Kingdom Citizens in a Foreign Land Matthew 22:15-22

There are lots of ways For one to have a loving conversation with another. One can show kindness. One can show compassion. When one is hurting One can say hard things out of love for another. One can truly give a compliment when there is something worth admiring about someone.

Everything I just listed is treating another person with love. However There is a way for one to give the appearance of love when it's not love at all. This is known as flattery. Flattery is when one person says good things about another but there is an ulterior motive behind the communication.

Back in June John Harris visited and spoke at this church. It was so interesting having him here because he shared some of the experiences that he has gone through over the last few years. John has produced much work over that time.

He has produced hundreds of podcasts written two books and spoken at many different places. One of the experiences that John has gone through is experiencing flattery. He told me the story of a seminary president who was trying to get him to stop Producing videos.

They were exposing the wrong being done at this president's seminary. The seminary had professors who were teaching false teaching and the president was protecting them. John showed the evidence on the internet to show that false teaching was indeed taking place.

The president was responsible for bringing these teachers in in the effort to appeal to an increasingly Progressive evangelical church. But this president was troubled by the videos. So he tried the tactic of flattery on John.

He told him he was doing great work. But he didn't want the bullseye to be put on his school. He actually said that he was lying that what he was saying about the school was not true. But John saw right through it.

It made it clear that he would continue to shine The spotlight on the school as long as they kept pushing false teaching at this institution. The president saying he was doing great work was flattery.

You tell someone something that you don't really believe to get someone to do what one wants. In this case flattery was used to get the attention off the wrongdoing Taking place at this school. Now flattery is a form of lying.

The reason one lies is to get what someone wants or to protect oneself. Flattery is something that Christians should never do and it is the practice of evil people. This morning as we continue our sermon series through Matthew, we are going to see Jesus chief earthly enemies attempt to use flattery.

Flattery, Malice, and the Trap for Jesus

To.

Set him up to get what they want to put him in a trap. But of course Jesus is once again going to go going to give the exact correct response. And the question they ask him is a difficult one. The question is concerning the role of God's people in relationship to earthly governments.

So this time I encourage you to turn in a Bible with me to Matthew chapter 22. We'll be looking at verses 15 through 22. If you're using a red Bible, it's on page 983. The sermon is titled kingdom citizens in A foreign land and I'm gonna begin by reading the text Matthew 22 15 through 22.

Then the Pharisees went and plotted how to entangle him in his words and They sent their disciples to him along with the Herodians saying teacher We know that you are true and teach the way of God truthfully and you do not care about Anyone's opinion for you are not swayed by appearances.

Tell us then.

What you think is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar or not? But Jesus aware of their malice said why put me to the test you hypocrites show me the coin for the tax. And they brought him a denarius and Jesus said to them whose likeness and inscription is this?

They said Caesars. Then he said to them Therefore Rendered to Caesar the things that are Caesars and to God the things that are God's. When they heard it they marveled and they left him and went away.

Here's our big idea. What this text is calling you to do. Understand that living under God's rule means submitting to his appointed authorities living under God's rule.

Means.

Submitting to his appointed authorities and we're gonna see one practice how as we go through this text. But before we do let me give you a little recap of where we were one Sunday ago. We finished a two Sunday sermon on the parable of the wedding feast.

In this parable Jesus tells the story of a king who has a son who's getting married. The king wants his countrymen to attend the grand wedding feast that he has prepared. So what he does is he sends out servants throughout the whole kingdom to find people to come.

But what he finds is that there's very little interest. The servants find indifference among the people. They can come to the wedding feast, but they don't want to be there. He also sends out servants who get a different response.

The first response was indifference. The second response was hostility. They treated the servants poorly who invited them to the feast and they even killed some of them. What the parable of the wedding feast is communicating is Israel's rejection of the Messiah.

When Jesus came the first time the nation largely rejected him the gospel of the kingdom was offered first to Israel. But when Israel rejected the Messiah the gospel was offered to others. Who would fill up this grand wedding feast in the future and that is the nation's.

The gospel goes to Jews. Yes but it also goes to the nation's and the ones who receive the Invitation to enter this kingdom and that invitation is Jesus Christ. Those who receive it are the ones who are going to populate this future kingdom and celebrate at this grand feast.

