God's Authority

We are entering into my favorite season. Almost spring. It feels like spring. Sun is shining. There's flowers blooming. There's a long list of new to-dos, activities, and projects. They come to abound in the spring. More and more we can really do. This year, this is also the time of year that everyone becomes an expert political analyst. Well, there's plenty of venues for them to voice their expert opinion. You know, it's time to choose sides, draw lines, and attack. It is a season where we're doing some political things. Our passage this morning is timely in that way in that it talks about how everyone is supposed to relate to government. Now, as Christians, we should look at this and see this is, especially for us, because this is a letter for us, but we're in Romans 13. It says every person. And so here we have a very timely reminder that God is in control of each and every government. God is sovereign. We can trust Him. God is also sovereign over us, and He commands us be subject. In case we missed that clear command, He says it twice. Be subject to the governing authority. So this morning, we're gonna hear a couple reminders. Reminder to trust God more than our hope in any candidate. Remember to submit to God by submitting to the government. Reminder, to pay your taxes. It's an act of worship. If you're in Romans 13, if you're a visitor, you can find a Bible in front of you, I hope, or tap the person's shoulder in front of you. Find a Bible. We're on page 948, and if you're visiting, we didn't choose this text for today. We didn't say, we think this is a topic we need to talk about, so let's open up the Bible and find where we can think about Christians and the government. No, we're just walking through Romans. And today, we landed in Romans 13 that talks about the government. And really, this is a timely and important text for us, What we've discussed previously in Romans, I'm going to tell you, is much more important. Because if you're not a Christian, if you're a visitor, and especially if you're not a Christian, but before we've already discussed what sin is. We've not given thanks to God for what He's given us. We've not honored Him as He deserves to be honored. And we see that the judgment of God is certain for everyone who rebels against God. Except for those who believe in Jesus. You see, our action is to rebel against God. His action is to send His Son to die for those who have rebelled and also believe in Him. See, God is just, and He will punish every sinner, every sin. But the good news that we read about in Romans 1 through 11, before we got to chapter 12 where the application began to come out, is that God sent His Son to die as if a sinner. so that his wrath is satisfied on his son. If you're not a Christian, the most important thing you need to know today is that Jesus died for sinners. And if you recognize your sin and you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, you believe in your heart that he died for you as sinner, you can be forgiven, you can be a child of God, you can have a whole new identity change, you can stop going after sin that's destructive and you can turn to the life that God designed for you and that Christ came to renew you in. So this morning, if you're a visitor, if you're not a Christian especially, repent and believe. We're gonna hear commands that are gonna help you think about how you should relate to the government, but the most important thing you need to worry about is how you relate to God. And right now you're under judgment, but if you believe in Christ, you can be under his grace and be under his love. Repent and believe in Jesus who died for sinners and rose again. As we turn to our text, because this is important, God's word addresses how we relate to governing authorities numerous times. We need to submit to God's word everyone. Notice there in Romans 13, we're at verse one. Let every person hear the word of Christ. Let every person be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except from God and those that exist have been instituted by God. Therefore, whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment. For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive his approval. For he is God's servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid. For he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is a servant of God, an avenger who carries out God's wrath on the wrongdoer. Therefore, one must be in subjection, not only to God's wrath, but also for the sake of conscience. For because of this, you also pay taxes. For the authorities are ministers of God attending this very thing. Pay to all what is owed to them. Taxes to whom taxes are owed. Revenue to whom revenue is owed. Respect to whom respect is owed. Structure for passage is, well, you could look at it in what the text says, and there's really three basic commands. Be subject, be subject, pay your taxes. Be subject, be subject, pay your taxes. I want to look at it from a little bit of a different angle in that we're going to discuss what, why, and how. What, why, and how. What? Be subject to governing authorities. That's verses 1, that's verse 1a and 5a. Two, why? Because this is what God has said is good. He's ordained it. He set them in power. So what? Be subject. Why? Because God designed it and said it was good. And then how? Pay your taxes. It's nice when it's that simple and clear. So we think with this passage of the bigger picture of Romans, it's kind of an interesting turn, isn't it? 1 through 11 all