Give to God What's God's

Robert Locklear

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“Give to God what’s God’s”

My last few messages have looked at this..the difference between the character and love and purity of the early church, and where we are today.

We are in election season, and i’m sure you have seen some things, heard some things, which has made you question what it is to be a Christian in a political climate like this. How do we honor God today? What should we do? What should we say? As I reflect on the way this topic pervades our minds and hearts today, and how divided we are, I recall a quote by Martin Luther

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“If I profess with the loudest voice and clearest exposition every portion of the word of God except precisely that little point which the world and the Devil are at that point attacking, I am not confessing Christ, however boldly I may be professing Christ. Where the battle rages, there the loyalty of the soldier is tested. To be steady in all the battlefields besides is mere flight and disgrace, if the soldier flinches at that one point” (Martin Luther).

This political, social tension today is the battleground today, and we must ask God to speak to us, on how we as Christians navigate this political and social tension. We can’t avoid it..we have to have answer, and God has an answer for us.

I’m going to look at two questions today as we read from Matthew 22:15-22, and it is this

The Question of Kingship: Who Can Save Us?

The Question of the Kings’ Image: What Do We Give to the King?

Political, social and religious issues were present throughout the bible And In the book of Matthew, there arises a question that is given to Jesus around a political, social, and religiously divisive issue.And you are going to see how it hinges on these two questions, Kingship and the Kings Image..and I will largue that our political, social, religious hostillity and division also hinges on these two questions.

And how Jesus answers, with such wisdom, gives inside into what we should look like when we interact with politics..and how we honor God in a world divided. Lets turn together to Matthew 22:15-22

Context

The Book of Matthew

The Book of Matthew- The target audience of the book of Matthew is to Jewish people. It is framed to present Jesus to the people as the King of the Jews, and Messiah.

Matthew 1:1-6

Matthew 1:1–6 ESV

1 The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham. 2 Abraham was the father of Isaac, and Isaac the father of Jacob, and Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers, 3 and Judah the father of Perez and Zerah by Tamar, and Perez the father of Hezron, and Hezron the father of Ram, 4 and Ram the father of Amminadab, and Amminadab the father of Nahshon, and Nahshon the father of Salmon, 5 and Salmon the father of Boaz by Rahab, and Boaz the father of Obed by Ruth, and Obed the father of Jesse, 6 and Jesse the father of David the king. And David was the father of Solomon by the wife of Uriah,

Matthew presents Jesus as the Messiah (Mt 1:1), the promised descendant of King David who would bring God’s kingdom to earth and establish a time of peace and justice.

Matthew quotes the Old Testament extensively, and places special emphasis on Jesus’ fulfillment of prophecies—which would have been important to a Jewish audience. Matthew tells us the story of Jesus with an emphasis on His role as Messiah, or Christ:

Jesus is the son of God. He is conceived by the Holy Spirit in Mary’s womb (Mt 1:18–20), and God endorses Jesus as His beloved Son (Mt 3:17). He is God incarnate, living among men (Mt 1:23).

Jesus is the king. He is the son of King David (Mt 1:1). J

Jesus repeatedly declares that the kingdom of heaven is at hand (Mt 4:17), and tells many parables about it.

The book of Matthew makes more mentions of the “kingdom of heaven” of “kingdom of God” than any of the other Gospels.

Jesus is the promised savior. He is the son of Abraham, through whom God had promised to bless all nations of the earth.

And so this question of Kingship is all the more crucial not just for the interaction for the interaction we will read about but also, as it ties into the argument that Mattthew is making.

The Context of This Verse

Jesus has come onto the scene and has throughout the few years of his ministry, made claims about Himself, taught with Authority, challenged the Pharisees and Sadducees, religious leaders of the day.

The context here is growing tension and disagreement between Jesus and those religious leaders. And so they plot to entangle Him in His words. To find a cause upon which to trap Him. They set the trap, and the hook they use to ensnare him is the political issue of paying the poll-tax.

