Sermon February 18th, 2007 Luke 24:13-35

Week 2 in sermon series following "Growing to be Like Christ"

One of the writers from week 2 of this small group study many of you are participating in mentions the process by which he became a real estate agent. Now, it seems his father gave him some basic instruction before, so he had a chance to observe a bit what that practice looked like, but he says he learned the most from two mentors who took him under their wing when he first got started in the business. He says,

“I believe that this discipline (of submitting to their experience and expertise) taught me a lot about my walk with the Lord. God doesn’t expect me to go it alone. Nor does he expect me to find my own way and muster up enough inner strength to implement real and lasting change in my life. He gave me the Holy Spirit. He guides, leads, and empowers me to live the Christian life. I have to be willing to yield control to God and let him lead.”

Now, I’d like to highlight a point of emphasis I see in this short quote from the author that says something like this (in my words); Before I submitted myself to the mentorship of these men, I had no idea how to be an excellent real estate agent. And only because I recognized I didn’t know, admitted it, and submitted myself to learn, was I freed to learn what it meant to be an excellent real estate agent.”

In that same line of thought, a man that I carry a deep amount of respect for as a Christian leader once said, “North American Christians are trained to believe that they are capable of reading the Bible without spiritual and moral transformation. They read the Bible not as Christians, not as a people set apart, but as democratic citizens who think their common sense is sufficient for understanding the Scripture. They feel no need to stand under the authority of a truthful community to be told how to read. Instead they assume that they have all the “religious experience” necessary to know what the Bible is about. As a result, the Bible changes to fit their lives rather than their lives changing to fit the expectations of God. I suggest the right reading of Scripture depends on having spiritual masters who can help the whole Church stand under the authority of God’s Word.”

Now, I recognize this sounds a bit weird to you right now, because it sounds a bit weird to me, and it might make you uncomfortable, because it does the same to me. The words “submit” and “authority” have a bad name today in our society, maybe primarily because we’re so individualistic, and we hate the idea of someone telling us what to do, but I also think it gives us a bad taste because it makes us immediately think of a cult where everyone shuts their mind off and blindly follows a leader. You guys remember David Koresh and the Heaven’s Gate cult? Some of you have been around for the multiple times Jehovah’s Witnesses have prophesied that the end of the world was coming. It happened the first time in 1873 when the leader William Miller got a bunch of his followers to stand on a hillside in white robes waiting for the end, and waiting, and waiting. And when that failed, they said it would come in 1874..that failed. Then they prophesied that 1878, 1881, 1910, 1914, 1920, and 1925 when they built a house for Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and other faithful prophets in San Diego, and deeded the house over to the prophets when they finished building it! They then declared the end was coming in 1941, 1944, and 1975, and yet, in all this time, less than 2% of the total members of Jehovah’s Witnesses left their movement. Now THAT is unthinking following. So we’ve seen enough cults in this world to feel JUST A BIT uncomfortable when we hear the words authority and submission. But I’ve had a chance to be exposed to a lot of Stanley Hauerwas’ life and what he cares about, and the authority he’s talking about is not this unhealthy following of an institution where we shut our minds off.

In fact, he’s one of the most humble men I know… a country boy from Texas, and he tells a story often of his cousin Billy Dick. One Easter, when Billy was six, he was in Sunday School at Lakewood Methodist Church in Dallas, TX, listening to the story of the crucifixion. He suddenly realized that the crucifixion was a very unhappy experience. He waved his hand in a desperate attempt to attract the teacher’s attention. The teacher finally saw him and called on him. Billy stood up and blurted out, “If Roy Rogers had been there, those dirty SOBs would not have been able to do what they did!”…and Stan’s point in sharing that story was that it represents in a lot of ways what blue-collar folks in Texas are all about. They don’t think of ourselves as the elite of a society, but as a kind of simple people who do the right thing, year after year.

And I think that same sort of mentality exists here in the Shenandoah Valley. The things we care about run deep in the tradition of who we are as a people…the Valley clearly has folks that care about the way they live and want to protect that lifestyle. So we don’t mince words when it comes to all the subdivisions popping up in Harrisonburg and Fishersville, the massive development over at Harshbarger, and the possibility of a MASSIVE car manufacturing plant just a couple of miles away from here. We in the Shenandoah Valley, especially my grandparents’ generation and my parents’ generation, are a people with some guts, who dig in against changes that make us uncomfortable and argue passionately for what we believe.

And so, when we read the Bible, we really believe that if WE had been at the crucifixion, we certainly WOULD NOT have let it happen. We are NOT the kind of people who let innocent people be killed. And I think most of us like Billy Dick’s appeal to Roy Rogers or Walker, Texas Ranger or Arnold Swarzenegger…we might say it differently, but we do NOT believe that we would have let Jesus be unjustly crucified. We’ve all got some Billy Dick in us, because (and all you have to do is go to the movies), here in America we like to side with the underdog. We daydream often about being heroes, where evil abounds and we can go into a situation with guns blazing and set the world right again.

We assume if we had just been there with Jesus, if we had just been able to follow him day in and day out- to witness his miracles, to hear his teachings, to see his confrontations with the leaders of his society – WE would have been faithful. WE would not have abandoned him at the Cross. We are even more confident that we would have recognized him if Jesus had joined us on the road to Emmaus.

That we think we would have never abandoned Jesus is an audacious claim that often doesn’t have a whole lot of reality to it. I’ll speak for myself here, but because I recognize I am so powerfully driven by MY self-interest, when I read of what Jesus said to the Pharisees, instead of scoffing at their self-righteousness, I try to intentionally read the story as if I am the Pharisee Jesus is speaking to, because I am more often self-righteous and puffed up than I am humble. When I hear the parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector, I try to consider myself the Pharisee because I am greatly tempted to fall into the trap of considering myself more important than others because I “go to church, tithe, pray, sing.” Any of us who have been around the church for an extended period of time can fall into this trap.

And so that guides me as I encounter what seems to be the stupidity and deafness of the Pharisees, the stupidity and blindness of the disciples, and the crowds who one day declared Jesus to be King, and the next day shouted “Crucify him!” because I have all of this laid out before me today; who Jesus was about, how he responded to evil, how he used his power, how he cared about others, challenged others, and I STILL OFTEN don’t get it!

So what it comes down to is the reality that if we understand the revolutionary nature of the gospel, the way it turns what WE consider to be the good life on its head, it should become very clear to us that most of us would have been, at worst, in the crowd shouting “Crucify him! Crucify Him!” or at best returning home thinking Jesus’ ministry was good while it lasted, but it was time to get back to the “real world.” To claim that we would have recognized Jesus on the road to Emmaus is similar to the thought that in order to understand Scripture all we have to do is pick it up and read it. Both claims assume that everything’s there and easy for us to recognize, and reasonable folks can see the facts if their minds are not clouded.

However, the story of the Emmaus road makes clear that we will make very little spiritual progress or have any growth in understanding in our lives unless we engage in a disciplined practice of submission to learning that includes three main things. The first act of submission is to God. We yield our body, mind, and spirit for His purposes. When we wake up in the morning, go to sleep in the night, and live the 14 or 15 hours or so in between those two events, we surrender our body, mind, and spirit into the hands of God to do with us what he pleases. The second act of submission, deeply related to the first, is to Scripture’s authority to guide us in all matters of life. We yield ourselves first to hear the Word, to receive the Word, and obey the Word. The third act of submission is to the church, the body of Christ. And when I say the church, that has three dimensions; the historical, global church of the last 2,000 years, the heroes of the faith over that time who should be primary examples for in life as they followed Jesus, and Middle River Church of the Brethren here in New Hope, where we as a church family make decisions and live life together, not as a ragtag bunch of individuals with our individual lives at the center of reality.