made sense. We're sinners. Christ came to die for sinners. He became a new head for a new humanity. He set us free from sin. We now are no longer under the law. We're in the Spirit. We have new life. We think about how God has chosen, and we think about how secure our salvation is in Christ. Then Romans 12 makes that great clear turn. I appeal to you, therefore, based upon everything God's done for you, Brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. The turn in chapter 12 is to worship. So now we see that Paul has talked about worship within the church, be members of a body. He then talks about how we're supposed to relate to one another within that body. He then talks about how we're supposed to relate to our enemies. Do not avenge yourselves. Trust God. In Acts chapter 13, he talks about that outside world again with the government. But I want you to see also, he's saying every person. Every person. This is meant to be good for everyone made in the image of God. Let's be clear what this passage is and is not teaching. Romans 13, 1-7 is not the end all discussion for how we relate to the government. There's numerous other teachings in Scripture. The passage should not be taken to say that we always submit to everything in every way no matter how bad the government is. We can see in Acts 5 that the governing authorities over the early apostles told them to not preach the gospel, and they had to refuse that restriction because God commanded them to go and preach the gospel. They had God's word, which was a higher authority. Or we could turn to Matthew 22. The Pharisees are trying to trick Jesus, so they ask him a question. should we pay taxes to Caesar? Well, Jesus, knowing what they're thinking, He says, you should render unto Caesar what Caesar's, and render unto God what's God. The trick that the Pharisees were trying to pull on Jesus was that the coin was a way of paying taxes and honoring, revering, and worshiping Caesar. It was an act of religion. And so the Pharisees thought, if I can get Jesus to say we shouldn't give Caesar the tax because it's worship, then he can get him in trouble with the Roman government. But if he says, no, we should give Caesar the tax, which is worship, we can get him in trouble with the Jewish authorities. And Jesus says, no. Pay your taxes. Worship God. It's just that simple. So we can see there's ways in which you can reject what the government might put upon you, but it needs to be a very clear command from Scripture. Notice in Scripture, an argument from silence, but there's never a call to overthrow a government in the New Testament. There's never really a call to fight for your civil liberties in the New Testament. There's a call to live peaceably. There's a call to desire to be at peace. Our New Testament authors, inspired by the Holy Spirit, they're more concerned with our worship than our civil liberties. It's not profound. It's just a simple declaration from what the text talks about. The Bible is more concerned about our worship than our civil liberties. And therefore, if we're going to discern what is good, we should be more concerned about our worship than our civil liberties. Now, yes, we don't like some laws. We don't agree with some laws. Some laws are simply inconvenient. Doesn't mean you need to cling to what you think is your right. I believe this text is about one simple thing. Be a good citizen. Be a good, law-abiding citizen. Because it's a way of worshiping God, who's put that authority over you. It's also a way of being a witness of the kingdom of God. So it's simply about being a good, law-abiding citizen. Okay, let's look at our text. Be subject to the governing authorities. The what? Let every person be subject to the governing authorities, verse one, verse five. Therefore, one must be in subjection, not only to avoid God's wrath, but also for the sake of conscience. Every person. If you're not a Christian, this is still talking to you. This is a command for all people. It's a universal truth. Christian, we need to think about how this is especially for us because this falls under the context of worship. Romans 12, one and two. That's controlling what Paul is saying here. So let's analyze this command. Be subject. Now already, we're just excited about what's gonna happen next, right? Who can I be subject to? Tell me somebody else. That's not how we function. We don't like to be subject. Be subject to the authorities that govern you. Now, it's important, let's blunt out a bit. Let's go back to Genesis 2. Before sin, God had already designed subjection within creation. There was one law that man had to be subject to. Don't eat of that one tree. You have thousands of other trees. You have fruit more abundant than you could ever imagine. God simply says, don't eat of that one fruit of the one tree. Man can't handle being subject. Satan came and tempted us and said, you should take the least one. Why can't you have that one fruit? You see, the nature of sin is refusing to submit to authority. The nature of sin is saying, I am right in my own eyes, why would I need to submit to anybody else? Who has a right to tell me what I can and cannot do? We don't like submitting. We come up with all different kinds of ways to make sure we don't have to submit. For instance, I do not need to obey my parents. Their rules are too restricting. I don't need to serve my employer. They don't deserve it. I don't trust them. I don't want to submit to the elders. They're so much younger than I am. That's a true statement. We're younger than