The Things that Belong to Caesar

Assurance

Psalm 130 NKJV

A Song of Ascents. 1 Out of the depths I have cried to You, O Lord; 2 Lord, hear my voice! Let Your ears be attentive To the voice of my supplications. 3 If You, Lord, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand? 4 But there is forgiveness with You, That You may be feared. 5 I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, And in His word I do hope. 6 My soul waits for the Lord More than those who watch for the morning— Yes, more than those who watch for the morning. 7 O Israel, hope in the Lord; For with the Lord there is mercy, And with Him is abundant redemption. 8 And He shall redeem Israel From all his iniquities.

Scripture

Exodus 12:1–11 NKJV

1 Now the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying, 2 “This month shall be your beginning of months; it shall be the first month of the year to you. 3 Speak to all the congregation of Israel, saying: ‘On the tenth of this month every man shall take for himself a lamb, according to the house of his father, a lamb for a household. 4 And if the household is too small for the lamb, let him and his neighbor next to his house take it according to the number of the persons; according to each man’s need you shall make your count for the lamb. 5 Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year. You may take it from the sheep or from the goats. 6 Now you shall keep it until the fourteenth day of the same month. Then the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it at twilight. 7 And they shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and on the lintel of the houses where they eat it. 8 Then they shall eat the flesh on that night; roasted in fire, with unleavened bread and with bitter herbs they shall eat it. 9 Do not eat it raw, nor boiled at all with water, but roasted in fire—its head with its legs and its entrails. 10 You shall let none of it remain until morning, and what remains of it until morning you shall burn with fire. 11 And thus you shall eat it: with a belt on your waist, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand. So you shall eat it in haste. It is the Lord’s Passover.

Prayer

Almighty God and merciful Father,

Great is your name and greatly to be praised, and yet all our tongues can do is stammer and stutter.

But you are our God. You have delivered us from bondage and have taken us to be your people, and you delight to hear our stammering cries, for you are the Good Shepherd, and heavenly Father.

This morning, join our voices together in the unity of true faith with the church throughout the world, throughout the state, and even in heaven. Join our voices with the choirs of heaven, that our stammering tongues might offer a fitting sacrifice of praise

Hallow and magnify your holy name. May our words and our works show the watching world that we have been forgiven much, so that we do not blaspheme your holy name, but that it be honored and praised on our account.

So teach us, Father, to love much. Our nation is divided, fearful, enraged. Each side pointing the finger at the other side, and it only gets worse. Violence is breaking out and tempers are flaring. In the middle of it all, may our presence be a light in the darkness, a beacon of hope and love, an invitation to rest.

Bring peace; forgive our sins and hardness of heart, and give us new hearts that are compassionate, merciful, and loving in a wicked, violent and perverse generation.

Break through the barriers by your Holy Spirit and awaken our community to the glorious truth of the gospel – that in Christ, there is not Jew or Greek, male or female, bond or free – but we are all one –

And teach us, father, to rest in that glorious liberty and be at peace with ourselves, our neighbors, our families.

Give us patience as we wait for the new dawn. Give us endurance, that we might not grow weary in well-doing, as we wait for the harvest.

Bless your church, wherever it meets this morning. Where the field is sown, we pray that you would grant a plentiful harvest that the fruit of the spirit might flow from regenerated hearts by the gospel of Jesus.

So may that gospel be preached and fall on prepared hearts.

Bless our government with wisdom and insight. Give justice and understanding, we pray, that we might live peaceable lives in all good works.

Give patience and health to those who suffer in the flesh. Give healing to Steve. Give strength the Hugo and Bud as they continue their fight against cancer.

And for our overburdened health workers, we pray for strength and health and protection. Deliver us from our own foolishness and give the resources that we need in our hospitals, our health centers and our emergency rooms.

Deliver the addicted from their bondage, bring the wandering back home. Deliver us from pride and contempt.

The world, the flesh and the devil assail us without ceasing. Be pleased to equip us with your word and spirit to make firm stand against them until finally complete victory is ours.

For all power is yours. You alone can soften the proud heart.

You alone feed the wild deer and the bears and lions, giving to each their portion. You alone govern the movement of the water as it cycles.

