God, Government and Taxes
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In November 1789, Benjamin Franklin wrote French scientist Jean-Baptiste Le Roy, concerned that he hadn’t heard from Le Roy since the start of the French Revolution. After asking about Le Roy’s health and events in Paris for the past year, Franklin gives a quick update about the major event in the United States: the Constitution’s ratification a year before and the start of a new government under it.
“Our new Constitution is now established, everything seems to promise it will be durable; but, in this world, nothing is certain except death and taxes,”
Franklin was right. The Bible says, “And it is appointed for men to die once,” and it is for certain that the government will get your money!
Will Rodgers said, “The only difference between death and taxes is that death doesn’t get worse every time Congress meets.”
Taxes have been a hot button issue long before our government was ever formed. Matter of fact revolutions have been fought over the issue of taxes. The issue of taxes was a very important issue to the Jews in the days Jesus was in Jerusalem as well.
Today we’re going to look at “God, Government and Taxes.”
Text: Mark 12:13-17
13 Then they sent to Him some of the Pharisees and the Herodians, to catch Him in His words.
14 When they had come, they said to Him, “Teacher, we know that You are true, and care about no one; for You do not regard the person of men, but teach the way of God in truth. Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not?
15 Shall we pay, or shall we not pay?” But He, knowing their hypocrisy, said to them, “Why do you test Me? Bring Me a denarius that I may see it.”
16 So they brought it. And He said to them, “Whose image and inscription is this?” They said to Him, “Caesar’s.”
17 And Jesus answered and said to them, “Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” And they marveled at Him.
1. Pharisees and Herodians; 13-14
1. Pharisees and Herodians; 13-14
Just because the Three Stooges were unable to trap Jesus doesn’t mean that the Jewish leaders were in retreat. Now they send in the comedy team of Laurel and Hardy. Laurel and Hardy were polar opposites. Stan Laurel was from Ulverston, Lancashire, England and Oliver Hardy was born in Harlem, Ga. Laurel was short and skinny, Hardy was tall and plump. They did slapstick comedy where they we always in disagreement [tit-for-tat] and it sometimes got physical in their routine. Laurel and Hardy's best-known catchphrase is, "Well, here's another nice mess you've gotten me into!"
The Pharisees and Herodians were like Laurel and Hardy. The Pharisees were the conservatives, the right-wingers of that day. The Herodians were the liberals, the left-wingers, advocates of big government.They never agreed on anything and were often in “tit-for-tat” arguments that sometimes led to heated altercations. The Pharisees hated Jesus because He was messing with their religious agenda. The Herodians opposed Him because He was threatening their political advantage.
They were sent to “catch” Jesus in a verbal trap.
Catch- The word translated “catch” is found only here in the New Testament and was used for catching a wild animal in a trap by luring him into it with bait.
Flattery- excessive and insincere praise given to further one’s own purpose
Look what they said- Teacher [instructor in the Law], True [honest, integrity], You show no partiality towards men [same with all people], and always teaches the way of God in truth [authority from God].
They set the trap with the bait of flattery!
Someone has said, “Flattery is like chewing gum, enjoy it but don’t swallow it.”
There are two forces that have the power to unite people for either good or evil. Those forces are love and hate. I have seen love unite people for the common good and I have seen hate unite people in a quest to destroy others. These men were brought together in their common hatred of the Lord Jesus, Who they saw as a threat to their way of life.
(Ill. Sadly, you see these same conspiracies in church life. People will unite in their frustration and aggravation. They will come together for the common goal of getting rid of a Pastor they don’t like, or of undermining people they don’t agree with. When those kinds of activities take place, they are certainly not of the Lord! They are a work of the flesh.
The church, and church people, should be united by the bond of love. When we are controlled by love, we will seek good and not evil. May love be our calling card as we travel through this world.
Carr, A. (2015). A Question of Ownership (Mark 12:13–17). In The Sermon Notebook: New Testament (p. 930). Alan Carr.
1 Corinthians 13:4–8a (NKJV)
4 Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up;
5 does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil;
6 does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth;
7 bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
8 Love never fails.
The trap- “Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not?”
If they could trap Jesus into making an anti-Roman statement, by him saying “no it’s not lawful”, they could report Him to the governor as a political revolutionary.
On the other hand if they could trap Jesus by saying, “it is lawful”, then Jesus would lose face with the people who hated paying taxes to Rome who was their oppressor. It was a no lose situation for them, they thought!
2. God, Government and Taxes; 15-17
2. God, Government and Taxes; 15-17
God is omniscient. He knows everything! Jesus knows their hypocrisy! Laurel and Hardy weren’t seeking for truth from Jesus, they wanted to put Jesus in a religious and political dilemma. The question about “separation of church and state” has been around longer than the letter from the Virginia Baptists to Thomas Jefferson in 1802. It was alive and well in Jesus’ day!
