Long Island Abundant Life Church 長島豐盛生命教會
  • Home
  • About Us 關於教會
    • Mission Statement - 使命宣言
    • Statement of Faith - 信仰立場
    • Biblical Marriage - 合乎聖經的婚姻
    • Church Leadership - 教會同工
    • Directions - 路線圖
    • Documents - 表格與文件下載
    • Contact Us - 聯絡我們
    • Ministry openings
  • Chinese Ministry 華語事工
    • 崇拜
    • 講道集 >
      • 主日信息
      • 特會 / 講座
    • 主日學
    • 門訓小組 >
      • 門訓小組介紹
    • 團契
    • 讀經
  • English Ministry 英文事工
  • Youth 少年事工
    • Worship
    • Sunday School
    • Youth Fellowship
    • Events
    • Our Vision
    • Connect with Us
    • Parent Resources
    • Youth Prayer Requests
  • Children's Ministry 兒童事工
    • Children's Worship - 兒童崇拜 >
      • Children's Songs - 歌曲
      • Junior Worship, Archive - 學習內容
      • Junior Worship, Current - 學習內容
      • Preschool Worship, Archive - 幼兒崇拜
    • Sunday School - 主日學 >
      • Preschool - 低年級
      • Middlers, Current - 高年級
      • Elementary, Archive - 高年級
    • VBS-特别暑期聖經班 >
      • EVENTS- 特別活動
    • Nursery - 幼兒照顧
    • Resources - 資源
  • Missions/Evangelism 宣教/佈道
    • Global Mission 全球宣教
    • Missions Ministry 宣教事工
  • Chinese School 中文學校
  • Church Activities / News / Calendar 教會活動 / 消息 / 行事曆
    • Special/urgent 特別/緊急
    • Calendar 教會行事曆
    • Bulletin 週報
    • Archive 檔案 >
      • Pray for Hindus 2018 為印度人禱告
      • Seek God 2019 尋求神
      • Misc. 其他
  • Chinese Student Ministry 学生事工
    • Campus Ministry 校园事工
    • CSF 衣
    • CSF 食
    • CSF 住
    • CSF 行
  • Links 资源鏈接
  Long Island Abundant Life Church 長島豐盛生命教會

Romans 12:9–13:7

8/23/2012

 
Click here to read today’s passage on Bible Gateway.

Submission to Government
Chapter 13 is one of the major passages in the Bible having to do with the relationship between a Christian and the government they live under.  We’ve already dealt with this topic a few times before, dealing with issues like taxes and citizenship.  In this chapter Paul says some interesting things and even comes back to the issue of taxes (summary: pay them).

When was in college, my final Senior Seminar paper was on the subject of the Bible and civil disobedience, focusing particularly on the underground Church in China.  As I said, we’ve talked about some of these issues before.  I want to quickly offer up a few key ideas that we need to understand about a Christian’s relation to government:

1.       Governments are appointed by God.  Verse 1 starts us out with this principle.  Does this mean the government will always follow the laws of God?  Absolutely not.  Remember that Paul is writing this letter to those living under the Roman government that have just been fiercely persecuted under that government, yet Paul tells them that the government is instituted by God!  What this DOES mean is that God is the author of history and the God appoints governments for a purpose and despite their rule, whether it be good or bad, God uses governments for His ultimate purposes.

2.       Obey the government at all times unless what the government asks goes against the commands of God.  This is not a choice for the Christian:  you do just get to pick and choose which laws you like and follow only those.  If you are going to go against the commands of the government, you’d better be REALLY sure that you’re doing so for the sake of God.

3.       If you DO feel that you need to follow God rather than man, understand that it is the government’s job to punish you. This passage is clear that governments exist for the purpose of keeping order and are divinely ordained to punish those that break their laws.  Even if the laws are unjust from a Christian standpoint, such as forbidding evangelism or children’s Sunday school, understand that the government’s role is to punish those that break the law.  This is a very important point:  many people expect to follow God’s commandments and to be delivered from any consequences.  This is not the case:  remember – nearly all of the apostles died violent deaths at the hands of those that did not follow God.  We have a responsibility as Christians to both follow God AND accept the consequences for doing so.

Obviously there is a lot to figure out in this topic, but for the most part we as Americans haven’t thought through ANY of it.  It’s the American way to complain about the government.  I suggest that it is the CHRISTIAN way to be concerned for our government and to pray for our leaders.  Above all, we need to realize that any earthly government will fail us.  We can rejoice that we live under a relatively just government that values liberty and freedom and pray for our brothers and sisters that live in places ruled by harsh dictators.  Above all, we need to remember that God institutes governments and uses them for his purposes.

Andrei
8/23/2012 08:30:38 pm

This made me think of Martin Luther King Jr. Would he be a good example of someone who went about civil disobedience in a Biblical manner?


Comments are closed.

    RSS Feed

    Archives

    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.