You Need To Respect Authority Even If You Disagree

You Need To Respect Authority Even If You Disagree

Hello and welcome to Social Media Ministries. My name is Spencer Coffman. Thank you so much for being here today. We’ve got a great message in store for you. If you haven’t yet subscribed or followed us, please do so to continue to be updated with more sermons and more messages to help grow your relationship with God and get out there and help others do the same.

Today we’re talking about authority and respecting authority. There are a lot of authorities here on earth and in your life. We have got several. If you look at your parents, they’re an authority. If you look at your boss, they’re an authority. If you look at the “authorities” of the police or any type of community service officers, they’re authorities.

You could look at the court systems, judicial systems, they are authorities as well. All the way up—political. You’ve got congressmen, senators, they’re authorities. You have President of the United States, they’ve got authority. You’ve got the military and their authority. A lot of authority all over the place, and we need to remember that we are to respect those authorities.

You say, “It’s pretty hard to respect authorities when they’re abusing their authority.” That’s true. But if they’re abusing that authority, do they deserve your respect? If they’re abusing that power? That’s an issue we can dive into.

Do… Are you supposed to respect police who are prejudiced, who are abusing po–, who kill people without reason, who are improperly trained, and they have accidents that happen, and they cause all these problems, and then riots start, or things go on? We’ll dive into that.

Does that mean we are to defund or to say we don’t want them or to not call them when things happen? We’ll dive into that. It is a big, hot topic. A sensitive issue.

Let me just kind of put the cart before the horse here and say anytime there are authorities out there, it is their job to do what’s right. And if they’re doing what’s wrong, that’s a problem. And so, if they’re improperly trained, they need to be trained, and however that needs to change, that change needs to happen. But you can’t go out and make that change by doing wrong.

So if you riot or loot or protest or do these things to try to make this change, that will never happen. You are contributing to the problem. Don’t be part of the problem; you need to be part of the solution. How do you do that? You need to instill change like Jesus would do.

If there are police officers or there are first responders or there are politicians who are doing things that are not what God would want, you need to do what you can do to make that change. What can you do? You can do things like God would want.

You could set meetings, you could talk to people peacefully. Don’t get angry. You could write letters. You could send emails. You could get petitions. You could do all of these things without causing damage, without causing harm. That’s how you make a change.

You don’t go out there and riot and break things and loot and hope that there’ll be a change. You don’t try to create lawsuits and all of this stuff just to get money or to bankrupt them. Or, you don’t try to take the funding or try to get rid of authority. Or you don’t be disrespectful; you still comply with them. No matter what.

You protect yourself, sure. Police officer pulls you over, guess what, you should have a camera going. Seriously, buy a dashboard cam or a rearview cam or something so that you’re protecting yourself. Comply. They are authority. Whether they’re abusing that authority or not, they’re in authority. You need to respect authority.

Now, at first sight, respect comes a long way. When you see someone in a uniform, they are given respect automatically because of that uniform. Then, if they’re misrepresenting that uniform, the respect is going down, but we still have to be respectful.

They may not have your respect because they’ve lost it, but you still have to be respectful. And you need to look beyond that imperfect person at God or at Jesus behind them and say, “Look I know that God put this person here, so I am going to be respectful. But I don’t like this person. They’re not nice. They’re wrong; they’re doing wrong. So they don’t deserve my respect.”

But God is back there saying, “I know, but they’re wearing that uniform. They’re in that position of authority. So be respectful. Give me the respect.” Give God the respect, not me. God is saying this, “Give me the respect,” and He’ll get you through that situation.

So, with that out of the way, of course, I welcome your comments below, because I am sure there will be some discussion.

Let’s take a look at the Bible. What does the Bible say about authority? About respect? Romans 13:1, when this was written, understand the time. This was a very bad time in terms of authority. The Romans were taking over.

They were abusing their power. They were crucifying people in the streets. They were putting people on crosses. They were marching around everywhere in uniform. They were very oppressive.

If people spoke out of turn or got out of line, they were marched away; they were put in prison. If you weren’t a Roman citizen, you don’t get any justice. No problem. The rules of Rome don’t apply to you, and you can be treated differently.

