- A "Foolproof" Plan to Stop Jesus. (Mk 12:13-15):
- Jesus Gives the Final Answer on POLITICS and RELIGION. (Mk 12:16-17)
- God ORDAINED government.
- The government is not GOD and God is not the GOVERNMENT.
- God's people PAY what they owe:
- To their GOVERNMENT
- To their GOD
Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
Hint: Highlight blanks above with your cursor for answers!
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00:00-00:04
I'm going to open up to the gospel according to Mark, chapter 12.
00:05-00:15
Just to piggyback on one of the announcements that Amanda made, our mission as a church is to make disciples.
00:17-00:22
Your mission as a parent is to disciple your own children.
00:23-00:29
We don't believe it's our job as a church to replace you as parents.
00:29-00:42
You know, some parents think, "Well, if I just take my kids to church, that's how they'll get discipled." But the truth is God has given you the responsibility to disciple your own kids, and we want to come alongside and help you with that.
00:42-00:47
That's why when we do these cafeteria services, we give you these discussion questions.
00:47-00:53
Encourage your kids to take a couple of notes down, and through the week, talk about these things.
00:54-01:01
If you think take enough dough you'll buy them a happy meal or something after How does that would have motivated me so?
01:04-02:00
That's just a little tool to help you Decide for your own kids All right, let's pray Father in heaven we're about to turn to your word And there certainly is plenty to distract us But I pray God that your Holy Spirit would work in such a way right now that all the distractions Are gone we're not thinking about Whatever it is we left at home or some trial that's going on There are lives some issue going on at work, I pray father that you would Help us to shelf all those things That we can spend this time focused on your work The Holy Spirit be our teacher Hey Jesus All right, Mark chapter 12. Are you there?
02:03-02:41
If you've been coming to this church for any amount of time I Have not yet said something in the sermon that has offended you Today is your day Because the title of this message is politics and religion Believe me. I don't sit in my office and say gee I wonder if I can come up with something really controversial to you know Can I throw it to people this week? That's not the case at all. There's only one thing I'm really concerned about when I preach and that is this Am I accurately representing what the Bible says?
02:42-02:52
See so if there's something that offends you in a sermon you need to look at the text and say is this what the text says Or is this what Jeff said is this something that Jeff kind of made up and is kind of?
02:53-03:39
Forcing onto the text if that's the case and there's a problem But if you're offended by something that you look at the Bible and say well You know what that really is in the text. It really is what he is saying then It might be something that you have to take up with the Lord, but just no church As we go into a message concerning politics and religion I just want to communicate what the Word of God says all in favor Okay, how mark chapter 12 we're gonna be picking up in verse 13 um we're going to be looking actually at another conflict and you're like times in the past couple of months.
03:39-03:41
Like, what's going on with all the conflicts?
03:41-03:43
Why are there so many?
03:43-03:52
You know, as we're going through the Gospel of Mark, verse by verse, why is it in this section when we're talking about Jesus as the Lord, why are there so many conflicts?
03:53-03:57
Let me tell you why, because we're gonna see some more.
04:00-04:05
The conflicts between the religious leaders and Jesus accelerated because of two events.
04:06-04:13
The first of it was when Jesus rode on a donkey into Jerusalem, he was announcing that he was the Messiah.
04:14-04:15
And they knew that.
04:16-04:25
That was Jesus' way of saying, in case anyone is unclear on the declaration I am making concerning myself, here it is.
04:26-04:28
I am the Christ.
04:30-04:34
So that said to religious leaders, that already spiked their blood pressure.
04:36-04:43
If you remember the other event that would have really sent them over the edge, remember the next day, Jesus walked into the temple, remember?
04:44-04:47
And the temple was sort of set up like Rogers flea market.
04:47-04:51
They were just buying and selling, and people were using the temple to make money.
04:52-04:56
It became this big get rich scheme for the priests.
04:56-04:59
And Jesus saw this, and he said, "No, no, no, no, no, no.
04:59-05:01
"This is to be a place where people pray.
05:02-05:05
"You've made it a den of robbers." You remember what Jesus did?
05:05-05:12
The Bible says he went through and was flipping over the tables and wouldn't even let people walk through there.
05:13-05:21
So if their blood pressure was spiked on the announcement, crashing the temple really set them over the edge.
05:21-05:25
And at this point, it's reaching a fever pitch.
