Psalm 82
Let’s hear God’s word together.
This is Psalm 82, and it says a Psalm of Asaph. And it begins
this way. God has taken his place in the
divine council. In the midst of the gods, he
holds judgment. How long will you judge unjustly
and show partiality to the wicked? Give justice to the weak and
to the fatherless. Maintain the right of the afflicted
and the destitute. Rescue the weak and the needy.
Deliver them from the hand of the wicked. They have neither
knowledge or understanding. They walk about in darkness.
All the foundations of the earth are shaken. I said, you are gods,
sons of the most high, all of you. Nevertheless, like men,
you shall die and fall like any prince. Arise, oh God, and judge
the earth, for you shall inherit all the nations. Amen. This is God’s word for us. So
how should we view government? How should we view governors? How should we, as citizens, as
Christians, view those who rule over us in the civil realm? What should we think of civil
servants? Well, we can take our cue from
others who’ve done it well. Martin Luther, the great reformer,
said in many of his writings that the office of the minister
of the realm, the office of the minister of civil government,
next to the office of the minister of the word is one of the highest
offices of God himself that any man can hold. So Martin Luther,
While maybe he didn’t have the endless news channels of the
day, the endless cycles of news and the pundits picking politicians
apart, and even had some of his own difficulties with people
in authority, he held and esteemed God’s civil magistrates in high
regard, even placing them next to the minister of God’s word. And he goes on to say in many
of his writings that we could not, without the ministers of
civil government, we could not enjoy peace and therefore not
enjoy a safe place to have church and worship and family. And so
he had a great and high view of the civil government. Jesus,
on the other hand, you remember in the gospel accounts, many
times is asked what he believes about the civil government. And
in one case, he’s asked, should a Christian pay taxes? And the
folks who were asking him were trying to trick him. If he gave
one answer, He would upset the Jews who did not believe that
Caesar could be obeyed or worshipped, so to speak. And if he answered
another way, he would upset the Herodians who were loyal to the
Roman authorities. So he said, give me a coin. And
whose inscription was on the coin? Well, on one side, it was
Caesar’s. And he says, give to Caesar what
is Caesar’s. He flips the coin over and probably
on the other side, there was the head of a god or goddess.
And it was the religious side of the coin. And what did he
say? and render unto God what is God’s. And so Martin Luther
gives us great reason to esteem civil magistrates because the
Bible does, but Jesus, even greater authority, says we are to render
to each. The other week in a strange,
don’t ask me why I did this, but I watched C-SPAN. And I watched
C-SPAN. It wasn’t the proceedings about
Judge Kavanaugh. It was British Parliament. Maybe
that’s a little bit forgivable for watching C-SPAN. But it was
British Parliament. It was the House of Commons,
and it was questions for the Prime Minister. And so the Prime
Minister was in the hot seat. She stood there in the midst
of the House of Commons. and they would fire questions
away at her. And a person would be recognized
by the chair. The person would stand and they
would read or proclaim their question. And then whoever was
the master of ceremonies or whatever would say, prime minister. And
the prime minister would then answer the questions. Now it
got me thinking about that word minister. That’s a word we might
think is a little bit sacred. But God has given ministers,
not ministers of the gospel, but civil ministers. And our British friends across
the pond still recognize that when a person holds a seat of
civil authority, they minister for God civil government in this
world. We remember the Apostle Paul
saying in Romans chapter 13, we remember the Apostle Peter
speaking in his epistles, that God has a high view of the civil
government. In fact, he has given civil authority
magistrates to rule over the people of this earth. And so we remember that God has
given elders to lead the church. He’s given parents to govern
children. He’s given governors to rule over his citizens. And so in this passage of scripture,
God comes to judge his ministers of government. He calls them
gods, little g gods. And so in verse one, it says,
God has taken his place in the divine council in the midst of
the gods or the judges. He holds judgment. And so we find in verse one,
the first thing we want to consider that court is in session. Court
is in session. Verse one tells us God has taken
his place. He has been robed. He has been
seated. The court is now in session,
and here we have the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords, who
has given us his authority, two men, to rule on his behalf on
earth, and he comes to hold them accountable. He draws them into
his divine counsel. He sits in the midst of these
gods, or these judges, who, verse one, say, hold judgment. He comes to check up on their
work. Isn’t that comforting to us? watch 24-hour news channel, we
watch all the pundits and who’s doing what, who’s doing what
right, who’s doing what wrong, who’s doing right well. Last
two days we went to Washington DC to see my brother’s family
and to wish his second child a happy first birthday and plastered
all over town, all over the street signs, all over the what do you
call them, the paper boxes, there were pictures of Brett Kavanaugh
and it said, Kava? Nope. And those were all over
the town. There were protests, we ran into
Planned Parenthood and they tried to get my wife interested in
maintaining her female health. She didn’t have any, that’s what
they’re all about, right? She didn’t want any of that and
told them so. But isn’t it comforting in the
midst of all the government craziness, that God is still at the helm. And that he may call those who
minister on his behalf, maybe not into a literal court or council,
but he does so. And so verse one tells us that
court is in session. And then you make your way to
verses two through five and you get the indictment that God issues
against these judges. So the indictment is in verses
two through five. He says, how long will you judge unjustly? How long will you show partiality
to the wicked? How long will you withhold what
your duty is, he’s asking. How long? He’s holding them accountable
for standard Old Testament values for society. What does he say
they need to do? They need to give justice to
the weak, to give justice to the fatherless. They need to
maintain the right of the afflicted, maintain the right of the destitute.
