Living in Two Worlds
Pre:
Just to get you thinking I want you to look at the four symbols that were handed out. Many of you have seen these before, so you should do pretty well. A London marketing firm asked 7,000 people in Australia, Germany, India, Japan, Great Britain, and the US to identify 9 well known symbols—among them were these four symbols that you see. Which one was recognized by the most people? Olympic rings: 92%. Shell and McDonalds: 88%. The cross: 54%.
For the past almost 7 years as we have been working on developing Morning Star as a congregation, Ed and I have from time to time been asked to go and speak in other places about our philosophy of ministry and why we do what we do at Morning Star. Now that we are going through some transitions in our ministry together and as we work on the design of our building, it seemed like a good time to talk about some of the same things here. So, we are beginning a new series today, one that I am calling Faith for the New Millennium. This is paralleling the Thursday night Bible Study. We’re going to look at how our world has changed over two thousand years of Christianity, how our faith relates to our culture, and we’ll explore how we can live faithful Christian lives in our own contemporary world as individuals and as a congregation.
Today I’m going to open the question of how our faith relates to our culture. Next week, Ed will be here, to take us back to the very roots of our faith, as he talks about our father in faith, Abraham.
I’m going to read the Bible lesson within the message today, so go ahead and get it out, so you’ll be ready to follow along.
A young turtle patiently climbed up into a tall tree until it came to a branch high above the ground. Carefully, it made its way out to the end of the branch, jumped off and began to vigorously flap its little legs. It fell straight down until, kawhump, it hit the ground.
After a few moments of recovery, the turtle crawled back to the tree and very patiently began the long climb back up to the high branch. It carefully made its way out to the end of the branch, jumped off and began to vigorously flap its little legs. It fell straight down until, kawhump, it hit the ground.
After a few moments of recovery, it crawled back to the tree and very patiently began the long climb back up the high branch. Two robins were sitting in an adjacent tree. One turned to the other and said, “I don’t care what you say. I’m going to tell him he’s adopted.” (story file, 16.11.1)
I like that story because it’s a good illustration of the frustration that we sometimes feel when we realize that we are living in two worlds, and putting those two worlds together seems about as likely as a turtle flying.
The two worlds are the kingdom of God—the world of our faith—and the kingdom of this earth—the world of the day-to-day grind. A major challenge of the Christian life is to figure out how to live with integrity as citizens of both worlds. And it’s often a struggle.
There are many contemporary issues that we could use to illustrate this struggle. Politics, cloning, the new abortion pill, sexuality, Sunday morning soccer games and shopping, the IRS, prayer in the public schools. The list could go on. How do we decide what’s right? How does our faith intersect with our day-to-day world? How can we live our Christian life with integrity, not just in the confines of our private prayer time and church activities, but out there in the world?
I’m not going to try to solve all of the problems of the world today. What I do want to do is offer you a couple of challenges as we talk our way through the Bible story.
In the story we will meet some characters that we have perhaps heard of before, but they need some introduction as far as where they are coming from politically, because that has great bearing on the story. One group is called the Pharisees. We know them as people who are very religious and traditionalist in their viewpoint. Politically we could call them the right wing conservatives. Palestine at this time in history is an occupied country, under the government of Rome. This rankles the Pharisees, because in their minds, there needs to be a free Israeli state, like there used to be before the Roman occupation. Israel, historically, has been what we call a theocracy. God is the king, or president. The supreme ruler of the land. The faith of Israel and the nation of Israel were one and the same, until now. The Pharisees long for the day that the Romans would be overthrown. And they are all in favor of anything that will undermine this government.
The other group of people that we will meet are called Herod’s followers, or Herodians. They too are Jewish, but they of the more liberal sort. They have made a pragmatic decision to make some compromises with the Roman government. This seems to them like the most reasonable and safe path to take. So, they like to cooperate with Rome as much as possible.
The Pharisees and Herodians are arch enemies. But there is one thing that they agree on. Jesus is a troublemaker. So, he has to go one way or another. So these strange bedfellows hatch a plan to trap Jesus in a political snare.
The Pharisees
got together and planned how they could trick Jesus into saying something wrong.
