John Piper On What Jesus Demands From The WorldChikamu

Render to Caesar

Every paycheck reminds us of our obligations to Uncle Sam. One column lists our “earnings” and then a second column lists the necessary “taxes” for Medicare, Social Security, federal income tax, and state income tax. Often these taxes are automatically deducted from our salaries and deposited into the appropriate government accounts. We then receive a steady stream of bills each month to pay for our housing, car, utilities, insurance, tuition or student loans, as well as regular requests from our local church, missionaries, and other charitable causes. 

Each monthly bank statement and yearly tax return highlights our obligations and priorities. Jesus challenges us to think about “our” money with a radically God-centered perspective. Render to God the things that are God’s.” What things belong to God? Consider the following passage from Deuteronomy:

"Behold, to the LORD your God belong heaven and the heaven of heavens, the earth with all that is in it" (Deuteronomy 10:14).

The point is clear: the Creator God is the absolute owner and ultimate authority over everything that He has made. In Matthew 22 Jesus challenges us to consider how this basic truth that everything belongs to God impacts our understanding of “our” money, obligations, and priorities.

Jesus’ opponents tried to trap him, but Jesus responds in a way that no one expected. As He often does in the Gospels, Jesus answers His opponents in a way that exposes their heart motives and challenges them to answer to the radical implications of God’s Word as He expounds it. Jesus demands a kind of allegiance to Caesar according to his ownership and authority, as well as allegiance to God according to His ownership and authority. 

The juxtaposition of the commands “render to Caesar” and “render to God” forces us to think carefully about their relationship. Everything that God created belongs to Him and answers to Him—including Caesar. Therefore rendering to Caesar what is His must be seen as an expression of rendering to God what is God’s. This is all-important in understanding how one can be utterly devoted to Jesus as Lord and live in a world with Caesar—or any other authority. We should apply Jesus’ teaching about Caesar to our response to human authorities and governments. Jesus’ teaching has substantial implications for how Christians today should live as dual citizens of God’s kingdom and of the United States or any other human kingdom.

Jesus’ double demand challenges us to reflect carefully on how we view “our” money and how it reflects our obligations and priorities as followers of the Lord Jesus that live under the authority of human governments.