If we focus on these three things first before anything else, and apply them time after time in our lives before we claim our individuality, we will have a beautiful and consistent foundation from which to build our lives in Christ.

The story of these two followers along the road to Emmaus should highlight this point. Why did they not recognize Jesus at first? Not only that, why didn’t they recognize him all the way as they were walking and talking, then stopped and sat down to eat?

I think part of the solution might be to think of these two as more fringe admirers; maybe they saw Lazarus raised from the dead, maybe they were there when Jesus cleansed the temple; or maybe they were around him the whole time, and just like everyone else, completely missed the point even though Jesus plopped it right down in front of them.

So obviously these guys have been impacted by Jesus, but they just haven’t understood the meaning of Jesus’ life and death. And that reminds me of a story I read in a book here recently that talked of an encounter between two brothers. One’s name was Clarence Jordan. Clarence and his wife and two other folks founded what was known as Koinonia Farm in Americus GA in 1942, where they had a vision of an interracial community where black and white Christians could work side by side and live in a spirit of unity and equality and mutual respect. Through the 1950s and early 60s, Koinonia’s simple commitment to this life brought them subject to firebombs, bullets fired into their houses repeatedly, KKK rallies, death threats, property damage, excommunication from churches for their racial stances, and economic boycotts. Needless to say, it was a tough situation. His brother’s name was Robert, and he was a lawyer who later became a state senator and justice on the Supreme Court. At one point in a particularly rough time, Clarence approached his brother Robert, and asked him to legally represent Koinonia Farm as they fought for justice in the 1950s.

Robert responded to Clarence’s request, saying:“Clarence, I can’t do that. You know my political aspirations. Why, if I represented you, I might lose my job, my house, everything I’ve got.”

Clarence responded, “WE might lose everything too, Robert!”

Robert said back, “It’s different for you.”

“Why is it different?” Clarence said, “I remember, it seems to me, that you and I joined the church the same Sunday, as boys. I expect when we came forward the preacher asked me about the same question he did you. He asked me, ‘Do you accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior?’ And I said ‘Yes.’ What did you say?”

“Well,” Robert said, “I follow Jesus, up to a point.”

Clarence said back, “Could that point by any chance be- the cross?”

“That’s right,” Robert said, “I follow him TO the cross, but not ON the cross. I’m not getting myself crucified here.”

“Then I don’t believe you’re a disciple,” Clarence said. “You’re an admirer of Jesus, but you’re not a disciple of his. I think you ought to go back to the church you belong to, and tell them you’re an admirer, not a disciple.”

“Well now,” Robert fired back, “if everyone who felt like I do did that, we wouldn’t HAVE a church, now would we?”

“The real question then,” Clarence said, “is, Do you have a CHURCH, or somethin’ else?”

I think these men on the road to Emmaus are a lot like Robert Jordan here; they were admirers. They had thought that in this man Jesus they had found the long-expected Messiah. They knew Jesus was powerful. In fact, they used to think he had the potential to set Israel free. The redemption of Israel is after all the political freeing of the people of Israel from being under the thumb of others. So they throw up their hands and give up…until Jesus links up with them here and begins to explain to them what they had seen in Jerusalem. He starts ALLLL the way back at the beginning with Moses and runs through the prophets to tell them about how he was the fulfillment of all this. He points out to them that they had missed the meaning of the prophets about what the Messiah would look like and care about, where I’m sure he quoted Isaiah 52 and 53 along the way that showed God’s servant being bruised, beaten, misunderstood, and ultimately killed instead of riding a wave of public acclaim to destroying the Roman Empire and putting Israel at the top of the heap...

What we’ve got here is Jesus pointing them to Scriptures they PROBABLY were already familiar with and had NO IDEA had anything to do with him. Their PROBLEM HERE was grasping the meaning of Jesus in these words. They had not received the teaching and training that would transform the Scriptures from a bunch of dusty words on a page into life and truth exploding in their faces, tearing their lives limb from limb, exposing them for who they were without him, and giving them life! You see, Jesus had to lead them to unlearn what they thought the Messiah would look like so they could learn what he was really all about.

And this is why we gather as a church Sundays for worship, and why we’re gathering to talk about these things in small groups over the next six weeks, and why we call ourselves disciples of Jesus; because we’ve committed ourselves to unlearning the “good life” as the world defines it to figure out the “good life” as God defines it. And we struggle to grasp this lesson because we and our friends assume that Messiahs and Kings are people of power, not suffering servants like we find in Isaiah.

But our Savior comes not as the world knows power figures. He comes instead offering us the practice of forgiveness and reconciliation necessary for us to be a people capable of living, without envy or selfishness or destructiveness in the world. Instead of a kingdom that crushes its enemies, we are a part of a kingdom that is instead about choosing to suffer and die rather than destroy others that God has made.

Instead of a kingdom that offers easy fixes and hyped-up emotions that deny reality, we are called to trust God through everything life throws in our faces. You see, this is process of growing to be like Christ. We have to submit fundamentally and daily to the reality that he knows better than we do. We have to submit to unlearning the things the world tosses at us that are in fact destructive and twisted for the vision of life shown us by Jesus. And while this can and will be deeply painful at times for us, as we wrestle with the Scriptures and with God, and live life together as a church, we find out of this struggle something rooted, something life-defining, something of beauty. But in order to achieve this, we have to make the move from being admirers of Jesus to being disciples of Jesus.

February 11th, 2007 First sermon of series of six as congregation studies small-group series from Purpose-Driven entitled "Growing to be Like Christ"

Over the next six weeks, I’d like our worship times together to be a chance for further reflection, as well as a time of reinforcement for what we are learning together as a congregation in our small-group times together. If you’re not involved in our small-groups, I haven’t set up our worship on Sundays so only those who are involved in the small groups can understand or feel a part of the direction I’ll be going in the message, because, ultimately, the book the groups are following is called “Growing to Be Like Christ,” which in Biblical terms is “discipleship,” which we as a church are meant to be all about 7 days a week, 365 days a year anyways, right?

It’s not like we’re trying to reinvent the wheel here, are we? Here at Middle River Church of the Brethren, it’s important for remember the fact that we are part of something so much bigger than our individual sense of accomplishment or purpose or success; we are a part of the kingdom of God that burst into this world with the coming of Jesus, and so we humbly bow before God as millions upon millions of others have done in the 2,000 years since Jesus walked on this earth and showed the way of love, of humility, of righteousness, of suffering, and of victory over evil.

So let’s pray together as we enter into the time of the message this morning (Pray)

Recently my friend Dee asked me to run a half-marathon with her- a race that would take place in a few months. Although I wanted so much to run the race with her, to experience the excitement of being in a marathon, and spend time with her, my initial answer to her was no. I went home thinking about why. Why didn’t I want to run this race? Eventually the reason became clear: I wasn’t willing to do what it would take beforehand to run the race well. I wasn’t willing to pay the cost of time and training in my schedule. I have other priorities that are more important to me.

(How many of you guys have ever experienced this reality? We would LIKE to do certain things, but when we find that something demands hard work, we throw up our hands and give up?)

