February 23, 2025
Something to Think About
- Matt Nickoson
Sermon Notes
Luke 20:20 NIV
Keeping a close watch on him, they sent spies, who pretended to be sincere. They hoped to catch Jesus in something he said, so that they might hand him over to the power and authority of the governor.
Luke 20:1 NIV
One day as Jesus was teaching the people in the temple courts and proclaiming the good news, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, together with the elders, came up to him.
Luke 9:22 NIV
And he said, “The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.”
Luke20:21-22 NIV
So the spies questioned him: “Teacher, we know that you speak and teach what is right, and that you do not show partiality but teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. Is it right for us to pay taxes to Caesar or not?”
Luke 20:23-24 NIV
He saw through their duplicity and said to them, “Show me a denarius. Whose image and inscription are on it?”
“Caesar’s,” they replied.
Luke 20:25 NIV
He said to them, “Then give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s.”
Luke 20:26 NIV
They were unable to trap him in what he had said there in public. And astonished by his answer, they became silent.
What does Jesus mean when He says, “give to God what is God’s”?
Psalm 24:1-2 NIV
The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it,
the world, and all who live in it;
for he founded it on the seas
and established it on the waters.
If everything is God’s, then what does He want us to give him?
Deuteronomy 10:12-17 NIV
And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God ask of you but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in obedience to him, to love him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to observe the Lord’s commands and decrees that I am giving you today for your own good?
To the Lord your God belong the heavens, even the highest heavens, the earth and everything in it. Yet the Lord set his affection on your ancestors and loved them, and he chose you, their descendants, above all the nations—as it is today. Circumcise your hearts, therefore, and do not be stiff-necked any longer. For the Lord your God is God of gods and Lord of Lords, the great God, mighty and awesome, who shows no partiality and accepts no bribes.
God is not like other leaders that can’t be trusted. Out of His love for you, He is completely faithful and completely for you!
What’s super interesting is the way Luke portrays some people rejecting His love, while others trust him completely.
Luke 23:1-2 NIV
Then the whole assembly rose and led him off to Pilate. And they began to accuse him, saying, “We have found this man subverting our nation. He opposes payment of taxes to Caesar and claims to be Messiah, a king.”
Luke 21:1-4 NIV
As Jesus looked up, he saw the rich putting their gifts into the temple treasury. He also saw a poor widow put in two very small copper coins. “Truly I tell you,” he said, “this poor widow has put in more than all the others. All these people gave their gifts out of their wealth; but she out of her poverty put in all she had to live on.”