It's good to be back here again. A little smaller today, but that's all right, Hank. I've been told enough times there's a baptism that some people are gone away at that I'm starting to maybe believe that's true and not sparing my feelings that people found out I was coming back. If you want, turn your Bibles to Matthew, chapter 17. Thankfully was feeling a little under the weather, but feeling better enough to come today, but I realized I forgot my watch so Wherever that goes well, and when we end today if you understand for the reading of God's Word Starting in verse 22 As they were gathering in Galilee Jesus said to them the Son of Man is about to be delivered into the hands of men and and they will kill him, and he will be raised on the third day. And they were greatly distressed. When they came to Capernaum, the collectors of the two drachma tax went up to Peter and said, does your teacher not pay the tax? He said, yes. And when he came into the house, Jesus spoke to him first, saying, what do you think, Simon, from who do kings of the earth take toll or tax, from their sons or from others? And when he said from others, Jesus said to him, then the sons are free. However, not to give offense to them, go to the sea and cast a hook and take the first fish that comes up. And when you open its mouth, you will find a shekel. Take that and give it to them for me and for yourself. You may have a seat. So this morning is a little bit of a peculiar passage, and it's one of those where we have to accept there might not be that much application we can draw from it. But often these are some of my favorite passages, the ones where you actually end reflecting, and all you do at the end of a passage like this is behold your God and see his goodness. Sometimes we don't take enough time when we're busy searching the scriptures for how we are to live, how we are to be faithful, but we don't stop sometimes and just realize the majesty of our God. Let me get some order here. But this passage, by the end, should leave you awed with who the Christ is. And normally, I don't like to do the alliteration thing. Instead, I often try and change my words that it doesn't end up that way. But it does this time, as we see first the sovereignty over His death, the supremacy over His church, and then His surety as our salvation. And in these past couple passages, we see the swing from high to low, high to low, Earlier, we saw his confession, Peter's confession, and Jesus' promise that the church would not be overtaken. And we had that high point quickly followed up with Jesus' promise that we would suffer here on earth and there would be a cost. But then, after that, Jesus came right back and showed the disciples the transfiguration where they saw him in his glory. Now again, though, He has to tell his disciples what is about to happen. So again, he predicts his death here in verse 22. This is the second time he's done that. This is the last time I was here, actually. It was the first time. And he's repeating it again, as a lot of us know when we hear really shocking news. It doesn't sink in at first. I remember thinking recently, a couple months ago, my mom was diagnosed with cancer. And the first time I was told that, it actually didn't hit me that hard. Because you kind of hear it, and it's, you don't even know how to grasp it. So it actually doesn't, somehow it doesn't always sink in the first time. And also the second time I heard it, when they said, well, if they don't treat, she has two weeks to live. Now it starts sinking in a bit more, and that's what Jesus was doing with his disciples. This would be so shocking to them that he slowly had to let it sink in. And again, they were greatly distressed. As Peter did the first time, I think they would have been more focused on the fact that he was gonna be killed than his promise of his resurrection. They heard it again, but you wonder still, if they had totally bought in, if they still totally understood this, But I wonder if Peter at least learned his lesson. This time he didn't say anything. I'm thinking that the Son of God calling you Satan might have that effect on you, that this time you'll just be quiet. But this shows that Jesus had to be the Son of God. See, this isn't a prediction. Jesus didn't say, I might be killed and I might rise from the dead. He says this with such boldness and clarity, that the Son of Man will be killed and he will be resurrected. He clearly lays out what he knows is going to happen, in fact, what he was sent to make happen. And how can he do this? Well, because him and the Father made this plan before the foundation of the world, what we in theology would call the pactum salutis, the covenant to redemption. Before the world was ever formed, the Father and Son already made a plan that the Son would come and save a people for the Father, and the Father would give him these people. And we know from his title, the Son of Man, that he has the authority to do this. He has the authority to rule over God's kingdom. See, we have it a little better than the disciples. This was all so shocking to them. We get the benefit, as Providence usually works out, how you always get a look back at things. And it all seems so clear when you get a look back. So before we judge the disciples too much, realize in the moment, we all still struggle. We all