The Church of Eleven22 - Wk 29: Submit to Authority

Episode Date: August 5, 2018

20 And Jesus said to them, “Whose likeness and inscription is this?” 21 They said, “Caesar's.” Then he said to them, “Therefore render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's.” Matthew 22:20-21

Amen and amen. Would you please stand for the reading of God's word? We're in our 29th week in our study in the book of Romans. I'll read Romans chapter 13 versus 1 through 7. God's word says this. 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 resist the authorities resist what God has appointed. And those who resist will incur 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, the avenger who carries out God's wrath on the wrongdoer. Therefore, one must be in subjection, 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 is owed to them. Taxes to whom taxes are owed, revenue to whom revenue is owed, respect to whom respect is owed, honor to whom honor is owed. Would you please pray with me? our good and gracious heavenly father god as we walk through this text inspired by you written by the apostle paul landing on us today in the 21st century in the united states of america god may we submit ultimately to you and you alone god as we walk through this text god i pray that you would remove me and folks would only see you your word and your cross God, I pray that you would do in the hearts and lives of men and women all over our campuses

what only you could do. Convict and comfort. We prayed in Jesus' name. Amen. You may be seated. So this is a doozy. Romans chapter 13. I'm going to be honest, what's happening here is Paul is continuing his exhortation to us that started all the way back for us like four weeks ago, for him like a chapter ago in Romans chapter 12, when he is telling us, he appeals to us, therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God to present our bodies as living sacrifices, holy and acceptable to God, which is our spiritual or logical act of worship. Don't be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of the mind. So he talks about how do we have a new mindset?

He attacks our pride. He says we need to gather together as a church. last week there were 30 exhortations on how we are to love one another and now he talks about how we are to live in the communities that we live in talks about our relationship with government I'm going to be honest the first time I read this when I hear the words or see the words let every person be subject to the governing authorities for there's no authority except from God and those that exist have been instituted by God when I hear that word authority or read this text my first thought goes to my dad because he's not just talking about

your authorities like the governor and government, but he's talking about your employer, he's talking about husbands, he's talking about fathers, and maybe part of the reason, because my dad sitting on the front row, how about that church? You want to welcome Perry Martin here? Now here's a couple of verses in that that make me think of my dad. Verse two says, those who resist will incur judgment. And then there's, if you skip down to the second half of verse four, he says this, but if you do wrong, be afraid. I can't tell you the amount of days in my life that I had to wait until my dad got home, all right? And it says, for he does not bear the sword in vain.

My dad never, he didn't bear a sword. But he could bear a belt like Chuck Norris with numbed chucks. You understand what I'm saying? He had this move, this one, this move, this like Indiana Jones from the hip, like, and it would, it would pop on the way out. Pah, pah, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. You see, I grew up in a generation where we never went to our room to think about it. Won't you just go think about this?

No, that's how some of you grew up, which is part of your problem, let's be honest, okay? No, no, no, the only timeout we had in my house is sometime in between whipping me and my brother, daddy, take a timeout and like, who, get his breath back, and then he'd come in again, all right? All right, so it's the authority in which I grew up. And Daddy's always like, boy, people are going to think I used to wear you out? And I go, well. But honestly, you can discipline without love. You cannot love without discipline.

And I'm telling you, man, my brother's doing awesome. He's a cop down in St. John's County. And, you know, I do this thing. And we would not be the men that we are today if my daddy didn't love me enough to correct us when we need to correcting. And speak life into us to let us know. could do whatever God had called us to do. So, all right, amen. And so, at the end of the service, please come tell him what an incredible job he did

and raising such an amazing, smart, humble pastor. But I don't think it's primarily talking about my father's discipline of me because the goal of government, the role of government, is not to discipline because the root word of discipline means disciple, but it is to oversee and govern. And so it is talking primarily about the government. governing authorities. Says, so 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. When we read that, here's what's crazy. Here's how egocentric we are as Americans. Primarily, we think about us, primarily. We think about our government. We think about our president, senators, all those kind of things. This is a true statement for every governing institution around the world and for, for all times that God is sovereign over every one of them.

You get down to verse four and speaking about the government. Paul says this, for he, men and women that work for the government, 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 wrong. doing it real quick to the police man and woman to the first responder to to all of our military current and veterans thank you thank you thank you amen i mean we cannot say thank you enough

i want to when i used to be the uh the chaplain for the jacks beach police department and i would talk to like the graduates before they would come in and i would go to roman chapter 13 and i've had this conversation with my brother who's a lieutenant down in St. John's County. And I need you to understand. If you, if you were in that role, if you were in that role, any first responder or military personnel, you were an instrument in the hand of God. You are. Literally, men and women around the world cry out, Lord, help me, Lord, save me. God, I'm in trouble. And God hears that. He's, Here's that prayer, and you are the tangible answer to people's prayer when you show up.

