October 21, 2012
Dear friends in Christ.
So, what is my responsibility in all this? How often doesn’t this question or one like
it, pop up in your favorite TV shows?
How often doesn’t this question, or one like it, pop up in the work
place as employees seek to learn exactly what their responsibilities are in
their position? How often doesn’t the
idea of responsibility weigh heavily on the minds of employers, employees,
families friends, relatives, parents, and children. Though one could argue that responsibility is
not all that it was once cracked up to be, as it seems that more and more
people in our world today are seeking to dodge responsibility in one way or
another, the truth is, responsibility is something that is constantly demanded
of us in one way or another in just about every facet of our lives. As children, we are to be responsible to our
parents. As citizens we are responsible
to our nation. As Christians, not only are
we responsible to the Lord, but we are responsible to each other as well as all
those who do not yet know Jesus. As
Christians, responsibility is both a great weight that weighs on us and a joy
that leads us to serve the Lord. That is
why, as we study the lesson before us, we will seek to answer the question, “To
whom am I responsible?”
To find the answer to our question, we want to turn
to Matthew 22:15-21 where the Pharisees are laying down a question of
responsibility in order to trap Jesus with his own words. “Then the Pharisees went out and laid plans
to trap him in his words. 16 They sent their disciples to him along with the
Herodians. “Teacher,” they said, “we know you are a man of integrity and that
you teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. You aren’t swayed by
men, because you pay no attention to who they are. 17 Tell us then, what is
your opinion? Is it right to pay taxes to Caesar or not?” 18 But Jesus, knowing
their evil intent, said, “You hypocrites, why are you trying to trap me? 19
Show me the coin used for paying the tax.” They brought him a denarius, 20 and
he asked them, “Whose portrait is this? And whose inscription?” 21 “Caesar’s,”
they replied. Then he said to them, “Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to
God what is God’s.”" (Matthew 22:15–21, NIV84)
On the surface, the Pharisee’s plan must have seemed
like a good plan. Rather than go to
Jesus themselves they would send in some of their own disciples whom Jesus
would not know. These disciples would
come to Jesus and flatter him, hoping that their flattery would cause him to
drop his guard. Then, when he had
dropped his guard they would ask his opinion on paying taxes to Caesar. By doing this, they were sure that they would
be able to express the opinion that paying taxes to a pagan government was
completely wrong, which was an opinion held by quite a few of the Jews of the
day. This was why the Pharisees sent the
Herodians along with their disciples that day.
They sent the Herodians because the Herodians were a political party of
the Jews who favored the Roman government.
Thus, if Jesus answered as they expected, the Herodians would be there
and would instantly be able to accuse Jesus of conspiring against the
government and the Pharisees would finally be able to get rid of Jesus, once
and for all.
However, things didn’t go as planned that day, for
as Matthew tells us, “But Jesus, knowing their evil intent, said, “You
hypocrites, why are you trying to trap me? 19 Show me the coin used for paying
the tax.” They brought him a denarius, 20 and he asked them, “Whose portrait is
this? And whose inscription?” 21 “Caesar’s,” they replied. Then he said to
them, “Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s.”"
(Matthew 22:18–21, NIV84)
In such a simple way, Jesus easily avoided the trap
the Pharisees had intended for him and in doing so he also reminded them of
their responsibility to the government that he, their Lord and Savior, had
placed over them. This is the very thing
our Savior is reminding us of today. For
with these words Jesus himself is teaching us that we, as Christians, have the
same responsibilities to the government, which the Lord has placed over
us. Be that government city, county,
state, or federal, we are responsible to it as the Pharisees and all Israel was
responsible to Rome. Even though we may
not always agree with our government’s decisions, as Christians our
responsibility is to submit to the laws of the land, unless those laws would
force us to do something that is contrary to the Word of our God. Though we may be frustrated by the seemingly
never ending increase in taxes, as Christians tax monies are simply what we owe
to Caesar, as Jesus said. Though we may
not always like some of our elected officials or even respect the lives they
choose to live, as Christians, it is our responsibility to recognize that the
Lord has placed them over us as his representatives who deserve the respect
their offices hold. Yet, while all this is true, as Americans we have also been
given the responsibility to take part in the election of those representatives.
We are allowed to choose which candidates we feel would best serve our cities,
our counties, our sates and our nation.
We are even allowed to express our political views and campaign for our
chosen candidates in whatever ways we see fit.
But if it should happen that the particular candidate that we wanted was
not elected to a particular position, we as Christians are still responsible to
them, because they are the servants of the government that the Lord, our God,
has placed over us.
These are but a few examples of our responsibility,
as Christians, to the government that the Lord has placed over us, and I’m sure
that you could think of many, many more.
