Our Sermons

Bible Passage: Romans 13:1-10
Pastor: Pastor Schlicht
Sermon Date:  September 20, 2020

It is often said that America is a post-Christian society. That is true, but its meaning is often misunderstood. A post-Christian society is not necessarily one in which agnosticism or atheism is mainstream belief. It is a society rooted in the history and practices of Christianity but one in which the religious beliefs of Christianity have been either rejected or forgotten. In other words, a post-Christian society retains the memory of it’s Christian foundation, but has removed the teachings and influence of Christian faith. At an emotional level, its Christian memory explains why many agnostics and atheists find Amazing Grace and other Christian hymns suitable and comforting at funerals. It’s why people who never go to church want to get married in a church. It’s why the secular radio station plays Silent Night and Hark the Herald Angels Sing at Christmastime, even though they would never allow a preacher to speak over the air. Intellectually, America’s dormant Christian beliefs still underpin our ideas on equality, foreign policy, and human rights. However, though the moral underpinning for many policies, on both the Right and the Left, source back to Christian ethics, the Bible is rarely, if ever, cited and Christian teaching is supplanted by secular arguments. We live in a post-Christian country, and we live in a county, particularly, whose memory of Christianity is failing. 

I went to a seminar last year called “The Church in Post-Christian Dane County”. The speaker was Dr. Christopher James, a professor from Dubuque Theological Seminary who chose Madison as his research location because of its unique features as an increasingly post-Christian city. Based on data compiled from a 2019 study, Barna Research group developed a list of the most post-Christian cities in America. Do you know where Madison, WI  ranked? #11. And it is moving up the list rapidly from 2017 when it was 17th. Makes me wonder, if we were 17th in 2017 and 11th in 2019, where will we rank in 5 years? Dr. James said that one especially notable feature of Madison as a post-Christian city is that it is in the 100th percentile of political polarization. This percentile is identified by some of the following characteristics: Members of opposing political parties would not date or be friends; the refusal to speak with a family member of an opposing political party; the assumption that someone in an opposing party lacks morality or common sense. 

This past Sunday evening, Dr. Eggert began his study on apologetics here at Eastside. He said that in the 1960s the Democratic Socialist Group at UW Madison and the Conservative Party would actually share supplies at their stands when they set up for school functions. They would debate their differences, but many close friends were on completely different ends of the spectrum. That would not be the case today, would it?

It is important to understand the pressures of our location. If you live in Dane County, the anger of political polarization and temptation of secular influence is all around. This brings specific challenges and opportunities for committed Christians who navigate living as citizens of two distinctly different kingdoms. We are called to be in the world, yet not of it. To give to Caesar what is Caesar’s and yet give to God what is God’s. We are called to love God and love our neighbors, regardless of their political beliefs. 

It is with these thoughts in mind that I turn with you to Romans 13 and Paul’s inspired words regarding a Christian’s relationship to the government and to his neighbor. Words that hit almost too close-to-home these days. He writes, “Everyone must submit to the governing authorities. For no authority exists except by God, and the authorities that do exist have been established by God. 2 Therefore the one who rebels against the authority is opposing God’s institution, and those who oppose will bring judgment on themselves.”3 For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to evil. Would you like to have no fear of the one in authority? Do what is good, and you will receive praise from him, 4 because he is God’s servant for your benefit. But if you do wrong, be afraid, because he does not carry the sword without reason. He is God’s servant, a punisher to bring wrath on the wrongdoer. 5 Therefore it is necessary to submit, not only because of wrath, but also because of conscience.  Paul starts out by saying “Everyone must submit, must place themselves under, their governing authorities. And why? Because they always deserve our submission. No. Because, as he says, “No authority exists except by God.” This first applies to the home. Children who disrespect their parents are in fact disrespecting God who has placed their parents as authorities over them.  And they will incur judgment on themselves one way or another, whether it be from the parent or, if the parent does not discipline them, from the world when the kid grows up and runs into an authority that does not bend so easily. This also applies, of course, to governmental authority. God has allowed the authorities that be to exist, so whether or not we agree with their laws, we must obey as a matter of conscience. That is, of course, providing that they do not tell us to disobey God’s Word. Barring that, we must obey them out of respect for God. This is a simple principle. If I get a babysitter for my children, I expect the babysitter to be their authority. The same is true with God and our government. The government’s authority is derived from God, who has allowed them to govern us. Therefore, if we refuse to obey the government, local or federal, we are refusing to obey God and we will bring judgement on ourselves, both earthly and spiritually. 

I know there is a lot of hard discussions going on about our police force in America these days. Know that as a Christian, you don’t have to be forced into any one line of thought. You should hate racism in any form. And you should support the police because they hold authority by God’s hand to uphold the law. You are not racist if you support the police. And you aren’t against the police if you would like to see some reform in the unions. There are a lot of false dichotomies forced onto people, do not accept them. You can be both against racism and for the police. As a Christian, you should be both of those things. If you see racism in the police it should bother you, but if you see people disrespecting or cursing the police that should also bother you.

