Jesus perceived their wickedness, their evil intentions. He knew their motivations.
Now, they don't know really who they're dealing with. Jesus can read minds, right? He knows what they're thinking. He knows everything.
And so if they think they can trap him, they're about to find out that they cannot because he knows their thoughts. Today on Connect with Skip Heitzig, Pastor Skip shares a message about your duties to God and the government. But first, here's a resource that dives deep into biblical truth. The Holy Spirit bestows many different spiritual gifts on believers, like prophecy, healing, miracle working, and more. And each gift shares a common purpose, to edify others. Here's Pastor Skip Heitzig explaining the best way to use our spiritual gifts. I think man's greatest capacity is to be a channel from which the Holy Spirit flows into us, but then out from us, as Jesus said, like torrents of living waters. Dive into this month's Connect with Skip Heitzig resource to discover who the Holy Spirit is, and deepen your understanding of how and why he gives spiritual gifts to believers. He comes on us to give us his empowering.
He has something he wants us to do, a task he wants us to perform. The Complete Expound Holy Spirit Teaching Series is our thanks for your gift of $50 or more to help this ministry continue reaching a lost world. Plus, we'll include a copy of Bring the Rain, Skip's book on Expositional Teaching.
Call 800-922-1888 or give online securely at connectwithskip.com slash offer. All right, now let's turn to Matthew 22 as we join Skip for today's message. I'm calling this message The Kingdom Dilemma, God and Government. Now, I want you to consider this dilemma. You are living in 1850s America. You live in the South. You own a plantation. You, as a believer, are against the idea of slavery. And yet, as a plantation owner that has been passed down to you, you and your family before you have used slave labor.
You're uneasy about that. And then to add to the conflict, recently, you read in a newspaper that the South, where you live, is taking military action to secede from the Union. What do you do? Do you abandon your property and move to the North?
Do you stay in the South? Or here's another dilemma. You're a politician in Germany in the 1930s. Your Chancellor, Adolf Hitler, offers you a very important position in his Third Reich. You're a Christian and you know that the Fuhrer is very hostile toward Jews. And yet, you read Romans 13 in your quiet time that morning, which tells you to be subject to governing authorities.
What do you do? How do you solve the dilemma? Now, there's a saying, I remember hearing it as a kid, never discuss religion and politics in public. I'm going to break that rule, but I'm going to discuss religion and politics in public. I'm going to break that rule by discussing both. I think the saying went, never discuss religion and politics in polite company, as if you can discuss it in impolite company.
But I don't want you to worry. This isn't a political message. And I'm certainly not advocating that as Christians we form a nationalistic group to take over the government of our country.
That's not what this is about. This is about kingdom living, when the kingdoms around you are not in concert with the kingdom of God. How do you live with kingdom values and live in the kingdom city mentality, when the kingdoms of this earth, this world, the kingdoms around you are opposed to the kingdom of God?
One of our struggles as believers historically has been this balancing act between God and government, religion and politics, God and the state. With that, as a little bit of an introduction, look at Matthew 22 in verse 15, where it says, then the Pharisees went and plotted how they might entangle him in his talk. And they sent him, to him, their disciples with the Herodians saying, teacher, we know that you are true and teach the way of God in truth, nor do you care about anyone for you do not regard the person of men.
Tell us, therefore, what do you think? Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar or not? But Jesus perceived their wickedness and said, why do you test me, you hypocrites?
Show me the tax money. So they brought him a denarius. He said to them, whose image and inscription is this? They said to him, Caesar's. And he said to them, render therefore to Caesar, the things that are Caesar's and to God, the things that are God's.
When they heard these words, they marveled and they left him and went their way. Now, in this short paragraph, in these verses, we have a clash. We have a clash between God and government, state, politics, and religion. There's two groups that come to Jesus, and they're talking about the law. Is it lawful? Now, there is a civil law in place that I will discuss, but there's another law that they're asking Jesus about, and that is God's law.
The law, the Torah law, the Old Testament law, is it lawful in that law to give taxes to Caesar? So this is a classic passage of the conflict between God and government. Now, government is a function that was established after the flood. Most biblical scholars will point to Genesis chapter nine as the first inauguration or installation by God of human government.
Genesis chapter nine, after the flood. Government is considered part of the doctrine of common grace. Ever heard that term, common grace? Common grace is the idea that God gives blessings short of salvation. They're not included or part of salvation.
They're common to all people. Whether you're saved or unsaved, as Jesus put it, the sun shines on the just and the unjust alike. The rain falls on the righteous and unrighteous alike. So breathing air, common grace. Having health, a common grace. Having beautiful nature to look at, a common grace. Your natural capacities and talents that every human being has, common grace.
These are common to all people. Government is considered a part of common grace by God. It's part of the way that God restrains evil in a fallen world.
He uses things like laws, police departments, judicial systems, courts of law. All of that is part of God's common grace. That's the doctrine.
That's how it goes. He even uses armies, because sometimes evil is so irrational, the only way to stop it is with force, because we live in a fallen world. It's all about power. This thing of God and government, it's an issue of power. Right off the bat, we have to make this distinction that power has one source, and that source is what? It's God.
