Focussing on Jesus No.3 Jesus and the Tax Man

The song we're going to sing is Thank You For Saving Me, What Can I Say, You Are My Everything. I will sing your praise. You are my everything, I will sing your praise.

You shed your blood for me, what can I say? You took my sin and shame, my sin I'll call my name. Great is the Lord, great is the Lord. For we know your truth has set us free.

You set your hope in me. Mercy and grace are mine, forgiven is my sin. Jesus, my only hope, the Savior of the world.

Great is the Lord, we cry, but let your kingdom come. Your word has made me see, thank you for saving me. Great is the Lord, great is the Lord.

For we know your truth has set us free. You set your hope in me. Great is the Lord, great is the Lord.

For we know your truth has set us free. You set your hope in me. Okay, we've got two readings, one from Mark and one from Romans, to be read by two Hannahs.

The first reading is taken from Mark chapter 2, verses 13 to 17. Once again, Jesus went out beside the lake. A large crowd came to him, and he began to teach them.

As he walked along, he saw Levi of Athias sitting at the tax collector's booth. Follow me, Jesus told him, and Levi got up and followed him. While Jesus was having dinner at Levi's house, many tax collectors and sinners were eating with him and his disciples, for there were many of him who followed him.

When the teachers of the law, who were Pharisees, saw him eating with the sinners and the tax collectors, they asked his disciples, why does he eat with the tax collectors and sinners? On hearing this, Jesus said to them, it is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners. The second reading is taken from Romans chapter 13, starting at verse 1. Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established.

The authorities that exist have been established by God. Consequently, he who rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves. For rulers hold no terror for those who do right, but for those who do wrong.

Do you want to be free from fear of the one in authority? Then do what is right, and he will commend you, for he is God's servant to do you good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword for nothing. He is God's servant, an agent of wrath, to bring punishment on the wrongdoer.

Therefore it is necessary to submit to the authorities, not only because of possible punishment, but also because of conscience. This is also why you pay taxes, for the authorities are God's servants who give their full time to governing. Give everyone what you owe him.

If you owe taxes, pay taxes. If revenue, then revenue. If respect, then respect.

If honour, then honour. Let's turn again to another song, All I once held dear, built my life upon. As Christians, it's great to know that we have a faith which is based on a relationship.

In this song it says, Knowing you, knowing you, Jesus, there is no greater thing. That's very reassuring. Let's stand and sing this together.

That's very reassuring. You're the best, you're my joy, my righteousness, and I love you Lord. So let know the truth of the risen life, And to know you raised your sufferings, To become like you in your death, my Lord.

So with you to live and never die, Knowing you, Jesus, knowing you, there is no greater thing. You're the best, you're my joy, my righteousness, and I love you Lord. It was a rotten society.

I refer to the one that our Lord entered when he was commencing his public ministry, now almost 2,000 years ago. And that fast moving gospel, the gospel of Mark, narrates something of the experiences of Jesus. You find him coming out of the wilderness.

He's been baptized. He's met up again with his cousin John. He's taken his cue from John because, well, John too was a magnetic preacher and people had poured out from Jerusalem, the surrounding villages and towns to listen to him.

And amongst the company attracted by John's magnetism were Roman soldiers, and they were convicted with what John had to say. But John was the Billy Graham of his day, his eyes blazing with righteousness. And they said, John, what shall we do? And John says, be content with your wages.

And the tax collectors, they came along, and they said, John, what shall we do? And John says, exact no more than the legitimate tax, and that will be your contribution towards making the society that much fairer. So Jesus, having had an encounter with John, having been in the wilderness, he comes back and he starts to preach, and he preaches the gospel, the gospel of the kingdom. The kingdom is a very difficult thing to understand because it's future and yet it's present.

Our father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. The kingdom is still to come, and yet there is a sense in which the kingdom has come.

And the Christian people, they live in sort of two worlds. They live within the Christian community. They also live in a society which is largely unchristian.

