Obey God before Human Authority

Grace and peace to you from Christ Jesus, the Risen One.

Today, my talk from the pulpit will have elements of sermon and elements of teaching.

It’s a bit longer than usual because I am trying to accomplish two objectives in one medium and because I have included some lengthy Bible passages.

Having said that, I apologize.

For those of you watching on Zoom, make yourself a sandwich.

The teaching part is probably better suited to Bible Study but, since most of you don’t attend Bible Study—which is not an admonition, just a fact—the pulpit is my only opportunity.

I believe that you all have a pretty good sense of the teachings of Jesus and when an action is unChrist-like, even when those actions are taken under the guise of Christianity.

You will also hear Scripture used to, not only defend unchristian behaviors, but also to chastise those who would speak out or oppose those behaviors.

So, I thought it would be important to give some theological basis to engaging in civic activity that opposes injustices perpetrated by government.

I usually focus my preaching on the gospel lesson.

For this Easter season, I thought I would focus on the lessons from Acts.

I’m hoping that the shift will give us some new insight into how we, as followers of Jesus, relate to a world that feels increasingly unchristian.

As a little background, the book of Acts is in a singular category.

It is considered to be a history of the early Jesus movement.

The author is generally accepted to be the same as the gospel of Luke and many biblical scholars consider them inseparable, referring to them as Luke-Acts.

You may tire of hearing me say it—but I will never tire of saying it—Jesus gave us two commands:

“You must love the Most High God with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your mind.”

And “You must love your neighbor as yourself.”

Now, there are some variations on the theme:

Jesus also said, “Love one another the way I have loved you.”

And “This is how all will know that you’re my disciples: that you truly love one another.”

But there are no caveats—no exceptions.

He didn’t say, “Love only the people with the same political beliefs as you.”

Or “Love the people who are the same religion as you or the same race as you or the same nationality as you.”

In fact, to clarify how all-encompassing this commandment was, Jesus also said, “Love your enemies.”

The good news of the gospel is that we are beloved children of God, blessed by God’s unconditional grace.

We don’t deserve it—there’s nothing we can do to deserve it—but we receive it anyway.

In gratitude—and inspired by our faith in God—we reflect that love out into the world.

We direct it at our neighbors, particularly those in need.

In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus says, “Come, you blessed of my Abba God! Inherit the Kin-dom prepared for you from the creation of the world! For I was hungry and you fed me; I was thirsty and you gave me drink. I was a stranger and you welcomed me; naked and you clothed me. I was ill and you comforted me; in prison and you came to visit me.”

That is our Christian vocation—to love our neighbors as God first loved us.

Sounds simple enough, doesn’t it?

Yet we find ourselves living in times when we hear that:

Those who are hungry and thirsty are lazy freeloaders.

Those who are strangers are criminals to be feared.

Anyone who is different is “other” and we must protect ourselves from them.

That, rather than acknowledge our privilege and correct for injustices, we must enshrine those privileges into legal rights.

And much of this unchristian rhetoric is coming from the very government officials who claim that this country is a Christian nation.

Next Tuesday, Emanuel will host the inaugural meeting of a local affiliate of Christians Against Christian Nationalism.

We will connect people throughout the state of New Jersey who believe as we do—that our government is and was always intended to be secular.

And that any effort to enshrine Christianity as our “official” religion is contrary to the tenets of our faith and the democratic ideals of our founders.

Now, you may be asking yourselves what has any of this to do with the lesson from Acts.

In the reading, Peter and the apostles say, “Better for us to obey God than people!”

The clear meaning being that we have an obligation to obey God before any human authority.

Much has been made about a passage from Romans, especially by authoritarians looking for biblical support for their actions.

The passage reads, “Obey governing authorities. All government comes from God, so civil authorities are appointed by God. Therefore, those of you who rebel against authority are rebelling against God’s decision. For this you are liable to be punished. Good behavior is not afraid of authorities, only bad behavior. If you want to live without fear of authority, do what is right and authority will even honor you. The state carries out God’s will in order to serve you. However, if you do wrong, be afraid. For the state doesn’t carry the sword for nothing: it does as God directs and is an agent of God’s wrath, bringing punishment on wrongdoers. That’s why it’s necessary to obey—not only out of fear of being punished, but for the sake of conscience as well. That is also why you pay taxes, for the authorities carry out God’s will, devoting themselves to this very cause. Pay to all what is their due: taxes to tax collectors, tolls to toll collectors, respect to whom respect is due and honor to whom honor is due.”