I face the same decision every day in my spiritual life. If I really want to know Jesus intimately, it takes time, energy, and the decision to let the Holy Spirit be in control of my life. Frankly, there are many days when I don’t feel like sweating that hard! The only reason I drag out those spiritual running shoes one more time is that I’ve had glimpses of the prize- knowing Jesus. Experiencing the prize motivates me to do the tough training.

(Read the NT passages talking of rigorous training, THIS IS LIFE DEFINING STUFF!!).

Turn with me to Hebrews chapter 11, if you would. Anyone here ever been to a Hall of Fame (baseball, football, rock and roll, any of those? Usually a statue of those honored, along with a short description of what made them famous. Well, Hebrews 11 is the Hall of Fame of sorts for us as the church, a sort of snapshot of those who have passionately pursued God; I look at the stories represented here, and often feel tempted to respond in two ways:

1) I tend to look at these folks as if they’re fundamentally different than I am; like God loved them more than me for some reason, and

2) I look at what took place in their lives, and how they are given as examples of tremendous faith, and I think it’s utterly IMPOSSIBLE for me to even sniff at the kind of faithfulness they’re known for.

Visually speaking, it often shapes up for me in seeing the folks represented here on one side of a great canyon, where they’re either encouraging me to cross without recognizing how big and impossible to cross the divide is, or pointing and laughing at me for how inadequate and faithless I am on my side of the canyon.

I mean, here are some of the stories (Read verses 1-12)

But the passage shifts in focus here from verses 13 on when it hits on a central and important point of what faith really means. You can go to Family Christian Bookstore and probably pick up 150 books on “faith” today, and I think 92% would either have a terribly inadequate definition of faith or just be a ridiculous twisting of certain Scriptures that reduce God to a puppet who works if we pull the right strings. But when it comes down to the heart of faith, if we really want to know, Biblical faith is not “positive confession” or “the prayer of agreement” or “speaking into being what is not there.” Biblical faith, at its heart, is trust. And I have confidence in saying this because you and I have been created to be in an open relationship with God, and in order to have a healthy relationship with someone, what is an ESSENTIAL thing you need? (You HAVE to trust the other person!)

The faith that lights a fire under us and compels us forward as a Christian community is less believing with our heads in the existence of God and more a practical trust in who He is in every situation and under whatever pressure we’re faced with. We don’t just sit around giving each other reasons why we think “God exists”; we read about and remember together what he’s done in the past, whether that was 2,000 years ago or yesterday; we worship him for who he is today, and we trust Him as our Creator and the One who loves us. These stories we tell and memories we carry sustain us in the times that are rough… they bring the mind and heart together. Against incredible obstacles and sometimes without a clue about the future, the trusting heart says, “Father, I surrender my will and my life to you without any reservation and with complete confidence, because you love me.”

And Hebrews 11 makes a shift in verse 13 to really strike at the heart of what faith is all about. (read 13 ff, focus on Moses and 32 ff)

And this is the point where I want to introduce you to an extraordinary follower of Jesus named Brennan Manning. Brennan wrote a book that would be GREAT for future small group studies call The Ragamuffin Gospel: Good News for the Bedraggled, Beat-up and Burnt-out that in many ways emerged from the struggle of faith he pursued in the incredible ups and downs in his life.

And Brennan in that book audaciously wrote in the beginning:

“This book is not for the super-spiritual, it is not for muscular Christians who have made John Wayne (or Clint Eastwood or James Bond) and not Jesus their hero. It is not for professors who would imprison Jesus in their ivory tower of (what THEY think he was all about). It is not for noisy, feel-good folks who manipulate Christianity into an appeal to emotion. It is not for hooded mystics who want magic in their religion. It is not for Alleluia Christians who live only on the mountaintop and have never visited the valley of (suffering). It is not for the fearless. It is not for red-hot zealots who boast with the rich young ruler of the gospels: “All these commandments I have kept from my youth.” It is not for the (self-righteous), hoisting over their shoulder a (bag full of) honors, diplomas, and good works actually believing they have it made. It is not for legalists who would rather surrender control of their souls to rules than run the risk of (following Jesus in relationship). The Ragamuffin Gospel was written for the bedraggled, beat-up, and burnt-out. It is for those who are burdened, who are still shifting the (heavy burdens they carry) from one hand to the other. It is for the wobbly and weak-kneed who know they don’t have it all together and are too proud to accept the hand-out of amazing grace. It is for inconsistent, unsteady disciples. It is for poor, weak, sinful men and women with (repetitive) faults and limited talents…it is for the bent and bruised who feel that their lives are a great disappointment to God. It is for smart people who know they are stupid and honest disciples who admit they (can be rascals sometimes). The Ragamuffin Gospel is a book I wrote for myself and anyone who has grown weary and discouraged along the Way.”

And maybe that sounds like it rings a little true to you right now, but Brennan’s life story will really hammer the need to trust God home. He had a regular life like many other folks his age in the 1940s, but in his early 20s, even though he thought he wanted to be a journalist, he left college, restlessly searching for something "more" in life. "Maybe the something 'more' is God," an advisor had suggested, triggering Brennan's enrollment in a Catholic seminary in Loretto, Pennsylvania.

In February 1956, while Brennan was doing his best to pray, he had a powerful experience of the love of God that radically changed his life. "At that moment," he later recalled, "the entire Christian life became for me an intimate, heartfelt relationship with Jesus." Four years later, he graduated from St. Francis College and went on to complete four years of advanced studies in theology, and he was ordained as a priest

Brennan's ministry responsibilities afterwards took him from teaching in universities to working every day with the poorest of the poor in Spain in the late sixties. He joined a group of Catholic priests committed to living with the poor, transporting water to rural villages with a donkey and wagon; was a dishwasher in France; a voluntary prisoner in a Swiss jail, lived by himself in cave for six months in the desert. "

In the early seventies, Brennan moved back to America and he and four other priests started a community in a seaport on the southwest coast of Alabama. The men settled in a house on Mississippi Bay and worked on shrimp boats, ministering to the shrimpers and their families who had been considered unimportant by others. Next to the community house was a chapel that had been destroyed by Hurricane Camille. The guys restored it and offered a Friday worship service which soon began transforming this shrimping community. From Alabama, Brennan got married, and moved to Florida in the mid-seventies to be campus minister at a local Community College. (this is a wonderful story so far, right?)

His ministry was harshly interrupted, however, when he moved to New Orleans and suffered a terrible and quick collapse into alcoholism.

Brennan remarks again;

"Picture me sitting on a curbstone along General Meyer Avenue in New Orleans. I am intoxicated after a relapse with alcohol. My clothes are in tatters; I reek with rancid body odor; I am unshaven. My face and belly are bloated, my eyes bloodshot. I am clutching a fifth of Smirnoff vodka- only a few ounces left. My marriage is collapsing, my friends are near despair, and my honor is broken. My brain is scrambled, my mind a junkyard of broken promises, failed dreams, unkept resolutions. Fifty yards behind me is the detox center at the hospital. As I take the last swig, I shudder at the pain and heartache I have caused. Going to AA meetings, working the Twelve Steps, talking to my sponsor, reading the Big Book, praying- these all have worked for others. Why have they not worked for me? I know I will never hear the words, “Well done, good and faithful servant.” Minor panic: no more booze. Reaching into my pocked, I find a five-dollar bill. Staggering down four blocks, I find a convenience store, still open at midnight. I buy a pint of Taaka vodka. Cheaper. I retrace my steps, weaving across the avenue to reclaim my seat on the curb. I do not want the lifesaving treatment of detox. I continue drinking. My eyes fill with tears. Now I am crying. God’s drunken child. “Jesus, where are you?” I say. Soon I pass out with the half-full pint resting on my chest. When I wake up the next morning, I learn that two staff members had come out on the avenue and carried me to detox.”