It's God. No matter how well or how poorly that power is used, all power ultimately comes from God. Jesus stood before Pontius Pilate. Pilate said to him, are you not speaking to me? Do you not know that I have power to crucify you?
And power to release you? Jesus answered, you could have no power at all against me unless it had been given you from above. All power comes from God.
Jesus said that to the governor who was about to sentence him to death. Pharaoh in the Old Testament, he was a tyrant. He had lots of power. He was in charge of the government of Egypt and de facto the world at the time, pretty much. Moses encountered him. God told him to give him this message.
For this reason, I have raised you up, that I might show my power in you. And then there was Nebuchadnezzar. We talked about him last week, and Daniel, who was in Nebuchadnezzar's court. And after Nebuchadnezzar had that dream, Daniel came to him and said, the most high rules in the kingdom of men, and gives it to whomever he chooses. And then Daniel even said, and God gives it to the basest of men, the lowest of men, sometimes the worst of men. We know that God gives it to the lowest of men, sometimes the worst of men.
We see that, we've seen that, many instances of that in our own government over the last several years. Now, the story that we're reading in Matthew 22 highlights this struggle, and there's three aspects I want you to make note of about this struggle. And the overriding question that we are to ask ourselves is, how does the kingdom of God interface with human government? So there's three words that I'm working off of, tension, trouble, truth. First, tension, the tension between God and government. Go back to verse 15, the Pharisees went and plotted, important word, how they might entangle him in his talk. Let's get him to say something that will get him in trouble. And they sent him their disciples, that is Pharisee disciples, with the Herodians, interesting mix, saying, teacher, we know that you are true, and teach the way of God in truth. You don't care about anyone, that is, you're not worried about the rank or status of anyone, you'll just say it like it is. For you do not regard the person of men, you don't play favorites. Tell us, therefore, because we know this is true. What do you think? Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar or not?
Let me give you the setting real quick. In a few days, Jesus will be crucified. This is probably a Wednesday in Jerusalem, a Passion Week. The day before Tuesday, Jesus had walked into the temple and made a mess.
He overturned the tables of the buyers and sellers in the temple. He got their attention. A few days before that, on Palm Sunday, thousands, if not 100,000 people, just throngs of people, marched with him as he presented himself as their king, riding into Jerusalem on a donkey.
So there's already attention in the air. Now there's a plot, a plot afoot to trap Jesus, to somehow turn the people against him, to reduce his favorability rating among the people, because it's pretty high right now. But it shows the tension between these two groups. There's two groups that are mentioned, Pharisees and Herodians. One is a religious group, one is a political group. One is the most religious group in the land, the other is the least religious group among the Jews, Pharisees and Herodians. Now Pharisees, you already know, they were the strict people. They were very strict about God's laws.
The word Pharisee comes from perushim, which means to be separated. They were the separatists. They were very strict about everything and very, very ceremonial about being separated from the Gentiles. They hated the Roman government, and they hated paying taxes to the Roman government. It was a sell-out. They hated it.
They had to do it, but they hated it. The Herodians, on the other hand, were politically inclined Jews. They supported the Roman-backed dynasty of Herod. If you know anything about Herod, Herod really wasn't Jewish by birth. He was Idumean. He was an Edomite. He converted to Judaism so that he could play favorites to the Roman government and rule over Judea.
Herod the Great had been called the King of the Jews. So you have a political group, and you have a religious group. The Pharisees, here's what's interesting, and the Herodians hated each other. They were enemies to each other. They were enemies to each other. But they both hated Jesus more than they hated each other. So because they had that in common, they hate Jesus, they want to get rid of him because Jesus threatens both parties, they're in on this together. It's interesting how that kind of hostility makes strange bedfellows. So they plot this together. They who would be enemies of each other are now working together.
So the tension is thick because they pose a question. No matter how Jesus answers the question, one group or the other group is not going to be happy. If he says yes, pay taxes. One group will hate that. The other group will say yay.
If he says it the other way, it'll be the opposite effect. Now, this has always been the case. There's always been a tension between governments and religious people. Religious people view governments skeptically, and governments view religious people skeptically. And one of the things spiritual religious people, believers, sometimes have trouble with is this issue of paying taxes.
Why? Because oftentimes governments will use the taxes that they collect from us to fund things that we as believers disagree with. Immoral things, bad things, evil things, unbiblical policies. So there's tension because of that. And Jesus even predicted that there would be tension between his followers and the state. Jesus said to his disciples, behold, I send you out a sheep in the midst of wolves.
You will be brought before governors and kings for my sake. And that happened, didn't it? In the early church, it was the government in Jerusalem that had problems with the early church. They beheaded James, they arrested Peter, and they were, the disciples were constantly getting in trouble with not just the religious people, but even the government.
As Christianity grew, the Romans, the Roman government, viewed Christianity suspiciously for a number of reasons we don't have time to get into, but I'll boil it down to just a few short statements. Number one, Christians were different. I don't mean weird, they just, they acted different. They conducted themselves differently. They had their own private meetings that was just for them, just for church people.