The problem is, how does the Christian behave in that society? How does the Christian cope with the laws of the larger society, as well as maintain the teachings of Jesus in the close committed community? And it's that question, amongst many others, that Jesus answers in his teaching. He brings to himself a bunch of men, the like of which, as I've said before, would never have got through the interview panel of the most modern missionary societies. I mean, it's not true to say a Celsus did, because Celsus to the Christian church was like Rupert Murdoch is to Buckingham Palace.

He can't stand the church. And it's not true to say that our Lord just had a load of vagabonds and thieves and robbers, but he did have some very unlikely people. I mean, there was one of the men who was actually a nationalist, belonged to the Nationalist Jewish Party to get rid of the Romans.

And there were tax collectors, at least one whom Jesus called and others whom Jesus had some contact with. And these guys really were quizlings. As Brother Len brought out, as he donned his Roman toga and spoke on behalf of the political, financial manifesto of the empire in those days, not only was there a tax that was imposed by the Romans, but there were those who'd actually gone to the auction because tax collectors were known as tax farmers.

And they put in a bid. And one of these men was a guy called Levi or Matthew. Scripture has two names for him.

And he lived in the same area where Jesus, incidentally, was brought up as a lad in Capernaum, so possibly the two knew one another. And Jesus, who's already got four fishermen following him, he astonishes everyone, including the fishermen, by stopping at Matthew's booth, where probably Jesus had often been before, and he says to Matthew, leave off what you're doing and follow me. Now Jesus did not say the essence of what Matthew was doing in terms of collecting taxes was wrong.

But as is obvious, when Jesus comes up against another tax collector who's a diminutive man, a small man called Zacchaeus, what Jesus did not like was the rip-off. The rip-off. Because in the kingdom of God, honesty is to be one of the maxims, one of the pivotal points.

And what we need today in contemporary British society is a return to the old-fashioned maxim of honesty. We want financial integrity in Parliament. And it's right to ask a prospective politician, you being a Christian citizen, are you prepared to put aside handouts? Are you prepared to live within the income that is given and to do a just job representing a constituency and fairly endeavouring to influence Parliament? You see, Jesus is for integrity.

And when he comes across this man Matthew, with this charismatic ability that is Jesus, he stuns everyone, not just because he calls Matthew, but the intensity of the call, the attractiveness of Jesus, is that Matthew stops immediately, doing what he was doing, and he gets up and he follows the Lord Jesus Christ. And Jesus doesn't apologise for that. You see, he will never apologise for taking a crooked man and straightening him out.

That's why he came into the world. To shift the metaphor, he takes the bruised reed, he takes the person who's hanging limply, he takes the one who has done wrong, and Jesus offers salvation. Jesus says, I can straighten you out.

And this actually is what happened to Matthew, though there's only an economy of words given us here in this second chapter of the Gospel of Mark that relates the incident. But by putting this alongside other accounts in the synoptic Gospels, that's Matthew and Luke, which are either side of Mark, and also dipping into the story of Jesus calling Zacchaeus, you can fill in the outline of events and come to this conclusion that Jesus has a message for people who have been acting in a very crooked fashion. And now this whole business of taxation is something that Jesus could not duck.

He may be the Son of God, but he's coming on earth as the Son of Man, and he's not recognised as being divine by everyone. He was born in Bethlehem, transfers to Nazareth, is brought up in Capernaum, he's over 30 years of age, and therefore he is in the taxation bracket. And there are at least two taxes that are imposed upon Jesus, the poll tax, the occupation tax, and also the temple tax.

On one occasion, you remember, our Lord Jesus is engaging in his ministry, and the officials of the temple come along. This is a Jewish tax. One shekel, according to the book of Exodus, is to be paid by the Jews on an annual basis, but not everybody agreed with this tax.

And Jesus is asked if he's going to pay. And Jesus, who is always the fair man and the wise man, speaks to Peter, and there's a phenomenal incident that is concurrent with what he has to say to Peter. Probably, and this is an aside, Peter is the only disciple that's over 18 years of age.