some of you. I do not want to submit to my husband. That command had to be for women less spiritual and probably for wives who had more godly husbands. I will not submit to that man as a ruler. He doesn't deserve it. He's too conservative or he's too liberal. See, we're always looking for an exemption clause. We're always looking for an exemption clause, whereas what God says is generally true. What Paul says here is generally true. God's governing authorities are good for people. We should stop looking for exemption clauses and saying, how can I obey this? You see, to submit to someone is to be a creature of God in His image. From the very beginning, God created everyone to be subject to someone else. Every human being has been designed to be subject to someone else. It is to be a creature. To submit to someone and to defer and to deny ourselves That's Christian. We do not like authorities. We have to learn to see that rules are good, commands are helpful, expectations bring harmony, and restrictions, they protect us. We have to want to be subject. We have to realize it's good. But you know, to be subject, it cuts to the heart. Why can't I make my own decisions? What gives them the right to make decisions for me? But we have to realize that whenever we're not in the place to make a certain decision, that's actually really good. It's glorious to be in subjection, to not have to make a decision when the government says, you are restricted in this way, you don't have to make that decision, you just submit. It's wonderful to have parents who say, here are the rules, here are the boundaries, now you have so many decisions in this time of life, you don't have to worry about. Your parents made those decisions for you. One day when you have every decision to make on your own, you will wish somebody was there to make boundaries so that you knew how to make decisions better. Today is a glorious day. You're protected. You're cared for. Somebody's making decisions for you. Enjoy that. Adults, the government has been instituted by God to make decisions for us. Enjoy that. Submit to it. We're being called here to be good citizens. Now, let's remember who Paul's talking about. Paul's writing to Romans. He's writing to Rome. Paul is going to be beheaded by the government he's talking about. Many of these Christians will be martyred in the circus. Five years previous, Claudius exiled Jews from Rome, many of them Jewish Christians. These people are not, these people are familiar with persecution. These people would have every reason to say, well no, you can't be talking about this government. Remember what happens before this passage. Vengeance is mine. I will repay, says the Lord. Be good citizens. Live peaceably. Paul says, trust God to bring vengeance. You worry about how God's going to make them answer. You obey and submit. So we have to realize governments are instruments of common grace. So God has specific, focused saving grace. When God says, I want to save you, He saves you. He sends the grace for you to hear the gospel and to believe the gospel. Grace is effective in saving grace. There's another category we have, and it's common grace. The rain falls on the righteous and the wicked. Food comes to the righteous and the wicked. Government is for the righteous and the wicked. It's a common grace for all people, for all good. So since we have a tendency to ask why before how, right, whenever somebody says be subject, the first question is why, not how. Paul answers why before how. There's three basic reasons in the next section. Because God has ordained these authorities, because they execute judgment according to God's plan, and because we will be judged for our submission or lack thereof. Hear what Paul says. Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. Therefore, whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment. I want you to hear, Paul has said three things that make it very clear God is in control of anybody who's over you governing. There is no authority except from God. Those that exist have been instituted by God. Whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed. No authority except God given. God institutes it, God appoints it. Repetition and redundancy are very helpful tools for teaching people what's important. He's making a clear, emphatic plea. God is in control. He's sovereign over whoever is sovereignly seeking to control you. God is the great king. He is the great ruler. He is sovereign over these other governing authorities. We can look at the Old Testament version of this, Psalm 75. But it is God who executes judgment, putting down one and lifting up another. Daniel 2.21, he changes times and season. He removes kings and sets up kings. He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to those who have understanding. Jeremiah 27.6, God says, how have I given all these lands, the land of Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, my servant? He's the one who's done this. Or from Jesus, John 19.10, Pilate says, do you not know that I have authority to release you and authority to crucify you. Jesus answered him, you would have no authority over me at all unless it had been given you from above. Every king that rises to power is placed there by God's sovereign hand. Every kingdom or king that falls is removed by God's sovereign hand. This is good news. God is sovereign over anyone who is put above us, to rule over us, to govern us. This is encouraging if we really believe all things work out for the good of those who love Him. It's