Would you take your Bibles, please, and turn to Mark chapter 12, as we talk about rendering unto Caesar the things that belong to Caesar and to God, the things that belong to God. Sometimes an argument or a discussion can hinge and turn on one word. Let me give you an illustration. We just sang a few moments ago, join all the glorious names, and we sang, his powerful blood did once a tone, and not it pleads before thy throne. Well, that's incorrect. There was a little typo on there, and now it pleads before his throne. There's a big difference between the blood of Jesus Christ now pleading for us or not pleading for us, and it came down to one letter and a three letter word changed the whole meaning of what we sang, and what we intended to sing. And that's what this little discussion that Jesus has with some of his opposition comes down to, comes down to one little word, a little word that is used by Jesus Christ that's different from the way his opponents use the word. Jesus is in the last week of his life in Mark 12 and 13. It's what we would call and do call holy week. He's come in on Palm Sunday and been received like a king by the people of Jerusalem. On Monday he cleanses the temple which upsets the Jewish leaders. It really becomes the last straw, the last thing that they can tolerate about this upstart itinerant preacher who intends to change the religious and spiritual status quo of the people of Israel. And so on Tuesday as he returns to the temple, he meets these men, these Pharisees and Herodians and Sadducees who are intent in destroying him. In order to do that though, they have to turn the crowns against him because Jesus is immensely popular. And so they enter into a series of confrontations with him where they ask him very difficult questions, questions that are intended to ruin his credibility and to undermine his popularity with the people of Israel. This chapter actually chapters 12 and 13 form what's called in literary studies and inclusio. In other words, there is some theme or word or statement or phrase on the front and back end that include everything in between like a two pieces of bread that form the ends of a sandwich. And the little inclusio here has to do with the temple because the temple according to the Jewish mind of the times of Jesus Christ was the essence of their religion. So it is not a mistake, it's not by happen chance that Jesus Christ begins this last week of his life cleansing that temple and making a statement about it. That this house of God is to be a house of prayer for all the peoples of the earth. And he ends his discourse, his final preaching and teaching to the public for his death with the Olivet discourse in chapter 13 that talks about the destruction of the temple a few years in the future in literally 70 AD. So Jesus Christ as you would expect in the last week of his life is talking about the things that are most important to him. I mentioned that last week. Imagine if you and I knew that today would be the last week of our life and on Friday we would die. What would we do with that week? And what would we spend our time talking about? Well, I'm sure we wouldn't talk about Ole Miss victories or North Carolina losses or anything else like that. If it may be some of us would. But people who were serious minded who realized what life was really about would begin to talk about eternal things with the people that they love the most. And that's what Jesus Christ does. He wants to talk about stewardship, about the temple and worship, about his identity as the Messiah and how to receive the gift of eternal life. And about the coming disaster that's going to befall the Jewish people and the end times and the second coming of Jesus Christ, those are the things that occupy his mind and his teaching in public. And the themes of love and unity and abiding in him occupy his discussions with his disciples in their private moments with him at the last supper. The Pharisees and scribes and leaders of Israel on the other hand want to discredit him. They realize that unless the crowd turns against him he is untouchable and so they bring up one controversial question after another. There are three of them that they focus on. One has to do with taxes and either way Jesus Christ answers that question he's going to make somebody angry. Number two, they talk about divorce and remarriage. They ask him a ridiculous question about if a man or a woman had several spouses and then they went to heaven to whom would they be married knowing that any way Jesus answered that was going to upset somebody. And then they ask him the question, which is the greatest commandment? How many people have ever come to you and said there's ten commandments which one's the most important one? It's a ridiculous question because in choosing the most important one you have to discount the other nine. So all these questions are loaded. They're locked and loaded to destroy Jesus Christ. And that Mark says is there clear intention? They