10:00am 05/31/2026 |Government & God

Devotional

Day 1: When Caesar Demands Your Taxes, Give God Your Heart

The Roman Christians faced a government that demanded worship of Caesar, yet Paul urged submission not to empower tyranny but to free believers to live as citizens of heaven. Government, while flawed, exists under God’s ultimate authority. Paying taxes and honoring leaders becomes an act of trust in God’s sovereignty, not endorsement of earthly systems. This frees believers to pour their deepest allegiance into loving others radically, as Jesus did. The real battle isn’t against political powers but against the darkness in human hearts. [42:59]

“Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” And they marveled at him. (Mark 12:17, ESV)

Reflection: Where have you been tempted to resent or idolize earthly systems instead of investing your deepest passion in loving others? Name one practical way to shift your focus this week.

Day 2: Your Citizenship Is Written in Blood, Not Ballots

Paul wrote to believers under Nero’s regime, where claiming “Jesus is Lord” meant death. Yet he called them to submit, not because Rome was righteous, but because their true identity transcended empires. Christians thrive not by overthrowing governments but by living as ambassadors of a kingdom that outlasts every nation. The blood of martyrs, not political victories, built the church. Our hope lies in Christ’s return, not election cycles. [38:25]

But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. (Philippians 3:20, ESV)

Reflection: When have you felt disillusioned by earthly power structures? How might embracing your heavenly citizenship change your engagement with politics today?

Day 3: Love Your Neighbor Who Wants You Dead

Roman Christians lived alongside neighbors who reported them to authorities. Yet Paul insisted: “Love does no wrong.” This love wasn’t sentiment but action—feeding enemies, burying pagans’ dead, and refusing retaliation. Their countercultural compassion so transformed society that emperors complained Christians were “winning” through kindness. Love remains the church’s most disruptive weapon. [46:08]

“But a Samaritan, as he journeyed, came to where he was, and when he saw him, he had compassion. He went to him and bound up his wounds… Which of these three, do you think, proved to be a neighbor?” (Luke 10:33–34,36, ESV)

Reflection: Who feels like your ideological “Samaritan” right now? What tangible act of love could destabilize that division?

Day 4: The Night Is Ending—Put Down Your Phone

Paul’s urgency—“the day is near”—contrasts with modern distraction. Early Christians faced lions yet focused on eternal priorities. Today, screens numb us to both suffering and mission. Waking from sleep means trading trivial pursuits for sacrificial love. Every notification competes with the Spirit’s whisper: “Someone’s soul hangs in the balance.” [48:23]

Besides this 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. (Romans 13:11, ESV)

Reflection: What distraction most often replaces your spiritual urgency? What one practice could help you “wake up” to eternal realities this week?

Day 5: If Your Church Vanished, Would the City Mourn?

Emperor Julian lamented that Christians cared for pagans better than pagans did. Their hospitals, orphanages, and generosity made Jesus undeniable. Being “salt” isn’t about moral campaigns but preserving goodness through radical service. When the church does what only the church can do—love recklessly—the world notices. [59:32]

Let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven. (Matthew 5:16, ESV)

Reflection: What broken place in your community needs the church’s distinct light? How can you personally help embody Jesus’ presence there?

Sermon Summary

Paul anchors Romans 13 in context, not in 1776 or a two party system, but in the roar of Rome where Caesar claimed divinity and Christians faced martyrdom. The text calls the church to submit to governing authorities because God institutes authority, which presses the unsettling question of allegiance under hostile rule. The point is not blind allegiance or sinful cynicism. God is supreme, not Rome, not America. Submission becomes a way to display a different kingdom because God runs the long game, not the short campaign.

The coin image clarifies the posture. When Jesus is asked about taxes, he says, render to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s. Coins bear Caesar’s image. People bear God’s. Taxes, tolls, respect, and honor belong where they belong. Bodies, souls, and ultimate allegiance belong to the Lord. So the government becomes another environment where the church lives as citizens of heaven and ambassadors of reconciliation, not the mechanism to make the world comfortable for Christians or to outsource the church’s calling.