And sometimes it is to bring good and bring help, and sometimes it is to bring good by bringing the vengeance of God upon wrongdoers in our world. And so I say, thank you, thank you, thank you. I mean, you want to see how good God is to us. Just imagine for a second. And listen, and I know we live in a climate right now where it's not super cool to like give honor to policemen and firemen and to the military. Well, listen, the Bible says we honor.

We honor those in authority that God has put over us. Imagine for a second. You pick up the phone because you're in trouble and there is no 911. Who do you call? I mean, we live in a world where we just assume if I get in trouble, I can hit some numbers and people show up. Well-trained, well-equipped people, not very well-compensated people that are willing to put their life on the line for people they have never met before.

Why? Because God called them, equipped them, anointed them, and appointed them for such a thing. And so because of that, we have to understand. These folks are a good gift from God, and we owe them respect and honor. And so once again, at all of our locations, we say thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you. Amen. Now, here's the kind of danger about reading verses like this. Really, it's true for any verses. But when we read, especially verses like this, we bring us to the Bible. You realize that, right? We bring us to the scriptures. So as we walk through what God's word says to us in our time together,

I just want to lay my cards out on the table. So hopefully you can distinguish between just what the Bible. says and then what I think because I'm preaching and so I bring me to the sermon too and so cards on the table here's who I am okay I told you before my brother's a police officer that shapes the way I think I am a a small government powerful military pro-america gun toten Bible toten thin blue line conservative that's just who I am all right and you may not be like me but you could be wrong that's fine all right no problem Everybody can't be like me. It'd be too much awesome all in one country.

We wouldn't. But make no mistake about it. My first and only allegiance is to Jesus Christ. I am a son of God. I am who he says I am. Not a political affiliation or not the way you vote or not your stance on this thing or that thing. And so I read these verses. a certain way and so do you and if you think differently than me on these things then guess what

praise god praise god that's what we were talking about yet last week remember weep with those who weep rejoice with those who rejoice that the church in rome was made up of all kind of different people jews and gentiles rich people poor people all kind of different folks and the thing that unified them was not their uniformity but they were unified in their diversity under under the the kingship of one king, and it wasn't wrong. One king, and it was king Jesus. And so, let me give you a big fat warning when you read your Bible. While we all bring ourselves to the scriptures, and we should, because God always meets us right where we are. But while we always bring ourselves to the Bible, our experiences are not authoritative. The scriptures are authoritative over our life.

So when you read something, and if it rubs you wrong, it's not because it's wrong. and so I thought maybe it would help us a little bit to understand a little first century context in which Paul writes this. You see, when Paul writes the book of Romans, the Jews, primarily the Christian Jews, the Jewish Christians, they had been kicked out of Rome for about five years under the leadership of a guy named Claudius. Now, Claudius kicked them out, according to Tacitus, this old school historian, he said that the Jewish people, they began to to celebrate this guy named Christus. It was Christ. And because it was causing so much upheaval

and people were claiming that Jesus is Lord instead of Caesar is Lord, then Claudius kicks him out. Now, Claudius wasn't necessarily an example of a just governor. I mean, this is one jacked up guy. In his reign, there's adultery, there's murder, there's incest, he had his mom and his brother killed. And then he hands over to the throne to a guy. named Nero and by handed over Nero's mom poisoned Claudius in his sleep. I mean, if you think there's

some shady stuff going on in on our government, I'm just telling you, this is, I mean, this makes real housewives look tame. You understand what I'm saying? And then when Nero takes over, this brother, he is like the worst. I mean, in fact, he, as emperor, Nero killed Christians. That's what he did. He would, at one point, he was throwing a party, and so he gathered up a bunch of Christians and put them on poles around his palace and set them on fire to light up the party. Now, not only is that weird, who goes to that party? At one point, he would line Christians from one city to the next, and about every 20 yards he would crucify them so that people would be unwilling to follow Jesus. This is not a good dude. He burned about half of,

Rome because he wanted to rebuild it in his image and when he got flack for this he blamed it on the Christians by the way just a one-off you want to talk about the spread of the gospel about about within 30 years after Jesus is resurrected in Jerusalem all the way in Rome there are enough followers of Jesus that they could be blamed for the burning of Rome so you can't stop the gospel this dude's sick man he's sick and what this is the sickest story I could find so I knew you'd want to hear about it At one point, he got upset with his wife who was pregnant and kicked her to death, kicked her to death, killed her and the baby.