They didn't worship the emperor. And they had this strange ritual that we just participated in minutes ago called communion. And the Roman secularists misinterpreted the meaning of communion because Christians said it represents the body and blood of Christ. So Christians were accused by the Roman government of cannibalism because of the Lord's Supper.
So there was a tension going on. That tension between God and government grew, especially during the reign of Decius or Trajan, the emperor Trajan, between 249 and 251 A.D., and it became very, very violent. That emperor Trajan, or Decius, was an inflexible emperor, Caesar. He demanded conformity to the imperial cult. He ordered every single person in the Roman Empire to prove his loyalty by making a public sacrifice to the pagan gods. And after the offering, that person was given a certificate called a libellus. The libellus proved that you had performed your civic duty by publicly worshiping the Roman gods.
Any refusal to do that resulted in death. Did Christians do it? They didn't do it. That's why the persecutions were so massive during that period of history. Now, I say they didn't do it. Some did. In fact, there are records of a few people doing that, including, in some cases, clergymen.
And they either did it themselves or they paid somebody else to do it so they could get on with their lives. Now, in modern times, not much really has changed. World governments are hostile to faith, and that's increasing. I did a little research this week, and one little clip from Pew Research said, quote, 52 governments, this is worldwide right now, 52 governments right now, including some in very populous countries like China, Indonesia, Russia, impose high or very high levels of restrictions on religion. So there's tension often between spiritually-minded people and the government, tension between God and government.
Second aspect of this struggle is what I'm calling the trouble between God and government. Look back at our text. Look at verse 18.
I love this. But Jesus perceived their wickedness and said, why do you test me, you hypocrites? Well, I guess they were right when they said, you don't care about anyone.
You don't regard the person of men because he just slammed them with the truth. You're a bunch of wicked hypocrites. Now, I call this trouble because trouble comes when either religious groups or governments overreach, and both can do that. Sometimes the trouble lies on the side of those who follow God. They refuse to submit to the government wholesale.
Sometimes the trouble lies on the side of the government when they overreach and say things like, church is non-essential, but liquor stores are essential. Now, in this story that we're dealing with, these two groups are trying to take advantage of the tension. The Pharisees and the Herodians know there's tension between God and government, between the Roman government and Jesus and his followers, even the government and them.
They take advantage of the tension and try to create trouble from the tension. So, that's why I love verse 18. Jesus perceived their wickedness, their evil intentions. He knew their motivations.
Now, they don't know really who they're dealing with. Jesus can read minds, right? He knows what they're thinking. He knows everything. And so, if they think they can trap him, they're about to find out that they cannot because he knows their thoughts. He's like the messianic mouse that can swipe the cheese and live to see another day. They can't trap him. So, he calls them what they are, hypocrites, hypocrites, actors, mask wearers.
Why? Because what they said is not true. Verse 16, and they came to him saying, teacher. Now, that probably was hard for them to say that.
Rabbi, to acknowledge that he was a figure of authority, these Pharisees, he had to bite their tongue to get that word out. We know that you are true. No, you don't, you liar. You don't think he's true at all.
You want him dead. And you teach the way of God and truth. None of this is true. They're lying for the sake of expediency. And hypocrites will do that.
They'll say what you want to hear, butter you up, but it's all a smokescreen. People use words as a smokescreen. Every time I hear people, not everyone, but most people, especially in the media, talk about the separation of church and state, I think this thought. Because that's a phrase that has been distorted to silence the faith community. And when that idea came forth, when Jefferson talked about the wall of separation and then subsequent administrations and presidents and lawmakers fleshed that out, that didn't mean the church shouldn't interfere in government. That's what people take it to mean. It meant that the government has no right to interfere in church work. That's what it meant.
That's what they meant it to mean. That's Skip Hyten with a message from his series, Kingdom City. Find the full message as well as books, booklets, and full teaching series at connectwithskip.com. Right now, listen as Skip shares how you can share life-changing teaching from God's word with more people around the world. You know, this ministry is really all about connecting you and others around the world with God's word. And we do that so that you'll be equipped, equipped to live abundantly in Christ Jesus. Now, I want to personally invite you to join in that life-changing work today.
Think of it as a partnership. Through your support, you can help others discover the unchanging truth of Scripture and keep these teachings available to you wherever you listen. With your generosity, you can make these messages available on more stations in more major cities in the United States. So please partner with us through a generous gift today. Here's how you can give. Visit connectwithskip.com slash donate to give a gift. That's connectwithskip.com. That's connectwithskip.com slash donate or call 800-922-1888.
800-922-1888. Thank you for your generosity. Come back and join us tomorrow as Skip challenges you to consider if you've submitted what is God's to him. Have you rendered to God what belongs to him? If you're made in the image of God, if you bear the stamp of God Almighty, have you given yourself back to him in surrender?
Have you really rendered to him the things that are God's? For you to take this passage to heart means that you submit and surrender to him. Make a connection. Make a connection at the foot of the cross. Cast all burdens on his word. Make a connection. Connect with Skip Hyton is a presentation of Connection Communications, connecting you to God's never changing truth in ever changing times.
