Trusting God in a world with human responsibilities

If you have a bible open it up to Matthew 17.

Pray with me..

Happy Mothers day! I am glad we get to honor moms in a unique way today. And we get to continue studying the word of God together this morning. Now one of the hardest parts about Expository preaching preaching verse by verse is you never miss anything you always preach the next text. and sometimes the texts it has for us is difficult for us or it may not seem as timely as something else would be until you dig deeper and see that the full council of God no matter the day is life changing and life giving. That being said let us dive into the text this morning..

Matthew 17:24–27 “24 When they came to Capernaum, the collectors of the two-drachma tax went up to Peter and said, “Does your teacher not pay the tax?” 25 He said, “Yes.” And when he came into the house, Jesus spoke to him first, saying, “What do you think, Simon? From whom do kings of the earth take toll or tax? From their sons or from others?” 26 And when he said, “From others,” Jesus said to him, “Then the sons are free. 27 However, not to give offense to them, go to the sea and cast a hook and take the first fish that comes up, and when you open its mouth you will find a shekel. Take that and give it to them for me and for yourself.””

Trusting God in a world with human responsibilities shows the world that we can do the right thing without going out of the way to offend others

Lets break down how we understand this starting with the setting, and hold tight laddies I have something for you in this text as well.

So Jesus is again traveling and we have seen him do so many incredible things in the peoples midst, and he goes and he arrives at Capernaum and when he arrives there the collectors of the Drachma tax ask Peter Does your teacher not pay the tax?

Now you may or may not know about this Drachma Tax. In fact in the New Testament this is the only place its talked about. Its one of those things in scripture that if you are reading your bible you might pause and look at your study notes and say ok and move on.

But this tax is a command strait from the scripture. Exodus 30:11–16 “11 The Lord said to Moses, 12 “When you take the census of the people of Israel, then each shall give a ransom for his life to the Lord when you number them, that there be no plague among them when you number them. 13 Each one who is numbered in the census shall give this: half a shekel according to the shekel of the sanctuary (the shekel is twenty gerahs), half a shekel as an offering to the Lord. 14 Everyone who is numbered in the census, from twenty years old and upward, shall give the Lord’s offering. 15 The rich shall not give more, and the poor shall not give less, than the half shekel, when you give the Lord’s offering to make atonement for your lives. 16 You shall take the atonement money from the people of Israel and shall give it for the service of the tent of meeting, that it may bring the people of Israel to remembrance before the Lord, so as to make atonement for your lives.””

So I bet you gathered from the text that every person over twenty would have to give this half shekel and it would support the tabernacle and latter on they would use that same tax to support the temple.

So scholars say..

Matthew Paying the Temple Tax (17:24–27)

The half-shekel temple tax was the equivalent of the Greek silver didrachma, a “two-drachma piece” coin. But the most common coin used among the people was the denarius, equivalent to a day’s wage. So those coming to collect the tax from one person would have received two denarii, since the didrachmon was seldom minted. Or two persons could have paid for their combined temple tax with the Tyrian stater or Greek tetradrachma (cf. 18:28).13

And I think what is important to note about this tax was this tax was for Isreal it was not from Rome like Matthew the tax collector was collecting. The High priest was the one in charge of getting this specific temple offering. And so you can learn from scholars that

Matthew Paying the Temple Tax (17:24–27)

In the Di-as-pora on the fifteenth of Adar ( which is either Feb or march our time ) ,14 local community leaders collected the half-shekel tax by installing in community centers containers similar to those found in the temple that were shaped like trumpets, into which the local people placed the temple tax.15 In Palestine, representatives of the Jerusalem priesthood went throughout the land collecting the temple tax.16

So now that we know about the tax we can move to the question and first the answer by Peter. And we see in this text that the people may be baiting Peter about Jesus. Does your teacher not pay the tax I wonder if they were walking by when they went into town and at first they did not drop the money off quick enough. Who knows the kind of people these people are but yet the question comes up because God wants us to learn something from this. And Peter who is kind of the leader of the disciples we know says Yes.

And he had reason to say so. Because if you remember back in chapter 5 starting in verses 17 Jesus said..

Matthew 5:17–19 “17 “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. 18 For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished. 19 Therefore whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.”

So with that in Mind we know that Jesus did not come to break the law to fulfill it so him paying a tax that the law said you had to was something he would do.

But here comes to the lesson for them and for us. that we see after Jesus asks Simon the question what do you think Simon? From whom do the kings of the earth take toll or tax? From their sons or from others?

English Standard Version Chapter 17

And when he said, “From others,” Jesus said to him, “Then the sons are free. 27 However, not to give offense to them, go to the sea and cast a hook and take the first fish that comes up, and when you open its mouth you will find a shekel.7 Take that and give it to them for me and for yourself.”

So what Jesus is teaching has real immediate impact for these disciples in that very moment, and has a point for us as well.

So Peter gives the right answer Rulers do not collect taxes from their own children but only from their subjects. So Jesus says Doesn’t that mean the Son’s are exempt. ( because whose house is the Fathers house is it the chief priest no. Its Jesus house that temple belongs to him he is the Son of God and so he is exempt from the temple tax and guess what so is his disciples. Because his disciples are his family. Remember Matthew 12:48–50 “48 But he replied to the man who told him, “Who is my mother, and who are my brothers?” 49 And stretching out his hand toward his disciples, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers! 50 For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.””

So Jesus tells these people they are free but in that freedom listen to this I will elaborate that more in a moment do not use that free to offend the conscience of those who are Jews who don’t know me as Lord as the Son of God. Pay that temple tax so others do not stumble, and so Jesus does yet another incredible miracle in this text. Listen again..

English Standard Version Chapter 17

go to the sea and cast a hook and take the first fish that comes up, and when you open its mouth you will find a shekel. Take that and give it to them for me and for yourself.”

One man highlights the son of God and his true greatness that we see… the last two chapters I we have seen that Jesus is the divine Son of God. He is fully human but also fully God. And this miracle, this "very remarkable... providence," this act of "unutterable power"—what sovereign control of the sea (think of the parting of the Red Sea; think of Jonah and the big fish) —falls under the category that I label in very technical terms,"Hey, this guy is God!" Think about what needs to happen in this miracle for it to work. Jesus needs divine power, and Jesus needs divine foreknowledge.' He needs to know there is a coin in the sea. He needs to know that some fish swallowed it or is actually holding it in its mouth (hasn't swallowed it). He needs to know that this fish is near the shore. He needs to know that it will be the first fish Peter catches. He needs to know it will have a shekel in its mouth, which is precisely the amount of the tax for two people.

This miracle is awesome! Transferred to the person of Jesus, we see that this man is awesome! This man is God. This God-man is awesome. What then is this God-man's message about taxes?

The miracle, like the transfiguration, is designed to make you listen up. “This is my beloved Son... listen to him" (17:5). Listen to him as he speaks about his death. Listen to him as he talks about taxes.

Love that little quote in fact I love every line of Scripture and how his glory is manifested to us even when he is talking about a tax that is nowhere else in the New Testament.

And what makes this scripture even better is my first point. Finally got to it.

You can trust God in a world full of human responsibilities because Jesus paid it all.

See because of Jesus there is no more need for the temple. Because his death did something not all those sacrifices could do before he came.

See later on Jesus will predict the demise of the temple happens in AD 70 he cleanses the temple and he is greater than the temple.

And John 1:29 ““Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!”

How did he do that by become the ultimate sacrifice a sacrifices that temple could not hold. Listen to Hebrews explain Jesus…

Hebrews 7:26–28 “26 For it was indeed fitting that we should have such a high priest, holy unlike the other priests, innocent unlike all the other priests, unstained unlike all those sacrifices , separated from sinners, and exalted above the heavens. ( God himself ) 27 He has no need, like those high priests, to offer sacrifices daily, first for his own sins ( right he was without sin ) and then for those of the people, since he did this once for all when he offered up himself. 28 For the law appoints men in their weakness as high priests, but the word of the oath, which came later than the law, appoints a Son who has been made perfect forever.”

Jesus does not need to pay a temple tax because he is temple. He is the living breathing sacrifice for our sins.

Listen to this… He speaks of a time when there will be no taxation due to representation. That is, he as our representative will pay the price. Not the price of the temple tax, but the price of all the temple sacrifices from day one to the day he dies. His death will cut the temple curtain in two. It will push down stone upon stone until no stone stands. He will become (of course, he is now for us) the very temple of the living God-Immanuel incarnate— "the divinely authorized meeting place" between God and man.'º He will become (of course, he has become for us) the last and final sacrifice for sin.

Jesus paid it all, All to Him I owe;

Sin had left a crimson stain, He washed it white as snow.''

Who needs a temple when "Jesus is God's temple in person," and who needs a temple tax when Jesus paid the temple tax "with his own blood'"??

Death and taxes. His death; no taxes. His death means no more temple taxes for me and you, and even for Peter!?

You can trust God in a world of human responsibilities because Jesus paid it all.

But how else can we apply this text…

Trusting God in a world with human responsibilities means not demanding our own rights but doing the right things.

I think we can quickly go to another text in the New Testament to get some application out of it. That text is 1 Corinthians 9:19–22… Listen to Paul make this life application about freedom.. “19 For though I am free from all, I have made myself a servant to all, that I might win more of them. 20 To the Jews I became as a Jew, in order to win Jews. To those under the law I became as one under the law (though not being myself under the law) that I might win those under the law. 21 To those outside the law I became as one outside the law (not being outside the law of God but under the law of Christ) that I might win those outside the law. 22 To the weak I became weak, that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all people, that by all means I might save some.”

As I read those verses and studied alot this week I was reminded just how good Paul was at living this out. You notice in his letters how he interacts with everyone saying still the same things that are true yet coming at different angles.

Those verses I quoted in 1 Corinthians is best seen applied in Acts 17:16–34 “16 Now while Paul was waiting for them at Athens, his spirit was provoked within him as he saw that the city was full of idols. ( This is a free man who see sin around him so what does he go do take a hammer and start destroying idols) Verse 17…

17 So he reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and the devout persons, and in the marketplace every day with those who happened to be there. ( Paul knew the saving power of the gospel knew the truth and he reasoned with these people ) 18 Some of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers also conversed with him. And some said, “What does this babbler wish to say?” Others said, “He seems to be a preacher of foreign divinities”—because he was preaching Jesus and the resurrection. 19 And they took him and brought him to the Areopagus, saying, “May we know what this new teaching is that you are presenting? 20 For you bring some strange things to our ears. We wish to know therefore what these things mean.” 21 Now all the Athenians and the foreigners who lived there would spend their time in nothing except telling or hearing something new. “22 So Paul, standing in the midst of the Areopagus, said: “Men of Athens, I perceive that in every way you are very religious. 23 For as I passed along and observed the objects of your worship, I found also an altar with this inscription: ‘To the unknown god.’ What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you. 24 The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, 25 nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything. 26 And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place, 27 that they should seek God, and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him. Yet he is actually not far from each one of us, 28 for “ ‘In him we live and move and have our being’; as even some of your own poets have said, “ ‘For we are indeed his offspring…”

“29 Being then God’s offspring, we ought not to think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and imagination of man. 30 The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent, 31 because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.” 32 Now when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked. But others said, “We will hear you again about this.” 33 So Paul went out from their midst. 34 But some men joined him and believed, among whom also were Dionysius the Areopagite and a woman named Damaris and others with them.”

What does Paul do in this text. He preaches one way to one group and another way to another group. And while he preached the truth to them he first showed them respect.

He was all things to all people something I struggle with as a pastor because I fear compromise but Paul, Jesus never compromised the truth they just gave up their rights so some might be saved. Fine line a delicate balance that we need to find.

He spoke in their native tongue. He was, in his own words, "all things to all people, that by all means I might save some."

That's what he wrote in 1 Corinthians 9:22. And here's what he wrote before that. In verse 12 he writes, "[Wle endure anything rather than put an obstacle in the way of the gospel of Christ." (Isn't that a perfect summary of our passage?) Then in verses 19-22 he writes:

One of my commentaries made this important insight.

You see, there is the delicate balance between Christian compromise and Christian noncompliance.! We are not to comply when our government or our church (God forbid) or our best friend tells us to stop preaching that Jesus is the only way to God . It is okay to offend with the stumbling stone of the cross. But we are to compromise—to not give "unnecessary offense on secondary issues"8 —if those little stumbling stones make a person stumble on their way to the cross. Does that make sense? We are become all things to all people so by all means we might save some, and we are to preach Christ and him crucified. We are to balance both.

And love means putting up with trivial matters and pushing aside any and every obstacle to get people to the gospel, the lifesaving message of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Now you have to use the word and the Spirit he has given you to decide what is trivial and what is not, but as a Christian we do not have to demand our rights to do the right things we can love those who are different from us in such a way that we do not cause them to stumble. I am all about standing for truth and so is God, but going around seeking to offend is not the way Paul handled things even though the message offends he was without offence.

