… honor the emperor.
At first, when I looked at today’s text I thought, “Great! I get a day off!” After all, in our country, we have no emperor. Nothing to see here, right?
Wrong. There is a lot to see.
In our post titled, “Human Authority” we addressed the issue of submitting to government. Today’s passage is a little bit different.
Countries ruled by an emperor are much different than the United States. We are ruled by a representative republic. In theory, we govern ourselves by voting for people who represent our best interests. For us, to honor the government is to honor that system.
Our system of government was founded by people who believed in God. They did not all agree on what that meant, but they did agree that there is a higher power and that all people are accountable to God after death. In a sense, when we honor the emperor, we are really honoring God.
Over many years, our society has drifted away from believing in God. Many people in government openly dismiss the idea of God or an afterlife. To them, this life is all there is. People who believe this way, no matter what they say, are serving themselves. Self-interest demands this. Without the checks and balances provided by acknowledging our Creator, self-interest can lead us to all sorts of traps.
How do we honor a government that has been corrupted by self-interest? Worse, how do we honor a government that stands in opposition to our most treasured beliefs?
The answer is that God is still in charge. We can still honor God and we can still honor our responsibility as citizens to take part in governing this great country.
Application: Pray for our country. Vote. Participate.
Food for Thought: How is ”honor” different than ”submit?”
Submission involves obedience. We can honor without necessarily obeying. We are to honor our parents. If a parent asks us to lie or steal or to worship a false god, we submit to God’s higher authority and obey Him instead. But even as we do that we can treat our parents with respect. Honor deals with an attitude while submission deals with an action. We should honor our government leaders and pray for them (1 Timothy 2: 1 – 4) even if we need to disobey them to obey God’s higher authority (Acts 5: 29). We should always both honor and obey the Lord as highest priority.
Rich,
Nicely said! I appreciate your distinction between “attitude” and “action.” God requires both from us. In fact, what you have written helps explain why the Pharisees were in conflict with Jesus. The Pharisees focused on “action,” that is doing what they perceived the law of Moses to require, while their “attitude” was far from godly. The gospels, on the other other hand, repeatedly tell us that Jesus knew what was in their hearts. God wants our hearts, first and foremost. He knows that if our heart is set on Him, the proper actions will follow.
This one gave me a headache…. The English translation considers these words to be interchangeable, depending upon their context.
1 Peter 2:17, HONOR all men. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. HONOR the king
Romans 13:1-6, SUBMIT to the governing authorities because they have been established by God.
1 Chronicles 29:11, 1 Timothy 1:17, Revelation 5:13, all authority and HONOR belong to God alone.
My dictionary defines submit:
To yield, resign or surrender to the power, will or authority of another; with the reciprocal pronoun.
To refer; to leave or commit to the discretion of judgment of another;
My dictionary defines honor:
High respect for a rank or position.
The act of demonstrating respect.
Honesty, fairness or integrity in one’s beliefs and actions.
We live in submission to God as we honor all brothers and sisters and the office of those He places in positions of authority and power over us.
We honor God in reverential trust, when we do not submit or compromise our faith, to this world or its system.
Ron,
I am so sorry about the headache!! You did a great job with the question, brother. Thank you! Take two aspirin and call me in the morning. 🙂
Well,.. my wife honors me by doing what I tell her,..she may not submit to everything I tell her to do but she does honor me, after all,.. I am the king in her kingdom,..and it works both ways,..she tells me that I may rule the roost but she rules the rooster,..God has made us unique in that manner because we are made for each other,..
I honor God by doing what’s been written in and by His Word our Lord Jesus Christ,..I may not submit to everything that’s been written but I do honor Him because He is the One and only King in my Kingdom,..I do my best to submit,..but you know as well as I do,..there are those that God has put in front of us that are hard nut’s to crack,..but God is the nut cracker and it’s only through honoring Him by doing what He said to do that any nut get’s cracked and His word shines through the broken shell’s of men that we are,..when that happens Christ’s light shines forth for others to see,..so that their nut can be cracked to,..
Maybe rambling a bit,..but there is a harvest of nut’s that God has put in this field of life for us to crack,..even some of the toughest ones needs God’s light to shine through,..
Jesus did mention that the harvest is plentiful but the workers are few,..there are many that are hungry for the Word of God,..they just don’t know it yet,..
I pray that He will continue to allow me to honor Him by submitting to the opportunities to share His Word with others,..it’s soo amazing what the Holy Spirit will illuminate with scripture for the other’s to see,..what’s even more amazing is to see their response,…
Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord God Almighty Who was, is and is to come,…
John,
Thank you so much for sharing your thoughts today! I love the imagery of the nut and the nutcracker. Yes, there are some tough nuts out there. But God, as you point out, is tougher. Well done!
👍🏻