22nd Sunday after Pentecost 10/16/05 Text: Matthew 22:15-21 Title: Images
22nd Sunday after Pentecost
10/16/2005
Text: Matthew 22:15-21
Title: Images
My fellow missionaries please join me in prayer. Heavenly Father, creator and sustainer of all things, we come before you today in all humbleness, aware that we are totally unworthy of your love. Please stir up your Holy Spirit in each of us, so that we might not only hear the words of Jesus, but take them into our hearts, so that we will live our lives not according to our will but your will. Amen
Images, images, images, everywhere we look there are images around us, from the banners on the walls, the image on our service folder, to the images we hold in our minds. Images are important in our lives, for they tell us who we are, and give meaning to the world around us. Images give us courage, they motivate us, they frighten us, and they sometimes stop us. Images show us what we put our confidence in. There is no doubt that images are an indispensable part of our life.
Images is what our Gospel lesson is about this morning, but not just any image. But before we go any further we need to take a little time and look at our text, so that we can understand it better. You might want to open up your Bible or service folder so you can follow along.
Notice in verse 15 that there is going to be trouble. The Pharisees have had enough of Jesus and his new ways. They have to stop him, for he is going around telling all that will listen to him that he has come to set aside all the religious rules and regulations that had been in place for so long.
Why he is even telling those fools who are listening to him that there is only thing that is important, and that is faith in him as the promised Messiah. They are to only be obedient to only him and his teachings. The old Jewish rules and regulations are out, love and forgiveness is in. Ridiculous, at least that is what the Pharisees thought.
We see in verse 16 that they were so desperate to get rid of Jesus that they did the unthinkable; they got together with the Herodians. The Herodians were appropriately named, for they were Jews that supported the rule of Herod in that they went along with the Roman government, an abhorrent thing to the self-righteous Pharisees. The Pharisees put them right up there, or it might be better to say, “right down there” with the hated tax-collectors and others who they thought were sinners.
The Pharisees and the Herodians got together because they needed to work out a fool proof plan to trap Jesus. First, they are going to really flatter him, so that he would think that they were really just looking for an answer to a puzzling question of great importance. Listen to what they said, “Teacher, we know you are a man of integrity and that you teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. You aren’t swayed by popular opinion, because you pay no attention to who they are.”
All of those where true statements, the problem was that they were being used to try and trip Jesus up. What a lying group they were as they stood there before Jesus, well actually the Pharisees were not physically standing there, for as we see they had sent their disciples to do the dirty work with the Herodians, who they could not be seen with, because it would ruin their image.
In verse 17 they spring the trap as they ask Jesus, “Tell us then, what is your opinion? Is it right to pay taxes to Caesar or not?” They thought they had him, for they knew that it did not make any difference how he answered the question. He was a goner.
If he said pay the taxes to Caesar, the Jewish people themselves would want to kill him for speaking against what they believe God commanded. If he said that you should not pay taxes to Caesar, the Herodians would turn him in and Caesar would have him killed. Either way the Pharisees would accomplish what they set out to do, that is have him killed without getting any blood on their hands.
A perfect plan, there was absolutely nothing that could go wrong. That is until Jesus began to speak. He told them as we see in verse 18 through 21 that he knew what they were up to. He asked one of them to show him one of the coins that they used to pay the tax.
We are not told who was carrying it, but lo and behold, the coin had the image of Herod on it along with the inscription that read, “Tiberus Caesar, august son of the divine Augustus, high priest.” After they showed him the coin and Jesus asked them, “Whose image and inscription is on it?” Caesars they replied.
I am sure that by this time they were inwardly congratulating themselves on how easily they had trapped Jesus, that was until Jesus told them “Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s. In doing so he was telling them that all things existed because of God, for even the hated Roman government existed only because God let it exist.
He had answered their question in a way that they had never thought of. The trap had clamped shut, except it clamped shut on them instead of on Jesus. I imagine that they reported back to the Pharisees with some embarrassment, that things had not quite worked out as well as it could have.
I am sure that by now you can see that images have played an important part in the story we are looking at. But the story really started back in Genesis 1:27 where we read, “God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.”
It has been debated forever, well at least as long as theologians have been around, as to just what does the “image of God” mean. Some say that the “Image of God” means that God looks like humans, others say that the “Image of God” refers to our ability to think and reason, others say, and I think that this is the right explanation, that the “Image of God” refers to Adam and Eve’s ability to completely trust in God, at least until they sinned.
