St. Matthew’s Evangelical Lutheran Church

Sunday July 4, 1999, The Sixth Sunday after Pentecost

Text: Matthew 22: 15-22

Theme: Pledge Allegiance.

By Vicar Benjamin W. Berger

Please rise and join me in saying The Pledge of Allegiance. "I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands: one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all." From the time that we are children we’re taught to say the Pledge of Allegiance. By doing so we show patriotism and support for our country. And that’s good. Showing allegiance to our country is something God wants us to do. How appropriate, that on this festival of the independence of our nation, we take the time to thank God for the many gifts he’s given us, especially the gifts he’s given us through this wonderful country. On this 4^th of July let’s take a closer look at why we pledge allegiance to the United States of America and at how we can carry that pledge out in a God-pleasing way. In today’s Gospel Jesus said, "Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s." In other words, Jesus is telling us to Pledge Allegiance. Pledge Allegiance I) to our country and II) to God.

Before we can understand why Jesus tells us to Pledge Allegiance, we’ll have to understand how this matter came up. The Pharisees were trying to get rid of Jesus. On this particular day they teamed up with the Herodians. However, the Pharisees and the Herodians had some major differences. The Pharisees despised the Roman gov’t, while the Herodians supported the Romans. In spite of their differences these two groups were willing to work together to get rid of Jesus. So, the Pharisees devised a plan. They sent some of their disciples along with some of the Herodians to ask Jesus a political question. Regardless of which way Jesus would answer, they would have him. If he supported the Romans, the Pharisees would call him a traitor to the Jews. If he didn’t support the Romans, the Herodians would call him traitor to the gov’t.

Of course, the Pharisees wanted to hide their trap, so they sent their little group to approach Jesus with flattery. "O Great Teacher, you are such an honest person. You teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. We know that you won’t be afraid to tell us the truth because you do not let men persuade you. Tell us, Great Teacher, is it right to pay taxes or not?"

Jesus would not be fooled by flattery. He knew that the Pharisees were up to no good. Certainly Jesus had no obligation to give them a straight answer to their crooked question, but he did anyway. "Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s."

Most of us don’t usually despise the gov’t as vehemently as the Pharisees did. But we do fall short when it comes to carrying out our God-given responsibilities toward our country. We don’t always pray for our leaders the way the Bible urges us to do. We don’t always work for the good of our communities. It’s a lot easier to stay inside of our homes and grumble about the way things are going. We want more moral leadership in our cities, states and in Washington, but we don’t bother to vote because "it won’t make a difference anyway." Our gov’t guarantees the freedom of speech, but few Lutherans bother writing in to the editorial page. However, through his response to the Pharisees and Herodians Jesus makes it clear that we owe better than that to our country and our gov’t.

Jesus teaches us to Pledge Allegiance to our country because through this country God blesses us. God himself has established the gov’t of our country. In our Epistle lesson Paul reminds us, "Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established." The gov’t is God’s representative. The gov’t we have was put there by God, and Paul tells us why, "For he is God’s servant to do you good." God has promised to provide for us, to take care of us, and to give us our daily bread, but that would be pretty difficult without the law and order God gives us through the gov’t.

Imagine what life would be like without the gov’t. Unless you have your own well, you might need to trek down to the river every day for water. Even if you have your own well, how much would it cost you to run the pump if utility companies ran without gov’t regulations? And, without the police you would have problems keeping others away from your well. In fact, many police cars have a motto that summarizes why God has given us the gift of gov’t, namely "to serve and protect."

Of course, that’s supposed to be true for every gov’t, and even if ours weren’t very good at it, we’d still owe them our respect and allegiance. But a quick glance through the history books, and we come to realize how wonderfully God has blessed us in this country, whose birthday we’re celebrating today. God has really blessed America! We’re no better than anyone else is. And yet God has smiled on this country and blessed it like no place else on earth. We haven’t had a war fought on our soil since the mid 1800’s. The standard of living is higher than just about anywhere. With hard work, just about anyone can make a good living. Even our poor eat better that the richest people in most countries.

