♪ I delivered you from trouble ♪ ♪ When you sought me for relief ♪ ♪ God-ordained place of wonder ♪ ♪ I give thee to your request ♪ ♪ And on flowing streams ♪ God shall be among you. But my people would not listen Would not do what I required Let us turn now to God's Holy Word. The word which every generation is called to hear. The word which speaks to eternal situations, to everyday situations, to everything in between. And the passage before us certainly speaks to many things. Mark chapter 12, verses 13 through 17. What does it mean to render? Mark chapter 12, beginning at verse 13, reading to verse 17. And they sent to him some of the Pharisees and some of the Herodians to trap him in his talk. And they came and said to him, teacher, we know that you are true and do not care about anyone's opinion, for you are not swayed by appearances, but truly teach the way of God. Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar or not? Should we pay them or should we not? But knowing their hypocrisy, he said to them, why put me to the test? bring me a denarius and let me look at it. And they brought one. And he said to them, whose likeness and inscription is this? They said to him, Caesar's. Jesus said to them, render to Caesar the thing that are Caesar's and to God, the things that are God's. And they marveled at him. Dear congregation of our Lord Jesus Christ, the desire to get rid of Jesus, to discredit Jesus, even to kill Jesus or to have him killed is a strong and mutually shared desire, such that those who do not get along with one another, and we know to this day that it is quite typical that when there is political disagreement, it is difficult to get along with other persons. Well, was that the same in this day? Yes, it was. But the Herodians, the Pharisees with very different political views are united in their opposition to Jesus Christ and here they come and this is in the midst of a series of attempts to to trap Jesus to snare Jesus to to get him to say something wrong, to get him to say something which would bring opposition against him. And we have seen, we even looked ahead last week at the Sadducees and their question. We've seen a couple weeks ago, a few weeks ago, the authority of Jesus challenged. And it's not always explicitly stated what they're doing, but here it is, here it is. We don't even have to have the implication. Why did they come? Why did these two groups who can't get along with each other, the politically minded Herodians and the Pharisees who disagree with those strong political views that tie to Roman authority, the Pharisees who would rather not speak about these things out loud because they want to be popular with the people, why are they united to trap him in his talk? They're united because even though there are many different ideas in this world, one idea which will always bring opposing viewpoints together is this, to oppose God, to oppose the Son of God on earth. And so in the midst of this series of attempts, one coming one day, another coming another day, one trying this way, another trying that way, Here comes the political attempt, the political ambush. On one side, an affirmative answer of Jesus Christ, yes, pay taxes to Caesar will make the zealots angry. And there's even a greater risk at this very time because it's the time of Passover. And so there are all kinds of hot-headed Galileans in town and there are more zealots than usual in town. And so if Jesus gives simple affirmative answer it will not be received well by the crowd on the other hand if Jesus gives a negative answer if he says no do not pay taxes to Caesar well the Gospel of John has told us that for a long time already the people have been ready to crown Jesus a king that's the kind of answer that would spark a rebellion and while While a lowly person might be able to get away with saying that to just a very few people, a public figure such as Jesus making such a statement publicly, that would bring the wrath of the Roman government. Surely it would. It would lead to death. You see, it's a political ambush. It's a question that will bring opposition to Jesus in one way or another. It is a trap. Not with the objective of learning, but with the objective of snaring. And it is in to this context that Jesus speaks a clear word. And that while Caesar is not all that Caesar claims to be, still the rule is we are commanded to submit to governing authorities. When we see this, we'll look at these traps, even as we've already defined them somewhat, and then we'll look at responsibilities clearly laid out by Jesus Christ. So first again that this is a trap, a trap with united opposition. These Herodians, these Pharisees, not usually ones who would get along, just as Pharisees and Sadducees would not normally get along. But the Sadducees, they also have their crack at Jesus in verses 18 and following. They do not like Jesus. They are angry with Jesus. Think just of the triumphal entry of Jesus. There are shouts that He is King. Well, that