(Before you read this sermon transcript, keep in mind that I don't stick to the manuscript when I preach and therefore those who heard the sermon heard something at least a little different than what you're reading...if you really want to be impacted by these sermons, you need to be there with our church family and travel together with us as we submit to the Scriptures together. Christianity is not a path to be walked alone; in fact, unless you're on a deserted island with no way off and no way to be with others, it is unfaithful NOT to be in a worshiping community. But enough of that. The following is the sermon).
Romans 13:1-7
Let everyone be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God. Consequently, whoever rebels against the authorities is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves.
The Apostle Paul was the author of this section of Scripture. We have been taught, most of us in this room, that these Scriptures mean you do what you’re told, because the government is God’s instrument, and you are to obey.
We can test whether this interpretation is wise almost immediately by asking about Paul’s life:
Acts 21 (Jews agitate against Paul, he is arrested by the Romans, “news reached the commander of the Roman troops that the whole city of Jerusalem was in an uproar. He at once took some officers and soldiers and ran down to the crowd. When the rioters saw the commander and his soldiers, they stopped beating Paul.
The commander came up and arrested him and ordered him to be bound with two chains.”, commander summoned priests and all Sanhedrin to assemble, men conspire to kill Paul, chief priests and elders collude with them, Paul is taken in chains to Caesarea, to Governor Felix, two years Paul spent in chains as Felix kept him until he died, and Festus took over as governor, King Herod Agrippa, the Roman puppet king (a close friend of the Roman Caesar) comes to interview Paul, finds no fault in him, yet keeps him in chains…Paul’s Scriptural story comes to an end in Rome as he waits in chains to testify to Caesar, but the early church proclaimed that Paul was executed in Rome by Emperor Nero after the great fire)
The record stands that Paul did not blindly obey the governing authorities, nor did he start a violent revolution against them. He simply testified to them about the truth, not worrying about what would happen to him. During this time, people saw how dangerous his teaching was for the governing authorities, because people would see that the human authorities weren’t the final say, so Paul was conspired against, beaten, stoned, flogged, and eventually executed by Emperor Nero.
If his message was about personal relationships only, if his message was that we blindly obey governing authorities, he would not have been seen as a threat.
1 Peter 2:13-17
Submit yourself for the Lord’s sake to every human authority: whether to the emperor, as the supreme authority, or to governors, who are sent by him to punish those who do wrong and to commend those who do right. For it is God’s will that by doing good you should silence the ignorant talk of the foolish. Live as free people, but do not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil; live as God’s slaves. Show proper respect to everyone, love your fellow believers, fear God, honor the emperor.
In killing Jesus, the Jewish authorities thought they had destroyed his silly movement, yet Peter and John in the book of Acts 4 were brought before the Sanhedrin and were commanded “not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus.” If the gospel was only about personal relationships, if submitting to the authorities meant blindly obeying them, then Peter and John would have obeyed this command. Did they?
Acts 5, Peter and the other apostles are arrested. The Sanhedrin commands them, “We gave you strict orders not to teach in this name," he said. "Yet you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching and are determined to make us guilty of this man's blood."
Peter and the other apostles replied: "We must obey God rather than men!”
Wait a second, Peter, I thought you said earlier “submit yourself for the Lord’s sake to every human authority”? And now you say, “we must obey God rather than men”? These sound contradictory.
Peter was executed in the same terrible period by Emperor Nero, crucified upside-down.
If the message of Peter was that the gospel is only a personal one, that the way we interact with governing authorities is to obey them in everything, why is it that his life stands as a testament against that interpretation?
The lives of Peter and Paul display to us that third way of Jesus; we don’t passively do our jobs, put food on the table, take care of our families, and obey the governing authorities as if they’re the ones in charge. But we also don’t pick up arms against them in violent revolution. It is clear that in following this path, Peter and Paul were considered traitors, dangerous to the governing authorities, and so they were executed.
And this displays the fundamental difference between disciples of Jesus and admirers of Jesus. Admirers of Jesus will be impressed by his miracles, will be impressed by some of his teachings, but admirers of Jesus will see the danger that comes with fully obeying Jesus, so they will find some way to weasel out of doing they were commanded to do.
In our case, there are many Christians who have completely ignored certain sections of Jesus’ teachings, then made Jesus look less challenging to their way of life by saying he was only concerned about personal relationships. They have taught us this way of reading Jesus, and they’ve used passages like Romans 13 and 1 Peter 2 to make Christians do things that are a direct denial of Jesus’ commands. They are admirers, not disciples, and they have deceived us.