intended to turn the crowds against him which eventually that would accomplish. And so in this this Tuesday all of this happens in one day chapter 12 and third happens in one loaded day in Jesus Christ's life. He is asked a question beginning in verse 13. And they sent to him some of the Pharisees and some of the Herodians to trap him in his talk. And they came and said to him, teacher, we know that you are true and do not care about anyone's opinion for you are not swayed by the appearance, but truly teach the way of God. Isn't lawful to pay taxes to Caesar or not? Should we pay them or should we not? But knowing their hypocrisy he said to them, why put me to the test? Bring me a denarius and let me look at it and they brought one. And he said to them, whose likeness and inscription is this? And they said to him, Caesar's, Jesus said to them, render it to Caesar the things that are Caesar's and to God the things that are gods. And they marveled at him. It's pretty straightforward little passage until we really think deeply about it. And then this question that's meant to derail Jesus Christ really has a marvelous truth in it. They marveled at him that he would turn into some great mental judo, a question meant to destroy him. He would turn it around in a way that was meant to enrich them. And I want to look at the question and the answer, first of all, what they were really asking him and why and how Jesus answered them. And then I want to look at the principle and its application for us. First of all, I want you to notice the people that come and ask him this question and they sent to him some of the Pharisees and some of the Herodians. Now in daily life friends, I want you to know that those people were dire and long term enemies. They were not friends. The Pharisees and the Herodians were on opposite ends of both the political and spiritual continuum of Israel. There were in this whole last week of Jesus Christ's life all different kinds of people allied against him. There were the Pharisees and the scribes. That was one party. They were the conservatives of Israel. They were head quartered in the synagogue. They were the rabbinical party, mainly in Galilee. They were led by rabbis, who were Pharisees, and experts in the law who were scribes. They were huge proponents of tradition and they were very anti-Rome. Offset against them were the priests and the elders, known as the Sanhedrin or the Sadducee party. They were the liberals. They were the ruling body of Judaism gathered mainly in Jerusalem and Judea. They were the priestly party huge proponents of rituals and guardians of the temple and they were advocates of cooperating with Rome. The third party was the Herodians. They were the most corrupt of the parties. They were affiliated with the family of Herod, in this case of Herod Antiposta, the tetrarch of Galilee, who would become the close friend of Pontius Pilate. They were openly in league with the Romans. They were corrupt and moral, violent, and irreligious. They were despised by the Jews and manipulated by the Romans. And these three groups had nothing in common except for one thing. They were afraid of Jesus Christ. For they perceived him as one who was going to upset the status quo, which he was. They had come to Jerusalem for the Passover and it had come together to stop Jesus Christ and reinforce the old ways of living and worshiping. Here the Pharisees and the Herodians conspired together to put a question to Jesus. They say, is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar or not? Is it lawful? And should we pay them or should we not? Now they had different reasons for asking this question, but they had one end in common. The Pharisees would have generally been against paying taxes and they would have seen that as a moral demand made upon them that was contrary to their religious convictions. The Herodians on the other end would have been in favor of those taxes because that's how they made their living. They lived off taxes. So they did not agree at all upon taxes or the end of why these taxes were paid, but they did see the issue of taxes as bringing Jesus Christ into a no-win situation. This was not, by the way, folks, just an academic debate. Blood had been spilled over this issue. The very year that Jesus Christ was born, around 6 AD,
