Dale Partridge - Romans 13_5-7 The Blessing of Godly Government

00:00:00.000 Amen. We are halfway through chapter 13 of Romans, which is a great blessing because at

00:00:15.560 the end of 13, I'm going to take a short break. We'll talk about some eschatology for a few

00:00:22.600 weeks, and then we'll dive back into 14, 15, and 16, and by God's mercy, we will finish Romans.

00:00:31.260 It might be 2029, but we'll get there. Just to give you some context to remind you where we've

00:00:37.920 been, you remember that Corbin offered a sermon on the spheres of sovereignty that taught us about

00:00:44.840 how the family, the church, and the state are distinct God-given structures and how they relate

00:00:49.000 with one another. I offered a sermon on the theology of authority, demonstrating how Jesus

00:00:55.120 reclaimed the authority that was lost in Adam's fall, and how Christ declared that all authority

00:01:03.180 has been given to me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and disciple the nation. So we have a

00:01:08.160 shift of power return to Christ in some dimension in the gospel. And so as a result, authority,

00:01:16.840 all authority now flows from Christ. But we learned about an important distinction.

00:01:24.820 Earthly authority or power is to be distinguished from persons. So you have power which is pure

00:01:33.400 and stems from Christ and persons which are fallen and sinful. Now authority that defies

00:01:43.540 god's law is called tyranny and while scripture calls us to submit to authority that submission

00:01:50.600 is never absolute in fact it's actually conditional or uh it's limited if you want to use a different

00:01:59.300 term on these lower authorities exercising authority in alignment with their higher

00:02:05.640 authority, which is Christ. We also learn that God in His

00:02:09.600 providence allows for tyrants

00:02:13.920 to rule. He permits these

00:02:17.500 or ordains these things to be as a way to

00:02:21.600 bring judgment upon a nation or to

00:02:24.360 have a nation return to repentance.

00:02:29.540 And while righteous rebellion against tyrants is necessary

00:02:33.840 and even right, Christians must first ask, what sins brought this judgment upon us?

00:02:42.480 What repentance ought we to consider prior to our rebellion?

00:02:49.160 And we talked about how too often the church gets frustrated with the tyranny of the government,

00:02:57.360 running straight for rebellion without first examining themselves

00:03:03.440 and asking why did God allow such wicked rulers to reign over us in the first place?

00:03:09.780 What sort of repentance might be required from us before we rebel?

00:03:19.260 Then last week I discussed how our flesh hates authority.

00:03:24.500 We hate authority.

00:03:26.060 You hate authority.

00:03:28.740 Every sin that's ever been committed has been a sin or rebellion against authority.

00:03:38.860 That's why we need to be redeemed.

00:03:42.480 Even rightful authority.

00:03:44.920 We despise rightful authority in our flesh.

00:03:48.280 Whether it's to parents, or pastors, or husbands, or police officers, or teachers, or speed limits, or building permits, or mayors.

00:04:02.640 We don't like authority in the flesh.

00:04:04.940 We want to be autonomous and independent, self-governing individuals.

00:04:11.520 I'm reminded of that desire every week.

00:04:17.020 In fact, when I was preparing the sermon, I thought to myself, oh, there are so many instances in my own life where I want to rebel against authority.

00:04:26.000 Oh, it's just bureaucracy. I don't need to follow those rules. Let's just pass that thing and let's move on.

00:04:34.020 It's a constant awareness of our individualism that we need to be killing off.

00:04:41.200 we learned last week that the best way to resist our flesh's inclination towards insubordination

00:04:47.380 is to recognize the blessings of good authority law and order i'll tell you what we all like law

00:04:56.640 and order we talked about that last week you love that you don't have someone breaking into

00:05:01.320 your house at night or that you know someone steals your car you can actually report them

00:05:09.640 and get your car back we like law and order and another way is to realize the harm that comes

00:05:17.720 without law and order i know you hate authority but you know what if we get rid of authority 0.59

00:05:22.840 i promise you'll hate your life even more no authority is extremely dangerous

00:05:28.880 chaos 0.68

00:05:31.820 you don't want chaos

00:05:33.340 and as

00:05:36.300 we discussed last week

00:05:39.300 we briefly discussed the

00:05:40.400 Bible's description

00:05:42.320 prescription and

00:05:44.960 assumption of male

00:05:46.760 rulers you just

00:05:48.900 don't have this idea of female civil 1.00

00:05:50.860 rulers or female 1.00

00:05:52.800 authority figures 1.00

00:05:54.540 and it's something

00:05:56.860 that we needed to confront ultimately we've learned that godly government as corbin recently

00:06:02.760 said is good godly government is good it's righteous and it's something that we should

00:06:12.020 desire as christians we're not to be anarchists we're not to be philosophical political anarchists

00:06:23.080 We are also not to be theocrats.

