Sunday Night, August 30, 2020 PM

All right, good evening again. As you're coming back to your seats, let's open our Bibles to Romans 13. We had a few adjustments in the schedule, so I thought we would be away for a few Sunday nights before we got back, but here we are already again, just as the Lord wills.

And so we are—did not have multiple weeks to read up on Romans 13, but I hope that you did get a chance to look at it. It is very helpful to us, giving us some much-needed guidance, and it stands in connection with many other passages of Scripture.

The Question of Romans 13 and Civil Government

As we've already talked about, the way in which God instituted civil government and family government and church government, we have lots of instructions from Jesus Christ about how to understand interaction between His followers and the government, and we have lots of instruction from His apostles as well.

So we are going to talk a little bit more about that tonight in our study, Sons of Issachar. The question is, what about Romans 13? So in the times that we are to understand, as the Sons of Issachar did, and in the need for the knowledge of what to do, one of the pressing questions of our time is, what about Romans 13?

And this is in regards to what happens when the civil government at some level—let's say a municipality, a city, or a county, or a state, or the federal government—says something that we don't know whether we should obey or not.

Is that lawful? Is that something we're supposed to do? If the federal says something that we think is unlawful, should we appeal to a lesser magistrate and check in with our sheriff and say, is that really what we should be doing.

Here?

What's the way in which we should approach this matter? And a lot of times the question comes up, what about Romans 13? And the reason why is that it is a robust passage. It is extended. We read from verse 1 all the way through verse 7 about what is the civil government?

How did God institute it? Why did he give it? What is its purpose and its role? So it's a very robust passage for Christians to meditate on and apply in our lives, in our relationship to civil government.

And so the question gets posed a lot. Well, what about Romans 13? To any time there is a concern. So we took, for instance, a specific matter where the churches in California were told to cease and desist, that they were not allowed to meet in person, and that they could not meet inside of church buildings, and then various other edicts have been handed down in past months.

For instance, the governor of Kentucky outlawing communion, or, of course, Governor Newsom of California outlawing hymns, and so on. It's kind of a strange time in which to live. And all of these things are being said in the name of science, because science says this is the way that we prevent harm to others, therefore we ought to avoid doing these types of things.

And much is being said about how this is, well, this is not a particular attack against the church, but it's for all kinds of institutions where people may come inside, unless it's gambling, and of course in Nevada it's fine to gamble inside casinos, but not okay to meet together inside of a church building.

But it's not really against the church, it is said. And the point comes again and again, well, even if what the government is saying, even if what civil government at any level is saying about how we should or should not meet or what we can do when we get together, and so on, that even if it is unjust, what about Romans 13?

Right?

Romans 13 was written during a time when Paul was living under the Roman Empire, and these godless pagans would say all kinds of things that were not great, not good, and yet he's saying, hey, you know, you need to obey the government, and so on and so forth.

What about Romans 13? Even if it's all not fair and wrong and bad, shouldn't we just go ahead and obey anyway? Wouldn't that be the sacrificial way to go, the best kind of testimony to offer to the world as we're being salt and light?

So you can see the importance of the question. You can see the importance of the question, feel the weight of it in how we answer. So it's certainly something that the sons of Iscar need to understand about the times and to know what to do.

Last time we spent some time together on this issue last week, we talked about our convictions. What does the Bible say about the institution of government? That means civil, that means family, that means the church.

There are various roles that God has given in terms of authority. There are people that all of us must obey. There are good structures of authority that God has ordained, and we are called to glorify God and to show how worthy He is to follow in obedience to those who are in authority over us and to do so with a proper attitude.

And so we see that in family and in church and in the civil sphere. And we talked about how these three spheres of government are not to be seen as in some kind of hierarchy, the civil is over everything, and then the church, and then the family, or flip it around, and the family's in charge of everything, and then the civil, then the church, or some organization of it.

But the fact is that there is an overlapping of these spheres. There are some areas that are clearly the families. There are some areas that are clearly the civil government. There are some areas that are clearly the church.

But there are other areas where the things begin to overlap. And that's where we begin to have our questions, especially when there's an overlap, as we've been talking specifically, about an overlap between civil government and church government.

