By J.D. Walt

Prayer of Consecration

Wake up, sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.

Jesus, I belong to you.

I lift up my heart to you.
I set my mind on you.
I fix my eyes on you.
I offer my body as a holy and living sacrifice to you.

Jesus, We belong to you.

Praying in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, Amen.

Scripture

You, then, why do you judge your brother or sister? Or why do you treat them with contempt? For we will all stand before God’s judgment seat. It is written:

“‘As surely as I live,’ says the Lord,
‘every knee will bow before me;
    every tongue will acknowledge God.’”

So then, each of us will give an account of ourselves to God

Romans 14:10–12 (NIV)

 

Consider This

Let’s rehearse the story so far on Romans 14. 

You, then, why do you judge your brother or sister? 

The presenting issues here are eating meat, drinking wine, and keeping sabbath. The underlying matter is of another order entirely. It is the soul cancer of judgment and judging one another. Paul knows nothing will destroy this little church faster than the spirit of judgment among the people. Paul knows where this goes next. 

Or why do you treat them with contempt?

If the spirit of judgment constitutes the cancerous cells, then the sign of their malignant spread is contempt. Paul chooses a very strong word here: exoutheneó. It goes way past judging others and into the realm of mockery and despising them. 

Some years ago, the celebrated Jewish psychologist John Gottman embarked on a landmark research study on divorce and its causes. He developed a model which could predict eventual divorce with a documented 90 percent accuracy rate based on the presence of certain behavioral markers. Through his research, he identified four relational cascading markers which point to and ultimately cause relational dissolution. They occur progressively and in this order, criticism, defensiveness, contempt, and stonewalling. He called them “The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse” (If you are interested check out the wikipedia page for an overview). 

Take note, modern readers—and especially those of us who are dealing with church conflicts (not to mention marital and other relational impasses)—of Paul’s prescription. Before we need an exploration of the conflict we need an examination of conscience before God.¹ So often we enter into processes to resolve conflict with others before we have dealt with ourselves in the presence of God. It invariably results in escalating the conflict. This is so because most of our conflicts reach an impasse because of our own deep investment in being right in our own judgment.

For we will all stand before God’s judgment seat. It is written:

“‘As surely as I live,’ says the Lord,
‘every knee will bow before me;
    every tongue will acknowledge God.’”

Translation: Do not pass go. Do not collect $200. Go straight to the throne of God. Run to the foot of the cross. Bow and kneel at the feet of Jesus. Declare with your mouth: Jesus Christ is Lord. Refresh the faith of your heart that God raised him from the dead. Invite the Holy Spirit to lay bare your heart and search you and grant you a spirit of repentance. Repent of a judgmental spirit, of criticism, of defensiveness, of contempt, and of stonewalling. 

So then, each of us will give an account of ourselves to God

Paul is inviting the followers of Jesus, then and now, to go ahead and get in the habit of giving this account to God, who alone is the Judge, now—while there is still time to recover and make amends. This is the great miracle of mercy and the mystery of grace.

   

Prayer

Abba Father! Thank you that you are the Righteous Judge. Forgive us when we attempt to usurp your authority by inserting ourselves in your place. We confess we get crossways with other people and escalate our conflicts when we fail to find ourselves alone at the cross before you. You are the Judge, and we can entrust ourselves to you who judges justly—just as Jesus did. Holy Spirit would you teach us this way of turning away from the escalating conflict and turning directly to you? This is wisdom and for it we thank you. Praying in Jesus’s name, amen.

By J.D. Walt

Prayer of Consecration

Wake up, sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.

Jesus, I belong to you.

I lift up my heart to you.
I set my mind on you.
I fix my eyes on you.
I offer my body as a holy and living sacrifice to you.

Jesus, We belong to you.

Praying in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, Amen.

Scripture

Accept the one whose faith is weak, without quarreling over disputable matters. One person’s faith allows them to eat anything, but another, whose faith is weak, eats only vegetables. The one who eats everything must not treat with contempt the one who does not, and the one who does not eat everything must not judge the one who does, for God has accepted them. Who are you to judge someone else’s servant? To their own master, servants stand or fall. And they will stand, for the Lord is able to make them stand.

