GIVE UNTO CAESAR

• DAY 107
• Faith File: THE COURAGE OF JESUS
• Scripture: Matt 22:15-22

“Then the Pharisees went and plotted how they might entangle Him in His talk. And they sent 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?” And 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 had heard these words, they marveled, and left Him and went their way.”

Matthew 22:15-17, 20-22 NKJV

We have been talking about the courage of Jesus, for the past few days. And we see that one of the Courageous things Jesus did was ‘obey’. He was obedient to God, obedient to His parents and today we discover that He was obedient to the laws of the land. 

A Trap

You see, the Jewish people had gotten accustomed to mistranslating and misinterpreting the laws that were handed down by Moses. And so they created principles and rules that made the lives of the people difficult. But Jesus came to set things right and it didn’t go well with them. So they came to tempt Him, to look for something implicating that can put Him in prison, or at least silence His voice.

So they asked Him a very interesting question: Is it lawful for us to pay taxes? They were leveraging the fact that Jesus was somebody that constantly did controversial things or went against the principles or Jewish way of life. And so they were hoping that He would transgress there in front of the people. But Jesus could smell their plot from a mile away. 

Caesar’s and God’s

The Bible says that they were amazed by Jesus’ answer, He said, Give unto Caesar what is Caesar’s. In another part of scripture we find that He sends His disciples to go bring the required tax from the mouth of a fish. In doing this Jesus not only perplexed His trappers but exemplified to His disciples that laws of the land that do not contradict God’s laws should be obeyed.

In the letters that the apostles wrote to the church, we can see them telling the church to obey the authorities above them because all authorities come from God. As people of courage and faith we are representatives of a kingdom that is not of this world. But we cannot live defiantly on earth just because we are not of this world. Being a child of God doesn’t mean that we cannot obey regular laws and principles. It’s expected more of you that is if the faith.

The Right Thing

Obeying laws and the people in authority over you shows confidence and courage. Most of us ignore laws because our system is broken and our leaders are unjust but what shows you as a person of faith? How are you like Christ if you let the actions of others cause you to disregard the laws of God? You can’t join the band wagon. You can’t defy laws, speak negatively or disrespectfully about your leader. If you think this doesn’t require faith, come stay in Nigeria.

It is not easy to stay faithful in this system. The easier thing to do is beat a read light, insult and berate leaders, bribe your way etc and the fact is it is the way the system works. But there is a more excellent way. You can get all your car papers complete, pay your taxes, pay all your utility bills, pray for your leaders, hold them accountable without insulting them etc and leave the rest for God

An Exception

However, there are instances where the laws of the land can and should be defiled. That is when the laws of the land try to supersede the laws of the Lord. 

We see an example of this in the Book of Daniel, which we’re going to go study later in this journey out of fear. The laws of their land demanded that Daniel and his friends worship another God, so they defied that law. They held onto the laws of God above the law of the land, because obeying it meant disobeying God. For the Bible clearly states “Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and Him only shalt thou serve(Luke 4:8)”

Another example of this is found in Acts 4&5. The Jewish leaders warned the apostles not to teach in the name of Jesus, but they went ahead. They courageously upheld the laws of God over the laws of men, as we ought to. 

Obey

Beloved, people of faith and courage know that what is Caesar’s should not be withheld. They know that God instructs us to obey these laws because they maintain order in our society. But above all they trust that even in a chaotic system God has them in His hands and so they do what God said and not conform to lawlessness.

Ask the Lord for grace today. I know it can be tough to Grace not to defy His laws. Grace to not stand against Him. If you can ask God for grace, He will give you the grace and the ability to obey.

Shalom.