Giving to God What Is God's
Giving to God What Is God's • Sermon • Submitted
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· 17 viewsWhat does it mean to give God what is His, or render to God what is His? Just as the denarius had Caesar's image on it and thus designated it as his property, so we are the image of God on this earth and thus belong to God. Therefore, we must surrender to Him our whole selves.
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
When things were really tight when I was growing up, I remember that to make ends meet my dad used to trap animals to sell the pelts. He’d find animal paths on the fence rows or wherever and set traps in those places. I remember going with him sometimes to check the traps. Sometimes the finds were gruesome such as a racoon trying to gnaw off its hand to get out of the trap or maybe it was stinky when he’d trapped a skunk. He didn’t just place a trap anywhere. He did it strategically because the point was to get another hide. I wouldn’t doubt it if we ate some of those animals. I’ve never asked.
This is where our text of Matthew 22:15-22 picks up today. The Pharisees, scribes, and elders—the religious leaders of Jesus’ day—were trying to trap Jesus in His words. They were in a fix because Jesus had come on the scene and was messing with their balance of power with the governing authorities. He was garnering the people’s attention and admiration at their expense, so they plotted against Him.
The Jewish religious leaders even joined forces with the Herodians, “a political group made up of influential Jewish sympathizers of King Herod.”[1] Herod was the non-Jewish and Roman-sponsored king of Galilee. Normally, the Pharisees, who longed for a Jewish free state, saw the Herodians as traitors to the Jewish people, but the two groups were united in their disdain and hatred of Jesus. So they joined forces.
Let’s read our text of Matthew 22:15-22. This account is in Mark 12 and Luke 20 as well. These other texts include material which Matthew leaves out, so I’ve meshed the texts adding material from Mark and Luke to the Matthew text. Extra Mark material is in green, and extra Luke material is in purple.
Matthew 22:15-22—15 Then the Pharisees watched closely and went and plotted how to trap Him by what He said. 16 So they sent their disciples to Him, along with the Herodians. These were spies who pretended to be righteous, so that they could catch Him in what He said, to hand Him over to the governor’s rule and authority. “Teacher,” they said, “we know that You are truthful and teach truthfully the way of God. You don’t care what anyone thinks nor do You show partiality. 17 Tell us, then, what You think. Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar or not? Should we pay or shouldn’t we?” 18 Perceiving their crafty,malicious intent and knowing their hypocrisy, Jesus said, “Why are you testing Me, hypocrites? 19 Show Me the coin used for the tax.” They brought Him a denarius. 20 “Whose image and inscription is this?” He asked them. 21 “Caesar’s,” they said to Him. Then He said to them, “Give, then, to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” 22 When they heard this, they were utterly amazed. So they became silent and left Him and went away.[2] (CSB)
What can we learn from this religious and political hodge-podge that opposed Jesus? Here are their character traits which we see in the passage.
The Jesus opposers were malicious schemers.
The Jesus opposers were malicious schemers.
Matthew 22:15—Then the Pharisees watched closely and went and plotted how to trap Him by what He said. (CSB)
Matthew 22:18—Perceiving their crafty, malicious intent and knowing their hypocrisy, Jesus said, “Why are you testing Me, hypocrites? (CSB)
They had been watching Jesus. They had studied Him and had devised a plan to trap Him. They came up with a question to snare Him with His own answer.
Notice that word crafty. Who do you remember being described as crafty in the Bible? The serpent in the Garden of Eden—the devil himself. In another place, Jesus told the Pharisees that they were of their father, the devil. Here we see that they are following the crafty ways of their father Satan.
Are you malicious? Are you a schemer?
Don’t ever think that you have to be malicious or scheming to get your way. Your way is not necessarily God’s way. Follow God and pray for wisdom and live honestly. Others in your world may play by devious rules, but rise above it, even if it costs you.
The Jesus opposers were hypocritical pretenders.
The Jesus opposers were hypocritical pretenders.