When the church elders are saying something like, hey, let's have church, let's come together and let's have church, and here's what we're going to do, we're going to sing hymns and take communion. And then the civil government comes out and says, thou shalt not come to church, or if you do, you can't sing hymns, or if you do, you can't take communion.

And then all of a sudden we have this overlap, and the civil government is saying, this is for the safety of our citizens, and we're in charge of protecting our citizens. Which, yeah, yeah, civil government, yeah, they're in charge of protecting their citizens, and that's their domain.

And yet the church elders are saying, well, you know, we're the ones who are in charge of pastoring and shepherding our flock, and it's for their good that we come together. And the civil government says, no, it's for their harm.

It says, no, it's for our good. Then you have this clash, don't you? So that's where, in that venue, particularly in the last few months, that American Christianity has been having a protracted discussion, to some degree, about Romans 13.

And we need to have an understanding of the text if we're going to make an informed decision about what to do. So we have to clarify our terms. We talked about an interesting approach from Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, who drew up a covenant for their staff and their professors and their students, that they would sign this covenant, and among other things that they would say, we affirm together that we will follow and obey all rules, all policies, all advisories, and all practices required by government authorities.

So why would they do that? Well, they would do that because of a particular reading of Romans 13, right? Well, it said, Romans 13, obey the government, right? So whatever the government advises, whatever the government recommends, whatever the civil government authorities make a rule or a state as a practice, we are going to obey that.

Okay, well, that's one way to go, obviously. Is that a right understanding of Romans 13?

Let's see.

We're trying to clarify terms for some folks. That's what it means. If we're going to, you know, obey the government, have a good Christian witness, then we just, whatever they say, we ask, how high? And then we go for it.

But let's read Romans 13, and in verses 1 through 2, we're kind of reviewing some of the things we talked about under our convictions from last week. Verses 3 through 4, we'll talk about some of the categories that are used here in the scripture.

We'll talk about our conscience in verse 5, and then some clarification in verses 6 through 7. So let me read this for us. Every person is to be in subjection to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except from God, and those which exist are established by God.

Therefore, whoever resists authority has opposed the ordinance of God, and they who have opposed will receive condemnation upon themselves. 4. Rulers are not a cause of fear for good behavior, but for evil.

Do you want to have no fear of authority? Do what is good, and you will have praise from the same, for it is a minister of God to you for good. But if what you do is evil, be afraid, for it does not bear the sword for nothing, for it is a minister of God, an avenger who brings wrath upon the world.

Wrath on the one who practices evil. Therefore, it is necessary to be in subjection, not only because of wrath, but also for conscience' sake. 4. Because of this, you also pay taxes, for rulers are servants of God, devoting themselves to this very thing.

Render to all what is due them, tax to whom taxes due, custom to whom custom, fear to whom fear, honor to whom honor. So, very clearly, Paul is saying, when it comes to the governing authorities, recognize that civil government is a gift from God.

God has ordained civil government, and since we understand that their authority is delegated to them by God, it is important that we obey civil government. 5. Why, therefore, should we obey the civil government?

Explanation, verses 3 and 4. Here's why civil government has been instituted by God. Let's notice the purpose. For rulers are not a cause of fear for good behavior, but for evil. Do you want to have no fear of authority?

Do what is good, and you will have praise from the same.

Why?

Because civil government is a minister of God. The word minister is the same word that we have for deacon, dakonos, so it's a servant of God. It is a servant of God for you, for good, and for you means for all different types of people, whoever that they are responsible for.

But if you do what is evil, be afraid, for it does not bear the sword for nothing. Why does it bear the sword? Genesis 9. From the need to punish murderers, to execute those who commit murder, comes the rest of the duties of the civil government to bear the sword as a symbol of their authority against evildoers, to stem the tide of evil.

So it says, for it is a minister of God, an avenger. So subject yourself to the governing authorities. Why is it a minister of God? In what way is it a minister of God? It is an avenger. Civil government is an avenger who brings wrath on the one who practices evil.

