A New and Better Covenant

Introduction:

Homeowners covenant and “Karens” that try to nit pick

The need for a covenant

The abuse of a covenant

The Bible presents the covenants as well, yet in a different way. You see what we need is not the law of the covenant to keep up appearances, but we need the Savior the covenant points to to make us holy. We are sinners separated from God. The covenants that we find in the Bible were not like a homeowner’s covenant, but were more like promises that God was making to His people that He would come and send someone to clean up our mess and save us from our own destruction.

God’s holiness is a theme that is to be kept in mind when we think about covenants in the Bible. We cannot approach God carelessly, but must remember that He is a holy God. The covenants remind us of that and they remind us of His moral laws that we have broken and why a Savior was needed to reconcile us to God.

Even the laws about giving to the temple teach us about our need for a mediator between man and God. Jesus is that mediator and the priests foreshadowed His coming. These men served in a building that represented God’s presence on earth. They were the imperfect mediators that would point to the perfect mediator in the Son who would come and set us free from sin.

Let’s see how Jesus fulfills that role this morning by bringing in a new and better covenant.

Matthew 17:24–27 ESV

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.”

Pray

This is an interesting account in the life of Jesus and is only recorded here in the gospels. The issue at hand is the Temple Tax that was levied on males.

Some interesting things about this tax are:

It was roughly two days wages

It was not compulsory

It went to support the temple

Some of the leaders did not agree with paying it because they felt the temple was corrupt. For example the Essenes only paid it once in their lifetime

The poor were exempt, as well as most of the rabbis

The purpose of this tax was for the upkeep of the temple. Keep that in mind and remember that things are changing with the coming sacrifice of Jesus on the cross.

The question at hand is whether Jesus will pay this tax or not.

1. The Son’s Freedom (vv. 24-25)

Jesus’ question relates to taxes imposed by kings. God is Israel’s king and he has a human proxy.

At this moment Israel is ruled by a puppet king in the Herods and is under occupation by Rome

God had imposed the tax for a good reason - to support the temple and keep it up

This tax cost two days wages and was never intended to be a burden on those who could not pay it.

Jesus calls out that the sons of the king of are exempt from paying taxes - once again He is calling Himself God’s son and is invoking His Messianic title as the anointed one

The Temple tax was a part of the Old Covenant which was being fulfilled

It was a good system that pointed to a better system

The centrality of the Temple was being changed to the church

The principle is still in place and a good practice to support the local church but it is not to be an unnecessary burden on the people

Illustration:

I want you to imagine for a moment that you drive around in Hollywood Hills and you ride by the mansion of someone who is rich and famous. You stand at the gate and marvel at the houses. You might even be a creeper and have a drone to fly overhead and check out the arial view of the property.

You decide that you are going to walk in through the gate and go into the house and give yourself the grand tour. You might even take something out the closet to go home with you.

You would not be there long before you would be escorted out with shiny new bracelets to the jail house. The reason is because you don’t belong. You don’t have the authority to be there and you especially don’t have the right to take anything from the home because it is not your home. You are a trespasser. You don’t have the freedom to go where you want and do what you want and take what you want.

Jesus has the authority to change the rules, because the House of God is His house. He is the master of the Temple. He is the one who has the authority to release anyone He wants from the tax.

He is also the fulfilment of the Old Laws.

We need to discuss for a moment the three basic types of Laws in the Bible to understand that we are free from some and bound by others:

Civil

Ceremonial

Moral

Application:

You and I are still able to learn from the Civil and Ceremonial Laws and apply these lessons where applicable, but we are most certainly bound by the moral law. We still must follow the 10 Commandments, though not as a way of gaining access to heaven, but as a way of seeing our need for a Savior and living in light of the new life that is pleasing to God by the power of His Spirit within us. He is the One who makes us to will and to work for His good pleasure and will bring about our salvation to completion.

That brings us to the second thing we need to see.

2. The Son’s Authority (v.26-27a)

Matthew 17:26–27 ESV

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.”

Jesus invites us in to this relationship with Him. We are now sons. Notice that Jesus did not say the son is free, but that the sons are free.

Jesus demonstrates His authority as a son by claiming to be free and then shows His divinity by speaking out of His omniscience

Jesus knew the conversation that had taken place between the leaders and Peter

Jesus tells Peter to cast his hook into the water

The fish still had to bite the hook

The fish that had swallowed exactly the amount of money needed was swimming in the sea and bit Peter’s hook

Jesus, as God the Son, demonstrated His ability to provide for His sheep

Application:

God loves a cheerful giver. In the new covenant, we are no longer required to pay a temple tax, but that does not mean that God does not want us to support the local church or ministries that He is using to reach people

The reason the Temple Tax was becoming obsolete is because there would no longer be a need for a central temple for all people to come to in order to worship God. Now there would be many churches of people and the temple of God would be inside of believers. We would scatter and go to the ends of the earth to take the name of God with us. These churches and believers would become more important than a centralized temple in Jerusalem and would need the support of their members to keep things running effectively.

