If He Had Not Risen
A Resurrection Sunday Message
1 Corinthians 15
Introduction:
Good morning and Happy Resurrection Sunday to you all! Today we celebrate the most important day of history, the day when the Lord Jesus Christ rose from the dead. It is a day that should be observed by all of us with great excitement and joy. In fact, I would like to encourage the entire congregation to consider making Easter a grand celebration. We celebrate Christmas with so much energy, but when it comes to Easter, we don't seem to really rejoice with the same energy. Both Christmas and Easter are important days of the Christian calendar. Christmas is the time we celebrate God coming in human flesh; Easter is the time we celebrate God the Son defeating death once and for all by rising from the dead. Both events have strong spiritual implications, thus, both should be equally celebrated with energy and passion.
This morning, as we look into the subject of Christ's resurrection, I would like for us to think of the resurrection of Jesus from a different standpoint so that we can better appreciate his rising from the dead. I would like for us to ask ourselves this question, “What if Jesus had not risen from the dead?” While the resurrection is a certainty, it is a truth, a fact, we sometimes take it for granted. That is why I would like to look at the subject matter from the viewpoint of what if it never happened at all? If you remember a few years back, during Christmas, I preached on a message entitled “If He Had Not Come” and I explored on what would happen if Jesus was never born. I based the title of that message from a story I read in the devotional booklet Our Daily Bread many years ago wherein everything would be so different if Jesus had not been born. Well, I would like to take us a step further and see how different our lives would be right now if the most important event in history never happened.
Today, we're going to look at a passage of Scripture that depicts for us what it would be like if Jesus never rose from the dead; however, this passage doesn't just depict for us what it would be like if Jesus never rose, but it also points us to the powerful and beautiful reality that Jesus is alive and a difference has been made in our lives.
Context:
1 Corinthians was written to the church in Corinth, a church filled with problems. Not only that, some members of the church were beginning to doubt the resurrection of the Lord Jesus and this was affecting their walk with God. This problem was so serious that the apostle Paul devoted an entire chapter just to answer their question and to help them see the truth of the resurrection and what it should mean for them. For Paul, the resurrection is important because the entire Gospel depends on the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. If you read verses 3 to 11 of 1 Corinthians 15, you will see Paul summarizing the Gospel into the following points:
Christ died for our sins
He was buried
He was raised on the third day
He was Seen by many (Peter, the Twelve, 500 brothers, James, Paul)
Paul gives special mention to the witnesses of the risen Christ because they testify to the truth of the resurrection. He wants the Corinthian church to know that, without a doubt, Jesus did rose from the dead, and there are people still alive during that time who can attest to this glorious event.
After stating these important truths, Paul then tells the Corinthians believers what would happen if Jesus never rose from the dead. Let's look closely at what Paul had to say to them and for us, too.
If Christ Had Not Risen . . . The Gospel Would Be An Empty Message (v. 14)
If the Lord Jesus had not risen from the dead, then the Gospel story would be nothing more than an empty message. First of all, if the Gospel story being proclaimed contained the resurrection account but Jesus never really rose from the dead, then it would be nothing more than a myth, a feel-good story made up by men, sort of like when people make up stories about superheroes. They sound good and desirable, but alas, they are nothing more than fiction, a lie made into an attractive story.
Some have gone along this line by trying to explain away the stories of the resurrection as being inventions of the Gospel writers and have come up with various theories about the supposed resurrection of Jesus Christ. They came up with theories like the “Swoon theory” wherein Jesus was not completely dead but was mistakenly pronounced as dead and placed in the tomb. There, he recovered and was able to escape, and later on, make appearances to his disciples, claiming to have risen from the dead. Other “theories” included the stealing of body by the disciples, the “hallucination theory” wherein all the disciples saw Jesus but he was simply a vision and not in real flesh.
Furthermore, if we were to filter the Gospel story and remove the resurrection account, then it becomes nothing more than the biographical account of a good moral teacher who was a role model for an exemplary life, but was powerless against his enemies. His death on the cross being nothing more than an injustice done against an innocent man; his life simply being an example for us to follow. A proponent of this line of thinking was Mahatma Gandhi who mainly viewed Jesus as the embodiment of the principle of nonviolence, which he would use in his fight against British rule over India. Gandhi never acknowledged that Jesus was the Son of God who rose from the dead, just a model he could emulate in his struggle to give independence to India.
