CHRISTIAN CITIZEN

Which Kingdom Do You Serve?

Everyone must submit to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except from God, and those that exist are instituted by God. So then, the one who resists the authority is opposing God’s command, and those who oppose it will bring judgment on themselves. Romans 13:1-2 (HCSB)

In our country, we are taught to have a high threshold of toleration for any and everything. However, in the midst of that teaching, we have forgotten the lessons of history. The flag ceremony I shared yesterday, reminds us from whence we have come and hopefully give us the courage to take a stand on the principles upon which it is built. My fear is that we are slowly forgetting those principles and moreover, the One who gave them.  Our hope, that is to say our future, is built on nothing less that Jesus Christ and His righteousness. If we follow Him, we must expect trials and tribulations along the way. Going along to get along is not an option. The following is a story adapted from a sermon Bob Joyce preached entitled “What’s Your Story” and reminds us of what can happen when we forget.

“A thirty-four-year-old German woman named Anna Rosmus recently told the tragic story of what happened in her hometown in Germany during World War II. Speaking at Carson-Newman College in Tennessee, she told of growing up in Passau, Germany, years after the war. As a teenager, she wrote a school essay about the postcard beauty of her hometown. The town is located near the Austrian border in Bavaria. The essay won her a national award.

The following year, on a similar school project, Anna decided to write about her hometown during World War II. She wanted to write about the stories she had heard about how bravely her town resisted the Nazis, fought against them, and rejected the political machine of Hitler.

What she discovered shocked her and the world. She found in old newspaper clippings that not only did many people in her town sympathize with the Nazis, but they actively worked and collaborated with them. She later found that eight slave labor camps were begun in and around her hometown. The camps were used by the Nazis to work Jewish prisoners to death. Instead of using gas, the Nazis killed thousands by working and starving them. Prisoners were forced to dig their own graves.

Then she learned something even more horrible. As American soldiers were entering her town on May 2, 1945, many of the townspeople were pouring gasoline on defenseless Russian Jews, strapping them to railroad tracks, and setting them on fire.

What were the churches doing during this time? Anna Rosmus stated that the swastika was on daily display in the churches in her town. The churches obeyed and supported the Nazi movement because of the biblical teaching that all authority is given from God and must be obeyed (Romans 13:1-2).

By wrapping itself in the German flag, the church lost its prophetic voice and its soul. It failed to read Revelation 13, which exhorts believers to resist governments which become evil and satanic. Civil religion …. the marriage of church and state …. always makes the church a loser.”

Today’s Prayer

Dear Lord,

I love my homeland because I have experienced the freedom to worship and live in a Christian land. Help me always to worship You instead of what You have created. In Jesus Name, Amen.

CHRISTIAN CITIZEN

Get Involved

Be a good citizen. All governments are under God. Insofar as there is peace and order, it’s God’s order. So live responsibly as a citizen. If you’re irresponsible to the state, then you’re irresponsible with God, and God will hold you responsible. Duly constituted authorities are only a threat if you’re trying to get by with something. Decent citizens should have nothing to fear. Do you want to be on good terms with the government? Be a responsible citizen and you’ll get on just fine, the government working to your advantage. But if you’re breaking the rules right and left, watch out. The police aren’t there just to be admired in their uniforms. God also has an interest in keeping order, and he uses them to do it. That’s why you must live responsibly—not just to avoid punishment but also because it’s the right way to live.  That’s also why you pay taxes—so that an orderly way of life can be maintained. Fulfill your obligations as a citizen. Pay your taxes, pay your bills, respect your leaders. Romans 13:1-7 (MSG)

Have you ever witnessed an event that has left you wondering why somebody does not do something? We have probably all seen something that has evoke that kind of response. However, the question should not be why “somebody” doesn’t do something but rather what can I do?

In an earlier century, there lay a large boulder in the middle of the roadway. Traveler after traveler walked past the boulder, veering off the side of the road to get around it. All the while, they were shaking their head and muttering, “Can you believe that? Someone should get that big thing out of the way. What an inconvenience!”

Finally, a man came along and, seeing the boulder, took a branch from a tree and pried the boulder enough to get it rolling and rolled it off to the side of the road. Lying underneath the rock, he found a small bag with a note. The man picked up the note and read it. It read as follows:

“Thank you for being a true servant of the kingdom. Many have passed this way and complained because of the state of the problem and spoken of what ought to be done. But you have taken the responsibility upon yourself to serve the kingdom instead. You are the type of citizen of which we need more. Please accept this bag of gold for your service. Traveler after traveler have walked by simply because they didn’t care enough about the kingdom to serve.”

I wonder what “bags of gold” we are missing each day, simply because we don’t bother to get involved.  If our nation was filled with citizens that were involved as much as we are, what would our nation look like? Could it be that what we see in the world today is a reflection of our own involvement?

Today’s Prayer

Dear Lord,

Help me to be sensitive to your leading in this world. I know there are many things that happen each day where your servants could make a difference. Help me to be one of them. In Jesus Name, Amen.

CHRISTIAN CITIZENSHIP

A Sacred Trust

Every person is to be in subjection to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those which exist are established by God. Therefore whoever resists authority has opposed the ordinance of God; and they who have opposed will receive condemnation upon themselves. Romans 13:1-2 (NASB)

Our citizens pledge allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America. The phrase “one nation, under God, indivisible with liberty and justice for all” is an idea that has given birth to the greatest nation on the face of the earth. However, it is not just a phrase. It is the cornerstone upon which our nations is built. Liberty and justice are rights for which the vast majority of people around the world long and we have inherited them. However, like so many, inheritance is usually taken for granted.

The founding fathers of this great land new the price for freedom was extremely high. So many willingly gave their life for a cause that no one up until that time had ever experienced. They believed God, the Creator of all that is, endowed every person with inalienable rights. This was their sacred trust!

Our first president George Washington, appealed to God while he was in office praying (I wonder what he would think today knowing praying in government facilities is forbidden?):

“Almighty God; We make our earnest prayer that Thou wilt keep the United States in Thy holy protection; that Thou wilt incline the hearts of the citizens to cultivate a spirit of subordination and obedience to government; and entertain a brotherly affection and love for one another and for their fellow citizens of the United states at large. And finally that Thou wilt most graciously be pleased to dispose us all to do justice, to love mercy, and to demean ourselves with that charity, humility, and pacific temper of mind which were the characteristics of the Divine Author of our blessed religion, and without a humble imitation of whose example in these things we can never hope to be a happy nation. Grant our supplication, we beseech Thee, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.”

James Madison, the primary author of the Constitution of the United States, said this: ’”We have staked the whole future of our new nation NOT upon the power of government; far from it. We have staked the future of all our political constitutions upon the capacity of each of ourselves to govern ourselves according to the moral principles of the Ten Commandments.”’

Our sacred trust is that we have been given for what so many long: the opportunity to rule ourselves! However, our liberties and our expectation for justice will not last unless we realize that this form of government was created and will work only when we recognize the God from whom these blessing flow. We must, as its citizens, pick up the mantle of responsibility with sound moral judgment and engage our world.

Today’s Prayer

Dear Lord,

Forgive me for taking for granted these most precious gifts. Help me to engage my culture by participating in electing the people who will govern us. Give me the discernment to elect morally upright people that fear You. And please bless the USA. In Jesus Name, Amen.