Stump the Teacher - Matthew 22:15-22

As you share your faith with people you will eventually encounter questions that are not always looking for answers but are seeking a way to discredit Christianity. For example:

How can you say God is loving when there is so much evil in the world?

If the Bible is true, why do its follow have so many divisions?

How can Christianity be true with much evil perpetuated in its name?

Can God make a rock so big no one can move it?

As I said, these are legitimate questions that are worth pursuing but I use this merely as an illustration of our text this morning. We are still in the last week of the life of Jesus. The religious leaders are united in their desire to get rid of Jesus. They are looking for a way to have Jesus killed because He was criticizing them and drawing people away from what they believed was time-tested truth.

Their tactic is to ask Him questions that cause Jesus to incriminate himself. With this introduction let’s look go back to the text in Matthew 22:15-22.

15Then the Pharisees met together to plot how to trap Jesus into saying something for which he could be arrested. 16They sent some of their disciples, along with the supporters of Herod, to meet with him. “Teacher,” they said, “we know how honest you are. You teach the way of God truthfully. You are impartial and don’t play favorites. 17Now tell us what you think about this: Is it right to pay taxes to Caesar or not?”

18But Jesus knew their evil motives. “You hypocrites!” he said. “Why are you trying to trap me? 19Here, show me the coin used for the tax.” When they handed him a Roman coin, 20he asked, “Whose picture and title are stamped on it?”

21“Caesar’s,” they replied.

“Well, then,” he said, “give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar, and give to God what belongs to God.”

22His reply amazed them, and they went away.

An Unholy Alliance

Don’t miss what the agenda is here. The Pharisees met together for the express purpose of trying to find a way to frame Jesus for a crime that would land Him in jail.

Notice the Pharisees do not go to Jesus themselves (were they starting to get a little tentative because Jesus was always turning the tables on them?) Instead they sent their disciples, the Pharisee wannabes, the pawns of the Pharisees. They also unite forces with the supporters of Herod (the King) also known as the Herodians. Let me give you some background on these two groups.

The Pharisees were religious conservatives. They opposed the occupation of Palestine by the Romans. The Herodians supported Herod and the policies enacted by Rome. They did not like Rome but felt the best way to keep the nation together was to keep one of the Herod’s on the throne. They believed it was best to work within the system. Most of the time the Pharisees and Herodians were on “different sides of the aisle” when it came to things political. However, they put their differences aside for the common cause of trying to get rid of Jesus. This alliance would be like the Democrats and Republicans agreeing on something; or Cubs and Cardinals fans cheering against a common enemy.

The scheme these groups came up with was to ask Jesus about taxes. Jews were taxed a number of different ways: there was an “income tax” (they were to give 110th of all grain 15th of all fruit and wine). There was a poll tax every time there was a census everyone starting at age 14 were taxed basically because they were alive. This was one days’ pay (for the average worker . . . a denarius). There were various port taxes. It is not much different from our day with our income taxes, property taxes, sales taxes, and now usage taxes.

The term Matthew used indicates they were probably asking about the poll tax. It wasn’t a big tax but it was offensive because the Israelites were basically being asked to pay Rome for the privilege of living on their own land!

The Pharisees and Herodians thought it a brilliant plan; they saw it as winwin. No matter what Jesus answered (they thought) He would end up in trouble. If He said you SHOULD pay the taxes people would feel He supported Roman occupation and was a traitor to Israel. If He said do NOT pay taxes He would be guilty of sedition (encouraging people to rebel against the government). In the first case the people would turn against Jesus, in the second Rome would turn against Jesus. WinWin.

The Christian and the State

In response, Jesus asked for a denarius. He asked them whose image was on the coin? They answered: the image of Caesar was on the coin. Jesus said: give Caesar what belongs to Caesar. If you possessed the coin, you were part of that Kingdom and therefore lived under the authority of that Kingdom.

If we are going to be part of country we should submit to the rules of that government. If we expect benefits from the government (and all of us do), they we are also subject to the one who gives us the benefits.