Now this leads us to our text this morning that we've already read but now we're gonna zero in on and I'm gonna begin by Zeroing in on verses 15 through 17 and what we see in these verses is that the Pharisees go and plot how to entangle him in his words and They sent their disciples to him along with the Herodian saying teacher We know that you are true and teach the way of God truthfully and you don't care about anyone's opinion for you are not swayed by appearances.

And here's the question they ask is it lawful To pay taxes to Caesar or not. What we read here is what appears to be an honest question from the Pharisees. But verse 15 clues us in Telling us that this was not an honest question, which we have seen throughout Matthew.

Verse 15 tells us that the Pharisees goal with this question was to entangle him in his words. So what the Pharisees did was send their disciples to Jesus in order to trap him. This has been the whole goal of the Jewish leadership throughout his ministry.

This man from Nazareth Starts his ministry and people everywhere are following him listening to what he's saying. They're leaving the Jewish leadership the establishment and they're going to Jesus this nobody from Nazareth who talks like no one else talks and does things that no one else does and More than anything the Jewish leadership wants to persuade the people to stop following him.

To go back to them instead. This is about power. They want these people under their control. So what they do in verse 16 as I mentioned in the introduction is use flattery. They give the appearance of kindness, but there are evil evil motives behind This and you will notice that verse 16 says that the Pharisees Not only sent their disciples those who followed the Pharisees the leadership.

But also the Herodians are sent to Jesus. The Herodians would have been followers of King Herod. Who was a leader under the Romans over the region of Israel? They were not just followers of one Herod, but the whole Herod dynasty.

That goes back to Herod the Great Who was the king alive when Jesus was born? They are called Herod, but these are many kings from the same family. Even though they resided over this Jewish region all the Herod's were not Jewish themselves.

They drew their family lineage from the Edomites. Now you learn about the Edomites in the Old Testament. The Edomites were longtime rivals of Israel. We know the history of the Herod's. The history of the Herod's is not a pretty one.

The first from this dynasty Herod the Great was the first king and his sons reigned in Palestine after him. It was said of Herod the Great that it was better to be his pig than his son. Because he had no problem putting people to death who crossed him the wrong way.

Herod the Great's sons were every bit as evil as him. We've already seen in Matthew that Herod one of the Herod's killed John the Baptist. The people friends with the Herod kings called the Herodians would have been rough characters also.

Since anyone close friends with this great evil cannot be good people themselves. This tells you the kind of people who are asking Jesus this question. The Pharisees have serious issues and so do the Herodians.

So we should not be surprised that they would not humbly ask Jesus a question. But evil motives lie behind the question they ask. Now even though the Pharisees and Herodians were evil. They were not united in their evil.

The Pharisees were Religious while the Herodians were not so the Pharisees were not fans of the Herodians. But they come together here because they have a common enemy and that enemy is.

Jesus.

The Pharisees find the Herodians useful because of their close connection with the Roman authorities. Because remember the the Herod's were did not have absolute power they were under the leadership of the Romans and this question is about Roman authority about taxation in the Roman Empire.

So the Herodians are useful here to the Pharisees. What we see here is that these two groups complement Jesus. But this complement is full of ulterior motives. They say to Jesus these words full of flattery.

Teacher. We know that you are true and teach the way of God truthfully and you don't care about anyone's opinion. For you are not swayed by appearances. Now the compliments of the Pharisees and Herodians given to Jesus.

They don't believe of course. They don't believe that what Jesus says is true and that he teaches the way of God. We have seen what the Jewish leadership thinks about Jesus. Jesus message is different from their message and they think they're from God and.

So if they're from God, then this man who's speaking something differently can't be from God. Their opposition to him led them to conclude that what Jesus said and did came from Satan. Matthew 12 24 says when the Pharisees heard it.

They said it is only by Belzebul the prince of demons. That this man casts out demons Belzebul is another word for Satan. They think his power and teaching isn't from God, but from the devil. But they try flattery to get Jesus to say what they want.

To trap him. What they want to do is bring him down. And here's the question put forth in order to trap Jesus. They ask him is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar or not. As we look at this, we need to answer the question.

