Messianic Government This article Messianic Government explains how the idea that government is our savior is in error.
Messianic Government
Summary: This article Messianic Government explains how the idea that government is our savior is in error.
In our study of Messianic Government and Messianic Politics, we have seen the divine cycle of life. We work, with what we earn we provide for ourselves and our families, and we are content. Sometimes things seem beyond our reach, and these things are both needs and desires, and God has inserted the element of prayer to help out in these situations.
But God also has some other principles involved in people’s needs, especially dire situations where people are in crisis. Throughout the Old Testament, God reprimands those who would take advantage of the widow and the orphans, the extremely sick, and the poor. Some people are poor because they refuse to work, and they work 10 times harder at “not working” than normal people do at normal work that sustains them. These are beggars, and Paul says…
2Thess 3:10 For even when we were with you, this we commanded you, that if any would not work, neither should he eat. 11 For we hear that there are some which walk among you disorderly, working not at all, but are busybodies. 12 Now them that are such we command and exhort by our Lord Jesus Christ, that with quietness they work, and eat their own bread.
We are to have no pity on the lazy person who refuses to exert himself to sustain himself. Some people are truly sick and crippled, and other people are commanded to help them by donating money to them.
Eph 4:28 Let him that stole steal no more: but rather let him labour, working with his hands the thing which is good, that he may have to give to him that needeth.
Acts 20:35 I have shewed you all things, how that so labouring ye ought to support the weak, and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he said, It is more blessed to give than to receive.
We are to work to sustain ourselves, but we are also to work to help those in need. In this give and receive, it is always better to be on the giving end than the receiving end. This flies in the face of our welfare mindset that we have in government today. Many or most people look at government asking what can you do for me? In reality, we should be asking them to let us sustain ourselves without disturbance from the government.
Gal 6:2 Bear ye one another’s burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ… 4 But let every man prove his own work, and then shall he have rejoicing in himself alone, and not in another. 5 For every man shall bear his own burden. 6 Let him that is taught in the word communicate unto him that teacheth in all good things. 7 Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. 8 For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting. Gal 6:9 And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.
This passage is key in our understanding. We are to bear our own burden. The word here for burden is like a solider’s backpack. To each their own, and never should one carry another’s backpack unless the guy is wounded or something. Then in verse 5, we are to bear each other’s burden, and the word here is a burden so large no single person can bear it. It is like lifting a small car or truck. No one person can lift it, but between several, it can be lifted up. So we are commanded individually not to look to others to pay for our daily sustenance. That is our personal and individual burden, and no other Christian should be obligated to cooperate in that. Paul inserted verse 6 here to make people realize that preachers are doing valid work that should receive compensation (a just and fair salary) when they execute the ministry. Their desire for others to sustain them is valid (1Cor 9:13-14).
But the warning of God is sure. What you sow, you will reap. People who want to live without doing bow sweating work are sowing corruption, they are sinning, and God will return to them what they will not be happy with. Yet our society is full of just that kind of person. It seems everybody, everywhere you turn has some kind of scam or angle where they live well by doing little. Go to youtube and search for earn money, and there is an endless flow of people pitching their systems to do exactly that, how to get rich quick with little effort. What about getting okay off in a long time through hard work and sweat of the brow? No. That is not popular and I doubt you will even see something like that come along (except in my writings).
In times past, churches and good Christian people were the “charities” (means love) that dispensed help to the needy. This was a faith-based action which did not require those receiving the help to be of the same faith as those giving the help, and it was not even required that those receiving the help even be confessing Christians. In the Old Testament, we read of the Israelites helping and protecting the foreigners among them, and these foreigners many times were of other religions.
What has happened in our world is that the government has taken over to impose systems on society whereby lazy, wicked hearted people can get something for nothing. It is amazing that there is talk now in the Obamacare situation that the American people now have it firmed planted in their mindset that government OWES THEM medical services! Why? How? Like the government has done such a good job with Veterans Administration that now they should be unleashed on all of America? NO!
What is happening is a spiritual degeneration. The government “OWES US”. The government is given tasks by God to protect its people (going to war if necessary) and to stabilize society. To provide for all the needs of the people, that is not a task God has given the government, and logically it is not even possible to do so.
We need to understand that our God, the only God that there is, the God that has existed forever and will exist forever in the future, and beyond, past, present, and future, God exists outside of time, beyond and before when time was created, this great God of ours is a genius. He knows everything, he is all wise, he is very smart. God has set His will based on the foundation of his eternal knowledge and wisdom. He knows how things work. So the only viable, good, beneficial (now and in the future) way of doing things is HIS WAY.
