11-09-08 God And The Kingdoms of Man

We’ve just been through a national election this past week.

As with all elections,

following this one there are a whole bunch of people who are just thrilled with the results,

and are feeling as if our nation’s future will be a whole lot brighter because of what happened,

and there are just about as many people

who feel as though huge, tragic mistakes have been made

and are wondering if we are on the very brink of the total collapse of our society as we know it.

That is the nature of elections.

And please know that I do not in any way mean to make light

of political involvement,

or our personal political convictions.

In our society

political involvement is one of the many ways in which

we can express our values and world view.

As Christians

part of our God-given responsibility on this earth

is to do whatever we can

to communicate truly Godly values

to a world that has no moral compass whatsoever.

And in our society

the political arena can be a tool for doing just that

when there are issues involved that are clearly moral in nature.

Having said that,

I have to follow it up with one additional comment.

I’m not sure how this happened,

but I think that within my life time,

especially as our nation has utterly rejected the concept

of an absolute moral standard

to which all people are held accountable

and replaced it with an absolute defense of the personal rights of the individual,

somewhere in this process

there have been times when we Christians seem to have misunderstood our calling.

Our calling is not and never has been

to attempt to legislate morality.

Certainly we should do whatever we can

to pass laws that are consistent with true Biblical morality,

and to select and elect leaders

who recognize and personally and publicly submit to that Biblical morality.

But if we are not able to pass the laws we want or to elect the men and women we want,

we have not failed

so long as we remain faithful in raising the questions

and confronting our nation with the issues.

And we do that first of all and most of all

by living lives that are absolutely consistent with those moral values given to us by our God.

And at the top of the list of those moral values given to us by our God

is our calling to actively, aggressively love the people God brings into our lives.

During this past election

did you come in contact with another person

whose political views you violently objected to?

Did you find yourself thinking that your calling as a Christian

was to point out to them

how wrong their thinking was?

Did you know that you had another, far higher calling then that?

It was the calling of finding some way of communicating

how deeply you cared about them as a person,

no matter where they stood on the issues.

Ann Lamott, a fascinating Christian writer once said

that she knows she has formed God in her own image

when He hates all the same people that she hates.

But these are not the things I most want us to spend our time looking at this morning.

Given the fact that we’ve just come through a national election

and that the men and women we as a nation have placed into leadership over us

will certainly make some significant changes in the direction our nation moves in the months ahead,

I want to take both this election

and the role of human political leadership

and place them into a correct Biblical setting.

Did you pray about the election this past week?

I did, and I’m certain many of you did as well.

Did the candidate you voted for get elected?

If he or she did, do you interpret that as meaning that God heard your prayer and answered it?

If the candidates of your choice did not get elected,

did you come away from the election feeling as if

in spite of your prayers

Satan somehow overpowered God

and claimed the upper hand?

Do you find yourself thinking

that the fulfillment of God’s will

and His plan and purpose for our world and our nation

is dependent upon the “right” people being placed into political power,

and if the “wrong” people get elected

then God’s program on this earth will be frustrated or sabotaged?

Do you believe that God’s design for the ages

is in some way tied to and dependant upon the will of man?

Well, if any such feelings have ever crossed your mind,

I want to take the rest of our time together this morning

to remind us of three Divine absolutes

when it comes to God and those who hold positions of political power over us.

And the first absolute I want to share with you this morning

comes to us courtesy of the 2^nd Psalm.

We’ll look at the Psalm quickly

and then I’ll share the absolute that comes out of it.

I need to keep myself focused this morning

to be sure I get us where I want us to go,

but let me just say that if you ever find yourself losing perspective

either on your own life personally,

or on the events you see unfolding in the world around you,

take a few minutes to read the first two Psalms.

They are both remarkable and wonderful for what they share with us.

The first Psalm talks about the commitment God makes

to those who make it their goal

to live a life of moral integrity in this world.

And in just six verses

David paints a vivid portrait

of a life profoundly worth living,

a life of strength, and beauty, and fruitfulness,

a life guided and protected by the very hand of God Himself.

And then,

in the 2^nd Psalm

David turns his attention from the life of the individual child of God

to God’s relationship with all those who hold political power in human society.

