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Alright, now we jump into translation.
Matthew 22, verse number 15. We are getting out of parables
at this point. We did the three parables in
a row that are building on the risk
of rejecting God. Each of those connect one to
the other. And that's why we did them in
a broader study and not a more focused study. However, the thoughts of this
passage also go along with them. And set us up next week perfectly
to talk about the resurrection. So while this may feel like a
strange passage in the middle here, we're going to read verse 15
through 22 of Matthew chapter 22. Then went the Pharisees, and
took counsel how they might entangle him in his talk. And they sent
out unto him their disciples with the Herodians, saying, Master,
we know that thou art true, and teachest the way of God in truth.
Neither carest thou for any man, for thou regardest not the person
of men. Tell us, therefore, what thinkest
thou? Is it lawful to give tribute
unto Caesar or not? But Jesus perceived their wickedness
and said, Why tempt ye me, ye hypocrites? Show me the tribute money, and
they brought unto him a penny. And he saith unto them, Who is
the image and superscripture? And they say unto him, Caesar.
Then saith he unto them, Render therefore unto Caesar the things
which are Caesar's, and unto God the things which are God's. When they had heard these words,
they marveled and left Him and went their way. All right, let's
pray. Father, we thank You and praise
You, God, for all that You do. Thank You, Lord, for Your blessings
and for Your goodness. I pray, God, that You would help us,
Lord, just to be faithful unto You. I pray that, God, You would
help us, Lord, to understand this passage better and get some
things that will greatly help us in it. Father, we ask all
this in Your Son Jesus' name. Amen. Now, continuing the idea
of the risk of rejecting God, we've already seen three interactions
to see that they are rejecting God. Now they're at the point where
they're trying to figure out how they can kill him when they don't have the authority
to do it. and the crowds are not supporting
them doing it at this point. So their idea is to get the government
to do it for them. That's why it mentions they brought
the Herodians with them. Those are the followers and servants
of Herod the king. Herod, who is loyal to Caesar
because he likes his throne and his way of living. That's why God notes this specific
group being present for the interaction. They're hoping he will say something
that the Herodians can use against him to be able to go to Herod and
present him as a man who's trying to stir the people against the
government. And you see, they even lead him
with the question to try to get him to do that. That's what all this stuff about
you being, you know, not a respecter of persons and this kind of stuff
is about. I can just tell you this, when
somebody gives you a question, and they add a bunch of stuff
that is not necessary to the question, it's because they're trying to
lead you into an answer. And so in this case, you can
see that, that they want him to say something that will get
him in trouble. Now, if you just want to know
what I believe about something, you ask me plainly, what do you
believe about this? If you have to say, considering
all this other stuff, and knowing that the Bible says
this, what do you believe about this
subject? It's because you already have an answer you want me to
say and you're trying to get me to say that. That's what they're doing to
him. That's why I really don't like,
we've had it several times in the past, that somebody will come into
the church and they won't ask, do you do this? They'll say, why don't you do
this? And honestly, sometimes that's people's culture and the
way they talk. But over the years I've been
in ministry, that's been a pretty good indicator
of which person's gonna come in and try to stir up trouble. Not always the case, but many
times it is. Because they've come to you already
assuming that you're just going to do church their way. And they're following a tradition
instead of the truth. So that's why they ask, why don't
you? Because they just assume that this is right and you have
to follow what they believe. Now, saying all of that, Jesus' answer to them is very
simple. And I'm going to give you two
ways to understand this, one of which is very simplistic
and clear in the passage. But you know Jesus' answers are
usually far more deep than they seem on the surface. So I'm going to give you a deeper
understanding as well, hopefully. Now the much more shallow one is that concerning government
God expects you when you live in someone's land to as much as you are able abide
by the rules. And that goes down to the simplest
aspect of this. When you live in your parents
home You eat their food. You use their electricity. You
take all the benefits of living in their little world. It's expected that you honor
them and do your best to respect their rules. It's relevant if you're smarter
than them. It's relevant if you feel like you are better in any
way. I guess it's why most of the,
I got a few teenagers here, so I'll be nice to you guys, because
y'all are awake. I was getting ready to use you as the example. But the thing is, God expects
you, when you live in somebody's home, to honor that authority. Because
it's their home. They have that ownership. Therefore, they get to set the
rules. Now, that extends beyond that,
though. I mean, let's take it out a step further to one of
your next relationships. Local church. God has a church. Of course, that's the people.
