Christians: Responsible Citizenship, Matthew 17:22-27

We have just seen one of the briefest of all miracles described in the Scripture. It involved a situation where Peter and Jesus at the end of the day had turned back to their homes in Capernaum, and as they come there one of the (probably) tax collectors says to Peter: “Doesn't your teacher pay the temple tax?” The way he phrased the question is to expect a negative answer. The temple tax was a half-shekel tax. It's root and foundation was back in the Mosaic Law. An offering was assessed for the people to provide for the tabernacle, and it was continued down through the centuries to provide for the upkeep of the temple. At the time of Jesus it went to a bureaucracy among the priests that was corrupt and that promoted false teaching, regarded legalism and was inherently in opposition to Jesus. Yet, Jesus was not going to say he wouldn't pay the tax because it was a corrupt bureaucracy. In fact, what He tells Peter to do is to go down to the sea and catch a fish and he would find the appropriate money in it that would pay the tax.

A similar incident takes place a little later on in Matthew chapter twenty-two. The point that I want to make here is to take where we have gone through and studied the passage of Scripture itself to see what is there being emphasized, and then to take some additional time to develop application from that passage.

I always remember one of my favorite stores—I don't know if it was actually true or not—about J. Vernon McGee, a great Bible teacher from a previous generation who went to be with the Lord back in the nineties and who had an extremely large church in Los Angeles called The Church of the Open Door. He was a graduate of one of the early classes at Dallas Seminary back in the 1930s and in the early seventies he was asked asked to speak in Chapel at the Seminary. As he was sitting up on the platform he was informed just beforehand that he had approximately twenty minutes to speak. It must have taken him by surprise and didn't fit what he had come to talk about. When he stood up he said: “Men I have just been informed that I have only twenty minutes to teach the Word of God. You can't say anything significant about the Word of God in twenty minutes. Let's close in prayer”.

If you think about it, by having some light little sitcom that is usually about thirty minutes—from the fifties to the eighties we morphed in television shows from 30-minute shows. But by the mid-sixties and the seventies all of the more significant dramas and other shows were an hour. The reason was that to develop a significant plot or line of thinking it takes more than twenty minutes (thirty-minute TV show after the commercials is about 17 minutes long). Sadly it has been promulgated among homiletics classes for the last thirty years that sermons shouldn't be more than fifteen or twenty minutes because of the attention gap of the audience—that you can't really dig very deeply into things. Sometimes it tales a while to develop solid, sound thinking. That is why I take some time to go through some of these principles.

Last time we established the fact that Jesus was demonstrating principles of good citizenship by paying the tax. He wasn't required to. A rabbi wasn't required to pay the tax, and secondly, which is more important, is that the temple was His Father's house. As He pointed out to Peter, the son of the king is not required to pay for the upkeep of the king's palace. The son of the king is the beneficiary of the taxes of the citizenry in the country. So Jesus wasn't required to pay the tax, but He pays the tax because He recognizes the motivation of the people watching Him is to find even the smallest inconsequential thing to trip Him up on. That is what happens in a little larger way in Matthew chapter twenty-two where they try to trip Him up again. The same issue comes up, it has to do with paying the tax to the Roman Empire. It is a tax to human government.

What I am focusing on is the issue of Christian citizenship; Christians living a life where they are responsible Christian citizens of whatever nation they are a part of. This is important for us to address for a number of reasons, but first of all we need to be reminded that human government is not something that was invented by human beings to bring order into their social life. Human government was ordained and established by God through the covenant that God made with Noah following the world-wide flood. When Noah and his wife and their sons and their wives got off the ark the first thing they did was worship to God. They built an altar and took from the clean animals, the ones that were extras that they could sacrifice, and they sacrificed to God. And God spoke to Noah in Genesis 9:1-17 and established a covenant with him. Within that covenant for the first time in history He delegated judicial responsibility to man. That biblically is the foundation for human government.

The foundation for nations came some 200 or so years later at the incident of the tower of Babel. Up to that point everybody on the earth spoke the same language and they got together to build this tower to heaven. Part of the idea was they they were going to have a place to go if God ever tries to flood the earth again. So it is clearly in opposition to God, and God judged them by dividing the languages. This is the foundation for nations. So God wants national distinctions. We live in a world today where people are moving toward and hope for some kind of one-world government, nations without borders; all of these ideas. And that is all in violation to the Word of God.

