Introduction to America's Providential History and Christian Civil Duties for Upcoming Elections
Stephen McDowell Welcome to America's Providential History Podcast, where we talk about the real story of America and explore the hand of God in our history. Now, here's your host, Steven McDowell. Hello. I'm glad you're joining us for this edition of America's Providential History Podcast. Today, I want to begin to look at how Christians can fulfill their civil duties. Now, coming this November, we will be having elections here in the United States. And very soon, early voting begins to take place in many states.
Understanding Civil Duties: The Bible as a Guide for Christian Involvement in Public Affairs
I thought it would be appropriate to begin to explore, how we as Christians can fulfill our civil duties. First, we need to understand that the Bible teaches we have civil duties. We'll briefly look at in future podcasts. I'll explore in more detail. The Bible clearly says that we should be involved, in civil affairs and we have duties to fulfill. you know, in the scripture, it talks about a number of places in the Old Testament, in Isaiah and Jeremiah, about the watchmen on the walls. Isaiah 62. 6 says, I've posted watchmen on your walls, O Jerusalem. They will never be silent, day or night. Now, of course, part of the role of the watchman was to stand on the city walls and look for the enemy and sound the alarm if the enemy, came in sight. And today, really, the church and the leadership of the church are still to be watchmen on the walls that they are to look for enemies of God's truth, God's kingdom, the Christian faith, and sound the alarm. Now, the enemies that we face today are not like the watchmen in the Old Testament who were men with swords and shields that were sneaking up to attack the walls of the city. But there are many enemies that we face today. And it's part of the responsibility, part of the duty, part of the role of the watchmen. Those are leaders in God's chur, to recognize the enemy and sound the alarm.
Identifying Internal and External Threats to the Christian Faith and American Society
We have both internal and external enemies that threaten, the work that God has called us to, that threatens his church. Of course, they're internal things of loss of love for the Lord and our love, growing cold and false doctrines, worshiping, idols, things that are made by the creature instead of worshiping the Creator. And this is appropriate and right for churches to make known the enemies of the faith, enemies of doctrine might call them theological enemies, but we also have a lot of external enemies. There's external threats that we face today that will undermine, destroy our ability to accomplish the mission God has given us to do here in the United States. Growing external enemies, growing threats to the Christian faith. there are two in particular. One is socialism. It's a form of statism. We've touched on this before. And in future podcasts I'm going to look in much more detail. Statism is simply the belief the ultimate authority in the earth is man, man via the state. And man being the source of his own, truth, his own understanding of what's moral, of right and wrong. He seeks to seize control of civil government and through force, bring about his vision of utopia in the earth. And so we, see, electing socialist mayors, like in NewSong York City and other places. This is a great threat to the Christian faith.
The Dangers of Statism and Islam: Threats to Christianity and the Republic's Founding Principles
And also another great threat to Christianity is Islam. and we see Islam growing in many nations but here in the US and both Islam and statism are incompatible with the Christian faith and really are incompatible with the founding principles of the United States of America, incompatible with our Constitution. And both these great external threats, which I think are the two biggest threats to the Christian faith in the coming generations here in the United States, it's the role of the watchman to sound the alarm, let the people know this is undermining our ability to freely worship God and fulfill all of our, duties, to the Lord. And then, let people know, well, what can we do to stop the enemy? Defeat the enemy from coming in and over, taking our Christian constitutional federal republic. At least we were founded as that. And as we've explored in previous podcasts, we've been putting that aside. And so, when we talk about how Christians can fulfill their civil duties, what we're saying is that Christians and leaders in the church must be watchmen, because these are enemies, we might call them external enemies, threats to the Christian faith. And if these external threats grow and assume the power and authority that they seek to, then it, will keep us from worshiping God, training our children in a biblical manner, propagating the gospel, doing everything that we are required, to do. And so to enter the battle to defeat the enemy, we must be involved in civil affairs.
Fulfilling Civil Duties: Extending God's Kingdom Through Action and Discipleship of Nations
We must fulfill our civil duties because the threat we face is a real external threat here, right in the earth. It's not just an internal belief or theological idea, but it manifests itself in external action that is a great threat. So we need to rise up, sound the alarm, and, teach what our civil duties are, how to fulfill them, because, we will, part of extending the Kingdomnomics of God is, fulfilling our civil duties. Jesus, as we've talked about in some past podcasts in the Great Commission, he, told us to go and disciple the nations. Matthew 28, 18:20, all authority has been given unto me in heaven and earth. Jesus said, go, therefore, and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them and then teaching them to observe all that I commanded. And so we're to go and disciple the nation. Now, Matthew Henry, who wrote a Bible commentary in the early 1700s that was very influential with the founding fathers. He reflected the understanding that Christians had in early America regarding what Jesus meant when he said to go and make disciples of the nations. Yes, we're to transform individuals, but we're to do more than that.
Transforming Nations: Making Christian Nations Through Individual and Societal Transformation
We're to transform nations. Matthew Henry said, the principal intention of this passage is clear. It's to do your utmost to make the nations Christian nations. So part of the commission Jesus gave us after he rose from the dead, before he ascended into heaven, there in Matthew 28, is to make the nations Christian nations. Well, what does that mean? How do we do that? Well, it begins, certainly by transforming individuals. The Bible teaches that Christ is our redeemer, that he redeemed man, and he gave us a mission to go and redeem others. In other words, he gave us an evangelistic mandate to go and teach the truth of his redeeming work so that individuals might be birthed into the kingdom of God. All transformation in a society begins in the heart of man. But then it doesn't stop there, because it also transforms our mind as we renew our mind and begin to think according to all that Jesus taught, because we disciple nations by teaching them to observe all that I commanded. And Jesus, in essence, reiterated all the moral law of God contained in the Ten Commandments and elevated really the requirements of the law to love God as, he loved us, which is greater than loving God as we love ourselves. Do unto others as you would have others do unto you. But Jesus even elevated that in every aspect of how he requires us to obey the moral law. So he's our redeemer. So we go and transform men. But the Bible also says God is our creator. Christ was there in the beginning as wisdom, creating man, and as we've explored in previous podcasts, and we'll look at more in the future as well. After God created man in his own image, male and female, he, gave them a commission, the creation commission, to go and be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth, subdue the earth, rule over the earth. So we're not only to transform men, we are also to transform nations to transform society.
