Listen here.
Welcome to Devotions for Worship where we meditate on the
appointed Scripture readings for the upcoming Sunday. Thank you for being with
me today.
I am Pastor Eric Tritten from Gloria Dei Lutheran Church in
Hudson, OH.
This coming Sunday is the 14 Sunday after Pentecost.
When I was younger, I really enjoyed political debates.
These days I don’t so much. On the one hand, I feel that sharing Jesus is much
more important than politics and the kingdom of heaven transcends political
ideologies. On the other hand, it almost feels like politics and government
have become a form of idolatry these days, and political dogma has slipped into
the church and seems to be held in as much reverence as Holy Scripture.
I say this because our Epistle lesson this week deals with
government and what we might call the political realm of life. Some of what it
has to say might challenge our political views. Some of it might have
implications for how we view our nations, their founding, or their structure
which might make us uncomfortable. I think that it is okay to be uncomfortable.
Often when we who are sinners wrestle with the things of God His Word leads us
to thoughts and feelings we wouldn’t experience on our own. Our goal, then, as
forgiven children of God is to place ourselves beneath God’s Word, and, “hold
it sacred and gladly hear and learn it,” as we say in the Catechism regarding
the Third Commandment.
The Reading: Romans 13:1-10 – I will be reading from the
English Standard Version translation.
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.
(Rom. 13:1-10 ESV)
Comments
Here in the United States our view of government these days
is pretty low. Congress’s approval ratings are in the single digits. We have
people who hate our president and actively seek to disrupt him with their
protests. And in many ways it seems that our political officials are more
defined by their political parties than they are defined by their identity as
citizens of our land. More than once I have talked to people who just shake
they heads and complain that our government is a mess.
Paul’s words about being subject to the governing
authorities which hold government and its leaders in high regard as God’s
servants to do good might be challenging for us to hear. We might be tempted to
think that Paul would have spoken differently on the matter if he had been in
our time. We should remember, however, that the Emperor at the time that Paul
wrote this letter to the Romans was Nero who famously persecuted Jews and
Christians and who lined the avenues with crosses holding crucified Christians
and ordered that they be lit as torches. This is the authority he was dealing
with when he said that one must be in subjection to the governing authorities.
The general disrespect for our governmental leaders – notice
that I say disrespect, not disapproval, one can disagree with the government
and still treat our leaders with respect – is unhealthy for our nation, and it
is not good for us as Christians to engage in. And let’s be clear, this isn’t
limited to this president or to a particular party. The level of disrespect for
those we are told here are God’s servants (whether they acknowledge that or
not) is not becoming of God’s people.
Ideally, if we live according to the law of love, which is
described in the Ten Commandments as they describe how we should live in
relationship with our neighbor, if we live according to the law of love our
conduct will be such that we will not run afoul the government, or our
neighbors for that matter. Love seeks the good of others. Or as our text says,
“Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the
law.”
But what if the government, its agents, or even our neighbor
doesn’t deserve love? If or when that might be the case we do well to consider
a statement from earlier in Romans, from 5:8, “God shows his love for us in
that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” There is a principle here
and a piece of good news. We should ask, “Do we deserve God’s love?” And the
answer is a resounding, “No.” But he loved us anyways. Jesus died for us while
we were still sinners. That kind of radical love flows to us through the cross,
and it flows through us to our neighbors and even our enemies.
Prayers
Father in Heaven, we thank you that you loved us while we
were still sinners and gave Jesus to die for us. Because we have experienced
your love we ask that you would help us to love our neighbors and hold our
government officials in proper respect. Lead us to pray for our leaders and for
our neighbors and we pray that you would help us to display your love to them
in ways that cause them to honor you. Forgive us for not loving as we ought. Confront
us with the cross, overwhelm us with your love, and fill us to overflowing with
your love so that we become conduits of your love to others.
Speaking of loving our neighbors, Lord, we pray for our neighbors
in the Caribbean and in Florida some of whom have been devastated by Hurricane
Irma and others of whom await the storm’s landfall. We pray for protection of
life and property for those who await the storm and for relief and comfort for
those who have lost so much to the storm. Lord, have mercy. Christ, have mercy.
Lord, have mercy. Amen.
Thank you so much for using Devotions for Worship, I pray
that our time together has blessed you and given you something to meditate on –
some reminder of God’s grace to rattle around in your brain – for the rest of
the day.
Memory Verse: Matthew 18:12 - What do you think? If a man
has a hundred sheep, and one of them has gone astray, does he not leave the
ninety-nine on the mountains and go in search of the one that went astray?
(Matt. 18:12 ESV)
One of the other practices of devotion is the giving of alms
– donations given to help those in need. If you feel led to give toward helping
our neighbors in Houston, Florida, or in the Caribbean, a great organization to
give to which will get all of those funds to those who need them is LCMS World
Relief and Human Care. You can learn more about them at www.lcms.org/harvey. At this moment they
are set up to receive funds for Hurricane Harvey victims, but I am certain that
soon there will be information about how to help those hurt by Hurricane Irma.
Would you do me a favor? If you got something out of this
devotional time, would you like and/or share it on Facebook, Twitter, or
wherever you do social media? That would help me get the word out, and
hopefully help these devotions be a blessing to others.
God bless you!
Comments