They need to rescue the weak, rescue the needy. They need to
deliver the weak, deliver the needy from the hand of the wicked. This is standard Old Testament,
standard Old Covenant, standard do justice, love mercy and walk
humbly with thy God. And he indicts them for not doing
that and he holds them accountable. So the indictment is how long
will you keep on doing this? Now you remember several places
in the Old Testament when God is about to judge Israel, whether
it’s with exile or whether it’s with punishment from an outside
Source a lot of times the things they’re doing in addition to
not worshiping God and in addition to idolatry They are full of
injustice inequity and they are Upholding what is wrong and not
blessing what is right? You remember in the New Testament
God says The civil magistrate does not bear the sword in vain.
They bear the sword in order to commend what is good and punish
what is evil. And very often you’ll find that
leaders do just the opposite. They commend what is evil and
punish that which is good. Now we have to understand that
a kingdom will rise and fall on whether or not there is justice,
whether or not there is mercy, whether or not there is a pity
for the poor, whether or not there is an ear for the cry of
the needy. And when we live in a land that
unjustly treats others, It’s a recipe for disaster and a kingdom
will rise or fall on these things, whether we treat fellow image
bearers with dignity. Next to the church. office of
minister, Martin Luther said, we need the office of the minister
of the king, the minister of the governor. And so we ought
to ask God, beg God, and encourage and implore God to give us folks
who will do not what these wicked gods do, but what God would have
them do in justice and righteousness. Well, the third thing this passage
shows us, we’ll call it the state of the union, verse five. And he says simply this, speaking
of these judges, they have neither knowledge nor understanding. They walk about in darkness and
all the foundations of the earth are shaken. Who is the, what
is the kingdom that’s lasted the longest? Doesn’t exist, right? Nations have risen, nations have
become great and nations have fallen. We remember that, about
the time in Isaiah’s prophecy of Jesus, maybe the eighth century
BC, in the year that King Uzziah died. That’s when Isaiah saw
the Lord, saw him high and lifted up. It’s when he took his call
and it’s when he prophesied there would be a Messiah. That was
about the rise of the beginning of the rise of Rome. And so seven
centuries there. And then when did Rome fall?
Maybe in The third, fourth century, not too great on my history dates
sometimes. But it rose, it became great,
but it fell. The United States, it has risen.
It has become great. And some would say it’s in the
twilight of its greatness because we are also in the twilight of
our goodness. And that can be recovered. It
could be restored. We could call again on the name
of the Lord and restore decency and maybe God would be favorable.
But the state of the union here in verse five, is that these
judges have no understanding. They have no knowledge. They
walk about in darkness and the foundations of the earth are
shaken. How is it that a nation that rises becomes great? How
is it that it falls, but it doesn’t catch itself? It doesn’t stop
the fall. Well, these verses explain it.
Or this verse explains it. No knowledge, no understanding,
a darkened condition. and the foundations of its society
or its institutions are shaken. This would make a really good
piece of political commentary, wouldn’t it? This would make
a great piece of political commentary. A nation that does not listen,
a nation that does not value, a nation that does not remember
the, even if not a Christian nation, it doesn’t remember the
basic values of human dignity, of human government, of human
flourishing and living. And so you get a nation that’s
ignorant of its own condition. I mean, that’s a quick way to
die, isn’t it? Just not know how sick you are. And then one
day you wake up dead. Or how about darkness? Darkness
veils. You cannot see. You cannot see
how fast you are falling. disintegrating. And then the
institutions, the things which we hold dearly, are falling apart. How often do you hear on the
news, do you hear a pundit say, social security is falling apart?
The education system is falling apart. The health care system
is falling apart. And on and on you go. Thus and such, this
institution, that is falling apart. It needs to be fixed or
reformed, we say it. We need social security reform.
