Jesus and Government

Good morning. Welcome to Jefferson Park Baptist Church. Those of you who are new with us, we are walking through the Gospel of Mark and today we come to this text regarding how Christians relate to their government. One of the ceremonies or things I had on my to-do list in Charlottesville is the 4th of July naturalization ceremony in Monticello. And I was planning that, looking for the coolest possible 4th of July weather, but last year one of our own members, someone who was from Afghanistan and converted from Islam to Christianity, being naturalized at that event. So I took my daughters. I think it was high 90s and high humidity. It was miserable and painful, but it was very memorable. I remember the heat. My daughters remember the Coke floats, their first. Apparently, that's one of the ways we celebrate the naturalization of new citizens. One of the things that stood out about the ceremony, The judge, he referenced how this was the only outdoor court in America, and he went into great detail about the actual oath the citizens, the new citizens have to give. Now, I'm an American, I've never made an oath to America like this. I was born in America, and I was raised to be an American, but this oath really stood out to me. Because you had people who were going from being aligned with another nation, and there was about 60 nations represented, to committing to being a citizen of the United States. And Thomas Jefferson actually introduced a required oath. And let me read this to you. I hereby declare on oath, that I absolutely and entirely renounce and endure all allegiance and fidelity to any foreign prince, potentate, state, or sovereignty of whom or which I have heretofore been a subject or citizen, that I will support and defend the Constitution, and laws of the United States of America, against all enemies, foreign and domestic, that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same, that I will bear arms on behalf of the United States when required by the law, that I will perform noncombatant service in the armed forces to the United States when required by the law, that I will perform work of national importance under civilian direction when required by the law. and that I take this obligation freely without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion. So help me God." That's a pretty robust covenant commitment there. There's a declaration that I am moving from one nation to another in allegiance and who I'm going to submit to, who I'm going to subject myself to, who I'm going to serve. I found it very powerful to think about what that means in terms of how we live our lives as Christians here in this world where we have certain allegiances and fidelity. This morning we're looking at this complicated and difficult subject. How do we as Christians live in this world as citizens of the kingdom of God and citizens of yet another nation? How do we walk and live as resident aliens being faithful to the one true king that Dan read about in Psalm 2, while also seeking to live under and be good citizens of our political state? It's interesting, if you were to look through history, the different ways Christians have sought to relate to the government. You've got monks who fled to live in caves. You've got the Crusades. You have a variety of different kinds of attempts to create a Christian state. You've got from Constantine, who ultimately paganized the church by making Christianity the Roman religion, to Calvin, who tried to set up a new Israel in Geneva. We could go through history and see a number of examples and try to learn from the good and the bad. This morning, we're looking at what really is just the most simple, clear teaching of Christ. Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's. How are we to live as good citizens of Christ in this present nation? As I said, we're walking through the Gospel of Mark, so if you're new with us, our passage can be found on page 1042 if you're using a pew Bible. If you do not have a Bible, please take that home with you as our gift to you. Mark has different sections. We've just come out of him teaching on what a disciple is And then we see at the beginning of chapter 12 if you flip over you we have Jesus or other 11 coming in as the king he is he is being sung to and praised Hosanna the son of David Here comes our king. It was very recognizable that the people want Jesus to be the Messiah king who's going to overthrow Rome, at least. If not bring about the fulfillment of God's kingdom. Then the king, instead of going to Pontius Pilate's palace, he goes to the temple. He cleanses the false worship there. He calls God's people to be a people of prayer. And then we see this next section that we're in, there's conflicts. The Sanhedrin is coming to Jesus, trying to ask him questions over and over again, and we'll see over and over again, they'll say, teacher, and then they try to trap him. First we see the chief priests and the elders. Now we're gonna see the Pharisees and the Herodians. Then we're gonna see the scribes. Over and over again, it's like, all right, who can we send next to try to capture Jesus? And one of the most fantastic declarations that Mark shows us, look