05:26-05:30
The first challenger has ever joined the baptism from heaven or from men.
05:30-05:40
Then last week, remember, Taylor Brown wrote the word, Jesus told a parable, the parable of the tenants, and he said, "This is you.
05:41-05:45
"This is you." And they knew that he was talking about them.
05:47-05:49
The question is, how are they going to turn the people against Jesus?
05:51-05:54
Well, number one in your outline, here's a foolproof plan to stop Jesus.
05:57-06:09
Verse 13 says, "And they said to him, Some of the Pharisees and some of the Herodians to trap him in his talk.
06:12-06:14
Okay, let's stop there for a second.
06:14-06:16
Who were the Pharisees and who were the Herodians?
06:16-06:18
Well, we know the Pharisees, right?
06:18-06:19
They were the religious leaders.
06:20-06:23
These were the ultra-religious people, the legalists.
06:26-06:27
But who were the Herodians?
06:28-06:32
Remember at this point in Israel's history, Israel was under Roman occupation.
06:32-06:33
Remember we talked about that?
06:34-06:44
Just as if Canada took over the United States and said, okay, you're under our government now, but we're still gonna let you live your lives and go to church and do your regular stuff.
06:44-06:47
But just know that we're in charge.
06:48-06:50
And that's kinda how it was for Rome over Israel.
06:50-06:57
You can live in your land, you can do your religious ordinances or whatever it is you people do, but we're in charge.
06:58-07:05
And if we catch wind that there's any thoughts otherwise, we're going to take care of it swiftly and violently.
07:07-07:16
So the Herodians were a group that were loyal to, just like the name implies, Herod.
07:16-07:24
These would have been a political group that would have aligned themselves with Rome.
07:26-07:27
Ultra-political.
07:29-07:41
Now, on a normal day, how do you suppose the very Jewish Pharisees got along with the I love Rome Herodians?
07:41-07:44
How do you think those two groups got along on a normal day?
07:45-07:48
Those two groups hated each other.
07:48-07:49
Hated each other.
07:50-07:54
Like, Steelers versus Ravens hated each other.
07:54-08:00
Okay, like penguins versus flyers hated each other, right?
08:02-08:03
These groups hated each other.
08:03-08:05
The Pharisees were all about the law of God.
08:05-08:08
They were all about, you know, we've got to keep the law of God.
08:09-08:11
The Herodians were like, it's all about the law of Rome.
08:13-08:16
The Pharisees were all about the nation of Israel.
08:17-08:18
The Herodians were all about Caesar.
08:20-08:26
While the Pharisees were all about religion, The Herodians were all about politics.
08:28-08:40
The Pharisees radio dial would have been tuned into 101.5, the Herodians would have been in, remember that Republican channel, what station was that?
08:41-08:42
It's not on anymore, is it?
08:43-08:45
104.7, is that still a thing?
08:46-08:47
Okay, okay.
08:49-08:50
It went over to AM.
08:51-08:52
I'm promoted to AM.
08:54-08:58
How many people have been on the AM dial like any time in the last 15 years?
08:59-09:00
Two of you, okay, very good.
09:01-09:01
(audience laughing)
09:03-09:05
But you understand the point, right?
09:05-09:07
You have this religious group, then you have this political group.
09:08-09:09
Normally they hate each other.
09:09-09:16
But what do you see in this passage that says that they were teaming up?
09:16-09:23
The Pharisees and the Herodians came together After Jesus, to trap him in his talk, it says.
09:25-09:26
Trap him in his talk.
09:27-09:28
What's going on here?
09:28-09:30
Well, here's the thing.
09:31-09:37
Israel under Roman occupation, how much did Rome really care about Israel's religious practices?
09:37-09:38
How much did they care?
09:38-09:39
Not at all.
09:39-09:40
They're like, you know what?
09:41-09:45
You want a temple, sacrifices, whatever it is you people do.
09:46-09:47
They did not care at all.
09:51-10:03
So, if they were going to get the government angry or out to get Jesus, what were they going to have to do?
10:05-10:09
They were going to have to see Jesus as a political threat.
10:11-10:12
Okay?
10:12-10:13
So this was the plan.
10:15-10:19
that Jesus is upsetting us, we're going to make sure he gets arrested.
10:19-10:27
If Jesus gets arrested by the Romans, that's going to prove that he's not the Messiah that's here to overthrow Rome.