[In 1947, the U.S. Supreme Court in Everson vs. Board of Education, applied the establishment clause to the states through the 14th Amendment. ... The establishment clause separates church from state, but not religion from politics or public life. Individual citizens are free to bring their religious convictions into the public arena.]
Jesus knows our hypocrisy too. It’s amazing how we can get all bent out of shape over the Ten Commandments, Bible and Prayer being taken out of the schools and government buildings. Yet I see very few christians bow their heads and give thanks for a meal at a restaurant or get publically involved in the National Day of prayer, Bible reading/prayer! It’s hypocritical to do those things in private only and not honor God publically.
Government/Taxes- Jesus now gives a lesson about the role of government and taxes in the life of all men, including the Jews [God’s chosen people] and the church [God’s purchased people].
Jesus asked for a denarius, a Roman coin that amounts to a daily wage.
We must understand the ancient view of coinage if this incident is to be intelligible. In regard to coinage the ancient peoples held three consistent principles.
(i) Coinage is the sign of power. When anyone conquered a nation the first thing he did was to issue his own coinage. That and that alone was the final guarantee of kingship and power.
(ii) Where the coin was valid the king’s power held good. A king’s sway was measurable by the area in which his coins were valid currency.
(iii) Because a coin had the king’s head and inscription on it, it was held, at least in some sense, to be his personal property.
Barclay, W., ed. (1976). The Gospel of Mark (p. 286). The Westminster John Knox Press.
What Jesus was saying in essence is, “the government of Rome, signified by the coin with the emperor Tiberius stamped on it, that is used as the common currency for livelihood, is the ruling authority of this present earthly government of which you live in. So if you are going to live here, and benefit from their rule, then you owe taxes for those benefits.”
Rome had given the world a road system, safe sea travel for merchants, freedom of worship, peace and protection in their empire. Taxes were needed to maintain this.
No one likes to pay taxes, especially the way they are wasted today by our government, but God has set up government and expects us to honor Him for that.
1 Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God.
2 Therefore whoever resists the authority resists the ordinance of God, and those who resist will bring judgment on themselves.
6 For because of this you also pay taxes, for they are God’s ministers attending continually to this very thing.
7 Render therefore to all their due: taxes to whom taxes are due, customs to whom customs, fear to whom fear, honor to whom honor.
13 Therefore submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord’s sake, whether to the king as supreme,
14 or to governors, as to those who are sent by him for the punishment of evildoers and for the praise of those who do good.
15 For this is the will of God, that by doing good you may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men—
16 as free, yet not using liberty as a cloak for vice, but as bondservants of God.
17 Honor all people. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the king.
Coins Image- On one side of the coin was a bust of Tiberius Caesar with the inscription, “Tiberius Caesar Augustus, Son of the Divine Augustus.” The other side had an image of Tiberius’s mother Livia with the words, “Pontifex Maximus,” meaning “High Priest.” The Jews found this to be idolatrous: a man claiming to be a god and a woman a priest—blasphemy!
Our coins and currency have images of past presidents and also the stamp “In God we Trust.” Yet many tip God instead of tithing, and pay taxes at a higher rate than what God requires at 10%!
Paying taxes does not have to mean submission to the government as divine authority. Jesus says give to Caesar what is due him but Give to God what is due Him!
What is due God? Everything!
Wether you are saved or not this morning, you owe God everything! Just as the coin bore the image of Caesar and belonged to him, all men bear the image of God as Creator.
26 Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”
27 So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.
Every human has an obligation to give God their worship, their obedience, their praise, their love and their gratitude. We owe Him that for being Who He is and for all that He gives to us. (i.e. life, air, water, food, shelter, family, health, etc.)
If you are not saved this morning, the Lord owns you by right of creation and you enjoy the benefits of the world He created.
45 that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.
If you are saved this morning, He owns you by right of creation and by right of redemption.
19 Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own?
20 For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.
Caesar had the right to demand what was his, God has the right to demand what belongs to Him also!
You bear the image of God [soul/spirit]! That image you bear is a symbol of divine ownership. God has the right to tell you how to live. He has the right to tell you how to believe. He has the right to demand your obedience. He has the right to demand that you receive His Son as your Savior!
4 who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.
Close:
Jesus was too wise to fall prey to the flattery of Laurel and Hardy. They were amazed because of His answer. His answer reveals to believer’s of all ages that we have a dual citizenship.
Our citizenship in the nation requires that we pay taxes for the services and benefits we receive. Our citizenship in the kingdom of heaven requires that we pledge to God our primary obedience and commitment.
We have legitimate obligations/responsibilities to both God and government, but we must keep our priorities straight. When the two come into conflict, our duty is to God first, always!
Who are you more loyal to this morning, God or government?