at verse 34. And after that, no one dared to ask him more questions. The true wise king does not get trapped. He is the true king who speaks true words, and he's not gonna be trapped here. So after all these attempts of getting Jesus in trouble with either the people or the government, the people, those who are against him, stop asking questions. And they realize, we're gonna have to make something up. We're gonna have to come with false accusations because nothing sticks. Our conflict today is the Herodians and the Pharisees, verses 13 to 17. And let us walk through this text very quickly, and then we'll meditate more fully on that very clear teaching of Christ. And they sent to him some of the Pharisees and some of the Herodians to trap him in this talk. Now, who is they? It appears the same people that were with him before. When Jesus' authority is challenged in chapter 11, verse 27, the chief priest describes the elders, the Sanhedrin, the religious leaders of that day, who should have been studying God's word, praying for God to send that Messiah, so that when he appeared, they rejoiced and received him. But instead, they're planning and plotting to attack him. So they sent to them Pharisees and Herodians. Now, back in Mark 3, 6, we already saw that these two were plotting to destroy Jesus. If you're a reader of Mark in that first century or even the second, third, this is an odd team. The Pharisees were the most religious rulers, the religious leaders who were against Rome, and the Herodians, they're the compromisers. They're the ones who are working with Rome. So you have the most unusual team here, but it's amazing how a common enemy can gather anyone together. So you see the Pharisees and Rodians, those who would be against each other in almost every possible way, when it comes to religion and politics, they have a common enemy, Jesus. This already looks suspicious. Mark does not want us to be confused at all. What are they coming to do? Trap him. They want to set a trap. They want to catch him saying the wrong thing, like a snare. Verse 14, they came and said to him, notice how they talk to Jesus, seeking to trap him. Teacher, and again, that's how all the different conflicts begin. Teacher, we know that you are true and do not care about anyone's opinion, for you are not swayed by appearances, but truly teach the way of God. All right, let's just pause there. These are the Pharisees and Herodians. They're coming to trap him. They've been seeking to destroy him. This is just mere flattery. They approach him. You're not someone who cares about man's opinions. You have no fear of man. You clearly are only committed to the truth of God. You do not try to just do what we're doing and flatter. Let's just pause here and think about what they're doing. Calvin says, The mouth is created to reveal the heart. That's helpful. The mouth is created to reveal the heart. We have the Herodians and the Pharisees coming and just outright lying. Their mouths are already full of falsehood, but what they're actually saying is true. Their motive is completely corrupt in that they're trying to defy the one true teacher, but what they're actually saying to them is true. In John 5, Jesus says, I only say what I hear my Father say. He is the very Word of God. He does only speak and teach the way of God. But they're coming and flattering. Let's define flattery. Flattery is saying to someone's face what you would never say behind their back. It's the opposite of gossip. Gossip is what you'll say behind people's back, but never in front of their face. You see, both of those are a way of being false. Flattery is saying to someone's face what you would never say behind their back. It's saying nice, positive things to flatter them, but whereas you should be saying the same things behind their back, You see, they're both deceptive and ungodly. Let's look at the key question. Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar or not? Should we pay them or should we not? Now, how is this a trap? If Jesus says, no, we should not pay taxes, it's easy. You take that statement to the Roman rulers. The Herodians would just march that right up to Pontius, and he would make it very clear. This Jesus, who just rode in a colt, caught all kinds of stirring. He told us not to pay taxes. Rome does away with him very quickly, very easily. That's an easy one. Okay, if he says, don't pay taxes, he is an underminer of all Roman power and government. If he says yes, the Pharisees can go to the people. This Messiah? He thinks we should still be under the allegiance of Rome. He actually, he wants us to continue to be under these, and be subjects to the Roman government. You see, Rome had occupied Israel, and Israel hated it. And that tax that he's talking about was a constant reminder that they are not a free people to worship God according to how He has declared. They're under the Roman power, who was very abusive and very cruel. And so the people are coming and thinking, this is the Messiah who's finally going to free us. If he says, pay your tax, he's just the guy who's keeping the same problem going on. So the Trappists said, if he says, pay the tax, the people will reject him. If he