OPEN: Before the Civil War, about 15% of the US money in circulation was fake. At that time there were approximately 10,000 different currencies. One expert said “People had a hard enough time remembering what the different currencies were supposed to look like, let alone recognizing counterfeits.” (Stephen Mihm, professor at U. of Georgia and author of “A Nation of Counterfeiters.”)
Today only a tiny fraction of our currency is counterfeit, but our Government is constantly trying to stop criminals from passing off phony money. For example, about 6 yrs. ago the U.S Treasury department redesigned the $5 bill because counterfeiters loved the $5 bill. They could bleach it and then reprint it as a $100 bill because apparently it shared the same security marks as $100 bills. (Caitlin Carpenter, The Weekend Times10/07)
APPLY: So, how did the Treasury change their design of the $5 bill? They did that (among other things) by changing the IMAGES on the bills. Things like watermarks, micro-printing and changing Lincoln’s image on the front to be larger. It’s those IMAGES on our bills that guarantees that your money is legitimate.
Now we’ll get back to that in a minute but right now, let’s explore our text for this morning.
Jesus has been preaching, teaching and healing for about 3 years now. Large crowds have gathered to listen to Him and there was beginning to be talk about making Him the new king of Israel.
• He could inspire huge crowds with His words.
• He could feed thousands with very little food.
• He could heal the sick, the lame and the insane.
• And He had the power to even raise people from the dead.
If Jesus were their King, there’d be no power on earth that could stand against Israel. Not even the hated Romans could hold them back. Israel would once again become a great nation.
But there was a problem: the job of King was already taken. Judea already had a King and that king’s name was Herod (the King who’d executed John Baptist). Herod’s followers were called Herodians and they wanted Herod as their king… not Jesus.
So, these Herodians conspired with the Pharisees to discredit Jesus in the eyes of the people. They approached Jesus and asked:
“Is it right to pay taxes to Caesar or not?" Matthew 22:17
Now, what’s odd about this question is that it was posed by a group of Pharisees and Herodians. The Pharisees hated Rome and claimed with was heresy to pay Roman taxes. And the Herodians wanted better relations with Rome and approved Roman taxation.
The only reason they joined forces was because they both hated Jesus and wanted Him destroyed. If Jesus answered that the people had to pay their taxes the Pharisees could condemn Him to the crowds as a friend of the hated Romans. BUT if Jesus replied that people Should Not pay their taxes the Herodians would brand Him an enemy of Rome and had Him arrested.
It was the perfect trap.
They knew Jesus as a Rabbi. And Rabbis ALWAYS answered questions people asked them, so it was a no-brainer that this man would answer them. But just to put a little extra honey on their trap, the put a little extra flattery into their question to appeal to His vanity.
"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. Tell us then, what is your opinion?...” Matthew 22:16-17
(pause) And they smiled to themselves.
Greater teachers than Jesus had been brought low by appealing to their vanity.
They smiled as they thought of having this Jesus become putty in their hands.
Well, He would have been putty if He’d been an ordinary Jewish Rabbi.
But… He wasn’t.
Well, if He wasn’t just a Rabbi, what was He?
He was God.
Repeatedly – throughout the Gospels – we’re told that “He knew what they were thinking in their hearts” Mark 2:8
And, of course He knew what these men were thinking longggg before they ever showed up. These men are masters at deception and manipulation. And they probably have a track record of publicly humiliating those they dislike.
These are the kinds of men Jesus despises.
(Pause) And I can see Jesus smile.
He’s going to enjoy this.
First He slaps them down a little bit.
“You hypocrites, why are you trying to trap me?” Matthew 22:18
Essentially He’s saying: “Seriously??? You seriously think you can get me with silly question? Really? Is that best you’ve got?
Then Jesus just turns everything around and lays His own little trap at their feet.
He asks for a coin and then says to them:
"Whose portrait is this? And whose inscription?" Matthew 22:20
Now, it was a simple question.
And the answer was equally simple: "Caesar’s," they replied.
Well, then says Jesus: "Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s."
In that simple answer, Jesus destroyed their trap.
The Herodians couldn’t accuse Jesus of being a revolutionary because He’d just endorsed paying the Roman taxes.
And the Pharisees used these very coins themselves they even used these coins in paying the Temple tax because these coins were backed by the authority and full assurance of Rome.
In using these Roman coins, the Pharisees were agreeing that Rome owned the coins and thus had the right to levy a tax on those coins.
The money they held in their purses wasn’t owned by them – it was owned by Rome.
ILLUS: You do realize that the money you carry in your wallet doesn’t really belong to you. It belongs to the US Government. It’s a Federal Crime for you to mutilate or deface those bills.
Title 18, Section 333 of the United States Code “… whoever mutilates, cuts, disfigures, perforates, unites or cements together, or does any other thing to any bank bill, draft, note, or other evidence of debt issued by any national banking association, Federal Reserve Bank, or Federal Reserve System, with intent to render such item(s) unfit to be reissued, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than six months, or both.”
(http://www.moneyfactory.gov/historicallegislation.html)
If the money in your wallet were yours you could do whatever you wanted with it. You could burn it, cut it into little pieces, deface it anyway you wanted… if it were yours.
But it’s not yours.
If you messed with it, you could possibly be fined and/or imprisoned.
The image on our money declares WHO those bills belong to.
