What Are You Looking At?

"Taxes"-Storyteller, Desperate Preacher
the "tax question" in Jesus' times is different in some way from the "tax question" of our time.
The Jesus people are living in a colonized context. Those who make decisions on how much tax and what the tax is for are the empire. Much of what the tax was for did not benefit Joe the plumber and his neighbor Joe Six Pack. Jesus' times were unlike our situations where taxes are something of a "community fund raiser" where we pay for roads and schools and hospitals, where we all benefit either directly or indirectly. Imagine being taxed so the money can build a temple for some pagan god! Imagine being taxed so the money can pay the soldiers who will kill Jesus! Imagine! And so, living between a rock and a hard place, should we pay the tax and be collaborators with the Roman Empire or should we "refuse to wear the garment" and get our heads chopped off? d---- if you do, d--- if you don’t!and of course this all happens in the temple where folks pay "good taxes" taxes they agree with taxes they can make theological sense out of, call it "temple tax," call it "tithe," call it "apportionment." So Jesus takes the emperor's coin. It belongs to the man. Give it back to him. One day this coin will be a museum piece. Give it back to him, don’t invest yourself in this coin; don’t hold too tightly to this coin. tTis coin does not own you, God owns you. You belong to God.

What Are You Looking At?
Moses wanted to know who God was going to send with him. It may have been a rhetorical question because it’s possible he knew what the answer was. But he may have wanted some reassurance that God was going to actually be with them as they traveled toward the Promised Land. He may have had some doubts since the people he was leading had behaved so badly, worshipping a calf made from the gold they had brought with them from Egypt.
God answered his question by telling Moses that he knew him by name and that he had found favor in His sight. Even with that Moses wasn’t satisfied. If he had indeed found favor with God then he wanted to know what God’s plans were. Then, he figured, he would continue to find favor in God’s sight. After all, these people were really God’s responsibility.
But Moses wasn’t done yet! He certainly wasn’t afraid to push the envelope with God. He wanted to see him, to see his glory. I’m sure he knew that no one could look upon God’s face and still live, but he asked anyway.
I wonder what that must have been like to have such an intimate relationship with God that it felt safe to question God, trusting in his love and never fearing that he would get angry and smite you with his mighty hand.
And so God, after telling him that he couldn’t see his full glory and live, placed him in the cleft of the rock and shielded him with his hand until he had passed by. Moses got to see God’s back. That must have been enough for Moses because then he and God were able to get to the work at hand of making the stone tablets again.
Moses wanted something from God to give him the confidence that he was there for him. And God delivered.
These past weeks the news has been all about the economy. Our presidential candidates have been talking about how they would “fix” the economy. Our legislative folks in the Senate and the House have been working to rebuild the levees so the economy doesn’t get any worse. And the stock market is trying to figure out what all that means. It can’t decide whether to go up or down so it does both, up one day and down the next or both on the same day. It’s enough to give you a headache trying to keep up.
And we wonder what we should do. How is it going to affect our finances? What impact is it going to have on the cost of living through the next few winter months? How is it going to affect our life styles? What changes are we going to have to make?
So what have you all been doing to cope with these crises? If we would open our Bibles to Isaiah 41 the prophet would say to us, “Don’t fear, for I am with you.” And the psalmist has these words for us, “I will strengthen and uphold you.” And our Lord has these words in Matthew’s gospel, “Don’t worry about your life…strive first for the kingdom of God…and all things will be given to you.” Paul wrote these words to the Philippians, “Don’t be anxious about anything…present your requests to God.” And finally Paul told Timothy, “Tell those rich in this world’s wealth to quit being so full of themselves and so obsessed with money…Tell them to go after God…to do good, to be rich in helping others, to be extravagantly generous.”
And that leads us to the gospel lesson for today from Matthew. It seems to be about tithing and what belongs to God and what belongs to the government. If we think about it and truly believe in God then we would know that it all belongs to God so therefore we should give everything to God.
So I guess that’s it then, believe in God and give everything to him, don’t believe in God then keep it and see where that gets you.
Whatever you have decided I believe I’ll put my trust in God. Now that doesn’t mean that I am not concerned about the current state of our economic system. But I don’t believe that God is causing the problems. I believe that the current crisis is in part caused by misplaced trust or faith between debtors and lenders. You might even say that gluttony, greed, sloth, envy, and pride are the underlying causes of the current crisis.
What do our lives consist of, that’s the question? Do an abundance of possessions make our lives fulfilled? Luke says, “Life is not defined by what we have, even when we have a lot.”
What are you looking at, your 401k, your savings account, your real estate holdings, what you have hidden under your mattress, or are you looking up and giving all of your worries to the One who controls everything?
It really takes a load off your shoulders and relieves a lot of the stress if you just give it all to God. After all there really isn’t much any of us can do about the current crisis.
Well, I guess we could complain and grouse about it like the Israelites Moses was leading through the wilderness. We could complain that God isn’t listening or if he’s listening he isn’t answering our prayers. We could demand an audience with God. We could text him or Skype him to let him know, since it’s all his, he’s sure lost a lot of money this week on the New York Stock Exchange.
Friends, everything belongs to God. If we believe that then that’s it. No worry, God’s will is going to be accomplished in his good time. We should quit worrying about our possessions and worry more about our friends who haven’t heard God’s story and learned that Jesus is the answer to all of their questions.
After all what does the Lord require of us but to do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with your God. God has given us work to do and that is to make disciples of all the nations baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. And in doing that we are to love God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all our mind. Along with that we are to love our neighbors as much as we love ourselves in the process.
So friends, I’m not going to worry about the economy. I’m going to focus on what God gives me to do each day and that is to teach and preach and share God’s love with everyone I meet in whatever way he directs me. I will be frugal in my spending and I will give God the first portion of everything he blesses my life with.
Lift up your eyes and look to the hills for that is where your help will come. Christ is coming again, of that you can be sure. What are you looking at? I pray that you are looking to the future when Christ will return and we will all see God’s glory shining forth.
Remember the words of Paul, “…he has put his hand on you for something special…lives echoing the Master’s word.” Believe it my friends. God loves you and so do I.