says, don't pay the tax, Caesar will crush him. Verse 15. But knowing their hypocrisy. Right, that's what flattery is. That's what gossip is. saying one thing, meaning another, not speaking the truth in a way that's helpful. Hypocrisy. They're wanting to present it as if they're really wanting to learn, but they're really trying to trap him. He said to them, why put me to the test? He's letting them know you're not fooling anybody. Bring me a denarius and let me look at it. And they brought one. Now, there's a little bit of a humor here we might miss. They're asking him if he should pay the tax. He doesn't have one of the coins. They have it. They're the ones who actually are holding on to the coin that represents the Roman rule. This is the Tiberius Denarius. And it's a poll tax, one coin for every man. And it really represented a lot. As far as this tax went was as far as the Roman rule went. It was a constant reminder, and intended to be so by the Roman government, that they ruled you. This Denarius, he says, bring me one. They bring it. Whose likeness and inscription is on this? Now, this is also where there's a bit of an irony. On this inscription is the image of Tiberius, and the declaration is he's the son of God. Now, remember, Jesus, as the beginning of Mark tells us, This is the true son of God holding a coin with another dude's image on it, claiming to be the son of God. There's a wonderful irony here where Jesus is trying to teach his people what's false and what's true. There is something twisted there. As most coins do have the image of someone on them, and they're usually an allegiance declaring to that person, God has made his image. We're not supposed to make images. We are God's image. There's something about when we start making images, when we desire images for worship, we're actually denouncing ourself and our proper responsibility and role. But here the Son of God, he's holding the coin, the true king of the Jews, Caesar Augustus Tiberius, son of the divine Augustus. Typical Mark, he just says very clearly, they brought one, he says to them, whose likeness is on this? Well, it's Caesar's. And then Jesus gives us what I believe is the most helpful, clear, basic principle for us as believers to think about when it comes to how to live as believers in this world, waiting for our King to return. Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's. That's your memory verse for today. It's very simple. It's very easy. But this very simple principle is so helpful. One of the reasons this principle is so helpful is I believe every Christian can take it and figure out how it applies in communist China. Democratic America, the Sharia law Iran. There's different kinds of governments all over this world and throughout the history of the world. But here, we see this one principle. It's clear, it's helpful, and Christ leaves it up to Christians to learn how to live out this principle where they are. We need to not miss something that's very important that's going on here. Jesus has come as the true King. He is the fulfillment of every promise King in the Old Testament He has come and he's cleaned out the temple He's about to bring about a new kind of kingdom The kingdom of God is at hand and when he rises and ascends That kingdom of God is present and we are now living in that kingdom. I And what's different about the kingdom in the New Covenant, in the New Testament, where, where we are in the Old Testament, is that God's people are not a political state. Y'all don't seem surprised by that. Everyone gets that. Everyone can shake their head. We're not a political state. That's different. Israel was a nation, people. They had a king. God, God spoke to that king. God ruled that people with a king. We're not that kind of people anymore. We're an international people. We're a people of faith who come from all different kinds of backgrounds, all different kinds of nationalities, and we worship a king who we're still waiting to come back. See, the church is a people of faith who recognize that our main problem is sin. Our main problem is that we've rebelled against God, we've rejected God, and He has sent His Son to pursue us in love, and Jesus was rejected on the cross on our behalf so that we would not have to pay the penalty for our sin. The Church now exists as a people of faith of all different kinds of peoples, of all different kinds of nationalities, living under different kinds of nations. This is why it's important for us to partner in missions as we can now in this modern day. Africa, and China, and Europe. All these different brothers and sisters. It's, it's, it's, I was speaking to a friend who's a, was a missionary in India. Help me think through how this applies in that context, because this principle is true no matter where you live, but it, but how we, how we actually apply it would look differently. Let me pause here and just show us the wisdom of God's Word. All right, we're gonna flesh out this statement with other scriptures, but God's principle is just so clear. Give to Caesar what Caesar's give to God was God's. That's the skeleton of your understanding of how to live as a resident alien in whatever nation you're in. How you flesh