Trinity Baptist Church

America In Crisis

Should God Have A Place In Government?

Matthew 22:15-22

We are on the third lesson of the series of messages entitled "America In Crisis."  Today the message is in the form of a question, "Should God Have A Place In Government?"  There are two extremes on this issue. There are those who would say that God should have no place at all in government.  There are those who would say on the other hand that God should run government, that the church should run the state.  And neither of these is correct.  But really if we want to know the answer, we find it in the same place we find all the answers to life's questions and that is in the Word of God.

Matthew 22:15-22

A mother and father got angry with their son and they were so exasperated they spank him.  Then they yelled at him to come down to the dinner table.  Then they yelled at him to sit down.  Then they yelled at him to say the prayer.  When they did this, he prayed this prayer, "Father I thank you that you have prepared a table before me in the presence of mine enemies!" 

Well, America today is a place where many people feel like God and government are enemies.  But this is not how it should be.  It is not how God intended.  Should God have a place in government?  I hope so. God created government. 

Surely as God created the institution of the home and God created the institution of the church, so God created the institution of the government.  Yet too many people believe that the wall of separation of church and state means the separation of God and state altogether.  And yet, that is not the intention of our founding fathers.

Long ago, James Madison known as the Chief Architect of the Constitution of the United States said this, we have staked the future of all of our political institutions on the Ten Commandments of God.  From the earliest days our founding fathers based their hopes, their dreams, their fortunes upon the principles of God's Holy Word.  The framers of the Constitution were men whose lives were saturated in the principles of God's Holy Word.  Therefore, they wrote as the first amendment to the Constitution these words, "Congress shall make no law respecting the establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof." 

You notice there are no words in there about a wall of separation of church and state.  It is not there.  They simply said, Congress is not going to establish and official state religion. The government is not going to be in the business of saying this is an official religion and it is going to be supported by the tax dollars raised by the state.  Neither is Congress going to have the power to prohibit people from worshipping according to the dictates of their on conscience.  They will not abridge the rights of people to worship as they choose to worship, in the church they choose to worship.

Now the First Amendment simply says Congress is not going to establish a church and Congress is not going to prohibit the free exercise of worship.  There is nothing there about a wall of separation.  That is something that has been passed down as a first amendment issue from year to year.  And if you tell something that is a lie enough it becomes the truth after a while.  And that is exactly what has happened with the issue of the separation of church and state.  It has come to mean the separation of the state from God.  And many today think there are some things that are separation of church state issues that are not that at all.  

I.  THE ATTACK UPON GOD AND GOVERNMENT

Now, in this passage we have before us, the first thing I see is the attack upon God and government.  Notice that the Pharisees came to Jesus and notice their motive.  Verse 22 tells us that their motive was to entrap Jesus.  They counseled together as how they might trap Him. 

Now, this is in the last week of Jesus' life.  In the previous day, Jesus has cleansed the temple rather violently.  He has overturned the tables of the moneychangers.  He has told two parables that dealt with God's judgment upon the Scribes and Pharisees.  He has exposed their pride.  He has exposed their hypocrisy; He has shown them before all the multitudes for that they really are.  They are so enraged at Jesus that they would have had Him killed right then and there on the spot, but they could not for fear of the multitudes who loved Him and who had welcomed Him into the city as the Messiah, as the son of David in the most high. 

They were angry, they were enraged and there came with them the Herodians.  The Herodians were not normal allies of the Pharisees, but they hated Jesus because they feared that He was John the Baptist who had come back from the dead.  Herod had John the Baptist killed, had him beheaded and chiefly because of Salome, the daughter of his wife.  John the Baptist had criticized Herod and preached against him because of his adultery and his incestuous relationship with his wife.  So the Herodians and the Pharisees come together with a scheme to try to trap Jesus with this question regarding taxes.

Then notice their manner.  Their manner is flattery.  They come to ask His opinion.  When they come to Jesus in verse 16, "teacher we know you are a man of integrity and we know that you are a man who teaches the truth.  Would you answer this difficult question, would you settle this difficult issue for us?" 