Romans 14:1–4 (NIV)

Consider This

They were waiting for chapter 14. These Roman followers of Jesus would have listened carefully to all of the prior thirteen chapters, looking for clues as to how Paul was going to deal with their $64,000 question: How was Paul going to deal with our big problems?

What would Paul say about eating meat, drinking wine, and keeping Sabbath laws? It was tearing the community apart and they could not come to any peace around it. They had arrived at the place of irreconcilable convictions.

In one corner were the Jews (best we can tell). They brought with them the Law and all its requirements of circumcision, dietary restrictions, and the observance of the Sabbath. 

In the other corner were the Gentiles. They were the newcomers to the faith. They had no problem with food and drink—meat and wine, and they weren’t about to get circumcised and keep Sabbath. 

The Jews would have been regarded as the “weaker” in faith because they could not abide letting go of their Jewishness with all the rites, rituals, and culture. In fact, they expected the Gentiles (i.e., the stronger ones) to adopt their customs as a matter of requirement. The Gentiles weren’t having it. They knew they didn’t have to become Jews in order to follow Jesus. And they looked down on the Jews because they would not let go of the old in order to live in the new covenant.

The Jews were struggling to keep fellowship with the Gentiles because of this and took great offense at the brazen insensibility of their ways. In fact, they likely both considered the other infidels. 

This is the big brouhaha in the little church of a hundred in the midst of the million lost souls in Rome. This is why Paul wrote the letter to begin with. This hostile dispute is the pretext and subtext and the real reason we have this most famous letter ever written.

You’ve heard the saying, “Don’t sweat the small stuff. And it’s all small stuff.” It’s not true. This is a story of how the little things turn out to be the big things. 

For Paul, the big picture of winning Rome came down to this tiny community and their relationships. Could they, in their relationships with each other, witness to the reconciliation of the gospel in Jesus Christ? Everything, in a sense, was on the line. 

That’s on the docket for this week, wrestling through the small things that turn out to be the big things in Jesus’s name. It may even lead us to see the same trends and troubles in our own day and age. 

We will see, in the end, that it’s not really about meat and wine and sabbath at all, but about their relationships and the love of Jesus unleashed therein. We are going to see the righteousness of God unveiled and revealed in the most important mission field of all: our relationships inside the church. We are going to discover the secret sauce of the whole project.

Our relationships are the mission.

   

Prayer

Abba Father! Thank you for the way it all matters when it comes to following Jesus and his royal way of loving God and neighbor. Prepare us for deeper understanding of what matters most. Awaken us to the way the small things are the big things when it comes to the gospel and our relationships with each other in the church. Prepare us for the deep revelation now coming to a climax in this letter. Praying in Jesus’s name, amen.

By J.D. Walt

Prayer of Consecration

Wake up, sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.

Jesus, I belong to you.

I lift up my heart to you.
I set my mind on you.
I fix my eyes on you.
I offer my body as a holy and living sacrifice to you.

Jesus, We belong to you.

Praying in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, Amen.

Scripture

And do this, understanding the present time: The hour has already come for you to wake up from your slumber, because our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed. The night is nearly over; the day is almost here. So let us put aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light. Let us behave decently, as in the daytime, not in carousing and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and debauchery, not in dissension and jealousy. Rather, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the flesh.

Romans 13:11–14 (NIV)

Consider This

On my phone, and probably yours too, among a thousand and one other features, there is an alarm clock. When the alarm goes off, a screen appears with several bits of information. At the top is the date. Below that is the time. Further down is the word “Alarm.” At the very bottom is a small greyish button with the word “Stop.” But just beneath the word “Alarm” and well above the button that says “Stop” is a large, oval-shaped, bright orange button. You know what it says: 

SNOOZE.