If Jesus had not risen from the dead, then Christianity would be no different than all the other religions in the world. If you look at the different religions of the world, they all teach us to do good. Many of the world's religions are exemplified by well-meaning people such as Gautama Buddha or Lao Tzu (Taoism) or Mohammed (Islam). A third thing that characterizes the religions of the world other than Christianity is the absence of real spiritual power, namely the power to save people from sin and the power to live a holy life. If Jesus did not rise from the dead, then Christianity is just the same as all the other religions. It teaches us to do good, it would appear to be founded by someone who is well-meaning, and it would be powerless to change lives. If Jesus is not viewed as the founder of a religious movement, then he will be viewed as being a Jewish philosopher. Whether as founder of a religion or as a philosopher-teacher, if Jesus did not rise from the dead, then the entire Gospel message is a lie, a deception.
If Christ Had Not Risen . . . We Would Be Holding On to An Empty Faith (v. 14)
If Christ had not risen from the dead, what would happen is that we would be holding on to an empty faith or to a faith that is useless. This is in a way related to our first point. If we believe in Jesus Christ and the resurrection account but it never really happened, then we are holding on to a lie. We are living in the sphere of self-deception.
Quite frankly, many people do live in the sphere of self-deception. Author Geoffrey Wolff, when he still a teenager, was told by his father that they suddenly had money because he had inherited his father's estate. Geoffrey readily believed his father. It was only quite later that he learned that his father was actually a con artist who lived off wealthy women. Geoffrey Wolff related that when he first learned the truth, he was somewhat in denial, because he preferred the fabulous story about their inheriting great wealth as compared to the hard truth that his father was conning wealthy women. We likewise hold on to lies and at times we refuse to let go of these because we have placed our security on these lies. One of the most successful TV and movie franchise is the Star Trek series. I myself enjoyed watching the series when it was still being aired on TV and I have watched most of the Star Trek movies. What I don't understand though is why some people go to the extent of dressing up like Captain James T. Kirk or Mr. Spock, and why some people even learned a fictional language called the Klingon language, the language of the Planet Klingon. Maybe it is because some people are beginning to think that Star Trek is true. For some, they like watching romantic movies, especially those with happy ending, and they begin to fantasize and think that they, too, will have a relationship which will surely have a happy ending.
If Jesus never rose from the dead and we still believe in the Gospel story of his resurrection, then we are believing in a lie. What is worse is that, according to Paul, we would still be in sin (v. 17). You see, when we put our faith in Jesus Christ, we are trusting that his death on the cross would take away our sins and that his resurrection would give us new life. If the resurrection never took place, then there is no forgiveness to talk about. There is no new life to talk about. There is no power from above to enable us to live victoriously against sin. Our faith in Jesus Christ would then be similar to having faith in the different religions of the world – full of empty promises and lies. We would be putting our faith in a good but powerless man who can't do anything to lift us up from the clutches of sin, who cannot solve the problems of the human condition.
If Christ Had Not Risen . . . We Would Be Holding On To An Empty Hope (v. 19)
If Christ had not risen, not only would the gospel being declared be nothing more than a fairy tale or myth, and not only would we be holding on to an empty faith, but we will also be holding on the empty hope.
What exactly is the Christian's hope? I have no doubt that we all hope for eternal life. In fact, many of us who trusted in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior came to faith because of the promise of eternal life with God in heaven. We are holding on to the promise that all who believe in Him will not perish but will have eternal life (John 3:16). Coupled with that is the promise that all who trust in Jesus will be spared from the penalty of sin, that the barrier that stands between God and us has been effectively removed because of Christ's death and resurrection. His resurrection should be the validation that what Jesus did for us on the cross has been accepted by God the Father. It is a validation that his claim to being the resurrection and the life (John 11:24 – 25) is true, that he has indeed defeated sin and death.
