Giving to Caesar, Giving to God

Introduction: If you watch fighting sports like boxing or MMA, you will know that there is supposed to be only one champion in a weight class. He is the guy who is at the top of the mountain. He did it! He fought through all of the other contenders to get a title shot, he beat the last champ, and now he wears the belt.

And as soon as he puts that belt on his front, he also puts an invisible target on his back because now everyone else wants to fight him.  All of these hungry young contenders want an opportunity at taking the belt and winning glory and the big pay days that come with being the undisputed champion of the world.

We will see something like this today with how the Jewish leaders treat our Lord Jesus. One of the ways that we know that Jesus is truly the MAN is because everyone else in our story keeps trying to bring him down. Last week, it was the Sadducees and the elders and the scribes. This week, it will be two new groups, the Pharisees and the Herodians. You can feel the energy in our story today as groups of wicked men are literally waiting in line to try and publicly bring Jesus down because everyone wants a shot at the champ. Please stand and read Mark 12:13-17 with me.

In our passage, Jesus teaches his disciples how they should interact with human government. I think that coming at the end of a bitter election season like we have, this passage could not be more timely.But please understand, this is a huge topic, and we cant cover everything in our sermon today.

Our big idea is that: We must honor our government, while showing ultimate honor to God alone.

When Jesus speaks about Caesar, he is talking about a literal man who rules the Roman Empire. But everything he says applies to our context today.

I. The Trap

A. Pharisees and Herodians

The Pharisees and Herodians are two more groups that existed in ancient Israel. The Pharisees were:

-Extremely conservative

-Keepers of the Law

-Adding thousands of more laws

-Incredibly proud

-The most common enemies of Jesus

The Herodians were:

-Greek in Culture

-Supporters of the dynasty of Herod, which was cruel and perverted

-Supporters of the Roman occupation

-Not typical friends!

These groups do not get along, and yet they have been sent to set a trap for Jesus. And notice in verse 13 that it says they had been sent to do this? By whom, we must ask? By the three groups that Jesus defeated in our sermon from last week, the Sadducees, elders, and scribes. So we now have five different groups of Jewish leaders, and they do not like or trust each other at all, but they are united, literally working together, to try and kill Jesus, who as the Messiah, is the fulfillment of everything the Jewish faith was supposed to be.

These, men, besides the fact that they are supposed to be spiritual and political leaders, are actually just

B. Hypocrites

-We have used this word many times, and it is because it is very common in the Gospels for Jesus to use it for his opponents. It means someone whose outer appearance is different from their interior attitudes and actions. Literally, the word meant actor. And in their day, actors wore big, ridiculous masks.

These men walking up to Jesus look like religious leaders who are just asking a sincere question of a well-respected rabbi. But it’s all fake. They have smiling masks over their scheming faces. It is as if they are offering Jesus flowers with one hand but in their other hand, behind their backs, they hold daggers to plunge into his back at the first opportunity.

And Jesus says in verse 15 that they are trying to test him. This word is the same word that was used of what Satan was doing to him in the wilderness, when he tempted the Lord Jesus to sin. These men are so twisted in their hypocrisy, they are approaching the Son of God like hunters looking for a kill, doing the same hellish works that the devil himself tried to do.

And they start out with flattery! But this shows us a lot about who Jesus is because even his enemies can see it in him. They say of Jesus:

we know that you are true

and do not care about anyone’s opinion.

For you are not swayed by appearances,

but truly teach the way of God.

And even though they do not actually believe what they are saying, its interesting how accurate their description of the Lord actually is! They are actors and they see he is the real deal!

Now this is an incredibly dangerous trap, Belmont, because these men want to put Jesus in a position where he gives a YES/NO answer to a complicated question about paying taxes to Caesar. If Jesus simply says “YES, pay the tax.” Then these men can report “Jesus acts like a Rabbi and some think he is the Messiah. But he says we should support the Roman occupiers by paying the tax. Doesnt sound like the Messiah to me!”

Or, if Jesus says “No, dont pay the tax.” Then they can report to the Roman authorities “Hey guys, there is this really famous teacher named Jesus of Nazareth. Anyways, he seems to say that he is a king and that his followers shouldnt pay taxes to Caesar. You might want to check him out.” In this scenario, Jesus would be immediately arrested and executed as a rebel against Rome. You dont get to tell people in the Empire not to pay Caesar. That is NOT an option.

