“Multiple Loyalties”
(Matthew 22:15-22)
Series: God’s Fulfilled Promise [on screen]
Rev. Matthew C. McCraw, EdD
First Baptist Church, Bartow, Florida
July 12, 2020
The Passage
Matthew 22:15-22
15 Then the Pharisees went and plotted how to trap him by what he said. 16 So they sent their disciples to him, along with the Herodians. “Teacher,” they said, “we know that you are truthful and teach truthfully the way of God. You don’t care what anyone thinks nor do you show partiality. 17 Tell us, then, what you think. Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar or not?”
18 Perceiving their malicious intent, Jesus said, “Why are you testing me, hypocrites? 19 Show me the coin used for the tax.” They brought him a denarius. 20 “Whose image and inscription is this?” he asked them.
21 “Caesar’s,” they said to him. Then he said to them, “Give, then, to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” 22 When they heard this, they were amazed. So they left him and went away.
Introductory Comments:
Many of you remember the Looney Tunes characters Road Runner and Wile E. Coyote (we have a picture to show the two of them). [show picture on screen] Wile E. Coyote was always trying to trick and capture Road Runner. However, as you know he always failed. Time and time again, he failed.
Well, here we are again with the Jewish establishment trying to trick and trap Jesus. However, they fail time and time again. Spoiler alert: they will fail in today’s passage as well.
They just don’t seem to learn their lesson. However, thankfully for us, we continue to learn helpful truths from God’s Word as we study these stories of the religious leaders’ failed attempts to trap Jesus.
As we prepare to study today’s passage, let’s go to the Lord in prayer and ask Him to speak to us.
(prayer)
Ok, here we are back in the Gospel of Matthew and Jesus is interacting with the religious leaders.
In this circumstance, the Pharisees decide to send their disciples, rather than going themselves. They send their disciples along with the Herodians to try and trap Jesus.
Now, a natural question arises: who are the Herodians?
We don’t know everything about the Herodians, but we do know that they were loyal to and supportive of the rule and reign of King Herod, hence the name, “Herodians.”
The Herodians were primarily politically motivated, whereas the Pharisees were primarily religiously motivated.
Under normal circumstances, these two groups may not even get along. However, when it came to trying to trick Jesus, they seemed to get along just fine.
So, let’s look at the passage and see two types of loyalties that emerge. Look at Matthew 22:15-22:
15 Then the Pharisees went and plotted how to trap him by what he said. 16 So they sent their disciples to him, along with the Herodians. “Teacher,” they said, “we know that you are truthful and teach truthfully the way of God. You don’t care what anyone thinks nor do you show partiality. 17 Tell us, then, what you think. Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar or not?”
18 Perceiving their malicious intent, Jesus said, “Why are you testing me, hypocrites? 19 Show me the coin used for the tax.” They brought him a denarius. 20 “Whose image and inscription is this?” he asked them.
21 “Caesar’s,” they said to him. Then he said to them, “Give, then, to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” 22 When they heard this, they were amazed. So they left him and went away.
In a moment, we’re going to discover two directives from this passage that will help us know God’s way for us. Before we do, let’s talk a little more about the passage.
Notice in verse 16 that these folks are really trying to butter-up Jesus.
They say, “we know that you are truthful and teach truthfully the way of God. You don’t care what anyone thinks nor do you show partiality.”
They’re basically saying, “We know that you care so much about the truth of God that you’ll shoot straight with us. You’re a man of truthfulness and integrity.”
The thing is, they’re right. Jesus is obedient, faithful, full of integrity, and wisdom. He’s always truthful!
Don’t you wish that this was the case for all leaders and teachers? Sadly, it’s not the case with many leaders in our country and even in the church. Oh, that we who lead and teach would seek to be like Jesus! Among other traits, may we have integrity!
However, Jesus is holy, wise, honest, and full of integrity.
These leaders seek to build-up Jesus so that they can trip Him up and cause Him to fall. However, that’s not happening!
Jesus is able to discern their motivations and their intentions. Further, He is supremely wise. He will not fall for their trap. He will not be caught in their snare.
Verse 18 says that Jesus perceived “ . . . their malicious intent.”
They’re trying to set-up a situation where Jesus offends someone and entraps Himself no matter which side He takes. The disciples of the Pharisees are hoping to trap Jesus on religious grounds and the Herodians are hoping to trap Jesus on political grounds.
Later in verse 18, Jesus calls them hypocrites. He’s on to them. They’re acting like they really care about the answer to this question but they don’t.
Matthew Henry, in his commentary on this passage, says, “Whatever vizard the hypocrite puts on, our Lord Jesus sees through it; he perceives all the wickedness that is in the hearts of pretenders, and can easily convict them of it, and set it in order before them.”
Jesus easily walks past their snare, which we’ll look at more in just a moment.
So, that’s a little bit about the passage. Now, let’s look at two directives we can draw from the passage. The first directive that we can glean from this passage is this:
I. Loyalty is due to government. [on screen]
Although some at the time may have expected Jesus to be a revolutionary against the Roman state, He demonstrated that was not why He came.
Jesus did not oppose paying taxes to Caesar, or to the Roman government.
Well, why was this even a question?
First of all, the common Jewish person didn’t much like the Roman authorities because they were the occupying conquerors of the people of Israel. They had set-up a system of government in Israel, under Herod’s rule, which held down the Jewish people.