10:29-10:42
So these two groups get together, and they're like, hey, let's get Jesus to say something that makes the government think he's a threat, and we'll get him arrested.
10:43-10:44
Like that's a foolproof plan, right?
10:45-10:47
We'll trap him in his words.
10:47-10:48
And oh, wait a minute.
10:50-10:53
Remember the last time they tried to trap Jesus in his words, do you remember that?
10:54-10:55
Like John's baptism.
10:56-10:56
(laughs)
10:57-10:59
Was that from man?
11:00-11:02
Or was that like from heaven?
11:02-11:06
Was that a God thing or was that just a man thing?
11:06-11:10
And Jesus totally turned the tables on them and they ended up looking pretty foolish.
11:11-11:16
I imagine they still remember that and they're like, well, that didn't go so well.
11:16-11:17
So how are we going to trap him?
11:17-11:18
Look at verse 14.
11:20-11:21
This was the first part of their plan.
11:23-11:35
They came and said to him, teacher, we know that you are true and do not care about anyone's opinion.
11:37-12:14
You are not swayed by appearances, but truly teach the way of God Flattery You know what they're doing here They were trying to butter Jesus up thinking that he would lower his defenses. They could get him to say something It would get him in trouble This is what okay so like you know imagine my friend Bob up here, we've we've had some issues, okay, and Every time we've gotten together, we've had these arguments, and I want to try to get him to say something stupid.
12:14-12:15
I'm going to butter him up.
12:16-12:34
"Oh, Bob, he sees me coming, and already he's on guard." Like, "Bob, Bob, Bob, your hair is looking fantastic." And I got to tell you, the way you play that guitar, man, I'll tell you what, man, I don't know if I've ever seen a better guitar player.
12:36-12:40
And all that, you have the prettiest smile I've ever seen, outside of my lovely wife, of course.
12:41-12:46
Bob, you are just, you know, all of a sudden, Bob's defenses are down.
12:47-12:49
And that's what they were trying to do to Jesus.
12:49-12:53
This stuff they were saying, they did not believe it for a second, okay?
12:54-12:56
They were just trying to butter him up.
12:58-13:01
The question, is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar or not?
13:02-13:04
Did we pay them or should we not?
13:06-13:13
Now I imagine, now something we don't know is the tone of voice, but I imagine this was presented to Jesus as an honest question.
13:14-13:18
Like, you know what, Jesus, I just wonder, do we pay taxes?
13:19-13:23
Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar or not?
13:24-13:25
Did we pay them or shouldn't we?
13:27-13:29
What were they talking about specifically?
13:29-13:33
Well, this was a poll tax that they were speaking of.
13:33-13:35
It was a tax that everyone pays.
13:35-13:37
It was one denarius a year.
13:40-13:42
Okay, so do you see the plan?
13:43-13:48
At the risk of sounding like I'm giving the devil his due, this is actually, from a human perspective, a pretty smart plan.
13:51-13:53
Because what if Jesus says no?
13:54-13:55
Okay, let's walk down that road.
13:55-13:57
That's what they thought he was going to say, by the way.
13:58-14:05
"We pay taxes." And Jesus says, "No." Well then what's gonna happen?
14:05-14:23
The Herodians are going to go tell Pilate, "Hey, we have a religious leader "that has all these people that are all excited about him, "and he's telling people they shouldn't pay their taxes." By the way, when Jesus eventually was arrested, he was falsely accused, you know one of the things they falsely accused him of?
14:25-14:26
Luke records it.
14:26-14:30
They said, "This man says we shouldn't pay our taxes." Complete lie, as you'll see.
14:31-14:36
But you see, he can't say no, because they'll go tell the government that he's a threat.
14:39-14:41
So what if Jesus says, "Yes, pay your taxes"?
14:43-14:44
What are the results of that answer?
14:47-14:51
All of these Jews are going to start disliking him, right?
14:52-14:53
Because they didn't want to pay the taxes.
14:54-14:57
How great would you feel, Remember our Canadian occupation scenario?
14:58-15:03
How great would you feel every year, it's time to pay the Canadian government the taxes you owe them?
15:03-15:05
How would you feel writing out that check?
15:06-15:07
Pretty miserable, right?
15:09-15:16
And if we can get Jesus to say, "Yeah, pay your taxes," then the Jews are going to turn against him.