Don’t misunderstand. There’s plenty that’s wrong. We’ve still got innocent children being murdered in abortion clinics. We’ve got kids growing up without parenting. Hollywood is doing its best to completely corrupt the character of the next generation. But all that just serves to highlight all the more how gracious God has been to us. May God forgive us our many and great shortcomings! May he forgive us for our lack of real thankfulness! And may he teach us to thank him properly for his bountiful grace and goodness to us.

That’s what rendering unto Caesar is all about. That’s what it really means to pledge allegiance to our country – to pray for forgiveness, to remember to give thanks to God for what he has done, and to pray and work for the good of this land that God has so mercifully given us.

Pledge Allegiance to your country. Then, remembering the one who gave us our gov’t and our country, Pledge Allegiance to God.

"Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s." Just as we often fail to show true allegiance to our gov’t, how much more we fail to show true allegiance to our God. It’s so easy to take God for granted. He gives us so much that we begin to expect his blessings. We feel short changed if we don’t have the biggest house, the newest car, and plenty of spare change left over. We learn to put up with what we have, but it sure would be nice to upgrade. Or, we feel overburdened if we have to work a little. We don’t have enough time for ourselves. We don’t get paid what we deserve. We barely scrape by. Again, we do what we have to, but it would be so much better if… Just listen to us! We hate to listen to our children moan and groan, but then we do the same thing ourselves.

Jesus turns our hearts from moaning and groaning to praising and rejoicing. He teaches us to Pledge Allegiance to our God. Pledge Allegiance to God because he is the LORD.

In our first reading from Deuteronomy Moses said, "Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one." Every Jew learned this verse by memory everyday from childhood on. (say in Hebrew) "Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one." Saying this verse daily reminded the Jews who their God was. God is the LORD. This name of God is very special. It reminds us that God is absolutely Faithful. He is faithful to all of the promises he makes to us. God could use the same motto that the police department uses: to serve and protect. God has promised to serve and protect us, and he is faithful to his promises.

The LORD is the faithful God who serves us. Jesus himself said, "For the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many," (Mt. 20:28). And serve he did. No one could better teach us to Pledge Allegiance than Jesus. When Jesus lived on this earth, he had to live under the laws of the gov’t and of God, just as we do. The Son of God, who has all authority in heaven and on earth, had to submit to a human gov’t. He paid his taxes willingly, even though he knew they wouldn’t be too well spent. He stood trial quietly, even though he knew justice was being perverted. He even showed respect to the man who ordered his death. Jesus served us by keeping all of the laws that we fail to keep.

Of course, his ultimate act of service came not in his life, but in his death. He came to "give his life as a ransom" for you and me. All of Jesus’ obedience would have been for nothing if he had not died for our disobedience. On the cross Jesus died to take away all of our sins. He buried our unsubmissive thoughts, threw away our ungrateful complaints, and erased our lack of concern for country and community. Thanks be to the LORD who is faithful to his promise to serve us.

The LORD is also the faithful God who protects us. Our gracious God has given us new life through the perfect life and innocent death of his Son, our Lord, Jesus Christ. God promises to protect that life. Just before Jesus sent his disciples into the world to share his Gospel, he told them, "Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul," (Mt. 10:28). God watches over the sparrows. We are worth much more than sparrows! We can trust that our faithful God will also watch over us until we live with him in heaven.

After Moses reminded Israel who their faithful God was, he told them how they could show him thanks. "Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength." We too want to show our thanks and Pledge Allegiance to our God by giving our lives to him.

"Love the LORD your God with all your heart." "How great is the love the Father has lavished on us that we should be called children of God," (I Jn. 3:1). As a child loves it parents, love the LORD your God. Don’t be afraid to pick flowers for your Father. Don’t be afraid to sing for your Father. Don’t be afraid to tell others how great your Father is. Love your Father as a child, and trust him as a child.

"Love the LORD your God with all your soul." Children trust their parents to provide everything: food, clothes, shelter, and even toys. We too can trust God to provide all we need. He will give us not only what we need for this life but more importantly what we need for the next life.

Finally, "Love the LORD your God with all your strength." Let’s gather up all of our strength to thank God. Thank him for the many blessings he gives us through this wonderful country. Thank him for faithfully keeping his promises to serve and protect us. Thank him above all for giving us eternal life through his Son. Fellow Americans and fellow Christians: Let’s Pledge Allegiance to our gov’t and to our God – today and every day.