Amen. Please be seated. And if you have a Bible, let me invite you to turn with me to Matthew chapter 17, this morning, verses 24 through 27. Matthew 17, 24 to 27.
Once again, we have a story about Jesus which points us to who Jesus is. Just as in Matthew 17, we've seen Jesus on the Mount of Transfiguration. The divine majesty radiates out from him, showing us his divine glory. And we heard that voice, or we read of the hearing of the voice of the Father saying, this is my beloved Son with him.
I am well pleased. Then Jesus left the Mount of Transfiguration to go into the Valley of Misery where he attended to the needs of a young boy with great and terrible seizures and demonic possession or oppression and healed the boy of his miseries. And then last week in verses 22 and 23, Jesus announced to all of his disciples his own impending misery. That is the misery of his being given over into the hand of wicked men, the misery of his being killed upon the cross.
Now in that passage, he also foretold his resurrection, but that seems to have been lost on the disciples. It went in one ear out the other. Now today, we again have a striking display of who Jesus is as the Son of God, as the Savior of sinners, and as the sovereign Lord of creation. And once again, we'll see Peter speaking before thinking and needing to learn his lesson.
Lessons that are for us as well. Will we learn those lessons too? Let me invite you to consider Matthew 17 beginning at verse 24. When they came to Capernaum, the collectors of the two drakma tax went up to Peter and said, does your teacher not pay the tax?
He said, yes. And when he came into the house, Jesus spoke to him first, saying, what do you think, Simon? From whom? Do the kings of the earth take toll or tax?
From their sons or from others? And when he said from others, Jesus said to him, then the sons are free. However, not to give offense to them, go to the sea and cast a hook and take the first fish that comes up. And when you open its mouth, you will find a shackle.
Take that and give it to them for me and for yourself. Amen. This is God's Word. Let's look to him in prayer.
Our Lord, you are the Lord of the sea and everything in it. We ask that you would make plain to us this word about Jesus and plain to us how we might better live as his followers in his name. We pray. Amen.
Well, Matthew here shows that Jesus paid his taxes. Now, it's interesting that of the four gospel writers, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, Matthew is the only one who includes this particular story about paying taxes. The other one, that famous one where Jesus, widely known, says, you know, render under Caesar what is Caesar's and render under God what is God. So that's included in Matthew and Mark and Luke.
But this is a story that's only told by Matthew and perhaps it's not too much speculation to suggest it may very well be because he was a tax collector and from Capernaum, which was where he was gathering taxes right here where they encounter these other tax collectors. And so he has a particular interest in tax collection, no doubt, and certainly in what it teaches us about Jesus. So what do we learn here about Jesus and what lessons are there for us in living as his disciples? Let's think about three big things.
First, Jesus is the free son of the king of the universe. Second, Jesus fulfills the temple tax upon the cross. And third, Jesus is the sovereign board of creation. Three things about him first, this one's quite easy to see.
Jesus is the free son of God, the king of the universe. First 24 and following, it's a, well, it's the conclusion to be drawn from the discussion he has with Peter about who should pay tax. First 24, when they came to Capernaum, the collectors of the two drop of tax went up to Peter and says, does your teacher not pay the tax? And he said, yes, what is this tax?
Well, it's found in Exodus chapter 30 and we're going to come back to that in a bit. But just for now, note that it's a tax that's a religious tax, not a civil tax. This is a tax being taken up by the collectors for the support of the temple. It's not being taken up by the Romans in support of Caesar.
Those are different kinds of taxes. And it's also not the tithe. The tithe was in addition to this, but what it did is it funded the enormous expenses of keeping up the temple with its many, many sacrifices. And why have they come to collect from Jesus and the disciples?
Well, we know that Jesus and the disciples have been traveling. As we've been in Matthew, they've made a big circuit north along the Sea of Galilee, the Mediterranean Sea. They were in Gentile land. They've most recently been in Caesarea Philippi, really on the northern border.
They've finally come back to the hometown, the home base, where even Peter has a house where Jesus based most of his Galilean ministry. And apparently it was noticed he's back and we don't have a record of him paying this tax so they come to collect. And they want to know as they encounter Peter outside the house, does Jesus pay this tax? And immediately Peter says yes.