Then he felt bad about it. And there was a young boy that resembled his wife. So he captured the boy, castrated him, married him in public, and called him his dead wife's name. He's the emperor. And in that context, in that context, Paul says, be subject to the governing authorities. That seems crazy, doesn't it? Here, let me make it worse.

Paul's not just like one and often in here. Here's Peter, 1st Peter chapter 2, same emperor, same governor. 1st Peter chapter 2, Peter says, be subject for the Lord's sake to every human institution, whether it be to the emperor as supreme or to the governor as sent by him to punish those who do evil and to praise those who do good. for this is the will of God that by doing good you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people live as people who are free not using your freedom as a cover up for evil but living as servants of God honor everyone love the brotherhood fear God honored the emperor so I'm talking about

what I'm talking about anybody want to just get saved now we'll shut her down so how so how do you how do you Paul what are you thinking right what are you thinking Paul? Piper thinks a couple things about Paul. John Piper's smartest guy I know of, so I just see what he says. He believes that Paul thinks that Caesar will be reading this letter, that Caesar will seize his letter to the Church of Rome. And so part of what he thinks Paul isn't doing is trying to imply to the Caesar what ought to be done. Like when I was growing up and I would like backtalk my dad, which never happened, but just hypothetically. And he would look at me and he go, we don't talk like that in this house, but we just did. And so maybe what part of what Paul is doing

according to Dr. Piper is, Paul is saying to Caesar, you see Caesar, authorities punish wrong and blessed good. You see Caesar, that's what we're supposed to be doing. The other thing that Dr. Piper thinks is going on here is that if Caesar gets a hold of this, he would look at it and essentially Paul is saying, see, don't worry about us Christians. We're not trying to overthrow your government because we're not citizens of this kingdom. So just leave us alone, man. We're going to feed the poor people. We're going to tell people by Jesus.

We're going to sing with our hands up. But we are not trying to overthrow what you were doing because what you were doing is temporary and we are about the eternal. That's what he says here. Now, there's another thing while I'm trying to get into the mind of Paul here, is how in the world can Paul make such blanket statements like, 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, for rulers are not a terror to good conduct. But sometimes they are. Not just in America,

all over the world right now, there are rulers who are a terror to good conduct. Paul goes on to say, therefore one must be in subjection. Paul, how could you say that? I mean, again, let's run it through our American filter. Just a month ago, we celebrated the 4th of July. Praise God. America, we blew stuff up to the glory of God to celebrate the red, white, and blue. Okay? But there's no Independence Day without the Revolutionary War.

So did Romans 13? I mean, come on. We had too many taxes. We took the tea in Boston and said, I ain't pay any taxes. Had a party. Praise God. Right? So did this not apply to us a few hundred years ago?

Then about 100 years after that, how about the abolition of slavery? Anybody want to argue that treating people like property is a good thing? And that we should not fight against that? About 100 years after that, how about the civil rights movement? In fact, wasn't it pastors reading their Bibles being true to the justice, love, and dignity that God had bestowed upon people that led people to fight for justice for all? all people. Or how about before that? Shouldn't we

throw our hat in the ring in the world wars to take out tyrants like Hitler for the sake of people? Or my dear brother from Scotland is right here on the front row. Is anybody here want to tell me William Wallace should not paint his face blue and cry freedom against the tyranny of the English?

You got to be kidding me, man. Paul, how, what do you mean? And then, how about this. How about not just historical events in our recent history, but what about biblical examples? Didn't God come to Moses himself and say, Moses, I want you to go to Pharaoh, whom I have set up as emperor or king, and I want you to tell him, let my people go? Didn't God tell Pharaoh to disobey the ruling authorities? And in fact, there wouldn't even be a Moses if the midwives would have obeyed the law. Because remember the law was, you kill everybody two and under, and the Midwise disobeyed that, and they put little baby Charleston, Charleston, remember the movie,

and they send him down the Nile. Or how about Shatterag Meshach and a bed and go? Anybody grow up at Sunday school? Remember these guys? Three fellas, fiery furnace. Nebuchadnezzar sets up the idol to himself. By the way, a crazy tyrant builds statues to themselves. They always do that.

