Whose Image Do You Bear? - Pastor Sam Simoes - October 18, 2026

Every Sunday at Northwest Church of the Desiree in Columbus, Ohio, a congregation is challenged to grow spiritually.

This podcast shares the sermons, insights, and messages that encourage our congregation to mature spiritually.

Sometimes we are obsessed with image, aren't we?

This morning I woke up and I was making sure that I would look good for today.

There was one time, I remember one Sunday, we were going through a series called Uncomfortable, and I wore jeans.

And throughout that entire service, that's all I could think about.

I'm wearing jeans.

That's affecting my image of what I think a pastor should be wearing.

Now, today, a lot of pastors wear you know skinny jeans and very tight t-shirts and tattoos everywhere.

I'm not going to go that far.

But sometimes we just look at our image and think about what other people think of us.

Are we representing the office that we are that we represent?

Are we representing what we're trying to for other people to see?

You know, when we uh look at our haircuts, uh I haven't done one of those for a while, but many of us, you know, make sure that we have our hair looking good.

You know, we have a good color, a good shade if if our hair is starting to go a different color than what we uh used to have, and just put it that way.

And and we are very conscious about it.

My mom just had on Instagram a video of her haircut.

And I thought, why is she doing that?

Then I found out later that her hairdresser has a video of the people that he cuts the hair and then just post it so people get to see what kind of work he does.

And it's very important for his image.

And my mom was, of course, very happy to have a very nice haircut and to be a little bit popular, you know, and just have people enjoying and appreciating the haircut.

But when we talk about image, we also talk about image that we see, something that we perceive.

Now, when I was young, my my house has, and some of you probably can relate to this, but we had a TV with a few channels, but we were at the mercy of the rabbit ears antennas.

And my dad would ask me to go and move the antenna until the image was perfect, and that's what we desired.

We desired a perfect image, and somehow, we don't know why, but the image sometimes would start to be faded, or we started having a little bit what we called snow, and then we adjusted a little bit until the image came back.

And the image was something that we seek, is something that we wanted because that was important for us.

But when we talk about image and we talk about the word of God, in our minds come that we have been created in the image of God.

And how easy is for us to forget that.

Because we were looking at the image of the world, we see the people that are beautiful, you know, representing a product.

They're their spokesperson.

We we see beautiful images of people who who have so much and and and they they want to have their own image, the car they drive, the house they live in, you know, and the clothes they wear.

And we are so focused in this world with image that we forget often whose image we've been created.

And today we're gonna be looking at a passage in the book of Matthew in which Jesus addresses exactly that.

And then he goes as far as to say, you know what, you are right.

It is all about image, it is all about the image.

The image that we have is all about the image that we represent, the image we reflect, the image that we have.

So today we're gonna be looking at Jesus at a moment when he was with his disciples, and the Pharisees and the religious leaders were looking for ways to catch Jesus, to arrest him, and hopefully to get rid of him.

And all these followers who were not following the convention, were not following their power and their influence, but they're following this man who was claiming to be the Son of God.

So they figured out there's a way to catch him.

And today we're gonna be looking at this very well-known passage, but a passage that we'll be reminded about the image that God has for us and the get the image that we've been created upon.

So if you'd stand with me, and if you have your Bibles, you can open in the book of Matthew.

We're gonna be looking into chapter 22, verses 15 to 22, and you can just follow along with me as we consider his word, and I'm reading out of the NIV.

There's the says the word of the Lord.

Then the Pharisees went out and laid plans to trap him in his words.

They sent their disciples to him along with the Herodians.

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.

I am sensing a sense of a little bit of sarcasm.

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?

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.

They brought him a denarius, and and he asked them, Whose image is this?

And whose inscription?

Caesar's, they replied.

Then he said to them, So give it 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.

Father in heaven, I pray that as we consider your word, that our limitations and our thoughts and and our our distractions will be taken away by what you have in store for us today.

We pray, Father, that your Holy Spirit would speak to us.

And I pray that my words will be professed from you, through you, and through and through me, from you.

So, Father, we pray that you would allow us to see what you have in store for us.

And we pray these things in your Son Jesus Christ's name.

Amen.

You may be seated.

So, this is a passage that if we grew up in the church or we are familiar with scriptures, we probably heard it a few times.

