Do Religion and Politics Mix?

Series: Preacher: Date: September 28, 2008 Scripture Reference: Romans 13:1-7

I don’t know about you but I’m TIRED of this election. Anyone else feel that way? Maybe it’s because it seems to have lasted longer than other elections. What is it? TWO years now since it all began?  Well, however long it’s been, I’m just tired of it! I’m tired of the back and forth polls that don’t really mean anything—all they do is stir up the camps of each candidate.

And—I have to say that, as a Christ-follower, I’m tired of the negative ads. I’m tired of having to see the dirty laundry of the candidates—and their poor families—hung out to dry on public television. I’m tired of the candidates’ promises to fix the economy and end the energy crisis and end all  wars. I’m tired of that because I’ve heard these same kind of promises made by other presidential candidates in OTHER elections and we still have all those things.

In fact, I don’t want to complain too much but…I’m just tired of politics all together!  I’m tired of red states and blue states and electoral votes and filibustering not to mention Watergate, Iran/Contra Gate, Lewinski-Gate, Iraq-gate…I’m tired of it! I’m tired of the debates that are followed by a plethora of pundits who give their “expert” opinions as to who won them.

And—I may sound a little holier than thou but as a believer I just feel I should spend my time on HOLIER things—PURER things. So, I’m ready to just wash my hands of politics and elections all together—and I believe I’m justified in doing that because as we all know, “…religion and politics don’t mix.”

Or—do they? I mean, that is the teaching of God’s Word?  Right?

Everyone go like this (shake your heads back and forth) because NO—that is not what the Bible says. Believe it or not, this book says there is a very real sense in which politics and religion DO indeed mix. I say this because government and my Christian faith both have the same SOURCE: God. 1st Peter 2:13 says,“Submit yourselves FOR THE LORD’S SAKE to every authority instituted among men: whether to the king, as the supreme authority, or to governors, [political leaders] who are SENT BY HIM to punish those who do wrong and to commend those who do right.”

And this isn’t an isolated text. There are several other verses in God’s Word that talk about ways politics and religion are to interact. Here’s a few examples:

Titus 3:1 says,“Remind the people to be subject to rulers and authorities, to be obedient, to be ready to do whatever is good.”

1st Timothy 2:1-3 says, “I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone—for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. This is good, and pleases God our Savior.”

1st Peter 2:17 declares,“Show proper respect to everyone: Love the brotherhood of believers, fear God, honor the king.”

So, this instruction manual for life that God has given us calls for a great deal of “mixing” of politics and religion. Wouldn’t you agree?

  • We are to SUBMIT ourselves to our earthly rulers—obeying the laws of the land.
  • We are to PRAY for our leaders—even if they aren’t from our particular political party.
  • We are to show proper RESPECT for our rulers—whether they be senators, presidents, or even kings.

And don’t miss the underlying REASON we are given all these instructions concerning our government! These particular instructions are in God’s Book because government doesn’t just happen. No—the Bible teaches that our sovereign God orchestrates it and establishes it. So to say, “I’m giving up on the political process because religion and politics don’t mix..”—to say that is to deny that the origin of governments is God Himself. And to drive this point home a bit further—turn with me now to our text for this morning: Romans 13:1-7 where Paul writes,

1 -Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God.

2 – Consequently, he who rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves.

3 – For rulers hold no terror for those who do right, but for those who do wrong. Do you want to be free from fear of the one in authority? Then do what is right and he will commend you.

4 – For he is God’s servant to do you good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword for nothing. He is God’s servant, an agent of wrath to bring punishment on the wrongdoer.

5 – Therefore, it is necessary to submit to the authorities, not only because of possible punishment but also because of conscience.

6 – This is also why you pay taxes, for the authorities are God’s servants, who give their full time to governing.

7 – Give everyone what you owe him: If you owe taxes, pay taxes; if revenue, then revenue; if respect, then respect; if honor, then honor.

For the past couple weeks in our study of Paul’s letter to the church at Rome, we’ve been focusing on the various ways that we crawl into the offering plate and pledge to give our daily lives to God as a living sacrifice.  Two Sundays ago we said that using our spiritual gifts in the ministry of the local church is one way we do this—one way we give God acceptable worship.

Last week we said that worship also includes getting our interpersonal RELATIONSHIPS right.

And this week we can see that Paul says a third kind of acceptable worship involves having a RIGHT RELATIONSHIP with our civil government.