Speaking, we might say once again, before thinking things thoroughly through. That is the quick answer of Peter and the following conversation with Jesus suggests that Peter hasn't thought through the implications of who Jesus is. He just assumes Jesus will pay the tax as if Jesus must pay the tax. But is that the case?
Well, no, not as a necessity for Jesus. And Jesus sets out to correct Peter on this point when in verse 25 it says when he came into the house, Jesus spoke to him first saying, what do you think? Simon, Simon Peter, from whom do the kings of the earth take taller tax from their sons or from others? So Jesus speaks first here.
Many suggest because he wants Peter to know that he knows exactly what Peter's been talking about in accordance perhaps with his divinity. He knows all things, including the private conversations, his disciples having with other people. And we ought to remind ourselves that that is certainly true. That Jesus is God, even God in the flesh.
But as God, there's nothing we say that Jesus doesn't hear. There's nothing we do that Jesus doesn't see. There's nothing we even think or desire that Jesus doesn't know. Now Peter's been talking about Jesus with others based on, well, misguided thoughts about Jesus and now Jesus talks to Peter.
And his question is on point because he knows exactly what Peter's been saying. So he asks him what he thinks, Simon, from whom do the kings of the earth take taller tax? Why is he asking this question? Because the answer points to who Jesus is.
Kings, after all, take tolls and tax. Tolls here probably in import export, kind of fees and duties, taxes, of course, you know, all kinds of kings take, well, it could be property or salary tax, it maybe sales transaction tax or even taxing people simply for existing in their kingdom. Basically, if it moves, they tax it. And if it doesn't move, well, they also tax it.
I mean, this is the way emperors run the universe, their little universe. So in any case, who kings take their tolls and taxes from? I mean, do they tax their own children, their own sons? Or do they take these things from the sons of others, even their citizens or strangers within their gates?
Well, Peter answers correctly, of course, from others. And Jesus said to him, free then are the sons. The sons are free. That is, if you're the son of the king, you're free from the toll or the tax.
You're under no obligation to pay it. Now, what Jesus is driving at, and Peter hasn't figured out yet, is that this tax, God imposed on Israel next to his 30, was a tax not on his own unique, beloved, eternal son. The son of God, God the son, is actually a divine person, the very second person of the Trinity. And he is, this is his point, he's free from the tax.
That is, he's not under obligation to pay it because the sons of the king of the universe don't pay this kind of tax. He collects it from others. And Jesus is the son of the king of the universe. And besides this, we might also add, what was this ceremonial law for it?
It's part of the ceremonial law, the support of the ceremonies, the support of worship in Israel. Well, it was designed, as you know, to teach sinners, they need grace. That's the whole purpose of the ceremonial law, that sinners need grace and grace from God is available. Here's how you get it.
Here's how you can receive it. But of course, Jesus doesn't need grace because he's not a sinner. And yet, he does pay the tax. And we'll look at that in greater detail.
He submits himself to the law for our sake. Relations, four verse four teaches us that when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his son, born of a woman, born under the law to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. He was born under the law, that he might both bear the penalty of a broken law, the law we broke, and fulfill the righteous requirement of the law, which we haven't fulfilled on our behalf and in our place. And so he submitted himself willingly, but not out of personal necessity.
He did it for our sake. Another confirmation that Jesus, as the second person of the Trinity, even in flesh, doesn't of necessity need to pay the tax, is found not only in the fact of his sonship and the fact of his personal sinlessness, but in the very nature and purpose of this particular tax. What was this tax? What was it for?
To better understand it and therefore to better understand Jesus, let me invite you to turn with me to that Exodus 30. If you prefer to listen in, we'll be beginning at verse 11, where this tax is first imposed. And what we're going to see, and I hope you'll track with me there, is that Jesus fulfills this tax in himself upon the cross. He's the true temple of God who pays the true price of redemption, which is what this points to.
Exodus 30 verse 11, the meaning and purpose of the tax. The Lord said to Moses, when you take the senses of the people of Israel, then each shall give a ransom for his life to the Lord when you number them, that there may be no plague among them when you number them. Each one who is numbered in the senses shall give this half a shekel, according to the shekel of the sanctuary, the shekel is 20 gheras, half a shekel is an offering to the Lord. Everyone who is numbered in the senses from 20 year olds upward shall give the Lord's offering.