00:06:26.500 Theocrats is a church-ran government, and anarchy is no government.

00:06:32.580 Those are two ditches. 0.61

00:06:34.180 No, we are to have a Christianized state, a government that is separate and distinct from the church, 0.81

00:06:41.880 but also still under the reign and rule of Christ.

00:06:47.660 The term for that is what I would call a theonomist.

00:06:51.160 The idea that we take the biblical principles and we hope that they are applied in general to the form of government that we subscribe to.

00:07:01.980 And that those rulers would essentially submit to God's will according to the scriptures.

00:07:07.520 Now we left off in verse 4 when it demonstrated that authority and rulers all come from God and that they're put in place to keep order.

00:07:18.380 They're put in place for good.

00:07:21.220 And if you don't want to fear authority, then obey.

00:07:26.360 You know the feeling of conviction when you're doing something wrong?

00:07:29.320 If you don't want that feeling, obey.

00:07:33.340 I always tell people, you know what's...

00:07:35.680 Like you think that obedience is hard.

00:07:37.500 You think that obeying, God's designed for sexuality. 0.83

00:07:41.140 You think that God's designed for marriage. 0.52

00:07:44.160 You think that God's designed for parenting.

00:07:46.900 You think that that's hard?

00:07:47.820 try disobedience

00:07:50.500 I promise you

00:07:53.960 disobedience is much harder

00:07:57.780 than obedience

00:07:59.380 ask anybody who has done something disobedient

00:08:03.820 has not learned their lesson does it again

00:08:06.660 has not learned their lesson does it again

00:08:08.700 no obedience is always a better choice

00:08:13.620 and so it's really loving for us to tell you as pastors

00:08:23.300 obey obey it's better for you we are the beneficiaries it's god's not the beneficiary

00:08:32.000 of obedience we're the beneficiaries of obedience it's actually good for us to obey

00:08:38.160 So if you don't want to fear authority

00:08:44.200 Then obey

00:08:46.320 And we know that God

00:08:50.620 Has put these rulers

00:08:54.520 In place

00:08:56.820 To carry out his wrath and justice against evil

00:08:59.300 Including capital punishment

00:09:01.800 Then Paul says in verse 5

00:09:04.540 Therefore

00:09:07.360 Therefore, one must be in subjection, not only to avoid God's wrath, but also for the sake of conscience.

00:09:17.220 So first, because we're going to be smart Bible interpreters here.

00:09:24.280 It says, therefore.

00:09:26.100 Now, I'm going to tell you, every time you see a therefore, you must ask what it's there for.

00:09:30.900 It's a basic rule of grammar.

00:09:32.340 Therefore, signals that this verse is a concluding statement from the previous claim.

00:09:39.300 And so, he's saying, therefore, as a result, be in subjection.

00:09:46.080 But then he qualifies it.

00:09:49.060 Not only to avoid God's wrath, but also for the sake of conscience.

00:09:55.840 Now, another word I want you to catch in verse 5 is the word must.

00:09:59.720 which signals that this is a command therefore we must be subject to authority that's basically

00:10:10.420 what he's saying and paul shows that this objection is twofold one it's it's external

00:10:15.860 punishment and it's internal for conscience two reasons that we must obey authority and paul

00:10:24.160 Paul talks about this concept of conscience.

00:10:26.660 Paul says in Acts 24, 16, he says, quote,

00:10:29.680 I always take pains to have a clear conscience toward both God and man.

00:10:38.600 Do you take pains to have a clear conscience before God and man?

00:10:46.880 One theologian defined the person's conscience as, quote,

00:10:51.080 The God-given inner judge that accuses and condemns us when we have done wrong

00:10:57.000 and approves and commends us when we have done right.

00:11:02.320 A violation of conscience is sin.

00:11:05.720 Scriptures teach that.

00:11:07.800 By God's grace, it's a common grace that we have a conscience.

00:11:13.020 We know inherently good and evil to some degree.

00:11:17.780 there are people who have seared their conscience according to scripture

00:11:22.340 when you have disobeyed enough

00:11:25.400 you will have confused and say what is good is bad and what is bad is good 0.86

00:11:31.100 people in the transgender homosexual movement that push according to romans chapter one 0.53

00:11:39.740 have said that they have seared their conscience they no longer are arbiters of knowing what is

00:11:46.220 right and wrong. Pain is

00:11:50.260 an excellent motive. We know that.

