In recent years we have seen a judge refuse to obey the ruling of another judge and call it following God. We have seen a man executed for killing an abortionist who called it God's mandate. I have seen people claim a church should not be 501C3. I have seen fear and mistrust of the government run rampant to the point of paranoia. We are to be wise but we are not to have a spirit of fear.
Let me set something straight. Our mandate is to follow Christ, not trump up causes that are not leading people to Christ. Any mandate from God for civil disobedience is paper-thin. The Bible records only a very few examples of civil disobedience and these are in very limited circumstances. The three men in the firey furnace refused to bow to an idol, they did not burn. Daniel prayed to God and the lions passed up an evening snack. The disciples refused an order to stop preaching in the name of Jesus. But look carefully at the examples. They were very limited in scope and more important they did not put others than those who took the stand at risk.
Let's look at Jesus. He never sought to set up an earthly kingdom. Why then do we try? We are to follow him.
1 Cor 11:1
1 Be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ.
(KJV)
Eph 5:1
1 Be ye therefore followers of God, as dear children;
(KJV)
John 18:36-37
36 Jesus answered, My kingdom is not of this world: if my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight, that I should not be delivered to the Jews: but now is my kingdom not from hence.
37 Pilate therefore said unto him, Art thou a king then? Jesus answered, Thou sayest that I am a king. To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth. Every one that is of the truth heareth my voice.
(KJV)
When Jesus was confronted with the church-state issue he handled it simply.
Matt 22:21
21 They say unto him, Caesar's. Then saith he unto them, Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's; and unto God the things that are God's.
(KJV)
There are things in the realm of God and some in the realm of the state. In His day, Caesar represented the state. All earthly government in his day ultimately had their base in Rome as far as the people in Judah were concerned.
Paul was confronted by this situation a few years later, it seems that Christians have been able to get on a high horse about this for two centuries. Paul, as usual, goes into more depth. Let us remember one thing about the two accounts. The first (and it is mirrored in two other gospels) is someone writing what people remembered Jesus said as He taught, some years after He was gone. Paul on the other hand is writing letters to the churches now to correct errors. He has time to set it down, write it, and reread it and see how it will come over. And he was able to cover it in more detail. Look at what Paul says about this.
Rom 13:1-7
1 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.
Whether we like it or not our government is allowed to operate by God. Leaders may not totally stay with the mandate but they are allowed by God. Go back and reread that statement when you think of civil disobedience. I hear the cries of people railing against the government, the social order, the business world when I read this. How long would any of these exist if God said, "Time's up. You are toast?" Their life expectancy would be measured in milliseconds at best. The power He could summon makes all of the world's nuclear weapons pale. I have questions in this arena like, “Why would God allow a man like Adolf Hitler to seize power?” I do not have an answer and I suspect if you have one that includes anything but the sovereignty of God, I probably will not buy it so don't bother presenting it.
2 Whosoever therefore resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God: and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation.
Who resists the power? Let me answer that. Anyone who resists the power of the state, local or federal governments with but a very few exceptions we will discuss later resists the power of God. If you fail to pay immoral taxes, that is wrong. Do you think Jesus saw morality in paying tribute to Caesar? Answer, yes. It was right to pay the tax. It did not say Jesus thought Caesar was right. We are to be salt and light to this world. How can we be that if we spend our time wrestling with flesh and blood? I'll help you with the tough ones, we can't. We say, "don't pay taxes that fund abortion" or “Don't pay taxes to fund the military.” Did Jesus say, "Don't pay the tribute for Roman soldiers that hang Jews for no reason?" Again the answer is, "No." There is no way we can justify not paying taxes by scripture. And since paying or not paying is covered by 501C3, how can we say God is against 501C3? The answer is simple. If we twist scripture, we can. If we let properly discern God's word we can't.