15:18-15:23
There was a foolproof plan, except for the fact that they were fools themselves in thinking they could challenge Jesus.
15:24-15:37
Let's look at verse 15, it says, "But knowing their hypocrisy." By the way, this is just bonus.
15:39-15:42
But Jesus knows when you're putting on a show, okay?
15:43-15:43
He knows.
15:45-15:57
And you might be able to go to work, put on a good front, and you might even be able to come to church and put on a good front Does everybody think that you're this ultra super spiritual person?
16:00-16:02
Jesus knows when you're being a hypocrite.
16:02-16:03
He knows.
16:03-16:03
Okay?
16:04-16:06
And he certainly knew their hypocrisy.
16:09-16:15
He said to them, "Why put me to the test?" Look at this next statement.
16:15-16:26
Jesus said, "Bring me a denarius and let me look at it." So, interestingly, the Jews would not have carried the denarius with them.
16:26-16:26
Why?
16:27-16:31
Because it would have been stamped with Caesar's image on it.
16:31-16:33
And to them, that was idolatry.
16:33-16:34
You don't carry that thing around.
16:34-16:37
That's a little idol.
16:38-16:43
If they didn't carry this coin, they would have paid the tax with the equivalency of their own coins.
16:44-16:47
So you can imagine this scene as this crowd's gathered around.
16:47-16:51
Jesus said, "Give me one of the coins." You can imagine, does anyone have one of those coins?
16:51-16:52
Does anyone have one of those coins?
16:52-16:57
You can imagine somewhere somebody found one, like wait a minute, I think I might have one.
16:57-17:02
And it gets handed up to Jesus.
17:04-17:13
He said, "Bring me a denarius and let me look at it." Number two on your outline, Jesus gives the final answer on politics and religion.
17:15-17:17
So the question is, is it lawful to pay taxes?
17:19-17:21
Should we pay them or shouldn't we?
17:22-17:23
Look at Jesus' response.
17:25-17:30
It says in verse 16, "And they brought one, and he said to them, 'Who's like this?
17:31-17:36
An inscription is this.'" He holds the coin up.
17:36-17:37
Who's on here?
17:39-17:56
"And they said to him, 'Caesar's.' Jesus said to them, 'Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's.'" And to God, the things that are God's, and they marveled at him.
17:58-18:01
Jesus gives the final answer in politics and religion.
18:02-18:03
I wanna leave you with three things.
18:05-18:13
I want you to write these down, especially in the political climate of our day.
18:14-18:18
Somebody can look at this question and be like, You know what, that is a really good question.
18:20-18:21
What should we do?
18:22-18:26
How should we as Christians respond to a godless government?
18:29-18:31
There's three things you need to know.
18:33-18:36
Number one, two A rather, letter A is this.
18:36-18:39
God ordained government.
18:41-18:44
God ordained governments.
18:47-18:59
You're like, "Pastor Jeff, I believe that he used to, but there's no way what's happening in 2014 in the United States of America, there's no way that God ordained this government." Yes, He did. Yes, He did.
19:01-19:04
But this government is so corrupt, and do you see what's happening?
19:05-19:14
How more and more we're getting away from the beliefs of our founding fathers, and more and more liberal and more, this government is so corrupt.
19:15-19:18
How can you say that God ordained this government when this government is so corrupt?
19:19-19:26
My answer is, how about the government in which Jesus made this statement?
19:26-19:27
How corrupt was that government?
19:29-19:34
You know, Rome, Caesar that Jesus was speaking of, how corrupt was that government?
19:35-19:49
How corrupt is a government that would take an innocent Jewish man, trip him down, beat him within an inch of his life, nailed him to a cross to be publicly executed for what?
19:50-19:51
Exactly, what did he do?
19:51-19:52
What was the crime again?
19:53-19:54
What was the crime?
19:54-19:59
Oh yeah, there were all these false accusations and nobody was really sure why he was arrested.
20:00-20:06
But just to shut people up, up-ordained by God, I'm talking from a human perspective, are you with me?
20:07-20:09
Just to shut people up, they killed Jesus.
20:10-20:11
Is that a corrupt government?
20:13-20:19
That was the government that was in force when Jesus was making this statement, okay?
20:19-20:21
God ordained government.
20:23-20:26
You see, when they asked Jesus, "Should we pay our taxes?" Jesus wasn't like, "You know what?
20:27-20:30
"Let me tell you about Rome." The heck with Rome.
