Oct 18th - In Person

1 In His Image Focus: Jesus gives to us all things and redeems them. Function: As Christians, we render unto Christ our lives in His image. Supreme Court nominations, Roe v. Wade, mask mandates, healthcare, immigration, border security, military funding, international relationships, stimulus checks, welfare, religious liberty, homesexual marriage, taxes. Right now we’re drowning in political issues and debates, and we’re all just trying to keep our heads afloat long enough to survive the next couple weeks. When you come to church, perhaps you’re looking for a break from it. Maybe the last thing you want to hear from the pulpit is more politics. Some folks think we ​should ​hear a lot more about politics from the pulpit. Certainly there are spiritual implications for all of these issues. God’s Word has a lot to say, especially to the folks in Washington. And while I could preach a sermon on all things political so epic in length that it would make Moses on Mt. Sinai blush, consider how Jesus enters the political foray. The pharisees and herodians challenge Jesus to debate a political issue as old as time: taxes. And while Jesus could have told them exactly which bubbles to fill in the voting booth, He does something different. See, the pharisees and herodians were trying to trap Jesus. They were looking for a reason to put him to death. ​“Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not?”​ How would Jesus like to receive the death penalty? If He says, “pay taxes” He can be charged with idolatry because Caesar claimed to be divine. If He says, “don’t pay taxes”, it’s treason, then! (Or at least tax evasion—whatever gets Him the electric chair!) But Jesus knows it’s a trap. And not only does He know it’s a trap, but He still loves the knuckleheads who are trying to trap Him, and He wants them to repent. And so He asks them an absurdly simple question: ​“Whose image is on this coin? If it’s Caesars, then render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” 1 2 Do you ever stop to think about ​why ​a ruler would put his face on money? On our own dollar bills, we have portraits of presidents and even an image of the “all-seeing eye.” Caesar has his image on Roman coins because he wants every citizen to know who it is they serve, and that every transaction, every business deal, every bite of bread purchased, every vacation booked, every road toll paid, and every utility check cashed is subject to the watchful eye of the government. It suggests that every level of society is made possible by Caesar, serves Caesar, and revolves around—you guessed it—Caesar. It’s the world in Caesar’s image. Now, the idea of the government being so utterly aware of and involved in your life might give you the heebie-jeebies, and perhaps “big brother” is your idea of a good Halloween costume. But the problem isn’t just Caesar putting his giant nose into everyone’s business. For most of us, the spiritual problem is that it’s the other way around. We render our entire lives to “Caesar.” For most of us, we render our constant and total attention to politics and current events. Families split over political differences, we get more angry over political issues than spiritual ones, and we feel a need to keep our ballots secret from the people we love most. Most Christians can better articulate their political views than the Bible’s teachings. We consume far more hours of cable news, opinion pieces, articles, and radio talk shows than we do of God’s Word. For many of us, rendering unto Caesar becomes a lot more than just taxes. We ​choose ​to see the world in Caesar’s image! “Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” ​If we think about what belongs to Caesar and what belongs to God, things start to become clear. What belongs to God? Everything! And if everything belongs to God, there’s not much left for Caesar. Jesus isn’t just talking about taxes here! If everything belongs to God, then Christians should live like it. This is God’s world. It ​all ​belongs to God; from the tiniest germs of the earth 2 3 to the mountains that tower into the heavens, from the smallest levels of society to the highest echelons of government, it all belongs to Christ. And it all belongs to Christ because He is the Image of God. Of course, all things belong to Him because the world was created through Him. In the beginning, He made all things and made them good, and God made man and woman in His image. Adam and Eve “imaged” God because they were fruitful and multiplied like how God is fruitful and multiplies by creating, and they had benevolent dominion over all the world just like God rules the world in love. But besides these two jobs, Adam and Eve lived and worked in perfect righteousness, they lived in a right relationship with God and a right relationship with the rest of the world. But of course, they sinned and now we share in the cursed image of Adam. But Jesus came to bear the Image of God for us perfectly in our place, and He ruled everything in love by dying for the world, taking our sin, giving us God’s righteousness, creating us with new life, and reigning over the world in love. And now, not only do all things belong to Him because He made all things, but because now He has also redeemed all things by His cross and empty tomb. Caesar may have coins minted with his mugshot, claiming that Rome is in his image, but Christ has imprinted all of creation with His image of righteousness and eternal life. What Jesus wanted the pharisees and herodians to see was that He was a bigger deal than Caesar. Give Caesar his tax and follow Jesus! It would be easy to preach a sermon on politics, how to vote, whether taxes are okay, whether we should be Republican or Democrat, watch Fox News or CNN. But Jesus challenges us ​to render unto God.​ Frankly, that’s much more important. Of course, political matters are important, but the only things that belong to Caesar are taxes and greatness that’s built on arrogance and force and power. What belongs to Christ is everything and greatness that’s built on His crucifixion and resurrection for the sake of the 3 4 world. You can debate taxes to Caesar all day long, but you’re only going to have a right understanding of things when you are “rendering unto God” first and foremost. Dear Christian, you might be Republican or Democrat, but first and foremost you are baptized. And frankly, that’s eternally more important than bubbles on ballots. In your baptism, you have received the image of Christ; you have regained the image of God! You have been made perfectly righteous, rightly-oriented and in a right relationship with God Almighty and King Jesus on His throne. And when you have a right relationship with the Lord of the universe, you have a right relationship with His universe, too. You can only approach living in the world the right way when you are following the One the world belongs to. And the Ruler of the world has elected you as His righteous creature. You are in His image; like a coin bears the image of Caesar, you bear the image of Christ. And frankly, it puts things like returning a coin to Caesar into perspective. As important and godly as voting and taxes and politics are, much more important are the things of God: living in His righteousness, being fruitful and multiplying His life-giving Word in the world, ruling the world by serving your neighbor and forgiving sins in Jesus’ name. That’s rendering to God the things that are God’s. And when you are in a right relationship with God, you are in a right relationship with the world. The world belongs to Jesus. All things are His because He created it all and redeemed it all. So as Christians, we render unto Christ everything, because it’s all His, because He has made us in His image. Christ has died and risen for you. And thank God(!), that means you are not Caesars, you are God’s! What good news! So, dear Christian, render unto God what is God’s! In his name, Amen. 4