YOU ARE GOD’S CHILD AND MADE IN HIS IMAGE! October 16, 2011

Sermon October 15, 16 2011

Title: YOU ARE GOD’S CHILD AND MADE IN HIS IMAGE!

Text: Matthew 22:20-22
20And Jesus said to them, "Whose likeness and inscription is this?" 21They said, "Caesar’s." Then he said to them, "Therefore render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s." 22When they heard it, they marveled. And they left him and went away.

Many of us at times growing up have heard it said. “You look just like your dad!” or “Boy, you have your mother’s eyes.” I remember years ago when Billy Joel was married to the model Christy Brinkley they had a little girl. When she was just a toddler a picture appeared in the magazine with her and her parents. Here it was right in the pages of the magazine. She is the child of a beautiful famous mother, who today even in her late fifties still is blessed with a youthful appearance and she looked like her dad. Now, if you’ve seen Billy Joel lately … not a great way start for a little girl who may turn into her grandfather in her later years.

But there is good news:

YOU ARE GOD’S CHILD AND MADE IN HIS IMAGE!

Matthew 22:15-22 (ESV)
Paying Taxes to Caesar
15 Then the Pharisees went and plotted how to entangle him in his words. 16And they sent their disciples to him, along with the Herodians,

The Pharisees here are going after Jesus to bring about his ruin. They were still very incensed by the biting rebuke that was leveled against them by Jesus in the previous parable of the Wedding Feast:

Matthew 22
The Parable of the Wedding Feast
11"But when the king came in to look at the guests, he saw there a man who had no wedding garment. 12And he said to him, 'Friend, how did you get in here without a wedding garment?' And he was speechless. 13Then the king said to the attendants, 'Bind him hand and foot and cast him into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.' 14For many are called, but few are chosen."

Their plan was to catch Him in His own words so that He might be turned over to the Roman authorities and put to death. They also bring the Herodians, a Jewish sect who was hoping for a more national Kingdom ruled by the Herodian dynasty.

In spite of their plans to catch Jesus and bring about His ruin they proclaim some great truths about Him:

saying, "Teacher, we know that you are true and teach the way of God truthfully, and you do not care about anyone’s opinion, for you are not swayed by appearances.

It brings to mind Jesus’ own words from John 14:6.

Jesus said to him, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

But then the real reason for their question comes out.

17Tell us, then, what you think. Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not?" 18But Jesus, aware of their malice, said, "Why put me to the test, you hypocrites? 19Show me the coin for the tax." And they brought him a denarius.

So, sounds harmless enough, right? We just want to know should we pay taxes. Their innocent ploy was not to ask a question of a noble teacher but to find reason to turn Him over to the authorities. Jesus would have none of it and calls them out.

20And Jesus said to them, "Whose likeness and inscription is this?" 21They said, "Caesar’s." Then he said to them, "Therefore render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s." 22When they heard it, they marveled. And they left him and went away.

Jesus knew that if He sided with those who hated this unfair tax that it would put Him in conflict with the Roman government. He also knew He might be seen as one of the government’s agents if he supported it. On way or the other, He would be the target of the Roman government or the people. He simply sets out to give a clear answer and pose a question that they and we must answer. Whose image are you reflecting? As for those called by God and brought to faith by the Gospel:

YOU ARE GOD’S CHILD AND MADE IN HIS IMAGE!

Do you always reflect that? Or, at times do you reflect an image of the world? Here is a little illustration about wealth from the book “Fearfully and Wonderfully Made” by Dr. Paul Brand.

Dear Lord,
I have been re-reading the record of the Rich Young Ruler and his obviously wrong choice...

Luke 18:18-23 (NIV)

18 A certain ruler asked him, “Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”
19 “Why do you call me good?” Jesus answered. “No one is good—except God alone. 20 You know the commandments: ‘You shall not commit adultery, you shall not murder, you shall not steal, you shall not give false testimony, honor your father and mother.”
21 “All these I have kept since I was a boy,” he said.
22 When Jesus heard this, he said to him, “You still lack one thing. Sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”
23 When he heard this, he became very sad, because he was very wealthy.

...But it has set me thinking. No matter how much wealth he had, he could not -- ride in a car, have any surgery, turn on a light, buy penicillin, hear a pipe organ, watch TV, wash dishes in running water, type a letter, mow a lawn, fly in an airplane, sleep on an innerspring mattress, or talk on the phone.

If he was rich, then what am I?

P. Brand, Fearfully and Wonderfully Made, p. 61.

The world through the blessings of God gives us so much. We tend to desire more and more though and we then start mirroring the image of the world and not that of the one who has bought us with His own precious life … given unto death for you.

YOU ARE GOD’S CHILD AND MADE IN HIS IMAGE!

Christ’s call to those Pharisees and Herodians was to render to God what is His. His call was by the gift of faith from the word of God to have them believe in their own proclamation -- saying, "Teacher, we know that you are true and teach the way of God truthfully, God’s call and gift of faith saves but still some reject. Why? Sin is all consuming. Christ calls … render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s." But, 22When they heard it, they marveled. And they left him and went away.

Dead in their sin, dead in the things of the world …dead to God … dead … but:

YOU ARE GOD’S CHILD AND MADE IN HIS IMAGE!

The Holy Spirit has made you alive in Christ! The image you bear is that of the Son! The Father sees you and He sees Jesus! Your ways are now directed by the working of the Holy Spirit in you and when you fall and we all will we can come to our Heavenly Father in repentance because we bear the image of Christ and all are sins were laid upon Him at the cross.

Ill.
There's a Spanish story of a father and son who had become estranged. The son ran away, and the father set off to find him. He searched for months to no avail. Finally, in a last desperate effort to find him, the father put an ad in a Madrid newspaper. The ad read: Dear Paco, meet me in front of this newspaper office at noon on Saturday. All is forgiven. I love you. Your Father. On Saturday 800 Pacos showed up, looking for forgiveness and love from their fathers.

Bits & Pieces, October 15, 1992, pp. 13.

God calls all to forgiveness in His Son our Lord Jesus Christ. All 800 Pacos, the world, you and me to, by faith, believe. In Christ we are all one and we have been given His likeness so when the Father sees you … He sees Christ His beloved Son.

The question was asked of Jesus in John 6

John 6:28-29 (ESV)
28Then they said to him, "What must we do, to be doing the works of God?" (Or, as I might add: To bear His image?) 29Jesus answered them, "This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent."

I this life we inherit some things from our earthly fathers. Some good and some bad I’m sure just as that little girl born to Billy Joel and Christy Brinkley did. Ultimately she grew to be a pretty girl in spite of her father and for that we and she can that the Lord that he mother’s genes prevailed! But, to bear the image of Christ we must all come to faith by the power of the Holy Spirit to believe this Good News that Jesus came to live, suffer, die and rise again for you and for me.

YOU ARE GOD’S CHILD AND MADE IN HIS IMAGE!

Christ has died, Christ has risen, Christ will come again … for you! May you by the power of the Holy Spirit rejoice in this Good News now and forever!

Amen

And the peace of God, which surpasses all human understanding, guard your hearts and your minds in and through Christ Jesus our Lord and Savior now and forever.
Amen