OPENING SLIDE
INTRODUCTION
• This is week four of our five-week series.
• This is Week 4's energy.
• Tension is rising.
• Opposition is tightening.
• The cross is closer.
• Have you ever noticed that the most dangerous person in any system is the one who cannot be controlled?
• Not the loudest voice, not the angriest person, but the one who refuses to bow…
• The one who refuses to compromise refuses to play by the unspoken rules.
• That person becomes a threat.
• When we read about Jesus, we sometimes forget that He stepped into a world filled with systems.
• Religious systems.
• Political systems.
• Cultural expectations.
• Power structures.
• Jesus did not minister in a vacuum.
• He didn’t walk into a neutral environment where everyone was open-minded and spiritually curious.
• He walked into tension.
• Rome occupied Israel.
• Religious leaders guarded their authority.
• Theological camps were divided, and everyone believed they were right.
• That’s why this series matters.
• If we want to understand what Jesus accomplished at the cross, we have to understand the world.
• He disrupted before He ever got there.
• Because Jesus didn’t just heal people, He threatened power.
• He didn’t just teach; He exposed hypocrisy.
• He didn’t just preach about the kingdom, He confronted the systems that claimed to represent God.
• By the time we reach Mark 12, the Pharisees, the Herodians, and the Sadducees—groups that normally couldn’t stand each other—are now united.
• Why?
• Because Jesus had become dangerous.
• And here’s the truth that still applies today: Jesus is only dangerous to what stands against the living God.
• So the question isn’t whether Jesus is dangerous; the question is, dangerous to what?
Mark 12:13–14 NET 2nd ed.
13 Then they sent some of the Pharisees and Herodians to trap him with his own words.
14 When they came they said to him, “Teacher, we know that you are truthful and do not court anyone’s favor because you show no partiality but teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. Is it right to pay taxes to Caesar or not? Should we pay or shouldn’t we?”
MAIN POINT 1 SLIDE
SERMON
JESUS IS…
I. Dangerous to Religious Pretenders
• In Jerry’s message last week, the chief priests, scribes, and elders realize the Parable of the Tenants was spoken against them.
• They want to arrest Him, but they fear the crowd, so they leave and go recruit two groups whom they usually did not care for, the Pharisees and the Herodians, to see what they could do with Jesus.
• The Pharisees were strict religious leaders devoted to the Law and their traditions, respected by the people but often trapped in legalism.
• The Herodians were political supporters of Herod and Rome, more concerned with maintaining power and stability than preserving spiritual purity, and normally, these two groups wouldn’t even sit at the same table.
• But when Jesus started threatening their systems, they suddenly found common ground.
Mark 12:13 NET 2nd ed.
13 Then they sent some of the Pharisees and Herodians to trap him with his own words.
• Do you feel the tension?
• This isn’t curiosity or spiritual hunger; this is strategy.
• They didn’t come to learn.
• They came to trap.
• The Pharisees saw themselves as strict religious guardians of the Law.
• On the other hand, the Herodians, they were political supporters of Rome.
• Normally, they disagree on almost everything.
• But when Jesus threatens their systems, they unite.
Religious flattery is often a setup.
• Listen to what they say: “Teacher, we know that you are truthful and do not court anyone’s favor because you show no partiality but teach the way of God in accordance with the truth.”
• Everything they said was accurate, but it wasn’t sincere.
• Flattery can be a mask for manipulation.
• Religious language does not always equal spiritual sincerity.
• These folks sound respectful, but in truth, they are calculating.
The real issue is control.
• Here’s what makes Jesus dangerous: He cannot be controlled.
• The Pharisees controlled the interpretation of the Law, social religious life, and moral expectations.
• Jesus shows up and teaches with authority, interprets Scripture correctly, and exposes their hypocrisy publicly
• That’s dangerous because religious veneer survives on image, and Jesus exposes the heart.
Before we get too hard on them, we need to understand that religious pretense is not a first-century problem; it’s a human problem.
• We can say the right words, use spiritual language, appear faithful, know the vocabulary, and still have motives that are not pure.
• Jesus is dangerous to any version of faith that is performative.