In this simple illustration Jesus helps us see several things. First, though God has established the authorities in this world, they do not supersede Him. In other words, when the government makes a law that requires us to go against God’s Law, we must disobey the government to be faithful to the Supreme King.

If the government is corrupt we have a responsibility to work for change. But most of the time we should be the most law-abiding of citizens because we respect God’s establishment of government. Christians should not be part of anarchy or acts of disrespect for the government. Civic leaders should be treated with honor and respect even when we disagree with them. Christians should not engage in the tactics of the antagonists. The peaceful protest of the civil rights movement moved a nation much more than violence would have done. And it is the same with every issue. We must be law-abiding citizens who respect the life and possessions of others in our country.

In Acts chapter five we see the conflict illustrated.

But Peter and the apostles replied, “We must obey God rather than any human authority. 30The God of our ancestors raised Jesus from the dead after you killed him by hanging him on a cross. 31Then God put him in the place of honor at his right hand as Prince and Savior. He did this so the people of Israel would repent of their sins and be forgiven. 32We are witnesses of these things and so is the Holy Spirit, who is given by God to those who obey him.”

The Jewish leaders told the apostles (this was after the resurrection) that they should not preach about Jesus in the temple vicinity. However, God told them to go and preach. When questioned they said they knew what the governing officials had said but they had to obey the greater authority . . . which is God.

Second, Jesus calls us to be good citizens. In Romans 13 Paul told us that the government has been given authority by God to keep order in the world. The King James Version used to say it this way: “the government does not bear the sword for nothing.” They have the power to enforce the law. The government serves a purpose in God’s plan.

We DO pay lots of taxes. There is a great deal of waste in government spending. At the same time, we expect a great many services from the government. The only money the government has for such services is our money. If we were content with less from our government, perhaps our taxes wouldn’t be as high.

Giving God His Due

The more important question in responding to Jesus is this one: “what does it mean to give God what belongs to God?”

The Bible says we were made in the image of God. Just as the image on the coin represented the authority of Rome, so the image of God on our lives reveals our obligation to God. We are to give ourselves to Him. This will at times bring us to a point of decision where we must decide whether to obey God or men.

When athletic schedules conflict with worship and youth meetings

When you are asked to perform a medical procedure that is contrary to the ethics of Scripture.

When an employer asks you to “fudge the books” to get a better tax benefit or secure a hefty loan.

When you are asked to participate in a wedding of which God does not approve.

When a boyfriend or girlfriend declares it is time to act like you are married when you are not.

When you are encouraged by friends to share a juicy piece of gossip.

When there is something you would like to have but you don’t have the money (and won’t have the money) to pay for it.

In each of these scenarios there is a choice to be made: will we obey God or men? We owe the Lord our obedience. He has reached out to us with a love that staggers, we should not relate to Him as once choice among many equal choices.

Alexandar Solzhenitsyn was known as a Christian who lived much of his life in a Russian prison. Chuck Colson observed,

in his conversion Solzhenitsyn saw clearly the kingdom paradox. For in the emptiness of that Russian gulag (prison), he perceived what pleasure-seeking millions in the abundance of Western life cannot. He wrote later, “the meaning of earthly existence lies, not as we have grown used to thinking, in prospering, but in the development of the soul.” (Colson, Charles W.; Loving God (p. 35). Zondervan. Kindle Edition).

Colson went on to observe the many who over the course of the centuries were obedient their entire lives and seemed to see no fruit from their labor. You may feel that way. Sometimes I feel that way. The principle is simple: God wants us to be obedient in even if it doesn’t seem to be getting us anywhere. Colson reflects,

Knowing how susceptible we are to success’s siren call, God does not allow us to see, and therefore glory in, what is done through us. The very nature of the obedience He demands is that it be given without regard to circumstances or results. (ibid p.36)

We owe God Many things. First, we owe Him our obedience. We should do what He tells us to do. We do not hold a “VETO” over God’s Laws! He is God and we are not and therefore He get to call the shots!