If you want to flatter somebody then ask them a question.  Ask them to settle a difficult issue.  And you flatter their wisdom.  And that is what they did to Jesus. They come with this false flattery.  They didn't care what Jesus thought.  They thought we are going to trap Him, because if He says something against Caesar, we may get Him for the crime of treason.  Because not to pay taxes to Caesar would be a crime.

The Romans required that every Jew pay a poll tax.  Every Jew had to pay this tax every year.  This was the kind of tax that took Mary and Joseph to Bethlehem on that time when Jesus was born.  They had to return to the city of their origin, the city of their birth to pay the poll tax.  It was the tax that identified every family and the origin of their birth. 

Jesus in verse 19 said show me the coin that is used for paying the tax.  And they brought Him a denarius.  The denarius always had the inscription of Caesar upon it.  And He said, whose picture is this upon the coin?  On our coins we have the pictures of Lincoln, Washington, the likeness of Kennedy or someone else on our coins, and they had the likeness of Caesar, Tiberius Caesar, at this particular time.  And they said, well it is Caesar.  And Jesus said to them, then give to Caesar what is Caesar's and to God what is God's. 

Then notice their malice.  There has been malice on the part of those who have been used by Satan to try to take God out of government.  And attack, just as surely as those Pharisees attacked Jesus, and Jesus said, listen, there are some things that belong to God, there are some things that belong in government, just as surely as they attacked Him, Satan has attacked the concept of God in government today.

And through the Supreme Court, we are seeing an attack on the concept of God in government in recent years.  It was not until 1947 that we really began to see it take shape.  When the Justices of the Supreme Court began to legislate from the bench rather than interpret the Constitution as a document, as a strict structurally document, they began to interpret the Constitution as what they call a living document, a document that changes with the times. 

That goes right along with how people today interpret morality that morality has to change with the times.  It is never standard.  It is never static.  It is never absolute right or wrong, but it is constantly changing.

That is how the Supreme Court has viewed the Constitution.  So in 1947, the Supreme Court began systematically legislating from the bench to dismantle the relationship between America and Christian morality. 

In 1963, they ruled that a verbal prayer offered in public school is unconstitutional, even if it is denominationally neutral and voluntarily participated in. 

In 1965 they ruled that freedom of speech and press is guaranteed to students unless the topic is religion at which time such speech becomes unconstitutional. 

In 1965 they ruled that if a student prays over his lunch aloud, it is unconstitutional for him to do so. 

In 1967 they ruled that it is unconstitutional for kindergarten students to say we thank you for the flower so sweet, we thank you for the food we eat, we thank you for the birds that sing, we thank you for everything.  Even though the name of God is not mentioned, they said that it might be construed to be a prayer and so to say that in kindergarten would be unconstitutional.  

In 1969, they ruled that it is unconstitutional for a war memorial to be erected in the shape of a cross. 

In 1970, they ruled that it is unconstitutional to arrive at school early to hear a student volunteer to read prayers, which had been offered by the chaplains in the chambers of the Senate and House. 

In 1976 they ruled that it is unconstitutional for a board of education to use or refer to the word God in any of its official writings. 

In 1979, they ruled that it is unconstitutional for the Ten Commandments to hang on the walls of a classroom since it might lead the students to read them, meditate on them, or obey them. 

In 1984, they ruled that a bill becomes unconstitutional even though the wording may be constitutionally acceptable, if the legislator who introduced the bill had a religious activity in mind when he authored it. 

In 1984, they ruled that it is unconstitutional for a kindergarten class to recite God is great, God is good, let us thank Him for our food. 

In 1985, they ruled that it is unconstitutional for a school graduation ceremony to contain an opening or closing prayer. 

In the Alaska public schools in 1987 students were told they could not use the word Christmas in school because it had the word Christ in it.  They were told they could not have the word Christmas in their notebooks or exchange traditional Christmas cards or Christmas gifts or display any material with the word Christmas on it. 