good news if you believe that. Because the truth is, everyone who is put in governing authority, they're sinners. And we should expect sinners to do one thing, sin. Yes, sinners abuse power. That's something that clearly happens throughout history. It's something that clearly happens in Scripture. But when we see that God is the one who's put them there, we can see He's the orchestrator. We can trust Him no matter what happens. Now, a key question. Do governments reflect the right rule of God? No. The point is we need governed. It isn't that the government is so righteous, it's that we're so unrighteous, we all need governed. Every human being was meant to be ruled. Now the thing about this, God is appointed, he's instituted, no one rises to power unless God puts them there. We need to open up a little can of curiosity for a few minutes. Did God raise up Hitler and other evil men like him? If so, does that make God responsible for the sins of wicked men who rule? Let's be very clear. Here's the boundaries. God is never culpable for sin. He is never guilty of sin. He is always righteous. God puts men in power, and they are responsible for what they do with that power. When they abuse it, they will be held accountable. These men, Hitler and others, who we know abuse power, they did it on their own power, and they will be held accountable. There's actually an Old Testament passage that really could give us some insight as to how God chooses to put sometimes someone who doesn't belong in office, in office. You can go to 1 Samuel 8. 1 Samuel 8. If you're using a pew Bible, that's on page 230. Israel's been ruled by judges, an unusual office, just kind of a certain time in Israel that judges were ruling Israel. And it wasn't a regular office, it was only a temporary office. And Samuel has been the leader of Israel, and he's about to die, and so the people start asking for a king. Follow with me, beginning in 1 Samuel 8, verse 4. Then all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Ramah, And said to him, Behold, you are old, and your sons do not walk in your ways. Now appoint for us a king to judge us like all the nations. But this thing displeased Samuel, when they said, Give us a king to judge us. And Samuel prayed to the Lord, and the Lord said to Samuel, Obey the voice of the people in all that they say to you. For they have not rejected you, but they have rejected me. from being king over them. Remember Romans 1, he gave them over to their sin. That's what's happening. He's giving them over to their sin. According to all the deeds that they have done from the day I brought them out of the land of Egypt, even to this day, forsaking me and serving other gods, so they are also doing to you. Now then obey their voice, only you shall solemnly warn them and show them the ways of the king who shall reign over them. So God in verse nine is even saying, by grace, warn them what they're choosing, but if this is what they're set on doing, if they are set on rejecting me and they want a king like the nations, that's the problem. They don't want a king appointed by God, they want a king like the other nations. They want a mighty, strong king. They don't want a king that trusts God to fight for them. Now this is not a rule for every bad king, but we see here that God gave the people what they wanted when they continued to reject Him. What they want is always in rebellion when they reject Him. Sin is a reason God puts evil men in power. It's a punishment, it's a judgment. In the Old Testament it was actually to save people. In the Old Testament, God raised up men to come and conquer Israel as a way of saving them from their sin, to purify them. We don't look at it like that way anymore. Sometimes God purifies His people with persecution. Doesn't mean we pray for it, doesn't mean we long for it. But if you realize, sometimes persecution is a way God purifies us. He's more interested in our worship than He is in our civil liberties. So you look at this, no matter who these men are, what kind of men they are, the president, the governor, the senator, when they're put in that position, that office, we are called to be subject to them. God has appointed all the different authorities. Yes, they may not be who you wish they were. They may have huge failures, and you simply trust God to judge them for their failures and submit to them. I want you to see that this is worship. Step back. This is worship. This is a call to trust King Jesus who died on the cross for sinners and rose again. Do you trust him enough to submit to a government that you may feel opposed to you and is probably opposed to him? Will you trust him still? Will you follow his example that we read from John 19? God has given you authority, Pilate, to crucify me. He trusted the Father. Do we trust Christ? Secondly, do we only submit to government when it's convenient? We have to learn to submit because government is there for our well-being. So the first reason, God has appointed these men. Therefore, we submit to God by submitting to them. Third, in verses three and four, we see the second reason why. He has to give a lot of reasons why we should subject ourselves to the governing authorities. The second reason why, they will judge you. They will judge you. Look at verse three. For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive his approval, for he is God's servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God's wrath on the wrongdoer. Paul is speaking in general. This is a general truth. It is a general truth that