THE THINGS THAT ARE GOD'S

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Text: Matthew 22:15-22.

Delivered on: October 19, 2008. Streetsboro.

INTRODUCTION.

1. On one occasion, some Pharisees were seeking a way to entangle Jesus.

2. They posed a question to Him. Matthew 22:15-22. Then the Pharisees went and plotted how they might entangle Him in His talk. ¹⁶ And they sent to Him their disciples with the Herodians, saying, “Teacher, we know that You are true, and teach the way of God in truth; nor do You care about anyone, for You do not regard the person of men. ¹⁷ Tell us, therefore, what do You think? Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not?” ¹⁸ But Jesus perceived their wickedness, and said, “Why do you test Me, you hypocrites? ¹⁹ Show Me the tax money.” So they brought Him a denarius. ²⁰ And He said to them, “Whose image and inscription is this?” ²¹ They said to Him, “Caesar’s.” And He said to them, “Render therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” ²² When they had heard these words, they marveled, and left Him and went their way.

3. As Jesus held that coin, He asked whose image and inscription was on it.

   1. Obviously,it was Caesar’s image and inscription.

   2. As a result, Jesus said that they were to render unto Caesar what was Caesar’s.

4. In our study of this passage we often stop there.

5. But that wasn’t all that Jesus said.

6. He also said that we are to render unto God the things that are God’s.

7. What “things” is He talking about?

8. In answer to that question, let us ask another question. What “thing” has God’s image on it?

9. Genesis 1:26. Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness…

10. We are made in the image of God.

11. We must render God our whole being.

12. Let us notice several aspects of this.

    1. We must give God our bodies.

    2. We must give God our time.

    3. We must give God our talents.

    4. We must give God our money.

BODY.

1. WE MUST GIVE GOD OUR BODIES.

   1. Our bodies belong to God. 

      1. He is our Creator. Acts 17:26. And He has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, and has determined their preappointed times and the boundaries of their dwellings,

      2. He has purchased us. 1 Corinthians 6:19-20. Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? ²⁰ For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.

   2. We are to present our bodies as a living sacrifice to God. Romans 12:1. I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.

      1. But what does it mean to present our bodies as a living sacrifice?

      2. Our bodies are merely the dwelling places of our souls. 2 Corinthians 5:1. For we know that if our earthly house, this tent, is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.

      3. Our body is the outward man. Our soul is the inward man. 2 Corinthians 4:16. Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day.

   3. If we are to be pleasing to God, we have to give him our whole being.

      1. We must love Him with every fiber of our being. Matthew 22:37.  Jesus said to him,
         “ ‘You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’

      2. We must turn ourselves completely over to his service.

         1. Romans 6:12-13. Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts. ¹³ And do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God.

         2. Philippians 3:7-11. But what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ. ⁸ Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ ⁹ and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith; ¹⁰ that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death, ¹¹ if, by any means, I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.
            

   
   

2. WE MUST GIVE GOD OUR TIME.

   1. God should have priority in our time.

   2. We don’t know how much time God will give us. 

      1. Psalm 90:10. The days of our lives are seventy years; And if by reason of strength
         they are eighty years, Yet their boast is only labor and sorrow; For it is soon cut off, and we fly away.

      2. James 4:13-14. Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell, and make a profit”; ¹⁴ whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away.

      3. Psalm 90:12. So teach us to number our days, That we may gain a heart of wisdom.

   3. Ephesians 5:15-16. See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise, ¹⁶
      redeeming the time, because the days are evil.

   4. 1 Peter 1:17. And if you call on the Father, who without partiality judges according to each one’s work, conduct yourselves throughout the time of your stay here in fear;

   5. There are 168 hours in a week. How many do we give to God?

3. WE MUST GIVE GOD OUR TALENTS.

   1. In the parable of the talents, the master is the owner of the talents. Matthew 25:14-15. “For the kingdom of heaven is like a man traveling to a far country, who called his own servants and delivered his goods to them. ¹⁵ And to one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one, to each according to his own ability; and immediately he went on a journey.

      1. The “talents” in this parable were a measure of money.

      2. In application to us today, the talents represent our own differing abilities.

   2. Whatever abilities God has given us (and all of us have some ability), we must use them in service to God. 

      1. Romans 12:6-8. Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, let us prophesy in proportion to our faith; ⁷ or ministry, let us use it in our ministering; he who teaches, in teaching; ⁸ he who exhorts, in exhortation; he who gives, with liberality; he who leads, with diligence; he who shows mercy, with cheerfulness.

      2. 1 Peter 4:10. As each one has received a gift, minister it to one another, as good
         stewards of the manifold grace of God.

4. WE MUST GIVE GOD OUR MONEY.

   1. Everything that we possess belongs to God. Psalm 50:10-12. For every beast of the forest is Mine, And the cattle on a thousand hills. ¹¹ I know all the birds of the mountains, And the wild beasts of the field are Mine. ¹² “If I were hungry, I would not tell you; For the world is Mine, and all its fullness.

   2. Therefore, we are simply stewards.

   3. God wants us to give back.

      1. 1 Corinthians 16:1-2. Now concerning the collection for the saints, as I have given orders to the churches of Galatia, so you must do also: ² On the first day of the week let each one of you lay something aside, storing up as he may prosper, that there be no collections when I come.

         
         

      2. 2 Corinthians 9:6-7. But this I say: He who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. ⁷ So let each one give as he purposes in his heart, not grudgingly or of necessity; for God loves a cheerful giver.

CONCLUSION.

1. We must render unto God the things that are God’s.

2. We must render unto Him…

   1. Our bodies.

   2. Our time.

   3. Our talents.

   4. Our money.

3. Have you rendered unto God the things that are His?