Romans 13:1-10
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.2 Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment. 3 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, 4 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. 5 Therefore one must be in subjection, not only to avoid God's wrath but also for the sake of conscience. 6 For because of this you also pay taxes, for the authorities are ministers of God, attending to this very thing. 7 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.
8 Owe no one anything, except to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. 9 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.” 10 Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.
Grace, mercy and peace be yours this day from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen. It seems almost fitting that I should be here on this Sunday to be talking about this text. Because this is the world I live in every single day, this balancing act between the civil world and the religious world. See, in Lutheran side of the house, we have this distinction about the two kingdoms. And I love it. In fact, as an active duty Navy chaplain, that distinction alone helps us very well to be able to put on the different hats at the appropriate times, depending on which Kingdom we're living and working in. Now, are we always living and working in both at the same time, no matter who you are? Absolutely. But it's a little bit more pronounced if you live, work and breathe in the federal system, state system, any sort of government system, and it becomes a little bit more unique. So what are the two kingdoms that Martin Luther started putting out? Well, what he says is you have two kingdoms, and how God rules the world. You have the left hand kingdom, which, for you guys, you're looking at me, it's right, but it's my left, you have the left hand kingdom over here, which deals in the civil realm. And it is ruled by the law. It's ruled by rules, that things happen, and then punishments occur according to whatever that thing is. Luther goes on to say there's also the right hand to kingdom over here, where God is ruling through his church, through Christ. And it is ruled by the gospel. Not something that says you've broken the rule, and now you must pay. It's the one that says, I forgive you, all your sins. This reading from Romans 13, highlights this kingdom. And Martin Luther actually used this text very exclusively to talk about one of his writings that he put out there, which was, Can soldiers to be saved. Because it says, Don't murder don't kill. And this was troubling to Him, and to many, many people, can we who are ordered to go to war, to go and kill, can they be saved. And he uses this text to highlight that there is a distinction with the authority given to a government and an individual, to the government is given this authority appointed by God for the protection of its people, in order to be able to have peace, prosperity in the land in the world, whatever it may be. And in the last 50 years, 6070, the world has gotten a whole lot smaller, in terms of how governments and everything interacts. Which makes this side a whole lot more difficult. But what he highlights here, what Paul is highlighting in Romans, is that the institution of the government is a good thing for the sake of its people, and that we should follow our leaders. The context for which Paul is writing, it's not a great time. He's writing to the church that is in Rome, but who's the big powerhouse at the time? Who's ruling the world? Caesar who is Roman. And they didn't particularly like Christians, in fact, in just a few decades, would be the time when the Jewish temple is destroyed by the government. The Christians are dispersed throughout the world. And even Nero would be lighting his highways with burning Christians. It's not a good time, because they didn't have the things that we have the ability to believe, as you see fit. It was hard. And yet, Paul says these words to the church. He said As obey the authorities if you're doing good, nothing's gonna come to you. No authority will punish you for doing good. And later on in a different buy a book even goes and even if they do punish you for doing good, do it anyway. Do good in the world. But here he's highlighting, there's only a threat to those who are trying to do evil. When we talk about this side of the house, I found that there's really two ways that law order all of this stuff that is ruled by this kingdom is done. It's done either by power, or it's held by what I'll throw out there called contractual lism. I'll explain that in just a second. Power, I think we understand. Power is the thing that so many people have in so many are, so few people have. And so many people want. Power is the thing that allows me to control what you do. And whether we want to admit it or not, our positions in this life, do hold certain power. Look at me up here right now, right? We're in the robe and the stalls and everything, there is a certain power associated with being a pastor, especially if you're a loved pastor, when I was still acting in the civilian churches, My People loved me. So whenever I put something forward, would anyone ever tell me no? No, they don't necessarily tell you no. There's power, there's a thority. In these, if we're looking at the civil realm, there is power in those positions, and the power has to hold law in order. On the more local level, the thing that I was talking about with contractual ism is actually a philosophy put out by a man named Scanlon. And what if you've ever seen the show the good place it was on a few years ago, this is one of those topics, they were talking about how we determine what is good, what is morally right and wrong. This is one of those things. And what contractual ism says is, a group of people comes together and they say, like a contract. This is what we agreed to be right and wrong. I think this is how most of our everyday lives go either through the power struggles from those that have power and those that don't have power, or through the common contracts that we interact with each other. But if you notice where I'm standing, when I talk about all of this, I'm in the left hand kingdom right now. When Paul talks about this, I think he's giving good advice to the church so that they can continue living long as they can healthy lives, while still being the church. But he's talking about the righteousness of being good people in this world. He moves on to a different thing. Towards the end of the verses. He says all of that stuff, is how you should interact. But he moves over here and says, however, for you in the church, the way you're live should be directed. Do that stuff. But don't forget, this is the governing factor here. The debt that you owe to each other, and to people everywhere, is that of love. When we look to how power can be used, it's often the ones who have no power to do anything about it. That are the ones that are hurt, that are taken advantage of. We come over here in the side of the church and we can look over there and say that's not the way it ought to be. When the poor, the marginalized, the whomever are taken advantage because of power. It shouldn't be it our governing factor for us is that of love. The love for the neighbor, even if it's at our own expense, because what goes on over here is that power, contractual ism. All of that stuff is looking to what serves me For the best.
Coming over here, love doesn't ask about what is best for me. In fact, it's most of the time, not good for me. Love asks what's good for you? What's good for that person who is hurting, who is struggling? How can I love them in the face of such darkness. We do this and why Paul puts us forward on this side of the house. Because we have a greater story being told. This is the exact love, we see on the cross. The love that comes down and says, you have nothing to offer me. And so I will give you everything. I love you not because you're a sinner. I love you because you need me. And I need to help you. That's the love of Christ for you that has been in each and every one of your lives. And why Paul argues for a different way of life for the Church. We love not because we get anything out of it. But because that person in front of me is deserving, and worthy of love. When the whole world beats them down, they need to know that someone cares. And the cool thing about this whole thing that that Luthor put forward is that it's not just two separate, they're both going on at the same time. But who is the middle person? Or how do you bridge these two things together? It's through you. You get to bring in your jobs in your volunteering, whatever you're doing school, you get to bring love across the line over here. Even if you don't speak about Christ, even you don't do anything religious, you carry the love over to show that you care about people, as people. That's why I love my job so much. I don't think I actually lived in the real world until I joined the military. I think I lived a very sheltered life if I'm being honest. And it wasn't until I started joining the military and having conversations with people who are talking about horrible things that were going on in their lives. Before they even turned 18 things I couldn't even imagine happening to fellow human beings. They're living every day of their lives. And when we have those conversations, it's that opportunity to show the love that in the midst of abuse in the midst of pain, uncertainty, divorce, any of that stuff. I love you. And I don't hold any of that stuff against you. That's the beauty of living in both of these kingdoms that Luther put forward. And that what Paul wants for us. You get to be a light to people that are hurting that know no other way. And you can say you have maybe never heard this before. So let me tell you this right now. I love you. Not because you give me something not because you bring something to the table, but simply because you're here with me. And I love you. Let's figure out this life together. That's the beauty of the debt that we owe to one another being love. You get welcomed into some of the best and worst circumstances of people's lives. And they don't do that to everyone. We don't open our stories to everyone but showing that you care. That opens the door to show someone that very same love that we've been shown here. That's the beauty of love. Amen.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai