He Is Good | God & Caesar | Mark 12:13-17 | Coleton Segars

The teaching text for today is from Mark 12, verses 13 through 17.

Mark 12:13–17

It says, Later than uh they sent some Pharisees and Herodians to Jesus to catch him in his words.

They came to him and said, Teacher, we know that you're a man of integrity.

You aren't swayed by others because you pay no attention to who they are.

But you teach the way of God in accordance with the truth.

Is it right to pay the imperial tax to Caesar or not?

Should we pay or shouldn't we?

But Jesus knew their hypocrisy.

Why are you trying to trap me?

He asked.

Bring me a denarius and let me look at it.

So they brought him a coin and he asked them, Whose image is this?

And whose inscription?

Caesar's, they replied.

Then Jesus said to them, Then give back to Caesar what is Caesar's and give to God and what is God's.

And they were amazed at him.

This is the word of the Lord.

On Wednesday, September 10th, 2025, Charlie Kirk, an American political activist and entrepreneur, was shot and killed at an event held by his organization Turning Point.

Shortly thereafter, some people with evil in their hearts began celebrating the death of an image bearer, a husband, and a father of two.

Others began to mourn.

And then, as it normally happens, what followed was a mass of debates and arguments on both sides.

And then somewhere along the way, there developed an idea and a call to church and to church people that if your church or your pastor did not talk about Charlie Kirk and the church service from the stage or from the pulpit, that you should get up in the middle of that service and you should leave.

So a couple days later on set on Sunday, September 14th, people began leaving churches in the middle of service or leaving churches altogether because the name of Charlie Kirk wasn't spoken from the pulpit.

Now, this is very, very important.

They did not leave because Jesus wasn't preached or worshipped.

They did not leave because the preacher was a false prophet, bringing a false gospel the way that scriptures tell us to do that, if that's true.

They didn't leave because Jesus' death and resurrection wasn't talked about.

They left because another man's death and name wasn't preached and talked about.

And in so doing, they rendered unto Caesar that which was God's.

They gave an allegiance and they gave a loyalty and they gave a boldness to Caesar that only belongs to God.

So we live in a time where the church wrestles to understand in the West, here.

It wrestles to understand and live obediently to what Jesus says in this passage, render unto Caesar that which is Caesar's, and to God that which is God's.

And so today, as we continue our series, He is Good, looking at Mark's gospel, what I want to do is I want to give you some background about what's actually taking place in this particular text, what's happening in this time in history, and then I want to look at what we can learn from what Jesus actually says, the answer that he gives, because the answer that he gives isn't just for these people.

It's universally true and it still applies to us today, maybe more today than it did in the past.

So I want to look at what we can learn from what Jesus says, and then I want to look at the challenges that we face, that me and you face within the church to try and figure out how to actually live obediently to this brilliant thing that Jesus tells us to do.

So what we can learn, background, what we can learn from Jesus, and then the challenge that we will face and that we actively do face in this nation, trying to follow Jesus obediently.

So, everybody good with that?

Background learning things?

Okay, great.

Background.

This is a long quote, but it sums it up pretty good.

Mark Strauss in his commentary just gives us three paragraphs that sums up everything that's taking place.

This is what he says about the tax in this question.

He says, Archelius, the son of Herod the Great, the Tetrarch of Judea, mentioned in Matthew 2, he was removed and exiled by Caesar Augustus because of his misrule.

And so the Jews of Judea were now, at this point during this conversation, were under Roman rule, uh, ruled by and governed by a Roman prefect under the authority of the emperor, and because of that, they were required to pay into a tax into the fiscus or the emperor's treasury.

Because they're under Roman rule, they do not rule themselves, they have to pay a tax.

This imposition of the poll tax.

In 86, it sparked a revolt led by Judas the Galilean.

And notice what he said, he chided his countrymen for paying tribute to the Romans rather than to God alone.

Do not render unto Caesar that which is Caesar's.

That's what he's saying.

The revolt was quickly put down, but the tax remained highly unpopular among patriotic Jews.

The coin would have been stamped with an image of Tiberius Caesar.

I believe we have an image, Colin, if you want to go to it.

The coin would have been stamped with an image of Tiberius Caesar who ruled Rome from AD 14 to 37, and it would have had the words on it, uh, son of the divine Augustus.

And so such a coin would have been highly offensive to pious Jews because it bore an idolatrous image and extolled the emperor as a god, and so the coin itself violated the first and second of the Ten Commandments.

And so they would have hated the coin.

Many of them wouldn't even touch the coin, hold the coin, use the coin because it was so offensive to them.

Not supposed to have idols.

And so on, uh Strauss continues and he says, So, some Jews, for example, the zealots, they just flatly refused to pay it.

We will not pay it.

And they were revolutionaries and they were revolting because it was for them an admission to the Roman right to rule.

If I pay you this, that means that you do rule me.

And they were actually ruling them, and so they wouldn't pay it.

The Pharisees, in this discussion, they disliked paying it for the reasons stated above, but they didn't actively oppose it.

And then the Herodians had no objections to it.

They loved it.

Since the Herodian dynasty was ruling in Galilee under the authority of the Romans.

And so the Romans were empowering the Herodians, and they're like, we don't care.

Pay them whatever they want, as long as we stay in power, who cares if they're in power?

And so the intent of the question posed to Jesus was to force him to identify himself either with the zealots or with the Herodians.

If he sided with the zealots against taxation, he would be accused of rebellion against the Roman authorities.

If he sided with the Herodians in support of the taxation, he would lose faith with the people who hated Roman rule, and then they were suffering under its crushing tax burden.

And so that's what's taking place here.

That's why they're asking this question.

It is a hypocritical thing.

They're trying to catch him.

They don't actually care.

But they're asking him, trying to trap him and put him, are you with the zealots, are you with the Herodians?

Are you trying to lead a revolution or are you just good with Roman rule and you're actually okay with the pagans?

Which one?

And Jesus answers really, really well.

He doesn't fall into their trap.

And he actually answers in such a way, give unto Caesar that which is Caesar's, give unto God that which is God's.

He answers in such a way that at the end of this passage, it says everyone was amazed.

Even the people that came to trap him, they're like, This guy, he's brilliant.

Like we just cannot seem.

Eventually, we're gonna get to the point that keep asking them questions.

They're eventually getting to the point where we're like, stop asking them questions.

Every time we ask them a question to trap them, it gets better and better and better for him.

Like we just gotta stop asking them questions.

And so they're stunned and amazed by what Jesus says.

And now I want to look at that's the background, and now I want to look at what Jesus actually says.

What do we learn from Jesus' answer?

And so the first thing he says, he says, give back to Caesar that which is Caesar's.

Give back to Caesar that which is Caesar's.

And so what he's seeking to say is that give to the governing authorities that rule you, give to the governing authorities things that do not go against what God says.

That's basically what he's saying.

So Mark Strauss in his commentary again says, Jesus affirmed that Caesar has a legitimate claim, but then so does God.

So give to each his rightful claim.

So long as God's rights were safeguarded, there was no need to question the rights of Caesar.

Civil obedience, attested by paying the tax, no more contradicts or abolishes obedience due to God.

And so paying the tax doesn't make you disobedient to God.

And so don't worry about it.

And so follow and be lawfully obedient to the things that your Caesar, your governing bodies, be lawfully obedient to those things, unless they defy God, unless they get in the way of those things.

And then faithfully choose to follow God and defy your government, where it actually leads you to be disobedient to God.

But if it doesn't force you into disobedience, walk faithfully with God, giving unto Caesar that which is Caesar's.

Paul says this in Romans 13, writing to Christians in Rome under the Emperor Nero, who's lighting Christians on fire and using them as candles for his dinner parties.

He's writing this to them and what they're actively doing.

He's in prison and in certain in Rome, and then he's writing this particular thing.

And so he says, Let everyone be subject to the governing authorities.

Again, who is the governing authority?

Nero, lighting Christians on fire.

Let everyone be subject to the governing authorities.

For there is no authority except that which God has established.

The authorities that exist have been established by God.

Consequently, whoever rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted.

And those who do so will bring judgment on themselves.

Therefore, it is necessary to submit to the authorities, not only because of possible punishment, but also as a matter of conscience.

This is also why you pay taxes, for the authorities are God's servants who give their full time to governing.

Give to everyone what you owe them.

If you owe taxes, pay taxes.

If revenue, then revenue.

If respect, then respect.

If honor, then honor.

And so these things, all of that stuff, the taxes, the revenue, the respect, the honor, those things don't lead you into disobedience to the Ten Commandments.

They don't lead you into disobedience away from God.

And so because those things are required of you, but they're not leading you away from being obedient to God, you can give those things and render those things unto Caesar.

And so that's what he's saying.

Pete Gregg, in one of his books, I couldn't remember which book, but uh, he shared this story of a Christian community that did this really well and like navigated, rendering unto Caesar that which is Caesar's, but also to God that which is God's.

So he talks about this particular uh church that existed back in the um early 1900s, or excuse me, 900s.

He says, the fourth Fatimid Caliph, it was an Islamic extremist leader of the Fatimid dynasty, ruled from 1953 to 1975 in Egypt.

And so when persecuting the church, he once, the the caliph, once issued a decree to close all churches, all of the churches of the Coptic Christian community in the land, and then forbid the church bells to ring.

Capital punishment threatened anyone who dared to meet in a church or even open a church.

And so for nine long years, the churches were closed.

The gates grew rusty, and the pigeons took residence in their sanctuaries.

Some Christians traveled across the desert seeking monasteries in the wilderness so that they could meet for prayer and worship.

However, the majority of them could not afford the time to travel on foot across the desert, so they were forced to stay in their homes on Sundays.

Now, before you go to the next slide, Colin, at this point, if you just, if that's what you hear about a church, the government said you can't meet in your church buildings, you can't meet there and worship.

And then they obeyed that.

It looks like they have rendered unto Caesar way too much power, way too much authority.

They should have pushed back, they should have just continued to meet in the churches and just dealt with the persecution that they deal with because they're supposed to render unto God that which is God, and Caesar has told them they can't meet anymore.

And so it looks like from the start, nine years, they've just rendered unto Caesar way too much power.

But that's not the story.

It goes on.

And Pete says, After nine years, the Caliph decided to see for himself how crushed and silenced the Coptic Christians were now.

So in disguise he set out on a Sunday and walked in the streets of their quarters in old Cairo.

And what he heard was the sound of their prayers, Bible readings, and worship from every house that he passed by.

His reaction was another decree open their church buildings and let them pray as they please.

I thought I'd close the church in every street, only to find that I've opened a church in every house.

And what I love about it is how threading the needle this is, because it seemed like render unto Caesar that which is Caesar's.

You can have our church building.

Fine.

You can have our church building, but you can't take our worship.

And it's this perfect way of looking at like what Jesus is saying.

It was like, look, everybody, I mean, we walked through this thing that was COVID, and people had issues with the buildings closing and the mask that we had to wear and all these different things.

And it's like, those things aren't hindering your worship of Jesus because it doesn't happen in a specific building or it's not hindered by a mask in front of your face.

It doesn't do any of those things.

And I don't actually care what you believe about masks or buildings.

I'm just saying there's a there's something here that I think is important for us to understand that there are spaces that Jesus is saying, if it does not lead you into active disobedience to God, then just be the best citizen you can possibly be.

Because at the end of the day, that's what he's calling us to be.

C.B.

Cranfield says this Jesus is indicating God's rights are to be honored.

And there's no doubt about that, God's rights must be honored.

But that there are obligations to Caesar which do not infringe your rights to God, but are indeed ordained by God.

There are obligations to Caesar which do not infringe the rights of God.

They're ordained by him.

And so even if we disagree, even if we don't like the leader or the governing body that's leading us, so long as they don't lead you into disobedience to Jesus, Jesus is saying, then subject yourself to that leading.