We Owe Him Time. If we give God what is His, we will give Him time. Sometimes, time is a more precious commodity than money. I think God wants us to meet together with the saints for worship and growth. But there is more. We should give Him time in service. But at the root we should be giving God time to develop our relationship with him. That means carving out time to meet with Him to learn from His Word and at talk with Him in prayer.

I know, lots of people say they want to do this but don’t have time. Yet, we make time for work, for recreation, for hobbies, for television, for sports . . . is it that we don’t have time or is it that we want to give our time to other things? You know we make time for the things that are important to us. (For example the husband who says he can’t get out of bed on Sunday . . . it is his one day to sleep in. Yet, when hunting season rolls around this same guy jumps out of bed and is out the door well before the sun has any notion of showing itself).

Jesus gave us a simple formula that I have tried to live by: “Seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness and all the other things will be added to you.” It is the old principle that if you do the big and important things FIRST, you will always have room to squeeze in a bunch of the other stuff. However, if you spend all your time on the little things there will not be any room left for the big things.

We owe Him Honor. The word honor is a lost word today. Even in wedding vows it is often missing. To honor someone means to treat them with high respect or esteem. We tend to honor those who we feel can benefit us. The problem is: we aren’t honor those folks . . . we are USING them!

We honor God when we show Him respect in the way we talk about Him, the way we talk to Him, and the way we respond to what he says. We honor God when we do what He says. We honor Him with the words we use and the respect we show. We show Him honor when we notice His blessings and the work of His hand. We honor Him when we remember that all we have and all we are is due to His mercy and grace.

We owe Him Ourselves. We can boil all of it down to one sentence: we owe God our lives! We are who we are today because of His grace. Consequently, we should be available for His service, we should be eager in our obedience, we should be attentive in our listening, we should be open for His direction.

Conclusions

We are reminded that many eitheror questions are not eitheror they are actually a question of emphasis or priority. Bruce Barton writes,

[Jesus] demonstrated that behind many of our conflicts lies a failure to recognize priorities. Should we give time and attention to our families or our work? Can we communicate our relationship with God through the work we do or by setting our work aside and engaging our fellow workers in conversation? Should we support our church or other worthy causes? According to Jesus’ handling of this situation, these problems are issues of timing and priority, not right and wrong. The real challenge for most of us concerns whether or not we are doing what we should be doing at the appropriate time.[1]

There are many of these issues:

Should I help out at school events or at the church?

Should I get up early to meet with God or get enough sleep?

Should I get involved in politics or should I serve the Lord?

Should I evangelize or do practical ministry to help people?

Should I marry this unbeliever or live as a single person?

These are all what are known as “false dilemmas.” These are stated as either/or statements (in other words you must choose one or the other) when there are other options. Let’s take the last few statements.

There is no reason you cannot help at the school and at the church if you maintain balance.

You could go to bed earlier so you had enough rest when you got up before work or school to meet with God.

You can serve the Lord through your involvement in politics.

You should serve others as part of your witness

You can wait until God brings the right person to you

People like to separate life into the sacred and the secular. In other words, our religious life and our everyday life. We are told these two realms should forever remain separate. However, what we learning from Jesus is this: our Christian faith is not what we do on Sunday, it is not what we believe about eternity. For the believer, following Christ is who we are, not what we do.

So, here is the question we all need to ask: How are you doing with the priorities of your life? Are you putting first things first? Are you balanced?

If you want to know what your current priorities are look at your calendar and your checkbook. What will you always make time to do? What one thing will always get you out of bed in the morning? If you put these things together you will see where your true “first priorities” reside.

Jesus calls us to put Him above everything else. He calls us to serve Him by the way we conduct the rest of our lives. We are to be good citizens of our great country while at the same time being consistent and faithful citizens of the Kingdom of God. It’s not always easy to find that balance but we should be pursuing it with all the energy we can muster.

[1] Bruce B. Barton, Matthew, Life Application Bible Commentary (Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, 1996), 433.