00:11:54.020 Pain is an excellent motive. But Paul gets down to the heart here.

00:11:58.720 He doesn't want just pain to be the reason that you obey.

00:12:03.880 Conscience. Conscience before

00:12:06.300 God is a better motive to fight against this temptation of

00:12:10.140 disobedience and insubordination to authority. Conscience.

00:12:16.220 In other words, let your conscience be sensitive in this matter.

00:12:22.000 Do you have a sensitive conscience for disobedience to authority?

00:12:29.400 We want to think that maybe these small violations of authority aren't that big of a deal to God.

00:12:35.360 They are.

00:12:36.240 even breaking speed limits

00:12:43.260 running stop signs

00:12:45.860 these are small matters that you get to go before the Lord

00:12:49.520 you go oh

00:12:50.040 am I just living as if I am

00:12:55.880 an authority unto myself

00:12:57.780 cheating

00:13:01.740 in whatever dimension of your life

00:13:05.320 taking shortcuts

00:13:08.220 wives not submitting to your husbands

00:13:12.180 children not obeying your parents

00:13:16.620 do we want to think that these are little issues

00:13:20.580 before the Lord? That's sin. Sin tries

00:13:24.640 to diminish conviction.

00:13:28.580 It wants to justify

00:13:30.200 sin and action.

00:13:35.320 And again, I really believe this principle, it applies not just to civil rulers, it applies to all areas of authority.

00:13:42.080 1 Peter 2, verses 13-15, Peter says,

00:13:46.520 Be subject, for the Lord's sake, to every human institution.

00:13:52.120 Just think about that statement for a second.

00:13:55.220 Be subject, for the Lord's sake, to every human institution.

00:14:00.760 he says whether it be the emperor as supreme or to governors as sent by him to punish those who

00:14:09.360 do evil and praise those who do good there's the distinction and definition of government

00:14:15.240 what are rulers to do to punish evil and praise what is good

00:14:20.480 peter goes on and says for this is the will of god 0.99

00:14:25.160 that by doing good, you should put silence to the ignorance of foolish people. 0.99

00:14:35.260 In this passage, the foolish people refer to those who accuse or slander Christians 0.99

00:14:43.140 because they're, quote, ungovernable, right? 1.00

00:14:47.780 Those Christians. 1.00

00:14:48.740 And that was a big deal in the early church. 1.00

00:14:51.020 They're not going to obey.

00:14:51.940 They're not going to do a pinch of incense to the Caesar.

00:14:55.160 ultimately submission to god to god-ordained authority not only keeps you from punishment

00:15:05.020 physical wrath of god through the state but it also keeps you from a violation of your conscience

00:15:13.520 if it has not been seared by your disobedience and it removes all legitimate cause for accusation

00:15:23.760 that Christians are

00:15:27.600 ungovernable or chaotic.

00:15:31.180 We're not.

00:15:33.560 We're not anarchists.

00:15:36.020 We actually like the state. We don't like a tyrant state.

00:15:40.080 But we like the state.

00:15:44.980 We as Christians want to make it difficult

00:15:47.500 for our critics to justify their

00:15:51.540 opposition against us.

00:15:54.620 You don't want to give them kindling for their fire against you. 1.00

00:16:01.220 You don't want to give them justification to say, oh, yeah, those Christians, wicked fools they are. 1.00

00:16:10.900 Now, we want to model order, again, not just to eliminate the fear, 0.99

00:16:15.560 but because we believe order and authority are good because they come from Christ.

00:16:18.920 Paul tells Titus in 2

00:16:22.680 7 through 8 he says

00:16:24.980 show yourself in all respects to be a model

00:16:27.120 of good works and in your

00:16:29.180 teaching show integrity

00:16:30.620 dignity and sound speech that

00:16:33.080 cannot be condemned

00:16:34.160 so that purpose clause

00:16:36.680 so that an opponent may

00:16:39.260 be put to shame having nothing

00:16:41.020 evil to say about us

00:16:42.400 I've messed up 0.99

00:16:47.400 I've done stupid things 0.99

00:16:50.100 and you know what the left 1.00

00:16:51.880 and the wicked do with that stuff

00:16:54.220 that I've messed up with?

00:16:55.520 They make it known to everybody.

00:16:59.060 Publish articles.

00:17:00.400 Make videos.

00:17:01.820 Make sure that every possible person

00:17:04.080 knows my mistakes

00:17:06.060 to diminish my authority.