Matthew 22:16—So they sent their disciples to Him, along with the Herodians. These were spies who pretended to be righteous, so that they could catch Him in what He said, to hand Him over to the governor’s rule and authority. “Teacher,” they said, “we know that You are truthful and teach truthfully the way of God. You don’t care what anyone thinks nor do You show partiality.” (CSB)
They were spies who pretended to be righteous in their question. “Oh, Jesus. We’re in a quandary. We don’t know what to do? Would you please help us come to the right answer? We only want to do what’s right.” The truth is that they only wanted to fool Jesus and trap Him.
They used flattery in their act. “Teacher, You’re truthful, and you always teach God’s ways truthfully without being partial. You’re not swayed by what other people say or think.” But they’re just play-actors, deceivers, hypocrites.
Hypocrisy Illustration: When I was a child, I did a lot of pretending. I remember many times being out in the woods with a friend pretending to be in a war. How many of you could find the perfect stick gun? I remember our family visiting another particular family several times, and my sister and I and the other family’s kids would all pretend to be animals, sometimes predators and sometimes prey.
Pretending is fun as a kid, but when we grow up, we should put the pretending aside. Hypocrisy is pretending, or play-acting. I’ve done it. Have you? When I was a child, pretending to be an antelope running from a lion is fine, but as an adult, pretending to be what I’m not is NOT OK. We put on a mask at times because we don’t want others to see the flaws.
The truth for every believer is that each of us is a saint who struggles with sin. I am a saint who struggles with sin. By the way, there’s no other kind of believer on earth. Since each of us struggles with sin, we shouldn’t pretend that we don’t. I may not struggle with your sin. You may not struggle with my sin, but we each struggle with sin, and that sin brought Jesus to the cross.
Whether you’re a believer in Christ or not, I want you to repeat after me: I STRUGGLE WITH SIN. There. We’ve all said it. Don’t you feel better to admit it. Now, I’m not trivializing sin, but we’re just admitting that we’re all in the same boat. Now, turn to someone next to you and look them in the eye. Repeat after me. I STRUGGLE WITH SIN.
Let’s put aside this notion that any of us in this room have it all together. Now, this is not a reason to continue in sin. That’s clear in the Scriptures. We should run away from sin and allow the Holy Spirit to make us more like Jesus or sanctify us. If you’re a believer in Christ, you’re fallen, but God is restoring you. You were an old, rusted classic which was completely shot, but God is restoring you.
Are you pretending to be something which you’re not? Just be real. I’m not saying to blab everything about yourself to everyone else. Just be real. We need to be authentic.
You may fool some people, but God sees your heart. This group that confronted Jesus had an ulterior motive. Don’t have hidden agendas. Put all your cards on the table.
Transition: That sets us up for the main part of the message today. These religious and political pretenders had a well-thought-out question for Jesus to answer. Notice verse 17.
Matthew 22:17—“17 Tell us, then, what You think. Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar or not? Should we pay or shouldn’t we?” (CSB)
The tax to which they refer in this instance is the census tax which the Roman government imposed upon every adult. It was an annual reminder that they were subject to Rome. So this group plotted and schemed, and in their minds they thought that they’d devised a no-win situation for Jesus. However, the battle was the finite vs. the Infinite, the created vs. the Creator, the chumps vs. the Champ. If Jesus said, “Yes, you should pay the tax,” the people would turn against Him. If He said, “No, don’t pay that Roman tax,” then the Roman government would see Him as a revolutionary and turn against Him. Either way, the religious leaders and the Herodians would be happy.
We see Jesus’ divinity on display as He sees through their malice and hypocrisy and gives them the impossible answer which they could have never seen coming. Look at verse 18.
Matthew 22:18-22—18 Perceiving their crafty, malicious intent and knowing their hypocrisy, Jesus said, “Why are you testing Me, hypocrites? 19 Show Me the coin used for the tax.” They brought Him a denarius. 20 “Whose image and inscription is this? He asked them. 21 “Caesar’s,” they said to Him. Then He said to them, “Give, then, to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” 22 When they heard this, they were utterly amazed. So they became silent and left Him and went away. (CSB)
The opposition thought that they had a brilliant question with which to trap Jesus, but Jesus had a brilliant-er answer for them and gets them involved in the answer.