Another hope that we have as believers is the hope of Christ's second coming. In Titus 2:13, the hope that Jesus will soon appear or come again is called “the blessed hope.” It is a hope grounded on the promise of Jesus himself that he will come to redeem those who belong to Him. This blessed hope is also grounded in the resurrection of Jesus because when Jesus returns, the believers who have already died prior to his coming will be raised from the dead while those who are still alive will be transformed. Jesus' resurrection from the dead is the pattern by which all of us will follow.
As believers in Jesus Christ, what we hope for are eternal life in heaven with God, the payment for the penalty of our sins, and the Second Coming. Now, if Jesus Christ never rose from the dead, none of these things that we hope for will ever come true. There's no eternal life, there's no forgiveness for our sins, no one is coming to redeem us. If that is the case, then it would be sensible to do what the world preaches - “Eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow we die (v. 32b, also Isaiah 22:13).” If there is no bright future to look forward to, then live your life for today. If Jesus did not rise from the dead, what is the point of coming to church and worshipping Him? The most logical and practical thing to do would be to live for yourself, to enjoy and indulge in vices. Why? Because there's nothing to look forward to. Without the resurrection, we would all be holding on to an empty and meaningless hope.
So, there you have it. Without the resurrection of Jesus Christ, there are three kinds of emptiness that are bound to happen – the proclaiming of an empty message, the holding on to an empty faith to an empty hope. If we believe in a Jesus who never really rose from the dead, then everything we trust in and do is meaningless.
However, thanks be to God, Jesus has indeed risen from the dead! The resurrection has indeed taken place as attested by the testimonies of many firsthand witnesses such as the women who visited the empty tomb, Peter, the other apostles, 500 other believers and by Paul himself on the road to Damascus. Many have tried to discredit the resurrection with their absurd theories but they all fail because they just cannot dispute the facts that are there – the huge stone that was rolled away, an empty tomb, the appearance of Jesus to the disciples with accompanying invitation to touch his wounds and know for themselves that it is truly Him, risen from the dead. The resurrection of Jesus also changed the lives of the disciples, from cowards to bold witnesses and martyrs, a change that would not have happened if the resurrection story was a lie.
In Colossians 1:18, Jesus is described as being the firstborn from among the dead. He is the very first to have conquered death, no more to die. Many more will follow in his footsteps, namely everyone who has repented of their sins and placed their trust in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. In 1 Corinthians 15:20, he is described as being the first fruits of those who are asleep. This phrase is significant because, the Sunday after the Passover was the start of the Feast of the First fruits, wherein the farmers would bring before God the first harvests from their fields. In referring to Jesus as the first fruit, Paul is saying that Jesus was the first to resurrect from the dead, no more to die, and many more will follow in his footsteps, just as the first fruit of the harvest means there's more crops to be harvested. The resurrection of Jesus is a sure promise that we will also experience resurrection when Jesus comes back again to claim us.
The resurrection also assures us that the life we live right now for Jesus Christ will never be in vain. When we serve and worship Him, it will be meaningful and fruitful. Finally, the resurrection assures us that our hope in Jesus Christ is secured. We can be assured that we will be spared from God's final wrath and that we will spend eternity in heaven with God.
Let us praise and thank God that Jesus is alive. Let us live a life that reflects that truth. In closing, I would like for us to listen to a song entitled, “See, What a Morning” and let the words of the song speak to our hearts, affirming once again the truth of the resurrection. Christ is risen! Risen indeed!
Tuesday, April 26, 2011
Tuesday, April 12, 2011
The King & I - Preached on April 10, 2011 at GGC
The King & I
The Christian & The State
Romans 13:1 – 7
Introduction:
The King and I. Today's title is actually taken from a 1956 movie based on a book entitled, Anna and the King of Siam. It is the story of Anna Leonowens, a teacher who becomes the private tutor of the children of King Rama IV of Siam in the early 1860s. In the story, we find Anna having to deal with issues such as King Rama's irrational orders as well as his authoritarian ways. Often she would disagree with the king and this led to a lot of tension. What this film and the book depicts for us is the tension that often arises between ruler and subject, an issue none of us can escape from, even as we live in a democratic country.
