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Nanosermon Script:
You may have heard the expression ‘Render unto Caesar’ and wondered what exactly it means. When the Lord Jesus said it, he meant ‘pay appropriate taxes to the Roman authorities’. And then he said ‘Render unto God the things that are God’s’. We have things of Caesar and things of God.
So you might think ‘Render unto Caesar’ means the church should have nothing to say to government, or even that the realm of the ‘secular’ Caesar is entirely separate from the realm of God. The realm of God. That’ll be the church and spiritual stuff.
That’s the position of secularists. They say God had just better ‘butt out’ of anything to do with actual ruling. And of course when they say the civil government is ‘secular’ they claim it for themselves and try to shut God and his people out.
But is that really what our Lord intended? What led to this ‘Render unto Caesar’ expression from the Lord Jesus? Turn, please, to the Gospel of Matthew chapter twenty-two. Let’s read from verse fifteen:
Matt 22:15 Then went the Pharisees, and took counsel how they might entangle him in his talk. 16 And they sent out unto him their disciples with the Herodians, saying, Master, we know that thou art true, and teachest the way of God in truth, neither carest thou for any man: for thou regardest not the person of men.
What’s really going on here?
They are provoking Jesus to say something fearless and get himself into trouble.
Verse seventeen:
Matt 22:17 Tell us therefore, What thinkest thou? Is it lawful to give tribute unto Caesar, or not?
This was actually a big issue at the time. Most of the Pharisees were opposed to giving Caesar any money at all. But you couldn’t say that in public, or you would be in a Roman jail for sedition. And no Pharisee would even touch the money.
You’ll see Jesus in a moment saying ‘shew me’ one of the coins. Not ‘give me’. The Rabbi from Galilee won’t touch it either.
Matt 22:18 But Jesus perceived their wickedness, and said, Why tempt ye me, ye hypocrites? 19 Shew me the tribute money. And they brought unto him a penny. 20 And he saith unto them, Whose is this image and superscription?
’the things that are God’s’
Matt 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. 22 When they had heard these words, they marvelled, and left him, and went their way.
Hmm. Give Caesar what is Caesar’s and give God what is God’s. How many things are Caesar’s, the realm of civil government. Well, the responsibility to maintain law and order, which the Apostle Paul in Romans 13 says is what the money is given for:
Rom 13:6 For this cause (maintaining law and order) pay ye tribute also: for they are God’s ministers, attending continually upon this very thing.
How many things are God’s?
Now then. How many things are God’s? Well, Psalm twenty-four verse one says:
Psalm 24:1 The earth is the LORD’S, and the fulness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein.
I think the Psalmist has just told us everything is God’s. Everything and everyone in the world. Civil rulers are responsible to God, just as much as Pastors and Bishops. Paul says in Romans chapter thirteen that every civil ruler is ‘the minister of God’, whether he admits it or not.
Christ puts Caesar in his place, under God
You see, that’s because all authority comes from God. As the Psalmist puts it, with no compromise at all:
Psalm 47:2 For the LORD most high is terrible; he is a great King over ALL the earth.
So this discourse in the Gospels does not tell God to keep out of Caesar’s realm at all. It does not limit God, it limits the state. It puts ‘Caesar’ in his place, under God. He has a God-given duty to maintain law and order.
It’s not the church, or its prophets, who have to butt out of government. We have a duty to call the government to account and tell rulers to rule in righteousness. No, it is the state that has to keep its nose out of the church.
If you know someone in the realm of Caesar, some king, or president, or member of parliament, or congressman, you can tell him all that. He might not thank you for it. But he needs to know.
SCRIPT ENDS
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