Give unto Caesar that which is Caesar's.

That's the first thing he says.

Then he says, Render unto God, give to God what is God's.

And this is most likely a command, or at least he's referencing a command to love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength, and love your neighbor as yourself.

He's it's it's all encapsulating.

What do we, what is God's?

It's like, well, everything is God's.

And Caesar was created by God.

And so what are we supposed to render unto him?

It's like honestly, everything.

And his point is God gets our first and he gets our most.

He gets first and he gets most.

And so our heart is his before we should ever give it to Caesar.

Our love, our hope, our devotion, our allegiance, all of those things are his first before they're anybody else's.

Our mind, all of our thinking, all of our attention, our strength, all of our time, all of our obedience, the things that we're doing.

What who do those things belong to first and most?

Those things belong first and most to God and to him himself.

And so he gets those things first and most.

He gets our full obedience, he gets our full allegiance.

Even when we disagree with him, with God, he's like, yeah, when when the when the government leads you to be disobedient to me, then don't listen to the government.

But when I lead you to be disobedient to the government, be obedient to me and be disobedient to the government.

Because I get first and most.

And that's what he's saying.

Even when we disagree, even when the practices of the government are leading us into spaces that are negative, we're supposed to give our full allegiance and full obedience to God.

The early church, I mean, you'll know this, the the persecuted church is actively having to do this in many ways, but the early church had to practice this under Roman rule.

They had to practice this thing of like giving to God that which is God's and not giving to Caesar that which is God's.

And so Bruce Shelley in his book on church history says this.

He says, On a certain day in the Roman world, uh, on a certain day in the year, every Roman citizen had to come to the temple of Caesar and burn a pinch of incense there and then say the words, Caesar is Lord.

And when he had done that, he could really go away and worship any God he liked.

They didn't care.

Thus, to the Roman, the Christians seemed utterly intolerant and insanely stubborn.

Had the Christians just been willing to burn the pinch of incense and say formally, Caesar is Lord, they could have gone on worshiping Jesus to their heart's content.

But notice, the Christians would not compromise.

They were like, I don't care.

Anyways, I'm gonna keep going.

That is, that is why the Roman, the uh Rome regarded them as a band of potential revolutionaries threatening the very existence of their empire.

But these people looked at these Christians and are like, just burn, we don't think he's God either.

He's dead.

Like, we don't we don't think that he'll just burn the incense and say the words and nobody cares.

And they were like, we will not, we will not render unto Caesar that which is God's.

We just won't.

And so I don't care if it's incense or words or whatever, I'm not gonna shift on this.

They would not render to Caesar what was God's alone, even when it went against the governing authorities.

They were compellingly defiant in those ways against the government for the sake of God and for the sake of Jesus in his name.

And so that's what we're called to as well.

If the government is seeking to lead us into disobedience to God, then it's like, I'm so sorry, I have to step back, and I cannot be obedient to that.

When we disagree, when it's pushing us into something that we disagree with, but it is also very true, and it's not the world that they lived in, but it's the world that we live in.

We live in a time where we actually put people in power based on our own votes.

And so this is also true the other way, that God should still get our full obedience and our full allegiance, even when we voted for the person in power.

If they do something, and we vote, we like them, we voted for them, we're so we celebrated when they won or whatever.

We like, we we we're so glad.

But if they do something against the scriptures or lead you to go and do something against the scriptures, even though you voted for them, you must render unto God that which is God's.

And you have to push back, and you you are not supposed to just go, well, I voted for them, so I guess anything they do is right.

No, that's not true.

Even in the case where the leader is someone that you wanted to be in charge, you were not to support them when they're doing things that are anti-biblical or against the scriptures, because you cannot render unto them that which belongs to God.

And he gets our full obedience, he gets our full allegiance.

And if we went along with people who were doing wrong things even though we like them, if we go along with them, even though we like them, but they're doing something wrong, we are justifying something that is against the scriptures, and that's not right.

That's called sin.