Thank you for the rain, Father. And knowing we can never ask too much, we ask for your protection and provision as the state cleans up. Bring a spirit of unity and cooperation, rather than division and hatred, and protect the workers in dangerous places.

Bless the reading and preaching of the word this morning, guide my lips and give us ears to hear,

And together:

Psalm 19:14 KJV 1900

14 Let the words of my mouth, And the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O Lord, my strength, and my redeemer.

Text

Luke 20:19–26 NKJV

19 And the chief priests and the scribes that very hour sought to lay hands on Him, but they feared the people—for they knew He had spoken this parable against them. 20 So they watched Him, and sent spies who pretended to be righteous, that they might seize on His words, in order to deliver Him to the power and the authority of the governor. 21 Then they asked Him, saying, “Teacher, we know that You say and teach rightly, and You do not show personal favoritism, but teach the way of God in truth: 22 Is it lawful for us to pay taxes to Caesar or not?” 23 But He perceived their craftiness, and said to them, “Why do you test Me? 24 Show Me a denarius. Whose image and inscription does it have?” They answered and said, “Caesar’s.” 25 And He said to them, “Render therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” 26 But they could not catch Him in His words in the presence of the people. And they marveled at His answer and kept silent.

Sermon

The law - the sacrifices and ceremonies - were all designed to point to Christ.

The feast of the Jews which was the center of all of their worship - was passover.

On the tenth of the month, the lamb was to be separated from the herd and watched until the 14th.

It was to be without blemish or spot.

On the tenth of the month, Jesus entered Jerusalem, the lion of the tribe of Judah, who was also the lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.

He enters triumphantly as the lion. And he is preparing to lay down his life as the lamb of God.

But just as the passover meal foretold, he is first examined to see if he is without blemish and spot. And he is examined in Jerusalem by the priests. They don’t even know it, but they are watching the lamb of God to determine if there is anything unclean in him.

Their motive, however, is far different. They are looking for an excuse to put him to death.

It was the responsibility of the priests to watch the lambs for 5 days. So the chief priests begin to examine Jesus, the Lamb of God.

The reason for the trap

But their motive is to find a way to put him to death. In Galilee, the people tried to throw him off of a cliff. But Galilee was different than Judea. In Judea, the death penalty could only be enforced by Rome.

So they needed something to convince Rome to order his execution. All of it, of course was to fulfill prophecy. He would be crucified, because “cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree” - so that WE might know that he took the curse away from us. Hanging on a cross was the Roman method of execution, not the Jews’ method.

The rulers of the Jews had already decided that he needed to go.

There were many political parties in Israel at the time, and the only thing that they agreed on was that Jesus needed to go. He threw a wrench into every system they had. He disrupted the order. He healed at the wrong time, he spoke to the wrong sort of people, he touched the wrong sort of people.

Every sect of the Jews had different reasons.

But they all came together to plot Jesus’ execution. Only Pilate could order an execution, so they needed to fulfill two requirements.

First, they needed something that would discredit him in front of all the people. It was passover week and there were tens of thousands of people in and around Jerusalem for passover. If they didn’t handle this right, there would be riots.

Second, they needed something that would convince Pilate to execute him. Pilate didn’t much care about violating Sabbaths or questions about the Jewish law. He cared a lot about order and Roman law. So they needed something other than “he violates the Sabbath”.

To illustrate their dilemma - if they told Pilate that Jesus needed to die because he violated the Sabbath, Pilate would say, “What did he do?” He would be interested if Jesus caused riots, taught insurrection, or was subversive. But he was none of that.

So what would they tell Pilate? He heals the sick, opens the eyes of the blind, opens the ears of the deaf - and here is the proof.

Then, in trying to denounce him to Pilate, they at the same time would be proving to the people that he was the Messiah

Isaiah 35:5–6 NKJV

5 Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, And the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped. 6 Then the lame shall leap like a deer, And the tongue of the dumb sing. For waters shall burst forth in the wilderness, And streams in the desert.

So they needed to be crafty. They needed to find a reason to get Pilate to crucify him without causing the crowds in Jerusalem to riot.

So the chief priests, without knowing it, are examining the lamb, to determine if it is without blemish and without spot - fulfilling Exodus 12 .

That is what is happening according to God’s plan - the Lamb of God will be declared innocent by the earthly judge - without blemish and without spot.

