Wednesday,
July 1 –
It is
Wednesday and we’re mid-week in our readings thru the New Testament. Today we
read from Romans 13:1-14. It is a short chapter but packed with relevance for
how we live for Christ in the public arena, as well as in our homes. Take it
all in and come back to spend some time with me in “musing” over the instructions
Paul gives to us.
Romans 13 continues to follow the basics of walking out our lives as
consecrated and transformed people in God’s Kingdom. In chapter 12, Paul had
emphasized the need for a proper view of God (12:1-2), a proper understanding
of ourselves (12:3-8), a proper way of dealing with others (12:9-16), and even
a proper response to those who don’t like us (12:17-21). The chapter division
is again not helpful since his point is made in three further areas as he
writes that we have to have a proper view of living as a citizen (13:1-7), a
principle to guide us in all that we do – love (13:8-10), and to cap it all
off, he adds that we must learn how to live in a world of darkness, in light of
Jesus’ return (13:11-14).
A
Christian is caught in the dilemma of living as a citizen of a country, while
also keeping their heart and mind loyal to God’s Kingdom and God’s rule. We are
God’s people, in God’s place, doing God’s will. All that means is that we
constantly live in the “now” and the “not yet”. We live in the vertical Grace
of God that has saved us, and is saving us, and will save us, while also
needing to live in the horizontal Grace of God as responsible, godly neighbors.
It’s not a contradiction for even Jesus reminded us that “You shall love the
Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your
mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You
shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the
Law and the Prophets” (Matthew 22:37-40). I believe it is this principle Paul
has in mind as he puts the Gospel into everyday life as a citizen in the Roman
Empire.
Citizenship
is horizontal grace at work. “Authorities” come from God (13:1). That’s not
always easy to believe. Authorities, as in government leaders is broad. Paul
acknowledges what we all know – the world is in rebellion to God, and evil
exists, but God has used earthly authorities to check the unbridled evil that
would take place without some order. He begins (vs 1) with this bold statement
– “Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no
authority except God, and those that exist have been instituted by God.” I
don’t know of any verse in Scripture that might get more furrowed brow and questioning
belief than this. Our nation is fairly divided in half in terms of political
persuasion, and there are protests spilling into the streets, sometimes turning
violent. At times chaos seems to border on anarchy. I’ve lived through it
before. 1968 was a year of turmoil with the assassinations of Bobby Kennedy and
Martin Luther King, and riots broke out in cities and even at the Democratic
national convention. We read these words of Paul with an awareness that he
makes it in an unqualified command – i.e., remember, do, obey, because God is
behind it and is ultimately in control. (1:2-4).
He adds
that our citizenship also means participation in the need to fund it – pay
taxes (12:6-7). I don’t know of too many people listening to Paul in a church
who would holler out loud, “Amen, preach it, Paul”. How can we get a handle on
this? First, let’s remind ourselves that Paul was writing about this in the
context of one of the worst political powers that ever existed. Rome was not
just corrupt, it was absolutely corrupted. Nero was the Emperor, and within a
few years of writing this Paul would be martyred at his command. Do you suppose
Paul would change his mind? He doesn’t. Also, let’s remember that this is not a
blanket statement to accept corruption or evil in either politics or society.
It was
the early Christians who were known for taking babies cast aside – left alone
to die – and placing them in homes so that they might live. Romans practiced a
form of passive abortion – throw the new-born outside the city and let it die.
It was Christians who saw the sick, the homeless, the poor and built the first
hospitals to care for those who were dying. It was Christians who organized the
first schools for all children who would come.
Fast
forward to the 19th century, and while civil war would eventually break out, it
was Christians who saw slavery as an evil and sought to overthrow an
institution that was embedded in American society. It was Christians who fought
to change the laws so that children went to school instead of working sixty
hours in factories, and it was Christians who led the way to reform labor laws
and put a cap on how many hours a week any human being should work.