We cannot justify sin just because we like the person in office.

And so Jesus is saying our fullest allegiance is to God.

And so we don't render to anyone unconditional trust.

We don't render to anyone other than Jesus unconditional trust, unconditional allegiance, unconditional obedience.

That belongs to God, and so we can't give it to anybody else.

All right.

When we give to Caesar that which belongs to God, um, or we don't give to Caesar that which belongs to Caesar because we don't like Caesar.

Both those things are wrong.

And so places where I've just seen this, notice this, been at this for a minute.

When we don't like Caesar, when we don't like Caesar, or the government, when we don't like them, the struggle that we have and the challenge we face is many people refuse to be obedient to God by giving to Caesar that which is Caesar's because we don't like Caesar.

Caesar's the worst, and so I'm not gonna give him what he is is supposed to receive because I don't like Caesar.

And so, for instance, Romans 13, Paul says, Everyone be subject to the governing authorities.

Don't rebel.

Um, you know, pay taxes, revenue, pay respect, pay honor.

And then it's like, I don't want to give them honor.

They don't deserve my honor.

And it's like, that's not why you give it.

You don't give honor because Caesar deserves honor.

You give honor because God demands that you give honor to Caesar.

And if he's saying it, then you're supposed to render unto God that which is God's.

And you're supposed to render unto Caesar that which is Caesar's because God said to do that.

And so it's never been about.

Well, they don't deserve my respect.

Like, true, they probably don't.

Or at least not all the time.

But you're not doing it because they deserve it.

Paul also says that you're supposed to pray for them.

He writes this to Timothy again in prison, writing to Timothy about Nero and about the governing authorities.

He says, I urge you, first of all, that prayers and petitions and intercessions and thanksgiving be made for all people, for kings and those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness.

This is good, and this pleases God, our Savior, who wants all people, even our governing bodies, to be saved and come to a knowledge of the truth.

Truth.

And so Paul says it pleases God.

It's good.

When you do those things, it pleases him that you're doing that because you're not doing it unto them or for them.

You're doing it because he's asked you to.

And you're like, I don't want to pray for them.

I don't like them.

And he's like, but you're not doing it because of them.

It also says thankfulness.

And so it forces you, even if you don't like the person in office or the governing body, it forces you to go, like, I have to find something to be thankful for.

Ah, I don't want to.

And it's like, but you're not doing it for them.

You're doing it for him.

And some of you out there are like, are we supposed to do that for Hitler too?

I know you guys are thinking about Hitler.

Everybody's always thinking about Hitler.

Are there exceptions to this rule?

Why are you looking for an exception?

Just read the scriptures.

And probably there's something there, but we that's not here, so we're not going to talk about that.

But again, it's important to know Paul's in prison under Nero, lighting Christians on fire and using them for dinner party candles.

And their screams are drowning out, you know, drowned out by drums and music and all the different things at his dinner parties.

It's hard to do these things when they don't deserve it, but the truth is you're not doing it because they deserve it.

You're doing it because God has said, give unto God that which is God's.

And God has said, give unto Caesar that which is his.

And you are to do that even when you don't like them, respect them, give it to them anyways, because you're not doing it for them, you're doing it for God Himself.

And so that's one challenge.

When we don't like the governing bodies, when we don't like them, we struggle to be obedient to God because it's hard to give to Caesar that which is Caesar's because we don't like Caesar.

That is one struggle.

And I would say that's the minor one.

The biggest struggle that I've noticed in the church, the biggest challenge, the greater challenge, is when we actually do like the person, when we voted for them, when we put them in office, when we were excited that they're going to be leading our country or whatever, the greater challenge that we face as Christians is when we like them.

And when that happens, the trap that we can fall into is to give to Caesar that which is God's instead of giving to Caesar that which is Caesar's.

We flip it and we mix it and we begin giving to Caesar that which is God's alone.

So, for example, places where I've seen this, things like evangelism, we're supposed to be sharing about Jesus.

That should be the name on our lips is supposed to be about Jesus.