Disciples of Jesus obey Jesus no matter what the cost is. Disciples of Jesus see that Jesus rejected the two options persons demanded he choose between. When they demand that we obey them, when they demand that we swear our allegiance to them, our response is this.
“No, I’m sorry, but no.”
Discipleship has a cost. This is hard teaching, but we can’t highlight the easy parts and neglect the hard parts and claim to be a disciple. If Jesus is our LORD and Savior, then nothing and no one else is.
Now, if you’re STILL not sold on this interpretation of the Scriptures, I’d like to offer a present-day example for you of Christians applying this sort of third-way thinking (whether they’re consciously aware of it or not), and it has to do with the issue of abortion.
Why not obey Roe vs. Wade on abortion? It is the government’s official stance on abortion. If the stance toward government is one of complete obedience, why do Christians, by and large, work to have this governmental position overturned?
Because we believe that there is a higher truth and a higher good than the position of our government presently on this issue. And if we can take lessons from Jesus on how to work for change, we will refuse to stand by and passively obey the government when something is unjust, yet we will also refuse to pick up arms and enforce our position (persons who have bombed abortion clinics in the past)…we pursue the third way, the Jesus way, where when persons suggest abortion is simply a choice, we tell them, “No, I’m sorry, but no.” There is a human life inside your body that deserves respect and commitment from you.
We work together with persons with a common commitment in this area to serve expectant mothers, to give them choices beyond what seems like the easy way out, which is abortion. We work to understand some of the reasons behind why persons have abortions, and we seek to minister to those reasons. We work for God’s justice, whether the law of the land recognizes that justice or not.
Example of Jerry Falwell and the Houses for young expectant mothers
We refuse to be passive, but we refuse to seek violence to make our goal become a reality. And in fact, some choose to disobey the government by peaceful demonstrations at abortion clinics, at political rallies, in town centers, that show other persons in society that we are not silent and we will not blindly obey an unjust law…and Christians are doing this in our society.
So a whole lot of the Christian conversation and action surrounding abortion is showing a healthy perspective on how Christians interact with the law of the land. But the issue of abortion is not the only issue of God’s justice in the world, and we need to apply some of what Christians have learned in civil disobedience regarding abortion to other issues in the world of great injustice. And there are many of those issues.
And as we consider what those issues are, and the issues come into our awareness, and as we consider action with those issues, then we let the example of Jesus guide us as we work for justice.
We will not stand by and be passive and just do our jobs and hope for the best when injustice exists. But we as disciples of Jesus also will not take up arms and believe that violence will solve an issue of injustice.
We will speak truth to power and let our integrity and our courage rule the day; and in speaking up and acting for God’s justice, it very well may be that we will suffer (emotionally and physically), and it very well may be that we will be persecuted, and it very well may be that our commitment to seek that justice may upset members of our family, husbands, wives, parents, children, and our families and friends may disown us, and it very well may be that we may lose our lives…but Christians more than other folks should know that our individual life is not as important as being faithful to God’s work in the world.
King “the universe is bent towards the cause of justice,”
People will hate us, but if they hate us, let’s make sure they hate us for a good reason. If they are frustrated by us, that usually means we’re doing our job well.
The Difference between Disciples and Admirers Week 3:
Cross bridge from last week into further thoughts here:
Two options of passivity or violence
Two glimpses of Jesus in Gospel of Matthew (from last week) being confronted by this two way kind of thinking…deeper look at these encounters shows Jesus pursuing a third way; one that rejected both passively doing what you can and hoping for the best and the violent revolution option.
Jesus essentially said, “We won’t raise a ruckus just to raise a ruckus, but when we are told to do something or obey someone that is unjust, we simply say to them, “No, I’m sorry, but no. There is a higher law, a better law, than the one you are trying to make me obey, and I simply can’t obey your law.” And we obey the higher law of God rather than the lower law of human beings.
Now, of course this will lead to persons thinking we’re lawbreakers, treasonous, or cowardly (depending on the case), but the thought of not being accepted shouldn’t scare us since Jesus told his disciples this kind of thing would happen.
And not only did Jesus tell his disciples to expect this kind of thing, he faced that struggle himself. Arrested by the temple guard, sent before Herod, then Pontius Pilate (the Roman governor); conspired against by Jewish leaders, executed by the Romans.
“Dragged before kings and governors (in immediate sense (own people; Sanhedrin) and in long-term sense (Romans, Pontius Pilate, Agrippa, Felix)
- Again I raise the question…if Jesus’ teachings only refer to personal relationships, and the way we interact with governments is by obeying what they command us to do, then why in the world would citizens of the Empire, kings, and governors see the disciples of Jesus as a threat to things as they are?
