President Donald J. Trump has returned to the White House as the 47th president. The Bible clearly teaches the believer's responsibility to the government. Whatever kind of government, whatever era, whatever century, whatever circumstances, the general principles that we see in Romans 13 about our conduct apply. "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." It identifies government as an institution established by God in all its forms for the punishment of those who do evil and for the protection of those who do good. Our responsibility is to submit and pay our taxes. For some people living in this country, that is becoming a little more difficult. For many of us we don't like the direction that our government is taking. At the time Paul wrote this, it was also an age of absolute rulers. At the same time, taxes were heavy, and tax collectors were extortionists and thieves and robbers. But Jesus says in Matthew 22:21, "Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's." As unfair, unjust as it is, pay tax to Caesar. Jesus did not come to alter the tax code. He did not come to address economic issues. Was He aware of them? Absolutely. He had perfect knowledge of everything. And yet He preached the gospel. He knew that all that is good will come when hearts are changed. He was interested in a new spiritual order, and so He came to create the church. We are to live godly lives in the world. We are to speak the revelation of God into this society so that this society can enjoy more of the common grace that God provides when people live according to His laws. But our responsibility is to submit to the government and pay our taxes. This is submission to civil order. Never take your own revenge but leave room for the wrath of God. ‘Vengeance is mine; I will repay. If your enemy is hungry, feed him, says the Lord. We're to never pay back evil for evil to anyone. No matter what society does to us, no matter what the authorities do to us, we never pay it back with evil. As far as we can, in verse 18, we seek to be at peace with all men. We leave vengeance to God. We serve our enemies. The believer is to be a peacemaker. We pray for all who are in authority, and our prayer is that we may lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and dignity because this is good and acceptable in the sight of God, our Savior. We would want America to live in peace. We have horrible things going on in our streets all the time. We don't want that. We don't want to be a part of the problem, we definitely want to be part of the solution. We do that with the gospel and godly living.
May God bless America!
In Christ,
Pastor Peter Suhn