The Roman government insisted that everyone pay the Roman tax with a Roman coin—the denarius which had Tiberius Caesar’s image on it. Jesus asks for the coin and maybe holds it up saying, “Whose image and inscription is this?” They say, “Caesar’s.” Caesar’s image and inscription were on it, so Jesus is basically saying that since Caesar’s image and inscription are on the coin, “it may be regarded as belonging to him”[3] and would be right in giving it to him. Jesus says, “Give, then, to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” They were utterly amazed and had nothing to say in response.
Transition: Now let’s get to the heart of the message.
What is an image? [Point to the mirror.] If you walked over to that mirror, you’d see your reflection. When you look at yourself in the mirror or in a puddle of water like on the screen, where is the image? Your image is reflected on the surface of the mirror or on the surface of the water. Is the image actually you? No, the image is just a reflection of you. It represents you. In fact, when you see the man up there on the screen in front of the puddle, you’re really only seeing an image of the man. He’s not up there screaming “Get me down from here!”
Jesus never used words carelessly. He meant what He said. Each word was placed purposefully. When He asked for a denarius, He had a purpose. Jesus asked the question, “Whose image is on this coin?” He had a purpose. The image of Caesar was on the coin.
What about you? Whose image is on you? In whose image are you made? God’s! Jesus says, “Give to God what is God’s.” We are the image of God on the earth. Just as the Roman coin was Caesar’s image and was to be given back to him, so…
You are God’s coin and should be given back to Him.
You are God’s coin and should be given back to Him.
We should give it all to Him. Our lives are not made for earthly pleasures and treasures but for Him. We are coins minted with His image and inscription on our hearts, and we must render to God what is His—the whole coin—our whole selves.
As the Apostle Paul said in Romans 12:1, “…I urge you to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God; this is your true worship” (CSB). Sacrifices involved death. They used to involve killing a lamb or some other animal in the temple. Then it was the once-for-all sacrifice for all sins of the Son of God on the cross. But then God through Paul declares that we must present our whole selves as a sacrifice on the altar, not for our salvation but for our worship of God. This is the death of our selves—the death of the old man. The death of our will as we seek His will. This is giving God’s coin back to Him. Whose image is on you? God’s. Give it to Him.
Giving to God what is God’s is not merely your tithe, coming to worship, or attending Sunday School. It’s not merely a short-term mission trip or serving on a ministry team.
Giving to God what is God’s is placing yourself under the full Lordship of Christ—placing the whole coin of your life into the Lord’s hand for His use. That means that He has the full rights and privileges of being the owner of your life. (By the way, He has those rights anyway.)
Your career is not your own. Your house and possessions are not your own. Your family is not your own. Your church is not your own. Your plans are not your own. We must seek first His kingdom and His righteousness in all things.
This giving to God what is God’s involves us giving 100% of who we are to Him and His use. We surrender our complete selves to follow Him for the rest of our days.
Of course, we fail, fall, and take back the reins at times, but we must repent and re-surrender on a regular basis. We’ve already admitted that we struggle with sin, and hopefully we’ll struggle less with sin as we walk on with Christ. However, we will struggle for our lives long as we pursue Jesus, but we’ll continue surrendering.
Closing: “What If I Gave Everything?”
Closing: “What If I Gave Everything?”
“What If I Gave Everything?” by Casting Crowns
All my life, I longed to be a hero
My sword raised high, running to the battle
I was going to take giants down
Be a man you would write about
Deep in my chest is the heart of a warrior
So why am I still standing here?
Why am I still holding back from You?
I hear You call me out into deeper waters
But I settle on the shallow end
So why am I still standing here?
I’m so afraid of what it might cost to follow You
I’d walk by faith if I could get these feet to move
But I don’t want to live that way
I don’t want to look back someday
On a life that never stepped across the line
So why am I still standing here?
Why am I still holding back from You?
You’ve given me a faith that can move a mountain
But I’m still playing in the sand
Building little kingdoms that’ll never stand
I hear You call me out into deeper waters
But I settle on the shallow end
I’m so tired of standing here
What if I gave everything to You?
What if I gave everything?
[1] Serendipity Group Bible for Leaders: New Testament, p. 129.
[2] GREEN indicates material taken from Mark 12:13-17. PURPLE indicates material taken from Luke 20:20-26.
[3] Word Biblical Commentary