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What belongs to God? · Exploring The Holy Scriptures with Rev Dr David Wright

• 0:33
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome, sisters and brothers, and peace be with you.
• 0:38
  SPEAKER_00: May the words on my lips and the meditations in our hearts be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, our strength and our Redeemer.
• 0:48
  SPEAKER_00: Amen.
• 0:52
  SPEAKER_00: A couple of days ago I was chatting with one of the men who manages the building where Kim and I are living, and he began to talk about things that are becoming more and more familiar these days the rising cost of living, the price of the weekly shopping, taxes, and whether anything ever seems to get cheaper.
• 1:24
  SPEAKER_00: Eventually he said something that made me smile.
• 1:29
  SPEAKER_00: You know, sometimes I wonder whether the government owns everything I earn.
• 1:37
  SPEAKER_00: It was said with a laugh, but there was something serious behind it.
• 1:44
  SPEAKER_00: Money has a remarkable ability to raise questions about who owns what, who has authority, and what we owe to others.
• 2:00
  SPEAKER_00: And that brings us directly into today's gospel Matthew chapter twenty two verses fifteen to twenty two.
• 2:14
  SPEAKER_00: The religious leaders come to Jesus with what appears to be an innocent question.
• 2:22
  SPEAKER_00: Is it lawful to pay taxes to the emperor or not?
• 2:29
  SPEAKER_00: However, this isn't really a question.
• 2:33
  SPEAKER_00: It's a trap.
• 2:35
  SPEAKER_00: If Jesus says yes, pay the tax, he can be accused of siding with the Roman occupiers.
• 2:45
  SPEAKER_00: If he says no, don't pay it, they can report him to the Roman authorities as a troublemaker.
• 2:55
  SPEAKER_00: Either answer could get Jesus into serious trouble.
• 3:01
  SPEAKER_00: So Jesus asks them for a coin, and he asks Whose head is this?
• 3:10
  SPEAKER_00: And they reply The Emperor's.
• 3:14
  SPEAKER_00: And that leads Jesus to say these famous words Give therefore to the emperor the things that are the emperors, and to God the things that are God's.
• 3:35
  SPEAKER_00: It is one of those sayings that sounds simple until we really stop and think about it.
• 3:44
  SPEAKER_00: Because Jesus isn't simply giving advice about paying taxes.
• 3:52
  SPEAKER_00: He's asking a much bigger question.
• 3:56
  SPEAKER_00: What belongs to God?
• 4:01
  SPEAKER_00: The coin carries the image of the emperor.
• 4:07
  SPEAKER_00: Jesus says give the emperor what belongs to the emperor.
• 4:14
  SPEAKER_00: But there is something else in this story that is so easy to miss.
• 4:21
  SPEAKER_00: Genesis chapter one verse twenty seven tells us so God created mankind in his own image.
• 4:31
  SPEAKER_00: In the image of God he created them.
• 4:35
  SPEAKER_00: Male and female, he created them.
• 4:41
  SPEAKER_00: So the Bible tells us that human beings also carry an image.
• 4:47
  SPEAKER_00: Being created in the image of God means that we are made to reflect God's character, act as his representatives on earth, and possess inherent dignity.
• 5:07
  SPEAKER_00: The coin bears Caesar's image.
• 5:13
  SPEAKER_00: We bear God's image.
• 5:19
  SPEAKER_00: Follow my logic here, please, because in this light, suddenly Jesus' answer becomes much, much more challenging.
• 5:34
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, we have responsibilities as citizens of our countries.
• 5:40
  SPEAKER_00: We pay taxes, we obey the law, we participate in society, we have responsibilities to our communities and to our neighbors.
• 5:51
  SPEAKER_00: Christian faith does not mean withdrawing from the world.
• 5:58
  SPEAKER_00: Now here Jesus reminds us that our deepest allegiance belongs somewhere else.
• 6:08
  SPEAKER_00: We belong to God.
• 6:12
  SPEAKER_00: Our money may carry the image of a king, a monarch, a national symbol or a famous person.
• 6:20
  SPEAKER_00: Our passports may tell us what country we belong to.
• 6:24
  SPEAKER_00: Our addresses may tell us where we live.
• 6:28
  SPEAKER_00: Our citizenship may tell us which nation we belong to, but beneath all of that is something much deeper.
• 6:39
  SPEAKER_00: We carry the image of God.
• 6:43
  SPEAKER_00: And Jesus says Give to God the things that are God's.
• 6:52
  SPEAKER_00: And that now begs us to ask what belongs to God?
• 7:01
  SPEAKER_00: The answer is everything our time, our abilities, our possessions, our relationships, even our decisions, our hopes, our fears, our future, our very lives.
• 7:26
  SPEAKER_00: There is yet another important detail in this encounter.
• 7:34
  SPEAKER_00: The people questioning Jesus are trying to force him into an either or choice.
• 7:44
  SPEAKER_00: Are you loyal to Caesar or are you loyal to God?
• 7:51
  SPEAKER_00: Jesus refuses their simplistic question.
• 7:56
  SPEAKER_00: He reminds them that we live in the world.
• 8:01
  SPEAKER_00: But we are not ultimately owned by the world.
• 8:07
  SPEAKER_00: We have earthly responsibilities, but our ultimate identity is found in God.
• 8:14
  SPEAKER_00: And oh how important that is today.
• 8:20
  SPEAKER_00: We live in a world where people are constantly encouraged to define themselves by what they own, what they earn, what political side they support, what nationality they have, what job they do, or what status they possess.
• 8:40
  SPEAKER_00: Jesus offers us something deeper.
• 8:45
  SPEAKER_00: You are made in God's image.
• 8:50
  SPEAKER_00: Before you are a consumer, you are God's creation.
• 8:57
  SPEAKER_00: Before you are a voter, you are God's creation.
• 9:03
  SPEAKER_00: Before you are rich or poor, you are God's creation.
• 9:09
  SPEAKER_00: Before you are successful or struggling, you are God's creation.
• 9:17
  SPEAKER_00: Before you are popular or forgotten, you are God's creation.
• 9:28
  SPEAKER_00: So are the people around you the person who speaks and votes differently from you the neighbour you just don't understand the refugee arriving in your community the person sleeping rough on the street the elderly person who feels forgotten the young person wondering whether they have any future the person whose faith is different from yours.
• 10:07
  SPEAKER_00: They too bear the image of God, and once we accept that truth, it changes the way we look at people.
• 10:20
  SPEAKER_00: Perhaps that is the real challenge hidden inside Jesus' words.
• 10:27
  SPEAKER_00: We can become very good at asking, What do I own?
• 10:34
  SPEAKER_00: What do I owe?
• 10:36
  SPEAKER_00: How much tax?
• 10:38
  SPEAKER_00: How much money?
• 10:40
  SPEAKER_00: How much time?
• 10:42
  SPEAKER_00: How much effort?
• 10:44
  SPEAKER_00: But Jesus asks us another question What belongs to God?
• 10:52
  SPEAKER_00: And the answer is not simply a percentage of our income.
• 10:58
  SPEAKER_00: It is not one hour on a Sunday morning.
• 11:02
  SPEAKER_00: It is not simply our prayers.
• 11:05
  SPEAKER_00: We belong to God.
• 11:13
  SPEAKER_00: So today, as we look at the world around us with its arguments about money, politics, power and responsibility, let us remember the image that matters most.
• 11:30
  SPEAKER_00: The image on that coin belonged to Caesar, but the image within us belongs to God.
• 11:48
  SPEAKER_00: So let us give to the world what is properly ours to give our taxes, our work, our citizenship, our service and our responsibility.
• 12:02
  SPEAKER_00: But let us give to God what is God's our hearts, our lives, our love, our obedience and our worship.
• 12:18
  SPEAKER_00: It is my prayer that when humanity remembers whose image we bear, we will begin to live differently more generously more compassionately more humbly more faithfully.
• 12:40
  SPEAKER_00: You see, we are not ultimately defined by what we possess we are defined by whose image we carry, and we carry the image of God Ilunga Itenga Oteatua tematua tama metewa tapu Amine.