Sermon: The Government and You, Pt 2

The Government and You, Pt. 2
Romans 13:1-7
February 28, 2021

For those of you who have been to my office, you might have noticed a bank of file cabinets outside my office.  Those are my resource files — Bible books and topics.  And I also have a large digital file on my computer.  One of the files that seems to be growing the fastest recently is my “Politics and Faith” file.  On Friday afternoon I found 134 articles in that digital file alone (I have no idea how many are in the cabinets).

It actually was just a little discouraging to go back and read through some of the article titles:

• “Father Gagged, Found Guilty of ‘Family Violence’ For Calling His Trans Daughter A ‘She’”
• “Canadian Court Rules Parents Can’t Stop 14-Year-Old from Taking Trans Hormones”
• “A Pastoral Perspective on Illegal Immigration”
• “Can the Government Do That?” — my own post from a few years ago about the Houston Mayor who subpoenaed the sermons on homosexuality by several Houston pastors
• “A Letter to the Premiers of the Provinces and Territories of Canada” — a petition against COVID restrictions for churches in Canada — which led to…
• “Master’s Seminary Pastor Jailed” — the story of Edmonton pastor James Coates
• And from this week, “Christ Followers Beware: R. 5, the Equality Act and Religious Freedom”

And I haven’t mentioned anything about abortion issues, homosexual marriage, doctor-assisted suicide, eugenics and bioethical issues in the courts, court cases against florists and bakers by homosexuals who alleged discrimination, or a host of other topics about the intersection of government, people, and Christ.

Does the Bible speak to what we should think about government?  It does.  It is explicit about what we should expect from our leaders.  Romans 13:1-7 provides several key principles for governments:

Every government is established by God to carry out His purposes.

In these verses, Paul affirms four realities about the position and role of government and leaders:

1. All Government is God’s Government (vv. 1, 4)
2. What Governments are to Do (vv. 3-6)
3. What Governmental Leaders are to Be
4. What the Government Cannot Do

Today’s question is:  What is the government’s role and what does God expect of government and its leaders?

Download the rest of this sermon on Romans 13:1-7.

The audio will be posted on the GBC website by tomorrow.