You O King that we will not serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up two wonderful and godly examples of

Civil Disobedience still very still very respectful still honoring of their position and come what may they just have to entrust their themselves to the Lord we know the end result of both of these situations the scary part is when we don't know the end result and how it's all going to work out once again Nebuchadnezzar he was established by God as the king of Babylon yet he's only a man he can't work order people to worship a false God because that's a violation of God's commands and the government has not given Authority by the Lord over those areas so sometimes it's incumbent upon Christians to stand up and say no to call leaders to repentance and yet the end result is up to the Lord now John the Baptist he preached against the adultery and the debauchery of King Herod and ultimately that cost him his head of course the best example that we can think of how to walk this balance as I've said before is to look at the life of Jesus Christ he called the religious leaders to repentance he spoke to Pontius Pilate about the truth he rendered to Caesar the things that are Caesars he suffered and he died at the hands of the Roman centurions but Christ didn't call for a Revolt he wasn't here to establish his Earthly Kingdom he didn't protest against Roman occupation he didn't object when he was crucified Christ he was focused on his kingdom he knew what was going to happen and yet it was through that God's most glorious Act of Salvation was accomplished through his son today Christians we are called to call our leaders to repentance for the 60 million babies that have been

Aborted for fail for rewarding failed Banks and incentivizing mismanaged funds for rewarding sin and punishing righteousness it's not dishonorable or disobedient or not being subject to remind them of what their obligations are given by the Lord this is why Christians should be informed this is why Christians should be active I don't believe that there's any part of creation that God has not already claimed this is mine we see that in Matthew 28 verses 18 through 20. What does it say all authority in heaven and on Earth has been given to me that's Jesus talking right he has all authority where at in heaven and where on Earth and yet we don't do that primarily through political means that's all secondary stuff that happens as a result of us actually fulfilling the Great Commission if we want God glorifying laws and we want God to be most glorified we have to go and make disciples of all the nations that's what we're called to do what good is it to manage morality if we're not reaching the heart but yet that's exactly what laws do man like you know I've heard it said that you can't legislate morality but that's exactly what laws are designed to do legislate morality but for us it's not just about that it's about reaching the heart it's about changing the soul it's about reaching people with the Gospel to Jesus Christ baptizing them in the name of the father and of the son and of the Holy Spirit teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you and behold I Am With You Always to the end of the age thirdly I want you to note the scope of our obedience the scope of our obedience to government officials it says to every Human Institution

Whether it be to the Emperor as Supreme or the governors as sent by him to punish those who do evil and appraise those who do good the Bible has pretty good guidelines of how government is to be handled if you enjoy things like a fair trial you can thank the Bible for that if you enjoy cross-examination as a right you can think the Bible for that if you like things like morality or culpability is a big one you can think God's word for that if you see good Justice occur in the justice system you can give glory to God because that is what the government is designed to do to execute Justice we could even put it this way they are to punish evil oh where'd you go they are to punish evil that's what they're designed to do and when the government doesn't do that we call them to repentance why it's not because we just have some arbitrary form of justice is because it's What the Lord Has commanded and likewise when you see local leaders award a citizen for Good Conduct we should give glory to God because they are to praise good things remember Peter he wasn't in an ideal situation increasing persecution under a severe dictatorship that hates you that will eventually according to church history will crucify Peter upside down and around 65 66 A.D Paul he will be beheaded rain around that same time and yet here is Paul here is Peter giving us explicit directions on how we are to do this and so Peter he is saying that as a good citizen of your nation you should behave in a way that is Honorable you know this isn't a standalone passage if we look at verse 12 here's how it sets up keep your conduct among the

Gentiles honorable so that when they speak against you as evildoers they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation listen to what Paul says in Romans chapter 13 verses one through seven it says let every person be subject to the governing authorities for there is no Authority except from God those that exist have been instituted by God therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has pointed those who resist will incur judgment for rulers are not a terror to Good Conduct but to bad would you have no fear of the one who is in authority then do what is good and you will receive his approval for he is God's servant for your good but if you do wrong be afraid it continues for he does not bear The Sword in vain for he is the servant of God an Avenger who carries out God's Wrath on the wrongdoer therefore one must be in subjection not only to avoid God's Wrath but also for the sake of conscience for because of this you also pay taxes for the authorities or Ministers of God attending to this very thing paint to all what is owed to them taxes to whom taxes are owed Revenue to whom revenue is owed respect to whom respect is owed honor to whom honor is now we learned from Paul here that the rule for Christians is to live our lives legally in a way that glorifies the Lord and never detracts from someone's ability to hear and respond to the Gospel of Jesus Christ yet as Americans we also have rights too and it's a tension that Americans have had to walk for literally years as Christians we have a duty to obey our government and the documents as found in the pond yet we simultaneously are called by those same documents to preserve and fight for the rights and freedoms that guarantees so that's where Christians obligations

