Please turn in your Bibles this morning to Acts chapter 5 as we look at our responsibility to God and Country. Now that may shock some of you because you see those two as diametrically opposed ideas and yet, as you look at the Scriptures, you will see they are not.  Now as you are turning there, listen to George Washington’s prayer for this nation:

            Some years ago there was placed upon the altar of the Washington Memorial Chapel at Valley Forge an exquisitely illuminated copy of Washington’s prayer for the nation.

            “Almighty God: We make our earnest prayer that Thou wilt keep the United States in Thy holy protection; that Thou wilt incline the heads of the citizens to cultivate a spirit of sub-ordination and obedience to government, and entertain a brother-affection and love for one another and for their fellow-citizens of the United States at large.

            And finally that Thou wilt most graciously be pleased to dispose us all to do justice, to love mercy, and to demean ourselves with that charity, humility, and pacific temper of mind which were the characteristics of the Divine Author of our blessed religion and with a humble imitation of whose example in these things we can ever hope to be a happy nation.

            Grant our supplication, we beseech Thee, through Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen.”

                                                                        - Encyclopedia of 7700 Illustrations, 7000

            What a great prayer by a great President, but, as we are going to see, even when things are not great, we are to be obedient to our civil government with one exception, and we will see that as we move on this morning.

            To kind of set the stage for what we will be reading this morning, the apostles are speaking forth the Good News of Jesus Christ in the area of Solomon’s Porch on the temple mount. And God was moving, lives were touched, lives were transformed by the power of God and when God begins to move, the enemy gets nervous and they step in to try to stop it. The Jewish sect of the Sadducees have these apostles arrested and placed in prison for their witnessing of Jesus and since it was late in the day, they were going to interrogate them the next day regarding what they were doing.

            While they were in prison an angel of the Lord came and freed them and then told them to go back to the temple and share with the people all the words of life, of Jesus, which they did.  John tells us in I John 5:20, “And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us an understanding, that we may know Him who is true; and we are in Him who is true, in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life.”  And Jesus said in John 10:28-30, “And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand.  My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father's hand.  I and My Father are one.”  They spoke of more than Jesus just giving them life, existence, but abundant life, joyful life, life everlasting that can begin right here and now if you accept Jesus as Lord and Savior. That is what they spoke, not empty words, but life-changing words that are found in Jesus!

            Now it is the next day and they send the officers to the prison to go and bring these men to them so they can interrogate them, find out what they were doing and why they were doing it, that is where we will pick-up our study this morning, in Acts chapter 5 beginning in verse 22 as these officers arrive on the scene and have a problem, and lets begin reading and see what took place.

            As these officers arrive on the scene, they found the prison doors locked; they found the guards on duty, but no prisoners – OOPS!  I’m sure they didn’t want to, but they had to go back and tell the Jewish religious leaders what they found, an empty jail cell!  The religious leaders were concerned about this because they are trying to destroy this work and now this, which will only help it to grow. And as they are trying to figure out what to do, someone says that the boys, the apostles are down by the temple and they are teaching the people about Jesus, the thing they were arrested for in the first place!

            So the officers go back to the temple and re-arrest the apostles and the apostles freely went with them.  They could have worked-up the crowd and caused a riot as these officers tried to arrest the apostles, but they didn’t.  They could have protested for being arrested unfairly, but they didn’t.  They obeyed the rules, they did not fight against this religious authority until they were told not to speak of “this Man” anymore, the religious leaders couldn’t even say the name of Jesus, so they used the phrase “this Man.”  Then, in Acts 5:29 we are told their response to not speaking of Jesus, “. . . ‘We ought to obey God rather than men.’” 

            Folk’s that is the only time we can go against our government, the civil authority, when they tell us to do something that is in direct opposition to God.  For instance, if the government told a woman that she had to have an abortion, she had no choice in the matter, you obey God and not man, that seems obvious.  If the government tells you that you can no longer speak of Jesus, you need to obey God rather than man.  I think these are very obvious, that you can easily see that they are wrong and go against what God desires.

            But, what I see happening today is not what God says, we do.  I see people bad mouthing the President, trash-talking about our leaders, trying to avoid or short-change the government in paying their taxes, and I can see non-Christians doing this, but what really troubles me is I also see Christians doing this!  That my friends, should not be!

            Now I know that this may be hard for some of you to swallow because you use Christian jargon to justify your actions, your behavior, and that is wrong. And believe me, I have had to do a heart check on this one, especially when our previous President, Bill Clinton was in office and his Vice-President Al Gore.  I didn’t agree with what they were doing, their actions, their behavior, and that is okay, but then to speak against them and the position they held, that is where I pushed it too far, and believe me, in my self-righteous position, I thought I had every right to say the things that I said, but I didn’t!  Thus, I think this is an important issue for us to look at, one I don’t believe we have examined in-depth yet, and we, of course, will look at this issue according to what God’s Word has to say, not my feelings, which are usually wrong!

            First of all let’s look at our submission to our civil government in a day when Christians struggle with submitting to anyone, especially the government. In I Peter 2:13-17 we are told, “Therefore submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake, whether to the king as supreme, or to governors, as to those who are sent by him for the punishment of evildoers and for the praise of those who do good.  For this is the will of God, that by doing good you may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men -- as free, yet not using liberty as a cloak for vice, but as Bondservants of God.  Honor all people. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the king.” 

            Notice that Peter links our obedience to the ordinances of men, to civil government, as honoring to the Lord.  Thus, our disobedience to the ordinances of men, to civil government is dishonoring to the Lord. We do have freedom in Christ but we are also subject to civil government and as Christians we should set the example for others to follow!

            Can you imagine being arrested for not paying taxes, and you go before the judge and he asks you how you plead and you tell him, “Sir, I am a Christian, and this government is evil and thus, I do not follow the rules of this government, I won’t support it with my tax money, I am to obey God rather than man!”  Sounds good, but it is wrong and the judge will tell you, “Son, even though you haven’t paid your taxes, the state is going to put you up, all expense paid, at Club Prison where you will have time to think about your actions.  You may not think you should pay taxes, but the state does!”  Besides being a bad witness, you are to support the government, and we will deal more with this issue of taxes as we move on, because it seems to be a hot issue.

            Also, in a parallel passage you might say, Paul in Romans 13:1-7 gives to us the clearest teaching regarding the Christian responsibility to civil authority.  Paul tells us, “Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God.  Therefore whoever resists the authority resists the ordinance of God, and those who resist will bring judgment on themselves.  For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to evil. Do you want to be unafraid of the authority? Do what is good, and you will have praise from the same.  For he is God's minister to you for good. But if you do evil, be afraid; for he does not bear the sword in vain; for he is God's minister, an avenger to execute wrath on him who practices evil.  Therefore you must be subject, not only because of wrath but also for conscience' sake.  For because of this you also pay taxes, for they are God's ministers attending continually to this very thing.  Render therefore to all their due: taxes to whom taxes are due, customs to whom customs, fear to whom fear, honor to whom honor.” 

            Today, many churches have become social institutions, standing against all kinds of injustices with all kinds of protests and boycotts but I don’t think that is what we were called to be, to do. Now some would argue that our world is more evil than it was during Jesus’ day, during Paul’s day, I even had someone argue this with me regarding that and the idea was we have the right to revolt because of that, but I totally disagree, Rome was very evil.

            Sexual promiscuity, unwanted children born and left, tyrants, dictators, homosexuality, pornography, and slavery that was so bad that it was estimated that there were three slaves for every free person in the Roman Empire!  It was horrible, it was not better nor worse than today, it was evil and yet, we never see our Lord or any of the apostles call for us to revolt against Rome, bring about a rebellion through civil disobedience, protests, have sit-ins and boycott this or that.  What are we called to do?  Preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ and live under the ordinances of the civil government!  We see no effort to eliminate social or political injustice!  Why?  Because as peoples hearts are changed, as they surrender their lives to Jesus, these things will be in order!

            Robert D. Culver said this in his book, Toward a Biblical View of Civil Government:

            Churchmen whose Christian activism has taken mainly to placarding, marching, protesting, and shouting might well observe the author of these verses [Rom 13:1-7] and then they might observe him first at prayer, then in counsel with his friends, and, after that, preaching in the homes and marketplaces.  When Paul came to be heard by the mighty, it was to defend his action as a preacher (albeit in the streets) of [the] way to heaven.

                        - Robert D. Culver, Toward a Biblical View of Civil government, p. 262 

            Thus, if that is what our Lord and the apostles taught, then that is what we are to do, even in the face of persecution. That does not mean we can’t speak against sin, against injustice, against immorality and ungodliness, but we must also do it within the framework of Civil Law.

            British theologian Robert L. Ottley delivered this message back in 1898 at Oxford University, and I think it is just as important for us to hear today.  He said:

            The Old Testament may be studied . . . as an instructor in social righteousness.  It exhibits the moral government of God as attested in his dealings with nations rather than with individuals; and it was their consciousness of the action and presence of God in history that made the prophets preachers, not merely to their countrymen, but to the world at large. . . . There is indeed significance in the fact that in spite of their ardent zeal for social reform they did not as a rule take part in political life or demand political reforms. They desired . . . not better institutions but better men.

            - Aspects of the Old Testament, The Bampton Lectures, 1897-1898, pp. 430-431

            In saying that, lets look back at Romans 13:1 which says, “Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. . .”  That phrase “be subject to” in the Greek is HUPOTASSO and it is a military term meaning a soldier who is ranked under and subject to a commanding or superior officer. This verb is in the passive imperative meaning it is a command and we as Christians are to willing submit ourselves to the governing authorities.  If you are not doing that, then you are going against what God has said here.

            As Paul continued on here in Romans chapter 13 he makes a very interesting point, that God appoints people into positions as He desires, He allows those things to take place.  Now the argument is, “How can I be subject to a leader that I don’t respect, that is evil?” It is a matter of your heart!  Look at Daniel, taken captive to Babylon as a teenager, being placed in a very wicked and immoral society, and their king, Nebuchadnezzar was worse than Saddam Hussein or Osama Bin Laden! 

            And yet, Daniel served the king and when the king spent several seasons in an insane state, eating grass like a wild animal because he refused to surrender to God and pride brought him down, I believe Daniel was the one that cared for him. Now if that happened to me, I would have taken care of this guy all right, I would have put a yoke around this animals head and made him plow the fields and work him to death!  But not Daniel, he loved him with God’s love and after he was restored to the kingdom, when his sanity returned, he gave his life to the Lord!  You see, love brought those walls down not protests.  That doesn’t mean wars are not necessary at times, but look at our government, and it is far better than any I know of, but not perfect, but it is good!

            In Daniel chapter 3 Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon makes a decree that all are to bow before this image that he set-up and worship it. Three of Daniel’s friends who were taken into captivity with Daniel; Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego could not bow before this image, only before the true and living God.  But what I want you to notice is they did not protest or act obnoxious, they just did not bow before this image and that was that!  They did not try to draw attention to themselves but by their actions, they were thrown into the furnace to be killed, and God spared them.

            Also, as the Babylonian’s were captured by the Medes and the Persians, a decree was signed by Darius that no one was to worship or petition any god or man for thirty days except to the king. Daniel, of course could not do this.  And again, he was not obnoxious about his stance. He did not make a spectacle of himself. He did not call CNN to tell them what he was doing. Daniel just prayed three times a day as he always did and because of that he was thrown into a den of lions and God spared him.

            What I want you to notice is we are not to try to draw attention to our actions, but just live for Jesus, do the things He tells us to do, and trust in Him for whatever happens.  Yes, there are many ungodly leaders out there, but that has not changed over the years and it will continue on, the question is, how many of you have been praying for the salvation of men like Saddam Hussein or Osama Bin Laden?  Why not?  We should pray for them. We should pray that they would get saved, can you imagine if they did what would happen!

            When we come against our government we are in rebellion against God.  You don’t have to agree with everything the civil government does, but you do need to support them, do what is right. Also, civil authority is there to restrain evil, to keep order, without it there would be anarchy as we saw in Iraq when their government fell!

            Paul even speaks of paying taxes, that we should pay what we owe, not to cheat the government. Jesus, in Matthew chapter 22 dealt with this issue of paying taxes. We read in Matthew 22:15-22, “Then the Pharisees went and plotted how they might entangle Him in His talk.  And they sent to Him their disciples with the Herodians, saying, ‘Teacher, we know that You are true, and teach the way of God in truth; nor do You care about anyone, for You do not regard the person of men.  Tell us, therefore, what do You think? Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not?’  But Jesus perceived their wickedness, and said, ‘Why do you test Me, you hypocrites?  Show Me the tax money.’  So they brought Him a denarius.  And He said to them, ‘Whose image and inscription is this?’  They said to Him, ‘Caesar's.’  And He said to them, ‘Render therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's.’  When they had heard these words, they marveled, and left Him and went their way.” 

            The Pharisees thought they caught Jesus in a no win question. If he said we should pay taxes to Caesar, then the Jews would hate Him for they hated anything to do with Rome. If He said we should not pay taxes to Caesar, then Rome would have Him arrested as an insurrectionist.  But Jesus speaks with words of wisdom and says, “Render therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's.”  Matthew 27:21.  The money goes to Caesar; it is needed to maintain the roads, the lifestyle they had and-so-on.  But what are the things of God that we are to give to God?  Our LIVES!

            I do realize this is not an easy issue for some, as some would argue, “Paying that tax money goes to support all kinds of ungodly things, like abortion, perverse artwork, and other ungodly things, so thus, I shouldn’t pay any taxes!”  That is wrong!  Do you think it was any better during Jesus day?  Of course not!

            In regards to this issue, Justin Martyr, the second-century theologian and church Father, wrote to the Roman emperor Antoninus Pius these words:

            Everywhere we [Christians], more readily than all men, endeavour to pay to those appointed by you the taxes both ordinary and extraordinary, as we have been taught by [Jesus]. . . . Whence to God alone we render worship, but in other things we gladly serve you, acknowledging you as kings and rulers of men, and praying that with your kingly power you be found to possess also sound judgment.

- “The First Apology of Justin,” chapter 27 in The Ante-Nicene Fathers, Vol. 1, p. 168

            What a great way to look at this and it truly is the correct perspective of things.   Turn with me to I Timothy 2:1-3 as Paul tells us, “Therefore I exhort first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men, for kings and all who are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence.  For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior.” 

            Notice that we are to be praying for – ALL MEN!  That is kings, those in authority over us, except those liberal, left-wing fanatics, right?  WRONG!  We are to pray for all who are in authority over us and not for their death, but their salvation!  That they would do what is right, what is good, this is what God desires for us to do and it is not based on how they might respond to what we do, we need to love them, pray for them, even though we might not agree with them.

            Now, I am sorry to say, there were many times I did not pray for President Bill Clinton because I didn’t like the things he did. That was wrong, and even though I don’t agree and didn’t agree with what he did, his lifestyle, his policies, I should have been praying for him instead of mocking him and putting him down, that was wrong!  I have an easier time praying for President Bush, a believer, but I should also be praying for those that don’t know the Lord, and even though they might not agree with my views on morality, God desires for me to pray for them!

