Good morning. Please take out your Bibles and turn to Luke chapter 20. So it's the Sunday after election day in New York City. What are you going to preach on? We're doing the passage where Jesus talks about rendering to Caesar that which is Caesar's. How'd you pick that text? Well, the reason I'm preaching Luke chapter 20 verses 20 through 26 is because the last time I preached, we're going through the gospel of Luke. We're in chapter 20 and we preached on verses 9 through 19. So there you go. Luke chapter 20 verses 20 through 26. I'm going to start reading in verse 19 because it serves as a transition verse into our passage. But this is the word that God has for you today. The scribes and chief priests sought to lay hands on him at that very hour, for they perceived that he had told this parable against them, but they feared the people. So they watched him and sent spies who pretended to be sincere that they might catch him in something he said so as to deliver him up to the authority and jurisdiction of the governor. So they asked him, teacher, we know that you speak and teach rightly and show no partiality, but truly teach the way of God. Is it lawful for us to give tribute to Caesar or not? But he perceived their craftiness and said to them, show me a denarius. Whose likeness and inscription does it have? They said, Caesar's. He said to them, then render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's and to God the things that are God's. They were not able in the presence of the people to catch him in what he said, but marveling at his answer, they became silent. This is the word of the Lord. So let's remember where we are in this gospel. We are in the city of Jerusalem. We are in the last week of Jesus' life. This is either Tuesday or Wednesday of Passion Week. Now, opposition to Jesus from the religious leadership of Israel, it's been a constant theme in the narrative for many, many chapters. He's called them out for their hypocrisy and their pride and their greed. He's taught the people that salvation is found in him and not in their system of works-based legalistic self-righteousness. And so they've hated him for a long time now. As early as chapter six of this gospel, We're told, Luke 6 11, that they were filled with fury and discussed with one another what they might do to Jesus. But in these last few days, like since he's entered the city of Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, what was a simmering hatred has now come to a full boil. Jesus cleanses the temple. He drives out the money changers. He drives out those selling animals. And the religious leaders are furious. about this attack on the system that they oversee. And then remember our passage from two weeks ago. He tells a parable about them, that just as their fathers had rejected the prophets, represented by the landowner's servants who were rejected over and over, so they would kill the landowner's son, foreshadowing what they would do to Jesus in just a few days. And so God would bring judgment. Everyone who falls on that stone will be broken to pieces, and when it falls on anyone, it will crush him. And even the religious leaders get this one. He's talking about them. Look at the second half of verse 19. They perceived that he had told this parable against them. But they can't do anything, at least not yet. Jesus has just too much public support. The people love him. The crowds are hanging on his every word. And so even as they seek to lay hands on Jesus, they find that their hands are tied. And so their strategy is to try to trap him in something that he says. Let's get him to say something foolish. Let's get him to incriminate himself in some way. Let's get him to discredit himself in the eyes of the people. Well, they already tried this once. You remember that passage from the beginning of the chapter when they question him about where his authority came from? Well, here's another try. Verse 20, so they watched him. Luke's used that word already on two other occasions in his gospel to describe the religious leaders, once in chapter six, once in chapter 14. And in both of those instances, they're watching Jesus closely to see if he would do anything in violation of their Sabbath rules. So here again, we need to recognize this is not a neutral watching. This is the Jewish leaders plotting. and scheming, looking for an opportunity to pounce. Well, we can't put our hands on him. The crowds just won't let us, but maybe we can get Rome to do our dirty work. Because if we can get him in trouble with Rome, they'll arrest him, they'll kill him, and we can keep our hands clean. And so they sent spies who pretended to be sincere, Teacher, we know that you speak and teach rightly and show no partiality, but truly teach the way of God." I kind of feel just gross reading that. It's so fake, right? It's just dripping with insincerity. It's blatant flattery. Ironically, every word they say there is true, but they don't mean a word of it, as evidenced by the fact that they're trying to take him down. But Jesus sees right through it. Verse 23 says, he perceived their craftiness. So what is it that they're going to ask him? How are