Luke's Gospel

We're gonna have a reading now from Luke chapter 20. So if you have a bible near you, you can turn that up or you can read the words on the screen. We're in we're we're going back to Luke Luke's gospel tonight, which we haven't been in for a long time. But we're at chapter 20 verses 20 to 26. So let's hear what god says.

Keeping a close watch on him, they sent spies who pretended to be sincere. They hoped to catch Jesus in something he said so that they might hand him over to the power and authority of the governor. So the spies questioned him. Teacher. We know that you speak and teach what is right.

And that you do not show partiality but teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. Is it right for us to pay taxes to seize it or not? He saw through their duplicity and said to them Show me a denarius. Whose image and inscription are on it. Caesar's they replied.

He said to them, then give back to Caesar what is Caesar's and to God, what is God's. They were unable to trap him in what he said. They're in public and astonished by his answer they became silent. Well, good afternoon everyone, and it's great to be speaking about this terrific passage as we return to our series in Luke's gospel. Tom preached on the parable of the tenants which precedes these verses, I think it was in the last live service that we had here at the hub before lockdown was introduced and we moved to online services.

That seems a lifetime ago, doesn't it? But here we are back in Loop 20 and first 20. Now I hope you can see this, but I'm holding up a 10 pound note. I think this actually be a rarity quite soon because when I was in London yesterday, you can't spend it anywhere. Nobody wants currency.

It's contactless or Apple Pay or anything other than real notes. But on this 10 pound note, it says that it's issued by the Bank of England, and it says I promised to pay the bearer on demand the sum of 10 pounds. So it's essentially a bit of paper promising to pay the person who has it 10 pounds. In other words, you can get 10 pounds worth of stuff. With that bit of paper.

Now in theory, that's all good, isn't it? But the problem is the owner of the that 10 pound note has to trust that the treasury, the Bank of England will honor it, which I'm sure they will. But he also has to trust that it will maintain its value, which I'm sure it won't. In other words, that piece of paper doesn't tell me what I can buy with it. For example, I looked up what it would have bought the year I was born.

Now for 9 pounds in the year I was born, I could get a first class train ticket from London to Paris. That's what that was worth then. And that is all about inflation and money supply eroding purchasing power. Now, why am I telling you all this? Because we have a passage this afternoon that can be less challenging or or less hard hitting for us.

Than it was at the time Jesus actually said it. And I want us to be aware of that danger. As we look at these verses. You see the chief priests, the nation of Israel were essentially anti establishment. The establishment at the time being the Roman Empire.

Whilst at the moment, those of us living in Britain, particularly I guess if we're middle class Christians in Surrey and South West London, we tend not to be. So when Jesus says give to Caesar what is Caesar's, I e, pay your tax. Ishval would have been very upset if not furious with him for respecting Roman rule. Whereas we would tend to say, well, yeah. Of course, we pay our tax.

In fact, most of us respect authorities so much we're scared or we panic if the inland revenue ever get in touch with us at all. And that difference can soften this passage. So it doesn't have the impact on us, it should have. We're so pro the authorities that our problem is not refusing to pay tax. It's that we place too much trust in today's government.

We're so happy with our reasonably well off life, with our NHS, with our democracy, that we're dulled into a sort of sense of security where we don't yearn for heaven to come. Mainly because we like it here too much. And the point of talking about currencies and inflation and the 10 pound note at the beginning, is to try and show you that there's stuff happening behind the scenes if you like, that we have no control over. So we mustn't place too much trust, too much security, for example, in the value of money. Here in this passage, Jesus is answering people who inherently distrust Rome.

They are anti establishment. But he speaks just as powerfully to us today who aren't in that mindset. It just may be that he's speaking to us in a different way. So for us, the second part of the answer that he gives in verse 25 give to God what is God's may be the bit that's hugely challenging. Because whilst the value of money fluctuates, and can be destroyed and we've seen 9 countries like Zimbabwe or Argentina, the value of people is always real.

It's always high because we're made in God's image. We belong to God. And what Jesus says is that we must give back to god what is God's. He's saying we need to give our hearts back to god. In worship and love and obedience.

So if you're a Christian listening to this, you can look forward to being in heaven with Jesus as an heir as a child of God. And unlike currency, unlike the coin in the passage, we're of immense and real value to God. And so we owe him our hearts. And Jesus knew, you see, that the people are in the question, haven't done that. They haven't given him their hearts that heard him teach but they'd still rejected the son of god.

Now there's a lot more to this passage, and we're gonna get into that in a minute. But 1 application therefore, if you are an establishment type is to be careful not to push too much trust in something other than God. But if we turn and look at these verses in some detail, The first thing we'll notice is if you look at verse 20, keeping a close watch on him, it says. Now, who's him? Obviously, it's meaning Jesus, but we need to think therefore about who is it that's keeping a close watch on him.

