Cesar and God / El César y Dios
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Introduction
Introduction
Today marks the end of this sermon series focused on finances. To date we have considered:
We can glorify God through our finances.
The danger of going in to debt.
The sin of the love of money.
We close this sermon series with a last exhortation centered on our Lord’s teaching answer to the Pharisees who wanted to trap him. We will consider:
The Pharisee’s trap.
The Lord Jesus’ answer.
I. The Pharisee’s trap.
I. The Pharisee’s trap.
I. La trampa de los fariseos.
I. La trampa de los fariseos.
The Pharisees are attempting to lay a trap before the Lord Jesus Christ.
Then the Pharisees went out and laid plans to trap him in his words.
Entonces salieron los fariseos y tramaron cómo tenderle a Jesús una trampa con sus mismas palabras.
So far they have been unsuccessful in destroying the ministry of the Lord Jesus. Every time they attempt to trap him, he finds a way to avoid their snare.
In this case, two groups show up: the Pharisees and the Herodians.
The Pharisees are Jews who are extremely faithful in their obedience to the law of Moses.
The Herodians are also Jews that are faithful to Herod the Great. They are in favor of the Roman occupation and all that it entails including the high taxes the Jews are forced to pay.
The Pharisees pose a question to the Lord Jesus Christ:
Tell us then, what is your opinion? Is it right to pay the imperial tax to Caesar or not?”
Danos tu opinión: ¿Está permitido pagar impuestos al césar o no?
Mat 22:17
They are attempting to trap the Lord Jesus Christ through their question.
The Pharisees want to do away with the Roman government. They are against Rome and its corrupt gentile government.
The Herodians are government supporters. They are named after a very evil Roman governor.
Their question involves the tax that Rome would impose on the Jews in Israel.
The tax in question was an annual tax that was due by all the Jews. The amount due was one denarius - which was equal to one days wages.
This tax was used to finance the occupying Roman army and for this reason many Jews were against paying this tax, especially the Pharisees.
The denarius was a silver coin. One one side of the coin was the image of Tiberius Cesar - the Roman Emperor. On the other side was an image of Tiberius Cesar sitting on a throne. It also had the inscription “son of God” implying that the Emperor was not human, but rather divine.
The Pharisees were completely opposed to paying this tax. In fact, they considered the coin itself blasphemous since it was practically declaring that the Roman emperor was a god.
The Herodians, on the other hand, felt it was their civic duty to pay such a tax.
If Jesus were to answer that all Jews should be obedient and pay the required tax - then the Pharisees would revolt against him and probably kill him or at a minimum beat him.
If Jesus were to answer that Jews should not pay the required tax - then the Herodians would revolt against Jesus and possibly bring criminal charges against him before the Roman government.
Whatever Jesus could answer would surely trap him. He was as it were - between a rock and hard place.
II. The Lord Jesus’ answer.
II. The Lord Jesus’ answer.
II. La respuesta del Señor Jesús.
II. La respuesta del Señor Jesús.
El Señor Jesucristo no titubea. Él, siendo lleno del Espíritu Santo, está preparado para responderles y no caerá en la trampa:
But Jesus, knowing their evil intent, said, “You hypocrites, why are you trying to trap me? Show me the coin used for paying the tax.” They brought him a denarius, and he asked them, “Whose image is this? And whose inscription?”
Mat 22:18
Conociendo sus malas intenciones, Jesús replicó:
—¡Hipócritas! ¿Por qué me tienden trampas? Muéstrenme la moneda para el impuesto.
Y se la enseñaron.
—¿De quién son esta imagen y esta inscripción?—les preguntó.
He knows the evil intentions in their hearts. Jesus responds by asking two questions:
Why do you try to trap me?
¿Po
Who’s image is on this coin?
He will not be trapped and rather traps them through their own evil intentions.
They will obviously not respond to the first question. It would simply be too shameful for them to confess their hatred and evil intentions against the Lord Jesus. Even though they are religious leaders, they have an evil thirst to kill the Lord Jesus Christ.
However, the second question they cannot avoid but answer with complete honesty:
“Caesar’s,” they replied.
Then he said to them, “So give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s.”
—Del césar—respondieron.
—Entonces denle al césar lo que es del césar y a Dios lo que es de Dios.
Jesus’ answer is simply. It is clear. It is concise. He wastes no words.
They must give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar.
They must give to God what is rightfully his.
Jesus was teaching these two groups an important principle. All believers are responsible/accountable before God and before men.
We are citizens of a country. We have responsibilities to those who are in authority. We have a debt to our government, to our country, to our community.
We are people created according to the image of God. We, who are believers, are his children and are forever debtors to God. We must recognize that which is rightfully his.
Application to a believer.
As believers we must recognize we have financial obligations as it relates to our pilgrimage upon this earth. Some of these obligations are:
Taxes - Taxes are used by government for the good of society. We may not agree with the way government spends our tax money. However, we must be faithful in this responsibility.
Jesus Christ exhorted his followers to pay their tax debt to the corrupt Roman government. We cannot expect any less from believers.
We must be faithful to pay what we owe. However, there is nothing wrong with legally minimizing our tax debt (i.e., tax deduction for charitable donations).
