Human Nature in Government

Human Nature and Government

Over the course of history humanity has created a huge, intricate system of various governments, laws, and traditions. This system is what we often refer to as “the world”. The world is the way it is because God has given humanity the freedom to devise all this with very limited intervention on His part. The fact that God does not intervene in human affairs very much does not mean that God agrees or approves of what man is doing here.

Rather that intervening God makes known to humanity that there is an alternative to the systems of government, law, and tradition that come from the imaginations of the human mind. He accomplishes this by calling certain persons to live, think, and act differently. But not just differently… He calls them to live, think, and act according to His way which He reveals to them… And He leaves them in the world for all to see.

Humanity Goes Their Own Way

The first humans went their own way when disobeyed their creator. He gave them some simple instructions… a simple test… nothing too complicated… don’t eat that.

Adam/Eve… while I’m gone you can eat anything in the fridge or the cupboards with one exception. Don’t eat any of the chocolate chip cookies in the cookie jar. It was a simple command. (COOKIE SLIDE)

The man and the woman grabbed what wasn’t theirs to have… and that act defines the course of human history. They were focused on themselves… their needs, their wants, their self esteem, they were greedy. Their decision set in motion the fundamental principle of humanity’s governments, laws, and traditions. A bias towards getting rather than giving, self concern versus outgoing love for others, a desire to be exalted as opposed to humility and service (I’ll stop there for sake of time).

Note: I said BIAS because what we have in this world is a mixture of good and evil. (SHOT GLASS SLIDE)

Humanity Cut Off From God And His Guidance

Because to disobedience humanity was driven from God’s presence and cut off from access to Him. The results were grim.

With a few exceptions the generations that followed Adam were lawless, violent, and oppressive, so much so that God said “I am grieved that I have made them”. Leaving humanity complete free to do whatever they chose was not bearing the good fruit God desired. So, He decided to start over again with a man named Noah and his family. “Noah was a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time, and he walked with God”… this fresh start would begin with someone called out of a corrupt environment… someone who chose God’s way over his own.

The rest of humanity was too far gone into depravity and they were wiped out. Noah would survive and his children and grandchildren would repopulate the earth. Humanity would still be given freedom to choose but moving forward God was going to put some limits in place.

God Institutes Human Government

Genesis 9:1-7 in verse 6 we see the beginnings of human government… the idea that there should be a form of justice based on law, punishment for crime, which also meant someone would be given the authority to administer it. Romans 13:1-2

Granting humans authority to rule over one another would keep mankind from descending into the lawless depravity recorded before the flood. However, some very important things were not changed:

• human nature was still fundamentally the same
• humanity was still free to choose both right and wrong

Powerful Men Start Assuming Authority

(EUPHRATES SLIDE) Within a few generations a powerful man, a mighty warrior type man, a tyrant… named Nimrod began organizing people together in cities along the Euphrates and Tigris rivers and established a kingdom. Gathering the families of people together in these cities would make it easier for the powerful few to wield authority over the many. It does not take much imagination to envision how this could become excessive and oppressive.

To counteract this concentration of power, God causes humanity to begin speaking different languages so they will scatter over the face of the earth. One effect of this scattering and confusion of languages was to make it very difficult for a few powerful people to exercise control over the vast majority of humanity.

God Begins Calling A People

Only a few generations later God calls a man named Abram. At the time Abram is living in the city of UR which was part of this same kingdom established by Nimrod. God tells Abram to leave and travel to a new land which will be given to Abram. It’s a first step toward creating something new and special on the earth.

The family of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (renamed Israel) grows and multiplies. By circumstance, the people of Israel end up in Egypt, a highly centralized, controlling, military state.  Egypt is also an apartheid state that does not intermarry with foreigners. In this way, Israel can grow and multiply into a large “nation within a nation” without being absorbed or integrated into it. Instead, they are segregated in Goshen as a separate class of slave laborers.

Once Israel had grown to the size of a nation God calls them out of Egypt to go to that land promised to Abraham. Israel leaves Egypt, and before they enter the promised land, God gathers Israel before Himself at Mt. Sinai in the desert wilderness. There God gives Israel His commandments, judgments, and statutes. These are laws which will govern Israel and which will set them apart from the nations around them.

Deuteronomy 14:2 / Acts 7:38 They were God’s “congregation”(NKJ) or “church” (KJV).

Israel was a people called out of the system of governments, laws, and traditions devised by man. It was a system based on the principles of getting rather than giving, self-concern versus outgoing love for others. It was a system fueled by the desire to be exalted above other as opposed to humility and service towards them. Israel was called out and established to be a visible example of an alternative way of thinking and doing.

God’s Way Is Built On The Foundation Of Family Life

God took the top position of authority in human government over Israel… a position formerly held by a powerful man… the Pharaoh of Egypt. With that transfer in mind, God spoke of Himself as king and the people as His vassals or subjects.

The use of such terms gives the impression that they were merely exchanging a new overlord for the old overlord. But God was different from the human overlords… God thinks differently… God primarily speaks of Himself as a loving Father…. His relationship with them would be based on the principles of family life… a father with children, a husband with his wife.

Israel was going to be something different… an example of an alternate way of way of living… God’s way.