Those people meet somewhere, so they have a building. That building belongs to that
assembly. That assembly is typically led
by a pastor. And they have rules by which
they conduct things. And maybe you believe something
different. Maybe you think it would be better if it was done
a different way. But God expects you to to the
best of your ability, honor that and respect those rules. Step that out further to the
government. And the same thing's true. You live in a land where
God says he's ordained and let this power be over it. And you may not like them. I
don't know many people who actually like any politicians. I know Christian politicians
and half of them I don't like. I'm not talking about the ones
who are like running for president and stuff in the US, I mean more
local guys. And I put the difference because
the big celebrity ones, they go to church once every four
years at election time. I mean, I know people who are
deacons in their church and faithful every Sunday. And I'll just be honest, half
of them I don't like, but it's not about politics, it's just personal
stuff. But my point is this, I don't
have to like them. I live in a land, now we'll focus
here because it's where I live now, I live in a land where that governing
body has been given authority over it. As much as people want to pretend
Romans 13 is not in the Bible, it is there. It's amazing to
me that in COVID that was everybody's favorite passage. But here we are a couple of years
later and everybody's like, oh, no, that's not in the Bible.
That's fake. It tells you how people weaponize
the Bible to get what they want, just like the Pharisees are doing
here. So here's the thing. While I'm
here, God says that the powers that be these higher powers God's
ordained the idea of government. And He's allowed these powers
to be over these lands. And yes, He removes them and
brings new ones in. He does that. You see, the Bible's full of
that. So it doesn't mean just because He puts someone in authority,
they'll always be there. I mean, Belgium still hasn't
actually decided on their official government yet after 200 years. And you're on, what, your 10th,
20th name in this area? I'm joking with you, but there's
been a lot of names for this piece of land right here. A lot of people know you were actually
the United States of Belgium at one time. That goes very far
back. But the point is, there's been
people living here for a very, very long time. So that some of the oldest cities
in the world can be found around this area. And governments have come and
gone. But while they were there, God has always expected the people
in that land To honor as they are able. Or
I should say obey as they are able. To honor regardless. You should have respect and not
say things inappropriately. Now, so you understand what are
you as you are able means? the highest authority in your
life gets to set the rules. And everybody who is under that
authority cannot override the rules of
the higher authority. So what that looks like is that in my home, I'm the head
of my home. I can make my rules, and I can
make some pretty silly rules if I want to. But I can't decide that it's
legal to lie or murder just because
I want to. I'm still subject to a higher
authority above me. Same thing here in the church.
I can't just decide that the church is free from every law. There's been a lot of pastors
end up in prison because they thought the church was exempt
from taxes. And many times the church is,
but the pastor wasn't. And so he decided to do something
illegal and he got in prison for it. Now, here's where the line ends
up. God is the highest authority. And so just like I can't tell
my children to steal and use the Bible to say they
have to obey me. because I'm trying to teach them
to go against the higher authority. Just like in a church, I can't
teach you to lie and then try to tell you I'm
the pastor, you have to listen to me. Because then I'm going against
the higher authority. Governments can't tell you that
you're not allowed to meet and worship or even many times how you worship
God. Because God's already given His
commandments of how to do that in the Bible. So anytime they give you a commandment
that requires you to disobey God, Daniel is your great example
of that. When he was told it was illegal
to pray, He was not rebellious. He was
not stubborn. He was not proud. He just said
that God is my authority. Like what Peter said, you judge
whether it's better I obey God or man. Or when they didn't get the point,
he said it again this way. We ought to obey God rather than
man. So Daniel went and prayed. Because
God already told him to do it, so there was nobody who could
supersede or go against God's command. Now, saying that, that's the
understanding you're supposed to take away from Romans 13, is that God put governments in
order for a reason. And if you're against government,
then you're disobedient to God. If you're against paying taxes,
you're disobedient to God. We may joke about politicians,
but if when you're actually seeing them, you're disrespectful to
them, you're disobedient to God. Now, if they ask you to do something
that requires you to disobey God, well, you have the higher authority.