Caesar Augustus had to create and a new census would be taken. Senses were only taken for one reason, as they are now, for a head count of people in the empire to be taxed. And that census led to account that increased the official membership of the Roman Empire by 15 percent which meant more money. So taxes went up. And the year that Jesus Christ was born, a man named Judas the Galilean, along with a man named Zadok, the Pharisee, formed the zealot party, a fourth party of Israel. They were rapidly anti-Rome and anti-tax. And they saw the tax as a mark of oppression. In fact, Judas the Galilean said, this is the prelude to slavery to Rome. They saw it as an affront to the sovereignty of God and reason for rebellion. And so Judas the Galilean led an armed revolt against Israel. We know this is true because in the book of Acts he's talked about. After him Judas the Galilean rose up in the days of the census and drew away some of the people after him, he too perished and all who followed him were scattered. It led to an armed rebellion, the zealots against the Roman Empire and the Romans slaughtered them and thousands of people who sympathized with them. This very issue of taxation to Rome would become a fundamental reason why Rome finally crushed Israel once and for all. For in 66 AD, after Jesus Christ was having his debate with the Pharisees, they would rise again as a nation against Roman taxation and against intrusions into the religious life which would cause the emperor of Esposia to send his son Titus with the largest army ever sent to any of the provinces of Rome and he would destroy the city of Jerusalem, raise the temple to the ground and kill 200,000 Jews in one weekend. This was not an academic debate. This was the life blood of the issues that Jews were concerned about and so they asked him the question either or, either it's lawful to pay taxes or we don't. But Jesus Christ being God can see what's in their hearts and minds. Look at verse 15 where Mark says knowing their hypocrisy Matthew renders that a little differently. Matthew says but Jesus was aware of their malice. He knew what their real intent was, it was malicious to destroy him. So he says show me a denarius. That was the standard Roman coin of the day equivalent to the dollar today. It was silver. It was about had the buying power of a day's wages and the time of Jesus Christ and it was a standard coin issued in the Roman Empire, not just in Palestine but all over the Roman Empire. So when he was handed the coin he held it up and asked the question whose likeness and inscription is this. The coin would have had on the one side a cameo of Tiberius Caesar, the reigning emperor from now 14 AD to 37 AD. The inscription surrounding the likeness of Caesar read Tiberius Cesar de Vigastia Filius Augustus. Tiberius Caesar Augustus, son of the divine Augustus. On the redor side were the words Pontifex Maximus translated supreme priest. It was a coin that said that the Caesar was the son of a god Augustus himself and on the reverse side that he was the chief priest of all the religions of all the people in the Roman Empire. It was a very blasphemous and insulting coin to the Jews. So Jesus said who's likeness is this? The answer is only they could, Caesar's. So Jesus then deathly in a way that avoids the trap set by the Pharisees and the Herodians says this, render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's and to God the things that are gods. The image of Caesar on the coin indicated that Rome minted that money and they owned it. It was their money that they allowed their citizens and subjects of the empire to use for currency and economic intercourse. The possession of the coin by the Pharisees indicated that they accepted this coinage and they dealt in the economic system of Rome. Their payment of taxes also indicated that they received willingly the benefits of the Roman Empire, whether they were always happy with the rule of Rome or not. As subjects of Rome and participants in Roman's economy, they bore legal and ethical responsibility to pay their lawful taxes. By the way, they were not obliged to deal only in Roman denariye. They were only to pay the toll tax. They had other currency they could use. They had the Tyrion silver coin known as the Drakma. And that is what many people chose to use. They paid their temple tax in a Drakma because it had no bust or image of a man on it. Therefore, it was not a violation of the Second Commandment. They paid their taxes as citizens in the Roman denarius. They paid their religious tax, their temple tax in the Tyrion Drakma. They could have used the Drakma for currency except it didn't have the buying power of a denarius. And so Jesus Christ says, why then are you such hypocrites?
The hypocrisy was not that they were trying to trick him. The hypocrisy was the way they used their money. They objected to the coin of Caesar as being blasphemous when it came to giving it in the temple, but not when it came to the buying the goods and services of everyday life. When it was to their economic benefit, they loved the denarius. When it came to religion, they hated it. They had the choice and they chose. They chose to use the Roman money for Roman benefits. And they chose to use the Tyrion Drakma to save their conscious in the temple. And so he says, why do you put me to the test for what you do every single day? Render to Caesar, the things that are Caesar's by paying the toll tax in silver, denarius, and render to God the things that are gods by paying your tithe and your temple tax in the silver, Drakma. And everyone will be happy and all are provided for this is no big deal.
