RADICAL OBEDIENCE

Martin Buber, a highly respected Jewish theologian/philosopher said, “God is better addressed than expressed”. What he meant was that we are created to directly respond to God.

While there are many ways we can respond to God, through our thoughts, our actions, etc. Specifically, within the context of our gospel passage this morning I want us to reflect on how we respond to God through a lifestyle of stewardship.

Let us look closely at this passage from Matthew. The Pharisees and the Herodians were trying to trip up Jesus with their question about taxes. By asking their question “Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not?” they wanted to put Jesus between a rock and a hard place. For, if Jesus answered yes, he would offend the Jews because they disliked the Romans. On the other hand if Jesus answered no, it is not lawful to pay the Roman taxes, then he would offend the Roman civil authorities. In logical terms, the Pharisees question was intended to place Jesus on “the horns of a dilemma”.

The Pharisees intended this as a political question, but Jesus answered it theologically. Theologically, the question is asking, ‘What is required to be faithful?” Jesus responds with, “Return to God what rightly belongs to God.” The problem here is that Jesus and his questioners are talking past one another. The Pharisees ask this question with an understanding of God viewed through the lens of the Law; if this, then this. However, Jesus’ answer comes from an understanding of God that is quite different from the Pharisees. Jesus understood God as totally involved and committed to human life.

On the surface of it, Jesus’ answer is deceptively simple, “..Return to God, what belongs to God’. Jesus’ answer is deceptively simple because in truth what does not belong to God? Really, can we think of anything? The creation, and all that is within it, comes from God. Everything belongs to God.

So, then, what in effect is Jesus saying? “Go ahead pay your taxes, that is the order of things. But, you are also to pay God what God is due’. In other words, treat your responsibilities to God at least as seriously as you treat your responsibilities to the state.

Actually, the answer Jesus gives is even more radical that. For God demands more from us than any government could; God calls us to a radical obedience. At least the government cannot see into our hearts and feel what we feel. But God can. At least with the state we can preserve some area outside its control. But there is no realm outside God. There is nowhere to hide from God. Contained in Jesus’ response, “To God the things that are God’s”, is the call from God for our total obedience to God. It is a call for our RADICAL OBEDIENCE.

God has washed us and cleansed us. We are now the family of God and not unlike a human family there are rules and guidelines to follow in God’s family. Every group has its boundaries.

Wait a minute, rules and guidelines, “I don’t want to follow rules? What if I can’t do it? But we can. In fact we are made to follow God’s rules; we are created to respond to God. Remember what Martin Buber said, “God is better addressed than expressed”. Created within us is the ability to respond to God with radical obedience. It requires God’s grace to bring it to the surface, but it is there.

Radical Obedience sounds like a pretty tall order; to give everything to God. Without God’s help it is an unreachable goal. But with God’s help it is not only possible, it is the most glorious and joyous thing we will ever do. It is what we are created to do; to give ourselves to God. It is why we are created. To love and serve God with all our heart, mind and soul. This is “RADICAL OBEDIENCE”.

What does this radical obedience look like in the flesh? To what actions or behavior can we point and say, “That’s it!”, “That’s what God wants”? There is only one reliable source for guidance – The teachings and work of JESUS CHRIST.

We are to look to the scriptures for guidance on how we are to use our time, how we are to use our talents, and how we are to make use of our treasure.

First, let us look at time. In some respects, time is our most precious commodity. It is virtually irreplaceable. Once spent it cannot be saved. Once lost it cannot be found.

So, then, how do we use our time? Certainly, making a living is a huge time consumer. Working long hours, pouring our energy in whatever it is we do for a living demands a lot of our time.

If you are a parent with children at home they consume much of your time; Mommy read me a book, Daddy can we play catch? Mom, could you take me to the mall? Dad can we go fishing? Mom, would you help me with my homework?

Maybe you no longer work and your children are grown. Yet you still cannot find enough hours in the day to get everything done. No matter the stage of life we are in, life has a way of consuming our time if we are not careful.

