"And they watched him, and sent forth spies, which should feign themselves just men, that they might take hold of his words, that so they might deliver him unto the power and authority of the governor. And 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? But he perceived their craftiness, and said unto them, Why tempt ye me? Shew me a penny. Whose image and superscription hath it? They answered and said, Caesar's. And he said unto them, Render therefore unto Caesar the things which be Caesar's, and unto God the things which be God's. And they could not take hold of his words before the people: and they marvelled at his answer, and held their peace.
In today's lesson Jesus was approached by the leaders of the Jews who asked, in essence, whether or not it was right for His followers to pay taxes. Seeing that they were only trying to cause Him trouble with the Romans Jesus said; "Render therefore unto Caesar the things which be Caesar's, and unto God the things which be God's."
This lesson establishes that then, and even today, we are to obey the laws of our land. If the government demands that we do certain things, we are obligated to do them, including, so much as we all hate it, paying taxes.
This, however, does NOT require that we do things that are contrary to the gospel of Christ.
Those of us who are fortunate enough to live here in the USA are blessed to live in a country where our religious freedom is, for the most part, guaranteed and respected.
Sadly, there are some who wrongfully believe that we are to force our belief system on others. We are not authorized to judge the actions of others, we are to simply leave them to the judgment of God. Jesus told us how to deal with unbelievers when He sent out His teachers; "whosoever shall not receive you, nor hear your words, when ye depart out of that house or city, shake off the dust of your feet. Verily I say unto you, It shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrha in the day of judgment, than for that city." (Matthew 10:14-15)
The only judgment that we are authorized to make as members of Christ's Church, is restricted to our brothers and sisters in the Church, as Jesus said in Matthew 18:15-17: "Moreover if thy brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone: if he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother. But if he will not hear thee, then take with thee one or two more, that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established. And if he shall neglect to hear them, tell it unto the church: but if he neglect to hear the church, let him be unto thee as an heathen man and a publican."
Therefore, true Christian people are ONLY authorized to condemn the actions of fellow Church members, we are NOT to condemn unbelievers for theirs.
God has already judged those who deny His saving grace, we have no need to do so.~
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