Michael Rankin’s message on Sunday was “Who Pays the Tax?”. The first story, taken from Matthew 17:24-27 is about the temple tax. This man-created temple tax was more than a tax - it was a ransom or atonement for one's life. Jesus tells Peter that the children of the king are exempt because they have already been ransomed, their atonement has already been paid.
"Then the children are exempt," Jesus said to him. "But so that we may not cause offense, go to the lake and throw out your line. Take the first fish you catch; open its mouth and you will find a four-drachma coin. Take it and give it to them for my tax and yours.”
Why did Jesus make Peter go catch a fish? Peter had to trust Jesus enough to believe that he could catch a fish with a coin. The miracle of atonement is not received through our effort; it’s through God’s power. But we need to take action (not by faith alone.) We must cast our line and catch the fish.
A second tax is talked about in Matthew 22:15-22, the imperial tax. Tax collectors were notoriously corrupt and people resented having to pay. A group of Pharisees asked Jesus whether it was right to pay the tax to Caesar. Jesus asked them, whose image is on the coin? Clearly, the coin’s image was of Caesar. Jesus told them, "Give back to Caesar what is Caesar's"-- Jesus did not dispute the authority of the emperor to impose a tax.
We learn more about this in Romans 13:6-7: "This is also why you pay taxes, for the authorities are God's servants, who give their full time to governing. Give to everyone what you owe them: If you owe taxes, pay taxes; if revenue, then revenue; if respect, then respect; if honor, then honor."
Our “tax”, as Christians, is to give back to God what is God’s. We are created in God’s image. We are obliged to give ourselves to Him fully and completely. He knows we are weak; he knows we will sometimes falter in our efforts. Michael challenged us to be determined to give a little bit more of ourselves each and every day to our God.
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