Give To America What is America’s And To God What Is God’s (Mark 12:13-17)
On July 4th we celebrate the many great blessings that come from living in this country. And those blessings are many. When I look across the globe at the things that take place in other countries and see how they limit freedoms, it makes me very happy to be where I am today. I wouldn’t want to live in any other country in the world.
There is, however, a growing lack of understanding the greatness of our country and thankfulness and our responsibilities toward our country. And this time of year is a wonderful time to think through problems such as these.
Cotton Mather was probably the most prominent intellectual in the New England States. He was a pastor, historian, and leader of the American Colonies. He even led a revolt in 1689 against a governor imposed in them by King James II and introduced the smallpox inoculation in 1721. In his day, prior to the First Great Awakening, the colonies grew increasingly immoral and anti-Christian sentiment. He, rather famously responded this way to all of it,
“Religion begat prosperity, and the daughter devoured the mother.”
Before the American Revolution and the Battle for independence British people made a dangerous journey to America for a few reasons. Yes, some of them wanted to get wealthy. That was especially true of those who sailed into the Virginia Colony. But, a large part of the first settlers were looking for a place that they could build a life for themselves where they could worship the Lord freely.
The Mayflower Compact was signed by most of the male passengers who arrived at Cape Cod in November of 1620. This was a covenant the people onboard made with one another, led by William Bradford, to build a community and government together.
“IN THE NAME OF GOD, AMEN. We, whose names are underwritten, the Loyal Subjects of our dread Sovereign Lord King James, by the Grace of God, of Great Britain, France, and Ireland, King, Defender of the Faith. Having undertaken for the Glory of God, and Advancement of the Christian Faith, and the Honour of our King and Country, a Voyage to plant the first Colony in the northern Parts of Virginia; Do by these Presents, solemnly and mutually, in the Presence of God and one another, covenant and combine ourselves together into a civil Body Politick, for our better Ordering and Preservation, and Furtherance of the Ends aforesaid: And by Virtue hereof do enact, constitute, and frame, such just and equal Laws, Ordinances, Acts, Constitutions, and Officers, from time to time, as shall be thought most meet and convenient the general Good of the Colony; unto which we promise all due Submission and Obedience.”
For the “advancement of the Christian Faith, and the Honour of” their “King and Country”, these people covenanted together to build a community.
There were many hard times. You have hopefully read about them or discussed them in a history class at some point. There were many experiments along the way. Communal living, where they shared everything with one another nearly killed them until they decided to give a parcel of land to each family. Our country’s first experiment with Socialism nearly destroyed the entire project and all the settlers. But they changed course and God blessed them with abundant harvests, and the colonies grew in prosperity over the years.
And as Cotton Mather, son of Increase Mather, who was in Boston around 1660, would recount the prosperity that these fervently pious colonists created through God’s blessing was leading to the decrease of devotion to the Lord.
“Religion begat prosperity, and the daughter devoured the mother.”
This is a lesson that we can see played out throughout all of the Western World. If I were to take a map of the world and show you the places that Christianity, especially Protestantism had the most influence, you might be shocked to find out that those are basically what we call First World Countries. What does this tell us about those same countries’ desire to do away with Christianity?
It tells you that the idea that Cotton Mather put forward all those years ago is happening today as well.
“Religion begat prosperity, and the daughter devoured the mother.”
This has led to numerous problems within our society. America and the rest of the Western World is like the son of an intelligent and hardworking business. Dad made millions and now the son is Billy Madison, wasting away the money Daddy made.
It has led to ungratefulness because our population is standing on the shoulders of those giants that went before and thinks that their flying. They don’t know how they got there. They don’t know what their doing. But they think they’re doing something impressive while they make airplane noises.
The belief that God is the One who gave us all things has been lost to many. We still have a good level of prosperity in our country. And so, there is ingratitude. But there is also the belief that Daddy Government will step in and make everything better rather than understanding where our prosperity actually came from.
“Religion begat prosperity, and the daughter devoured the mother.”
We want to avoid this pitfall of unthankfulness and ingratitude. We also want to understand and be thankful for where our prosperity came from. And not only that but we want to be people who are ourselves producers in our families and out in society.