This morning, we are going to look at a passage that sounds clear enough and yet people have a hard time accepting. We know that God has put into place three institutions in our society. The first is the family. The second is the government. The third is the church. In our day and age, all three are actually disdained or looked down by certain sectors of our society; but of the three, the one that is most disdained, I think, is the government or the state. In fact, it, together with the leaders, is often the subject of our cruel jokes as well as our verbal abuse.
No matter how much we may dislike or we simply tolerate the state, we must realize that the government is important; it has its useful function. This morning, we will continue our study on the Book of Romans, and we will be looking in particular at Romans 13:1 – 7, the passage that talks about our relationship with the government, and how we should behave towards the government and those who are seated in positions of authority.
Context:
I would like to begin by giving the context of this morning's passage. Now, many scholars cannot agree as to the time frame when Paul was writing this letter. Was it a time when widespread persecution against Christians were already taking place? Or was there still relative peace between the state and the church? Most scholars are in agreement that Nero was the emperor during the time of this letter, but they are not certain whether it was written during the early part of Nero's reign as emperor, when he wasn't persecuting Christians yet, or during the latter part of his reign, when he started a widespread campaign to get rid of the believers. Personally, I think we can date Romans as falling within the early part of Nero's reign, as there is no mention of widespread persecution. Furthermore, it seems as if the State or the Empire was still functioning properly, as there was relative peace in the Roman Empire.
However, during the time of the writing of Romans, the Jews were openly expressing their hatred for the Roman Empire. You see, the Jews refused to be subject to the Empire, with some going to the extreme by openly rebelling and fighting against the Roman Empire. The ordinary citizens showed their rebellion by questioning why they need to pay taxes or to even show respect to the authorities. The Jewish people's rebelliousness against the Roman Empire must have impacted the church, especially that many believers were themselves Jews and they could easily sympathize with their fellow Jews. Most likely, some of the believers were also beginning to act rebelliously or were beginning to question the authority of the Roman Empire. Thus, it became necessary for Paul to address the issue of the Christian's relationship to the government.
With that background in mind, let us look more closely at the command given by God through Paul, and understand how we can apply this command in our present context.
The Command:
There is only one command given by the Lord here, and that is, we are to submit ourselves to the authorities. Here, it means, we must willingly accept or yield to a superior force, in this case, the government. Now, before we look at the reason for submission, I want us to pay attention to this particular word. Notice that Paul did not use the word “obey”, but used the word “submit”. I believe there is a reason for this. If the word used had been “obey”, then we would have to obey everything the government tells us to do, even if it is downright wrong and sinful. There is a boundary to what the government is allowed to do by God. When it goes beyond that boundary, then we do not need to follow the orders at all. A good example of this is in Acts 5. The Sanhedrin had commanded Peter and the other apostles not to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ, with threat of persecution. However, the apostles replied, “We must obey God rather than men (Acts 5:29)”. They knew that they had been commanded by the highest authority, by the Lord Jesus himself, to proclaim the Gospel to all people; the Sanhedrin had issued a command that goes directly against the Lord's command, thus Peter and the apostles had no choice but to disobey the command of the Sanhedrin. Furthermore, the apostles were willing to bear the consequences of their decision to obey Jesus Christ, for in verse 40, we find the apostles receiving a flogging from the Sanhedrin. So, remember that we are to submit ourselves to the government but when there are times that we are told to do something totally against God's command, we must obey the highest authority and be willing to bear punishment for the sake of the Lord. When the government legalizes abortion or euthanasia, when it rewards evildoers and punish the innocent, we as believers must stand up to such wrongdoings by using whatever legal and moral means are available to air our protests, but we must be ready to face whatever the government may do to us.
Now, when God gives us this command to submit to authorities, it came with a reason. The reason is this: God is the one who established government, therefore we must not rebel against what God has put in place to be over us, for if we rebel against the government, we are rebelling against God himself.