Who is Caesar? Caesar is a Roman term that also means Emperor at the time of Jesus according to Luke 3 1 Caesar Tiberius was the Roman Emperor in The first century BC Rome moved from a republic to an empire.

We live in a Republic in America. But this is no new thing. Republics existed in the ancient world. Democracy and Republic they're kind of typically a little bit different, but there's they're very closely related and so you see these types of governments.

Governments of the people by the people for the people where the people decide who's in their leadership. You see this in Greece you see this in Rome in the ancient world the Roman Republic. Which started in the 6th century BC?

Ended in 27 BC and this is when the Empire came in. Actually what what led to the Empire was the assassination. Sorry I missed that up that there was there was a big conflict and then Caesar Augustus steps in eventually Caesar Augustus Was assassinated and then Tiberius his son took over for him.

He reigned Caesar Augustus until 14 AD and then Tiberius took over. Who reigned during Jesus ministry. Caesar as the most powerful man in the Empire. Symbolized the totality of the governing authorities.

So what they are asking him is this is it lawful to pay? Taxes to this earthly government that is over them. By asking him this question they are trying to put Jesus in an impossible position. Similar to the position that Jesus put them in when he asked the Jewish leadership what they thought about the baptism of John.

But the difference as we will see is that Jesus gives an answer. While the Jewish leadership in that passage earlier on in this chapter chapter 22 They gave no answer to Jesus for fear of what might happen to them.

The reason this was a difficult question for Jesus is that the Roman citizens this question about taxation. The Roman citizens which included the people of Israel were heavily taxed and Some Jews thought that it was right not to pay taxes.

Because of the burden of taxation that the Romans put on the population. So if Jesus answers that one should pay taxes. The Jewish leaders think that Jesus will lose favor with the Jews and what we have seen is that Jesus was enormously popular.

Everywhere he went enormous crowds followed him. But they wanted these crowds to turn on him and return to them following their authority. But if Jesus answers that because of the high taxation the Jews are not obligated to pay taxes to the Romans.

Then Jesus would be seen as an insurrectionist as someone who wanted to overthrow the government. One who disregarded Roman law, but before he answers Jesus makes it clear to them that he knows What they are doing and asking him this question.

Let's see this in verse 18. But Jesus aware of their malice said why put me to the test you hypocrites? What the author Matthew writes is that Jesus is aware of their malice. Another way this Greek word can be understood as evil purpose and desires Jesus understands their evil motives.

You will notice that Jesus does not first respond with an answer. He responds with a question so Jesus Understanding their agenda says why put me to the test and he calls them what they are you hypocrites?

Jesus calls them hypocrites because they give the impression that they respect him and they give the impression That they truly care about what the answer is. Because they want to honor God by understanding whether or not it is right to pay taxes that that's how they're presenting themselves.

This is an honest question that they're presenting to Jesus but Jesus knows They don't they don't.

Care.

They don't want an answer to this question. They're out to get him. So he calls them what they are. He calls them hypocrites. As I have explained to you a hypocrite is Someone whose life is a contradiction.

In ancient times actors were called.

Hypocrites.

Sometimes you maybe you know someone who They put on an appearance, but that's not at all who they are. That is an actor. That is a hypocrite. The Jews asking this question Say they are doing one thing when they're really doing another.

These disciples of the pharisaical leadership are just like their leadership. They present themselves as holy people, but they're really rotten to the core. Once Jesus calls them out to make it clear that their motives are impure.

With this question concerning taxation Jesus answers the question in verses 19 through 21. He says Show me the coin for the tax and they brought him a denarius and Jesus said to them whose likeness and an inscription is this.

They said Caesars. Then he said to them Therefore render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's and to God the things that are God's in their flattery. The disciples of the Pharisees and the Herodians were ironically, right?

Jesus is someone who is true who teaches the way of God and doesn't care about anyone's opinion. For he is not swayed by appearances as they said they are right in. What they said. Jesus is not someone who goes out and has to figure out which direction the wind is blowing.

Before he gives an answer. That's someone who's calculated. Yeah, how are they gonna perceive my answer instead of just saying this is the correct answer. We need more of that in this world and Jesus gives us that example.

Jesus doesn't care how unpopular his answer will be. Remember when he preached in John chapter 6 the crowds leave him because of some of the hard things He's saying and and then Jesus says to his disciples that you're gonna leave too.