But yet it's a passage that we often use about tithing, or it's a passage that we use about, you know, um when when when April 15th comes about, it's like, well, we're gonna have to give to Caesar.

What is Caesar's, you know, we have to look at this passage sometimes as uh, oh, I just have to do this.

But that's not the intention that Jesus had.

And today we're gonna be looking at the intention, and we're gonna recognize that what God is telling us today is that the relationship, what it's all about is the image.

It's about the image of God.

And the word used is the word icon.

Now, when we think about the word icon, which comes from the Greek acon, which is the word that they use then, acon is resemblance, is image, is representation, is also likeness.

And when in Genesis chapter 1, verses 26 and 27, when it says that God created men in his image, the word image for the creation of men is, you guess it, acon.

Genesis 1:26

So the word acon that Jesus used for the coin, and the word acon that Moses used for the image of God is the same.

So when Jesus asked, what acon is here, it's the same word as we were being created as in the image of God.

So it's all about the image of God, but it's an image that goes deeper than just a coin.

And what we see here is that Jesus begins by addressing a question.

Now, the Sadducees, the Herodians, and the Pharisees did not get along.

And this is very interesting, is that the Pharisees were trying to find Jesus to be guilty, trying to find Jesus to be arrested, trying to find Jesus to be taken away.

They were the conservative ones.

They were the ultra-conservative often, the nationalists.

They believe in the power of Judea and the Israelites, and they thought that they could bring back the way that he was before.

And they were very, very traditionalists, they were very conservatives, and they were very devout to the scriptures, very devout to the Torah, and to the words of Isaiah, and and to the scriptures.

And then on the left of them were the Sadducees.

Now, the Sadducees were a little bit more on a liberal side.

They thought that the interpretation of Scripture gave a little bit of leeway for them to look at theology, to look at how God has spoken to them.

And then in the furthest left, you had the Herodians.

Now, the Herodians come from the name Herod.

You see, they loved Herod.

See, because during that time they knew that there was no safety in the streets.

But Herod, oh, he brought the police, he brought safety into the streets.

They had no clean water.

Herod provided clean water.

They had no freedom, but they did not need freedom because they had everything they did.

They weren't hungry, they had everything they wanted, and the only thing that cost them was their freedom.

But they had everything they wanted, so they loved Herod.

But there were Jews who loved Herod.

And what is amazing is that there is no way in that world or in today's world that they could get along.

It's the same thing as today.

You know, when you have those that are on the right wing, that they are very conservative, and then you have those that are a little bit on the moderate side, and they probably could swallow each other's views and so forth, but then you bring the ultra-left ones.

No, no, you're not going to get them all together to work together toward the same cause.

But Jesus was able to bring unity, and that's what we're calling it.

He was able to bring unity because they got together to catch Jesus, to trap him in his words.

And though, and the question is brilliant.

It's the most brilliant question that they could come up with.

They came in so confident about that question that they said, You are a man of integrity, which I believe it's sarcasm because if they're saying you're a man of integrity, why are you trying to trap him?

You are a teacher that speaks of God.

Well, if they believe that, why are they trying to catch him?

You are, and they start saying that because they were so confident they were about to get him.

And here's the question: Should we pay taxes to Caesar?

That's the only question they ask.

Now, the taxes to Caesar is the imperial tax.

So during that time, they had the tax that they uh paid, and and apples to apples, we pay more taxes than they did then.

You see, we don't have a good deal either with with when it comes to taxes.

But during that time, they had the imperial tax, which was a flat tax that you just have to pay a denarium.

And people didn't believe in that.

Now they had other taxes that they had to pay, you know, 10% of all the grain that you got, or or different kinds of formulas for you to pay your taxes.

And then you had the tax collectors that got the tax for Rome.

And they could pick how much or how little you had to pay.

But the the imperial tax had to be spent, it has to be paid with Roman coinage.

So they couldn't be using the Jewish um denomination or the Jewish currency, they had to use Roman coins.

So they were having a problem with that because according to their faith, they could not carry with them a graven image.

Because Torah said, do not carry a graven image.

And on that coin there was a graven image of their emperor, a graven image of Caesar.

And it said, Sirius, uh, Caesar, Tiberius Caesar, son of the divine God Augustus.

