Free to Live in Two Kingdoms (Matthew 22:15-22)

WHAT MAKES CHRISTIANS DIFFERENT?

Christians Live in Two Kingdoms

FREE TO LIVE IN TWO KINGDOMS

1. Be aware of the trap of __________.

2. Two kingdoms: Two _________, one _______ _____.

3. Two kingdoms: Different in _______ and ______.

4. Two kingdoms: _______ ____ the _________ one.

Passionate about proclaiming Christ’s forgiveness to all people, Living Savior Evangelical Lutheran Church comes together as a Christian family to equip and care for all—from young to old—with the Gospel of Jesus.

SERMON

Grace and peace to you from God our Father and from Jesus Christ, our Lord:

There are certain birthdays and anniversaries that come and go and you don’t think too much of them, but then you have the milestone anniversaries, the church anniversaries celebrating certain years. Other years you don’t even think about how old the church is and then that milestone year comes, those birthdays, parties, as you get a little bit older, you don’t want to think about, but then you hit one of those milestone ones and you get everyone together. Then there is the anniversary, the celebration that we had this weekend or continue to have for the 4th of July where we have the celebrations for our country. But then some just feel a little bit different. As we think a little bit more about the history, that is what happens at those milestone events. So many of those come and go, but on those milestone ones, you begin to think a little bit more about how we got here. You look at the past and look at the future, and reminisce a little bit.

I think that’s what has happened in our country this year, as we celebrate 250 years since the writing of the Declaration of Independence, a little bit more focus on the history and the blessings that we have as this nation. As we look at this, we also want to then look at a little bit of the history and what God is telling us going forward as well about what we live in. We know that in our country we have such great freedoms, but because of Christ, we don’t have just freedom in that one kingdom, freedom in the country of the United States, but we have freedom to live in two kingdoms. We are going to focus on those two kingdoms in our sermon today and see how God has blessed us with those two and how we can think about them and how they differ. But we are also going to look at how one has more eternal meaning for us.

It’s kind of nice to bring up history as we talk about this because when we get the context of our sermon for the Jewish people, it’s important to understand the history that they were going through. We, in our minds, have about 250 years this nation has been around, so you can think back. I think last summer we were celebrating 175 years as a synod. You think about 250 years, a little less than that, about 200 years before the events that were going on in the text here, the Jewish nation had a rebellion, kind of a revolt you could say. There are some similarities to the American Revolution. There was this thing called the Maccabean Revolt where they took over, defeated the Seleucids, and now the Jewish people for a short time, after not leading their nation for such a long time, were in charge. But that didn’t last very long.

Again, maybe in our context, think about 100 years ago, that was WWI and WWII. You don’t have memories of that, but you have seen documentaries or maybe you’ve talked to relatives or people that you know (parents and others, grandparents) who experienced some of those wars. So it’s kind of a fresh memory. At that time for the Jewish people, that’s when the Romans came into power, about 100 years before what was going on here for Jesus and the Jewish people in our text. As the Romans took over power, the Jews were no longer free to do everything the way they wanted to religiously and everything. They still had some powers, but the Romans were in control now.

You put yourself in their place after how many years of freedom we have had in the United States, and what would happen if we now were led by a foreign country and lost some of our freedoms? We’d have some questions. How do we treat the government? What do we do? Is it right to pay taxes and so forth? This is the question that the people come to Jesus with. It says: Then the Pharisees went out and laid plans to trap him in his words. They sent their disciples to him along with the Herodians. The Pharisees and the Herodians normally didn’t mix, but here they are trying to trap Jesus. “Teacher,” they said, “we know that you are a man of integrity and that you teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. You aren’t swayed by others, because you pay no attention to who they are. Tell us then, what is your opinion? Is it right to pay the imperial tax to Caesar or not?” It’s a great political question. He was kind of trapped.

Isn’t this true about politics so often? Politics can often be a trap, so what should we be aware of? We should be aware of the trap of politics. When you get into political discussions and disagreements with people, how does that usually end? Do you walk away with that other person that maybe you disagreed with in a better place? Is your relationship better? Do you feel you usually win those arguments? Maybe if you won those arguments, is your relationship better now? Is everything better because you had this great political argument? I’m not saying don’t get into political arguments or don’t have political discussions because Jesus is going to give an answer here, but so often politics are meant to trap. There are so many times when people ask questions and they just want a short answer and politics so often have a much deeper answer. There is this level and that level and it’s so hard in today’s world, where there are soundbites and little clips where things can be taken out of context, which make it easy to get trapped.

