Ezekiel 33:7-11
Romans 13:1-10
November 6, 2016
Pastor Lori Broschat
WE THE PEOPLE
Former Senator John Danforth was quoted as saying, “I want political people to stop using
religion to divide Americans, but I want religious people to become more engaged in fixing
politics that is currently broken.” Danforth is an Episcopal priest, which is interesting because
while some people feel religion and politics don’t mix, the words of Paul in Romans 13 would
seem to indicate that one stems from the other.
In two days, we will hopefully have a completed election and a new president. That person
will become the most powerful person in the world, the leader of the free world. That’s a lot
of responsibility, and it requires a lot of work, but the president is only one person, one piece
of the puzzle, one cog in the wheel. All the others in leadership should do their part. The
president is not a dictator, not a miracle worker.
The president, like all elected or appointed officials, is under the authority of God. According
to Paul there is no government anywhere that God has not established, no leader God has not
placed in their role. Now, it may be hard for us to look at our particular government, our
sometimes-toxic partisanship and all the pork and PAC money behind every bill and say that
God had just that in mind when He placed our officials there.
While it’s true that God has established a rule of law for His people, He also has given us
freedom to fulfill that law on our own, a law based on love which surprisingly translates into
justice. So, while we are citizens we are to be subject to the rules and laws of that nation.
However, there are limits to our submission if the government becomes unjust or tyrannical.
Our own government was formed by those who wanted out from under the authority of their
homeland, a monarchy they felt was treating them unfairly, and they felt strong enough to go
to war for it. Following their victory was a time of creating a government under their terms,
what they expected from themselves and for themselves and their citizens.
These are the words we all memorized in school and probably forgot as the years went by.
“We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice,
ensure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare,
and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this
Constitution for the United States of America.”
That sounds like a great plan, doesn’t it? That’s what our country is supposed to be about,
but somewhere along the 240 years since we’ve seen many ways in which tranquility and
justice and liberty were not quite as they should be. Still, we forge ahead, utilizing the means
of democracy in the hopes of getting ourselves back on track.
Who can remember the words to the opening statement of the other vital document in our
nation’s history? “When in the course of human events it becomes necessary. . .” Those
words began the Declaration of Independence from Great Britain, but it’s the next section I
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Ezekiel 33:7-11
Romans 13:1-10
November 6, 2016
Pastor Lori Broschat
want us to hold up against the light of God’s goodness and justice. “We hold these truths to
be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with
certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”
That’s also a very stirring sentiment, but can you spot the problem with that statement?
Realizing the language was very different back then, but the words all men mean just that,
males, not females. They were not created equal to men, not in the minds of the architects
of this document. As far as equal goes, there were men who were certainly not counted as
equals to other men.
In the Three-Fifths Compromise, otherwise known as Article 1, Section 2, Paragraph 3 of the
Constitution states that slaves were only equal to three-fifths of a person for purposes of
legislative representation. This allowed the Southern, slave-holding states to have more seats
in the House. What this part of the Declaration is saying is that all white males are created
equal; hence the problem of subjugation and inequality and human rights down through the
centuries.
I can’t imagine God conferring a blessing on this type of government, but thankfully that’s not
our problem to worry about. One author wrote, “God has charged the church with the duty
of preaching the gospel, and the state with the duty of ensuring political order; the Christian
is both member of the church and citizen of the nation; as the former he must obey God by
conforming to the gospel ethic…; as the latter, he must obey God by conforming to the
political ethic of which the state is the judge.”1
We do not cease to be Christians because we obey as citizens. The obedience is first and
foremost to God who created the idea of government and a just law. Paul lived in the Roman
Empire, one of the most internally corrupt entities ever to rule, yet at the time he wrote his
letter to Rome the worst had not come. It bore a slight resemblance to democracy, but
without much representation.
Christians would be persecuted in Rome, no less condemned than Christ who was executed
by the same government. Still, Paul called for obedience not because of who was on the
throne or seat of power, but because of who reigns over all. We work within a system of rules
and regulations and punishments rightly handed down for disobedience to the law. To
oppress or act against the civil authority would be to rebel against God.
If we believe God has established all kingdoms and governments of the world, our role is to
act as citizens of our nation in order to maintain the kinds of ethics and justice God has taught
us to follow. We are not called to support a corrupt or unethical government but to work for
the right and the good and the inalienable rights of all. Some of you went to war against
1Stott,
2
John R.W., The Cross of Christ, pg. 295
Ezekiel 33:7-11
Romans 13:1-10
November 6, 2016
Pastor Lori Broschat
corrupt systems. Some of you lost loved ones, sons and daughters perhaps, to those places
where God’s laws were broken and trampled. Our freedoms look pretty good to us.
