Christian Ethics and Civil Government | Ballot Box | Week 3
Opening
Consider opening by asking your group to share how this series have changed the way they look at politics. If they say it has not, maybe challenge them to spend some time in silence with Jesus this week and reflect on some part of your group meeting.
Overview
Revolution is baked into American life. Growing up in American often means growing up challenging authority. How do we as the church interact with the government in a biblical and not just American way? A difficult passage of the Bible in Romans that talks about the relationship of Christians to the government helps guide our way.
God empowers civil government to protect the restrained and prohibit the unrestrained but not to instill godly virtues. Challenging our civil government is primarily an appeal to God for judgment rather than an imposition of our political will. However, when the orders of the government contradict the way of Jesus, our allegiance to Jesus must be supreme. The outcomes of civil challenge should be love for our neighbors and proclamation of the gospel.
Discussion Questions
- How do you tend to think about the church’s relationship to the government?
- Does a love for neighbor and proclamation of the gospel guide your thinking about interactions with the government?
Practice
Acts 5 17 Then the high priest and all his associates, who were members of the party of the Sadducees, were filled with jealousy. 18 They arrested the apostles and put them in the public jail. 19 But during the night an angel of the Lord opened the doors of the jail and brought them out. 20 “Go, stand in the temple courts,” he said, “and tell the people all about this new life.” 21 At daybreak they entered the temple courts, as they had been told, and began to teach the people. When the high priest and his associates arrived, they called together the Sanhedrin—the full assembly of the elders of Israel—and sent to the jail for the apostles. 22 But on arriving at the jail, the officers did not find them there. So they went back and reported, 23 “We found the jail securely locked, with the guards standing at the doors; but when we opened them, we found no one inside.” 24 On hearing this report, the captain of the temple guard and the chief priests were at a loss, wondering what this might lead to. 25 Then someone came and said, “Look! The men you put in jail are standing in the temple courts teaching the people.” 26 At that, the captain went with his officers and brought the apostles. They did not use force, because they feared that the people would stone them. 27 The apostles were brought in and made to appear before the Sanhedrin to be questioned by the high priest. 28 “We gave you strict orders not to teach in this name,” he said. “Yet you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching and are determined to make us guilty of this man’s blood.” 29 Peter and the other apostles replied: “We must obey God rather than human beings! 30 The God of our ancestors raised Jesus from the dead—whom you killed by hanging him on a cross. 31 God exalted him to his own right hand as Prince and Savior that he might bring Israel to repentance and forgive their sins. 32 We are witnesses of these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey him.”
Read this passage aloud and invite your group members to share what stood out to them. Do they know anyone who lives in a country where they are not free to share the gospel? How does this passage line up with the sermon outcomes of loving neighbors and proclaiming the gospel?
If you have time, read Romans 13:1-7. Compare the two passages. Where do they align? Where do they seem to give different instructions? How can you reconcile the two?
Closing
Pray for the fruit of the Spirit and that we might follow the Spirit’s leading. May the church’s witness shine brightly in our political climate.