doesn't make the Rhodians happy. There are shouts that He is God. Well, that doesn't make the Pharisees happy. And then there's another thing. We know that these religious leaders were very much concerned with the popularity of the people, with having their influence over the people. Jesus lays this clearly out before us in the Gospels. And so they're angry of God, they're jealous of God on earth. They don't like what Jesus does. They're envious of the influence which Jesus has. So they unite now in their opposition against him. And it is, indeed, an evil opposition in his very character. They come to trap him. Matthew 22 gives this detail in Matthew 22, 18, that they come with malice. That's how Matthew describes it. Luke 20, verse 23, describes them as coming with craftiness, and surely we see that craftiness in the words, don't we? Teacher, we know that you are true and that you do not care about anyone's opinion. Well, it is true. Jesus speaks openly. He does not shy away from difficult questions, but it's said in really a diabolical sense. There's no honesty about it. It's basically going to be summarized in this way. We're going to ask you a question that there's no easy answer to, and we know that because you're an honest man, you'll answer it. I mean, every indication we have is that the Pharisees did not like these taxes, but they were afraid to speak against them publicly. because they still liked their public position. You see, they wanted to maintain their popularity with the people. They wanted to be, we might say, privately opposed to these taxes, but they didn't want to lose their privileged status and bring the Roman government against them, so they just kind of avoid this. They don't want to say anything about it. But this is Jesus, you'll give an honest answer, won't you? And we really want you to give an honest answer because we know whatever you say, somebody's not gonna like it. Craftiness is how Luke describes it. And then Mark pulls these ideas of malice, of wickedness and craftiness together and simply says this, that they are hypocrites and that Jesus knows this knowing their hypocrisy, verse 15. And so they ask that two-sided question, that question where Jesus gives the affirmative answer, yes, pay taxes, all of the zealots and all the hot-headed Galileans in town are not going to like that answer. If he says, no, do not pay taxes, he's going to bring the Romans down upon him. We see in the Herodians and really in the Pharisees, what do we see? We see a heart and a mind set on worldly things, on political things. Applications really come quite easily from this. People of God, do not take your political allegiance too seriously. Be a Christian, not a Herodian, not a Trumpian, not a Democrat, not a Republican. Have awareness of what is going on. Exercise your right to vote, which we have in these nations. These things are all appropriate. Fight for things like the right to life and for basic human freedoms, but do not let your politics define you. Let your allegiance to God define you. Again, I'm not saying don't vote, don't think about these things, but it's a sad reality. It's a sad reality that the Church of Jesus Christ the church broadly speaking in our nation, just read a, whether this is fair or not, and perhaps it is too fair, read what the news say, and the church is associated with a president such as Donald Trump. The church is associated with the Republican Party. And too often, that's because even conservative churches will do things such as this. Oh, let's have a Bible study. What are we gonna do in our Bible study? We're gonna watch some like, Republican political documentary. Things like that happen even in conservative churches. That is wrong. Do not let these things, these categories define you. Do not let them define the church. along these lines do not make a political party a standard for church membership. We need to be extremely slow to speak about these things. The Herodians, the Pharisees, they were very much caught up in these things of the world. Very much so. And it is true that sometimes there are clear-cut moral issues which are also plainly defined political issues. Sometimes that happens. What's one clear example of that? Well, it is a reality that there's one political party in this two-party nation which is the party of death. That's a sad reality. But does that mean that the other party, since our nation happens to be essentially a two-party nation, that every single thing the other party does should be endorsed and praised with open arms to become part of our very identity? No, not at all. Not at all. People of God, there are many questions which are difficult and upon which Christians often disagree, and there are reasons for that. Let's just illustrate this in this way. A Christian from the United States goes to Scotland and finds Scottish Presbyterians who rejoice in the truth of who God is and what God has done, and there's all these commonalities, and then after being there