May the words of my mouth and the meditation of our hearts be pleasing in your sight, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen.

And they sent out unto him their disciples with the Herodians, saying, Master, we know that thou art true, and teachest the way of God in truth, neither carest thou for any man: for thou regardest not the person of men. Tell us therefore, What thinkest thou? Is it lawful to give tribute unto Caesar, or not? But Jesus perceived their wickedness, and said, Why tempt ye me, ye hypocrites? Show me the tribute money. And they brought unto him a penny. And he saith unto them, Whose is this image and superscription? They say unto him, Caesar's. Then saith he unto them, Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's; and unto God the things that are God's. When they had heard these words, they marvelled, and left him, and went their way. (Matthew 22:15-22)

In Christ's name and to his glory, dear friends: We are approaching the End of the church year, just four more Sundays left. The general theme of these last weeks is "Prepare! The End of this world shall surely come!" The Lord is placing a goodly share of signs before us-war, earthquakes, hurricanes [the roaring and tossing of the sea (Luke 21:25)]. Even the coming of fall with its dead and falling leaves and touch of frost that wilts our tomato plants and flowers makes us say winter's on its way and reminds us too that our life in this world does not last. In doing so Jesus draws our eyes and hearts toward himself and his lasting word that brings eternal life.

In these last weeks of the church year our Gospel readings point to the End. All of them are words Jesus spoke in the last week of his earthly life. Last week the parable of the banquet called us to heed Christ's invitation to grace before it is too late. Today we have Jesus' words about paying taxes to Caesar that is about how a Christian is to live under his earthly government. We use as our central thought THE CHRISTIAN CITIZEN. But I pray that we will see that the principals that our Savior here lays out before us have application in all parts of our lives. Our attitude and heart toward our government is but a case in point of how the Redeemed are to live since they know that the End is near.

Repentance. The truth Jesus lays on our hearts here is that the Christian citizen is repentant before the Lord and therefore is humble, patient and obedient as he lives under earthly government. This truth is shown us by contrast. The people that come to Jesus-the Pharisees, Sadducees, and Herodians-are anything but repentant before the Lord and are an example of what not to be.

These enemies come with a simple question-Is it right to pay taxes to Caesar? These enemies of Jesus feel they have devised a question that will get Jesus in trouble no matter how he answers. If he says, NO, then he is guilty of treason and can be arrested and tried by Rome. If he says, YES, then the Israelite people will hate him and turn on him since Rome was the enemy and occupied Israel by force.

The reason that Jesus' enemies bring this particular question is important. First, the reason is pure hate. They are looking for some excuse to kill Jesus. But also, there was a sense of injustice among the Jews, as if God were treating them unfairly. In many places in the Old Testament the Lord had said, "Keep following me and I will continue to bless Israel and make her great." Bible history shows that Israel did not live up to her part of the bargain and ran after false gods. But like spoiled children, they felt it unfair that God didn't live up to his part even though their own sin had disqualified them from God's blessing. The real root of the problem, then, was an impenitent attitude toward God. Israel blamed Rome and even God for their troubles when the real source of their troubles was their own unbelief and stubborn refusal to listen to God. They wanted to see if Jesus would agree with them that God wasn't being fair with Israel.

Here is the point that we today need to take to heart. Jesus gives us this Gospel to drive out our sins of blaming others instead of repenting of our own sin. It is so easy for us sinful people to blame instead of confess. We see our country going down the toilet. Why? Well, it ain't me! Satan would love to have us believe what we see on 20/20, 60 Minutes and Dateline - there are these people out there...they shoot people, keep the women of ill repute earning lots of money, live by cheating and stealing, and abandon their wives and families. They are the problem with America. Let's get rid of them. And by the way, God, why should we suffer for their sins? It's not fair!

But those are just the obvious sins that even the network news can see and understand are wrong. You'll never see this on 20/20 but listen to this sad story...There's this family, a good family - mom, dad and kids. They always make sure the homework is done, 2 hours last night! What dedication! But then they shooed the kids off to bed without even praying or reading a devotion. [God says, Only one thing is needed - the Word (Luke10) - and I failed to make sure I and mine received it today; God, forgive me] All of a sudden one of the kids is crying. He hit me! "Kids will be kids," the parents say. [God says, Be kind! (Ephesians4:32) I made my brother cry; God, forgive me.] Dad's at the kitchen table paying bills. The checks never seem to quite cover everything. He's thinking more about what he cannot afford than what God does give him. [God says, Be content! (Hebrews13:5) and I am not; please forgive me, Lord.] Are you starting to get the picture? With heavy hearts we look in the mirror and say, I see why our country is the way it is - it has straying sheep like me as her citizens!

Now Jesus hears us, friends. He says, Look away from that mirror now and look at me. Do you see my perfect answer? Give to Caesar what is Caesar's and to God what is God's. I never worried about my earthly lot. If anyone had an unfair life, it was me. But that was God's will for me, and I accepted it gladly. The will of God is always best. I accepted it because I was doing it for you, in your place. Every hardship and the bitter cross were for your sin. I carried away all the world's sin including yours. I did this because I love you and so that you could be welcomed into heaven clothed by my righteousness, holiness and forgiveness. Now stop worrying about your sin. I've taken care of every one of them.