they going to try to trap him in his words? How are they going to try to get him in trouble with Rome? Is it lawful for us to give tribute to Caesar or not? Now, if we're going to understand this question, and why it was such a tricky question, why this is such a sneaky plot, we first need to understand a little bit about the historical context. So remember, at this time in their history, Israel has not been an independent nation for several centuries. The last king of Judah was taken captive by Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonians. They conquered Jerusalem in 586 BC. And so it's been some 600 years that the Jewish people have had some kind of foreign power over them. And at this time in history, they, and most of the Mediterranean and Near East, for that matter, they were under Roman rule. And the Romans ruled a vast empire at this point in history, and it's never been cheap to run a vast empire. And so there were many global taxes, many taxes rather, in that day. There were taxes on your crops. There were taxes on your imports. There were taxes on your exports. There were taxes on your income. But those would all be taxes for doing business. The most controversial and hated tax, particularly by the Jewish people, was the poll tax. In our passage, the ESV calls it tribute, giving tribute. This tribute was an annual tax of one denarius a year on every adult. This is not a tax for doing business. This is not a tax for buying and selling. This is just a tax for being a subject of the Roman Empire. Now, no taxes are popular because every tax is ultimately money out of your pocket. But this tax in particular was not only money out of your pocket, it's also a constant reminder of the fact that the Jewish people were under Rome's rule. So you can imagine how it would be very unpopular when it was first instituted. A man named Judas of Galilee tried to lead a revolt against Rome in response to that tax. And if you're familiar with the book of Acts, you'll know that Gamaliel references that revolt in Acts chapter 5. Even in Jesus' day, there are people called the Zealots. You'll recall that one of Jesus' disciples was a Zealot, Simon the Zealot. The Zealots vehemently opposed Roman occupation. They very much opposed paying this poll tax. And so when the spies ask this question, you see how it's a loaded question. They know how much the crowds hate this poll tax, this tribute. And so they ask, is it lawful? That is, should we, as Jews who care about the law of God, should we pay this tribute to Caesar? And here's the potential trap. If Jesus answers yes, as in yes, you should pay it, Well, then he would immediately lose favor in the eyes of the people. Wait, you want us to just submit ourselves to this evil pagan empire that goes against the word of God in every way possible? God's our ruler, not Rome. How can you, Jesus, who claim to be from God, how can you legitimize the Roman empire like this? But if Jesus answers no, And that's what the Jewish leaders are hoping that he's going to do. Well, then you can see how he would be in huge trouble with Rome. There's nothing that the Romans took more seriously than insurrection. You don't get to run an empire that vast for that long if you tolerate rebels in your midst. And so they dealt very swiftly, very thoroughly with anyone who they perceived to be going against their rule. including going against their taxes. Just ask Judas of Galilee. So you see the trap, and you can just picture the grin on the faces of these spies as they ask this question, we've got him. However he answers that question, he's done. But as I said a few weeks ago, still holds true in our passage this week, It's awfully hard to outsmart wisdom incarnate. The Jewish leaders are just going to have to learn this the hard way. Show me a denarius. Now picture yourself as one of the spies. You're wondering, where's he going to go with this? Maybe he's going to show us with that denarius how we should go and pay the tax. Well, if he does, the crowds are going to immediately start booing. Or maybe he's going to take that denarius and just throw it on the ground and stomp on it to show that we shouldn't pay the tax. Hey, make sure that those Roman soldiers over there are there to see that so they can arrest him. But then he does something that you didn't see coming. But maybe, based on what he's done before, you should have seen it coming. He answers your question with a question. It's like the old joke. Teacher, why do you always answer questions with a question, why not? Show me a denarius. Whose likeness and inscription does it have? So a Roman denarius was a coin. It was worth a day's wage for a typical laborer back then. And the denarius of that day would have had the face of Tiberius Caesar imprinted on it, not unlike how our pennies have Abraham Lincoln's face on it or our nickels have Thomas Jefferson. So, whose picture is on it? Oh, well, Caesar's. That's just the jab that then sets up the knockout punch, the well-known line, then render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's and to God the things that are God's. Let's take that phrase one part at a time. Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's. At the most literal level, Jesus is saying that Caesar's face is on that coin. So if he asks for that coin, you got to give it to him. Someone thought it'd be funny when I turned 40 to make cookies with my face on them. We're at the party. I wanted to try one. And I asked one of my kids for a bite. And there's some hesitation. But it's like, come on, my face is on that cookie. Give it to me. Same thing here. His face is on that coin. Give it to him. But more generally. Jesus here teaches the human government, in that day represented by Caesar, the human government has the right to collect taxes from its people. And we see that in the word render. And you'll notice that even in our English translations, that word render is not the same word that the spies use in asking the question in verse 22. In verse 22, they ask, is it lawful for us to give tribute to Caesar? And in verse 25, Jesus answers, render to Caesar. That word render means to pay back something that you owe. And so the idea here is that Caesar, the Roman government, they give you many benefits. They give you good roads to travel on. The Roman road network was the best of the day. They give you aqueducts that bring water to you. You benefit from that. They give you societal order. They enforce justice. You benefit from that. They give you peace and safety from foreign intruders, the Pax Romana. You benefit from that. They give you a monetary system. And you benefit from that as evidenced by the fact that you had a denarius in your pocket when Jesus asked for one. You all are beneficiaries of Rome's government, Caesar, and so you all need to pay your taxes. The Bible is clear about this in other passages as well, that human governments are instituted by God for our benefit. Romans 13 verses 1 through 5. Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God and those that exist have been instituted by God. Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed and those who resist will incur judgment. For rulers are not a terror to good conduct but to bad. Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive his approval, for he is God's servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain, for he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God's wrath on the wrongdoer. Therefore, one must be in subjection, not only to avoid God's wrath, but also for the sake of conscience. one must be in subjection. Now, are there times when we must go against government because it directly and genuinely conflicts with the Word of God? Yes. And Peter's line from Acts chapter 5 is probably the most concise summary. But Peter and the apostles answered, we must obey God rather than men. And so when what the state demands directly goes against your allegiance to God, like you're telling us not to preach, Jesus is telling us to preach, so we're gonna obey Jesus. Or when the state claims authority that's not granted to them. So for example, when Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego are forced to worship the statue of Nebuchadnezzar. Or when the state commands sin, Like when Pharaoh commands the Hebrew midwives to kill all the male babies. Well, bold men and women from the scriptures and from church history have been courageous examples for us of what obeying God rather than men looks like. But let's not let those exceptions obscure the general rule. The general rule is let every person be subject to governing authorities. But now look at the conclusion that Paul draws in that passage, Romans 13, now looking at verses 6 and 7. For the authorities are ministers of God attending to this very thing. Pay, and that word pay is actually render. It's the same word that we see in our passage. Render to all what is owed to them. Taxes, and that word is actually tribute. Again, the same word that we see in our passage. Render to all what is owed to them, tribute to whom tribute is owed. Jesus' teaching, Paul's teaching, the Scripture's teaching is crystal clear. Human governments are instituted by God, and they have a right to sustain themselves through taxation. And so, practical application here, brothers and sisters, pay your taxes. Don't fudge. Don't lie. Don't falsify on your tax returns. Don't under-report, don't over-claim, don't hide income. There is no such thing as working off the books, tax-free. You need to honestly self-report that. Whether you agree with who's in office or not, whether you like the government or not, you need to honestly pay your taxes. Because here's the thing, Jesus did not agree with Caesar and Rome on many things. As a matter of fact, think about it. The Rome to whom he's telling the people to render what is owed is the same Rome that's going to hang him on a cross in just a few days. It's the same Rome that's going to persecute his people to death in the decades to come. And yet Jesus is clear, render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's. Give Caesar the money, the tax money that pays for things like Roman roads and Roman aqueducts, but also Roman soldiers and Roman crosses. But Jesus hasn't done yet. Now, unfortunately, most people will stop there. Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's. And they'll get bogged down in issues of taxation or church and state or whatever it might be. And the point of this passage is that you should pay your taxes. Well, yes, you should pay your taxes, but that's not the main point that Jesus is making here. The main point actually comes in the second thing that he says. Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's and to God the things that are God's. See, by saying that, Jesus is pointing to the greater dominion that God has. Yeah, you got to render to Caesar that which is Caesar's. So if he asks for taxes, great, give him his taxes. But even more importantly, you need to render to God that which is God's. And so you see how Jesus relativizes Caesar's authority. Like Caesar's authority only extends to those things that are his, things over which God has granted him authority. But God's authority extends over all of those things that are his, which the rest of the Bible teaches us is everything, including Caesar himself. The scriptures tell us that God is the one who removes kings and sets up kings, Daniel 2.21. That God is the one who rules the kingdom of men and gives it to whom he will, Daniel 4.32. And so, yes, Caesar's got authority. But just like Jesus tells Pontius Pilate, a few days after this episode, you would have no authority at all unless it had been granted to you from above. And so even more important, more primary than rendering to Caesar the things that are Caesar's is our need to render to God the things that are God's. But what are those things? Well, let's take a step back here. Why were the people to render to Caesar the denarius? No, because it has his image on it. Whose likeness? And other translations have the word image. Whose likeness? Whose image does it have? We need to render to Caesar those things which have his image and his likeness. Well, what then are we to render to God? You see where this is going. Those things that have his image and his likeness. Genesis 1 26. God said, let us make man in our image, after our likeness. We are made in God's image. We are made in God's likeness. And so we are to render to God ourselves. We belong to the one who created us. And so friends, this very well-known saying, it's a lot more than just pay your taxes. Though again, you should pay your taxes. Jesus uses this as an opportunity to teach his disciples that we ought to give all of ourselves to God, to render to God the things that are God's. All of us, all of our time, our money, our priorities, our obedience, our reverence, our worship, all of those are first and foremost to be devoted to God. Or as Jesus would say elsewhere, you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. Love so amazing, so divine, demands my soul, my life, my all. So with this brilliant answer, you see how Jesus avoids their trap. The Romans aren't going to bother him because he just told the people to pay their taxes. But at the same time, he does it in a way that clearly puts God over any human authority. And so no one's going to accuse him of being a Roman sympathizer. So verse 26, marveling at his answer, they became silent. They oppose him. They hate him. And they want him dead. They want nothing more than for him to miserably fail. But wow, what an answer. But marvel as they might at his great response. Well, their hearts haven't changed at all. They're still as hard as rock. Their minds haven't changed at all. They still don't believe that he is indeed the Christ. And their actions wouldn't change at all. They would still crucify him before the end of the week. As a matter of fact, you know how we know, we know for certain that this episode only made their hearts harder? It's this exact episode that they misrepresent in their official charges against Jesus. Look at what Luke tells us just three chapters later. Luke 23 verses one and two, the whole company of them arose and brought him before Pilate. And they began to accuse him saying, here it is, we found this man misleading our nation and forbidding us to give tribute to Caesar. And saying that he himself is Christ, a king. Friends, what a powerful reminder it is. that it is entirely possible to marvel at God's Word, to marvel at God's work, to marvel at God's Son, and yet remain entirely unchanged or even further hardened, just like these Jewish leaders. Maybe you're not a Christian. And you've heard sermons that have weighed on you. They weighed on your heart and your conscience has been heavy with conviction. Maybe you've even been moved to tears. Like you've marveled at the good news of the gospel, but there's no change. Well, friends, this text is a good reminder to us that marveling does not save. Feeling convicted does not save. Being emotionally moved does not save. Only God, the Holy Spirit, granting life to a spiritually dead sinner can save. And so my prayer for you today is that even today the Spirit would do exactly that. and that the Spirit would use his word to cause you to more than just marvel at the wisdom of Jesus, that he would bring you to faith and repentance in Jesus through that word, to trust in the death and