And what he says is quite simply wonderful.

In the first 3 verses he captures human political leaders at their worst.

He does this because if we see how God handles the worst possible situations

then we also know how He can and will handle everything else.

He says,

PSA 2:1-3 Why are the nations in an uproar And the peoples devising a vain thing? The kings of the earth take their stand And the rulers take counsel together Against the Lord and against His Anointed, saying, "Let us tear their fetters apart And cast away their cords from us!"

And let me tell you that what we have happening here

has a dual application for us.

Certainly there is a strong prophetic application to this entire Psalm,

giving us a powerful picture of that point in history yet to come

when the rulers of the world

under the leadership of the Anti-Christ

will literally seek to wage war against the people of God

and against Christ Himself.

And as we see this Psalm progressing

we will see that not then, and not ever are those leaders a threat to the plans and purposes of God.

But there is an application of this Psalm

that is a whole lot closer to home.

Because embedded in these opening words of this Psalm

is the chronic vulnerability of all those who rise to positions of human power -

the vulnerability to view themselves as above the law.

Power is intoxicating,

and the greater the power,

the more intoxicating it becomes.

I had terrible history teachers all the way through school.

Most of them had been teaching way to long,

and any passion they had for either their material or their students

had long since gone by the way.

Of course that’s my evaluation looking back,

and it’s entirely possible that the greater problem was with me as a student

rather than them as teachers,

but I mention this only because I remember only one thing from my high school world history teacher.

It was his favorite quotation,

one he repeated frequently,

one that summed up his personal evaluation of the entire history of man.

It was a quotation from Lord Acton, a 19^th century British historian who said,

“Power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely.”

Actually that’s a bit of a paraphrase of what Lord Acton really wrote.

What he actually said was,

“Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men.”

And David’s opening comments in this 2^nd Psalm

make it clear that our God perfectly understands that corrupting nature of power,

a corrupting force that tends to lead those who hold positions of power

into a belief that they are above both the laws of the land and the moral laws of God.

And this corrupting power has nothing whatsoever to do

with a person’s political philosophy or religious beliefs or party affiliation or anything else.

It has everything to do with the corrupt nature of the flesh

and what happens to that flesh

when a person finds themself in a position

in which he or she feels as if their position of power

frees them from having to submit to any authority over them.

And this corrupting influence of power

is in no way limited just to political power.

It happens everywhere.

It happens in business,

in social organizations,

in financial institutions,

any place where positions of power exist.

Even our religious landscape is littered with examples of men and women

who have achieved great positions of power over others

and then used those positions as covering for personal lives of immorality and corruption.

But my point here is simply

that whenever God talks with us about our political leaders

He assumes a measure of corruption,

even a level of corruption that brings about either private or open rejection of the Lordship of Jesus Christ in their lives...

The kings of the earth take their stand And the rulers take counsel together Against the Lord and against His Anointed, saying, "Let us tear their fetters apart And cast away their cords from us!"

But that isn’t where the Psalm ends,

not even close.

Having given us a view through the minds of those who hold the power,

David then allows us to seen these men and women through the eyes of God.

And what we see changes everything.

PSA 2:4-6 He who sits in the heavens laughs, The Lord scoffs at them. Then He will speak to them in His anger And terrify them in His fury, saying, "But as for Me, I have installed My King Upon Zion, My holy mountain."

And of everything that happens in this Psalm,

this right here is what we need to hear the most.

This is God’s response

to all those who attempt to use their positions of power

to attack Jesus Christ,

or to diminish His lordship in the lives of His people,

or to subvert His predetermined plan and purposes for the nations of the world.

The absurdity of their arrogance causes the Creator of all things to laugh.

And in effect David quotes God as saying, “I have already established my King, and nothing you say or do can threaten Me or cause Me to change my plans or purposes on this earth in the least. Nothing and no one can ever, will ever undo what I have done.”

From there he then goes on to strengthen what he’s just said

by allowing us to listen in

on a conversation between God the Father and Jesus Christ.

And here again, this is fascinating.

