Rev Gideon Lee
Matthew 22:15-22
Paying Taxes to Caesar
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."
Once a wise man said there are two inevitables in life. One is death and the other is paying taxes.
Jesus is now at the last week of his life. He was going to the cross very soon and he is preaching his heart out. His preaching has offended the religious teachers and they wanted to find a way to arrest him. They wanted to get rid of Jesus. They planned to lay a trap at Jesus by putting an issue that is controversial and trap him with his words. The intention is with malice. They wanted to destroy him.
They said that they know Jesus is a man of integrity. Sometimes when we want to trap someone, we say all sorts of nice things and this is what they did. Sometimes people say nice things so that we lay out guard down before they spring the surprise.
They asked Jesus is it right? They know according to the law, they have to pay taxes. But they were asking Jesus from a spiritual point of view. The denarius was the coin that is used to pay taxes. If you look at the coin on one side will be the image of the Roman emperor. And the other side is the inscription that the emperor is king and god.
To the Jews they cannot bow down to another God. The Ten Commandments says you cannot bow down to any graven image. So they were asking Jesus from the religious and spiritual term whether they should pay taxes.
If Jesus says yes, all the religious Jews will be offended by what Jesus say and that he is teaching heresy and will arrest him. But if Jesus says no, they will go to the Roman authority and he will get arrested. It was a situation where do also die don't do also die.
Like husbands who are often caught in this situation. When your wife buy a new dress and ask you if she looks fat in the dress. Yes or no also has problems.
Jesus asked them to bring him a coin. He asked whose image is on the coin? And they said Caesar. So he said render unto Caesar that which is Caesar's. But I'm glad he did not stop there. He also said render to God that which is God's.
I am not saying I'm supporting the government where taxes are concerned. I'm still confused about the GST. I just know prices will go up.
Taxes we have to pay. We have no problems paying taxes. Our issues is how the taxes are being used. How the money is being used. If it's to build better roads, schools and hospitals we have no issue. We are to pray for the government. Praying for the sick, for your family or even for your pastor is not a problem. But to pray for the government is a problem. But we should pray for our government. The government requires our prayer. As citizens we should also exercise our right to vote. We need to vote.
There are things that belongs to Caesar which we need to give. But that which belongs to God we need to give to God. We are citizens of a higher nature, citizens of heaven and therefore we have responsibilities to the things of God. In fact even more responsibility as we will be citizens of God for eternity.
Like our talents. Talents to sing and play the guitar. Talents to play the keyboard. We need to arise and shine. It's an action. We need to do something. We need to give back the talents God gave us back to God.
I appreciate the fact that we have talents that are serving at Teluk Kumbar. Bro Sean Hooi worship leading and Sis Joy. Bro Johnny playing the guitar. You don't see them serving here.
TOP is celebrating our 36th Anniversary and I know that someone told me we are actually older than that. We will be celebrating our 40th anniversary soon and it's a significant number. The Israelites went into the promise land after 40 years so we will be entering into a new season at our 40th anniversary. Four years will come and pass very quickly.
We need to serve more in the church. Our talents need to be given to God. It is said that 20% of the church is actively serving. How I wish it's the 80% that is serving the 20%.
Whose image is in the coin. Caesar. Whose image are we made from. God's image so we belong to him. All that we are we give it back him. There is a certain joy as we give to him. It's a term called radical generosity.
How many of you know Mark Zuckerberg. The founder of Facebook. He donated 25 million USD. How much is that is ringgit. Over 80 million ringgit. He donated to the CDC to combat Ebola. It's a disease that kills. We cannot think that it will not touch us. This is the last days. We will see pestilence and diseases. How many of you remember the JD. We faced that crisis before.
Let's give our best and all to God. The reality is that the world will get worst. More natural disasters. Our citizenship is not on this earth but in heaven. What are we doing? Only when we learn how to give can we experience the joy. When we give to significant things.
There was once an old lady from a poor family. One day she received a call from a man. Their child were playing football in a field. The ball flew into the man's house and broke a window. The boys wanted the ball back and he said to get the ball back you have to pay for the window. He asked who broke the window and a boy said it was him. So he said he wanted to talk to the mother. The moment he heard it was this lady, he knew of her. So the man said she still had to pay for the window and she asked for some time to pay back.
So near Christmas, this man called her up to pay for the window. But before he could say anything God convicted his heart. That he didn't need the money. So instead of asking for the compensation of the window, he asked what can I do to help you. He felt the urge to be generous. The lady said she needed some groceries for Christmas so he bought some groceries and some presents for the children. He went to the house and gave these things to her. She was so happy because that was the time she needed it most. The joy that this man felt cannot be felt if we don't give. Jesus gave his all and best to us.
This is a real life story. Last week I was at BCM and went to the chicken rice shop to have lunch. I saw two students whom I knew at bible school. They were the cook at bible school. They left their lucrative catering jobs to be cooks at BCM. Mr and Mrs Wong. Humble people. They were almost finishing and I went to greet them. I sat at a different table and I thought I'd buy them lunch. I was well fed at bible school and put on weight then. So I wanted to do that as I really appreciated them. So I thought when the person came to take my order I would pay. But they went to their table to collect the money and instead they paid for my lunch. It should have been the other way around. I almost wanted to fight with the person taking the money as I wanted to pay for their meal.
One day I received a love offering from a widow. She was easily 80 something. She walked up to me and gave me an ang pow. I said no and thank her for her intentions but God spoke to me that the money is for her not me. So I humbly took that love offering and it’s 50 ringgit. She needs it more than me. People give not because they have to but it's because of how they handle what God has given them.
We are citizens of heaven so let's be radical with what we do.
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