And rights that's where they really start getting sticky and I won't make commentary on those issues except to appeal to your conscience if you believe that the right thing to do is uphold the wall as written by the Constitution and those additional governing documents then by all means do that you are at Liberty to do that by being civil and wise and obedient to God's word preachers in the 1700s they battled over this for literally decades this idea are we able by the Lord to rebel against England's tyranny and prompted preachers like Jonathan Mayu to say this common tyrants and public oppressors are not entitled to obedience from their subjects by virtue of anything here laid down by the inspired apostle and why does he say that well it's because of the rights that were afforded to them by the state of England by being citizens of English colonies so it's a it's a tough thing for Christians to walk Christians are called to honor and submit to even unjust authorities however obedience The Obedience of Christians to unjust unjust laws does not preclude them from being politically active to change those laws for example it is possible to simultaneously pay obnoxiously high taxes while rebuking the governing authorities for requiring them am working to align the law of the land with Justice that God has said but perhaps you believe that you shouldn't resist the government in anything if the government makes any law or any ordinance regardless of your freedom or your duty as a citizen you should just obey and listen to your conscience as well remember that you the only person that you are going to give an account to on that last day is to the

Lord and so it's really the ball is in your court to use your freedom that God has given to you however you feel because you're at liberty yet either way you land whether your obedience to the Lord is by obedience to the government persons the documents or to just go along with it I want to make sure that I have this right regardless of how you feel we should do it with passion and obedience to the Lord's command we can debate all day about what a Christian's Duties are but we should seek to bring about God glorifying changes for the sake of a peaceful existence Peter he writes fourthly what the result is of these instructions it says for this is the will of God that by doing good you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people when Christians are good citizens we're submissive to the Lord's for the Lord's sake to government officials then it silences those who would seek to oppose the Gospel this doesn't mean to be as I've said before submissive in a servile and unwise way if the government tells you that you have to do something you are first accountable to the Lord before you are accountable to anyone else Peter he says that you are to be subject to the government authorities because it's God's will for you and you don't even have to wonder if it's God's will but you may wonder how does it look to do this in an honorable and a respectful way Paul he lived this out by being subject to those authorities he also used his Roman citizenship to appeal to King Agrippa and to

Felix the governor he also called them to repent and believe the Gospel the main goal for you as a Christian listen it's tough is not for your American rights and liberties but for you to honor and glorify the Lord that has to be the first goal for you now that word translated in this passage as silence it literally means to muzzle okay to shut them up that's what our good works are meant to do because people are going to raise all sorts of objections to the Gospel people are going to naturally resist it they're going to hate it and if Christians are seeking to overthrow government and things like that you know what that does is that gives opponents of the Gospel way more artillery to try and not hear the Gospel of Jesus Christ that word in the Greek when it says ignorant and foolish it doesn't just mean people that don't know the Gospel it means a willful and a hostile rejection of the truth so if Christians want to be salt enlightened in our society and that means that by our obedience to Lord by living quiet and peaceful lives we may have the opportunity to persuade someone to come to know Jesus now there's always going to be those who hate the Gospel so let's not give them good reasons to oppose us fifthly Peter he writes about the mindset that a Christian is supposed to have look at what it says live as people who are free not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil but as certain living but living as Servants of God listen to me you have been set free by the Gospel of Jesus Christ we are free from sin's punishment we are free from the Law's penalty we are free from the mind's perversion we are free from being

Under the world's principality we even saved and set free from the power of death and since you have been set free you may not live any way that you want to this is opposed to God's created order you can't use your freedom as a way for you to be secretly evil as Peter says here that word covering that using your freedom as a cover-up for evil that covering it means to place a mask over something it's when people use Christianity to hide things like hostility anger resentment and Disobedience but of course we know no one would do that would they I want you to notice that the heart of this command that Peter gives us in verse 16. It's the same motive that the Lord gives in the last command which is do not covet it's the command that deals with the heart and you cannot master your heart the heart is wicked and deceptively evil who can understand it the motivations of your heart may seem Noble but they may be in anathema to God it is only by abiding in the Lord that you can experience true freedom when God sets his people free through the Gospel God he gives them the ability to actually live freely to do that which is good and pleasing to God if someone isn't using their freedom in Christ to do good but to do evil then you know what that reveals reveals that they don't know the Lord Christians are subject to the Lord's will because we are Servants of God that word servants there it's the Greek word dulos which is better translated as slave that's why we pray for God to better us to himself because we are so prone to wander we may exercise our freedoms As Americans as well as our freedom as a Christian yet when push comes to shove which one is going to win out for you I hope that you would do what Daniel did when he when he was told you cannot pray

