Christians And Government (Part 2)

Thanks for tuning in to No Compromise Radio with pastor and author, Dr. Mike Abendroth. Today on No Compromise Radio, we'll be hearing Pastor Mike open the Word of God in a recent message he preached at Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston, Massachusetts.

Now let's join Pastor Mike in progress as he preaches through the scriptures, verse by verse, with No Compromise.

Paying Taxes as Submission to God’s Authority

Number five, submit by paying your taxes. Oh, oh no. I want to be like Ray Stedman, like paying pennies. I want to be like Ray Stedman who would write the check, infernal revenue service when he was still a pastor.

He said they still cash the check. I want to be like Ray Stedman who then went on to say, I'm going to write eternal revenue service. And Stedman said he still, they still cash the check. I mean, the IRS we know, especially in the last few weeks, is above the board organization.

They do things correctly. They do things righteously. They do things correctly. They're stewards of the money God gave them to look over. This is an external revealer of our internal soul. Verse six, for because of this, you also pay taxes.

For authorities are, here it comes again, ministers of God attending to this very thing. Now back up in time, you're living in a country dominated by Rome and it's not even, you don't even live in Italy.

And you've got these people who are now trying to excise taxes out of you. No wonder people back in the Bible day, the Jews hated Matthew so much, the tax collector, because he was under Rome's thumb trying to get taxes out of people who were his own countrymen.

The word here says pay, and it means paid in full. When Jesus said it is finished, paid in full, that's the terminology close to it used here. Pay your taxes. When they had come to Capernaum, those who collected the two drachma tax for the support of the temple came to Peter, said, does your teacher not pay the two drachma tax?

Now if you're a king's son, you don't have to pay. Jesus is the king's son. He really didn't have to pay. The text goes on. He said, yes. And when he came into the house, Jesus spoke to him first saying, now Jesus wasn't there, but he's God.

So he, he, he was there. What do you think Simon? Simon's outside talking about this tax thing. He walks in and now Jesus is asking this question. From whom do the kings of the earth collect customs or poll tax?

From their sons or from strangers? From strangers. Consequently, Jesus said, the sons are exempt, but lest we give offense, go to the sea, throw in a hook, take the first fish that comes up, and when you open its mouth, you will find a stater.

Take that and give it to them for you and me. Later in the gospel of Matthew, it says, then the Pharisees went and counseled together how they might trap Jesus in what he said. They sent their disciples to him along with the Herodians saying, teacher, we know that you're truthful and teach the way of God and truth and defer to no one.

You're not partial in any way. Tell us therefore, what do you think? Is it lawful to give a poll tax, that annual one day's wage tax per person to Caesar or not? If he says no, treason. If he says yes, disloyalty to the Jewish nation.

But Jesus perceived their malice and said, why are you testing me? You hypocrites show me the coin used for the poll tax. And they brought him a denarius one side, Tiberius, the other side, his robes and thrown idolatrous for a Jew, by the way, whose likeness and inscription is this?

They said, Caesar's. Then Jesus said to them, then render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's and to God the things that are God's. God has stamped you with his image. You render yourself to God, pay it up, pay up the taxes.

Authorities are ministers of God. What's the text say? Look at verse six. Attending to this very thing. One translation is devoting themselves to this very thing, a true or false. The labor is worthy of his wages.

True. Do people work hard at giving you clean water? Well then pay them through taxes. Do you like having an army and Navy? Well then pay taxes. Do you like clean drinking water? Do you like your trash picked up?

Do you like whatever the government does? Then pay your taxes. Do you like it that the policemen get the bad guys and throw them in jail before they can come to your house and kill you and pay your taxes?

They devote themselves to that. Tax evasion is not a crime only. It's a sin. You say, yeah, but I didn't vote for them. Yeah, but just like Cyrus, God says of Cyrus, he is my shepherd. They're ministers.

Angels called ministers. Jesus called a minister. Epaphrodite is called a minister. Number six, before we move to the next section in Romans 13, submit by paying more than taxes. This whole section is governed by submission.

Authority comes from God, one. Oppose God's authority. You oppose him, two. There's consequences if you oppose him, three. You want to have a clean conscience, don't you? Four. Pay your taxes. Submit that way, five.

And number six, submit by paying more than taxes. Submit by paying more than taxes. This is probably the one that convicts people the most. I personally try never to say the president's last name only.

