MATTHEW 22:15-22

THE THINGS THAT ARE GOD’S

Life of Christ #48 – With Power Point

(FOR A COPY OF THE POWER POINT THAT GOES WITH THIS SERMON, PLEASE EMAIL ME AT jpeters@alltel.net )

 

Okay everyone, listen up!  God has something to say to you this morning through His Word and you need to hear it!  God is speaking, you need to listen!

 

We are continuing our study in the Life of Christ this morning.  In past weeks, we have seen Jesus enter the city of Jerusalem on Palm Sunday.  Jesus presented Himself as Israel’s king, the Messiah. Although there was a welcome reception outwardly, the leaders of Israel rejected Him. They did not want Jesus as king.

 

Jesus examined the temple and then went back to Bethany for the night. The next day as he approached Jerusalem he was hungry and saw a hypocritical fig tree, advertising fruit and having none, and he cursed it.  That day Jesus cleansed the temple.  The next day Jesus came again to Jerusalem and when the disciples called his attention to the shriveled up fig tree which he had cursed the day before.

 

Jesus then gave one of His great lessons on prayer.

Mark 11:22-24 - And Jesus answering saith unto them, Have faith in God. [23] For verily I say unto you, That whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith. [24] Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them.

 

On this same day, the chief priests and elders challenged his authority. After Jesus responded to their question, He gave a series of parables that condemned the leaders of Israel, and the religious “right” of the day, the Pharisees.  The problem the Pharisees had was their hypocrisy.     

 

Vs. 15 - After hearing these scathing parables, the Pharisees had a meeting.  They wanted to destroy Jesus.  They wanted to ruin His reputation. They wanted to see Him dead.

 

Jesus was the best speaker whoever lived. He was and is God!  The Pharisees mistakenly thought that they could trip up Jesus in His Words, like politicians do today. If they could entangle Jesus in His own they could accuse Him and have him censored, and perhaps even killed.

 

Vs. 16 – The Pharisees sent some of their disciples, men who were training to become leading Pharisees.

We are not sure why they didn’t go themselves, but we can speculate.  Perhaps because they wanted to trick Jesus they didn’t want Him to recognize the people that were being sent. So, they sent men he wouldn’t recognize as Pharisees.

They were trying to be deceitful.

 

They also joined forces with another faction, the Herodians. Now this is a strange combination. The Herodians were followers of King Herod, a Roman vassal.  The Herodians were supportive of taxes that helped keep Herod in power. The Pharisees hated Roman domination, and hated taxes.

 

Neither the Pharisees nor the Herodians had time for Jesus.

The Pharisees joined forces so that whatever answer Jesus gave to their clever question, somebody could accuse Him.

If Jesus answered one way, the Pharisees would accuse Him before the Jews.  If He answered another way, the Herodians, sympathetic to the Roman government, would accuse Him before that government.

Vs. 16 - So these men come to Jesus and begin with flattery. They pretend to be sincere men seeking an answer from one that was true, taught the word of God and didn’t care what men thought or said.

 

Vs. 17 - Their question was about a poll tax or a head tax levied by Rome on all its citizens.  The Romans provided many benefits and services as a result of the taxes, but taxation was heavy.  They were asking if it was lawful for religious Jews to pay that tax.

 

It was a clever question.  The common Jew hated being in subjection to Rome, and hated paying taxes to Rome.  If Jesus said it was right to pay the tax, then the Pharisees would accuse Jesus. If Jesus said it was wrong to pay the tax the Herodians would go to the Roman authorities and probably have Him arrested.

 

Vs. 18 – These men acted like righteous, sincerely religious men, but Jesus as God, saw right through their hypocrisy.

And by the way, Jesus also sees through our hypocrisy today.  We can fool people, pretending to be what we are not, but we can’t fool God!  So Jesus called them what they were, hypocrites!

 

Vs. 19 – Jesus asks for a denarius, a day’s wage for a common laborer and the silver coin minted by the emperors to pay their tax.  It had the emperor’s picture on it.

 

Vs. 20 – Jesus asked whose picture was on the coin. 

 

Matthew 22:21 - They say unto him, Caesar's. Then saith he unto them, Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's; and unto God the things that are God's.