All the good that Jesus can do for us, everything that He's done.

But many Christians share more about their president that they love, more about the politics that they believe in, and all the good news that their president, politician, or policies can do.

They spend more time evangelizing the good news of their politician than they do about Jesus.

They know more about their candidate and what their candidate can do for them than what Jesus can do for them, and that's on their lips a lot more.

And when that happens, you have rendered your evangelism unto Caesar and not to Jesus.

Sacrifice, devotion, loyalty.

We give that to Caesar when our officials are clearly doing something wrong.

And instead of being honest about it and acknowledging it, we defend them.

We defend them.

They're doing something that it's very clear in the scriptures.

They cannot do that's wrong.

Like we cannot go about that.

People defend them.

And you've given something.

There are plenty of people that don't like the way that God does things in the Bible, and we choose that and go, like, well, that's just their opinion of the scriptures.

But we defend our politician more than we defend God.

Somebody says something against Jesus, and it's like, ah, well, that's just their opinion.

Someone says something against our president or the people that we like.

We bow up, we fight online, we get in arguments, our families split over it.

It's like, your families were only supposed to.

Jesus said, I bring the sword, and the sword will be this thing that divides.

Some people will choose me and some people won't choose me.

And the reason, the only reason to divide.

People are dividing over presidents.

We have rendered unto Caesar that which is C uh that which is God's.

Apologetics.

Apologetics.

Giving a defense for something if you don't know what the word apologetics means.

God calls us to be ready to give a defense for our faith, 1 Peter 3.15.

But instead of having a defense of our faith and what we believe, we have a better defense of our political party and why we hold to that politically.

We use those arguments and that we have a better apology for our policies and our politics than we do for Jesus.

And we use those online in arguments, families, randos on the internet, we just use those against everybody.

We can better defend why our political view and party is correct and why the other is wrong better than you can actually defend your own faith.

You can defend why your policies of your particular candidates or whatever are better.

You know more about them than you're able to actually defend your faith.

And Christian, if that's you, you have rendered unto Caesar your apologetics.

You have rendered unto Caesar your ability to defend what actually only should be given to God.

I don't care if you're able to tell me why this policy is better than this one.

Can you actually go and talk to a Muslim about Jesus and why Jesus is the king that rules the universe?

No, I can't do any of that.

Then shut up about the other thing.

Sorry.

That other thing's not going to change the world.

Attention.

When we give more time and attention to the news, political debates.

Political debates online than you do just a second.

When we know more about politics and policy than we do about the scriptures.

When we spend more time reading the news, watching the news, wherever you find your news, because it's everywhere and it's all the time.

Spend more time doing that.

You know, the Bible's with you 24-7 as well.

Scripture, prayer, fellowship with other believers.

You've rendered unto Caesar your time, your attention.

All of that should have been his.

Discipleship.

Worked in student ministry for a long time.

It was very discouraging.

When I had students in my ministry who knew more about presidential candidates and presidential policies than they did about Jesus, I was like, your parents have discipled you.

They've just given their discipleship to politics.

They've given their discipleship to Donald Trump or to Kamala Harris or to whoever's next.

And they know a ton about things that are not eternal.

They're disciples of presidents and not disciples of a king.

Citizenship and identity.

We're called to imitate Jesus, be formed into his image, to live as citizens of a kingdom, not of this world.

That means that our values should be Jesus' values, not the world's values.

But when we act more American than we do Christian, you have rendered unto Caesar that which is God's.

When you look more like the American dream than you do the dream that Jesus had of a church in Acts 2, where there's no one that has a need.

Every bill is paid.

All the food, everybody in that space has food to eat.

But when our when you look more like the American dream than the dream that Jesus had in the life, you have rendered unto Caesar that which is God's.

Our citizenship and our identity.

We're supposed to be formed into his likeness.

We should always look a little different than the American dream.

We should be oddly formed in that way.

And they just look at us and be like, you don't really fit.

It's like, I don't live here, man.

Faith and hope.

Jesus is the hope of the world.