Let’s review for just a minute. God created human beings in his image. Adam and Eve through their sin lost that perfect “Image of God”. Since we are descendents of Adam and Eve we too have lost the “Image of God.” God wants us, in fact all people to regain the “Image of God” so Jesus who is the “Image of God” in the flesh became one of us, so that we might regain the “Image of God” that we had lost.
God in his ultimate wisdom gives each one of us the ability to choose. We can turn down his wonderful gift, or we can accept it, thus regaining our lost “Image of God.” What will it be the, “Image of God, or the “Image of the world”?
Fred Craddock once used a sermon illustration in one of his sermons that I would like to share with you this morning. There was once a classmate of his that was a pastor in China. He had been under house arrest for some time when some soldiers arrived at his door to tell him that he was free to return to the United States.
The whole family was celebrating when one of the soldiers interrupted them to tell the pastor that they could only take 200 lbs with them and they had to be ready to leave in an hour. Well they had been there for years, 200 lbs was not very much, but they got out the scales and started weighing all the things that they wanted to take. It was hard because they accumulated quite a bit. What about this? What about that? Time was running out, but they finally got what they were taking down to the 200 lb. limit.
As they were getting ready to leave the soldier asked them if they had weighed everything. Excitedly they answered “yes”. He then asked them if they had weighed the children. With shock in their voices, they said, “No, they had not weighed them.” The soldier replied, “Weigh them!” In a moment, everything that they thought they could not live without became trash.
You might have been a prisoner of sin for a long time. You might have attended church week after week, year after year for a long time, but never quite got it. That is until one day, maybe it is today, the Holy Spirit came into your life and the Word of God suddenly spoke to you. It finally makes sense and you have to make a decision on what you will take with you on your spiritual trip and what you will leave behind.
It is an important decision for troubles will come and doubts will arise, the conscience will accuse, and you will find that while the “Image of the world” might look like it will meet your needs, it cannot supply you with what you need the most, that is the “Image of God”, for only Jesus, the “Image of God” can provide you with what you really need, forgiveness, acceptance, and wholeness. You can’t get any better than that. Amen
10/16/2005
Text: Matthew 22:15-21
Title: Images
My fellow missionaries please join me in prayer. Heavenly Father, creator and sustainer of all things, we come before you today in all humbleness, aware that we are totally unworthy of your love. Please stir up your Holy Spirit in each of us, so that we might not only hear the words of Jesus, but take them into our hearts, so that we will live our lives not according to our will but your will. Amen
Images, images, images, everywhere we look there are images around us, from the banners on the walls, the image on our service folder, to the images we hold in our minds. Images are important in our lives, for they tell us who we are, and give meaning to the world around us. Images give us courage, they motivate us, they frighten us, and they sometimes stop us. Images show us what we put our confidence in. There is no doubt that images are an indispensable part of our life.
Images is what our Gospel lesson is about this morning, but not just any image. But before we go any further we need to take a little time and look at our text, so that we can understand it better. You might want to open up your Bible or service folder so you can follow along.
Notice in verse 15 that there is going to be trouble. The Pharisees have had enough of Jesus and his new ways. They have to stop him, for he is going around telling all that will listen to him that he has come to set aside all the religious rules and regulations that had been in place for so long.
Why he is even telling those fools who are listening to him that there is only thing that is important, and that is faith in him as the promised Messiah. They are to only be obedient to only him and his teachings. The old Jewish rules and regulations are out, love and forgiveness is in. Ridiculous, at least that is what the Pharisees thought.
We see in verse 16 that they were so desperate to get rid of Jesus that they did the unthinkable; they got together with the Herodians. The Herodians were appropriately named, for they were Jews that supported the rule of Herod in that they went along with the Roman government, an abhorrent thing to the self-righteous Pharisees. The Pharisees put them right up there, or it might be better to say, “right down there” with the hated tax-collectors and others who they thought were sinners.
The Pharisees and the Herodians got together because they needed to work out a fool proof plan to trap Jesus. First, they are going to really flatter him, so that he would think that they were really just looking for an answer to a puzzling question of great importance. Listen to what they said, “Teacher, we know you are a man of integrity and that you teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. You aren’t swayed by popular opinion, because you pay no attention to who they are.”