The Role of Politics and Public Affairs in Fulfilling the Great Commission and Creation Mandate
Everything should be impacted as we go and Live out our faith as a member of God's kingdom. And so to transform society, we must be involved in politics or public affairs. We must be involved in civil affairs. If we're going to transform society, then we must get involved in it. Now, you know, politics, it's not that general. The word politics means that which deals with the regulation and government of a nation or state for the preservation of its safety, peace and prosperity. So it's more than just partisan politics of being Republican or Democrat or some kind of political party, though, as we will see, we can carry out some of our duties through getting involved in political parties. But politics is a general, broad thing of influencing civil affairs, influence society, the nation. And that's part of the Great Commission, the Creation Commission, to transform society, to build societies based upon the truth of God's word. That's part of the mission that God has given to us. So in order to fulfill that aspect of the Great Commission, we've got to be involved in civil affairs. And in fact, it's not just to fulfill the Creator Commission, Creation Commission, but also Redemption Commission. Because if we don't get involved in transforming society and having godly laws and government, we'll have no liberty, no freedom to preach the gospel, to transform men. We'll be like in Eritrea or communist nations, socialist nations, North Korea, wherever it may be. You have secular men to kill, Christians drive out Christians, force them to work underground. They have no freedom to preach the gospel there. And so, a foundational reason of the establishment of the college in America, as we've looked at in past podcasts, is so that people have the freedom to worship God, to train their children to get ideas and create wealth, to bring flourishing, to bring shalom, universal flourishing to society, to sit under of their own vine and fig tree, eat of the fruit of their own labor. these are biblical ideas that were built in the foundation of the American republic. And these, involve civil duties, that enable us to transform. This transformation of society is essential for being effective at transforming men.
Biblical Civil Duties: Historical Involvement of God's People in Politics and Governance
And so we have biblical civil duties. And as I said, in the future, I'm going to look much more detail at this Old Testament, NewSong Testament, but just as a brief overview, you know, when you read the Old Testament, you can see God's people were involved in politics, in government, in civil affairs. Moses was a civil leader. The prophets, you know, spoke to civil leaders and gave direction. In civil affairs. The judges directly governed the kings directly governed God's people. All, many, many, many people were involved in public affairs, government and society and other things. So that's very clear as you read through the Scripture, that God's covenant people, were involved in government. But some people say, well, yeah, that's the Old Testament. Jesus came and he modified all of that, and now he doesn't want us to be involved in civil affairs.
Jesus and the Apostles: Their Teachings and Actions Regarding Civil Duties and Rights
well, Jesus didn't come to abolish the law, but fulfill it. And Jesus, taught much about civil duties. Now, we don't think of that often because many read the NewSong Testament with spiritual glasses on. And we fail to see very clearly that Jesus and the apostles and others had much to say about civil duties. they taught on it and they acted, based upon it as well. And so Jesus taught much about civil affairs. Paul had many civil teachings. He stood on his rights as a Roman citizen and appealed to Caesar. When he was arrested earlier, and I think it's Acts 16, he was arrested, thrown in jail, unjustly, he appealed, look, I'm a Roman citizen and you've unlawfully thrown me in jail. And when they found that out, these authorities wanted to say, well, go, please, you know, just be quiet about it and go. But he stood up and said, no, you got to apologize. You violated my civil rights as a Roman and you need to do something about it. And then the last two books in Acts, he appealed to Caesar because his civil rights as a Roman citizen were violated and impacted the whole course of Paul's later life because he considered his civil liberties a sacred cause.
Disciple Nations: Christians' Role in Transforming Society and Preserving Liberty Through Scriptural Application
Apostle Peter taught about civil government. And, the early church was certainly involved in public affairs. And in future podcasts, I will explore this in more detail in our books. I point you to one book I wrote, Ruling over the A Biblical View of Civil Government, that you can get, at our website, providencefoundation.com or at Amazon, and, explore, what Jesus taught, what Paul and the apostles taught, how the early church was involved in public affairs. I'm just giving you a bullet point to point out to you that we have civil duties. The Scripture is clear about that when you read it without spiritual glasses. And Christians have discipled nations throughout the Christian era. For the last 2,000 years, Christians have been involved, yes, in transforming men, millions converted, but also in transforming society and nations, bringing civil liberty, bringing economic liberty, bringing political liberty, bringing flourishing, to the world, because they applied the truth of the Scripture not just to their personal life and their family and their church community, but to society at large. And it's essential that we do that today if we want to be salt and Light and preserve and season our nation. So, as I said, Jesus taught much about civil duties.
Jesus' Teaching on Sovereign Jurisdictions: Rendering to Caesar and God What is Due
He taught many, many, ideas. And I want to just give you one of Jesus civil duties before I look at, specifically what can we do to fulfill our civil duties. one thing Jesus taught that has had a, transformational impact on many, many nations over the past 2000 years. That he taught the concept of sovereign jurisdictions and separation of institutions, or what this implies. Implication of this is limited government. So what do I mean by sovereign jurisdiction, separation of institutions? Well, in Matthew 22, verse 17 through 21, you, I'm sure, remember the story of how the Pharisees were trying to catch Jesus and saying something, doing something that would get him in trouble. So they came up to him, the Pharisees, and asked him, hm, is it law to give a poll tax to Caesar or not? Well, Jesus, responded to this question. He knew what they were trying to do and trick him and get him in trouble with the civil authorities. So he said to them, show me the coin used for the poll tax. Then they would have brought and showed him a coin. And these are coins that the Roman Empire would make. And it might be a gold coin or silver coin with the image of Caesar on it. Pagan leaders like to put their image on coins. Caesar put it on there to declare, I'm sovereign over all affairs, really, over economic affairs, over money, over education, over government and everything else. So he said, show me the coin used for the poll tax. And he asked them, whose is this image? And their response was Caesar's. And then Jesus said, well, then, render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's and to God the things that are God's.