00:17:11.780 You can't trust this guy.

00:17:13.100 Look right here.

00:17:13.620 when you make a mistake like that

00:17:18.500 it's costly

00:17:21.760 not only to your own ministry and your own life

00:17:24.160 your own reputation

00:17:24.920 but to the church at large

00:17:27.900 be careful

00:17:32.000 you know let's just say that

00:17:36.540 you're driving

00:17:39.020 you're on your phone

00:17:42.420 and you hit a kid.

00:17:50.160 And someone finds out that you're on the phone.

00:17:52.540 They look at your records.

00:17:53.800 They have some sort of software that can tell that you were on your phone while you were driving.

00:17:59.200 And then they find out that you're a Christian

00:18:00.860 and that you go to this church.

00:18:06.280 Well, you're going to jail, probably,

00:18:07.920 and the news headlines are going to be all about 1.00

00:18:12.820 the irresponsibility of this Christian man or woman 0.99

00:18:17.060 to show that we're hypocrites. 1.00

00:18:22.000 We don't actually care like we say we do.

00:18:25.720 This is the kind of stuff that I'm talking about.

00:18:30.180 All of us, every single week, are going to struggle with authority.

00:18:34.560 Can we obey?

00:18:37.920 Not just for the fear of punishment, but for the sake of conscience and for the reputation of our works before a broken world.

00:18:49.900 Next, Paul says, verse 6, he says,

00:18:56.120 For because of this you also pay taxes, for the authorities are ministers of God, attending to this very thing.

00:19:04.600 pay to all what is owed to them taxes to whom taxes are owed revenue to whom revenue is owed

00:19:11.120 respect to whom respect is owed and honor to whom honor is owed again we're smart bible interpreters

00:19:19.040 so we know grammar and this sentence starts with the word for okay for almost always signals

00:19:28.800 an explanatory clause, a clause, an explanation of the verse before.

00:19:36.520 So Paul is explaining that maintaining order and administering justice against evil

00:19:43.900 and upholding good depends on the tax revenue of its citizens.

00:19:51.180 In other words, if you value law and order,

00:19:54.340 If you value these things, it is sustained through taxation.

00:20:05.180 Do you like that your street is paved?

00:20:09.800 Do you like that if you call the police, they show up?

00:20:14.320 Well, you can't have that without taxation.

00:20:20.200 Just as God-appointed ministers in the church cannot perform their duties,

00:20:24.340 Without tithes and offerings, the God-appointed ministers in the state cannot perform their duties without taxation.

00:20:32.000 It's the same thing.

00:20:36.440 In order to live in a society according to God's design,

00:20:44.320 you give to the ministers that have been appointed by God in the church to support that sphere.

00:20:51.440 You give through taxation and revenues, parking tickets, building code violations, whatever it may be, to support the revenue of the state.

00:21:09.660 And I really want to make the connection for us that when we pay taxes, we are sustaining the work of God in the state.

00:21:16.700 If God says that these people are his ministers, that's what we're doing.

00:21:21.440 I'm not talking about tyranny. I'm talking about ordinary, normal, governmental life.

00:21:29.740 Yes, we should fight for lower taxes that are fair and just and honest.

00:21:33.320 We'll talk about that in a minute.

00:21:36.960 Now, we're witnessing actually something, I think, quite incredible in the United States under Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency.

00:21:45.500 They're actually attempting to reduce taxes and are uncovering how the American people have been robbed.

00:21:51.440 over the past several administrations.

00:21:55.280 This is going to be, in my opinion,

00:21:57.040 an immense blessing to us and to our children.

00:22:00.040 There's going to be a great blessing that comes out of this.

00:22:05.080 What I want you to see is what's happening here.

00:22:09.140 God appointed the richest man in the world

00:22:14.620 to come in and examine the books of the government

00:22:19.940 and cut taxes for your benefit.

00:22:24.160 That's a miracle.

00:22:26.720 That's an amazing thing.

00:22:29.900 We have two billionaires in office.

00:22:33.460 Donald Trump fighting for order,

00:22:37.460 which is a mercy of God.

00:22:40.040 Elon Musk, who has no inclination that,

00:22:44.580 I have no inclination to say that he's a Christian,

00:22:46.020 is being used by God to reform our economics.

00:22:53.840 J.D. Vance, who's standing up against woke lies left and right,

00:22:58.680 you just go, wow, thank you, Lord, for giving us good rulers.

00:23:07.920 I'm not talking about perfect rulers.