II. What we give to Caesar

Jesus’ response is masterful. In just a few sentences he takes a thorny political question and answers it in a way that stuns his enemies into silence and that continues to inform his people down through the centuries how we should interact with human government.

First, Jesus asks for a coin. What is funny is that these men are trying to act like Jesus is a supporter of the Roman government but Jesus doesnt even have any of the government currency on him, but they do! In trying to prove that Jesus is compromised they show that actually they are compromised ones, using Caesar’s money.

Now the coin would have Caesar’s picture and inscription on it. In this case, it said "Caesar Augustus Tiberius, son of the Divine Augustus." Jesus says that we should give back to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s and give back to God the things that are God’s!

Jesus is saying that Caesar’s image…literally his face and title are on the coin. Since Caesar makes the coins and Caesar has authority to rule and to demand taxes, he deserves to be paid. After all, it is his image on the coin so in a sense it all belongs to Caesar anyways.

Jesus is not training his followers to be political revolutionaries, nor is he training them to be robotic servants of whatever the government commands.

Jesus is saying that there are areas where the government has the right to make demands on its people and we as Christians should not resist these lawful commands.

Since Jesus is talking about giving to Caesar what is owed, I want to talk about three characteristics for how Christians should interact with their government. We will look at three passages from the New Testament to explain this.

The first characteristic of Christian interaction with government should be that Christians are

A. Obedient

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. 2 Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment....6 For because of this you also pay taxes, for the authorities are ministers of God, attending to this very thing. 7 Pay to all what is owed to them: taxes to whom taxes are owed, revenue to whom revenue is owed, respect to whom respect is owed, honor to whom honor is owed. Ro 13:1–7.

Paul writes that since all authority is given to the government by God, in honoring lawful human authority, we show honor to the Lord himself. This principle of honoring authority applies in our work places and schools, and in our homes. We are to be people who show respect for the authority God has placed over us.

Belmont, this means we pay taxes, even though we dont want to! We pay what the government is owed because to disobey is dishonoring to the Lord who put our government over us. Now this doesnt mean that we have to pay more tax than we owe, or that we cannot take every lawful step to reduce our tax burden. But it does mean that we, as Christians, cannot defraud the government as this violates the clear teaching of the Bible and of the Lord Jesus himself.

We obey the law-Our government has the right to mandate how we live in our society and it is not the role of Christians to try and change that through disobedience or rebellion. We can instead try to change laws that we do not agree with through lawful political means.

However, remember that I said Jesus is not commanding us to be robotic slaves of evil governments. There are absolutely times when Christians, in order to be faithful to the Lord, MUST resist laws that violate the teachings of Scripture. We see examples of this throughout the Bible. For example, we see Daniel, who is commanded to pray only to the King of Persia, and yet Daniel will not submit to this order, so he gets on his knees in the open and prays three times a day to God, knowing that to do so means he will be arrested and almost certainly killed.

We see the Apostles were forbidden from preaching the Gospel by the leaders of Israel in Acts 4:19-20 and yet they continued anyways. Saying Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God, you must judge, 20 for we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard.

They Apostles continued to preach and they were arrested and beaten.

We also can think of the countless brave Christians in the early church who refused to call Caesar god, and for this faced crucifixion or death in the arena. Or the Christians in the Protestant Reformation who resisted unbiblical Catholic authorities even if it meant being burned alive, or the European Christians who violated the laws of the Nazis to hide Jews during WWII, or the Christian missionaries, who even today, go into countries where it is illegal to preach the Good News of Jesus and yet they faithfully go and they faithfully preach anyways.

As Christians we are called to obey the governments of this earth, in so far as our obedience does not conflict with the higher law and the higher authority of God’s Word. And where there is conflict between the laws of men and the laws of God, the Bible and the history of our people are clear. In these cases, we step out in faith to obey the Lord, not men, and willingly accept the consequences of our actions, confident that to have the blessing of the Lord is far more valuable than the good opinion of people.

In addition to obeying our government’s laws, the Bible teaches us that we should also be

B. Respectful

13 Be subject for the Lord’s sake to every human institution, whether it be to the emperor as supreme, 14 or to governors as sent by him to punish those who do evil and to praise those who do good. 15 For this is the will of God, that by doing good you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people. 16 Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but living as servants of God. 17 Honor everyone. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the emperor. 1 Pe 2:13–17.