And so he builds this statue of themselves and says, you got to bow down to the idol? And they say, we ain't bowing down. They disobeyed the ruler. and were they treated well? No way. They lit up the furnace and threw them in. And then I'm going to tell you. Nabricanazer steps up, looks in the fiery furnace and theirs are three boys. And they're not even, they don't even smell like fire. And the Bible says, and there is a fourth one with them who appeared like a son of God. I think it's a Christophany. I think Jesus was into their rebellion so much, he showed up to the party. This is awesome, boys. Okay? Daniel? Isn't Daniel in the Lions Den still a hero? In fact, Nebuchadnezzar's after it again, you cannot pray to your gods anymore, you can only pray to me. And you know what Daniel does? He opens up a window of

his house and kneels down and prays three times. Look, there is not a Bible verse that says you have to pray three times out the window. Not one. I've looked. And you know what? You know what Daniel is doing? glad rebellion against this law that said that he couldn't worship the one true God. I mean, isn't he a hero? What about Peter and John? Hacks chapter 4. They get arrested for healing a guy. And it's not just because they healed a guy.

Nobody minds a healing. Everybody's into a good healing. But it's because they did it in Jesus' name. Peter and John are on their way to the temple. And this guy is like, hey, will you give us some money? And Peter basically goes, bro, I'm in ministry. I ain't got no money. but what I have I give to you in the name of Jesus.

Get up and walk. And he goes to church with him. Ticks everybody off. And Peter and John are standing before the Pharisees, the Sanhedron, the people in governing authority. And they say, you have to stop talking about Jesus. And Peter and John essentially say, is it better to obey you or God?

We're going to obey God. You just said, you do whatever you got to do. We can't stop talking about what we have seen and heard. They disobeyed. or what about Paul himself? I mean, half of the book of Acts is about Paul running around from the authorities. They lower him out of windows. Sometimes he gets arrested.

Sometimes angels come in and like Bow and Luke, Duke, blow him up and get him out of there. I mean, it's over and over and over. So, Paul, are you still sticking beside every authority has been instituted by God? I mean, in fact, you say here in 13-4 that the government bears, the sword. And yet, remember chapter 8, verse 35? All the things that will not separate us. One of the things that won't separate us is the sword. So in five chapters, Paul, you simultaneously have said that God is in charge of all authority, and yet God uses that authority to kill Christians. Same sword. So you're sticking by that, Paul? And I think Paul would say, yeah, just back it up

a couple more verses if you go into chapter 8 to verse 28, that God will work. So you're not. You're that God is at work in all things for the good of those that love him and are called according to his purpose. You know that evil Pharaoh that I rose up to power? Little did you know that I was building a nation that is the children of God from which the Messiah would come. Like from our limited perspective, of course you don't understand. Because you're like this big, not that smart. The place is on your back you can't even scratch. And you think you could understand the mind of God.

So you say, Paul, so you're meaning to tell me that God could use a wicked and corrupt government for his own purposes? You mean like Pontius Pilate? Maybe the most corrupt of all time? Because Jesus was perfect. He never did anything wrong. All he deserved was worship and honor and praise. and he is eyeball to eyeball with Pontchus Pilate and Pontchus says, are you a king?

And Jesus says, my kingdom is not of this world. The only authority I have, do you have, I give to you. Think about how crazy this is. Jesus is saying, I am giving you the authority to kill me for the glory of God and the salvation of all mankind. No matter how out of control our world seems, even as like the national level, not just our nation, but I'm talking about worldwide, no matter how out of control our world seems. Trust me on this one.

The sovereign king of the universe still has the whole world in his hands. He is not surprised. It is not over his head. He never has looked over it and go, what in the name of me is going on here? He has never done that ever. He is sovereign. So how does this play out in our day-to-day life? If you read through this text, I think there are some implications to the role of the subject and to the role of the government.

And so essentially there's kind of four categories here. Some of us, hopefully most of us, are the subject that is talking about here, a law abiding subject or citizen. And so what is our responsibility? Our responsibility is to recognize the sub-authority that God has placed over us. And a part of what Paul is saying is to live a transformed life that we ought to, by and large, be a good citizen. That we should pay taxes. Nobody ever amends on that one. That we should pay taxes.

That we should obey the law. Even like the traffic laws. I know. I know. It rubs up against us. Why? Because by nature and nurture. we are a rebellious people.

I mean, we are. Not only we Americans, we're Protestants. We don't like anybody telling us what to do. And God is saying, no, to people telling you what to do, I told them to tell you what to do. That we should obey the law. That we should pay taxes. That we should honor public servants.