So he's not only saying that is a graven image, but the inscription said that he is the son of a divine God, a pagan God.

So they would not carry those coins.

So when Jesus says, Give me a coin, none of them reach out to their pocket.

They were looking around.

Hey, who has a coin in the crowd?

Because they had a situation in which they did not carry the coins with a graven image.

So they carried coins that didn't have images.

But the coin with a graven image, they're like, nope.

So they asked the question, should we pay taxes?

And if Jesus said, yes, you should pay taxes, he was done telling everyone that not only he supports Caesar, he believes that you should also support Caesar.

And by that, you have all the Jewish people, all the the the all all the all those that he was trying to minister saying, ah, he's an imperialist.

He believes that we should pay taxes.

But if he said no, then the religious people, the religious leaders will be happy, but now he's creating a rebellion.

So if he said yes or no, he's in trouble.

And they knew they got him because there was a no in-between.

It's either yes, you pay taxes or no, you don't pay taxes, but either way, he's gonna get himself in trouble.

So they got him, and they get over there and they ask Jesus, and Jesus' response was show me a coin.

And once they had a coin, he was able to show that graven image and say, What does this coin say?

And they said, Caesar?

Who's on this coin?

Caesar.

So Jesus has a phenomenal and amazing response because it recognizes the identity.

So the first thing that we see is that it's all about image, but the image allows us to recognize the identity.

So whose identity is on that coin?

Is it your identity?

Is it our people?

Is it the people of God, or is it one man, a ruler?

And they said that is Caesar.

That is the one that's asking us to purchase things.

Recently, the the United States meant uh minted a coin, a bicentenary, no, 250, whatever that makes it.

I said, Bicentenary 250 years.

With the image of our current president, and people are uproar about it.

I I personally believe that you should have that presidents in in coins who who actually made something really good for our country.

But people are an uproar about it because, like, I don't want to deal with a coin of someone who is ruling over me.

But that's exactly what was happening during that time.

They saw the man that was ruling over them, the man that was not making their life easy, the man that was taxing them.

So they said that's Caesar.

And then Jesus says this give back to him what belongs to him.

He's not saying that we have to give all our possessions to Caesar, he's not saying that we have to give all we have, all our finances, all our money to Caesar.

But if Caesar wants back what he given you, his coins, his image, then give back to him what belongs to him, which is a tax.

And then he turns the table and says, and give God what belongs to God.

No, there is no coin with God.

There is no coin with uh with a God inscription, there is no currency with God, even though in the United States we say it's in God we trust because we surely can trust people.

But in God we trust.

So but there's no identification of God in the currency.

So where is God in this?

And that's why it made a difference, because Jesus said your identity is not on your money, your identity is not in what you're doing, your identity is not how much money you're able to get, your identity is not on your possessions, is not on your taxes, is on not on your beliefs, your identity is in the image of God in your heart.

Amen.

So when we give to God what belongs to God, we're not giving coins, we're not giving money, we're not giving anything, we're giving our heart, we're giving our soul, we're giving what he gave us.

And we recognize the identity of God for many years.

Um so I I came to college here in Ohio for four years, and and I got to travel throughout the state, uh, what we call during that time Living Witness, and we preached at different uh at different uh churches, or I preached at different churches, and so I traveled throughout the state and I got to know a little bit of the state.

I also wasn't uh uh during that time in the night, is a puppet team.

So I did puppets and had a lot of fun with that.

And when I uh left, uh either when I went and planted a church or I went to Kansas City or or since I left Ohio, every time I see someone with a big OSU shirt or an OSU logo or an OSU hat or an OSU scarf, I looked forward to meeting them and said, so where in Ohio are you from?

And they'll tell me, oh, I'm from I'm from Masilin, I'm from um Marietta, I'm from Columbus, I'm from, I'm from just outside of Cleveland, I'm I'm from Canton.

And they'll tell me the town they're from.

I was like, oh, I have been there, beautiful place.

But their identity, what they were wearing, their image, told me where they're from.

Now, I knew that there'll be a day, and I'm still waiting for that day that someone says, I'm not from Ohio.

I I just really like that school.

I haven't met someone, but now I'm in Ohio, so I don't get to do that.

