God, the government, and you — 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 authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves. For rulers hold no terror for those who do right, but for those who do wrong. Do you want to be free from fear of the one in authority? Then do what is right and you will be commended. For the one in authority is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for rulers do not bear the sword for no reason. They are God’s servants, agents of wrath to bring punishment on the wrongdoer. Therefore, it is necessary to submit to the authorities, not only because of possible punishment but also as a matter of conscience. 

This is also why you pay taxes, for the authorities are God’s servants, who give their full time to governing. Give to everyone what you owe them: If you owe taxes, pay taxes; if revenue, then revenue; if respect, then respect; if honor, then honor. Romans 13:1–7

God, the government, and you
1. The government's role as God's servant
2. Your role as the government's subject
3. God's role as ruler over all

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, and that their Creator endowed them with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”

Maybe, if you’re like me, you had to memorize those words way back in third grade or something. They’re the opening words of the preamble to the Declaration of Independence, which, of course, turned 250 years old yesterday. Thomas Jefferson wrote the Declaration of Independence, and its anniversary provides us a wonderful chance to celebrate our country—to celebrate all of the good things that our country has done and that have happened here over the last 250 years.

Also, for us today on July 5th, it’s a chance to take a look at how God wants His relationship with government—and our relationship with government—to be. Did you know that there’s a connection between Thomas Jefferson and Martin Luther, the man our denomination is named after as Lutherans?

After Thomas Jefferson wrote the Declaration, he was elected president, and while he was president, he coined the term “separation of church and state.” The idea is that the church should be over here doing its thing, and the government should be over here doing its thing. The government should not try to step into the church’s realm to force everyone to believe a specific religion, and the church should not step into the government’s realm to try and rule people in the same way the government does.

While Thomas Jefferson coined that term, the idea has deeper roots that go all the way back to Martin Luther. Luther coined the term “the two kingdoms”: the kingdom of the church, which he called God’s “right-handed kingdom,” and the kingdom of the state, which he called God’s “left-handed kingdom.” The idea is that if you picture God as a gardener, He has this world—this universe—that He is designing, ruling, growing, and caring for. The two biggest tools that God uses to do His work in the world are earthly governments and the church.

Which raises a bit of a question for us today. We know that God is good and loving and wants the best for every single person on Earth. Why then is government so far from good sometimes? If government really is one of God’s primary ways of working in the world, why is it often more bad than good?

Don’t get me wrong—we should be grateful for our government. We got a chance to celebrate it yesterday, and we celebrate the freedoms we enjoy. We celebrate our government every time we go to a national park; the government runs those. We enjoy it every time we go to a library and check out books for free. We are thankful for public education in our country. We’ll enjoy it on our way home from church today when we won’t have to worry about being stopped by a soldier demanding a bribe to cross Damen Avenue. Not all people in the world have governments that can ensure that.

And yet, I know I’m not alone: when I look at our government and the state of our politics today, I can get a little discouraged. Why is there so much bad going on in something that God clearly wants to be good? As Christians, how does God want us to respond? How does He want us to live under this government?

Those are the questions that we will go after this morning. I’m excited for today because we’re not going to search for answers in the Declaration of Independence, or the U.S. Constitution, or a modern New York Times opinion piece, or from what your favorite political YouTuber thinks government should be. Today, we’re going to the source. We are going to God, who created not only government, but all things, to see His answers to these big questions.

As we do this, we’ll look at the interplay between three different entities: how God wants the government to play its role, our role in relation to the government, and finally, how God rules over all things—both the kingdom of the left hand and the kingdom of His right hand—for our good.

1. The government’s role as God’s servant

First, the government’s role is to be God’s servant. That’s what we find in Romans chapter 13. But it raises an important question: what kind of servant? Different servants are supposed to do different things.

As God cares for and designs our world, He wants to bring all sorts of different things into it. He wants all people to have food and clothing. He wants people to have community and good relationships with one another. Most of all, He wants all people to come to know His Son, Jesus, as their Savior. What does He want the government to serve? What role does He want it to play?

Verse 3 says: So, do you want to be free from fear of the one in authority? Then do what is right, and you will be commended. For the one in authority is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for rulers do not bear the sword for no reason. They are God’s servants, agents of wrath to bring punishment on the wrongdoer.

The government serves God by carrying out justice. If you do good, God wants the government to do good to you. If you do wrong, be afraid, because God wants the government to punish you appropriately. God wants the government to carry out justice—to allow the innocent to flourish and to punish, reprimand, and restore those who do wrong.