The answer is clear: Jesus wasn’t just concerned with personal relationships.
Two options of passivity or violence
Two glimpses of Jesus in Gospel of Matthew (from last week) being confronted by this two way kind of thinking…deeper look at these encounters shows Jesus pursuing a third way; one that rejected both passively doing what you can and hoping for the best and the violent revolution option.
Jesus essentially said, “We won’t raise a ruckus just to raise a ruckus, but when we are told to do something or obey someone that is unjust, we simply say to them, “No, I’m sorry, but no. There is a higher law, a better law, than the one you are trying to make me obey, and I simply can’t obey your law.” And we obey the higher law of God rather than the lower law of human beings.
Now, of course this will lead to persons thinking we’re lawbreakers, treasonous, or cowardly (depending on the case), but the thought of not being accepted shouldn’t scare us since Jesus told his disciples this kind of thing would happen.
And not only did Jesus tell his disciples to expect this kind of thing, he faced that struggle himself. Arrested by the temple guard, sent before Herod, then Pontius Pilate (the Roman governor); conspired against by Jewish leaders, executed by the Romans.
“Dragged before kings and governors (in immediate sense (own people; Sanhedrin) and in long-term sense (Romans, Pontius Pilate, Agrippa, Felix)
- Again I raise the question…if Jesus’ teachings only refer to personal relationships, and the way we interact with governments is by obeying what they command us to do, then why in the world would citizens of the Empire, kings, and governors see the disciples of Jesus as a threat to things as they are?
The answer is clear: Jesus wasn’t just concerned with personal relationships.
Persons disagreeing with this interpretation may then ask if we're familiar with the following Scriptural passages: Romans 12, 1 Peter 2
Romans 13:1-7
Let everyone be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God. Consequently, whoever rebels against the authorities is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves.
The Apostle Paul was the author of this section of Scripture. We have been taught, most of us in this room, that these Scriptures mean you do what you’re told, because the government is God’s instrument, and you are to obey.
We can test whether this interpretation is wise almost immediately by asking about Paul’s life:
Acts 21 (Jews agitate against Paul, he is arrested by the Romans, “news reached the commander of the Roman troops that the whole city of Jerusalem was in an uproar. He at once took some officers and soldiers and ran down to the crowd. When the rioters saw the commander and his soldiers, they stopped beating Paul.
The commander came up and arrested him and ordered him to be bound with two chains.”, commander summoned priests and all Sanhedrin to assemble, men conspire to kill Paul, chief priests and elders collude with them, Paul is taken in chains to Caesarea, to Governor Felix, two years Paul spent in chains as Felix kept him until he died, and Festus took over as governor, King Herod Agrippa, the Roman puppet king (a close friend of the Roman Caesar) comes to interview Paul, finds no fault in him, yet keeps him in chains…Paul’s Scriptural story comes to an end in Rome as he waits in chains to testify to Caesar, but the early church proclaimed that Paul was executed in Rome by Emperor Nero after the great fire)
The record stands that Paul did not blindly obey the governing authorities, nor did he start a violent revolution against them. He simply testified to them about the truth, not worrying about what would happen to him. During this time, people saw how dangerous his teaching was for the governing authorities, because people would see that the human authorities weren’t the final say, so Paul was conspired against, beaten, stoned, flogged, and eventually executed by Emperor Nero.
If his message was about personal relationships only, if his message was that we blindly obey governing authorities, he would not have been seen as a threat.
1 Peter 2:13-17
Submit yourself for the Lord’s sake to every human authority: whether to the emperor, as the supreme authority, or to governors, who are sent by him to punish those who do wrong and to commend those who do right. For it is God’s will that by doing good you should silence the ignorant talk of the foolish. Live as free people, but do not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil; live as God’s slaves. Show proper respect to everyone, love your fellow believers, fear God, honor the emperor.
In killing Jesus, the Jewish authorities thought they had destroyed his silly movement, yet Peter and John in the book of Acts 4 were brought before the Sanhedrin and were commanded “not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus.” If the gospel was only about personal relationships, if submitting to the authorities meant blindly obeying them, then Peter and John would have obeyed this command. Did they?
Acts 5, Peter and the other apostles are arrested. The Sanhedrin commands them, “We gave you strict orders not to teach in this name," he said. "Yet you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching and are determined to make us guilty of this man's blood."
Peter and the other apostles replied: "We must obey God rather than men!”
Wait a second, Peter, I thought you said earlier “submit yourself for the Lord’s sake to every human authority”? And now you say, “we must obey God rather than men”? These sound contradictory.
Peter was executed in the same terrible period by Emperor Nero, crucified upside-down.
If the message of Peter was that the gospel is only a personal one, that the way we interact with governing authorities is to obey them in everything, why is it that his life stands as a testament against that interpretation?
The lives of Peter and Paul display to us that third way of Jesus; we don’t passively do our jobs, put food on the table, take care of our families, and obey the governing authorities as if they’re the ones in charge. But we also don’t pick up arms against them in violent revolution. It is clear that in following this path, Peter and Paul were considered traitors, dangerous to the governing authorities, and so they were executed.
And this displays the fundamental difference between disciples of Jesus and admirers of Jesus. Admirers of Jesus will be impressed by his miracles, will be impressed by some of his teachings, but admirers of Jesus will see the danger that comes with fully obeying Jesus, so they will find some way to weasel out of doing they were commanded to do.
In our case, there are many Christians who have completely ignored certain sections of Jesus’ teachings, then made Jesus look less challenging to their way of life by saying he was only concerned about personal relationships. They have taught us this way of reading Jesus, and they’ve used passages like Romans 13 and 1 Peter 2 to make Christians do things that are a direct denial of Jesus’ commands. They are admirers, not disciples, and they have deceived us.
Disciples of Jesus obey Jesus no matter what the cost is. Disciples of Jesus see that Jesus rejected the two options persons demanded he choose between. When they demand that we obey them, when they demand that we swear our allegiance to them, our response is this.
“No, I’m sorry, but no.”
Discipleship has a cost. This is hard teaching, but we can’t highlight the easy parts and neglect the hard parts and claim to be a disciple. If Jesus is our LORD and Savior, then nothing and no one else is.
Now, if you’re STILL not sold on this interpretation of the Scriptures, I’d like to offer a present-day example for you of Christians applying this sort of third-way thinking (whether they’re consciously aware of it or not), and it has to do with the issue of abortion.
Why not obey Roe vs. Wade on abortion? It is the government’s official stance on abortion. If the stance toward government is one of complete obedience, why do Christians, by and large, work to have this governmental position overturned?
Because we believe that there is a higher truth and a higher good than the position of our government presently on this issue. And if we can take lessons from Jesus on how to work for change, we will refuse to stand by and passively obey the government when something is unjust, yet we will also refuse to pick up arms and enforce our position (persons who have bombed abortion clinics in the past)…we pursue the third way, the Jesus way, where when persons suggest abortion is simply a choice, we tell them, “No, I’m sorry, but no.” There is a human life inside your body that deserves respect and commitment from you.
We work together with persons with a common commitment in this area to serve expectant mothers, to give them choices beyond what seems like the easy way out, which is abortion. We work to understand some of the reasons behind why persons have abortions, and we seek to minister to those reasons. We work for God’s justice, whether the law of the land recognizes that justice or not.
Example of Jerry Falwell and the Houses for young expectant mothers
We refuse to be passive, but we refuse to seek violence to make our goal become a reality. And in fact, some choose to disobey the government by peaceful demonstrations at abortion clinics, at political rallies, in town centers, that show other persons in society that we are not silent and we will not blindly obey an unjust law…and Christians are doing this in our society.
So a whole lot of the Christian conversation and action surrounding abortion is showing a healthy perspective on how Christians interact with the law of the land. But the issue of abortion is not the only issue of God’s justice in the world, and we need to apply some of what Christians have learned in civil disobedience regarding abortion to other issues in the world of great injustice. And there are many of those issues.
And as we consider what those issues are, and the issues come into our awareness, and as we consider action with those issues, then we let the example of Jesus guide us as we work for justice.
We will not stand by and be passive and just do our jobs and hope for the best when injustice exists. But we as disciples of Jesus also will not take up arms and believe that violence will solve an issue of injustice.
We will speak truth to power and let our integrity and our courage rule the day; and in speaking up and acting for God’s justice, it very well may be that we will suffer (emotionally and physically), and it very well may be that we will be persecuted, and it very well may be that our commitment to seek that justice may upset members of our family, husbands, wives, parents, children, and our families and friends may disown us, and it very well may be that we may lose our lives…but Christians more than other folks should know that our individual life is not as important as being faithful to God’s work in the world.
King “the universe is bent towards the cause of justice,”
People will hate us, but if they hate us, let’s make sure they hate us for a good reason. If they are frustrated by us, that usually means we’re doing our job well.
Labels: disciples versus admirers, integrity, Jesus, Matthew Series, MLK
posted by Nate Myers | 11:20 AM
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