a few months, finds out, wow, they have a lot of really different political views than I do. How can they do that? Aren't they Christians? Well, what does that mindset tell you? It tells you that we have too much identified certain political ideas with Christianity itself in our nation. Or let me say it this way, what's a question that we can ask to kind of check ourselves on these things? If you think that any one president or any one political party in this nation or in any nation, and there are some nations which have many political parties reflecting that there are lots of different ideas in the world, but if you think any one president or any one political party is above reproach, that's an indication that you are being swallowed up in these things. We are not Herodians. Democrats, we are not Republicans, we are not Trumpians, we are Christians and we depend upon Jesus and Jesus alone. And he is the only one who is always right, always worthy of being followed. We must not be swallowed up by these things. We must not be defined by these things. What is a more positive way of saying it? Well, there's this statement, which is not exactly in Scripture, but it does come very close to being in Scripture, that we are called to be in the world, but not of the world. We don't find that exact phrase in scripture, but John 15, for example, does speak about how we are not of this world because God has called us out of this world. Philippians chapter 3 reminds us that our citizenship is not of this world, but it is in heaven. Romans chapter 12 tells us not to conform to the things of this world. In John chapter 17, Christ prays, we could summarize the prayer that way, may my disciples not be of this world but sent into this world to transform it, to be those who would teach my name within it. So, to be in this world, but not of this world, it's not exactly stated in Scripture, but it comes close. Scripture comes close to using those exact words. And what does this tell us? This tells us not be defined by worldly categories, people of God. Be defined by Christ. be defined by who Christ is and what Christ has done. Even if it is to be a Christian called to work specifically within the political realm. John Calvin, for example, said that to be a magistrate, to be a judge, is one of the most honorable things a Christian can do. But even a Christian called into such a realm as that, it should be known first and foremost not what his political identity is, but what his religious identity is. That whatever he is, he's a Christian doing these things. Even in that context, one would be a Christian first, a public servant second. Well, in the midst of being confronted by those swallowed up with things of the world, Jesus does give a direct answer which tells us of our responsibilities. And that brings us to our second point. even knowing their hypocrisy, even knowing that the question was meant to snare and trap him. Jesus will not dodge this difficult question. He will answer it. And he's going to let the tension build. There's There's a couple of reasons why Jesus asks them to get the coin. Maybe Jesus or one of his disciples had one of these coins themselves, but Jesus wants to show, he says, go get the coin. Why? He wants to show that they use this coin. That's what he's doing, right? He's essentially saying, go get this coin that you use. So even if You know, Peter had one in his pocket. Jesus isn't going to get one from his disciples. He wants the Pharisees and the Herodians to get it. Look what you use is what he's doing. And then we can also, without too much imagination, think about how tense the situation is. This is the only coin with which you could pay taxes. Everybody had one, but they didn't have pockets and wallets the same way we do, so someone probably did have to go get it. It's Passover week, you've got zealots, you've got Herodians, you've got Pharisees, you've got Sadducees, you've got the hot-headed Galileans in town, all these different political views, everybody looking to Jesus, Everybody can see why this question is a trap. I mean, Jesus knows there's hypocrisy in their very hearts, but everybody can see this is a trap-like question. And now they have to sit and wait for this denarius to come. What is Jesus gonna say? What is he gonna say? Now the denarius comes. What was this? Well, it has Caesar on both sides of it. On one side, his head. On the other side, Caesar sitting on a throne wearing the clothes of a priest. On the side with his head, it says, Tiberius Caesar Augustus, son of the divine Augustus. On the reverse side, where he's sitting on the throne, it simply says, highest priest. And so when Jesus asks the question, whose likeness is this? There is no way around that question. Caesar's on both sides of the coin. There's only one answer which can be given. So they said to him at the end of verse 16, Caesars. So Jesus says, render to Caesar. Render. Now, when they asked the question, they said, should we pay or not? Render