The Divine Institution of Civil Government: Its Purpose and Limitations After Man's Fall
Now, this was an astounding teaching. It's transformed the world in the last 2000 years. What is Jesus saying here? He said, look, render to Caesar. Now, Caesar represents civil government. He said, okay, give to Caesar this civil leader. He was the government, by the way, the things that are Caesar's. And so, all right, he created and minted this coin so you can give these coins, to him. And, Jesus was affirming that it is legitimate to pay taxes to civil government if civil government performs its biblical duties. So he said, all right, give that to Caesar. But he didn't stop his teaching there. He if that's where you think he stopped, you can say, okay, we got to pay taxes. No matter what civil government says, we're going to pay our taxes. Jesus taught us. But that's not the end of his teaching. He said, render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's. What Jesus was declaring is that there are areas of life completely outside the jurisdiction of civil government. He said, okay, Caesar, civil government is a legitimate, institution. In fact, it's a God created institution. In Genesis 9, 6, God created it or instituted it after man fell. Before man fell, man was self governed. He had the capacity to direct and manage his affairs and do everything God wanted him to do. so he didn't, did not need, external government operating on his life to get him to tell him what to do, because he knew from within. So God created civil government as a divine institution for our good. But after man fell, man lost the capacity to be self governed. After man fell, Cain killed Abel with that matter of justice. God came down and handled that. But then after the flood, he gave, the authority to man to deal with that in the future. He said, if man sheds man's blood, by man, his blood shall be shed. And so he, laid the foundation of the authority of civil government to be able to protect valuable life.
Limited Authority of Civil Government: Contrasting Caesar's Claims with God's Ultimate Sovereignty
And if life is taken, then civil authorities there to, preserve life and execute godly justice in those matters. So he's saying, okay, give to Caesar Caesar what belongs to him, but to God the things that are God. So he's implying there's areas of life outside the jurisdiction of civil government. Now, this was an astounding teacher because you have to realize, here's Caesar. Caesar at this time, had the mentality that I am the ultimate authority in the earth. Everything comes under my domain. Civil affairs, economic affairs, educational affairs, religious affairs. I'm in charge. What I say goes. I am the final authority. But here was this carpenter on the outskirts of the Roman Empire that was standing up and declaring, no, Caesar. Civil government. Your authority is limited. You do have a legitimate function, but it's limited. You do not have unlimited authority, given unto you.
Understanding God-Given Authority: The Distinct Roles of Family, Church, and State
It's a limited authority. And so there was. He's. Jesus is saying there's. Civil government is a jurisdiction that has a specific function, but that function and, jurisdiction is not to override the jurisdiction that God has given to the institution of the church, for example, or the institution of the family. We need to ask the question, to whom is God given authority to do what? To whom is God commissioned to do what? You know, who's supposed to do what? This is an important, question. When we understand who's to provide education. Who is it that supposed to, lead in worship? you know, who Is it that's supposed to protect life? Who is it supposed to deal, with crime within a society? Who is it supposed to deal with rebellious children in the scripture answers those questions. The biblical conception of society can be displayed by God at the top. God is the ultimate authority. All authority comes from Him. He's created all things. But then God created individuals in his image, male and female. We read that in Genesis 1.
The Creation Mandate: Family, Civil Government, and the Church as Divine Institutions
Many places in the scripture we know that God created us in his image. And he created three divine institutions in the very beginning. The creation of the early creation. The family was the first institution that God created, male and female. And so he gave them the creation commission, the cultural mandate to the family, to the male and female, to Adam and Eve. Told them, be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth, cultivate the earth. That was the mission given, to the family. then civil government was created after man fell to protect life. We see that in Genesis 9, 6, and we see a whole lot more about how God intended civil government to operate when we look at the government of Israel that God gave. And in my book Ruling over the Earth, I explore that and detail. And then when Christ came into the world and ushered in a new era of life, then he created the church. The church is that institution that is, divine, that helped bring the kingdom of God carry out specific duties and responsibilities. Now in our books, I cover in more detail the purpose and responsibilities of the individual family, church and state. It's extremely important that we understand who is supposed to be doing what. Who has God given authority to do certain things? Because, if one of these institutions, family, church or state, usurps the authority of another institution, the result is tyranny. The result is loss of liberty. So we need to search the scripture and we do that in our books, to discern, okay, what's the family supposed to do? What's the church supposed to do? What's the state supposed to do?
Primary Responsibilities: Family's Role in Health, Education, and Welfare vs. State Overreach
Is this there? Who's supposed to take care of the health, education and welfare of the people? Now, status socialist governments think the state is supposed to provide health, education and welfare and regulate everything. But Scripture teaches otherwise. Scripture teaches the family has the primary responsibility to provide health, education and welfare. Our new film, Educated for Liberty, which you can watch for free and Educated for Liberty, explores that area of education and how parents have the right and responsibility to govern the education of their children. It's not the duty responsibility of the state. God does not give the state authority to provide education for everyone. It's not Their role, they're not supposed to do that. And when they get involved it just messes things up. And we see it lots of people problems today because the state of state compelled, state controlled, state financed education is causing all kinds of different problems. So again in our book, in particular ruling over the Earth, look in more detail at the responsibility of the individual, family, church and state.
The State's Purpose: Protecting the Righteous and Upholding Life, Liberty, and Property
And also look at understanding of who's supposed to be doing what. So I'm not going to delve into that anymore right now. But I do want to just say a few words about the purpose responsibility of the state because we're talking about how do we fulfill our civil duties. So we need to understand, well what is the duty of the state according to the Bible, what's it supposed to be doing? So if we don't understand the authority and responsibility that God has given to civil government, then if we get in positions of civil government, we won't know how to act properly. And we won't be much different than the secularist who wants to attract all power to civil government to usher in what they think is Utopia. so very briefly, the state's purpose is one, to protect the righteous, to protect the law abiding citizens. Romans 13, 3, 4, 1st Peter 2, 13 and 14, clearly talk about this, clearly say that civil government exists to protect those, protect our life and protect those who do right, protect. And that's one function of civil government, so protection of life, liberty and property from domestic and foreign law breakers. See, governments are secure.
