When I go home, I expect to find my wife and kids there. I can ask, ‘How was your day?’ If my daughter is exposed to peanut or my son breaks his leg on the trampoline, these wonderful, big, strong ambos come along in their well-equipped ambulance and pick them up. The hospital takes them in overnight. And they get patched up and come home. Yes, there are costs and inconveniences. But it’s better than so many other places in the world.
Our church grounds get broken into Saturday by Saturday, sure. But the police are on the job. They recognized one of the blokes from the CCTV footage. They rang us up and asked if we would like to press charges. And yes, we would. Because the wrong doers need to learn not to pinch a first aid kit and other stuff from a church. Hopefully the police will catch the ring that is going around stealing earth moving equipment at the moment.
We have schools where teachers love and care for the kids. I see them each week be kind and gentle and firm. We have high schools where kids can get an education and learn about God’s world. We have universities where our young adults can get an education. None of these institutions are perfect. There is sometimes bullying, sometimes drug use, sometimes nepotism and cheating, sometimes abuse by those in power. But at least wrong is still called wrong, and there are investigative bodies. But we have them, and our kids can learn and grow.
Isn’t it wonderful to have roads that work and public transport? We could be India. Sometimes you get caught in traffic. But we expect that we will eventually get home, and our loved ones will be there. There will be a cuppa and food on the table, generally speaking. And if there isn’t, please let me know.
For all this we can be thankful to God as the ultimate giver of all good gifts. And almost all of it comes from our government. It comes from government that collects taxes, and then redistributes it for the public good, for the common wealth, and employs an executive to enforce the laws.
The middle east is the cradle of Christianity. And the middle east and north Africa is filled with jihad, violence, and slaughter.
In 2003, American tanks rolled across Iraq to get rid of a dictator. And they did, eventually. But the replacement regime is terribly weak, and the US and Australia lost its appetite for the war. And now, into the vacuum, has strode ISIS. And they have killed or expelled all the Christians from Mosul.
In 2010, we saw the Arab spring. The slogan was ‘the people want to bring down the regime’. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arab_Spring. Have you spoken to Coptic Christians whose family live in Egypt. Yes, Mubarak was a dictator, they say. But he was the least worst of a terrible situation. The Arab spring successfully removed Gaddafi in Libya. It’s still trying to decimate the Al Asad regime in Syria. And in each of these countries, Christians have been slaughtered, raped, beheaded, decimated, even crucified. Humanly speaking, the only hope for the Christians is that the dictatorial regimes survive the attacks of Al-Quaeda backed ISIS.[1]
In Gaza, attacks on Christians have increased. They are told to convert to Islam and harassed.[2] So they are bombed by the Israelis, and pressured by Hamas.
The outcome of the Arab Spring is and will be no different to the outcome of revolutions of Communism in Russia under Lenin and Stalin and Cambodia under Pol Pot and China under Mao Tse Tung and North Korea under the Kims, or the Final Solution under Hitler’s Germany, or the fall of the Shah of Iran. In all of these situations, the end was said to justify the means. Horrific things are deemed necessary. Beheadings, torture, killing, purges, great leaps forward, year zero, cultural revolution, book burnings, halocausts with gas chambers. But as George Orwell poignantly portrays in Animal Farm, the pigs, who end up running the farm, are no different from the farmers from whom they wrested control.
Karl Marx, the father of Communism, said that religion was the opiate of the people. But history is clear. If Marxist dictators get into power, they better give out lots of Opium, because they invariably butcher their own people.
The will of God is that humanity live in peace, peoples with other peoples. Humans should not revolt against one another and rise up to shed blood. Rather, humans should peacefully co-exist one with another, and not take it in their hands to rid the earth of their kin. Yes, it started with Cain and Abel. But God’s word remains as a warning to the one who wants to murder his brother. Sin desires to have you, but you must master it.
Since we are all from Adam, we are in a real sense one human family. We all come from one human family. And that is the great Christian and biblical protection against racism.
Acts 17, From one man and one woman God made every nation and people group, and determined the exact times and places where they should live. And God did this so that people might reach out and find him, God, for whom they are made.