Here's where the argument turns on one word. Notice their question again. Is it permitted for us to give taxes to Caesar? Look at Jesus Christ answer. It is right for you to pay taxes to Caesar. They asked the question, are we permitted to give? Their approach to paying taxes was like it was their choice. Jesus says, it's not your choice.
It's an obligation. You are not permitted. You are right to do so. It's a duty. You're not giving taxes to Caesar. You're paying taxes to Caesar. Donald English. In his answer he changes the word used to describe the tax, a distinction which is confused by the English translations. They used a word meaning give, suggesting a choice openly face. Jesus uses a word which stresses payment or the carrying out of an obligation for services rendered. The image of Caesar on the coin represented all the benefits received from the Roman Empire. And their use of the coin signaled implicit acceptance of these benefits. Jesus is saying, pay for what you gain. This is what is right. This is your duty.
The bottom line is we pay taxes as a social obligation in light of all of the benefits we receive from the government. And we give ties to God as a sacred obligation out of the willingness of our hearts in thanksgiving for all that God has done for us. That's the answer. Now here's the principle on how it's applied. In our world today, these same parties exist. There are the Republicans who are conservatives in favor of straight rights and little government and low taxes. There are Democrats who are liberals, who are fenderless, who favor big government and don't mind paying big taxes. There are zealots. They're called the tea party. And they are adamantly opposed to anything that comes out of Washington, D.C. Whether it's good or bad, they're just against it. People are still the same. Are they not? And they're still asking the same kinds of question. Is it lawful to pay all these taxes to Washington, D.C.? Should we pay them or should we not? I received several years ago about the time that we had the 2000 election. I received a letter to all the pastors in America asking me, urging me to refuse to pay my income taxes and to urge my congregation to do the same. And the thought that came to my mind was this little text. Render under Caesar the things that are Caesar and to God the things that are God's. The point of course is who owns what? That's what this little discussion's about. Whose image is on the money to him it belongs. If the money is stamped in the government mint, then the money is theirs. It's the governments and the taxes are theirs. It's clean and simple. Paul takes his principle and extrapolates it out and writes this in Romans 13, very famous passage. Let every person be subject to the governing authorities for there is no authority except from God and those that exist have been instituted by God. Therefore, whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed and those who resists will encourage judgment. For rulers are not a terror to good conduct but to bad. Would you have no fear of the one who is an authority then do what is good and you will receive his approval. For he is God's servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid. For he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God. An avenger who carries out God's wrath on the wrongdoer. Therefore, one must be in subject not only to avoid God's wrath but also for the sake of conscience. For because of this, you also pay taxes. For the authorities are ministers of God attending to this very thing. Pay to all what you owe them. Taxes to whom taxes are due. Revenue to whom revenue is owed. Respect to whom respect is owed. Honour to whom honor is due. Now we may not like what Paul wrote but it is the word of God. It's the word of the Holy Spirit. We are to pay taxes and revenue to our government. We are to pray for them as God's servants. We are to fear them for the sword and authority that they do bear in order to be in subject to them obedient and cooperative in their efforts to govern us. Pay to all what is owed. Taxes revenue respect honor. Do you and I approve of everything that the government does with our money? Well, no, we don't. But once I pay them my taxes, the money is not mine anymore. It belongs to Mendel or to Raleigh or to Washington DC. And since I choose to live in those communities in this state, in this country, and spend American currency and take the benefits of our free market of government regulated economy, then I owe this system my taxes and tolls. I will receive Social Security. I will use government's subsidized loans for my students or my children's college education. I'm defended by a military protected by our police and fire departments. I drive on American roads and bridges. I use public schools. I use their parks. I take holidays off that they grant me. Therefore, I owe my taxes to this government for these and all the other hidden benefits that I received. I do not agree with the way the government spends my tax money that I give them. I don't agree with some of the moral crusades that they go on. I'm