FBC Morning Light – January 31, 2023

Well, a good Tuesday morning to you. Here we are, January 31st. The month of January is about to be in the history books, and isn't that great? Isn't that great? One of the months of winter is just about behind us.

The Tax Question in Matthew 22

All right, well listen, today we're reading in Matthew chapter 22. It's what we're going to focus on, also Psalm 22, and then a couple of chapters in Exodus. But in Matthew 22, there are some people who come to Jesus and they want to trip him up.

They want to ask him some questions that will cause him to stumble and make some kind of glaring mistake, which they could then turn around and use to accuse him, and therefore dismiss him. And so one of the questions has to do with paying taxes.

Is it right to pay taxes to Caesar or not? And they're trying to trick him. If he says, no, don't pay taxes to Caesar, then they can turn around and accuse him of insurrection. If he says, yes, pay taxes to Caesar, then they can accuse him of being a loyalist to Rome rather than a good loyal Jew.

Jesus answers that one. You're familiar with that. He says, give to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, the things that are God's, give them to God's. And we don't have too much of a problem with the application of that statement, do we?

I mean, we recognize our responsibility to pay taxes, we get benefits from the government, supposed to get the things of protection and all that kind of thing, but nevertheless, taxes are a necessary evil in this life, and we pay those taxes.

And the body belongs to God, our lives belong to God, and it's our responsibility to give our lives to God. Okay, we get that, we understand that. And then the next question that is posed to him is also intended to trip him up.

The Resurrection and Life in the Age to Come

Here the Sadducees, who don't believe there's any resurrection, they come to Jesus and say, we got a question for you. This man married a woman, couldn't have any kids, and so his brother took up the wife and was going to raise up children.

She didn't have any kids by him, and there were seven brothers and one bride, and they all died, none of them had any children. So in the resurrection, who gets the wife? Trying to trip Jesus up, because they think this is a big problem.

And Jesus responds and answers that question and says, you don't understand God and you don't understand his power, and you don't understand the reality of the afterlife. In reality, there is a resurrection, there is an afterlife, and God is the God of the living and not of the dead.

But he also says, in heaven, there isn't marriage like there is on earth. Man and woman will be like the angels and there won't be marriage as we know it on the planet in this time. So he deals with that question.

The Greatest Commandment and the Call to Love God and Neighbor

Then comes one of the scribes, and he comes and asks a question, the answer to which is one that always is convicting, isn't it? The scribe comes and says to Jesus, what's the greatest commandment? That was a common question on the minds of the people, the scribes and the leaders of the synagogues and so forth, the rabbis.

They debated what the greatest commandment was in all of the Bible. So the scribe comes to Jesus, who is least recognized by most as a rabbi of some kind, and asks him, what's the greatest commandment?

Jesus replies, the greatest commandment is this, it is to love the Lord your God with all of your heart and your mind, your soul and all of your mind. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.

But Jesus doesn't stop there. He says the second is like unto it, and it is this, you shall love your neighbor as yourself. I don't know about you. I don't have any problem with his response regarding the resurrection.

I don't have any problem necessarily. I don't like to pay taxes. I don't like to pay as much taxes as I do. I understand the responsibility and the necessity, but I don't really have a problem with that.

I don't have a problem realizing that I need to present my body as a living sacrifice to God. I don't have a problem with that. But I do have a problem with full, complete obedience to these two great commandments.

Do you? Can you honestly say, I fully, completely love God with all of my heart all of the time, with all of my soul all of the time, with all of my mind all of the time? I know you do. If you didn't, then I suppose you would be ranking right up there in the measure of perfection with the Savior.

The second one, you have a problem with this one? You ever have a problem with this one? Love your neighbor as you do yourself? Oh, how difficult that is. We don't have any problem loving ourselves, generally speaking, but loving my neighbor as I love myself.

I have a problem with that. The reason why these two great commandments are so great is because all of the other commandments hinge on these things. The reality is that we can't even obey these two simply stated commandments.

We can't do it. No matter how hard we try, no matter how much we want to, we can't do it, which simply points to our need of the one who answered the question, points to our need of a Savior, of the only one who ever has loved the Lord God with all his heart, soul, mind, and strength, and the only one who has loved his neighbor as himself.

Only Jesus has fully, completely obeyed all of the law. I'm grateful that he has, because he has, he can be a perfect Savior. Our Father and our God, we do thank you today for our Savior, who redeems us from our sin, our failure to keep these basic, clearly worded commandments.

Father, even this day, we can probably think of occasions where we haven't loved you as we ought to, and we haven't loved our neighbor as ourself. Forgive us for these sins, O Lord, and thank you for the promise of forgiveness found in Christ Jesus.

We thank you in these things, and pray these things in Jesus' name and for his sake. All right, we'll have a good Tuesday and finish out January well. God bless.