The rich shall not give more, and the poor shall not give less than the half shekel when you give the Lord's offering to make atonement for your lives. You shall take the atonement money from the people of Israel and shall give it for service for the service of the tense of meeting that it may bring the people of Israel to remembrance before the Lord so as to make atonement for your lives. What's going on here? Well, five or six features of this tax.
Notice, firstly, we said that it's not a civil tax. It's a religious tax. Temple worship was expensive. There was the upkeep of the Temple Mount.
There were massive numbers of animal sacrifices, and keeping all of that for the national worship of the people of Israel was an expensive endeavor, and this is going in support of that. And it was required, secondly, notice for those who are older than 19. That is everyone who's numbered 20 years up, verse 14, they have to give an offering. Thirdly, it was required when a census of the people was taken.
Verse 12, when you take a census of the people of Israel, verse 13, each one who was numbered in the census shall give this. And fourthly, notice that the amount to be paid, middle verse 13, well, what shall they give half a shekel according to the shekel of the sanctuary? The amount to be paid is this half shekel, which is a two-drokma coin, which is equivalent to a two-drokma coin. And so when Peter, later at the end of the story, finds the coin in the mouth of the fish, it's a stator which was equal to four-drokmas or a whole shekel, which is why one of those coins could cover the tax on two individuals, both Jesus and Peter.
Notice, fifthly, that it was a flat tax, verse 15, the rich shall not give more, the poor shall not give less than a half shekel. So it's not weighted against the rich or in favor of the poor. It's not means tested, it's not based on a percentage of income or property. Everybody pays to the same amount, whoever they are, if they're 20 years old and up and six-ly, what was its purpose?
Verse 12, when you take the census of the people of Israel, then each shall give a ransom for his life to the Lord when you number them. It was the price each was to pay for their ransom. That is the price they would pay for their redemption. That is where they would be bought out of something and into freedom, bought out of prison, or bought out of bondage, or bought out of slavery, or bought out of debt, ransomed here from what?
From the judgment of the Lord. Verse 12, when you take the census of the people of Israel, then each shall give a ransom for his life to the Lord when you number them, that there may be no plague among them when you number them. And the threat of a plague in the book of Exodus was understood to be the threat of God's judgment. It was a plague God sent against the Egyptians, many plagues, for their sin.
It was a righteous judgment. Later, it will be a plague that God sends against the people of Israel, the guilty people of Israel in David's day, when he takes the census, 2 Samuel 24, and 70,000 people died by a plague of pestilence. So they're to pay a ransom price for every person 20 years old and older. Now how would paying that tax bring about that ransom?
Verse 16, you shall take the atonement money from the people of Israel and shall give it for the service of the tentom meeting that it may bring the people of Israel to remember it before the Lord so as to make atonement for your lives. What they needed for their redemption was a sacrifice of atonement, a substitute to be offered in their place in the place of the sinner. And God was willing to take a substitute instead of the sinner so that the sinner could have life and peace with God and not death and the wages of sin is death. This is the point of course of the ultimate sacrificial system which the money is going to provide for.
And this of course as we know on this side of the cross and the coming of Jesus points forward to Jesus, the true atoning sacrifice for sin, the true substitute for sinners. And where did all of this take place? I mean you gathered up the money where the people were but it was brought where? It was brought to the temple.
First the tabernacle later the temple where God dwelled in the midst of his people where God and man met together where God in the holy of holies in the most holy place met with his people over the mercy seat. So it was designed to teach you that you're a sinner but that there is grace, pardon, forgiveness and freedom for sinners. And it was to take place in the temple where the tabernacle, now that earthly temple was but a picture of the true heavenly temple. It was a copy in a shadow.
We read earlier in Hebrews 9 and Hebrews 5a says it was a copy in a shadow made after the pattern that was shown to Moses by God. Now here's the point. Now here's Jesus come to earth to tabernacle among us to bring the presence of God to mankind to be the place where God and man meet where heaven and earth meet to be the true temple of the living God. And in himself he is not only the true temple but he's also the true high priest who serves in the temple and he's the true high priest who offered the true lamb, the true sacrifice of atonement offering up himself as a lamb without blemish and in substitution for sinners.