Notice what this does not say. This does not say that the government is supposed to bring you Jesus. God does not want the government to ensure that every schoolchild in America has the Ten Commandments memorized. God does not want the government to force every person in America to go to church every Sunday.

Would God love it if every schoolchild in America knew the Ten Commandments? Would He love it if every person in America was in church every Sunday? Absolutely. He wants that desperately. But that is not the role He has given to the government. He has given the government the role of carrying out justice.

Another thing to notice is that God does not say anything here about whether “big government” is better than “small government,” or whether a monarchy serves more justice than a democracy, or whether more financial regulation is preferable to a laissez-faire approach. God simply says that the government’s job is to bring justice, and it’s up to each government within its specific society and culture to figure out the best way to do that.

If a government decides that providing free food for those in need brings more justice to more people, then God wants the government to do that. If a government decides that increasing its defense spending will bring more justice to more people, then God wants the government to do that. But He wants the government to solely carry out justice and figure out how that is best done in its specific situation.

Which means something really cool happens right here each Sunday. There are people who come to Crossroads Church who normally tend to lean toward the Democratic platform. They may not agree with everything on the list, but generally, they think that is the best way for justice to be brought to more people. And there are people who come here to Crossroads Church who look at the Republican platform, and while they may not agree with everything it says, they think that is generally the way to bring more justice to more people.

Both of those people come to this church, and they come here in unity. They don’t have to come here to demonize one another or get at each other’s throats. Instead, because they both recognize that God rules over government and rules over all—and because God simply says, “Government, you need to carry out justice, and it’s up to each society to determine the particulars”—this place does not have to become an echo chamber. Instead, it can become a place where Christians can talk to one another honestly and lovingly, sharpening one another’s political opinions.

2. Our role as the government’s subjects

God wants the government to carry out justice: the innocent rewarded, the guilty reprimanded. So what happens when we look at our governments and see a lot of examples of failure? What happens when it seems like our government is very good at bringing justice for some people, but leaving others high and dry?

The book of Romans is the perfect place to go to answer this question. The book of Romans is actually a letter that the Apostle Paul wrote to Christians living in Rome, many of whom had just undergone a serious injustice. They had been forced by their government—by the Roman emperor—into exile for no other reason than their belief in Jesus as their Savior. They had to pick up and leave their homes, their families, their jobs, their careers, their history, and their whole way of life because of their religious beliefs. The government was getting involved in the church, and a mess happened.

But how did Paul tell these Christians to respond? Did he tell them to reject the government’s rule and stay put? Did he tell them to stop paying taxes? Did he tell them to try and convert all the government leaders to Christianity so they could go persecute all the other faiths? No. What does he say?

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. Be subject, Paul says. Why? Because the authorities that exist have been established by God.

Here again, it’s important to realize what this does not mean. This does not mean that Mayor Johnson, Governor Pritzker, or President Trump are God’s specifically chosen individuals raised up for that exact position such that whatever they do is a perfect representation of God’s will. That’s not what this is saying. What this is saying is that God has ordered society where some are in authority in government—He has established that authority—and others are subject to those authorities. As subjects, we need to be subject.

What does that look like? Paul gives a real simple sentence at the end of this reading: If you owe taxes, pay taxes; if revenue, then revenue; if respect, then respect; if honor, then honor.

I think those first two—although April 15th may not be our favorite day of the year—are relatively simple: pay our taxes and pay the revenue we owe the government. Those last two are pretty difficult, aren’t they? Respect and honor—especially in a society where it is so in vogue to disrespect and dishonor those in authority.

Now, don’t get me wrong, this doesn’t mean that we have to perfectly agree with everything our government leaders do or every way they try to carry out justice. Actually, we would be bad subjects if we just looked at what they did, shrugged, and said, “Okay, whatever. You’re the one in authority, do what you want.” No, we need to show them respect as real human beings who can listen to us when we point out that something they did to bring about justice actually brought about more injustice.

We are called as subjects to speak when we see injustice. This is another reason to be thankful for living in our country: we can speak without fear of being arrested. We can vote without fear of being put in prison. God calls us to do that as His subjects.

The Apostle Paul did the exact same thing. After he wrote the letter to the Romans, he eventually made his way back to Jerusalem, where he was preaching about Jesus and how He offers salvation to all people. Paul got arrested and was dragged into the court system before a ruler named King Agrippa. Agrippa gave Paul the chance to speak and give a defense. Paul was very respectful, yet totally honest. He told the story of how he had come to know Jesus, shared the message of Christ, and explained why he wanted to tell others about Him. Then he said, “Look, King Agrippa, it is not just for me to be arrested for what I have done. This would be unjust.”

