Sermon in Ishpeming 07.11.2010

Let us quieten our hearts to hear the Word of God and to unite into prayer and thanksgiving. Grace, mercy, and peace be with us now and always.

Dear Heavenly Father, we Thy grace children have come here to Thy services today as weak and poor, seeking healing for our own infirmities. And we ask, dear Father, that Thou would speak to us through Thy holy and living Word, that we might be encouraged in faith, that we might be given strength to continue towards that calling of life eternal.

Dear Father, many are the cares of life. Many are the temptations, even adversities that we must face. But we, as weak and poor, desire to trust in the power of the Gospel and to be found often in the hearing of Thy holy and precious Word. We ask, dear Father, that Thou would draw nigh to us through Thy Son, that Thou would again bring to our minds and hearts that remembrance of that great sacrifice that He has made for us. When He has suffered and died and rose again victorious and opened the way to heaven for us, that our faith would not be in vain, but that we would have this hope of eternal life.

Dear Father, we live in vain, but that we are the same. We pray, dear Father, for our fellow brothers and sisters in faith, especially those who cannot be with us today, those who must remain at home because of their calling or because of their infirmity. We ask that Thou would comfort them too, through the same comfort of the Gospel that has comforted us.

We pray, dear Father, for our fellow brothers and sisters in the heart of the Gospel that has been with us. We pray for those who are not partakers of this holy calling, especially those prodigal sons and daughters who have once been with us, who have sat in the services of Thy holy and precious Word. We ask that Thou would, through Thy Word and through the lessons of life, yet speak unto them and create in their heart a place for a gracious God and the need for the forgiveness of sins.

We pray for our land, our leaders. We ask that we would yet have a time of visitation and be able to freely proclaim Thy Word. And we pray for those who seek Thee, even here in our community and close by surroundings, that they would be able to find Thee, that Thou would lead them here unto the portal of Thy kingdom. And through repentance and the forgiveness of sin, would be able to enter in and enjoy this hope of life eternal.

Dear Father, we pray, as Thy Son has taught us, our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name. Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory for ever and ever. Amen.

We shall read in Jesus' name the gospel text that is appointed for this Sunday. The words are found in the 22nd chapter of St. Matthew, verses 15 through 22.

Then went the Pharisees and took counsel how they might entangle him in his talk. And they sent out unto him their disciples with the Herodians, saying, Master, we know that Thou art true, and teachest the way of God and truth. Neither carest thou for any man, but thou regardest not the person of men. Tell us, therefore, what thinkest thou? Is it lawful to give tribute unto Caesar or not?

But Jesus perceived their wickedness, and said, Why tempt ye me, ye hypocrites? Show me the tribute money. And they brought unto him a penny. And he saith unto them, Whose is this image and superscription? And they said unto him, Caesar's.

Then saith he unto them, Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's, and unto God the things that are God's. When they heard these words, they marveled and left him and went their way. Amen.

This text, as we have mentioned, is a text appointed for this day. It is not what we would call a very typical text to use at a communion service that we also celebrate today. But it does speak unto us of our life in this world and in this kingdom.

Therefore, all of the texts that have been appointed for this day have called to our remembrance that we are citizens of two kingdoms. And those two kingdoms, of course, are the kingdom of God and this temporal kingdom or government that we live under. As the children of God live under kingdoms or governments of different kinds, we know that we often pray, and even today such thoughts came to mind, to pray for our leaders and our land, that we might be able to live peaceably and might be able to move freely about to proclaim the word of God in this time of visitation, which we believe is the last time of visitation, the third, we could say, largest time of visitation that is spoken of in the scriptures.

One being that first time when Jesus was here himself to proclaim the word of God and the coming of his kingdom, and the second time being that of the time of Luther and the time of reformation, when the word of God was proclaimed in a way that it had not been for centuries. And this last time of visitation that we recognize in God's kingdom to be closely tied with the conversion of Lestadius, which has continued until now, where we still enjoy the hundred or fifty or more years when the word of God has been proclaimed in the north countries.

So we know that the children of God have, at different times in history, experienced different relationships, we could say, with the government of their time. Early it was not friendly to the believers, and many suffered persecution and even death. But always the word of God has taught us to be obedient unto the powers that be. As Paul wrote to the Romans, there is no power but of God. And it is for conscience' sake that we do so.

For governments, as Paul has written, are not intended to be for that purpose, that they would be persecutors of those that live righteously, but those that live ungodly.

Here in our text we could say that this is one small picture that we get or have experienced in our own lives of how we relate to the government that is. There are many other ways, if we thought of them, in how we could discuss, maybe for a longer time, how it is that we relate to the government of our time. But the scriptures have given that kind of example for us, as Paul wrote to the Ephesians, that we would pray for all people, but especially for those that rule over us.

Here in our text, we read a kind of a common incident or approach that the Pharisees had when they thought to or hoped to discredit the Lord Jesus and all of his teachings. This time they came with that picture of a relationship to the powers that be.