And this became ANOTHER turning point in Brennan’s life, because it was here that he began to write and his story impacted peoples’ lives. (Now, do you think this guy’s got something to share about the unconditional love of God?!?!? I’d say so)

And all of Brennan’s life experience and his embracing of God has led him straight to this point; Anyone God uses significantly is always deeply wounded. We are, each and every one of us, insignificant people whom God has called to use in a significant way, no matter what our job, our upbringing, how much money we make, our past, or our significant weakness that keep kicking us to the curb and wounding us and others.. In God’s eyes, the high-profile ministries and massive churches are no more significant than those that draw little or no attention and publicity.

Some faced jeers and flogging, while still others were chained and put in prison. They were stoned; they were sawed in two; they were put to death by the sword. They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted and mistreated— the world was not worthy of them. They wandered in deserts and mountains, and in caves and holes in the ground. These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised.

Every single one of the people we see in Hebrews 11 were imperfect human beings; no different than you or me. But these folks stood out from others around them because out of their failures and inconsistencies and struggles and ups and downs of life, they trusted God, even if their trust shortened their life. And we don’t have to look too far today to see people who are amazing examples for us of trusting God in every circumstances. Brennan Manning is one among many who prayed the prayer, “Father, I surrender my will and my life to you without any reservation and with complete confidence, because you love me.”

And what we need are opportunities to pray prayers like this, because we so often forget, and so often fall flat on our faces, we need opportunities to say to God; I give this to you the very best that I can. I trust you. And so as our worship gathering comes to a close today, I’m going to play a song called “Ready for You” that really puts into music this thing of trust that is SO HARD to do in our lives, and I’d invite you to move out from your chair if you feel led to just tell God very simply for the first time, or the 450^th time, “Father, I surrender my will and my life to you without any reservation and with complete confidence, because you love me.”

Lyrics to "I am Ready for You" sung by Kutless in album "Strong Tower"

Lord, You take my heart away with Your love
and I am willing to put on my faith in Your plan.

Come and take my life.
Make my soul refreshed in truth now.

I am ready for You.
Take my heart and make me new now.
I am ready for You
to come and fill my soul.

Cleanse all of my mind that is not of You.
Break me, teaching me how to find rest in Your hands.

Come and take my life.
Make my soul refreshed in truth now.

I am ready for You.
Take my heart and make me new now.
I am ready for You
to come and fill my soul.
To come and fill my soul.

Whatever it takes,
I'm needing to make Your will be done
and I'm letting go of my control,
for I see what You've done in me.

I am ready for You.
Take my heart and make me new now.
I am ready for You
to come and fill my soul.

February 4th, 2007 Romans 13:1-7 (Part 3 of 3) "Submission to God, Submission to State"

I think we don't see it as particularly important or relevant, we see other things as more important or relevant than Scripture. We wouldn't admit it, but that's how we order our lives. (How much time spent studying the Word vs. watching TV or football, memorize songs on the radio vs. memorizing Scripture)

We’ve been talking for the last two weeks about this passage here in Romans 13. Two weeks ago, we put this scripture that is so often quoted out of context back into the context it belongs, the context of the letter, Paul’s life, the early church’s life, and Jesus’ life. We looked at Scriptural evidence to show us that what states do is not ALWAYS good, and can be evil, and so Paul was contrasting the way of the world with the way that Christians are called to. Last week, we talked about the fact that when Paul says “For there is not authority except which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God,” that included ALL AUTHORITIES. So when we read that today, we are meant to think: all governments in the world fall under this definition. God is sovereign over them all. God chooses to use civil governments to provide a foundational level of order in the world. They’re imperfect, they’re often more reflective of prejudices, hatred, and fear than they are of justice, and they’re fallen. ALL OF THEM. We looked at Scripture evidence for this as well, and found the scandalous truth that in the history of Israel, God in fact worked most directly through the mortal enemy of Israel, Babylon, to carry out his purposes, even going to the point of calling King Nebuchadnezzar his SERVANT. And the reality that follows that is that when the Israelites ignored the prophets and chose to fight against the Babylonians, they were fighting AGAINST GOD!! And when Jerusalem was taken to the ground and the temple destroyed, and the people led off into chains, they were called to submit to the Babylonian government as an act of faithfulness.

And what we’re going to talk about today is the importance of one word in verse 1: “Submit,” because it’s the word that the entire batch of Scripture here hinges on. The more we invest our lives in understanding, in being deeply rooted in the Bible, the more we’re able as Jesus’ followers to connect the dots between Scripture and figure out what the heck certain verses mean in the bigger picture. That’s part of why Scripture is quoted out of context so much these days without anyone standing up to say, “WHOA WHOA WHOA. Hold up here. WHAT YOU’RE SUGGESTING doesn’t line up with the bigger picture we’re given here in Scripture.” Why do you think people these days allow themselves to be led down paths by leaders who twist Scripture to fit their goals?

So if this word submission indeed is important, what is it important for? What are you suggesting, Nate? Quite simply, what I am suggesting is that the imperative command, “SUBMIT!!!!” is not the same as “OBEY!!!!” The Greek language has good words to speak of obedience, which means completely bending one’s will and actions to the desire of another. Somebody tells you to do something, you do it; no questions asked. You’re obedient. But this is NOT what Paul is calling the people to do! What Paul is calling the people to is SUBMISSION, which means to offer oneself of one's free will [to submit oneself to an ordeal]; to cease to offer resistance.

The direct translation of Romans 1, knowing this, then, would be “Let everyone offer themselves of their own free will to undergo an ordeal….to the governing authorities.”

And that might not sound much different to you than obedience, but if we jump back into the Biblical story we looked at last week where the Israelite people were to submit to, literally bow their necks under the yoke of the enemy Babylonian government that God was working most directly through at the time, this scandalous truth, we might some further wisdom. So turn with me to Daniel 6. (read 1-16)

And for it he was thrown to the lions. Which he did not resist. Keep in mind that there is no explicit commandment that one must pray on one’s knees at an open window three times a day. This was Daniel’s conviction about God’s will, not an explicit command in the Bible.

There are at least three features of Daniel’s disobedience that stand out to me: First, the law he broke did not require an evil act on his part. Second, there was no guarantee that his disobedience would be successful. It might have only resulted in his death with no change in the king’s decree, and third, his act of disobedience to the state is one of the main points of the book, which shouts to the world in verse 26 here that “God is the living God and he endures forever, his kingdom will not be destroyed, his dominion will never end.”

So here we have a clear case where a faithful follower of God submits himself to the Babylonian government, yet where they demand that he act in such a manner that is not consistent with his commitment to God, he refuses to be OBEDIENT to them.

(And this can be shown today most clearly in our obedience to the instruction here where in a situation, we refuse to do what the government demands, but still remain under the sovereignty of the government and accept the penalties that it imposes, and if we look at the stories of the early church, that INCLUDES death)

And what drives this submission is not fear, but a commitment as a follower of Jesus to a higher allegiance. When the governmental power asks of me something that doesn’t run counter to what God asks of me, they can expect my full submission AND obedience. When the governmental power asks of me something that DOES run counter to what God expects from me, they can expect my full DISOBEDIENCE as well as my submission to the penalties that will result from that.