But from the perspective of the Sanhedrin, they are trying to find something in him that would discredit him before the people AND denounce him before Pilate. Thus, the question

The Attempted Trap

They use flattery, showing how little they understand him. They pretend to be very interested in doing the right thing and just wanting to advice from the teacher.

The Romans were hated occupiers of Judea. Herod still reigned in Galilee, so people paid tax to Herod there and he sent it on to Rome. But in Judea, it was a Roman province, so the people were required to pay directly to Rome.

To most of the Jews, it was a hated law, a mark of their occupied status, a denial of their place as God’s people and God’s nation.

So they believe that have Jesus trapped. If he says, “Pay the tax”, they can denounce him to the people. It would cause riots, and they could easily find a way to get rid of him.

If he says, “Don’t pay the tax” they can denounce him to Pilate as an insurrectionist and put him to death that way.

Jesus’ answer

They think that have him.

Jesus sees right through them. He is God and knows the hearts of all, but he is also true man, with wisdom and knowledge of a man.

It doesn’t take divine revelation to see through flattery. When they approach with these kinds of words, Jesus is rightly suspicious.

It is one thing when people appreciate you for your gifts or thank you for your service. Flattery is quite another thing. Flattery appeals to pride. When we are aware of the insidiousness of pride, we have some defense against flattery.

Jesus was without sin and did not struggle with being puffed up with pride, so flattery had no effect.

“You teach the way of God in truth.” Really? Where were you sitting while I was teaching? What of my teachings cut to the heart and affected you? I don’t remember seeing you....?

Flags go up.

Jesus, knowing human nature recognizes the trap. Why are you testing me? He says.

Show me a denarius. The denarius was a Roman coin. It had Caesar Tiberius’s picture on it and the inscription - “Son of God”.

So they pull one out - first mistake.

If it isn’t lawful to pay tribute, it certainly isn’t lawful to carry it around. It had Caesar’s image on it, which was clearly a pagan view of God and the cult of the emperor.

If they truly believed what they were trying to catch him on, they would have never carried a little idol around in their pockets.

Do you see the image? Whose is it? It has the imprint of Caesar on it. You can give it back to him without compromising your beliefs at all.

It’s just a coin. It has the imprint of Caesar. It belongs to him.

But lets take it another step further -

The leaders of the Jews were attempting to pit God against Caesar. They were, in effect, saying “you can serve God, or you can serve Caesar, but you can’t do both.” That was the thought behind their question. They framed it as an “either or”. Either you can serve God OR you can pay taxes...”

But paying taxes isn’t an “either or” question. It is a question of giving honor to whom honor is due.

Romans 13:7 NKJV

7 Render therefore to all their due: taxes to whom taxes are due, customs to whom customs, fear to whom fear, honor to whom honor.

If, while you are paying taxes, you are praying to the cult of Caesar, allowing him to cause you turmoil in your soul, fretting over the future things, expecting him to save you from sin and the power of the devil - then you are rendering to Caesar what belongs only to God.

But God, in his complete sovereignty, has ordained civil government for good. Israel, as God’s chosen inheritance under David, the theocracy, was long gone. Now God was preserving them because it was through them that Christ would come into the world and bring salvation to Jew and Gentile alike. The kingdom of God would be spread throughout the world.

And God was using Rome to do that.

And for Rome to do that, Rome needed money. Roads needed to be built, ships built, trade routes maintained, robbers kept under control -

The reason that Israel was occupied by Rome wasn’t an accident; it was in the decree of God. Pharisees and Sadducees were slaughtering each other, and Rome stepped in and didn’t leave.

It drove the proud Jew crazy - But God’s hand was in that as well.

In the church history book that the RCUS has used for decades, RB Kuiper speaks of God using Roman roads, and Roman peace (freedom from robbers and invaders) and Roman ships to spread the gospel throughout the whole world. It was part of the “fulness of times”.

And if Rome used coins to fund it, then give them the coins. The fact that you have coins at all is because of Rome.

Don’t fret the taxes. Give to Caesar’s what belongs to Caesar.

The coin has his image on it.

