Pray And Obey - Praying For Governing Officials
By Al Cronkrite The Covenant News ~ September 2, 2005
This was Sunday's sermon at the Union Congregational Church, North Aurora, Illinois by Pastor Mark Alvis.
(I Timothy 2:1-2)
A doctor, an engineer, and a politician were arguing about which profession came first. The doctor said, "Well, Eve was created out of Adam's rib. That was obviously surgery." "Possibly," said the engineer, "but don't forget, the world was created out of chaos. That was certainly a job done by engineering." "Hey, wait a minute!" said the politician. "The chaos. Who do you think was responsible for that?"
Question: What is the opposite of law? Answer: Chaos. Question: What is the opposite of the Gospel? Answer: The opposite of the Gospel is salvation by works. The Jews of the New Testament twisted God's Law and tried to make it into a means of salvation. It was that misuse of God's Law that put it into opposition with the Gospel. The New Testament writers never condemn God's Law, they condemn the misuse of God's Law. Listen to I Timothy 1:8-11,
"We know that the law is good if one uses it properly [there is a proper use of God's Law for believers and an important use of God's Law for society at large. This is what Paul goes on to address]. (9) We also know that law is made not for the righteous but for lawbreakers and rebels, the ungodly and sinful, the unholy and irreligious; for those who kill their fathers or mothers, for murderers, for adulterers and perverts, for slave traders and liars and perjurers - and whatever else is contrary to the sound doctrine that conforms to the glorious gospel of the blessed God . . . ."
God's Law gives a society an objective standard for judging what is right and what is wrong. God's Law and the Gospel are never in conflict. They are in complete harmony when both are understood and used properly. If the Gospel of God's grace is used as a license to sin (as it often is today), then the Gospel is being misunderstood and misused.
What did Jesus mean when He said that loving God and loving our neighbor fulfills the Law (Matthew 22:37-40)? Some have interpreted this as meaning we no longer need God's Law. We just need to love people. There were a lot of hippies in the 60's who advocated free love - by which they meant having sex with anyone and everyone. Friends, God's Law is what defines what genuine love looks like. That is why Jesus said, "If you love me you will keep My commandments." God's Law and genuine love go together like love and marriage vows go together. If a man truly loves a woman, he will take those vows. If I say I love God, but delight to take His name in vain; do I genuinely love God? If I say I love my neighbor, but lie about him every opportunity I get; do I really love my neighbor? To violate God's laws is to violate love.
No group of people can live together in a loving, orderly way, apart from godly laws. One of the reasons God gave His laws and decrees to the Israelites at Mt. Sinai, is because it was at that time He was forming them into a nation. God's laws were to help the nation of Israel live together in a loving, orderly way. The opposite of law is chaos and hate.
What does a nation do with lawbreakers? God ordained civil government to deal with them. This is why Romans 13:3-4 says,
"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 one in authority? Then do what is right and he will commend you . . . But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword for nothing. He is God's servant, an agent of wrath to bring punishment on the wrongdoer."
Civil leaders have been given enormous power by God. How much power? They have the power to take the life of a lawbreaker. This is why civil authorities are referred to as 'gods' in Psalm 82. Jesus makes note of this in John 10:34-35. Anyone who is given that much authority had better fear God -- and be subject to restraints and accountability. Of course this is exactly what God's Word teaches. Please look with me at Exodus 18:21. In this passage, Jethro is teaching Moses about the proper character qualities for civil leaders,
". . . select capable men from all the people (not everyone has the ability to be a good civil leader) - men who fear God, trustworthy men (that means they are honest even when no one is looking), men who hate dishonest gain."
These are the character qualities of good civil leaders, but what are the restraints upon them? One of the built in restraints upon civil leaders is that they are selected by the people they serve. In Exodus 18, Moses was wearing himself out trying to settle all the disputes between the people of Israel. Jethro told Moses to select leaders to help him settle legal disputes. Since the Israelites numbered over a million people, Moses could not possibly have known all those people well enough to select the proper civil leaders himself. The people from each tribe selected their civil leaders using the guidelines provided in Exodus 18:21. If civil leaders are put into office by the people, they can be taken out of office by the people.
Another restraint upon civil leaders is that they too are under God's Law. They are to live by it and use it to judge what is right and what is wrong. Listen to Deuteronomy 17:18-20,
"When he (the king) takes the throne of his kingdom, he is to write for himself on a scroll a copy of this law . . . It is to be with him, and he is to read it all the days of his life so that he may learn to revere the LORD his God and follow carefully all the words of this law and these decrees and not consider himself better than his brothers and turn from the law to the right or to the left."
Before we go any further, I need to address an issue head on. Many Christians ignore all these guidelines because they were given to Israel, and Israel was a theocracy - which will never be duplicated and therefore, none of these guidelines apply to people or nations today. By a theocracy we mean that Israel's ultimate King was God and her civil laws were given to her by God Himself.