Pushing that button gets you nine more minutes of slumber. Why nine minutes? The reason dates back to the early digital alarm clocks, but sleep science offers a deeper logic. Somewhere between nine and twelve minutes our bodies begin the shift into a deep sleep cycle again. Nine minutes is the magic number of minutes to keep you from either really waking up or really going back to sleep. I read a study once saying every time one hits the snooze bar they forfeit 10 percent of their energy for the day. (And I hear some of you doing the math out there with sighs of new understanding as to why you feel so sluggish today). 

As Paul begins to make the turn into the final stretch run of Romans he begins to fire warning shots to the fledgling church in Rome. Today’s text is a canon ball shot over the bow. 

And do this, understanding the present time: The hour has already come for you to wake up from your slumber,

Of course, this is beautifully reminiscent of one of our other favorite words from Paul, which even in those early decades had already become a saying across the church:

This is why it is said:

“Wake up, sleeper,
      rise from the dead,
      and Christ will shine on you.” (Eph. 5:14)

You see, Paul is not writing these things to the unbelieving world with its unknowing pagans. Paul is writing to the followers of Jesus. He is talking to awakened believers who have drifted into the nether land between sleep and wakefulness. He is talking to the multitudes of us who have developed a bad habit of the snooze bar. 

The night is nearly over; the day is almost here.

The night has been defeated and yet the darkness lingers as we await the dawn. It’s why Paul doesn’t say, “get out of bed,” but rather “rise from the dead.” The ancient grip of death has been broken and yet the human spirit is weak and often reticent to respond. The grave clothes of death—into which we are born—must be stripped away. Early “belief” must be met with patterned “beholding” if we are to move into the territory of real “becoming.” The “patterns of this world” do not let go easily. To “be transformed by the renewing of your mind” takes more than just setting an alarm clock paired with good intentions. 

Some years ago I picked up a collection of poems by Tom Hennen based on the title alone: “Darkness Sticks to Everything.” Darkness, like death, has been destroyed by the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, and yet it is true—darkness still sticks to everything. Hear Paul out:

So let us put aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light.

Paul knows this is not some kind of battle to live by better principles. He knows there is an absolute war on the soul raging all around us. He knows we will need a different kind of armor altogether—the armor of light. Wow! What a picture!

Let us behave decently, as in the daytime, not in carousing and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and debauchery, not in dissension and jealousy. 

He knows this is not going to be solved by trying harder to be better. He is not advocating for a life filled with better principles and platitudes. This is not a “principled life” Jesus is after, trying to make more ethical people. It turns out, those are the worst snooze-bar offenders of all; deceiving themselves by their principles while hiding behind their self-interested self-righteous image management.

The “principled life” is a way of life that parades as light but remains deceptively cloaked in darkness. I know that stings for some of you. You will thank me later. Abandon the pretense of a “principled life” with all its reasonable respectability. You were an abject, brazen, sinner not so long ago. You are slowly slipping back into the wiles of sin. Stop deceiving yourselves with a religion-wrapped life. Your principles, even godly religious ones, will not save you. They are powerless against the wiles of sins. Here is the remedy:

Rather, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ,

Throw away the entire wardrobe of image management. Put on the identity of Jesus Christ by the indwelling Holy Spirit. The armor of light is the indwelling Jesus Christ, who wears the vestments of holy love, donning them in the deepest places of our inmost selves and lives. Religious principles may produce a semblance of a righteous life. Only Jesus produces the radiance we long for. The way is consecration, transformation, and demonstration. 

Wake up, sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you! 

And can we commit to each other—no more snooze bar? 

   

Prayer

Abba Father! We don’t know what we don’t know, especially about ourselves. And that we think we are on the right path does not mean we are on the right path. We are so prone; nay I am so prone to hit the snooze bar in my life with Jesus. I so slowly and seductively forget just how desperate I am for his presence in my life. Train me in what it means to “clothe myself with the Lord Jesus Christ.” I want this wardrobe, recognizing these are not outer garments nor shiny regalia but the inner vestments of holy love. Have mercy on me a sinner becoming a saint. Praying in Jesus’s name, amen.

By J.D. Walt

Prayer of Consecration

Wake up, sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.

Jesus, I belong to you.