That we should be involved in the political process. Because the thing that really twist up your mind, if you know anything about the way our country works, is that the authority in our country is us. It is. And so we vote those people. And you might say, well, I didn't vote for them. Well, listen, man, you were part of us.

And so as a citizen of this country that we should show honor and we should be thankful for the common grace of laws and governments to restrain us. That without the government that we have and those that work for it, that it would be anarchy. it would be anarchy and anarchy is always the environment whereby tyranny rises up now some folks are in government

they are in charge they are the bosses they are in authority then you better recognize that God has placed you in that sub-authority and you should exercise your authority in good conscience with confidence that you should exercise your authority

righteously that if you are in authority and listen it doesn't matter if you're the boss at your job the dad at your house or the president of the United States, everybody in the between, if you are in authority and you are not, like he says, serving others for their good, then you are misusing your authority. If serving is beneath you, then leadership is beyond you, period.

Then there are those, and you were a subject or a citizen that is breaking the law. Well, God has some promises for you. expect the authorities to punish you. They will. They are coming after you. I know a bunch of us in here and go. Amen. I've been there, okay?

And if you were a wrongdoer, a lawbreaker, you should expect and submit to punishment. It's coming. And if you are in authority and you are abusing your authority, if you abuse your authority, I promise you one day God will abuse you. It is a heavy, heavy responsibility and burden that he has given you. you. You see, I always think, I don't have time to really go there, but you've always got to read

Romans chapter 13 in light of Revelation chapter 13. People always ask me, when we can go through the book of Revelation? I'm like, you see how is that the end? So when I get to the end, we'll be going through Revelation maybe, okay, you know? And so, but in Revelation chapter 13, there are two beasts that rise up. They represent authority and government. And it is still by God's design and control, but it is wicked and oppressive and slick. And so we always read Romans 13 in light of Revelation 13. Now, here's what we have to understand. As a citizen, if your sub-authority, the authority that God has placed over us, if that sub-authority ever ask you to do something God says don't do or denies you what God says to do, then you disobey and you make change.

And by the way, that should start with the church. That the church should always be, the church should be in our nation and for the world. That the church should not be the thermometer of this world that just reflects the current temperature, but the church should be the thermostat of this world that sets what ought to be under the authority of God. Martin Luther King Jr. says it this way in a letter from the Birmingham jail. He said, one may well ask,

how can you advocate breaking some laws and obeying others? The answer lies in the fact that there are two types of laws, just and unjust. I would be the first to advocate obeying just laws. One has not only a legal but a moral responsibility to obey just laws. Conversely, one has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws. But stop for just a second. But how did he do it? How did he do it? It was civil, peaceful, disobedience. That's what it was, that changed our world. And now we see him as a hero, as we rightly should.

And what was going on here is that these men and women that were leading the civil rights movement were, they were diving deeper and deeper and deeper into the Word of God. They were not distancing themselves from the Word of God to talk about what they deserve. What they were doing is not going closer and closer and closer to God and fighting for justice in his name. you see because I'm telling you today people marching for all kind of stuff I mean be careful you walk down the street you might be in a march what we marching for I don't know okay

I'm talking about it as marches for everything and yet it seems to me it seems to me that much of the protest that we see on television have very little to do or don't seem to be motivated by Jesus Christ and justice for people it just seems to be a bunch of people who don't got a job

and ain't got nothing to do just throwing stuff I mean Dr. King says it this way so I have tried to make it clear that it is wrong to use a moral means to attain moral ends you get that Pastor Dr. Martin Luther King says

I have tried to make it clear that it is wrong to use immoral means to attain moral ends it's what it's what Jesus said to Pontius Pilate when he says, are you a king? He goes, I'm a kingdom of another world.

If I was a kingdom of this world, then my disciples would fight with the sword. So you know what Jesus says? Followers of Jesus don't fight that way with the sword. That we fight with words and ideas. And we fight for the good of all, for freedom for all, so that we can share the gospel and God can really change people,

not from the White House down, but from the church house out. And so he says, that's not all of these said, though. He kept going. He said, so I have tried to make it clear that it is wrong to use immoral means to attain moral ends. But now I must affirm that it is just as wrong or even more so to use moral means to preserve immoral ends. In other words, there have been all throughout history, people in power have used Romans 13. to justify injustice towards people. Now, if you're paying attention at all, if you're thinking at all,

hopefully the question is going through your head, okay, so if generally speaking, we are to obey the government for sure, and then yet there's all these biblical examples and historical examples of people standing up to governing authorities for the sake of justice, how do we know when it's time to submit and how do we know when it's time to fight for justice? That's a tough one, isn't it? Let me just tell you this. It's really hard to be right early.

