Understanding God’s System of Governments

Einstein quote

“If I had an hour to solve a problem and my life depended on the solution, I would spend the first 55 min determining the proper question to ask… for once I know the proper question, I could solve the problem in less than 5 minutes.”

Asking the proper question is fundamental to knowing how to arrive at the correct answer. If you were to come to me with your personal life in shambles and said, “Pastor Pat help me,”I would open my Bible, identify the cause of your dilemma, and speak God’s truth giving God’s counsel for what you are facing.

If you were to come with your family life a mess both you and your spouse seeking divorce and you said, “Pastor Pat help me,” Again I would open my Bible, identify a cause, and present God’s counsel for what it is you are facing.

If you were a pastor of a church and you came to me with everyone arguing and your congregation confused, and you said, “Pastor Pat help us,” I would open the very same Bible I use for the individual and the family identify the cause for the chaos based on God’s word and offer counsel for the calamity in your church.

In other words, scripture applied in truth and grace would not only bring healing to individual and Family divisions, but also resolve church confusion.

As Christians we know that the Scripture holds final & authoritative answers on all of life.

Yet where do we go for answers as a nation when there is chaos in our country and see all the divisions disrupting & dividing?

What many Christians do, unfortunately is they change books. It seems that while Scripture is good enough for individuals, families, and churches, somehow the bible has been deemed insufficient for how we navigate such issues of Government, Politics, and Justice.

Yet the same book that can restore a person, home or church is the very same book that can restore, re-build, & re-establish a nation.

Friends, the good news is we don’t need to change books.

In fact, it is precisely because we have changed books that the chaos in our country has gotten worse than ever before.  Far too many Christians when it comes to responding to issues confronting our society are quick as everyone to speak from tradition, history, science, sociology, family, you name it…but to the neglect of what God has said all along in the Book.

Sure a few verses get dropped in here or there…But that is not good enough. Perhaps Einstein was on to something now more than simply hypothetical? In one hour… How many minutes are left? Who will pause to pick up the proper question of, “What does God have to say?”

Yes, we need to listen to our brother and sister, but do You know that every race is from the same family of Adam and Eve So, what does their dad, Father God, say?

How can we expect Father God to be helper and healer of our nation’s wounds unless God and His revealed Word become the overarching influencer?  How can we expect God to pour His blessings on us as a nation when He’s been marginalized & even dismissed from the conversation?

You see Father God knows best. He says in Proverbs 5: 1, 2 

My son, my daughter give attention to My wisdom,  Incline your ear to My understanding. That you may observe discretion and Your lips may reserve knowledge.

So, my fellow believers… It is time to return to the Book.

It’s time to listen to the only source that has the only authoritative answers for how Gods’ four governments… Self-Government, Family Government Church Government & Civil Government have been designed by God to operate & how we as Christians should operate, and cooperate in all to be part of the solution

This month of Sundays in June my aim is to equip believers for active engagement in God’s for governments, according to the Book; The very book that Abraham Lincoln in a time of unparalleled civil unrest drew upon for wisdom for his nation when He said at Gettysburg.

Nov19,1863

…that these dead shall not have died in vain—that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom- and that government of the people, By the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.  God’s governments, properly stewarded according to His prescription acting together bring blessing & unity and justice for all.

But his people must be involved in each of God’s 4areas of Government for it to work Self-Government Family-Government Church-Government Civil-Government.

Here is the foundation principle for all 4 governments Rom 13: 1

Every person is to be in subjection to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God & those which exist are established by God.

All 4 governments are designed by God to reflect His ultimate rule. It is as straightforward, & complex, as that. There is no authority that rules… apart From God Self- Family- Church- Civil.   

Not only that, but we read that know those which exist are established by God. Now that doesn’t mean that the people filling the positions of government are intentionally & fully serving God because some, if not many, are not.

However, these institutions of authority have each been created, decreed, & established

by God, underneath His sovereign control.  

  Sovereignty

Let’s talk about this word before we move on because an accurate understanding of it is critical to formulating a believer’s worldview on all issues & in all governments. Sovereignty simply means that God is accountable to No One, but God. All things are either caused by Him or permitted by Him. Therefore, to acknowledge His sovereignty means to recognize His jurisdiction, along with the validity of His supremacy over every area of life

Psalm 103:19

The Lord has established his throne in heaven, and his kingdom rules overall.

What humanism (Man-centered sovereignty) does is offer an insufficient understanding of the sovereign purpose & work of God. Humanism applied to civil government attempts to box God into a system confined within the supreme perspective of man.

