Matthew "Give to Caesar what is Caesar's, and to God what is God's."

 

Matthew

"Give to Caesar what is Caesar's, and to God what is God's."

God has a bigger plan

Never lose sight of the big picture

Everything belongs to God

There are many injustices in the world

With so many battles, we need to make sure we don’t lose sight of the final goal

"As I live, says the Lord,

Every knee shall bow to Me,

And every tongue shall confess to God."  Romans 14:11 NKJV

All the nations you have made

will come and worship before you, O Lord;

they will bring glory to your name.

 For you are great and do marvelous deeds;

you alone are God. Psalms 86:9-10

God is worthy of more than a coin

He is worthy of our worship

 "Give to Caesar what is Caesar's

and to God what is God's."

 

"Give to Caesar what is Caesar's, and to God what is God's."

 

I don’t think there is anyone

who does not want more time and money.

 

Rich or poor…

 

 We both want more.

 

We want more so

we can fulfill our dreams in life.

 

Unless you own your own country…

 

 You are required to contribute time and money

to the country or kingdom you live in.

 

 The Jewish people in Jesus’ time

were required to pay taxes to Rome.

  

According to Bible-history.com…

 

Roman taxes totaled one percent of a man’s income.

 

Doesn’t seem like much, does it?

 

But there were other taxes…

 

 Customs taxes, import and export taxes,

toll bridges, crop taxes, sales tax, property

taxes, and special taxes when there was a war…

 

 Building project or campaign to finance.

 

Romans collected the taxes — rich Romans,

who didn’t live in Syria,

technically, ran the tax service.

 

However, what really happened was…

 

 That these Romans hired local men

to collect the taxes for them.

 

These local tax collectors were called telons

(a Greek word meaning “paying at the end”),

or publicanus in Latin.

 

From this, we get the word “publican”

used in some translations of the Bible.

 

In many Bible Translations,

is use the phrase “tax collector.”

 

But those rich Romans in Rome

didn’t pay their tax collectors.

 

Instead, the local tax collectors

made their livings off how much extra money

they were able to charge people

— over and above the legal taxes.

 

It wasn’t just the taxes people hated…

 

 They hated the collectors of Roman taxes.

 

Even Jesus,

 when teaching of an unrepentant person

who will not listen to anyone,

not even the whole church says…

 

If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church;

and if he refuses to listen even to the church,

treat him as you would a pagan or a tax collector.

Matthew 18:17

 

Yet, Jesus ate with tax collectors.

Matthew 9:11  

 

Jesus told a parable where a repentant tax collector

humbled himself and found forgiveness

and in contrast a self-righteous and full of pride man.

Luke 18:9-14

 

Zacchaeus was a chief tax collector,

one who was over other tax collectors.

 

He sought out Jesus.

 

And Jesus invited Himself to his house

where Zacchaeus repented.

 

Jesus said to him…

 

"Today salvation has come to this house, because this man, too, is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost."

Luke 19:9-10

 

Jesus called a tax collector to follow Him.

 

 His name was Mathew, one of the 12 apostles,

who wrote one of the four Gospels.

 

Jesus did not allow the burden of taxes

or the cheating of tax collectors

 to get in the way of His Kingdom purpose…

 

“To seek and save the lost”

 

When Jesus was asked…

 

Is it right to pay taxes to Caesar or not?"

Matthew 22:17

 

…he said to them,

 "Give to Caesar what is Caesar's,

and to God what is God's."

Matthew 22:21

Every kingdom needs the people of the kingdom

to give their time and finances.

 

 As citizens, we don’t always agree

with the amount of taxes

or what the money is spent for.

 

Yet Jesus says…

 

 "Give to Caesar what is Caesar's”.

 

God has a bigger plan.

 

Jesus says…

 

 “Go into the whole world and preach the Gospel”

And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached

in the whole world as a testimony to all nations,

and then the end will come.

Matthew 24:18

 

When we read Jesus words

“and to God what is God's.”…

 

We should see this as more than just the tithe.

 

We should see the earth is the Lord’s

and Jesus came to redeem,

to regain or reclaim this world.

 

Jesus gave more than the tithe…

 

 He gave His life.

 

Never lose sight of the big picture.

 

Everything belongs to God.

There are many injustices in the world.

 

And with so many battles

 we need to make sure

we don’t lose sight of the final goal.

 

"As I live, says the Lord,

Every knee shall bow to Me,

And every tongue shall confess to God." 

Romans 14:11 NKJV

 

All the nations you have made

will come and worship before you, O Lord;

they will bring glory to your name.

 For you are great and do marvelous deeds;

you alone are God.

Psalms 86:9-10

 

God is worthy of more than a coin.

 

 He is worthy of our worship.

 

"Give to Caesar what is Caesar's

 and to God what is God's."

 

 

Scripture Reading

 

Matthew 22:15-22 NIV

 

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?"

 

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.