I try to say President Obama for these very reasons. This is above and beyond. This is internal attitude. It's more than lip service. And it says here in verse 13, pay to all what is owed them. Taxes to whom taxes are owed.

Revenue to whom revenue is owed. Respect to whom respect is owed. And then we'll get to the end here, the last part of the sentence. Honor to whom honor is owed. Render. That means something is owed them.

Same word render to Caesar that Jesus used. That word render means literally, listen, to give back. You've received value from the government. You give back. Taxes aren't a gift to the government. They're a debt that you owe to the government.

And he gives four categories here. Whether the money goes to the government to teach evolution, to fund partial birth abortion. You are responsible to pay your taxes. They are responsible to take that money and do righteously and justly with it.

And God will judge them for how they use the money, but he will chasten you if you don't pay your taxes. Here the text says tax to whom taxes due. The word there means personal tax, property tax, income tax, capital gains tax.

The outside people come and dominate our country and they say, here's a tax you have to pay. That's this kind of tax. Secondly, revenue to whom revenue is owed. Our custom to whom custom is owed. Just flew overseas, came back through customs, declare everything that you purchased.

This is import tax, export tax, duty tax. It's the kind of tax that Matthew excised out of people. This could be highway tolls. I fly a lot and when I see the flight, it's only $139 both ways, but it's like $900 in taxes and fees.

Okay, that's an exaggeration, but it seems like it. That's this kind of tax right here. Custom, revenue. Three, respect to whom respect is owed. Our fear, literally, fabas. My son, fear the Lord and the King, Proverbs 24.

And now we get to this one that's the hardest. Your town selectmen, your senators, your congresspeople, president, the vice president, honor to whom honor is owed, ESV. Honor to whom honor. Esteeming their position as valuable, precious, that's hard to do.

Friends, we don't speak poorly of our president. Now, you can say, I think the president's policy on homosexual marriage and abortion is sinful. That is a lot different than attacking the person. And Christians must be very careful.

So you've got to pay what you owe. And that makes Paul think about something else. He makes him think about debts. And it says in verse 8, transitioning to what's been said in 12 but still carrying on this thought of we owe taxes.

Is there anything else we owe? Well, he says in verse 8, owe no one anything. But the meaning really is, don't have any debt outstanding. If you just want to take it wouldn'tly and literally, you'll be like Jay Hudson Taylor, he would never borrow for anything, not for a house, not for a new church building.

That's not the idea. If you've got a debt, like taxes, pay taxes. But if you've got a debt for something else, you owe money to the cable bill, for the cable bill, you ought to pay it. Say, well, you know what?

Everybody else skips out on their college loans. They're never gonna track me down. Christian, you are a justified sinner. Pay back your loans. Have any debt to people? Pay them back. It's fascinating.

Pay your rent on time. Pay your bills on time. Pay your loans on time. Pay what is owed is literally what is said. But you know, there's something here that you're not gonna be ever able to do. There's a debt that you can never repay.

Take a look at verse 8. Accept to love each other. There's a debt that you can never repay. You can never see somebody and say, you know what, I've loved you enough. I've paid my debt of love to you, and I'm not loving you anymore.

This is good for marriages. I constantly hear about marriages. People have been married 20 years, 30 years. Kids move out of the house, and then it's like, forget you. I've loved you enough. I want a little bit back now.

It's your turn. I've done my loving, and I'm stopping. What does the text say if you're a Christian? If you get no love back, no affection back, no emotions back, nothing back. You owe that person in front of you, let alone your spouse, love.

Agape love, the same kind of unconditional love that God has for his son-loving, sinful people. Permanent obligation. D .L. Moody said, a man may be a good doctor without loving his patients, a good lawyer without loving his clients, a good geologist without loving science, but he cannot be a good Christian without love.

When you meet someone, you should say to yourself, I owe this person love. I have a debt for this person. I need to show him the love of Christ. Why is love our debt? See the rest of the verse, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law.

Love Fulfills the Law

And then he illustrates this point, quoting the side of the Ten Commandments that are toward people. And he quotes, abbreviatedly, four of the Ten Commandments in verse nine. The seventh, sixth, eighth, and tenth commandment.

And he said, here's how love replaces these commandments. He's already talked about how we're not under the law, it's binding authority in Romans six, Romans seven, Romans eight. So here's how you replace those, with the most quoted verse in the New Testament.

That is, the most quoted Old Testament verse in the New. He says, for the commandments, you shall not commit adultery. That's even with your heart, of course, and lust. You shall not murder. That's even hatred, of course, Matthew five.

