Summary
Pastor Jon Noyes preaches out of Luke 20:19–26, showing how the religious leaders attempt to trap Jesus with a political question about taxes, but He answers with wisdom that exposes their hypocrisy. He reminds us that while Caesar can lay claim to coins, God lays claim to our entire lives, for we bear His image and belong wholly to Him.
Transcript
Today we're picking back up in Luke, Chapter 20, verse 18 through 26. If you guys remember last week, Pastor David, he started a passage in the Scriptures where things are really going to start in the quicken towards the cross. The religious establishment and authority had gone and started really pressing into Jesus. David started a kind of a six-week sermon at, if you would, a section of sermons for six weeks. We're going to be looking at challenges that are brought to Jesus in succession, right in a row. Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom. This morning is our second of the six. This last week was the challenge of the Vindressa. All of them are geared towards questioning Jesus in different ways, legal, philosophical, theological. So just have that in the background as we go through this morning's passage. I'm going to read verse 19. David preached on it, but I just want to stay in the context here and go through 26. And then we'll pray and see where we go. The scribes and the chief priests tried to lay hands on him and talk about Jesus, that very hour, and they feared the people. For they understood that he spoke this parable against them. So they watched him and sent spies who pretended to be righteous in order that they might catch him in some statement so that they could deliver him to the rule and the authority of the governor. They questioned him, saying, "Teacher, we know that you speak and teach correctly, and you're not partial to any, but teach the way of God in truth. Is it lawful for us to pay taxes to Caesar or not?" But he detected their trickery and said to them, "Show me a denarius. Whose likeness and inscription does it have?" They said, "Caesars." And he said to them, "Then render the Caesar the things that are Caesar's and to God the things that are God's." And they were unable to catch him in a saying in the presence of the people and being amazed at his answer, they became silent. Holy Father, what a privilege it is to stand here and, gosh, just do this. To talk to you, to pray to you, the God who's there. Not only are you the God who's there, but you're present. You are in the here and now. So Father, we just pray that you're glorified in our time here, that you're honored through the preaching of your word. Hold me steadfast and true to the principles that you would have for us. And would we all be growing towards the likeness of your Son? That's our prayer, Lord, that through the hearing and the preaching of your word, tonight as we lay our heads down on our pillows, we would just look a little bit more like Jesus. So move us in that direction, God. Continue the work that you've started. We love you in Christ's name. Amen. So this morning's passage is a famous one. Who he is familiar with, can you raise your hands? I know this is odd for you guys to participate, but I like the participation. Yeah, most of us are familiar with this passage. I wish when Jesus asked the question, I wish it wasn't like a rhetorical thing, I wish he just said, "Hey, you know what? You don't need to pay taxes." Wouldn't that be awesome? I wish, but that's not what he says, you know. I think oftentimes when we see this passage, it's a little bit misunderstood. The religious leaders, what they're trying to do here is they're trying to trap Jesus with a legal and political question. Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar or not? That's kind of the thrust behind it, and it sounds simple enough, but it is a trap. If Jesus said yes, then what was going to happen is the Jewish people would have seen him as siding with their Roman oppressors. And if Jesus had said no, the Romans could arrest him for treason. And either way, it seems like this is a really great question, one that leaves Jesus with no out, no good answer. Either way, Jesus loses. And I think in the background, it's important to understand what the tax that they're talking about is for. It's not just a normal, everyday tax. It's about a specific tax. It's what's called the head tax, is what they're referring to. And a denarius, a specific tax that's paid with a denarius, and it's paid once a year, and it's a sign of submission to Rome. So it's not just so that they can pave the roads, they can get your electricity going, they can get your plumbing to your house, they can afford public schools, whatever it might be that we associate taxes with. When you pay this tax specifically, historically, what it means is I submit to the authority of the Roman leadership and everything that that entails. And 25 years early, if you flip forward to Acts, we're not going to do it this morning, but we hear of this guy, Judas the Galilean. Judas the Galilean, 25 years earlier, he led a revolt over this very tax. And he told the Jews to refuse the payment, and then what he did is he went into the temple and he cleansed it and declared that God alone is king. Does that sound familiar? So in the background of the audience, this is recent history. They have Judas the Galilean in their minds, a man who told them not to pay a tax, who went