Then when the Pharisees went to Pharisees and took counsel, how they might engage him in his talk. And they sent out unto him their disciples with the Herodians, saying, Master, we know that thou art true and teachest the way of God in truth. Neither carest thou for any man, but thou regardest not the person of men.

We can see how the Pharisees actually got together somehow and took counsel, as it says. It wasn't spontaneous, the event that took place, but they got together and discussed how we might approach Jesus and how it might be that we could entangle him or trick him in some way or get him to say something that would not be defensible and perhaps stir up the people, either the Jews or the Roman government.

So they had that kind of counsel ahead of time and thought of the different ways that this could take place. And so that is how our text begins. They didn't go themselves, as it says here, but they sent their disciples with the Herodians. The Scriptures doesn't say why they didn't, but it was perhaps a lot easier to send someone else to, so to speak, do the dirty work or to try to be a worker of deceit and to watch it instead from a distance.

The Herodians were also Jews. They were those that supported the Roman government that we could say had as their belief that things as tribute and taxes should be paid. And of course, in some way, I'm sure they benefited by it.

And so there was here almost like two opposite groups. One, the Pharisees or the disciples of the Pharisees who did not want to pay any tribute, and the Herodians who wanted it to be paid and wanted the support to be given to the government and to Caesar.

The interesting thing we could say is that they probably disliked each other a great deal away from this situation. The self-righteous Pharisees had no use for tax collectors of any kind, yet they were willing to make an alliance or some sort of arrangement with the Herodians so that they could on this one occasion come together and perhaps trip up the Lord of life.

They certainly approached him, we can see, with words that were very glowing, that, Master, we know that thou art true and teachest the way of God and truth. Neither carest thou for any man for thou regardest not the person of men.

They had to admit that the message of Jesus was true and it resonated to some degree in their conscience even though we know that very few of them ever repented of their self-righteousness. That they came in this way which was not at all, we could say, heartfelt. Neither did they come in a genuine way seeking an answer to this question that how should they look at it to this question of giving tribute. It was all done of deceit and darkness.

So they came and asked, Tell us therefore what thinkest thou? Is it lawful to give tribute unto Caesar or not?

This kind of question was, I think, probably very close to the Pharisees because they did not believe that they should have any kind of coin that had the image of a person on it because of the Old Testament beliefs that they were graven images and they were so troubled by it that we recall when people came to Jerusalem for the Passover feast they came from different nations with different money systems and they came with the coins of that particular country and those coins had the image of the various rulers on them so they could not accept that coin and so they set up that system of exchange in the temple where people could give their national currency and receive then what was called temple money that had no inscription, no image of a man, was some kind of token that made them feel like they were doing what was right.

But we could also say here that in this question, What thinkest thou? Is it lawful to give tribute to Caesar or not? that one of the translations has said, Is it right to give tribute to Caesar? Certainly it was lawful in the terms of the laws of the land because that was required of them and they had to say at the trial of Jesus or that time that they give allegiance to no man but Caesar.

So they themselves admitted that they were part of the kingdom of Caesar. So it was certainly lawful in that sense; it was required and the money was owned by Caesar, not by them, but they used it in their business dealings.

But here it was, Is it right to give tribute to Caesar? Because the question was in their mind that as Jews they didn't have to bow down to any other ruler, that they were under the time of occupation and so forth. So was it right for them to give that tribute to Caesar? And they hoped that no matter what answer Jesus would give in this circumstance that he could be found wrong because if he said that it is that way that you can give money to Caesar then perhaps the people who believed differently amongst the Jews would then discredit him as being a true teacher of God.

And if he said no, you do not have to give anything to Caesar, then the Herodians were witnesses of what he said and then he would incur the wrath of the Roman government.

We know that even this very instant was recalled when a false witness was sought against Jesus and one of them stood up at his trial and said that we have found him to be perverting the people and teaching that it is unlawful to give tribute to Caesar.

So they went to that extent to bear false witness even though here in our text it says just the opposite.

So we read that Jesus knew of their wickedness and said, Why tempt ye me, ye hypocrites? Show me the tribute money. And they brought unto him a penny. And he saith, Whose is the image and superscription? And they said unto him, Caesar's.

Then he said unto them, Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's, and unto God the things that are God's. And they, from his answer, even as we read, had to marvel and they left. There was nothing more for them to say.

They had to return unto Caesar or render what was his. The coins were his as the government of that time. So was that the Caesar owned the money, so it belonged to him and they gave it or returned it, might be a better word, to him in this way of tribute or taxation.

Certainly we understand this in our time also and maybe such a text as we are reading is more fitting for a different time of year when we pay our taxes.

But it means that we have and are citizens of two kingdoms. We do live in this time under a government even as the children of God live in various lands under different kinds of governments and some are not as, we could say, as good as our government even though we complain a lot about it.

