Taxes are Due

Giving unto God and Man What is Required....

Good morning all

I hope you are well today, I hope and pray you had a good week.

This past week had aspecial day come to pass, it is Veterans Day.

Veterans day is a day where by we celebrate and recognize living service men and women. If you served and are here today please stand for just a moment.

Thank you for giving yourself to serve our country. We certainly appreciate you!

Now today we want to return to the Gospel of Matthew , and we are finishing the last part of Matthew chapter 17

And there are two sections that fall in the last portion of our chapter and both are important without a doubt.

I hope you are enjoying this format of preaching where by we walk through the text in a mostly verse by verse fashion.

Today we are going to focus on obligations to man and God.

So lets look at our text for today.... Matthew chapter 17, and verses 22-27

Matthew 17:22–27 ESV

22 As they were gathering in Galilee, Jesus said to them, “The Son of Man is about to be delivered into the hands of men, 23 and they will kill him, and he will be raised on the third day.” And they were greatly distressed. 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.”

Now as we open this text we see where Jesus is at, first they are in the region of Galilee, and most likely in the northern area after having come down from the mountain after His Transfiguration.

Now, I say Jesus and his disciples are most likely in the northern section since they finally come into the city of Capernaum. Which lay in the north west side of the sea of Galilee.

Capernaum is like His home away from home and Jesus is there often, serving, teaching and ministering to many.

And as we open our last portion of Chapter 17, we are able to see this first part.

1. His Death Foretold...

We know and understand that Jesus came to offer His life as a sacrifice for sin. We understand that having the totality of the Scriptures present for us.

But, The disciples and others are fairly new to this concept that the Messiah would have to give His life for many… because of that truth...

Jesus is trying to prepare His disciples and others who might be around him concerning the Father’s purpose for the Son, the Messiah.

So listen to what Jesus says… verses 22-23

Matthew 17:22–23 ESV

22 As they were gathering in Galilee, Jesus said to them, “The Son of Man is about to be delivered into the hands of men, 23 and they will kill him, and he will be raised on the third day.” And they were greatly distressed.

So here Jesus tells His disciples again concerning His purpose. This is his second prediction concerning His passion.

Jesus says “The Son of Man” is about to be delivered into the hands of men. Jesus use of the phrase ‘is about to be delivered.” reinforces the truth that his mission will soon be completed. It is so very close, get ready.

Into the hands of men is so sad my friends, that humanity ,the creation would kill the creator… but this was God’s purpose in Redeeming the world from sin.

That mission involves His death. That is a tough… tough for them to hear. They had been taught for so long that the Messiah would deliver them, would release them from their bondage.

Yet know one truly understood sin to be their true enemy, it is sin that drives mankind to do evil things and sin leads them to bondage that would keep them separated from the Father.

But Jesus foretells something very wonderful… verse 23 listen: “...and he will be raised on the third day.”

Jesus knew the work of redemption mean this suffering, it meant the death of His physical man to be a sacrifice for sin… But the sacrificial death of Jesus wasn’t the end.

Death is never the end… Death is just a door way to a new home,

There are people out there who say there is nothing beyond death and I want to tell you, they are facing the biggest surprise in their life.

Jesus dies so we do not have to die, He dies so that all those in Christ will never face a death due to sin, they will never be separated from the Father.

Jesus takes our sin on Himself, He is separated momentarily as He dies under the weight of that sin…”My God my God, why have you forsaken me...

But when the sacrifice is complete, when His sacrifice is accepted by the Father, all those who follow Jesus understand they have been passed from death unto life because of what He has done.

And then on the third day, Jesus rose from the dead. and because He has life, we have eternal life. Not punishment, not death. But life.

Because He lives, I can face tomorrow....I don’t have to worry.. Death isn’t my focus, it’s my living, living to make the most of everyday I’m given to live for Jesus.

Jesus foretells His death,… the disciples are distraught. They don’t understand. But soon then will know the truth.

Aren’t you glad you know the truth, that Jesus died for you!

Now my friends, Let’s move to my second thought from this text..

2. Submitting to What is Right...

There is a great question that exists within the Christian world view.

Do you know what that is?

Where do we obey God or do they obey the government?

People ask these questions, they want to live for God, they want to also be good citizens of the land we live in.. But they wonder if they do wrong if they stand with the government in some areas....

Consider life… We hold the the sanctity of life is important. God has given life how can man take life. So consider… we stand against abortion, its wrong, right?

What about doctor assisted suicide? People seem to say I want to have a way to die peacefully… but are we not taking what God has given?

