Sermon Tone Analysis

SCRIPTURE INTRODUCTION: Today we get to be a “fly on the wall” as we listen to Jesus and the religious leaders have conversations regarding life right now and in eternity.

Although their questions were not sincere, Jesus gives eternal truth about what’s expected as we live life in this present time and He also gives us a glimpse into what life is going to be like for the believer in eternity.

While there is much confusion in this world about these matters, Jesus gives simple direct answers that not only silenced these religious leaders, but give us much insight into these important truths.

Notice first of all

Sometimes

A Question About the Here and Now

EXPLANATION

After Jesus’ run in with the religious leaders and His parable demonstrating He was the Messiah, says:

Now, as we have seen in our text, these religious leaders are sending in spies to question Jesus and they are trying to trip Him up, so as to get Him in trouble with the authorities.

The first thing they question Him about is something that the Jewish people are having to deal with on a regular basis and that is the authority of Rome and whether or not they should pay the tribute tax to Caesar.

The reason they ask them this question, is very simple, if you understand the culture and times they were living in.

They were facing a “here and now” type of problem, but in reality their motives were not really to find out what they should do, but rather try to get Jesus “in trouble” with either the Jews or the Romans—and they really didn’t care which.

To understand this a little better we need to have a brief history lesson.

R. T. France, in his commentary on the book of Luke says this:

The imposition of direct Roman rule over Judea and Samaria in AD 6 was followed by a census in order to impose a [poll] tax on all citizens of the area.

This particular tax was therefore a symbol of their political subjection, and so it was violently opposed by many Jews on patriotic grounds . . .

The question posed to Jesus was therefore politically very sensitive.

R. T. France goes on to shed some more light on this coin:

The Roman silver coin, use for paying the tax, bore the portrait of the emperor and an inscription describing him as the “son of God” and “high priest.”

Strict Jews therefore regarded it as idolatrous and so refused to use it . . .

So try to picture this in your mind.

They are, once again, trying to back Jesus into a corner.

If He says, “Yes, you should pay taxes to Rome,” then a large part of Judea would be outraged against Him.

If He says, “No, you should not pay taxes to Rome,” then Rome may see Him as a dangerous and radical threat against their government.

Once again, they assume they have Jesus backed into a corner.

Notice what the Master does in response.

He asks for a denarius from the very people who supposedly have an objection against this coin.

Since they were so opposed to this coinage you would think they would be using the copper coins without the inscription, but wouldn’t you know it, someone in this crowd of pretenders had the very coin in question.

In Jesus asks them a question:

Then He proceeds to answer their question this way in

Jesus is basically saying that the taxation is a proper return for the good things they receive from the government.

However, that was not the main thrust of His message.

Living in the here and now demands that we honor, respect and obey the God given authorities that He has placed in our lives, but living in the here and now also demands that we honor God as well!

ILLUSTRATION

I want to illustrate this by going back to the word likeness in verse 24.

This word can also translated “image.”

In other words whose “image” is on the coin.

On this particular coin it would have been the image of Tiberius Caesar.

So Jesus in effect said, “Give back to Caesar, the things that bear his image.”

Give back to Rome the things that bear the image of Rome.

But then Jesus says something remarkable: “Give back to God the things that are God’s.”

In other words give back to God the things that “bear His image/His likeness.”

So what would that be?

I’m glad you asked.

We are told in for instance:

YOU were created in the image of God! YOU bear God’s likeness.

On a coin is stamped an image, and this image is a reminder of the distributor and the source of the coinage.

But dear friend, on and in your life, is stamped the image of the Creator God, who knit you and formed you in your mother’s womb and created you in His image!

This is an amazingly wonderful reminder that YOU are not an accident—YOU are not a mistake—YOU are not a blob of highly evolved tissue—but YOU are intricately designed.

reminds us of this fact:

What is the significance of being made in the image of God?

One resource reminds us of this truth:

The image of God (Latin: imago dei) refers to the immaterial part of humanity.

It sets human beings apart from the animal world, fits them for the dominion God intended them to have over the earth (), and enables them to commune with their Maker.

It is a likeness mentally, morally, and socially.

Mentally . . .

human beings can reason and choose.

This is a reflection of God’s intellect and freedom.

Anytime someone invents a machine, writes a book, paints a landscape, enjoys a symphony, calculates a sum, or names a pet, he or she is proclaiming the fact that we are made in God’s image.

Morally, humanity was created in righteousness and perfect innocence, a reflection of God’s holiness . . .

Our conscience or “moral compass” is a vestige of that original state.

Morally, humanity was created in righteousness and perfect innocence, a reflection of God’s holiness . . .

Our conscience or “moral compass” is a vestige of that original state.

Socially, humanity was created for fellowship.

This reflects God's triune nature and His love.

In Eden, humanity’s primary relationship was with God ( implies fellowship with God), and God made the first woman because “it is not good for the man to be alone” ().

Every time someone marries, makes a friend, or attends church, he or she is demonstrating the fact that we are made in the likeness of God.

Today, we still bear the image of God (), but we also bear the scars of sin.

Mentally, morally, socially, and physically, we show the effects of sin.

Today, we still bear the image of God (), but we also bear the scars of sin.

Mentally, morally, socially, and physically, we show the effects of sin.

The good news is that when God redeems an individual, He begins to restore the original image of God, creating a “new self . . .

That redemption is only available by God’s grace through faith in Jesus Christ as our Savior from the sin that separates us from God ().

Through Christ, we are made new creations in the likeness of God ().

APPLICATION

So lets go back to what Jesus said, “Give to Caesar the things that bear his image and give to God the things that bear His image.”

That’s what we are to be doing HERE AND NOW.

We are to recognize and honor the authority structures we find ourselves in, but most importantly we are to recognize our CREATOR and as we realize that we have been created in His image, we are to relinquish the stranglehold we have “our lives” and recognize they are not really ours at all—they are His.

Just as I surrender my taxes to the US Gov’t every year by April 15th, I am to surrender myself to God each and every day, each and every moment because . . .

I am not my own

I am not here for me

This isn’t about me

My life is His—it is His because of creation and it is His because of redemption

And right here and right now I am to “render” (give) back to God the things that are His!

You do realize, don’t you that you cannot give to God anything, that He did not first of all give to YOU?

says:

So RIGHT HERE and RIGHT NOW we need to be offering to God that which bears His image . . .

that’s YOU and that’s ME!

Now notice …

A Question About the Hereafter

The second question that is posed to Jesus is about the hereafter.

Now it is the Sadduccees turn.

Verse 27 reminds us that part of their core beliefs is to deny the resurrection—that’s why they were “sad-you-see.”

Because they didn’t believe in the resurrection they decide to ask Jesus a question, that in their mind would pose a real problem if the resurrection were true...

Moses had taught, in , that if a wife’s husband passed away, and she had no children to preserve the family name, then her brother-in-law would step up to the plate, marry her and they would have children to carry on the family name.

The Sadduccees bring up this hypothetical question about a woman who had a husband pass away and so she married the next brother in line and he passed away so she married the next brother in line and he passed away and so on and so forth until she had married all seven brothers.

There question is this, “Whose wife would she be in the resurrection.”

Since they don’t believe in the resurrection, it is obvious their question isn’t really about the resurrection, but is about trying to get Jesus to say something they can accuse Him of later.

However, Jesus reveals something to us about the hereafter that you may not have known.

Those who are a living in their new bodies in the Kingdom of Heaven will not be married to one another.