that out is according to God's wisdom. You pray for wisdom to think about how to flesh that out. It's very helpful to have this simple of a principle. Give to Caesar what is Caesar's. Jesus is holding a poll tax. At the most basic level, we see he's saying, pay your taxes. No amen? We see here, at the most basic level, we just, we, we, he's saying pay your taxes, but I believe we could go back to Mark 8, 33. You know, that whole section, Mark 8 to 10, the great discipleship discourse, it's organized around three predictions. Jesus is telling his disciples, I'm going to die. I'm going to rise again. And Peter can't take that. He doesn't like that. And he corrects Jesus, and Jesus tells him, you're thinking more along the ways of this world and not heaven. There's a correction here where we can be so earthly-minded we are no earthly good. When we're only worried about this current state of affairs, the current national situation, we're not thinking about Christ and His heavenly reign. We need to be thinking very heavenly so that we are earthly good. I want to be very clear before I begin. What I want to do is unusual from what we normally do. I usually just stay in our one text as much as possible. I want to try to flesh this out and inform it by looking at other texts. Those other texts are 1 Timothy 2, Romans 13, and 1 Peter 2. Mainly Romans 13 and 1 Timothy 2. That's found on page 812 and 851. So if you're gonna mark your Bible so that we can kind of cross-reference as much as possible, I'm happy for you to do so. I'd encourage you to do so. I want to present what God has prescribed as our posture towards our government, as much as God says so. I do not want to go beyond what God says. For to make it clear, being obedient to God is not what makes us God's people. It's being saved by Christ. It's being purchased by His blood. It's being a people of faith. And so here, if you're not a Christian, you're going to hear us talking about how we as Christians are supposed to be posturing ourselves towards the government. And it's going to be fairly confusing, because maybe you're already confused. You know, I thought maybe we were a Christian nation, or the South is at least a, you know, Christian state. No. No, not at all. There's a lot of confusion about that. I'm thankful our nation, in its principles, was informed by Scripture. But it's not a Christian nation. A Christian, by definition, is one who believes. You're born into citizenship. You believe to become a Christian. The new birth that Jesus brings about in our hearts to make us a new kind of person, so that we're no longer understand. That's what makes us a Christian. And then we try to live out what Christ says so that we're faithful to enjoy Him and to be a witness to Him. And so I'm gonna go through a number of principles that talks about what we're supposed to be like as Christians and how we're supposed to obey. And you're gonna be thinking, I've never met a Christian who actually obeys like the Bible says. That's right. There's a real problem there. But it all makes sense when you see the reason we come and believe in Jesus is that we all fail. We all fall short of His expectations and His commandments. And so we believe in Jesus that we would not have to suffer for that rejection so that we might be forgiven. So here are six principles for how to think about that declaration rendered to Caesar the things that are Caesar's. Six declarations, and I want to try to inform this as much as possible with other texts. The first point, we must recognize that God has ordained governments for us. God has ordained governments for us. No government has ever existed that God has not declared into existence. He is the sovereign one who oversees all governments. That does not mean he ordains everything every government does. It simply means there's not a government that's ever existed that he did not ordain. Acts 17, 26, Paul declares there's no government that's ever existed, and God not only raises up governments and takes them down, but He sets their boundaries. In John 19, 11, when Jesus stands before Pilate, Pilate says, don't you know I have the authority to release you? Why won't you interact with me? Why won't you answer my questions? Jesus says, you would have no authority over me at all unless it had been given to you from above. Here's a son of God himself recognizing and telling Pilate, the only reason you have any authority over me right now is that I'm the king who's submitting to you. But more importantly, every authority, every national power, sovereignty is given from above. Kuyper declares that Everywhere you look on a map, on a globe, every inch of every territory, every kingdom, every nation, Christ looks at it and He declares, mine. There is not a sovereign nation or a people or a boundary or a state that exists that Christ does not look and say, mine. There's different princes, different powers, but it's all Christ. He is the one who is sovereign over every possible government. That does not mean he's ordaining what they do is good. It simply means he is sovereignly powerful over them. He can raise them up. He can bring them down. The most simple basic principle here is that God has instituted