Be Good Citizens

 

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Sermon 10. Be Good Citizens (Titus 3:1-7).

Introduction –

One thing we know about the Bible is that it is never controversial. It presents a mild mannered saviour, who is always perfectly polite in the Old Victorian way, who goes out of his way to never offend anyone around him. And it presents a series of simple moral guidelines that if followed never breed controversy and never make your life more difficult…

…And of course, that is nonsense. Despite what people say at Christmas about Jesus coming to give “peace and goodwill to all men” Jesus himself told us Matthew 10:34-36 –

“34 Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. 35 For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. 36 And a person's enemies will be those of his own household.”

Jesus told us he brought with him a sword that shakes up all the old structures and creates division simply because of its declaration of truth. Remember we observed over the last couple of weeks that the coming of the king changes everything, his truth is a sword that naturally divides.

That sentiment that people say at Christmas time about peace and goodwill does come from a Biblical idea and even a verse, and we will come back to it, but what we know is that Jesus was not shy about being controversial. He acknowledged that he is controversial, the Bible acknowledges that the word of God is a sword and therefore will create divisions. Where truth is spoken divisions will happen, it is unavoidable. Light pushes against darkness, truth confronts lies, this is how it has always been and will always be in this world.

We should not avoid wrestling with difficult topics, just because they cause controversy. Unnecessary controversy is a waste of time and damaging in many ways. But saying truthful things that might create divisions is something that is required of every believer. You and I are commanded to wield the sword of the truth, knowing full well that it will create issues for us and others.

Today we are going to talk about an issue that will likely dredge up some recent controversy. Not because we want to do that for fun, but because the text for today demands it. Titus 3:1-7 forces us to wrestle with some principles that in recent years split friendships, families, churches, and society and this is all still fresh in our minds. But because the text goes where it does, we are going to go there today as well. Today we are going to talk about being good citizens and what this means, biblically.  

There was a time not that long ago when this was hardly controversial for Aussies. It did not create discomfort for most of us believers. But our world is changing, and becoming less Christian, and we are commanded to be good citizens of two kingdoms: our earthly society and God’s kingdom. The tension and controversy comes in where these two kingdoms collide.

So, let’s examine what Paul says about being a good citizen, and how we should navigate those times when these two kingdoms collide.

Be Good Citizens (vv.1-2) – Paul begins by telling the Christians in Crete to be good citizens, “1 Remind them to be submissive to rulers and authorities, to be obedient, to be ready for every good work, 2 to speak evil of no one, to avoid quarreling, to be gentle, and to show perfect courtesy toward all people.” To be honest, I prefer how the KJV translates these two verses, because it makes more sense of the original, particularly in the last phrase, “1 Put them in mind to be subject to principalities and powers, to obey magistrates, to be ready to every good work, 2 To speak evil of no man, to be no brawlers, but gentle, shewing all meekness unto all men.” The Christian’s default setting is to be a good citizen, who does not want to break the law, who respects governmental authority and is generally peaceable and good to live around.

I don’t know any Christians who are not like this. Most Christians, though not perfect, make good citizens and good neighbours. Paul is saying be the kind of people that people want to have as their neighbours, and that governments want to have as their citizens. People who are not troublesome and bothersome, but noble and good.   

I think the ESV translates verse two very poorly, because “show perfect courtesy to all men” is not what the passage says in the original language. It also says something very limiting in modern Western society, where perfect courtesy is interpreted through the grid of the Victorian era and includes ideas about what sorts of forks to use, and what suit you should wear at what sort of meal, and never being harsh in your speech. This makes no sense, when the words behind this passage being translated are better rendered “showing all meekness unto all men.”

Jesus showed “all meekness until all men” but he did not always fit our ideas of perfect curtesy. 

In other words, Paul is saying, be humbly self-controlled with all people. That can mean something very different to perfect courtesy. It means bear with them in patience and control your passions around other people.

This is incredibly wise. In essence what Paul is saying is we should be self-controlled citizens, who want to obey the authorities God has put in place to govern society.

Christians are not to be anarchists, who believe that government should not exist, but model citizens. It is foundational Christian doctrine that God institutes governments for the good of humanity. It is one of the things God does to limit evil in the world, and Paul in Romans 13 and Peter in 1 Peter 2, both tell us that government exists to punish evildoers.

What do they mean? Well, we will come back to this.

Christians are also not to be revolutionaries or rebels for the sake of ungodly causes. There are all sorts of organizations in our society that want to overturn everything about our society, these people are not friends of the gospel. Christians should defend and uphold good traditions which protect the nation from disaster.  

We are to live this way, because we have been transformed.

A Transformed People (vv.3-6) – We are to be good citizens, not because the government is God, and the highest authority of our lives, but because we are now different, “3 For we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy, hated by others and hating one another. The reason we reorientate our life, is because we have been changed from what we once were.   