00:23:10.200 I'm talking about these are good rulers,

00:23:12.100 especially in comparison to previous administrations.

00:23:16.020 Now, the application of this verse is not that it's just illegal to evade taxes.

00:23:24.120 It's sinful to evade taxes.

00:23:26.760 One pastor wrote, quote,

00:23:28.440 We do not have to pay the maximum amount of taxes possible.

00:23:36.180 If the government allows you a tax break, you're free to take it.

00:23:39.560 If there is a legal way that you can shelter some of your money from being taxed,

00:23:43.080 you are free to shelter it.

00:23:45.640 Illegal and or dishonest methods of evading taxes, however, must be rejected.

00:23:53.520 Basics.

00:23:55.720 Yeah, take advantage of the tax laws if you can.

00:23:59.920 But when you can't, pay your taxes.

00:24:04.400 Again, yes, there are arguments for tyranny against taxation.

00:24:08.700 Or I should say, tyrannical taxation.

00:24:11.840 and at some point there would be valid reasons to not pay certain taxes

00:24:18.620 however i believe because of this administration this generation is going to be spared from that

00:24:24.980 very difficult and very tumultuous trial of carrying out righteous rebellion against taxation

00:24:31.020 that would not be something you'd want to do a lot of people go to jail

00:24:34.540 so in the same way that government in and of itself is not wicked

00:24:41.940 taxes in and of themselves are not wicked in fact they're good and godly

00:24:51.780 furthermore this whole teaching is not paul's doctrine but paul's teaching on christ's doctrine

00:25:01.940 and we saw Corbin read it earlier

00:25:04.780 I'll read it again 0.99

00:25:05.520 Jesus talking to a Pharisee

00:25:08.780 Pharisee says to Jesus tell us then 0.77

00:25:10.480 what do you think is it lawful to

00:25:12.420 give a poll tax to Caesar or not

00:25:14.320 but Jesus perceived the malice

00:25:16.900 and said why are you testing me 0.98

00:25:18.980 you hypocrites 0.99

00:25:19.560 love that 1.00

00:25:21.280 straight out the gate 0.98

00:25:23.360 why are you testing me hypocrites 0.96

00:25:25.240 just we don't talk about the roughness of Christ 0.83

00:25:28.700 enough but that would be

00:25:30.680 extremely offensive if you said that

00:25:34.720 to a Pharisee right to their face.

00:25:38.520 He says, show me the coin used for the poll tax. They brought it to him.

00:25:43.400 It was a denarius. And he said to them, whose likeness in

00:25:46.720 his scriptures is this? And they said, well, it's Caesar's. And he said to them,

00:25:50.700 then render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's and to God

00:25:53.600 the things that are God's. Alright, so

00:25:57.980 So you could do a whole book on this, but I'm just going to give a paragraph.

00:26:04.960 Jesus affirms that a person can remain a faithful Christian while submitting to civil authorities.

00:26:17.420 That's basically what he's saying there.

00:26:18.580 For a Jew and early Christians, first century, this was a legitimate concern, by the way. 0.86

00:26:23.980 they often viewed the state and religion as kind of an all-in, one-thing, all-or-nothing reality. 0.71

00:26:32.960 They really struggled with the idea of having state is good and religion is good and they can be separate.

00:26:42.080 Especially to a Jew who felt like they ought to be a theocracy and Roman rule upon them was certainly not God's will, 0.60

00:26:53.380 even though it clearly, according to the Scriptures, was God's will. 0.88

00:26:58.700 And so, what this means is that you can actually pay taxes

00:27:05.620 and not feel like you're violating your Christian faith.

00:27:10.180 That's what Christ is teaching there.

00:27:14.060 You can actually pay taxes and fund that thing that you don't actually fully agree with,

00:27:19.540 because who's on your money well it's the presidents of the united states

00:27:28.360 so we're going to pay those taxes to those things that we are beneficiaries of

00:27:33.000 as we walk down these streets and live under their care

00:27:36.740 now i explained in my sermon of theology of authority as we saw in romans 13 that all

00:27:45.120 authority is established by God. All authority. Your

00:27:49.140 father, your husband, your

00:27:53.260 mom and dad, your mayor,

00:27:58.600 Katie Hobbs,

00:28:02.780 the presidents of the United States, the Senate,

00:28:05.620 the Congress, they are authorities established by God.

00:28:09.120 and this means that we can submit to governing authorities within biblical limits

00:28:16.660 even if the state or whatever ruler or authority you're under does not acknowledge the worship of

00:28:25.340 christ but are not making you do things that are unbiblical so you can submit as a wife

00:28:31.840 to a lost and pagan husband

00:28:35.440 as long as his requests

00:28:37.660 don't require you to sin.

