Two Kingdoms - One King
Notes
Transcript
Illustrations for Biblical Preaching Hypocrisy
In any great forest you will find many huge trees. They tower above other trees and appear to be the very picture of strength and maturity. However, loggers will sometimes not even bother to cut down these huge trees. At first one wonders, “Why leave them? After all, a tree that big must contain twice or thrice the amount of lumber as a smaller tree.”
The reason is simple. Huge trees are often rotten on the inside. They are the hollow trees that children’s picture books show raccoons living in. And they are the trees that are often blown over in a strong windstorm because, while they appear to be the picture of strength, in fact their hollowness makes them weak.
This is the essence of hypocrisy—appearing strong on the outside but hollow and rotten on the inside.
Almighty God, You have called Your Church to witness that in Christ You have reconciled us to Yourself. Grant that by Your Holy Spirit we may proclaim the Good News of Your salvation so that all who hear it may receive the gift of salvation, through Jesus Christ, your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever, Amen.
Then the Pharisees went and plotted how to entangle him in his words. And they sent their disciples to him, along with the Herodians, saying, “Teacher, we know that you are true and teach the way of God truthfully, and you do not care about anyone’s opinion, for you are not swayed by appearances. Tell us, then, what you think. Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not?” But Jesus, aware of their malice, said, “Why put me to the test, you hypocrites? Show me the coin for the tax.” And they brought him a denarius.
After the parable that we heard last week concerning the king’s wedding feast for his son, the Pharisees became even more firmly committed to getting rid of Christ, for they knew that those parables that Matthew records in Chapters 21 and 22 exposed them in their disobedience to God and their unworthiness to claim to represent His authority. They reacted, trying to ruin His credibility, by presenting Him with a question that would, in their eyes, either expose Him to Rome as a dangerous Messianic revolutionary, or expose Him to the Jews as a false hope for freedom from Rome who, when the pressure was on, would bow to Caesar. “Who do we serve, Jesus, Caesar or the LORD?”
And Jesus said to them, “Whose likeness and inscription is this?” They said, “Caesar’s.” Then he said to them, “Therefore render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” When they heard it, they marveled. And they left him and went away.
It is harder to mix religion and politics and get a good result than to mix eggs, chocolate and flour and get a soufflé; we struggle with it today. It is clear that we will not usher in the Kingdom of God by an alliance with the governing authorities at the local, State or Federal Level. It is equally clear that a Christian can fulfill any vocation that is not in conflict with the Scriptures, including those involving public service, and even military or law enforcement activity.
Taxes are the normal means by which the various levels of government fund their activities in service to the community. That is the way that all members of the community are treated equally in terms of access to services. If Government services were offered as a business transaction, only those who could afford them could receive services. In America, it is believed by most citizens that basic services, at least, should be available to everyone, funded by the collection of various taxes and fees. Some believe that the government provides some degree of leveling between the social and economic elites and those who lack the resources of the elites.
The Bible does not tell us what Jesus thought about the proper role of government under Herod or Pilate, but He did teach that godly people did not go out of their way to antagonize those who worked in the public sector, and that those who exercised authority should to it in a way that showed love for their neighbor, regardless of their status as individuals. The Scriptures remind us that God uses government as a blessing to His people, and that He does hold them accountable for their actions, even when they do not acknowledge Him as God:
Thus says the Lord to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have grasped, to subdue nations before him and to loose the belts of kings, to open doors before him that gates may not be closed: “I will go before you and level the exalted places, I will break in pieces the doors of bronze and cut through the bars of iron, I will give you the treasures of darkness and the hoards in secret places, that you may know that it is I, the Lord, the God of Israel, who call you by your name. For the sake of my servant Jacob, and Israel my chosen, I call you by your name, I name you, though you do not know me.
Indeed, the whole premise of the 1st Use of the Law is based on the idea that we can, in fact, legislate public morality. Of the 10 Commandments, four of them, numbers 5 - 8, address things that are generally codified in criminal law:
The Book of Concord First: The Ten Commandments of God
[5] The fifth: You are not to kill.
[6] The sixth: You are not to commit adultery.
[7] The seventh: You are not to steal.
[8] The eighth: You are not to bear false witness against your neighbor.
While Commandments #4, #9, and #10 are oriented more towards things that are not part of criminal codes, they do cover things that are viewed in most cultures as necessary for the orderly functioning and general happiness of the community. In a secularized society such as we live in today, only the first three Commandments, directing us in our worship of the Creator, would be viewed as being unnecessary for the well-being of the community at large.
In the Augsburg Confessions, Article XVI. [Concerning Public Order and Secular Government], we confess: [1] Concerning public order and secular government it is taught that all political authority, orderly government, laws, and good order in the world are created and instituted by God [2] and that Christians may without sin exercise political authority; be princes and judges; pass sentences and administer justice according to imperial and other existing laws; punish evildoers with the sword; wage just wars; serve as soldiers; buy and sell; take required oaths; possess property; be married; etc.
Robert Kolb, Timothy J. Wengert, and Charles P. Arand, The Book of Concord: The Confessions of the Evangelical Lutheran Church (Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press, 2000), 48.
So, was Jesus saying what we would later use as basis of a “separation of Church and State” where each has its authority and right to rule? Hardly, since according to Christ, when confronted by Satan in the wilderness, He rejects Satan’s right to rule:
Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. And he said to him, “All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.” Then Jesus said to him, “Be gone, Satan! For it is written, “ ‘You shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve.’ ”
Paul writes in Romans 13:1–2 “Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment.” Thus, earthly governments only have the authority that God has delegated to them as His servants, according to Romans 13:3-4
For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive his approval, for he is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God’s wrath on the wrongdoer.
Above all, Caesar cannot save you from your sins, nor can Caesar bring you victory over the world, the flesh, and the devil. The best that Caesar can do is in service to the 1st Use of the Law, as St. Peter agrees:
Be subject for the Lord’s sake to every human institution, whether it be to the emperor as supreme, or to governors as sent by him to punish those who do evil and to praise those who do good. For this is the will of God, that by doing good you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people.
It is good, right, and salutary, as St. Paul urges, to pray for those who are in positions of earthly leadership, whether they be Christian or not.
First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way. This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all, which is the testimony given at the proper time.
The Government cannot bring you into the Kingdom of Heaven, nor can it bring Heaven to earth. It can help make earthly conditions less hellish, but only God’s Church can open the gates of the Kingdom of God for sinners to enter, as the Church makes use of the Keys of the Kingdom that were given to her by Christ the King. As we preach and teach, encourage and absolve, we open the windows of Heaven for those to whom Heaven is closed by their unbelief. As we confess our sins to one another and our faith to the world, praying for both by the will of God, we become the means through which our heavenly Father pours our the grace and mercy that is ours in Christ Jesus, and the Holy Spirit works through that Word to bring the peace that passes understanding to the people of God’s favor.
And the peace of God that passes understanding, guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus our Lord, Amen.