A federal court in Virginia ruled that a homosexual newspaper could be distributed on campus but a religious newspaper could not. 

More recently public schools were barred from showing a film about the settlement of Jamestown because it showed a cross being erected in the village square of Jamestown which was a historical fact.  And yet they could not put on such a play because the cross represented religion, it would be unconstitutional and might offend someone's rights to display such a thing in a public school.

 In 1987 a 185-year-old symbol of a Nevada city had to be changed because of its religious significance.  And a fire station was forced to remove a cross, a Christian symbol, which was placed there in remembrance of a fireman who had lost his life in the line of duty. 

In Omaha, Nebraska, 10-year-old James Gurkey was prohibited from reading his Bible silently during his free time at school.  The boy was forbidden by his teacher to open his Bible and was told that it was against the law for him to do so.

Christianity and Christian values are under attack.  Our President is the most hated President that I have seen in my adult life.  I have never seen a President who has been under a more vicious attack than our President. 

Our President is known for the people who hate him.  The liberals hate him, the gays hate him, the feminists hate him, the Hollywood crowd hates him, the homosexuals hate him, the atheists hate him, the agnostics hate him and they hate him for one reason because he loves Jesus Christ and he unapologetically stands up for his Lord.

Author Bob Woodward in his book "Plan of Attack" quotes the President as saying, he prayed for strength to do the Lord's will before committing the nation to the war in Iraq.  One writer referred to the president said: 

“Mr. Bush is unstable.  He is a messianic militarist and he actually suggested that Mr. Bush's reliance upon God is a separation of church and state issue.  As if to say, because he is President, he doesn't have the right to speak out on his own personal convictions and beliefs. 

And now it is all beginning again with the attacks of Governor Palin.  Whatever your political affiliation, any Christian should be outraged that a belief in Jesus Christ, a dependence upon prayer and Scriptural convictions is belittled and made light of in your country. 

Why do they hate a leader who stands up for what is right, who stands up for Jesus? Because darkness hates light and they will not come to the light because their deeds are evil!

II.  THE ANALOGY OF GOD AND GOVERNMENT

Secondly notice the analogy of God and government. Number one this is an offensive analogy.  He said, whose image is on this coin?  They said Caesar's.  And they were offended by this image. 

First of all, because the Jews knew that the Ten Commandments began with thou shalt make no graven images; thou shalt have not other gods before me.  They were not to bow before any image of man. 

In modern Israel today, Orthodox Jews will not even let you take their photograph because of their strong belief about graven images.

Number two they were offended because it reminded them that they were under the Roman yoke of oppression.  They were not free.  They had to pay this tax to their oppressors. 

Second this was an obligatory analogy, "render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's". 

Look at Romans 13:6-7, "This is also why you pay taxes, for the authorities are God's servants, who give their full time to governing.  Give everyone what you owe him: If you owe taxes, pay taxes; if revenue, then revenue; if respect, then respect; if honor, then honor." 

Sometimes the government is unjust, sometimes the government wastes money, sometimes the government is wrong and yet Paul said to the believers in his day, you are to pay taxes to the government, to the authority that is over you.  

Now, ladies and gentlemen, if he would say that to believers in his day, when they lived under the most oppressive, the most corrupt, the most evil regime the world has ever known, the Roman Empire, what would he say to us who live under the greatest nation the world has ever known?

It is our Christian duty to pay taxes. Many of you pay 50% of what you make in taxes, when you add in to the income tax the sales tax, the personal property tax, the state tax, and like we do today, the taxes then were high, this was only one of the taxes. 

And yet Jesus said, we are to pay our taxes that are part of our obligatory duty.

And then he gave an objective analogy, "Give unto God the things that are God's." 

What if our government asked us to do something that is against what God says?  Then we have to obey God.  Peter and John were preaching the gospel.  They were beaten and commanded not to preach any more.  They left the council and they said, we must obey God rather than man.  And it may come to a time when we must obey God rather than man. If they command me not to preach anymore, I still have to preach, even if I have to go to jail to preach.  I must obey God rather than men.  I must give unto God the things that are God's.