We are still to give willingly knowing that God will bless us and provide for our needs

3. The Son’s Compassion (v.27)

Matthew 17:27 ESV

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.”

Jesus had every right as the Son of God to excuse Himself and His followers from paying the Temple Tax

Jesus does not have a problem offending the leaders and the people when it is necessary, but His intent is not to intentionally offend people

Illustration:

Have you ever heard some of these preachers, and you find them mostly on social media now days, that will say something provocative. There are several extremes of this. Some will say things that are sensual in order to get people’s attention.

There was a church in Florida a few years ago that used to buy billboards with a couple in bed and their feet handing out of the sheets to advertise a sermon series on sex. It was intended to be risque in order to draw people’s attention.

Today many churches follow this same sort of tactic to fill the pews and in the process they offend people’s consciences and even put a stumbling block of unnecessary offense in the way that can hinder people from coming to God.

However, it swings the other way as well. Some KJV only preachers will get up there and with false platitudes they will decry any change from the KJV as tampering with the Word of God. They fail to see that the KJV is A translation of the Bible that has some of the same traits as any other translation. There are challenges in taking a text that is in three different original languages (one of them being a dead language at the time that was no longer spoken) and bringing it over into English. There will be slight errors and spelling mistakes, but this does not mean we don’t have the Word of God or that we cannot know the Word of God.

Some might say, “Well aren’t you challenging the inspiration of the Bible when you say things like that?” No! The very opposite is true. If we were to ignore these facts and that these minor variants exist, people would have absolutely no way of knowing how to respond when skeptics of the Bible can clearly show you they exist in printed copies of the Bible. This would be akin to having a blind faith.

God calls us to faith, but never a blind faith. The Gospels themselves are witnesses that give us signs that show that the Gospel is true. We have answers for these objections that are logical and make sense.

Application

So what does that have to do with Jesus not giving offense? Well, we should be careful in what we say, whether it is something that is provocative or gives license to sin and makes it as if there is no standard of holiness at all, or whether we are trying to impose man’s standard of holiness and right and wrong upon other people. Both of these can create a stumbling block for people to come to Christ.

Jesus paid the tax because it was not a major issue. God had the ability to provide for His son and His disciple, Peter, exactly what they needed.

Paul would later go on to teach us that God blesses the sower. God gives seed and causes the seed that is scattered to grow and produce a harvest of righteousness.

Conclusion

How is God using you to accomplish this purpose?

Are you a generous giver? Do you give your time, your talents, your resources to help get the gospel out to the ends of the age?

Have you been brought under the new covenant of grace through Jesus Christ and the sacrifice that He made on the cross for your sins?

Are you a son or daughter of the King?

In Ezekiel, God levied His complaints against His people and said this:

Ezekiel 14:1–8 ESV

1 Then certain of the elders of Israel came to me and sat before me. 2 And the word of the Lord came to me: 3 “Son of man, these men have taken their idols into their hearts, and set the stumbling block of their iniquity before their faces. Should I indeed let myself be consulted by them? 4 Therefore speak to them and say to them, Thus says the Lord God: Any one of the house of Israel who takes his idols into his heart and sets the stumbling block of his iniquity before his face, and yet comes to the prophet, I the Lord will answer him as he comes with the multitude of his idols, 5 that I may lay hold of the hearts of the house of Israel, who are all estranged from me through their idols. 6 “Therefore say to the house of Israel, Thus says the Lord God: Repent and turn away from your idols, and turn away your faces from all your abominations. 7 For any one of the house of Israel, or of the strangers who sojourn in Israel, who separates himself from me, taking his idols into his heart and putting the stumbling block of his iniquity before his face, and yet comes to a prophet to consult me through him, I the Lord will answer him myself. 8 And I will set my face against that man; I will make him a sign and a byword and cut him off from the midst of my people, and you shall know that I am the Lord.

My friend, please do not set the iniquity of your sins as a stumbling block before the Lord. If you have sinned against God, go to the One who can remove that sin.

If you are continuing to walk in sin, though you have come to know Christ as your Savior, plea to Him to remove that rock of offenses. Pray and ask God to forgive you and remove that sin far away from you and train yourself for godliness and holiness.

You see, your sins also affect others. You may be hindering others from coming to know Christ because of the stumbling block of your lifestyle that you are putting in front of others.

Paul said in Romans,

Romans 14:13 ESV

13 Therefore let us not pass judgment on one another any longer, but rather decide never to put a stumbling block or hindrance in the way of a brother.

and in 1 Cor. 8:9

1 Corinthians 8:9 ESV

9 But take care that this right of yours does not somehow become a stumbling block to the weak.

Do not be like Balak who put a stumbling block before the Israelites and taught them how to sin against the Lord.

Turn to Christ and be delivered.