And for that, we refer back to the previous passage that as I said Tom preached on some months ago. And if we look at verse 19, we read this. The teachers of the law and the chief priests looked for a way to arrest him immediately. Because they knew he had spoken this powerful against them, but they were afraid of the people. So keeping a close watch on Jesus with the teachers of the law, the chief priests, I the pharisees.

Now the interaction that we read here between Jesus and the Jewish leaders is in Mark's gospel and Matthew's gospel as well. And in Matthew chapter 22 in verse 15, we read this. Then the pharisees went out and laid plans to trap him in his words. They sent their disciples to him along with the herodians. That extra little bit of information is quite valuable.

You see, the herodians were Jews who had compromised. They had accepted the Roman rule of the herods over Israel. The pharisees on the other hand were nationalistic for Israel. They believed the Messiah would come and read them of Roman rule. So these 2 groups of people are very unlikely allies.

Because they had diametrically opposed views on what their response to Rome should be. Yet, they come together here to deal with Jesus. And so our first point this morning is this, a trap is set. It says in verse 19 that the people were in favor of Jesus. We're only a few days since the triumphal entry.

It's not long since Jesus had brought lazarus back from the dead. And this has swept through the crowd. They were probably still expecting that Jesus would prove to be the Messiah they wanted. So the pharisees and the teachers of the law couldn't risk going against the people. Verse 19, they were afraid of the people.

So a full frontal assault on Jesus and his credibility was out of the question. So instead, verse 20, they keep a close watch on him. They sent spies who pretended to be sincere. So their strategy is to pose as if they respect Jesus, to pose as if their sincere followers of Jesus. To get into his circle while he's teaching and then ask him leading questions that might firstly embarrass him But more importantly, either getting him into trouble with the Roman government or causing to lose favor amongst the people.

Either option is fine with them. Remember, under Roman rule, the chief priests have no authority to execute someone simply for not liking them for speaking against them. So the only way to achieve the death of Jesus was to get Rome to carry out the execution. But they had to be careful. They didn't wanna create a martyr And of course, they didn't wanna be seen to be behind his death because that would annoy the people.

So they come up with an ingenious question designed deliberately to catch Jesus out verse 21. Teacher, we know that you speak and teach what is right and that you do not show partiality but teach the way of God in accordance with the truth Is it right for us to pay taxes to Caesar or not? Now notice how they start the question. They flatter him They make it sound like they supporting just like the crowd does. Everyone at this point seems to love Jesus.

But what they're really doing is making sure he can't just sort of say, I I don't know, I haven't thought about it, or can't wriggle out in some way. It's a bit like, you know, when we're when we're back together as a church, hopefully, won't be too long. But think back to those days where Pete's preached and there's a question time and people are people couple of people are asking questions. It's a bit like somebody saying, Oh, pastor, that was truly wonderful. You know, I learned so much from your sermon.

You are someone who explains things so clearly. But I just wonder if you should have said this. You see, you start off so positively with flattery. It's hard then for the person you're asking the question to to dismiss your question because it comes across as harsh. So the positivity is to in order to suck Jesus sin to an answer.

They want him to answer, so they build him up. They flatter him in front of the crowd. They say, oh, you're a great teacher. So you can tell us this. And of course, they ask him a question which they think they've put him in a corner with where they're gonna like either answer.

Firstly, if he answers no, don't pay tax to Caesar, then of course the crowd might support him even more. Because they expect the Messiah to overthrow the Romans. But the chief priests know that of the herodians. The compromises, the politicians amongst them will run to herod. They'll run to Rome and tell them that Jesus is stirring up his rail.

Jesus is speaking against Roman rule. And the 1 thing that Rome was paranoid about was insurrection. And they would have dealt with Jesus and his followers harshly. But of course, if this happened, the chief priests would say, well, Our hands are clean. That's why they wanted the herodians they see.

They could say to the people, oh, what a shame. But it wasn't us that shot Jesus. It was them. How sad? Yet at least we know he wasn't a Messiah.

He wasn't god made flesh because he was so easily captured and killed by the Romans. On the other hand, if he answers yes, pay tax to Caesar. Then he would risk discrediting himself as the Messiah in the eyes of the people who were expecting him to bring an end to Roman rule. They would be disenchanted with Jesus, and the chief priests would be able to stop worrying about him as a threat to their power. So it was a brilliant question and it seems to have no way out.

It also couldn't be dismissed by Jesus as a non point because it was 1 of the burning issues of the day. What was the proper Jewish response to the Roman occupation. Just as importantly, what was the proper response to a Caesar who claimed to be divine. And therefore, any obedience to him By the Jews, it could be argued was a failure to give honor and glory to the 1 true god. But as we see in this passage, nothing is too difficult for Jesus.