the government is there for the general good for the general population. It's not the end all of every possible way you think about every government rule, but what we should expect is that God has appointed these men, and generally speaking, it's good. Governing authorities are here for the general good for the general population. Christians should seek to live peaceably with all people by submitting to these governing authorities. We should seek to not create controversy, but to be peaceable. We should seek to be careful on how we push back against the government. We should realize that unless it's very clear in Scripture that we have to break a government law, we should submit to that government law. We can think of some text One, we know from Acts 4 or 5, we've already mentioned that if the government says, do not proclaim the gospel, you have to break that rule. If the government said you had to preach the gospel, would you still preach the gospel? The government says you can preach the gospel. Are you preaching the gospel? There's no penalty. Sorry, just coming back from ministering to pastors in China who will be in prison for being found out they're preaching the gospel. It's significant. We have freedom now. There's no penalty for not preaching the gospel. Other things in our culture that we should be concerned about. We have to be opposed to the murder of babies. We have to be opposed to the destruction of life, no matter what age, but these infants, these in-the-womb babies, these human beings not born, it's a non-negotiable. We have to be against what our law has said is right. We should also be pro-marriage. God has designed it, He's instituted it. Now how to resist these different things, that's another issue and probably too difficult to discuss now, but I would love to have those discussions with you later. What we need to realize is the biggest problem we should be concerned about, I don't think, is a corrupt government, but it's the church that's been conformed to the image of the world. If you think the problem is the government and we need to fix the government, you're missing the real problem that I think is true, and that is the church has been too conformed to the world. Now, this church and every other church in America, We have Americanisms. We have things that we value higher than we should because we're sinners. We need to be careful. This is why you hear over and over again, we must submit to God's word together. We must all be renewed in our minds together. We must not be conformed to the world together. We must all discern what the will of God is together. And we only do that when we submit to God's word together. We need to be more concerned about the state of the church because it is the one institution that will persevere through no matter what government is ruling. Let me go at this another angle. What kind of laws would you be willing to rebel against? So let me just take one example. What if the government, we reconstituted and the right to bear arms was taken away? How would you respond? I'm just being provocative. I'm not promoting. I'm not giving a position. I'm simply asking if the government took away what we consider a fundamental American right, some of us, would this be a call to arms to fight for that right? And if so, what is the biblical basis for doing so? I say that because we have these American rights, and we appreciate them, we're thankful for them. But in order to not submit to the government, we really have to be able to say, thus says the Lord, I can't abide. If we can't say, thus says the Lord, we have to abide. How many other kind of rules could we figure out? What if the government says your children have to go to a specific course to teach them to be citizens of the state? Well, that's frightening. But is there a biblical mandate that would cause us to refuse? What if the government demanded that you change your clock in the middle of the night to lose an hour of sleep? I could come up with some biblical justification, but that's for another time. See folks, we do live in a blessed place. We have lots of liberties. Praise God. We're thankful for those who serve to protect those liberties. They are also in ways governing authorities, the policemen, the sheriff. We're thankful for how we are in a blessed place. We have to realize not everything we take as an American privilege is a biblical mandate. We're blessed with many civil liberties. But what God's most interested in is our Christian command to worship. Augustine came up with a just war theory in order to think about if a government should go to war, they should have a certain criteria. So for instance, is it a just cause? Is the cause that we're going to war for, is it just or is it selfish? Are you trying to remove iniquity and injustice or are you going and being selfish with your pursuit of war? Is peace the ultimate goal in going to war? There's numerous questions you could ask. I think Christians tend to have too liberal of a personal just war theory. We're too quick to declare war. We're not conservative enough to say this clear scriptural precedent, principle, command is why I'm declaring war. In short, I could say it this way. We're not quick to forgive and we're slow to show grace. We're quick to claim the things that we find convenient, but we're not quick to say, how can I obey the commands of Christ? So here's some questions you should ask when thinking about, should I comply with the government? And these aren't profound, they're not even the end-all