In Acts 17:26 ^NASB “and He made from one {man} every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined {their} appointed times and the boundaries of their habitation.” To God determines the raising up and the collapse of a nation, and the boundaries of their dwellings. For that reason alone we should not vote for anyone of a liberal persuasion who is not willing to protect the borders of this nation. That means they need to take a hard stand against illegal immigration because that destroys the integrity of a nation. So at the very core of this question we are asking about the Christian's responsibility as a citizen is the fact that God ordained nations. God ordained government, and therefore government is not inherently evil.

The problem with the idea that the government is evil is that they are stating that the government in principle is evil. In practice it often is because the people in government are evil and corrupt and have rejected truth. The government in principle is not evil and it has been established by God. In fact, what God is demonstrating is that no government is ever going to be perfect in history until it is governed by a person who is a perfect ruler: the God-Man, the Lord Jesus Christ. Only when the Messiah comes and establishes His kingdom will there be a perfect government. Until then there is always the trend of government to go downhill and to become more and more corrupt, more and more tyrannical, and more and more oppressive towards its citizens. The Constitution of the United States was grounded upon a system of checks and balances recognizing the principle that absolute power corrupts absolutely, limiting power in each sphere of government.

Matthew 22:15 ^NASB “Then the Pharisees went and plotted together how they might trap Him in what He said. [16] And they sent their disciples to Him ...” The Pharisees are pictured in Matthew as being behind the whole thing. In Luke 20:19 we are told that the chief priests and the scribes were seeking to find a charge against Him. Mark identifies some of the Pharisees and the Herodians, but Matthew says that ultimately it is the Pharisees. They are trying to trap Him, so they ask Him this question about taxes.

Luke 20:22-25 ^NASB “Is it lawful for us to pay taxes to Caesar, or not?” But He detected their trickery and said to them, “Show Me a denarius. Whose likeness and inscription does it have?” They said, “Caesar’s.” And He said to them, “Then render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” They are trying to trap Him here. If He answers, yes, it is lawful, then that is going to violate their tradition; if He says, no, it is not lawful, then He is going to be in trouble with Rome.

The point is that Jesus is recognizing that there is a dual sphere of authority operating on the planet. There is the secular power of human government but there is a higher government, the government of God. Human government is legitimate; it is established by God. And depending on the kind of government you have in whatever national entity you have, as a citizen you have different levels of responsibilities and different levels of capability.

In countries like Iran or Saudi Arabia there are not a lot of options, especially if you are a Christian. Legally there is not a lot of room to wiggle with and there are things you just cannot do. You have no say in the government whatsoever, and this was true in the Roman Empire. Some people point out that the apostles never staged demonstrations against this or that, they didn't try to address political issues related to slavery, so that is an argument for being politically passive on certain issues. It wasn't within the realm of their capabilities in that kind of a government. That needs to be recognized. What they could do, they did. We live in a different government in the United States, a government that has delegated responsibilities and privileges to every citizen. As believers in Jesus Christ, we need to fulfil whatever responsibilities that exist in terms of whatever government is over us, to the best of our ability to glorify God. That is our responsibility as a citizen. Jesus demonstrated that it is the responsibility of the citizen to pay taxes. He paid taxes to Caesar and to the temple even though it was a corrupt government.

Jesus is clearly recognizing the legitimacy of the role of government and government authority. Paul does this in Romans chapter thirteen where he says in v.5, “Therefore it is necessary to be in subjection, not only because of wrath, but also for conscience’ sake.” The Bible clearly emphasizes the role of conscience. In fact, in other passages Paul says that if you violate your conscience (even if your conscience is wrong) it is a sin. The reason is because you are setting a precedent, a biblically psychological precedent in your soul to violate the norms and standards in your soul. Once you start rationalizing and setting a pattern to rationalize disobedience or violation of your conscience then it becomes easier in areas where your conscience it right. That is what is going on here. Conscience is the underlying issue of all of these freedom-of-religion issues.

Romans 13:6 ^NASB “For because of this you also pay taxes, for {rulers} are servants of God, devoting themselves to this very thing. [7] Render to all what is due them: tax to whom tax {is due;} custom to whom custom; fear to whom fear; honor to whom honor.”