It's really hard to be right early. I had a seminary professor. He's a Baptist preacher. He was in North Carolina. He's the only one I liked in my whole seminary, okay? I don't know if it says something about him or me. But he taught life and work of the pastor. And in 1960, in 1960, at a church in North Carolina, an African-American woman came forward and said that she wanted to join the church.

And he said, do you believe in Jesus? Jesus is my Lord and Savior? He said, sweet, we'll baptize you today. And people got word of that, and they would not enter his church. They picketed it, you know, all this stuff. They burned crosses in his yard. Okay. Now, was he right?

He was absolutely right. We look at that in the rearview mirror and go, what is wrong with those people? You understand? And he told me this one day. He goes, listen, it is really hard to be right early. So how do you know? How do you know what to fight and when to fight it and how to stand up and what is just and what is unjust? Paul knew you'd ask that question.

Paul is so smart. He's so much smarter than you and me. And not only that, he's inspired by God, so he's kind of cheating. But anyway, he knew what you're going to have. asked. You see, because if you, if you read through this and you don't get to the point where you're saying, okay, how does this apply to me? And what about this issue? Do we march for that issue at issue? Or do we not at march for this issue? What do we do here? You see, Paul knew, he knew the questions we were going to ask before we ever ask them. That's why, by the way, for the first hundred plus years

in Harvard Law School, every law student was required to read and study the book of Romans. Remember this? Not for the theology, but because of the brilliance of Paul's closing argument that is the 16 chapters of Romans. He begins to answer questions before you even ask them out loud because he knows the things that are going to go through our mind. Brilliant. So the moment we start going, okay, okay, okay. So how does this apply to my life?

Okay? And so here's where he goes. He's going to refer to Jesus. Verse 6, he says, for because of this, you also pay taxes. For the authorities are ministers of God. Do you ever think of the IRS as ministers of God? man especially this year good gracious attending to this very thing pay to all what is owed to them

taxes to whom are owed taxes man if you've got a long history in bible study your mind is going to matthew 22 right now he's not verbatim quoting jesus but he is for sure alluding to jesus teaching on taxes so he says taxes to whom taxes are owed revenue to whom revenue is owed respect to whom respect is owed honor to whom honor is owed. So what Paul is doing here in the tax thing, anybody that was well versed in the gospels, they would have known this event where Jesus goes eyeball to eyeball with the authorities. And in Matthew chapter 22, if you want to go there, beginning in verse 15 is this little

conversation that Jesus has with those in authority. Now, I think it helps to see it in a little bit of a context. What Jesus does is he tells a parable. the first 15 verses or so, and then after that, the people don't like it. The religious leaders, the people in authority, they don't like it. And so for the back half of chapter 22, three times religious people come to Jesus and they try to, one, they try to hang them up with Bible verses from the Old Testament, which be real careful because when you come to passages like this, most often, man,

we can say, this is what I believe, and then we go look for Bible verses to back us up. Don't do that. Because when we do that, what we're saying is, I am the authority. Let me find some backup here. The Bible is not your backup. It is the Word of God. And so three different times they come to Jesus. They try to trick him.

They try to trap him. They try to paint him into a corner. But he won't have it. In verse 15 of chapter 22, this is what Paul is alluding to. It says this. The Pharisees went and plotted how to entangle Jesus in his words. and they sent their disciples to him along with the Herodian saying, teacher, they're talking to Jesus. Teacher, we know that you are true and teach the way of God truthfully.

Anytime your enemies start with like buttering you up, just get ready. This is Southern for like, bless your heart, that's what this is. And you do not care about anyone's opinion. I just saw that verse in the Bible for the first time. I love that description of Jesus. It makes me feel better about me. and you don't care about anyone's opinion. For you were not swayed by appearances, verse 17.

Tell us then, what do you think? Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar or not? Now, by the way, do you know what was happening in Jerusalem in the first century? This ain't like the IRS. Rome has moved in. They are an oppressive government on the Jewish people. There are tax collectors that are basically bullying the poor the oppressed, they're not just, see, if you grew up in Sunday school, you always think like a tax

collector with somebody like you owe $20 and they said, no, give me $30 and then they kept the extra 10. That's not what it was. Rome is the most oppressive, imperialistic empire ever for 1,500 years. I mean, they ran everything from England to Asia, everything in between. How in the world do you do that? And you don't have like F-16s, if there's a little skirmish, you can just say. send them over. Here's what you do. You just take your thumb and you squish everybody. And so when they would go in exact taxes from the Jewish people, a big part of what they were doing with those taxes was funding the crucifixion of anybody that stood up against the government. That's what's happening. And so somebody comes to Jesus and says, so should we do that? Should we fund that? You know they're

using this money to kill us. And what they're trying to do is, they're trying to trap him. Because if he says, no way, no way, then they'll say insurrectionists, Caesar get him. And if he says, well, of course we should. Then he'll turn the Jewish people against him and say, how dare he say such a thing? You see, this is the trap. So they say, you think it's lawful to pay taxes to Caesar or not? And then Jesus is like, I mean, he just puts the Jesus juke on him.