And so second point we get his response to the trap. The response Jesus gives is simple, yet it's profound, and it goes way beyond, pay your tax. He has to come up with an answer here. But have you ever noticed with Jesus he never just avoids the trap. He never just answers in that sense.

His answers always teach and edify and build up and bring glory to God. So he replies verse 24 show me a denarius. Whose image and inscription are on it. Caesar's they replied. Verse 25, he said to them, then give back to Caesar what is Caesar and to God, what is God's?

Now remember the coin, the denarius was a Roman coin. Most of them had a picture of the emperor and an inscription on them. And this inscription indicated that the emperor was divine, so it is a very offensive coin to the Jews. They did not believe in making images of God, but they also believe that only God was God. And Caesar definitely wasn't that.

So it's a big, big political issue of the day amongst the Jews. But Jesus has risen above all of that. And is pointed to a more profound truth than was even contemplated in their trap of a question. So Jesus in his answer is helping us understand how to live in this world. How to live in a secular society even when we're under pressure or or facing opposition or even persecution from ruling authorities.

He's helping us today to work through a question, I guess many of us have had, haven't we? How can we be in this world yet not of this world. How can we show respect to a secular civic authority? Many many of us, I guess, don't believe in. Or certainly, we really don't respect them.

How do we do that while at the same time showing ultimate allegiance to God? And Jesus answers all of that. In 1 short sentence. You see, he's basically saying this. Did Caesar build your roads?

Does Caesar provide your system of administration and justice? Do Caesar's armies ensure your safety? Does Caesar provide many of the goods and services that you buy with his coins? Then, give him tribute that he deserves, give him the payment due under the taxation system that he requires. Giving the coin that bears his image.

And this teaching of Jesus is expounded even more fully in Paul's letter. To the Romans chapter 13 verse 1. He writes this. Let everyone be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except that which God has established.

The authorities that exist have been established by God Consequently whoever rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted. And those who do so will bring judgment on themselves. So we're called both by Jesus and the apostle Paul to accept the laws of the country in which we live. The only exception being when that government tries to override or go against our ultimate authority, which is God. There's an old saying in democracies, which is that we get the government we deserve.

And of course, to a larger extent, that's true, isn't it? Because we vote them in. But let me give you some practical examples of how to apply what Jesus is saying to us here. Perhaps you don't like the income tax rate in this country. Wealth tough.

God has appointed this government and they've set it. Perhaps you don't like the amount we spend on the defense on on military. Well, God has appointed this government and they believe that's what it takes to keep us secure. The reality is in today's society, you always have the option to go to a country that doesn't provide that. Perhaps you don't like the increasing liberal culture that we have in this country.

Well, we're free, aren't we? To speak out against it. But don't expect a secular government that needs votes to speak out for you. Or to take a Christian line. Perhaps you don't like the way the government has handled the pandemic.

Well, ultimately, we can always vote them out at the next election. But if this government started to close churches, not for social distancing reasons, but for ideological ones or if this government restricts worship or bans bibles or says we can't talk to people about Jesus, then everything changes. Because Jesus says in chapter 20 verse 25, give back to Caesar what is Caesar and to God what is God's. Is the church gods, does our worship belong to God? Is Scripture the Word of God are we called by God to talk to people about Jesus?

The answer is yes. So none of those things belong to Caesar or or in our case, the UK government. And so we would continue to do those things even if the world's secular authorities banned them. And that might mean suffering the consequences from the world's point of view. I don't know if you remember.

I can't remember how long ago it was. I don't even remember when we looked at pilgrims progress and John Bunyon in in the mix. Services, and I was struck I read John Bonyon's biography after that. And I was struck in it by how long and how frequently he was put in prison. Basically, all of it for preaching the gospel without some sort of state licence some bit of paper.

And he his life really was extraordinary. Because even when he was allowed out on occasions, I I couldn't quite work out. He seemed to be the jailer sometimes to let him out. He would immediately arrange a secret meeting and preach, and people would come from miles to hearing. But did you notice when you look at his life and this is the key to understanding, I think what Jesus is saying here.

He didn't rebel He didn't try and violently overthrow the government. He didn't run away to Venezuela or some non extradition country. And he didn't stop preaching either. Bunyan obeyed the ultimate authority in his life. God, but he also accepted the consequences of doing so.

So let's take 1 of the examples I mentioned earlier. If churches were banned. Well, we would meet in houses and gardens. And fields and any other building that we could hire, wouldn't we? And if the staff or the elders were arrested and imprisoned because of that, then so be it.

