Citizens of Heaven: Biblical Convictions Start With The Bible

APO-25 & BYT-34
Short Clip

We were sitting at a meal recently with Gen Z’s from three continents. Seven countries other than the USA were all facing me, all young believers. I had just covered Genesis 1-9 that morning and one bright, NextGeneration missionary-in-training asked me, “Now you said the OT & NT JUST recorded capital punishment, NOT that GOD ADVOCATED such, right?” Wow, did that ever lead to a wonderful hour-long Bible study at that meal! They had NO CLUE that you could derive BIBLICAL CONVICTIONS. They had CULTURAL convictions and didn’t even know their CULTURE WAS WRONG!
Point One—Biblical Convictions start with the Bible Because we are Citizens of Heaven—Living on Earth. Our starting place for Biblical Convictions is Romans 13.
As Paul sat to write perhaps the clearest words to frame the Biblical convictions of a Citizen of Heaven, living on earth—he was sitting in Corinth. Looking down across the city must have grieved his soul. Paul lived around gymnasiums filled with nude men who were wrestling, boxing, and sprinting.
In the distance, seeing the men and women going into the bathhouses, brothels, and heading up the trail to the shrine prostitutes up on the acro-Corinthos, must have even more grieved his Spirit-filled heart. Just as it grieved the Lord He served.
Just a couple of days by ship from Corinth was the center of the Earth in Paul’s day—Rome. Swarming with soldiers, citizens, slaves, and commercialism, Rome reigned over nearly the entire known world of Paul’s day.
How were Christians to live in the world of the New Testament? Especially in the capital city of Rome–rife with homosexuality, abortions, gambling, infanticide, slavery, oppression of the poor, egalitarianism, and every form of the occult?
Paul sits down to write to that very city where saints had to live, work, and vote. He writes the seven verses that summarize their responsibilities of citizenship on earth.
We often forget that the Roman World had much citizen involvement. There was a long history in Rome of elected bodies that variously guided, counseled, and at times legislated the Roman World. Although there was an Emperor who ruled, there was still much about daily life that was determined by a very advanced and regulated representative government. Some of the arenas of power during various eras of Roman life were: 1 The Centuriate Committee; 2 The Committee of the Tribal Peoples; 3 The Council of the People; 4 And the most enduring, known, and powerful – The Roman Senate.
So into this advanced and thriving world of nearly worldwide power—what were Paul’s instructions? Look with me to Romans 13. This passage has long been regarded as the ultimate statement of the Biblical Responsibilities for a Christian and their relationship to whatever government they are under.