7th July 2023

7th July 2023


Pray (ACts)


Read - Mark 12:13-17


Message Alan Burke 


There was a time in the not too distant past we all used cash, some of you will remember the jars in the house that were used to put the money in, one for house keeping, one for coal, one for savings, one for holiday etc. the jars were sometimes more full than others. There is one thing that all the notes and coins have in common and that is an easy one to figure out of you grew up here, they had on them the embossed image of our late Monarch Queen Elizabeth. 


I still haven’t see Charles on a coin, I’m not sure if they are in circulation yet but those days will come. In the days of Jesus on the denarius there likewise was embossed not with Elizabeth but with Caesar along with an inscription, Ti Caesar Divi Aug F Augustus, which meant, “Tiberius Caesar, son of the divine Augustus.” On the reverse side of the coin was the inscription pontif maxim, that is, “High Priest.”. The denarius in every Jews pocket was making a statement that he was not only the ruler of the empire he was also the priest of all, the problem is that for the Jews he was using a term that is for God alone.


Jesus after he is given a denarius ask the Pharisees and the Herodians them whose “Whose portrait is this? And whose inscription?” Of course they replied “Caesar’s,” and Jesus says “Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s”. We thought about that on Wednesday, what though I want to draw out for us today is the next statement of Jesus, the bit that we almost forget about, where he continues and says “and to God what is God’s.” We are to  “Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s.” (17). The denarius that Jesus held in his hand had the image of Caesar on it and therefore we are to render, give to Caesar what is Caesar’s and for every human who has ever lived they have the image of the Lord God embossed upon them, they were made in His image. God has placed his image on us. 


The word that is used in Mark is the same word as in Genesis 1:26 we are made in the image of God. Each an every one of us bears the image of the Lord our God, we were made in his image. While the denarius had the image of Caesar stamped on it, each and everyone of us are indelibly made in the image of God, we bear his image, you bear the image of the Lord God almighty and each person on this earth no matter how much they may have mutilated their bodies, how vile they may behave, how sinful they may be likewise bears the image of the creator, from the moment of conception to that last dying breath and we belong not to ourselves but to God. The coins were Caesars, but we are God’s. 


For each and every person who has ever lived they owe obedience to God, we give to God what is God and therefore we give ourselves, our entire being, all of us, we are to Give what is due to the civil authorities and we are to live according to what is due and what is due is that we are to render our entire lives, that means every part, our time, our possessions, our affections to the Lord our God and for the Christian this should be our desire above all else. 


Are there ways in which we are not living in this way? I propose there are many but for all of us we should be seeking to live in a way that gives glory to the one we bear the image of. For we have been brought from death to life, we are to offer every part of ourselves as an instrument of righteousness here in this life (Rom 6:13), everything we have is God’s for we are God’s made in his image but are we living that way?


Pray (acTS)


Sing


WSC
Q92 What is a sacrament?
A sacrament is an holy ordinance instituted by Christ, wherein, by sensible signs, Christ, and the benefits of the new covenant, are represented, sealed, and applied to believers. (Gen. 17:7,10, Exod. 12, 1 Cor. 11:23,26)
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