Surviving in a Post-Christian America

Message Three – To Obey or Not Obey

On January 20th, our country went through a change of leadership. President Biden became our 46th president of the United States.

I watched a good deal of the Inauguration. Lady Gaga did a fabulous job singing the National Anthem.

Recently I heard Amanda Gorman, our Youth Poet Laureate, recite one of her poems; so I was interested to hear her read her new poem The Hill We Climb.

I sang along with Garth Brooks as he performed Amazing Grace.

And as I listened to President Biden’s speech, I shared his hope for unity.

Every 4-8 years we go through this. We welcome a new government into power. The republic created 243 years ago still stands.

So now what?

What do we as Christians do with respect to this new government? Do we honor and respect President Biden and Vice President Harris or do we stand against them? 

Do we subject ourselves to these leaders for the next four years or do we rebel?

Two weeks back you learned that your first responsibility toward your leaders is to pray for them and to thank God for them.

But do we have to obey them? Must we follow in lockstep wherever they lead?

Today you will learn the answer to the question – must I obey...

You will learn that ....

God commands us to obey our government as long as our obedience is not in conflict with God. When we do choose to obey God rather than man we must be willing to accept the consequences.

Subjection

Romans 13:1-2

Believers are to be subject to their governing authorities because God has appointed these leaders.

Look at Romans 13:1-2

Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God. 2 Therefore whoever resists the authority resists the ordinance of God, and those who resist will bring judgment on themselves.

Why does the Word tell us to subject ourselves to our political leaders? The reason we are to subject ourselves to our governing authorities is that God has appointed them. God raises leaders up and God removes them.

If the Scripture is telling the truth, (and we know it is) then God just appointed President Biden and God just removed President Trump. And we are to subject ourselves to that change.

Remember, Paul is writing the book of Romans at the time Nero is Emperor. As I discussed two weeks back, Nero was one of the most perverse leaders of all time. Yet Paul told the readers of Romans that they were to subject themselves to this leader.

Several questions come to mind.

What about:

• Hitler who executed 4-6 million Jews (2/3 of all European Jews)
• Stalin who killed approximately 20 million Soviet citizens
• Chairman Mao killed as many as 45 million Chinese citizens
• Or what about the United States, who has aborted 62 million babies since Roe v Wade.

What is a believer’s responsibility to a government like that? Must a Christian obey their leaders when their leaders sanction murder?

Three Things to Think About

1. Does the Bible and especially Romans 13 teach the “Divine Right of Kings”? The DRK is “the doctrine that kings derive their authority from God, not from their subjects.” The DRK teaches that human rulers are beyond reproach or criticism by his or her subjects. Rebellion would be the worst of political crimes.

So is this biblical? No – Romans and elsewhere in Scripture teach that we are subject in general but not in absolute.

Remember that

• Nathan called out King David’s sin in 2 Samuel 12:7
• Jeremiah stood against Ahab in 1 Kings 18
• Remember Daniel in the lions’ den?
• John the Baptist confronted Herod and religious leaders with their sin.

There is another important teaching in the Scripture that destroys the idea of the Divine Right of Kings.

What is it? All men are created equal.

• All are sinners. Romans 3:23 (All men are created equal.)
• All are guilty and those without Christ will be held accountable for their sins.

So does the Bible teach that we must obey our leaders because they are without reproach? The answer is no.

1. Christians are citizens of two kingdoms. You are a citizen of the country in which you live. And you are a citizen of heaven. Phil 3:20 and Col 1:13

Why is this important?

Because you are to subject yourself to your leaders as long as there is no conflict with God’s laws.

Look at Acts 5:17-32

What does that story teach? It teaches when man’s laws are in conflict with God’s laws then we must choose to obey God.

Another example is found in Daniel 3:13-18.

What does that story teach? It teaches that when we choose to obey God and not man we must be willing to accept the consequences.

Here is another example. Who is Kim Davis?

Kim Davis was the former county clerk in Rowan County Kentucky who refused to sign marriage licenses for same-sex couples.

Shortly after the US Supreme Court made same-sex marriages legal, same-sex couples began to come to the Rowan County Courthouse for a license to marry.

Kim Davis was the county clerk. Her name was on every marriage license and above her name was a line for her signature.

She said,

"I never imagined a day like this would come, where I would be asked to violate a central teaching of Scripture and of Jesus Himself regarding marriage. To issue a marriage license which conflicts with God's definition of marriage, with my name affixed to the certificate, would violate my conscience."

Because of her refusal, she was jailed and sued. Eventually, she returned to her post after they removed her name from the signature block. Her assistant clerks signed from then on. She refused. Ultimately she was voted out of office.

All in all, this worked out as it can.

• The government made same-sex marriage legal.
• Kim Davis, a representative of that government, chose to obey God rather than man and to suffer the consequences. She used her Frist Amendment rights to do so.

The First Amendment says:

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

When we are faced with a decision to obey the government or obey God we should always choose “Obey God.” But we should do so in the way that fits the issue and with an understanding that we must be willing to suffer the consequences.

Kim Davis did not set off any bombs. She did not try to violently overthrow the government. She exercised her constitutional rights to resist a law that was in conflict with the Bible.

The people of Rowan County Kentucky also exercised their rights and in due time voted her out of office.

So must we obey our leaders in all matters? The answer is no when the laws of man are in opposition to the laws of God. But we must be willing to suffer the consequences.

1. One final question then we will conclude.  What about our founding fathers and the American Revolution, was that a violation of Romans 13 because they did rebel against the sitting government?

Pastor John MacArthur Jr. says that “the American Revolution was born out of a violation of Romans 13:1-7.”

Let’s look at that.

On August 2, 1776, 56 members of the 2nd Constitutional Congress signed the Declaration of Independence.

These men too struggled with the teaching of Romans 13. But they also considered the entire Bible.

The Declaration of Independence is a document that explains why they felt justified to break with England.

When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

It rejects the Divine Right of Kings because it states this:

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness

The signers believed that the King of England and the government he represented was no longer a government worthy of subjection.

Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.

They then wrote down 28 ways the King had violated them and the law.

Finally, they appealed to God that they would establish a new country that would be worthy of God-ordained subjection.

We, therefore, the Representatives of the United States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States

The final sentence of the declaration calls upon one another and upon God’s providence.

And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.

When we stand and obey God rather than man we can only depend upon God and one another.

Conclusion

So are we subject to our leaders?  Yes, we are.

Why? Because God has appointed them. God appointed President Biden and God removed President Trump.

Must we obey them in all matters?  No.

Why?

There is no Divine Right of Kings. And we are citizens of two kingdoms. When man’s kingdom disagrees with God’s we must choose God’s and suffer the consequences.

Let’s pray.