I lift up my heart to you.
I set my mind on you.
I fix my eyes on you.
I offer my body as a holy and living sacrifice to you.

Jesus, We belong to you.

Praying in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, Amen.

Scripture

Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for whoever loves others has fulfilled the law. The commandments, “You shall not commit adultery,” “You shall not murder,” “You shall not steal,” “You shall not covet,” and whatever other command there may be, are summed up in this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” Love does no harm to a neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.

Romans 13:8–10 (NIV)

Consider This

Today’s text feels at best like a hard left turn and at worst like whiplash. We go from talking about submitting to the government and paying our taxes to all of a sudden talking about love. This is one of those places where the chapter break (which is not part of the inspired text) throws us off. We tend to think new chapter, new subject, but the chapter break actually interrupts Paul’s ongoing flow of thought. He’s talking about love for the whole of chapter 12 and then he turns to one of the difficult test cases for love—the dad-gummed government.

Paul is essentially saying submitting to the government and paying taxes is not ultimately about your compliance with the government for your own sake. It is about living for the sake of the good of the larger order. Paying taxes is not about you. It is about other people. And it is about God. In today’s text, Paul is pulling the thread of love back around.

Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for whoever loves others has fulfilled the law.

For the longest time in my life, I obeyed the rules, but not really. I obeyed them as long as people were looking, but left to myself—much of the time—all bets were off. You see, I had a self-focused orientation with law and rules. Take the speed limit laws as an example. 

Growing up, I would obey the speed limit if a) my parents were in the car or b) there was a policeman in the vicinity. Otherwise, I drove as fast as I could without feeling like I was endangering myself. In other words, I assumed the law was there for my good and because I knew I was an exceptional driver, I believed I could go faster without hurting myself. So, no harm no foul, right? 

Wrong! In retrospect, it never occurred to me that the speed limit laws were not about me at all but about other people. The law was designed to protect other people from me and me from other people while piloting a three thousand pound hunk of metal. The point? I had a self-focused orientation with the law. It never once occurred to me that it was for the sake of other people and the good of the larger order. 

My approach was to obey the law to the extent my interest was served which included a) compliance in front of the right people to maintain my reputation, while, b) getting where I wanted to go as quickly as possible. This is both self-interest and self-righteousness. The problem here is not with the law, it is with me. My fallen nature is to protect my self-interest while projecting my self-righteousness. Others do not come into that equation unless it is to deceive them. This is the deep, dark, and dastardly nature of sin. 

The gospel changes our nature from sin (i.e., self-interested self-righteousness) to love (i.e., others-interested relational righteousness).

Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for whoever loves others has fulfilled the law. 

The purpose of the law is love. It is about God and other people. 

The commandments, “You shall not commit adultery,” “You shall not murder,” “You shall not steal,” “You shall not covet,”and whatever other command there may be, [you shall not speed] are summed up in this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” 

The goal of life and the will of God is to become the love of God; which requires consecration (i.e., in view of God’s mercy to offer our bodies as a living sacrifice—Romans 12:1), leading to transformation (i.e., which is what happens when we “conform not to the pattern of this world but be transformed by the renewing of our mind.”).

Love does no harm to a neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law. 

Rather than a left turn or worse—whip lash, Paul just pushed on the accelerator of where he was going all the while. 

   

Prayer

Abba Father! Teach us to love until we have become love. We confess we are sinners and yet we profess faith we are becoming saints. Holy Spirit, would you fill us to overflowing with the love of God? Would you transform us by the renewing of our minds such that our love is not a fake self-interested self-righteous sham? Give us understanding such that our old perspective is undone and we begin to see everything through the lens of love—the blessing of neighbor and the good of the order. In other words, let Jesus be our vision. Praying in Jesus’s name, amen.

By J.D. Walt

Prayer of Consecration

Wake up, sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.

Jesus, I belong to you.

I lift up my heart to you.
I set my mind on you.
I fix my eyes on you.
I offer my body as a holy and living sacrifice to you.

Jesus, We belong to you.

Praying in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, Amen.