In all of this we see a pattern emerge. The great societies of the modern world were created from a Christian understanding of the world. The people were grateful to the Lord for the good that He had given. They believed themselves to be blessed by the Creator to work and to build a good society. And as time went by, the Creator was rejected as the people forgot where their blessings came from.
If we work from a proper understanding of our relationship to the government and the government’s relationship to us, then we can work from that foundation and make good and informed choices in life. It helps us to understand the government’s role in our life and also when government officials overstep those boundaries. It also helps us to have an attitude of gratefulness and gratitude toward God, who sits above the government and put us where we are today.
God is Lord over all Creation, Give to God what is God’s and to America what is America’s.
Jesus was approached by people who desired to trap him with a line of questioning in Mark 12. There is no doubt that this is what was happening in this moment and Mark lets us know that this is the case (Mark 12:13). The question itself was one that had caused a lot of uproar at this time. And the question itself was intended to get Jesus embroiled in controversy. But their intention was to trap him, so they began with a good bit of flattery.
Flattery is oftentimes a trap. “A man who flatters his neighbor spreads a net for his feet.” (Proverbs 29:5 ESV) Be wary when someone approaches you with a mouth flowing with nothing but honey. Those words that seem to be dripping with honey are oftentimes the bait used to get you into the trap. And that is what the opening of this line of questioning is all about (Mark 12:14). They tell Jesus that He is truthful and will speak without regard to anyone. And then they ask the question that takes up all our message today.
“And they came and said to him, “Teacher, we know that you are true and do not care about anyone’s opinion. For you are not swayed by appearances, but truly teach the way of God. Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not? Should we pay them, or should we not?” But, knowing their hypocrisy, he said to them, “Why put me to the test? Bring me a denarius and let me look at it.” And they brought one. And he said to them, “Whose likeness and inscription is this?” They said to him, “Caesar’s.” Jesus said to them, “Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” And they marveled at him.” (Mark 12:14-17 ESV)
Jesus’s answer is oftentimes treated like some sort of evasive political maneuver. Most sermons that I have heard over this text don’t seem to grasp just how all encompassing this answer is concerning the Christian’s relationship to the government.
The Roman government was an occupying force that the people had to pay taxes to. This alone was enough to make a lot of people say that they should not have to pay taxes to Rome. But matters were made worse because the image of Caesar was stamped upon the money.
What we will see as we look at this text is that God is Lord over all Creation, so give to God what is God’s and give to America what is America’s. When everything is set in its proper place, we begin to understand both the tremendous blessings of living in this country and the obligations that we have.
God Sets The Boundaries
The first thing that we should notice is that Jesus is Lord over Caesar. Caesar does not have ultimate authority. He does not get to decide how much power he has. Simply put, God has placed limits upon his power. He does not have unlimited reach. There are things in this world that he has no right to touch. God is the One that sets the boundaries. Other authorities do not get to set their own boundaries.
A good explanation of this is found in Romans 13.
“Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment. For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive his approval, for he is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God’s wrath on the wrongdoer. Therefore one must be in subjection, not only to avoid God’s wrath but also for the sake of conscience. For because of this you also pay taxes, for the authorities are ministers of God, attending to this very thing. Pay to all what is owed to them: taxes to whom taxes are owed, revenue to whom revenue is owed, respect to whom respect is owed, honor to whom honor is owed.” (Romans 13:1-7 ESV)
God is the One who created these governments and put these leaders in place. Leaders are established by the Lord. And those in power have a certain role to play in society, a role that God has given them.
We see here that governing authorities are to work for the good of the citizenry, to uphold the law, and to be a terror to bad conduct so that the citizenry can dwell in safety.
So, give to Caesar what is Caesar’s necessarily implies that there are things that are Caesar’s and there are things that are not Caesar’s. Governing authorities have a God-given role and place in society.