Look at any bill you have and you’ll see these words:
“Federal Reserve Note. The United States of America”
Those words on those bills declare WHO those bills belong to.
And Jesus was saying… the image on the coin declares who it belongs to.
He said: "Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s." Matthew 22:21
So how do I know what to give to the government?
By the images on the bills and coins.
So, then, what do I give to God?
Where do I find God’s image?
Genesis 1:26 says, “Then God said, ‘Let us make man in our image, in our likeness…’”
We were made in God’s image/likeness.
You and I need to give what belongs to Him - back to Him.
I need to give ME to God.
Now how do I do that?
How do I give myself to God?
First, I need to BELONG to Him, And to do that I need to believe in Jesus.
Ephesians 1:13 tells us. “Having believed (in Jesus), you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit”
God tells us that when we believe in Jesus - God marks us with His Spirit.
He puts His IMAGE inside me to say I belong to Him.
And how do I express that belief… so that I receive the Holy Spirit?
In Acts 2, the crowd BELIEVED that Jesus was the Son of God and had died for their sins. (But they still asked) "Brothers, what shall we do?"
Peter replied, "Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive (pause) the gift of the Holy Spirit. Acts 2:37b-38
So, when our faith in Jesus leads us to belong to Him God expects us to Repent (to change our lives, to turn away from sin) and be Baptized (to allow ourselves to buried in the waters of baptism and risen up a new creation in Christ).
When we do that – God promises that His Spirit will be given to us.
But is that it?
Is that all there is to it?
Well, yes… and no.
You see, there are some people who do this faith/repentance/baptism thing as if it were fire insurance. (Fire – hell… get it?) They pay their dues once in a while and they then believe they escape can the fire.
ILLUS: I bought car insurance recently through a different insurance company. I went into their office, signed some papers, paid my deposit, and set it up so that my bill would be taken out of checking account every month.
Now, how often am I going to go back to that insurance office? Maybe on Christmas and Easter (sorry, that’s church). No, I will stop in if I have a problem or if I need some help. Otherwise, they may never see me again. And they don’t expect to see me any oftener than that.
And there are people who treat salvation in Jesus the same way. They sign up, pay their “dues” and then show up only once in a while… if that.
But Jesus said: Give to God that which belongs to Him.
Well, if you’ve signed up to belong to Him… do you?
Do you BELONG to Jesus?
Or are you only “pretending” to be His?
When the Herodians tried to trap Jesus, He said: “You hypocrites”
Do you know what a hypocrite is?
The word hypocrite means that person has put on a false face. In the days of Greece, an actor would wear a mask to symbolize the character he was portraying. Sometimes they might even wear more than one mask during the play. The actor was behind the mask, pretending to be something he was not.
A hypocrite is someone who “pretends” to be something they’re not.
They’re counterfeiters.
A hypocrite tries to look like the real thing, but they had no intention of actually BEING the real thing.
So, how can I tell if I’m BEING the real thing?
At this point in my sermon preparation I could think of 8 or 9 different topics I could address on how to explain “being” a real Christian. But then I realized I should probably stay with the topic Jesus was addressing here… Money.
God talks to us through our wallet.
Jesus said: “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” Matthew 6:21
ILLUS: Howard L. Dayton Jr. observed “Sixteen of the 38 parables were concerned with how to handle money and possessions. In the Gospels, an amazing one out of 10 verses deal directly with the subject of money. The Bible offers 500 verses on prayer, less than 500 verses on faith, but more than 2000 verses on money and possessions.
Some people say they have a personal relationship with God.
Jesus says you’re relationship with God is not just “personal”… it’s “purse and all”
ILLUS: You see, some people don’t plan ahead for their giving.
They come to church, the offering plate is passed and they notice in their wallet they have two $20s and a $5 bill. Now they’re faced with a last minute decision: “Do I give the $5, one of the $20, the $20 and the $5, both $20s… or ALL of it.
And so they do the math and they give God $5.
You know what they’ve done?
They’ve given God their leftovers because their heart isn’t focused on God… it’s focused on their treasure. AND SO they don’t give God their first fruits. They give what they have left over.
Proverbs 3:5-10 tells us
“Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight… Honor the LORD with your wealth, with the firstfruits of all your crops; then your barns will be filled to overflowing, and your vats will brim over with new wine.”
ILLUS: Take out your wallet. When you made Jesus the Lord of your life. You died to your old life and you now live for Jesus. Everything you own now belongs to Jesus. Look inside your wallet.
You see that money there? If you’re a Christian, whose money is it?
That’s right, it belongs to God.
Now, you’ll give a portion of that money to God… but it is ALL His. Every bill, every coin. It’s all God’s. If you spend that money on books or movies or magazines, you’re spending God’s money.
CLOSE: At one time at the City Temple in London, there was a man by the name of Emil Mettler.
Mettler owned a restaurant there. He was also a close friend and forwarding agent for Albert Schweitzer.
Mettler was known for the fact that he would never allow a Christian worker to pay for a meal. But once he did happen to open his cash register in the presence of the Secretary of the London Missionary Society.
As Mettler was making change for another customer, the Secretary was astonished to see among the bills and coins a six-inch nail.
“What is this nail for?” He asked.
Mettler explained, "I keep this nail with my money to remind me of the price that Christ paid for my salvation and of what I owe Him in return."
("Let's Talk About Money", a sermon by A. Leonard Griffith)