I have on my missionary trips heard believers there in Africa complain of the crookedness and the deceit of the government and the dictatorships and so forth, but yet we live under such a form of government as we find and we pray for that government that we could continue to live in peace, peace to do the work of God's kingdom and peace to gather together as we have today to freely proclaim the word of God and the light of the spirit of God and all of its truth and purity without anyone interfering and saying that we cannot do so.

But that is a gift that has been given to us, that gift that we have realized in our land has not always been that way. The first many years of the New Testament it was very much the opposite.

So in those things that do not bring us bad conscience we obey the government for conscience' sake.

We do not know if there would be some time where we would be pressed between these two kingdoms that we would be required of the earthly government to do something which was contrary to our conscience, but we know at such a time came as the children of God that God is greater than man and God must be obeyed over and above man.

The governments of Paul's time we can read in the book of Acts they oftentimes beat the disciples and threatened them that if they preach the word of God anymore that they will receive harsh treatment and many of them went to their prisons or to death because of that.

But of course they could not obey the government in that sense; they could not or circumstance they could not stop preaching the word of God; they cannot stop proclaiming the gospel.

We know in our time one issue that comes forth often is that of the receiving of children and the number of children that everyone should have and what's the appropriate amount and the government could sometimes say, as some governments have, that you can only have one, you can only have two.

But in such a case we could not obey the government for that is not what the word of God teaches.

But we do hope and pray that we would not be so pressed by the temporal government of our time that we would have to face such a dilemma or trial, but we do know that many have gone before us who have had to, but yet they have persevered by faith, they have suffered much but yet they have seen that goal of life eternal and have fixed their gaze upon that God.

But Jesus also said this that we should render unto God the things that are God's.

And I thought about this and wondered, What are those things? What does God want from us or what can we possibly return to God or give to God?

Of course we cannot really give anything to him that of our own merits, of our own professions or our own deeds in this life. We know that that is not possible.

But what we can do is give thanks to him, to be and to recognize that all that we have has been given from him.

In our time I would have to say that I fear that as a nation and even it creeps into our community of God's kingdom that thankfulness is falling by the wayside.

We are surrounded by a society that is quite arrogant, we could say, quite of the mind that they are deserving of everything, that it is their right to have this and to have that and I have my rights in this land and so on and so forth it goes on.

And such ones go a long ways from God and trust more in the temporal things of this life, but it can attach to us too that we would forget to be thankful, to remember that all life included has been given by God to us.

We have not chosen to be born. We have not even had the choice into what land or what family or what community to be born, but God has for reasons we do not know he has chosen those things for us.

But we want to live by faith and trust that he is in fact in charge of our lives, like the writer to the Hebrews said that is written that we must believe that he is and he is a rewarder of those that seek him.

And I for a long time wondered, well it seems like such a difficult statement that we must believe that he is, but it simply means that we believe that he exists, that God is not some sort of idol as the idols of the world are.

He is not some kind of statue or figure that has no life, that is far away from us, but that he is close unto us and that if we seek to do his will he certainly will remain with us and guide us and protect us in this journey that we have.

But without faith it is impossible to please him, for he that cometh to God must believe that he is and that he is the rewarder of them that diligently seek him.

So dear brothers and sisters, at least that one matter of thankfulness unto the heavenly Father is one thing that he wants of us. He does not expect us to give any more than thankfulness and to believe upon his Son whom he has sent into this world.

There perhaps are other things that we could say that we render unto God, but at least those things we understand more readily and closely.

So when we make this journey through this life it is good for us to think about this, that we are citizens of two kingdoms.

In the one kingdom is a true kingdom where the Lord Jesus Christ is king and we live in a kingdom and are happy to do so.

And the other kind of kingdom is an earthly kingdom where we have certain rights but we must not confuse the two as if they were somehow overlapped in a way.

I remember years ago one Finnish brother who mentioned this matter that here in our land we have a democracy and everyone has their rights and it is true and we are happy to have such a government that we have freedom and can make choices.

But it is not a direct parallel to life within God's kingdom where we live in the light of God's word and how it is revealed to us by his spirit.

It is a different kind of kingdom and it is the citizenship of the kingdom of God that shall carry us unto the destination of life eternal.

So we, who have nothing yet and are poor and are rich, like John spoke unto the angel of one of those churches of Asia, you are in poverty if you are rich.

And of course we would wonder how it could be. It can't be in this earthly kingdom that we are both poor and rich, but in the spiritual kingdom it is so that we are poor in ourselves and we have no merits of our own.

We have no boasting to make of our successes but rather our riches are found in that grace work of the Lord Jesus Christ who suffered and died for us that we have the hope of eternal life.

So we are rich in that we have this hope.

So we can this day, brothers and sisters, be comforted with that comfort of the gospel of the forgiveness of sins and we can uplift our hearts to believe personally as we find ourselves the forgiveness of all sins in Jesus' name and blood.

And I myself felt very tempted today to come before you, the children of God, even to use such a text as we have read for today and I felt greatly my doubts and my fears and I feel that need for the gospel for my own part and ask if you are able to preach that gospel to me I promise to believe in Jesus' name. Amen.