So, that would be like if an oppressing power came into wherever we live, the United States, or if another state’s police force came into your state, and they said, “Guess what, you’re not a citizen of our state, so rules and laws don’t apply. We can just march you away without trial. We can hang you up on the streets. We can do whatever, and no one can oppose us.”

Riots happen. They come out there with machine guns and mow everybody down. That’s how things went. The Romans were very concerned; any crowds happened, they went out there and dispersed. They had swords; bam, dispersed. There were dead people all over the place. Haul them away; doesn’t matter. Put these people we caught—put them on crosses right here in this street. Set an example. They were ruthless.

Romans—they were very—This was very, very heavy. So, you think things are going on now, here? When this was written, things were worse. So, the Bible is timeless; this applies to us today, even more so. Guess what, if things start getting worse, we can still look at this, and it still would apply.

Romans 13:1, “Let everyone be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established.” The authorities that exist have been established by God. Can you imagine? Can you imagine Paul saying this to these people?

Who, they probably said, “Are you kidding me? My cousin was just crucified for no reason other than to prove a point. Are you kidding me? Three of our friends were just chopped down in the streets for walking on the wrong side of the road, or a guard got mad at the way that we were dressed, or we looked at him funny. And he just *woosh* We were—they were dead. We need to what? Respect them? They have been established by God?”

They were probably up in arms at what Paul was saying. They probably thought, “Paul, but you are a Roman citizen. Whose side are you on?” I am sure Paul underwent all kinds of problems because of saying this stuff, but guess what. Paul wasn’t saying it because the Romans told him to do it. Paul was saying it because God told him to say it.

Any authority out there is established by God. God is in control of everything that happens. Every leader, every ruler, every person in power was put there in accordance with God’s plan. Don’t doubt His plan. God is in control. Point proven right here. If there were one thing, one thing that God was not in control of, He wouldn’t be God. Case closed.

God’s in control of everything. Sure, you can argue that, but you’d be wrong. God is in control. He is always in control. Even if you don’t like an authority figure, you must first respect them.

You must respect them because God has placed that person in that position for the time being. They’re in that position because God put them there. God put him there for one reason or another. Do you doubt God’s plan? Really? You think you know better than God? Hopefully not.

Let’s go to Romans 13:2. “Consequently, he who rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted.” Wow. So if you’re out there rioting in the streets, rebelling against the authority that God has established. If you’re out there protesting your president or being angry or rioting because the wrong person got in office, you’re rebelling against what God has established.

Now, this is a very strong point we are about to get into right here, but I need to say it. You’d often see—and people make these points—when a certain person gets elected, the opposite party riots. They’re mad.

When a different person gets elected, a different party gets elected, the opposite party is pretty peaceful. Which affiliation do you think is more godly? Seriously, look at history, look at the presidencies.

And when someone who is in office, who is of a certain left or right side, is elected, generally the other side is all up in arms, rioting, angry. Yet God usually blesses that presidency, and we see the economy boom. We see unemployment go down; we see prosperity. Many good things. But still, these people are angry.

So God says, “All right, have your way.” Then the regime changes, the side shifts, and God’s people don’t riot, don’t revolt. They accept that situation. And then, guess what, the economy goes down, the markets go down, gas prices go up, prices go up, inflation goes up, people are hurting. But the people that wanted that aren’t rioting, and the people that didn’t want it aren’t rioting. Because they accept that God has put that authority in place.

Let’s read number 2 again: “He who rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves.” See, we know better. Christians, we know better.

When God puts in a president that we know isn’t right or elects someone that we know isn’t right, that stands against the Bible, that says, “Oh, we want abortion to be accessible for everyone because we approve of abortion. Or, we want gay marriage. Or, we want trans this, and identities, and we want all this.”

And Christians say, “No, that’s wrong because God made them male and female, because God made marriage between man and a woman, and because that’s what God said. And abortion is murder because God is making those babies, and they need to live. That’s what God wants. That’s what’s in the Bible.