For the truth is, as Christians, when we recognize our responsibility to
our government and live responsible lives under that government, not only are we
being responsible to our leaders; we are also being responsible to the Lord
himself. This is why Jesus so clearly
tells us in verse 21, “Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is
God’s.” (Matthew 22:21, NIV84)
For the Pharisees, this was something that they
knew. Yet, it was something that they
seldom carried out. Even though they
thought that they were giving God what he deserved by their zeal to keep God’s
law perfectly, they were actually failing to put him first. For rather than striving to keep God’s law
out of love for the Lord, they got so wrapped up in trying to keep it, that
they actually added law upon law that not even they were able to keep. Though they went above and beyond what the
Lord required of them in fasting, praying and even tithing, sadly their
attitude again was not love for the Lord, but a desire to demonstrate to others
how righteous they were because they were working harder than anyone at keeping
God’s law. This is why those disciples
were so amazed by Jesus answer when they asked his opinion on paying
taxes. When Jesus told them so simply,
“Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s” they could do
nothing more than walk away. In that
simple sentence, the Lord Jesus had not only answered the question perfectly,
but he made them recognize that they had failed to give to the Lord all he
deserved.
Jesus is teaching us the same thing today. For with those simple words, “Give to Caesar
what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s” he is causing us to realize that the
Lord our God must be our first and foremost responsibility. Yet, how often don’t we shortchange the Lord
our God? How often doesn’t the Lord
simply get the scraps of our worship rather than the full meal that it should
be! How often don’t we feel that family
time, hunting, fishing, or sports in general are more important than gathering
for worship? How often don’t we feel
that 10:00 is just too early or too late for worship and we don’t come? How often doesn’t it happen that parents make
sure to get their children to Sunday School, but don’t bother to bring their
children into church for worship after it is all done?
Though we as Christians know that the Lord should be
the first priority in our lives, how often doesn’t it happen that the Lord is
the last priority in our financial lives?
Though it is the Lord who has given us all that we have, how often don’t
we feel that we deserve more? How often
don’t we find ourselves pulling out the one credit card that isn’t maxed out so
that we can purchase that trinket that we feel we cannot live without? Or how often doesn’t it happen that we are
robbing Peter to pay Paul, or in other cases, robbing the Lord to pay our
bills?
Sadly, these are but a couple of the ways that we as
Christians fail to live up to our responsibility to the Lord. Yet even though we do not deserve it, it is
the Lord who has forgiven us! It is the
Lord who sent his one and only Son to the earth so that he might die in our
place. The Lord our God willingly gave
his one and only Son to death so that we might live. Not only did he do that, but he also turned
his back on his dying Son, causing him to suffer all the pain and torment of
hell and damnation so that we would never have to. This is how much the Lord our God loves
us! He forgave our sins through the
death of his Son Jesus Christ. He called
us to faith through the working of the Holy Spirit. He assures us that just like Jesus rose from
the dead we too will rise, and he has promised us that through faith in Jesus
Christ our Savior we have eternal life to look forward to.
Now refreshed by that knowledge, go out and be
responsible to the Lord in all that you do.
Go home today and take time to think about all the blessings he has
given you and then close your eyes speak a prayer of thanks to him. Schedule even just five minutes each day so
that you can read even just a chapter from the Bible for the strengthening of
your faith. Take time to walk through
your houses this week and take note of all the appliances you’ve acquired. Look in your closets and count how many pairs
of shoes you have. Look in your dresser
drawers and see if you don’t have enough socks and underwear to get you through
at least a week without having to wash.
Take time to walk through your garages and see how many tools you have
in your toolbox or hanging on your workbench.
Count the number of cars and trucks and other vehicles you have there
and parked in your yards. Then when you
have done all this take time to evaluate how often you make the effort to be at
church to worship the Lord and the amount you are currently giving to the Lord
out of thanks for all that he has given for you.
When you do this, you will be showing that the Lord
truly is your first and foremost responsibility. When you do this you will be letting your
love and thankfulness for the Lord be your motivation for worshiping the Lord
and giving to him of the first fruits of your income. For when you sit down and realize just how
greatly the Lord has blessed you, your love for the Lord will long to give back
to him. In fact, if each and every one
of us went home today, contemplating how the Lord has blessed us, and then
decided in our hearts to give first to the Lord and then to everything else, I
guarantee you that our congregation and our childcare would never want for
money again. If each and every one of us
acted on our decision to give first to the Lord and then pay our bills, I
guarantee you that you would suddenly have more than you needed to pay your
bills and you would even have plenty to save up for a rainy day. I guarantee you this, because the Lord has
promised us that when we are responsible to him, he blesses us beyond our
wildest expectations. Though we may
never get rich by putting the Lord first, we know we will have everything that
we could ever need.
These are but a few of the blessings that come to us
as Christians when we recognize to whom we are responsible. For just like the world, we also long to know
what our responsibilities are. Today we
have answered that question. For today
we have once again been reminded that as Christians, we are truly responsible
to our government, but we are responsible first and foremost to the Lord our
God. Amen.
Pastor
David M. Shilling
Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church--Le Sueur, MN