Peter says the same thing. This is the same Peter who has gone head-to-head with the Sanhedrin. They have arrested him, put him in prison and beaten him. 1 Peter 2:13, “Therefore submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord’s sake, whether to the king as supreme, [14] or to governors, as to those who are sent by him for the punishment of evildoers and for the praise of those who do good. [15] For this is the will of God, that by doing good you may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men—”


But there are exceptions. When Peter is told by the Sanhedrin, the legitimate governing authority in Jerusalem that he could not talk about Jesus, he could not proclaim the gospel, he said: Acts 5:29, “But Peter and the other apostles answered and said: ‘We ought to obey God rather than men.’ ”

There are limitations. The sphere of authority granted to human government is always overrun by the direct commands of God, so that when human government dictates that you do something that violates what God says to do you say, “I am not going to do it”. You figure out different ways to do it when you are living in a pagan world, like Daniel did, and you seek to work out a compromise. Sometimes that compromise won't work out because of the hardheadedness of the secular authority. In Daniel chapter one the eunuch who was over the Jewish slaves brought to Babylon was amenable to a compromise. Sometimes there are hardheaded government officials who do not want to compromise and you just do what you need to do and reap the consequences. But you do it in a gentle, gracious kind manner.

Human government is run by human beings, who are by nature sinners and corrupt; and so in most human governments in most of history we have had unrighteous leaders who have operated on extremely corrupt principles.

When it comes to Christianity there are some Christians who say that the believer really doesn't need to be involved in the world, that the world system is the Devil's system and we don't need to be involved. This is what we call political passivism. They just want to completely withdraw, and they go to a number of passages to say this because they emphasize that the Scripture says we have a heavenly citizenship. But the response to that is, it is a dual citizenship. It is a dual citizenship because if the heavenly citizenship replaced our earthly citizenship why is the apostle Paul playing his Roman citizenship card to get out of jail?

Philippians 3:20 ^NASB “For our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ”. The word there is POLITEUMA [POLI = from polus from which we get our word politics]. This is what Peter is talking about when he says we ought to obey God rather than men. He is not saying, “We don't ever obey man,” because over in 1 Peter he says that we are to obey the governing powers in all things. Paul clearly referred to a citizenship. For example, in Acts 16, when he was in Philippi and was beaten with rods and put into jail, and they were singing hymns to God. Philippi was a Roman colony and so when he is talking about Roman citizenship to the Philippians they have a particular understanding of this. All of those colonists in Philippi were Roman citizens. Next day they were let go and told to depart in peace. One of the reasons they did that was because Paul had already played his citizenship card and it was forbidden by law to beat a Roman citizen. Then Paul plays the legal card: “They have beaten us openly, uncondemned Romans”. They hadn't even gone through the due process of law; they violated that. He is taking them to court, as it were. He is not going to let the government roll over him: “Let them come themselves and get us out”. He is asserting his Roman citizenship.

Ephesians 2:19 ^NASB “So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints, and are of God’s household”. So we have this dual citizenship. Part of our responsibility of our dual citizenship as heavenly citizens is to let our heavenly values, the norms and standards of the heavenly citizenship, impact the way we live with reference to our earthly citizenship. And we are to be a blessing to those around us, and that blessing is blessing by association. This is emphasized in Proverbs.

Part of our blessing by association is that when the believer applies the truth of the Bible to the legislation, to the laws and the leaders of the nation, then because of the righteous all shall be blessed. Proverbs 11:10, 11 ^NASB “When it goes well with the righteous, the city rejoices, And when the wicked perish, there is joyful shouting. By the blessing of the upright a city is exalted, But by the mouth of the wicked it is torn down.” The righteous have a responsibility to have a righteous impact in government so that all will go well. The rest may have wrong views but if the righteous can impact government and the governing of the city then it will be good for everybody. People who are righteous need to voice their righteousness at the polls.

The role of the believer is to promote righteousness, and we do that not only through voting but also by making our voices heard to those who are in power. Proverbs 14:34 ^NASB “Righteousness exalts a nation, But sin is a disgrace to {any} people.” So we need to take a stand for moral issues. Scripture teaches many times that morality impacts the economy and many other things.

A righteous king or president should favor those who are wise. Those leaders who do not favor those who are wise should be turned out of office, and to turn somebody our of office it may take organization and effort and fundraising to do so. Proverbs 14:35 ^NASB “The king’s favor is toward a servant who acts wisely, But his anger is toward him who acts shamefully.” That is the way it should be, but when a king's favor is towards the fool then that person should be removed from power.