We need to comprehend what that means. We have to reform our thinking so that we are seeking and following what is his will because it is the best and only way to do things so that everything turns out best for us. God’s way is based in his character, and this character will reign victorious over all other ways of doing things. Stealing will be dealt with eventually, and those that slacken and loosen their moral standards to “get by in life” or to “get ahead in life” will suffer at some time, most assuredly in eternally, and most probably here on this earth.
Sin, doing things outside of God’s will, has inherently a condemnation and curse in it, because it is not of God. That means no matter what benefit doing wrong may provide you, the curse aspect will follow you and condemn you eventually. Rich people who get that way through idolizing riches and using unscrupulous methods cause those around them to imitate them, and these underlings will steal, cheat, and lie just like their bosses. Because of the example of the bosses, the foundation is flawed, and the house will come tumbling down based on impure morality. The bosses sins will eventually force them to go to more and more extremes, and all of this leads downward to hell.
When we as Christians realize that hard work, being frugal, and being satisfied with whatever God provides us is best for us, then we begin down the road of true blessing. The idea of constantly seeking for handouts and shortcuts in order to be rich or just even to meet our daily needs is a flaw in character that will cause the individual to be out of fellowship with God.
What SHOULD HAPPEN when a person has needs he cannot meet by his own efforts? Again the individual that walks outside of God’s forms and methods must make up something of his own concoction because God’s methods are not available to him. De facto he has abandoned God’s ways.
First of all, a good Christian should be an active participate in a local church. In that church community, he should know people because both he prays for their needs, and he shares his needs with them. Over time there is a friendship and fellowship of Christian brothers and sisters that is built up, and that becomes a moral community network that one day he can rely on. Frequently Christians “slit their own throats” by being haughty and arrogant. They come late to church and leave early or quickly not wanting to fellowship with anybody. In the ministries, their main ministry is to shut up and warm a pew. They never go to any socials, fellowships, prayer breakfasts, evangelism, etc. They are “just a knot on a log” kind of Christian.
When they have an overwhelming need, either they are embarrassed to bring it up in the group, or when they do, everybody reacts in their minds, “Who is that person? I don’t ever remember talking to him or speaking with him, or doing anything with him. Is he a first-time visitor?” Effectively, that kind of Christian doesn’t really believe in the power and divine command for us to participate in community prayer for common requests (those of one another). They simply refuse to believe that God’s system is the best that there is. Many times money is at issue, and at other times, a wise word of counsel from people with experience is what is needed, and most all of the time, simple prayer is the need of the hour. But without a history and experience of sharing prayer requests and actually getting active, giving many times before one needs to ask for help, the person is isolated, and really a total stranger to the community.
In the government system, people can exactly do no work, and be lazy and “game the system.” Poor people have gamed our government’s welfare system for years now, single moms continuing to have another kid every year or so in order to get that extra welfare check. A church community can deny benefits for people gaming the system. With the government, everybody “has their rights”. This is why God has placed welfare in the hands of the Christian community, not in the hands of the government. They cannot do the hard thing and counsel, exhort, rebuke incorrect behavior and attitudes, and in the end, deny benefits if that is what is necessary. I repeat a key very here.
2Thess 3:10 For even when we were with you, this we commanded you, that if any would not work, neither should he eat. 11 For we hear that there are some which walk among you disorderly, working not at all, but are busybodies. 12 Now them that are such we command and exhort by our Lord Jesus Christ, that with quietness they work, and eat their own bread.
If any would not work, neither should he eat. We are to be hardhearted and deny benefits to lazy people who are not actively engaged to the extent that they are physically able in gaining income for their own sustenance. That is a biblical principle, actually, a commandment for us to obey. Our charity (love) needs to be shown in a biblical manner, and rebuke and denial of benefits need to be the order of the day with some people in some cases.
I have been a pastor for 30 years, and I have been active in church work for probably close to 40+ years. It is disturbing to me that a “bum” can come in off the street and a group of God’s people will give them hundreds or even a thousand dollars or more on the spot, but yet their Christian brethren that work hard and hardly make it get nothing from the same group. This is hard to understand. We have been indoctrinated with the rights of poor, and to turn a blind eye to what the poor’s responsibilities are towards God and themselves, also to their families.
We have been indoctrinated to believe in the government as our savior. If people have any problem or need, we need the government to step in and fix it, saving the day. This indoctrination weakens, cracks, and destroys a Christian’s faith in God. Instead of God’s people helping God’s people (and also the poor, needs, sick, widows, and orphans beyond their immediate spiritual family), we get into a mindset of looking to government programs to “fix our problems” and be our savior.
As a missionary, I live off of the generousity of God’s people. Although times may be hard, God still can touch and move the heart of those closest to him so that a person’s needs can be met.