10-22-23 Grace-Tucson Sermon

Pastor Tim Patoka

Godly Government

October 22, 2023

Submit to the Governing Authorities Romans 13:1-7 1) They Are God’s Servant 2) Give What We Owe Them Religion and politics. They say you should never talk about them because it will only lead to charged emotions, polarized divisions, and hurt feelings. You probably know some people you would never talk with about these things. Yet, we cannot ignore these taboo topics. Religion is everything we hope for in life because of what is ours from God both now and forevermore.

Politics is part of our government which affects us on a personal level.

What are we talking about this morning? Religion and politics; God and government. But you won’t hear me make any recommendations about what we should do about headlines like Israel and Hamas. Neither will you hear any commentary on our governing authorities like President Biden, Governor Hobbs, or Mayor Romero. Instead, what you will hear is what God’s Word says about our governing authorities and our response to them as Christians. As we dive into Romans chapter 13, our Lord plainly tells us to “submit to the governing authorities.” (Romans 13:1 EHV) Why? Because they are God’s servant to carry out his will for our benefit. Because of that, we give them what owe out of love and thanks to God and our Savior Jesus Christ.

1) They Are God’s Servant Our Lord has all authority and every governing authority derives their rule from him. It doesn’t matter when, who, or how. If they’re governing, then their authority comes from God. These governing authorities are also God’s servant. Romans describe this in two ways. 1) As God’s intermediaries, they carry out his will for our benefit. 2) As God’s public ministers, they demonstrate God’s own governance of us amongst us.

Whether or not our governing authorities recognize their role as God’s servant, their essential purpose is this: to punish what’s evil and to promote what’s good. To punish what’s evil, God has given them the sword, a weapon designed to inflict fear, pain, and death if needed. Though swords are now obsolete, our governing authorities still wield it through today’s law enforcement, courts, armed forces, industry regulators, and IRS officials.

For promoting what’s good, God has given flexibility. While not commanded, it is not inherently wrong to issue tax breaks for things that help a country’s long-term health, social services so people don’t resort to violence, and public education or tuition tax credits to have a better-informed citizenry.

All in all, we see God’s care and protection for us through government like this. At the top is God and his ultimate authority. He gives a portion of his authority to his servants, our governing 1

Pastor Tim Patoka

Godly Government

October 22, 2023

authorities, who carry out his will by punishing what’s evil and promoting what’s good. At the bottom are us who receive God’s care and protection through our governing authorities.

Is that how we view our governing authorities, as God’s servant for our good? Or do we see them as wanting our worst, a pain in our backside? We suffered more than needed after that traffic stop, nosy neighbor’s complaint, or insistent debt collector. We were stifled from doing our own thing by endless bureaucracy and red tape. Do we write off our governing authorities because some are corrupt or inept? The self-serving interests of our elected leaders have been around since our Founding Fathers. The current gridlock on Capitol Hill because of House Republicans has stalled our legislative branch. If these governing authorities can’t do what God expects, haven’t they disqualified themselves from being God’s servant?

Let’s state the obvious: no sinful person can fulfill God’s expectations whether it’s us living up to God’s law or our governing authorities as God’s servants in the government. But that doesn’t derail God’s governance through our governing authorities. In spite of their sins and ignorance, they still act as God’s servant for our benefit to punish what’s evil and promote what’s good.

It’s just that some people do it much better than others.

Despite the failings of our governing authorities, we still see God’s love and care for us through them. By punishing what’s evil with the sword, they provide safety and order in our lives. In so doing, we no longer live in survival mode but can focus on our deeper, eternal needs like Jesus and his forgiveness. By promoting what’s good, we all benefit. After all, a rising tide lifts all boats.

And God does this in great supply. The City of Tucson has approximately 5,000 employees and Pima County has around 7,000, including some of you here today. That ballpark number of 12,000 employees doesn’t measure how bloated or corrupt our government is. (Though there is always some degree of inefficiency and corruption within any large organization.) It’s a metric of how many people God has raised up to serve us and care for us as his servants in the government, some of whom also have authority over us. Even if the vast majority have never read Romans chapter 13, they remain his servants. After all, “No authority exists except by God, and the authorities that do exist have been established by God.” (Romans 13:1 EHV) Seeing our governing authorities as God’s servant, we submit to them as we would to God himself. For it’s through them that God cares for and protects us. To rebel against them is to rebel against God and the authority he has given to them! But to submit to them, is to submit to God and his governance of us through them.