00:28:42.340 I know that's hard.

00:28:48.100 But truly, I would say to a wife

00:28:49.900 who has a husband who doesn't believe 0.83

00:28:52.020 and the husband says,

00:28:53.340 you know, we've decided

00:28:54.120 that we're going to move to Florida.

00:28:56.280 There's a good job opportunity for me there.

00:28:59.040 But she's deeply connected here in Arizona.

00:29:01.840 the right thing according to scripture would say well this there's no sin in moving

00:29:06.840 and you are to submit to your husband who is a god-ordained authority in your life

00:29:11.580 and you ought to follow him there the same i would say to children in situations that

00:29:20.700 are difficult the same i would say to employees at employers hey you have a job here and we've

00:29:29.320 decided to relocate you to another place, to another department.

00:29:33.820 I know you might not like that, and this man might not be

00:29:37.340 a believer. You are to submit to that reality, because it is an authority

00:29:41.460 that God has placed over your life.

00:29:45.080 There are things the government's going to do that are not sinful that we don't like.

00:29:49.640 And we get to submit to those authorities.

00:29:55.380 Now in verse 7, he addresses a secondary

00:29:57.460 matter. People don't simply hate authority and taxes. They often hate the people who

00:30:03.200 enforce authority and collect taxes. For a long time, people have been afraid to become

00:30:11.960 police officers. I mean, it's been about three years now, but ever since about 2020, being

00:30:18.840 a police officer was not a desirable position. It used to be. It used to be a very honorable

00:30:26.720 career path in the eyes of American citizens. But we have hated those who enforce authority.

00:30:37.420 The IRS, as broken as it may be, I can't tell you the many jokes that I've heard about IRS agents.

00:30:46.380 we don't like people who enforce authority or who collect taxes

00:30:52.480 but in this verse paul tells christians not only to submit to authority and pay taxes but also to

00:31:01.020 respect and honor those people who are in authority and collect taxes he says pay to

00:31:09.260 paid to all what is owed to them taxes to whom taxes are owed revenue to whom revenue is owed

00:31:16.800 respect to whom respect is owed,

00:31:18.700 and honor to whom honor is owed.

00:31:22.400 So this passage is grammatically, it's in the imperative.

00:31:25.340 It's a command to you.

00:31:26.980 It's something that God will hold you accountable for.

00:31:30.760 It's just another one of those things that God says,

00:31:32.700 I expect you to live this way.

00:31:33.960 You are not ignorant of this truth now.

00:31:35.720 It's been taught to you.

00:31:36.820 You know you are to live this way.

00:31:41.120 The words pay to are the same Greek words that Jesus uses in his passage

00:31:45.580 where he says, render to Caesar what is Caesar.

00:31:47.440 It's the same Greek word right there.

00:31:49.600 So Paul is saying, give to all what is owed.

00:31:53.380 Don't rob people of their due.

00:31:57.300 And he starts with taxes, but he moves on to revenue

00:31:59.360 and he respect and to honor.

00:32:01.400 Now, in terms of respect, he's speaking of reverence.

00:32:06.700 He's speaking of a righteous and godly fear.

00:32:12.740 Not a malicious fear, but a revenance.

00:32:15.580 They have power over you to punish you by God's sovereign design.

00:32:25.120 We are to have reverence for those in authority.

00:32:29.740 Proverbs 24, 21 says, my son, fear the Lord and the king.

00:32:34.780 Fear the Lord and the king.

00:32:38.000 And do not join with those who do otherwise.

00:32:40.700 don't join with those who don't fear the lord and who don't fear the king

00:32:49.100 don't be a part of that christians are not to be reckless revolutionaries who

00:32:58.140 openly disrespect those who are above them in power

00:33:00.720 you are to be an ordered people a respectful people an honorable people

00:33:09.540 it's very easy to get caught up in the world's way to treat people the way the world does

00:33:18.740 we've all failed at this

00:33:20.980 now for living in tyranny whether in marriage

00:33:26.580 government your workplace our primary efforts are to be what repentance prayer evangelism

00:33:36.480 discipleship that is reverent that's our primary objective now after all of those things have been

00:33:42.660 done after you have exhausted repentance and prayer and evangelism and discipleship that is

00:33:48.280 reverent yeah then comes righteous rebellion but outside of all of those efforts being exhausted

00:34:00.000 that is exactly we talked about this in the first sermon that i gave what was the revolutionary war