When God established government, he intended for it to do good for us. What this means is that a properly functioning government will safeguard her citizens from harm. There will be mechanisms in place that will enhance our living conditions. During Paul's time, there were two things that the Roman Empire did to enhance the quality of life of her citizens. First, their citizens enjoyed protection. Paul himself was a beneficiary of this when he was protected from potential danger when he made known his Roman citizenship. Second, the Roman Empire built expansive road networks that made travel very easy.
Aside from government existing in order to do good for us, it also exists in order to punish evildoers. Again, in a properly functioning government, those who do evil to others will not get away with their crimes but they must pay for it. During Paul's time, the symbol of punishment was the sword. Evildoers can be killed on the spot by Roman authorities as represented by soldiers. Today, we have our police force and our criminal justice system in place to punish those who do evil. We also have the military who not only defend our country from external attacks but also from evil elements from within the country who are out to cause harm to people. We also have our trial courts which dispenses justice for the innocent and punishment for the guilty. Combining both these ideas about government – that it is intended to do good for us and it is for punishing evildoer, we can summarize it as this: God instituted government so that society can be kept in order. Without government, there is chaos. Everyone will be looking out for the interest of one's self.
Therefore, knowing that God established government for our benefit as well as for punishing evildoers, we are thus expected to submit to the government. Two reasons are cited by Paul for submitting to government. First is so that we would not get ourselves punished for failing to submit. As long as the law does not go against God's commandments, then we should submit. Failure to submit is an act of rebellion against the government and is deserving of punishment. The second reason why we must submit is so that we can keep our consciences clean. What this means is that, when we submit to authorities, we are actually obeying God. When we obey God, we will not feel guilty about having offended God in any way, whereas, when we refuse to submit to the government or to the authorities, we will be violating our consciences, because we know we are commanded by God to submit, but we resist Him.
The Means of Submission:
We have looked at the command as well as the reasons why we must submit. Now, let us look at the means of submission to the government. In the passage, we find two means recorded. The first point is that we must pay the appropriate taxes and revenues.
Taxes, according to the dictionary, are compulsory contributions to state revenue, levied by the government on workers' income and business profits or added to the cost of some goods, services and transactions. The tax that is levied on workers' income is called the personal income tax, which is deducted from your gross pay every month. For those who own businesses, you have to pay corporate income tax. The tax that we pay for goods, services and other transactions come in the form of what we call as the expanded value added tax or the E-VAT. We also have to pay annual taxes for our real estate properties. When we die, surviving family members have to pay estate tax. If you think about it, we actually pay a lot of taxes, and, like it or not, we have to do it.
Besides taxes, we must also pay revenue, according to Paul. Now, what exactly is revenue? In the original language, the word for revenue actually means customs duties. It is a kind of tax that is levied on both imports and exports. For our modern age, customs duties are collected based on what you declare being imported or exported for your business.
Now, I believe that when Paul tells us to pay taxes and duties, he wants for us to do it truthfully. Whatever income you make, that must be the basis for the computation of your taxes. Whatever you are importing or exporting, you have to properly declare it and pay the right amount. I can already imagine that protest that is ringing in your minds. What? Pay the right amount of taxes? Yes. As believers we have to be truthful and pay what is right. We cannot and should not short-change the government of the taxes that are rightfully due them. When we cheat the government by declaring wrongly our income or our importations and exportation, we aren't just cheating the government, we are cheating God.
Why pay taxes? Well, our taxes provide for the salaries of our government officials. These people have chosen a career path of service to the people. Let's not short-change them by not paying our taxes. Taxes also pays for the upkeep and improvement of basic services and facilities. If everyone doesn't pay the proper taxes, the government will not have enough money to keep certain services going such as the MRT and LRT. Our roads would not be maintained at all. There would be no military and police force to protect us. There would be no firemen and fire trucks to fight fires. So, make it a point to pay the proper amount of tax and duties at the set time.
The second means by which we submit to the governing authorities is by rendering respect and honor to our leaders, the institutions of government and the laws of the land. We show respect and honor to our leaders by never thinking ill of them nor should we be rude towards them when we deal with them. Respect and honor is shown to the laws of the land by our observance of the laws, not just when the policemen are around, but even when they are not there. Respect and honor is shown to the institutions of government by accepting their ruling and their assessment. If the Bureau of Fire Protection came to inspect your business establishment and found that you violated the fire code, please don't bribe the officials, just conform to what they want you to do. If the sanitation inspectors came to check out your restaurant and found violations of the sanitation code, just conform to what they want you to do, don't bribe your way out of it.