A Christian can be a part of a peaceful protest. A Christian can seek to change laws. A Christian can be passionate about politics. But do so, knowing that whether or not things go your way, you must obey the government as long as they are not telling you to disobey God. This is a matter of conscience, not just legality. May we never try to use faith as a sheath for lawlessness. Let us never use our Christian belief as an excuse to hate a person in office or skirt laws which do not contradict God’s Word.

As Paul says, “For this reason you also pay taxes, because the authorities are God’s ministers, who are employed to do this very thing. 7 Pay what you owe to all of them: taxes to whom taxes are owed, revenue to whom revenue is owed, respect to whom respect is owed, and honor to whom honor is owed.” There is a certain honor that is due those in authority. There is an inherent honor to be given those in a position which acts as God’s minister, literally deacon, as Paul says here. Now you might say, well, this certain leader here or there isn’t worthy of honor or respect. They aren’t trying to help Christians, they say things they shouldn’t, they are not fit for office, they shouldn’t be in authority at all! To that I would say, be careful. You may not respect someone in authority personally, but by virtue of their office you should respect the difficulty of their position and the amount of responsibility that God has allowed to lie on their shoulders. Are they not due a certain amount of respect and honor? We ought to pray for them not curse them. We should seek to influence them in kindness, not hatred. And finally, if God has allowed them to take office, who are we to say they shouldn’t be there. God calls the nations a drop in the bucket, a speck of dust on the scales (Isaiah 40:15). Proverbs 21:1 says, “A king’s heart is like streams of water in the hand of the Lord. He directs it wherever he desires.” He is working through our tiny earthly powers on a level we cannot comprehend. He is in complete control and he knows what he is doing, even if we doubt it sometimes!

Even in the case of Acts 5, where believers were told directly to stop preaching about Jesus and Peter stands up and says, “We must obey God rather than men.” Notice he didn’t then pick up a sword and say “Revolution!” He didn’t call down curses on Caesar, or tell the Christians to disregard the law, he let himself be beaten and thrown into prison for Jesus’ sake. So even as the authorities were abusing their office which they had been given by God, Peter still maintained respect for the office while stating that he could not obey that express command of the office which was in denial of that very authority God had given. The Christian is called to submit and respect authority, even if it is evil, while at the same time refraining from compliance with evil commands! 

Now, if someone is terribly sinful in office, like a Hitler, what should we do as Christians? Well, while Scripture shows a checkered history of people wrestling with this, there is no de facto answer, no normative direction in every case. But I would say that a conservative answer would be that we trust that God is in control and will take care of things in his own time. Just as David refused to murder King Saul when he had the chance, even though Saul was trying to kill him. He said, “Far be it from me to strike down the Lord’s anointed.” David didn’t think he had authority to kill Saul, but trusted in God to take care of the situation. So too we should seek to change things in peace, not violence. It may not seem fair, but that’s what life is like for Christians on earth. As Jesus said, “I am sending you out like sheep among wolves.” (Mark 10:16) Many of our brothers and sisters in faith have to deal with horrid corruption in authority, the likes of which we don’t understand in America. We complain about our local and federal governments, we have things that we want to improve, but we still have, mind you, a representative form of government. We don’t have a monarchy, we don’t have a country where warring powers ravage towns and innocent people. We don’t have a government that is intent on persecuting Christians directly like some Islamic nations. We don’t live in a Christian nation anymore, but our submission to government is much easier than it would be in many other places of our world today. We should give thanks we live in America, warts and all.

Paul finishes by giving us the key in verse 8 of our text: 8 Do not owe anyone anything except to love one another, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. Paul speaks of a debt here. He says owe nothing to anyone, except the one debt you can never pay off the debt of love you owe to everyone because Christ loved you. The only way I can correctly submit to the government is because of the love of God which has conquered my heart. I know that Christ willingly submitted to his government in my place. He never complained about how arrogant or evil his government was. He submitted to its law, even when its twisted justice system condemned him to death unjustly. Why? Because his innocent death paid for every time you or I have mocked our government. It paid for every time we complained about a law.  It paid for every time we cursed a police officer for giving us a ticket, or skimped on our taxes. Christ’s love is the fulfillment of the law in my place. 

And his love is the key to following God’s law on earth. In response to his love, I show love for God and neighbor by submitting to the authorities God has placed over me. In response to his love, I show my love for God and neighbor by obeying my parents. In response to his love, I show love for God and neighbor by obeying our government. In response to his love, I show love for God and neighbor by refusing to fall in line with polarization and party hatred. In response to his love, I show love for God and neighbor by peacefully seeking change. I show love for God and neighbor by living as a citizen of two kingdoms and inviting people to know the peace I have because I know the God who holds all authority counts me innocent in Jesus’ blood. May you revel in this debt of love we have because of Christ and live in love as you ponder this portion of God’s Word.

Amen.