Matthew 22:15-22
New International Version 1984 (NIV1984)
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.
Usually
when we hear this scripture quoted it is regarding the need to pay our taxes,
which is a very important message but not one I want to focus on today. I would like to say that it is important
though for us to take care of our obligations be it taxes or other bills we
have accumulated. This too is a testimony
of our faith in Christ Jesus. If we hold
on to our money or spend it places we shouldn’t and then can’t pay our bills it
puts a negative impact on our testimony of Him.
It also limits our dependence on Him to provide for our needs. Some may debate me but I believe that it is
more important in building the kingdom of God if we take care of our
obligations than it is to present a tithe to Him. Of course, if we are good managers of our
money we can do both but sometimes we get in a pinch because we don’t manage
our money well. I believe our financial
obligations fall into the same category as your brother having an offense
against you as Jesus talks about in Matthew
5:23-24 23 “Therefore, if you are offering your gift at
the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, 24 leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be
reconciled to your brother; then come and offer your gift.
(http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew%205:23-24&version=NIV1984) Jesus does not want our
offerings unless our relationship is right with others because He knows our
heart is not in the right place. So, pay
those taxes, pay those debts you owe to others, get rid of things you don’t
need in order to pay your obligations.
All that being said, that is not the only message in this scripture
verse.
Let’s first look at the pharisees who came to
trick Jesus. They were cunning in their
actions and many of us may have thought they were just alright people. They began their conversation with Jesus in
such a way as to make Him think that they were praising Him, they gave Him a
complement. Have you ever been tricked
in that way? Someone gives you a
complement with a stipulation behind it?
You have to live up to the expectations that they have given you, but
they have a hidden agenda, they want something from you that you generally
would not give them. The difference
between us and Jesus is that Jesus knows exactly what they are up to and
sometimes we do not. The assurance in that for me is that Jesus
knows me, He knows my thoughts, He sees my actions, and He still loves me. In the case of the pharisees, He calls
them hypocrites. Now the questions we
need to ask ourselves is, “What is my
motive?” “Am I being like the pharisees,
saying one thing but having a hidden agenda?”
There are many people who do not have anything to do with church or
a faith in Jesus because they see Christians or people that call themselves
Christians, as hypocrites. There are
those who attend church who say and do one thing in church and then go into the
world and act totally different. They
ruin the Christian testimony with their unlike Christian actions or their
unwholesome speech. Those who do not
have a faith in Jesus see that and turn away and use that as an excuse for why they
don’t go to church. They think all
Christians faith must be fake because they see the actions of one who claims to
be a Christian but is not Christ-like.
Jesus, however, knew because he could see right through the pharisees and
He looked straight into their core being and knew who they were, hypocrites.
I have been approached in the past by people of a
different religion than myself. They can
say the right words to draw you into their little promotion of their
faith. They can even ask you a question
to make you think that they are truly interested in your response. I have had one say that they were taking a
survey. When you take a survey you ask
the question, record the answer and move on to the next person. In this case they were not taking a survey
but were asking a question to get me to answer in such a way that they could
them proceed to argue with me, this is not a survey, this is a trick. When you witness to people about your faith
in Jesus Christ, don’t trick them. Tell
it like it is. Tell them how Christ made
a difference in your life, honor Him with a testimony that gives Him the credit
for everything in your life.
As you seek Him may your life reflect Him, as you
seek Him, may you be able to share with others about how Jesus knows them and
loves them too.
Seeking Him with all my heart,
Sheila
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