So the reason to submit to the civil government is because civil government is a servant of God ordained to fight against evil, to stem the tide of evil, to bear the sword against evildoers. Therefore, it is necessary to be in subjection not only because of wrath, not only should you subject yourself to the civil government because of the wrath that would come upon you if you do not, but also for conscience sake.

Let's get to the heart of the matter. The fact that you, according to conscience, would not want to be doing the things that the government is opposing. For because of this, you also pay taxes for rulers or servants of God, devoting themselves to this very thing.

Render to all what is due them. Render to all what is due them. Tax to whom taxes due, custom to whom custom, fear to whom fear, honor to whom honor. So to put this into a more practical frame, the Oklahoma Highway Patrol in their really nice looking sleek black car, you know, it's not the, it's like, they aren't even really black and white,.

Are they?

Boy, they've got nice engines. One went by me the other day doing about 110, and boy, that thing can move. That's one sleek car. And they had that nice little just Oklahoma, you know, thing right there on the side.

When it went by, we were startled because we, it came past us before we heard the siren, you know, it was going that fast, you know. The Doppler effect was just left all behind. So, and we, we weren't really scared, because we were going the speed limit and doing what we're supposed to.

However, however, if we were driving 90, 95 miles an hour down I -40, trying to make good time, you know, swerving around all those slow pokes, we should be afraid of the civil government, shouldn't we?

It's their job to protect their citizens. And if I'm driving 95 miles an hour, let alone in a 12-passenger van, which is not a good idea, I'm not only endangering myself, so it's not just my business, I'm endangering everybody else that I'm driving around.

And the civil government has a duty to protect their citizens. And so they're going to put a stop to my reckless behavior, right? That's just, and then if they pull me over, they're going to have a very serious talk with me.

And they may, you know, do a little bit more than that, but they're definitely going to fine me. I'm definitely going to have to pay some money as a deterrent for me ever doing that again. I may have to go take some lessons.

I don't know.

Who knows how bad it'll be? Now, if I don't pay that, what happens? They issue a warrant for my arrest because I have not paid my fines. And if I ignore that, who comes knocking on my door? Well, a deputy comes knocking on my door because I haven't paid my fines issued to me by the highway, the state highway patrol, and he will be coming and he will be checking on why I haven't paid my fines and he's going to have a warrant out for my arrest.

He's coming to arrest me, okay? If I tell him he has no business on my property, what device does he have to persuade me otherwise? All right. He has the modern day equivalent of a sword, right? And that is the symbol and the tool of civil government ordained by God to oppose evil doers.

And that is right, and that is good, and thus we should drive the speed limit, okay? That's just a practical everyday example that we can relate to. And we pay taxes so that the police will do what they should do in terms of protecting the citizens and so on.

Now, that's what we're reading about here in Romans 13 as a modern day example, okay? Now, and if I render all to what is due them, if I do get a speeding ticket, I should render what is due them, and so on and so forth.

When Civil and Church Authority Overlap

Now, the question is, however, what happens when there's an overlap between civil government and church government, and the civil government says, you shall not meet together in your facilities to have church, or if you do, here's how your worship plan is supposed to look.

What do we say then? Do we still say, Romans 13, right? When King Ahab sent word back to Jerusalem to say, build this altar that I found up here in Damascus. I like this pagan style better than, and he sent that back to the temple, and the high priest got that message and the blueprints about how to build a pagan altar and move God's altar off to the side.

That priest said, yes, sir. And sinned against God in a major way, right? So we can tell, hey, look, there are times, there are times when the civil government is telling the church to do something, the church says, no, sorry, can't do that.

And that is right, and that is good, understanding how that works. So let's use the text, Romans 13 itself, to help guide us through understanding why would we ever say no to the civil government, right?

Why would we do that?

Civil government is a minister of God, right? It's ordained by God, its authority is delegated to them by God. It is meant for our good, and when should we ever fear, what does the text say? When should we be afraid of that sword that is wielded by the civil government?

At what point does the text tell us to be afraid of that? When you do evil. I have a question for you. Attending church in the most effective way possible, singing hymns, taking communion, is that evil?

No, that is not evil, that is not evil. To bring it even closer to home, notice that the civil government is a minister of God an avenger who does what? Brings wrath on the one who practices evil. Whose wrath?

