RENDER UNTO CAESAR

By Matthew Martin

 And He said to them, “Whose image and inscription is this?” They said to Him, “Caesar’s. “And He said to them, “Render therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” When they had heard these words, they marveled, and left Him and went their way. Matthew 22:21-22 (NKJV)

THE BOSTON TEA PARTY

Washington DC is an amazing place and a “must see” for every American. Our family just finished our first-ever visit to DC and were awed at the rich legacy of freedom we share as Americans.

As we arrived in town, the Washington DC license plate slogan “Taxation Without Representation” was one of the first things that caught my eye. The term stirred a vague recollection of bygone history lessons from my youth, but the Boston Tea Party display at the American History Museum quickly reminded me of the true nature of its meaning. I had wrongly remembered the Boston Tea Party as a protest against taxation, itself. However, the true protest was against the legality of taxing citizens who had no representation in Parliament. By British law citizens could not be taxed unless they had Parliamentary representation. Interestingly, the citizens of Washington DC are taxed just like the rest of the country, but currently have no representation in Congress—how ironic!

LAWFULLNESS OR OWNERSHIP?

It’s compelling that America’s fight for independence was born out of unlawful taxation: the same argument the Pharisees and Herodians attempted to trap Jesus with centuries ago. In a free country with a “government of the people, by the people, for the people,” the lines of delineation between income ownership are likely a bit murkier than they were in Jesus day. When Jesus was on earth, the Jews were under the control of the Roman Empire. Judea was ruled by Roman procurators, whose chief responsibility was to collect and deliver an annual tax to the empire. Whatever the procurators raised beyond the quota assigned they could keep. Not surprisingly, they often imposed confiscatory taxes, which were unlawful.[i] The tax system was both oppressive and corrupt because it amounted to legal extortion.

The Pharisees' and Herodians' question to Jesus, “Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not?” was a trap. Their intent was to trick Jesus into picking sides between the growing sentiment among the Jews that it was time for a tax revolt and the Roman government who was responsible to levy and enforce the unfair taxes. A yes or no answer to the question could have gotten Jesus arrested or killed.

Jesus' answer, “Render therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s,” wisely diverted the topic from lawfulness to ownership. The Greek word for render, apodidōmi, centers around the concept of repayment or giving back money that was borrowed or owed. Since Caesar actually owned the money, taxation was merely returning the money to its rightful owner. Once ownership is determined it removes the angst of taxation.

THE THINGS THAT ARE GOD’S

As Christians, we often fall into the lawfulness vs ownership trap when it comes to using our time and resources here on earth. When we wrongly view our time and money through the lens of an unfair tax system, we have the constant strain of trying to determine how much is rightfully ours and how much is rightfully God’s. This was the trap the Pharisees had fallen into. They tithed even the smallest herbs from their herb gardens but neglected justice and mercy and faithfulness. Because they were so focused on keeping earthly treasure, they missed the greatest treasure of all—Jesus Christ.

      When we focus on getting and keeping things we are actually borrowing from God—our time, money, and resources. We miss out on the most important things—the souls of people and treasure in heaven.  Correctly viewing God as the rightful owner of all things removes the strain of determining how much is lawfully ours and makes it easy to be generous and live wisely.

THE CHALLENGE

1.     Be faithful

Everything we have is a trust from God—be faithful with all that we have. Luke 16:11 “If then you have not been faithful in the unrighteous wealth, who will entrust to you the true riches?”

2.     Be generous

II Corinthians 9:6-7 “The point is this: whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.”

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[i] http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Judaism/revolt.html

THE POWER OF GRACE

By Matthew Martin

"Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need." Hebrews 4:16

AMAZING GRACE

Grace is simply the favor of God made available to all humankind. The Greek word charis [grace] means kindness or favor. From the grace that Noah found in God’s eyes that saved him and his family from the flood, to the grace that enabled the apostles to persevere through extreme trials; God’s grace is the power that pours His love and kindness upon His children.

The concept of Grace is somewhat mysterious when we consider the broadness of its use in Scripture. Christian writer, Max Lucado, summarized grace nicely, when he wrote that God’s grace is both saving and sustaining in nature.  Grace leads us to faith in Jesus Christ, and then sustains in our daily walk with Him. Thus, God’s grace is all-encompassing in our lives as Christians; God’s grace is our constant companion; God’s grace is amazing!

PROPELLING GRACE

In a sense, grace acts like a propellant of God’s work in the world. Propellants come in all shapes and sizes, depending on the object that needs to be moved, but most of us use common propellants every day when we use aerosol cans. From shaving products, to hair sprays, to cleaning products, to my personal favorite—Reddi-wip, we are all familiar with products under pressure in a can.

An aerosol propellant is a gas, under pressure, that is used to spray out the contents of a can as the pressure is released. While the product is emptied from the canister, the propellant has the ability to expand, thus, keeping constant pressure inside the can until the useful product is completely used up. Propellants help disperse the products in the most efficient and effective way, providing the greatest benefit to the user.

Grace is God’s propellant in our lives. We are all products under pressure. Paul wrote about this in his letter to the Corinthians, when he talked about his “thorn in the flesh” and how God’s grace continually made up for the weakness the “thorn” caused him.