I believe there is one more thing we should do for our government as Christians. We find this third duty in 1 Timothy 2:1 – 2, and this is the duty to pray for our leaders. Here we read, “I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone — for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness.” While it is the duty of every individual, whether Christian or not, to submit to the authority of the government, our submission should not just be shown by paying taxes and respecting our leaders and the institution. We must also pray for the leaders of our nation. We must pray that our leaders will themselves abide by the laws of the country. We must pray that our leaders will not be corrupted by money. We must pray that our leaders will always put the welfare of the people ahead of their personal interests. We must pray that justice will prevail in our country. Most importantly, pray that our leaders will come to know Jesus Christ and will be transformed.
Conclusion:
This morning's message is short but it contains an important command we should not overlook or neglect – the command to submit to our leaders, to the government. We are to submit to the government because it is an institution that God himself established. If we go against the government in a rebellious manner, remember that you are also going against God.
Remember also your civil duties – you must pay your taxes and revenues, and you must render respect and honor to the leaders, the institution and the laws of the land. Finally, remember your spiritual duty to pray for the government and for our leaders.
In closing, I would like to remind everyone that, while our loyalty is to God alone, it does not mean that we don't need to love and care for our country. We have been given a tremendous privilege of living in the Philippines, where, in spite of so many problems in our government, we have freedom. Our laws are not morally unethical nor do they go against God. Therefore, I entreat you all to respect our government and to follow her laws. Do it for the sake of the Lord. Do it in order to make our nation a respectable place to live in.
The Christian & The State
Romans 13:1 – 7
Introduction:
The King and I. Today's title is actually taken from a 1956 movie based on a book entitled, Anna and the King of Siam. It is the story of Anna Leonowens, a teacher who becomes the private tutor of the children of King Rama IV of Siam in the early 1860s. In the story, we find Anna having to deal with issues such as King Rama's irrational orders as well as his authoritarian ways. Often she would disagree with the king and this led to a lot of tension. What this film and the book depicts for us is the tension that often arises between ruler and subject, an issue none of us can escape from, even as we live in a democratic country.
This morning, we are going to look at a passage that sounds clear enough and yet people have a hard time accepting. We know that God has put into place three institutions in our society. The first is the family. The second is the government. The third is the church. In our day and age, all three are actually disdained or looked down by certain sectors of our society; but of the three, the one that is most disdained, I think, is the government or the state. In fact, it, together with the leaders, is often the subject of our cruel jokes as well as our verbal abuse.
No matter how much we may dislike or we simply tolerate the state, we must realize that the government is important; it has its useful function. This morning, we will continue our study on the Book of Romans, and we will be looking in particular at Romans 13:1 – 7, the passage that talks about our relationship with the government, and how we should behave towards the government and those who are seated in positions of authority.
Context:
I would like to begin by giving the context of this morning's passage. Now, many scholars cannot agree as to the time frame when Paul was writing this letter. Was it a time when widespread persecution against Christians were already taking place? Or was there still relative peace between the state and the church? Most scholars are in agreement that Nero was the emperor during the time of this letter, but they are not certain whether it was written during the early part of Nero's reign as emperor, when he wasn't persecuting Christians yet, or during the latter part of his reign, when he started a widespread campaign to get rid of the believers. Personally, I think we can date Romans as falling within the early part of Nero's reign, as there is no mention of widespread persecution. Furthermore, it seems as if the State or the Empire was still functioning properly, as there was relative peace in the Roman Empire.
However, during the time of the writing of Romans, the Jews were openly expressing their hatred for the Roman Empire. You see, the Jews refused to be subject to the Empire, with some going to the extreme by openly rebelling and fighting against the Roman Empire. The ordinary citizens showed their rebellion by questioning why they need to pay taxes or to even show respect to the authorities. The Jewish people's rebelliousness against the Roman Empire must have impacted the church, especially that many believers were themselves Jews and they could easily sympathize with their fellow Jews. Most likely, some of the believers were also beginning to act rebelliously or were beginning to question the authority of the Roman Empire. Thus, it became necessary for Paul to address the issue of the Christian's relationship to the government.
