Respect your rulers

This post is not about the wooden or plastic objects with numbers on them that you use to measure things. This post is about rulers like kings, presidents, governors, etc. 

All of us know people who only talk about how much they hate the president or their governor. (Sadly, some of us happen to be married to one of these.)  Listening to them complain and gripe gets very tiresome.  If that person claims to be a Christian, however, what they are doing is going against what it says in the Bible about how we are supposed to treat those who rule over us.  Let's take a look at what it says in the Bible about how we are supposed to think about and treat our leaders.

Paul writes about rulers in Romans 13:1-7.  Keep in mind that the Roman Empire was in charge in Paul's day (hence the reference to a sword in verse 4), but they apply to us in our time as well.   I'll discuss my thoughts on each verse.

1 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. 
That's a heavy verse. We are to be subject to the governing authorities even if we don't like them, and they are appointed by God? That has a lot of implications like God has appointed certain authorities over us because He's upset with our actions, or we cry out for righteous leaders (like the Israelites) and He delivers us. 

2 Therefore whoever resists the authority resists the ordinance of God, and those who resist will bring judgment on themselves. 
This is another heavy verse. As Christians, we don't want to resist the ordinance of God or we will bring judgment on ourselves. 

3 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. 4 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.
Aren't we all afraid when we get pulled over by a police officer? We feel guilty because we know we're speeding, or maybe we've done something else we're not supposed to. If we are behaving ourselves, we have nothing to fear from the governing authorities.

5 Therefore you must be subject, not only because of wrath but also for conscience’ sake. 
As Christians, we feel guilty when we break the law because our consciences bother us.

6 For because of this you also pay taxes, for they are God’s ministers attending continually to this very thing. 
Although some of us would not like to pay taxes, God tells us in His Word that we should because these taxes help support the government. So yes, we do need the IRS whether we want them to exist or not.

7 Render therefore to all their due: taxes to whom taxes are due, customs to whom customs, fear to whom fear, honor to whom honor.
Paul summarizes the preceding 6 verses in this verse: pay your taxes, obey the law, honor those in high office.  

In 1 Timothy 2:1-4, Paul discussed how we are to treat our rulers in greater detail:

1Therefore I exhort first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men, 
Paul is speaking about all people in this verse, not just rulers. Some folks are hard to pray for, but Paul says we should do so anyway.

2 for kings and all who are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence. 
When we pray for all those in authority, we will lead a life like that mentioned in this verse.  And who doesn't want to live a quiet and peaceable life?  

3 For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, 4 who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. 
Paul is stating that praying for our rulers (and indeed, for everyone) is what God wants us to do. Verse 4 is a verse you may want to keep in your memory bank in case you are having discussions with a Calvinist who says that only the elect are saved. You can point him/her to verse 4 that says that God wants all men to be saved. 

The current president of the United States certainly brings out many people's fierce emotions. There are those who think he's the greatest thing since sliced bread and then there are those who think he's Satan incarnate.  

The people who love our current president surely must have Romans 13:1 in mind.  They believe that even though we vote for our president that God must have made it happen so that he would win the election.  They post on Facebook how much they love him and that he's the greatest president ever. This group of people must be careful that their love of the president doesn't grow into idol worship.  God is the only one we should be worshiping.  We are supposed to pray for our president (see 1 Timothy 2:2 above) and honor him, not worship him.

The group of people who hate the president and who would love to see him deposed from office ignore Paul's words in Romans.  They are letting their hatred blind them so that all they can think and talk about is how much they hate the president.  This obsessive hatred is consuming their lives and alienating their loved ones and their friends.  If we are Christians, we are supposed to love each other (see 1 John 3:23) and not hate others, especially our fellow Christians.

What's worse, some of the people who hate the president are not attending church anymore because they think that the Christians that voted the president into office are hypocrites for electing such a person. They don't want to hear the pastor pray for the president and for our leaders because they hate them.  I would like to remind them that we're all sinners in need of grace and forgiveness.  We're all on a level field at the Cross. Hebrews 10:25 says the following in regards to church attendance: "not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, is the manner of some, but exhorting one another; and so much the more as you see the Day approaching." 

So what's the best thing for a person to do?  We as Christians are to live by God's Word, which tells us to respect our leaders, obey the law, pay our taxes and pray for our leaders and for all people. We should put God first in our lives and not our rulers.  If our president has done something that is against God's and man's law, it will be discovered and he will be tried and judged then. Until that happens, let's love and worship God and love one another. Those are the best things to do.

Thanks as always for reading! See you next time!

Diane