Scripture

This is also why you pay taxes, for the authorities are God’s servants, who give their full time to governing. Give to everyone what you owe them: If you owe taxes, pay taxes; if revenue, then revenue; if respect, then respect; if honor, then honor.

Romans 13:6–7 (NIV)

Consider This

Let’s wrap up our little experiment in crafting a working theology of government, taxes, Jesus, church, partisan politics, and dual citizenship. 

I know. Some of you are thinking, I might rather get my wisdom teeth extracted again today than this. Bear with me. This is every bit as spiritual as offering your body as a living sacrifice. Remember— to claim, “Jesus is Lord,” is to acknowledge that nothing falls outside of his merciful and just jurisdiction. So let’s begin here:

Paying taxes is a spiritual act of obedience to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. That said, I do hate paying taxes. 

Now, I don’t like to pay taxes. And honestly, I try to avoid paying taxes as much as possible under the law. (I would rather give my money to the church and directly to others in need.) I don’t like the IRS. I often disagree with how my taxes are being spent. I often seriously think that my taxes are being spent in ways that contravene the will and ways of God. And I live in America. How much more must it have been maddeningly difficult for the first Christians in first-century Rome with its tyrannical leaders? Yet Paul told them to submit to the governing authorities and pay their taxes. 

I can’t believe I am saying this, but if my logic holds (and it may not), paying taxes to the government is an act of faithfulness to God. I find myself on the brink of repentance. It’s not that I think I’m going to all of a sudden be glad about paying taxes. I don’t think that’s the point. The point is about submitting to the government and its authorities in obedience to God. 

Might there come a time when submission to the government means defiance of God? Yes. What then? Can we cross that bridge if and when we get there? I will say this by way of warning. The most important question at that juncture will be, “What does obedience to God require of us?” Many will jump to this question: “What shall be the manner of our defiance of the government?” The real (and frankly only) question must be: “What shall be the manner of our obedience to God?” As you are already noting, those are very, very different questions and they will lead to very, very different responses and outcomes (see Romans 12).

   

Prayer

Abba Father! Have mercy on us sinners and by the grace of Jesus Christ make us true saints. We want the mind of Christ in every aspect of our lives, personally, as a church, and as citizens of the kingdom of heaven who are also living as citizens of nations and states on this earth. We pray for our nations and their governments and leaders; for wisdom and courage; for conviction and restraint. At the same time teach us what it means to love our enemies and to pray for those who persecute us. And, come Lord Jesus, come! Praying in Jesus’s name, amen.

By J.D. Walt

Prayer of Consecration

Wake up, sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.

Jesus, I belong to you.

I lift up my heart to you.
I set my mind on you.
I fix my eyes on you.
I offer my body as a holy and living sacrifice to you.

Jesus, We belong to you.

Praying in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, Amen.

Scripture

For the one in authority is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for rulers do not bear the sword for no reason. They are God’s servants, agents of wrath to bring punishment on the wrongdoer. Therefore, it is necessary to submit to the authorities, not only because of possible punishment but also as a matter of conscience.

Romans 13:4–5 (NIV)

Consider This

Today’s text should convince us that while Nero may have been the emperor of the day, he had not yet delved into the insanity he would come to be known for. How do we know? Because Paul would likely not have written the following about that Nero. To get a load of those days see Revelation 13 (and see this video for possible interpretations of that text).

For the one in authority is God’s servant for your good.

Now that we have that settled, let’s also be clear that Rome was not a friendly government. Rome was an equal opportunity oppressor, especially to Christians. The declaration, “Jesus is Lord,” would have been heard as a decisively political statement and interpreted as insurrectionist at best. While I indicated, Paul has not set out to give us a treatise on church and government/state relations, he does give us some clear theological thinking on the matter here. 

To say “Jesus is Lord,” does not mean Jesus is in the state and government business. It does mean he is in authority over the business of government and state. Take a look at how Paul puts it in his circular to the Ephesians:

That power is the same as the mighty strength he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every name that is invoked, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way. (Eph. 1:19–23)

Notice the precise wording. It does not say that God appointed the church to be head over everything for Jesus. No, it says something quite different, even opposite:

God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church. 