As a pastor who sometimes gets asked political questions, I wish we could be like Jesus, who can give such a wise answer, but for us, politics are often a trap. I think you can understand that as well.

So as they are trying to trap Jesus and flatter Him, Jesus knows it. It says: But Jesus, knowing their evil intent, said, “You hypocrites, why are you trying to trap me? Show me the coin used for paying the tax.” It’s kind of interesting that Jesus in the Gospels is the only one who uses the word “hypocrites.” He knows the hearts and He can rightly judge when someone is a hypocrite. So He asks for the coin. They brought him a denarius, and he asked them, “Whose image is this? And whose inscription?” “Caesar’s,” they replied. Then he said to them, “So give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s.” When they heard this, they were amazed. So they left him and went away. What is the trap? If Jesus was to answer “Pay the tax,” then all the people who were trying to follow Jesus as a Messiah/Savior would maybe get upset because He’s deciding with the Romans and not the Jews. The Pharisees don’t like Jesus because He’s becoming popular so if Jesus would have said don’t pay the tax, the Roman government could have arrested Him. Then the Pharisees would have been very pleased. So we understand how they are coming to Him with this question and rightfully so, wondering what to do, some maybe, but others trying to trap Him. But with such wisdom He gives this answer and explains the two kingdoms that we’re in. As Christians, sometimes we describe it by saying we have one foot in one kingdom, an earthly kingdom, and one foot in the other. But I think it’s better to say we’re always in both kingdoms; an earthly kingdom and a spiritual kingdom. We know that we owe things to both kingdoms and there are commands for both. He says to give to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s. So there are two kingdoms: two commands, one above all.

If you look at His words of giving to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s, maybe an easy way to understand this is to look at the Ten Commandments and the commands about these two—the commands about serving God, loving God, and the command about serving the government. When we look at the Fourth Commandment first, it says to honor your Father and Mother that it will go well with you and that you may enjoy a long life on the earth. We understand that to not just talk about a parent but about authority. So we say “What does this mean?” We should fear and love God that we do not dishonor or anger our parents or others in authority, but honor, serve and obey them, and give them love and respect. What is the government owed?—honor, to serve them, to obey them, to give them love and respect. (See Luther’s Small Catechism.)

It’s a little fascinating that in our American culture in the last 20 years or so, every four years the political party in power has changed. So maybe what we need to hear every four years changes a little bit. There are times when we are very much in favor of who is in power and then other times, not so much. But is what the government owed the same? To honor, obey, to serve, treat them with love and respect? It’s pretty easy to say that and for each of us then to really examine our hearts and say “I’m doing pretty good now” or “I did pretty good before, but maybe not so much.” We can struggle but it doesn’t matter who is in charge. God has placed that government above us. That’s what Romans 13 tells us—that we’re to serve and honor.

So Jesus says to give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s, not just money, but also to serve, honor and respect. But what do we then owe to God? The First Commandment—you shall have no other gods. What does this mean? We should fear, love and trust in God above all things. How are we doing on that? To fear, love and trust God above all things? (See Luther’s Small Catechism.)

Let’s think about that again, how our political powers change. There might be a time when you’re happy and saying “God, you’ve blessed this country. We’re going in the right direction,” and then you hear the voices that say “Those in power, they are destroying our country! We need to be afraid and so fearful!” Are we trusting in God above all things? Are we letting fear drive us and worry? Or is God really in control? Is God greater than them? And think a little bit about it—do I think the government can fix everything? Do I give more worship and praise, more patriotism, more care about the country I’m in than the eternal kingdom I’m in, the spiritual kingdom? The government can do a lot, but I shouldn’t look to them to be the Savior. They are not the enemy and they are not the Savior. God is the Savior.

So we look at these two commands and we see how they are both good for us. Both kingdoms are important, but notice the meaning of that First Commandment. We should fear, love and trust in God above all things. I think every one of us can take that to heart and say we struggle at times to trust God in the midst of changes in our country and around the world. Let’s look at the description of who Jesus is to understand a little different then how those kingdoms work.

