POWERPOINT Matthew 22:15 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?"
POWERPOINT 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."
22 When they heard this, they were amazed. So they left him and went away.
POWERPOINT “Give to Caesar that which is Caesar’s; and to God that which is God’s.”
Review from last week:
Patriotism means treasuring your country and all that is good in it, and working to change all that is not.
Patriotism is being willing to sacrifice and give up what is easy for the good of your country.
Patriotism means country before self & ambition.
Self and ambition might as well be the hallmark of every person running for the office of president in this election cycle.
Patriotism means country before comfort & safety.
But what about the second half of that verse?
POWERPOINT - Being a true patriot means that God comes before country.
This has always been an unpopular
Early Christians would not say “Caesar is Lord.” Only Jesus was Lord. So they were scapegoated, blamed, and more.
POWERPOINT – TWEET FROM ACLU LAWYER
"The Christian Right has introduced 200 anti-LGBT bills in the last six months and people blaming Islam for this. No.”
IS this new?
"The Christians are to blame for every public disaster and every misfortune that befalls the people. If the Tiber rises to the walls, if the Nile fails to rise and flood the fields, if the sky withholds its rain, if there is earthquake or famine or plague, straightway the cry arises: ‘The Christians to the lions!’"
~ Tertullian, A.D. 196
But what does that mean?
1. Fight Injustice, no matter the form.
Our country is grieved at the moment about the killings of men by police officers, and killings of police officers by evil men.
We cannot, as Christians, too quickly dismiss the experience of those who have been victims of racism. If you do, you are not loving your neighbor as yourself.
You see, the time will come
POWERPOINT - MLK Jr.
POWERPOINT – mug shot
POWERPOINT – MLK quote
Whether you find it across the country, across the street, or in your heart, fight it.
Be willing to listen and learn.
There are those who have experienced racial discrimination, and we should hear them out…
There are those who are willing to kill to “even the score” and they should be rightly punished. Those who celebrate the death of the police officers in Dallas are wrong… and so are those who celebrate the death of the man in
POWERPOINT – Thomas Jefferson – “When injustice becomes law, resistance becomes duty.”
What does our resistance look like?
It looks like disarmed resistance.
Powerpoint> Letters from a Birmingham Jail
Sometimes a law is just on its face and unjust in its application. For instance, I have been arrested on a charge of parading without a permit. Now, there is nothing wrong in having an ordinance which requires a permit for a parade. But such an ordinance becomes unjust when it is used to maintain segregation and to deny citizens the First-Amendment privilege of peaceful assembly and protest.
I hope you are able to see the distinction I am trying to point out. In no sense do I advocate evading or defying the law, as would the rabid segregationist. That would lead to anarchy. One who breaks an unjust law must do so openly, lovingly, and with a willingness to accept the penalty. I submit that an individual who breaks a law that conscience tells him is unjust, and who willingly accepts the penalty of imprisonment in order to arouse the conscience of the community over its injustice, is in reality expressing the highest respect for law.
Of course, there is nothing new about this kind of civil disobedience. It was evidenced sublimely in the refusal of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego to obey the laws of Nebuchadnezzar, on the ground that a higher moral law was at stake. It was practiced superbly by the early Christians, who were willing to face hungry lions and the excruciating pain of chopping blocks rather than submit to certain unjust laws of the Roman Empire. To a degree, academic freedom is a reality today because Socrates practiced civil disobedience. In our own nation, the Boston Tea Party represented a massive act of civil disobedience.
We should never forget that everything Adolf Hitler did in Germany was "legal" and everything the Hungarian freedom fighters did in Hungary was "illegal." It was "illegal" to aid and comfort a Jew in Hitler's Germany. Even so, I am sure that, had I lived in Germany at the time, I would have aided and comforted my Jewish brothers. If today I lived in a Communist country where certain principles dear to the Christian faith are suppressed, I would openly advocate disobeying that country's antireligious laws.
If we will not fight injustice, then who will fight it when we experience it?
First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Socialist.
Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Trade Unionist.
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.
- Martin Neimoller , protestant pastor and nazi resistance member – spent the last 7 ears of his life in a Nazi concentration camp
2. Live holy, no matter the cost.
Sometimes, holiness is attractive:
POWERPOINT The impious Galileans support not only their own poor but ours as well. – Roman Emperor Julian
But that doesn’t mean that they don’t persecute anyway!
Holiness is a rebuke, and so it is at times repulsive to those who are blinded by Satan, who want you to participate in their sin, so that they might not feel the pangs of conscience caused by your not participating.
Ever wondered why LGBT activists want more than freedom to live and not be bothered?
I wrote this on the day after the Supreme Court legalized gay marriage.
“We can pass all of the laws we want and talk about public policy until we run out of air, but until our society stops thinking of queer people as deviant or corrupt or sinful or in any way less than non-queer people, nothing is going to change… It’s only after we’ve challenged and changed the most basic and fundamental viewpoints about who we are that we can really begin to think about true liberation and true equality.”
Did you catch it? True freedom for the LGBT community can only be found when Christians stop thinking they are sinful. Their fight only stops then. This is what insightful Christians have understood: that this was never the “final” battle — it was the first one.
#3: Show love, no matter the opponent.
ILLUS> I had a guy leave the church a few months ago because we are a tax-exempt organization. He said something to the effect of, “The pastors of tax-exempt churches are beholden to the government, and are required to lead their people to the prison camps when they are formed.”
Whoa.
SO let me be exceedingly clear:
We will never forsake or abandon the Bible’s clear teaching that homosexual activity is wrong.
When the day comes that churches lose their tax exemption for refusing to perform or host gay weddings, we will give up our tax exemption.
WE will simply, quietly, respectfully disobey.
If there is a day where I serve time in prison for what I believe about Jesus & His Word, I will do that without hesitation.
But let me be very clear about one more thing:
We will continue to be loving to those who practice it, while teaching them that they can by God’s grace forsake their sin, and live in victory, holiness, peace and joy.
We will not participate in celebration of gay weddings, because we cannot participate in sin and approve of it. I will not bake a cake for a gay wedding. But if I was a baker, I’d gladly bake a homosexual a cake.
And cookies. And invite them over for barbecue. And feed their dog while they’re on vacation.
Why? Because I give to Caesar that which is Caesar’s, and to God, that which is God’s.
Some of you are wondering at this moment, if you have the strength, the inner strength to face then
POWERPOINT> Give to Caesar that which bears his image… and give to God that which bears His image.