20:31-20:33
I don't even acknowledge their existence.
20:34-20:35
What did Jesus say?
20:38-20:39
I want you to write this down.
20:39-20:42
We're not going to turn there, but I want you to, this is homework for you.
20:42-20:45
Read Romans chapter 13 verses 1 through 7.
20:46-20:48
Okay, this would have been written after the days of Jesus.
20:51-20:52
Still in the face of a corrupt government.
20:53-20:58
Romans chapter 13 verses 1 through 7 says that God created and ordained government.
20:59-21:02
God created and ordained the government, all government.
21:04-21:09
In fact, do you know the very concept of government was invented by God?
21:09-21:09
Did you know that?
21:11-21:17
Bible students, what is the first man-to-man law that's written in the Bible?
21:17-21:18
Do you know what it is?
21:19-21:25
The first man-to-man law in the Bible, the first thing in the Bible where God says, "Okay, here's what happens.
21:25-21:29
If this crime is committed, here's how you deal with it." Do you know what that is?
21:29-22:02
It's Genesis chapter 9 verse 6 when Noah gets off the ark God instituted the death penalty. He says if you take someone's life that person's life should be taken from them That was the first man-to-man law. That was the first In a sense government law you like what do you mean government God says here is a law that you enforce for each other You enforce this You see this crime happening. You take this action to make sure that proper punishment is dealt out.
22:04-22:07
There's so much we can say about government, but here's the bottom line.
22:08-22:16
The real purpose, the ultimate purpose of government, the ultimate purpose of government is to deter sin.
22:16-22:17
That's the purpose of government.
22:20-22:24
Government was always meant to be a sin deterrent, and that's scriptural.
22:24-22:27
That Romans 13 passage talks about that.
22:27-22:31
It rewards right doing and punishes wrong doing.
22:31-22:34
The purpose of government is to deter sin.
22:35-22:36
Like what do you mean by that?
22:36-22:38
Well, let's pretend that there was no government.
22:39-22:48
Let's pretend that people could commit whatever crimes they wanted without any fear of being arrested, any fear of incarceration, any fear of paying fines.
22:48-22:50
What would this society look like?
22:53-22:56
If you have something I want, I will shoot you in the head and take it.
22:59-22:59
Right?
23:01-23:02
Right?
23:02-23:08
And that's the purpose of government is to deter sin.
23:12-23:15
That's why God ordained the government.
23:16-23:21
So secondly, letter B, please hear me on this.
23:22-23:24
The government is not God.
23:26-23:29
And God is not the government.
23:30-23:34
The government is not God, and God is not the government.
23:36-23:39
There are two very extreme sides of this argument in our day.
23:41-23:46
Both sides are guilty of missing this statement, but both sides are extremely loud.
23:47-24:26
We live in the days of the Occupy movement, remember that thing, the Occupy Wall Street Remember that and the Tea Party movement and then you have CNN and then you have Fox News and all of these voices clamoring very loudly But Jesus made one statement that is still the definitive answer look at this statement Jesus said rendered a seizure the things that are seizures and to God the things that are God's in other words I'm just restating what Jesus said in another way Jesus was saying the government is not God, and God is not the government.
24:26-24:31
These are two completely distinct institutions, right?
24:31-24:32
Do you see that in the text?
24:34-24:47
Government is an institution, valid, but then you have the religious thing, or we would say the church, that the government is not God, and God is not the government.
24:49-24:51
First of all, the government is not God.
24:52-24:56
Some people think the answer to our social ills is the government's.
24:59-25:03
A day of entitlements, I can't pay for my house, I can't pay for my student loans.
25:04-25:06
I'll just be honest with you, I don't understand that.
25:06-25:15
I don't mean to be intentionally offensive if you're in this thing, but you just hear all these people say, you know, the government's going to forgive your student loans.
25:15-25:17
The government's just gonna...
25:19-25:23
Almost to the point that the student loans are sort of painted out to be the bad guys.
25:23-25:25
Like these oppressive student loans.
25:26-25:31
You mean the same organization that was very gracious to loan you the money to go to school?
25:32-25:34
You were so thankful for that when you started school.
25:35-25:39
Now, they're the bad guys because they're wanting to collect the money that they loaned you.
25:39-25:40
I'll be honest with you, I don't get that.
25:41-25:44
I don't understand why all of the sudden I don't think I should have to pay that back.