It says that in the text, it's a minister of God for avenging, to bring wrath. And just in case someone says, well, that means the government's wrath. All you have to do is back up just a few verses, back into chapter 12.

And Paul didn't write with chapters and verses. So you just back up just a little bit, back up into chapter 12, just above this passage. And what do we see in verse 19? Never take your own revenge, beloved, but leave room for the wrath of God.

For it is written, vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord. So what someone is saying, if somebody says, well, if the government tells us that we ought not to meet in person, to worship God in the most effective way possible, if the government tells us that we're not allowed to sing hymns, if the government tells us we're not allowed to take communion, and then someone says, we ought to obey all of that because of Romans 13.

What they're saying is, if we disobey that government edict, we are evildoers who should fear the sword of the government. In fact, the government will be the minister of God to bring God's wrath upon us because we are meeting together to sing to Christ and take communion.

Now, does that make sense? It doesn't make sense in the least. Romans 13 is a fantastic passage. It is so helpful to clarify the good of civil government, but it is not to be used in isolation from its own context or to be used in isolation from many other passages in the Bible, whereby the analogy of scripture, scripture interpreting scripture, we can understand what exactly this is about.

So we can't simply say Romans 13 about why we would let the state tell us what our worship plan looks like from Sunday to Sunday. Because if we do that, then we are implying that if we obey any mandate from the government about how we worship God, if we disobey any of that, then God will pour out his wrath on us.

That doesn't make any sense at all. I think that's just a plain reading of the text. I don't think that's too fancy. Now, what is the main reason? What is the main reason being stated? There is fear about the virus.

There is fear about spreading the virus. There is fear about infecting people and people dying before they should, people dying who shouldn't be dying, all because of the carelessness or the disregard of safety by those who are defying government regulations.

Why do they believe that to be the case? What reason do they have to believe that that is the case? By what standard? What's their standard? Science, capital S, science, not lowercase. Don't miss this.

Capital S, science. Science has declared at some point, in some fashion, science has declared that taking communion and singing hymns inside a closed building is deadly and will kill people. And evangelicalism at large has added to that.

And therefore, it's unloving to have church during COVID -19. But anything that is said about COVID -19, just remember it can also be said about the flu. Okay, the standards are exactly the same. So if we say, okay, this is a special case, it's not actually a special case at all.

The flu is deadly. People die by the thousands every year because of the flu. It is a terrible disease. Many people die and they get pneumonia and they wither away and they die. Some of your loved ones may have died from the flu.

It's a terrible disease. And we have it every single year. And whatever can be said about COVID in terms of risk, and so on and so forth, can be said about COVID -19 as well. So whatever we're willing to accept about the one, we have to accept by principle of the other.

We must, even though there is some effort to try to distinguish them. The answer again and again is, but science, we have to avoid harm. Science says. Well, what did science say about the Jewish and Slavic people?

What did science? And I'm talking about people in the United States believe the very same thing the people in Germany believed. Just read the textbooks. What did all an agreement believe about Jewish and Slavic people?

And then what kind of necessary actions were taken to avoid harm from these kinds of people? And then how did the church respond? The majority of the churches in Europe, how did they respond? Romans 13, Romans 13.

And a few said no, and then they suffered for it. What does science say about biological life? What does science, capital S science, what does it say about the universe in which we live? What does science say about unborn infants?

What does capital S science say about the gender dysphoric? What does capital S science say about the nuclear family, husband, wife, children? What does capital S science say about physical gatherings for religious purposes?

Well, probably something that it used to say about five years ago. And it's always changing. The gods are fickle. The gods are fickle. The gods are always saying something new and different and always authoritative.

By what standard? The gods are fickle, but Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. So why the gods change their minds all the time and something comes down the pipe, what are we supposed to do?

Well, we have to use wisdom. We have to use the scripture. We have to stick with what is obvious and clear in the Bible and do our very best to follow Jesus. Which is, you know, what I was trying to get at when we went through our time in Romans 14 earlier in this year, trying to say, okay, look, we're going to end up with different convictions about this, but let's love one another.