 

What was Jesus saying?  It was Caesar’s picture on the coin, give to Caesar the things that are Caesars. The taxes that were due to the government were to be paid.  God had put government in charge for the sake of order therefore, the government was to be paid.   

 

Romans 13:1-7 - Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God. [2] Whosoever therefore resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God: and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation. [3] For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to the evil. Wilt thou then not be afraid of the power? do that which is good, and thou shalt have praise of the same: [4] For he is the minister of God to thee for good. But if thou do that which is evil, be afraid; for he beareth not the sword in vain: for he is the minister of God, a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil. [5] Wherefore ye must needs be subject, not only for wrath, but also for conscience sake. [6] For for this cause pay ye tribute also: for they are God's ministers, attending continually upon this very thing. [7] Render therefore to all their dues: tribute to whom tribute is due; custom to whom custom; fear to whom fear; honour to whom honour.

 

So, Jesus was saying give to government what government deserves.  After all, the government is ordained of God.  But then He sees, “Render to God the things that are God’s.”

   

God is to be given what is His!  Of course, if it ever comes down to a choice between obeying God and obeying the government, God is to be obeyed!

 

Vs. 22 - The argument of Jesus was rock solid!  It could not be denied. In fact His accusers were amazed that He gave an answer with which nobody could legitimately argue.

 

As Warren Wiersbe said – “Caesar’s image was on the coin. God’s image is on man.” Warren Wiersbe, The Bible Exposition Commentary, (New Testament) Volume 1, (Wheaton Illinois, Victor Books, 1989) p. 80

 

Genesis 1:27 - So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.

 

Because we are God’s we should give to God the things that are His!  That leads us to the question of the morning, “What are the things that are God’s?” 

 

What are the things that belong to God? 

 

OUR TEMPLES

 

Your body is a place of worship.  Even the person who claims to be an atheist or an agnostic worships something.

For the Christian, our bodies are literally the temple of God.

 

1 Corinthians 6:19-20 - What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? [20] For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's.

 

God the Holy Spirit is inside of you.

Therefore, whatever you say should glorify God and whatever you do should glorify God.

 

God dispels a myth in these verses.

The myth is “I am my own person. I can do whatever I want, whenever I want, however I want. What is important to me is the most important thing in the world.”

 

God says to the Christian, “The myth is wrong. You don’t belong to yourself. You were bought with a price. The price was the precious blood of my Son.  I own you.”   

 

Therefore, I should not abuse this body.

I should take care of it.  It does not mean I need to be fanatical, but I should not over-tax this body. 

 

I should not overtax my body with, food, laziness, sexual misconduct, worry, or lack of rest to name a few things.

 

And because this body is a temple, I should see to it that the things that go on inside of it and proceed out of it, bring honor and glory to God!

 

THE THINGS THAT ARE GOD’S:

OUR TEMPLES

OUR THANKS

 

We are temples of God, therefore God is worthy of our worship, our praise and our thanks.  God should be worshiped by the Christian on a continual basis.

 

Psalm 113:3 - From the rising of the sun unto the going down of the same the Lord's name is to be praised.

 

I’ll praise the Lord in the morning,

I’ll praise the Lord until noon,

I’ll praise the Lord ‘til evening time

Ends my praises too soon   

I’ll praise the Lord every moment ‘til life is over and then

I’ll enter the gates of glory and begin all over again. Source Unknown

 

Hebrews 13:15 - By him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name.

 

Because of what God has done for us in giving us forgiveness and eternal life, we should want to sacrifice for Him.  One of the sacrifices we can make is to be continually thankful all day long, and especially when we gather with the saints to worship.

 

OUR TEMPLES

OUR THANKS

OUR TIME

 

Does God actually have say in how I use my time?

Does He even care how I spend my time?

GOD GAVE YOU THAT TIME! IT IS HIS GIFT!

 

He is God. He cares how you spend your time. He wants the use of your time to glorify Him.

 

Psalm 90:10 - The days of our years are threescore years and ten; and if by reason of strength they be fourscore years, yet is their strength labour and sorrow; for it is soon cut off, and we fly away.