In this 13th chapter Paul is making the argument that in order to be a good KINGDOM citizen—a citizen of the kingdom of God—you must also be a good CIVIL citizen. In these seven verses he’s has laid out certain guidelines or instructions as to do that—how to relate properly to the government. And—please note—he doesn’t say he is referring to a democracy or a republic like we have here in the good ole U.S. of A. In fact, the government his readers were under was a dictatorship. Keep that in mind as we study.

Let me remind you once again that all this is against the backdrop of “Do you want to worship God or don’t you?” Paul is saying that authentic worship includes relating rightly to whatever form of government we happen to live under. With that in mind I want to suggest four PRINCIPLES or GUIDELINES when it comes to the proper mixing of faith and politics….and they are all based on one word: RESPECT.

(1) First Paul says we must RESPECT government because, as I inferred a moment ago, its authority is a DERIVED authority.

We must respect our government—we must subject ourselves to it…because, it’s authority is not inherent in the governmental officials or offices. Ultimately it comes from God itself.  As Daniel 2:21 says,“God changes times and seasons; He sets up kings and deposes them.”

Do you remember when Jesus stood before Pontius Pilate a few hours before His crucifixion?  Now—in my mind, during that interview I imaging Pilate walking around with his chest all puffed out trying to get Jesus to answer him on command. After all, Pilate was the Roman governor—appointed by Caesar himself! But Jesus was unfazed. He just stood silent. In essence, He didn’t jump when Pilate said “jump.”  And finally Pilate got a little testy and said, “You better answer me, Jesus, because I have the power to execute You or to release You and You better understand that!” Do you remember our Lord’s response?  He said, “The only authority you have is what God the Father has allowed you to have for a season. That’s all Pilate.” The extension of that would be Jesus continuing to say, “Pilate, you have no more INTRINSIC authority than the pauper on the street.” You see, no human being—even a governmental leader—no president, no king, no governor, no senator—no human has INTRINSIC authority that he wields or exercises over other human beings.  

No—all authority is DERIVED authority. It is authority that is given or permitted by God. God alone is sovereign so God alone holds ULTIMATE authority—and He has given it to governments and because of that, Paul says we need to respect our rulers. As much as possible—and we’ll go into that further in a moment—but as much as possible, we need to cooperate with them and be in subjection to them. In fact, Paul says that violators of this command will be disciplined by God. Look back at vs 2: “…he who rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves.”

Listen. Wherever there are men, there are governments of some kind. And Paul makes one thing crystal clear right at the start: All governments are in power because God has allowed them to be. So, we must honor—respect governments.  And one thing that should help motivate us to do this is the fact that in His sovereignty God uses governments of all kinds to do His will.

  • He used the Egyptian government to save the Jewish people when drought came.
  • He even used cruel Pharaoh.  Romans 9:17 quotes God as saying to that evil Egyptian ruler: “I raised you up for this very purpose, that I might display My power in you and that My name might be proclaimed in all the earth.”
  • God used Cyrus the Persian to bring the Jews back to Jerusalem from Babylon.  In fact, Isaiah 45:1 refers to this pagan king as, “God’s anointed.”
  • The Roman soldiers were even following God’s will in crucifying His only Son.
  • God also used the Roman government to bring lasting peace to the world and build roads both of which would hasten the spread of the Gospel.

So you see, our sovereign God uses all authority to do His will.

Now if you don’t have a big view of God, you’ll have difficulty believing this.  I mean, if the God you worship isn’t the awesome, majestic, mysterious, loving, incredible Creator of the galaxies described in the Bible, you’ll have trouble buying into this. It takes an awesome God to use even dictators to do His will…so if you’re having trouble buying into this first principle, then perhaps your concept of God is too small.

Of course governmental leaders are called to certain standards.  After all they are GOD’S servants.  They are not appointed to public office in order to promote their own selfish interests. They are where they are to represent God’s rule on the earth. And governmental leaders must realize this.

Bill Clinton and I disagree on many things but I like the way he said he understood his oath of office. He said that on the day of his inauguration when he stood on the capitol steps and came to the end of the customary presidential pledge, he said he was uttering a prayer, saying, “So, HELP ME, God.” Well, all earthly rulers should have this mind set—they should humble themselves and realize Who put them where they are. They should pray for His help in governing rightly. They should admit that they can’t do their jobs without His help.