All right, let's love one another. Let's move forward in bearing with one another, because that's the path forward as we work out our convictions about this matter. But science cannot be our standard.

Christ must be our standard. I'm not anti-understanding new things, okay? I'm, you know, I'm grateful for dentistry, right? I'm also grateful for the IVs and the blood transfusions and the PICU and everything else that God used to help save my daughter's life.

So I'm not anti-science lowercase s. I'm anti-science capital S, the kind that is worshipped. And then if you ever add numbers to the capital S science, everyone bows down and says, ah, the truth has been spoken because numbers and science were put together.

We have to be very careful that we don't just replace constantly our standard for something else. We have to, we have to understand that Christ and his word is the standard for civil government. It's the standard for ecclesiastical government.

Scripture, Apostolic Authority, and the Limits of Government

Now in Acts chapter four, in Acts chapter four, we have an instructive story. John and Peter healed a man who was lame. And everybody knew he was lame. He'd been lame for a long time and everybody knew him because he sat outside the temple gate.

So he was a very public kind of beggar. Everybody knew him, you know, and he gets healed. And Peter and John begin to preach and say, and then it was in the name of Jesus Christ, Jesus Christ, Jesus of Nazareth, whom you put to death on the cross.

And he rose from the dead because he's the son of God. And they preach the gospel and they get arrested. They get arrested and they get thrown into prison. The local government, the chief priest and the elders part of the Sanhedrin, they were a governing body.

They were in charge. They were tasked with keeping order. They had many government duties to perform and they decided to throw Peter and John into prison. Interesting, what did they say in verses 11 and 12 when they were preaching?

They say of Christ, he is the stone which was rejected by you, the builders, but which has become the chief cornerstone. A wonderful passage out of Psalm 118, verse 22, that they would have thought was talking about Israel.

And they say, this is about the Messiah. So that doesn't make the chief priest very happy. And then verse 12, and there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved.

That is a very familiar phrase because it was used of Caesar Augustus. There is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved was used originally of Caesar Augustus.

And now they say, this is referring to Jesus Christ. So on the one hand, they defy the Sanhedrin. On the other hand, they defy the Roman emperor about claims that they have no business claiming. They have no...

The Jewish religious leaders have no business claiming that they are the Messiah when the Messiah has come. And clamping down on that and saying, you shall not preach about the Messiah. And the Roman government has no business declaring that the state is your savior or that Caesar is your savior.

That is not the realm of the domain of... That's not why God ordained government. That's not wielding the sword to, you know, tamp down evildoers and protect citizens. That's totally out of line. And so what they're saying gets them arrested and understandably why.

The Sanhedrin does not want a political revolution happening in their own backyard because they will be held accountable for that. And they live in a land full of political revolutions in their history and their job.

The reason why they have their jobs is because Rome tells them, you better keep a lid on the stuff going on. And so they don't want any of that talk happening that stirs things up. But that's what Peter and John do.

They offer Christ. They offer Christ. Wherein the state would say, what you need is the state. They say, no, you need Christ. So as part of our model, we have to stick with the scriptures rather than statistics and stories.

And again and again, we're confronted with the fact that everybody has statistics and everybody has stories. Everyone has conflicting statistics and everybody has conflicting stories. So who's the right?

Well, we have to come back to our standard, which is the scriptures. And here's something that we need to hear from Matthew chapter 10, verses 16 through 23. Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves.

So be shrewd as serpents and as innocent as doves. Well, that's a hard balance to strike, isn't it? But we need to be as wise as serpents and as harmless as doves. Well, we need wisdom for that, don't we?

We do.

And in what situation do we need that? You know, when we're blogging or tweeting?

No.

Notice the context. He says, beware of men, for they will hand you over to the courts and scourge you in their synagogues. Right, they're facing the sword, right? The sword of the governing authorities is pointing at them.

And it's going to happen in the courtroom. It's going to happen in the synagogue. Either the Jewish governing authorities or the Gentile governing authorities, they're going to have the sword of the civil government pointed at them.

And that's why they need to be as shrewd as serpents and as innocent as doves. And you will be even brought before governors and kings for my sake as a testimony to them and to the Gentiles. But when they hand you over, do not worry about how or what you are to say.