25:45-25:48
I took the money, I used the money, I said I was gonna pay you back.
25:50-25:54
But the passage of a few years now has convinced me that I don't have to, I don't get that.
25:54-25:55
I just don't get it.
25:56-25:59
And if you can explain it to me, I would really like to hear it.
26:00-26:01
I just don't understand it.
26:02-26:05
We live in that day.
26:07-26:11
We live in a day of bailouts and legislating healthcare and defining marriage.
26:12-26:14
And you see, the government is not God.
26:15-26:18
It's look to the government, look to the government, more power to the government.
26:19-26:22
The government just needs more power, more control.
26:22-26:27
Listen, the government is not the answer to our problems.
26:27-26:28
It is not.
26:29-26:36
And there are so many people looking to Washington, fix the problem, fix the problem, fix the problem.
26:37-26:38
It is not going to happen.
26:40-26:42
You can't even fix potholes.
26:44-26:48
True or false, there's a group of people just looking to Washington, they're gonna save us.
26:50-27:01
At the risk of sounding overly political, when the newest president was put into office, there were people dancing in the streets like they just elected Superman himself into office.
27:03-27:09
Like Superman beats Donald Trump, like all our problems are solved, he's just gonna give us everything that we need.
27:09-27:14
And listen, the government is not God.
27:14-27:16
Government is not God.
27:18-27:22
Some of you right now that are saying "preach it," I gotta tell you something too.
27:23-27:24
And that is this.
27:25-27:26
God is not the government.
27:27-27:29
God is not the government's...
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You see the immorality, the marriage issue, as I mentioned, the rights of the unborn.
27:37-27:41
And there are a group of people that think if we can change the laws, we can change the country.
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Well, do not mishear me.
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Yes, go vote.
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Vote your conscience.
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We as a church, we're not telling you who to vote for.
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Look up the issues.
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Vote your conscience.
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But you should vote.
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Okay?
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I'm not telling anybody not to vote.
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I'm saying yes, vote.
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However, this idea that thinking that getting the right people in Washington, getting the right people in seats of political power It is not going to happen because God is not the government.
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You really think passing a law is going to keep people from sinning?
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You think that's going to happen?
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Like, let's get to my politicians and if they ban this or ban that and make it illegal, people will stop doing those things.
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Are we really that naive?
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We're not going to stop people from sinning because God is not the government.
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Do you think the right politician is going to turn the tide of immorality in this country?
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It is not going to happen.
28:55-29:00
You know, God does have an ordained institution where people's lives are changed.
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You know what that place is called?
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It's called the church.
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It is not called the government.
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Government is a valid institution, yes, meant to be a sin-determiner, yes, Yes, it could be rightly honored, yes, but God is not the governor.
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And you have to see here, church, Jesus was making it very clear that these are two separate things.
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And somehow, it even happens in the church, we think we can meld the two.
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Like somehow if we can get enough good God-fearing people in Washington, "We will have a Christian nation again," quote unquote.
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It's not going to happen.
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Human government is run by humans, fallen and corrupt, and no matter the moral basis it's founded upon, it's still going to be corrupt.
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I would just challenge this church, can we stop making the government something it was never intended to be?
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Can we stop thinking in our minds that it's supposed to be something it was never intended?
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You know, in days coming, the Bible says, the days coming, Jesus Christ is going to return and set up a thousand year reign on the earth.
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Then, then God will be the government.
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Until then, take the government for what it actually is.
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What should we do?
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Finally, letter C, here's what you should do.
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God's people pay what they owe.
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God's people pay what they owe.
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First of all, to their government, pay your taxes.
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That's what Jesus was saying.
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He's like, "Who's pictures on this coin?" They're like, "Ah, that's Caesar's." He's like, "Alright, well then give it to Caesar." Give the gods what is God's.
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Jesus was saying God's people pay what they owe.
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Pay your taxes.
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You're a citizen of this government, right?
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You drive on the roads, you use the schools, you're protected by the police.
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Pay what you owe.
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And there's no clause here, by the way.
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Jesus didn't say, "Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, so long as you agree with his political platform." There's no clause.
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Jesus just simply said that his people, the people who leave no debt unpaid.
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It's just so hard with the corruption in government.
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This, this is one of my least favorite times of the year.
31:44-31:54
Something even more scary and disgusting and revolting than even Halloween are these political ads on TV.
