And Jesus answered and 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 12:17
What exactly belonged to Caesar? It was a question designed by the Pharisees to trap Jesus in a legalistic conundrum. And as on all other occasions, their trap failed miserably.
Francis Schaeffer, one of the 20th Century’s greatest theologians once stated that the Romans didn’t persecute Christians because they worshiped Jesus Christ; they persecuted them for their insistence upon worshiping ONLY Christ and applying their Christian morals and standards to all phases of life. To understand Schaeffer’s position we must begin by understanding the Roman world-view. According to this view one could worship whom he or she chose to worship as long as they obey the Roman law and worship Caesar as well. The Jewish religious culture of Christ’s time was a prime example of Roman tolerance for religions other than their own. That was one of the primary reasons the Pharisees tried to trap Christ with their question about the legality of paying tribute to Caesar.
2000 years have passed since the days our Galilean Savior walked the Roman province of Judea. Yet little of the ancient world view has changed. No. Secularism is nothing new. Even the Romans were secularists, though they manifested their primitive form of secularism in the guise of their gods. Oh, technology has advanced along with the sciences which gave birth to our modern world but the prevailing world view is much the same. We may still worship whom we choose to worship as long as we obey the Roman law and refuse to interject our Christian ethics and morality upon the Roman culture. Is this beginning to sound a bit farfetched? Then let us look at the prevailing culture after the Resurrection of Christ as compared with our own. “But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come: For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having a form of godliness but denying its power. And from such people turn away!” - 2 Timothy 3:1-5.
Initially, Christians found it difficult to take part in civic life or public events due to the generalized practice of associating such activities with Caesar-worship. Today, the idea that Caesar was divine has been replaced by the concept that relativism is now divine. Ergo we witness daily how the media and entertainment are inundated with debased morality. Add to this the fact that Christians were seen as intolerant of other religions and “points of view.” Relativism declares that all lifestyles, regardless of how perverse, are equally valid as preached in the social gospel of today. 21st Century secularists no longer invoke the gods. They have replaced the supernatural with the absurd. They prefer to explain the world in terms common to all men, thus the egalitarian positions they so rigorously defend! “Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God.” - 1 Corinthians 6:9-10.
By 64 A.D., under the reign of Nero, the exclusivity of the Gospel led to the outright persecution of Christians. While execution was a very real part of this persecution there were other equally insidious methods of conspiring against believers. Social banishment (your “friends” or family may stop socializing with you), economic disenfranchisement (your business may become subject to protests and boycotts), loss of employment (mind what you say at work if you want to keep your job), and loss of property (civil lawsuit) via Roman mandate were common sources of persecution. The civil lawsuit or the Roman mandate - it doesn’t matter what you call it; the results are the same. Ask the bakers who were fined for their refusal to bake a cake for a homosexual couple. “You will be brought before governors and kings for My sake, as a testimony to them and to the Gentiles . . . Now brother will deliver up brother to death, and a father his child; and children will rise up against parents and cause them to be put to death. And you will be hated by all for My name’s sake. But he who endures to the end will be saved.” - Matthew 10:18, 21-22.
Again, what exactly belongs to Caesar? By Christ’s own implication - whatever does not glorify God! The government will get my taxes but never my heart, mind, or soul! I will never pray at the altar of political correctness. Render unto Caesar? Only that most insignificant portion which is meaningless to our salvation. We must never compromise the integrity of our faith in Christ; not for any Caesar nor for any government nor for any un-Godly cause. Render unto God what is God’s.
No comments:
Post a Comment