could could really, it could be translated repay, pay back. And that actually very much reflects the slight difference in the two Greek words. The one is simply give and the other one is give back. And it's very much comparable to the English words pay versus repay. Jesus says, you're talking about paying, what do you mean? Caesar's name is on it, it's his, give it back to him. You live in this nation. You have these coins. You use these coins. Caesar minted them. Caesar's armies protect you. Caesar's laws give us this non-anarchy society. No simple way to say that, but it We can't say the laws were perfect, but we can say it was a place where there was the protection of law, the Pax Romana, the Peace of Rome. Give it back. Give it back. It's his. Render to Caesar. William Hendrickson said it this way, honoring God does not mean dishonoring the emperor by refusing to pay for the privileges, a relatively orderly society, police protection, good roads, courts, et cetera, et cetera, one enjoys, end of quote. Government has the right to bear the sword. Government has the right to do these basic protection-like things. In the verses in the New Testament that speak about government's rights, these are the kinds of things that are mentioned. So Romans 13 would mention the right to bear the sword. 1 Timothy chapter 2 would speak about this. Pray for your kings and all those who are in high positions, why that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way. These are good things. These are things which government is placed over us by God for. And how is that gonna happen without taxes? Nothing is free. Pay your taxes. It's Caesars. or we could illustrate it this way. Do we not know that it's a benefit to use a certain money itself? This illustration is perhaps getting a little more difficult because we have credit cards and e-transactions and all these things, but imagine if you had to buy everything in cash and you were living in the United States and all you had were, you know, Canadian dollars or Mexican pesos or something. Life would be very difficult. Life would be very difficult. Here is the Roman denarius, which is the only coin you can use to pay the imperial tax. But you can use it for that, and you can use it for all kinds of other things. And remember, you have one. And it has Caesar's image on both sides of it. Now, on the one side, We see here the answer which Jesus is giving, and we're getting to the second very important part of that answer. But we see an answer which leaves them marveling, right? There's nothing that they can grab hold of. But to say, render to Caesars that which is Caesar's, that was not an easy thing for Jesus to say. There's a difficult question, which we'll come to again as we continue through Mark. There's a difficult question which comes up when we read the Gospels, and that is, how can the crowd that praised Jesus upon His entrance, how can that be a Jerusalem crowd when only days later a Jerusalem crowd will cry out, crucify Him, crucify Him? Now, Part of the answer may indeed be that Jerusalem is a big city with lots of different ideas and lots of different crowds within it. That's part of the answer. Part of the answer is in what Jesus said right here. They were ready to make Jesus king. The gospels tell us that. They wanted him to be the earthly political leader that would march against Rome. That was the false idea of the Messiah. That's not what Jesus came to do. This was an answer which gave nothing that could be grabbed hold of in an immediate sense, but it was not a popular answer. It was not a popular thing to say. Now, the great wisdom in it is that Jesus so clearly lays out that you cannot give more to Caesar than Caesar deserves. And so he says, give to God the things that are God, clearly showing Caesar is not God, because there's a picture of Caesar on both sides of that coin, but there's also reminders that Caesar claims to be God on both sides of that coin. And Jesus has no room for this. Jesus has no room for this. This is the clear exception to the rule rendered to Caesar, because that's not Caesar's. God alone is God, and this is summarized by the disciples, for example, in Acts chapter five, when they say we must obey God rather than man. This is shown clearly by the life of Daniel and his friends. More than once, they cannot bow before a human king. They cannot cease to pray to God, even though these things would bring a fiery furnace or a den of lions upon them. This is a clear exception. That which you cannot give to Caesar because it is God's. But to pay the taxes, that's clearly not an exception. I mean, you might say, well, how can I pay taxes? My taxes are used for death. My taxes are used for death. My taxes fund death factories called health facilities. We are not responsible. We give our money where it goes and we cannot bear responsibility for what is done with it. That's true not only for paying taxes, that's true in daily purchases. Then it comes back to, again, that