The Bible says a lot about how we should relate to one another. But what about how we should relate to authority figures in our lives?   This is another in a continuing series on the Book of Romans.

The Bible says a lot about how we should relate to one another. But what about how we should relate to authority figures in our lives? This is another in a continuing series on the Book of Romans.

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Dalton SDA Church

The Book of Romans

Chester Clark

Romans 1 – Not Ashamed

Romans 2 – Love that Hates

Bad News, Good News

Righteousness by Faith

Wanted: Dead & Alive

Romans 7 - Freedom from the Law

Romans 8 - Living by the Spirit

Romans 9-The Calling

Unexplainable Ways

Reasonable Service

The Bible and Politics

Well, if there's 1 thing a minister probably can get trouble doing, it's preaching about politics.

So today I hope I can stay out of trouble.

This sermon is not entitled, Chester Clark and Politics.

It's simply entitled The Bible and Politics, right?

And so as I share today, I will be sharing, of course, you'll be seeing some of where I come from, but I hope that it's mainly you see how the Bible teaches we should relate as citizens, as inhabitants of a nation, as inhabitants of a country, as having to deal with the world in which we live.

In our series that we've been on occasion when we have the opportunity looking at and from the book of Romans, we've learned a lot about the gospel, we've learned a lot about the world, we've learned a lot about the church, and here in Romans chapter 13, we're almost finished with the book of Romans, Romans chapter 13, he talks about how we should relate to the authorities that we find in our lives.

So today we're going to be looking at that.

We're going to be taking a look at Romans chapter 13.

I want to assure you that this is not a sermon about the Bible and political parties.

I am firmly convinced, more and more convinced, that neither of the parties or any of the parties, whether we're in America or in other countries, political parties in this earth do not have the answers to this earth's problems.

There's 1 party, only 1 party, that has the answer.

And that isn't a political party, in fact it's a party that you and I are invited to, it's the wedding supper of the Lamb.

I want to be at that party, I don't know about you.

But that party is going to solve this world's problems.

And none of the other parties, the political parties that we see in this world have a lasting, enduring solution to solve the problems.

That doesn't mean we don't look for solutions, but we have a better solution coming, a final and eternal solution, the only eternal solution to this world's ills.

Father in heaven, as we open your Word, we want to pray for your Spirit to be here.

We want to pray that your word would become clear to us, that we might see that there is something for us to do, and that you have a priority for us to focus on, that there is a responsibility that we have.

Lord, just help us to understand how we can balance these things in the world in which we live.

Well we talked about how that marriage supper of the Lamb is the final answer, the eternal answer to this world's problems.

I want to be there, I hope that you want to be there, but if we're going to be there we're going to have to take counsel from God's Word, amen?

We're going to have to see what does God's Word say to us, how ought we to live our lives while we're here on this earth?

Because the Bible does say that we are to occupy until he comes, right?

We are to be here as a part of this world.

We're to be in the world, but not of the world.

Well, I believe that There are plenty of verses in the Bible that speak about how God has great desires for the nations, not just for us as individuals, but for nations as well.

Notice with me Proverbs chapter 14 and verse 34.

It says, righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people." So if a nation would prosper, what does it need?

That's pretty clear in the Bible here in Proverbs 14.

Proverbs 28 says, when a land transgresses, It has many rulers, a succession of rulers.

But it says, with a man of understanding and knowledge, its stability will long continue.

It's put into a little bit of a contemporary language, if you can't tell.

You can look that up in your translation and see exactly how it reads.

But clearly the Bible is saying that there is a correlation between right principles and right government.

In fact, I want us to make something very clear here.

I believe, this is my personal conviction, that a nation is blessed not when its government is Christian, but when its people are Christian.

Do you understand the difference between these 2?

You see, it's 1 thing for a person, for a government to say, we're a Christian government.

There's a problem with that, and we'll look at some of that in here in just a minute.

There's a problem with that, but there's a totally different thing when it's people, by their own convictions, through their own experience, are living Christian lives.

Now we can't really have this discussion without making 1 thing very clear and that is that I believe that there ought to be, and here in America there is, a separation between the powers of church and state.