With that background in mind, let us look more closely at the command given by God through Paul, and understand how we can apply this command in our present context.
The Command:
There is only one command given by the Lord here, and that is, we are to submit ourselves to the authorities. Here, it means, we must willingly accept or yield to a superior force, in this case, the government. Now, before we look at the reason for submission, I want us to pay attention to this particular word. Notice that Paul did not use the word “obey”, but used the word “submit”. I believe there is a reason for this. If the word used had been “obey”, then we would have to obey everything the government tells us to do, even if it is downright wrong and sinful. There is a boundary to what the government is allowed to do by God. When it goes beyond that boundary, then we do not need to follow the orders at all. A good example of this is in Acts 5. The Sanhedrin had commanded Peter and the other apostles not to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ, with threat of persecution. However, the apostles replied, “We must obey God rather than men (Acts 5:29)”. They knew that they had been commanded by the highest authority, by the Lord Jesus himself, to proclaim the Gospel to all people; the Sanhedrin had issued a command that goes directly against the Lord's command, thus Peter and the apostles had no choice but to disobey the command of the Sanhedrin. Furthermore, the apostles were willing to bear the consequences of their decision to obey Jesus Christ, for in verse 40, we find the apostles receiving a flogging from the Sanhedrin. So, remember that we are to submit ourselves to the government but when there are times that we are told to do something totally against God's command, we must obey the highest authority and be willing to bear punishment for the sake of the Lord. When the government legalizes abortion or euthanasia, when it rewards evildoers and punish the innocent, we as believers must stand up to such wrongdoings by using whatever legal and moral means are available to air our protests, but we must be ready to face whatever the government may do to us.
Now, when God gives us this command to submit to authorities, it came with a reason. The reason is this: God is the one who established government, therefore we must not rebel against what God has put in place to be over us, for if we rebel against the government, we are rebelling against God himself.
When God established government, he intended for it to do good for us. What this means is that a properly functioning government will safeguard her citizens from harm. There will be mechanisms in place that will enhance our living conditions. During Paul's time, there were two things that the Roman Empire did to enhance the quality of life of her citizens. First, their citizens enjoyed protection. Paul himself was a beneficiary of this when he was protected from potential danger when he made known his Roman citizenship. Second, the Roman Empire built expansive road networks that made travel very easy.
Aside from government existing in order to do good for us, it also exists in order to punish evildoers. Again, in a properly functioning government, those who do evil to others will not get away with their crimes but they must pay for it. During Paul's time, the symbol of punishment was the sword. Evildoers can be killed on the spot by Roman authorities as represented by soldiers. Today, we have our police force and our criminal justice system in place to punish those who do evil. We also have the military who not only defend our country from external attacks but also from evil elements from within the country who are out to cause harm to people. We also have our trial courts which dispenses justice for the innocent and punishment for the guilty. Combining both these ideas about government – that it is intended to do good for us and it is for punishing evildoer, we can summarize it as this: God instituted government so that society can be kept in order. Without government, there is chaos. Everyone will be looking out for the interest of one's self.
Therefore, knowing that God established government for our benefit as well as for punishing evildoers, we are thus expected to submit to the government. Two reasons are cited by Paul for submitting to government. First is so that we would not get ourselves punished for failing to submit. As long as the law does not go against God's commandments, then we should submit. Failure to submit is an act of rebellion against the government and is deserving of punishment. The second reason why we must submit is so that we can keep our consciences clean. What this means is that, when we submit to authorities, we are actually obeying God. When we obey God, we will not feel guilty about having offended God in any way, whereas, when we refuse to submit to the government or to the authorities, we will be violating our consciences, because we know we are commanded by God to submit, but we resist Him.
The Means of Submission:
We have looked at the command as well as the reasons why we must submit. Now, let us look at the means of submission to the government. In the passage, we find two means recorded. The first point is that we must pay the appropriate taxes and revenues.