And that may seem pretty straightforward, but living as God’s people in America presents a different animal in some ways than being completely powerless subjects of the Roman Empire, the American government gives us the ability, even though we seem to be more and more powerless, to make change happen if enough of us as the people of God get together.

So the important question, then, is what that should look like. We could take for a decade about this issue, but I intend this time together to be more of a springboard for us to think deeper later about these issues, not a time to exhaustively talk through everything that that means. And even WITH figuring out how our identity as Christians affects our relationship with the state, we need to keep in mind our PRIMARY citizenship and our GUIDING vision is that we are a community of people who have said “Yes” to God, who are committed to being a model society for the world of what God deeply cares about.

And what I’d like to talk about first is when the laws of our society specifically forbid us to act in a certain way, and because we are committed to justice as God’s people, we DISOBEY the law in the hope of change. In other words, some Christians have come to the point in history where they believed laws were so unjust and so evil, and political means of change had been frustrated so long, that peaceful, non-violent, civil disobedience seemed right.

The most pressing, and most recent example of this to think about is the civil rights struggle for blacks and other minorities to have equal status as whites under the law in America.

On December 1, 1955, a simple woman named Rosa Parks refused to obey the Jim Crow laws that required her to give up her seat to a white man. The Montgomery Bus Boycott, led by Martin Luther King, soon followed. The boycott lasted for 382 days, the situation becoming so tense that King's house was bombed during that time. King was arrested during this campaign, which ended with a United States Supreme Court decision outlawing racial segregation on all public transportation.

So already we’ve got two folks arrested, one’s home bombed, and countless others in the boycott beaten and slandered for their actions. In addition, the FBI began wiretapping King’s phones in 1961, using the details caught on tape over six years to try to force King out of his leadership position. But King refused to bow under to this, and chose to believe that organized, nonviolent protest against the system of segregation would lead to extensive media coverage of the struggle for black equality and voting rights. Newspaper and television footage of the daily beatings and indignities suffered by southern blacks, and of segregationist violence and harassment of civil rights workers and marchers, produced a wave of public opinion that made the Civil Rights Movement the single most important issue in American politics in the early 1960s and resulted in the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Voting Rights Act of 1965.

But, most importantly for us today, while sitting in prison in Birmingham, AL in 1963, King said, “In no sense do I advocate evading or defying the law, as would the rabid segregationist. That would lead to anarchy. One who breaks an unjust law must do so openly, lovingly, and with a willingness to accept the penalty. I submit that an individual who breaks a law that conscience tells him is unjust and who willingly accepts the penalty of imprisonment in order to arouse the conscience of the community over its injustice, is in reality expressing the highest respect for law.

Of course, there is nothing new about this kind of civil disobedience. It was shown most directly in the refusal of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego to obey the laws of Nebuchadnezzar, on the ground that a higher moral law was at stake. It was practiced superbly by the early Christians, who were willing to face hungry lions and the excruciating pain of chopping blocks rather than submit to certain unjust laws of the Roman Empire.”

And on April 3, 1968, MLK famously said during his "I've Been to the Mountaintop" speech:

It really doesn't matter what happens now.... some began to... talk about the threats that were out -- what would happen to me from some of our sick white brothers.... Like anybody, I would like to live a long life. Longevity has its place, but I'm not concerned about that now. I just want to do God's will. And He's allowed me to go up to the mountain! And I've looked over, and I've seen the Promised Land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people, will get to the Promised Land. And so I'm happy tonight. I'm not worried about anything. I'm not fearing any man. Mine eyes have seen the Glory of the coming of the Lord!”

The next day he was killed, and stands today as a modern Christian martyr.

CO: There is a long history in the Church of the Brethren of men and women refusing to take part in warfare because of their commitment to following Jesus. And while this is not as much of an issue today to claim CO status, it has not always been this way.

In the United States during World War I, conscientious objectors were permitted to serve in noncombatant military roles. About 2000 absolute conscientious objectors refused to cooperate in any way with the military.^[7] These men were imprisoned in military facilities such as Fort Lewis (Washington), Alcatraz Island (California) and Fort Leavenworth (Kansas). The government failed to take into account that some conscientious objectors viewed any cooperation with the military as contributing to the war effort. Their refusal to put on a uniform or cooperate in any way caused difficulties for both the government and the COs. The mistreatment^[8] received by these absolute COs included short rations, solitary confinement and physical abuse so severe as to cause the deaths of two Hutterite draftees.^[9]

In the Russian Civil War in 1918, hundreds of conscientious objectors were called “enemies of the people,” and were placed in concentration camps to break their resistance and encourage enlistment

We can never forget the sacrifice faithful Christians made in Nazi-occupied Europe in the 1940s to harbor Jews and others (this was explicitly against the law) being exterminated by the Nazis in their death and concentration camps.

Abortion

As followers of Jesus, we are called to value all life from conception to death, and this means standing up for the rights of those who cannot stand up for themselves; and our Biblical foundation of knowing God lovingly knits us together in our mother’s womb calls us to deeply care about the issue of abortion. And while it is not against the law, and may not get us imprisoned unless we decide to make a public witness in an area prohibited by law, we can press to get Roe vs. Wade overturned by any variety of ways.

But just like Daniel, who decided to be faithful and live according to God’s way no matter what, even if the government never declares abortion to be illegal, we will address the issue ourselves, as the church; to place a high value both on the lives of the mother and of the child. (this is why the message that has come from the church has been so hypocritical, though)

- Raise hands if remember Roe v. Wade (1973)

- Tell me if this statement is true or false

o Before Roe vs. Wade, no one ever had an abortion in America

- Look up pregnancy help center stats

o When did most help centers emerge? (after abortion was legalized)

o In fact, do this when you go home, type in google.com, put pregnancy help center into the search engine, and tell me sometime this week or next Sunday if you find one that was founded before abortion was legalized.

As I continue to grow and recognize that the gospel is SO MUCH BIGGER than I ever imagined, and deal honestly with the fact that the way of life Jesus calls his followers to is SO MUCH DIFFERENT from the lives of those around them; that all Christians are called to recognize the ideal and vision around which they are formed will result in a lifestyle that is considered HEROIC by the world’s standards, but is a basic expectation for the Christian life.

The problem exists when we value comfort, social status, and other factors above the vision of life and expectations we are given by Jesus.

When the governmental power asks of me something that doesn’t run counter to what God asks of me, they can expect my full obedience AND subordination. When the governmental power asks of me something that DOES run counter to what God expects from me, they can expect my full DISobedience as well as my subordination to the penalties that will result from that.

And we don’t do this without precedent. The reason we are driven to this example of submission is that Jesus Christ himself willingly submitted himself to humiliation for the sake of the kingdom of God (Philippians 2). The willingness to suffer is then not merely a test of our patience; it is itself a participation in the character of God’s victorious patience and love of his creation. We subject ourselves to government because it was in this system that Jesus revealed and achieved God’s ultimate victory.

January 28th, 2007 Romans 13:1-7 (Part 2 of 3) "Submission to God, Submission to the State"

Last week, among other things, we talked about the fact that all authority comes from God and that every government that has ever existed in this world from ancient Mali to modern-day France is under his authority and sovereignty. We talked about the fact that Jesus is Lord over all the earth, even though we don’t yet see all things under his feet and sometimes it feels like the world is becoming more twisted and evil every day. And we talked about how Romans 13:1-7 has to read in the immediate context of chapter 12 and the end of chapter 13 (and we see immediately that the action of the state to carry out vengeance is DIRECTLY CONTRASTED with the action of the follower of Jesus, who is forbidden to exact vengeance on another. We looked at the context of the author of the letter’s life, as well as the context of the early church’s life, and centrally and primarily in the context of Jesus’ life. If we are called, compelled to understand God’s Word as followers of Jesus, it is ESSENTIAL that we don’t read the Bible like a series of quotes, disconnected from one another, and all having whatever meaning we choose to place on them.