In fact, if they would read the Bible they would see that it lists the characteristics of a Godly ruler—a leader that God approves. Psalm 72 says that rulers must care for the oppressed and the poor and take care of the disadvantaged and see to the needs of everybody—not just the privileged few. Listen how serious God is about this. In Isaiah 10:1-3 He says,“Woe to those who make unjust laws, to those who issue oppressive decrees, to deprive the poor of their rights and withhold justice from the oppressed of my people, making widows their prey and robbing the fatherless. What will you do on the day of reckoning, when disaster comes from afar? To whom will you run for help? Where will you leave your riches?”

So, we are to respect governmental authority—but governmental leaders are to be respectable—they are called to rule in ways that please God.

This is a picture of Fiorello La Guarida who was mayor of New York during the Great Depression. One day as he presided over a Manhattan police court, a man was brought before him who was thin, trembling, and shabbily dressed. His crime was stealing a loaf of bread. The man pled guilty to the crime, but explained that this family was starving and he was unable to find work. “I’m sorry,” said the mayor, “…but the law makes no exceptions. I’m going to have to fine you ten dollars.”  “But,” the defendant said, “I haven’t got ten dollars!  I haven’t even got a dime!” “I understand,” said Mayor La Guardia, reaching into his own pocket. “That’s why I’m going to pay the fine myself—here, take this.” He handed the money to the man and said, “Furthermore, I’m going to remit the fine—that means you can keep the money.” The defendant stared at the ten dollar bill in his hands.  It had been a long time since he had handled that much money. “One more thing, “ the mayor added. “Bailiff, take off your hat and pass it around this courtroom. I’m fining every body in this courtroom fifty cents…for living in a city where a man has to steal in order to get bread for his family.” The money was collected and given to the defendant.

Now—in my mind, this is an example of a governmental leader who understood Who put him in office in the first place. I would say Mayor La Guardia ruled in a way that made him worthy of the authority God had given him.

(2) Here’s the second principle Paul gives. He says we must respect our government because it is God’s instrument to PRESERVE ORDER.

According to the Bible, a just government is one that REWARDS and ENCOURAGES righteous and moral behavior from its citizens…and also brings DISCIPLINE and RETRIBUTION to the law breakers of the land. The fact is we need a government to preserve order by rewarding good and punishing evil, because left to ourselves we are like those people described in the last verse of the Book of Judges when, “Israel had no king; and everyone did as he saw fit.” (Judges 21:25)

Paul is saying that the state is God’s wise provision for preserving stability and avoiding anarchy. Governments are one way that God protects us from ourselves.

In 2001 the Leaning Tower of Pisa made the news because it had just been re-opened to visitors after having been closed for nearly a decade. You see, in the early nineties the tower began to lean too far and the risk of collapse was great. It was closed to tourists so engineers could straighten it out just a few inches. In fact, we have a shot here of one of the engineers hard at work. Just kidding…here’s a pic of one of their ACTUAL plans. First, the engineers injected super could liquid nitrogen into the ground to freeze it and thereby minimize dangerous ground vibrations during the work that followed. Then they installed cables to pull the structure more upright. Very slowly the tower was straightened to a position that would prevent a total collapse even with the weight of hundreds of tourists climbing around on it at a time. Now, as you can see, to the naked eye the tower still looks the same, but to the engineers what they have done is the difference between utter destruction—and the confidence to allow school children to once again climb the stairs of this 12th century landmark. They say it is now good for at least another 300 years—so you should tour it—but you don’t have to hurry over there!

I share this story because left to itself, our world resembles that leaning Tower of Pisa: it is “tilting” and heading toward catastrophe. To prevent that—to prevent total anarchy, God establishes governments. Our rulers and their laws are like the steel cables that hold the tower and keep it from falling. Now, the tower still leans. It is not perfect, but the cables prevent total destruction. And, Governments are not perfect either.  They still “lean” but God uses them to preserve order. So we should respect them.

(3) Here’s a third thing Paul says.  We must respect our government by being INVOLVED.

Scripture teaches that as Christians we are to be a part of the legislative process.  We are to mix our faith with our politics—we are to apply our religious convictions to our involvement…and we do this in several ways:

  • We attend town meetings and give our input. 
  • We write our congressmen encouraging them to pass just laws.
  • When the Spirit leads, we sign petitions, join in legal demonstrations and marches.
  • And last, but not least, we VOTE!

Now—regardless of what you may think—your one vote can make a huge difference.