One other man said this.. We often think of freedom as simply the ability to do what we want to do. There is truth in that concept. But there is another sense of freedom that comes from the biblical understanding of the effect of sin on humanity. Humanity after the fall does not have the ability to do consistently the right thing . Humanity is under the curse of sin, which chains us to self-centeredness and rebellion against what God wants us to do.

But when we come to know the truth from Jesus about our sinfulness and receive his atoning sacrifice, we are set free from our bondage to sin.That freedom enables us to do the right thing, which we were not able to do before. Therefore, true freedom does not mean the unrestricted ability to do whatever we want, but the ability to sacrifice ourselves for the good of others. Thats mom’s.. not demanding their own rights but doing the right things for their children. Thats grandmas, thats the sunday school teachers who teach little truths to little hearts. See as a parent you have authority over your child you have rights and if you are a good parent what do you seek to do the right things.

See there is a great responsibility in this world God gives us and that is to care for the children he has entrusted to us.

Can I share a few stories about moms this week as I close? Tim ChalliesDevoted: Great Men and Their Godly Moms writes about mothers of men who changed the world, and these stories can be applied to anyone just listen.

One of the chapters in Challies’ book tells the story of Hudson Taylor, a missionary in China whose obedience led thousands to Christ. While Christians may know him as just that — a great missionary — Hudson was once a scoffer, a rebel, and an avaricious teen. But God used his mother’s prayers to pull Hudson out of his rebellion.

Amelia, Hudson’s mother, traveled 50 miles from their home in Barnsley, England, to visit her sister. It was during this time that she resolved to lock herself in her room for hours and plead to God that He would save Hudson. Her compulsion to pray for her son grew to such a degree that she decided that she would not leave the room until she was assured that God would answer her prayer. Her heart soon turned from pleading to praise when she found herself worshiping and thanking God that He had opened Hudson’s eyes to salvation.

Back at home, Hudson was bored. He meandered around the house, landing himself in his father’s library where he began pulling books off of the shelves. He landed on a gospel tract titled “Poor Richard” and read the words, “the finished work of Christ.” It was that day that Hudson understood that Christ’s work on the cross was sufficient for his salvation, and he fell to his knees in repentance, praising God for his salvation while his mother was in her room, miles away, doing the very same thing.

As Hudson set off to depart England for China, he wrote this about his goodbyes to his mother:

“As we passed through the gates and the separation really commenced, never shall I forget the cry of anguish wrung from that mother’s heart. It went through me like a knife. I never knew so fully, until then, what ‘God so loved the world’ meant. And I am quite sure my precious mother learned more of the love of God for the perishing in that one hour than in all her life before.”

John Newton’s mother was physically weak, chronically fatigued and bedridden due to a fatal diagnosis of tuberculosis. Yet, she was spiritually strong, always working diligently to teach John catechisms, hymns, and Scripture from the time he was a toddler. Those lessons were not in vain, though Newton would fall away as a young man and become a slave ship captain. When his ship hit a nasty storm, though, he recalled his mother’s lessons and cried out to God to save him so he could serve him forever. Newton did exactly that, becoming an Anglican priest, writing hymns, including most famously “Amazing Grace,” and testifying to his experience as a slave ship captain in such detail that it helped convince Parliament to ban the slave trade.

Charles Spurgeon’s mother begged and pleaded with God to save her rebellious son. Little did she know that he would one day grow up to be known as the “Prince of Preachers,” seeing thousands upon thousands of people flocking to his church to hear him preach. He would later say of his mother:

“I am sure that, in my early youth, no teaching ever made such an impression upon my mind as the instruction of my mother; neither can I conceive that, to any child, there can be one who will have such influence over the heart as the mother who has so tenderly cared for her offspring.”

John Piper’s mother was no theologian like her famous and influential son, but she read no book except the Bible, could recite the Proverbs, and would pray alongside her children. She was an ordinary, simple woman who dedicated herself to serving her husband and raising her family, and John admits that her faithfulness shapes much of the way he approaches life today. He would later say of her teaching and example: “She stamped me more than anybody in the world — there’s just no doubt about it.”

Never under estimate the freedom you have been given to raise your kids and the example you can be for them, and the impact you can make on them even when they are far from the Lord….remember the example Paul made on those around him, and as Jesus made when he walked this earth living perfectly without sin dying on the cross and rising from the dead so that you could have life.Life free to live for him. I heard this week the greatest sermon your kids will ever hear is the life you live in front of them. Never under estimate moms, and dads and everyone else the responsibility that you have but dont forget to trust God in the process with those responsibilities . …

Let us pray..