Paul is saying, there was once a time when we lived like unsaved pagans. This would be different for different people, with varying degrees.  

-        Some of you were born into a Christian home and cannot remember a time when you were not Christians in culture, if not in actuality.

-        Some of us lived lives of out and out rebellion, rejecting many of the teachings of God and engaging in the things this world has to offer us.

But all of us at one point, before we were believers were alienated from God. Even if our behaviour was good, it was still sinful in the eyes of God and fell short of his glory.

I can’t help but observe that Paul likely has himself in mind here. He was particularly bad before he was saved, he was a self-righteous enforcer of God’s law, and he had become so wicked at heart that he had persecuted God’s own people.

Many people can relate to Paul, maybe not to the same extreme as him, but a lot of people have been saved from a rough and rebellious life. This would have been especially true in Paul’s day, when many people were being saved from a godless Judaism or pagan Satan worship.

A society of unregenerated people can be a dangerous place. It’s not that everyone will be as evil as possible all the time, but there is less restraint on wickedness. Many societies in the past were honour/shame cultures. Societies where if someone wronged you, you were forced to get revenge by honour. When Paul says, “passing our days in malice and envy, hated by others and hating one another.” He means this was literally a part of the culture of Rome, Greece and other societies in that day.

Vengeance was an expected thing. A wronged party must avenge themselves. Hatred for petty slights was common. Law was a means of dominating others, maliciously hurting others, and getting one back over others.

The advance of the gospel through society began to change this, and the decline of Christianity in the West will see society again become more like this. Get ready for it.

But the key thing we want to focus on in our message today is why we exhibit this change.

People of a New Kingdom (vv.4-6) – The reason we bring change is because we have been made citizens of a new kingdom with a new heart, and we are made new by our good and gracious king,  - “4 But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, 5 he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, 6 whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior,…” Paul wants us to draw our motivation for being good citizens from the fact that we are now citizens of a new kingdom.

We have been saved by the kindness of our God.

-        Not because of works, but because of his mercy.

-        God does this by regenerating us, that is making us born again, and renewing us by the Power of the Holy Spirit. Through what Jesus Christ has done on our behalf.

-        God changes us completely on the inside so we can live in a very different way.

In other words, Paul is saying, I Corinthians 6:19-20 - “19 Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, 20 for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.”

We are to be submissive to rulers, authorities, magistrates, be ready to be good, and be meek with others, because we are people of the true King, and that is how he wants us to live. We do it to bring him the glory.  

As Paul says at the beginning of Titus, “1 Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ…Grace and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Savior” (Tit. 1:1-4).

We have a new king, a new allegiance, and we are to follow what he says. Government is not our God. Money is not our God. Our boss is not our God. No human authority or power is our God. The Lord God, maker of heaven and earth, is our God, and we want to honour him, so we respect those in authority of us in the way he tells us to.

Anyone disagree with this? I don’t think any Christian disagrees with this. And here is where we get our conflict and our controversy. Because what happens if the authorities God tells us to obey step outside their God-given authority?

Kingdoms Colliding – What makes this question interesting is when we examine the lives of the people who wrote the Bible we see that many of them were killed, unjustly by government officials.

-        Jesus was killed by the Jewish government and the Roman government, as a lawbreaker. They worked together to crucify him.  

-        Paul was executed by the Roman government as a lawbreaker. He was imprisoned multiple times and eventually executed.  

-        Almost all of the Apostle’s were killed by various governments around Rome, as lawbreakers.  

-        Stephen, the Deacon, was martyred by the lawful officials of the province of Judea, and an official of the Sanhedrin, Paul, approved of his execution.

-        Paul himself, as a Jewish agent, put many Christians in jail and worse, Acts 26:9-11 – “9 “I myself was convinced that I ought to do many things in opposing the name of Jesus of Nazareth. 10 And I did so in Jerusalem. I not only locked up many of the saints in prison after receiving authority from the chief priests, but when they were put to death I cast my vote against them. 11 And I punished them often in all the synagogues and tried to make them blaspheme, and in raging fury against them I persecuted them even to foreign cities.”

Paul did this as an official agent of the Sanhedrin, which had the responsibility of governing Judea, alongside the Herodians and the Roman officials.

Remember, even though the Sanhedrin were religious officials, the ancients did not separate religion from secular government, they were intertwined. Therefore, Paul was an official agent of part of the legitimate governing authority of his day.

He used this authority to persecute and punish Christians who did not obey the Jewish law. They used Roman law to persecute Christians as well.

Note this point, persecution is almost always legal. It is almost always official. It almost always has the stamp of government authority.

