6 For this cause pay ye tribute also: for they are God's ministers, attending continually upon this very thing.
They are God's ministers. I have a hard time seeing Mayor Charlie (the ex-mayor of York) that way, a man who as a cop in this city in 1969 raised his fist in a rally and yelled "White Power" and may have been the man who handed out ammunition to the men who killed a woman. I find it hard to see Teddy Kennedy that way, a man who killed a woman in a drunken accident and then lied and covered it up. I find it hard to see William Jefferson Clinton that way, the draft dodging, pot smoking, womanizing liar. I find it hard to see Al Gore that way, the spineless, lying, traitor. But they were “God's ministers” when they wielded the sword. They will answer to God for how they handled or mishandled that mantle. As an aside, so will George Bush, Ronald Regan, Richard Nixon and G. W Bush will be till January 2005 and more likely January 2009. And so will the ones that follow him.
7 Render therefore to all their dues: tribute to whom tribute is due; custom to whom custom; fear to whom fear; honour to whom honour.
(KJV)
We are to render them all dues, tribute, honor, custom, fear, whatever.
Where are we to break the law? Where can Christians justly violate the law of the land and be right with God? Let's look at where people in the scripture did and God indicated pleasure. I may not get all of them but I will show you this is a very narrow road.
1) Shadrack, Meishak, Abindigo. They were thrown into a furnace because they would not bow to the king's image. They would not bow thus they would not burn. But their stand was not against the king nor did they dishonor him. Their stand was against the command he made that they were to bow to him, actually his image as Lord. We find a lot of places where people bowed before kings and honored them as king. Ester for one bowed when she came in to the king. That is not wrong in fact, I believe the last verse I cited from Paul is clear that if there is to be honor, give it. If the custom to give that honor is to bow, so be it. If I were to be given audience to the Queen of England, I would find out not only if I were to bow, but when, how and where. It is not out of worship but out of honor for that office. But we are never to bow and pray to someone. These men did not bow to an idol God. They did not burn. And the result was repentance and revival in the land. Compare their handling to those who rail out against our president and call him every vile name. I don't care if they oppose his policies this is wrong. They can reject the policies without maligning the man.
2) Daniel disobeyed the command to not pray. The lions didn't eat him. I guess they didn't want to get sick. They knew it was hard to keep a good man down. I note that when the king came to see Daniel the next morning Daniel did not rail against him but said, "Oh King Live forever." This was a standard way to honor the king. Imagine honoring a king that just twelve hours ago threw you into a den of lions. But Daniel's heart was right and he did what was right. Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. Those who call GWB a Hilter are showing their ignorance and their lack of objectivity.
3) The disciples disobeyed the religious authorities a few times. Their disobedience was to an order to not preach in the name of Jesus. But I think our mandate here on preaching is very thin. We must stay on the track exactly. Our disobedience can only be in proclaiming Jesus not some idea or doctrine of our own. It can only be if we are PREVENTED from preaching the gospel. Not being allowed to do it the way we want to do it isn't enough. There are those who try to defend David Koresh on legal and biblical grounds. I can find no biblical ground and his legal grounds are at best shaky. And do not give me the story that if we don't defend those who worship differently we will loose our right to worship. That is backwards to what Paul wrote above. If we are fighting with the "officer" all the time we become the target of his wrath. And do we put our name and the name of Christ on something despicable as we do when we defend men like Koresh, Randy Weaver and the like? God forbid.
