LESSONS FROM A COIN!
Rev. Mark F. Bartels
Epistle Lesson;
1 Thessalonians 1:1-5
Old Testament Lesson;
Isaiah 45:1-7
Sermon Text;
Matthew 22:15-21
Pictured on the front of today’s bulletin are coins. The two coins pictured on top are actually the head and tail sides of a coin called a denarius. It is the coin that is talked about in today’s scripture reading. This is a coin that very most probably is the coin that Jesus was holding in His hand, as He was talking to the people about whether or not to pay taxes to Caesar. If you look at the head side of the denarius, the image on that coin happens to be the image of a man by the name of Tiberius Caesar. (In the United States of America we only put the image of deceased leaders on our coins. But, in Jesus’ day, the image on the coin was the image of the current leader of the day.)
And so, here we have Tiberius Caesar. Tiberius Caesar took the leadership of Rome, when Jesus was about 14 years old. And so, when Jesus was in His early teens, Tiberius came to power. Tiberius was the Caesar who was the Caesar over Rome, when Jesus was crucified. He did not cease being Caesar, until Jesus’ earthly ministry was over. And so, this was most likely the coin that Jesus was holding in His hand. It was a denarius, in the day of Jesus.
As you look at that coin, you will notice that there are some words inscribed around the coin. If you look very closely down at the base of Caesar’s neck, on the right hand side of the coin, you will see the first two letters - "T I", which stand for "Ti, or Tiberius". It is followed by the next set of letters, which say "CAESAR" - Tiberius Caesar. Up near his forehead, you will see the letters - "DIVI", from which comes the word, "divine or divinity". You cannot read it very well, but across the top of his head are the letters - "AUG" standing for Augustus. Then, the letter - "F" which is an abbreviation for "fillia, son of." And then, the letters - "AUGUSTUS". If you could read Latin, that coin says, "Tiberius Caesar, son of the divine Augustus."
If you look at the tail side of the coin, on the right hand side you will see the word "Pontiff." Pontiff is a word that is still used today. The pope in Rome is called the Pontiff of Rome. The word "pontiff" means, "Priest." On the left hand side of the coin you see the word "maximums", which means "the greatest". "Maximums Pontiff" means "High Priest." What this coin says is "Tiberius Caesar, son of the divine Augustus Caesar." And that Tiberius Caesar is the High Priest of Rome.
Think about that. Here is the Son of God holding in His hand a coin that claims the image He is looking at is the "son of god", son of the "divine" Augustus. Jesus, who is the Great High Priest, holds in His hand a coin that claims Tiberius Caesar is the High Priest, the Pontiff Maximums! And so, it is no wonder that the Jewish leaders thought they could trap Jesus. They asked Jesus, "Is it right to pay taxes to Caesar or not?"
Here is someone who claims to be a son of a false god. He claims to be the religious leader of the whole world. Should we pay taxes to him? That is a good question.
What about us? What about our government? Our government does not always do the right thing either, does it?
Sometimes our tax money goes to fund abortions. Should we pay taxes for that type of thing?
Sometimes our tax money goes to pay for things in public schools where they may teach diversity that is very opposed to what scripture teaches. Should we pay taxes to a government like that?
They were trying to trap Jesus. And, they thought they had Him in an awesome trap, so they brought the Herodians with them. The Herodians were the policemen. If Jesus said, "No, we should not pay taxes to Caesar," they knew that the Herodians would arrest Jesus for sedition to the government. On the other hand, if Jesus said, "Of course we should pay taxes to Caesar," then they thought it would appear as if He was saying, "It is ok to have false gods and false leaders."
So, what did Jesus do? Jesus said, "Show me the coin used for paying the tax." And they brought Him this coin.
He asked them, "Whose portrait is on the coin?"
They replied, "Caesar’s."
Caesar’s image was on the coin. Now, I want you to think about what Jesus is telling us here. He said, "Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and give to God what is God’s."
Jesus, by this, is telling us that we belong to two kingdoms. They are separate and distinct from one another. We belong to an earthly kingdom that is governed by an earthly ruler. (In His case, it was Caesar. In our case, it is the president of the United States.) That earthly ruler, that earthly leader has an assignment from God. The Bible tells us, "The powers that be, are ordained by God." That is talking about earthly government. The scriptures tell us that the earthly kingdom’s duty is to keep us safe, physically. Now, one of the ways that our earthly government protects us is to print money. Governments have printed money for thousands and thousands of years. What does our money, every coin that we have in our pocket, what does every coin say? It says, "the United States of America." Our currency comes from our government.
God has established our government to keep us safe, physically. Think if there was no government to print money. We would have no money. We would have no way of going to the store and buying the bread that you would need for your family. How would you pay for your house? How would you give your offerings to church? There would be no currency. There would be no money. What would we do? God has given us government to keep us safe, to see to it that we have a society that functions well.
God has given us our government to see to it that our money is protected. Think about what would happen if there were no government to protect us. All you have to do is go down to New Orleans, right after the hurricane, when all of the government was pretty much pulled out of New Orleans, and what happened? Anarchy. There was no one to protect the people. There was no one to protect businesses. And there was anarchy, because there was no government there. People broke into stores. They broke into houses and took what they wanted. They ran around with guns, and they shot at people. It was anarchy.
God gives us government to control wickedness, so people don’t just break into your house and take whatever they want. The government is there to protect you and your house. And here in the United States they do a good job of it, don’t they?
They are here to see to it that if someone takes your possessions, there will be justice done. By in large, they do a good job of that, here in the United States.
The government is here to protect us, so that people don’t do harm to your children, your wife, your husband. And they do a good job of it.