struggle when things go bad for us. How is this ever going to work out? How can this be for the good? But when we get a look back, we can clearly see how God is working, how His perfect plan is taking place. And as we move into verse 24, now we're going to see the supremacy that Christ has over His church. Now he comes down from Galilee, now they're in Capernaum, which would have been considered now Jesus' home base. A lot of historians figure Jesus probably lived with Peter, stayed with Peter. This is where Peter's home would have been. And you'd think kind of Jesus was well known at this time, would come back, and he'd actually get a pretty warm welcome. Some of the things he was doing in ready word was out. He was a pretty popular figure. But as soon as he gets back, he's already greeted with these tax collectors, already looking to cause trouble, but they don't even come to him. They come up to Peter and they ask him, does your teacher not pay the tax? Speaking of the two drachma tax here. And you notice they ask it in a negative form. They say, does he not pay the tax? As if sometimes in our circles we'll be asked, does your church not believe that women have any value? And you already know what's being asked when they ask it in that form of a question. So Peter, I'm thinking he has no idea. If we probably can draw from this, he doesn't know. But he's quickly defensive and just says yes. And as a side note, as this happens and people ask you, as we're faced with this and you get questions, does your church not believe this? Or does your pastor, does he hold to this? We can very quickly want to argue or kind of make it, well, no, he doesn't. Well, I think on some application, as a side note here, I think nine times out of ten, these people don't really even want to know. And I think the safest answer, if you don't know what your church leaders would say or your pastor would answer, it's very simple. Tell them. Ask them. Go ask him. Why are you asking me? Right? And I'm guessing most of the time, they probably will never follow through. And if they actually want to know, I'm sure your pastor is more than happy for them to ask. But as a rule, these questions aren't asked that people actually have any sanctified reason that they want to know the answer. And here I should explain this to drachma tax. This tax, it was a half shekel, which would have been roughly in our day, a couple days pay, one or two days pay. And it's also important to know, this wouldn't have been a civil tax. This wasn't a tax levied by the Romans. This would have been a Jewish tax. That would have been for the temple. This tax would have gone to the upkeep of the temple. And to see where it comes from, if you actually want to go back to Exodus chapter 30. In Exodus chapter 30, verse 11. The Lord said to Moses, when you take the census of the people of Israel, Then each shall give a ransom for his life to the Lord when you number them, that there be no plague among them when you number them. Each one who is numbered in the census shall give this, a half shekel. According to the shekel of the sanctuary, the shekel is 20 geras. Half a shekel is an offering to the Lord. Everyone who is numbered in the census from 20 years old and upward shall give the Lord's offering. The rich shall not give more, the poor shall not give less. Obviously they didn't have the NDP back then. And the half shekel when you give the Lord's offering to make atonement for your lives. You shall take atonement money from the people of Israel and give it to the service of the tent of meeting. That it may bring the people of Israel to remembrance before the Lord so as to make atonement for your lives. It's now coming back to Matthew 17. It's also interesting and a little, I couldn't quite find a settled answer if this tax was exactly now compulsory, if this was still a compulsory tax or if it was one of those things that they were levying because they saw they could still continue to use this to draw money. One of those tricky situations that Even if you see it either way, you could tell they would have kind of, those who want to, kind of turned into legalism, a bit like, watch out how I qualify it with tithing nowadays, because that's also a topic of, is it compulsory? Is it where you land on that one? But you do know these people who want to know Do you not tithe as if it's kind of a measure of, well, how much of a Christian are you? How religious are you, right? And as some things haven't changed, I can just imagine these Pharisees would have done a bit like we do nowadays. We actually don't confront people and actually ask them outright. It's more behind the back often, and I'll gladly say from my Mennonite upbringing, we're not that good at this. We'll be like, oh yeah, I'm not sure if Don pays. Do you know if he pays, right? We would never go ask someone. We're very good at talking amongst a group on the side, right? We did this very well with alcohol. Oh yeah, yeah, like, I saw a bottle in his dumpster, like, do you think they're drinking? But like, it's always done behind the back, and you can kind of see, that's kind of what I imagine these tax collectors and Pharisees, they actually wouldn't want to talk to Jesus about it, but they want to just stir up trouble. So Peter quickly just says yes. He doesn't want to deal with this. And then he