Come On In! Everyone's Invited!

We’re all invited to the party. It’s a heavenly party and we’ve been invited because the original guests declined to come. In fact they either ignored the requests or treated the slaves who came with the invitations so badly that the king has invited everyone else. Those of us who wouldn’t have even been considered by any of the original guests if they were hosting the party have been asked to come to the party. We don’t have to do anything special just put on the robes the king has prepared for us when we arrive.
What do you think this parable means? Matthew has Jesus in the Temple teaching. The Pharisees are there and I’m sure this parable was aimed directly at them. God had chosen the Israelites as his people, in fact they are still his people, but they had rejected Him so many times. He wanted them to be able to enjoy the all the riches of heaven but they insisted on turning away from Him.
He sent people to invite them, prophets they either ran off or killed. And so God allowed them to be taken into Exile and then allowed a remnant to return and rebuild the city. But again their hearts were hardened and they refused his gifts and his invitation.
But surely they would honor his invitation to come to the celebration of his Son’s wedding. After all, the Bride was the Church. But they had better things to do.
So friends, that’s how you and I got to be included in the invitation to God’s celebration. There is only one requirement. The king, God, requires us to dress in the proper clothes for the wedding celebration. No worry, he has made all the preparations with the tailor. They are custom made for each of us. The only thing is we have to agree to put them on. If not then we will be thrown out just like the man in the parable.
The suit of clothes God has ready for us are the clothes of acceptance, repentance, and forgiveness. In order to be allowed into the celebration we must accept Jesus as our Savior, repent of our former sinful life; trust in God to cleanse us of our sin, to receive his forgiveness to us for turning our backs on Him so many times. If we do that we are free to come inside and enjoy the celebration with the king’s son and his bride.
That doesn’t sound so hard to do but then why do so few choose to accept the invitation? Probably for the same reasons the original guests turned down the invitation. Their hearts had been hardened by the ways of the world.
The world we live in today that is the things of the world today are insidious in the ways that they attack our hearts and seek to lead us away from the Way of Jesus Christ. There is always something seemingly more important that lures us away from doing the work God has called us to do.
You know how it is. The mission trip the church has been planning for six months is next week but now we have one chance meet our favorite presidential candidate and so we say we can’t possibly go now. And we make all sorts of excuses, none of them really true. But this is a once in a lifetime chance. We can always go on another mission trip. There are always people who need help. After all no one will notice if I don’t go. Isn’t that what we say or think?
We try to rationalize our actions when what we are really doing is turning our back on God’s call to help and listening to the voice of the world. The sad thing is the more we listen to the world’s voice the easier it is to turn our backs on God. Our hearts slowly become hardened to his call and soon we find ourselves outside the party wondering how it all happened. The evil one is sly. There’s no doubt about it.
Many are invited but only a few make it inside. What have you done with your invitation? Are you ready and willing to accept Jesus as your Savior, change your old life for a new life, and receive the gift of God’s forgiveness?
In the words of Paul we heard read today, “Celebrate God all day, every day. I mean, revel in him! Make it as clear as you can to all you meet that you're on their side, working with them and not against them. Help them see that the Master is about to arrive. He could show up any minute!”
Friends, this is important stuff. Your life depends on it. Don’t lose your invitation. God is calling you to come inside today.