into the cleanse, to cleanse the temple, and then cause a revolt. And so they're putting that on top of the picture of Jesus when this question is asked. Now here we have Jesus, and he has just himself cleansed the temple. So when they ask him about this tax, they're not asking about money. They're asking if he's another revolutionary, if he's another Judas the Galilean, is Jesus going to lead revolts? But Jesus, as always, he never plays their game. He gives an answer that's both profound and thoroughly unsettling. He's rendered the sees of the things that are seizes, and then rendered the God the things that are gods. So keep in mind as we dive in deep here, this isn't about taxes at all actually. It's about a deeper issue of authority. It's about a deeper issue of worship. It's about a deeper issue of alliance and allegiance. So let's look at verse 20. You know the leaders, they love this. They sent spies. Who pretended to be what? They pretended to be righteous. In other words, they were playing this game, this religious and moral game. Outwardly they approached Jesus with respect. "Teach ya. You teach rightly. You show no partiality." But it was all just flattery, a mask from Alice. I remember when I met Rihanna and fell madly in love the moment I met her, we started the date, and eventually she took me up to San Ines where her parents lived. So it was a time to meet her parents. And I was always really good at meeting the parents. I knew how to present myself, so of course I stopped at the flower shop on the way up, and I got Starburst Lilies. Yes, I knew the name because I was really good at meeting parents, especially the moms. And I knew that Debbie, my future mother-in-law, her favorite flower were Starburst Lilies. So I brought her a bunch and I walked in the door with this big bouquet of beautiful flowers, and she's all about it. "John, this is amazing. Oh my gosh, she's my favorite flower." I said, "Oh, they are. This is so great." And Tom, he grabs my hand and he pulls me in close and he whispers in my ear, "Eddie Haskell." [laughter] For the young ones who don't know who Eddie Haskell was, he was a suck-up. You know, a brown-noser, somebody who just did something to earn the affections of somebody, even if you don't really mean it. And I mean, Tom wasn't completely wrong, but he also wasn't completely right. I was trying to be a nice person, but Eddie Haskell, and that was his word for me throughout, like, well, now almost 20 years of marriage, you know, Eddie Haskell, you brown-noser. It was amazing, but that's exactly what's happening here, and Jesus sees through it. You know, the religious establishment are coming and they're playing this game and they're pretending something, and they're flattering Jesus. They're buttering him up, so to speak, and Jesus, he saw right through it, just like Tom saw right through me. And then Luke tells us in verse 23, he perceived their craftiness, their cunningness. And this is nothing new, by the way. This is built into human nature since Genesis 1.3. It's something that we all do. I mean, you cannot admit it to yourself, but you're just lying to yourself. God knows, and in fact, in Proverbs 29.5, God warns, "A man who flatters his neighbor spreads a net for his feet." Their words weren't meant to be on... Then these words here that the religious establishment are saying to Jesus, they weren't meant to honor Christ. They were meant to trap him. So there's a false motive going on. And then I think there's a challenge in this for you and me as we sit here today. This passage did a number on me this week, if I'm just honest. I was really, really busy this week. I on Tuesday flew to Colorado and taught all day on Wednesday. And then Thursday morning, I got the first flight out of Denver. So I was up at, gosh, I left my cabin at 3 o'clock in the morning and got on the first flight. And then as I'm on the flight, I'm like, "Man, I got to write this sermon." And I've been studying the passage. And maybe it was in the tiredness that I was feeling. Maybe it was in the... Maybe it was a form of desperation that I had to get this sermon written. Felt the pressure of it that I opened myself up, or God opened me up probably to be kind of, well, I guess, transformed by the words. And a few things just kind of popped out. You know, hypocrisy, it's not just out there in the Pharisees. These accounts that we're reading are true accounts. They're about real people, and real people have real qualities. And these qualities are shared. They're not just unique to the Pharisees, the Sadducees. The hypocrisy that they exhibit here can live also in us. We can cloak unbelief with religious words. We can say the right things while our hearts, they remain distant from God. So here we are, we're using our mouths to proclaim a certain thing. But do we actually believe the things that we're saying? Have we allowed the words that fall on us every Sunday morning to transform us? And then as we are transformed, are we allowing the work that's been done here on Sunday mornings to continue throughout the week and then manifest themselves in our daily living? You see, Jesus, though, he's not fooled by flattery. And he wasn't fooled then. And he's not fooled now. It makes no sense to flatter Jesus for flattery's sake. He saw through it with the Pharisees, and he sees through it in our own lives. And what's Jesus do? Well, he asks them to show