Matthew 22:15–22 ESV

15 Then the Pharisees went and plotted how to entangle him in his words. 16 And they sent their disciples to him, along with the Herodians, saying, “Teacher, we know that you are true and teach the way of God truthfully, and you do not care about anyone’s opinion, for you are not swayed by appearances. 17 Tell us, then, what you think. Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not?” 18 But Jesus, aware of their malice, said, “Why put me to the test, you hypocrites? 19 Show me the coin for the tax.” And they brought him a denarius. 20 And Jesus said to them, “Whose likeness and inscription is this?” 21 They said, “Caesar’s.” Then he said to them, “Therefore render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” 22 When they heard it, they marveled. And they left him and went away.

So I want you to see 2 things as we transition to my first point today..one how Matthew is framing the whole book around the kingship of Jesus, how he is the King of the Jews, and Messiah, and 2: how even this question of poll tax..flows from wrong underlying assumptions about who this King of the Jews is. Lets look together, at the text..We will look at 2 questions the text implies, and then Jesus’ answers to the questions.

Questions of the Text:

The Question of Kingship: Who is King? Who Will Save Us?

Matthew 22:15–17 ESV

“Herodians”- We have two groups here with two different views on this poll tax. And the reason they different so strongly is because theologically they differed on this issue….who is the King of the Jews. The Herodians believe that the King of the Jews would follow after the line of Herod, from the Herodian Dynasty. The Romans appointed King Herod as King of Judea in 37 BC. Historians agree that in many respects Herod had a hugely successful reign. ... The Romans also gave Herod the title 'King of the Jews' because of the Jewish population he ruled. And because of that, were supportive of the tax by Caesar. They were prepared to recognize the right of Rome in the hope that through the house of Herod there might still be some self-government. Any revolt against the Roman taxation system might mean a bloody end to the reign of Herod. Their advice was to pay the tax and so avoid tensions with Rome. It should be noted that many of the ruling class and the Jewish nobility shared this viewpoint.

“Pharisees”- The Pharisees wanted to get rid of this tax as soon as possible. They wanted nothing less than the restoration of the free kingdom of Israel under the coming Messiah-King. So they were not prepared to accept any taxation from the side of the oppressors. The Pharisees on this point shared the opinion of the multitudes, although they were unable to change the situation. Everyone knew: the Pharisees reject this tax!

“Plotted how to entangle him”- This speaks to motive and intention. They are looking to capture Jesus in His words. Trying to destroy Him, to change his perception among the crowds..so they are going to hang him on the hook of a political and theological dilemma. Should we pay poll tax to Caesar?

“Teacher We Know...”- They were trying to butter him up at this point. They are trying to hide their intentions. They try to act as if they are sincerely wondering the answer..but they are not after understanding here. They just want Jesus to say yes or no, because either way, He is going to lose support and entrap himself.

“Lawful”- Lawful does not refer to Roman law (there was no question about that!), but to the law of God; is it permissible for the people of God to express allegiance to a pagan emperor?

“Entangle Him”-In this situation it would have seemed to the questioners that Jesus could not win. The question is framed in such a way that the answer is expected to be “Yes” or “No.” If Jesus said “Yes,” presumably the Herodians would agree, but he would alienate many religious Jews who saw support for the Romans as intolerable. If he said “No,” he would satisfy the Pharisees, but be in trouble with the Roman authorities. Either way the situation in which he was growing in popularity among the populace and was left unhindered by the Romans would be changed, to their way of thinking, for the better.

So the question the people ask is fundamentally a question of kingship! Do you see that, they are asking Jesus to make a claim on who will save them. Who they should trust. You see, if the Herodian dynasty was going to save the Jews, well pay taxes because the Roman power will help accomplish that. If this Messiah, from the line of David is coming, well don’t pay taxes, because this Messiah is coming destroy and overthrow this Roman authority. They differ over who will save them, who this king is..but they are sure, that Jesus is not that king.

Not only that, to answer on these terms..to ally with one side or the other, compromises Jesus’ own claims..that He is the King.

The Question of the King’s Image: What Should We Give to the King?

Matthew 22:18–21 ESV

18 But Jesus, aware of their malice, said, “Why put me to the test, you hypocrites? 19 Show me the coin for the tax.” And they brought him a denarius. 20 And Jesus said to them, “Whose likeness and inscription is this?” 21 They said, “Caesar’s.” Then he said to them, “Therefore render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.”