And so, the message we get from the larger contexts we looked at last week is, quite simply, “Church in Rome, and Christians everywhere…live like good citizens. Pay your taxes and owed revenue. Be people of integrity. Don’t raise a ruckus just for the sake of raising a ruckus. BUT, and this is a HUGE BUT, don’t let that commitment tempt you to think this gospel, this global movement of reconciliation, isn’t revolutionary. So revolutionary, in fact, that if the government demands of you something that God has declared unfaithful, you MUST refuse to participate in this.”

Elaine walked up to me after worship, and said quite simply so me, “I’d like to say one thing, Nate. God is not a God of anarchy, but of order.” And her comment meshes well with what we’re looking at today, because what she said is true. Civil governments exist in the world to maintain order, and Paul says here in verses 1-4:

We don’t have to look far to see states in disorder in the world from a lack of central authority. Anarchy and mob rule is terrifying, not comforting. But I want to emphasize today that ultimately the governing authorities are secondary servants of God, part of the fallen powers in the world that God STILL can use for his purposes. Now, you may not believe me on this point, but when Paul says, “For there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God,” which authorities does he mean? (EVERY AUTHORITY!!!!)

One of the pitfalls that a citizen of ANY country can fall into is the belief that THEIR government came into power and exists because of the action of God, and therefore has God on its side. This is a terribly pitfall lots of folks in the world fall into…and to emphasize the inconsistency and the twisted nature of this idea, I’m going to give what we consider an extreme case here to show how this works.

In 1933, Adolf Hitler was elected Chancellor of Germany, he appealed to the economic need of the lower and middle classes, restructured the economy, rearmed the military, pursued an aggressive foreign policy, and began invading neighboring countries, many German citizens supported his action because they believed German interests were most important. Now the DISTINCT and TWISTED reality about the church in Germany at this time was NOT ONLY that a vast majority of “Christians” went along with Hitler, they actively served him and believed in him. How could they come to such a place? (was it because they’re German, and Germans are evil?)

(Ultimately, it was because they SO BELIEVED that Germany was right and that God was on their side that they shut their minds off and blindly followed into disgusting evil) There are several lessons that we could pull from that situation, but the most relevant for us today is the reality that when Paul talks about “the authorities that exist,” he’s not talking about the United States, he’s saying, whatever governing system you’re under is AN authority in a SYSTEM of multiple authorities.

And, as disgusting and terrible as it can sound, when Paul talks about the “authorities that exist,” if we lived in the 1930s and 40s, that includes Nazi Germany, and today includes the United States, France, Germany, South Africa, Iran, Russia, and others. I just want to establish this, so we don’t fall into the pitfall folks across the world can when we each read the Bible of thinking Paul’s just talking about OUR individual governments being King.

If you’re not convinced or downright disagree with me about this, I want to highlight something in the Old Testament that would have seemed SCANDALOUS to a good Israelite. We know that in the Old Testament, God worked centrally through the state of Israel, who were his “blessed” people meant to show the world the beauty of a life lived in submission to God’s purposes. But in the Old Testament, did God work ONLY through the state of Israel, and were they the only ones “blessed” by God?

Turn with me to Jeremiah 27

Now the situation here’s relatively simple. To give you a 30 second glimpse in a long time, the people of Israel were one kingdom under David and Solomon, but afterwards split into two kingdoms for a variety of reasons. After these splits, over a period of time, the people were terribly unfaithful to God, tempted to worship the Gods of neighboring nations, intermarried with pagans, valued wealth and comfort over faithfulness, and God sent prophet after prophet to the people to remind them of their unfaithfulness, of his patience, and of the consequences if they continued down the path they were on. As we read here today in Jeremiah, we are at the end of almost 350 years of the people of God sliding down a slippery slope of unfaithfulness, and God’s patience has been spent,

Jeremiah 27
“ Early in the reign of Zedekiah ^[a] son of Josiah king of Judah, this word came to Jeremiah from the LORD : 2 This is what the LORD said to me: "Make a yoke out of straps and crossbars and put it on your neck. 3 Then send word to the kings of Edom, Moab, Ammon, Tyre and Sidon through the envoys who have come to Jerusalem to Zedekiah king of Judah. (All the nations of their known world) 4 Give them a message for their masters and say, 'This is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says: "Tell this to your masters: 5 With my great power and outstretched arm I made the earth and its people and the animals that are on it, and I give it to anyone I please. 6 Now I will hand all your countries over to my servant Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon; I will make even the wild animals subject to him. 7 All nations will serve him and his son and his grandson until the time for his land comes; then many nations and great kings will subjugate him.

8 " ' "If, however, any nation or kingdom WILL NOT serve Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon or bow its neck under his yoke, I will punish that nation with the sword, famine and plague, declares the LORD, until I destroy it by his hand. 9 So do not listen to your prophets, your diviners, your interpreters of dreams, your mediums or your sorcerers who tell you, 'You will not serve the king of Babylon.' 10 They prophesy lies to you that will only serve to remove you far from your lands; I will banish you and you will perish. 11 But if any nation will bow its neck (SUBMIT) under the yoke of the king of Babylon and serve him, I will let that nation remain in its own land to till it and to live there, declares the LORD." ' "

Now THIS is SCANDALOUS stuff! God allowed the pagan nation, the mortal enemy of Israel, Babylon, to rule over them?! God called Nebuchadnezzar, a pagan king, his SERVANT?! The nation of Israel, the Promised Land, will be reduced to ruins, the people led off into slavery?! And the worst part, if Israel had fought against Babylon (which they did), they were fighting against God, who had blessed and was working most centrally through their enemy. And so they were led off into chains.

But the story doesn’t end there. Look at verse 7…remember when I mentioned last Sunday that there will always be a top dog in the world? What does verse 7 say?

(read Jeremiah 25: 12-14)

Seems like a double message, that God would use Assyria for his purposes, then turn around and judge them for their actions against the people of Israel, but that illustrates the central point here: God can use the fallenness of any government to work for his ultimate ends and purposes, and in his freedom and sovereignty judge them for their actions along the way And so, even though they’ve played a role in accomplishing his purposes, they are ultimately judged for THEIR unfaithfulness.

And this is a HUGE REALITY for us to be aware of as we read Romans 13, because Paul never declares the actions of the authorities to be MORALLY GOOD and ESPECIALLY does not DEMAND that we participate in their actions as followers of Jesus.

Instead, Paul quotes Psalm 44 just a bit earlier in the letter to the Romans 8:36, “‘For your sake, (God) we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.’” Paul knows that civil authorities are not just a terror to bad conduct. They a terror to good conduct sometimes. They kill Christians, just like Jesus said they would, when he reminded his disciples, “They will lay hands on you and persecute you. They will deliver you to synagogues and prisons, and you will be brought before kings and governors, and all on account of my name. This will result in your being witnesses to them. But make up your mind not to worry beforehand how you will defend yourselves. For I will give you words and wisdom that none of your adversaries will be able to resist or contradict. You will be betrayed even by parents, brothers, relatives and friends, and they will put some of you to death. All men will hate you because of me. 18But not a hair of your head will perish. By standing firm you will gain life.”