Here, the money had Caesar’s face upon it. This was, of course, a point of controversy in Israel. Rome had conquered Israel and now forced them to use Roman money. That would be enough to set a lot of people off, but things were worse. The money also had a picture upon it of a man that believed himself to be god. This is another reason that the use of Roman money was so detestable to the Hebrew people. But there were benefits to this arrangement as well. Roman coin, which paid for roads, military, police, and other things also brought a benefit to society.
So, Jesus’s answer lets us know that governing authorities have their place. Caesar had no right to take more than was due him. But the place of governing authorities is not an unimportant one.
This is a lot of the reason that I am thankful to live in the U.S.A. Our Founder’s understood this concept better than most. We have rights that are unalienable, pre-government, or God-given. This simply means that the government has no right to touch them.
In the Preamble to the Bill of Rights we read
“The Conventions of a number of the States, having at the time of their adopting the Constitution, expressed a desire, in order to prevent misconstruction of abuse of its powers, that further declatory and restrictive clauses should be added: And as extending the ground of public confidence in the Government, will best ensure the beneficent ends of its institution.”
Even though there were already checks within the Constitution, there was a belief that governments tend toward overreaching their place and not staying within their lane. I am incredibly thankful to live in a country where this is understood, or at least was understood and still affects us today.
For comparison’s sake one can look north to Canada. They have something that sounds similar, but is miles apart. And the reason is that the concept of “unalienable” or “God-given” is not found anywhere in The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. In Canada, “the government giveth and the government taketh away”. And that was seen plainly as pastors were locked up for opening their church during Covid lockdowns. That sort of thing did not happen in America, and it wasn’t because governors didn’t try. They did. But they failed because of the massive check on government overreach in the lives of Americans. The limits are constantly being tested today, but we should be thankful that we live in a land where freedoms are protected, for now, from the government.
As Americans forget the One who created us and stands over all, the government is reaching further and further into our lives. And the results are devastating.
The growing understanding of life is that the government must fix all problems. Imagine a governor hearing of the growth of poverty in his city and saying, “I can’t fix that.” It just does not happen. And the reason is that people now believe that the government is to dig its fingers into every area of our lives. The government is good at doing what it is supposed to do, when it puts its resources there. It is really bad at just about everything else.
One example among many is College Tuition. Why has college tuition skyrocketed?
Over the last 20 years inflation has gone up 54% (that is not counting this journey we are currently on), but the cost of a college education has gone up over 200%. [1]
That’s extraordinary. But we know the reason. When the government got involved in college education, it was handing out Pell Grants and Student Loans to people. Suddenly the goal of the University was to compete over this government money. Teachers don’t make much more than they did 20 years ago. That’s not where the money is going because that is not what attracts students. Do you know what colleges have more of now than they had 20 years ago? Extra-Curriculars activities such as Lazy Rivers.[2]
When the government decided to get involved it drove up the cost in incredible ways. And, I would argue, caused many of the problems people complain about concerning cost of tuition and indebtedness of college students.
Many argue that the rise in divorce and single parent homes is government induced. The very help that the government sought to give wasn’t helpful in a long-term way and actually did a good bit of damage. G.K. Chesterton saw this development in England in the late 1800’s when he said,
“Modern mothers and fathers, of the emancipated sort, could not do their quick-change acts of bewildering divorce and scattered polygamy, if they did not believe in a big benevolent Grandmother, who could ultimately take over ten million children by very grandmotherly legislation.”[3] – G.K. Chesterton
Rather than helping, he saw in England back then what a lot of people see today, a growth in the very areas that were to be helped.
And I will also add education to this list. The literacy rate of Puritan New England was 80%. Arkansas spends $10,000 per student per year, but the highest state is New York at over $24,000 per student per year.[4] And the literacy rate for Americans today is low. Some projections are that around half of all American adults lack proficiency in reading.[5]
The government simply can’t do what it was not made to do. And as time goes by, we see that plainly. People have attempted to replace the Lord with government action and it is falling upon its face.
I am incredibly thankful that God placed me here in the United States of America. And I am thankful for the good that this country does for its citizenry. Government is part of God’s plan. It has a lane that it should stay in. Covid restrictions and other things have proven that they will attempt to overstep when given the opportunity.