PSA 2:7-9 "I will surely tell of the decree of the Lord: He said to Me, 'You are My Son, Today I have begotten You. Ask of Me, and I will surely give the nations as Your inheritance, And the very ends of the earth as Your possession. You shall break them with a rod of iron, You shall shatter them like earthenware.'"

Now isn’t that nice stuff?

That’s God the Father

granting to Jesus Christ

absolute ultimate authority over all human governments,

telling Him that those who do not willingly submit to His Lordship

will ultimately be shattered by Him

as a man would shatter a clay pot with a powerful blow from an iron rod.

And David has at least two major purposes in writing these words.

The first purpose concerns those of us

who have fallen victim to the lie

that God’s plans and purposes on this earth

are in any way dependent upon the willing co-operation of any human authority.

And to this He responds by reminding us of the most basic truth of our existence -

there is only one Creator God,

and no created being can ever or will ever undue what He has ordained.

And David’s second purpose in writing

is to offer a closed-circuit message

to all those who hold positions of power on the earth.

And listen to how he ends this Psalm.

PSA 2:10-12 Now therefore, O kings, show discernment; Take warning, O judges of the earth. Worship the Lord with reverence And rejoice with trembling. Do homage to the Son, that He not become angry, and you perish in the way, For His wrath may soon be kindled. How blessed are all who take refuge in Him!

Now isn’t that great?

That’s God’s not-so-subtle reminder

that no matter where we may be positioned in human society,

we can never ever escape the authority of the God who created us.

And every human leader faces exactly the same choice -

either choose submission to the King of Kings

or know that in His time the King of Kings will bring them down.

Which brings me to the first absolute I want to share with you this morning -

the certainty of God’s absolute authority over all human governmental structures.

No human governmental structure,

and no human political leader

ever has or ever will stand in the way of God’s plan of the ages.

Did the candidate of your choice win this past week?

If your hope is in that candidate to bring about a better world or a brighter future

then your hope is misplaced.

God will most certainly work through him to bring about His purposes,

but God alone is worthy of our hope and our trust.

Did the candidate of your choice loose this past week?

Do you think that loss in any way prevents the King of Kings

from fulfilling His purposes and plans in this nation and in this world?

If so, then you have misunderstood your God

and His absolute control over all human leaders

and His absolute commitment to fulfill His purposes through them.

Which brings me to the second absolute I want to share with you this morning -

God’s absolute commitment to work through the human governmental structures in our lives,

no matter who may hold the positions within those structures.

And to help us here

I will mention once again

a passage we’ve looked at in some detail in the past,

a passage none of us like,

but all of us need to believe.

This is instruction written by Paul

in the context of a political system

that was at times openly hostile to any who identified themselves as Christians.

And yet still he wrote,

ROM 13:1-7 Every person is to be in subjection to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those which exist are established by God. Therefore whoever resists authority has opposed the ordinance of God; and they who have opposed will receive condemnation upon themselves. For rulers are not a cause of fear for good behavior, but for evil. Do you want to have no fear of authority? Do what is good and you will have praise from the same; for it is a minister of God to you for good. But if you do what is evil, be afraid; for it does not bear the sword for nothing; for it is a minister of God, an avenger who brings wrath on the one who practices evil. Therefore it is necessary to be in subjection, not only because of wrath, but also for conscience' sake. For because of this you also pay taxes, for rulers are servants of God, devoting themselves to this very thing. Render to all what is due them: tax to whom tax is due; custom to whom custom; fear to whom fear; honor to whom honor.

Now, there is a whole bunch in that passage,

most of which we will not touch on this morning.

But the one thing I do want to point out

is that imbedded in that passage

is a remarkable promise of God to His people,

the promise that He will work through the governing authorities

to bring about His plans and His purposes in our lives.

...it is a minister of God to you for good...

And that commitment of God to us

is in no way dependent upon which individuals hold those positions.

Which brings me to my third and final absolute that I want to share with you

concerning God and the kingdoms of man.

And it is simply this - God is absolutely committed

to daily, hourly, moment by moment

working both in and through each of His people

no matter what government structure we live under,

and no governmental structure, no human leader can ever alter that reality in the least.

Nothing has happened this past week

that has in any way made it even a tiny bit easier or harder

for the people of God

to live lives of obedient submission to Jesus Christ.