Unfortunately, most peoples' idea of a theocracy comes from Islam and not the Bible. Let me ask some questions. What is a republic? It is a group of people governed by law. To help themselves be governed by law, the people in a republic democratically elect their governing officials. But everyone in a republic is under law, including the governing officials.
What is a Christian Republic? It is a group of people governed by Biblical Law. What is the difference between a Christian Republic and a Biblical Theocracy? Nothing. Absolutely nothing. This nation started out pretty close to being a Christian Republic. And just for getting close, we have gained many of the promised blessings God gave to Israel in Deuteronomy 28:1-13,
"If you fully obey the LORD your God and carefully follow all his commands I give you today, the LORD your God will set you high above all the nations on earth . . . you will lend to many nations but will borrow from none. The LORD will make you the head, not the tail. If you pay attention to the commands of the LORD your God . . . you will always be at the top, never at the bottom."
Let me quickly add, that no nation can be forced to be a theocracy or a Christian Republic. How did Israel become a theocracy? We are told in Exodus 24:3-7,
"When Moses went and told the people all the LORD's words and laws, they responded with one voice, 'Everything the LORD has said we will do.' Moses then wrote down everything the Lord had said . . . Then he took the Book of the Covenant and read it to the people. They responded, 'We will do everything the LORD has said; we will obey.'"
Israel voted to become a theocracy. The people of the United States originally voted to be a republic, whose courtrooms took God's Law very seriously. This is why the Ten Commandments are written all over our Supreme Court building in Washington D.C.
There are many in our nation today who want all that changed. I think they are presently winning the debate in the market place of ideas. What truly bothers me is that most Christians are not even in the debate. Don't misunderstand me. The Church must never be deterred from our primary duty of making disciples of the nations. But part of making disciples is to teach people that Christ is Lord over every area of life - including civil government. The notion that civil government is to be religiously neutral is silly. Remember, all governments enforce someone's view of morality. The morality laid out in God's Law is the best for everyone. Even unbelievers can see the benefits of living under God's Law. Look with me at Deuteronomy 4:5-6. Moses says to the Israelites,
"See, I have taught you decrees and laws as the LORD my God commanded me, so that you may follow them (not to earn salvation - but to live together in an orderly way) . . . Observe them carefully, for this will show your wisdom and understanding to the nations (unbelievers), who will hear about all these decrees and say, 'Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.'"
God's laws are wise and Christians should be making them attractive as we walk them out in everyday life. The blessings we receive by fearing God and honoring His laws will make us persuasive in the market place of ideas. Friends, we must remember that the Bible is more than a giant tract - explaining the plan of salvation. It is God's blueprint for all of life.
Let me summarize: The Bible teaches that the primary function of civil government is to restrain evil by punishing wrongdoers. Will godly laws and good civil leaders stop all immorality and all crimes? No. But they will greatly restrain these things. The homosexual agenda could never have gained a foothold in this country if we had not abandoned God's Law. It amazes me how many civil leaders and even pastors in some of the mainline denominations think they are being compassionate to homosexuals by accepting this lifestyle and giving them entitlement status under our current humanistic laws. What they are actually doing is taking away the restraints on homosexual behavior, which is sending thousands of homosexuals to early graves because of AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases.
Proverbs 12:10, has it right, ". . . the compassion of the wicked is cruel." In the Bible, to be wicked is to be lawless. Those who throw off God's Law because they think they are more compassionate than God, actually end up being cruel. Homosexuals lived longer when their lifestyle was restrained by godly law. And even more importantly, they felt shame and guilt - which made them more receptive to the Gospel.
Proverbs 16:12 says, "Kings detest wrongdoing (at least they should), for a throne is established through righteousness." By exposing and punishing wrongdoers, civil leaders protect law-abiding citizens from lawbreakers. This allows law-abiding citizens to focus their energies on providing for their families by rendering services to the community in which they live. Everyone prospers when this happens.
The founders of this nation understood that civil government has a vital role -- but a limited role. Our nation today desperately needs to refocus our civil leaders back onto their primary role and stop expecting them do everything under the sun. Our nation is making civil government into a god. And because we have come to expect civil government to fix all problems, our civil leaders have become less effective in carrying out their primary role of restraining evil.
When I was young, and our civil leaders and population had more respect for God's Law, we didn't bother to take the keys out of the ignition of our cars when we went grocery shopping. How many of you can remember those days? How many of you would now feel safe in doing that? I can still remember something that took place, which contributed to our present dilemma. It was an advertizing blitz which said, "Do not tempt a good boy to go bad. Take the keys out of your ignition."
Do you see what that message does? If I leave the keys in my car, and a thief steals it, it was my fault. The thief has been made the victim - not the person whose car was stolen.
It is critical that we have clear thinking, God-fearing people in civil government. That is why we need to pray for our civil leaders and about our selection of civil leaders. We must pray that they will be people of integrity (Exodus 18:21), who honor God's Law (Deuteronomy 17:18-20). Even though God's Law cannot save, it does bring order into a society. If God's Law is ever going to regain the respect it once held in our classrooms and courtrooms, it must once again be studied and cherished by the Church. Let's pray.