00:34:04.360 1776 do you know what they did they followed that process

00:34:08.980 they petitioned the king over and over and over again

00:34:17.060 it was a constant constant state of the churches in the colonies of repentance of prayer to avoid

00:34:28.160 war of evangelistic

00:34:30.360 efforts to the king

00:34:31.420 of discipleship

00:34:33.520 towards him writing him letters

00:34:35.880 that is reverent and honorable

00:34:38.060 and at the very

00:34:40.040 last minute after seven years of

00:34:42.120 that 0.67

00:34:42.420 they have no other option but war 1.00

00:34:45.580 is that going to be true of you

00:34:51.320 when your husband's a tyrant

00:34:53.760 when your boss 0.92

00:34:56.380 is a tyrant

00:34:57.080 when your parents may feel like you're a tyrant

00:35:02.900 or like they're tyrants when you're grown?

00:35:05.620 I'm not talking about little kids.

00:35:06.600 I'm talking about older adults and children.

00:35:13.220 Do you follow that process?

00:35:17.520 Then the apostle calls for honor,

00:35:20.980 which is really a demonstration of estimation.

00:35:25.140 A demonstration of estimation.

00:35:27.080 We talked about this concept of the inaugural speech for President Trump and how they would say the Honorable Mike Johnson or the Honorable George W. Bush and how we need to get back to a culture that recognizes honor.

00:35:49.320 I actually saw just a couple days ago this, in a social media post, it said the Honorable Pete Hegseth, who's now the Secretary of Defense.

00:36:04.260 I don't know if that was a thing under previous administrations.

00:36:08.380 I don't think I've ever seen that.

00:36:09.960 It literally said the H-O-N dot Pete Hegseth. 0.93

00:36:14.540 And I thought, what a wonderful restoration of order.

00:36:19.320 I don't think I ever saw that under the Biden administration.

00:36:22.120 Someone under this administration that says, hey, whenever we write something, make sure you put honorable in front of it.

00:36:28.560 That's a good thing.

00:36:30.700 Small, but good thing.

00:36:32.880 And so when speaking of rulers and authority of those who are in authority above us, their value doesn't come from their person.

00:36:45.000 It comes from their position.

00:36:47.160 The cause for honor.

00:36:50.280 Anybody that's been in the military understands you salute the position, not the person.

00:36:56.820 You can salute the rank, not the officer or the actual man.

00:37:03.600 It's honor regardless of the particular individual that's there.

00:37:07.700 Because they've been put into a place of authority.

00:37:12.420 And for this reason, we should be careful to reduce the estimation of those who are in authority.

00:37:19.320 We need to be careful about reducing the estimation of honor for those who are in authority above us.

00:37:29.000 It doesn't mean that we can't call out sin.

00:37:31.080 It doesn't mean that we can't call out injustice or evil.

00:37:34.660 We need to do those things.

00:37:37.580 But we ought to do that in a way that is careful.

00:37:42.200 And we ought to do it in a way that does not insult them.

00:37:45.200 and we ought to do it in a way that is just and fair.

00:37:58.000 Now again, this I think applies to everybody that holds authority.

00:38:01.540 The fifth commandment says, honor your father and mother.

00:38:04.340 Children, look at me for a second.

00:38:07.860 You are all to honor your father and mother.

00:38:12.120 That means to have a right estimation.

00:38:14.540 You value them, even though they may ask you to clean your room, or they may ask you to do chores, or they may ask you to apologize, or to work, or to whatever may happen that you don't want to obey.

00:38:32.820 God has placed those particular individuals over you.

00:38:39.320 And by God's grace, you have Christian parents.

00:38:42.140 God could have placed you into a home 1.00

00:38:46.380 with pagan parents who are wicked and mean 1.00

00:38:49.620 but he didn't. He placed you 0.99

00:38:53.720 in the parents or the home of believers

00:38:56.720 which is a great blessing to you.

00:39:01.680 It shows that God wants to give his promises to you.

00:39:05.760 It shows that God loves you and has blessed you.