Paul then brings the true law forward. Love your neighbor as yourself sums up the commandments. There is no qualifier on neighbor. In Rome, neighbor included pagan idolaters, the immoral, and the crowd that cheered the lions. The measure is not what a person has avoided doing, but whom a person has actually loved. Jesus’ Good Samaritan story stands as the template. That love is neither thin nor easy. It is the hard obedience that refuses to sort the lovable from the unlovable.

Time presses the point. The night is nearly over. Wake up from sleep. Put on the armor of light. Refuse carousing, impurity, jealousy, and petty fights. Do not plan for the flesh. The ordinary path of God’s long game looks like Jeremiah’s exile playbook: build houses, plant gardens, multiply, seek the city’s welfare, and pray for rulers. History backs it. Rome tried to crush the church, yet the faith spread through quiet, stubborn mercy. Even Julian admitted that Christians’ care for strangers, the poor, and the dead exposed the empire’s lack. Jesus named it already. Salt and light. A city on a hill.

So the church prays for those in authority and gets to work. Act justly. Love mercy. Walk humbly. The Lord’s Table keeps the center steady. Shame, hustle, and self rescue burn out fast. Christ has given everything needed for life and godliness. His body and blood secure a people who can live awake, salty, and bright, right where God has set them.

Key Takeaways

1. God rules over all governments [38:07] God’s sovereignty sits above every regime, even Rome at its cruelest. Paul’s call to submit in that setting reveals a long view, not naïveté. Panic and pride both shrink under the reminder that God sets up and brings down. Trust in his rule steadies obedience when circumstances do not. [38:07]
2. Give Caesar coins, give God selves [42:59] The coin bears Caesar’s image, but people bear God’s. Taxes, tolls, respect, and honor have their rightful lanes, yet the self belongs to the Lord. Ultimate allegiance is not negotiable, and that allegiance is lived out through everyday faithfulness under any government. [42:59]
3. Love fulfills the law without qualifiers [46:08] Neighbor love does not check party lines or moral resumes. The Good Samaritan frame overturns loopholes that ask, who must be loved. The truer question is, who has been loved like self. The law’s heart is not avoidance of wrong but active, costly care. [46:08]
4. Wake up to urgent embodied witness [48:04] The night is nearly over, so sleepy discipleship will not do. Busyness is not neutral; it numbs love and delays obedience. The exile pattern shows how light spreads through planted lives, not power grabs. Salt and light make Christ visible through tangible mercy in ordinary places. [48:04]

Youtube Chapters

[00:00] - Welcome
[24:05] - Why Romans 13 feels tricky
[25:28] - Read with context, not modern lens
[28:59] - Romans 13 read aloud
[31:26] - Authority from God in hostile Rome
[32:49] - Jesus rejects overthrow by force
[38:07] - God is supreme, not America
[40:44] - Be law-abiding for God’s glory
[42:59] - Render to Caesar, give God yourself
[43:52] - Love your neighbor fulfills the law
[48:04] - Wake up and put on light
[52:26] - Exile playbook: seek the city’s good
[55:44] - Julian’s letter and resilient witness
[61:09] - Pray for leaders, then get to work
[64:43] - Communion resets by grace

Bible Study Guide

Bible Reading
Romans 13:1-14 (ESV)
Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment. For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive his approval, for he is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God’s wrath on the wrongdoer. Therefore one must be in subjection, not only to avoid God’s wrath but also for the sake of conscience. For because of this you also pay taxes, for the authorities are ministers of God, attending to this very thing. Pay to all what is owed to them: taxes to whom taxes are owed, revenue to whom revenue is owed, respect to whom respect is owed, honor to whom honor is owed. Owe no one anything, except to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. For the commandments, “You shall not commit adultery, You shall not murder, You shall not steal, You shall not covet,” and any other commandment, are summed up in this word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law. Besides this 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. The night is far gone; the day is at hand. So then let us cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light. Let us walk properly as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and sensuality, not in quarreling and jealousy. But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.