It's his kingdom coming into the world, his will being done in the world that is the answer to the world's problems.

But when your beliefs and comments begin to shift and become, my politician is the hope of the world.

My politician is the answer to the world's deepest problem.

If we could just get this person in office, then we're really going to see the things going.

It's like you have given that person or that particular group all of your faith and all of your hope.

And you're talking about them as if they're the Messiah.

The Great Commission.

Jesus' commission for how to make the world more Christian was to go into the world.

You want to make the world more Christian?

Go into the world and make more Christians.

We try to make the world more Christian through legislation.

We're trying to create, we just need to get a Christian in office, which I'm all about Christians being in the political spheres.

That's fine.

We just need to get a Christian in office, and our nation will be Christian again.

We're trying to legislate morality.

We're trying to legislate the kingdom of God.

And Jesus has already told us how to bring about the kingdom of God.

The early church was not trying to make the world more Christian by legislation.

They were trying to make the world more Christian by walking out and sharing the gospel and making more Christians because they were following the Great Commission.

Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, teaching them to do everything that I've commanded them to do, baptizing in the name of the Father, Son, Holy Spirit.

Like, and they just did that.

Paul's not writing to the Roman Christians, like, just get Nero out of there and get one of you bad boys in there, and then we're really going to have something with Rome.

Like he wasn't saying that, but he was trying to share the gospel with every single person that he knew.

Because he knew the Great Commission in God's kingdom, morality in God's kingdom moves forward, not by legislating it.

It's by actually doing what he calls us to do.

And so we our Great Commission can't sound, if it doesn't sound like what Jesus said, go therefore and make disciples.

If the Great Commission that we have, the Great American Commission is just get a Christian president in there and then the world's going to be saved.

That's not the Great Commission.

And again, I don't care.

Like it's fine.

I think those things are great.

We have this ability to place people who have particular beliefs in those things, but he has told us, you want to advance the kingdom, you want it to rule the world and take the world.

I've already told you how to do it.

Go therefore and make disciples.

Not go therefore and find a president that can make disciples.

No, it's not that.

When we mix these things, when we don't give Caesar what is Caesar's, or when we give to Caesar that which is God's, we shift from being Christians who live in America to Americans who call themselves Christian.

Our primary formation is from the nation itself and not from Jesus.

So implications for us.

Just one.

If you are a follower of Jesus, you will not fit neatly in any political party.

The reason is because Jesus did not fit neatly with any political party.

He didn't fit neatly with the conservatives, he didn't fit neatly with the liberals.

And you see that in the text here.

The liberal Herodians and the conservative Bible-thumping Pharisees, both of them came together not to worship Jesus, but to get rid of Jesus.

He did not fit in either of their spheres of influence.

Mark Strauss says, Herodians and Pharisees make strange bedfellows.

Their association here automatically raises eyebrows.

The Herodians were opposed to the Pharisees for sure on political grounds.

While the Herodians, or excuse me, while the Herodians supported the pro-Roman Herodian dynasty, the Pharisees rejected any rule apart from the theocratic kingdom under a Davidic ruler.

Yet the two groups were united in their opposition to Jesus.

Neither of them liked Jesus all that much.

They just didn't like him.

He didn't align with them.

And the Pharisees could have been like, come on, man, like you like that Herodians, they believe, I mean, they're pagans.

Like at least we believe some of the Bible.

Like, come on, man.

Like you align with us.

And he's like, I will not align with you that way, just because you believe some of the Bible.

You're wrong.

And the Herodians are like, come on, man, we're like super inclusive.

We got all the power.

Like, why don't you align with you?

We could really do something, you know?

And he's like, no, I won't align with that either.

Pastor and author Rich Philodis says, if you are completely comfortable in any earthly political party, it is because you don't know who you are as a citizen in the kingdom of heaven.

If you're completely comfortable, I'm all set.

You don't know who you are in the kingdom of heaven.

You shouldn't fit comfortably because your king does not and did not fit comfortably either.

He pushed back on both sides because his allegiance was to the father and his father's kingdom and not to any empire or kingdom that can be built here.