All people know deep down that God is there when they look at creation (Romans 1:20-21). All people know, or should know, that their fellow humans are sacred because they bear his image. And all humans deep down know that something is wrong when they look at the world. The divine image is carried and born by every human being, whether they are terrorist Muslim or downs syndrome baby, whether they are black, white, short, tall, Arab, Israeli, Muslim, Jew, Christian or Atheist, or anything in between. Humans are made in the image of God. Fallen, cracked image bearers, yes. But image bearers. And raising a hand against a human is raising a hand against God. Attacking or hating a human is lifting a hand against God’s image bearer. It is an anti-God act. And you had better have a water-tight God-given reason for doing it, because God will bring you into judgment for it. And God is a jealous God, jealous for his name and image.
So when God came in the flesh, when the eternal God became human in the person of Jesus, he taught us to turn other cheek, to go the extra mile, to give our cloak as well as our shirt. He prayed father forgive them for they know not what they are doing. He tells the parable of the Good Samaritan, who even though he should have been the enemy of the Jew, did good to him and loved him and was a neighbor to him.
Now, the question that is raised by Jesus’ clear teaching of Christian non-aggression and Christian tolerance of wrongdoing is, will this lead to anarchy? Are we Christians just to be doormats? Will the powerful and the extreme wing, those prepared to do anything, oppress the weak, and those who are happy to fight and kill win against those who will not take up arms. And the first, but not the only, Christian answer to that possibility is GOVERNMENT. Government is the answer to that problem. The answer to this problem is not vigilantism, it is not taking revenge, it is government. God has established governments for the orderly administration of justice and to maintain peace and security.
The Apostle Paul tells us the Christian view of government. Romans 13:1-2:
Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God. Consequently, he who rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves. (NIV)
One of the ways we promote and preserve peace in our world is through submitting to government. Christianity is opposed to revolution and the overthrow of governments. Christianity recognizes that human government is necessary in a fallen human world to restrain evil and vice. We must obey our governments.
You might be cynical about government. You might be angry with the government of the day. The government might be frustrating and slow and incompetent and corrupt. But the answer is not to rebel or overthrow. It is to use peaceful means and the institutions that God has established to bring change and reform.
The Government may not be a Christian government. They might be atheists, muslims, or catholics. Government, whether democratic or dictatorial, is necessary for the stability of a country. Our government might be Labor or Liberal, left wing socialists or right wing fascists. They might be wise and foresighted or foolish and narrowminded. You might disagree with them and not like them at all. It doesn’t matter. They are the government, and God in his sovereignty has instituted them over us. And we need to obey them. They put the carbon tax in, and we need to pay it. They take the carbon tax away, and we need to pay it on.
Of course, the government is under law, too. God always expects ‘constitutional governments’ not absolute governments. That is the benefit of the rule of law. So if the government disobeys the law, we need to follow the right procedure to hold them accountable, because government sits under law, not over it. That’s why we have a separate court and judicial system.
But 99.9% of the time, the godly thing to do is to obey the government. And that is why Peter says this in 1 Peter 2:13 and 14.
Submit yourselves for the Lord’s sake to every authority instituted among men, whether to the King as the supreme authority, or to governors, who are sent by him to punish those who do wrong and to commend those who do right. (NIV)
The Lord Jesus Christ died for our sake, to take the punishment for our sins. For Christ died for sins once and for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring us to God. And here, Peter says that there is something that we can do in return, for Christ’s sake, our Lord. The Lord of heaven and earth says, for a short time, for the time of your temporary residence, submit to every human authority. One of the things I promised to do when I was ordained was this:
“Will you maintain and promote, to the best of your ability, quietness, peace, and love among all Christian people, especially among those who are committed to your care.’ (AAPB, 612) And I said “I will, the Lord being my helper”
And one way I do this is by obeying our government and encouraging you to do the same. If you owe taxes, pay taxes. If you owe HECS or Fee Help, pay your HECS or your FEE HELP. Speak respectfully to your members of parliament and local councillors, because God put them there.
The government is there to punish wrongdoers. The government bears the sword. And so our government has the power to imprison, and to take life if necessary. We don’t have the death penalty, but we do have the life penalty. And the government is also there to reward those who do well.
As Christians, it is better to be known for the number of Orders of Australia and Australians of the Year than for tax evasions and child sexual assaults. And the government is there to do both: to reward and punish. The government implements royal commissions and the government gives Australia Day awards. That’s their job.
A few months ago I was pulled over for speeding down Silverdale Road. Thank God I was. The policeman gave me a fine. That’s his job, to punish the wrong doer. I might say, 60 is too slow, and I was late. But God says better.