not in favor of the national health care tax, but you know, there are people who pay their taxes who are. I don't approve of the government spending money on this pork belly legislation, but there are people who do want that and they pay taxes too. You never notice when you're driving down the road and you're not going fast enough or you didn't get away from the light at the split second that it changes that somebody lays on the horn. I always want to stop and say, tell me when did you own more of this road than I do? Aren't we paying the same taxes to drive on this asphalt? And you know, it works conversely. When I don't like something that the government's spending its money on, someone else who drives on that road and pays the same taxes does like that. Now, I write now, I'm the most unpopular man in your life and I've never been more unpopular in this church than when I'm saying this, but folks, you can't deny that this is what Jesus Christ is saying. Your argument is not with me, it's with him. As long as the U.S. government imprints its image on the money, the money I use for my benefits, I will owe taxes to these public officials or, unlike the people in Jesus Christ's day, I can live elsewhere. There's nothing prohibiting me from immigrating to some other place, coming out of some other government and paying their taxes, but I will not live anywhere in this world where there are not taxes and some government. I tend to prefer our government, our economy and our way of life, and even though I always feel like I've paid too many taxes, in fact, I have not. Some will say, well, what belongs to God then? What has his imprint upon it? What bears the likeness of God? Genesis 1, then God said, let us make man in our image and 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 moves on the earth. So God created man in his own image. In the image of God he created them, male and female he created them. People belong to God, all people, everywhere in the world. The earth is the Lord's and all it contains the world and those who dwell therein. People belong to God, and especially the people of the church. They bear the mark of Jesus Christ in their baptism. Paul says, I bear on my body the brand mark of Jesus Christ. He says that we've been marked with a circumcision made without human hands. In other words, made with a hand of God in the baptism of Jesus Christ, we were bought with a price, the blood of Jesus Christ, therefore we belong to God, body and soul, all of us, and everything that is attendant to that life, all of my gifts, and all of my relationships, and all of my physical and mental and spiritual powers, and my ability to make money, and all that I earn, it all belongs to God because everything belongs to God, the earth is the Lord, and all that it contains, the governments, and the world and those who dwell in it, all of it belongs to God. So when you think about it, it's really not a whole lot left for me to live off of is there. If I pay, which I probably do, about 25 cents out of every dollar to our governments, and I may pay more, then that leaves 75 cents out of a dollar. In fact, the dollar has how many quarters in it. Let's do some arithmetic here. Four. So if I give one to the government, I have three left. But once I give my tie, then my special offerings, and my pledges to the Heritage Campaign, well, there's another quarter. So there's two left for me. 50% of all that I owe, all that mine comes to me, that's it. Actually, that's not it. It all belongs to God, but it's all benefiting me. When I give that quarter to Barack Obama, many benefits come back to me. When I give that quarter to Christ coming at church, look at all that comes back to me. When I spend the other two quarters on myself, it all comes back to me. What a gracious God we have, that even though it all belongs to Him, and He necessitates that I apportion it out to different bodies of people who benefit me, all of the blessings and all of the benefits come back to me and to mine. That seems to me like a good deal. And how can I complain about that? Would I prefer another God? I don't think so. What I want a different religion that didn't require tithing. No, I love being a Christian. I think the long-term benefits are better than any other religion. The return on investment is immense. It's infinite. In fact, I think you're foolish not to become a Christian. Would I prefer another congregation? Yes, I don't like the preacher. No, I love Christ coming at church because I love what you people are doing in my life. How you're helping me grow to be the man of God. I want to be and God wants me to be. I like living with you and doing ministry with you. Would I want to move to another country, not in a million years? And I wouldn't want another government, and I sure wouldn't want to pay the other government's taxes. You see, I'm not a foolish man. I can see how I'm being blessed, and I know my soul. I know how easy it is for me to complain about things when really I have nothing to complain about. That's why folks, it's a sin to say I'm not going to pay my taxes. It's