Government Structure and Function: Protecting Rights from Abuse and Punishing Evildoers
Are God given inalienable rights. That's one reason God created civil government. If our life is threatened by enemies, whether they're enemies in our country or external enemies, if our liberty is threatened, if our property is threatened, then it is a legitimate place for civil government to get involved to protect us, to preserve our life, liberty and property, and to defeat the enemies, who would try to steal that from us. A government also coordinates civilian police for order and army for defense. So since man has fallen, then man is going to do things he shouldn't do. He's going to steal life, liberty and property. And so we have police who protect us under those matters. And if we have foreign enemies from other countries threaten us, then civil government organizes an army to defend our right to life, liberty and property. Our life, liberty and property. And now it's very important when we set up civil governments that we recognize that we need to be protected, our rights need to be protected from government abuse as well. And so we need to structure government. That's the wisdom of the founders of America. When they structured our national government and the state governments, as well they understood man is sinful, tends to abuse power, and he will tend to encroach upon the liberties of citizens. And so we need to set up decentralized government. We need to separate the powers of government, the legislative, executive and judicial. We've explored that in some previous podcasts and we talked about the Constitution. We need to hold our representatives accountable, have an election of representatives. So what's the purpose of civil government? One, protect the righteous, the law abiding citizen two is to punish the evildoer. That's what Romans 13:1 Peter 2 and many other scriptures speak about.
Administering Justice: The State's Role and the Importance of Christian Involvement in Government
those that are criminals, those who would steal our life, liberty and property, they need to be punished in a biblical just way. and so it's important that we have a biblical view of crime and punishment. I, ah, wrote a little booklet on crime and punishment and pointed out if someone violates our life, liberty and property, then they need to have the correct punishment. And future podcasts, I'll explore that in more detail as well. But the way you punish criminals, correctly or biblically, you got to set up a constitution with just laws, just penalties. You need impartial judges, you need a fair trial to establish justice. And then a third major function or purpose, responsibility of the state or civil government is to administer God's justice. And so it is to administer God's justice in its sphere of responsibility. Romans 13:4 tells us that civil leaders are ministers of God to you for good. That's why God created them. That's what civil leaders are supposed to do. You know, some people today will say, and I've talked to people say, well, we shouldn't get involved in civil government. It's dirty. A lot of dirty people there, corrupt people there. And we need to be about the work of just preaching the gospel and getting people saved. Well, we certainly need to preach the gospel and get people saved. But we also need to understand that part of our duty is to affect good in society. And Paul writes in Romans 13:4 that civil leaders are to be ministers of God to you for good. And so when people tell me, ah, Christians shouldn't be involved in government or in politics, among many other things, I would say, well, Paul said civil leaders are to be ministers of God for good. But if we don't have good people there, how are they going to be able to minister for good? They'll minister bad. They'll minister evil. And that's been part of our problem. Because a lot of Christians have retreated from civil society. They don't even get it.
God's Image and Limited Government: Distinguishing Human Authority from Divine Sovereignty
They're not involved in, selecting our godly leaders. And so we have bad leaders who administer, ah, bad things contrary to God's justice. So civil leaders are to administer God's justice. They are to judge for God in matters under their jurisdiction. Now, this is just one civil teaching of Jesus. He had many others that we explore in our writings. He taught the idea of limited government. He said, look, Caesar's civil government has a legitimate function, but there's areas of life outside the control of civil government. Now, the coin that I'd mentioned earlier, that Jesus said, show me a coin. It had an image of Caesar stamped on that. Now, well, whose image is stamped on our forehead? In whose image are human beings created? We're not creating the image of Caesar. We don't have Caesar stamped on our head. Socialists stamped on our head. Allah, stamped on our head. But we're creating the image of God. Genesis 1 tells us God created a man, male and female, in his image, in his similitude, as it says elsewhere in scripture. And so we give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar. We can give him coins with his image on it, but we give to God the things that are God. So we are created in the image of God. My worship, my training, my children. So that they might fulfill God's, purpose and mission, fulfilling my call and what God wants me to do. This is outside the control of Caesar. This doesn't belong to him. I belong to God. My thoughts belong to God. My worship belongs to God. My conscience belongs to God. And so I render that to him.
Sovereign Jurisdictions: The Distinct Roles of Family, Church, and State in Society
Because I'm created in his image. I don't render that or give that to Caesar. And status governments want to control everything. They want to control what we think, what we believe, our conscience, how we train our children, how we manage our property, how we do everything. But Jesus declared, no, this is completely outside of your authority. It's outside your jurisdiction. So God created the family, church and state. He gave them specific duties and responsibilities. And they should not encroach one upon another. Because the state has the tendency to want to fulfill and do everything God said the church and the family, is to do that always leads in loss of liberty and tyranny. That's true. The church shouldn't try to do what the state's supposed to do. It doesn't wield the sword to execute, justice against the criminal. That's the role of the state in times past, in history, the church at times has tried, to do that. The family is not to take up arms and be its own source of justice.
Applying Biblical Teachings: The Blessings of Fulfilling Civil Duties for Individual and Societal Flourishing
That's the role of the civil government. So the family is not to do that as well. So Jesus taught there are separate jurisdictions, family, church and state, and each of these jurisdictions have a different duty and responsibility and they're sovereign in their own sphere of life. And that's why we need to learn, well, what is the duty? Well, that's what we study Scripture for, because the Bible reveals to us to whom God has given authority to do what. And when we learn that and we implement that, it brings peace, it brings blessing, it brings flourishing, it brings liberty. When we apply what Jesus taught, when we apply, what the Bible teaches, the fruit of obedience is great blessing to individuals and society at large. And so that's just one of Jesus civil teachings. So, we do have civil duties and we do need to fulfill our civil duties. And beginning next week in our podcast next week I want to look at, well, what are some of our civil duties and how do we, fulfill them?
Continuing the Series: Next Steps in Understanding and Fulfilling Christian Civil Duties
So I hope you'll join us next week as we continue this series on how Christians can fulfill their civil duties. Now to learn more, you can go to our website, providence businessfoundation.com As I mentioned, the book Ruling over the the Biblical View of Civil Government looks in detail at some of our civil duties and God's view of government and how government is to function. In other of our books in America's Providential History and others. We touch on this as, well, so you can pick up a copy of those providencefoundation.com get those at Amazon as well to begin to read more. But join us next week because I am going to begin to explore what can I do, what can you do to fulfill your civil duty? So I hope you can join us then. God bless.
