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“Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.”

Mark 12:17

The chief priests, scribes and the elders in the temple (11:27) could see that their authority was under threat. They sent some of the Pharisees and Herodians to Jesus with a view to discrediting Him and not to discern the source of Christ’s authority (12:13). Paying taxes to Caesar was a sore point in Israel. Their view was that taxes should go to the temple not Caesar. If Jesus answered their question, “Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar or not” (v 14) with either a yes or no it would have been incorrect and provided an opportunity to discredit Him. Neither yes nor no was the correct answer.

Jesus’ answer agrees with scripture that we should pray for and support earthly governments but that we also have the privilege and responsibility of providing for His ministry on earth.

In focusing attention on the image of Caesar on the coin He confirmed that obligations to human government should be met. It is God who raises up and puts down kingdoms. It was the Roman Empire that had provided the circumstances for Messiah to enter the world and fulfill scripture at that time.

Where there is Caesar’s image that object belongs to Caesar. The extrapolation of that is that where God’s image is, that belongs to God. We read in Genesis 1:26-27 that mankind was created in God’s image. Jesus said that the coin which bears the image of Caesar should be rendered to Caesar and therefore man, created in and bearing the image of God should be rendered to God. This is what Paul was thinking when he wrote, “Present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God which is your reasonable service” (Romans 12:1) and “You were bought with a price; therefore glorify God in your body” (1 Corinthians 6:20).

That we are created in God’s image means that we belong to Him to serve and worship Him. This is the basis for Jesus’ demand of supreme love, supreme loyalty and supreme devotion to Him without which we cannot be one of His disciples (Luke 14:25-32).

The image of God in man was corrupted when sin entered the world but when Jesus, “the image of the invisible God,” (Colossians 1:15) came into the world and suffered the cross He opened the door for the image of God to be recreated in any person who will receive Him (John 1:12-13; 2 Corinthians 5:17).

The Idol of my Heart

“He will reduce to nothing all the gods of the earth” Zephaniah 2:11

One thing that mankind cannot deny is that he will worship something. Ultimately if that something is not God it will be himself albeit disguised in some religious or moral garb. All the false religions and objects of worship have man at the pinnacle. This is very clear in those who worship the theory of evolution. They believe it in spite of the evidence being contrary because it puts mankind in the place of God as Creator. In essence the theory of evolution has man responsible for creating himself and this includes moral values; hence our current national moral corruption and bankruptcy. Paul put it this way, “Therefore God also gave them up to uncleanness, in the lusts of their hearts, to dishonour their bodies among themselves, who exchanged the truth of God for the lie, and worshipped and served the creature rather than the Creator” (Romans 1:24-25). What is “the lie?” I believe the lie is the one from Satan in Genesis 3:5, “You will be like God.”

God created man in His image but ever since the Garden of Eden people have been creating gods in their own image. We do this because it feeds pride. King Nebuchadnezzar’s arrogance in creating a golden image of himself and demanding all bow down and worship his image is a good example. Daniel had informed him that it was the Lord who had given him the empire and that He would also take it and pass it on to another. The image of the statue of gold, silver, brass, iron and clay represented the passing of the kingdoms. In defiance of the Lord Nebuchadnezzar had a statue created that was made all of gold. In doing so his statement of defiance against God was that he built the empire and that he would cause it to endure forever. He then demanded worship as if he were God.

The idols we worship today may not always be statues or physical images but they always put oneself in the place of God. We may worship our work or our sporting heroes, our moral uprightness or we may worship some person. The one with a spirit of criticism worships himself. The way to ascertain what we worship is to discover what it is we will not surrender if Jesus asks us to. It is not a matter of whether it is good or bad but whether we prefer it to Jesus Christ. If we do, that is an idol. We may even have an erroneous view of Jesus that we worship. An example of this is one who is legalistic in their walk with Jesus. Ultimately, they worship themselves.

When Jesus returns, “He will reduce to nothing all the gods of the earth.” However, if we truly are disciples of Jesus Christ, we have done so and maintain a watch over our hearts to ensure we do not allow anyone or anything to usurp God’s rightful place of worship, especially not ourselves.