We are called to be loyal to the government, whether our leaders are unethical, immoral or
selfish. With the number of millionaires currently running Washington I would say our
democracy, the “rule of the commoners” looks more like Rome, but all change takes time.
Even taxes made the list of Paul’s loyalty to the ruling powers. We hear about taxes all the
time during campaigns and after, and neither party can agree on how they should be reformed
or used. Paul’s answer was simple, “You should also pay taxes for the same reason, because
the authorities are God’s assistants, concerned with this very thing.”
Taxes are necessary so that the country can function and provide its citizens with
infrastructure, with services and protection. For all of Rome’s faults, it became a model for
cities and governments due to its building of roads and waterways and other practical means
of civilization. Jesus taught His disciples and followers to pay to Caesar what was his and to
pay to God what was God’s, so doing our civic duty by supporting the nation is not an
oppressive idea.
To rebel against the principles of our society would be to put our needs above the needs of
all, which is setting ourselves against a divine purpose. What we should be concerned about
with government spending is whether it is used properly and fairly. Benefits should be
carefully managed and administered to ensure they are still intact for future participants.
These are the kinds of things we should be encouraging our leaders to support and to vote
for. Election promises aside, the real picture is what happens between the House and the
Senate and in the courts that show allegiance to God’s law.
To quote one theologian, “We cannot entirely dissociate ourselves from the society in which
we live and have a part. No one can, in conscience, opt out of the nation. As a part of it, we
enjoy certain benefits which we could not have as individuals; but we cannot reasonably claim
all the privileges and refuse all the duties.”2
Because we owe everything to God and entrust our lives to Him, we also should appreciate
what we receive from our way of life. If we see God’s hand at work then we are blessed, for
as a citizen the Christian does not cease to be a Christian, but he serves Christ in a different
way.
I know the term Christian nation is thrown around a great deal when we talk about politics or
our role as Americans, but the truth is Scripture doesn’t support this idea. How could it? The
America we know and love is a relatively late development in human history. Paul certainly
didn’t envision a Christian nation as a form of government. When we read verses such as
Psalm 33:12, “Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord, whose people he chose as his
2Barclay,
3
William, the New Daily Study Bible, The Letter to the Romans, pg. 204
Ezekiel 33:7-11
Romans 13:1-10
November 6, 2016
Pastor Lori Broschat
inheritance,” we may be tempted to think that was written for us. In truth, the Christian
nation is the one without borders, whose citizens reside all over the world.
As such, our loyalty is first to God, then to country, then to our fellow humans regardless of
denomination or lack of. There’s more that we can do to influence the world dispersed as we
are than we could as one single nation. The way in which we live shows others who we follow
much better than who leads our nation.
One negative development among Christians is the low degree of attendance in worship or
involvement with their church. When the church is called to be a place of wholeness, a force
for good and positive change, why would we want to distance ourselves?
Along with that we see the serious decline in voter turnout, even though we seem to be so
politically charged and motivated to effect change. Perhaps these two things go hand in
hand, I can only speculate. It does point to something that needs to be uplifted, and that is
the way we live our faith in our everyday lives.
As citizens of both heaven and the United States of America, it is our duty to uphold the rules
of humankind and the law of God. This law is one of love and it is the responsibility of each
person to demonstrate this law that fulfills all other laws. Christ is already reigning over us,
so we have nothing to fear from human or supernatural forces.
Our job is to pray for our country, pray for our leaders, pray for those who oppose us but at
the same time pray that we are doing what is pleasing to God. We also must act if we believe
we are being represented unfairly by our elected officials. We should speak out against
wrong, and most importantly we have to vote our conscience and our beliefs.
Author Louis L’Amour said, “To make democracy work, we must be a nation of participants,
not simply observers. One who does not vote has no right to complain.” I suppose you’ve all
heard some version of that statement. We can still complain, of course, about things we
don’t like, but having not given our consent to who is running the country or what policies
they enact does not give us much of a leg to stand on.
Wouldn’t it be better for us to exercise our rights and maintain our faith with a clear
conscience that we will work for the rights of all and the benefit of all wherever we see the
need? Even if the government falls down on the job, the work continues. Our work is to do
the will of God.
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