Further, there was issue with the actual coin. The coin used to pay the taxes was a denarius, which featured an image of Tiberius Caesar, the Roman emperor at that time. Many Jewish people believed that it was a sin for a coin to bear an image, as they viewed that it was a violation of the second commandment which said to not worship any images. Additionally, there were inscriptions on the coin that read, “Tiberius Caesar, son of the divine Augustus” and “High Priest.” Well, that’s not ok for a Jewish person, as they believed God was the only divine.
Here’s a picture of the type of coin that was probably used so you can get a look at it. [show picture on screen]
With all that said, paying the taxes was required by the government.
So, we have the issue of paying money to the big bad rulers, and we have the issue with the actual image on the coin. All the while, the taxes are due. The religious devotees could accuse Jesus of supporting pagan rulers if He said to pay the tax and the political devotees could accuse Jesus of not supporting the government if He said not to pay the tax.
Jesus wasn’t taking the bait. He had no intention of overthrowing the government, or even upsetting the government. That was not why He came.
Jesus’ answer showed extreme wisdom and common sense. Look again at verses 20 and 21.
20 “Whose image and inscription is this?” he asked them.
21 “Caesar’s,” they said to him. Then he said to them, “Give, then, to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.”
Jesus is basically saying, “Hey, you’re in Caesar’s territory. He’s offering you protection from invaders, you’re using his roads, you’re using his money; give to him the things that are his.” What a great answer!
Jesus clearly sets a standard by which we can conclude that it is right and good for us to support our governmental authorities. The apostle Paul speaks about this also in Romans 13 (you can write that down and look it up on your own).
We benefit from our governmental structures, leaders, and laws. Now, to be sure, no government is perfect and some are downright evil. However, government is not evil in and of itself. God established certain authority structures in this world such as parents, teachers, employers, pastors, and governmental leaders. It is His will and design that we should submit to these authorities, whenever it does not violate our loyalty to Him.
So, loyalty is due to the government.
Now, I’m well aware that you all don’t agree with everything that our government does (I don’t have to ask how most of you feel about your views on the government). I’ve also never met anyone who enjoyed paying taxes. However, Jesus makes it clear that these institutions are not inherently evil and generally speaking, we should be loyal to them.
However, that’s not the only directive. We also see the important truth found in verse 21: “Give . . . to God the things that are God’s.”
That takes us to our second directive:
II. Loyalty is due to God. [on screen]
Again, Jesus is so wise. Both directives which He provides are true and biblically unarguable. Jesus satisfies the governmental obligation without compromising the devotion that is due to God.
So, we must ask ourselves, “What are the things that belong to God?” Is the answer not, “Everything?” God says in Psalm 50:10-12, “10 for every animal of the forest is mine, the cattle on a thousand hills. 11 I know every bird of the mountains, and the creatures of the field are mine. 12 If I were hungry, I would not tell you, for the world and everything in it is mine.” [on screen]Everything belongs to God. He is Lord of all!
Further, check out this neat little nugget of information of which I was reminded from a couple commentaries. Whose image was on the coin? Caesar’s, right? Whose image is on mankind? Check out Genesis 1:26-27: “26 Then God said, ‘Let us make man in our image, according to our likeness. They will rule the fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, the livestock, the whole earth, and the creatures that crawl on the earth.’ 27 So God created man in his own image; he created him in the image of God; he created them male and female.” [on screen] How about that? Mankind bears the image of God! Give to God the things that are God’s!
So, it is good and right to be loyal to government, and other authorities in our lives, but our greatest loyalty should be shown to the one whose image we bear: God Almighty!
Many of us have our loyalties mixed up. We talk a lot more about governmental issues, political figures, and divided loyalties in our country than we do about the most important issues in life, the most monumental figure of history, and the greatest loyalty we should have in all the world.
Let’s get our loyalties in order! Let’s be good parents, good employees, good students, good spouses, good church members, good citizens, and more, but may we never put any of that ahead of our loyalties to our Lord and King, Jesus Christ!
Concluding Thoughts:
Finally, we see in verse 22 that those who tried to trap Jesus were instead amazed and they simply went away. They were unable to trick Him and unable to make Him look foolish.
So, we have these two directives, loyalty to government and loyalty to God. That brings us to our bottom line:
Bottom Line: We have multiple loyalties, but one primary loyalty. [on screen]
(repeat)
God has designed us to be loyal in multiple human relationships and institutions. However, none of these are to take the place of our loyalty to God.
We must be devoted to and faithful to God and that to which He has called us.
He is Lord of our lives and He has a design for our lives. May we be loyal.
Challenge yourself this week in the following ways:
Weekly Challenge: [on screen]
1. Examine your loyalties. [on screen]
What’s most important in your life? What occupies your time and attention? What are you most vocal about?
Examine your loyalties this week.
2. Prioritize your loyalties. [on screen]
Do you need to rearrange some things in your life?
Think about it even now.
What’s number one? Who’s number one?
Make a decision to prioritize some things this week.
3. Share your loyalties. [on screen]
I want to share with you about something to which I’m loyal. (display Dyson vacuum). I love my Dyson because it’s been good to me. It was a gift from my brother when we moved into our home. I’m loyal to the Dyson and I don’t mind sharing with you how great it is.
We advertise our favorite sports teams. We post about our favorite political party or candidate on social media. We brag about certain accomplishments.
Well, when’s the last time we’ve shared about the most important loyalty in our lives?
Share your loyalties this week.
Closing:
Is Jesus number one? Live that way. Be obedient, including submitting to those in authority. However, never put anything ahead of Him.
If Jesus isn’t number one in your life, He can change you!
(Gospel presentation)
(closing prayer)
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