00:39:09.740 and it's your duty to submit to your parents and honor them in the same way that it's my duty to

00:39:17.040 submit to Christ, or in the same way that it's a husband's duty to love his wife, or in the same

00:39:22.860 way that it's a wife's duty to respect her husband, or in the same way it's a servant's

00:39:27.480 duty to respect his master. We are all under authority. Kids, pay attention. We are all under

00:39:35.620 authority. Every one of us, your mom and your dad, they're under authority. They will answer to God

00:39:41.820 in the same way that you will. So when you fall in line to your parents, God expects your parents

00:39:50.500 to fall in line with him. It is a good thing to have an ordered home. I promise you, you do not

00:39:57.700 want a chaotic home. You want order in your household and in your city. I'm going to read

00:40:08.700 just two things real quick and then we'll close. Justin Martyr, 155 AD. You know, one

00:40:17.780 generation really after the apostles have gone. He writes a letter to the emperor and

00:40:24.220 his first apology is what it's called. Now, apology is not to say sorry as his apology is to say

00:40:29.720 it's a defense. It's another word for an apologetic. It's a defense for Christianity.

00:40:35.900 And he says, quote, everywhere, we, more readily than all men, check that out, more readily than

00:40:42.420 all men, we as Christians, more than the pagans, endeavor to pay to those appointed by you the

00:40:50.800 taxes, both ordinary and extraordinary, as we have been taught by Jesus. We worship only God,

00:40:59.060 but in civil matters we will gladly serve you, acknowledging you as kings and rulers of men,

00:41:04.900 and praying that you, with your kingly power, may be found to possess all sound judgment."

00:41:11.100 That's how Christians ought to speak of rulers. We ought to treat rulers and authority better 0.83

00:41:19.620 than the Muslims, and better than the Mormons, and better than the Hindus, and better than the 0.99

00:41:24.580 pagans. Tertullian, 197 AD, 50 years later, writes to the governor of Carthage, quote,

00:41:35.280 we offer prayer for the safety of our princes to the eternal, the true, and the living God,

00:41:40.920 whose favor beyond all other things they must themselves desire. Without seizing for all of

00:41:47.700 our emperors, we offer them prayer. We pray for life

00:41:51.840 prolonged, for security to the empire, for

00:41:55.580 protection for the imperial house, for brave armies, a

00:41:59.560 faithful senate, a virtuous people, and the world at peace.

00:42:04.200 This is amazing. This is good, godly

00:42:07.760 systematic theology around authority early in the church.

00:42:12.020 He goes on to say that the Christian

00:42:15.280 cannot but look to the emperor

00:42:17.980 because he is, quote,

00:42:19.620 called by our Lord Jesus Christ to his office.

00:42:24.840 Hard things to say around the year 200, by the way.

00:42:30.140 And so this is how we ought to...

00:42:33.440 We are in the world, not of the world.

00:42:35.940 We are in the government as part of it,

00:42:38.700 submitting to it, discipling it,

00:42:42.180 obeying those realities,

00:42:44.300 pushing against that which is evil,

00:42:46.540 it is a really difficult thing to do,

00:42:48.480 and I understand that.

00:42:50.120 But we are called to do it.

00:42:52.600 So as I close here,

00:42:53.700 authority, rule, taxes, honor, and respect,

00:42:56.740 they're good.

00:42:58.040 They're good.

00:42:59.740 And as Christians, we are to pray

00:43:01.220 and work toward the discipleship of the nations

00:43:03.820 and the appointed and imperfect leaders

00:43:07.820 that they might rule justly and condemn evil.

00:43:10.840 But we are also to submit to those imperfect reality or rulers and realities, those authorities, those taxes, and giving respect and honor, not merely to avoid the punishment, not merely to have a conscience that's good before man and God, but also that we might look to the world as a great reputation of Christ, who is the beacon of order.

00:43:40.840 Amen? Amen. Let's pray.

00:43:45.200 Father God, we thank you, Lord, that you have given us insight and wisdom to this,

00:43:48.980 because this is not something that our flesh would come up with.

00:43:53.140 Lord, we trust that your way is better than our way.

00:43:58.860 And Father, that we would submit to these realities,

00:44:01.040 knowing that they come from your Son, Jesus Christ,

00:44:03.560 who has all authority in heaven and on earth.

00:44:05.700 And Lord, we ask that you would help us to yield, to submit,

00:44:09.040 as children, as parents, as rulers, as masters, as servants, as wives, as husbands, as employers.

00:44:18.020 Lord, that we would all fall into a righteous authority,

00:44:21.460 all proclaiming the goodness of grace and mercy of your son's gospel.

00:44:28.040 Lord, we thank you for order.

00:44:30.560 We ask that you would teach us more about order,

00:44:33.100 that we might bring it into our city and into our towns and into our people,

00:44:37.260 that we can restore order to these United States.

00:44:41.920 We ask this in Jesus' name.

00:44:43.860 Amen.

00:44:44.840 Amen.

Dale Partridge - February 11, 2025

Romans 13_5-7 The Blessing of Godly Government

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