Message: Romans 13 is a challenge like no
other and a true test of our trust that God really is over all. Right off the
bat we are challenged with the word submit. Women struggle with this word as we
read it in the context of marriage but in this context Paul is talking about
submitting to the authorities of our government. This goes against the grain of
our American culture where we all decide for ourselves who and what we will
submit ourselves to. The definition of submit is “accept or yield to a
superior force or to the authority or will of another person”. I think we
get mixed up because we assume that means we have to agree with everything the
person in authority says or does. The challenge here is that we live our lives
submitting to these authorities, no matter how corrupt they may be, knowing
that they can’t touch our souls. Our souls are submitted to God so we can trust
that he will take care of us in every circumstance. Even when they aren’t the
circumstances we wanted. This does not make our authorities right, but it makes
us right before God, who is our ultimate authority and our covering. In verse 8
it almost seems that Paul is changing the subject by speaking about love, but
he is actually taking our obedience a step further. He says that the one that
loves fulfills the law. This means instead of following the law of Moses to
know how to treat our neighbor, we are bound by love. This means we are
commanded to do what is best for our neighbor with the understanding that
everyone is our neighbor. When we live by this instead of a list of rules we
will not be able to find loopholes. This is a matter of the heart and when we
do this we fulfill the law at an even higher standard than what was written.
Command: Obey authorities, love people and
make no plans to satisfy our fleshly desires.
Promise: When we do this we leave ourselves
open and vulnerable to man, but also place ourselves in the hands of God
without limitations.
Warning: Submitting to authorities and doing
what is best for people who don’t return the favor seems like a dangerous and
vulnerable place to be so our tendency is to fight it. When we fight it, we
remove ourselves from the protection of God, and put ourselves in the position
to fight our own battles. We often do this and then try to get God to bless it.
Application: This chapter is challenging for all of us. We
all want to be in control and nobody wants to be the fool. God wants us to
trust him by becoming completely vulnerable and trusting that he will do what
is best for us, even when it doesn’t look or feel like what is best. Our submission
authority, and our obedience to do what is best for our neighbor is actually
submission to God. When we do this, we take our hands off the controls and
instead of fighting against God, we find ourselves in a position
for God to fight for us. It feels counter-intuitive just like
most things in the gospel. If you want to save your life, lose it. Die to
yourself, submit to authority, look out for others first. My challenge to
myself in this is to pay attention to the inner struggle where I pick and
choose the areas of life that I want to hang onto control. It shouldn’t be hard
to follow the turmoil. When I find that turmoil, I will ask myself what is
required of me in this situation and ask God to help me in my surrender.