What did he do on that day he went up he opened up those doors just like he had done every other day and he still prayed because his Allegiance was firstly to the Lord and so we pray his kingdom come his will be done finally Peter's last instruction is the significance of this command look at verse 17 for little commands honor everyone from the Despicable to those that you like we are called to honor everyone no matter their identity their race or nationality their political party they're honorable because they are created in the image of God it's what gives them value and so Christians should not be discriminatory in that way we're also to love the Brotherhood listen to Jesus's instruction in John Chapter 13 a new commandment I give to you that you love one another just as I have loved you also are to love one another by this all people will know that you are my disciples if you have love for one another this is why we are encouraging and promoting Community groups you don't get Christian Love by shaking a hand on a Sunday morning and saying good morning how are you I'm good how are you good and that's the extent of your of your fellowship sorry if I'm stepping on your toes but you need to be in a community group because it's good and right for you to do love the family of God he tells you to Peter writes fear God right fear of God we are not called to fear governing rulers we don't fear anything other than the Lord who controls life and death God the Imperial cult which which worshiped the emperor they would they would threaten Believers with death and Believers are like sweet I get to go see

Jesus well then we will let you live and they're like sweet then I get to live for the Lord see that he is our only hope and life and death which we sing all the time Christians we know that the only Authority that exists is the authority that God has willed to exist so we don't fear people don't fear man it is precisely because of God and a healthy perspective of him and that fear that we are to have that we are able to honor the governing authorities rightly and it is precisely this fear of the Lord that motivates right obedience and civil disobedience and Believers have to walk that tension finally Peter he concludes with honor the emperor the same word that was used at the beginning we may not have a Believer but we do have a President Who needs to repent of his sins and believe the Gospel some of y'all like that a little bit more than some of the other stuff I've had to say so repent and believe the Gospel we are to honor as well and there may be times where we may disagree with policies that may happen very often maybe time when we feel like we have the permission to dishonor the leaders that God has appointed that's where we can remind ourselves that God he has purchased us you are a Christian he has bought you at the price of his son and he has given you that command of how to honor how to pray for not just the good political leaders but the evil and wicked ones as well so that we may put people to silence those who might oppose the Gospel of Jesus Christ remember when I said at the very beginning less than one tenth of one percent of the Roman Empire was

Christian during the time of this writing 50 years later that number would just explode to one half of one percent really not that much but during that time Christians they would suffer such persecution such hatred and yet there would also be such peace never revolting against the emperor never rebelling against the government but always loving always subjecting themselves to the punishment of this world being hated by the world and always loving Jesus and as a result of that number would explode by 313 A.D to take up over half of the Roman Empire over 31 million Believers in a span of 300 years that's something for us to deeply consider in our world that is posed to God and the Gospel these are conduct in such a way that brings glory to the Lord or can people use that as an excuse to accuse you and argue about that rather than believing the Gospel what a difference God makes with believers who submit to his will head heart hand head I want you to know that Christians are called to honor every person in authority whether they're good or evil we still honor them because God has them there it's difficult but it is Biblical heart I want you to believe that our goal and submission is to glorify God it's not to be non-confrontational doesn't mean just rolling over and taking it doesn't mean not calling our leaders to repentance the goal is to win people for the kingdom of God hand I want you to examine your heart see if you've used your freedom as cover-up for evil

And that might be most difficult to assess especially in our Twitter society that loves confrontation and Division but I want to ask you to seek the Lord ask him what he thinks about how you conduct your life as an obedient citizen where you live let's pray so Lord we do submit ourselves to you Lord these are hard things for many of us to hear but Lord your word it still stands true sure and so I just pray that you would just help me to live my life according to your word never giving anyone an opportunity to not hear the Gospel [Music] because of how I conduct myself for it and I pray that's prayer of every Christian that's in here that we would be honorable in what we think and say and do so that we might win our lost friends and our lost neighbors and even our lost political leaders who need to trust in you help us God to submit ourselves to you to always seek your glory in your will we love you and we subject ourselves to you as the Almighty King rules over us who bought us at the price of his own son he just asked that you would be blessed he's listening and stand and let's work this [Music] he wraps himself in life [Music] How Great Is Our God sing with me how great is our God and always [Music] our God [Music] in time is in his hands beginning at the end beginning at the end

The God in one of us [Music] our God and all will pray [Music] our God let's sing that one more time together how great Our God sing me how great our God and don't see how great How great is our God [Music] heavenly father I thank you for today I thank you for the words the message Lord now let us be ambassadors to you let us go to this world and show Camden County the love of Christ Lord this church let it be a beacon in this area that people are drawn to and let us be an example for others to follow Lord through Christ strengthens us and everything we do would bring honor and glory to you in Jesus name we pray amen thank you