"Who's in Charge?"

We live in world that is in search for authority. From governments all over the world to religious groups seeking power, the quest for who's in charge is on. This past week we saw in Palestine the Democratically elected government of Hamas come to power in an area of the world that has been in much upheaval since the 1940's. Now I am proud to be living in a country that is a democracy, but as you see in Palestine you don't always get what you hope for. Now Palestine is ruled by a "Terrorist" government elected by the people. RC Sproul Jr said in an article "If you can keep it"

"Democracy is made up of two words. Demo is rooted in the word for people, cracy in the word for rule. It is a system of government whereby the will of the majority becomes law. Such is a reprehensible abomination, a heresy the founding father's found repugnant, and a gross affront against God. Democracy is two wolves and a sheep deciding what is for lunch. And therein lies the problem. We oppose democracy as a legal system because it is in practice mobocracy." "Democratic tyranny is still tyranny."

Just to refresh our minds this morning we live in a constitutional republic not a democracy. Don't know if it's true, or if it's the first instance of an urban legend in U.S. history, but the story goes like this. Ben Franklin has just left the closing of the Constitutional convention. He meets a woman outside the hall who asks, "Mr. Franklin, what kind of government have you given us?" Franklin replied, "A republic, if you can keep it."

Even religious authority is a problem today. We see in America so many and various Churches and denominations and even non-denominations, denominations that deny that they are a denomination. That it becomes confusing to the average person. The average postmodern person only seeks a religion that will not make any real demands on them. There is almost a mob rules mentality about our religious life that we want a religion that is democratic not theocratic. We want a God that we can form and make into our image rather than us Him.

This is at the root of the problem in the ECUSA and in the Church of Canada. The desire to follow secular trends of society rather than the faith once delivered as received in scripture and tradition. This sliding buy the church into irrelevance is first and foremost a problem of sin, but it is the conscious attempt to destroy authority everywhere it exists and the last place is in the one holy catholic and apostolic faith. When the Episcopal Church USA made a Homosexual a Bishop (by the way they had been making homosexuals priests for years) it eroded the basic ethics in authority that exist, that is, that those in authority can do what ever they want without any check or balance from scripture or tradition. This has created chaos in the lives of the saints and even in the lives of pagans who are in search for the truth.

The question of authority, or who's in charge, sticks at the heart of the nature of the problem in all men and at all times in history. This is not a new problem but a problem that goes all the way back to the garden. When the snake spoke to Eve his question wasn't about what's for lunch, but who's in charge. The snake (the devil) knew the weakness of all beings, created lesser than God, and that is pride and a desire to be in control, a desire to get my way rather than to submit to God in humility and love. God knows the "frailty of our nature" and the fact that we can't stand upright in all our doings. But it is within our power to choose to bow before his great authority rather than to the idols we so easily serve in this life.

St. Paul begins our epistle this morning with a very direct statement about the nature of authority and who's in charge. He says,

(Romans 13:1)  Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers.

St Paul doesn't mince words he says every soul the Greek for every means every. He is not just talking about the nature of how we as Christians ought to act, but all of mankind has an obligation to be under authority. All of mankind had a duty to submit his soul to those in authority; in this case it is the civil authority. But the use of the word "higher powers" says all authority both sacred and secular. Sometimes this is the difficult one we may not like those who are in authority over us. Whether it is our teachers, our bosses, our civil authorities. But how about our priests, our bishops, our deacons, our wardens, are we really in submission to there authority. St Paul tells us where all authority lies, where it comes from, he says:

"For there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God."

First he tells us that all powers, or authority, begin and end with God. No king no president, no bishop, priest or deacon has any authority in and of himself it is given him by God and God alone. The prophet Daniel says,

(Daniel 2:20-22)  "Blessed be the name of God for ever and ever: for wisdom and might are his: And he changeth the times and the seasons: he removeth kings, and setteth up kings: he giveth wisdom unto the wise, and knowledge to them that know understanding: He revealeth the deep and secret things: he knoweth what is in the darkness, and the light dwelleth with him."

St Paul is stating this same idea of who's in charge, but we ask ourselves the question what if that one who is in authority is crazy or abusing the power given buy God. St Paul tells us clearly, He says,

(Romans 13:2)  Whosoever therefore resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God: and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation.

This verse works both ways it is a charge to them that have been given authority to remember that there authority has been bestowed on them from there creator. To often secular leaders forget they are ministers of God whether they like it or not. This is the plain fact of creation God made us and he makes the rules. This verse also tells us that we have a duty to live at peace with all men in authority remembering God raises up and puts down those who abuse that authority.

St Paul goes on to remind these Romans, who were under the civil authority of Caesar, that they have a duty to obey the law, and follow these ordinances because as St Paul says,

(Romans 13:4)  For he is the minister of God to thee for good. But if thou do that which is evil, be afraid; for he beareth not the sword in vain: for he is the minister of God, a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil.

Paul is reminding them that civil authorities are there to keep law and order not to allow chaos to break out. And that we as Christians are to avoid rebellion at all cost. When the Roman government outlawed Christianity it did so not because they were breaking any laws that were in place to keep order, but because they wouldn't bow to Caesar. This was the law that was imposed on all the Roman provinces making devotion to any other deity other than the Caesar a crime punishable by death. But it was also a law that was outside the natural law that recognized God as the giver of authority. This abuse of power would be the undoing of the Roman Empire and the cult of the Caesars. They failed to recognize that there power to rule is subordinate to the creator God.