You shall not steal, you shall not covet, or any other commandment, are summed up in this word. And here's that popularly quoted verse from the Old and the New. You shall love your neighbor as yourself.

Leviticus 19 .18. If you love other people, you won't commit adultery. You won't murder them, you won't covet what they have. You'll love them as yourself. Cuz love is the consummation of the law, it sums it up.

And by the way, think about it. I love myself even though I have faults. I know they're hard for other people to see, but I love myself in spite of me. I do a pretty good job at it. I think I probably love me.

I love me some me. I never thought I'd say that from the pulpit ever. But I love me even though I got faults. So we love other people even though we know they have faults. Because love wants what's best for them.

This is not the emotional word. This is not the sexual word. We love people because we're told to. We've been loved with our faults. We love ourselves with our faults. Verse ten, love does no wrong to a neighbor.

Therefore, love is the fulfilling of the law. We're not lawless people. If Moses isn't binding, we just run around crazy? No. Something even better. Now what Paul says in chapter 12 is he said, listen, go back to the first 11 chapters.

Think about those mercies of God, and then I want you to say to the Lord, I do, I'm in, I present myself a living and holy sacrifice to you. He looks to the past for motivation. And now Paul looks to the future.

Living in Light of Christ’s Return

Jesus Christ motivates Christians. Ethical eschatology. Obligations in light of Jesus's soon return. And these verses here, verses 11 through 14, are chock full of all kinds of indicatives. Here's who we are.

Here's the story. And then imperatives in light of that do something about it. We are one day closer to Jesus's return. Yesterday is gone. So live your life in light of that. Verse 11. Look at all the indicatives.

And look at all the words for time. Time, hour, now, day. Besides this, you know the time. That the hour has come for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now. Your glorification, because Jesus is going to return, that end day of all days is closer to us than when we first believed.

The night is far gone. The day is at hand. So let us cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light. The incentive to live out the law of love and submit to the government and everything else in the Christian life is for what God has done for you, forgiven you, but also that his son is returning.

I studied a lot this week. I'm going to have to save it for a radio show, I think. I studied sleepwalking. Somnambulists is what they're called. Or you could call them noctambulists. And what people do when they're sleepwalking.

I mean, it's just like, you know, zombie kind of thing. And they get up, they do all kinds of things. Christian, don't be a sleepwalker. It's like the people who are at their job now. They're to school, they're at education, and they've got their tenure.

So they're just riding out their time there. They don't really do much because they can't be fired. Christians ought not to be that way, sleepwalking around. Paul says it's time to wake up. Now, when I wake people up when I'm preaching, I don't see sleepers this service, but I saw sleepers first service.

I have a variety of ways to wake people up when they're sleeping. I can raise my voice. I like to slap the pulpit once in a while. I like to clap. How do you wake up people? For Paul, he wakes them up and says, the Lord Jesus Christ, who said, the way you see me go up into heaven is the way you see me come down.

He's coming back soon. Wake up out of your slumber. Yeah, but I've got my work. I've got my kids. I've got my relationships. I've got this. I've got my 401k. I've got my career. I've got all this other stuff.

You have a sleeping disorder. Jesus is coming back. Of course, love your wife. Of course, take care of your kids. But with eyes toward the second coming of Christ, you don't have that much time. The Rolling Stones were just in Boston, played two shows.

I didn't go. I didn't learn it on Fox News. And I don't know what their set list was. But if it included their famous song from the 60s, time is on my side. Don't believe it. I look in the mirror these days and I say to myself, I'm going to pray some imprecatory psalms on the people that developed mirrors that have like some kind of glow worm around the other side with like a 5x down here below or whatever it says.

And I just look at myself and I say, you know, my pride's like, well, for 53, not too bad. But I go, there's hair growing out of my ears, on my ears, out of my nose, on my nose. Oh, everything. And I just look at myself and I go, you're a dead man walking.

I'm 53. My dad died at 55. And I think to myself, when I ride a bicycle, I go, I want to ride Christianly today. How do you ride a bicycle Christianly? Well, I always listen to S. Lewis Johnson. I try to pass people who are going slower.

The smile. No, here's how you ride Christianly. This could be my last bike ride because I'm one day closer to death and I'm one day closer to when Christ returns. One of those is going to happen first.

Paul's just piling up these time sensitive words. You know, I believe in rest and vacation and sports and other things, but not when they take the place of all this other stuff and dominate. Paul says, wake up.