him a denarius. A denarius is a Roman coin. And have you guys ever seen a denarius, by any chance, in person? Sometimes you can see them online, or you can definitely see them online, but at the Reagan Library, they sometimes they might have in their exhibit on the Dead Sea Scrolls right now. They're really cool, right? But inscribed on it, like it would have been stamped with an image. And whose image is on it? Do you guys know? Caesar, Tiberius Caesar. Yeah, but along with Tiberius Caesar's image, the picture of him, there'd be some words. Words like Tiberius Caesar, son of the divine, Augustus. And then on the flip side, it would be Pontifix, Maximus, High Priest. And think about that with me. I wish I had one that could pass around, but then one of you guys would probably steal it. No, you wouldn't steal it, would you? Because you're a good Christian people. They put it in the offering. Yeah, like think about it. You know, the coin wasn't just political. It was theological propaganda. It claimed that Caesar was a son of God and in the world's high priest. And when Jesus says whose likeness is on the coin and the answer, Caesar's, they're admitting something. By carrying the coin in their pocket, they're already participating in Caesar's system. A faulty system. And that's why Jesus, he replies, then rendered the Caesar the things that a Caesar's. And this wasn't, it wasn't compromise. It's scripture. Right? Ecclesiastes 8, 2 says, "Keep the king's command because of God's oath to him." And Paul, he's going to echo this sentiment in Romans 13 that we should be subject to governing authorities. We should pay taxes and respect to the law. Why? Well, because God's the one who raises up rulers and holds them accountable. The government is on whose shoulders? Jesus is. Friends, Jesus is Lord. He was Lord then, and he's Lord now. Even of the government, we're going to get there. I'm trying really hard, by the way, in this sermon, not to get myself in trouble with my own political comments. So, I hope you guys offer me grace. But in this moment, we can learn from Jesus again, right? Jesus, in his answer, he avoids three political traps. He avoids the trap of political simplicity. You see the Pharisees, they want a yes/no answer. A side to join. No, but Jesus, he won't be boxed in. He refuses the simplistic answer. Have you guys ever been put in that position where the person that you're speaking to, especially around political or social issues, they want a yes/no answer? Well, sometimes yes/no doesn't cut it. So, Jesus, he avoids the trap of political simplicity, but he also avoids the trap of political complacency. Jesus, he won't let his followers check out like the Aseans who abandoned society and started their own thing. What he's doing is he's showing, by example, that his followers have to engage faithfully in the political system that's around. We can't fall in the political complacency. So, he avoids the trap of political simplicity and political complacency, but he also avoids the trap of political primacy. Jesus will not let politics become the ultimate. It's certainly not the ultimate as if salvation comes by human power like the zealots thought. Politics matter, but it's not everything is what Jesus is showing us here. And I think that this is so relevant for our lives today, because I know my temptation, at least, maybe you guys are better than me, that might be, but our temptation is the same. You know, to make Jesus endorse one political party or the other, or to make him a mascot for our own personal or political gender of the party that we find ourselves aligning with, Jesus, he doesn't fit in the boxes, guys. He demands something deeper than a political box. But that's not the end. Jesus, he adds this, "So, you give to Caesar what seizes, and now it gets really good." Because he doesn't leave it there. He says, "Give to God what's God's." You know, in Genesis 1, 26, and 27, God tells us what's his. As he says that he created man in his image, in the image of God he created him. Male and female, he created them. You see, God's, they bear seizes, I mean coins, they bear seizes image, but we bear the image of God. Caesar, he can lay claim to taxes, but God lays claim to you and to me and our entire life. And then this is brilliant. I wonder if you guys see the brilliance of this answer here. Jesus is so smart. Smart. Smart. He's smart. That sounds so weird. But he is, he's really intelligent. They ask about money, but Jesus, he looks past it and he turns it into something much deeper. He turns it into a question of worship. Caesar's authority, it's limited. God's authority though is total. And this is the, if you think about it, the first true articulation of a limited government. Caesar has his place, but his place is limited and he can give, he can have his taxes, but he can't have your worship. He can demand coins, but he can't demand your soul. And friends, keep in mind that not everything Caesar thinks is his, is in fact his. So the real question isn't about our wallet, it's about our hat. What belongs to God? Everything. Everything. Your life, our allegiance, our hat. You friends, as you sit here, you're stamped. You're stamped with the image of God. He's made you in his image. And because he's made you in his image, that means you sit here and you belong to him. I love, I think it was John Piper who said, you know, God, there's nothing that