The men who followed Jesus were young men. And it's when you got to over 18 that you had to actually pay the temple tax. And when the authorities come to Jesus for the tax and Peter is involved in the discussion with the Savior, what is Peter told to do? He's told to go to the Sea of Galilee and to get a fish.

And in that fish's mouth, can you believe it, there will be a coin, and the coin will be one shekel, and it will pay the tax of both Jesus and Peter, because our Lord is a law-abiding man. And when a tax is fairly imposed, as was this temple tax which helped to fund the priestly ministries, our Lord will not duck the obligation to recognize that tax. On another occasion, you remember, our Lord is taken up again in this whole issue.

It's a political trap that is being set by His enemies, and they come along, the Jewish priests, and really it's a disgraceful situation that they should come as members of the clergy to trap Jesus. Now, in those days, there were coins similar to our own, but what the Jews didn't like about the Romans, and they'd done a deal, they didn't like the inscription of Caesar on their coins, because not only was there the inscription of Caesar, on the reverse side there was also an appellation. That means an inscription to their gods.

And they got a deal that on the Jewish coinage, there would be no such inscription. But not everybody went along with this, because, you know, if it's a question of religion or money, very often money wins. Karl Marx was dead right.

Capital tends to control everything. And when Jesus is handed this coin, he knows that it is being used by those who actually claim to be Jewish and orthodox, but who have bowed their knee to the god of mammon. And he says, have you got a denarius? Show it me.

And on the figure, on one of the sides of the coin, there is the outline of Caesar. And Jesus, you remember, gives this tremendous wise answer. Render unto Caesar the things that belong to Caesar, and unto God the things that belong to God.

You see, the believer lives in two worlds in one sense. He lives in the Christian community, to which I made reference. He's already a member of the kingdom of God, and he knows that that kingdom will come in its consummation at the end when Jesus will set up his government, and he shall reign over this world and return it to its original glory.

But it's not like that at the moment. So the Christian will recognize his prime responsibility is to Jesus the king, but he has a secondary responsibility to whatever comes under the category of Caesar. So you see, when we had an interview with Paul, so to speak, a little while ago, Paul was quite right.

In fact, it was touched on by the Roman Len as well. These roads that were now interconnecting Palestine with Syria, the Pax Romana, which was governing the sea, which meant that piracy was no longer a problem, they became part of the providential provision of God whereby the gospel can be proclaimed. The frontiers, you can cross them.

The passport, well, if you're a Roman citizen as Paul was, it will bring no problems for you whatsoever. And Paul is a man who rides, so to speak, on the back of Caesar and the provisions of Rome so that the gospel can be proclaimed as quickly as possible in his day. Which actually gives you the contemporary principle that it's quite right for Phoebus to broadcast its message and for Middle East media in Sat.

7 to put a satellite in the sky and use the things that belong to Caesar for the good of the proclamation of the gospel. So here is our Lord, and with consummate wisdom and skill, whenever He's being addressed in this whole area of politics, He manages to steer clear of the trap. He doesn't duck the issue.

He recognizes that He's coming to establish a kingdom. That becomes more and more clear as His ministry continues. But He also recognizes that these disciples who are following Him, now Matthew and the four fishermen, there will be Thomas, there will be twelve altogether, they're learning from Him.

And when He has gone, they will continue in this world and they will live in this sort of double-decker atmosphere, part of the church, salt and light, living for Jesus in a contemporary society, in a pagan society that is rotten to the core. And Jesus will teach them that the law of God is always the dominant one. So when Caesar says, you shall not preach the gospel, they recognize there is a higher law that says, oh yes, they will.

But when Caesar or whatever government is in power makes provisions for the well-being of Christians, then as citizens they will render unto Caesar what is Caesar's and they will give unto God what is God's. So you see, from this very simple account of the calling of Matthew and the attendant passages that you can link into it, the word of God comes transparently clear. Jesus has a concern for dud politicians who have misled this nation.

He can straighten them out as He straightened out Zacchaeus and Matthew. He has come for that sort of people. This is where the clergy of Jesus' day fully misunderstood Jesus' manifesto.

