Jesus was asked about honoring rulers and those with political control. A hard question, for evil rulers will always exist, rulers who want to put people into bondage. Maybe not emperors, but people around us daily attempt to manipulate us into following their will, not ours. But Jesus puts secular authority in perspective with his answer: Teacher, they said, “We know that you are a man of integrity and that you teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. You aren’t swayed by others, because you pay no attention to who they are. Tell us then, what is your opinion? Is it right to pay the imperial tax to Caesar or not?” But Jesus, knowing their evil intent, said, “You hypocrites, why are you trying to trap me? Show me the coin used for paying the tax.” They brought him a denarius, and he asked them, “Whose image is this? And whose inscription?” “Caesar’s,” they replied. Then he said to them, “So give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s.” When they heard this, they were amazed. So they left him and went away. (Matthew 22:16-22) In the areas of man’s authority, where obedience usually brings order, we are to be submissive to this power, but in the areas of God’s domain, where following his will brings eternal peace, eternal life, we are to be submissive to God above all else. We are not to fear those who can take our temporal lives but God who can take away eternal life with him. God’s eminent authority surpasses all temporal authority on Earth. Jesus relates to them that Caesar owns the coin; therefore, in that realm they should function properly. If they use Caesar’s coins for commerce, they should comply with his directions and laws. Jesus did not come to overthrow the authorities of the secular world: He came to free people from the prince of the air who has imprisoned all mankind in a state of rebellion, leading to eternal damnation. Christ’s quarrel was not with men, but with the powers of darkness that inhabit the ethereal world of the spirits. Previous to his teaching about Caesar’s authority, Jesus entered the temple, God’s holy domain and place of authority, where the Jewish people worshipped him. Jesus entered the temple courts and drove out all who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves. “It is written,” he said to them, “‘My house will be called a house of prayer,’ but you are making it ‘a den of robbers.’” (Matthew 21:12-13) Here we see another economy, functioning at the behest of the priests. Business entrepreneurs were in the temple facilitating the buying and selling of birds for sacrifices. People from foreign lands, wanting to perform these sacrifices, could exchange their money to buy doves with the right currency. These convenient transactions, exchanging money and buying doves, offered an orderly, efficient process under the auspices of the priests. Jesus rejects this commerce, for the coin of the realm in God’s house is not money, but a heart to serve God. The Temple is a place for spiritual activity, dedicating oneself to God, not temporal transactions contaminating the holy purposes of the Temple. In this situation, Jesus does not honor the administration of the priests. Instead, He rebells against this hierarchical authority, for the purpose of the God’s house is to honor the Creator of all things. The Temple was consecrated to prayer, service, and holy sacrifices to the God of Israel. Jesus’ anger towards the commercial activity in the Temple reflects the difference between honoring secular authority and God’s authority. Temporal power is finite, a way of organizing societies, but God’s power is infinite. Obeying and honoring him brings eternal life.
Our obedience to secular powers remains important, for such compliance is in contrast to the prevalent nature of humans: rebellion. The Bible says that we have all gone astray, doing our own thing, moving away from God and others to seek what we think is best for ourselves. The sensuous nature of man commonly becomes the captain of our souls. Our desires to eat, drink, and be merry, to prefer ourselves above others, functions innate within all of us. Peter compels us as foreigners and exiles, to abstain from sinful desires, which wage war against your soul. Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us. He tells Christians to fight the natural inclinations of the secular man by putting our lives under God’s control and doing what we know is right. Even if it chafes us, we must fight the good fight, so the God within us might be honored. If we live a disciplined, circumspect life, God will be glorified, but if we live in this foreign, alien world for ourselves, God will not be honored. We will be hypocrites, honoring ourselves over God. This kind of life is like a ship on rough waters—life will never settle down. A double-minded man will never receive anything from God, especially peace or victory over sin. James calls this kind of life, caught in-between serving God wholeheartedly and the world’s desires, as adulterous. What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you? You desire but do not have, so you kill. You covet but you cannot get what you want, so you quarrel and fight. You do not have because you do not ask God. When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures. You adulterous people, don’t you know that friendship with the world means enmity against God? (James 4:1-4) A life caught in the middle between God and the flesh will not receive anything from God. If we love this world more than we love God, our flesh will always ask amiss, always with SELF in the middle of our request. How do we know that we do not love this world more than we love God? If we are not submissive to authority, if we try to get out from underneath serving others, using our freedom IN CHRIST as a reason not to be obedient to anyone, especially the world’s laws and obligations, we are in the midst of loving ourselves more than God. This selfish state reflects the spirit of disobedience endemic to all of us. When we begin to love the unlovely, to wash the feet of others, to lay our lives down for the sake of the gospel, then we know the world and its attractions have no part in us. As you live freely in the Lord, Show proper respect to everyone, love the family of believers, fear God, honor the emperor.