But the image of God is on MAN

William Barclay:

Luke & Acts (Commentary)

“The coin had Caesar’s image upon it, and therefore belonged to Caesar. Man has God’s image upon him—God created man in his own image (Gen 1:26–27)—and therefore belongs to God”

Devotion and worship belong to God. WE belong to Jesus Christ. We are being conformed after his image, his image is stamped on us.

To him belongs our worship.

Sovereignty belongs to God

Absolute obedience belongs to God

But God has placed us in communities, in countries, in cities, in towns.

He governs us by the hand of Caesar - looking back 2000 years, we see God’s good purpose in allowing Rome to subjugate the world. All the nations serve him for his purposes and when he is finished with them, he blows on them and they go away.

In ways that we don’t always fathom, God is exercising judgment, righteousness and covenant faithfulness in the earth. He is bringing about the consummation of everything.

He is ordering all of nature, all the kingdoms, all the forces of nature and the supernatural realm to bring about his purposes.

Worship and trust belong to him alone. The kingdom belongs to him alone. The hearts of men and women belong to him alone. Salvation belongs only to him.

But he has given the nations into the hands of the children of men.

Psalm 115:16 NKJV

16 The heaven, even the heavens, are the Lord’s; But the earth He has given to the children of men.

The things that belong to Caesar

Whether Caesar acknowledges it or not, he governs according to the decree of God, and it is for God’s good purpose.

The things that God has given Caesar belong to Caesar.

Caesar is charged with public welfare, he is given the sword to punish and restrain evildoers.

Caesar build roads, keeps trade routes clear, minimizes disease, protects the borders, promotes the general welfare.

And we might not agree with how Caesar does all of that. In Caesar’s day, the answer was, “You don’t have to agree. You have to submit.”

In our day, we can peaceably petition, we can vote - but we CANNOT take away the obedience and submission that belong to Caesar.

It is God’s good pleasure to govern us by his hand.

And God has ordained the things of this earth to fund the things that he has given to Caesar -

And we sway from one extreme to the other -

On one extreme, we give to Caesar what belongs to God. We expect him to be our savior, to bring about a righteous age, where there is no more sin and pride and corruption. We expect Caesar to bring about the kingdom of God. But that belongs only to God.

On the other extreme, we refuse to give to Caesar anything - even those things that belong to him. We want the roads and the peace and the electricity and the public welfare, but we don’t want anyone to take our denarius to do it.

And, we have to be completely honest. There has never been a godly government in the history of the world.

Government is made up of sinners. Power goes to the head. Kings look after their own interests. Sometimes they are overzealous; sometimes they are lazy. They are always less than perfect.

Perfection belongs to God, not to Caesar. But the coin belongs to Caesar.

God has given Caesar the right and the duty to protect the welfare of the state. And there will never, ever come a time when you will agree to everything that Caesar does.

Pray for him anyway.

Submit anyway.

I was astounded in 2020 how many Christians were OK with rebelling against the government. I didn’t see it coming.

I thought that we were clear on one thing - that we were to render to Caesar what belonged to him.

We could disagree about whether the public wearing of masks was a good idea or a bad idea, that I understand. But what I didn’t understand was categorically refusing to do it, when the State clearly has the God-given right to promote the general welfare.

Are we not to give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar?

And we can do that without worshiping Caesar. That belongs to God.

God has placed the preservation of life, the general welfare, and the things that make for harmony in the hands of Caesar.

Speed limits, building codes, tax codes, provision for the needy, social justice, working infrastructures - God has placed these things in the hands of Caesar and has given him the power to enforce the things that make for the public welfare.

And we can disagree with how he does it. But what we CANNOT do is refuse to give to him what belongs to him.

Our taxes, our submission, our honor.

1 Peter 2:13–17 NKJV

13 Therefore submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord’s sake, whether to the king as supreme, 14 or to governors, as to those who are sent by him for the punishment of evildoers and for the praise of those who do good. 15 For this is the will of God, that by doing good you may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men—16 as free, yet not using liberty as a cloak for vice, but as bondservants of God. 17 Honor all people. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the king.

These are the things that belong to Caesar.

The future, the hearts of men and women, sovereignty, worship and allegiance belong to God alone.

Give to Caesar what is Caesars. Give to God what is God’s

The accusers could find nothing to say to that. They shut their mouths. They went away. They regrouped for another round.

We’ll look at that one next week.