Isaiah 45:1-7; 1 Thessalonians 1:1-10; Matthew 22:15-22

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,

Society is money centric. It takes money to do anything today and everyone is competing for your money. Stores compete against other stores. Charities compete against other charities. Churches compete against other churches. And don’t forget that the government wants their chunk too! 

The biggest question about money is always, what to do with it? How do I want to spend my money? For we know that money talks. Where we spend it, we spend it to support a business, a charity, a church, a mission, or goal that we find commendable. When we don’t spend it, it equally speaks to our lack of interest or enthusiasm for the available options. 

In our Gospel lesson this week, Jesus is questioned by the Pharisees about whether they should pay taxes to Caesar or not. After all, they don’t want to give money to a government they don’t support and whom they thought was evil to the core. “Tell us, then, what you think. Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not?” Matthew 22:17. It’s a question about money, but it’s about far more than just money. And Jesus knows it. 

Indeed, we’re to pay taxes to “Caesar”. Government is established by God and works for his ends. But what about the other part? What else are we to do with our money? “Therefore render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s,” Matthew 22:21. Let me be clear… God doesn’t need your money. He doesn’t need anything from you. God is the one who created the whole world and is the rightful owner of it all. So, rendering “God’s things” to him isn’t about what we can do for God. For what can we give to the King of all Creation that He doesn’t already possess? Tithing to the Church isn’t about supporting God.

The whole purpose of tithing is to help our neighbor. Giving our money, time, and talents to God is about supporting the people whom God has called to serve his church. It’s the dreadful truth that even the church needs money to operate. But that money isn’t just for a building. It’s not for greedy pastors (though regretfully there are some). The money given to church is so that a pastor may give you the very things of God. It’s so God can render to you HIS time, talents, and gifts. For God has rendered to us Jesus Christ. He gave us Jesus to die on the cross for us. He has blessed us immensely with his grace and mercy that we may be richly blessed. And with God’s blessings, we may give back to God that through the hand of His Church, our neighbors may be cared for and told the very Gospel of Christ! 

Pastor Sorenson

Prayer:

O God, the protector of all who trust in You, have mercy on us that with You as our ruler and guide we may so pass through things temporal that we lose not the things eternal; through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen!