Honor The King
By Wendell Hutchins
[all Bible quotes NASB]
We
are citizens of a much greater kingdom than any found on earth. My faith is not
in politics or earthly leaders. My responsibility as a Christian is to serve my
King, the Lord Jesus Christ, by helping others come to know Christ. God will
judge leaders and nations, He will raise them up and He will bring them down. I
must therefore spend my energies helping people find and enter the kingdom of
heaven and less energy should be devoted worrying about the “kingdom” of the
USA. Christ is the answer to the ills of the world, not congress, nor the
president, the Supreme Court, or the United Nations.
With this
in mind, I wish to share with you a personal decision and a confession of sin,
in that I have come to repentance about making fun of and mocking our political
leaders. I have been the world's worst, and been pretty good at being funny if
I say so myself; but I must stop. This is not to say I am now disinterested in
politics; but there is a Biblical right way and wrong way to be a Christian and
exercise political opinion and privileges, and I have not done well.
I submit
some scriptures that have influenced my decision; 1 Timothy 2:1-4 "I urge
that entreaties and prayers, petitions and thanksgivings, be made on behalf of
all men, for kings and all who are in authority, so that we may lead a
tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and dignity. This is good and
acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all men to be
saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth." I have prayed for my
leaders, but I have disparaged them as well.
1 Peter
2:13-18 "Submit yourselves for the Lord's sake to every
human institution, whether to a king as the one in authority, or to
governors as sent by him for the punishment of evildoers and the praise of
those who do right. For such is the will of God that by doing right
you may silence the ignorance of foolish men. Act as free men, and do
not use your freedom as a covering for evil, but use it as bondslaves of
God. Honor all people, love the brotherhood, fear God, honor the king. Servants, be
submissive to your masters with all respect, not only to those who are good and
gentle, but also to those who are unreasonable." I do not have the
right to choose which ones I will honor and which ones I will despise; I
need to pray for them as long as God suffers them to be in power and honor them
for that same duration, whether I like them or not, whether I agree with their
politics or not. And the tone of verse 17 is clearly imperative, no choice or
vacillation allowed; the statement “honor the king” is just as imperatively and
clearly stated as is “love the brotherhood” and “fear God.” To “fear God” but
to not “honor the king” is therefore just as wrong as to “honor the king” and
yet to not “fear God.”
And yes,
verse 18 may have nothing to do with 13-17, but I include it because if a slave
is commanded to submit to a master he is tied to legally or economically
or however, I am convinced personally that, as one in a place of submission to
the elected and appointed leaders of the nation, I am expected to do the same
thing. (Remember that in the Roman system slave owners had the power of life and
death over slaves! Please consult the following website for more details; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slavery_in_antiquity )
Romans 13:1-2 says,
“Every person is to be in subjection to the governing authorities. For there is
no authority except from God, and those which exist are established by God.
Therefore whoever resists authority has opposed the ordinance of God; and they
who have opposed will receive condemnation upon themselves.” Those in authority
will be judged by God for their use or abuse of their God-granted authority;
those under authority will be judged by their use or abuse of their role of
submission to those authorities.
A
careful study of history during the time all these passages were written will
reveal that their political leaders were liars, thieves, murderers, adulterers,
child molesters, pagan hedonists, etc. (We find this in secular history,
because the inspired Bible writers say little or nothing about them, as if the
Holy Spirit takes the evil conduct of unbelieving political leaders so much for
granted that it is not worth addressing.) This was true also when Jesus walked
the earth; but we don't find Jesus leading political rebellions or organizing
political rallies or marches against these evil leaders; in fact, right up
until Jesus was taken from sight his disciples kept wondering when He was going
to do such things. The last words spoken to Jesus by these disciples are found
in Acts 1:6; "Lord, is it at this time You are restoring the kingdom to
Israel?" Many of their mistakes came from this fundamental
misunderstanding. We make the same mistake when we combine religious zeal with
political zeal, and miss what Jesus has in mind for us to be doing.
Jesus was
falsely accused, but even the corrupt pagan judge Pontius Pilate could see from
His record that He was innocent, as you can read in the gospels. It was the
same with Paul when he was on trial; but let us follow the chain of events
concerning Paul. In Acts 23:1-5 we read, “Paul, looking intently at the
Council, said, "Brethren, I have lived my life with a perfectly good
conscience before God up to this day." The high priest Ananias commanded
those standing beside him to strike him on the mouth. Then Paul said to him,
"God is going to strike you, you whitewashed wall! Do you sit to try me
according to the Law, and in violation of the Law order me to be struck?"
But the bystanders said, "Do you revile God's high priest?" And Paul
said, "I was not aware, brethren, that he was high priest; for it is
written, 'YOU SHALL NOT SPEAK EVIL OF A RULER OF YOUR PEOPLE.'" Paul
misspoke, but correctly admitted his error when he realized it. The scripture
Paul refers to is Exodus 22:28; “You shall not curse God, nor curse a ruler of
your people.” Again, we see the idea of honoring God and human leadership
connected, as in 1 Peter 2:17.
When Paul spoke before King Agrippa, he
conducted himself properly; Acts 26:1-3 “Agrippa said to Paul, "You are
permitted to speak for yourself." Then Paul stretched out his hand and
proceeded to make his defense: “In regard to all the things of which I am
accused by the Jews, I consider myself fortunate, King Agrippa, that I am about
to make my defense before you today; especially because you are an expert in
all customs and questions among the Jews; therefore I beg you to listen to me
patiently.” In vs. 24-26 we see Paul react properly and respectfully when
interrupted by a Roman unbeliever; “While Paul was saying this in his defense,
Festus said in a loud voice, "Paul, you are out of your mind! Your great
learning is driving you mad." But Paul said, "I am not out of my
mind, most excellent Festus, but I utter words of sober truth. For the king
knows about these matters, and I speak to him also with confidence, since I am
persuaded that none of these things escape his notice; for this has not been
done in a corner.”
As we study this trial, consider this, if you are already a
Christian; we dare not let an idle remark about a political leader close the
ears of someone who needs to hear the gospel! Often such a person needs little
excuse to avoid listening, and you know how sensitive people can be about
politics as well as religion! Paul knew this as well; Acts 26:27-29 “King Agrippa, do you believe the Prophets? I know that you
do." Agrippa replied to Paul, "In a short time you will persuade me
to become a Christian." And Paul said, "I would wish to God, that
whether in a short or long time, not only you, but also all who hear me this
day, might become such as I am, except for these chains." Agrippa was
probably being sarcastic, but Paul’s response was kind, sincere, and in a tone
of respect that had the best chance to keep ears open to whatever further
gospel message he might be able to speak to those present.
As with Jesus, these
unbelieving leaders saw Paul was innocent of all charges; Acts 26:30-32 “The
king stood up and the governor and Bernice, and those who were sitting with
them, and when they had gone aside, they began talking to one another, saying,
"This man is not doing anything worthy of death or imprisonment." And
Agrippa said to Festus, "This man might have been set free if he had not
appealed to Caesar."
Hebrews
13:17 is about elders in the Lord’s church, but I include it for a reason;
"Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they keep watch over your souls
as those who will give an account." To sum this verse up in Texan; everything
I read in scripture about my relationship to elders boils down to “SUBMIT OR
GIT;” if I cannot in good conscience submit to those who shepherd a
congregation of the Lord's body, because of Scriptural matters (not petty
personal opinions) and after much prayer, I need to shake the dust off my feet
and move on.
I am
convinced the same principle applies politically; “SUBMIT OR GIT.” Therefore, I
either need to submit to, honor, and pray for my leaders (whether it's easy or
not) or, if I cannot in good conscience submit to the leaders of my nation, I
must consider (in my case) whether New Zealand or some other English-speaking
country will be a more suitable environment for me to obey the scriptures.
If
we will follow the scriptures in dealing with our leaders, I believe God will
bless our efforts. If we rely more on God than on our government our faith will
be in the right power, the Almighty one.
One
final thought to close; and friend, if you are a Christian and this thought
convicts you let it; if we as
Christians had as much passion about teaching "Christ and Him crucified"
as we do about politics, we could make a much greater, much more important, and
much more lasting difference in our society. What is your passion and priority?