Christians, the State, and Our Ultimate Allegiance

The Bible does not tell us everything about the state, but it surely tells us the most important things. It tells us the necessary things. It directs us in our thinking about the state and it challenges us. So, this morning I want to think about the state under three points. And the first is that the state is a divine institution. However much we may get annoyed at government, whether local or state or federal, we have to always have clearly in mind that the state is a divine institution. [00:04:49]

Peter is encouraging the Christians to whom he writes to think carefully about the state as a divine institution, because if we read between the lines here it would appear that some Christians were saying, "I am free in Christ. I am delivered in Christ. I am a citizen of a new kingdom. I am looking forward to a new heaven and earth in which righteousness dwells, and that means I don't have to pay attention to this government on earth anymore. I am free." And Peter says, "You are free in Christ, but that freedom does not give you the right to despise or disparage the government God has set over you on earth. [00:07:31]

The government's calling, the government's task is to punish evil and promote the good. And however little we think the government accurately and successfully does that, that is the calling laid upon the government by God, a calling that we have to honor, Peter says. And that is interesting, isn't it, honor the emperor? It is not just a grudging obedience to which we are called, but we have to recognize in the ruling authorities, in the governing authorities, the work of God, the purpose of God, the calling of God. [00:09:13]

Now, the state is also a human institution. It is a divine institution, but it is a human institution. And that means we as humans have responsibility for it. God has given us that responsibility. And the state in history has taken many different forms, hasn't it? We have had monarchies, we have had oligarchies, we have had dictatorships, we have had republics, we have had democracies; there is a whole range of forms that the state can take by human choice. [00:13:23]

And in every human form of government, the basic duty of government remains to do justice and particularly, to protect the weak. You know, one of the things that outrages me and amazes me is the endless repetition after bad news is reported on television, that we know people are basically good. Well, maybe not Vladimir Putin, but, you know, everybody else is basically good. Well, maybe not those Russian oligarchs that have taken money and bought billion-dollar yachts. [00:14:29]

Psalm 82 is another powerful psalm that speaks of that call to powerful governing figures to govern faithfully. Psalm 82 warns judges not to be unjust or show partiality to the wicked. What a strong statement that is! Do not show partiality to the wicked. Psalm 82 calls governments to "give justice to the weak and fatherless, to maintain the right of the afflicted and destitute." We have to let those words grip us. [00:17:50]

The Bible calls us as political people to have compassion and to care about the whole community, and I think we have to be very serious about that and let God's Word challenge us. Now, that doesn't mean that practical political decisions necessarily become easy once we are concerned and compassionate and pursuing justice and pursuing the protection of the weak. One of the huge problems in California right now is homelessness. Many parts of California, the streets are just full of homeless people, and we are told that many, most of these homeless people are either drug addicted or mentally ill. [00:19:29]

But when we look at the homeless, we should not just be angry. We should be compassionate and ask, "Is there a way to help?" And as I say, we may have very legitimate differences among us as to what is the way to help, but we as Christians ought to be a people of compassion and recognize that too often our governments have been corrupted, not to try to help the weak, but to help themselves. And we should be outraged about that. [00:21:54]

But the state can become a demonic institution when the state claims for itself all power, all meaning, all direction of life. One of the great ancient examples of that was ancient Egypt. And so, it is not so surprising that the great story of the deliverance of Israel out of Egypt is a confrontation between the true and living God and Pharaoh who claimed to be god. Pharaoh, who in his leadership of the state, was both king and priest and god. And therefore, all honor and obedience had to be given to Pharaoh. That is statism in its ultimate form. [00:25:04]

And this kind of demonizing of the state always happens in places where the true and living God is neglected and rejected. And the great picture of that in Scripture is the "great prostitute" of Revelation 17, which is in some ways a picture of the Roman Empire, but is much more than that as a representation of a state that claims the worship of its citizens. Revelation 17 talks about the "great prostitute" as "sitting on the back of the scarlet beast." That is Satan. So, the state is serving Satan in that picture. [00:27:31]

Socialism is a word that has many different meanings. When I was growing up in America if you did not like your political opponent, you called him a socialist. And that meant the end of him. If you got the "socialist" label to stick in America, that was the political end of somebody. Socialism is a word that can mean many different things in different circumstances and to different people. R.C. Sproul would have said to us, you know, "Some words are 'eu-quivocal' and others are equivocal." Some words always have a single meaning. Other words have multiple meanings. [00:32:58]

As Christians, it seems to me, we ought to think this way. This world is important and we ought to seek to be as faithful, as justice promoting, as loving in this world as we can be, and we ought to use what influence we have, that our government would reflect real justice and real love. But while we believe that sincerely, while we should work for that earnestly, we have to even more fundamentally remind ourselves, as Hebrews 13 tells us, "We have here no continuing city." [00:38:39]