I am thankful that the Founders of our country understood that and wrote in the protections that we have against that very thing. They looked back at history with wisdom and understanding and crafted a constitution that gave us the incredible liberties that we have today. They also understood Scripture’s teaching on the depravity of man and the effect that power has on a sinful human being. I am thankful that I live in a country where that is understood, or at least was understood and we still feel the reverberations of that today. And as long as the daughter of prosperity hasn’t completely eaten up the mother of the Christian religion in America, we will still feel the effects.
Give To America What Is America’s
Because God instituted government, we owe things to Caesar. Here the discussion is about taxes. But the meaning of this goes far beyond just taxes.
In some ways, using Roman coin was a benefit to the Jews. Purchasing power in the ancient world was a benefit to them because they were using Roman coin. Rome had spread tremendously throughout the ancient world and this made the use of Roman coin beneficial. But the ongoing controversy concerning the image of Caesar, who believed himself to be a god caused more than a few faithful Jews to be agitated at the thought of using Roman money and paying taxes to Rome.
But Jesus didn’t really dive into that discussion. All He said was that the coin belonged to Caesar because it had Caesar’s image stamped upon it. So, what is going on here?
Well, as stated above, God has given the boundaries that governing authorities are to remain within. And Romans 13 would be important to look at here.
“Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment. For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive his approval, for he is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God’s wrath on the wrongdoer. Therefore one must be in subjection, not only to avoid God’s wrath but also for the sake of conscience. For because of this you also pay taxes, for the authorities are ministers of God, attending to this very thing. Pay to all what is owed to them: taxes to whom taxes are owed, revenue to whom revenue is owed, respect to whom respect is owed, honor to whom honor is owed.” (Romans 13:1-7 ESV)
There are some things that are due to governing authorities. We are to give them respect and obedience. They have an important task to play in society. They are to carry out justices and to be God’s sword for carrying that out on Earth. And we owe them taxes.
I don’t believe that this means that the government can take all of your money. And I believe ours takes way too much. I mean, the US Government spent over $11 million telling the people of Vietnam to stop burning their trash and around $500,000 dollars studying the habits of pigeons playing slot machines.[6] There is such a thing as taxes going too high. But the reality is that governing authorities cannot carry out their duty without tax dollars.
We owe certain things to our local, state, and federal government. This is not just about money. It is an all-encompassing answer that reaches beyond whether we should pay taxes.
We don’t owe things to our local, state, and federal government simply because they say so. We owe it to them because they are instituted by God. They are God’s ministers of justice in the land.
It is true that our true home is God’s Kingdom. It is true that we are strangers and sojourners in this land. This is all true. But how are we to put these two ideas together? How are we to think through how we are to live in the United States?
We are to live as good citizens of the land. We are to grow and produce.
God’s instructions to His people concerning life in exile is an often overlooked but important bit of information. It helps us to understand what it is that we are to be doing with ourselves. We are to be good and productive citizens of the country we reside.
“Build houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat their produce. Take wives and have sons and daughters; take wives for your sons, and give your daughters in marriage, that they may bear sons and daughters; multiply there, and do not decrease. But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the LORD on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare.” (Jeremiah 29:5-7 ESV)
And I count it as one of the great blessings of this life to have been born in America. Here I have freedoms and prosperity that much of the rest of the world does not have. And I am to work to the betterment of the place where I live.
Give To God What Is God’s
What is it that has God’s image stamped upon it?
“Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.” (Genesis 1:26-27 ESV)
You owe God everything! God created the Universe. God created the world. God sustains the world. And God created you. You owe Him worship and praise. You owe him something the government isn’t supposed to get.
The Christian owes even more to God, for they have been redeemed. The Christian is the person that knows that they rebelled against God. They understand that they have earned God’s justice and wrath. And they also understand that God saved them from their just desserts through the perfect life, death, and resurrection of Christ.
God the Son took on human flesh and dwelt among us to save us from the punishment that we deserve. Jesus died and paid the punishment that we owed. And we are credited with His righteousness. The Christian is presented perfect and spotless to God through the work of God the Son. We have so much to be thankful for and to give praise for.
