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July 11, 2004
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"America" |
Pastor Brian Shimer
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"w.i.i.f.m."
Romans 13, part 2
| I. |
At the start of the Methodist movement in England John Wesley
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was asked to answer this question: "What may we reasonably believe to be God's design in raising up the Preachers called Methodists?"
He said: "Not to form any new sect: but to reform the nation, particularly the Church; and to spread scriptural holiness over the land."
(quoted by Stephen A Seamands in an essay titled: Submitting to be more Vile: The Quest for Holiness and its Cost, printed in a book titled: Wesleyan Tradition: A Paradigm for Renewal, ed. by Paul W. Chilcote, p. 123, ubp.)
The goal was to reform the nation, that many might be made holy. The church has always had the goal of impacting the world. This was the earliest complaint of the first century. "They have turned the whole world upside down," the jewish leaders of Thessalonica charged against Paul and Silas.
Today we are called to do the same. Our job is not just to achieve a personal life of religious devotion, to have a goal to be a nice person with whom others get along. It is not to be a pious person, to read my Bible daily and pray and fast occasionally, and come to church. Nor is it to be totally outside working for the poor, hungry and imprisoned but neglect a personal pursuit of God. No our goal must be holiness. We live so that what we believe permeates our entire lives, so that nothing dwells outside of our relationship with Jesus Christ. And as that is the case, our lives then affect the lives of those around us, and that will change a nation.
The early Methodists achieved their goal of reforming a nation. The Wesley brothers are credited with saving England from a bloody revolution because the people were transformed by God's mighty work.
| | II. |
Hold onto that thought as we look at this passage in Romans.
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Here we are told to "obey the government for God is the one who put it there." Now, Andy in reading this passage last week commented upon it by way of apology saying how this is assuming that the government is acting in accord with God.
Indeed that is the assumption. Notice what it says about us first of all:
- we obey the government (v1)-- this means we submit to it.
We do this for 2 reasons, it says.
a. to keep from being punished v5
b. to keep a clear conscience before God.v5
- we do what is right as we live under this government
- we pay our taxes
Then notice what is said about this government:
- it has laws that are meant to be obeyed
- these laws and ensuing punishments are meant to frighten people who do wrong but hold no fear for those who do right.
- The authorities are sent by God to help us
So this passage in Romans 13 excludes obedience to a government which is acting in wickedness, which applauds evil and condemns good. Indeed such a government places itself under judgment from God.
Mayor Gavin Newsome of San Francisco went to church on February 1, 2004. A guest preacher brought the message and after the service, the pastor introduced this guest, Lou Engle to Mayor Newsome and asked if Lou would pray for Gavin. As Lou reached out toward him, he writes, "The Spirit of the Lord stirred me with conviction and agitation... I prayed, 'God, I thank you that all earthly government is derived from your heavenly government. Therefore, let this man know that he will be held accountable for everything he does in this city under the government of God. In Jesus' Name. Amen.' Three weeks later, this same man, Gavin Newsome, mayor of San Francisco, was on the front page of every newspaper in America, having ignited the same sex marriage firestorm by instructing city clerks to issue gay marriage licenses." Lou writes that he believes God sent him to warn this mayor in the spirit of Psalm 2 which says, "Therefore, you kings, be wise, be warned you rulers of the earth."
(quoted from The CauseUSA newsletter, July 2004, p. 2, ubp).
God is serious about the fact that He has placed rulers in authority and expects them to rule following Him, and if they do not, they will be judged. There are many examples of this in the Word, however, now I just want to observe that God expects the government to rule righteously, and God expects the people to obey righteous governments.
This obedience includes voting, being an active part of that government, and paying our taxes. All that is here. It includes also, respecting and honoring our leaders and praying for them. And the obedience includes one addition, the debt which we will never be able to fully pay, the debt of love for our neighbor.
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To love someone means we do what is best for them.
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Obedience to the government means that we will do what is best for the government as well. What is best for our government? Best is when the people are thoroughly involved and participating.
Oregonian columnist Margie Boulé told the story of JoAnne Knowles in her column this week. She is a woman who daily takes a few minutes to phone her political representatives and express her opinion about an issue. Most days she contacts two or three political offices in Washington, D.C., Salem or Portland. Here is a woman who believes her part in government is important and she has found a simple way to do something. We need more people like her to speak. My little email to Senator Wu does not have as much impact upon him as when more than a million such emails arrive all saying about the same thing. Suddenly numbers matter.