certain powers. God has blessed certain institutions. Government, Marriage, we'll look at that next week, and the church. Those are three institutions that will always be blessed and provided by God until Christ returns. See, governments are designed to bless those who do good and to punish those who do evil. Augustine says government's necessary. He actually says it's a necessary evil because we are so evil. Because of man's sin, God has given us governments to set boundaries, and to give parameters, and to bring punishment and justice for wrongdoing. So here's an important posture change. When we look at our government, it's easy to say and complain about all the things that are wrong. But we need to recognize fear of government isn't the right posture. There's a trust in God. He is the one who's sovereign over our president, our governors, our senators, our city council. He has ordained them. He's ordained them for our good. Our posture should be one of faith toward God that whatever He has ordained is good. So the first thing is simply saying God has ordained governments for our good. The second gets a little more personal. God calls us to submit to our government. God calls us to submit to our government. Now, there might be an internal sigh, really? Our president? Our governor? Our city council? Let's think about this. The command to be subject to your government comes from Romans 13 one. 1 Peter 3.13, these are the very words of Scripture. Be subject to your governing authorities. If we think about it and ask, who was Paul and Peter thinking about when he wrote that? Well, the emperor at the time was Nero, one of the most twisted, sick rulers this earth has ever known. One of the most twisted, sick rulers the church has ever known. When there was a fire in Rome, he decided to blame the Christians. And so he set up games where he would take hides of wild animals and put them on Christians and unleash wild dogs on them for entertainment. He would burn them at night as torches for entertainment. That's the kind of emperor Paul says to be subject to. if we think we have some kind of a, of a qualification that says not this kind of government. No. Paul says if he's your governor, if he's your emperor, 1 Timothy 2, honor the emperor. The exact words of Paul. Speaking of Nero. Yes, he was a sick, twisted man. Yes, he had certain boundaries. He certainly crossed. But the Christian posture is one of submission. We must recognize one of the most basic callings for humanity is to submit to authority. You're not human if you don't submit to authority. We'll be very clear. It is human to submit to authority. It is sin to want not to. Right? Go back to the garden. What did God say? Hey look, here's all the trees. There's one you can't eat off. It was human for Adam and Eve to submit to that authority. Don't eat that tree. It is the very nature of sin to reject and want to overthrow authority. As we think about the idea of submission, submission only happens when you disagree, right? If you never submit in disagreement, you never really submit. Right? Whenever an authoritative figure speaks, when there's an authority that God has placed in our lives, and we don't ever learn to disagree, we've never learned to submit. Submission only happens in the state of disagreement. Now let me give a very clear qualification. Christians, we are called upon and required to defy our government and our rulers if and when they command what God has prohibited, or prohibited what God has commanded. We are required to defy and reject the government's authority if and when they command what God has prohibited or prohibited what Christ has commanded. So if our government issues coins that are part of the emperor worship or the king worship or the president worship, We are not to render unto our president any kind of worship or allegiance that deserves of God. Or I was just talking to our mission partners that'll be with us next week. Many of you know, if you're new with us, we have some mission partners in East Asia. The police visited their service two weeks ago. I've been on the phone with them quite a bit, just trying to encourage him, and I said, what are you gonna do next Sunday? This is classic Mark, you'll appreciate this. What do you mean, what am I gonna do? It's the Lord's Day, we're gonna worship. You're gonna gather? The Lord commanded us to worship, what else am I gonna do? His government's saying, you cannot gather, you cannot worship Jesus Christ as they gather people. He says, what do you mean? There's no question. How can we not worship? It really puts us in our wonderful place here. Our government does provide such freedom. We should be thankful. Memorial Day, it's a good time to be thankful for the million plus lives in different battles from the Revolutionary War to modern day. Lives that have been lost so that we have this freedom. But more importantly, there's a thankfulness to God that the government is not telling us how we need to structure our worship service, or when can we worship, or how do we worship. Let me push this a little bit further. Christian, if we're going to keep with Jesus' command for discipleship, we need to make sure we're concerned for