But I I never had someone just saying, Oh, I'm I just leave the school.

there if they're wearing Ohio State University OSU shirts it's because they identify with the school and as they identify with the state so I was able to figure out who did what or where were that they were from Ohio.

I I do that sometimes with with Mormons.

So we're from in Utah you how do you know I'm from Utah?

Most of you guys are from Utah but the identity that we have the image that we have tells us who we belong to.

We belong to Ohio and what Jesus is saying is who does this belong to it belongs to him.

It's earthly but where does your heart belong to what is the image in your heart what is the image in your life so what are we to do?

Well we circulate by currency we have coins that have passed from hand to hand to hand when I uh when I became a United States citizen in 2012 I had uh in the church where I was pastoring a coin collector who uh came and congratulated me on on my citizenship and and said Pastor I have a gift for you so he brought in a a coin and he said this is a bicentennial coin and it's dated from 1976.

So you have the bicentennial 1776 to 1976 and that's Liberty and then in the patch in the back you have the the bell the Liberty bell and then you say United States of America one dollar.

So he gave it to me and I was like oh that's cool so he came on this thing whatever this is and I said no is is this legal tender?

He goes absolutely so for me to use it I would have to break this he goes yeah good luck on doing that and and I said so it's just to display he goes yeah it's a reminder so it's useless I know it's worth a dollar but it's only worth a dollar in the hands of a merchant it's only worth a dollar in a bank is only worth a dollar when I circulated but in here is not worth anything and when Jesus is saying that we bear the image of God he wants us to circulate he wants us to to go around to be passed hand by hand he wants us to be seen by the people he wants us for people to recognize whose coin that is whose image we're bearing when we circulate when we go around we get to be seen we get to have the image of God be seen through us so when they see us they see God when they see us they see Jesus when they see us loving they see the love of Jesus when they see us caring they see the care of Jesus when they see us extending grace they see the grace that is extended when they see us forgiving they see the forgiveness that Jesus extends that's why he's saying the image of God is not for you to have on display on Sunday mornings for for a couple hours the image of God is to circulate to go around so the world knows that there is a God that made a difference in our lives so when we circulate we cultivate this relationship we we cultivate this daily reflection on who Jesus is we cultivate the love of God with others and we circulate and the thing is a coin that is circulated gets a little bit worn.

And that same friend of mine who had a very large coin collection showed me one time some of his coins he said Pastor this is an uncirculated it was minted and put in a in a protective sleeve and I got it never being touched and I was like so what's the value?

Oh it's worth much more than than its currency oh okay but it's in a book closed on the side of your of your bookshelf he goes yeah and wasn't it pretty but that's not the intention of a coin is it the coin is manufactured is made to be circulated to be used and God did not create us with his image to be hidden to be set aside safely without any scratches without anyone touching us without anyone biting you know during the old days they had silver so they bid on the silver to make sure it was real silver no one no one dropping us we don't want to be circulated do we we don't want to be tossed aside we don't want to pass by hand to hand and we don't want to go through all that a coin goes through but he's not asking us to be circulated he's asking us to bear the image and in the circulations others get to have the blessing of being a reflection of Jesus in other words when we go around others get to see the image of our lives so it's not like a coin that is tossed we represent him now many think this is about tithing.

Now the word comes often to say well you give to God what is God's you know 10% of our of our income and we give to Caesar whatever Caesar wants and Jesus is not saying that we are to give a tithe and why didn't he say that he should he could you know it would be really good for for Jesus saying hey don't you give a tithe to God and taxes to Caesar but that's not what Jesus was saying.

What Jesus was saying is your image you give it back to God so what then how does that work with tithe Pastor that may be the question well the tithe is not something we should do it's a representation is a byproduct of our relationship with Jesus Christ.

Because if we're a Christian we tithe because that's what being a Christian is it's not it's not a chore it's not something we do because we were told to do it.

We do it because our life does not belong to us our possessions do not belong to us our children do not belong to us and because of our possessions we give him what is his 10% is his and I haven't given 10% in ages because I want to give him more and just live with the joy and the blessing of his presence so because we are loving giving him back the image he gave us yes we give a 10% at least at least 10% so this is not about we are to give no we already do that because that's what Christians do.

And that's saying we they already pay tithe we don't need to talk about tithe if everyone already does it.