Jesus is Lord. It means he is the head of the church and he is the authority over the government. The great mistake repeatedly made through the centuries is to make the ill-fated leap to installing the church as the authority over the government and to do it in Jesus’s name.¹ The effect of this is to create a national church. It is a very short step from there to the effort to nationalize the Christian faith through the mechanisms of the government. While this is an ever-present seduction both for Christian politicians and despotic demagogues, it always results in a disaster both for the church and the government and especially the people. 

Now, it is a long way from ancient Rome to modern America, but there is a fascinating connective subtext as relates to the matters at hand. One of the truly brilliant strokes of genius of the founders of America was what is known as the establishment clause in the Constitution. It is in the first amendment of what we know as the Bill of Rights. 

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; 

These are the first words of the first amendment (before free speech, free press, peaceable assembly, and petitioning the government with grievances). I believe they reveal something of the theological mind of the founders—at least those who were Christians. They were not setting out to create a Christian nation as much as they were attempting to create a nation where people could freely be Christians—unhindered by the government. I have some experience and some learning on these matters but I am not an expert. Based on my limited experience and understanding (and at the risk of gross oversimplification), here is what I believe the Bible points to concerning the relationship between church and state, and hence, what I surmise was in the minds of the founders of this country as they charted our course on the matter.  

Again, this is insanely complex and well beyond my pay grade to even comment, but as a pastor who happens to be a citizen living in this particularly troubled American context, I consider it my duty to speak from the limited wisdom I possess—exercising both courage and restraint and yes, to prepare for a beating. ;0)²

   

Prayer

Abba Father! It gives us great pleasure and is our deepest privilege to declare, Jesus is Lord! Forgive us for trying to keep Jesus in a private religious compartment in our lives and in the world around us. Forgive us also for trying to impose Jesus on the world around us through the structures and strictures of the government. Holy Spirit, teach us and train us on our humble yet sacred place and role as your church in this world. Grant us wisdom . . . grant us courage . . . for the facing of this hour. Praying in Jesus’s name, amen.

By J.D. Walt

Prayer of Consecration

Wake up, sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.

Jesus, I belong to you.

I lift up my heart to you.
I set my mind on you.
I fix my eyes on you.
I offer my body as a holy and living sacrifice to you.

Jesus, We belong to you.

Scripture

Let everyone be subject 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, whoever rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves. For rulers hold no terror for those who do right, but for those who do wrong. Do you want to be free from fear of the one in authority? Then do what is right and you will be commended.

 Romans 13:1–3 (NIV)

 

Consider This

We read Romans 13  with its admonition to be subject to the government and our thoughts run to names like Bush and Obama, or Trump and Biden. And we scratch our heads. Let me share with you the real head-scratcher of today’s text:

Nero.

The name alone evokes terror and horror. There are corrupt leaders and then there are wicked leaders. Nero was undoubtedly both. Nero is the one who would blame the Christians for the burning of Rome and subject them to persecutions perhaps unrivaled in all of history. This is the one who would nail Christians to crosses, cover them in tar, and then light them on fire to illuminate his gardens at night. Nero is reportedly the emperor who crucified the apostle Peter. 

Let’s be clear though. At the time of this letter things had not yet progressed to the levels of evil they ultimately would. Something tells me Paul foresaw it and wanted to avoid it so he was taking a more measured approach here. 

Let everyone be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established.

Paul is not trying to set up a theology or philosophy of church and state here. Romans chapter 13 is among the most perilous texts in the Bible because of the ways it is prone to abusive misinterpretation (e.g., see the divine right of kings).

The most critical thing to point out about what Paul says here is this: We are not being admonished to “obey” the government but to be “subject to the governing authorities.” We must obey Jesus Christ alone. Submission and obedience are two different things. 

As we read further, we will discover this is about taxes. Paul is telling the Christians they must pay their taxes. Like Jesus, Paul is saying render to Caesar what is Caesar’s (which are the taxes owed) and render to God what is God’s—which is not everything else—but everything to begin with. We pay taxes not because the government says we must pay taxes but because Jesus says we must pay taxes. And Jesus says we must pay taxes because, as Paul writes, “The authorities that exist have been established by God.” 