not explicitly biblical phrase, but that scriptural idea that we do live in this world, but not of it. If we really tried to live that way, I mean, how many major companies in this nation don't support all kinds of ungodly things? We couldn't buy anything. We couldn't buy, you know, we couldn't buy drink. We couldn't buy hardly any food. There's so many things we wouldn't be able to do. But whether it's our daily purchases or our paying of taxes, we have to pay back to render. It's not our responsibility what is done with it. So there are things which we might think are exceptions, but they are clearly not an exception. The only clear exception is this, render to God that which is God's. And so when Caesar is claiming to be God or saying that you cannot pray to God or saying that you cannot obey God, well, that's the clear exception. But even paying taxes itself is what is clearly, explicitly not an exception. So what's in the middle, you say? Here's something which we clearly cannot give to government. Here's something which we clearly, by Jesus, are commanded to give to government, even to the Roman claiming to be god emperor. Well, that comes back to the fact that the middle ground is muddy and difficult and something where Christians have often disagreed from one place to another and where we have to be gracious. We have to be gracious and not make these things defining characteristics. But it does also, it brings two things beyond that, two more applications beyond that. First of all, that we would pray for peace. that we would pray for peace. Because when the government is opposed to God's church or to basic human freedoms in general, that is a great heartache to many and has been a great heartache to many and continues to be a great heartache to many across the globe. So we pray, give us peace in our time. Another application is this, to long for the time when all these things are made clear and when God is the King. When Christ shall have all dominion. When all these questions are mute because rendering to our King is rendering to our God. Long for that. Absolutely long for that. Because even as we are called to render to Caesar that which is Caesar, we are called to render to God the things that are God. And that is everything, that is our very life. The image of Caesar is imprinted upon the coin, but the image of God is imprinted upon your very being, every breath you breathe. We owe everything to Him, and yet we stand in sinful rebellion before Him, saved by His love, which went to the cross to die for sins. Render to God the things that are God. That is everything. That is your very life. And though we fail to do this yet, God still loves us. We long for the time when that dominion is clear, when our King is our God. It is our final responsibility and the responsibility upon which we must all completely agree. Proud Pharisee, proud zealot, give your due to Caesar and to God, who is so much greater than Caesar. Worldly Herodian, give your due to God. Everyone, give your due to God. It's your very life. Amen, let us pray. Lord God Almighty, you are so often patient with us and patient with the false rulers of this world. There was one Herod, a different Herod, who was struck down dead immediately. But so often, so often, Lord, you are patient, not only with your own people, but with the whole world. And so we pray that as leaders come and go, that you would give us peace. But that you would always make us to look to you, the only perfect leader, the only prince of peace. So we pray in Jesus' name, amen. People of God, let's stand and sing about the eternal King. Christ shall have dominion. Let's stand and sing all the stanzas of 421. ♪ Christ shall have dominion over land and sea ♪ ♪ Remotest regions shall his empire be ♪ ♪ They that wild inhabit shall their worship bring ♪ King shall render tribute, nations serve our King. Christ shall have dominion over land and sea. Earth's remotest Yea, the weak and helpless shall his pity know He will surely save them from oppression's might For their lives are precious in his holy sight Dominion over land and sea Earth's remotest regions shall his empire be Ever and forever shall his name endure Long as sons continue It shall stand secure. ♪ All men shall be blessed ♪ And all nations hail him ♪ King of kings confessed ♪ Christ shall have dominion ♪ Over land and sea ♪ Earth's remotest regions ♪ Shall its empire be Unto God Almighty Joyful Zion sings He alone is glorious Doing wondrous things Evermore ye people Bless his glorious name through the earth proclaim, Christ shall have dominion over land and sea, whose remotest regions shall his empire be. People of God, let us receive now parting blessing of our God. Following that, our closing doxology number 567. Let us receive now God's blessing. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all, amen. Praise Him, all creatures here below. Praise Him, above the heavenly host. Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Amen.