This means that the Roman Christians and we today have to deal with the fact that civil governments exist. They’re imperfect, they’re open more reflective of prejudices, hatred, and fear than they are of justice, and they’re fallen. ALL OF THEM. Yet through all of this, God is using fallen, twisted people for his ends, to reconcile the world to himself. But that’s not all we have to hope for: we live differently in this age, we do not conform to the patterns of this world.

Many of Hitler’s acts were evil and unjust and twisted. Stalin killed 30 million of his own people. South Africa treated black people like second-class citizens by law until 1994. The United States dropped atomic bombs on Japanese cities. We are taxed and must pay a portion of our revenues. Yes, we can be imprisoned for obeying God rather than man.

And yet we submit to the authorities out of reverence for God—not reverence for the ruler. God has stripped rulers of their final authority. That's what verse one means. The authorities are not God. God is God. “Be subject for the Lord's sake to every human institution” (1 Peter 2:13).

All of this is ROOTED in the reality that the primary and central and life-defining citizenship we carry as the people of God is what we pay attention to first and foremost. The church does not exist to serve America, or Germany, or Britain, or Iraq…it exists with the vision and the mission of a model society, a global people. We can talk about lots of things, and there are a LOT of things that aren’t black and white, truth and lie, things that we face in this life, but one thing we can count on is that when we place our lives under the lordship of Jesus, every other commitment in our life becomes vastly secondary to it; and if we fail to do this, if we fail to be God-centered, Christ-exalting, faithfulness-pursuing people first, and centrally when we dare to call ourselves Christians, the most fearful and convicting and awful and piercing moment will come when we stand before the judgment seat of Christ. God is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and quick in love, but he WILL NOT settle for second place in our lives. He cares SO DEEPLY about our rebellion as human beings that he will not hold back his wrath for our failure to care about him and line our lives up with his desires. Now THAT’S NOT a touchy-feely reality, but it IS reality.

To follow Jesus will COST us something. Christians are ultimately aliens and exiles in in every government in the world they are a part of; because Jesus is our King, and no human authority is above him.

So this is the hard reality: An infinitely powerful and sovereign God is to work at the same time through the sufferings of his committed disciples who return good for evil AND through the wrathful vengeance of civil authorities who punish evil with evil.

Next Sunday we’re going to investigate the last element of our look at Romans 13 by walking through the reality that we do live in a society where we have relatively more freedom that in other societies to impact things; and sometimes that means standing up for what we believe in in the interest of changing the law, or at the very least letting the world know what we care about. This affects stances on abortion, pacifism, marriage, and other issues, and I want this to be very conversational next Sunday, because there is a need sometimes for cooperative civil disobedience to reach a goal of justice.

Sermon January 21, 2007 Romans 13:1-7 (Part 1 of 3)

This is not a small, relatively unimportant section of Scripture. It is incredibly important for us today: so important, in fact, that I think we should devote at least a couple Sundays to looking deeper into what Paul is suggesting here. So today, I’d like to try to lay the groundwork both historically and Biblically to put this section of Scripture into context. Because one of the biggest things that you and I can remind ourselves as we read the Bible is one word: context. (Context context context)

When we talk about the relationship of a follower of Jesus to the state, we are talking about one of the great themes—the great issues of the world—that should lift us out of a message that you and I face more and more each day that our lives don’t matter in the great scheme of things. We’re told if we don’t own this, aren’t in power of that, aren’t climbing this social ladder, aren’t making this or that decision where multiple lives hang in the balance, aren’t a Senator or a CEO or a President, that our life and our perspectives are meaningless. If you don’t believe that, stop for a second and look at how our society devalues the role of a mother that decides to stay home to nurture her kids and create a home environment where Christ is exalted. I’m not opposed at all to women or men to provide for their families; I’m just asking you to consider what our society would think of such a woman. (How do they think?) That is a lie. Repeat that with me. That is a lie.

And the reason I mention this is because Romans 13:1-7 is only a part (an important part), but only a part of the larger context in this letter here from Romans 12 through Romans 13, and both BEFORE and AFTER this section, we are reminded of the foundational expectation God carries for us as his people that has something to say about the Scripture today, because, remember, this letter was NOT written to individuals, but to a CHURCH. Paul has something to say about how the church will act FIRST BEFORE and AFTER this passage: “Bless those who persecute you. Bless and DO NOT curse. DO NOT repay anyone evil for evil. DO NOT take revenge, but leave for God’s wrath.” And why do we leave for God’s wrath? Remember us talking about this a couple weeks ago? (We leave room for God’s wrath because God is righteous and just and makes perfect decisions; and we recognize that we are often terribly biased and flawed. God brought us into this world, and God is meant to decide when and where we leave this world. In the meantime, we love sacrificially). Love must be sincere.

After this passage, we are reminded forcefully again in verses 9 and 10, “whatever other commandment there may be, they are summed up in this one rule, “Love your neighbor as yourself.” And what follows that? (Love does no harm to its neighbor) So that’s the first thing for us to remember in interpreting this Scripture: chapters 12 and 13 in their entirety form one literary unit. So, 13:1-7 cannot be understood alone, even though it is so often ripped out of its context and twisted into something very different than Paul intended it. Remember, context context context.

Historically speaking, in this section of Scripture is the theme of God's establishment of and authority over every government in the world that has ever existed. And, if we recognize God’s freedom in establishing every government in the world, we also recognize God's sovereign disestablishment of every government in the world that has ever existed. If there’s one thing we can count on, we can count on the reality that worldly governments rise and fall. There will always be a top dog in the world, and in due time, that top dog will lose their status, and another will rise in its place. There has NEVER been a vacuum of power in the world. Someone has ALWAYS been the most powerful. Jesus stated quite clearly that “There will be wars and rumors of wars until the coming of the Son of Man.” And there were wars and rumors of wars before he came in the fullness of time. This is the nature of fallen, broken humanity. But Jesus didn’t just leave it at that. If he had, maybe his disciples could’ve been duped into thinking their role was just to knuckle under to whatever the empire asked of them. But he didn’t.

Because one day, when James and John’s mom knelt before him and asked for her sons to sit at Jesus’ right and left in the coming of the kingdom, revealing James and John’s desire for power and importance and prestige, making the rest of the disciples very angry, Jesus ripped the rug out from underneath all of them, saying, “In the world the recognized rulers lord it over their subjects and their great men make them feel the weight of authority. That is not the way with you; among you, whoever wants to be great must be your servant…For even the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve, and to surrender his life as a ransom for many.” So before we even dip our toe in the water to look at Romans 13 today, it is important for us to be reminded of our foundation. We must recognize the intense temptations of hatred, money, power, and influence; and how, if we allow them to take control of our lives, can twist our lives and our priorities and our actions. Historical context. Context context context.

Next, the royal context, the authority context. The issue for Christians is supremely: Jesus Christ. When he rose from the dead he said in Matthew 28:18, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.” That includes being over and above every government in the world. The confession “Jesus is Lord!” was a political statement. His lordship is over Caesar's lordship. This is why Jesus was killed. (In our context, his lordship is over President Bush’s lordship, or over Congress’ lordship) The crowds intimidated Pilate with the words, “We have no king but Caesar” (John 19:15). “These followers of Jesus, they have another king! They are subversive, treasonous, they’re dangerous to your empire.” And when Jesus was raised he became known as “King of kings and Lord of lords” (Revelation 19:16; 17:14) that is, King over all earthly kings. So when Paul says, “There is no authority except from God,” he means to speak of the secondary authority of human rulers to the greater authority of Jesus. That’s the authority context. Context context context.