2) Give What We Owe Them Knowing how our governing authorities relate to God, we now move on to our response: to give them what we owe. Romans defines this as our attitudes and actions. Our attitudes are honor 2

Pastor Tim Patoka

Godly Government

October 22, 2023

and respect as we desire their best and treat them as their position deserves. Our actions are paying taxes to support them and obedience to their commands. Unless, of course, we are being commanded to sin against God (Acts 5:29).

Why do we do all this? Romans again tells us. First of all, it’s in our self-interest! If we are lawabiding citizens who honor and respect our governing authorities, we have nothing to fear from them. Even if we were to fall victim to their corruption, or bad judgment calls, we expect to be vindicated and restored at the end. As Christians, we have a second reason that’s better: our godly conscience. To withhold what we owe our governing authorities is to withhold it from God since they are his servants. Why would we do that as children of God? But there’s still a third reason: to support them for the work they do. Just as we give our offerings to financially support Grace’s ministry into the future, so we pay our taxes to financially support our governing authorities for their work into the future.

How well do your attitudes line up with Romans chapter 13? When the jury summons come, do you honor your command to participate in the judicial system? When you see the taxes on your bill, do you respectfully pay your small portion to fund everything the government does? How about your actions, how well do you give what’s owed of you? Do you outright disobey because you think the laws are stupid or don’t apply to you? Do you purposefully bend the rules so you can benefit from creative accounting or gunning it when the light turns yellow? If caught red-handed, have you already planned to play dumb hoping they’ll let you go or find bigger fish to fry?

We have no reason to withhold the attitudes and actions we owe to our governing authorities. If anyone did, it was Jesus while he still lived on Earth. Yet he too submitted to the governing authorities and gave them what was owed. To Caesar, he paid the required taxes while teaching the Pharisees we should also give to God what is God’s. To Pontius Pilate, he gave respect and honor to the governor who would unjustly condemn him to death. To the soldiers who committed police brutality, he did not strike back when they mocked him, hit him, spit on him, and twisted a crown of thorns into his head. To the soldiers who nailed him to the cross, he willingly stretched out his hands and feet. To his Father in heaven, he drank the cup of suffering by bearing the weight of every sin, dying on the cross, and paying the required price with his own life.

As we look at Jesus, not only do we see a perfect example of submission to the governing authorities, we also see our Savior who forgives us for all the times we haven’t submitted.

Through faith in him and what he did for us on that cross, we are freed from the law’s eternal curse, cleansed of every sin, and see God in his full light. Not as “The Man” keeping us down through his authoritative servants, but our loving Father who cares for and protects us through our governing authorities.

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Pastor Tim Patoka

Godly Government

October 22, 2023

Driven by our love for God and freed from the law’s eternal curse because of Jesus, let’s submit to the governing authorities by giving them what we owe. Our attitudes of honor and respect for the ugly and thankless tasks they do. Our actions of taxes and obedience as expected of us so they can continue to govern us with fewer headaches. Because when we submit to our governing authorities, we are ultimately submitting to God who works for our benefit through them.

Closing Encouragements God and government; religion and politics. They’re taboo conversation topics, yet we cannot avoid them. There’s a lot more that could be said on this topic. For them, I encourage you to read your Bibles and talk with your pastors to see what God’s Word says. But here’s what Romans chapter 13 says: everyone is to submit to the governing authorities for they are God’s servant for our benefit by punishing what’s evil and promoting what’s good. With that biblical perspective in mind, we then respond by giving them what we owe – our attitudes and actions – out of self-interest, our Christian conscience, and to support their work into the future.

I encourage you to do just that. See your governing authorities in the light of the Bible: God’s servant who cares for and protects you through them. No one person can fulfill God’s expectations, not even our governing authorities who are Christians! But they still remain his servants who will eventually answer to God for their governance of us. Submit to your governing authorities as you would to God for the authority they wield is his and exercised on his behalf. Give the attitudes and actions we owe them: honor and respect for their thankless work so we hopefully encourage others to do the same; taxes and obedience so they may continue governing us with lighter burdens to carry.

Romans doesn’t mention this, but 1 Timothy chapter 2(:1-2) does: pray for them. Pray that our governing authorities live up to God’s expectations, recognize their role as God’s servant, and humbly serve us as extensions of God’s ultimate authority. And let’s submit to our governing authorities as we would to God himself out of love and thanks to our Father in heaven who cares for and protects us through our governing authorities and to Jesus who has freed us from the law’s eternal curse. Amen.

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