Matthew 22:15-22
“Levels of Loyalty”
By: Rev. Kenneth Sauer, Pastor of Parkview United Methodist Church, Newport News, VA
The Pharisees and Herodians wanted to catch Jesus in a trap.
The ruling body of the Jews--the Sanhedrin held an official meeting.
They plotted about how they might deal with this man Who was claiming to be the Messiah.
They feared Christ because He was gathering the loyalty of the people so strongly.
Their plot was to ask Jesus a question about a person’s citizenship.
The question was supposed to “trap him in his words.”...
....that is, it was supposed to be impossible for Jesus to answer their question without Him either
discrediting Himself with the people or the Roman authorities.
If Jesus discredited Himself with the people, they would react against Him and desert Him....
....if Jesus discredited Himself with the Romans--they would arrest Him!
Is is right to pay taxes to Caesar or not?
The Pharisees thought that loyalty to God and to the state were mutually exclusive.
The state and all other power and authority were to be subject to religious rule.
Therefore, they were strongly against paying taxes to a foreign king.
Now the Herodians (a political party of Herod) held that government was dominant over religion...they
believed that taxes should be paid to Caesar rather than to God.
The Pharisees and the Herodians were bitter enemies....
....and to find them together is strange indeed....
....but their common hatred of Jesus brought them together against Jesus whom they considered the common
enemy.
Now, Christ is the Messiah, He is the Son of God Himself; therefore He saw through their plot.
Christ used this occasion to teach the truth about citizenship....
....a truth which is both astounding and earth-shaking!!!
Christ astounded the world by declaring that there is an earthly or physical citizenship--to which some
things need to be given...
...and there is also a spiritual, heavenly citizenship to which some things need to be given.
One of the great truths of this passage is the truth about citizenship!
Christians have two citizenships. We are citizens of this world, and because of this we owe the earthly
powers the things that belong to them.
But, if we are Christians, if we have been born from above or born of God or born again--we are also
citizens of Heaven....
...and as citizens of Heaven, we owe God what belongs to God.
Several years ago, a man sought to establish the kingdom of Heaven in Oregon.
He was put in jail twice for issuing his own license plates with the word HEAVEN embossed on the plate.
He also owed the state some $10,000 in property taxes.
This man maintained that the kingdom of heaven is not of this world....
....that it is impossible to serve both God and the state.
He and his 200 followers renounced their wordly identities and began to function only as citizens of
Heaven, insisting that Jesus did not pay taxes.
He went on to claim that the state is the anti-Christ, and that the courts are the dens of Satan.
He taught that the black robes of the judges indicate that they are henchmen from hell--conducting
Satanic rituals.
He urged his followers to become ‘unyoked’ from the governments of this world...
...to throw away state-issued drivers’ licenses and Social Security cards...
...to cancel car insurance...
...bank accounts and so forth.
This man’s argument is essentially the same as the argument of the Pharisees and the religious zealots of
Jesus’ day.
Christ was brilliant and brief as He dealt with the Pharisees and their false concept of citizenship....
“Show me the coin used for paying the tax....Whose portrait is this? And whose inscription?”
“Caesar’s,’ they replied.”
In doing this, Jesus forced the Pharisees to admit that some things do indeed belong to an earthly power.
The image was Caesar’s; the superscription was Caesar’s, and the coin had been made by Caesar’s
government.
Therefore, the coin was Caesar’s if Caesar said it was his.
The point is clear: since the religionists--as citizens--used what was owned and provided by Caesar,
then they owed Caesar what was due him.
Christ said strikingly: “Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s.”
Christ revealed a very important truth for all beleivers...
....we have a double citizenship!
We are citizens of heaven, yes, but we are also citizens of this world.
We have an obligation to the government under which we live.
Just like unbelievers, we, as Christians receive the benefits of government....like roads, sewage, water,
protection, public transportation and so forth...and we need to pay our share.
If we don’t pay our bills and taxes...we’ll go to jail.
But what happens if we don’t give to God what is God’s?
All humans are coined in God’s image because God created us all....
....but as the Bible teaches us...not all humans belong to God.
“You belong to your father, the devil...”....
....Jesus told those who refused to believe in Him....
... “and you want to carry out your father’s desire. He was a murderer from the beginning, not
holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar
and the father of lies. Yet because I tell the truth, you do not believe me!”
But as Christians, we do believe Christ!
We have been stamped “in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.”
We bear God’s image...which means we belong to God!
And as members of Parkview United Methodist Church...we also belong to God’s Church....
...And we have promised God that we will uphold His Church by our prayers, our presence, our gifts, and
our service.
As the church, we are commissioned to go into all the world and preach the gospel.
It’s a “great commission” and it demands great support!
We give a large portion of our earnings to the government...and we should...but do we give a large
portion of our earnings to God?
In Malachi chapter 3 God speaks: “Return to me, and I will return to you...
...But you ask, ‘How are we to return?’
Will a man rob God? Yet you rob me.
But you ask, ‘How do we rob you?’
In tithes and offerings.”
The verb “rob” here literally means “to cover” and thus to defraud and steal.
Few of us would ever even think of ‘not giving to Caesar what is Caesar’s....
....How many of us would ever even think of not giving to God what is God’s?
“Robing God” means keeping back from God what rightfully belongs to Him.
This is a Scriptural truth that we all must face...it is a caution against God’s judgement.
No matter how Israel tried to rationalize their behavior, those who failed to bring their tithes and
offerings to God were guilty of disobedience to God.
Those who did all that was expected of them could feel confident that they had obeyed the Lord.
God is not destitute if we fail to give money to Him, but we are spiritually impoverished if we “rob” Him.
If we are walking in close relationship with God--we will support His work gladly....
...and the local church cannot survive and prosper unless we support it as we should!...
...and the local church is the most effective place from which the reaching of lost souls for Christ takes place!
What we’re getting down to is our levels of loyalty.
As citizens of this world, we owe support to our government.
But we are also citizens of God’s kingdom--and this lays on us a much more basic claim to our loyalty.
God is the foundational loyalty on which all other loyalties are based.
As Christians we are called...as is written in the Bible to: “show proper respect to everyone: Love the
brotherhood of believers, fear God, honor the king.”
Many of us, when we get our paychecks, first pay our bills, then spend what we can for
entertainment purposes...and God gets the left-overs.
Jesus said: “Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s.”
As Christians, everything we are and everything we have are God’s....
We were saved to exist with God forever--therefore, we owe God our lives....
....We have been born again in order to live a self-denying life of love, joy, and peace for the sake of all
people everywhere....
....and at the resurrection of the dead we will be given perfect spiritual bodies that will be wedded to
Christ as a bride.
There will be a time when this world will pass away....
....there will be a time when we are no longer citizens of this world....
...But right now, there are two citizenships...
....an earthly and a heavenly citizenship...
....and as Christians we are called to be good citizens of both.
Let us pray: Sovereign Lord, you rule in justice and love, so that all people may know your redeeming
goodness. May we in all things render to you the obedience of faithful lives...and in doing so bring glory to your holy
name. In the name of Jesus we pray. Amen.
