The Gospel of Our Lord Jesus Christ According to Matthew.

The Pharisees went and plotted to entrap Jesus in what he said. So they sent their disciples to him, along with the Herodians, saying, “Teacher, we know that you are sincere, and teach the way of God in accordance with truth, and show deference to no one; for you do not regard people with partiality. Tell us, then, what you think. Is it lawful to pay taxes to the emperor, or not?” But Jesus, aware of their malice, said, “Why are you putting me to the test, you hypocrites? Show me the coin used for the tax.” And they brought him a denarius. Then he said to them, “Whose head is this, and whose title?” They answered, “The emperor’s.” Then he said to them, “Give therefore to the emperor the things that are the emperor’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” When they heard this, they were amazed; and they left him and went away.( Mt 22:15-22

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I think maybe it’s time to talk about the church.

Because Paul’s enthusiasm for the church he founded in the city of Thessaloniki, as recorded in 1 Thess 1:1-10 is so encouraging.

Like him, I too am enthusiastic about the church .

Paul tells the people there, “You became an example for all the Lord’s followers in Macedonia and Achaia, and because of you, the Lord’s message has spread everywhere in these regions.”

As Dr. Barclay has it: This is Paul at his most winsome. He is complimenting the church on its real qualities, but he will also, later in this letter, issue a gentle rebuke. 

But that’s OK, we all need to be set back on the right track sometime.

Barclay says that with Paul,  even when he rebuked, he never wanted to discourage,  but always to uplift.

In every person there is something fine, and often the best way to get rid of the lower things is to praise the higher things. The best way to eradicate faults is to praise virtues  – so they will flower all the more.

Everyone reacts better to encouragement than to rebuke

And so,  because they come from a loving heart, Paul’s joyful comments to the people in the church in Thessaloniki, bring us joy too. 

I would like to think that someone who had left this church for parts afar, would remember us, and write to us in such a heartwarming way.

I imagine so.

Don’t you?

I hope so, because that is the only sort of church that can do God’s work here in earth.

By God’s work, I mean all the things we do here, and out there, that bring us to the notice of other people. The things we do and say that will have people asking, “What church do you belong to?” 

How do you do it? 

And then we can tell them.

Paul says that that church – and he means the people, not the building – they may not even have a building as yet – they serve God while waiting on the coming of Christ.

They live in the world doing God’s work, but are conscious that at any time, God may decide to call us all home.

This sort of church,   is one that can only be what it is,  by being, as Barclay has it, ‘In God.’

He says that just as the air is in us,  and we are in the air, and cannot live without air, so the true church is in God and God is in the true church, and the church can’t live without God.    

And, since that same God is the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, we need not shiver in fear of a God who is a tyrant, but instead, bask, in the sunshine of a God who is love.

They couldn’t be the sort of church they are, unless they are ‘in God.’

They couldn’t be the church they are unless God guides them, and governs them, and is ‘in them.’

That’s the only way it can work, but, you know,  sometimes it is just all too much for some people. Serving God is just too much for them. 

Emerson Colaw tells about doing some work with his church’s membership list. He was writing to those who hadn’t been in church for a long time.

He wrote to one family that had been very active in the church, and he got a letter back that said:  “Mr. Colaw, we now live near a university campus and we go every Sunday to the chapel service there. They have unusually fine music ….they have nationally known preachers every Sunday morning,” and here she added a note that he didn’t think  was really necessary,    she said, “We had never heard such preaching as that before. The children are being taught in Sunday School by seminary students,”

And then she ended, “ But the best of all is there is no membership, no pledging, and no women’s committee asking me to work. So if you don’t mind, we’ll just discontinue our membership at your church and continue to enjoy what we have here.”

No involvement, no bother, no crosses.

This family went to a church where they didn’t have to serve God, and that’s how they wanted it.

What sort of church was that? Would Paul say about that church, “You became an example for all the Lord’s followers?”

Not!

The church exists to serve God, to glorify God, and so do we – the bricks of our church.

Without God there will be nothing accomplished, nothing gained, and come that great day when we are called to account for how we used the gifts that God gave us – we will have nothing to report! 

Even the children of Israel, as wayward as they often were, had to  acknowledge that they needed God to be with them every single day.  

In Exodus we read, Moses saying that  they will not move unless God goes with them.

“If you aren’t going with us,” he says, “ Then please don’t  make us leave this place.”

That’s like you or I saying, “ God, I am not going to take another step in my life without you to guide me.”

And I mean that. I can tell you, that I got lost when I set out without Him.

In our Gospel reading today, we see a Jesus who is ‘in God,’ and God  ‘in him.’  Over the last few weeks, we have heard him challenge  the religious leaders over the way they were living their lives  – they thought they were doing very well, until Jesus put them straight.   

If you remember he has compared them, in the story of the two sons, to the son who wouldn’t do his father’s will.  In the story of the wicked tenants, they are the wicked tenants. In the parable of the king’s feast, they are the condemned guests.   He has been giving them ‘ what for.’

And now, this week, we see them going onto the attack.

The Pharisees have joined with some from the party of the Herodians, two parties who hated each other, but came together to attack Jesus.

They have dreamed up a way to damage the credibility of Jesus in front of a crowd of people.

Now  I understand that  everyone hates paying taxes – there may be some people here this morning who actually like paying taxes – but I think I am safe in saying that most people hate them.

It was no different in those days. There was a tax on what the farmer harvested. There was income tax and there was a head tax, or poll tax. This was the one that was being used to challenge Jesus.  The amount of the poll tax was one denarius per adult. One denarius was slightly more than a man could earn in a day.

The questioners knew how people hated paying taxes. They hated them for purely economic reasons –  obviously – and they  hated them from a religious point of view. The emperor’s head was on that coin, the emperor who called himself as a god.

There is only one God, of course. So for a Jew, even using  money on which there is such an image could be a blasphemous act.

So, the religious and political leaders came up with their big question, their plan to catch out, Jesus. “Should we pay taxes to the Emperor or not?”

You can just see them watching  Jesus, as the one chosen to ask the question spoke up, and  smiling a little as he asked it.  This time, they think they have him.  

“What’s your answer to that? Huh?”

But as we read, Jesus turned the tables on them. He asked them whose face was represented on the coin, and when they answered, “Caesar’s,” he simply said, “Well, give to Caesar what is Caesar’s and give to God what is God’s.”

Pretty smart eh?

He was on the ball, wasn’t he? Well, Jesus had an advantage over them, he knew whom he served.  He served –  God his Father.  Those who know what they are doing will always win out over those who don’t. 

I am reminded of a story about two clergymen who were arguing over some fine doctrinal point.

They had argued for some time, when eventually, one minister said to the other, “Look, what are we fighting over? We are both striving to do the Lord’s work. You do it your way and  ……….I’ll do it His way.”

Doing things His way is what we should be about, isn’t it?

We all need to be reminded now and again for whom we work. .

But more than that, we should remember that we can’t do anything meaningful if He  is not in and of our  church. 

And we will never do anything meaningful, if he is not in and of, our life – if  He isn’t with us!

Moses said to God, “If you go  with us, everyone will know that you are pleased with your people. That way, we will be different from the rest of the people on earth.”

Isn’t that what the church – that’s us – should also be saying? Be with us Lord, and make us different?

Amen