So you know whose command you're to obey. But as long as you can
obey them and obey God, you're supposed to listen. Because God's given them the
authority to set their speed limits and all this kind of stuff. No. Where all of that comes back
into our passage is He's also given them the right
to charge you taxes. Because you live in their land.
You may own your home, but God gave them authority over that
land. And honestly, you only own it because their law allows
that. We've lived so long in countries
that allow ownership, we forgot that that was not a thing in
many times in the past. So, the point is this. God gave
them authority over this piece of dirt. And you may not like everything
they do, but you're expected to honor
it and obey it as much as you are able. That's why the verse leading
into this says, as much as lieth in, you
live peaceably with all men. So again, that doesn't mean disobey
God and use the government as your excuse. But that does mean that if they
have a regulation that God allows them to have, to honor that. And I know in Belgium, it's a
lot harder to preach paying your taxes than it is in the US. I
mean, you have the benefit that you
actually see your taxes go somewhere other than paying for people
to not work. I mean, they use it for that,
too. But you actually do get to see
something from it. Well, you pay, what, around 50%? We pay you around 10%. But we also see nothing. You can never complain about
your roads being broken until you go drive in certain parts
of the US. You can never complain about
health insurance or getting medical procedures unless you've been
in a country like that. Now I'm speaking to the Belgians,
not people who come from other places when I say that. Or the people who've lived here
so long you forgot what it was like anywhere else. So my point is this. What they
ask is crazy. And it's a evil thing at some
points that a man works and half his work goes to somebody else. But as of right now, they have
the authority to do that. So God says to pay tribute to
whom it's due. That's taxes. Now, you want to
apply that to your spiritual life. They get to charge you a percentage
of your income because you live in their land. God also has a percentage of
income, he asked, because you live in his world. It's the tithe. He asks 10%. And before you say, well, that
was under the law, tithes were paid way before there was ever
a law. Probably the first five times
you ever hear the word, there was no law. He even defines that it's 10%
before there's ever a law. telling us that Jacob gave the
tenth. And we see it practiced in 1
Corinthians 16 1 in the New Testament as well. In a Greek church in the middle
of Greece. So it's not a Jewish thing only. It's a you live in his world
This planted earth was created by him. The earth is his and the fullness
thereof. And there's nothing that you'll
ever eat that's not taken from his creation. There's not one breath you'll
ever draw that you're not taking from his creation. Every ray of sun you've ever
seen, you took from his creation. Unlike the government, he's not
going to put you in jail for not paying it. But he does tell you in Leviticus
2730. That it's as it's supposed to be wholly
unto him. And in Malachi 3, he tells Israel
they robbed him by not giving it to him. That they stole from him. Because
that was his property. That 10% is like a tax that he
expects. And there's a lot of good spiritual
reasons why he wants you to do that. Teaches thankfulness for all
that he provides. Teaches faith as you trust him
to take care of you as you give away part of it to him. It teaches you how to love God
more than things. There's a great many reasons
spiritually why He would ask such a thing. But thankfully for you, I'm not
here to preach on the tithes today. I'm just showing you how this
principle applies to whatever authority you are under. I mean, I don't charge my children
rent, but I could in most points if I wanted to. The problem is they don't have
money. So instead, I just make them
do stuff around the house and contribute. And whenever they ask me to open
food for them, I take a bite and tell them that's my 10%. Now, in the church, it belongs
to God, and that's why He uses the tithe to support it. So it's all tied back to what
I've already said about God and His land. Now, I've already told you that's
the basic understanding of what He's saying. He says, you're using Caesar's
currency. You didn't make that coin. Caesar
made that. That's why his face is on it.