• He sees past flattery and reputation.
• He sees the heart, and that makes Him dangerous to religious pretenders.
• They tried flattery, and when that didn’t control Him, they moved to politics.
• Let’s turn to verses 15-17.
Mark 12:15–17 NET 2nd ed.
15 But he saw through their hypocrisy and said to them, “Why are you testing me? Bring me a denarius and let me look at it.”
16 So they brought one, and he said to them, “Whose image is this, and whose inscription?” They replied, “Caesar’s.”
17 Then Jesus said to them, “Give to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” And they were utterly amazed at him.
MAIN POINT 2 SLIDE
JESUS IS…
II. Dangerous to Political Power
• After the flattery comes the question, “Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar or not?”
• This isn’t about economics; it’s about allegiance.
• If Jesus says yes, the crowds who hate Roman oppression turn on Him.
• If He says no, Rome labels Him an insurrectionist.
• This is a political minefield, and they think they’ve finally cornered Him.
Verse 15 makes it clear that Jesus sees right through the trap.
• He doesn’t just hear their question; He sees their motive.
• Jesus is never trapped by a question that is rooted in pride.
• Then He does something brilliant: “Bring Me a denarius.”
The coin reveals the compromise.
• Tiberius Caesar, “Son of the Divine Augustus.”
• In Jewish eyes, that inscription bordered on blasphemy.
• Here’s the irony: they have the coin.
• They are carrying the very symbol of Roman authority they claim to resent.
• Jesus doesn’t even produce one; they do.
• Before He answers the question, He exposes their inconsistency.
Jesus gives an answer that destroys the trap.
• “Whose image is this?” “Caesar’s.”
• “Then give to Caesar what is Caesar’s… and to God what is God’s.”
• In one sentence, He avoids the trap, affirms civic responsibility, exposes misplaced allegiance, and re-centers ultimate authority on God.
• Jesus refuses to be reduced to a political pawn.
• He will not be co-opted by nationalism.
• He will not be manipulated by fear.
• He will not be forced into their categories.
• That makes Him dangerous.
There is a deeper issue exposed by Jesus’ answer.
• The coin bore Caesar’s image, so give it back to him.
• But what bears God’s image?
• Genesis tells us that YOU do, and I do.
• The real issue is not taxes; the real issue is ownership.
• Caesar may stamp his face on silver, but God stamped His image on you.
• Jesus is saying, "Make sure you give yourself to the One whose image you bear."
• That is a far more dangerous statement than “pay your taxes.”
• They tried flattery.
• They tried politics; now the theologians step forward, and what they bring isn’t policy, it’s a theological trap.
Mark 12:18–25 NET 2nd ed.
18 Sadducees (who say there is no resurrection) also came to him and asked him,
19 “Teacher, Moses wrote for us: ‘If a man’s brother dies and leaves a wife but no children, that man must marry the widow and father children for his brother.’
20 There were seven brothers. The first one married, and when he died he had no children.
21 The second married her and died without any children, and likewise the third.
22 None of the seven had children. Finally, the woman died too.
23 In the resurrection, when they rise again, whose wife will she be? For all seven had married her.”
24 Jesus said to them, “Aren’t you deceived for this reason, because you don’t know the scriptures or the power of God?
25 For when they rise from the dead, they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven.
MAIN POINT 3 SLIDE
JESUS IS…
III. Dangerous to Comfortable Beliefs
• Now the Sadducees step in.
• These aren’t emotional manipulators; these aren’t political strategists; these are intellectual elites.
• In addition to rejecting everything outside of the first five books of Moses, the Sadducees deny the resurrection.
• They are educated, influential, and sophisticated.
• They come at Jesus with a ridiculous scenario: seven brothers, one woman, and they all die.
• “In the resurrection, whose wife will she be?”
• They don’t ask this to learn; these snobs ask it to mock.
This question is not curiosity; it’s control!
• Some questions aren’t asked for answers.
• They’re asked to discredit, embarrass, or dismiss.
• We call those “got ya” questions today.
• The Sadducees believed resurrection was primitive thinking—too supernatural, too mystical, and too unsophisticated.