When they talked about Jesus, as they are kind of flattering Him, they said, “we know that you are a man of integrity and that you teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. But then they speak some truth. “You aren’t swayed by others, because you pay no attention to who they are.” Isn’t that kind of the opposite of politics and the government? They are really concerned about who people are and maybe what they can give to a country, the nation. In our politics today, it’s a lot about what can people do for those in power. So they are much more concerned about who people are. When you think about how they bring about obedience, when we are asked to honor, serve and obey them, how do they do this? There are two kingdoms, but they are very different in power and fear. The government, as Romans 13 talks about, has the power of the sword and that we shouldn’t be fearful if we’re doing things right, but we should be fearful if we’re committing crimes and not doing the right thing because the government is given power. It upholds its laws through fear, fear of punishment. You don’t do these things. If you don’t pay this, you commit a crime. There is the fear of punishment. That’s how it works. When governments, the people in authority, don’t carry out those punishments, if there isn’t a fear, then crime increases. So the government should have power and there should be a fear involved that we want to be obedient in the nation.

Is that how God’s Kingdom works? God is the King of kings. He is God over all nations. We sang about that in the Psalm. Though He has all power, do we fear Him? The words that the people spoke to Jesus said “You pay no attention to who people are. You are not swayed by them.” We know that God loves all and Jesus treated everyone the same, but then think about what He did for us and for the world.

As He went to the cross, did He die for the elite or the best or people who could give back to Him? No, He died for everyone. He had you in mind. He had me in mind. He had the sins of the world on Him to take away all fear. So God has all power, but now our relationship with Him and the reason that we serve and obey Him is not because of fear but love. And now you see how those two kingdoms really are different.

We are in this earthly kingdom under nations, one that we want to obey and serve, and we can love a nation, but it’s mainly one of power and fear. But in our Godly kingdom, we are in one of grace and faith because Jesus died for you. He took away the sins and forgives you for the times that you are boastful in the wrong things or fearful in the wrong way. This is the blessing of being in God’s kingdom, in the kingdom that Jesus, rules because His blood washes over all. He is the one who died for us and He will judge. But we will be given His righteousness.

So how do we then apply this to ourselves? As we look at the world that we live in and that there are so many different things to focus on, in these two kingdoms, we want to focus on the eternal one, especially the Church. As a church, we share the Gospel. We go out and we want people to know of their salvation and that they are part of God’s eternal kingdom. And as individuals, we want you to be mostly focused on this. To be honest, politics are too small of a thing for the Church to be focused on. Governments come and go. Politicians come and go, but your God is eternal.

Now you, as an individual, can you work in the government? Can you be involved in politics? Can you be political? Of course! You can be a good citizen. You can fulfill your role as a citizen in so many ways. But we can trust God in all things. We want our purpose to be fulfilling and sharing that Gospel message.

To think about it in a few ways as well, we can become fearful of what might happen to our country as much as we’re thankful for the country, but there have been some theologians that have said as much as it’s hard for us to understand, Christianity can thrive in any government. We look at the world and we look at oppression in places where it’s hard to be religious, but my wife and I and children went to the LWMS convention this week and for a time, they shut off the cameras because a man from a country where it is very dangerous to be a Christian, to share the Gospel you can be arrested, he was there and sharing and talking about how much Gospel work they were doing. The Gospel continued to go out even though it was being oppressed. This is how Christianity started. Even in the Roman world, as it was oppressed, it grew and grew and grew because it’s not about just one country or culture. It’s about an eternal God who loves all people.

So that is maybe the other encouragement. Politics can be a trap. Don’t let politics divide you. Think about it as you come up and commune. We get to commune as this Christian family. Do you know the political leanings of those that are with you? What if you came up and someone was wearing a political shirt that you are opposed to? Would that affect you as you were communing? It might, but should it? We are united in Christ. We are forgiven. But we let these things divide us, and in the same way, when we go out into the world, we let these things divide us. We have these feelings and thoughts about people and we don’t want to love them or we think about them in certain ways because they stand for this or that, but God has a greater purpose for us.

Think about what we are celebrating this weekend, the 250 years of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. One of the beautiful things that Declaration talks about is that all men are created equal. Why that is such an amazing thing to say is not because they discovered that or they were the first to write it. Where does that come from? It’s a much bolder thought because God created us all equal. God loves us all and more than that: For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. (John 3:16) So we can go and love and serve and focus on an eternal kingdom that will not be overturned because of one person or one political party. We are in an eternal kingdom that will thrive and survive. We can be thankful for the physical kingdom that God gives us, the freedoms we have to go and share that and bring more people into this beautiful, Godly kingdom that will go on into eternity because Jesus so loved you and the world. Amen.

And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4:7) Amen.