Lastly,
I want us to remember that it was Christians who worked tirelessly to undermine
the German Third Reich’s attempt to destroy all the Jews. Dietrich Bonhoeffer
and Corrie Ten Boom’s family were committed Christians who saw the evil, and
acted without regard for their own lives – and in the end, only Corrie Ten Boom
would survive. In my lifetime, it was Dr. Martin Luther King that led protests
against racial inequality – peaceful protests – that often turned violent and
at times exposed the evil. He also was killed because he chose to oppose evil.
Paul is
not telling the Christians to passively lay down and let evil reign, he is
reminded them, and us, that as citizens we have a responsibility to live like
the children of God – even if others do not. Why? How? We live in the fear of
God first, not in the fear of man (13:5). It was Aurelius Augustine in the
early 5th century, who would take up the pen and write the massive and still
monumental work – “The City of God”. Augustine reminded the Christians living
in the collapse of the Roman Empire that earthly empires – “cities” – were
destined for destruction for they had no way to deal with human evil. In
contrast, Augustine wrote that a Christian has the promise of an eternal city
awaiting them that would never be destroyed. Paul agreed – we live in the now,
so we participate as godly, honoring, respectful people, but this is not our
home. Is it right to fight against evil, to protest injustice, to seek to
change the world to be better than it is? Yes, but there has to be an honest
appraisal that nothing we do as citizens of any nation will endure. The city of
God is not built by human hands.
What we
can do, should do, even obligated to do is to love one another. Love is Paul’s
remedy for living in a fallen world (13:8-10). The great temptation in a world
of chaos is to retreat, stay away, and avoid dealing with a world devoid of
God. Love is a call to engage and live with a different guiding ethic. What we
owe, pay, and what we have, give. Paul’s point is simple. We can love, even
when others don’t and we can be a person of honor (13:7) who fulfills their
obligations and lives to obey the Commandments of God, especially in relation
to our neighbors. Why love? Because God is love, and because the most basic way
to make the right decisions (most of the time) is when we are guided by “what
is it that is the most loving thing to do right now?”
Paul’s
sense of urgency in this is on display as he wraps up these principles that he
began in chapter 12. “ ...you know the time, that the hour has come for you to
wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed
(13:11). These verses were what awakened Augustine as a pagan immoral man. He
was desperate in his own soul, trapped by a life that he knew was selfish and
full of sin, and he read the words from Romans 13:11-14 and felt as if God had
directed them personally to him. He gave his life for Christ, turned his back
on his former life, and did what Paul wrote at the beginning of chapter 12 –
becoming “consecrated and transformed”. In the process, He became one of the
Church’s greatest thinkers that would ever live.
The
“times, they are a-changing,” said Bob Dylan. Yes, they are. We are nearer to
Christ’s Kingdom coming, and for Christ’s return than ever before. Will it
happen in our lifetime – I pray daily, “Lord, please let your Kingdom come, let
your will be done on earth as it is in heaven” (Matthew 6). I believe that his
Kingdom has come, and his will is being done, even as I pray for the full
completion of it being done all over our earth. Go back over chapters 12-13.
The ethical, moral, principled behavior of the Christian is in full view:
• Keep
a proper perspective on yourself with humility as well as giftedness (12:3-8)
• Show
honor whenever and wherever you can (12:9-16)
• Don’t
respond to evil with evil, but respond to God and leave it to him (12:17-21)
• Be a
good citizen and give respect and honor whenever and wherever possible (13:1-7)
• Live
as a person of love because of God’s love for you (13:8-10)
• Be
awake...the world is not going to go in a Christ-like way (13:12-13)...but
don’t let the darkness swallow you up, instead be transformed by Christ to be
like Christ (13:14).
The
final words sum it all up – “put on Christ”. Those simple words can keep us
busy for the rest of our lives as we meditate and pray, “Lord Jesus, I want to
do that, show me how to do that today.” It isn’t necessarily easy, but it is
necessary and good to strive to do it. May he show us the way.
Peace
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