The text this morning is from Paul’s letter to the Romans, the 13th chapter:
Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment. For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive his approval, for he is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God’s wrath on the wrongdoer. Therefore one must be in subjection, not only to avoid God’s wrath but also for the sake of conscience. For because of this you also pay taxes, for the authorities are ministers of God, attending to this very thing. Pay to all what is owed to them: taxes to whom taxes are owed, revenue to whom revenue is owed, respect to whom respect is owed, honor to whom honor is owed. Owe no one anything, except to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. For the commandments, “You shall not commit adultery, You shall not murder, You shall not steal, You shall not covet,” and any other commandment, are summed up in this word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.Thus far the text.
My dear friends in Christ,
Last week, we especially spoke about the idea of what is owed to one another as we continue in the love of Christ. After all, we are called to love God and love our neighbor; the two go hand in hand. When we love God, we will want to love our neighbor, and when we love our neighbor, we are demonstrating our love for God.
But, what about loving something? What about loving something that is basically an entity that you will never truly grasp? What about loving people who aren’t your direct neighbors, who really have no home or life near you, but have the power and authority to make your life the way that they want it? What about loving something that will actively work to destroy you?
When I say the word “something,” I’m talking about what Paul calls the governing authorities. Your government. Your leaders. Your rulers. Now, remember that in Paul’s time, there was no real democracy. They had kings and caesars and tyrants and despots that anointed themselves or were the latest in a long line of rulers or who conquered an area and took the whole thing over. They didn’t really elect their leaders. If they disliked their leaders, they couldn’t just vote them out of office. If their leader embezzled funds, had an affair, said the wrong thing, or whatever, you were still probably stuck with them.
So, when he says to obey your governing authorities, Paul wasn’t talking about the times that it’s going well for you. He’s talking about when it gets really hard, when the government is imposing laws you don’t like, when they’re working to take away what you have because you’re a Christian, you are still called to obey them, to be subject to them.
You know that there’s been tension between minorities and the police of many cities lately. Perhaps some officers have overstepped their bounds. It’s true. It happens. But perhaps some people also just don’t want to listen to those who have authority over them. Some people hear the word of the law and they want to do the exact opposite.
When my teacher in school would tell me to sit down, I wanted to stand. When they told me to slow down, I’d race faster. When they told me I’d never be a great athlete, well, I believed them on that one, because let’s be honest…
But, you see? Listening to the authorities that are over us is hard, especially when we think that they are in the wrong. That’s why Paul includes it here. If this were easy, he’d just be like, “Hey, guys, just do whatever you’re doing because it’s obviously working.”
Instead, the government was working in Paul’s time to find Christians who wouldn’t worship in the cult of Caesar, arrest them, seize all their possessions, and, if they were lucky, kill them quickly. If they weren’t lucky, then their deaths would be enjoyed by thousands of onlookers, whether that be by crucifixion, lions, gladiators, or a hundred other tortures. It’s easier to obey a representative democracy, where you kind of get a say in what goes on; it’s much harder to obey a government that’s hunting you down.
But this is the life of the Christian. We are called to die to ourselves, to put others, to put everyone, before ourselves. Certainly, we know that we are to obey God rather than men, meaning that if man commands we do something that is contrary to the Word of God, then we must not do it. But as long as we are breathing, we are to put our needs and desires and thoughts last, submit ourselves to that which our authorities demand of us, follow where they lead us, and trust that God will take care of us as even as we suffer in this life.
I know this doesn’t seem like a really fun thing to do, and it’s not, but it is what we are called to do. We are always called to put ourselves last. It’s why I don’t really buy into this whole self-esteem movement of the past thirty years. God isn’t looking for you to love yourself so that you can love others. The problem is that we love ourselves too much that we become our own gods. Then, when someone sins against us or something goes wrong with us, we feel justified doing whatever we want because, well, how dare they? Even in an age when we are hearing of a rise of people and kids who do self-harm, it seems the problem is that they don’t have the capacity to understand how things could go so poorly for them. They don’t have the proper Christian worldview.
The answer isn’t self-esteem; it is Christ-esteem. You are so loved by God that He sent His only begotten Son to die for you. From the cross of Christ, you are declared righteous, and from His resurrection you are promised eternal life. You are counted worthy by Christ, so that you will be welcomed by His Father, who you now can call your Father. When you are loved by Christ, when you have been redeemed by His holy life and death and resurrection, you realize that you should not love or trust yourself, but that you love and trust Him who loves you.
You don’t put yourself first, you put yourself last. This isn’t some special piety that you’re showing. You shouldn’t be making a show of any of it. You put others before you because you know the depth of the depravity of your sin, and anyone else SHOULD be ahead of you. You put Christ and His will first and trust in His care for you.
Thus it is that Jesus cares for you that He has even ordained the government that is over you. That isn’t to say that governments, kings, democracies or any permutation of them can’t or won’t sin. In fact, every government does. Hitler’s government worked to exterminate the Jews and committed countless other atrocities. Our American government subsidizes abortion, the murder of babies, enslaved Japanese citizens during WWII, and have committed countless other sins. Caesar’s government murdered Christians, tried to commit genocide on the Celts, and worshipped him, sex, and every other pleasure of life.
Yet, the truth is, God ordained these governments that they might be over you, serving you the way God would have them serve. If they sin, if they abuse their power, or if they don’t make enough use of it, then certainly that sin is on their shoulders, doing that which is opposite what God would expect of them. God put them there; we should obey them. We pay them taxes. We pay them for services. We respect them. We honor them. We pray for them. And through these things, we love them.
I know, for many of us, President Trump is pretty awful. I know, for many of us, President Obama is pretty awful. I know, for many of us, President Bush is pretty awful. I know, for many of us, President Clinton is pretty awful. You name your ruler. Paul Ryan, Scott Walker, Ron Johnson, Tammy Baldwin, Gwen Moore, anyone in the legislature, any police officer, any judge, and whoever who has authority deserves your honor, respect, service. Not because they’re amazing men and women of God, but because God has put them there so that you may pray for them.
And this applies, too, in our daily lives. Our employers. Our parents. Our boards of directors. These people, though we may disagree with them, deserve that honor which says, “I will do what you say, though I do not like it, for it does not disobey God’s commands.” And when you do this, with a beneficent government, with people who do that which is good and do not persecute you, it does go well for you, you will not need to fear punishment.
Yet, when the government goes wrong, when it persecutes the weak and lowly, the widowed, the orphaned, the faith-filled, the beloved of Christ, we should not be surprised. Like a silent sheep before its shearers, so Christ did not open His mouth when it came to His mockery of a trial, His kangaroo court. If they would abuse the only perfect man to ever have lived, if they would put Him to death for feeling threatened by His goodness, then how much should we expect the same treatment for following in faith in His name?
They came for Christ even with no evidence; when they come for you, evidence of your sins will be aplenty. They won’t have to manufacture anything; it’ll all be there. But you are still Christ’s. You are still loved by Him enough to have died for you. You are forgiven in His death, and promised life by His life. You are welcomed into everlasting rest, even from authorities who would persecute and prosecute you.
Despite how your life ends, despite how your life gets to be lived, we still work to submit to our authorities, for we always give way to the other. This is true love, to give oneself up for another person, to put them and their interests first. So it is for us that we follow in Christ’s example. He put you first so that you may have life. We put others first that they may have life and have it abundantly. And when we lose our lives for Christ’s sake, it is then, and only then, through the forgiveness found on the cross, through Word and Sacrament, that you find life eternal in His name. In Jesus’ name, amen.
Now may the peace of God which passes all human understanding guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, our Lord! Amen.
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