Show Me the Money

Matt 22: 15-33  SHOW ME THE MONEY

SBS: Thanks for having me here today.

Pray

Intro: Stupid questions.  A man called 911 excited and unable to contain himself.  “my wife is having a baby and I don’t know what to do.  I need help immediately.”  The call screener said to the man  “Sir, just calm down, take deep breaths, everything is going to be OK.  I just need to ask you a few questions.  Is this her first child?”  The man answered, “No you idiot, this is her husband.”

We have all had to deal at one time or another with foolish questions.  In today’s passage we see Jesus dealing with two foolish questions.  They are foolish for a number of reasons that we will see.

Most of us have been told that there are two things that we cannot avoid in life.  You all know what they are don’t you?  As Alisa Bonaparte, Napoleon’s sister, lay dying, someone in the room observed that nothing was as certain as death. “Except taxes,” added Alisa—thus making her last words among the most widely quoted in history.   It is precisely these two subjects that come up in the questions to Jesus.

EVERY PERSON HERE TODAY MUST ADMIT, EITHER NOW OR LATER, THAT JESUS IS LORD OVER ALL.

1. A QUESTION ABOUT TAXES
1. The Deceit of the question.  Vv. 15-17

                                                               i.      Who- v. 15a The Pharisees-they were the legalists of the day.  The ones who wanted to keep themselves separated.  It may be that their very name means “separated ones.”  They were experts on the law. The Herodians were a strange group for them to be with.

                                                             ii.      Why- v. 15b “to ensnare; entangle”  The word is a hunting term and occurs only here in the NT.  It means to set a trap for something or someone.

                                                            iii.      What- v.16-17 They start the question by saying how great Jesus is and how he will not be a “yes man” and then ask him about one of the most controversial practices of the day-Paying taxes to Rome

1. The Defeat of the question. Vv. 18-22

                                                               i.      Defeat begins with perception  v. 18  Jesus knew

                                                             ii.      Defeat continues with a question v. 19-20 having coins with the image of Caesar and the inscription “son of god”

                                                            iii.      Defeat ends with direction v. 21-22 What does Jesus mean by this command? The coin has the image of Caesar, but Caesar has the image of God.

1. A QUESTION ABOUT DEATH  vv. 23-33
1. The confrontation vv.23-28                                                                i.      Who-  v. 23 Sadducees- the “lets not change anything” party.  They did not believe in the resurrection and held to the five books of Moses.

                                                             ii.      Why- v. 24 Deut. 25:5 is where this law comes from.  This is why they say “Moses says”

                                                            iii.      What- vv. 25-28 Sadducees told stories to make others look foolish.

1. The clarification.

                                                               i.      No Need for family line- v. 29-30  When the people of God were a small group of twelve tribes it was important that no one tribe or family line died out.  Now that the family of God is world wide there is no need for this kind of rule What is the need for the law?

                                                             ii.      No Seed for propagation- resurrection means that we will never die again (otherwise it is just reincarnation), thus there is no need for sexual activity.  Our bodies will be perfect after the resurrection.  I will have hair and be tall.

                                                            iii.      No Read- vv. 31-33 they read the bible but don’t really understand it.  There is something better coming

Jesus takes these two questions about the two things that frighten us most and shows that we need to look at everything differently.  We are frightened by death and yet he promises us that he will be with us.  He promises us a new and better day

The nineteenth-century Bible teacher A. T. Pierson had this interesting observation: “It is a remarkable fact that in the New Testament, so far as I remember, it is never once said, after Christ’s resurrection, that a disciple died—that is, without some qualification.

•     Stephen fell asleep.

•     “Knowing that I must shortly put off this my tabernacle, as the Lord showed me,” Peter says.

•     Paul says, “The time of my departure is at hand.” The figure here is taken from a vessel that, as she leaves a dock, throws the cables off the fastenings, and opens her sails to the wind to depart for the haven.

•     The only time where the word “dead” is used, it is with qualification: the dead in Christ, the dead which die in the Lord.

“Christ abolished death,” said Pierson, “and the term death.”

Rain Man-there really is a rain man, there really is a rain man. We stand in awe saying "there really is a resurrection, there really is a resurrection."

Christ is lord over all, even taxes and death.  You can accept it now or later, but you will accept it.