And when those people get elected, we don’t rebel against them because we accept that, hey, that’s what God has instituted for the time being.

Time and time again, people throughout history choose what’s wrong, but God allows it. And so, you have to accept and respect the authority that God put in. If you don’t, you will bring judgment on yourself. so, those who have rebelled against the authority that God has instituted, they’re bringing judgment on themselves. They’re doubting God’s plans. They’re revolting.

Let’s keep going. “For rulers hold no terror for those who do right, but for those who do wrong. Do you want to be free from fear of the one in authority? Then do what’s right, and he will commend you, for he is God’s servant to do you good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword for nothing. He is God’s servant, an agent of wrath to bring punishment on the wrongdoers.”

If you’re out there rioting in the streets, be afraid, because they’re coming for you. You’re doing wrong and guess what, you will be punished. But if you’re doing right, don’t be afraid of the police, don’t be afraid of the military, don’t be afraid of the politicians, don’t be afraid of the court systems, of the first responders, of whatever, because they are put there to do good.

Now, of course, there are some bad apples in the bunch. They shouldn’t be there; they should be out. But guess what, sometimes the people speak, and what the people want is wrong, is corrupted. This happened time and time again in the Old Testament. They say, “Give us a judge; give us a king; give us a leader.” God says, “No, I’m your king. I’m your leader.”

They say, “We want to make things; we want to build a city.” Cain’s descendants are filled with people who are doing wrong, who chose wrong. God finally says, “Fine, I’ll wipe out the earth. Noah, build an ark. You’re the only one that’s doing right.”

Time and time again, people choose what’s wrong. How then can Christians live in this world when so many evil people are choosing evil leaders? We can’t resort to doing wrong. You have to still respect and trust that God is gonna see you through. And you can do what you can do.

What can you do? Yeah, you can vote. “Well, the vote’s corrupted.” Guess what, it probably is. I’m sure; we think that it’s a perfect system, but it’s not. People in power or people with money, they can do fake votes. They can put a bunch of ballots in the box; they can corrupt the elections. They could tamper with the systems; computer hackers can get in. All this stuff’s possible; it could be corrupted.

But you could still vote. But you could do more. You could write letters; you could send emails; you could speak; you could visit with them; you could set appointments. You could do what you can do, as long as you are doing it with a good heart, a heart like Jesus would have.

Now, let’s keep going. “Therefore, it is necessary to submit to the authorities, not only because of possible punishment but also because of conscience.’ You submit to the authorities because you don’t want to be punished but also because of conscience. Because if God put them there, you need to submit to them because it’s God’s plan. And you need to trust in that plan.

Get this, this is also why you pay taxes. “For the authorities are God’s servants, who give their full time to governing. Give everyone what you owe them: If you owe taxes, pay taxes; if you owe revenue, then pay revenue; if respect, then respect; if honor, then honor.”

Give everyone what you owe them. You owe it to authorities to respect them, maybe not because of them but because of God. You owe it to your employees to pay them revenue because they work for you. If honor, if there is an authority that did good, that’s really good, that’s godly, give them honor.

If you owe taxes, pay taxes because you hope that those authorities are being paid well for what they do, so that they will do well and follow God.

And guess what, if you can’t do anything else about it, then just pray. Pray your heart out that God will change the way that this authority is, that God will change the hearts and minds of these dumb people who want corrupt leaders. God can change it. God can give us another chance because guess what, time and time again, He still gives us more chances to do what’s right.

He is the God of infinity chances. God might be looking at a country and say, “I’m gonna give you guys this president, and things are gonna go great. And I’m gonna show you prosperity like you have never ever seen or experienced before, but people are still going to be upset about it.

And then, guess what, He’s gonna say, “All right, you’ve had the time of excellent, excellent prosperity. Now you have a choice. Do you want to continue following this? Do you want to follow me? Or do you want to follow yourselves?” And time and time again, people say, “We want what we want.”

And then God says, “Okay.” And this good president gets out, and a new authority comes in that’s terrible. And all of that prosperity gets torn down. And we see a terrible economy. We see poverty; we see high prices; we see people hurting; we see markets come down; we see loss of tons and trillions of dollars. We see a crashing economy because we wanted what we wanted.