Indeed, just before Paul wrote this command in Titus, he had been imprisoned in Rome, and just recently released, on account of his Christianity, and he would soon be rearrested and executed after writing these words to Titus.

Christians were arrested for all sorts of reasons. It’s not just that they preached the gospel. They undermined businesses based on idolatry, they were accused of disturbing the peace, they were treated like insurrectionists, faced trumped up charges, all sorts of reasons.

So, a brief reading of just the New Testament shows us that all of the Apostles and the Lord Jesus Christ himself came into conflict with the authorities of their day, just seeking to be good and faithful teachers and witnesses to the truth.

So, we can see that just saying, “obey government” is not the full story of what it means to be a good citizen in Christian terms. Because Paul himself, and Jesus were persecuted as bad citizens of this world. Both were killed, by the governments of their day.

Are you going to say that Jesus and Paul deserved it? Because that is what a lot of modern Christians say about their brothers and sisters facing trouble from conflict with the authorities.

So this is not as simple as people would like. This is a Christian principle where the Bible forces us to think and pray hard. Paul outlines for us why it is not that simple in one of his other letters.

Servants of God – Remember Paul told us that he is a servant of God, and we know that we are servants of God. But, and many people forget this, the government is God’s servant as well, and just like any other servant of God, they are bound by his commands, and are to submit to his authority, and stay within their own sphere of authority. Paul tells us in Romans 13:1-10 –

“13 Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God. 2 Whosoever therefore resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God: and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation. 3 For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to the evil. Wilt thou then not be afraid of the power? do that which is good, and thou shalt have praise of the same: 4 For he is the minister of God to thee for good. But if thou do that which is evil, be afraid; for he beareth not the sword in vain: for he is the minister of God, a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil. 5 Wherefore ye must needs be subject, not only for wrath, but also for conscience sake. 6 For for this cause pay ye tribute also: for they are God's ministers, attending continually upon this very thing. 7 Render therefore to all their dues: tribute to whom tribute is due; custom to whom custom; fear to whom fear; honour to whom honour. 8 Owe no man any thing, but to love one another: for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law. 9 For this, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Thou shalt not covet; and if there be any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. 10 Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law” (KJV).

Paul is saying in more details here, what he said before in Titus. Let’s observe just a few points:

-        The highest authority is God (v.1) – So who is our highest authority? God. Who is the governments highest authority? God. God sits above both individual man and government. Correct?

-        We obey Government, because it is his servant (vv.1-2) – Government is God’s servant, just as much as Paul, you or I, and therefore, as God’s servant government must follow the commands of God. As God’s servants we also seek to follow the commands of God.

-        Government is God’s servant for good (v.3-6) – just as we are expected by God to do good, so is government. God is not ok with people or governments doing evil, and we only have authority to do the good God allows us, everything else is disobedience. This is true for people and governments.  

-        We obey for the sake of conscience (v.5) – We don’t obey just because we are afraid of government, but because we want to have a clear conscience before God. That is our primary motivation for everything, because we are people of the king.

But what if the government tells you to do something that you cannot abide because it crosses a boundary you cannot cross. What happens if your conscience says you must obey God not man? What do you do there?

This is why Jesus, Paul, and the Apostles, found themselves persecuted and killed by lawful governments, because they all found themselves in situations where God’s commands contradicted man’s commands, and they chose to follow God over man.

For this, they were killed.

For this same reason countless millions of Christians died by legal persecution. Because a government said something that contradicted God’s word, and they could not comply.  

Let me ask this question: if Government is God’s servant, is it allowed to disobey God? No. No more than we are. God is the highest authority remember.

So, if we follow for conscience sake, then what happens if our conscience says, “I can’t comply?” What happens if our conscience says, “This is evil, I will not go along with this?” What do you do?

Limits of Government Authority (Rom. 13:3, 9-10) – The first thing you have to do, is understand the limits of governmental authority. Paul shows us these limits in two ways in this passage.

First, the government is only authorized by God to punish evil - “3 For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to the evil. Wilt thou then not be afraid of the power? do that which is good, and thou shalt have praise of the same…”

Government does not get to define evil. It must punish the evil that God says it is allowed to punish. God determines what is good, not man.

Second, it is only authorized by God to punish with the sword those things on the second tablet of law –

“9 For this, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Thou shalt not covet; and if there be any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. 10 Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.”

Notice, that all of these commandments here, in the context of government authority, come from the second tablet of law. Therefore, this limits the sphere of government where the State can use the sword to punish.

Any commandment in the Old Testament that transgresses love for you neighbour, deliberately hurting your neighbour, is covered by this law. As Paul says, “if there by any other commandment” about “working no ill to your neighbour.”

This includes seeking to kill them, lie about them, steal from them, steal a man’s wife, etc, do these things and you can be punished by the law, according to Paul.  