If we were constantly having to be dispersed, services interrupted, we had to change venue every week. We do that, wouldn't we? That's what Jesus is saying. Don't be other worldly in the sense of not caring about what's happening around you, don't not vote and then complain Don't take the government handouts, whether that's furlough money or the gift aid that they give to us as a church each year but then complain about and don't pay your tax. We can apply this to all sorts of things.

I was thinking about the face mask situation. Face masks are mandatory on public transport. They're they're shortly up I gather. Gonna be mandatory if you're into a shop. But at the moment, they're mandatory on public transport.

I go into London a couple of days a week. I was on a bus, Everybody pretty much on that bus had a had a face mask gone apart from 1 guy who's sneezing and coughing all over the place and people were literally scattering around the bus. You see there's no enforcement of that. The bus driver can't stop and challenge some bloke. But as Christians listening to what Jesus says here, it's mandatory.

So we wear 1. The fact that nobody's enforcing it doesn't stop us wearing it, does it? The answer from Jesus here is remarkable and it's sweeping And that brings us to our third point. What was their response to Jesus? Verse 26.

They were unable to trap him in what he had said there in public and astonished by his answer, they became silent. So the answer Jesus gives is so brilliant that scripture tells us even the teachers of the law the herodians are astonished by his answer and it silences them. This is where verse 19 comes in again from the previous section. The teachers of the law and the chief priests look for a way to arrest him immediately. Because they knew he'd spoken this powerful against them, but they were afraid of the people.

See, that verse tells us something very important. And that is that the chief priests, the teachers of the law fully understood that Jesus had directed the powerful at them. The powerful about the powerful about the tenant farmers killing the sun and air, they knew exactly what he was saying. They knew exactly what that powerful meant. And yet still, they didn't listen.

They did not pay attention in their hearts to the word God had for them. And in verse 26 here, they do exactly the same. They are dumbstruck by his answer, stunned into silence. Because his response is so brilliant, so pastoral, so godly, so profound. They marvel at it Yet still they don't believe they don't believe in him, they don't believe him.

Now it's incredibly sad. Yet in a passage like this, it is too easy to put ourselves on the outside looking in, tutting at the pharisees, dismissing their anti establishment stuff. The reality is how often do we sit in church or now sit watching the internet, sitting under the word of God, and we hear it, and we may even understand it and we may even know God is speaking to us at that moment, and yet we don't act on it. We don't embrace it. We ignore it in terms applying applying it to our lives.

Brothers and sisters, let's not sit in the seat of the chief priests who had heard Jesus speak a word directly to them and then proceeded to ignore it. See when Jesus says to them and he says to us to give to God what is his, He's saying, give him what? Well, the answer is our souls, our worship, our duration, our praise, our obedience, our trust. We're to give God our hearts and our lives. So as we saw at the beginning, our money, coins, notes, Well, they won't always hold their value.

Why would you focus on those? Why would you worry about those? Why would you value those so highly. We might not be rebels. We're not living in an occupied country.

So the first application give to Caesar what it sees us may be very easy for us to hear. And we just say, yeah, we're doing that. But what about the second application? Give to God what is God's? Do we trust the authorities we have in this country so much.

Do we trust our relative wealth? Do we trust the 10 pounds in our pocket? Do we value it so much that we fail to trust in God as we should? So you're perhaps it was perhaps you're like Tom was saying this morning in this morning's sermon. Perhaps you're so anxious that we spend all of our time worrying about this life, about where the next 10 pound note is coming from.

So you don't get round to giving God what is his. Your life, your soul, you have an intrinsic worth, a value that never fades. A value that as Tom said this morning is greater than the birds because you belong to God and you've been stored into relationship with him by the death on the cross of his son Jesus Christ. What a value we have, what a value our souls have because they've been redeemed by the blood of Jesus. Are you living in the light of that?

Are you giving back to God your soul, your heart? Are you giving him what in the end belongs to him? Father, again, we thank you for your word to us tonight we thank you for for how amazing this this sentence is that give to Caesar what is Caesar and to God, what is God's. And Lord, please help us to to know that truth that we are made in the image of God. His images is is on us.

And Lord, you came, you sent your son into this world to to die for us and to so that so that we might so that we might know know you. And and so we pray that you would help us to give our lives to you. To to give you honor, to give you worship, to give you our hearts. Lord we pray that we wouldn't get we wouldn't get wrapped up with with with the details of what it means to give Caesar what it sees as please help us to not be so distracted with that, that we forget to to to give God what is God's. And so, lord, please, would you help us to be to be to be citizens of this world, to respect those in authority.

Lord and to and to do what Jesus said to not not to not be those people that are just trying to trap you know trap them in these words. And get out from under from under what we think is is is strict law, but help us to see that in Jesus' words, there is freedom to to be those who you made us to be. And so again, we thank you for for this time together tonight. We pray in Jesus' name, amen.