questions, but here's the first one. Is the law opposed to what Scripture teaches? I believe you first have to look and say, is there something clear from Scripture that would cause me to say, I have to disobey this law? Like Acts 5. Secondly, if the law does not oppose Scripture, how can I abide by it in such a way to live peaceably with all men? Again, the goal is peace. Third, if the law opposes Scripture, what does civil disobedience look like? And then the follow-up to that question, again, you'll notice the theme, how can I be as peaceable as possible given the law? Throughout scripture, we see, be peaceable to all men. We saw it in Romans 12. You'll see it again in one of the letters Paul wrote to Timothy. So we need to be careful to want to break a law. The other thing is we need to be careful to hold things in tension. Going and attacking someone at an abortion clinic, that's counterproductive. See, we're opposed to abortion because we believe every life has dignity and honor and value and worth. Going and attacking another human being, that's sending the wrong message. You don't do that. That's not the way to send the message that every human life has dignity, worth and value. The other one is this. lying about your income to avoid giving the government money that you don't trust. You don't trust them, so you lie. Do you realize that's not that helpful of a testimony? Again, I fear we're too willing to throw off government authority. Paul here speaks with absolute clarity. with absolute declaration, submit. It's for your good. Submit to every position, it's for your good. Now, let me just take a moment and maybe there's somebody who wants to be a government official one day, maybe there's governing officials here. If you are seeking the position or in a position of government authority, let me just give you two quick challenges. One, Be careful to seek out an office that would cause you a conflict of interest. Be careful to seek out an office that gives you the kind of authority where you would then have to wrestle with real Christian convictions to fulfill that office. For instance, if you have some pacifism, if you are a pacifist, you can't be the President of the United States. He declares war. Congress declares war. He sends troops in. So you have to be careful whenever you're pursuing different offices that you're not putting yourself in a position to have a conflict of interest between your Christian convictions and how you're supposed to serve your public. Second, realize that any office appointed by God is given to the person for the well-being of others. An office is a place of authority to care for others, not for selfish gain. Be aware. Be concerned about how you're going to use that authority, not for selfish gain, but for the well-being of others. Now, it speaks of the government bearing the sword. In Romans 8, Paul actually said the sword is going to come against Christians. And the beauty of what he said there is that it cannot separate us from the love of God. The sword is punishment. It includes capital punishment. The government has the authority to coerce obedience with a threat and the use of punishment. We have to recognize that is right and good. The third reason the text gives us is that we will be judged. We will have to answer to God. Therefore, one must be subjection not only to avoid God's wrath, but also for the sake of conscience. Verse five actually mentions that you need to be in subject because The wrath of God is going to come upon those who do not subject themselves to God's government. Christian, we have to realize we're going to have to give an answer for how we obeyed God's command to be subject to government. We need to realize we don't need to fear the government. We need to fear the one who can destroy both the soul and the body. All right, let's go to Hal. How? Verse six. If it hasn't been offensive so far, now we're gonna talk about taxes. Verse six. How to submit? For because of this you also pay taxes. For the authorities are ministers of God attending to this very thing. Pay to all what is owed to them. Taxes to whom taxes are owed, revenue to whom revenue is owed, respect to whom respect is owed, honor to whom honor is owed. You don't really need to expound on this. It's pretty clear. Pay your taxes. It's March 13th. April 15th is Tax Day. Between now and then, pay your taxes. That's how you obey this passage. It's pretty simple. We can think about it a little deeper, though, in that Paul has put paying taxes underneath the call to worship. We took up the offering. Being a cheerful giver to the cause of the church is a way of worship, and we can easily get behind that, but we have to realize obeying God's command to pay taxes is also an act of worship. We should do it humbly. We should do it obediently. We should do it honestly. Now, I really appreciate the concern that many have with paying taxes to a government that uses those funds for what we would consider evil. One of the big things that's been going on lately is a push to try to get government funding removed from abortion. And it's frustrating, heartbreaking to know that tax dollars are going to fund abortion clinics. Now, for those of you who say, well, I want to keep my tax dollars away from the government in the way that they're supporting abortion, I want to challenge you to something else. You have money. in your wallet that you spend freely? Are you as concerned about where you're buying your goods from and what they support as much as you're worried about how the government's going to take your mandatory taxes? Let me ask another one. Are you living out your convictions with your wallet? What you buy, where you buy it from? Businesses are supporting things that Christians should be opposed to. We should be aware of those businesses and we should live out our convictions with our wallets more than our mouths. That's how you'll really bring some change. That's where you're really going to change our culture. Let's think about a few final applications. I want to take us to 1 Timothy 2. 