Jesus doesn't care about how big of a following he had. He cared about honoring his father knowing the truth. Just yesterday. I was listening to a politician who was Compromising on the issue of abortion and I'm thinking you are fearing man.

You're not fearing God.

Why would you do that?

It's frustrating to see that Jesus who always did the will of God he always had his aim to please his father so Jesus gives them the answer and he tells them to bring him a coin and they bring him a denarius.

A Denarius was a typical day's wage. For a Roman laborer, and this was the coin that was used when Roman citizens paid taxes. Once Jesus has the coin in his hands He asked the disciples of the Pharisees and the Herodians.

He asked them whose picture is on the coin and they answer it is Caesars Caesar. Tiberius the Emperor that's whose likeness is on the coin on. The front of the coin was his picture and on the edge of this coin was written as we see on a lot of our coins.

There's things written on the edge. What was written on the edge is this? Tiberius Caesar son of the divine Augustus. Caesar Augustus was Tiberius his father and the Emperor's were not just considered emperors.

They were not considered mere men. They were considered gods. You can see how religious the Romans were. They believed in many gods and they also believed their emperors were gods. And this is why in the earlier Roman Empire.

It was so controversial to call Jesus King and God. They had their king and gods. God and gods and they believed. Something completely different from the Christians. The Christians said we cannot bow to your gods and so you can see how persecution happened as Jesus points to Caesar Tiberius his picture.

He tells them render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's and to God the things that are God's. If there is any debate about whether Christians should pay taxes Jesus gives the answer right here. The disciples of the Pharisees and the Herodians who asked this question are astonished.

That he answered and they couldn't argue with how he answered it as verse 22 says. When they heard it they marveled and they left him and went away. What the text says is that they marveled and what they what did they marvel about?

They marveled at the fact that he boldly answered the question so much different from what they're used to so much different from How the Pharisees operated. Jesus asked the Pharisees, what do you think about the baptism of John?

They know that the crowd loves John, but they also don't believe that John is from God. So they can't approve of him that would undo their whole ministry or their whole religion their ministry, right?

And.

And of course. They're not gonna go after him because if they go after him the crowds aren't gonna like them because because the people thought that John was a prophet. So they don't give an answer, but Jesus here gives an answer knowing that among some people His answer would be unpopular.

They also marvel at his wisdom. His answer included the commitments of God.

To.

God given authorities.

But.

Let me back up there the commitment of God's people to God given authorities and their commitment to him directly as. Those who were fools they were not acquainted with wisdom the Pharisees and the Herodians.

What the text says is that they left him? They didn't want to be around him anymore because the longer they were around him the more their foolishness would be exposed. As they're around Jesus who is all wise.

What Jesus is communicating is that everything that God's designs everything that he designs is good and One thing in creation that God designed is civil authority.

The government.

To have civil authority keeps law and order. Certain people are put in charge to enforce just laws and the citizens are to obey those laws. If you don't have that society falls apart. People make good laws.

They enforce good laws. The people obey those laws. If you have that you have a great society. And what Jesus is saying is that it is not okay to give to God. But not give the tax That comes from the government.

What this means is that whatever income we bring in some of it belongs to God.

And.

Some of it belongs to the governing authorities God expects us to give to both and his plan is to use those resources for good in their given arenas the society and the ministries of the church. In the case of the church it is for building up the church and the advance of the gospel.

In the case of the civil government the resources are to be used to make society function properly. It is not God's plan for Christians to avoid paying taxes. To not file taxes is to break the law of the land and to not pay taxes is also to break God's law.

By obeying the just laws of the land you are obeying God. By being a law-abiding citizen you are contributing to the order of society. What Jesus says? His Apostle the Apostle Paul Writes in Romans 13 7 as we already read.

Pay to all to whom all what is owed. Taxes to whom act taxes. To whom taxes are owed. Revenue to whom revenue is owed. If you're in debt to someone God tells you pay off that debt. Whatever taxes you owe pay those taxes.

I Remember when I was growing up there was a man going to our church Who believed we should not pay taxes and it was public knowledge that he didn't and I'm not sure if he avoided the authorities forever.