Taxes, according to the dictionary, are compulsory contributions to state revenue, levied by the government on workers' income and business profits or added to the cost of some goods, services and transactions. The tax that is levied on workers' income is called the personal income tax, which is deducted from your gross pay every month. For those who own businesses, you have to pay corporate income tax. The tax that we pay for goods, services and other transactions come in the form of what we call as the expanded value added tax or the E-VAT. We also have to pay annual taxes for our real estate properties. When we die, surviving family members have to pay estate tax. If you think about it, we actually pay a lot of taxes, and, like it or not, we have to do it.
Besides taxes, we must also pay revenue, according to Paul. Now, what exactly is revenue? In the original language, the word for revenue actually means customs duties. It is a kind of tax that is levied on both imports and exports. For our modern age, customs duties are collected based on what you declare being imported or exported for your business.
Now, I believe that when Paul tells us to pay taxes and duties, he wants for us to do it truthfully. Whatever income you make, that must be the basis for the computation of your taxes. Whatever you are importing or exporting, you have to properly declare it and pay the right amount. I can already imagine that protest that is ringing in your minds. What? Pay the right amount of taxes? Yes. As believers we have to be truthful and pay what is right. We cannot and should not short-change the government of the taxes that are rightfully due them. When we cheat the government by declaring wrongly our income or our importations and exportation, we aren't just cheating the government, we are cheating God.
Why pay taxes? Well, our taxes provide for the salaries of our government officials. These people have chosen a career path of service to the people. Let's not short-change them by not paying our taxes. Taxes also pays for the upkeep and improvement of basic services and facilities. If everyone doesn't pay the proper taxes, the government will not have enough money to keep certain services going such as the MRT and LRT. Our roads would not be maintained at all. There would be no military and police force to protect us. There would be no firemen and fire trucks to fight fires. So, make it a point to pay the proper amount of tax and duties at the set time.
The second means by which we submit to the governing authorities is by rendering respect and honor to our leaders, the institutions of government and the laws of the land. We show respect and honor to our leaders by never thinking ill of them nor should we be rude towards them when we deal with them. Respect and honor is shown to the laws of the land by our observance of the laws, not just when the policemen are around, but even when they are not there. Respect and honor is shown to the institutions of government by accepting their ruling and their assessment. If the Bureau of Fire Protection came to inspect your business establishment and found that you violated the fire code, please don't bribe the officials, just conform to what they want you to do. If the sanitation inspectors came to check out your restaurant and found violations of the sanitation code, just conform to what they want you to do, don't bribe your way out of it.
I believe there is one more thing we should do for our government as Christians. We find this third duty in 1 Timothy 2:1 – 2, and this is the duty to pray for our leaders. Here we read, “I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone — for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness.” While it is the duty of every individual, whether Christian or not, to submit to the authority of the government, our submission should not just be shown by paying taxes and respecting our leaders and the institution. We must also pray for the leaders of our nation. We must pray that our leaders will themselves abide by the laws of the country. We must pray that our leaders will not be corrupted by money. We must pray that our leaders will always put the welfare of the people ahead of their personal interests. We must pray that justice will prevail in our country. Most importantly, pray that our leaders will come to know Jesus Christ and will be transformed.
Conclusion:
This morning's message is short but it contains an important command we should not overlook or neglect – the command to submit to our leaders, to the government. We are to submit to the government because it is an institution that God himself established. If we go against the government in a rebellious manner, remember that you are also going against God.
Remember also your civil duties – you must pay your taxes and revenues, and you must render respect and honor to the leaders, the institution and the laws of the land. Finally, remember your spiritual duty to pray for the government and for our leaders.
In closing, I would like to remind everyone that, while our loyalty is to God alone, it does not mean that we don't need to love and care for our country. We have been given a tremendous privilege of living in the Philippines, where, in spite of so many problems in our government, we have freedom. Our laws are not morally unethical nor do they go against God. Therefore, I entreat you all to respect our government and to follow her laws. Do it for the sake of the Lord. Do it in order to make our nation a respectable place to live in.
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