walks into the house, and before anything is said, Jesus already asks him, what do you think, Simon? And it's a small thing if you actually miss it, but you see here the omniscience of Jesus. Some try to talk this away by saying, well, Jesus woulda overheard them through the window or whatever, and I think that's just trying to, I don't know, downplay the omniscience of Christ, no. Christ clearly knows, he knows everything. And he comes in and he asks him, what do you think, Simon? And we remember that Jesus, while a man, was still fully divine, fully omniscient. Nothing gets by his watching eye. Everything we do, every thought, everything we say, is all seen by him. As we get to verse 25, Here he said, after he says yes, Jesus asks him, what do you think, Simon? From who do you think kings of the earth take total tax? From their sons or from others? And when he said from others, Jesus said to him, then the sons are free. So what's the point? Jesus is saying, do kings tax their own sons? Would a king take tax from his own son? No, he taxes the people. What are the benefits of being the king's son? You are part of the king's house. You are free of the taxes because you are the king's son. Do fathers tax their own sons? Think in our own house. What do we do with our own kids? We cover their fee, right? I wouldn't make my son pay for his meals. He's part of my household. I take care and I cover that for him. There's kind of a syllogism here. So if the temple is the father's house, Jesus is the father's son, then the temple is Jesus's house and he has all authority over it. Jesus has absolutely supremacy over his house. And it's amazing that this actually has to be declared. This is something that we actually have to proclaim to the people that Jesus is supreme over his church. This is what some of the people don't get when the church doesn't bow down to Caesar, as if they wonder why we don't do what's such a big deal. Yet we wonder how can they miss such a clear thing that Caesar does not rule over the church. Christ rules over his church. This has nothing to do with the rights of the people. This is all about declaring supremacy of Christ and him being ruler over his church. See, the Father sets the boundaries. No church worker, no Pharisee, no one on earth sets the boundaries for what the church can and can't do. Just as if we have elders in the church, they set the boundaries for the people that are under them, but when the elders come into my house, when it's in my sphere, they don't come tell me, tell my kids when to go to bed. That's not their place. They don't have sphere rule over what I do with my children, because this is my house. Likewise, no one has rule over the church, because this is Christ. This is his Father's house. See, the Pharisees in their temple law had no authority over him. The Pharisees had no right to take anything from him. He was over them. And why I love this passage is it's actually a bit of a layman's passage to work out some of these things. I know during some of these questions and discussions that were had, everyone went to Romans 13. And Romans 13 was really good, but it was really theological. You really had to walk through it. And even when you walked through it, people would come out to different conclusions. See, sometimes we're no better off for it. Because now people came to their each conclusion, now they became more staunch on what they saw out of that passage. Whereas this passage, I'm a little surprised that I never saw it the last couple years. Never thought of it, but I'll admit I never saw someone else really bring it up either. And yet for me, I find it the perfect blend of how we declare Christ supreme over his church, and yet what that means to how we play this out. Because it's very easy to become defensive then. We want to defend Christ and his supremacy over the church. So anything that comes up against that, we're just ready to fight. Anything we think, well now we have grounds to battle. And I think Jesus knew Peter would have been this way. Peter sometimes would have wanted revolution. But the church is not about revolution. We're not trying to revolve anything. Instead, we're trying to reform things that just need to get back to biblical foundations. See, I think up until this point, I wonder if Peter would have started getting a little excited when he heard Jesus tell him, the sons are free. Knowing Peter, as eccentric as he was, probably was ready to put on his Braveheart paint and yell, freedom, right? No one's gonna tell us what to do. But before Peter gets ideas or embarrasses himself, and I, just myself thinking, I wonder if Jesus kind of knew this, that this quotation here, it doesn't even stop. Verse 27 is a continued quotation. I wonder if Jesus never even wanted him to get a word in. Because as soon as he finished this, boldness declaring the freedom of the Son over his church, he quickly says, however, Now Peter would be stopped if he wanted to have any feelings about leading a revolution. Jesus says, however, and he goes on to say, not to give offense to them. Go to the sea and cast a hook and take the first fish that comes up. And when you open its mouth, you will find a shekel. Take that and give it to them for me and for yourself. What's the however? Jesus says not to give offense. See, we are not a people who want to