1 Timothy 2, chapter 2. If you're using a Pew Bible, that will be on page 991. First of all then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgiving be made for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way. Pointed earlier, the goal is peace. Again, Paul says it to Timothy. The goal is to live a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified. Praying for our government officials is the key prescription that he gives for doing that in our government. So three basic commands we can come from this is pray for our leaders, submit to their authority, desire to live a peaceful life. Pray for our leaders, submit to their authority, desire to live a peaceful life. Let me get a little more pointed in application. Parents, do your children think highly of their president and governing authorities based upon how you talk about them? Are you teaching them to submit, to respect, to honor? They're wonderful little reflections of us. They show us our sin. So think about how do your children hear you talking about those who are in authority over you? Children, learning to honor your parents is God's design so that you will also learn how to honor and submit to God. You're in worship boot camp right now as a child. Learning to honor and submit to your parents, that is God's way of teaching you how to honor and submit to Him. Honoring and obeying parents is a way to which you learn so that when you're an adult, you learn how to honor and submit and obey God. I gotta be clear with you, if you're a teenager especially, you're going to be under someone's authority for your entire life. Right now is the one time you're under someone's authority that actually loves you. that has your best interest in mind, that only tells you to do those things which are good for you and only restricts you from those things that are truly restricted for you. Enjoy this season where you're actually under someone's authority who actually loves you. When you grow up, when you get a job, you'll be under someone's authority who does not love you, most likely. As we're in this season, let me remind you God's sovereign over this nation. God's sovereign over an election. God's sovereign over us. We can trust Him. We need to be praying more than fighting. We need to be promoting and protecting God's purposes by seeking to live a peaceable and quiet life. Yes, there are causes worth fighting for, but we need to make sure that we're obeying God's word clearly in submission and prayer. So, let's have a little fun. Let's do what you all are hoping I might do. Who should you vote for? Well, the pulpit of Christ's church is only meant to promote the one true king, Jesus Christ. But let me tell you, I'm not real savvy on all things political, but theologically, if someone does not have respect for every human life, they are disqualified from office. If someone doesn't treat all people of every race and every gender and every age equal with dignity and worth and value, they are unfit to govern by definition, to care for people and protect people and love them and provide for them. To make decisions that care for people, you have to have a respect for people. And so my own personal litmus test for that is abortion. If you do not recognize that that human life that cannot yet speak for itself is worthy of dignity, that it has honor, that's a litmus test. They're not qualified. Yes, there's many other human atrocities. Yes, there's many other social injustices. But if someone does not recognize every human being has dignity and value, they're unfit for office. What we need to see is that God, He's one truly worthy of worship. He's the one truly worthy of promoting. He's the one truly worthy to submitting to. And by submitting to Him, we're called to submit to other authorities. So let us consider how we can stir one another up to trust God and submit to those who He has put over us. Will you pray with me? Father, we praise you and we thank you for your kindness. You've not left us to govern ourselves, which would be anarchy. You provided for us your common grace to provide food and water and government. And we thank you for this government that we get to be under, that gives us great liberty and freedom. May we use that freedom for your glory and your worship. May we take advantage of this season now that we can do so much to promote the strength and health of the church and the proclamation of your gospel to those neighbors. Father, I pray that we would have trust enough in you to submit to every governing authority. We do pray for our leaders, Lord, that any office holder, anyone who's in a position to care and provide for others, a parent, pastors, governors, policemen, whoever would be our next president, Lord. We pray for all of these in positions of authority. to see it as a responsibility to care for the well-being of others. I pray for your church. May we be light by seeking to live peaceably and quietly, godly and dignified in every way. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.