Romans 1:21-28,32; 13:1-2,4. This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on July 4, 2021, Independence Day.
The Declaration of Independence of the United States was adopted by the Second Continental Congress at a meeting in Philadelphia on July 4, 1776. It is 245 years old today. Of course, the British couldn’t have cared less about our declarations, and sent a large force to crush the rebellion, as they would say.
When you read the Declaration and the Constitution, ratified in 1788, you realize that these were not rebels who wanted rid of government so they could embrace anarchy. These were not brigands who resented the rule of law. Instead, these were men who were watching their society be reduced to bondage under a tyrannical despot.
We will talk more about this in a bit, but first, we must recognize that there is a bondage that is worse than political bondage, and it often is the source of the political bondage.
We cannot blame God for the mess we find ourselves in as a Republic. It is the result of our choices and actions, both spiritually and politically. We have crafted this fine mess by our own hands.
In Romans 1, Paul explains the bondage that comes upon those who cast off belief in God, and a fear of the Lord. This is just as true today as it was with the original Gentile nations that came into being after The Tower of Babel judgment. They quickly turned away from the God of heaven and towards created things, both material and immaterial.
Have we not done the same thing, but in a more sophisticated way? We have continually cast off a fear of the Lord, and even the belief that He exists. This is the same God who has proven Himself over the millennia. Socially, we are busy chasing Him further and further away from public visibility, and the halls of power. The average person gives no heed to God and lives for their own pleasure, even many so-called Christians.
Paul then points to the fact that they then began to serve and worship created things more than the Creator. The ancients interacted with fallen spiritual beings, and began to worship them. They fashioned idols and performed rituals to localize the “deity’s” power in them. Their whole purpose focused on being fruitful in every way. They wanted to be fruitful with offspring, crops, and in military power. They would do anything these fallen “gods” asked in order to have the good life. All along, they were ignoring the One True God.
Is this not what we are doing today? We may not fashion idols, but we have all manner of little trinkets that we spend our money on, thinking they will give us the good life. We ignore the One True God, and Jesus Christ, His Anointed King. Instead, we give honor and worth (worship) to things that are not gods, and wonder why things get so bad.
When people ignore God and value the creation over the top of Him, He gives them over to those things they are embracing. In trying to be free from God, they end up being in bondage to the things they think will bring freedom.
The same is true for us today. This bondage that God has given us over to has manifested itself in all manner of problems in our society and our politics. Our people have cast off true religion. We sacrifice our babies at the altar of Planned Parenthood so that we can have the good life. We sacrifice one another at the altar of business so that we can have the good life. We sacrifice our sexuality and gender, in order to gain an ever-elusive satisfaction without the One True God.
Three times in Romans chapter one, Paul uses the phrase, “God gave them up,” or “God gave them over to” the evil things that they sought over the top of Him. We cannot cast off the fear of God, and worship the things of this creation, without the judgment of God giving us over to those things. In fact, Paul specifically states that we are given over to impure or sinful desires, vile passions, and a debased mind. A debased mind is a mind that is without any value, or worth; it doesn’t work like it is supposed to any more.
This is where many people find themselves as individuals, and where we all find ourselves as a people that are collectively the United States of America, or better yet, “We the People of the United States.”
This brings up the issue of Romans 13. Our founding fathers knew Romans 13 well, and they even believed that they were operating in full obedience to it. So, let’s look at some of it.
Some loyalists tried to make the case that it was sinful to rebel against King George of Great Britain. However, the majority of the colonists understood that there was more to the Bible’s teaching on governance than Romans 13:1, and that Romans 13 makes it clear why God has ordained that there be human government. It is “for the good of the people (verse 4).”
True government is to be a bane to those who would operate in wickedness against their neighbors, and a boon to those who lived righteously. They were supposed to protect the good of the people. Yet, King George was not doing this. He was doing something that was itself a wickedness. He was placing the people in bondage for his own purposes, and we were not made for bondage.
Though the Declaration of Independence is not the Law of the Land, it shows us the mindset and thinking of the founders. Theirs was not a rebellious, ungodly mindset, but one that made its case before God and man. Let’s look at their case, which doesn’t ignore Romans 13, but in fact, is based squarely upon it.
When in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
They go on to list a rationale for their declaration. First, they see that it is self-evident that God made all men equal. They did not mean equal in the sense that they had the same gifts, abilities, and inheritance. Rather, they were all equal in the essence of their being. No human is more or less valuable than another. We are all created by God to be His image bearers, whether a king or a peasant.
Next, they stated that the Creator has endowed all men with unalienable rights. Unalienable means that they can’t be separated from us. Sure, tyrants can use force to obstruct our rights, but they didn’t give us those rights, and they have no authority to take them away. They still belong to us as long as God is God!