So that this little tax being paid by Jesus is about no little thing. It's actually about Jesus himself and his finished work on the cross. It's amazing then that Jesus will go ahead and pay the todrakma when he knows that he himself is the fulfillment of it. That he's the offering who accomplishes the ransom to which this little tax points.
He's the embodiment and the fulfillment of the whole ceremonial law and with his death and resurrection. Of course there's no longer any need for those Old Testament priests offering bowls and goats and lambs and there's no longer any need for that earthly temple nor the tax to support it. So Jesus more than pay this little tax he fulfilled what the tax is for and of course he need not pay the todrakma himself because he never had any sin for which he ever needed to be atoned. He never sat guilty under the righteous judgment of God deserving the plague of God's righteous wrath until upon the cross he stood in your place.
So he never needed to be ransomed. In fact he came out to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many and by his blood he ransomed people for God from every tribe and tongue in that language and nation and that lesson was lost on Peter in the moment yet not lost on Peter later. It became clear to Peter after the death and resurrection for what does he say in first Peter chapter 118 he says you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers not with perishable things such as silver or gold. That's the language of Matthew 17 Exodus 30 the two drop of temple facts but you were ransomed with the precious blood of Christ like that of a land without blemish or spod and so because of this we worship Jesus.
Christians thank and praise Jesus we trust in Jesus we put our faith in Jesus to be all that we need to be reconciled to God and Christians should know this that we are free like Jesus. Did you notice that Jesus said verse 26 then the sons are free not the son is free. He spoke in the plural because God has more than one son oh to be sure he has one unique eternal son the beloved second person of the Trinity but God also has many adopted children who have all the rights and privileges of sons because we share in the freedom which Jesus provides for us. We're not bound by the ceremonial law you don't have to pay this tax Jesus has set us free from its obligations so by way of application rather pointedly whenever you might be doing and giving your tithes and offerings in the Lord's church you may be sure of one thing you are not doing it for the atonement of your sin you are not giving in order that you might be forgiven or reconciled it doesn't rescue you out of bondage to the righteous judgment of God you are your Christian free in Christ I would say to you give freely don't give to gain give because you're grateful give because you want to see his kingdom expand and his church flourish and the gospel propagated and church is built and people brought into the peace that only Christ can give and so we have here Jesus the free son of God the king Jesus fulfilling the temple tax upon the cross and then Jesus as Lord of creation and providence verse 27 however Jesus goes on in the story not to give a fence to them go to the sea and cast a hook and take the first fish that comes up and when you open its mouth you will find a shackle take that and give it to them for me and for yourself Jesus here performs a miracle of omniscience and omnipotence he knows something will be caught and not every fisherman catches when they go fishing whatever story they may have told you but he knows that Peter's going to catch a fish and he knows one's going to be caught quickly I mean they're going to give the money to the guys and he knows there will be money in the fish and that the money will be in the mouth of the first fish that Peter catches and that the sum will be just what is needed for Peter and Jesus and that it will be in the mouth and not the belly of the fish and so he makes the fish his paymaster for by him all things are created by him all things live and move and have their being and just as the wind and the waves obey the voice of Jesus peace be calm so the creatures in the sea obey the voice of their maker the early church father Jerome remarked I know not which to admire most here our Lord's foreknowledge or his greatness there's another thing to admire here not only his foreknowledge not only his greatness not only his sovereign lordship but his concern for the salvation of others even these tax collectors did you catch that why does Jesus pay the tax not because it is strictly necessary for him in his own person to do so but verse 27 not to give offense to them that is not to be a stumbling block which is the word used and we're going to come across that many times in chapter 18 not to be a source of stumbling or a stumbling block to their faith in him as their savior which they don't see yet they don't see him that way they don't see him as the son of God and Savior of sinners they don't see that he's the free son of God the king they don't see that he's the fulfillment of the Old Testament ceremonial law they just see what they just see a man a Jew refusing if he refuses to pay the temple tax and rather than stand on his rights and insist on his freedom he humbles himself for their sake and pays the tax so that they won't use his not paying it as an excuse for a hard heart hard in unbelief he doesn't want to put up obstacles before them he wants to tear down obstacles he doesn't want to see their hearts hardened he wants to see their hearts softened and so he pays the tax he is to put it another way I think majoring on the majors and minoring on the minors far better for him to be inconvenienced on the way to the cross then for him to confuse these men and they