Those would-be authoritarians assert that their actions are part of God’s plan—and just because we don’t understand it, doesn’t mean we should resist it.

Well, I’ve got news for you.

Always be leery of those who claim to know God’s plan.

The only plan we know about—and it’s because Jesus talked about it frequently—is the coming of the Kin-dom.

The first thing you should know about this passage from Romans is that many biblical scholars consider it an interpolation—an addition made after Paul’s original letter to the Romans.

This is supported by the fact that the passages that immediately precede and follow it talk about love.

It’s a discontinuity in the text.

Regardless of whether it’s a later addition, the passage cannot be lifted out of its context.

Immediately before the “obey the government” passage, we read, “Your love must be sincere. Hate what is evil and cling to what is good. Love one another with the affection of siblings. Try to outdo one another in showing respect. Don’t grow slack, but be fervent in spirit: the One you serve is Christ. Rejoice in hope; be patient under trial; persevere in prayer. Look on the needs of God’s holy people as your own; be generous in offering hospitality. Bless your persecutors—bless and don’t curse them. Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. Have the same attitude toward everyone. Don’t be condescending to those who aren’t as well off as you; don’t be conceited. Don’t repay evil with evil. Be concerned with the highest ideal in the eyes of all people. Do all you can to be at peace with everyone. Don’t take revenge; leave room, my friends, for God’s wrath. To quote scripture, “‘Vengeance is mine, I will pay them back,’ says our God.” But there is more: “If your enemies are hungry, feed them; if they are thirsty, give them drink. For in doing so, you will heap burning coals upon their heads.” Don’t be overcome by evil, but overcome evil by doing good.

And immediately after the passage, we read, “If you love your neighbor, you have fulfilled the Law. The commandments—no committing adultery, no killing, no stealing, no coveting, and all the others—are all summed up in this one: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” Love never wrongs anyone—hence love is the fulfillment of the Law.”

My point being that, whenever a government’s actions are contrary to Jesus’ command to “love our neighbor”, the government is in opposition to God’s Law.

And, therefore, we must oppose it.

Luther tells us that the role of secular government is to maintain peace and justice in this world.

He believed in the separation of church and state—that both have important roles, but they do not overlap.

But Luther was consumed by injustices within the church.

Government wasn’t really on his radar.

He did believe that Christians have an obligation to engage in civic discourse.

But I can’t say what he would have thought about our current situation.

Of course, that was before Nazism and the rise of Christian Nationalism.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer, on the other hand, lived in Nazi Germany.

He had a clear vision of his Christian responsibility.

He understood that scapegoating an ethnic minority was unjust and contrary to the gospel.

He understood that commingling religion and nationalism was dangerous.

And so, like Peter and the apostles, he thought, “better to obey God than people”.

He refused to join the national church.

Instead, he was a founder of the “Confessing Church” and led a seminary that was independent of the government.

He was eventually arrested for his involvement in the resistance and was later executed in a Nazi concentration camp—just days before it was liberated.

So, it’s easy to wonder: where is God at this moment in time?

When our country closes USAID, an action that will cost an estimated 25 million lives over the next 15 years?

When our transgender siblings are being executive ordered out of existence?

When our immigrant siblings are being disappeared to a brutal prison on foreign soil without due process?

When the very foundations of our nation are being eroded by actions that ignore the balance of powers in our government?

It is not hyperbole to say we are at a crossroads.

We are on a path that leads away from the Kin-dom.

Fortunately for us, even as we as a nation move away from God, God continues to come to us.

God comes to us.

God is with us during these trying times—as we know God always is.

God continues to speak to us—through scripture and through prophets who speak truth to power.

God sends the Spirit to inspire us to action—each to our own gifts and callings.

And we know that God’s promise—God’s covenant with us—is that the hope of new creation is not just idealistic optimism.

It is about trust in God.

Trust that, together with God, we can, and we will co-create the Kin-dom.

That we will usher in God’s justice in OUR time and in THIS world.

These are depressing times but—now more than ever—we must trust that, with God’s help, we will.

Thanks be to God!

May this meditation on God’s word keep our hearts and minds on Christ Jesus. Amen.