Sermon Matthew 2:13-23 - God, Church and State

Rev. Jeffrey T. Howard

Sermon Matthew 2:13-23 – God Church and State[1]

Eagle Rock Presbyterian Church

December 30, 2007

This past week the world experienced yet another political assassination as Benazir Bhutto, the former Prime Minister of Pakistan was murdered as she campaigned for political office. Next week our nation will begin the all important selection of our next president with the beginning of the 2008 campaign in Iowa. At times like these we all wonder about the relationship between God and the modern governments which rule the world today and the relationship between these governments and the church. This is therefore an appropriate time for all of us to consider the Christian view of the relationship among God, Church and State.

Will you pray with me? Sovereign God, we acknowledge that you are the head of the church and head of all the nations on Earth. You are the creator that we worship. You are the savior we need. And only you can bring the world your justice and righteousness. We pray this in the name of our triune God, Amen.

1 Kings 1:1-4 ^NRS 1 Kings 1:1 King David was old and advanced in years; and although they covered him with clothes, he could not get warm. ² So his servants said to him, "Let a young virgin be sought for my lord the king, and let her wait on the king, and be his attendant; let her lie in your bosom, so that my lord the king may be warm." ³ So they searched for a beautiful girl throughout all the territory of Israel, and found Abishag the Shunammite, and brought her to the king. ⁴ The girl was very beautiful. She became the king's attendant and served him, but the king did not know her sexually.

Matthew 2:13-23 ¹³ Now after they had left, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, "Get up, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you; for Herod is about to search for the child, to destroy him." ¹⁴ Then Joseph got up, took the child and his mother by night, and went to Egypt, ¹⁵ and remained there until the death of Herod. This was to fulfill what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet, "Out of Egypt I have called my son." ¹⁶ When Herod saw that he had been tricked by the wise men, he was infuriated, and he sent and killed all the children in and around Bethlehem who were two years old or under, according to the time that he had learned from the wise men. ¹⁷ Then was fulfilled what had been spoken through the prophet Jeremiah: ¹⁸ "A voice was heard in Ramah, wailing and loud lamentation, Rachel weeping for her children; she refused to be consoled, because they are no more." ¹⁹ When Herod died, an angel of the Lord suddenly appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt and said, ²⁰ "Get up, take the child and his mother, and go to the land of Israel, for those who were seeking the child's life are dead." ²¹ Then Joseph got up, took the child and his mother, and went to the land of Israel. ²² But when he heard that Archelaus was ruling over Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there. And after being warned in a dream, he went away to the district of Galilee. ²³ There he made his home in a town called Nazareth, so that what had been spoken through the prophets might be fulfilled, "He will be called a Nazorean."

In both of our scripture readings today we find kings who have come to the end of their long reigns, and are trying to influence who will succeed them. King David is old and bedridden, and he has two sons competing for his throne. Adonijah was David’s older son who tried to take power while David was still alive and marry Abishag, David’s concubine and bed warmer, to strengthen his claim to the throne. David’s other son was Solomon, whose mother Bathsheba had David’s ear and with the cooperation of the prophet Nathan and Zadok the priest was able to get David’s blessing on Solomon as his successor. King Herod was also nearing the end of his reign and after hearing that the messianic prophecy of a Davidic king might be fulfilled ordered the massacre of all the infants in Bethlehem. Neither king really had any control over their successor because it was God who determined who would be anointed king of Judah. God’s wanted wise Solomon, who would build his temple, and a thousand years later Jesus had come to permanently assume the throne of the Kingdom of God.

God was very involved with determining who would lead Judah, but what is the relationship between God and governments today? Does God have sovereignty over governments in today’s world? Or is God’s sovereignty limited to the church? And what sort of sovereignty could God have over those States that are officially atheistic or Islamic? These are important questions because they impact how we view God, the Church and the State, and how we, as Christians, relate to each.

Let us start with our belief in a God who created the entire world. If God created the world then everything in it must be subject to God’s sovereignty. This means that God is sovereign over the church, God is sovereign over society, and God is sovereign over governments. We can see this by the way God created humanity. God created one man, Adam and one woman, Eve and from this one couple everyone else descended. They formed one family which led to one tribe and eventually one nation. This leads us to our first principle that it was God’s original intention in creation to have one nation for the entire world with God on the throne as sovereign king.