And then we have the vaccine mandate in recent days.... How should we live?

The same type of question is presented to Jesus several times in the Scriptures.

Lets go to our text for today.... Verse 24

Matthew 17:24 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?”

So we know they have come back to Capernaum, this is a special place. And here tax collectors come and question Peter about Jesus

Now they are called the collectors of the two drachma tax, (Also known as the half shekel tax) these are the ones who were collecting the required taxes to support the Temple in Jerusalem. Now this was required that all males over the age of 20 pay this tax.

Now why do they ask this question of Peter and not Jesus? We are not sure.

But here is why they phrase it as such… Does your teacher not pay the tax?

They are not accusing Jesus of not doing right or anything of the such. No, they’re simply asking if Jesus is excused from paying the tax.

Here is why?

All formally trained Rabbi’s were excused from paying such taxes. Jesus was not a formerly trained Rabbi, They - meaning the people and the religious leaders called Him teacher or rabbi because He has followers and out of respect to Him as a teacher.

They tax collectors are asking if Jesus is claiming this exemption....

And listen to Peter’s response…

Matthew 17:25–26 ESV

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.

Here we see the omniscience of Jesus, as Peter comes into the house, Jesus begins to talk with him.. Jesus knew what had happened, He knows all things...

Jesus speaks to him in the way of a simple Parable: Do the kings of the earth take their taxes from their own children or from others, … and Peter answers correctly.. From others… And Jesus says .. Then the sons are free..

What He is saying is this truth here my friends…

Because the Temple’s is God’s The Father’s own house, given to and dedicated to Him, then those whom the Son (Jesus) has brought into the family are then son’s of the Father has well. Thus they are exempt from the temple tax.

Remember Romans 8, we are son and daughters of God, heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ.

But pay attention to this...

* What this signals is that with the coming of the Kingdom of God to this world with the work of the Son, this new era, and new covenant means that we are no longer responsible to live under the OT law but under the law of Christ.*

Jesus will pronounce this in the Upper room formally (The cup and bread)

But ....

Jesus, even though he could seek this exemption since He is recognized as a teacher and has disciples, followers, who are learning from Him decided to do something different

He is going to submit to the law over them...

My friends , We as the children of God we must live according to the law, we are living under the authority of others. As citizens we live under the rules of the road, under the laws of society as a whole.

But there are also times when we say we cannot tolerate and follow this or that law.

We cannot allow the Bible and its truth to be silenced.

We cannot obey laws that violate God’s law, like abortion. We cannot or should we ever say it is right. Its murder.

The church cannot and will not be closed, we might be run under ground, but we will stop being the church.

We seek to honor God with all we seek and do.

Now just one last thought as we seek what Jesus said and did here.

3. The Miracle of the Fish....

Jesus seeks to do what is good and right in front of others, He thought of others and what was important to them.

Lets walk back to our text one last time...

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.”

Well my friends, if there was ever a miracle, there it is. And it certainly isn’t much as some skeptics might want to imply.

Jesus gives Peter a command. remember Peter is a fisherman by trade, he knows how to fish

Jesus doesn’t want to offend others. Even though He is exempt, if even by technicality in the eyes of others. He didn’t want people to be like… Sure, I could hear someone saying… Oh well, I knew He would do that, take advantage of that loop hole to save some money.”

Think about how people talk about their fellow Christians at times… “why they did or didn’t do this...”

Jesus didn’t want to be an offense or stumbling block to others… so the direction is given for Peter to go fishing..

No I am sure Peter is probably wondering about all this… He is sending me fishing for a coin… Oh ok

He is obedient, He is the one who seeks to do what the Lord says, He knows He is right and important.

So Peter going on a little fishing trip.

And Peter will do just as the Lord says, He catches this nice pretty fish, one so nice a fisherman could tell tales about in the future, and opening its mouth... sure enough there is a coin there that will satisfy the temple tax

Could you imagine as Peter gets that coin? I wonder if He turned the fish back to the waters.. you know catch and release or did he bring the fish back to the home and they have it for dinner.

That isn’t really important,

Peter comes back with the coin to satisfy the Temple tax for him and his disciples...

What is important is that Jesus decided to live in such a way that it didn’t put anyone off.

He will do the same thing in Chapter 22.... we will talk more about it later..

But even there Jesus says give to God what is His and to Caesar what is his...

The taxes were due… God must be honored

Can you live and do both.. Yes, Jesus is calling us to be good citizens in this land.

Let others see your good and see God in you.

Let’s pray.....