It is important to be prepared for physical battles as well as for political battles, even though ultimately we believe that deliverance is from the Lord. Proverbs 21:31 ^NASB “The horse is prepared for the day of battle, But victory belongs to the LORD.” The first part of that proverb says that it is legitimate to prepare militarily for the upcoming physical conflict. But ultimately it is not dependent upon technology, skill or how prepared you are; ultimately deliverance is from the Lord. We recognize that the battle is the Lords and we are to pray about all of these issues related to things politically. Ultimately it is the Lord who delivers us, our trust is not in man, but under the Constitution that we live we have responsibilities as citizens to be as involvedas we possibly can.

In addressing those in power we should always demonstrate grace, good manners, protocol, humility and patience. Proverbs 23:1, 2 ^NASB “When you sit down to dine with a ruler, Consider carefully what is before you, And put a knife to your throat If you are a man of {great} appetite.” In other words, be very careful when you are in the presence of power. Don't let yourself be carried away by all the little goodies that you might get. Proverbs 25:15 ^NASB “By forbearance a ruler may be persuaded, And a soft tongue breaks the bone.” It takes time.

It is the role of the believer to oppose evil. Psalm 97:10 ^NASB “Hate evil, you who love the LORD, Who preserves the souls of His godly ones; He delivers them from the hand of the wicked.” Psalm 140:1 ^NASB “Rescue me, O LORD, from evil men; Preserve me from violent men.” The believer is to oppose evil. Proverbs 8:13 ^NASB “The fear of the LORD is to hate evil; Pride and arrogance and the evil way And the perverted mouth, I hate.” This is to influence we conduct ourselves as Christian citizens of a nation.

Everything that we do, whether it is our works as employees, our roles as fathers and mothers, students or citizens, needs to be done to the glory of God. 1 Corinthians 10:31^NASB “Whether, then, you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.” So we need to think in terms of what glorifies God in terms of our government.

Citizenship involves a number of things. We are to be informed, first of all, about the history of our nation, the history of our Constitution, and the history of our forefathers. Basic citizenship, just a minimal requirement, involves obedience to the law, voting, jury duty, and serving your country in the military. But we need to go above and beyond the basics. When we are involved in the voting process we need to be well educated. We should know the strengths and weaknesses of the candidates.

Some people think this is Christian activism, and that is really bad terminology. If you read the dictionary activism applies to anybody who writes a letter to their congressman or to somebody who goes and foments a violent demonstration, a riot. That is a very broad spectrum. I don't like the term “Christian activism” because it is not defined well. What I am talking about is responsible Christian involvement as a responsible citizen. That is what is expected of us. We have that kind of government where we are supposed to participate.

Example: This happened in 1774. At that the time the greatest evangelist, the Billy Graham of that generation, was George Whitfield. He worked with the Wesley brothers. He had several crusades in the United States where thousands upon thousands trusted the Lord as a result of his preaching of the gospel. He was preaching in a town in Connecticut and a young man by the name of Isaac Backus came up to shake his hand. He was the heir of a family fortune and had been deeply moved and he trusted Christ as a result of Whitfield's preaching. He was baptized, which was somewhat distinctive. He was a Baptist. He was a pastor, a church planter, and as a home missionary he made over nine hundred trips in colonial America covering over 68,000 miles on horseback. He was best known, though, as a champion of religious liberty. From the beginning of his ministry he fought for the separation of church and state in the American colonies. When he first entered ministry there was a tax for the support of the established church, the state church, which was the Congregational Church, which believed in infant baptism. Backus refused to pay it.

This was true civil disobedience; he felt that was wrong for him to have to support a false theology. He didn't lead a demonstration, didn't go marching on Boston (that is where you have crossed the line), but he refused and spent time in prison. He was released but he continued to mount a campaign to abolish the state-supported church system. He lobbied the representatives of the Continental Congress. He went to the Massachusetts representatives. He tried to lobby John Adams but John Adams was a Congregationalist and wouldn't listen to him, and he tried to Lobby John Hancock. He didn't get very far. It was another twenty-seven years after his death that there was the disestablishment of the Congregational Church in Massachusetts and Connecticut. That was just one example, and he was just one of hundreds of what was called The Black Robe Brigade. The pastors of the colonies were the ones who were the spiritual backbone of the American war for independence, and if it were not for the political involvement of the pastors in the colonies there would not have been a war for independence and we would not have won the war for independence. Pastors raised regiments out of their congregations and led them in battle—at Bunker Hill, at Valley Forge, at numerous other battles. If it was not for the spiritual courage of those pastors to stand against tyranny we would not have the freedom we have today.

Slides