turn their backs on him in hardness so there's a deep humility here in Jesus and there's great wisdom for us here in these words not to give offense to them their times when it is better to submit to requirements which we may not thoroughly approve of then to give offense and then hinder the gospel of Christ reaching others we don't need to fight like cats and dogs over everything we disagree with as believers or over every inconvenience that the opinion of others might place upon us every issue doesn't need to be all or nothing we win you lose we need not always argue the truth at every turn simply to win an argument while in the process of winning an argument we lose the person we're talking with Thomas Chalmers the Scottish Presbyterian who was very involved in the separation of the free church of Scotland out of the church of Scotland in the mid-1800s warned of quote the vast amount of misplaced zeal that has been expended on the quote magnification of small matters we are free and so we are free to lay down our rights for the sake of the blessing of others which is what Jesus does here there are occasion when it shows more grace deacons are looking at it more grace in a Christian to submit than to resist it's not that Jesus was never willing to offend he often offended the Pharisees and purposefully so but these weren't Pharisees they were just tax collectors doing their job Paul picks up this principle in 1 Corinthians 9 we endure anything rather than put an obstacle in the way of the gospel of Christ for though I am free from all I've made myself a servant all that I might win more of them he said I've become all things to all people that I by all means I might save some where did you Paul get that he got from Jesus because we're free in Christ we are free to lay down our rights for the sake of others there are a whole host of ways this could go let me just give you some historical examples professor John Murray believed in Psalms only worship Psalms only Psalms only being sung in public worship but when the denomination he was a minister of changed its practice to allow congregations to begin to sing him to the and not just so many John Murray to the leave the church no he actively and for the rest of his days as a minister of the Orthodox Presbyterian church enthusiastically helped in the outreach work of him singing congregations another example John Knox Knox wrote to Calvin about the continued use of sponsors that is something like a godparent standing in for the parents when the child of the parents is being baptized and Knox didn't like it he was strongly against it he thought the parents should be there taking vows and affirming their own faith bringing and presenting their own child for baptism and though Calvin agreed with Knox in principle his reply counseled caution quote the parents ought to come and recognize their commitment to the Lord but because of the long ages in which the people have lived under a corrupt church which practiced that sponsors he says could take their place provided they promised to see the child brought up in the true faith he was telling Knox Knox you got to be a little flexible when you're dealing with fallen people who are the product of a long fallen tradition and not go to war about everything all at once in another instance Knox was complaining about the ex-priests who were kicked out of their churches for not repenting and but they still enjoyed pensions from church lands Knox wanted to reclaim that money for the church in its reformation purity and Calvin wrote back that well in the meantime provided the church recovered by their death the ecclesiastical property meaning it does belong to the church so when these men die the church should get it back he says well it does not seem fitting to raise a strife about the annual revenue that land produced why did he say that because he saw that a weapon would be handed to the enemies of the gospel if press materials were perceived as people who through old men out of their homes and filled Edinburgh with beggar priests and Calvin was saying in effect wait they will all die one day make it clear that when they die the resources of the church land come back to the church where they belong and you can be you can afford to be patient for the sake of the gospel the English language has a proverb counseling such patience Geneva was not built in a day contrast that says one with the motto of the radicals radical zealots and anti-baptists as they were which was quote reformation without tearing for any in other words reformation no matter who you trample or who you leave behind and in this passage Jesus is saying I don't want to leave these task collectors behind when all I need to do is pay this little tax and they won't go away hard-hearted disgusted with that man who as it turns out is their only hope of salvation so Jesus here in the passage shows us the way of love that we may have all the rights and privileges of the sons of God and we do but then we also have the right to lay down our rights for the sake of love for others love for others in the church love for others in the world love for others even in our home in our family and in our marriages so put your faith in this great savior you'll be redeemed by his atoning sacrifice and like him you'll become the free son of the great king and you'll have as your savior the sovereign lord of creation who humbled himself for your sake laying down his rights for your blessing let's pray father we thank you that you're this kind of God great transcendent majestic almighty all powerful sovereign over all things and yet sent your son and Jesus Jesus humbled himself and became obedient even to the point of death death on a cross we bow and worship you in your name amen amen let's stand together and sing