SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 11/8/2022 9:36 AM
My Worship Time Focus:
PT-1 “Intro to Matthew 17:22-27
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Matthew
17:22-27
Message of the verses: “22 And while they
were gathering together in Galilee, Jesus said to them, "The Son of Man is
going to be delivered into the hands of men; 23 and they will kill Him, and He
will be raised on the third day.”And they were deeply grieved.
24 And when they
had come to Capernaum, those who collected the two-drachma tax came to
Peter, and said, "Does your teacher not pay the two-drachma tax?"
25 He said, "Yes." And when he came into the house, Jesus spoke to
him first, saying, "What do you think, Simon? From whom do the kings of
the earth collect customs or poll-tax, from their sons or from strangers?"
26 And upon his saying, "From strangers," Jesus said to him, "Consequently
the sons are exempt. 27 "But, lest
we give them offense, go to the sea, and throw in a hook, and take the first
fish that comes up; and when you open its mouth, you will find a shekel. Take
that and give it to them for you and Me.’”
I
suppose that because today is Election Day in our country, and a very important
one at that, that it is good to go over some things that we find in this
section of Scripture.
It
is my opinion that believers, if they believe that they are called by the Lord, do run for political office. I remember
in years past that there was an orinization called “The Moral Majority” that
wanted to speak their views in our government, views that were supposed to be
Christian views. As stated I believe
that true born-again believers are to get involved in the political process by
first of all voting, and voting for candidates who first of all are pro-life as
that should be the first thing that they look for in a political
candidate. This year there are two
people, a mother and her son, who are basically
in the political party that I vote for, but they are pro-choice and so when
they text me I tell them that I cannot support them.
John
MacArthur writes “The New Testament certainly makes clear that a believer’s
primary citizenship is not in this world.
Paul charged the church at Philippi, ‘Brethren, join in following my
example, and observe those who walk according to the pattern you have in
us. For many walk, of whom I often told
you, and now tell you even weeping, that they are enemies of the cross of
Christ, whose end is destruction, whose god is their appetite, and whose glory
is in their shame, who set their minds on earthly things.’ In contrast to such people, he goes on to
say, ‘our citizenship is in heaven, from which we eagerly wait for a Savior,
the Lord Jesus Christ; who will transform the body of our humble state into
conformity with the body of His glory, but the exertion of the power that He
has even to subject all things to Himself (Phil. 3:17-21). To the Ephesians Christians Paul wrote, ‘You are
fellow citizens with the saints, and are of God’s household’ (Eph. 2:19). The writer of Hebrews says to believers, ‘You
have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly
Jerusalem, and to myriads of angels, to the general assembly and church of the
firstborn who are enrolled in heaven’ (Heb. 12:22-23).”
Now
the question comes up how then, some Christians argue, can those who have such
a glorious heavenly heritage contaminate themselves by becoming involved in the
earthly affairs of unbelieving society and government? I suppose that this is a good question and it
should be answered. There are passages
in both the Old and New Testaments that I suppose can be taken out of context
that my give an answer that I really don’t follow, and so in light of these
passages, some Christians have opted out of any government involvement,
including paying taxes, which is wrong in my opinion and I believe that Jesus
said to render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's and to God the things that are
God’s. There is no doubt that true
believers are citizens of heaven, but right now we are living on earth.
In
our section we will be looking as Jesus gives an answer to this question, but
before that we read that Jesus told Peter that He was going to Jerusalem and
would die, and then be raised from the dead in three days.
We
will continue to look into this subject in our next SD as we continue to look
at the intro to these verses in Matthew chapter 17, verses that will actually
finish chapter 17.
11/8/2022 10:08 AM
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