And so, Jesus looks at this coin and says, "Whose image is on the coin?" And they replied, "Caesar’s."
And then He said to them, "Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s." By that, as we also learn in the book of Romans, scripture tells us if you owe taxes, pay taxes. Jesus is telling us and God is telling us that it is our duty to submit to our earthly government and it is our duty to support our earthly government. Government is a great gift from God. Government is there to keep us safe and to protect us. And, were it not for our government, we would live in a terrible society and there would be no safety. However, if you look at that piece of money, with Caesar’s image on it, there is something money can’t do.
That money cannot pay for one single sin.
That money cannot make one person’s conscious clean with God.
That money cannot assist someone as they lie on their deathbed and stare off into eternity.
That money cannot, cannot purchase Heaven for anybody.
Caesar’s realm was not a spiritual one. That is not the role of government. And so, Jesus wants us to be very clear that we belong to another Kingdom and that is a spiritual Kingdom, the Kingdom of God. Jesus says, "Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s."
What is it that belongs to God? I love the hymn that we sing that says, "On my heart imprint Thine image." Oh, Caesar’s image may be printed on the coin, but what image is printed on my heart? On my heart is imprinted the image of Jesus, King of Grace.
On my heart imprint Thine image,
blessed Jesus,
King of Grace.
On our hearts are printed the image of Jesus, our Savior. We know that we are sinners. We know that we stand condemned, because of our sins. We know that there is no way that we could ever be saved, unless it were that Jesus is imprinted on our hearts, unless we know, trust, and believe that Jesus died for my sins.
Jesus paid for my sins.
Jesus is my Savior.
Jesus has washed me clean.
Jesus has made me right with God.
Jesus has purchased a home for me in Heaven.
And so, while we render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, (we pay our taxes, so that we can have a safe society in which to live); when it comes to rendering to God, we render Him everything. We render Him our hearts, because all we are and all we have belongs to Jesus, the King of Grace. He rules in our hearts, however, not with fear, like the earthly government may do (fear of imprisonment, fear of getting caught, fear of being in trouble). Jesus rules in our hearts by grace, the forgiveness of sins and through His Word, where He leads and guides us.
And there is interplay between our earthly government and the Heavenly Kingdom that we live in. In scripture, the Bible tells us to pray for kings and those in authority, that we may live a quiet and peaceful life, in all godliness and holiness, because God wants all men to be saved and come to a knowledge of the truth.
Follow the train of thought there. God tells us to pray for our earthly leaders. Pray for them. After all, He is in charge.
God is in charge.
And, if God does not bless our earthly leaders, everything falls to shambles.
They really have no power, unless God gives it to them.
They really cannot protect us, unless God permits them to protect us.
They really cannot establish a system of currency that works, unless God permits them to establish a system of currency that works.
And so, God says pray for kings and those in authority. Ask God’s blessing on them that we may live quiet and peaceful lives in all godliness and holiness.
Our government establishes the environment that we live in. We pray the God would bless our government, give them wisdom, justice, and good council so that we can live peaceful, quiet lives, and we don’t have to be worried. And here, in the United States, what a blessing our government is. We do live peaceful, quiet lives, don’t we? I don’t have to be afraid to stand up here this morning; for fear that someone might come in and shoot me, because they don’t agree with what we teach here at Holy Cross. Our government protects us, and gives us the freedom to speak and teach about Jesus Christ, even if our government does not agree with what we are teaching. They give us that freedom! Our government gives you the freedom to have a bumper sticker on the back of your car that talks about Jesus Christ. It protects you, so that no one can rip that off of your car. They would be in trouble with our government if they defaced your car. Our government protects us - peacefulness and quietness - so that we can go about our lives in God’s Kingdom. We can go about our lives, preaching and teaching the Gospel message of Jesus Christ.
Thank God, here in the United States, we have a government that gives us those freedoms! We probably live in a country where we have more freedom and protection to talk about the Gospel than has ever existed in the history of the world! Even if we lived in a bad government, (Jesus did, St. Paul did), God still is King. God will still use earthly kings, (even if they are evil kings), for the advancement of His Kingdom. After Tiberius Caesar, came men like Caligula and Nero. They were evil. They persecuted the church. And yet, unbeknown to them, God was using them. As they persecuted the church, they forced the Christians to flee all over the world. Wherever they fled, they spread the Gospel message. And when the church was persecuted and martyrs were made, it only caused people to stand more deeply in their faith. "I am ready to stand up for Jesus, even if it means loosing my life!" And so, even though there were evil kings, God was in charge and the church grew!
We live in a wonderful society, here in the United States of America, with wonderful freedoms. We should use them well. We should use them wisely. We should spread the Gospel message, because the day is coming called Judgment Day.
Our family drove across the United States this year. One of the places we stopped was a cemetery, the Battle of Little Big Horn. There we saw a national cemetery where many, many people had been buried. And then we saw where George Custer fell and other soldiers’ graves scattered throughout the rolling hills. Judgment Day is coming. When Judgment Day comes, it won’t matter whether those people were citizens of the United States of America, or not. That won’t matter. What will matter is whether they were members of Christ’s Kingdom. That is what will matter, across the cemeteries of the United States of America.
Let’s be busy about our work. Let’s be busy here in the United States of America, spreading the Gospel message, the saving message of Jesus Christ, winning souls for Christ’s Kingdom, so that on Judgment Day, as our hymn after the sermon says,
And when in power He comes,
Oh may our native land
From all its rending tombs,
Send forth a glorious band,
A countless throng,
And joyful sing to Heaven’s High King
Salvation’s song!
Amen.
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