Observation questions

According to Romans 13:7, what four things are believers instructed to “pay” or give to governing authorities?
How does Paul summarize the purpose of the commandments in Romans 13:8-10?
In the sermon, what historical example was given to illustrate how early Christians lived under hostile Roman rule? [57:11]

Interpretation questions

Why might Paul emphasize submitting to authorities even in a context where those authorities persecuted Christians (Romans 13:1-2)? How does this challenge modern assumptions about government’s role?
The sermon states, “Love does no wrong to a neighbor” but adds that “neighbor” includes even those who oppose us. How does Jesus’ parable of the Good Samaritan redefine who qualifies as a “neighbor” in practice?
Paul urges believers to “wake from sleep” and “put on the armor of light” (Romans 13:11-12). What might “sleep” represent spiritually, and how does this urgency connect to living as “salt and light” in everyday life? [58:14]

Application questions

How do you personally navigate tensions between your ultimate allegiance to God and practical obedience to governing authorities (e.g., laws, taxes, civic duties)? What habits or attitudes might need adjustment?
The sermon asks, “If you moved out of your neighborhood, would it make any difference?” [59:32] What specific, tangible ways could you intentionally love your literal neighbors (or coworkers/classmates) this week, especially those you find difficult to engage?
“Busyness is not neutral; it numbs love and delays obedience.” [49:00] Where does your schedule or routine currently hinder you from living with the urgency of Christ’s mission? What one practical step could you take to prioritize “armor of light” choices over “works of darkness”?
The sermon contrasts “blind allegiance” and “sinful cynicism” toward government. Which tendency do you lean toward, and how could Romans 13:1-7 reshape your posture toward civic engagement or cultural participation?
How might praying for leaders (1 Timothy 2:1-2) soften your heart toward those in authority, even if you disagree with their policies? Commit to praying daily for one leader this week—what specific attribute of God could you ask Him to reveal to them?

Sermon Clips

48s

“Does the Roman empire exist today? Not your question. Does the Roman empire exist today? No. Is Jesus alive today? there must be something beyond the immediate. Right? There must be some grander plan in play that God is orchestrating from the beginning of time to the end of time as we know it. When we begin to read this in that context, it starts to make a little more sense, doesn't it? Because God isn't playing some short term game Because to him, a thousand years are but a day and a day is but a thousand years.”

43s

“Now hearing that as a Roman citizen and thinking, if I walk out of this door and I tell somebody I'm a Christian, it probably means I'm dead. Like, that wasn't an easy sermon to swallow. But here's what Paul's reminding them. God is supreme, not Rome. And I absolutely I love I bleed red, white, and blue. I love it. I celebrate the fourth of July. I spend way too much money on fireworks, like, all of it. But God is supreme, not America. And I'm a Christian before I'm an American.”

50s

“So Jesus makes this brilliant statement. He looks at the coin, and he says, whose image is on it? Caesar's. Render to Caesar what is Caesar's and to God what is God's. What's God's? You are. In other words, what's money? Give to Caesar what Caesar wants. The true question is, you who are made in the image of God, you bear his image. Give to God what's God's. Paul is reminding them these things. These rules that the government has placed on you, do them because ultimately, when we get to verse eight, this is what really, really matters,”

45s

“but think about this. Context is king. Right? Love your neighbor. There's no qualifier. Like, who would the Romans' neighbor been? Well, the people that were trying to kill him, the people that were worshiping pagan gods, the people that were in Romans chapter one, the list that we wrote about, the the evil and the darkness and the depravity that was being practiced, loved those people? I mean, it harkens back to the question that Jesus was asked. What's the greatest commandment? Love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, body, soul. Second is like it. Love your neighbor as yourself. You answered well, Jesus. Wouldn't you like to be that guy?”

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10:00am 05/31/2026 |Government & God | Pastor Danny Lamonte