  • In 1645 one vote gave Oliver Cromwell control of England.
  • In 1776 one vote made English and not German the official language of the United States.
  • In 1845 one vote kept Andrew Jackson from impeachment.
  • In 1876 one vote made Rutherford B. Hayes president.
  • In 1923 one vote gave Adolph Hitler leadership of the Nazi party.

So—vote—and when you do I encourage you to vote according to the candidate’s VALUES or VIRTUES.  Look at his or her track record and then ask yourself how close his or her morals and convictions are to the teachings of God’s Word. Now—of course experience is important—but we should never discount the faith of a candidate because if they are a growing Christian, their faith will guide their governing. Let me ask…is it important to you that your stock broker be a person of integrity and not a crook? Well, your president and congressmen—your governmental leaders should be people of integrity as well. Heed the instruction Moses’ father-in-law gave him in Exodus 18:21 when He said, “Select capable men from all the people—men who fear God,  trustworthy men who hate dishonest gain—and appoint them as officials over thousands, hundred, fifties and tens.”

Study the issues and vote for men or women on the basis of their values—their Christian integrity.  In his work, History of the United States, Noah Webster writes,

When you become entitled to exercise the right of voting for public office,  let it be impressed on your mind that God commands you to choose for rulers, ‘just men who will rule in the fear of God.’  If the citizens neglect their duty and place unprincipled men in office, the government will soon be corrupted;  laws will be made, not for the public good so much as for selfish or local purposes; corrupt or incompetent men will be appointed to execute the laws; the public revenues will be squandered on unworthy men; and the rights of the citizens will be violated or disregarded.

So get informed and pray and then vote—become involved in government because this is one way we are SALT—one way we have a preserving effect on our decaying culture.

And never doubt the potential of your impact as a believer!

Remember, God told Lot He would spare the ROTTEN, CORRUPT, and IMMORAL cities of Sodom and Gomorah if he could find just 10 Godly men. Only ten could have turned those cities around. And there are a lot more than ten of us—so we can have an incredible POSITIVE influence on our culture.

If you doubt this read the Bible because it is full of examples of how God’s children were involved in making government better.

Joseph was involved in the Egyptian government—and God used him to save entire nations from starvation. Daniel ended up in a lion’s den because he refused to obey a law forbidding him to pray to God. When he emerged unscathed, King Darius issued a decree commanding all of his subjects to, “…fear and reverence the God of Daniel.” He went on to say, “…for He is the living God and He endures forever; his kingdom will not be destroyed, His dominion will never end.” (Daniel 6:26ff) And I love the story of William Wilberforce, that Christian in the English Parliament in the 19th century who worked all his career to end slavery in the British empire. Well, we need to follow the examples of the brave men! As Christians we have an obligation to be the very best citizens possible by finding ways to become actively involved.

Now, I hate to mention it—but one of the specific ways God calls us to be involved in government is by paying our TAXES.

Look at verse 7 again, “Give everyone what you owe him: If you owe taxes, PAY TAXES.” Now focus in on those last two words, “pay taxes.”  Is anyone confused by the meaning of those two words? Anyone want to know what the Greek says and what other translations say…or what some deceased German theologian says these two words mean? Well, let me save you the time of looking all that up.  Those words we translate as, “pay taxes” literally means, PAY TAXES. Don’t pay more than you owe but pay what you owe! Think of that for a moment—part of your worship to God is full payment to Uncle Sam every April 15! Ever thought of filling out form 1040 as an act of worship?  Most believers don’t!  In fact, many of us boast that we have found an ingenious but illegal way to avoid paying taxes. Some get paid by cash so there are no records of that taxable income. Others find ways to undervalue their property…and boast about how smart they are to avoid paying Uncle Sam his due. Some dream up ways to deduct personal items as business expenses. Well, the Bible says that kind of thing is a sin.  According to this passage in Romans, when it comes to paying taxes, our motivation as Christians is not to avoid an audit…no…our payment of full taxes is part of our worshiping God.  Paul says the Holy Spirit will prod our consciences if we don’t pay what we owe. God will make us feel bad if we short-change Uncle Sam. I’m reminded of the story of a letter that was received by the IRS saying, “I did not pay the taxes I should have this past year and I have been unable to sleep.  Enclosed is $150.00. If I still have trouble sleeping, I will send the rest.”

So respect your government by getting involved—vote, pay taxes—this is one way we help make our world a better place.

However I must remind you that the MAIN way we change our world for the better is by sharing the gospel message.