Now, brothers and sisters, we are blessed, because we have lived in relative peace and safety for so long. And for this, we can thank under God a wise separation of powers, and our inherited institutions such as an independent judiciary and media, a police force that cares about integrity, an army that is there to defend Australia, not rule it. All of this has been built on protestant Christian principles. We’ve been blessed by a great heritage of Western liberal democracy. As Winston Churchill (1874-1965) said,
“Many forms of Government have been tried, and will be tried in this world of sin and woe. No one pretends that democracy is perfect or all-wise. Indeed, it has been said that democracy is the worst form of government except all those other forms that have been tried from time to time. Sir Winston Churchill, Hansard, November 11, 1947.
But not only should we obey our government. We should also pray for our government. Look over at 1 Timothy 2:1-6:
I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone – 2for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. 3This is good, and pleases God our Saviour, 4who wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth. 5For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Jesus Christ, 6who gave himself as a ransom for all men – the testimony given in its proper time. … (NIV)
We have much to be thankful for. And God wants us to give him thanks for government. And God wants all people to be saved. And so God wants us to pray for peace, and for our Government’s wisdom in maintaining peace, which is not easy with all these sinners like you and me in society.
God wants us to live in love with our fellow humans. As much as it depends on us, we are to live at peace with our fellow citizens during our temporary stay in Australia.
So Paul, who was beheaded by Nero for his allegiance to the gospel, commands obedience to government. In this, Paul was simply following Jesus Christ. Jesus said, ‘render to Caesar what is Caesars’ (Mark 12:17; Matthew 22:21). Jesus himself submitted to unjust torture and crucifixion. He told Peter to put his sword back, for whoever lives by the sword dies by the sword.
Peace is vital for preaching the gospel. The pragmatic reality is that we cannot hold out the word of life in a war zone. There are no churches left in Mosul. Here it is different. Worse, is that without peace, people won’t listen to the gospel. War and hatred hardens people. Where’s God when my child is killed? Exactly where he was when he gave you your child. But killing and bloodshed hardens men, and grief and dissipation take over. So pray for peace.
A Baptist pastor in Gaza has not asked us to pray for intervention but peace. The Iraqi Christians don’t want armed intervention but peace. And we Aussies want peace. So we must pray for government and for peace. We men need to lift up our hands in prayer, not fighting.
Friends, because we are not to take revenge, and because we are to obey government, there is a third interaction we should have with government. First we obey. Second we pray. And third we say.
We appeal to government about injustice. Because government bears the sword, we are to apply to government when we are wronged or cheated.
Democracy allows us to do certain things. We are allowed to gather for peaceful purposes. We are allowed to have political and religious associations. Yesterday, thousands of Syrian and Assyrian Christians gathered in Sydney in Melbourne to remember the plight of Christians in Syria and Iraq. We must do it in a peaceful way.
That’s why it is not revenge to have the police press charges. For the government is the agent of God’s wrath, to punish the wrongdoer, and maintain justice.
So write those emails about Syria and Libya and Iraq, where Christians are being slaughtered. If you are upset about Assylum seeker policy, write away. If you don’t like gay marriage, talk to your local member. Because that is our role, to speak.
We are called to obey. We are called to pray. We are called to say.
Now of course, in the midst of this, there is one great exception. What if your government is that of Nazi Germany? Or Muslim Sharia law? Or Kim Jong Un’s North Korea?
And Peter elsewhere tells us the Christian approach. In Acts chapter 4 verse 19, Peter is told not to speak in the name of Jesus Christ, and he says this:
Judge of yourselves whether it is right in God’s sight to obey you rather than God. For we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard. (NIV)
Law posited by government can never annul law given by God. Murder is still murder, even if the government does it or commands it. And preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ, of Jesus’ perfect life, of his sin bearing death, to take the punishment for our wrongdoing, and of his resurrection to defeat our great enemy death, remains Christian obligation no matter what the government says about proselytism.
So our obligation is Obey, Pray, and Say. And lets do this for the duration of our temporary residence in Australia, to win others to Jesus Christ, for the glory of God.
Let’s pray.
[1] http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-2711464/STEPHEN-GLOVER-I-m-afraid-bitter-truth-Iraq-Libya-better-tyrants-toppled-arrogant-naive-West.html http://pjmedia.com/tatler/2014/07/31/presbyterian-church-usa-criticizes-israel-ignores-christian-persecution/
[2] http://www.fides.org/en/news/33985-ASIA_HOLY_LAND_Greek_Orthodox_monastery_under_attack_The_nuns_are_appealing_to_President_Abbas#.U9xOtFaA1Ih