G. Campbell Morgan said, I never begin my work in the morning without thinking that perhaps God may interrupt my work and begin his own. I'm not looking for death. I'm looking for him. Thomas Brooks, time is not yours to dispose of as you please.

Think about it. I read one guy this week and I thought, you know, that's it. That seals it in my heart. If you had to buy time, would you spend it differently than you do now? Well, I got to spend some more money for this time.

You would be more cognizant of the value of time. I got to buy time, so I better spend it wisely. No wonder Paul said to the church at Colossae, make the most of the opportunity. The book of Revelation, the time is near.

The psalmist teach us to number our days. John Whittier said, the saddest words of all the English language are, it might have been. Then he says in verse 12, the night is far gone. The day is at hand using this metaphor.

So then let us cast off the works of darkness. Deeds of the flesh is basically what he's saying. What people do at night, put on the armor of light, that wonderful put off, put on language. It's like the soldier has been out for a night of debauchery and orgiastic living.

And he wakes up in the morning. He hears the trumpet and the general says, it's time for battle. And he gets up and he's got to throw in his sword and shield and his breastplate, call to action. And he uses that kind of language in verse 13.

Let us walk properly. Have our conduct be as in the daytime, not in orgies, not in drunkenness, not in sexual immorality. And maybe the dirtiest, nastiest word in the New Testament, sensuality. It basically means this.

I don't care what you think. I could care less what you think. Shameless talk. That's what people love to say these days. I don't care what you think. That's not proper. That's sensuality, not in quarreling and jealousy.

Maybe tipping us off what he's going to talk about in Romans chapter 14 and 15. Liberty in Christ and legalism and unity. Stop it. Don't do that. The night's almost gone. This is language from first Thessalonians as well.

Time flies and so do the opportunities. You go to a funeral and you should say to yourself lots of things. One of them is, I'm next. If you're older, read Ecclesiastes. When you're not as tall as you used to be, when you can't hear like you...

I mean, I say to my kids now, what'd you say? I can't hear. I can't see. That's Ecclesiastes. The day is at hand. And then what he says at the very end is nice. Using the language of, basically, walk by the spirit.

Put on the Lord, he's king. It's not his first name. That's his title. King Jesus, the Messiah, and make no provision for the flesh to gratify its desires. What does that mean to put on the Lord Jesus?

Eusebius said in his life of Constantine that sons would put on their fathers. That's a good Father's Day way to close it. Sons, put on your fathers. Imitate your father. Have his views. Enter into his spirit.

Talk like him. Act like him. Imitate him. Except this isn't a sinful father. There's some things in my dad I wouldn't want to imitate. But this is to put on the Lord Jesus Christ. Embracing time and time again.

To think about him. To follow him. To know what he's done in our place. Luther said, you can't keep a bird from flying over your head. But you can keep it from building a nest in your hair. Let's pray.

Father in heaven, we are now defenseless without your spirit and your word and your strength. So would you help us? Would you seal these truths to our heart? Pray if there's anyone here today who has not submitted first to you, that you would grant them the ability to bow their knee to Jesus as Lord.

I pray that you'd give them no rest or peace until they rest in you. And Father, for the Christian here today, would you help us to be a submitting people? Father, we earnestly beseech you that you'll give the real Christians in our government wisdom, strength, a good testimony, influence.

And Father, for those who aren't Christians, whether that's our president or vice president, I don't know their eternal states. I pray that you'd be generous to them. And as you graced us, you would grace them.

Father, help us to be thankful for your government. Lord, I thank you for President Obama. I thank you for Vice President Biden. I thank you that we live in a republic. I'm free to preach the gospel today.

Might not happen one more day, but today. And even Father, if we're in jail, we still thank you because you are the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords and your son will be back soon. In his name we pray.

Amen.

Closing Announcements and Ministry Information

No Compromise Radio with Pastor Mike Abendroth is a production of Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston, Massachusetts. Bethlehem Bible Church is a Bible teaching church firmly committed to unleashing the life-transforming power of God's Word through verse-by-verse exposition of the sacred text.

Please come and join us. Our service times are Sunday morning at 8 .30 and 11 a .m. and Sunday evenings at 6 p .m. We're located on Route 110 in West Boylston, Massachusetts. You can check us out online at bbchurch .org or by phone at 508 -835 -3400.

The thoughts and opinions expressed on No Compromise Radio do not necessarily reflect those of WVNE, its staff or management.