            I know this is a difficult subject and you may still have some doubt about this, you still need to digest all this information, but I would encourage you to search the Scriptures for what they have to say instead of going by your own feelings, which can be totally wrong.  We need to learn what it means to be in submission to civil authority.

            In his Epistle or letter to Diognetus, an anonymous second-century Christian summed up Romans 13:1-7 beautifully for us, so listen carefully to what he had to say for I believe we can learn what it means to submit to civil authority, we need to, God desires it of us.  He said the following: 

            Christians are distinguished from other men neither by country, nor language, nor the customs which they observe. For they neither inhabit cities of their own, nor employ a peculiar form of speech, nor lead a life which is marked out by any singularity. The course conduct which they follow has not been devised by any speculation or deliberation of inquisitive men; nor do they, like some, proclaim themselves the advocates of any merely human doctrines. But, inhabiting Greek as well as barbarian cities, according as the lot of each of them had determined, and following the customs of the natives in respect to clothing, food, and the rest of their ordinary conduct, they display to us their wonderful and confessedly striking method of life. They dwell in their own countries, but simply as sojourners. As citizens, they share in all things with others, and yet endure all things as if foreigners. Every foreign land is to them as their native country, and every land of their birth as a land of strangers.  They marry, as do all [others]; they beget children; but they do not destroy their offspring. They have a common table, but not a common bed. They are in the flesh, but they do not live after the flesh.  They pass their days on earth, but they are citizens of heaven. They obey the prescribed laws, and at the same time surpass the laws by their lives.  They love all men, and are persecuted by all. They are unknown and condemned; they are put to death, and restored to life. They are poor, yet make many rich; they are in lack of all things, and yet abound in all; they are dishonoured, and yet in their very dishonour are glorified. They are evil spoken of, and yet are justified; they are reviled, and bless; they are insulted, and repay the insult with honour; they do good, yet are punished as evil-doers. When punished, they rejoice as if quickened into life; they are assailed by the Jews as foreigners, and are persecuted by the Greeks; yet those who hate them are unable to assign any reason for their hatred.

                                                                                    - The Ante-Nicene Fathers, pp. 26-27

            That is what we are about.  Now as I begin to rap this up this morning, let’s re-read Acts 5:32 once again, “And we are His witnesses to these things, and so also is the Holy Spirit whom God has given to those who obey Him.”  Two important points are brought out here that I want you to see. First, the indwelling of the Holy Spirit is a requirement for salvation, as Paul tells us in Romans 8:9, “But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His.”  And secondly, that obedience is linked to our salvation, as Hebrews 5:9 says, “And having been perfected, He became the author of eternal salvation to all who obey Him.”

            On the other hand, for those who refuse to surrender to Him, to those who are disobedient to Him, Jesus says in Matthew 7:21-23, “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven.  Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’  And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’”  

            That is why I think it is an important subject for us to understand and apply to our lives if we want to walk in victory, in obedience to the Lord.  Our nation may not be perfect, and it isn’t, but it is the one that God has given us and we need to thank Him for the freedoms we do have, the things we can do and say freely.  Thus, let’s not put it down but build it up in the things of God and this is done one heart at a time. Yes, when the government tells you to do something that is morally wrong, it goes against what God has said, then you must obey God rather than man, but that is far too often used as an excuse for not obeying the civil government, and it should not be.  We are to try and live peaceably with men and submit ourselves to the civil government that is over us.

            Let me close this morning with this story, it goes like this:

            Edith Cavell, the British nurse killed by Germans in World War I, was captured. Just before the bandage was placed over her eyes for the firing squad, she said: “I am glad to die for my country.  But I realize that patriotism is not enough.” Then she gave a clear and definite testimony to her personal faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, and assurance of salvation. She died under the firing squad in 1915.  

                                                                        - Encyclopedia of 7700 Illustrations, 654

            You see, for God and for country, it is what God wants us to do and as we live this way, may people see the love and obedience we have to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, pointing them to His love and forgiveness!  As Paul said in Romans 12:21, “Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.”