Now many still struggle with that many still have issues with with trusting God but tithe is not about money it's about trust it's about relying it's about being a Christian being a follower of Christ so when we look at Jesus saying you circulate you are the image of God is not about money it's about what makes us in his image and that is the love that is the care in our lives so we circulate but also we reflect you know a co a well worn coin is very shiny because people keep touching it so we reflect there's a reflection I have a a child that whose face reflects her dad and from the moment she was a little girl everyone knew who her dad was there was no doubt and and everyone that looked at Isabel is able to say oh that she's definitely Sam's daughter if I put curly hair in my head you will confuse me with her older with a few years but I I have that image no she didn't choose to have that image she didn't choose to have that face and I didn't choose for her to have that face I apologized to her a couple times but I teased her about it I said is Isabel so when are we gonna go and shave both of our heads so so we get to to see how how well we look at each other she goes no that's not gonna happen dad I'm sorry but the problem is on you it's not on me.

I got hair so she teases me about it and she said you know how many times people come to me it's like hey aren't you Sam's daughter yeah yeah I hear that all the time dad you know why do you have such a predominant face in my head I was like I am sorry and when she was little I used to tease her and saying Isabel oh no I used to ask Joanne when are we telling Isabel that that she's adopted and she was like what I am go to a mirror there's no doubt and that's what Jesus is looking for us that's exactly the reflection he's looking for us hey aren't you aren't you a son of God aren't you a daughter of God?

There's something special about you I see it I see Jesus in you I see a reflection there's something about it that we choose to do it yes but it's his grace that transforms our face our continent countenance no countenance I I messed up last Sunday and I was corrected I I said continence and suppose in instead of countenance so now I I'm saying it correctly countenance it's in our countenance it's on our way we we we act it's on a way we love and on a way we we talk to others and when we do that others see Jesus reflected in us what a beautiful thing it is when we begin to live in a way that reflects Jesus it's about how we treat others and how we love Jesus and how that image that has been carved in our heart gets to be ever alive with our relationship.

It's so much more powerful so the question that I have is that the reflection is not just about others but it's also how are we seeing ourselves and in a world that is so distracting are we looking at ourselves and recognizing the image of God in us or is the world distracting us from what he is doing?

Or is that the things that we desire or is the things that are happening around us or or are our disappointments taking away from the image are we recognizing are we seeing how loved we are we seeing how the image of God in our hearts how are others going to see it if we're not seeing the grace that we've been extended how are we extending grace we can't fake it if we're not getting the love of God being poured how can how are we loving others?

That's why we have to look at ourselves and see how are we reflecting what God is doing in our hearts so I have a question for you this week the question is how well how would it look like for me to reflect God today when I look in my life and I see the love that he's pouring am I sharing that or I'm just holding it how would it look for me to reflect God is it in uh forgiving someone who it's been hard to forgive is it by allowing someone to be a part of my life that they annoy me and they're difficult there are so many ways for us to be Christ to others for us to allow others to see the love of God in us so are we reflecting are people noticing because if we do how well do we see God in our lives and what specific ways can we see God are we circulating and letting others experience the love of God or are we in a mausoleum hidden put aside so others see that one day we we made a commitment for Jesus instead of being in the world sharing his image I'd like to ask the worship team to come forward.

I don't know where you are today or what the spirit is telling you but I want to remind you that you are deeply loved that God is calling you for something greater than you have ever experienced a love that flows through an image that shines through a God whose image we bear a God whose image we reflect and a God who transforms not just us but the world through us.

Amen let us pray Father we thank you for the joy the beauty and the amazement of your word that we can still learn so much from you we can still grow but we are challenged today to recognize your image in our hearts to recognize your work to recognize your love and share it with others today we want to see you so others may see you in us.

Father allow us to go allow us to share allow us to be Christ to others because that's what you set us apart for.

And we pray this and we ask these things in your son Jesus Christ's name amen as it is known in our community Northwest Church is committed to discovering and engaging in a life-changing relationship with Jesus Christ with inspired worship and intentional ministry people from all walks of life are welcome and received as family members our family is diverse multicultural and although not perfect in love with Jesus join us online at nwnaz.org or by visiting us in Columbus Ohio God bless you