Paul spoke up when injustice was happening. We, too, are called to speak up in a respectful way—which is challenging for us, no matter which side of the aisle you normally vote for. It challenges us to respect our leaders. Frankly, I don’t know how I would be able to respect our government leaders if it were not for that third point: the truth that God is ruling over all for your good and my good.

3. God’s rule over both kingdoms

God does not just rule the kingdom of the left hand; He rules the kingdom of the right hand, too. If the only way God worked in the world was through earthly government and political authority, I would lose hope pretty quickly. We are 250 years into what’s been called the “American experiment.” While we’ve certainly progressed toward justice in many areas, I know I’m not alone when I say it often feels like every time we take a step forward, we take two steps back.

The kingdom of the left hand is not what God intends to bring lasting justice and peace through. He intended it to be a temporary stopgap—a way to prevent people from doing more wrong than they otherwise would.

This is where Thomas Jefferson, genius as he was, was dead wrong. Jefferson believed that every human is inherently good. He thought that if we could just get rid of authoritarian rule—if we could kick King George out and rule ourselves—then the inherent goodness of humans would eventually take over. He believed we would progress toward justice until we reached a place where justice was always done and peace was always upheld.

250 years in, we’re not there.

God tells us something different, something that aligns much closer to our actual reality. At first, it sounds like bad news—and it is bad news—but then He brings the good news. God tells us that we are not inherently good; we are actually inherently sinful. Every human heart is born with sin and a proclivity to want more justice for ourselves than for the next person. This is a huge problem, and it’s what leads to all the bad we see in government and society today. Left to ourselves, every human would be selfish.

But God did not leave us like that. He instituted the government to restrain people’s actions, but He also instituted the right-handed kingdom: the kingdom of the church. The kingdom of the church is the only way not just people’s actions can be changed, but their hearts. That’s because the kingdom of the church follows Jesus.

Jesus was God’s solution to this massive problem of our naturally sinful hearts. Jesus came into the world and lived a perfectly just life. Then, here is the amazing thing: when Jesus died on the cross, God’s ultimate justice was completely fulfilled. The cross is the greatest picture of God’s justice. On the cross, Jesus took all the times we’ve been unjust, all the times we’ve been sinful, and He paid the penalty instead.

There is still justice that needs to be meted out among humans in this world. But eventually, when we stand before God and He lists out all the different things we have done wrong in our lives—all the injustices we’ve allowed to happen—He’ll look at Jesus, and Jesus will say, “It’s already been paid. They cannot be punished anymore.” God’s gavel will come down, and He will declare: “Not guilty.”

The wonderful thing is that the good news doesn’t end there, because Jesus didn’t stay on the cross. He rose again from the dead. His resurrection is the receipt that the price has been paid for your sins and that justice is complete. Because Jesus rose again, we can be confident that we, too, will rise again and see the day when justice is perfect. We will live in heaven forever, where there is no more injustice and no more lack of peace. God will rule all perfectly, and all hearts will be perfectly selfless, just as God intended them to be.

Now, one last thing this does not mean: it does not mean Christians should be so focused on heaven that we think, “Whatever happens on Earth happens. I’m just waiting for the day I get to perfection.” Actually, it should be the exact opposite.

Christians should be the best subjects because we know that perfect justice is coming. Because of that, we want to see more justice done in the world while we are in it. We want to pray for our leaders to carry out justice as God would want them to. We want to pray for our fellow citizens to follow the laws and pay their taxes. We want to pray that justice will be done.

We have the resurrection to hold onto when the political battles of our day, catastrophizing rhetoric, and power shifts between parties threaten to toss us back and forth. We have this truth as the anchor for our soul: Christ rose again, and we, too, will rise and see the day when all injustice ceases.

Living in this world as a Christian, knowing that God rules over all, is like watching a sports game replay the day after when you already know your team won. As you watch, your emotions might go up and down with the highs and lows of the game, but you’re never nervous or hopeless. You already know that the victory has been accomplished. That is our position as Christians living under our government. Our emotions may go up and down as we see different justices and injustices, but we know that the ultimate victory has already been won.

As we look back over the last 250 years of our country and look forward to the next 250 years, we can be grateful. We can be grateful that God rules not only the left-handed kingdom, but the right-handed kingdom, too. We can be grateful for the government’s role in carrying out justice when it does so well, and we can be grateful for our role as subjects. Most of all, we can be grateful that we get to declare our dependence on God—the One who died to bring ultimate justice for us and rose again to assure us that we, too, will enjoy that justice someday.