which God looks at and does not say mine. Is that Kuiper? The rhymes with Piper. He's just a little older. Thank you. There's nothing that which God looks upon and does not say mine. It's a great thing to be in the service of a God like that. So the question for me is, are we giving God what belongs to him? Are we giving God our worship, our obedience? Are we giving him everything in us, our entire selves? And now, does this mean that we have to divide our lives into compatments? You know, Caesar over here and God over there? No, in fact, I think that's actually where we get ourselves into an awful lot of trouble. Everything is theological if you think about it. Because especially in politics, everything having to do with politics is moral. And everything that's moral has a God's significance to it. And Luke, he emphasizes this point. He says, Caesar's rights are real, but they're limited. But God's claim is total, unlimited. And in friends, I think it's important that we keep in mind even Caesar doesn't determine what's Caesar. Well, even Caesar doesn't determine what's Caesar's. God determines what Caesar's. God says what Caesar has. And Caesar has to answer the same God that we all have to answer, the true and the living God. You see, Caesar is not a Lord. There's only one of those, and his name is Jesus. And that means if Caesar demands what God forbids or forbids what God commands, we obey God. And I mean, there's example after example after example to us, given in the New and the Old Testament, right? I think of Daniel's friends refusing to bow at the feet of Nebuchadnezzar and in Daniel 3. And I think of Peter and John, especially Peter and John in Acts. I mean, in Acts 5, where they say that we must obey God rather than man. There's a testimony here. There's an example for us to look to that we always obey God when there's a conflict between what he says and what God says. And Jesus, he's launching here what, and I love Tim Keller on this whole topic. I've been thoroughly influenced by Keller on this. Tim Keller says that what Jesus launches here is a revolutionary revolution. A revolution unlike Judas the Galilean that we talked about as we intro the passage this morning. This isn't a revolution that that ceases power, but one that gives it away. It's not a revolution that chases worldly values like success, recognition, comfort, power, or money. But it overturns these things. A worldly revolution simply rearranges who has power. But Jesus' revolution changes the very definition of power. His kingdom is not of this world, not here, not yet. Jesus introduces, with Jesus comes the kingdom, but it's not fully realized. But he doesn't obey worldly systems of power. He turns them on their head. And Luke tells us in verse 26 that Jesus' enemies were astonished and they were left speechless. Why? Well, because Jesus, he didn't fall for the trap. He didn't reject Caesar and then he also didn't compromise God. Instead, what he did is he exposed the hats of the establishment and revealed God's claim on their lives. And I think that that's often the challenge for us. You know, let's remember whose image is on you. And to whom do you belong? So what's it mean through this whole thing to renda in light of these things? What's it mean to renda to God the things that are God's? Because for me, at least it's not that easy. It's complicated. It can be. How do we renda to God what's God's? Well, first is that we give him worship. All of our worship. No Caesar, no state, no ideology is Lord. Only Christ is. So the first Christian confession was not Caesar is Lord. It's Jesus is Lord. So first step is we give him all of our worship. The second thing is we give him all of our life. Romans 12 1 calls us to present our bodies as a living in a holy sacrifice. Our whole life belongs to God because why we bear his image. And more than that, friends, remember that God, he's purchased us. He's purchased us at a price. God, he gave to the world his son to die on a cross. Taking us out of darkness and into his marvelous light. We are God's and because we are God's and have been purchased, we owe him our entire life. We give it to him freely. Third, give God our witness, our whole witness. Rendering to God means that we refuse to compromise. We don't seek the world's approval. We don't ever compromise truth. And then friends, we don't panic when the world rages. I feel like sometimes we fall into that trap. When the world seems to be going crazy out there, of course they're going crazy out there, guys. They don't see the reality rightly. But instead of raging against that, it should cause us to move towards that. Like, think about it. So in the morning, I pray really, really quickly because I usually wake up later than everybody else because I go to bed later and I'm tired and a net is usually jumping on my head or something. And normally included in my prayer, I say something, my kids don't even really know this because I'm just praying in my mind, it's the day stats. I'm saying, "Lord God, this is the day that you've made unique and special. Thank you for including me in your plan. Thank you for purchasing me and then thank you that there are no returns on your economy. I thank you for transforming me out of the person that I was and into the person that you would have me to be. And Lord God, today would you allow me to see, and this is key, I say, "Lord, today would you allow me to