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Have you seen these things?
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I hate political ads.
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I just, I mean, have you seen these things?
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Okay, so you got like Tom Corbett, Tom Wolfe, right?
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Have you seen their ads?
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You know, Tom Corbett's like, he's like, "Tom Wolfe murders kittens "and eats them for breakfast every morning." Then Tom Wolfe is like, "Tom Corbett doesn't even eat the kittens that he kills.
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He just kills them for fun.
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And then Corbett's like, "Tom Wolfe doesn't rewind the videos when he rents them from Blockbuster." And Wolfe is like, "Tom Corbett still thinks there's a such thing as VHS and Blockbuster." And it just goes back and forth and back and forth.
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I'd like to hear somebody just get on and say, "Okay, here's what I believe, and here's what I plan on doing." And I'd like to hear that, but true or false, Most of these political ads are just like, this guy is Hitler.
33:02-33:04
Like, well, this guy's Hitler's mother-in-law.
33:04-33:07
And it just goes back and forth, back and forth, right?
33:09-33:12
And there's a part of you that's just like, I just wanna check out of here, right?
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Can I just get my, none of the above, how about that?
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None of the above.
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Let's just try it on our own for a while.
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The question is, is there ever a time that we do not submit?
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Is there ever a time that we do not submit to the government?
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The answer is yes.
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When you are being told to do something contradicting the word of God, then you appeal to the higher authority.
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You honor the government so long as you are not being directly told to do something that contradicts the word of God.
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When that's the case, you appeal to the higher authority.
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And that comes straight from scripture, actually Acts chapter five and verse 29, remember Peter was told, "Stop preaching!
33:59-34:01
"You gotta stop preaching Jesus!" And you remember Peter said?
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He said, "We must obey God rather than men." So when it comes to that, be prepared to say that, but also be prepared to suffer.
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It could mean fines, it could mean imprisonment, much worse.
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God's people pay what they owe to their government, and then finally got people to pay with their own money.
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Caesar's image was on the coin.
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Where is God's image stamped?
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Caesar's image was on the coin, right?
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They stamped his mug right on the coin.
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Where's God's image stamped again?
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God's image is stamped right on you.
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You see the analogy.
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The coin belongs to Caesar, you belong to God.
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And you give to God what is God's and that is you.
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Your time, your money, your will, your worship, your service, all of it is owed to God.
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Listen, it's not a debt in the sense that your taxes are like a debt.
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See your debt to God isn't like I'm paying this because I have to.
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Like it's an obligation.
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Your debt to God is done in an attitude of love, gratitude.
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Lord created you to know him and to be blessed by him.
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And even though we're so rebellious and wicked, the Lord bought you with the blood of Jesus Christ to forgive you and to restore you.
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Jesus said, "Give to God the things that are God's." You're gods by virtue of two ways.
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One is he created you.
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The other is he bought you.
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The church, politics, and religion, how do we sort through all of this?
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Jesus summed it up with one sentence.
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Give to the government.
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You give to Caesar what you owe.
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You give to God what you owe him.
36:16-36:30
Father in heaven, I pray, Father, that we would increasingly so be a people who are, yes, mindful of what is happening on our political landscape, but not concerned.
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I know, Father, there was a time in my own life that it was so easy for me to get wrapped up in these things and to start to be in despair and thinking about what was predicted concerning our government and where we were headed and the people in office and the danger there is my eyes would have a tendency to get off of you.
36:54-37:00
Instead of trusting you, instead of fearing you, I started fearing your government.
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I started looking at things from a purely earthly perspective.
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So easy to get wrapped up in these things.
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God, I pray.
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We would get back to this one simple yet profound statement of Jesus Christ.
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That we would be a people who yes, we honor and we submit and we give what is owed to our government.
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We also give what is owed to you.
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We would understand in our minds how these things are separate.
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Father, we thank you.
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We can even be said that we belong to you.
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Let us as a church, Father, render to you the praises to your great Jesus.
Small Group Questions (Whole Group):
Read Mark 12:13-17
What are some things that a Christian should "render to God"?
God ordained the government. Read Romans 13:1-7 and note all the words used to describe the government (Discussion leaders: hint - appointed, servant, avenger, ministers). Is this true even if the government has no regard for God? How should Christians be subject to the government, even if it is corrupt?
Breakout Questions:
How does this message change the way you view submitting to the government and paying your taxes?