the rights and privileges of others, those who do not have the power to protect themselves. That goes from the unborn, the minorities, those who are left out of the fringes in terms of our society, It is the Christian ethic that the first shall be last, the greatest shall be third of all. We will consider others more important than ourselves. When we think about who we're trying to fight for rights for, we need to be thinking of how some are not well recognized and represented. So we look at this, God calls us to submit to our governing authorities. There is a clear way in which we're supposed to be subject to even things we might not agree with politically. But there's also a clear call to give to God what is God's. There is a time and a place to defy the government, but it is only when they command what God has prohibited or prohibited what God has commanded. Otherwise, be subject to the government and honor the emperor. Number three, God expects us to be good citizens. God expects us to be good citizens. And there's actually a number of ways we can just think about what it means to be a good citizen. It means we obey the laws. We seek to be people who recognize the laws of the land are good for us. They're good to keep people in check. We need to be focused on how we can be contributors to society. Seek good to our neighbor. Honestly, if we think about what we're going to study in a few weeks, the greatest commandment, love the Lord your God with all your heart, what's the second? Love your neighbor as yourself. Christians should be the best citizens. Not because we're just looking to be a good citizen, but because we're desiring to be obedient to Christ and the second great commandment. What kind of society would we be in? How would we actually affect the nation and the state, our neighborhoods, our city, our county, our nation, if Christians were just to actually live out that commandment? Love your neighbor as yourself. We would all be good, influential citizens. One of the most helpful things to do, and I have to think about this regularly, What is my sphere of influence? Right? It's a good question. Who, where is my sphere of influence? Okay, it's your family. That's who sees you the most and knows you the most. Your coworkers, your neighbors. Where's your sphere of influence? How are you affecting that sphere that you are most impacting so that they are learning what it looks like to be a Christian? How are you impacting them in your citizenship, or, to use more biblical language, loving your neighbor? One of the ways we are called to be good citizens here in America, very specifically, let me just make sure I add this, is by voting. It is a unique privilege we have to be able to be good citizens by voting in our own officers. Number four, recognize God has ordained government, We're to be subject to that government. We're to be good citizens of that government. Number four, God calls us to seek a peaceful life. God calls us to seek a peaceful life. And this comes from 1 Timothy 2. First of all, then I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgiving be made for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way. This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior." The goal of the Christian life is to have peace so that we can worship God the way He's ordained. We can praise God that we have a peaceful and quiet life and that there's no fear of police breaking into our service right now. We should long for this kind of peacefulness and long to bless others with this kind of peacefulness. The goal is not to live the abundant life, but the faithful life. where we enjoy the peace God has provided for us, if the kings allow that. Number five, we get back to our favorite point. God commands us to pay our taxes. Again, I believe that is the most clear focus of what Jesus is saying that belongs to Caesar with the denarius in his hand. But even Romans 13 makes this very clear. Paul says, for because of this you also pay taxes. For the authorities are ministers of God, attending to this very thing. Pay to all what is owed to them, taxes to whom taxes are owed, revenue to whom revenue is owed, respect to whom respect is owed, honor to whom honor is owed. Now this tax that Jesus is saying you're to give to Caesar, it funded the army that was oppressing Israel. That's conflicting, right? You're paying for the very government that you don't like being present in your everyday lives if you're an Israelite. In the same way, some of my tax dollars go to things that I do not approve of. That's not my responsibility. My responsibility is to pay taxes as God has ordained. Six, number six, God calls us to pray for our governments. And that comes from 1 Timothy 2 most clearly. Let me read that again. First of all, then I urge that supplication, prayer, intercession, and thanksgiving be made for all people. specifically for kings and all who are in high position so that we may lead this peaceful life. It's amazing we do have the power to vote. It's amazing we have the power within our government to fight for and seek the rights and privileges promised in our Constitution through certain avenues. It's amazing the kind of power we have in social