a sin to cheat on your taxes. Paul said, for conscience's sake, you ought to pay them. And for ethical's sake, you owe them to people because it benefits you. So you pay your taxes. It's also wrong to be upset with your church and hold back your money, because the thing that you're upset about, someone else is being blessed by. And when did God ever say you only have to pay your taxes and your ties when you agree with everything the governing people do? And so I pay my ties and offerings and my pledge to the church. And I still have enough left over for me. Incidentally, whose image is this? It's George Washington. You ever look at our money? It's a marvelous thing. On the front of it is the bus, not of Caesar, but of our first president, the father of our country, first in the hearts of all Americans, because he represents our German Republic and the fact that we don't have emperor kings, we elect our presidents, they belong to us, they serve us. Over his head in this quarter is the word liberty, which sums up all of the great benefits that we as Americans have, benefits that people literally are willing around the world to die for in order to achieve. On the back is the name of our country, the United States of America, and the seal of the great eagle. Under him are the words a pluribus unema from many one. And it says a quarter dollar. It tells us everything we need to know about our country, its freedoms, its privileges, its unity, its diversity. It's a wonderful statement that this belongs to our country who under God's sovereign providence provide all these things for you and me. Oh, and incidentally, there's one more thing on a money that's not on the money of any other country in the world. It's the motto of our country, in God, we trust. We pay our taxes and we pay our ties because we are people who are blessed and we ought to do this. But we are not trusting in the church or in the government to give us all that we need now and in eternity. We are trusting God. That's why we pay our taxes to the government who are ministers of God and that's why we pay our tie to the church and its ministers of God because we are trusting in God. It's an act of faith when we do this. We're trusting that God will provide all that we need. In fact, in faith, we are thanking God that he actually has done that already. So we render to Barack Obama the things that belong to him. We render to Jesus Christ the things that belong to him and they are both servants of God to whom we belong and God belongs to us. We have nothing to complain about. We have much to be grateful for and how we handle our money really will tell us in the end if it's in God we trust or in something else. That's pray. Father, we do want to as we go to the Lord's table, often called the Eucharistic table from the Greek word to give thanks. We want to stop and give you thanks for all that we have received by your sovereign and gracious hand. First, we have received Jesus Christ and with him the gift of eternal life and citizenship in a kingdom that will not fail and will never end that kingdom that holds great riches and blessings for us in the future as well as blessings and benefits in the present time. We thank you because of Jesus Christ that we have the church. We thank you for the freedom of religion that we have in our land, the joys and truths of the Christian religion for the Presbyterian Church of America and for Christ's covenant congregation, all that you've done in and through them to enrich our lives and we give willingly to them as well. We thank you for our government and all of its flaws and in its present course of drifting away from you and your laws, we are still very thankful for where we live and for those who govern us. It is our prayer that you would revive us spiritually as a nation, bring us back to our Christian heritage and continue to reward and bless us as you have in the past and we will give willingly to that end because we are grateful for all these things. As we go to the table now, the Lord's table, it is good for us to examine our hearts and consciences to be sure that we belong to Jesus Christ, that we have been born again of the spirit, that we are trusting in him, that we are baptized members of his church and therefore citizens of his kingdom, that we are faithful in our relationships with others, giving to them what we owe which is love and that you would keep us in the center of this community and fellowship of grace by extending to us the grace that is in this sacrament. If we are not believers, if we've not been baptized, if we're not in good fellowship of a church, then Father help us to abstain from this table until we can in obedience and in faith come to you and to your church, back to restoration with other believers and receive again the benefits of this citizenship of heaven which is this table of rich blessings and encouragement and nourishment for our souls and all of this we would pray and ask because we belong to you but your son Jesus Christ and all of his blessings belong to us and so we receive these things in Jesus' name. Amen.