Since we respect the authority God has placed over us. We show honor, respect, to our leaders even if we would not vote for them. Through this passage God, is commanding Christians to honor the pagan Emperors of Rome, men who conquered and subjugated other nations, who were cruel and sexually immoral. And yet, these men are still the authority and God’s people were commanded to show them respect.

This passage in 1 Peter teaches us that if we honor our leaders, our leaders will see that Christians are good and respectful citizens. And to regular people who watch us, they will see that we have trust, not in our leaders, but in he who is over our leaders. This is a strong witness for the power of the Gospel.

I am convinced that a way we apply this principle is by taming our tongues when it comes to our leaders. I think it is terrible for the health of our society how common it has become to insult those in authority over us and I think it violates the Lord's command. Once, my grandfather who loved the Lord, really scolded me for this! We were at Luby’s in the 90s…

We as Christians can still challenge our leaders and call them to higher standard, while doing so in a respectful way. In so doing, we honor the Lord.

C. Prayerful

First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, 2 for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way. 3 This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior 1 Ti 2:1–3.

Because God is sovereign, we know that God can change all human authority

So we pray that our leaders will seek to honor the Lord in their decisions and if they refuse to do so, then we pray that God will give us leaders who will. Yes, we have freedom of speech and of the press and of assembly and the right to vote. But we have a more powerful right. The right to call out to God for our nation and for our leaders. So my question is, are we using it?

Some of you complained when Donald Trump was President the first time. Others of you complained when Joe Biden was President. And some of you, just complained the whole time no matter who was in office.

Can I ask much time did you spent praying over the past eight years? If we Christians had complained less and prayed more, I wonder what we could have done to change the climate in our own homes, in our churches, and in our nation.

III. What we give to God

Jesus says that we need to give back to God the things that are God’s. So Belmont, we have to ask what belongs to God, the maker of all things?

You see, when Jesus asked for the coin, he wanted everyone to see that the coin bore Caesar’s image. Caesar is stamped all over it! And because of that, Caesar had the right to demand it back in tax. If you make it, and own it, then you have the right to demand it.

Belmont, if Caesar could demand a coin that was made in his image, my question is whose image are you made in? Who stamped himself all over you when he created you?

Who gave you a mind that you might understand him and an eternal soul that you might be in relationship with him?

That is right! You and I are made in the image of God! The King of all kings and the Lord of all other lords. And if God made us, and stamped himself on us, then he has the right to demand…every part of us. Every action…every word…every thought. There is no portion of us over which God does not declare his lordship. There is no area of our lives that is outside of his rightful authority.

Sure, the government can lay claim to some of our money and tell us how fast we can drive and little things like that.

But the eternal God of ages has laid claim on the souls of his people, now and forever.

And this goes back to our main idea for this message, that we must honor Caesar, but we must show ultimate honor to God alone.

This means that we pay God

Ultimate Obedience and give him Ultimate Respect

We fear God, more than any human government

We are willing to take the consequences of resisting unbiblical rules and of being marginalized and punished by our government and society because they are not our final authority, God is, and all we want to do is to be found faithful in his sight. Because his approval is all that matters.

As our worship team comes back up, I want to ask you some questions.

Jesus talks about how important it is for us to give Caesar what he is owed. So Belmont, I want to challenge you to obey the Law, and to be good citizens. If you have not been paying your taxes, then based on the teaching of our Lord, you need to start. If you have been speaking disrespectfully of any of the authority God has put in your life, then I encourage you from this moment to stop this and show respect to those God has placed over you. And if you have not been prayerful for your government, then the beginning of this new administration is a perfect time to begin praying that God would move and be honored in the choices our leaders make.

Now, we have talked already about how Jesus deserves our ultimate obedience and our ultimate respect, because he alone is Lord. But he also deserves our Ultimate Hope.

This is because Caesar cannot save us. No matter how powerful a politician or a government is, they all come and go, and fade into insignificance as the years march on. There is no government of men that ever existed that can save us from the penalty of our sins. Only the rule and reign of Jesus Christ in our hearts can do that.

So then lets not put our trust in the people who lead us. Lets put our ultimate hope in Jesus Christ. And if you have never done that, then I encourage you to do so TODAY! Turn away from your sinful behavior, and believe in Jesus, the Son of God, who died on the cross and rose again to save you! He is the only hope for sinful people like you and like me to be delivered from judgement and the penalty of our sins. I will be up front after the service…

Colossians 3:16-17