Early Baptists argued that the government exists to punish people for things that deliberately hurt our neighbours. Because government exists to protect life and liberty. So, when it comes to life and liberty the government has every right to stop you hurting your neighbour.

But does this give government total authority over your body? No, your body is God’s. Does this mean the government can make laws saying you should have to put something in your body you don’t want? No, this is going too far. Does this mean the government can coerce your conscience on matters of belief? No, because your conscience is judged by God and God alone.

In other word’s government is a good gift from God, that God ordains to protect people from evil, to collect taxes, to stop murderers and adulterers, but when it goes beyond this, it goes beyond its authority and disobeys God.

If you ignore your conscience and follow ungodly commands, you also disobey God.

Ergo, living in this world, seeking to be citizens of both this world and the heavenly kingdom is going to create conflict eventually. For different people this will provoke different areas of conscience. It is not an accident that Romans 13 which talks about obeying the authorities, is followed by Romans 14 that is all about conscience issues on disputable matters,

“2 One person believes he may eat anything, while the weak person eats only vegetables... 5 One person esteems one day as better than another, while another esteems all days alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind…7 For none of us lives to himself, and none of us dies to himself. 8 For if we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord. So then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord's. 9 For to this end Christ died and lived again, that he might be Lord both of the dead and of the living. 10 Why do you pass judgment on your brother? Or you, why do you despise your brother? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God;…” (Rom. 14:7-10).

On disputable matters Christians are going to fall down on different sides of issues, and we are supposed to allow for that kind of freedom. In the essentials unity, in the non-essentials liberty, in all things charity.

There is so much more we could talk about with this, but I think reflecting on how this relates to Christmas is the best way to conclude our sermon this morning, so you can see that what we are talking about here is Orthodox, old school Christianity.

The Kingdom Revolution – Up until very recently in our culture, these kinds of conscience issues were not a big problem for most of us. Our culture was heavily influenced by Christianity, and through many trials and tribulations, Christians had created a culture where we could live peaceably together without state persecution. It was the coming of our king that made this possible, in fact, look at what Mary says about her own pregnancy,

Mary’s Song, Luke 1:46-47, 51-53 

^“46 And Mary said,

“My soul magnifies the Lord,
⁴⁷     and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
⁵¹ He has shown strength with his arm;
    he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts;
⁵² he has brought down the mighty from their thrones
    and exalted those of humble estate;
⁵³ he has filled the hungry with good things,
    and the rich he has sent away empty.”

Mary foresaw what the coming of her son into the world would do, it would upturn kingdoms and change the world forever, “51 He has shown strength with his arm; he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts; 52 he has brought down the mighty from their thrones and exalted those of humble estate;…”

The coming of Jesus, that changed everything, was going to mean that oppressions would be opposed, and the humble would be lifted up.

Part of the way that the coming of Jesus overturned kingdoms, is because it created a people, the Church, the people of God, who knew that they should obey governments when governments were obeying God, and they should obey God all the time, no matter what, even if they suffered for it from governments.

These people knew that even though government had no right to punish them for following God, because the authorities had the sword and were often ruled by evil men, they would suffer anyway, and they faced this with joy. Counting it as a reward to be treated as their saviour was.

It was the peaceful suffering of countless believers like this, who wanted to obey their governments as much as they could, be good citizens of their homes on earth, but also good citizens of heaven, that brought about this change.

Through the efforts of these Christians oppressions were opposed and ceased throughout the world. This is at the heart of the message of Christmas, as Mary tells us, and as the great Christmas carol O Holy Night says,

“The King of kings lay thus lowly manger

In all our trials born to be our friends

He knows our need, our weakness is no stranger

Behold your King, before him, lowly bend

Behold your King, before him, lowly bend

Truly He taught us to love one another

His law is love and His gospel is peace

Chains he shall break, for the slave is our brother

And in his name all oppression shall cease.”

That’s right, you sang about this every year at Christmas, but the songs were so familiar to you, you missed it. It is those who submit to God, that enjoy his peace and goodwill, “Luke 2:13-14 – “13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, 14 Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.” (KJV). Jesus offers peace and goodwill to those who bend the knee before the king.

Conclusion – So, Paul does want us to be good citizens. Good citizens of our nation, and good citizens of the kingdom of heaven. And when we are forced to choose, not by our own choice, but by wicked men who usurp an authority that is not actually there, we should always choose to obey God over man, even if that means we suffer for doing so, because we have a better hope than anything this world offers, as Paul says in verse 7, “so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.”

This is the hope we look forward to. Let’s hope and pray that we get to live quiet lives, humbly submitting to the authorities over us. But let’s also pray that when we are forced to choose, we choose with Joshua who said, “As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” Let’s pray.