We are to give to God what is God’s and we understand that to be everything.
Christians were persecuted under this same Roman government for drawing a line between what was owed to Caesar and what was not. There was a line that they dared not cross. There was a line that Christians understood. Caesar had his place and had his stuff. And that place was not everywhere. His stuff was not everything. So, they would not worship Caesar. And they also understood that Caesar did not receive all obedience. Caesar stood under God, and it was only God that had ultimate authority.
“The early Christians died because they would not obey the state in a civil matter. People often say to us that the early church did not show any civil disobedience. They do not know church history. Why were the Christians in the Roman Empire thrown to the lions? From the Christian’s viewpoint it was a religious reason. But from the viewpoint of the Roman Senate they were in civil disobedience, they were civil rebels. The Roman State did not care what anybody believed religiously; you could believe anything, or you could be an atheist. But you had to worship Caesar as a sign of your loyalty to the state. The Christians said they would not worship Caesar, anybody, or anything, but the living God. Thus to the Roman Empire they were rebels, and it was civil disobedience. That is why they were thrown to the lions.”[7] (Francis Schaeffer)
We owe all worship and obedience to the Lord. It is to Him that we owe our final and full obedience.
The State has no right to tell you how to worship! And the State has no right to tell you when you can worship!
This has been the problem in a few of the States in our country during the Covid scare. They would allow pot shops that only became legal in the last couple of years to open while telling churches that they must remain closed. No State in the country has the right to tell the church when it is allowed to worship.
The State has no right to tell you to break God’s Law. And the State has no right to tell you to ignore God’s Law.
The State has no right to take your children and form them into the image of the perfect secular person. We are commanded to raise them in the fear and admonition of the Lord and not of the State. We teach our kids to respect the authorities of the State because the Lord commands it. And if there ever comes a time when local school districts are obviously attempting to mold our children in the image of the perfect secular person, then it is time to pull our children out of Public Schools.
But in so far as the government does what it is supposed to do, it is to be honored and supported. And the reason is clear. God is Lord over every government in the world. Jesus reigns over every authority. He is King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
Conclusion
I read this week that pride in our country from citizens is at an all-time low. Things are pretty bad right now. I bought gas for the church lawnmowers this week and nearly choked due to how much 19 gallons of gas costs, because the pump cut me off before I could get to 20 gallons.
But I consider living in this country to be a great blessing. I have incredible freedoms and prosperity that I would not have had if I lived somewhere else. And a lot of the reason for these incredible freedoms and prosperity is because the Founders of this country limited the power of the government and thus caused it to stay in its lane.
We are blessed to live in this country. But we also understand that as people attempt to overthrow the structure of our country, it may not always be that way. But God has equipped us in His Word to respond to any situation that may arise. We understand that God is Lord over all of Creation and we are to give to America what is America’s and to God what is God’s.
R. Dwain Minor
[1] https://www.usnews.com/education/best-colleges/paying-for-college/articles/2017-09-20/see-20-years-of-tuition-growth-at-national-universities accessed on 06/30/2022.
[2] https://www.forbes.com/sites/michaelhorn/2019/11/14/why-lazy-rivers-have-their-place-on-college-campusesand-yet-still-might-just-be-lazy/?sh=69c2ee2340f7 accessed on 06/30/2022.
[3] “G.K. Chesterton, “In Defense Of Sanity: The Best Essays Of G.K. Chesterton”, Ignatius Press, 2011, p. 223.
[4] https://worldpopulationreview.com/state-rankings/per-pupil-spending-by-state, accessed 06/30/2022.
[5] https://www.forbes.com/sites/michaeltnietzel/2020/09/09/low-literacy-levels-among-us-adults-could-be-costing-the-economy-22-trillion-a-year/?sh=400cb3934c90 accessed 06/30/2022.
[6] https://www.dailywire.com/news/rand-pauls-2021-festivus-report-uncovers-52-billion-of-government-waste , accessed 07/02/2022.
[7] Francis Schaeffer, “A Christian Manifesto”, Crossway Books, 1982, p. 92.