Bottom Line: Giving your life to God above everything else is what matters

Intro

Recap previous 3 weeks

What tonight won’t be about:

  • Trump vs Biden
  • Republican vs Democrat
  • Where you should stand on various political issues
  • How you should vote someday 

Tension

How People React to Politics:

Averse, Non-Confrontational Attitude (Homer Simpson receding into a bush)

Somewhat Interested Attitude (I Voted Sticker)

Person Who Constantly Post About Politics 

No matter how you feel about politics, politics have become more intertwined with society than ever before. 

According to the Pew Research Center, 37% of people prior to the 2016 presidential election. That number increased to 55% prior to the 2020 presidential election.

Some of you may like political posts, some of you may try to hide these posts on your social media feeds or even unfollow or block people. Some of you may look at those posts and wonder if I should be posting about issues or on a more serious note wonder, if those views are coming from a Christian and I disagree with them, does it make me less of a Christian?

Truth-Matthew 22:15-22

15 Then the Pharisees went and plotted how they might entangle Him in His talk. 16 And they sent to Him their disciples with the Herodians, saying, “Teacher, we know that You are true, and teach the way of God in truth; nor do You care about anyone, for You do not [a]regard the person of men. 17 Tell us, therefore, what do You think? Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not?”

18 But Jesus [b]perceived their wickedness, and said, “Why do you test Me, you hypocrites? 19 Show Me the tax money.”

So they brought Him a denarius.

20 And He said to them, “Whose image and inscription is this?”

21 They said to Him, “Caesar’s.”

And He said to them, “Render[c] therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” 22 When they had heard these words, they marveled, and left Him and went their way.

Context: 

This event takes place mere days before Jesus dies on the cross. Jesus is in the temple teaching and is approached by the Pharisees, the Jewish religious leaders who were the epitome of self-righteousness, pride, and hypocrisy. They resented him and were jealous of him because he opposed what they stood for and was easily able to captivate a crowd. Not to mention prior to this he had cleansed the temple which had become a place of lucrative business instead of a place of worship. Jesus then proceeds to humiliate the Pharisees in front of the crowds by refusing to tell them where he gets his authority from and through three parables (two sons, vinedressers in the vineyard, and wedding feast) that the Kingdom of God is not for them.

Passage:

The disciples of the Pharisees worked with the Herodians to try to arrest Jesus by trapping him with a question. The Herodians were political followers of King Herod who were in support of Roman rule in Israel because they kept King Herod in power. The Pharisees were anti-Rome (a sect of these Pharisees later became known as the Zealots who were radical rebellions against the Romans) and thus against the Herodians because they felt the intrusion of Rome and its hellinistic and pagan influences was defying God’s rule. However, in this case they decided to work together (the enemy of my enemy is my friend).

Initially they try to flatter Jesus but are being sarcastic. “We know you teach the ways of God, we know you are a man of great conviction, and therefore aren’t swayed by the opinions of others.”

The Trap

Should we pay taxes or not to Caesar (at the time the emperor was Tiberius Caesar Augustus)? Is it lawful, meaning pertaining to the law of God? Romans exerted several different types of taxes on the Jews (property taxes, income taxes, business taxes, poll taxes) because of the services provided to them. This tax was the poll tax or census tax where each individual had to pay one denarius (roughly a day’s wage) each year. The Pharisees and Jews opposed this tax because they felt like they only answered to God and that the money was going to Rome and not to God (or in the Pharisees case their own pockets). The Herodians supported the tax because it helped keep King Herod in power thanks to Rome’s support. 

The two parties thought they had Jesus trapped. If he said the tax is lawful, then he would be in trouble with the Jews and cause an uproar. If he said the tax shouldn’t be paid, he would be in trouble with Rome and likely arrested. It was a Sophie’s choice dilemma. 

Jesus has them show him a coin with the image and inscription of Caesar on it and tells them to render (or pay or give back) to Caesar what is Caesar’s and render to God what is God’s

Takeaways

  1. We are citizens of a God instituted government 

Romans 13:1-2 reminds us that we should obey those in authority because that authority ultimately comes from God.

Let everyone be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God. Consequently, whoever rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves.

 To disobey it means we are disobeying God. There were many benefits that the Roman taxes provided such as streets, aqueducts, and a military force. Similarly with our taxes support many programs and projects (public services, law enforcement, parks and recreation, healthcare, social security, etc.) We may not like taxes or other laws (e.g. all the traffic laws that we violate and get tickets for) but we are called to obey them. 1 Peter 2:13-15 says that doing this is the will of God and in so doing we also silence our critics. 

 Therefore submit yourselves to every [c]ordinance of man for the Lord’s sake, whether to the king as supreme, 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. For this is the will of God, that by doing good you may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men

If you want to strengthen your testimony and demonstrate your love of God and others, you can do so by respecting and supporting those who are in political office. If God creates a nation like this, a democratic nation, then we honor those rules and honor the systems that are put into place.

  1. We have a dual citizenship in heaven

Our citizenship on Earth is temporary, but Philippians 3:20 reminds us that our permanent citizenship is in Heaven. 

For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ

We are strangers and foreigners who are passing through (Hebrews 11:13-14). When Jesus said to render to God the things that are of God, he was saying that we submit to authorities ultimately because of the ultimate and supreme authority we have in Heaven. Although the image of Caesar was on the coin, God’s image is ultimately on man (Genesis 1:26-27). Since we have a dual citizenship, this means that even though we are to obey authorities, we must never obey the authorities if it means we disobey God. We ought to obey God rather than man (Acts 5:29)

  1. Our heavenly citizenship supersedes our earthly citizenship 

Jesus’ final statement in the passage wasn’t just a reminder that our obedience to God trumps our obedience to the government, but a reminder that since we are made in God’s image and were brought by the blood of Jesus, we should be always looking to glorify God with our actions and pointing others to Jesus. Sometimes I look at all of the arguing and outrage and vitriol that stems from political posts and wonder how much good could be done if instead those posts were pointing people towards Jesus. That’s what our focus is here at Refuel. It’s not my job or Matt’s job or April’s job to discuss the nitty gritty of politics and specific candidates and all the various issues. Our job goes back to our purpose at Refuel. To help you grow upward, inward, outward, and forward. Our primary interest shouldn’t be in talking about politics, it should be in talking about God. And the way we live our lives for God and surrender and submit to his will and become more like him demonstrates our relationship with Him, not whether you identify with conservatives or liberals. 

Bottom Line: Giving your life to God above everything else is what matters

Application

  1. Pray for those who are in authority-No matter who is president and who is in Congress, our job should be to support those people and pray for them. They aren’t perfect, they sinners just like you and me. And they need just as much wisdom and guidance from God on making the decisions that they feel our best for our country. 
  1. Find peace in God’s plan-I don’t know how you have felt about the last two elections. You may have been happy, you may have been scared or nervous about our country’s direction. God was and isn’t nervous. He wasn’t surprised because everything is happening in accordance with a plan that we may not understand now but will someday when we get to heaven. 
  1. Prioritize Christ over politics-Being a Republican or Democrat doesn’t make you any more or less of a Christian. Becoming disciples who live and love like Jesus makes us more of a Christian.