He's the authority behind that money. Why is he the authority? Because
he's the one who is, first of all, in control of the land. But it's literally his currency.
He produced it. You're using someone else's product
and then complain about the rules they put on it? I mean, every website you ever
use, you agree to the terms and agreements and don't even read
them. So don't tell me you have problems
using people's products on their terms. Honestly, when you start talking
about things like Facebook and their censorship, that all applies. It's their product. You pay nothing
for it. They're not obligated to let
you say or do whatever you want on it. I don't like censorship. But you have to understand, you
live in a free country, that doesn't mean every platform is free. You're free to go say most anything
you want in the center if you'd like. But you're not free to stand
up here and say it. There's a whole lot of stuff
that people aren't allowed to say on this property. Because this is a church and
it's not the place for you to promote whatever you want. Do you understand? All those rules are normal. They're
typical. God expects you to obey Him because
there is an authority. There is a governing body. And as you're taking the benefits
of that, God expects you to honor that. Otherwise, we're rebels. I mean,
that's what the word means. But where does the deeper understanding
begin? Jesus asked them to bring Him
the coin. And He asked them a simple question.
Whose image is on this coin? And they said, well, it's Caesar's.
He said, well, if Caesar's image is on this, then it's Caesar's right to do
what he wants to do. Because it bears his image, and it is therefore his property. Now, he just said this to a group
of people who we've spent the last three weeks understanding
that they're rejecting his authority. And every one of them were supposed
to be scholars in the Word of God. So if the object lesson is this, the person whose image you bear is the authority over you, then whose image do they bear?
Whose image do they bear? Are they not made in the image
of God? I mean, surely they ought to know
that much of the Bible. You don't have to finish chapter
one to get that. Let me give you some verses real
quick. As I've mentioned verses, but I haven't actually read many
to you today. Genesis 1, 26 and 27. And God said, let us make man
in our image after our likeness and let them have dominion over
fish of the sea and over the fowl of the air and over the
cattle and over all the earth and over every creeping thing
that creepeth upon the earth. Genesis 1.26, you have it on
your verse list. Go to the end of the verse list. Genesis 1.26 and 27. I stay up
half the night to make verse lists for people to ignore them. So God created man in His own
image, in the image of God created He Him, male and female created
He them. Genesis 5 verse 1 and 2. This is the book of the generation
of Adam, and the day that God created man in his likeness,
God made he him, male and female, created he them, and blessed
them and called their name Adam in the day they were created. Part of what's intended when
God says he made man in his own image is the idea that we are a triune
being like he is. That's why he suddenly begins
to speak in the plural in that verse. Let us make man in our image. to emphasize that. And you are
a body, a soul, and a spirit. But so many times we focus on
that that we forget the word image means a physical appearance.
I mean, a graven image is a picture carved in stone, an appearance that's been carved
for you to look at it like a statue. And that's why he says in the second
passage there in Genesis 5.1, he created man in his likeness. He's giving you a synonym. So make sure you understand this,
that He's not only talking about your, like, being a triune being, but the idea that God has an
appearance like unto you. We don't believe that God has
an appearance like unto man because we're men and so therefore
He must look like us. We don't believe he looks like
any of the animals. We don't believe he looks like
some crazy idea floating out in space. We believe that he looks like
us because he made us look like him. And that is what's being said
here, plainly. You only struggle with that because
some preacher told you that it doesn't mean that. Because the word image means
an appearance. You use it that way everywhere
else in the Bible. It's only when it's about this
that people struggle with it. The proof for you is very simple.