You see, the REAL solution to the social and moral problems in our society is not better legislation or new supreme court justices—no—the solution is people being reconciled to God through their response to the good news of Jesus Christ. You see, alienation from God is the root problem of our world. This is why we are in an economic crisis right now—because of the sin of greed—and only the good news of Jesus can address this root problem. Only Jesus can cure a greedy heart.

The church’s primary strategy has never been to change the world through the political process;  the church’s strategy is to change the world by introducing more and more people to the life-changing power of Jesus Christ. We change the government…we change our world…by changing PEOPLE from the inside out.

So to summarize…we must respect the government…

  • …because its ultimate authority comes from God…
  • …because it is God’s instrument to preserve order…
  • …by getting involved—participating in all possible ways…

And then here is one final but very important guideline. We must respect the government…as long as it does not conflict with our doing GOD’S WILL.

The word here in verse 1 that we translate, “submit” does not mean “always obey.” No—submission is to recognize an authority over us but it doesn’t imply blind obedience in every situation. In fact, the Bible teaches that there are two EXCEPTIONS to our obedient submission to governmental authority.

A. First, we don’t obey laws that command us to do something that God clearly FORBIDS.

An example of this is recorded in the book of Exodus. Do you remember when, in an attempt to slow the growth of the Hebrew race, the King of Egypt told the Jewish midwives that when a Hebrew boy was born they were to kill the babies? Girls were okay—but boys were to be terminated. However, Exodus 1:17 says, “The midwives feared God and did not do what the king of Egypt had told them to do; they let the boys live.” Verse 20 says that God was kind to the midwives for taking this stand. They didn’t obey a law that commanded them to do something God had forbidden. And do you remember Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego?  When King Nebuchadnezzar passed a law requiring them to worship his image they knew better and refused. Because of their civil disobedience they were thrown into the fiery furnace. When God sent His Son into the furnace to save them and they emerged unscathed, the king said, “Praise be the God of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego.  He rescued His servants. Therefore, I decree that the people of any nation or language who say anything against the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego be cut into pieces and their houses be turned into piles of rubble, for no other god can save in this way.” (Daniel 3:28ff) Then the king promoted these three to high positions in his government.

So we never obey government when doing so involves our doing things God forbids.

B. And second, we don’t obey laws that forbid us from doing something God clearly COMMANDS.

In the book of Acts there are two times that the Apostle Peter disobeyed the government because it had ordered him to stop sharing his witness of Jesus. Peter knew that would be wrong because he still had Jesus’ command reverberating in his ears, “Go into ALL THE WORLD making disciples…” So when the government told him to stop that kind of thing and be silent Peter said, “We must obey God rather than man.”  In fact, he proceeded to preach a brief but powerful sermon to the same court that had told him to stop preaching in the first place(Acts 5:29). Another example is Paul himself. Tradition tells us that a few years after writing this letter he was beheaded by Nero because he refused to renounces His faith in Jesus Christ.

So we obey our rulers—but not if doing so would lead us to do things God forbids or prevents us from doing things God commands.

When we were at Wheaton College, getting Becca moved in six weeks ago, I met another parent who was also a pastor and as we “talked shop” he told me about a conference he had just attended. It was held at a mega-church somewhere but the thing that had most impressed him was what the leader of the conference who was also the pastor of that mega-church said about smaller churches. He said that if the member of every mega-church in America got genuinely serious about their faith—if all those thousands of mega-members were the kind of SALT and LIGHT that God intended—it wouldn’t have near the effect of the members of every “small” church doing the same. He said if the members of every “small” church—and I think Redland would be judged as “small” compared to most “mega” churches. He said that if we were to get genuinely serious about our faith it would turn the world upside down. Of course the point he was making was there are a lot more Christians in smaller churches than there are in the mega-variety…but think about that for a moment. I mean, we all love to complain about the state of politics and government. Well, what would happen if, instead of just complaining—we did something? What would happen if we all mixed—applied—our Christian faith to the political process!

Think of the change we could make if we followed the leadership of the Holy Spirit…and got involved in every way possible! For example, are you tired of some of the ungodly policies you see in public schools these days?  Well, think of how much better our schools would be if more of us got involved according to the dictates of our faith! Are you shocked by some of the immoral laws that our county council passes?  Well, imagine how much better those laws would be if we prayerfully did our part? Remember, salt is useless unless it is applied to the food!

Let us pray…

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