Yet when humanity sovereignty is used as the starting point 4 interpreting and Interacting w God’s creation, Bad Theology & Twisted Sociology is the result as mankind attempts to fashion God after the image of fallen man.

As a result, such man centered concepts as socialism & communism, use gov’t to suppress God’s gov’t to such a degree as to leave the one true God out entirely. The other extremes are those cultures which in the name of religion, create bondage. Many of these “ecclesio-cracies,” and even so-called theocracies, dictate to people opportunity to express their faith only in the construct which the ruling-civil government has decreed as lawful; but that is not freedom.  Rather, that is Oppression. Oppressive religious rule occurs when government-mandated decrees are used to rule over people, frequently apart from the consent of those governed and is often resisted by its subjects. Yet God never forces obedience to His rule as the supreme ruler, He has allowed freedom to obey or disobey according to mankind’s choices within the sovereign lines of His boundaries

The boundary lines of God’s sovereignty are the non-negotiable areas He has established. It is like the boundary lines on a football field. In between the lines on a football field there is given freedom to call the plays and God in His sovereignty has given mankind freedom to make decisions on life’s field within his boundary lines…and of course, disobedient decisions result in consequences that are oftentimes inherent in the very activity itself.

Unbelief and Its Consequences

(Romans 1:18–32).

For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because that which is known about God is evident within them for God made it evident to them.

For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse.  For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, & their foolish heart was darkened.

Professing to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man & of birds and 4-footed animals and crawling creatures. Therefore, God gave them over in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, so that their bodies would be dishonored among them.  For they exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator who is blessed forever. Amen. In His sovereignty, God has allowed mankind to serve as representatives within His governing systems, for good or for bad. Keep in mind that God’s sovereignty allows Him to even use that which is not cooperating with Him (the bad) to move things to where He wants them to go.

Yet while God is able to turn things around that does not mean that we are to intentionally disregard God’s rule.

Rather, as the originator of governing authorities and as the sovereign authority overall, what God has to say regarding culture, social order, & government supersedes all else and should be the basis upon which all of our decisions, as followers of Christ are made.

In other words, as a Christian, you cannot discuss government or politics without discussing God. This is because government is a divinely ordained institution. Problems arise when people adopt the institution of government but dismiss the Divine Ruler over government.

As a result, many want God bless America” today They just don’t want “1 nation under God.”

The rub is that you can’t have one without the other. God only promises to bless the nation that recognizes His authority (Psalm 33:12). Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord, the people he chose for his inheritance. Freedom means You get to control the choice, but because God is sovereign ruler over His creation you don’t get to control the consequences. He will rule by either endorsing ur choice, or He will rule by allowing you to reap consequences of a decision made against Him.

For example, those who approve the legality of abortion on demand make a choice against God’s law not to take an innocent human being’s life. However, God’s viewpoint on the wrongful exercise of freedom by shedding innocent blood is given to us in the book of Genesis where we read, “Whoever sheds man’s blood, by man his blood shall be shed, for in the image of God He made man”

…and in Isaiah 49:1.   

Listen to Me, O islands,
And pay attention, you peoples from afar.
The Lord called Me from the womb;
From the body of My mother He named Me.

…and elsewhere in Scripture, we see clearly recognizing the child while in the womb. The more unborn babies are murdered in our land the more we can expect violence in our culture as well

because when culture goes against God’s laws. God will allow that culture to experience the consequences of the breaking of that law as well as the effects of that devaluing and that holds true to not only equal justice for the unborn as well as in life from the womb to the tomb.

But the proper question of the hour is how God is going to respond to a culture when the majority of people seek to veto him? How much time on the clock is left?

We read in (Psalm 103:19). 

The LORD has established His throne in the heavens and His sovereignty rules over all”

He is the Ultimate Authority, & everyone else is the Delegated Authority because as The Bible tells us We Are All “Under God.”

The reason for the plurality in governing authorities is that the division of power provides the best environment for the fair dispersement of power underneath the ultimate ruler, God.

So, what have we established today is that it’s vital to ask the proper question to arrive at the correct answer; that the bible is sufficient to reveal who God is and What his opinion is.

When we differ from the book, only 1 opinion counts. What God says about Governments are designed for our good. God has designed four govt’s Self- family- Church -Civil.

Next time we will discuss…

…How these governments are to be followed.

…How they are to be called into question & appealed to

…When and in what instances should they be objected to and disobeyed?

…What that disobedience should and should not look like?

But starting with this …God’s knowledge

Proverbs 5: 1-3

My son, give attention to My wisdom, God’s wisdom
Incline your ear to My understanding. That you may observe (pay attention to) discretion
and ur lips may reserve knowledge.