That's what he does. But Jesus, aware of their mouth. Alice, this is one of the reasons you can't trick him. He knows every heart, including yours right now. And he said, why put me to the test, you hypocrites? I just love that. And then he says this, show me the coin for the tax. And they brought him a denarius.

And so he takes the coin. And Jesus says to them, whose likeness and inscription is this? And they said, Cesar's. And then he said, very famous verse. therefore render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's and to God the things that are gods and when they heard it they marveled and they left him and went away now what did he say that that would cause them to marvel see there's a lot more to this sentence than we read

I mean I've heard this a million times and it just it hit me like a ton of bricks just recently as we're studying Romans what he's talking about here he takes the coin and he looks at it and he goes, whose image is this? And they go, Caesar's. And he gives it back. By the way, the only time Jesus ever asked for money, he gave it back. That's crazy, isn't it? So be careful. He says, whose image is this? Caesars. All right, well, since it bears the image of Caesar, then why don't you give to Caesar what is Caesar? And he doesn't stop there, but give to God, what is God's? What if he's implying this? What if he's implying, okay, give him. Meia Denarius.

Whose image is on this coin? That's Caesar's image on this coin. Okay, that's fine. Now let's talk about you. Whose image do you bear? You see, every single one of us, every single one of us are image bearers of the Almighty God. Every person that you have ever come eyeball to eyeball with.

Every person, every person, every person, whether you've come eyeball to eyeball with them or not, every human being is an image bearer of God. Every color, every race, every creed, no matter what religion they are, whether born or unborn, every human being bears the very image of God. And Jesus is leaning in and going, okay, if Caesar's imprint is on this coin, whose imprint is on you? You see, because in the beginning, when God said, let us make mankind in our image, he gathers together the dust of the ground, and there's a shell of a man here. and the almighty sovereign king of the universe breath of life, into the very first man.

And Adam opens his eyes. The Bible wants us to know that God is this close because he says it breathes it into his nostrils. He's not way back here. He's up in his face and breathes the breath of life into him. And then this man opens his eyes and he is face to face with his creator. The only image bearer of God, the only one on the planet. that is reflecting who God is to the planet, and then God makes Eve to be a mate with him.

And every single one of us bear the very image of God. And so, Jesus says, yeah, man, so obey all the authorities. That's fine. You should. Give to Caesar. What is Caesar's? You should pay your taxes for sure. But the real question is, but what do we give to God? Now, in relationship to Romans 13, I think Paul is answering the question, so when do you obey and when do you disobey? You obey until some government, some authority,

either mars the image himself or tries to oppress or mar an image bearer of God, then you give to God what is God's, and you do whatever it takes to stand up for people. You essentially do this. Jesus says, the greatest commandment is this, Love God and love people. If there is some institution that gets in the way of those things,

then you rise up against it because they are not from the Lord. And God may be using that unjust government, but just like he raises them up, guess what? How's Rome doing lately? Not too good. How's the church? She's still prevailing. You see?

Because God is sovereign. But here's the danger, I think, with Romans 13 and what Jesus says. Because there's a whole bunch of us. been feeling pretty good the entire sermon. Because you give to Caesar what Caesars. You do. You pay you taxes. You work hard.

You're raising a family. You don't break the law, not the important one. Some of you speed a little and you rip that tag off your pillow, but not like any, nobody's going to call you. And you know what's scary? Is that you could do all of those things. You could be a really, really good citizen and never get in trouble and make good grades and get a good education and climb the corporate ladder

and work hard and excel in the eyes of your boss. And when I get up here and I call you a wretched blackhearted center, you're like, yeah, not much. I don't do that much. And you're right. You, on the outside, you give to Caesar what is Caesar. You're a really good citizen. And the problem is you could be a really good citizen in your entire life

and die and spend a Christless eternity. Because you never did the second half of that thing. You never gave God what is God's. What is God's? Everything? What can you give Him? there's really only one thing you can give him. It's you.