Tim Keller in 2005 said this.

And so those of you who know the political sphere in 2005, he said this.

Conservatives think the government should be, should control personal morality, but should leave people free to do whatever they choose with their money.

Liberals, on the other hand, think the government should control and redistribute that money and income, but should leave people free to do whatever they choose in the area of personal morality.

If you are more concerned about abortion, the changing sexual customs, and the severe secularization of the public square, you will tend to vote Republican.

If you're more concerned about racial discrimination, marginalization of the poor, and the erosion of the environment, then you will tend to vote Democrat.

Of course, the problem is that all of those things are concerns for anyone who reads and trusts the Bible.

All of them matter.

Therefore, the two-party system does not serve Christians well.

Currently, it virtually forces us to leave half of our faith at the door, either personal wholeness ethics, or social wholeness ethics.

So what are we to do?

And the answer is we should not idolize one party and demonize the other.

And he goes on, it's a long article.

But what are we to do in this space where one party forces us to divorce ourselves from something that we actually hold to if we hold to the scriptures?

And then the other one just leaves that stuff out and says, divorce yourself from the other stuff.

What are we to do?

Don't make them Messiah.

Don't make them Jesus.

And don't follow them blindly into this space and be like, everything that they do is right or everything that they do is wrong.

It's like, no, they're kind of hitting and missing here and there.

But we're a part of a different kingdom.

So what are we to do?

I think Jesus tells us what to do.

What are we to do?

Whether you like Caesar or not, render unto Caesar that which is Caesar's, so long as it doesn't lead you to be disobedient to God.

And then render unto God's that which is God's, that full obedience and full allegiance.

And never, and where you find yourself, I have given him, I have given Caesar what belongs to God.

Repent and turn back from that.

Don't mix those two.

Because if you do, you wind up being formed more into an American Christian than you are a Jesus following Christian, an actual Christian.

And I think it's great to be American.

Like there's so many things that I think we have, we're praying in the back for all the different spaces that the church is being just brutalized and people are, and so we have so much freedom here.

I love that.

I'm not saying anything against that.

But we need to mind what Jesus is saying and seek to be obedient to this.

He wants us to be salt and light into the world.

And when even when we agree and love the person in power, if they do something wrong, it's still truth to power that we're able to speak very honestly.

Because I'm not so aligned with this person that I have to baptize every single thing that they do.

I'm a Jesus follower.

And so that's wrong, and that's pretty good.

And that's how that goes because that's what he was able to do.

And so I'd love for us to close with uh some reflection.

And so if you don't mind, if you would close your eyes, bow your head.

I want us just to reflect, and I want you to reflect.

I want you to consider where you struggle with this and then why you struggle with this.

Do you struggle to render unto Caesar, our current government?

Do you struggle to render unto them honor, respect, taxes?

Do you struggle to render unto them prayers because you don't like them?

And if so, take this time, repent, and ask him for the forgiveness of those sins.

You're not being disobedient to them as much as you are, you're being disobedient to God.

Or is your struggle the other way?

Do you like the current governing officials?

And you have a hard time admitting that our current government and officials are flawed in some ways and make decisions that do not align with the scriptures in Jesus' kingdom.

Do you struggle to just be honest about that?

Have you supported things that you know goes against the scriptures?

If so, take some time.

Repent.

Ask him for forgiveness for supporting things that you know that does not align with God's kingdom.

That I've lived as an American citizen more than I've lived as a heavenly citizen.

And then last, have you rendered unto Caesar that which is God's alone?

Have you given him more than you were supposed to?

Have you given Caesar more of your evangelism?

Have you given him more of your faith that he or she is going to fix it all?

Have you given them more of your attention and your time?

More hope in a human government than you've actually given to prayer that God's kingdom would invade the earth.

Have you rendered unto you that which is God's?

And if so, take this time to repent.

Ask Him for forgiveness, for giving someone else God's rightful place in your life.

We're gonna have a few moments just in silence, and I'll close this in prayer.

But you talk to him.