• They had reduced faith to what made sense in their framework.
• This question resonates deeply with us.
• We do the same thing.
• We say, “I just can’t believe in miracles.”
• “That part of the Bible doesn’t make sense.”
• “Surely God wouldn’t…”
• “In today’s world…”
• We shrink God down to what feels reasonable.
• We don’t reject Him outright.
• We just reshape Him.
• That’s comfortable belief.
• This is like what some Christians do with creation so they can please the world.
• In verse 24, Jesus goes to the root of their problem.
Mark 12:24 NET 2nd ed.
24 Jesus said to them, “Aren’t you deceived for this reason, because you don’t know the scriptures or the power of God?
• This response was devastating.
• The problem wasn’t intelligence; the problem was authority.
• They believed in God, just not a God powerful enough to disrupt their assumptions.
• They knew Scripture, just not deeply enough to let it correct them.
Here’s where it gets personal.
• Sometimes we say we believe in God, but we don’t actually believe in His power.
• We believe:
• He can forgive, but not transform.
• He can save but not restore.
• He can work in Bible times, but not in my situation.
• That’s not unbelief.
• That’s comfortable belief, and Jesus is dangerous to that.
The resurrection changes everything!
• Jesus tells them, “In the resurrection…”
• He doesn’t debate hypotheticals, He affirms reality.
• There is life beyond this one, and it will not mirror this one.
• That statement shakes fear-based living, temporary identity, and earth-bound thinking.
• Since the resurrection is real, then comfort is temporary, suffering is not final, and this life is not ultimate.
• That disrupts how we live.
• The Sadducees were comfortable with a God who stayed inside their logic.
• Jesus revealed a God who raises the dead.
• And that kind of power is dangerous.
• They underestimated Scripture.
• They underestimated God’s power.
• Now Jesus is about to show them something even bigger; He’s about to reveal that the God they claim to serve is very much alive!
Mark 12:26–27 NET 2nd ed.
26 Now as for the dead being raised, have you not read in the book of Moses, in the passage about the bush, how God said to him, ‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’?
27 He is not the God of the dead but of the living. You are badly mistaken!”
MAIN POINT 4 SLIDE
JESUS IS…
IV. Dangerous to Every System
• Jesus doesn’t quote a prophet.
• He doesn’t go to Psalms.
• He goes to Exodus, “The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.”
• Then He says something explosive: “He is not the God of the dead, but of the living.”
• When God spoke those words to Moses at the burning bush, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob had all been dead for centuries.
• Yet God did not say, "I was their God.”
• He said, "I am.”
• Present tense, active.
• Jesus was saying, God’s covenant does not expire at the grave.
• Death does not terminate relationship.
• Graves do not silence promise.
• The Sadducees thought they were debating theology.
• Jesus shows them they are denying reality.
• God is not the God of memory; He is the God of the living.
Why is this dangerous?
• If God is the God of the living, then death is not ultimate, earthly power is not final, systems are temporary, and resurrection is certain.
• The religious leaders feared losing influence.
• The political leaders feared losing control.
• The intellectual elites feared losing credibility.
• But if resurrection is real, every system built on temporary authority collapses, because no one outruns eternity.
Where This Hits Us
Since He is the God of the living, then He is not just a historical figure; He is present, He is active, and He is Lord right now.
• That is what made Jesus dangerous then and still makes Him dangerous today.
• Because God is alive, we are accountable.
• Since the resurrection is real, surrender is not optional.
CONCLUSION
• Jesus exposed hypocrisy, He refused political control, He dismantled comfortable theology, and He declared that God is not the God of the dead, but of the living.
• That is why they decided He had to be stopped, because a living God means dead systems don’t win.
• A living God means truth cannot be silenced.
• A living God means resurrection is coming.
• And here’s the question for us.
• Is Jesus dangerous to your pride or life to your soul?
• Because He is still the God of the living, and when we surrender to Him, He does what only a living God can do, He changes lives when they are connected to Jesus.
• Our mission at FCC is to Change Lives by Connecting People With Christ!
• Do you want to be a part of that mission?