offend. There are times we have to, because Jesus clearly did. Just looking back at Matthew 12, which I'm sure was covered not too long ago, Jesus had no trouble offending the Pharisees. And we sometimes want to push back. We're such a culture now that's all about we can't offend, and everything's offensive. So naturally, if you're a little bit of a contrarian like me, well, now we're going to make sure that we're not going to bow to that, and we're going to have no trouble offending people if that's what needs to be done. The difference is Jesus knew this fine line a lot better than we do. We need a lot of work and a lot of introspection to know when it's time to give offense, and when we're simply just looking for an argument. Because one of the things we think, if we're in the right, automatically that means we're all right giving offense. As long as I'm in the right, well, I'm right. Why can't I offend? I'm just saying the truth. We also need to know that compliance isn't always agreement. I can comply with someone and doesn't mean I agree with them. See, we're smart enough to know the difference between what's hindering worship, what's hindering God's people, and what's simply a secondary matter. To illustrate this idea, compliance doesn't mean you have to agree. See, when someone comes and tells us we can't get together and worship, what we can or can't preach, what we can or can't talk about, which topics are off, no, that they have no Jurisdiction over and we never let them tell us how we are to worship But then people ask well Just as you guys are in the midst of now building codes, and what's allowable and all those things Yeah, are we going to stand on that now and well no the government can't tell us how to build a school They can't tell us what we are to do there's a distinction there that anyone with a bit of wisdom can tell and We do no better offending everyone we come in contact to, as if things like that are going to be a big deal. Is it a big deal if they want your entrance built 10 feet wider? Me personally, this is something that can be discussed, whatever. Secondarily, do I think there's actually any place for the government to tell us how we are to build a building and how we are to do things? No. But it's also not something I would ever lose any kind of witness over. It's not something I'd ever want to drag the church over. Especially, I'll just say it, some of our churches, some of our views already, people have ideas about. Why would we ever want to give them any more reason to dislike us? Things like that, you lose any gospel witness when you already lose them arguing over secondary issues that make no difference. So here I think we can look to Christ and his example. Why here, when he offended earlier, had no trouble offending the Pharisees, why here did he say, not to give offense, I'll pay the tax? Because Christ knew exactly what helped and hindered the kingdom. He wasn't going to do anything that would hinder the growth of the kingdom. Things like this weren't worth it. Why would we shut people off over issues that just don't matter? Why are we going to argue over something that's not that big a deal? Right? If they want their shekel, give them their shekel. We don't need to lose them over this. And I think often, looking at this passage and a lot of stuff you see on it, I'm guessing the majority of sermons, this would be the thrust of the message you ought to hear, is how we are not to give offense and how not to be offending people. And sometimes I think it helps me actually being more farmer than academic, is that I'm actually a pretty simple guy. So some of these things, I'm actually too dumb to know they're supposed to be difficult. I actually think, why do I need a whole message on not to give offense? It's not really rocket science. Most of us deep down know our own hearts, and we know. Are we actually getting into it because we want to share the gospel with someone? We actually want to see growth in their life? Or are we simply arguing because in this case, something jades us the wrong way, or we just want to be right. We see they're wrong and we're going to show it. And I think most of the time, I don't really need much of a message on this. Sometimes I need to be convicted on it, but it's not like someone has to explain to me, well, if you do this, it offends people. No, most of the time we know full well when we're being offensive and we're doing it for the wrong reasons. Sometimes there's a hard line, because if you will stand up for the truth, there's a middle ground. But I think even then, you go home, conversations I've had, and you pray, you ask God, reveal this to me. Did I handle this right, right? Was this, should I not have said this? Was it right? Sometimes I'll actually feel fully vindicated, it doesn't bother me in the least. Other times, I'll go back and make a phone call and say, yeah, I was wrong here. This isn't that big a deal. And I think we need to be humble in these cases. And we actually see it's not about being right. All of this leads. We want to bring glory to our Christ. We want to defend his supremacy and his sovereignty. And we never want to do anything to hurt that. But where I find this passage really interesting is this end, which is a little strange. But here I think, what does this fish point to? As Jesus tells