media and protests. Let me be very clear here. Church. We have the most powerful political weapon at our disposal. The God who has ordained our president, our governor, our senators, our city council, He invites us to call Him Father. and to pray for his will to be done, to pray for our very institutions, to pray for those sovereigns and those powers. It's amazing how willing we are to complain about those powers and how unwilling we probably are to pray for them. It is the most powerful political weapon that exists. Prayer. We don't need a protest. That just makes more noise. We pray. We pray to the God who can take down kings and raise them up. We pray to the God who can set the boundaries. We pray to the God who can establish the right laws. That doesn't mean we just simply are passive, but if we're doing a lot of busyness and not praying, we're missing the greatest opportunity to truly bring about change. This is why, and I'm so thankful Andrew modeled for us, how to pray through numerous different organizations and citizenships, or citizen rights. We're gonna be praying together. That's why we gather on Sunday nights. That's why we should be thinking about some kind of government agency regularly in our prayers. One of the ways you can be a good citizen. I try to train my daughters to go and thank police officers. That one small but so necessary defense. It terrifies me how our country treats police officers. The culture that assumes so much wrong. I'm afraid we're going to get to the place where good people aren't going to want to be police officers. That very most basic, very first layer of defense, first layer of protecting our rights, be praying for them. Pray for firemen, for the Jags that's here on town. Be praying constantly for our government. Those are the six things that I think scripture tells us that are very clear. And now let's look to the second half of this declaration. Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's. Recognize governments are good. They're good for us. We are to be subject to those governments. We're to pay our taxes. We're to pray for the emperor. Be good citizens. And to God the things that are God's. We're not to worship the king. We're not to worship our government. We're not to put our trust in princes as our scripture reading said. There's only one point here when it comes to give to God what belongs to God. And that is looking later on in Mark 12 when Jesus asks, what is the greatest commandment? What belongs to God? You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, with all your strength. Our affection belongs to God. God has designed us to be known by Him, to know Him, to love us and be loved by us. God has designed us as worshipers. The problem with the human rejection of authority, the problem with our sin, is that we are designed to worship, but we refuse to worship the real God. So we look for some other great power to worship, or some other great event. Christian. We are to give to God what only belongs to God, and that is our worship, our true affection. And so the simple question, does God have priority over our priorities? Does he get to order our priorities? We are a redeemed people by Jesus Christ who bought us with his own blood. He has risen and ascended. Are we seeking to love Him as He has called us to love Him? Or as we think about the real sin that's present in this passage, are we flatters just like the Pharisees and the Herodians? Are we mere flatters? Do we come and talk a big game? About how much we love Jesus when we're among the people, but when we go out, we don't live for Him. We don't really speak of Him. We don't even think about Him. Think about that. The key sin of this passage is Jesus really confronting the Pharisees in that they're willing to say, you're the true God, or you're the true teacher, and please teach us the way, but they're mere flattery. They'll say that publicly, but their hearts, they're nowhere near Him. This has haunted me all week, and I'm just thinking, how much am I a flatterer of Jesus? willing to speak of him publicly, but privately, my heart doesn't love him the way I know he deserves. Jesus is not fooled by our hypocrisy. But neither does he leave us in it. He is the true Savior who knows we're sinners. and calls us to repent of sin, to confess that sin so that he can forgive us, and ask him, Lord, help me love you more. Or as we've seen in our own Mark passage, I believe, help my unbelief. Cleanse me, purify me, so that I may love you as you deserve. As Christians, it's easy to look at our country and see how it doesn't align with Scripture. It's not supposed to. Are we able to do proper inspection and see how our own lives do not align with Scripture? Are we able to look at our own church and see how it doesn't align with Scripture? Are we ready and eager to put our own house in order so that we might actually then be a light and a blessing to our neighbors and our nation? As we conclude, again, this simple passage. There is an obligation. There is a call to be subject and good citizens. But most of all, this is a call to be worshipers of the one true King who will return, who does forgive and does call us to that great love. Let's pray.