resurrection of Jesus through that word. Because, friends, marveling is not enough. So the religious leaders, their spies, their humiliated again. I love how Luke so clearly points out their failure. Look at verse 20. They watched him and sent spies that they might catch him in something that he said. Verse 26, they were not able to catch him in what he said. Like I said, it's awfully hard to outsmart wisdom incarnate. So that's our passage. Let me leave you with two big picture takeaways from our narrative. Takeaway number one, seek first the kingdom. Seek first the kingdom. So there was an election this week in our city, and we can talk about politics, and we can talk about policies, and we can talk about legislation and all of that, but hear what Jesus is saying in this passage. Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's. And so we ought to pay our taxes. We ought to be subject for the Lord's sake and honor the emperor, 1 Peter 2. We ought to pray for our elected officials, 1 Timothy chapter 2. But even as the Bible does hold up and honor human government in those ways, we have to remember to view all of that in light of God's sovereign rule over all things. To render to God the things that are God's. He's the one who places rulers and presidents and mayors over us. He's the one who directs all of human history for his glory. He's the one who's ultimately in control. The king's heart is like a stream, stream of water in the hand of the Lord. He turns it wherever he will. And that means that we, as God's people, We must always seek first the kingdom of God. We must always seek to live faithful lives where we are, regardless of the political climate. We must always pursue holiness and fight sin with one another, regardless of current events. We must always be conforming into the image of his son, regardless of who Caesar is. Yes, render to Caesar what is his. But our main priority as God's children is to render to God the things that are God's. To put it in another way, who Caesar is ultimately matters a lot less than who God is. Takeaway number one, seek first the kingdom. And takeaway number two, see more than wisdom. We need to look at the story and see more than wisdom. Here's the thing about this narrative. Jesus' words are so profound. His response is so brilliant. His wisdom is so clearly on display that even an unbeliever can look at this story and say, wow, Jesus is so wise. Look at how he gave that response and just totally got himself out of that pickle. But we as Christians, we need to see more than just wisdom. Like if the only thing that we take away from a text is exactly what an unbeliever would take away from a text, that's probably a good clue that we need to think on this a little further. So let's think again about this word render. Earlier I said it means to pay back what is owed. So render to God the things that are God's means to give God the worship and adoration and praise and thanksgiving that are owed to his name. But wait, do we do that? I mean, which of us can say that we have given to God all that he is owed? Now, at this point, we might be tempted to say, well, we're not perfect. Sure, I haven't rendered all that I owe, but I am trying my best. Well, you try that with the IRS. That's not going to work with the IRS. Not paying in full what is owed. What makes us think that that's going to work with the holy God of the universe? And friends, that's why we need Christ. That's why we need more than just a wise response. That's why we need His death and His resurrection for us. Jesus, born of a virgin, fully God and fully man, who always did what was pleasing to the Father. He was the only man who ever loved the Lord his God with all his heart, with all his soul, with all his mind. He's the only man who ever rendered everything to God perfectly. And then he died on a cross. Not for his own sins, for he had none, but for ours. For all the ways in which we've fallen short in giving God the worship and adoration and praise and thanksgiving that are owed to his name. Then he rose again three days later from the dead, proving that our sins are paid for, showing himself to be victorious over sin and death. And from there he ascended to the right hand of the Father so that all, all who would place their trust in him and him alone, that's those of us who have not rendered to God the things that are his, but those that have trusted in the death and resurrection of his son might be saved. Friends, we've got to see more than just wisdom from this story. We've got to ultimately be looking to the One who, just a few days after saying these words, like in the shadow of the cross, just a few days later would die and rise again for sinners like us. Render to God the things that are God's. Brothers and sisters, we have not done that. But Christ has on our behalf, and that's our only hope. Let's pray. Father, we pray that we would see Christ from this passage. not just a wise response to a hard question, but that we would see the One who has rendered to you everything that is owed, done it perfectly on our behalf, that He might save sinners like us. Father, we ask this in Jesus' name. Amen.