What does RADICAL OBEDIENCE to God look like when we have all these other things clamoring for our time? How can we be obedient?

Does God demand that we spend all of our time meditating and reflecting upon the glory of God? Were the medieval monks with their vows of poverty and silence on the right path to God?

Maybe for them, but the overwhelming witness of scripture does not call us to adopt a monastic lifestyle. Rather, the witness of the New Testament is a call to service in the world. Jesus himself, as evidenced in today’s gospel lesson, was deeply immersed in the world he lived in.

He is our model. When we are beset by demands for our time from every direction let us remember Jesus, standing in the temple surrounded by shouting people. How did he respond? Just as we are asked to, by always remembering we belong to God and to give God what God is due.

Radical obedience calls us to focus on God, giving God what is due. We do that by remaining focused. As we go about spending our time we are to make decisions within a framework which acknowledges God’s dominion over our lives. The way we spend our time is important. Do we give all that we can give to God? Is there some way we could give more of our time to the church? There is no blanket answer, only individual answers.

How do we use our God-given talents to help us remain faithful in our strivings to maintain radical obedience? What is due God in regard to the talents given us?

We are asked to do nothing less than use whatever gifts we have been given to glorify God. Does this mean we are to devote all of our energies to working for the Church? I don’t think so. God does not ask us to become an enclave of spiritual super saints. Indeed, we have been given a variety of gifts, and a variety of ways to use them to glorify God.

The way we return to God what is due to God is by understanding our talents as gifts. God has given each of us a calling in life. That is to say that each one of us is blessed with particular skills and talents to serve. As members of the family we are to use these blessings to build up the family and ourselves.

Some are skilled at communication, they need to communicate in ways which witness the grace of God in their lives. Some are gifted with analytical skills, they are to analyze the needs of the people around them and the church they serve to help meet the needs of both. Some are gifted with extraordinary compassion, they are called to minister to those suffering. Some are skilled in managing financial matters, their call is to help others do so and to serve the church as she ministers in the world.

God asks us to see our talents as our offering to God. To use our blessings in accord with what the church needs. When we give to the church, whether it be work or play, it is our joyful offering to Jesus Christ.

What does radical obedience look like in the area of our TREASURE? When Jesus tells the Pharisees to give God what God is due, is he talking about money? Yes, but not exclusively, what he was talking about was giving to God that which we value.

There is something in this passage which can easily be missed. Jesus had to ask someone to give him a coin. Jesus did not carry money around. Jesus had little or no regard for money; it was simply a means to an end for him. If we flip back a few pages in the gospel of Matthew to chapter 17:24-27 we find the story of Jesus paying the temple tax. In that instance as well Jesus did not have a coin. He told Peter to go catch a fish and in its mouth would be the coin necessary to pay the tax for Jesus and Peter.

What are we to make of these stories about Jesus and money? They tell us that Jesus saw treasure, or money, as a way to give something to God. Moreover, whenever he needed money to fulfill an obligation or to make a point, God provided exactly what he needed.

Our call to radical obedience does include our offerings of treasure. That is also what Jesus meant when he told his questioners to return to God what God is due. When we give to God we are responding to God. It is one tangible way for us to demonstrate our thankfulness to God for reaching out to us.

Do we “get” the message Jesus is sending us through this passage? Do we understand our time in life as a gift from God? Do we give back to God some sign of our thankfulness? Do we interpret the various gifts bestowed upon us as blessings from a caring and loving God? Are we open to new ways of serving God through the use of our talents? Do we understand that whatever treasure we possess is on loan to us? Do we look upon our resources as a way of manifesting our obedience?

STEWARDSHIP is a way of life; it is not a campaign to raise funds. Stewardship is our way of responding to God with our time, our talents, and our treasures.

STEWARDSHIP is our way of acknowledging that “God is better addressed than expressed”. We have the chance to give of ourselves to the One who has given everything to us.

So may it be for us. Amen.

Reverend Marc V. Mason

November 6, 2005

Trinity Presbyterian Church

Travelers Rest, SC