Jesus said in Mark chapter 12 and verse 17, render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's and to God the things that are God's.

There's a problem when the government starts collecting our tithes or the church starts collecting our taxes.

There should be a distinction, a delineation between what is Caesar's and what is God's.

What we owe to Caesar and what we owe to God.

And by the way, there's also a responsibility, and I don't want to get too far into this because I believe that as citizens this could be a whole other sermon, a whole other subject.

But I think we also have a responsibility, don't we?

Not only to give the tithes to God, but to give a freewill offering to help those who are in need.

And I don't want to go too far down this rabbit trail, but let me just tell you 1 thing.

I think sometimes, sometimes in the Western world, The church has been at fault in relinquishing its social responsibility to help those in need solely to the government and giving up helping others.

I want to tell you there's not the same blessing from paying your taxes to help those in need as there is from giving of your own free will to help those who are in need.

And God has said that true religion, non-defiled, is to help those who are in need, right?

The widows and the orphans and those who are in so great need of help.

And so without going too far down that subject, I just want to make it very clear.

I believe that we have a responsibility and an opportunity as citizens to render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's, to God the things that are God's, and to give and to enjoy the blessing and the joy of giving to help others.

So as we see this separation between church and state, we recognize that an ethical population will lead to an ethical government.

An ethical population will lead to an ethical government, but it's not necessarily true the other way around.

An ethical government will not necessarily lead to an ethical or moral population.

Because as a collective body, we can make decisions about what our government will be, but a government can never change at the very heart who its people are, who they are in their heart of hearts.

There's only 1 power that can make people ethical and moral, and that is the power of the blood of Jesus Christ.

So, Jesus is the only 1 that can change this selfish, greedy heart of mine, and make it a heart that loves to give and loves to obey and loves the things of righteousness.

It is the pulpit that holds the key to the restoration of ethics and morality in America, not the state.

In times past when the power of the pulpit waned, when truth ceased to be taught and God's law was forgotten even by the church, the pulpit became so powerless to influence the populace that the church turned to the state to enforce morality.

And that, my friends, will never bring about a godly society.

History tells us that when the church combines with state in an attempt to enforce morality on the people.

Instead of the government being sanctified by the church, the church is corrupted by the government.

It doesn't work for the church to bring about righteousness to a nation through the government.

What is needed is not a government that gives lip service to religious truth, but a people whose hearts are converted by the truth.

And when I hear pastors and preachers in this country and other countries claiming that Society needs a government to enforce morality.

It is only conclusive evidence to my thinking that the power of the pulpit is not sufficient.

The Word of God is not changing hearts and lives as it should.

Maybe our preaching needs to be filled with the Word of God and with the Word of Truth.

Maybe we need to exalt the law of God and the righteousness of God which in the end will transform a people to be more like God.

What is needed is not a government that gives lip service, but a people who give their hearts to Jesus Christ.

The Bible has relatively surprisingly, relatively little to say about how a government should be run, but a lot to say about how people should live their lives.

I'm not saying there's nothing about how authority should function in the Bible, I'm saying relatively, comparatively, there's little about how a government should be established and much more about how we as Christians deliver our lives.

Now if we as Christians live as the Bible says, we will have an influence on the nation around us, won't we?

We would, if a people were to live as the Bible says they should, they would form a nation governed by biblical values.

Not a nation that is intrinsically religious itself, but a nation of religious people, people with religious values.

Series

The Book of Romans

The Bible and Politics

Transcript

Description

Parent Series

Sponsor

Recorded

Seminars

Under the Spell of Revolution

57m

Church and Faith, Not Church and State

53m

The Sanctuary

Shadows of Heavenly Things

37m

An Eye for an Eye

44m

Reprioritizing in the Last Days

Use of Spiritual Gifts

1h 10m

Acts: First Generation Lessons for Last Generation Believers

2. Discipline

1h

Lowest Common Denominator

45m

The Heart of God

51m

The True Medical Missionary

56m

The Power of Perspective

Two Covenants

57m

Life of the Apostle Paul

Hold Nothing Back - Part 19

39m

Bible Weekend

02 Answering False Doctrines

43m

Sound Doctrine