THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH OF THE INCARNATION

The Episcopal Church of the Incarnation

West Point, Mississippi

The Twenty-third Sunday after Pentecost [Proper 24](A)

Isaiah 45.1-7 Psalm 96 1 Thessalonians 1.1-10 Matthew 22.15-22

May the Lord be in my mind, on my lips, and in my heart, that

I may rightly and truly proclaim His holy Word. Amen.

Outline of a Sermon Delivered Extemporaneously

1) “Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar’s; and unto God the things which are God’s” (Matt. 22.21).

a) I suppose if this verse (which I am bound to quote from the King James version!) had been in our reading last Sunday, I would have been tempted to use it to preach about stewardship.

i) But, while in stewardship we recognize that all we have is of God, Jesus’ wise answer to a trick question is really about a lot more than the relationship between faith and the state, between our duties as believers and as citizens.

ii) The exchange with the Pharisees and the Herodians only looks like it is one about taxes when we read this passage in isolation.

(1) When we place it in the context of all that Jesus has to say to His hearer’s, it is far more about our relationship with God than our relationship with the state.

(a) And this is made clear in all the lessons this week: Apart from God all other matters of importance in our lives are but idols.

2) The coin which is shown to Jesus is likely to have been the silver denarius minted in the reign of the emperor Tiberius, who reigned from A.D. 14 to 37.

a) Jesus asks whose title is on the coin, and is told it is the emperor’s, but what the coin would in fact have read is: “Tiberius Caesar, Son of the divine Augustus, great high priest.”

i) Talk about idolatry! Jesus isn’t just talking about taxes, even if this passage is taken out-of-context.

3) So let’s consider, what is an idol?

a) An idol doesn’t need to be a statue of a pagan “god”; it’s doesn’t need to be some kind of totem.

b) An idol doesn’t even need to be a bad thing in itself.

c) An idol is anything less than God to which worship is offered.

4) An idol need not be something which is bad in and of itself.

a) We think of family as good, and Holy Scripture commands that we honor father and mother.

i) And yet if we put father and mother before God in honor, we have set up an idol.

(1) Indeed, Jesus teaches that we must turn our backs on family, if necessary, to follow Him.

b) A common idol is security. We focus on how to protect ourselves, secure our retirement, keep ourselves insulated from the hurts of the world.

i) And sometimes we can in part succeed, but if we boil a focus on security down what we find is that it is a focus on self, and not on following Jesus.

(1) Following Jesus always entails risk in this world; indeed, our Lord teaches that the world will hate us for following Him.

5) The point is not that family or security are bad things, but that they must always be of lesser importance to us than God.

a) “Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar’s; and unto God the things which are God’s.”

b) And what do we render unto God?

i) In the words of Revelation, “... blessing and honor and glory and power be unto Him that sittest upon the throne, and unto the Lamb, for ever and ever!” (Rev. 5.13).

6) How to we render to God the things that are Gods? How do we render blessing and honor and glory and power?

a) Is He not blessed and glorious and all-powerful already?

b) Does any honor we render to God in any way change Him, change His greatness?

i) Of course not. What we do or do not do affects God not at all. he is unchangeable.

(1) But it affects us, and that’s the point.

(2) When Jesus teaches that we are to give to God the things that are God’s, He’s teaching how we are stand in right relationship with God.

(a) He’s not offering security or honor for us in this world.

(b) He’s not offering ease and comfort.

7) And so we render to God those things that are God’s when we offer worship, when we gather in Jesus’ Name to hear His holy Word, to partake of His Body and Blood.

a) We render to God those things that are God’s when we turn to Him and away from our wrongs.

b) We render to God those things that are God’s when we seek and serve His Son in all persons, loving our neighbors as ourselves, striving for God’s justice and His peace.

8) There’s a final difference between rendering unto Caesar and rendering unto God.

a) In rendering unto God we offer that which is of real value, lasting value, not what will ultimately be consumed in rust or decay, or what is of questionable value anyway.

i) An offering of “derivatives” might not be the way to go, particularly in our current economic crisis.

b) In other words, we offer to God what is of real value because it is that which comes from God in the first place:

i) Blessing and honor and glory and power, unto God, and unto the Lamb.

In the Name of the Father, and of the Son,

and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.