Often, our flesh is tempted to go back into the world in attitude and activity. We can so easily choose not to obey rulers, authorities, people who seek to have control over us. Why not reject or strike back at friends, neighbors, family members who demand so much from us, wanting us to meet their desires, ignoring our wills and desires? Why should we allow people to sculpt our lives, shaping us as they desire, trying to control our individuality, our uniqueness? We go around this world only once; why bow to the authority of others, ignoring what is best for us? Why not just launch out on our own, live separate lives, free from entanglements, free for our flesh to do what it desires? Why should we control the rebellion inside of us? Are we not free? Did not Jesus come to set us free? So what if I am a little rebellious to authority and other people’s influence: the Bible says God’s grace is sufficient for me. Wait a minute! We cannot pick and choose scripture to justify our selfishness when serving God. He is the justifier of our lives! And He will not let us off the hook of being obligated to others. Jesus said to take up the cross and follow him. Our lives are not our own. We have been bought with a high price: the blood of Jesus Christ. We do his will for his benefit, not ours. God is light; we are lights in a dark world. Our will, our way of thinking in the flesh, is darkness. That kind of thinking leads to fights, wars, corruption, death. No good will come out of fleshly thinking or rebellion. Harmony with God’s will for our lives brings peace and love. In all things we must follow God in obedience to his will and authority. As we grow in grace, we learn to follow God’s Spirit in all things. We are new creatures. Definitely, we function in an alien world where we obey the laws of the land and live in peace with others to the best of our abilities. However, the world will always dislike our Christian lifestyle, for the Bible says they love darkness over light and hide there because of their evil deeds. Yet we can let our lights shine before people, so they can see Jesus in us. The Bible says, You were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath. But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions. (Ephesians 2:1-4) We used to live in this darkness; we were dead in our transgressions and sins. We are no longer there; we are alive IN CHRIST forevermore. Let us reveal light rather than self, rather than flesh, rather than darkness. Walk in the light as He is in the light, living as free people, but do not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil; live as God’s slaves.
Our obedience to secular powers remains important, for such compliance is in contrast to the prevalent nature of humans: rebellion. The Bible says that we have all gone astray, doing our own thing, moving away from God and others to seek what we think is best for ourselves. The sensuous nature of man commonly becomes the captain of our souls. Our desires to eat, drink, and be merry, to prefer ourselves above others, functions innate within all of us. Peter compels us as foreigners and exiles, to abstain from sinful desires, which wage war against your soul. Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us. He tells Christians to fight the natural inclinations of the secular man by putting our lives under God’s control and doing what we know is right. Even if it chafes us, we must fight the good fight, so the God within us might be honored. If we live a disciplined, circumspect life, God will be glorified, but if we live in this foreign, alien world for ourselves, God will not be honored. We will be hypocrites, honoring ourselves over God. This kind of life is like a ship on rough waters—life will never settle down. A double-minded man will never receive anything from God, especially peace or victory over sin. James calls this kind of life, caught in-between serving God wholeheartedly and the world’s desires, as adulterous. What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you? You desire but do not have, so you kill. You covet but you cannot get what you want, so you quarrel and fight. You do not have because you do not ask God. When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures. You adulterous people, don’t you know that friendship with the world means enmity against God? (James 4:1-4) A life caught in the middle between God and the flesh will not receive anything from God. If we love this world more than we love God, our flesh will always ask amiss, always with SELF in the middle of our request. How do we know that we do not love this world more than we love God? If we are not submissive to authority, if we try to get out from underneath serving others, using our freedom IN CHRIST as a reason not to be obedient to anyone, especially the world’s laws and obligations, we are in the midst of loving ourselves more than God. This selfish state reflects the spirit of disobedience endemic to all of us. When we begin to love the unlovely, to wash the feet of others, to lay our lives down for the sake of the gospel, then we know the world and its attractions have no part in us. As you live freely in the Lord, Show proper respect to everyone, love the family of believers, fear God, honor the emperor.
Often, our flesh is tempted to go back into the world in attitude and activity. We can so easily choose not to obey rulers, authorities, people who seek to have control over us. Why not reject or strike back at friends, neighbors, family members who demand so much from us, wanting us to meet their desires, ignoring our wills and desires? Why should we allow people to sculpt our lives, shaping us as they desire, trying to control our individuality, our uniqueness? We go around this world only once; why bow to the authority of others, ignoring what is best for us? Why not just launch out on our own, live separate lives, free from entanglements, free for our flesh to do what it desires? Why should we control the rebellion inside of us? Are we not free? Did not Jesus come to set us free? So what if I am a little rebellious to authority and other people’s influence: the Bible says God’s grace is sufficient for me. Wait a minute! We cannot pick and choose scripture to justify our selfishness when serving God. He is the justifier of our lives! And He will not let us off the hook of being obligated to others. Jesus said to take up the cross and follow him. Our lives are not our own. We have been bought with a high price: the blood of Jesus Christ. We do his will for his benefit, not ours. God is light; we are lights in a dark world. Our will, our way of thinking in the flesh, is darkness. That kind of thinking leads to fights, wars, corruption, death. No good will come out of fleshly thinking or rebellion. Harmony with God’s will for our lives brings peace and love. In all things we must follow God in obedience to his will and authority. As we grow in grace, we learn to follow God’s Spirit in all things. We are new creatures. Definitely, we function in an alien world where we obey the laws of the land and live in peace with others to the best of our abilities. However, the world will always dislike our Christian lifestyle, for the Bible says they love darkness over light and hide there because of their evil deeds. Yet we can let our lights shine before people, so they can see Jesus in us. The Bible says, You were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath. But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions. (Ephesians 2:1-4) We used to live in this darkness; we were dead in our transgressions and sins. We are no longer there; we are alive IN CHRIST forevermore. Let us reveal light rather than self, rather than flesh, rather than darkness. Walk in the light as He is in the light, living as free people, but do not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil; live as God’s slaves.
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