see people as you see them?" You see people out there that seem to be going nuts as the world rages, they're raging because they're lost. The Bible says that they're blind. And instead of getting angry at them, "Could I challenge you this morning and have sympathy on them?" Not pity, but sympathy because they don't know the Master. Because they're still operating according to a wrong worldview and a hard heart. And they're blind, and if they're blind, think about it this way guys, if you walk out in the streets and you're in downtown, I don't know, Thousand Oaks or Camarillo, wherever you live, you're down there and you see a blind guy wandering around the street, bumping in the stuff causing chaos. Are you going to walk over him and be like, "Get out of my way, blind man!" "What's wrong with you? Why are you so blind?" No, I hope not at least. I hope if you see a blind man knocking things over in a store out on the street, I hope you walk over to him and say, "Hey, I realized you're having some trouble navigating this place." "Perhaps I can help you because I can see." "Would you like to take my arm and I can walk you to where you need to be?" And that's how we should view people around us. Instead of getting upset and anxious when the world rages around all around us, move towards them with the understanding that they're just lost. They're blind. And allow that to break our hearts and move towards them with understanding. Because guess what? Each and every one of you were once blind. Each and every one of you were once lost and raged against the things of God. So we want to give him our witness. We want to give him our life and we want to give him our worship. That's how we render to God the things that are God's because we, our whole being, are gods. And then I'm going to wrap up here, but there's an irony in this whole entire scene. And Caesar claimed to be the Son of God and the High Priest. His coins proclaimed his power and demanded everyone's allegiance. But standing right in front of the Pharisees on that day, I don't know what it was, a Tuesday? On that Tuesday afternoon, you know, standing right in front of the Pharisees was the true Son of God and the true High Priest. You know, two kings are set before us this morning. Caesar, who minted all the coins in the empire and then Jesus, the king without even the denarius to his name. And think about that with me. This is astonishing. When Jesus asks, "Show me a coin." It's because he doesn't have a coin to show. He doesn't have one. Caesar has all the quarters in the world and Jesus doesn't have one quarter, not one single one in his pocket. Why? Because his kingdom isn't built on money and it's not built on coercion. It's built on grace. You see, every revolution in this world is about getting power, success, recognition and comfort. But Jesus' revolution, revolutionizes revolutions. It flips those values upside down on their head. His climax as king isn't when he's elected, but when he's executed. And in that execution, he launches the one revolution that can never be suppressed or stopped. So why is Jesus a king without a quarter? Well, because he's a poor, rejected and a person without comfort. He's not a political statement. He's not even really an example of altruism. He's an example of the only person who could give what we can't give everything perfectly for you. You see, on the cross, Jesus took the poverty, rejection and judgment that we deserve so that we could inherit the wealth of God's acceptance, the joy of his recognition, the security of his eternal kingdom. And that's the revolution of grace. And then here's the point. Jesus doesn't hand you a political agenda. Because if he did, you'd still be king, choosing what to accept or reject. Instead, he calls you to deal with him. His answer about Caesar is intentionally ambiguous because he wants you to make him Lord first. Only when he's king will the way you approach politics and everything else for that matter be transformed. And it will change you, by the way. I've never met anybody in my entire life, in all my travels, I've never met anybody whose politics are not changed one way or the other by Jesus. So what do we do? Well, we give Caesar what belongs to Caesar. And we give to God what belongs to God. No Caesar, no what, he can get your taxes. But he can never get your worship. Only God gets that. Because only God is worthy. And then that brings us to this table that's placed before us this morning. At this table, we see the king who gave everything away for us, who didn't even have a quarter to his name. His body was given, his blood was poured out. Not to tax us, but to save us. Not to burden us, but to give us rest. And here we don't come with coins in our pockets. We come with open hands ready to receive grace. And this meal is our declaration of allegiance. Every time we eat this bread and we drink this cup, we're saying with the earliest Christians, Jesus, you are Lord, not Caesar. Not money. Not political power. Not power in general. Only Jesus is Lord. So as you come to this table today, remember, you bear the image of God. You've been bought with Christ's blood. Surrender to God what's God's, your whole self. Because the king without a quarter has given everything for you. Let's pray. Father, I thank you for the opportunity to worship at your altar. We love you. Help us love you more than each other better. In Christ's name.