Then, they point out that governments are instituted among men to secure those unalienable rights, deriving their power from the consent of the governed. Romans 13 focuses on God raising up governments, but the Bible in its totality, shows that the power of a government is based as much upon the consent of those governed, because the government is supposed to be for their good!
The next point is that, if any form of government becomes destructive of the good of its people, the people have the right to alter, or abolish it in order to form a new government that will work properly. The government was made for the people, not the people for the government. Notice that these men are not pushing anarchy and lawlessness.
They then point out that prudence dictates that a government long established should not be changed for light and transient causes. This kind of action shouldn’t be happening very often.
However, experience shows that people are more disposed to suffer than to right themselves by abolishing the forms of government that they are used to. Most people will blame God and rail at the government for generations before they ever get around to thinking about abolishing a government.
Lastly is the statement, “But, when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute despotism, it is their right, it is their duty to throw off such government, and to provide new guards for their future security.”
The “but” is critical here. They had experienced a long suffering, and were prudently responding to a long train of abuses that had only one design, to reduce them to absolute despotism. It is not just a right, but a duty to throw off such a government. Rights are things that we can choose to exercise or not, but duty is something you should never shirk. If you do, you do so at your own peril. The new guards were not federal bureaucrats. The new guards started with the Articles of Confederation, which were replaced later by the Constitution.
They end the declaration by appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of their intentions. Jesus Christ is the Supreme Judge of the Heavens and the Earth. In short, if Jesus thought their endeavor was just, they are asking for His help. If He thinks that their endeavor is unjust then He would stand against them and help Britain to subdue them. Of course, we know how it went.
We find ourselves at a time where many people are gathering in groups and complaining about bondage. Some are advocating anarchy, which is unbiblical and folly. Some are advocating socialism, and ultimately communism, which is a false promise and folly as well. Some are advocating armed resistance, pointing to the founding fathers as an example.
The problem is that we have something today that they didn’t. We have a constitution that limits the federal and State governments. Each of the States also have a constitution that limits them and the municipalities within their borders. Yes, we may be being pressed into absolute despotism by an elite oligarchy. However, what they are doing is illegal and unconstitutional. They are not our king, or emperor. They are our servants created by our constitution, by us, in order to secure our rights, not to enrich themselves out of the people’s treasury, which is full of “YOY’s” (You Owe Yourself) from the thieves we’ve hired. We do not need armed resistance against our government. Instead, we need to hold them accountable to the Constitution, for once!
How have they been able to pass unconstitutional laws and operate on lawless laws? We have been asleep at the watch for several centuries now. We have been apathetic to the duties that we have as a free people. Yes, Congress, the Presidency, and the supreme Court are supposed to act on our behalf, but in the end, it is our job to watch them and hold them accountable to the Law when they won’t.
Over time, the federal level, state level, county level, and even city level politicians have created structures and mechanisms that rob the people’s treasury for their own benefit, and the benefit of those who are greasing their gears. Yes, the government is a mess, but it is that way because we have been lazy, and ignorant. We ourselves are a mess and have crafted this bondage we see.
What do we do? It starts with repentance in the heart of each citizen in these United States. As Christians, we should be leading the way because we are called by Christ to be living a daily walk of repentance already. Stop being apathetic and ignorant, and start asking God to help you to see the duties and actions that demonstrate true repentance, that go beyond just showing up to vote (sad to say, too many don’t even do this).
Just as our country needs to return to living according to the Constitution, so Christians need to return to our spiritual Constitution, the New Testament. Forget about how the lost are living. The average Christian barely gives lip service to the duties of being a child of God who is spiritually free. It is not enough to claim that the death of Jesus takes away your sin and yet keep choosing the same sin every day.
The duties of a free child of God begin with daily repentance. Repentance always has two sides to it. I am turning from the bad thing, and turning to what I should have been doing in the first place. We must then become daily worshippers of God, praising Him, and calling out upon Him in prayer, instead of worshipping the things of this world. Your life declares what is valuable to you. Is it really Jesus? We must also quit being ignorant of God’s Word. If you don’t know God’s Word then how can you bring Him honor? These are the words of Life! We must take our discipleship seriously. In college, you would be asked to leave if you were always partying and never did the work while failing the tests. Yet, many Christians float along as if they don’t have to lift a finger to become like Jesus. Lastly, we must take the destiny of the lost seriously, and share the good news of Jesus Christ with them. The good news is not just that he can absolve them of any guilt, but that He can lead them in living a life of freedom. To modify Rousseau, “Man was made to be free, but everywhere he is in chains.” Let us return to the New Testament life of Christ, and to a constitutional form of government in these United States of America!