They sent some of their followers and some of Herod’s followers to say
to him, “Teacher, we know that you are honest. You teach the truth about what
God wants people to do. And you
treat everyone with the same respect, no matter who they are.
Tell us what you think! Should
we pay taxes to the Emperor or not?”
It’s clear that these people have come with a hidden agenda. They don’t really care what the answer is. They already know what they believe. They just want to get Jesus in a tough spot so they can accuse him of something.
Here’s how it works. Remember
the Pharisees hate the Romans, and the Herodians have made friends with the
Roman government. If he says yes,
pay the tax, the Pharisees will cheer.
Not because they agree with him, but because then, they can badmouth him
among the political right wing conservative Jewish party. You know this Jesus that everybody is so hot about?
He’s a blasphemer, and a Roman sympathizer!
He’s no good.”
Now, if Jesus says no, don’t pay the tax, the Herodians will get a sly grin on their faces. Then they can go to their Roman friends and say, look here’s an insurrectionist. He doesn’t believe in paying taxes, and that’s just one step away from taking arms against Rome. Go get him!
Should we pay taxes or not? It’s “damned if you do, damned if you don’t,” or at least it’s supposed to be.
Let’s see what he does to change the chemistry of the situation.
Jesus knew their evil thoughts and said, “Why are you trying to test
me? You show-offs! Let me see one of the coins used for paying taxes.”
They brought him a silver coin, and he asked, “Whose picture and name
are on it?”
“The emperor’s,” they answered.
Jesus knows their motives. That’s something to think about when we ask him to help us with our ethical dilemmas. Ask yourself this: Do you really want to hear God’s answer? Or do you just want to have your own opinions validated? Or worse, do you want to use the answer as a club to beat someone else over the head?
Let’s talk for a moment about the significance of the picture of the emperor on the coin. Why is Caesar’s picture on the coin? He’s in charge of the Roman government and the Roman government minted the coins. When one government takes over another, one of the ways that they assert authority is by changing the currency. And in that time in history, it was said that the king or the emperor actually was the owner of all the currency. It was his money, so to speak. People are just using it. So, in the Roman world, it’s Caesar’s picture that gives the coin value, and his picture also signifies ownership.
Jesus has hooked them with the coin. Now he reels them in:
Then Jesus
told them, “Give the Emperor what belongs to him and give God what belongs to
God.” His answer surprised them
so much that they walked away.”
Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s. Well, the coins belong to Rome. So, Rome has the right to ask for some of them back.
It’s Jesus’ last comment that is the real zinger, though. Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s. Well, ok, the coins belong to Caesar, but what belongs to God? What are they supposed to give to God?
What does belong to God? Well, everything belongs to God. But that is such a general thought that it might let them, and us, off the hook if we stop there. The coin provides us with a clue. Think about the coin, which bears the emperor’s image, which connotes both value and ownership.
Are you familiar in Genesis, in the creation story, where it says that human beings were made in the image of God? A coin is stamped with the image of the emperor or a president, giving it value and connoting ownership. We are stamped with the image of God. That is what gives us value, and it suggests that we belong to God.
So, give to Caesar what is Caesar’s. . . and to God? Well, give God your self. As the government calls back some of its coins, God calls us back too.
Here’s the point: Earthly governments have a certain amount of authority over their subjects. But it’s a limited kind of authority. Limited to the material world.
But God’s authority is unlimited.
Many people call God their “higher power.” I think that most of us know that we need that higher power. What I want to challenge you with today is the thought that God is our “higher authority.” Very often people try to fit God into the corners of a busy life, as if the other things in life were more important—and as if God existed purely for their benefit. But we need to turn that around. God is a higher authority than the other authorities in our life.
The turnaround I’m talking about is sort of like the difference between dogs and cats. A dog thinks, Hey, these people I live with feed me, love me, provide me with a nice warm, dry house, pet me, and take good care of me. . .They must be gods! A cat thinks: Hey, these people I live with feed me, love me, provide me with a nice warm, dry house, pet me, and take good care of me. . .I must be a god! (parables, 20.8.5)
In relationship to God, we are dogs, not cats.
We need to give our earthly government its due. But God is our higher authority. So as you face the issues and questions in your own life this week, ask yourself these questions:
*Do I really want to know the answer?
*Am I willing to accept God’s higher authority in my life?