Peter, go down, the first cast you have, the first fish you catch, the shekel will be in its mouth. So it's a little weird here why he tells him to do this. And a couple things I drew from this, what this means. Because Jesus could have simply pulled out a coin, and they could have just taken care of it. So what does he go through with this? Well first I think, this again demonstrates Jesus' power and sovereignty over the whole world and creation. Even the seas and the animals are under his control, which back in this time where the sea would still be seen as the unknown. See, we know so much. We know top to bottom what's in the ocean. But at this time, they knew nothing much more than the surface level. So the sea was really unknown to them. But he demonstrated his power over everything, even over the fish. Secondly, I think Jesus showed again that we're not fatalists. It's not all determined. Though God is completely sovereign, it does not mean he does not work through secondary means. What does Jesus do here when he could have simply just got a coin? No, there's still a part where Jesus and I think of this as a huge blessing, that he actually has means that we get to take part and carry out. He's sovereign over all things, but this does not mean that he gives us a mission that we are to carry out. So he tells Peter, go, cast your line and catch a fish. He actually gives him something that he's supposed to do and obey. And I'm sure Peter was pretty happy, because what does Jesus say? He says, give it, not just for me, but also for yourself. Jesus shows his friendship here with Peter, too, as he covers his cost, and how we usually feel if someone ever picks up our bill. It always feels good, right, if someone says, I got you covered. But I think what this points to ultimately here is something a lot bigger than Jesus just paying for his friend, covering his cost. Now, if you remember that passage, and actually want to go back to it in Exodus 30, two interesting titles that this tax is given back in Exodus 30. One in verse 12, where he says, when you take the census of the people of Israel, then each shall give a ransom for his life. It's one that's called a ransom for life. Then in verse 16, you shall take the atonement money from the people of Israel. And then at the end again, he says, so as to make it for atonement for your lives. This census money is called both a ransom and atonement money. So in a large, bigger picture of simply having that tax paid for them, we have the beauty here, just like Peter was covered by Christ, we too. Christ went to the cross. And that's where he paid the ransom price. And he said the same thing there for us. Not just for me, when he said it is finished. For me and for yourself. When it was finished, right there we received all the promises we have in him. All the costs that we should pay was covered. He paid it all for us. He covered that cost for our atonement. That now all our sin we don't have to worry about. We don't have to beat ourselves up over that. We can thank him and we can stand back and just behold our Christ. Father God, we thank you, Lord, that you did pay that price for us. When you could have just stayed in perfect Trinitarian unity amongst you, your Father, the Spirit, yet you came to save a people. When you went to the cross, you paid the ultimate price. And yet you said you would pay that for all the people who are in you, all those who would believe. That all was asked of us, that we would simply put our faith and trust in you. And in so doing, your grace has covered our price. So we pray this all in the strong name of Jesus. Amen. Please stand. I hear the Savior say, Thy strength indeed is small. Child of weakness, watch and pray. Find in me thine all in all. Jesus paid it all, all to him I owe. Sin had left a crimson stain, he washed it white as snow. For now indeed I find, thy power and thine alone can change the leper's flow. and melt the heart of stone. Jesus paid it all, all to Him I owe. Sin had left a crimson stain, He washed it white as snow. I'll wash my garments white In the blood of Calvary's Lamb Jesus paid it all All to Him I owe Sin had left a crimson stain He washed it white as snow And man before the throne I stand in incomplete Jesus died my soul to save My lips shall still repeat Jesus paid it all All to Him I owe Sin had left a crimson stain He washed it white as snow Jesus paid it all, all to Him I owe. Sin had left a crimson stain, He washed it white as snow. The charge is this, the gospel writers were inspired to reveal to us the son of man that was prophesied in Daniel 7. This morning passage is a reminder that while he took on flesh and became a man, he retained his divinity and supremacy over all things. No earthly power has authority over him. Yet, for the sake of the coming kingdom, he was slow to cause unnecessary stumbling blocks, as neither should we. Most importantly, we must remember the gospel is our foundation. Just as he paid the debt for Peter that he did not owe, he shed blood. His shed blood has paid for the ransom for sin that we could never afford. Our benediction this morning is that a second Peter Chapter 1. To those who have obtained the faith of equal standing with ours by righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ, may grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.