Want what God wants, and fight for that. Peacefully fight for it. Do what you can. Pray. Remember, you must see God behind any authority. Don’t look at them. They’re not good; they’re evil. Even if they’re a bad authority or they’re a good authority, look and see God behind them, and honor and respect God.

God can’t even look at you. He doesn’t see you when He looks at you. He sees Jesus within you because if He looked at you, He couldn’t. He couldn’t look at you. Number one, if He looked at you, and you saw Him, He’s too powerful. *Woosh* You’d be gone.

But He can’t look at you because you have sin in you. You have that sinful nature. So when He looks at you, He sees Jesus. And then He can look at you. And Jesus inside of you looks at God, and you can survive.

Respect them out of respect for God. Remember there are many things in this world that don’t belong to you; you are simply given them to use. You’re not the owner. The money that you have isn’t yours; God gave it to you. The things you have aren’t yours; God gave them to you. You have to take care of them. You need to give them to God, give it back to God.

We’ve talked a lot about tithing, about giving. Check out all those videos. Give it back to God, and then the rest you are to do with as you please. You are to be a good steward. That means give some back to the government because of where you live.

Be thankful; give it back to the government. You have to pay taxes; you have to pay upkeep. You have to pay for all these things, the conveniences and the amenities of where you live. You are a caretaker. Remember that.

Mark 12:16-17, “They brought the coin, and he asked them, ‘Whose image is this and whose inscription?’ ‘Caesar’s,’ they replied. Then Jesus said to them, ‘Give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s.’ And they were amazed at him.”

Respect authority; give what you owe to anyone. The money that you have is not yours. Who’s on the money? George Washington; he’s dead. Ben Franklin; he’s dead. It’s the government’s, all of it is the government’s. It’s worthless. It’s a piece of paper; it’s worthless. It’s a piece of cloth; it’s worthless. It is a piece of metal; it’s worthless.

But the government says it has worth. So, it’s not yours. You’re just holding on to it. Give it, give what you owe, anywhere: to those who you owe respect, respect; taxes, taxes; revenue, revenue; honor, honor. Do what God says. Trust in His plan. If you want change, pray for change. Pray that God would show you how to make that change.

Let’s pray. Lord Jesus, I know this is a tough message. I ask that it would get through to tens of thousands of people, hundreds of thousands of people, millions of people. That this message, maybe not this video or this sermon or this podcast, but this message would be all around the world. That people would hear it.

That they would respect authority. That they would change authority. That they would, would be renewed. That you would put your hand on authority. That you would flick those people out of there that do not need to be in there. Get rid of them. Get them out of there. We don’t want corrupt leaders. We want God-fearing leaders.

Lord change the hearts and minds of the people, the masses that just want what they want. Change that sea of people. Whether it’s through getting them off of earth or through—what I really hope, God, is that you would inspire the Christians to stand up.

That they would start contributing, tithing, giving, donating to the right causes, so that our money could help change the world. That they would get out there and work with their hands and volunteer in service and be your hands and feet so that their actions would change the world.

That they would get out there and talk to people. That they would change the hearts and minds and bring more people to you. That they would be fruitful and multiply so that their words and their seed that they would sow would change the world.

Lord inspire them. If they want change, get them out there to do the change, bringing more people to Christ so that we would increase in number, fill the earth, and subdue it. So that we would have enough in our numbers to elect godly officials.

To put godly people on the police force. To put godly people in office and politics, in councils, in governing bodies, in the government. Lord, I pray that in Jesus’ name. In Jesus’ name.

So, if you want change, do it in a godly way. Bring more people to God. Teach more people what they should be doing, and get out there and be an example. Speak to your leaders, send letters, pray, seek God, read the Bible, do what God would do.

And sometimes, we must remember that we live in a fallen world, and no matter how much we want change, it might not be in God’s plan. Because ultimately, God plans to destroy this earth, and He plans for us to live with Him for eternity. So if things keep getting worse, we’re just getting closer. Take hope in that. But still, respect authority. God bless.