St Paul concludes the Epistle by reminding these Romans to be good citizens,

He says,

(Romans 13:7,8)  "Render therefore to all their dues: tribute to whom tribute is due; custom to whom custom; fear to whom fear; honour to whom honour. Owe no man any thing, but to love one another: for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law."

He reminds them that they have a duty to love one another and to obey all civil laws, even paying you taxes.

We also see in our Gospel from Matthew 8 Christ looking a lot like Moses He had just given the Kingdom beatitudes in Matthew 5,6,7 and as Moses came off the mountain with the tables of the law, Christ comes down from the mountain as the Law as the ethics or the embodiment of all he had just taught them. The beatitudes are the definition of the Law and the prophets. They are our ethics on how we ought to live in the kingdom now, not in some future reality, but now.

But the imagery of Jesus coming down from the mountain as the embodyment of the law shows us Christ's Lordship over heaven and earth. Christ who is the word of God made flesh and was there at the giving of the law at mount Sini is here fulfilling the law in his person.

As we have been talking about the Epiphany, which is the manifestation of Christ to the Gentiles, we see here in our gospel Christ appearing and fulfilling the law in all he does and says. After Christ heals the leper he tells him to fulfill the requirements of the law and show himself to the priest. He says,

(Matthew 8:4) "See thou tell no man; but go thy way, shew thyself to the priest, and offer the gift that Moses commanded, for a testimony unto them."

Christ wasn't giving them some new law to follow he was obeying the law even as he healed this leoper he didn't make any different demands on him , but on the contrary submitted to the laws and customs of the rituals of healing. He didn't undo the law but kept it in his life and ministry hearkening back to the lesson from the book of Deuteronomy which says,

(Deuteronomy 4:5-8)  "Behold, I have taught you statutes and judgments, even as the LORD my God commanded me, that ye should do so in the land whither ye go to possess it. Keep therefore and do them; for this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the nations, which shall hear all these statutes, and say, Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people. For what nation is there so great, who hath God so nigh unto them, as the LORD our God is in all things that we call upon him for? And what nation is there so great, that hath statutes and judgments so righteous as all this law, which I set before you this day?"

The purpose in keeping the law of God is in the fact that these laws are the "queen of all laws" And the keeping of them is for a testimony to the Gentiles that they may say

"Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people."

We see the fulfillment of this in Christ traveling to the gentiles in the city of Capernaum where he meets a Roman Centurion. This guard was not just a guard but a leader of men whose responsibility was to take orders and follow them even to his death. But the centurion obviously knew of our lord's work and saw these miracles and was in need of one himself. In his desperation he recognized in Christ his obvious submission to authority. He approached Christ in a way that was not common for Romans to do to Jews it says "beseeching Him". This means that he was begging Christ to come to his servant which was sick with the palsy even tormented. Jesus said to him I will come. Just like he said to the leper I will showing His authority to act in his capacity as Lord.

The centurion though in great humility said something that was completely shocking, he said to Jesus,

(Matthew 8:8,9) "I am not worthy that thou shouldest come under my roof: but speak the word only, and my servant shall be healed.  For I am a man under authority, having soldiers under me: and I say to this man, Go, and he goeth; and to another, Come, and he cometh; and to my servant, Do this, and he doeth it."

This gentile saw something different in Christ something he didn't see in the religious rulers, the Pharisees, the scribes and the priests.

I looked at this and said to myself why didn't he just go to the priests or to someone in the temple?

Because he saw something he already recognized in himself submission and authority. He was a man in submission to the Roman government and was a man who was in charge of armies. He saw in Christ a man who wasn't calling his own shots but taking his marching orders from his commander His father which is in heaven. Christ also was in charge of a small company of twelve which were his disciples.

The reaction of Christ was like an epiphany for all to see

(Matthew 8:10-13)  "When Jesus heard it, he marveled, and said to them that followed, Verily I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel. And I say unto you, That many shall come from the east and west, and shall sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven. But the children of the kingdom shall be cast out into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. And Jesus said unto the centurion, Go thy way; and as thou hast believed, so be it done unto thee. And his servant was healed in the selfsame hour."

This lesson was not only for the centurion but for all the Jews that followed. He basically said that those who will eat in the Kingdom will come from a far like the Magi who came from the east and this centurion who came from the west.

This great recognition of authority show us something about the nature of the kingdom. In the kingdom there is a chain of command. But that command has a duty towards God and a duty towards its neighbors to follow Gods commands and to keep his word. It is the duty of every Christian who is a part of the Church of the living God to live at peace in the kingdom and to serve God acceptably within this place we are called to live. In our baptisms we became members of that kingdom and as members of the kingdom we are invited to sit down and feast with Abraham Isaac and Jacob. This is the privilege of submitting to the kingship and authority of Christ our Lord.

The Church has a duty and a commission from its commander that was given at the end of St. Matthews's gospel. That is,

(Matthew 28:19, 20)  Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world.

"Whatsoever" Christ has commanded us, not suggested to us, but commanded to us.

In these days of restless fears about rulers and despots and questions of authority within our own government and rebellious Bishops, I am reminding you today that your marching orders come from God as you live in the kingdom and enjoy the privileges of the same. But we are called to speak to this culture and show them the light of the Gospel in thought word and deed. This is what the centurion saw. Do people see that in you, submission and authority? Do they see that you take your marching orders from our Lord and savior Jesus Christ? Or do we need to take a vote to find out what is right or what is wrong.

Mobacracy's come and go. But we live as children in the kingdom under our Lord and King. Remember God knows that we are set among so many and great dangers from without and from within. May we pray that God grant to us such strength and protection as may support us in all our dangers and carry us through all temptations.

Amen+