We need health care reform. We need whatever. And put the
word reform. after it. The state of the union
ends up in a bad way because of ignorance, lack of knowledge,
darkness. Things fall apart before their
very eyes. But how does the Christian to
think of these things? Yes, maybe these things are true.
Maybe yes, it’s not. America is not so great or whatever
the little jingo is. That’s all well and good, but
who is at the helm? Who is in control? Who is the judge of
judges? Who is the God of gods, the King
of kings and Lord of lords? It’s Yahweh, it’s our God. Well, he pronounces a sentence,
verses six and seven. Court is in session, there’s
the indictment, the State of the Union, now the sentence,
verses six and seven. I said, you are gods. sons of
the Most High, all of you, nevertheless, like men, you shall die, and
you shall fall like any prince.” I can’t remember where I read
this story, and I can’t remember who it’s about, but I think it
was about one of the great emperors, or maybe, in fact, many of the
great emperors over time. But on the day when an emperor
would be coronated, or crowned, or put into rule, Before he appeared
before the crowds and was named emperor, he would be taken to
a quiet marble yard where he would pick his headstone and
on his stone would his name be etched before his eyes with his
birth dates, maybe an epitaph, and a blank for his death date.
But what did that remind that man who would soon become emperor
of? He was a mortal, a mere mortal, we might say. It’s a reminder,
you won’t live forever. And when you begin to rule, when
you begin to have authority, when you begin to govern, and
we see this in many of our politicians, you get a big head. You become
as like unto a God. And this is a reminder from Yahweh. This is a reminder from God himself.
You won’t live forever. And it makes you think of the
book of Proverbs. Neither will your policies, neither
will your legacy, for another will come and take your place. You are a mortal. And so the
sentence is here. You have ascended to a high office. You’ve had great duties and obligations,
and you have failed. And so to dust, you will return. That sounds like the sentence,
doesn’t it? That God gave Adam. Here he makes him out of the
dust of the earth. He puts him in a garden and he
says to Adam, this is your kingdom. You shall rule this kingdom for
God. If you want it to grow, you should
tend it. If you want it to produce, you should work it. If you want
it to be protected, you should keep it. You should dress it. You should fill it. You should
let it grow and prosper. And you should make this little
kingdom a great kingdom on behalf of almighty God, the great king.
But God gave a prohibition. You’ve got to do it my way. And
so when Adam and Eve failed to do what God commanded, he kicked
them out of the garden and he put them in the jungle. He put
them in the jungle, but had they stayed in the garden, the garden
would have grown, it would have advanced, and the blessing of
God would have been extended out of Eden to the ends of the
earth. Sounds a little bit like what?
The Great Commission. But Adam and Eve failed in that.
And so here we are now as Christians. We live in a very imperfect world. We have very imperfect human
judges. We have very imperfect human
parents, very imperfect elders in the church. But yet God says
to sit under these people, to obey them, and let them rule
over us. For in doing so, we submit even
to Christ himself. And we know that one day God
will come and make all things new. He’ll make a new heavens
and a new earth. There will be no more injustice. There will
be no more rotten politicians and wicked kings. But until then,
we’ve got a couple of things we can do as image bearers. Got
a couple of things we can do as children of the king. One
is we can follow Paul’s command to Timothy. Pray for our leaders. Pray for those who rule over
us. It’s a tough job. It’s a tough calling. Another
thing we can do is we can love justice in the little places
where we can give it. We can love mercy and be servants
of mercy in our little spheres, our little kingdoms. We can help
the poor. We can help the needy. We can
have an ear that does not fall deaf to those who cry out. But there’s something else we
can do. We can pray with the Apostle Paul and others. Come,
Lord Jesus, come and make all things new. So let’s pray together. Our Lord, we’re grateful that
you remind us over and over that you’re at charge, you’re at the
helm, you hold on to the wheel, you are steering history into
the places you want it to go. And yes, evil may fall around
us. It may even affect us and hurt us. But we give you thanks
that you love us with an everlasting love, a love that will never
let us go. You’ve brought us into your eternal kingdom, into
a kingdom of marvelous light. And so we ask and pray that you
would help us to keep that perspective, help us not to lose heart. And
we pray that those who judge us, those who rule over us would
be righteous, They would be worthy, they would be obedient to you
and therefore bless us. And we pray that you would lift
the blindness, lift the ignorance, lift the lack of knowledge that
has fallen upon our land and let us not fall from our greatness,
but help us to have our strength restored that we might be a nation
used by you and that can serve the earth. It’s not the end all
be all, but it would be a great thing in our eyes, so we ask
that you would help us live faithful lives, and that others, as they
live faithful lives, would have strength in numbers. Bless your
church, and bless us this night, we pray in Jesus’ name, amen.