It is not the healthy who need a doctor but the sick. I have come not for the righteous who don't need God's medical service. I have come for those who are unrighteous and are prepared to accept their need of me.

So our beloved Lord never compromises as He is proclaiming the ethic. He can take the city financier who has ripped millions of people, straighten him out and bring him into His kingdom. But you know it's not just as easy as that.

I mean for the sins of the financier who has gone wrong to be forgiven as for the sins of any person who has violated God's law and sinned against man to be forgiven, there's going to be tremendous cost. I'll look at that in a moment or two. But on the part of the person who wants to come to Jesus and act as a Christian citizen, he or she will be so ashamed with what they did that was wrong before they will endeavor out of love for Jesus, to put it right.

So what does the kiosk do? He rewards doubly all those who has cheated because he's not just turning over a leaf. He is becoming a new man. You see, to become a member of the kingdom of Jesus is not signing up for the Labour Party nor for the Tory Party nor for the Liberal Democratic Party.

You can put your signature on a form in the national newspapers. You can send your 15 or your 20 pound and they will gratefully receive you and put your name on their computer and you will lift the statistics of the numbers who are supporting that party. But Jesus is not just interested in your name.

I go further, he's not just interested in a cheque. What he wants is to make you a new person a citizen in his kingdom. And this is what Levi becomes.

This is what Zacchaeus becomes. This is what Paul becomes. And they start to live in this sort of double-decker atmosphere acknowledging the kingship of Jesus trying to act as salt that savours a polluted world outside trying to illuminate the darkness that so often grips pagan society.

But I said that I would make reference to how Jesus deals with the matter of Levi's sin for sin there was. A tax farmer, he was really the official the customs official that not only ripped off the people who came into Palestine from the north but when the fish were caught in shoals on the Sea of Galilee he would take not only the 1% tax that went to the Romans he would also line his own pockets. A deceiver, a quizzling excommunicated from the synagogue disallowed in the temple a man who is utterly worthless.

But Jesus talks about a man like Matthew and Zacchaeus who actually one day went into the temple and beat upon their breasts as they stood at the back of the temple and said in effect that they had no right to go to the front to the place to the holiest place where the presence of God presumably could be felt because while they were so utterly unrighteous. And Jesus talks about the guilt ridden the guilt sodden financier who beats upon his breast as though he hates the sin that is in there and gasps out the words be merciful to me a sinner. And Jesus said of that man he will go home justified.

Why? Because the death of Jesus which is still future at that point would have the value of cancelling out sin in the past for the generation where Jesus who were alive as Jesus ministered and the centuries gone by and the blood of Jesus would have such power that for the sins of people who are still to live it could cleanse and make them absolutely whole. The death of Jesus is how he deals with the sins of men and women. I'm nearly through.

