Bramble Government

A Ragtown Pulpit Sermon Against Executive Power

This item is a single sermon from pastor Gordan Runyan, of the Ragtown Pulpit, a ministry of Immanuel Baptist Church in Tucumcari, New Mexico.

It is an expository message on the parable told by Jotham in Judges 9. In this narrative, the trees of the field are seeking a king to reign over them. They approach the olive tree, the fig tree, and the grapevine, but all these are too busy fulfilling their God-given callings to stop and be the king over the trees. Finally, the desperate trees approach the bramble, who is happy to be asked. Jotham warns them that this could end up destroying them all, which, of course, it does.

The sermon highlights the evil of executive power, defined as the ability of a ruler to compel obedience among his subjects, and warns those trapped in a system dominated by would-be brambles to seek no other king than Jesus Christ.