Thanksgiving Prayers for All People and Our Leaders
Click here to listen to this sermon.
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ!
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ!
I must tell you: I started to think about this theme
about six weeks ago, long before the recent presidential election, but
certainly during the heat of the campaign when the outcome was still
undetermined. It is not intended to be a celebratory spike of the ball in the
end zone. It is not intended to be a sore loser’s lament. It is not intended to
be political in any way—though given today’s climate in which even one’s choice
in entertainment, fashion, or food source, is seen to have political
ramifications, I realize this is a futile goal.
In our text, St. Paul exhorts: “First of all, then, I
urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for
all people, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a
peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way” (1 Timothy 2:1-2). In
Romans, Paul instructs: “Let every person be subject to the governing authorities.
For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been
instituted by God… Therefore pay to all what is owed to them: taxes to whom
taxes are owed, revenue to whom revenue is owed, respect to whom respect is
owed, honor to whom honor is owed” (13:1-7).
I must confess: I’ve failed miserably. I’ve failed to
honor and respect our leaders as I should. I could try to give you all sorts of
reasons why they are not worthy of my respect, but God’s Word doesn’t give me
that latitude. I’ve failed to thank God for providing the leaders He has given.
I’ve failed to pray for them. I’ve sinned against God, who has bestowed His
authority on these servants.
Paradoxically, while failing to honor and respect those
in authority, I’ve also somehow managed to stake too much on who is in
authority at a certain time. The psalmist writes: “Put not your trust in princes, in a son of
man, in whom there is no salvation” (146:3). Sadly,
I have too often failed to trust God rather than princes.
I remember 16 years ago, staying up all night waiting for
the returns of the presidential election, because I was just sure it was “the
most important election of our lifetime.” Four more such “pivotal” elections
have come and gone, some things are better, many are worse, but it becomes more
and more evident that no matter who we elect our problems are not all going to
be immediately fixed. And it is not reasonable to expect that they would be. We
live in a fallen world; the last utopia was in Eden in the day before the fall
into sin.
That is where our problem with authority began. When desiring
“to be like God,” the first man abdicated his headship and the woman ignored
the one authority on earth God had placed over her, and, consequently, both of
them ended up seeking to rule over one another. I would suggest that the problem
each of us has with authority began at that moment, when Adam and Eve exchanged
paradise for the fruit of the forbidden tree, the authority and will of God for
their own will.
So, what is our problem with authority? At its root, the
cause is the sinful human nature we inherited from our first parents. Our old
Adam is a natural born anarchist who wants to rule the roost himself. He will
not submit to God’s rule, and he certainly won’t submit to the rule of law
unless under duress. Old Adam has no king but himself. He hates order,
government, submission—all the words associated with authority. Each of us want
to write our own rules, or at least bend the existing ones to suit us. We want
to determine for ourselves what is best for us.
You can see the sinful nature at work very early on in
our children (and grandchildren) in their defiant “no!” to a parent’s command,
or that coy little way they have of not doing what they’ve been told to do, then
trying to make the rebel look cute with a cheesy grin. The “inner brat” is in
you and me, too. Don’t think you grow out of being a sinner. Even as baptized
believers, we remain to our dying breaths, sinners in the flesh of Adam. Hence,
the gift of government.
“Gift?” you ask. “Pastor, didn’t you see the recent
political campaign with all its negative ads, gossip, slander, deceit, and
name-calling? How could you possibly call government a gift?” Short answer:
because God says so in His Word. Longer answer: Government is a good gift of
God. A 1st Article gift—along with clothing, shoes, food, drink,
house, home, and all that we need to support this body and life. Gift as in
“daily bread,” under which the catechism lists “good government” as one of
those things for which we pray—even in the Lord’s Prayer.
Luther says, when we pray “give us this day our daily
bread,” we are praying that God “give wisdom, strength, and success to emperors,
kings, and all estates, and especially to the rulers of our country and to all
counselors, magistrates, and officers. Then they may govern well and vanquish
the Turks and all enemies. We ask that He give to subjects and the common
people obedience, peace, and harmony in their life with one another.”[i]
Some
people call government a “necessary evil,” but government isn’t evil. It is a
“necessary good,” a gift from God to curb our sin, to keep temporal order, to
provide protection, to judge disputes, to keep us from infringing on our
neighbor’s peace and liberty. Even if the whole world were Christian, we would
still need a police force, laws, and a military, because we remain throughout
our lives 100% sinner. Justified for Jesus’ sake, yes, but a sinner nonetheless.
In Romans 13, Paul calls the governing authority “God’s
servant.” But make no mistake, this is no servant of the Gospel. Don’t expect
the government to forgive sins and preach Jesus. The government is a servant of
God’s wrath against the disorder sin brings into the world. The government is
God’s left hand of power to punish the wicked with temporal punishments like
fines and jail time, and, in certain cases, taking your life. This presumes, of
course, that the authorities know the difference between right and wrong, good
and evil, which should serve as a guide for what kind of people we elect to
such positions of authority.
We have a peculiar form of government in our nation. Paul
certainly wouldn’t have recognized “of the people, by the people, for the
people.” We are, in a sense, rulers and the ruled at the same time. When Paul
was writing about praying for and honoring our rulers, his ruler was Nero, the
Roman Caesar later known for his great persecution of the Christians, including
the beheading of Paul and the upside-down crucifixion of Peter.
We elect our own government officials to exercise this
authority of God’s left hand. When they abuse or misuse this divine authority,
we can peacefully get rid of them and put others in their place. Our
forefathers wisely recognized the corruption of our humanity, and rightly didn’t
trust anyone to exercise full authority. Instead they spread executive,
legislative, and judicial authority across three branches and let them fight
with each other, sometimes even to the point of gridlock. The last thing we
need is for government to be “efficient.”
