Matthew 22:21 (KJV) - 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.
We take our obligations to the government very seriously. Typically speaking, Americans are very patriotic. We pay our taxes, we do jury duty, we follow the laws. But we don't do that very well when it comes to our devotion to God. We often look at that verse and think of it as a justification for paying taxes in addition to our tithe.
Have you ever looked at it as a command as well? As I was reading through Radical this week, I was struck by a particular passage
...We have taken this command, though, and reduced it to a calling - something that only a few people receive.So my big issue is this -- there are obligations with Christianity
I find it interesting that we don't do this with other words from Jesus. We take Jesus' command in Matthew 28 to make disciples of all nations, and we say, "That means other people." But we look at Jesus' command in Matthew 11:28, "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and i will give you rest," and we say, "Now, that means me." We take Jesus' promise in Acts 1:8 that the Spirit will lead us to the ends of the earth, and we say, "That means some people." But we take Jesus' promise in John 10:10 that we will have abundant life, and we say, "That means me."
In the process we have unnecessarily (and unbiblically) drawn a line of distinction, assigning the obligations of Christianity to a few while keeping the privileges of Christianity for us all. In this way we choose to send off other people to carry out the global purpose of Christianity while the rest of us sit back because we're "just not called to that."
We don't often think or talk about them. They make our pretty, cookie-cutter, Americanized version of free Grace look undesirable. We have turned saying a short prayer and extending the right hand of fellowship into an art, a dance, an act, rather than the solemn commitment that it was designed to be.
Christians of all stripes are guilty of this. I went to a college with a relatively liberal (relative to me) religion department. Typically speaking, liberal Baptists strongly emphasize the social Gospel -- the idea that our duty as Christians is to help the poor and needy, and they often deemphasize living a holy and set apart lifestyle that is above reproach.
Conservative Baptists, on the other hand, typically emphasize the holy lifestyle while deemphasizing the care of those in need.
Both of these view points are incorrect. James 1:27 says this "Pure and undefiled religion before our God and Father is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself unstained by the world."
This clearly tells us that we are to do both. We are to live a holy, set apart life, and take care of those who can't take care of themselves. We are to go not only to our neighbors, but also to the uttermost parts of the earth to share the Gospel in word and deed.
I hope as I continue writing these posts, I can go further and dig deeper into these and other ideas. If you have a subject you'd like to talk about, leave a comment.
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