So the reality that God is at work in this broken world and our humble confession that Jesus is our King raise a central question for us as followers of Jesus as we look at this passage: What is my relationship to the government as a Christian, whether I’m American or British or Afghani or Chinese or whatever? Another question we might ask is this: Why does Paul deal with the governing authorities here of all places?

In Romans 12:2 Paul had said, “Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world.” This simple statement was consistent with the life of Jesus to put the church on a direct collision course with the society they lived in. Elsewhere in his letters he talks about “the present evil age,” (Galatians 1:4), assumes that “the external form of this age is passing into nothing, (1 Corinthians 7:31) and states that “the rulers of this age, who are being destroyed,” did not understand God’s wisdom “for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory (1 Corinthians 2:6-8), and the last Scripture quotation here is a clear reference to the Roman Empire that Paul lived under. We know that we are here in this world and must adapt in some measure to the culture where we live. But we are citizens of heaven first and must make the counter-cultural life of Christ known in this world.

Another reason the question of the Christian relationship to the governing authorities needs to be answered is because we read in Romans 8:35-38 that the faithful subjects of King Jesus can expect to be faced with trouble, hardship, persecution, nakedness, danger, and the “sword”—he is speaking of the sword of Romans 13:4, the sword of the state. And when we read this, we wonder, How do we relate to rulers who slaughter Christians? When Paul says again in verse 1 that “there is no authority except from God,” does it include evil rulers? When it says in verse 1 that we should submit to civil authority, does it mean no matter what? When it says in verse 3 that the civil authorities are “not a terror to good conduct, but to bad,” is that always true, or do some governments terrorize good conduct? These are some questions we’ll seek to answer next Sunday, but besides Paul’s other statements about governing authority in Romans 13, there are two specific situations he probably means to address. The first is seen in verses 6 and 7. Everything is general until you get here: submit, don't resist, do what is good, avoid what is bad. That is what we have until we get to verse 6. Then Paul gets specific:

6This is also why you pay taxes, for the authorities are God's servants, who give their full time to governing. Give everyone what you owe him: If you owe taxes, pay taxes; if revenue, then revenue; if respect, then respect; if honor, then honor.

So, out of all the specific behaviors Paul might have used to illustrate submission, he uses paying taxes. Why in the world does he talk about that? I asked that same question myself over and over here, until I found a little chunk of info in looking into the matter that cleared up the muddy waters a bit here (so to speak): Historical context again. (Context context context)

You see, the Romans had gained a reputation of aggressively taxing their subjects: it costs a lot of cash money to run an empire, you know? But the Jews had a special, negotiated arrangement when they paid a temple tax in Jerusalem, and this arrangement came across to many Gentiles to be a form of tax evasion, and this perception resulted in terrible distrust of the Jews. Now you think of how the IRS would treat YOU if they deeply suspected you were evading taxes, eh?

So, in this context, Paul’s reminder to be subject to the authorities, above reproach in the matter of paying taxes and revenues, made sense for both the way the Jewish Christians were viewed as far as their integrity in the community as well as their general safety in Rome. The weaker, more poverty-stricken members of the community were particularly vulnerable to the hostility of the surrounding Gentiles.

We get more clues into Paul’s reason for mentioning taxes if we’re paying REAL CLOSE attention to the transition from verse 7 to verse 8, we find verse 7 says, “Give everyone what you owe him,” right? “If you owe taxes, pay taxes, if revenue, then revenue,” and the very first phrase of verse 8 is what? (Let no debt remain outstanding, EXCEPT the continuing debt to love one another.” So in 13:8, Paul relates “not owing any debts” (paying taxes and revenue as necessary) to “owing the debt of love” to the neighbor and in doing this, fulfilling the law. He lists four commandments from the Old Testament, no adultery, no killing, no stealing, and no coveting- that are CRITICAL for life in community to be stable. And it is striking that in the context of Leviticus 19, from which Paul draws the command to love your neighbor, the first half of the verse immediately before it speaks of avoiding something. (Have someone read with NKJV)

“You shall not take vengeance…but you shall love your neighbor as yourself. I AM the LORD.”

Take a wild guess where we’ve heard the word vengeance here recently (Romans 12:19)

This is a CLEAR reminder to us that the way of the followers of Jesus, who are specifically and directly told NOT to take vengeance- is being contrasted with the way of empires and states which do execute vengeance..

Another situation for us to be aware of today was the extremely dangerous situation that Jewish communities faced at this point in the Roman Empire. In Acts 18:2, we read “And [Paul] found a Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontus, recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla, because Claudius had commanded all the Jews to leave Rome.” That expulsion of Jews would have included Jewish Christians. And it may be that the expulsion was owing to agitating in revolution or raising a ruckus in the city. Romans was written about A. D. 55 and this expulsion had happened about five years earlier. So Paul, in conversation with Priscilla and Aquila would be very sensitive to the issue of church-state relations.

With all of these questions, there is one conclusion we CAN come to in looking at the context of this Scripture, one interpretation that we can REJECT, and that is this: That, using Romans 13:1-7, Christians should give a blank check to the states they are citizens of in decisions made and what they ask of them. This interpretation should be absolutely insane to consider on our parts for several reasons.

First, Paul himself was a prisoner when he finally arrived in Rome, the city where he eventually was tried and executed by the Emperor Nero specifically because he would not shut up about Jesus, and this Christian movement by this time had gained significant momentum and was the gaining the hearts of the people, so Nero started killing them off right and left in his jealousy.

Second, if the earlier parts of the letter to Romans say ANYTHING to us, the gospel is REVOLUTIONARY in its very character. It takes the way humans handle relationships, the way in which you and I live our lives, the way that we look at others, care about others, and look out for others. So revolutionary, in fact, that a few years after this letter, Christians were considered so odd, so dangerous in their commitments that they were arrested and tossed into arenas to be torn limb from limb by lions and tigers. The message of the gospel is meant to be so powerful that it either drives others to love us and want what he have or hate us and want us dead for the ridiculous commitment to love we carry. Paul wasn’t saying here that the gospel isn’t revolutionary, he was saying that Christians shouldn’t get killed for the wrong reasons. Pay your taxes, pay your revenue! Let everyone around you know that you live with integrity. But as a part of that, let everyone know that Jesus is Lord, and if George Bush or Bill Clinton, or from 2008 on, if John McCain or Sam Brownback or Hilary Clinton or Barack Obama asks of us something that our commitment to Jesus forbids, we politely tell them that we will not be participating in what they’re asking of us. Some people may call us unpatriotic for this action, but our living into the reality that Jesus is Lord calls us to bear that cost.

With everything we’ve talked about today, it should be terribly ironic to us that we even CONSIDER the possibility that this Scripture passage is telling us that we should obey the state no matter what: because Jesus didn’t. Paul didn’t. Peter didn’t. The early church didn’t. And millions of Christians throughout the years leading up to now, including Jim Elliot, Michael Sattler, Alexander Mack, Christopher Sauer, and others haven’t. And they’ve been willing to pay the price for that, whether the price was being ridiculed or hated by coworkers or fellow citizens or, ultimately, death. This is part of the cost of discipleship.

Sing "Humble Thyself in the Sight of the Lord"