Scripture clearly indicates that the main purpose of
government, as divine authority, is to punish evil and reward good. Essentially
to keep order and temporal peace. Not redistribute wealth, not to create a “great
society” or an equitable society or any other sort of society, not to engineer
social change, not to provide a safety net against our recklessness. Government
is given by God simply to punish evil, reward good, adjudicate disputes, keep
the peace, and protect the people. God didn’t give government to save us. There
is only one King given to save us, and He died on the cross in order to save us
from sin and death.
And what is our calling with respect to God’s gift of
government? What do we owe? Taxes to whom taxes are due. Revenue to whom
revenue is due. Respect to whom respect is due. Honor to whom honor is due. Who
would have thought that paying taxes is a spiritual act of worship, a living
sacrifice to God? Who would have thought that when we dishonor and disrespect
the governing authority, we are dishonoring and disrespecting God, whose authority
it is in the first place?
In addition to taxes, revenue, honor, and respect, I
would add one more thing that we owe: our prayers. Paul says, “First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and
thanksgivings be made for all people, for kings and all who are in high
positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in
every way” (1 Timothy 2:1-2).
It may surprise you that in urging us to pray for “all
people,” St. Paul zeros in on one group: “kings and all who are in high
positions.” Perhaps he does so because we so readily forget prayer in behalf of
those in authority over us. This is especially
true if they are heathen and oppressive rulers. As I already mentioned, the Caesar
of the Roman Empire during the time Paul wrote our text was Nero. I don’t care
what you think of Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton, or Barack Obama: none of them
are as dangerous to Christians as Nero was. Those who govern need our prayers.
It is not an easy thing to be the instrument of God’s left hand.
A stable civil government allows Christians to carry out
their vocations unhindered and without harassment. The uncommon prosperity and
peace of the Roman Empire opened many doors for Paul to carry his ministry
throughout the Mediterranean world. What a blessing when the Church can worship
and proclaim the saving Gospel, unhindered by burdensome restrictions, war, and
violence!
In praying for “all people,” including our leaders, the
Church can know that we are doing what “is good” and “pleasing in the sight of
God our Savior, who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge
of the truth. For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and
men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself as a ransom for all” (1 Timothy 2:3-6).
With these words Paul shows why it is so important to
come to a knowledge of the truth. There are not numerous gods, each providing
truth and salvation. One, only one, is God. Between this God and us human
beings there is only one mediator, the man Christ Jesus, who at the same time
is also true God.
Sin has separated all of humanity from God. Jesus came as
our mediator, “who gave Himself as a ransom for all.” A ransom is the payment
made to free, or redeem, someone from enslavement. Our enslavement carried with
it the penalty of sin, which is death. Jesus said that He came “to give His
life as a ransom for many” (Matthew 20:28). Inherent in a ransom is the idea of
purchase, to give in exchange. “To give His life” is to sacrifice it, that is,
to die as our substitute. Jesus has redeemed [you], a lost and condemned
person, purchased and won [you] from all sins, from death, and from the power
of the devil; not with gold or silver, but with His holy precious blood and
with His innocent suffering and death”[ii]
Jesus willingly subjected Himself to the government of
His day. He obeyed the laws of the land. He perfectly honored father and mother
and every other temporal authority that in His humility was placed over Him. He
did that for you. Jesus became a citizen of this world, under a less than
perfect government for you. He stood before Pontius Pilate, Caesar’s local
representative, falsely charged with treason, for making Himself a king. He
reminded Pilate that his authority to judge Jesus, either to free Him or
crucify Him, came “from above,” from God. And He confessed that His own kingdom
“is not of this world.” Jesus was the willing victim of gross injustice, an
abuse of the Roman system of justice. God used it all for the salvation of the
world, for your salvation.
Christianity, following Jesus, does not try to “change
the world” through government. It doesn’t even try to change government. It
doesn’t seek to establish a “Christian nation” or world government the way
Islam does. It does not seek to establish the kingdom of God on earth. The
reason for that is that we are Christians are in the world but no longer of the
world. We live as resident aliens in this world, hold “dual citizenship” in
whatever country we live, praying for and supporting the governing authority,
yet always recognizing that Jesus died and rose to rescue the world from its
own destruction, and now reigns as Lord of heaven and earth.
Like the Israelites in Egypt or Babylon, we live as
pilgrims, going home but not yet home. This country is our temporary home, and
we pray for it, we participate in it, we honor and respect its government, and we
pay our taxes. We are good citizens. This is our home away from home. And we
know that there is coming a Day when the kingdoms of this world, including this
one, will cease. Until that day, we live as obedient children of God, and
citizens of the nation in which we live. And we pray for all people, especially
those in high positions.
Let us pray.
Lord God, on this Day of Thanksgiving, as we pray for all
who are in authority, we thank you especially for the form of government given
us in our beloved country. Give us the grace with our fellow citizens to value
the officers and the magistrates of our government as those sent by You.
Instill in us that respect and honor that is due them. Lord, endow them with
wisdom for their several duties, with a spirit of sacrifice for the common
welfare, with mercy and justice, with uprightness and kindliness. Correct the
evils of selfishness, greed, a vain desire for honor, or abuse of power among
us as well as in the other governments of the world. Grant that the true
purposes of government may prevail, safeguarding peace and prosperity, so that
we may live soberly and uprightly in Your sight and have opportunity to tell of
You and Your kingdom. These petitions we direct to You because in Jesus we know
You as our Father and Lord. Amen.
Unless
otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are from the Holy Bible, English
Standard Version, copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of
Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Comments