This is the beginning of what it means to be subject to governing authorities. So, does this mean we have to be subject to unjust and ungodly laws? No, it does not; however, should we choose to disobey such laws we must be subject to the penalties and punishments imposed by the government (e.g., see Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, and a million martyrs in their wake).

To say, “Jesus is Lord,” explicitly implies Caesar is not Lord. Now, just because Caesar is not Lord, does not mean Caesar does not have a significant role and responsibility. God has given Caesar, and any other government for that matter, whatever power and authority it holds. These authorities are not merely subject to God, but they must obey God and they disobey at their peril—for they will answer to God. This is not our concern. Our concern is that we, too, will answer to God. 

In closing, I repeat: Romans 13 is not meant to be a treatise on church-state relations. Paul is not going there. I’m not either. I’ll say more tomorrow and the next day. You already know this whole thing is a minefield. Let’s not blow ourselves up, okay? Let’s just pay our taxes and keep the peace. We have a much larger job to do than any government can conceive of. We are sowing a kingdom!

   

Prayer

Abba Father! We understand the need for government and even that it is instituted by God and yet we struggle mightily with bad government. We struggle profoundly to submit to bad and especially wicked government. And yet we confess that what we see as bad government bears no comparison to what those first Christians endured. We begin with this: Jesus is Lord, not the government nor the governors. In Jesus’s name, we will submit to them, by the power of the Holy Spirit. We trust you Father, we need wisdom, counsel, restraint, and supernatural guidance. Praying in Jesus’s name, amen.

By J.D. Walt

Prayer of Consecration

Wake up, sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.

Jesus, I belong to you.

I lift up my heart to you.
I set my mind on you.
I fix my eyes on you.
I offer my body as a holy and living sacrifice to you.

Jesus, We belong to you.

Praying in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, Amen.

Scripture

Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everyone. If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” says the Lord. On the contrary:

“If your enemy is hungry, feed him;

    if he is thirsty, give him something to drink.

In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.”

Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

Romans 12:17–21 (NIV)

 

Consider This

I know . . . I know . . . I have done an injustice to Romans 12, the Jesus Manifesto, or maybe not. Even though we have not made it past the second verse, there is a massive message bursting through the approach we have taken. Here’s the message:

The success of verses 3 through 21 depends entirely on the secret of verses 1 and 2. 

Here’s what I would like to say about verses 3 through 21. There are thirty-nine (count them: thirty-nine) commands in these nineteen verses of scripture. There must be more command density in this text than even in the Old Testament Law. Note though this is not so much of a “thou shalt not” set of commands as it is a “you must do” set of marching orders. 

Let me repeat. You and I have no hope of obeying these thirty-nine commands across these nineteen verses (vv. 3–21) unless we grasp verses 1 and 2. More plainly: verses 3 through 21 are the cart. Verses 1 and 2 are the horse. I will repeat those first two verses yet again for emphasis. 

Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. 2 Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will. (Rom. 12:1–2)

The great problem of modern Christianity is we want to skip straight to the wrong question, “What are we supposed to do?” and right over the most crucial matter, “Who are we intended to become?” In other words, we want to put the cart before the horse. The text could not be any more clear. It is “being transformed” which leads to the ability to “test and approve” and ultimately do the will of God. 

The first verse reveals the path of consecration. The second verse reveals the way of transformation. 

The bottom line of vv. 3–21 comes in the two little Greek words in verse 9: anupokritos agape. Translation: real love. Real, as in not fake or feigned. Love as in the love of Jesus. Everything else in the chapter, the letter, the New Testament, the whole Bible—is a commentary on these two words: real love. Once we live into verses 1 and 2 verses 3 through 21 flow out like an unstoppable river. And yes, everywhere the river flows it brings life to dead places. 

Real love. You see, the issue for people like us is not so much “no love” as it is fake love. Fake love is another way of saying self-interested or self-serving love, which is not really love at all but manipulation. The concept here comes from the theater and points to actors playing parts rather than real human beings being their true selves. 

