www.EbenezerLutheranChurch.com

Sermon for Sunday July 6th, 2008

Sermon Theme: God and Country

Sermon Notes: This sermon is based on Romans 13:1-8. These sermons are always works in progress. Please look past any grammatical flaws or loose phrasing. We at Ebenezer hope you enjoy them in the Spirit which they were written. Peace in Christ, Pastor Joshua Haugen.

George W. Bush is our President by God. Some of you may be okay with this statement. Some of you may not be so okay with this statement. Don't worry we are not really going to spend the sermon talking about politics. But what we are going to talk about today is a rather difficult subject. We are going to talk about God's view on government. This view was first spoken by Christ, then Paul, later by Augustine, and by Luther. The breakdown works likes this: there are two kingdoms.

One kingdom is law and the other kingdom is grace and God is in control of them both.

The kingdom of law we run across in Romans chapter 13. The kingdom of law is everything we face on earth when we are dealing with each other outside the church. The kingdom of law is based very much upon what we do. The concept of government fits right into this kingdom of law, because the government is very concerned with what people do. All governments, by their very nature, are concerned with what their people do. The bible says very clearly that we are to listen to these authorities, whatever they are, because "there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been set up or instituted by God." So my first line this morning about George W. Bush being president by God is correct.

Here is where we say what a minute Pastor, you mean to say that that debacle in Florida with the hanging chad's, the political machinery with all the endless commercials, the backbiting, the slandering, and the fundraising with all the political maneuvering is the choice, the will of God? No! This is not what I am saying at all.

When we are dealing with this kingdom of the law God always has a wider view than a particular candidate, a particular platform, or a particular presidency. First, when we dealing with the government we have to remember that those who work in the government have a vocation. Remember Moses when he was at the burning bush. God was making him a leader of the people of Israel, he too was going to have governmental authority, and he didn't want the job. God responded, "Who has made man's mouth? Who makes him deaf, or mute, or seeing, or bind? Is it not I the Lord?" What this says is that God is ultimately our creator. He is the one who has given us certain talents and abilities. Some he has given to be leaders and rulers. So when he calls government officials as God's servants or servants of God: God actually means it.   

This actually carries on to any vocation or calling that exists in the world for good. Some really are made to be teachers. Some are made with the mind to interpret laws and hence make good lawyers. Some are made with the aptitude to build, work with masonry, restore houses, be farmers. Some do have a eye for design or be artistic. Some have the talent, rythm and voice to sing and be musical. Some have minds for science. Many others also have the vocation of being mothers or fathers. Some are given to be brothers or sisters. Really the list includes everything that is good and worth doing in this world and most of us have many vocations/many things we do for the good of others.  

What this understanding does is it legitimizes all the things that are in our lives. It reaffirms that our marriages truly are gifts from God. It says that our vocation of father or mother is God given even if we thought the child was a surprise or an accident. It reaffirms that even jobs we may not always like are still good as they help provide something for our neighbor and help feed our families. It reaffirms us who were or are soldiers. It reaffirms even government as long as it works for peace and the welfare of its people. This reaffirms that the normal things we do and provide for other people is God working through us.   

In this kingdom of Law, the kingdom of the left, the kingdom of this earth, we have what is called free will. Everyone has this type of free will. This is why some unbelievers can be really outwardly great people. This free will is all based on works, on what we do. So God gives us the freedom to use our talents and our abilities. He doesn't demand from us to just be a musician or to only be an accountant. He simply gives us the talents and says use them, be good stewards of them.  And as long as we do that we are doing what he wants in this kingdom.

The problem with free will is we can choose to use talents and abilities well or not so well. We can help our neighbor mow his lawn or we can throw a rock at him. We can serve our country faithfully or we can abuse the power we are given. We can love our children or we can leave them. We can love our spouse or we can desert them. We can work or we can show up late to work. We can be a good accountant or we can cook the books. We can interpret the law well or we can find every loop hole possible. We can be a faithful pastor or we can work just on Sunday. All this too is in the realm of free will.

