In the week preceding Jesus’ crucifixion, the Scriptures record the Pharisees “watched him…that they might take hold of his words, that so they might deliver him unto the power and authority of the governor” (Luke 20:20). On one occasion they asked him, saying, “Master, we know that thou sayest and teachest rightly, neither acceptest thou the person of any, but teachest the way of God truly: Is it lawful for us to give tribute unto Caesar, or no?” (Luke 20:21). They hoped that he might challenge Rome’s right to levy taxes and this would lead to his arrest by the Roman governor.
But Jesus refused to be taken in by their treachery. He said to them, “Show me a penny. Whose image and superscription hath it? They answered and said, Caesar’s. And he said unto them, render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and unto God the things which be God’s” (Luke 20:24-25). How perfectly he turned the tables on them. God acknowledges that there are things due Caesar (the government), but demands those things that are due unto him.
Since God is eternal and unchanging, those things that belonged to God in Jesus’ day have not changed. It belongs to us to know such things and render them to him. The Scriptures give guidance to what those things are.
First and foremost, we are commanded to worship God. David wrote under the inspiration of the Spirit of God, “Give unto the LORD the glory due unto his name; worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness” (Psalm 29:2). Part of this command to worship God is rooted in the fact that he created all things. “Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created” (Revelation 4:11).
There are, however, prerequisites to worshipping God. Jesus tells us “God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth” (John 4:24). We must have spiritual life in order to worship God, who is a Spirit. This means we must be born again, given life from above. Again, Jesus tells us, “That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again” (John 3:6-7).
We are born again when we repent of (turn from) our sin and place our faith in Jesus Christ for salvation. For it is “not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration [new life] and renewing of the Holy Ghost” (Titus 3:5).
A second prerequisite is that our worship must be in truth. What does it mean to worship God in truth? What is truth? In Jesus’ high priestly prayer for those who belong to him, he prays to the Father, “Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth” (John 17:17). To sanctify is to set apart unto holiness. We are to worship God in the beauty of holiness. In Christ we are already holy before God. Ultimately, as we live in accordance with his word our Savior’s holiness is increasingly manifest in our walk.
Are you rendering to God the things that are God’s? I assure you he will not be cheated. He will collect that which is his.
From the Chaplain 