Introduction to America's Providential History and Christian Civil Duties for Upcoming Elections
Stephen McDowell Welcome to America's Providential History Podcast, where we talk about the real story of America and explore the hand of God in our history. Now, here's your host, Steven McDowell. Hello. I'm glad you're joining us for this edition of America's Providential History Podcast. Today, I want to begin to look at how Christians can fulfill their civil duties. Now, coming this November, we will be having elections here in the United States. And very soon, early voting begins to take place in many states.
Understanding Civil Duties: The Bible as a Guide for Christian Involvement in Public Affairs
I thought it would be appropriate to begin to explore, how we as Christians can fulfill our civil duties. First, we need to understand that the Bible teaches we have civil duties. We'll briefly look at in future podcasts. I'll explore in more detail. The Bible clearly says that we should be involved, in civil affairs and we have duties to fulfill. you know, in the scripture, it talks about a number of places in the Old Testament, in Isaiah and Jeremiah, about the watchmen on the walls. Isaiah 62. 6 says, I've posted watchmen on your walls, O Jerusalem. They will never be silent, day or night. Now, of course, part of the role of the watchman was to stand on the city walls and look for the enemy and sound the alarm if the enemy, came in sight. And today, really, the church and the leadership of the church are still to be watchmen on the walls that they are to look for enemies of God's truth, God's kingdom, the Christian faith, and sound the alarm. Now, the enemies that we face today are not like the watchmen in the Old Testament who were men with swords and shields that were sneaking up to attack the walls of the city. But there are many enemies that we face today. And it's part of the responsibility, part of the duty, part of the role of the watchmen. Those are leaders in God's chur, to recognize the enemy and sound the alarm.
Identifying Internal and External Threats to the Christian Faith and American Society
We have both internal and external enemies that threaten, the work that God has called us to, that threatens his church. Of course, they're internal things of loss of love for the Lord and our love, growing cold and false doctrines, worshiping, idols, things that are made by the creature instead of worshiping the Creator. And this is appropriate and right for churches to make known the enemies of the faith, enemies of doctrine might call them theological enemies, but we also have a lot of external enemies. There's external threats that we face today that will undermine, destroy our ability to accomplish the mission God has given us to do here in the United States. Growing external enemies, growing threats to the Christian faith. there are two in particular. One is socialism. It's a form of statism. We've touched on this before. And in future podcasts I'm going to look in much more detail. Statism is simply the belief the ultimate authority in the earth is man, man via the state. And man being the source of his own, truth, his own understanding of what's moral, of right and wrong. He seeks to seize control of civil government and through force, bring about his vision of utopia in the earth. And so we, see, electing socialist mayors, like in NewSong York City and other places. This is a great threat to the Christian faith.
The Dangers of Statism and Islam: Threats to Christianity and the Republic's Founding Principles
And also another great threat to Christianity is Islam. and we see Islam growing in many nations but here in the US and both Islam and statism are incompatible with the Christian faith and really are incompatible with the founding principles of the United States of America, incompatible with our Constitution. And both these great external threats, which I think are the two biggest threats to the Christian faith in the coming generations here in the United States, it's the role of the watchman to sound the alarm, let the people know this is undermining our ability to freely worship God and fulfill all of our, duties, to the Lord. And then, let people know, well, what can we do to stop the enemy? Defeat the enemy from coming in and over, taking our Christian constitutional federal republic. At least we were founded as that. And as we've explored in previous podcasts, we've been putting that aside. And so, when we talk about how Christians can fulfill their civil duties, what we're saying is that Christians and leaders in the church must be watchmen, because these are enemies, we might call them external enemies, threats to the Christian faith. And if these external threats grow and assume the power and authority that they seek to, then it, will keep us from worshiping God, training our children in a biblical manner, propagating the gospel, doing everything that we are required, to do. And so to enter the battle to defeat the enemy, we must be involved in civil affairs.
Fulfilling Civil Duties: Extending God's Kingdom Through Action and Discipleship of Nations
We must fulfill our civil duties because the threat we face is a real external threat here, right in the earth. It's not just an internal belief or theological idea, but it manifests itself in external action that is a great threat. So we need to rise up, sound the alarm, and, teach what our civil duties are, how to fulfill them, because, we will, part of extending the Kingdomnomics of God is, fulfilling our civil duties. Jesus, as we've talked about in some past podcasts in the Great Commission, he, told us to go and disciple the nations. Matthew 28, 18:20, all authority has been given unto me in heaven and earth. Jesus said, go, therefore, and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them and then teaching them to observe all that I commanded. And so we're to go and disciple the nation. Now, Matthew Henry, who wrote a Bible commentary in the early 1700s that was very influential with the founding fathers. He reflected the understanding that Christians had in early America regarding what Jesus meant when he said to go and make disciples of the nations. Yes, we're to transform individuals, but we're to do more than that.
Transforming Nations: Making Christian Nations Through Individual and Societal Transformation
We're to transform nations. Matthew Henry said, the principal intention of this passage is clear. It's to do your utmost to make the nations Christian nations. So part of the commission Jesus gave us after he rose from the dead, before he ascended into heaven, there in Matthew 28, is to make the nations Christian nations. Well, what does that mean? How do we do that? Well, it begins, certainly by transforming individuals. The Bible teaches that Christ is our redeemer, that he redeemed man, and he gave us a mission to go and redeem others. In other words, he gave us an evangelistic mandate to go and teach the truth of his redeeming work so that individuals might be birthed into the kingdom of God. All transformation in a society begins in the heart of man. But then it doesn't stop there, because it also transforms our mind as we renew our mind and begin to think according to all that Jesus taught, because we disciple nations by teaching them to observe all that I commanded. And Jesus, in essence, reiterated all the moral law of God contained in the Ten Commandments and elevated really the requirements of the law to love God as, he loved us, which is greater than loving God as we love ourselves. Do unto others as you would have others do unto you. But Jesus even elevated that in every aspect of how he requires us to obey the moral law. So he's our redeemer. So we go and transform men. But the Bible also says God is our creator. Christ was there in the beginning as wisdom, creating man, and as we've explored in previous podcasts, and we'll look at more in the future as well. After God created man in his own image, male and female, he, gave them a commission, the creation commission, to go and be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth, subdue the earth, rule over the earth. So we're not only to transform men, we are also to transform nations to transform society.