So the government is also instituted by God for a second reason. It is instituted, using people who have talents and abilities for governing, to make sure my free will doesn't run over your free will. This governing is all done by natural law. Every society basically believes it is wrong to kill. Every society basically believes it is wrong to steal. Every society basically believes it is wrong to lie and that we should honor our parents. Every society from small to large has some form of law and someone to keep that law and as long as they are doing this that government in some way is obeying God's will. If they don't then that place truly becomes a horrible place to live.

So God truly does say the government "is God's servant for your good." He is there to keep order. But this does not mean that we follow any government regardless of what they do. This goes for any government throughout time because all governments are still full of sinful men who make sinful choices. If any government asks one to do what is immoral then we have to obey the laws of God instead of the laws of men. But what is important to remember is even then it is not our right to disregard the law's of this kingdom. "Whoever resists the authorities resists who God has appointed." If we find it immoral to follow any governmental law then we willingly face the consequences.  Remember, the Christian martyrs faced the judgment of Roman judges, willingly suffered the penalty, and usually went to suffer that penalty with hymns on their lips.

So it is right and it is fitting for us to be good citizens. It is right and it is fitting for us to vote. It is right and fitting for us, if need be, to protest. It is right and fitting for us to respect whoever is in authority over us, even if we disagree with them.  So it is right for us to "pay to all what is owed to them: taxes to whom taxes are owed, revenue to whom revenue is owed, honor to whom honor is owed."

But before God the reality is utterly different. The second kingdom, the kingdom of grace, doesn't care about how well we pay taxes. It doesn't care how well we mow our lawn. It doesn't care what our job is and how well we do it. This second kingdom is between solely God and us. Before God we do not stand as individuals with free will who can chose the good or the evil. The only thing we stand before God as is sinners.

This just makes complete sense. Because the first kingdom is all law and it works in averages. You don't break too many laws and you are called a good citizen. You do your best by your kids, and you are an okay parent, or at least no one is going to take your children away. You basically do your job and you are a good worker. But before the eyes of God there is absolutely no room to hide. There is no room to run. Before the eyes of the almighty God who examines every motive and every thought we are nothing but sinners to the very core.

So what can we do in this kingdom of grace? What works can we bring from the earthly kingdom to lay before God's heavenly throne? What report cards can we show to God to make him relent in the second kingdom where he stares directly into our hearts and our souls? The answer is: nothing.

For God works the exact opposite in the kingdom of grace from the kingdom of the works, law, the earth. The kingdom of the earth is based upon what we do as a citizen, a worker, a son or daughter, a husband or wife and the kingdom of heaven and of grace is only based upon what Christ has done for us. The kingdom of grace is what Jesus talks about when he says, "come to me all who labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me for I am gentle and lowly in heart and you will find rest for your souls."

For in the kingdom of the earth it is based upon what we do. But in the kingdom of heaven it is based solely upon what God has done for us. There is no room for anything we do. When we try to bring our deeds before our heavenly father's throne and say I have lived a good life, and I have done some good things, God always says it is never enough.  But when we come and say I can do nothing, like we do here every Sunday. God says, "Wonderful!" "Let me reveal to you my burden and yoke which is Christ Jesus and his Cross." 

The problem we always get into is that we always want to mix these kingdoms. We always want to bring the kingdom of law into the kingdom of grace. We always want to try to set up a heaven on earth. But when we try to do this we just don't see that this world with its kingdom of law just works fundamentally different than God's kingdom of love through his Son.

The kingdom of law, the kingdom of the earth is often given the priority. People say this is the real world. We do hold a dual citizenship and we are still a citizen of this world. So we still should be concerned with politics, governments, and everything else because we truly do love our neighbor. God doesn't need our good works but our neighbor does. But even as we deal with this kingdom and with all its difficulties, with its famines, it wars, it political maneuvering. We must remember that God is still in control and that this kingdom of earth is a temporary kingdom. It will come to an end. But the kingdom of Grace where we hold our other citizenship, is an eternal kingdom. The kingdom of heaven truly is the real world. That kingdom is where we were always supposed to live. And that is the kingdom where God has truly set us free. And that is the kingdom which lives now in us and is coming forever and ever, Amen.