“Poll-tax”- The tax (the Greek is singular) is specifically the poll-tax levied on all Jews and paid direct to Rome. There were other indirect taxes on sales, customs, etc., but this tax was the primary mark of their political subjection to a foreign power[1] But with the poll tax there was no such benefit. It was a tax that simply removed money from the citizen and transferred it to the emperor’s coffers with no benefit to the citizen. And if it were retorted that it paid the expenses of government, the answer would surely be that no Jew wanted Roman government and every Jew would be happy to dispense with it.

The money for the tax was the Roman denarius (see on 20:1–7), a coin which strict Jews found objectionable because it bore a portrait of the emperor (and the Decalogue forbade the making of images) and also an inscription describing him as ‘son of a god’ (see Derrett, pp. 329–331).

Inscription: Caesar Augustus Tiberius, son of the Divine Augustus’, Caesar claiming to be King, Son of God, and High Priest

For normal commerce special copper coins were minted without these features, out of deference to Jewish susceptibilities; so no Jew need handle the objectionable denarius except to pay his tax, for which it was obligatory. The fact that Jesus’ questioners could provide one on demand cut the ground from under their feet—they were using Caesar’s money, so let them also pay his taxes! Indeed the verb Jesus uses reinforces this point: render generally means ‘give back’ (whereas the verb they had used in v. 17 was simply ‘give’). It is the verb for paying a bill or settling a debt; they owe it to him.[1]

So not only were people resistant because it literally had no benefit to the people..it was basically a tax of citizenship. But also..the coin itself, which they used would have been an issue of contention. The claims this king was making, the image on this coin..and so they ask..what should we do with this image? It was multilayered, it was a hotbutton topic..and it was one of those questions which would seemed impossible to answer without making a political statement.

Jesus’ Answer:

The Question of Kingship: Who Can Save Us? Jesus!

These were two political groups who were opposed and enemies. They disagreed strongly on political and religious issues, but they had a singular enemy. They both wanted to get rid of Jesus. Jesus made claims about Himself which challenged both the Herodians and Pharisaical view of who was king. They said, we may not agree who is the true king and this Messiah for our people, but we know He isn’t it.

They both thought they had aligned themselves with God and His King by standing against Jesus..but find themselves, ironically aligned against God, because they are aligned against His son and King Jesus.

They did not recognize the King standing before them. They are arguing about Kingship, blind to the true king.

Who can save us? Only Jesus Can? Who is King: Jesus?

King Jesus?

John 1:45–46 ESV

45 Philip found Nathanael and said to him, “We have found him of whom Moses in the Law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.” 46 Nathanael said to him, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” Philip said to him, “Come and see.”

Matthew 13:55 ESV

55 Is not this the carpenter’s son? Is not his mother called Mary? And are not his brothers James and Joseph and Simon and Judas?

The Jews were a people who were waiting on God to rescue them. They had seen tragedy after tragedy…captivity after captivity, and now were under the burden of Roman rule, trying to figure it out. God had promised salvation, waiting on a King and Messiah, but missed Jesus because He wasn’t the King they wanted or expected. And so you have a people not divided.

They are politically divided because they were waiting on someone else to do what only Jesus could. They are putting divine expectations on failing men.

He [Jesus] was not the king they expected. He wasn’t like the monarchs of old who sat on their jeweled and ivory thrones, dispensing their justice and wisdom. Nor was he the great warrior-king some had wanted. He didn’t raise an army and ride into battle at its head. He was riding on a donkey. And he was weeping, weeping for the dream that had to die, weeping for the sword that would pierce his supporters to the soul. Weeping for the kingdom that wasn’t coming as well as for the kingdom that was… He was the king, all right, but he had come to redefine kingship itself around his own work, his own mission, his own fate. -N.T. Wright

We are in a mess today. 2020 will be written in our history books as a historic year. Global pandemic, social and political issues, racial tensions..Presidential election, The death of the man George Floyd which has seen the response of countries across the world. And it can be tempting to trust in some political party, or agenda, or man, or woman, or king, or ruler, or law…to save us.

There is only one who can save…and for all our political fighting, social problems, health crisis..we can be tempted to forget that it is Jesus, the king who looked like no king..right here, who is still the only one who can save us from the mess we are in.

Most of our political frustration today is because we are expecting elected officials to do what only Jesus can.

And we are terribly divided, because we have aligned our trust in the world’s kings and rulers. As if they were the ones who would save us.

The reason Jesus has to return, the reason had to die, and the reason, we worship and serve Him today, is because He is the only one who can save us! And He will reign, regardless of who is in power.

When you seek to answer any political disagreement, and you are looking to navigate your responsibility to the state or world around you…the first question is of Kingship!

This was the first challenge..and the challenge for us today? Who is King? Who will you serve? Who is deserving of authority and power? Who do you trust to save you? Caesar? President? Yourself?

Acts 4:12 ESV

12 And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”

Matthew 28:18 ESV

18 And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.

Isaiah 9:6 ESV

6 For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

Jesus is the King..who can save us? Jesus! Can you see the irony here? They are asking what they should give to a wordly king, while actively working to discredit the true King!

We have two groups in the Herodians and Pharisees who are political enemies, who come together to stand against Jesus and his Kingship.

If the enemies of Christ can come together against Him, we will recognize the followers of Christ by how we come together to stand with Him?

Even enemies of Jesus can get past political disagreements, to stand against Him. Can’t we as God’s people get past our political disagreements to stand together with Him?

Who is the King and Who Will You Serve?

Don’t be fooled..Democrats, Republicans, No President or Ruler will save us. My King is Jesus, and there is no end to His term..He will reign regardless of what the majority..and He is the one we serve!

Don’t let political issues within a wordly kingdom, distract you from the true King!

Now, while they knew Jesus’ claim of Kingship, the crux of this text actually comes in the following verse. And it deals with our second question we asked of the King’s image.

And this leads us to the next question, and Jesus’ answer.

The Question of the King’s Image: What Should We Give to the King? Whose Image Is On You?

Jesus’ addition of give unto God what is God’s is the pivot point of the passage, And it creates a different lense to look at the question through. Now if they had been sincerely after understanding, and not just trying to set Jesus up, they would’ve asked the logical follow up question. Which was…what is God’s? And Jesus would respond, “Whose image is on you?

Jesus gets to the heart of the matter. The coin was Caesars, made from the wealth and riches of His kingdom, with his image and inscription on it. We, humanity is made image..so we belong to God!

Genesis 1:26 ESV

26 Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”

Jesus say’s steward the coin which bears caesar’s image well..but more importantly, steward your life. Which bears the image of God! We belong to God.

The coin said that Caesar was king of kings, Son of God, and highprest.

But what does your life say? Does it acknoweldge the true King of Kings, Son of God? High Priest?

The hypocrisy was in that both of these groups were asking how God would have them steward the tax, which had caesar’s image..but were not stewarding their life whole life, which had the image of God!

Steward the Image!

“In 1945, at the age of 20, a man named Andre Stamos, he was captured by the Soviets and incarcerated. After some years of imprisonment, he was believed to have gone insane and, therefore, was transferred to a psychiatric ward in solitary confinement, 300 miles outside of Moscow. In 2000, when the Russians were trying to empty out their prisons and psychiatric wards, they brought a Hungarian psychiatrist to examine this man.

The psychiatrist examined Stamos for a few hours and concluded, “This man is not insane. In fact, it is you who are driving him insane. He is not talking nonsense. Rather, he is speaking a rare dialect of Hungarian.” As soon as he was released, the firrst thing Stamos asked to see was a mirror. He had not seen himself for 55 years; he had been 20 years old when he last saw his face. Now at 75, he looked at the mirror, put his face in his hands, and sobbed uncontrollably like a little baby, because of what had happened to him. To go through most of life without knowing what you look like is nearly unimaginable to us Americans.”

This story is a tragedy, and one thats hard to image. Not knowing what you look like, who you are..and becoming unrecognizable to yourself. And a man looking in the mirror and weeping because of who He’s become.