When Israel saw the outline of God sitting in heaven, what did
they see? It was the outline of a man sitting
upon his throne. When he told Moses, you can't
handle seeing the fullness of my glory, what did he say? I'll put my hand over top of
the stone. I'll pass by and you can see
my back. Every time God's described in
the Bible, He's described as having an appearance similar
to us. The thing that's important to
understand is we don't believe that because we're men, so therefore
He must look like us. We believe that He made us in
His image. that He set us separate from
all of creation in this point. That like Him, we are a body,
a soul, and a spirit. And like Him, we have a certain
appearance. 1 Corinthians 11 actually takes
that as one of the main points of the passage. It says, for man indeed ought
not to cover his head for as much as he is the image and glory
of God, but the woman is the glory of the man. Try looking at the other side
of the paper. 11-7. Now, I'm giving you a verse that's
taken completely of its context, so understand that. So I would greatly encourage
you to sit down and read the whole chapter. But what the passage is about
is about women letting their hair grow a certain way. Because your own nature tells
you that there's a way a woman should look. And men not letting their hair
grow long. Because your own nature tells
you that it's shameful when a man has long hair. And if you want any proof that
you already understand that no matter how much you don't like
it. In Revelation, When he's describing
that army, he says they have hair like women.
What does that mean? You already know what that means.
It doesn't speak to color. It doesn't speak to being decorated. You read that and you know automatically
he means they have long hair. because your own nature tells
you that. So that's the context where he's
making this statement. Now before you get upset because
he mentions man being made in the image of God, the woman being the glory of
the man, there's an explanation in the passage what he means
there as well. He explains that the woman was
created from the man. Now men are born from women,
but it's a balance in all of it. But the point he's making is
that God has the appearance like a man as a male in that passage. He doesn't look like a woman
when he's sitting on his throne. Now, this shouldn't offend you.
I mean, God refers to himself as he and him every time he speaks
in the Bible. He's not insulting women in the
passage. He's just saying if you looked at him physically,
he's going to look like a man and not a woman. He doesn't have long hair. Catholic
church can draw it that way all they want, but he doesn't have
it. His muscular structure is going
to be much more in line that with a male. So much that when they see just
his outline in the heavens, they know that looks like a man sitting
on a throne. Because when he says we're made
in his image, he means that he gave us an appearance that bears
resemblance to him. And he's not saying women don't
have that. He's saying that if you're arguing the difference
between does he look like a man or a woman, he looks like a man. But that shouldn't surprise you
if you've read the Bible. It would only surprise you if
you got a lot of doctrine off of YouTube and stuff like that. So saying that The question remains. If the coin belongs to Caesar
because his image is on it. If God's image is impressed upon
you, who do you belong to? That's the object lesson he's
given. Yes, surface speaking, he tells
them about governments and honoring governments. But deeper, he's making the point
to you. You don't look like animals. You don't look like the angels.
You look like God, your creator. And if you bear his image, then
who are you supposed to belong to? Who is intended to be the governing
body over your life? Who are you supposed to be serving? The one whose image you bear. The reason why he's the authority
is because he's the creator. He made you. And he has every
right to expect you to obey him. So long as you bear his image, You carry His likeness, it's expected that you will obey Him. Just
like I expect my children that look like me to obey me and the
ones that look like Laura to act like her. When I see Eliana, she looks
just like Jonas, I don't expect her to listen to me for nothing. No, I see whose image she bears. Never been a child look more
like their parent. In appearance, not in attitude.
She gets that from her mother. Her closest competition I know
may be Emily and Lori, but... But the point is, I can look
and tell who's supposed to be the authority in her life. I see who she looks like. Every person, just about, who's
ever walked in this church and sees Josiah, He says, oh,
I met your son. They don't know that I have a
son. They've had no formal introduction.
And there's a whole lot of difference between me and him. At this point,
I have my teeth, he doesn't. That'll change in a few years. I don't have hair, he does. There's
a big weight and height difference between the two of us. But there is a clear image that
he bears. And you know who's supposed to
be the authority over him. So this goes even one step deeper.
Not just how you naturally look. but how you submit to appearing
and acting as if you are a Christian. How do you submit to letting
God be the authority in your life? So that you look like God's the
authority in your life.
Rejecting God's Ownership - Bro. Junior Haley
| Sermon ID | 331241054455432 |
| Duration | 47:20 |
| Date | |
| Category | Sunday Service |
| Language | English |
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