Here is Matthew. And he's sitting and has done for many a year in his booth at Capernaum and he's got his ledger he's got his accounts he's got the names of all the fishermen he's got the names of all those who've travelled through he's written them down in his book what they owe what they have paid what is still remaining and Matthew comes to a realisation that that's not the most important book in fact that book is a travesty of illegality and deceit the most important thing will be when Jesus passes by to say to Matthew I've got a book in heaven it's a book which records the names of repentant sinners and the most important thing Matthew is to have your spiritual accountancy dealt with for me to take upon myself the burden of your sin and to lift you to the standing of being a son of God look I've got here Ian Taylor's tax assessment forms he hasn't actually completed them yet so I can't tell you anything about them why he brought them into church this evening I'm not too sure but I said Ian I'd like to borrow them why? for this final illustrative purpose our government says you can now assess yourself tax wise and they'll have a look and they'll believe you or they won't believe you if it's in the latter category you'll probably get a ring or a letter the majority of people I'm sure what their personal assessment is will be accepted look there's a personal assessment that you can do right now this evening as far as your standing before God goes are there things in the ledger of your life that are wrong how do you evaluate yourself Jesus says that if you look into the ledger and you find that there is double dealing there has been deceit I'm not just talking in financial areas things that are wrong that you have done if you're honest and bring your ledger and it's account to him he'll look at it and he'll cancel it because of the blood that he shed on the cross for you Christians are called to act with integrity as far as the laws of Caesar are concerned they are called honestly to walk before God and to live for Jesus this side of eternity but it's not just what you pay the tax man that is important it's what you give to God in terms of your response to what he has done for you and with this in mind I want you to listen to an old fashioned hymn being sung by a couple of our friends and as we listen to it we'll take our love offering for the work of God in this place and elsewhere right now Take my life and let it be consecrated Lord, to Thee Take my moments and my days Let them flow in ceaseless praise Take my hands and let them move at the impulse of Thy love Take my feet and let them be sweet and beautiful for Thee Take my voice and let me sing Always, only for my King Take my lips and let them be filled with messages from Thee Take my silver and my gold Not a lot would I withhold Take my intellect and use every power as Thou shalt choose Take my will and make it Thine It shall be no longer mine Take my heart it is Thine own It shall be Thine royal throne Take my love my Lord, I pour At Thy feet, it's precious door Take myself and I will be ever, only whole Thank you both, not for just what you sing but what you are Let's turn to the Christian Manifesto 445, Lord, the light of your love is shining In the midst of the darkness shining Jesus, light of the world, shine upon us Set us free by the truth you now bring us Shine, Jesus, shine Let's enjoy singing this to the Lord as our last act of praise tonight Let's stand Lord, the light of your love is shining In the midst of the darkness Shine on me Shine, Jesus, shine Fill this land with the Father's glory Face me, reclaim me Let our hearts unfold Glory of hope God the gracious Reclaim my mercy Send forth your word Lord, I'm heavy, heavy lad Let's turn to the Christian Manifesto 445, Lord, the light of your love is shining In the midst of the darkness Shine, Jesus, shine Let's enjoy singing this to the Lord as our last act of praise tonight He will shine, fill this land with the Father's glory. Praise, hail, and praise to the Alma Mater.

Glory to the flag of the nation. We praise and thank thee. Send forth your word, Lord, and let there be light.

As we gaze on your field in brightness, so our faces can say your likeness. Ever changing from glories to glory, nearer, nearer, life salutory. Shine on me, shine on me.

He will shine, fill this land with the Father's glory. Praise, hail, and praise to the Alma Mater. Glory to the flag of the nation.

We praise and thank thee. Send forth your word, Lord, and let there be light. Shine, Jesus, shine, fill this land with the Father's glory.

Praise, spirit, praise, set our hearts on fire. Glory to the flag of the nation. We praise and thank thee.

Send forth your word, Lord, and let there be light. And Father, we don't just sing that because it's a good tune. We're not zombies.

We're asking that the light of the glorious gospel of Jesus Christ might illuminate every darkened corner of this nation. We pray, Lord, that you'll bless your church and empower her and help her to act with the twin ministries of being light and salt. We thank you for many Matthews, the Levites that are represented here, many who've heard the voice of Jesus, called them, and they've left and followed him and found in him a newness of living that they would not trade for anything that they had before.

Bless us, Lord, and may our testimony shine for you this coming week. Bless this nation with the confusion of this moment. We pray for Mr. Major and Mr. Blair and Mr. Ashdown and all our leaders.

Lord, we ask that they may deal with issues that are of importance, leaving aside personality attacks. We ask for maturity in our government, and we pray that you will bring into office men and women who acknowledge the ethics of the Christian faith and will do their best to bring this nation back to the course it was on yesteryear. Hear us for this land.

Bless us as Christian citizens. Help us never to cop out of our responsibilities, but help us always to realize that the prime thing is to tell others of you and to live for you. Amen.

Good night. God bless. Thanks for coming.

Some of you are helping Evelyn Gubbins in some songs for our celebration special weekend, and you're to meet right now Andy and Taylor. I've got a prize for you for attending church on so many occasions. You You