Now, we can’t relate so much to this as far a mirror for our face..but what if we were to look at a mirror into our soul. I would wager that if the church today was able to look in the mirror, and compare itself to years ago, we would weep too. We have forgotten whose image we bear, we have forgotten whose we are. What image do you see? The American church has largely become unrecognizable. The American Christian has largely become unrecognizable. Unrecognizable at least for who we are. Unrecognizable for who we claim to be. If we were to look in the mirror and see, where we are as people as humans, made by God, and how far we’ve drifted…I think we would cry too.

Angled Mirror: Relate and Reflect

Exodus 20:4

Exodus 20:4 ESV

4 “You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.

An image throughout the old testament, were created idols, which were belived to bring you close to God. To reflect a God, to look like a particular God..and for men, to see God by seeing this image. God has made us in His image, meaning we were created in such a way that creation is to see Him when they see Us! And part of that means that we have a unique ability to relate to Him, to talk to Him, to draw near to Him..but also, to demonstrate His character to the world.

So here is what Jesus is saying…you are worried about taxes..but you are completely neglecting your witness.

Church, vote is important..but your witness is more important. Don’t you dare think that fighting for some political agenda, social agenda, left, right, all lives, black lives,..gives you an excuse to hate, disrespect, gossip, destroy. God’s first priority is you stewarding His image, so the world can see Him. And any victory, social political, which costs your integrity, is no victory.

Let me say it this way, church I am not as concerned about who’s name you put down on a ballot, but infinitely more concerned about whose name you lift up in your life.Namely, Jesus.

Pharisees were hypocrites, asking Jesus how to honor God with a tax…but it was deeper than a tax. And its deeper than a vote. So steward your vote, but most importantly steward the image. Protect your Christian witness.

As we study church history we find that in general the early church kept itself pure until the time of Constantine. Then Constantine made Christianity popular and Christianity forgot to keep itself pure. It allowed itself to be mixed in increasing measure with wrong doctrines and wrong practices. Then the church lost its true power and the Roman Catholic Church is the result.

Constantine legalized Christianity in 313 and made it the official religion of the empire in 381. However, the majority of the people lived in their old ways. People rushing into the church, now the law of the kingdom is benficial to Christians…but they failed to protect thier integrity, thier holiness..thier witness..and the Christian church suffered.

From the 6th century onward most of the monasteries in the West were of the Benedictine Order. The Benedictines were founded by Benedict of Nursia, the most influential of western monks and called “the father of western monasticism.”

“There is no New Testament basis for a linking of church and state until Christ, the King returns. The whole "Constantine mentality" from the fourth century up to our day was a mistake. Constantine, as the Roman Emperor, in 313 ended the persecution of Christians. Unfortunately, the support he gave to the church led by 381 to the enforcing of Christianity, by Theodosius I, as the official state religion. Making Christianity the official state religion opened the way for confusion up till our own day. There have been times of very good government when this interrelationship of church and state has been present. But through the centuries it has caused great confusion between loyalty to the state and loyalty to Christ, between patriotism and being a Christian. We must not confuse the Kingdom of God with our country. To say it another way: "We should not wrap our Christianity in our national flag.” -Francis Schaeffer (Christian Manifesto)

Steward your vote, but more importatnly steward the image of God.

The kingdom of God needs the people of God to reflect the Son of God.

Love and Purity

“Amazed”- The people, though they sought to create division around Jesus, Jesus answered with wisdom. And it says, the people didn’t leave angry..but amazed. If he would’ve said yes or no..somebody would’ve gotten angry..but yet, he answers thier question, leaving them more amazed at who Jesus is.

You see, the reason we steward the image, the reason we protect the witness of our lives..is so that people walk away more amazed at the person of Jesus!

Please do not in the name of some political or social cause, no matter how good..cuase you to hate those whom you stand against. Do not let it cause you to compromise, to disrepsect, to lie, to gossip...because the Kingdom of God is not built on how you steward your vote or money..it grows by how we steward the image!

Thats why Jesus could say:

John 14:9 ESV

9 Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?