On Theology and Taxes

PRAYER OF CONSECRATION

Wake up, sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you. 

Jesus, I belong to you.

I lift up my heart to you.
I set my mind on you.
I fix my eyes on you.
I offer my body as a holy and living sacrifice to you. 

Jesus, We belong to you. 

Praying in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, amen. 

Romans 13:6–7 (NIV)

Let’s wrap up our little experiment in crafting a working theology of government, taxes, Jesus, church, partisan politics, and dual citizenship. 

I know. Some of you are thinking, I might rather get my wisdom teeth extracted again today than this. Bear with me. This is every bit as spiritual as offering your body as a living sacrifice. Remember— to claim, “Jesus is Lord,” is to acknowledge that nothing falls outside of his merciful and just jurisdiction. So let’s begin here:

Paying taxes is a spiritual act of obedience to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. That said, I do hate paying taxes. 

1. Jesus is Lord.

2. Government is necessary.

The purpose of government, at a bare minimum, is to protect people from one another (including protecting them from the government itself as well as from the governments and citizens of other sovereign lands). The preamble of the Constitution of the United States is a brilliant summative example of what a government, constituted “under God” should aspire to. I include it here to illustrate:

We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

Many among you of my generation can’t read that without hearing the School House Rock tune to which we sang this preamble every Saturday morning during the cartoon hours of our childhood. To my fellow Americans among our Wake-Up Call fellowship, America has its problems, but these fifty-two words—with their five stated purposes—hammered out in the hot summer of 1787 hold its brilliance. It is truly a marvel. 

3. Taxes are meant to fund the government.

This is also why you pay taxes, for the authorities are God’s servants, who give their full time to governing.

4. Notice that government authorities are God’s servants, not by virtue of their being followers of God (which they may or may not be) but by virtue of Jesus being Lord over all governments. All governments are working under a delegation of authority from God, which means they are ultimately accountable to God. Their accountability to God will ultimately be measured by their accountability and faithfulness to the people they served; which makes a constitutional republic perhaps the best form of government invented to date. Why? Because, in the words of Abraham Lincoln, it is a government of the people by the people for the people. It avoids the concentration of power. 

5. Note also when Paul says, “the authorities are God’s servants,” he is stating a fact; whether the authorities know this or not and whether they are acting as such or not. We think of governmental authorities (at least in the American context) as being accountable to the people. This may be true in a temporal fashion, but their line of accountability actually goes much higher. To the extent governmental authorities understand their accountabilities to God they will better serve the people. 

Now, I don’t like to pay taxes. And honestly, I try to avoid paying taxes as much as possible under the law. (I would rather give my money to the church and directly to others in need.) I don’t like the IRS. I often disagree with how my taxes are being spent. I often seriously think that my taxes are being spent in ways that contravene the will and ways of God. And I live in America. How much more must it have been maddeningly difficult for the first Christians in first-century Rome with its tyrannical leaders? Yet Paul told them to submit to the governing authorities and pay their taxes. 

I can’t believe I am saying this, but if my logic holds (and it may not), paying taxes to the government is an act of faithfulness to God. I find myself on the brink of repentance. It’s not that I think I’m going to all of a sudden be glad about paying taxes. I don’t think that’s the point. The point is about submitting to the government and its authorities in obedience to God. 

Might there come a time when submission to the government means defiance of God? Yes. What then? Can we cross that bridge if and when we get there? I will say this by way of warning. The most important question at that juncture will be, “What does obedience to God require of us?” Many will jump to this question: “What shall be the manner of our defiance of the government?” The real (and frankly only) question must be: “What shall be the manner of our obedience to God?” As you are already noting, those are very, very different questions and they will lead to very, very different responses and outcomes (see Romans 12).

THE PRAYER

Abba Father! Have mercy on us sinners and by the grace of Jesus Christ make us true saints. We want the mind of Christ in every aspect of our lives, personally, as a church, and as citizens of the kingdom of heaven who are also living as citizens of nations and states on this earth. We pray for our nations and their governments and leaders; for wisdom and courage; for conviction and restraint. At the same time teach us what it means to love our enemies and to pray for those who persecute us. And, come Lord Jesus, come! Praying in Jesus’s name, amen. 

THE QUESTION

How do you respond and react to these thoughts today? What wisdom is God giving you on these matters of everyday concern? How might we live out our primary citizenship as citizens of the kingdom of Jesus?

THE HYMN

I hope this will not be seen as self-indulgent on the part of the Americans in our fellowship, but I would like us to sing the hymn, “My Country, ‘Tis of Thee.” To the Americans and to those reading from other nations, let’s sing it as a prayer for this country. I regret to say it is not in our new hymnal so I will print the words below:

My country, ’tis of thee,
Sweet land of liberty,
Of thee I sing;
Land where my fathers died,
Land of the pilgrims’ pride,
From every mountainside,
Let freedom ring!

My native country, thee,
Land of the noble free,
Thy name I love;
I love thy rocks and rills,
Thy woods and templed hills;
My heart with rapture thrills,
Like that above.

Our fathers’ God, to Thee,
Author of liberty,
To Thee we sing;
Long may our land be bright
With freedom’s holy light;
Protect us by Thy might,
Great God, our king.

—Samuel Francis Smith (1832)

For the Awakening,
J. D. Walt

P.S. ATTENTION: Local Church Leaders and Preachers

We have had quite a number of local churches and their preachers preaching weekly alongside the Wake-Up Call journey through Romans. I, of course, am one of them now. We meet every Tuesday at 1 pm (CST) via Zoom for an hour or so to work on sermons. It’s been powerful and life-giving. 

We are launching Acts (Season 1) on the Wake-Up Call Monday, August 14 (Sundays run August 20 through November 19). If you are interested in joining the Preachers Fellowship please let me know here and I will be in touch. 

Pastor Brian Mangan said this about it: “I look forward each week to meeting with pastors from around the country to talk about this week’s chapter. Meeting on Tuesday has given my sermon preparation a head start as I begin to meditate and listen for God’s leading. And I have found the unexpected bonus of making new friends in the ministry as we meet in small groups sharing what we hear the Lord say. The Tuesday sermon block has become a priority in my weekly schedule.”

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