There was always something off about him. He might have thought he was following God in this, but he wasn't. Now this man did not pay taxes because he thought we should not pay taxes to an evil government.

There have been Christian theologians who have said that all government is evil and demonic. A well-known theologian Greg Boyd Who has really gone with the world completely now that now that our society has moved to the left hard he says all government is evil and Which is not true As I will explain here, and I'm not sure if he told his church not to pay taxes.

But his assessment that all government is evil is.

Not accurate.

It is true that government in this world is flawed. Sometimes deeply flawed. I Believe we're living under a deeply flawed one right now. It is obvious The place that our country is in but the government was still put here by God For the good of humanity and we as Christians should do what we can to make government better.

This is why we vote and make our voices heard on moral issues. We want government to perform their God-given purpose and Christians are the ones Who should be telling governing authorities what God expects of them.

If we don't who will? Whoever the governor of Wisconsin is after the November election I Would love the opportunity to sit down and tell him if you want this state to succeed. This is what you must do.

Christians should be public about what a government is supposed to look like. We love our neighbor when we promote a government that functions according to biblical principles. Now as we talk about paying taxes it is true that the tax code in America has issues serious issues.

And many of the taxes are not used for good things. If we were to learn some of the things our taxes go for we'd be.

Alarmed.

But some of them are good things. It is a mixed bag and before God we say Lord I'm not sure how this money will be used but I want to honor you By paying my taxes in order to help society function properly.

Earlier, I mentioned that the Roman citizens experienced heavy taxation. But even in that context Jesus told them to pay their taxes. Jesus would not have been opposed to having someone stand up to fix the taxation.

Since heavy taxation puts a burden on the people and that's not what God wants. Government was put here by God to help people. Not to hurt them. But governmental reform was not Jesus mission in life. His eyes were on Jerusalem, and he was telling his people to be law-abiding citizens while they lived on earth.

Earlier in our journey through Matthew We looked at Matthew 17 verses 24 through 27 in that text. We saw Jesus back up his words here by paying his taxes. There he paid the temple tax. But we could be sure that he paid the Roman tax as well.

What is interesting is that that text in that text Jesus says that he doesn't have to pay the tax. Because he is God's Son. Now as you're thinking through this carefully what you come to realize is that every genuine Christian in this room are also God's sons.

We are all children of God. We are not the only begotten Son like Jesus. But we are sons adopted into God's family. So follow the logic of Matthew 17. Christ says that he is the son of the king of the universe his father.

Therefore he technically does not need to pay taxes. It is also true that anyone who is in Christ is the son of the king and therefore technically does not need to pay taxes. But I just told you that scripture Commands you to pay taxes, and if we don't it is sinful.

Is the scripture contradicting itself. No, the Bible never contradicts itself. What Jesus is getting at in Matthew 17 is that technically no son of God is Subject to the kingdoms of this world. But only to God.

Your primary Residency is in a foreign land and that land is the future forever kingdom in Philippians 3 verses 20 and 21 that the Apostle Paul wrote that our citizenship is in heaven and from it We await a Savior the Lord Jesus Christ who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body.

God desires for you to be good citizens. He does not want you and I to be seen by the world as rebels as Insurrectionists as those who desire to overthrow human governments which by the way Does not describe.

The word insurrection right now is just being thrown around so loosely. If you walk into the Capitol building and if you have no clue what you were doing there, that's not an insurrectionist. Okay, insurrectionist is someone who and this has happened in world history where people actually plan.

Okay, we are gonna overthrow this government and replace it with a new government. That's not happening in America right now. The way that they're saying it is of course but That's God does not want his people to be those who are insurrectionists.

And I'm gonna explain here in a little bit the time when that would come but here's the thing we need to remember Do you know? Who is going to overthrow all human governments one day?

God is God.

Every kingdom in this world will be destroyed and his kingdom will go on forever. But Jesus has told us in our text that you are to pay taxes. The verse I quoted earlier was Romans 13 7 the other verses 1st Peter 2 verses 13 and 14 that tells us to be subject for the Lord's sake to every human institution.

Whether it be to the Emperor as supreme or to governors as sent by him to punish those who do evil and to Praise those who do good. This world is not our home and Jesus is the greatest example of this.