You're going to give him $20? You're going to give him a ride? What are you going to give him? Literally, the only thing that you can give to God is you and maybe even bigger and better. And the only thing he wants from you is you. That's what he wants. So listen, southern church people who are really good at giving to Caesar what is Caesar's and being a really, really good citizen,

and yet never coming to the place where you have given to God what is God's. Have you ever given God to you? Have you ever put your faith in Jesus Christ as the king of the universe? Have you ever changed your citizenship from just being a citizen of this world to be a citizen of his kingdom?

And you may be saying, well, how in the world do I do that? I know I've shared the same illustration it 100 million times lately, but because my dad's here, just reminded me, I want to do it again. To give yourself to God, to put your faith in Jesus, it's not like just believing that, it's believing in. Like when he taught me to swim, he didn't teach me to swim. He just threw me in a pool and don't die.

That was it, okay? That was it. But we would go to the Dillon Pool. It's where I grew up. You can imagine the majestic, beautiful, oasis that the Dillon public pool was, put me on the diving board, and he would go get in the water. And you would walk out to the edge of the pool, and there he is, my dad. And he'd say, come on, buddy, I got you.

There's a whole bunch of church people in the south. You never make it off the diving board. You've never made it off the diving board. You believe that. You believe that, that's your dad. You believe that there's a God. You believe that Jesus came and died on the cross. You believe a whole bunch of Bible verses.

You believe politically a whole bunch of stuff that I do. You believe a bunch of that. But that's not faith. That's not giving yourself. That's just believing that. Yep, there he is. I recognize the mustache. I hear the accent.

That's him. Lives in my house. That's not trust. It's not belief. You haven't given anything. It's just a mental assent. And it's like being this far away. way from eternity. You see, to give to God what is God's is to trust that that is who he says he is

and he is going to keep his promise. He said, if you jump, I will catch you. And if he doesn't, if he doesn't come through on his promise, I'm done. It is a watery grave for me. And I got a whole bunch of people behind me, not exactly cheering me on, you know, and there you are, and a bunch of fear, trepidation. And what do I do? What do I do? And what it means to put your faith is as you step off of that diving board and you put your life into the hands of your heavenly father who says come on jump now in regards to you as a citizen of whatever country you live in for sure you be a good citizen you stand up for the rights of people you love god you love people you fight for justice yes and amen you give to caesar what is caesar's but don't miss this part but give to god what is god

whose image is on you? The almighty sovereign king of the universe who just happens to be your dad in Christ Jesus. And he says, come on, give me what's mine. And what's mine is your life. You step off of your own good citizenship and your own good works and your own, well, I don't break a bunch of laws.

You step off of your own personal salvation mission that I'm going to do this for me and you put your life in the arms of your heavenly father, and you will be saved. Have you ever done that? Have you ever given to God what is God's? I want to give you the opportunity to do it right now, to admit it. To admit it, I am not a mistakeer in need of a life coach. I'm a sinner in need of his Savior.

I believe somehow that when Christ died on the cross, that counted for me. And in this moment, I want to commit my life to the Lordship of Jesus. Christ, I want to take the jump that I've never taken before. And you'll give to God what is His. You. Would you bow your heads, close your eyes? And if you would say that's me, that right now, for the very first time, it's not about me just being a good citizen, it's about me becoming a citizen of the kingdom of

God. And in this very moment, you are ready to put the weight of your life, not on your own two feet, but to step into eternity, to jump into the loving arms of your Heavenly Father, if you were ready to admit that you're a sinner in need of a Savior, believe somehow that when Christ died on the cross, that counted for you. And in this moment, confess him as Lord of your life. Would you raise your hand and say, Father, here I am. God, here I am.

I give to you what is yours. I give my life to you. Our good and gracious Heavenly Father, Lord, we thank you that you are who you say you are. and that we are who you say we are. And God, while we thank you that you have instituted governments, that, God, we thank you for those of us in this country, for your incredible grace upon us.

God, more than any of that, we thank you that we are not citizens of this kingdom, as great as it is, as appreciative as we can be, God, but we are citizens of an eternal kingdom, and you are the sovereign king who sits on the throne, And yet at the very same time in Christ, we get to call you Father. We get to call you Abba. We get to know you as dad.

And so, God, I thank you that there is salvation in this place. And God, I thank you that you call us to give to Caesar what is Caesar. But more importantly, to give to you what is yours. And God, we are here to say that we are yours. We pray it in Jesus' name. Amen.