For it will be given to you in that hour what you are to say. For it is not you who speak, but it is the spirit of your father who speaks in you. Brother will betray brother to death and a father his child, and children will rise up against parents and cause them to be put to death.

Why?

People are getting reported on, right? New convert to the way will not be showing up to any of the sacrifices anytime soon. And they're outed by a family member at some point to Saul of Tarsus who handles the business, right?

You will be hated by all because of my name, but it is the one who has endured to the end who will be saved. But whenever they persecute you in one city, flee to the next. For truly I say to you, you will not finish going through the cities of Israel until the son of man comes.

And his disciples, his apostles, didn't get through all the villages and towns of Israel before the destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70. So Jesus was right on the mark. So what is our hope? Well, our hope is that God is the one who has given the government as a minister to oppose evil doers.

And if the government says, the government begins to say that something that is clearly in the scriptures, doing good, right? There's something in the scriptures that clearly means doing good. And the government says that is evil.

Well, we don't have to worry because the scriptures are clear. So we continue on. Parents raising their children up in the fear and the admonition of the Lord. This will become the new harm at some point that in the nuclear family, which is seen as an evil, a husband and wife raising their children to believe the scriptures will be called child abuse.

And the state will try to intervene. The state will try to give tests to see whether or not there's child abuse going on in the home, but based on what the children say that they believe. That's the direction of it.

It's getting some of our missionaries encounter this, okay, already. So when that happens, should we say Romans 13, Romans 13? We must send them to the state approved schools so that they will not be, we will have a good testimony, right?

We don't wanna stumble our neighbors by not, they'll think we're child abusers and then where will our testimony be, right? See, there's no end to the mindless invoking of Romans 13 on this. We have to be clear according to the scriptures.

We have the story of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. You know, Nebuchadnezzar would have been probably praised by big Eva today in the blogs. Look how much he really bought into Daniel's dream as he interpreted it.

Yeah, he made the whole statue out of gold.

Instead of just the head,.

But you could tell he's really listening. He's really getting into this God thing. You just really need to work with him where he's at. He's just contextualizing the worship of God in his own way. But anyway, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego says they're not going to bow down and worship the golden idol.

And verse 17 of Daniel 3, and they say, if it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the furnace of the blazing fire. And he will deliver us out of your hand, O king. But even if he does not, let it be known to you, O king, that we are not going to serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up.

I mean, this story, I love the fact this story got used, I think, in every BBS for decades. That's awesome, that's great, because we need to know that sometimes the very best testimony that we can have, the best witness we can have as Christians is to clearly stand up and say, what God has said is true, what God has said is right, and we're going to stick with that.

And that is an excellent way to be a witness for Christ. And then finally, Acts 5. The story kind of continues on through. Acts 4 and 5 is a great read. I mean, it's just, it is action-packed. It's very interesting stuff.

But Peter and John get in trouble again. They're out preaching the gospel, and then they got arrested and put in a public jail, it says in Acts 5. They got thrown in jail by the governing authorities.

Okay, and why? Because they were preaching the gospel. They got in trouble with the governing authorities because they were preaching the gospel publicly. And they could have said, look, obviously we went about this the wrong way.

I mean, taking the gospel straight into, and in such a confrontative way to where the Sanhedrin have such influence, we obviously stumbled them. You know, we weren't patient and kind and thinking about, you know, where they're coming from and everything else.

And so we obviously just need to rethink what we're doing. But during the night, angel of the Lord opened the gates of the prison and taking them out, said, go stand and speak to the people in the temple with the whole message of this life.

So they go back to the temple and they preach beginning at daybreak. So the sun comes up and they just begin teaching and preaching. And meanwhile, the high priest and his associates come and they call the council together, even all the synod of the sons of Israel.

Okay, so, man, they are gathered. Here's the civil governing authorities. And they sent orders to the prison house for them to be brought. They're ready to hold court. All right, let's talk to these guys.

Let's intimidate them. Let's tell them to stop. There's a problem. But the officers who came did not find them in the prison. And they returned and reported back saying, we found the prison house locked quite securely and the guards standing at the doors.