He was here for a short time and during that time as an earthly citizen he paid his taxes and You and I need to follow his example. This is not our home. We are God's children. But while we are here, we are to be seen as good citizens.

Jesus gives us the reason why he paid taxes and why we pay taxes to a fallen government in Matthew 17 27. He says not to give offense. We don't want people to have a reason not to follow Christ. We don't want we don't want to dishonor God's name by.

Not.

Submitting to governing authorities when we should. We could say this is the world of unbelievers and so only unbelievers should pay taxes because they are the true citizens of this world and Unbelievers have no citizenship in heaven.

Well, this is true. It is also true that believers in some sense are citizens here. Technically, this is not our home, but we do have dual citizenship for a time. Our citizenship is on earth temporarily and eternally our citizenship is in heaven.

And while we are on earth, even though we are sons of the king now We are to follow Jesus example and pay taxes we are not to bring offense as Jesus says. We are to do this and other things because above all Christians are to be law-abiding citizens.

We have speed limit signs. We should follow those signs. We should willingly show our ID when we go through security at the airport. We should pay the fees that the state gives us like car and license registration.

Even though they can be annoying and even though they can be fixed. Maybe we don't need to pay these. Maybe we should someone should run for office and fight this to make this better. But but even if they're not we should still pay them.

We should pay whatever taxes. We are taxed as scripture tells you you are to be good citizens. You are to be model citizens. But in this crazy world we live in it is important to understand. When to submit to the authority of government and when not to and this is a big question that people are asking according to scripture.

The only time we disobey human government is when government operates outside of God's design for human government. When the government operates as God intended we should follow without making a fuss.

We should follow speeding laws because speeding laws are good. They prevent crashes and therefore injuries and deaths. We should also pay our taxes because governments need taxes to build things like roads and bridges.

There's a place for taxes, even though some of the taxes go for the wrong things and this happened in Jesus day as well. But what if the government is using their power not to punish evil? But to advance it.

What if government is using their power not to promote good, but to punish good? Isaiah 520 says woe to those who call evil good and good evil. Who put darkness for light and light for darkness who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter?

We live in a country where good things are called bad things and bad things are called good things. And when those are the values of the government then the government ceases to function how God designed it to function in acts 5.

Peer and the other Apostles were preaching the gospel and the Jewish leadership warned them not to preach Christ In acts 529. This is what Peter and the other Apostle said. We must obey God rather than men.

Preaching the gospel and living out righteousness at home in the church and promoting Righteousness in the public square is something that every Christian should always do no matter what the government says.

If an evil government says stop you ignore that and Continue living for Christ and the government won't like that and that's where persecution comes, but you still do it. The government needs to realize that there is an authority higher than them and that authority is God.

What the Lord wants you to do is submit to the government as long as the government is Functioning the way God designed it and we need the wisdom to know when a serious line is crossed. It's interesting.

We look at the history of our country our founding fathers. If you ever wondered does do I agree with the rebellion? In 1776 and I said, yes, I do. The government in England was not functioning according to God's design and taxes were one of many issues.

That were problems that the phrase no taxation without representation. They were harming the people in the colonies and it was I believe it was right for them to rebel against the English authorities.

And these were Christian people. They looked at a verse like acts 529. We must obey God rather than men. And so they did that. They the government had crossed a serious line and they rebelled and that's when you disobey.

And this is we've seen this recently. I mean, we've been forced to ask these questions because it's come right to our front door. During the height of kovat. We had it pretty easy here in Wisconsin because the Supreme Court overruled the state government.

That the lockdowns were unconstitutional. But other churches across our country had a much more difficult situation. And many of those defied the lockdown orders and met and they did this because the government crossed a serious line.

The government cannot tell God's church what they can and cannot do. The government has no Influence on this church none and that's how it always should be. And that's why by the way. Our ancestors at this church.

Why did they come to America? They have left a state church in Scandinavia because the state church was telling them what they should do and They said we're not going to do this anymore. So they got on a ship.

They crossed the Atlantic. They come here. They come to a land that kind of looks like Scandinavia and they start their own church.

Good for them.

They did they follow God's will. But think of all the people today who would tell them you should have submitted to that government. That's cowardly. That's not what that's not right. The Bible commands us to meet as a church.