All of those where true statements, the problem was that they were being used to try and trip Jesus up. What a lying group they were as they stood there before Jesus, well actually the Pharisees were not physically standing there, for as we see they had sent their disciples to do the dirty work with the Herodians, who they could not be seen with, because it would ruin their image.
In verse 17 they spring the trap as they ask Jesus, “Tell us then, what is your opinion? Is it right to pay taxes to Caesar or not?” They thought they had him, for they knew that it did not make any difference how he answered the question. He was a goner.
If he said pay the taxes to Caesar, the Jewish people themselves would want to kill him for speaking against what they believe God commanded. If he said that you should not pay taxes to Caesar, the Herodians would turn him in and Caesar would have him killed. Either way the Pharisees would accomplish what they set out to do, that is have him killed without getting any blood on their hands.
A perfect plan, there was absolutely nothing that could go wrong. That is until Jesus began to speak. He told them as we see in verse 18 through 21 that he knew what they were up to. He asked one of them to show him one of the coins that they used to pay the tax.
We are not told who was carrying it, but lo and behold, the coin had the image of Herod on it along with the inscription that read, “Tiberus Caesar, august son of the divine Augustus, high priest.” After they showed him the coin and Jesus asked them, “Whose image and inscription is on it?” Caesars they replied.
I am sure that by this time they were inwardly congratulating themselves on how easily they had trapped Jesus, that was until Jesus told them “Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s. In doing so he was telling them that all things existed because of God, for even the hated Roman government existed only because God let it exist.
He had answered their question in a way that they had never thought of. The trap had clamped shut, except it clamped shut on them instead of on Jesus. I imagine that they reported back to the Pharisees with some embarrassment, that things had not quite worked out as well as it could have.
I am sure that by now you can see that images have played an important part in the story we are looking at. But the story really started back in Genesis 1:27 where we read, “God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.”
It has been debated forever, well at least as long as theologians have been around, as to just what does the “image of God” mean. Some say that the “Image of God” means that God looks like humans, others say that the “Image of God” refers to our ability to think and reason, others say, and I think that this is the right explanation, that the “Image of God” refers to Adam and Eve’s ability to completely trust in God, at least until they sinned.
Let’s review for just a minute. God created human beings in his image. Adam and Eve through their sin lost that perfect “Image of God”. Since we are descendents of Adam and Eve we too have lost the “Image of God.” God wants us, in fact all people to regain the “Image of God” so Jesus who is the “Image of God” in the flesh became one of us, so that we might regain the “Image of God” that we had lost.
God in his ultimate wisdom gives each one of us the ability to choose. We can turn down his wonderful gift, or we can accept it, thus regaining our lost “Image of God.” What will it be the, “Image of God, or the “Image of the world”?
Fred Craddock once used a sermon illustration in one of his sermons that I would like to share with you this morning. There was once a classmate of his that was a pastor in China. He had been under house arrest for some time when some soldiers arrived at his door to tell him that he was free to return to the United States.
The whole family was celebrating when one of the soldiers interrupted them to tell the pastor that they could only take 200 lbs with them and they had to be ready to leave in an hour. Well they had been there for years, 200 lbs was not very much, but they got out the scales and started weighing all the things that they wanted to take. It was hard because they accumulated quite a bit. What about this? What about that? Time was running out, but they finally got what they were taking down to the 200 lb. limit.
As they were getting ready to leave the soldier asked them if they had weighed everything. Excitedly they answered “yes”. He then asked them if they had weighed the children. With shock in their voices, they said, “No, they had not weighed them.” The soldier replied, “Weigh them!” In a moment, everything that they thought they could not live without became trash.
You might have been a prisoner of sin for a long time. You might have attended church week after week, year after year for a long time, but never quite got it. That is until one day, maybe it is today, the Holy Spirit came into your life and the Word of God suddenly spoke to you. It finally makes sense and you have to make a decision on what you will take with you on your spiritual trip and what you will leave behind.
It is an important decision for troubles will come and doubts will arise, the conscience will accuse, and you will find that while the “Image of the world” might look like it will meet your needs, it cannot supply you with what you need the most, that is the “Image of God”, for only Jesus, the “Image of God” can provide you with what you really need, forgiveness, acceptance, and wholeness. You can’t get any better than that. Amen
posted by Pastor Rhoads | 2:58 PM
|
0 comments