The Role of Politics and Public Affairs in Fulfilling the Great Commission and Creation Mandate
Everything should be impacted as we go and Live out our faith as a member of God's kingdom. And so to transform society, we must be involved in politics or public affairs. We must be involved in civil affairs. If we're going to transform society, then we must get involved in it. Now, you know, politics, it's not that general. The word politics means that which deals with the regulation and government of a nation or state for the preservation of its safety, peace and prosperity. So it's more than just partisan politics of being Republican or Democrat or some kind of political party, though, as we will see, we can carry out some of our duties through getting involved in political parties. But politics is a general, broad thing of influencing civil affairs, influence society, the nation. And that's part of the Great Commission, the Creation Commission, to transform society, to build societies based upon the truth of God's word. That's part of the mission that God has given to us. So in order to fulfill that aspect of the Great Commission, we've got to be involved in civil affairs. And in fact, it's not just to fulfill the Creator Commission, Creation Commission, but also Redemption Commission. Because if we don't get involved in transforming society and having godly laws and government, we'll have no liberty, no freedom to preach the gospel, to transform men. We'll be like in Eritrea or communist nations, socialist nations, North Korea, wherever it may be. You have secular men to kill, Christians drive out Christians, force them to work underground. They have no freedom to preach the gospel there. And so, a foundational reason of the establishment of the college in America, as we've looked at in past podcasts, is so that people have the freedom to worship God, to train their children to get ideas and create wealth, to bring flourishing, to bring shalom, universal flourishing to society, to sit under of their own vine and fig tree, eat of the fruit of their own labor. these are biblical ideas that were built in the foundation of the American republic. And these, involve civil duties, that enable us to transform. This transformation of society is essential for being effective at transforming men.
Biblical Civil Duties: Historical Involvement of God's People in Politics and Governance
And so we have biblical civil duties. And as I said, in the future, I'm going to look much more detail at this Old Testament, NewSong Testament, but just as a brief overview, you know, when you read the Old Testament, you can see God's people were involved in politics, in government, in civil affairs. Moses was a civil leader. The prophets, you know, spoke to civil leaders and gave direction. In civil affairs. The judges directly governed the kings directly governed God's people. All, many, many, many people were involved in public affairs, government and society and other things. So that's very clear as you read through the Scripture, that God's covenant people, were involved in government. But some people say, well, yeah, that's the Old Testament. Jesus came and he modified all of that, and now he doesn't want us to be involved in civil affairs.
Jesus and the Apostles: Their Teachings and Actions Regarding Civil Duties and Rights
well, Jesus didn't come to abolish the law, but fulfill it. And Jesus, taught much about civil duties. Now, we don't think of that often because many read the NewSong Testament with spiritual glasses on. And we fail to see very clearly that Jesus and the apostles and others had much to say about civil duties. they taught on it and they acted, based upon it as well. And so Jesus taught much about civil affairs. Paul had many civil teachings. He stood on his rights as a Roman citizen and appealed to Caesar. When he was arrested earlier, and I think it's Acts 16, he was arrested, thrown in jail, unjustly, he appealed, look, I'm a Roman citizen and you've unlawfully thrown me in jail. And when they found that out, these authorities wanted to say, well, go, please, you know, just be quiet about it and go. But he stood up and said, no, you got to apologize. You violated my civil rights as a Roman and you need to do something about it. And then the last two books in Acts, he appealed to Caesar because his civil rights as a Roman citizen were violated and impacted the whole course of Paul's later life because he considered his civil liberties a sacred cause.
Disciple Nations: Christians' Role in Transforming Society and Preserving Liberty Through Scriptural Application
Apostle Peter taught about civil government. And, the early church was certainly involved in public affairs. And in future podcasts, I will explore this in more detail in our books. I point you to one book I wrote, Ruling over the A Biblical View of Civil Government, that you can get, at our website, providencefoundation.com or at Amazon, and, explore, what Jesus taught, what Paul and the apostles taught, how the early church was involved in public affairs. I'm just giving you a bullet point to point out to you that we have civil duties. The Scripture is clear about that when you read it without spiritual glasses. And Christians have discipled nations throughout the Christian era. For the last 2,000 years, Christians have been involved, yes, in transforming men, millions converted, but also in transforming society and nations, bringing civil liberty, bringing economic liberty, bringing political liberty, bringing flourishing, to the world, because they applied the truth of the Scripture not just to their personal life and their family and their church community, but to society at large. And it's essential that we do that today if we want to be salt and Light and preserve and season our nation. So, as I said, Jesus taught much about civil duties.
Jesus' Teaching on Sovereign Jurisdictions: Rendering to Caesar and God What is Due
He taught many, many, ideas. And I want to just give you one of Jesus civil duties before I look at, specifically what can we do to fulfill our civil duties. one thing Jesus taught that has had a, transformational impact on many, many nations over the past 2000 years. That he taught the concept of sovereign jurisdictions and separation of institutions, or what this implies. Implication of this is limited government. So what do I mean by sovereign jurisdiction, separation of institutions? Well, in Matthew 22, verse 17 through 21, you, I'm sure, remember the story of how the Pharisees were trying to catch Jesus and saying something, doing something that would get him in trouble. So they came up to him, the Pharisees, and asked him, hm, is it law to give a poll tax to Caesar or not? Well, Jesus, responded to this question. He knew what they were trying to do and trick him and get him in trouble with the civil authorities. So he said to them, show me the coin used for the poll tax. Then they would have brought and showed him a coin. And these are coins that the Roman Empire would make. And it might be a gold coin or silver coin with the image of Caesar on it. Pagan leaders like to put their image on coins. Caesar put it on there to declare, I'm sovereign over all affairs, really, over economic affairs, over money, over education, over government and everything else. So he said, show me the coin used for the poll tax. And he asked them, whose is this image? And their response was Caesar's. And then Jesus said, well, then, render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's and to God the things that are God's.