Several weeks ago we looked closely at Paul’s words to us in Galatians 2:20,

"I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.”

That commitment of our God to us,

His commitment to place His Spirit within us

and live His live out through us

is the great absolute of our union with Him.

It is never, in any way, at any time ever dependent upon

anything that is happening in the society around us

or in the governmental structures over us.

And the truth is that the vivid reality of the life of Christ within us

is most visible to the world around us

when it is seen against the backdrop of a culture clothed in darkness.

And then, to complete my comments on God and the kingdoms of man,

I’d like to read a passage of Scripture

that was written more than 2600 years ago.

It is Daniel’s interpretation of a dream

that was given by God to Nebuchadnezzar, the most powerful political ruler on the face of the earth at that time.

Daniel writes,

DAN 2:31-45 "You, O king, were looking and behold, there was a single great statue; that statue, which was large and of extraordinary splendor, was standing in front of you, and its appearance was awesome. The head of that statue was made of fine gold, its breast and its arms of silver, its belly and its thighs of bronze, its legs of iron, its feet partly of iron and partly of clay. You continued looking until a stone was cut out without hands, and it struck the statue on its feet of iron and clay and crushed them. Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver and the gold were crushed all at the same time and became like chaff from the summer threshing floors; and the wind carried them away so that not a trace of them was found. But the stone that struck the statue became a great mountain and filled the whole earth.”

"This was the dream; now we will tell its interpretation before the king. You, O king, are the king of kings, to whom the God of heaven has given the kingdom, the power, the strength and the glory; and wherever the sons of men dwell, or the beasts of the field, or the birds of the sky, He has given them into your hand and has caused you to rule over them all. You are the head of gold. After you there will arise another kingdom inferior to you, then another third kingdom of bronze, which will rule over all the earth. Then there will be a fourth kingdom as strong as iron; inasmuch as iron crushes and shatters all things, so, like iron that breaks in pieces, it will crush and break all these in pieces. In that you saw the feet and toes, partly of potter's clay and partly of iron, it will be a divided kingdom; but it will have in it the toughness of iron, inasmuch as you saw the iron mixed with common clay. As the toes of the feet were partly of iron and partly of pottery, so some of the kingdom will be strong and part of it will be brittle. And in that you saw the iron mixed with common clay, they will combine with one another in the seed of men; but they will not adhere to one another, even as iron does not combine with pottery. In the days of those kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which will never be destroyed, and that kingdom will not be left for another people; it will crush and put an end to all these kingdoms, but it will itself endure forever. Inasmuch as you saw that a stone was cut out of the mountain without hands and that it crushed the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver and the gold, the great God has made known to the king what will take place in the future; so the dream is true and its interpretation is trustworthy."

OK, now I’ve taken the time to read that passage for us this morning

because I want us to see something.

In that passage, written 2600 years ago,

God reveals to Daniel

an overview of the political history of the human race

from his time right on up until Christ establishes His Kingdom on this earth.

Later in the book of Daniel

Daniel has further visions

that put names to those kingdoms

and reveals their development and nature and rise and fall in great detail.

Now, why did God do that?

Well, obviously He did it in part

because it was knowledge He wanted His people to have.

But there was something even more important

that He wanted to communicate to us.

He wanted us to know that He has known the end from the beginning,

and that He and He alone is orchestrating the political framework of the human race.

Actually, Daniel himself said what I’m trying to say far better than I ever could.

Just a few verses earlier in the second chapter of Daniel he said,

DAN 2:20-22 "Let the name of God be blessed forever and ever, For wisdom and power belong to Him. It is He who changes the times and the epochs; He removes kings and establishes kings; He gives wisdom to wise men And knowledge to men of understanding. It is He who reveals the profound and hidden things; He knows what is in the darkness, And the light dwells with Him.”

The kingdoms of man are a very tiny thing

to the God who is,

the God who created all,

the God who moves all things after the counsel of His will.

They are used by Him to accomplish His purposes among us

and when they have fulfilled those purposes

He sets them aside.

And no human being ever has or ever will

have the power to prevent the perfect unfolding

of God’s plans and purposes for the human race.