Israel Turns From God’s Way

One of the great ironies of Israel’s history is that they continually looked around at the nations surrounding them… and wanted to become more like those nations… the very opposite of what God wanted to happen! They didn’t like the loosey-goosey way God ran the nation. They didn’t like waiting on God to fight for them with all His crazy last-minute miracles… now it also possible this anxiety was based on the observation that sometimes God wouldn’t perform  - like when they were sinning, or disrespecting Him by imitating the idolatry of their neighbors… Imagine that!

Israel demanded a human king like the nations around them. They wanted a human king who would establish a standing army to fight and protect their borders. God warned them… “if I give you a human king in time those human kings are going to start lording it over you and you won’t like the results”.

But, God gave them the kings they demanded… and within a few generations, the situation was fairly oppressive as predicted. Sadly, their desire to be more like the nations around them (instead of standing apart as a called and chosen people) led to adopting their neighbor's religious practices and philosophies… by the end Israel had rejected God (and His way of doing things) and broken their covenant God pleaded with them to persuade them otherwise but they refused and God was forced to enact the penalties of the covenant… divorce His wife, and disown His children.

The last remnants of Israel were conquered and destroyed on July 10 586 B.C. by the military forces of Babylon… that same kingdom founded by Nimrod long before.

Times of the Gentiles

(SHOW DANIEL IMAGE SLIDE) The fall of Jerusalem is a turning point in human history and human government on earth. There would not longer be a model nation designed on God’s principles.  God took away Israel’s right to government over themselves. From this point forward the people of God… and the church of God… would have to live within, and submit to, systems of human government they did not control… and were not a part of… governments that could be either friendly or hostile.

Dan 2:29-44 this arrangement of human government on earth would last from the time of Jerusalem’s fall until the return of Christ. This is the Times of The Gentiles… lasting until the time of Christ’s return. It would operate according to the fundamental principles of humanity’s governments, laws, and traditions: getting rather than giving, self-concern versus outgoing love for others, a desire to be exalted as opposed to humility and service (once again I’ll stop there for sake of time).

Jesus Christ Proclaims The Next Phase Of The Plan

Mark1:14-15 around 27 A.D. Jesus Christ came to announce that the rule of God, the government of God,  will be established on earth… it would replace the violence, greed, and oppression characterizing humanity’s approach to administering government over themselves. He spoke of a time yet future when the Times of the Gentiles would be complete and government on earth would move to a new phase. (SHOW SECOND DANIEL SLIDE)

The righteous government of God wouldn’t come about by putting better rules in place… or a stricter enforcement of existing rules… the real difference in the government and rule of God will be the character and heart of those who rule... people who have a different sort of heart from what we see in the world today… a different way of thinking… and a different way of doing.

Christ, the king of kings, has that sort of heart… but the plan for His rule on earth also includes others… you for example! Christ has offered you an invitation… an invitation to participate in that government and rule. To make that happen… to make it work… you need to have a change of heart. Making that change of heart a reality in the lives of men and women… to prepare for that future time is where we are at in the plan of God prior to Christ’s return.

Jesus Began The Process Of Calling These People

In Jesus day people were mixed up in all kinds of different affiliations, Pharisees, Sadducees, Herodians, Zealots etc. all with differing ideas about how to accommodate their gentile overlords or take control of the institutions of human self-rule to themselves. Jesus didn’t join any of these groups, instead through Him, the Father called people out of their affiliations to become part of something new… His church.

The church Jesus built and is still building is all about government even though they would, and never will actually run anything… until He returned and the Times of The Gentiles are ended.

What Is The Church Doing?

1. Announcing the coming return of Christ and telling them, teaching them, persuading them regarding the different way He is going to rule… with a perfect balance of justice and mercy
2. Through the church God the Father is calling individuals to a place in His family… the family that will rule and govern on earth. Providing instruction, training and encouragement to those who respond. Helping them as they undergo that change of heart we spoke of

Mark 10:42-45 the church would not be established on the principles of the world.

Note that Christ did not put one man in charge… for example in the book of Acts, the disciples sent Peter & John to the Samaritans. Peter was not the sole human authority. He did not do the sending. Peter was sent… by all the apostles. Peter was not just a new improved Nimrod, the church of God was about doing things differently… the God family way.

There was, and still is authority in the church… there was and still is organization in the church. However, what is important for us here today is understanding that the authority and organization found in the church is to be done in a manner that reflects the values of family (specifically God’s family) rather than self-interest, exaltation and position.

The church of God is not about showing the world an alternate organizational plan… the church of God is about presenting an alternate way of thinking and treating one another… and your active participation in the church of God… TODAY… NOW…  is helping you prepare for active participation in the family of God and active participation in the government of God that is to come.

Is the Church of God in our time perfect… No and it never was (read James 4). But the fault is not with “the way of God” which is perfect or with the church. The fault is with the people who are not perfect... but we are learning.

Let’s Play An Imagination Game

What would the governments of this world look like if the people in charge were lead by God’s holy spirit of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control? I think almost any form of government or organization would work if that were the case.

When the Times of the Gentiles is over and humanity’s right to rule themselves as they see fit is over… When Christ has returned to take all authority and government on earth into His own hands… our imagination game will be reality. Through the church God the Father has called you to be part of that solution and to invite others to be a part of it as well.