Just as surely as He tells us to pay taxes, He tells us to give unto God the things that are God's.  Listen to me today, the tithe belongs to God.  In Leviticus the Bible says, "The tithe is the Lord's."  And if people tithe, a church never has any financial problems.  But make no mistake about it; give unto God the things that are God's.

III.  THE ANSWER TO GOD AND GOVERNMENT

Number three; the answer to God and government, is there a place for God in the government of America?  Yes.  Adrian Rodgers tells us five ways in which you and I can help our government.  Five ways in which we can help America be a better America.

Number one, prayer is needed in government.  I Timothy 2:1-2, "I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone-- for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness." He commands us to pray.  He tells us we are to pray for kings and all those in authority that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness.  We are commanded to pray.

In Proverbs 21:1 it tells us that the heart of a king is in the hands of the Lord.  And so if we want our leaders to make better decisions, we need to pray for them.  God puts the burden on us, the burden for our nation is not just upon our leaders, it is upon us.  If we pray for them like we ought to pray for them, they would make better decisions.   Our government needs prayer; our people in authority need prayer. 

Listen the problem in Iraq right now is a prayer problem.  The terror problem America is facing is a prayer problem.  If enough people pray, God will solve this problem for us.  God is trying to get our attention.  What is it going to take to call America to prayer?  What is it going to take to fill up the church house?  How many boys are going to have to come home in a body bag before American churches figure it out? 

We need to pray.  God says, if MY people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray.  The problem we are having with the gays and the same-sex marriage is a prayer problem.  The problem is not the democrats, the problem is not the republicans, the problem is not the independents. 

The Bible says, we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of darkness, against the spiritual wickedness in high places.  And the only way we can defeat the unseen enemy, the devil, is through prayer.

Number two patriotism is needed in government.  Psalm 137:5 says, "If I forget you, O Jerusalem,

may my right hand forget its skill ."    I believe in flag waving, teary eyed, heart-thumping patriotism.  Patriotism is needed in government.  I can't understand these entertainers and even Congressmen who go to Europe or they go to the Middle East and they stand there on foreign soil and criticize the policies of their government. 

If they want to criticize, fine.  Bo it here and work for a solution at home.  But when you stand on foreign soil, when you are in the house of the enemy, while American boys are giving their blood for this nation, don’t criticize. 

I say to you let anybody who does that stay over there!  If you think that is a better place than America, then just don't come back.  Oh, they come back over here because they would have to pay double taxes in France, hypocrites!  They make their millions here, then they go to France or England and talk about how bad America is, about how bad George Bush is. What hypocrites.  And they talk about hypocrites in Christianity and hypocrites in church; they are the biggest hypocrites who ever walked the face of the earth.

Number three preaching is needed in government. 

Nathan preached to David and told him about his sin.  Elijah preached to Ahab and told him about troubled Israel.  Eliza spoke to King Jehosaphat and Daniel preached to Nebuchadnezzar.  Moses preached to Pharaoh. 

And whether it is a local government, a state government, or a national government all of them need to hear thus saith the Lord God.  One of the problems of America is that the pulpits of America have been silent.  And if you have the gays and you have the liberals tell the lies long enough there will be enough Americans who believe them that will damn our country.

Abraham Lincoln saw a little boy with a dog and he said how many legs does your dog have?  He said, four. Lincoln said son if you call his tail a leg and add that to his four legs, how many legs would he have?  He said, five.  Lincoln said no he wouldn't.  He said, son, he would just have four.  A tail is a tail no matter what you call it.

My friend, we need some preachers today who will call a tail a tail, a spade a spade and tell it like it is in this nation.  We need preaching in government.  And I want to tell you, if somebody says that they believe that life begins at conception, if that person isn't willing to stand up for what they believe and vote what they believe, I would think more of them if they just admitted that they don't believe it!  There is no bigger hypocrisy.