 

Psalm 39:4 - Lord, make me to know mine end, and the measure of my days, what it is; that I may know how frail I am.

 

We need to realize that we are not going to live forever in this body and in this life.  The amount of time we have is limited.  Therefore we are to make the wisest use of our time as possible.

 

The Psalmist was so wise when he prayed:

Psalm 90:12 - So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.

 

The old maxim is true – “Only one life, ‘twill soon be past. Only what’s done for Christ shall last.” Source Unknown

 

Just in case you still think that how you use your time is not important consider Ephesians 5:15-17:

See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, [16] Redeeming the time, because the days are evil. [17] Wherefore be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is.

 

A fool wastes his time.

A wise man redeems the time.

A wise man knows what the will of God is for his life and does it.

 

THE THINGS THAT ARE IMPORTANT TO GOD:

OUR TEMPLES

OUT THANKS

OUR TIME

OUR THOUGHTS

 

Is what you think about really important to God?

 

·       Does God want you to be thinking angry, vengeful thoughts?

·       Does God want you to be thinking about having sex with someone to whom are not married?

·       Does God want you to be dwelling on eating, sleeping, goofing off or even sports or hunting for extended periods of time?

·       Does God want you to be worrying?

·       The answer is found in familiar verse.

 

Philippians 4:8 - Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.

 

And the best way to help keep our thoughts focused is to think about God and the Lord Jesus Christ.

 

They are true, honorable, just, pure, lovely, the good report, virtuous, and praise worthy!

 

Some people say that you are what you eat.  I say, you are what you think!

 

OUR THOUGHTS

OUR TALENTS

 

Whatever ability God has given you, use it for His glory.

·       Can you sing? Sing for His glory!

·       Can you organize? Organize for His glory!

·       Can you listen? Listen for His glory!

·       Can you give? Give for His glory!

·       Can you help? Help for His glory!

·       Can you speak? Speak for His glory!

 

1 Peter 4:10-11 - As every man hath received the gift, even so minister the same one to another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. [11] If any man speak, let him speak as the oracles of God; if any man minister, let him do it as of the ability which God giveth: that God in all things may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom be praise and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.

 

OUR TALENTS

OUR TONGUES

 

Our tongues belong to God, but we don’t act like it.

In fact, our tongues are naturally the enemies of God.

 

James 3:8 - But the tongue can no man tame; it is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison.

 

The tongue is guilty of everything from an angry tirade to a violent curse, to a sweet sounding lie, to a denial of God.

 

If we are the children of God, our tongues should sound like they belong to God.

 

Ephesians 4:29 - Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers.

   

What we say should always be true.

And what we say should always be edifying.

If it is true but not edifying, we shouldn’t say it.

 

Our constant prayer should be Psalm 141:3, Set a watch, O Lord, before my mouth; keep the door of my lips.

 

OUR TONGUE

OUR TREASURES   

 

Matthew 6:19-21 - Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: [20] But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: [21] For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.

 

Money is temporary.

The good that money can do is to be invested in the needs of others, the needs of missionaries, and the work of the Church.

The results that come from these investments are eternal!

 

OUR THINGS

 

God wants all that we have to be turned over to Him.

It is when we surrender our houses, our cars, our toys, and even our families over to Him that we will be happiest.

He will not necessarily take them from us, but He wants them to be available if He needs them.

 

1 John 2:15 - Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.

 

Matthew 10:37 - He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.

 

OUR TRUST

 

One of the things that I learned from my Dad is that I feel good when I am trusted.  To be trustworthy is an admirable quality.

 

But very often we will trust people before we will trust God. What an insult to the One who has done everything for us.

 

John 3:16 - For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

 

We need to trust God with our souls, trusting in the Word of His Son to give us eternal life.

 

Psalm 62:8 - Trust in him at all times; ye people, pour out your heart before him: God is a refuge for us. Selah.

 

We need to trust God with every aspect of our lives.

 

THESE ARE THE THINGS THAT ARE GOD’S

Our Temples

Our Thanks

Our Time

Our Thoughts

Our Talents

Our Tongues

Our Treasures

Our Things

Our Trust

These are all God’s

WHAT IS NOT GOD’S IN YOUR LIFE RIGHT NOW?