Give To God
Preaching
What Jesus Did:
The Answer To WWJD
Let's take an informal, random survey. How many of you like paying taxes? No one? As the animosity between Jesus and the religious rulers escalates, the rulers attempt to trap Jesus by various questions. If it is possible, taxes were even less popular among the Jews of this day than they are today in our country. It is one thing for citizens to pay taxes to their own government. But it grates even more when the taxes are going to a foreign power that ruthlessly rules over you. So the religious rulers wish to trap Jesus in a question about taxes.
It seems like a no-win situation. Their question: Is it right to pay taxes to Caesar or not? If Jesus answers, "No," then the Herodians go to Pilate and accuse Jesus of rebellion against Rome. If Jesus answers, "Yes," then the Pharisees can go to the crowds and say, "See, this Jesus fellow wants you to pay the Roman tax." That will be as popular as a politician campaigning on the promise to raise our taxes. You can feel the tension in the air. How will Jesus answer? What will he say?
Jesus answers by giving a children's sermon. Bring in an object lesson, a coin. Whose picture and inscription? If you want, take out a bill from your own wallet and look at it. A picture of a dead president or American hero. If I read mine correctly, it belongs to the United States of America. If they want it back, they have a right to it. It also says, "In God we Trust." Perhaps designers of our currency wanted to remind the people that you cannot serve God and money.
In Jesus' day, coinage carried Caesar's image. The inscription read, "God and High Priest" describing Caesar, which was obviously offensive to the Jews. Given that portrait and inscription, Jesus responds, "Give to Caesar what is Caesar's and give to God what belongs to God." Several lessons can be drawn from this statement.
• Whose money is it really?
First lesson: Pay your taxes, and be honest about it. Paul reiterates this maxim in Romans 13. The government has the authority to levy taxes to pay for the services the government provides. We live in a time when many people try to cheat the government of money due them. Some get paid "under the table." Some pad expenses. Some claim deductions they shouldn't claim. Even if the IRS never catches you, God knows. Give to Caesar. Pay your taxes. Certainly, we can also work to call our government to be better stewards of the money placed in their trust. But Jesus commands us, "Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's."
• How honest are you when you fill out your tax forms?
If we expand the immediate meaning of Jesus' words, we can hear him telling us to pay our other debts as well as our taxes. The general financial advice found in the Bible is to avoid debt if at all possible, and pay back what you do borrow as fast as possible. According to financial planners, many people carry staggering amounts of debt on their credit cards. Credit cards are very handy to have and are sometimes necessary to make certain purchases. But credit cards can be as dangerous as quicksand, and many people have been swallowed because they were unaware what a trap credit cards can be. In every article I read about financial freedom, one of the first strategies is to pay off your credit card debt and pay cash for all purchases as much as possible. The staggering debts we run up seriously diminish our capacity for faithful giving to the church. What will God say?
• Is your consumer debt adversely affecting your ability to give?
Third, Jesus tells us, "Give to God what belongs to God." This naturally leads to the question, "Okay, what belongs to God?" The first answer is: Everything belongs to God. In Exodus 19:5 God says, "The whole earth is mine." In Leviticus 25:23 God says, "The land is mine and you are but aliens and my tenants." David acknowledges in 1 Chronicles 29:14, "Everything comes from you, and we have given you only what comes from your hand" (NIV). In Psalm 24:1 we read, "The earth is the LORD's and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it" (NIV). God says through the prophet Haggai in 2:8, "The silver is mine and the gold is mine, declares the LORD Almighty" (NIV).
If everything belongs to God, then we need to give everything we own or have back to God. Obviously this does not mean that we are to bring all our possessions to the front of the church. But it does mean that we must have this attitude within us. We need to remember Job's words, "We came naked into the world, and naked we go to the grave" (Job 1:21). God calls us to faithful stewardship of all our resources and material things for his glory. If we are stingy with our material possessions, God can take them away from us or us away from them.
• How do you view your possessions?
The second answer is: We belong to God. "Is he not your Father, your Creator, who made you and formed you?" (Deuteronomy 32:6 NIV). "For every living soul belongs to me" (Ezekiel 18:4 NIV). "So whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord" (Romans 14:8 NIV). "Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, which you have from God, and that you are not your own?" (1 Corinthians 6:19 NIV). God owns our bodies, our minds, our emotions, our spirits. If we belong to God, then we need to give ourselves to God.
Here, we must also talk about time and talents. Time is a precious gift. That is why I believe in the stewardship called time management. The better we can manage our time, the more time we will have for the things we need and want to do. Time stewardship calls for a balance of work, play, rest, and service for the Lord. Spend too much time in any one of those areas, and another will suffer. The command to observe the Sabbath Day is a command to watch how we spend our time. To be commanded to take a day of rest is to remind ourselves that work isn't everything. The book of Proverbs warns us against laziness and spending all day asleep in bed. To spend all our time in rest and sleep is a sin against God's command to work. The Sabbath Day is also a day for spiritual focus, which we have moved to Sunday morning. In today's world, Sunday morning has been slowly eaten away by play, sleep, and work. For many people worship is not always the priority for Sunday morning. Jesus tells us we will have to give an account for everything we have done. I would presume that includes how we spend, or misspend, our time.