Real love. This is who we are becoming in Jesus Christ and this is how we are becoming it—through Jesus Christ in us. Real love is the most simple and satisfying reality in life. It is the most comprehensively creative force in the universe. It is not hard, but it is demanding as it requires significant unlearning and letting go of former ways of being (i.e., the patterns of this world). In the end, it will be all that matters, which means it’s all that really matters right now. It’s why we keep saying:

Wake up sleeper! Rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you!

   

Prayer

Abba Father! Real love! That is who you are. This is who Jesus is. This is who the Holy Spirit is. Not soft and fuzzy and sentimental love but real hard-core love. Your love goes beyond feeling. It transcends emotion. It is unconditional and unwavering—even for our enemies; even in the face of hatred. It is impossible for us yet already realized in Jesus. Come Holy Spirit and realize this real love in us through Jesus in us. Keep us at the altar of consecration that we might walk the path of transformation and that we might live a life of real love for the glory of it all. Praying in Jesus’s name, amen.

By J.D. Walt

Prayer of Consecration

Wake up, sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.

Jesus, I belong to you.

I lift up my heart to you.
I set my mind on you.
I fix my eyes on you.
I offer my body as a holy and living sacrifice to you.

Jesus, We belong to you.

Praying in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, Amen.

Scripture

Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn. Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position. Do not be conceited.

Romans 12:14–16 (NIV)

 

Consider This

So Romans 12:1 contains the CTA for the whole letter (again, if not the whole Bible). CTA = Call to action. It is to “offer your bodies as a living sacrifice.” Romans 12:2 contains the cause of action, who is Jesus through the Holy Spirit, the very mercy of God himself. It’s why the text says, “but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.” It sounds passive on first hearing. The point is to say Jesus is the actor here, not you and me. We do not transform ourselves. So many of us, present company included, have spent years trapped in what I call “functional religion”—trying harder and harder to do more and more to be better and better. It is a religion of striving after God. It is futile and frustrating and ultimately fruitless. It produces self-righteous so-called saints who measure their progress by comparing themselves to others. In other words, they lift themselves up by putting others down. We do not mean to do this, but until we get our eyes off of ourselves and onto Jesus we simply can’t help it. 

To “be transformed” is to move into the realm of what we call “transcendent faith.” This is the way by which the “righteousness of God” comes to us as a gift. Our only work is that of receiving. People tend to reject this because it feels like passivity, which we tend to despise. The operative term is not passivity but receptivity. This is where we are most broken—our ability to receive love—from God and from others. It is hard for us to be embraced just as we are because we refuse to embrace ourselves as such. It is far more comfortable to try to live in the broken paradigm of “believing and behaving.” The mystery of grace comes when we shift into the approach of “beholding and becoming.” We behold this miraculous vision of mercy, who is Jesus. He imparts to us the miracle of grace, and we mysteriously begin to become the mercy and grace of God ourselves. This is why grace is deemed amazing because it breaks through our brokenness and heals us. Many people have accepted a religious truth and considered it salvation. Fewer have actually received mercy and grace—who is the living, risen Jesus Christ. 

As the Scripture says, BEHOLD! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me. (Rev. 3:20)

Many of us have heard the knock and said, “Come in.” We actually have to open the door. This is the shift from believing to beholding. It leads to the ongoing miracle of actually becoming like him whom we behold. This dear friends, is the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God.

   

Prayer

Abba Father! Thank you for mercy and grace, though I scarcely can even grasp the meaning. So thank you for Jesus, and that he has come to my door and that he stands there and knocks and keeps knocking. Thank you that though he hears my meager reply to “come in,” he waits for me to come to the door. I want to come to the door and swing it wide to Jesus. I know you aren’t looking for me to do something, but rather to open wide the door of my heart more than I have before; to let go of my former religion and enter into a real and ever deeper relationship. Come Holy Spirit and interpret this to my soul and lead me in this way of the will of God. Praying in Jesus’s name, amen.