The Divine Institution of Civil Government: Its Purpose and Limitations After Man's Fall
Now, this was an astounding teaching. It's transformed the world in the last 2000 years. What is Jesus saying here? He said, look, render to Caesar. Now, Caesar represents civil government. He said, okay, give to Caesar this civil leader. He was the government, by the way, the things that are Caesar's. And so, all right, he created and minted this coin so you can give these coins, to him. And, Jesus was affirming that it is legitimate to pay taxes to civil government if civil government performs its biblical duties. So he said, all right, give that to Caesar. But he didn't stop his teaching there. He if that's where you think he stopped, you can say, okay, we got to pay taxes. No matter what civil government says, we're going to pay our taxes. Jesus taught us. But that's not the end of his teaching. He said, render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's. What Jesus was declaring is that there are areas of life completely outside the jurisdiction of civil government. He said, okay, Caesar, civil government is a legitimate, institution. In fact, it's a God created institution. In Genesis 9, 6, God created it or instituted it after man fell. Before man fell, man was self governed. He had the capacity to direct and manage his affairs and do everything God wanted him to do. so he didn't, did not need, external government operating on his life to get him to tell him what to do, because he knew from within. So God created civil government as a divine institution for our good. But after man fell, man lost the capacity to be self governed. After man fell, Cain killed Abel with that matter of justice. God came down and handled that. But then after the flood, he gave, the authority to man to deal with that in the future. He said, if man sheds man's blood, by man, his blood shall be shed. And so he, laid the foundation of the authority of civil government to be able to protect valuable life.
Limited Authority of Civil Government: Contrasting Caesar's Claims with God's Ultimate Sovereignty
And if life is taken, then civil authorities there to, preserve life and execute godly justice in those matters. So he's saying, okay, give to Caesar Caesar what belongs to him, but to God the things that are God. So he's implying there's areas of life outside the jurisdiction of civil government. Now, this was an astounding teacher because you have to realize, here's Caesar. Caesar at this time, had the mentality that I am the ultimate authority in the earth. Everything comes under my domain. Civil affairs, economic affairs, educational affairs, religious affairs. I'm in charge. What I say goes. I am the final authority. But here was this carpenter on the outskirts of the Roman Empire that was standing up and declaring, no, Caesar. Civil government. Your authority is limited. You do have a legitimate function, but it's limited. You do not have unlimited authority, given unto you.
Understanding God-Given Authority: The Distinct Roles of Family, Church, and State
It's a limited authority. And so there was. He's. Jesus is saying there's. Civil government is a jurisdiction that has a specific function, but that function and, jurisdiction is not to override the jurisdiction that God has given to the institution of the church, for example, or the institution of the family. We need to ask the question, to whom is God given authority to do what? To whom is God commissioned to do what? You know, who's supposed to do what? This is an important, question. When we understand who's to provide education. Who is it that supposed to, lead in worship? you know, who Is it that's supposed to protect life? Who is it supposed to deal, with crime within a society? Who is it supposed to deal with rebellious children in the scripture answers those questions. The biblical conception of society can be displayed by God at the top. God is the ultimate authority. All authority comes from Him. He's created all things. But then God created individuals in his image, male and female. We read that in Genesis 1.
The Creation Mandate: Family, Civil Government, and the Church as Divine Institutions
Many places in the scripture we know that God created us in his image. And he created three divine institutions in the very beginning. The creation of the early creation. The family was the first institution that God created, male and female. And so he gave them the creation commission, the cultural mandate to the family, to the male and female, to Adam and Eve. Told them, be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth, cultivate the earth. That was the mission given, to the family. then civil government was created after man fell to protect life. We see that in Genesis 9, 6, and we see a whole lot more about how God intended civil government to operate when we look at the government of Israel that God gave. And in my book Ruling over the Earth, I explore that and detail. And then when Christ came into the world and ushered in a new era of life, then he created the church. The church is that institution that is, divine, that helped bring the kingdom of God carry out specific duties and responsibilities. Now in our books, I cover in more detail the purpose and responsibilities of the individual family, church and state. It's extremely important that we understand who is supposed to be doing what. Who has God given authority to do certain things? Because, if one of these institutions, family, church or state, usurps the authority of another institution, the result is tyranny. The result is loss of liberty. So we need to search the scripture and we do that in our books, to discern, okay, what's the family supposed to do? What's the church supposed to do? What's the state supposed to do?
Primary Responsibilities: Family's Role in Health, Education, and Welfare vs. State Overreach
Is this there? Who's supposed to take care of the health, education and welfare of the people? Now, status socialist governments think the state is supposed to provide health, education and welfare and regulate everything. But Scripture teaches otherwise. Scripture teaches the family has the primary responsibility to provide health, education and welfare. Our new film, Educated for Liberty, which you can watch for free and Educated for Liberty, explores that area of education and how parents have the right and responsibility to govern the education of their children. It's not the duty responsibility of the state. God does not give the state authority to provide education for everyone. It's not Their role, they're not supposed to do that. And when they get involved it just messes things up. And we see it lots of people problems today because the state of state compelled, state controlled, state financed education is causing all kinds of different problems. So again in our book, in particular ruling over the Earth, look in more detail at the responsibility of the individual, family, church and state.
The State's Purpose: Protecting the Righteous and Upholding Life, Liberty, and Property
And also look at understanding of who's supposed to be doing what. So I'm not going to delve into that anymore right now. But I do want to just say a few words about the purpose responsibility of the state because we're talking about how do we fulfill our civil duties. So we need to understand, well what is the duty of the state according to the Bible, what's it supposed to be doing? So if we don't understand the authority and responsibility that God has given to civil government, then if we get in positions of civil government, we won't know how to act properly. And we won't be much different than the secularist who wants to attract all power to civil government to usher in what they think is Utopia. so very briefly, the state's purpose is one, to protect the righteous, to protect the law abiding citizens. Romans 13, 3, 4, 1st Peter 2, 13 and 14, clearly talk about this, clearly say that civil government exists to protect those, protect our life and protect those who do right, protect. And that's one function of civil government, so protection of life, liberty and property from domestic and foreign law breakers. See, governments are secure.