• What one thing can you do to manage your time better?
Our talents, abilities, and gifts also belong to God. I am continually amazed at the various talents and abilities and gifts Christians demonstrate in the body. Christians are a very talented group of people. Yet, while some readily use their talents and gifts outside the church, they do not put them to use inside the church. The Bible is clear that whatever gifts and talents we have were given to build the church up first. Yes, we are allowed to use them to earn a living or have a hobby, but if we hoard them to ourselves without using them in the church, then we have not been effective stewards of the abilities God has given us.
Finally, the Bible says the tithe belongs to God. "A tithe of everything from the land, whether grain from the soil or fruit from the trees belongs to the Lord, it is holy to the Lord" (Leviticus 27:30 NIV). "Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse that there may be food in my house, says the Lord" (Malachi 3:10 NIV). Some churches list on their bulletin: "God's tithes, Our offerings." In the previous chapter, I said that we have freedom to give, and that is true. But we need to balance that freedom with the command of God to give the tithe. Jesus here says, render, or give, to God. It is a command. Just as we pay our taxes to the government, we also ought to pay our tithes to God. In the Old Testament, God commands the tithes to be brought to the storehouse of the Temple. God expects the full ten percent, the whole tithe, to come to the church. After that, if you want to give to the Red Cross, or the Cancer Society, or whatever, that is above the ten percent you owe God for the church. That money is not yours; it is God's, and he commands it to be brought to his house. You can argue. You can disagree. You can disobey. But you will also give an account to God about how you have used your freedom in relation to the tithe that God says belongs to him. "Give to God the things that belong to God" certainly has reference to the tithes and offerings that God expects us to bring.
"When they heard this they were amazed." The Pharisees and Herodians were amazed first of all that their little trap didn't work so well. They might also have been amazed by Jesus' challenge about their stewardship, just as Jesus challenges us in our stewardship as well. Jesus says, "Pay your honest share of taxes. Period." Jesus says, "God owns everything you have. Give it. Period." Jesus says, "God owns you. Give yourself. Give your time. Give your gifts, talents, and abilities. Period." Jesus says, "God owns your tithe. Give it to the church. Period." The command is to render; it balances freedom with responsibility to be obedient to God's commands. It is a reminder that just as the IRS can call us in for an audit of our tax stewardship, God will call all of us into his audit over everything we have done. If we would survive God's audit, then we had better give to God the things that are God's.
WWJD -- Conduct an audit of yourself as if God was auditing you now. What will he find?
It seems like a no-win situation. Their question: Is it right to pay taxes to Caesar or not? If Jesus answers, "No," then the Herodians go to Pilate and accuse Jesus of rebellion against Rome. If Jesus answers, "Yes," then the Pharisees can go to the crowds and say, "See, this Jesus fellow wants you to pay the Roman tax." That will be as popular as a politician campaigning on the promise to raise our taxes. You can feel the tension in the air. How will Jesus answer? What will he say?
Jesus answers by giving a children's sermon. Bring in an object lesson, a coin. Whose picture and inscription? If you want, take out a bill from your own wallet and look at it. A picture of a dead president or American hero. If I read mine correctly, it belongs to the United States of America. If they want it back, they have a right to it. It also says, "In God we Trust." Perhaps designers of our currency wanted to remind the people that you cannot serve God and money.
In Jesus' day, coinage carried Caesar's image. The inscription read, "God and High Priest" describing Caesar, which was obviously offensive to the Jews. Given that portrait and inscription, Jesus responds, "Give to Caesar what is Caesar's and give to God what belongs to God." Several lessons can be drawn from this statement.
• Whose money is it really?
First lesson: Pay your taxes, and be honest about it. Paul reiterates this maxim in Romans 13. The government has the authority to levy taxes to pay for the services the government provides. We live in a time when many people try to cheat the government of money due them. Some get paid "under the table." Some pad expenses. Some claim deductions they shouldn't claim. Even if the IRS never catches you, God knows. Give to Caesar. Pay your taxes. Certainly, we can also work to call our government to be better stewards of the money placed in their trust. But Jesus commands us, "Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's."
• How honest are you when you fill out your tax forms?
If we expand the immediate meaning of Jesus' words, we can hear him telling us to pay our other debts as well as our taxes. The general financial advice found in the Bible is to avoid debt if at all possible, and pay back what you do borrow as fast as possible. According to financial planners, many people carry staggering amounts of debt on their credit cards. Credit cards are very handy to have and are sometimes necessary to make certain purchases. But credit cards can be as dangerous as quicksand, and many people have been swallowed because they were unaware what a trap credit cards can be. In every article I read about financial freedom, one of the first strategies is to pay off your credit card debt and pay cash for all purchases as much as possible. The staggering debts we run up seriously diminish our capacity for faithful giving to the church. What will God say?