^“Three different times I begged the Lord to take it away. Each time he said, 'My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.’ So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through me. That’s why I take pleasure in my weaknesses, and in the insults, hardships, persecutions, and troubles that I suffer for Christ. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”  II Corinthians 12:8-10

Just like aerosol propellants expand to fill the void left as the product is used up, God’s grace expands into our lives to fill the voids left by our weakness as humans. For the unbeliever, grace fills the void of unbelief and produces faith, and, to the believer, grace fills the void between the “God-sized” tasks we are called to accomplish and our human limitations.

THE CHALLENGE

"Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need." Hebrews 4:16

1.     Identify where we need grace.

2.     Confidently approach the throne of grace for God’s mercy and help.

3.     Ask God to fill the areas in our lives where we are weak with the power of His grace.

“My chains are gone I've been set free My God, my Savior has ransomed me and like a flood His mercy reigns Unending love, amazing grace”

       —Chris Tomlin Amazing Grace (My Chains Are Gone)

God’s grace is all we need,

NEVER OUT OF THE FIGHT

Matthew Martin

“Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called and about which you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses.” I Timothy 6:12

LONE SURVIVOR

The 2014 hit movie, Lone Survivor was based on the true story of Marcus Luttrell of Seal Team 10 and their ill-fated mission, Operation Redwing, during the Afghan War, in 2005.

The purpose of the mission was to gather intelligence on Taliban leaders considered a threat to US forces in the Afghan theater of operations. Unfortunately, the mission was soon compromised when a group of goat herders stumbled upon the SEAL’s location. Faced with the difficult decision of killing or releasing the civilians, who could reveal their whereabouts to the Taliban, the team voted to release them and within the hour were fighting for their lives.

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“My Nation expects me to be physically harder and mentally stronger than my enemies. If knocked down, I will get back up, every time. I will draw on every remaining ounce of strength to protect my teammates and to accomplish our mission. I am never out of the fight…

—Navy SEAL Ethos

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SEAL Team 10 fought to the death and Luttrell was the only survivor. Badly wounded, he managed to walk and crawl seven miles to evade capture. He was given shelter by an Afghan tribe, who alerted the Americans of his presence, and was finally rescued six days later.[i]

Marcus Luttrell is a fighter who fought for his team and fought for his life. Despite living with the lingering effects of his brutal injuries, Luttrell continues to fight. He started the Lone Survivor Foundation to help wounded Veterans and still writes and speaks extensively on behalf of those who risk their lives to serve our country.

NEVER OUT OF THE FIGHT

The Apostle Paul was a fighter. In his final words to Timothy, he said, “I have fought a good fight.” Hmm… why did Paul fight, whom did he fight, and why did he fight? After all, fighting seems pretty un-Christian to me. In fact, Jesus said “Love your enemies, turn the other cheek, and go the extra mile.” That doesn’t sound like, if you get an opportunity to fight—take it! Yet Paul, by his own admission, was never out of the fight and fought to the end of his life.

What type of fighting is Paul talking about then? To us, fighting is an act of physical or verbal violence between human combatants. The fight Paul speaks of in his letters is about our struggle to live like Jesus in a broken world, which requires a combative attitude.

Fighting the fight of faith embodies three distinct directives for the Christian. The word fight comes from the Greek word ἀγων which means to struggle, literally (to compete for a prize), figuratively (to contend with an adversary), or genitive case (to endeavor to accomplish something): —fight, labor fervently, strive.

Directive One—Compete:

Fight in the sense of a contest. In order to compete for a prize in an athletic event, the fight is initially with oneself. It starts with the enormous self-discipline of training—the daily grind of eating right, training hard, and getting adequate time for rest and recovery. As Christians we compete for prizes or awards for how well we do in our struggle with ourselves—our self-discipline.

“All athletes are disciplined in their training. They do it to win a prize that will fade away, but we do it for an eternal prize.” I Corinthians 9:25

Directive Two—Contend:

Fight the Adversary. Our fight of faith is against an unseen adversary—the devil, himself! We are not talking about a funny little guy in a red suit holding a pitchfork, but a bona fide sadist who will use any means necessary to destroy our Christian testimony and keep us in bondage.

“Because your fight has not been with flesh and blood, but with Principalities and The Rulers and The Powers of this dark world and with wicked spirits which are under Heaven.”

 Ephesians 6:12

Directive Three—Endeavor:

Fight to accomplish. Remember heaven is our home—not Planet Earth! Don’t get comfortable here and stop striving to accomplish the good things God has planned for your life. Take hold of your life of faith and “the eternal life to which you are called,” as believers in Jesus Christ, and endeavor to fight to the end as Paul did.

“Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called and about which you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses.” I Timothy 6:12

The Christian’s life is indeed a fight. It takes a warrior’s spirit and attitude to live as Jesus lived. Like the Navy SEAL’s, we are “never out of the fight”. Fortunately, we are “teamed” with the Lord Jesus Christ and other believers fighting with us, providing strength and encouragement in the heat of battle.

“NEVER OUT OF THE FIGHT”

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[i] https://marcusluttrell.com/bio/