So if it was God’s intention to have one world government, why do we have so many different nation states? The reason we have different countries that are subject to internal revolution and war with each other is the Fall. Separation into different families, tribes and nations did not occur until after sin came into the world. As a result of sin we fight each other and power goes to the strongest. “Might makes right” is the guiding principle of a fallen world. Sinful men and women become despotic rulers and exercise authority contrary to God’s will and against our very natures. We fall into an anarchy which resembles hell on earth. All of humanity has fallen into sin and is therefore subject to God’s judgment.

This leads us to the second principle; as a result of sin, God has instituted the governments of the world. The purpose of government is to limit our ability to harm each other through sin. All governments are subject to God’s will and are to rule subject to God’s law requiring justice and righteousness. They are subject to God’s judgment and established by God to mitigate the effects of sin. The nations of the world exist for God and God’s purposes and are therefore subject to God’s laws. Under God’s sovereignty no one has the right to rule over another. The only power that governments have is that which is given to them by God to mitigate the effects of sin in the world.

And this leads us to our third principle that God’s gift of government to restrain the effects of sin is an act of God’s grace. Since God has provided governments for Christians and nonbelievers alike we can say that this is an act of common grace. Just as God sends the rain over believers and nonbelievers alike; so too does God institute governments for all people. All governments, Christian or otherwise, are established by God and are therefore subject to God’s sovereignty, law and judgment.

So summing up our three principles of the relationship between God and the State we have found: 1, our creator God is sovereign over all of creation. 2, our divisions into families, tribes and nations is a result of sin. And 3, God has graciously instituted governments on the earth, subject to God’s sovereignty, to bless us by restraining the effects of sin.

Now let us look at the relationship between the church and state. Under Constantine, the church was established religion of the Roman Empire. The state acting under God’s sovereignty defended the unity of the church by banning heretics. So in like manner should the State today force unity in the church across denominational lines by defining orthodoxy? Should the State wipe out the divisions in the church which have occurred since the 16^th century reformation? The answer to these questions must ultimately be no because God is not only sovereign over the state, but God is sovereign over the church as well. The church operates within its own sphere. The state may bear the sword of justice, but the church bears the sword of the spirit. It is within the spiritual sphere that the church operates. Within the spiritual sphere the church is ruled by our sovereign God. The state therefore must respect the sovereignty of God over the church and not infringe the right of Christ to lead the church as he sees fit. This leads us to a basic principle of church and state that God has limited the power of the State so to not infringe upon God’s sovereignty over the church. The State may not compel anyone to attend church whose conscience forbids it. Nor may the State compel a church to accept into its membership someone it believes should be excluded. The State must act under the sovereignty of God to permit individuals to exercise their own faith as God directs them. Thus the State must not infringe on the Holy Spirit’s power to speak to the conscience of an individual or of the church.

So as we approach the election year of 2008 remember the following principles. God has graciously instituted the United States of America to mitigate the harmful effects of sin in our land. Our government has a responsibility therefore to act according to God’s will by bringing about justice and righteousness in accordance with God’s law. Judge each candidate therefore not based on their membership in a particular church or their individual piety, but on how you believe their relationship with God will guide them in leading this country. It doesn’t matter which church a candidate attends or how often, but does a candidate understand how God wants us to live together as a people. Ask if a candidate is willing to follow God’s will by ruling with justice and righteousness even if it means taking unpopular positions. And remember when you cast your vote that you too fall under God’s sovereignty and must cast your ballot as God would have you do.

To the government of Pakistan I would remind them that even though they are not Christian they do believe in the same creator God as we do. And their government is subject to the sovereignty of that God. God requires that Pakistan be ruled with justice and righteousness. The harmful effects of sin, so apparent in the violence that is ripping apart that country, can only be stopped by government acting under the sovereignty of our gracious God. But the State must always realize the God is also working through other institutions and individuals in the society. The state must respect the activity of God in all spheres of Pakistani life while it is restraining the effects of sin.

In King Herod we see God acting though a violent nonbeliever to prepare Judah to receive Jesus Christ. God also used the Davidic dynasty to protect and lead his people so long as they followed his will. All the nations of the Earth should realize that God has graciously established them and has given them authority to rule his creatures in justice and righteousness, but their right to rule is subject to the sovereignty of God. God has richly blessed us with governments, but our real lord is God.

Lord God, we thank you for this wonderful gift. Bless us and bless our nation as we go about the work of selecting the next president. And we ask that you act to bring peace to Pakistan and other troubled parts of the world. We pray this in the name of our triune God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, Amen.

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[1] Adapted from: Abraham Kuyper, Lectures on Calvinism, (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing 1931, chapter 3)