Debts to creditors - When we take a debt upon ourselves we are making a covenant, a promise, a contract that we will make payments as agreed until it is paid off. Many people go into debt not intending to pay it back. Others see bankruptcy as a solution not realizing how much they will do harm to themselves in the long run.
Debts to others - Personal debts have destroyed many relationships. Many have been irresponsible in paying back their debts to family members, friends, or acquaintances. We harm our Christian testimony when we do this.
Fulfilling our financial obligations towards our family - Men must make sure that they are fulfilling their financial obligation towards their family. The Bible speaks seriously about this responsibility:
Anyone who does not provide for their relatives, and especially for their own household, has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.
El que no provee para los suyos, y sobre todo para los de su propia casa, ha negado la fe y es peor que un incrédulo.
We must make sure that we are taking care of the needs of our household.
For this reason, young people must make sure they do not think about marriage lightly. Marriage is a serious responsibility and should not be entered in without giving serious thought to whether we can take on a significant financial responsibility. Otherwise, we will have a miserable marriage which may end up in separation or divorce.
As believers we must recognize our responsibility to God.
God is the creator of the universe. Everything that exists is his.
I have no need of a bull from your stall
or of goats from your pens,
for every animal of the forest is mine,
and the cattle on a thousand hills.
I know every bird in the mountains,
and the insects in the fields are mine.
If I were hungry I would not tell you,
for the world is mine, and all that is in it.
Do I eat the flesh of bulls
or drink the blood of goats?
No necesito becerros de tu establo
ni machos cabríos de tus apriscos,
pues míos son los animales del bosque,
y mío también el ganado de los cerros.
Conozco a las aves de las alturas;
todas las bestias del campo son mías.
Si yo tuviera hambre, no te lo diría,
pues mío es el mundo, y todo lo que contiene.
¿Acaso me alimento con carne de toros,
o con sangre de machos cabríos?
Although God, through the psalmist, wants to make us understand that he has no need of our offerings or sacrifices he expresses the following in verse 14:
“Sacrifice thank offerings to God,
fulfill your vows to the Most High,
and call on me in the day of trouble;
I will deliver you, and you will honor me.”
¡Ofrece a Dios tu gratitud,
cumple tus promesas al Altísimo!
Invócame en el día de la angustia;
yo te libraré y tú me honrarás.»
We are to offer God sacrifices which demonstrate our thankfulness.
We do not give back to God because he has any need of what we may offer. Rather, we offer back to God because of the gratitude that is in our hearts.
The question then is: how much must we give to God?
Well, one could ask: How thankful are you? I’m absolutely grateful to God - great! That means you must give 100% of your income to God.
What would happen in this case? We would not be fulfilling our debt to Caesar.
If we were to give away all our income in the weekly offering we would not be fulfilling our debt to the government, to our creditors, or to our family.
Therefore, this is not an appropriate way of considering our offering to God. The amount we give is not equal to how thankful we are to God.
We could look at the Old Testament where God commanded the people of God to give 10% of their income. This is where the concept of the tithe comes in. Tithe essentially means 10% of our income.
The first time 10% or tithe is mentioned in the Bible is when Abram comes back from defeating one of the Caananite kings. God gave him the victory. Abram comes to Melchizedek, who was a priest of God, to give “him a tenth of everything.” ().
The command to tithe had not yet been given. This was revealed to Moses. And yet, Abram gives a tithe of all he had because of the gratitude that he had towards God.
The New Testament does not actually give us a percent. What it does say is that we should:
Collect an offering the first day of the week.
On the first day of every week, each one of you should set aside a sum of money in keeping with your income, saving it up, so that when I come no collections will have to be made.
1 Corintios 16:2
El primer día de la semana, cada uno de ustedes aparte y guarde algún dinero conforme a sus ingresos, para que no se tengan que hacer colectas cuando yo vaya.
Give according to what we have decided in our heart.
Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.
Cada uno debe dar según lo que haya decidido en su corazón, no de mala gana ni por obligación, porque Dios ama al que da con alegría.
This means, we can consider 10% of our income, we can consider 30% of our income, we can consider a special missions offering, we can consider helping out that young family who has lost their mother, we can help a young student go to church camp.
We may be in a season where it is humanly impossible to give 10% of our income. Some will say - I will give 10% no matter what. Others will say, I will give what I am able. Both have decided in their own heart. Both are able to give cheerfully.
The bottom line is that as believers we should have a regular pattern of contributing financially to our local church as an act of worship to God.
Conclusion
Conclusion
Why are many not able to fulfill their financial obligations to Caesar and God?
It could be that we have fallen on hard times.
It could be that we have made very bad financial decisions that have lead us to dig a very deep, deep, deep hole that we are finding it extremely difficult to get out of.
I
At the end of the day, we must seek God’s face to help us get our finances in order so that we may fulfill our responsibility to Caesar and God. We must realize we are financial stewards of the resources God has given us. We must make wise decisions in our handling of money.
It is like loosing weight. We cannot expect to loose weight if we eat more calories than what we burn on a daily basis.
In the same way, we cannot expect to fulfill our financial obligations to Caesar and God if we spend more than we earn.