Beyond brief contacts, there is this idea that we have codified noninvolvement of people in the government, that there is a national law that nothing of God can impact nor touch government. Even presidential candidate John Kerry believes this is the case. He is quoted as saying: "I believe in the church and I care about it enormously. But I think that it's important to not have the church instructing politicians. That is an inappropriate crossing of the line in America,"
(quoted from The CauseUSA newsletter, July 2004, TheCauseUSA.com, ubp).
Now I don't pretend to know who votes for whom around here, but I want you to know, John Kerry is wrong here. And the "line" he is talking about is the separation of church and state and his statement demonstrates a basic misunderstanding of national history.
The separation of church and state is a phrase from an 1802 address given by Thomas Jefferson to the Danbury Baptists stating that "no law shall be enacted by the government establishing a state or national "denomination" or "prohibiting the free exercise (of religion),' thus building a wall of separation between church and state." Jefferson's words had echoed a similar sentiment in 1789 by George Washington, who while also talking to a group of Baptists spoke of the need to, "establish effectual barriers against the horrors of spiritual tyranny and every species of religious persecution." Since these were both speaking to Baptists there is a good possibility that they were quoting another Baptist named Roger Williams who had spoke of a "wall of separation between the garden of the church and the wilderness of the world."
(Quoted in Christianity and the Constitution: The Faith of our Founding Fathers, by John Eidsmoe,Baker Books, c. 95, pp. 242-43, ubp).
All three statements say nothing of protecting the government from the church, but of protecting the church from the world. The colonists had largely come from an experience of England's government where the King was the head of the Church of England. They wanted nothing of a state mandated religion, or denomination.
This was not a new thought, but more than a century before was penned by John Milton, author of Paradise Lost. He "believed the union of church and state caused the church to become worldly, and he believed the church could truly flourish only when disestablished from the state,"
(Quoted in Christianity and the Constitution: The Faith of our Founding Fathers, by John Eidsmoe,Baker Books, c. 95, p. 70, ubp).
When they first established colonies, no one could run for political office without being a member of a church. Well, they began to see how such a rule caused people to join the church just to participate in government, so in order to protect the purity of the church, they separated the church from the government.
So, it is about keeping the church pure not about never mentioning God in political circles, outlawing prayer at schools and graduation ceremonies, removing the 10 commandments from the Alabama courthouse, and removing in God we trust from our money.
Separation of church and state is not mentioned in the Constitution nor in the Bill of Rights, it is a concept borrowed and misunderstood especially in the last 50 years!
Rachel is a teenager who was set free when she discovered this. She writes:
School administrators told my Bible club we couldn't put up posters. We couldn't pass out God's Word. So I studied up on it in Jay Sekulow's book about rights on campus, and I had a meeting with my principal. He couldn't say no, because I knew my rights. When I was able to share those with others, we were bolder about preaching in our classes.
I've since had opportunities to read my Bible to my class, talk about salvation, get out of assignments that contradicted God, and witness to a nice group of teachers. Our club also prayed with teachers and cleaned up their classrooms. When we prayed with one teacher with a bad back she was healed. God is good.
Honestly it felt great. I was able to defend my faith, and I knew what I was talking about. God put a desire in my heart, and I researched it so I would be prepared. I was so excited to find out all the things we could actually do on campus and that lawyer Jay Sekulow defends court cases of Christian teens who stand up for their faith on campus. I was also given the privilege to encourage so many other Christians on my campus to also stand up.
(quoted in The Power of One by Ron Luce. Thomas Nelson Publ: J Countryman division, c'03, p. 28-29).
| | IV. |
Don't believe the lie, but live the gospel and stand against
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the government anytime it applauds wrong and punishes the right. That was the case in England, and because a group of people held onto the Gospel and lived it instead of just ignoring it, England was set free.
Instead so many of us tune into the FM station called: WIIFM We don't look at what needs to be done, but look around wondering, "What's in it for me?" We really do not want to get involved unless we can get something out of it for ourselves. Sometimes we have to choose to stand up and suffer if we stand.
The germans were responsible for Hitler, they voted him into office and then they did not move in unity against what was happening. There was a slow mesmerizing of the people by the propaganda and suddenly up was down, black was white, and Hitler was being proclaimed as a christ by some pulpits. It was a shame and it was sin.
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