Government Structure and Function: Protecting Rights from Abuse and Punishing Evildoers
Are God given inalienable rights. That's one reason God created civil government. If our life is threatened by enemies, whether they're enemies in our country or external enemies, if our liberty is threatened, if our property is threatened, then it is a legitimate place for civil government to get involved to protect us, to preserve our life, liberty and property, and to defeat the enemies, who would try to steal that from us. A government also coordinates civilian police for order and army for defense. So since man has fallen, then man is going to do things he shouldn't do. He's going to steal life, liberty and property. And so we have police who protect us under those matters. And if we have foreign enemies from other countries threaten us, then civil government organizes an army to defend our right to life, liberty and property. Our life, liberty and property. And now it's very important when we set up civil governments that we recognize that we need to be protected, our rights need to be protected from government abuse as well. And so we need to structure government. That's the wisdom of the founders of America. When they structured our national government and the state governments, as well they understood man is sinful, tends to abuse power, and he will tend to encroach upon the liberties of citizens. And so we need to set up decentralized government. We need to separate the powers of government, the legislative, executive and judicial. We've explored that in some previous podcasts and we talked about the Constitution. We need to hold our representatives accountable, have an election of representatives. So what's the purpose of civil government? One, protect the righteous, the law abiding citizen two is to punish the evildoer. That's what Romans 13:1 Peter 2 and many other scriptures speak about.
Administering Justice: The State's Role and the Importance of Christian Involvement in Government
those that are criminals, those who would steal our life, liberty and property, they need to be punished in a biblical just way. and so it's important that we have a biblical view of crime and punishment. I, ah, wrote a little booklet on crime and punishment and pointed out if someone violates our life, liberty and property, then they need to have the correct punishment. And future podcasts, I'll explore that in more detail as well. But the way you punish criminals, correctly or biblically, you got to set up a constitution with just laws, just penalties. You need impartial judges, you need a fair trial to establish justice. And then a third major function or purpose, responsibility of the state or civil government is to administer God's justice. And so it is to administer God's justice in its sphere of responsibility. Romans 13:4 tells us that civil leaders are ministers of God to you for good. That's why God created them. That's what civil leaders are supposed to do. You know, some people today will say, and I've talked to people say, well, we shouldn't get involved in civil government. It's dirty. A lot of dirty people there, corrupt people there. And we need to be about the work of just preaching the gospel and getting people saved. Well, we certainly need to preach the gospel and get people saved. But we also need to understand that part of our duty is to affect good in society. And Paul writes in Romans 13:4 that civil leaders are to be ministers of God to you for good. And so when people tell me, ah, Christians shouldn't be involved in government or in politics, among many other things, I would say, well, Paul said civil leaders are to be ministers of God for good. But if we don't have good people there, how are they going to be able to minister for good? They'll minister bad. They'll minister evil. And that's been part of our problem. Because a lot of Christians have retreated from civil society. They don't even get it.
God's Image and Limited Government: Distinguishing Human Authority from Divine Sovereignty
They're not involved in, selecting our godly leaders. And so we have bad leaders who administer, ah, bad things contrary to God's justice. So civil leaders are to administer God's justice. They are to judge for God in matters under their jurisdiction. Now, this is just one civil teaching of Jesus. He had many others that we explore in our writings. He taught the idea of limited government. He said, look, Caesar's civil government has a legitimate function, but there's areas of life outside the control of civil government. Now, the coin that I'd mentioned earlier, that Jesus said, show me a coin. It had an image of Caesar stamped on that. Now, well, whose image is stamped on our forehead? In whose image are human beings created? We're not creating the image of Caesar. We don't have Caesar stamped on our head. Socialists stamped on our head. Allah, stamped on our head. But we're creating the image of God. Genesis 1 tells us God created a man, male and female, in his image, in his similitude, as it says elsewhere in scripture. And so we give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar. We can give him coins with his image on it, but we give to God the things that are God. So we are created in the image of God. My worship, my training, my children. So that they might fulfill God's, purpose and mission, fulfilling my call and what God wants me to do. This is outside the control of Caesar. This doesn't belong to him. I belong to God. My thoughts belong to God. My worship belongs to God. My conscience belongs to God. And so I render that to him.
Sovereign Jurisdictions: The Distinct Roles of Family, Church, and State in Society
Because I'm created in his image. I don't render that or give that to Caesar. And status governments want to control everything. They want to control what we think, what we believe, our conscience, how we train our children, how we manage our property, how we do everything. But Jesus declared, no, this is completely outside of your authority. It's outside your jurisdiction. So God created the family, church and state. He gave them specific duties and responsibilities. And they should not encroach one upon another. Because the state has the tendency to want to fulfill and do everything God said the church and the family, is to do that always leads in loss of liberty and tyranny. That's true. The church shouldn't try to do what the state's supposed to do. It doesn't wield the sword to execute, justice against the criminal. That's the role of the state in times past, in history, the church at times has tried, to do that. The family is not to take up arms and be its own source of justice.
Applying Biblical Teachings: The Blessings of Fulfilling Civil Duties for Individual and Societal Flourishing
That's the role of the civil government. So the family is not to do that as well. So Jesus taught there are separate jurisdictions, family, church and state, and each of these jurisdictions have a different duty and responsibility and they're sovereign in their own sphere of life. And that's why we need to learn, well, what is the duty? Well, that's what we study Scripture for, because the Bible reveals to us to whom God has given authority to do what. And when we learn that and we implement that, it brings peace, it brings blessing, it brings flourishing, it brings liberty. When we apply what Jesus taught, when we apply, what the Bible teaches, the fruit of obedience is great blessing to individuals and society at large. And so that's just one of Jesus civil teachings. So, we do have civil duties and we do need to fulfill our civil duties. And beginning next week in our podcast next week I want to look at, well, what are some of our civil duties and how do we, fulfill them?
Continuing the Series: Next Steps in Understanding and Fulfilling Christian Civil Duties
So I hope you'll join us next week as we continue this series on how Christians can fulfill their civil duties. Now to learn more, you can go to our website, providence businessfoundation.com As I mentioned, the book Ruling over the the Biblical View of Civil Government looks in detail at some of our civil duties and God's view of government and how government is to function. In other of our books in America's Providential History and others. We touch on this as, well, so you can pick up a copy of those providencefoundation.com get those at Amazon as well to begin to read more. But join us next week because I am going to begin to explore what can I do, what can you do to fulfill your civil duty? So I hope you can join us then. God bless.
How Christians Can Fulfill Their Civil Duties, Part 1
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