• Is your consumer debt adversely affecting your ability to give?
Third, Jesus tells us, "Give to God what belongs to God." This naturally leads to the question, "Okay, what belongs to God?" The first answer is: Everything belongs to God. In Exodus 19:5 God says, "The whole earth is mine." In Leviticus 25:23 God says, "The land is mine and you are but aliens and my tenants." David acknowledges in 1 Chronicles 29:14, "Everything comes from you, and we have given you only what comes from your hand" (NIV). In Psalm 24:1 we read, "The earth is the LORD's and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it" (NIV). God says through the prophet Haggai in 2:8, "The silver is mine and the gold is mine, declares the LORD Almighty" (NIV).
If everything belongs to God, then we need to give everything we own or have back to God. Obviously this does not mean that we are to bring all our possessions to the front of the church. But it does mean that we must have this attitude within us. We need to remember Job's words, "We came naked into the world, and naked we go to the grave" (Job 1:21). God calls us to faithful stewardship of all our resources and material things for his glory. If we are stingy with our material possessions, God can take them away from us or us away from them.
• How do you view your possessions?
The second answer is: We belong to God. "Is he not your Father, your Creator, who made you and formed you?" (Deuteronomy 32:6 NIV). "For every living soul belongs to me" (Ezekiel 18:4 NIV). "So whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord" (Romans 14:8 NIV). "Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, which you have from God, and that you are not your own?" (1 Corinthians 6:19 NIV). God owns our bodies, our minds, our emotions, our spirits. If we belong to God, then we need to give ourselves to God.
Here, we must also talk about time and talents. Time is a precious gift. That is why I believe in the stewardship called time management. The better we can manage our time, the more time we will have for the things we need and want to do. Time stewardship calls for a balance of work, play, rest, and service for the Lord. Spend too much time in any one of those areas, and another will suffer. The command to observe the Sabbath Day is a command to watch how we spend our time. To be commanded to take a day of rest is to remind ourselves that work isn't everything. The book of Proverbs warns us against laziness and spending all day asleep in bed. To spend all our time in rest and sleep is a sin against God's command to work. The Sabbath Day is also a day for spiritual focus, which we have moved to Sunday morning. In today's world, Sunday morning has been slowly eaten away by play, sleep, and work. For many people worship is not always the priority for Sunday morning. Jesus tells us we will have to give an account for everything we have done. I would presume that includes how we spend, or misspend, our time.
• What one thing can you do to manage your time better?
Our talents, abilities, and gifts also belong to God. I am continually amazed at the various talents and abilities and gifts Christians demonstrate in the body. Christians are a very talented group of people. Yet, while some readily use their talents and gifts outside the church, they do not put them to use inside the church. The Bible is clear that whatever gifts and talents we have were given to build the church up first. Yes, we are allowed to use them to earn a living or have a hobby, but if we hoard them to ourselves without using them in the church, then we have not been effective stewards of the abilities God has given us.
Finally, the Bible says the tithe belongs to God. "A tithe of everything from the land, whether grain from the soil or fruit from the trees belongs to the Lord, it is holy to the Lord" (Leviticus 27:30 NIV). "Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse that there may be food in my house, says the Lord" (Malachi 3:10 NIV). Some churches list on their bulletin: "God's tithes, Our offerings." In the previous chapter, I said that we have freedom to give, and that is true. But we need to balance that freedom with the command of God to give the tithe. Jesus here says, render, or give, to God. It is a command. Just as we pay our taxes to the government, we also ought to pay our tithes to God. In the Old Testament, God commands the tithes to be brought to the storehouse of the Temple. God expects the full ten percent, the whole tithe, to come to the church. After that, if you want to give to the Red Cross, or the Cancer Society, or whatever, that is above the ten percent you owe God for the church. That money is not yours; it is God's, and he commands it to be brought to his house. You can argue. You can disagree. You can disobey. But you will also give an account to God about how you have used your freedom in relation to the tithe that God says belongs to him. "Give to God the things that belong to God" certainly has reference to the tithes and offerings that God expects us to bring.
"When they heard this they were amazed." The Pharisees and Herodians were amazed first of all that their little trap didn't work so well. They might also have been amazed by Jesus' challenge about their stewardship, just as Jesus challenges us in our stewardship as well. Jesus says, "Pay your honest share of taxes. Period." Jesus says, "God owns everything you have. Give it. Period." Jesus says, "God owns you. Give yourself. Give your time. Give your gifts, talents, and abilities. Period." Jesus says, "God owns your tithe. Give it to the church. Period." The command is to render; it balances freedom with responsibility to be obedient to God's commands. It is a reminder that just as the IRS can call us in for an audit of our tax stewardship, God will call all of us into his audit over everything we have done. If we would survive God's audit, then we had better give to God the things that are God's.
WWJD -- Conduct an audit of yourself as if God was auditing you now. What will he find?
