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In 1 Timothy 3, Paul gives detailed qualifications for elders in the local church. He emphasizes that overseers should have a good reputation, blameless, and above reproach.

The post 1 Timothy Episode 3: Qualifications for Overseers appeared first on Two Journeys.

 Jesus exposed the plot to kill Him through a question on taxation and affirmed it is lawful to support the government, but also it is essential to obey God's commands.

Turn in your Bibles to Mark chapter 12 as we continue this incredible journey through the Gospel of Mark. From the beginning of church history, Christians have had an uneasy and challenging relationship with secular government. It was Caesar's governor, Pontius Pilate, who ordered the crucifixion of our Lord, and it was Roman soldiers that nailed Jesus to the cross. But the awestruck Roman centurion who carried out Pilate's orders gave this stunning statement about Jesus as He died. Mark 15:39, "Surely this man was the son of God." Soon afterward, it was a godly Roman centurion, Cornelius, who began the gathering of Gentile converts to Christ by his repentance and faith in Christ, preached by the apostle Peter. The greatest apostle of them all, Paul, was both a Christian and a Roman citizen, and Paul frequently claimed the benefits of Roman citizenship and used the advantages of the Roman Empire, the transportation system, the commerce of the Roman Empire to spread the gospel. Yet in the end, it was the Roman Caesar Nero that ordered Paul's execution.

The New Testament constantly commands willing submission to the government. Yet it was the government that savagely persecuted Christians and murdered Christians for the first three centuries of church history. Then the Emperor Constantine declared himself to be a Christian in the year 312, but that declaration eventually brought a wedding of church and state that it's not hard to argue, was nearly ruinous for the church of Jesus Christ. It required a massive reformation of the church twelve centuries later. In many nations around the world, it is the government that is the bitterest enemy of the gospel, hunting down godly Christians and their pastors, incarcerating them, persecuting, even killing them. Yet in America, there has been for well over 200 years a mostly comfortable relationship between Christianity and secular government, and many godly Christians have had a massive influence in the governmental life of our nation over that history. Because of that, some have even gone so far as to call America a Christian nation because of the pervasive influence of Christianity on our nation's government and history.

However, recently this comfortable relationship between the genuine Christian Church and secular government has begun to decay. It's become clear that our surrounding culture is increasingly hostile to Christianity, and therefore many elected officials that represent those people are bolder and more aggressive and speaking slanderous, even blasphemous words against Christ. Many recent policies are directly contrary to biblical truth and put Christians consistently in a difficult place, in a bind in the workplace.  The question stands before us as it has for ages, how exactly should a Christian relate to government? 

In our text today, Jesus finds a way to elude a trap that's set for him and begins a significant answer to this deeply divisive issue with the principle that you just heard read. "Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s and to God the things that are God’s." In that one statement, we're not going to find a comprehensive answer to the problem of the relationship between Christians and government, but we're going to take a significant step forward in understanding how Jesus saw both sides of that equation.

We see here in this text, an attack plotted and executed by Jesus' enemies. Look at verse 13, “Later, they, [his enemies] sent some of the Pharisees and Herodians to Jesus to catch him in his words." It is the final week of Jesus' life. We're in Mark's Gospel and there's just one conflict after another, leading up eventually to his condemnation and his execution on the cross. We saw two weeks ago the parable of the wicked tenant farmers that refused to give the owner his due, and the parable that Jesus walked through, culminating in the text that I preached on last week, “the stone the builders rejected has become the capstone.” The Lord has done this and is marvelous in our eyes. We talked about the builders being the leaders of the nation, the movers and shakers, the governing officials there of the Jewish nation.

In verse 12, it says they, these enemies, looked for a way to arrest him because they knew that He had spoken this parable against them, but they were afraid of the crowd. So they left him and went away, but their hatred for Jesus burned hotter than ever before. Their fears of the crowd, however, and of the Romans and losing their position with the Romans was boxing them in. They had to become sly and plot some devious way to trap Jesus so that they could get him killed, which is what they wanted. So they plotted against him. In Matthew's account, Matthew 22:15 it says, "The Pharisees went out and laid plans to trap him in his  words.”  They took counsel together, they made some kind of devious plot here.

Now, as you think about it, there'd be two ways of killing Jesus, getting rid of him. They could do it directly themselves by force or they could do it by law, by legal means. If they wanted to dispense with Jesus by legal means, by law, they had a problem because He had to be made a criminal in the eyes of Rome for the Romans would not allow the Jews to execute anyone. They had no authority to put a man to death. The Romans for their part had no interest in Jewish religious controversies at all, so Jesus' claim to be the Son of God, while blasphemous to the Jewish leaders, would've meant nothing to the Romans. They wouldn't have given it the time of day. Jesus had to be made a criminal in the eyes of the state, in the eyes of Rome.

If Jesus was espousing rebellion against Roman rule, now that would be something, and saying in general as somebody who is so popular with the people, "We need to stop paying taxes to Caesar." That would've been of intense interest to the Romans, hence the question about taxation.  On the other hand, if Jesus's Jewish enemies had wanted to just kill him directly, just rise up against him and kill him, the problem there was the people. The people loved Jesus for the most part. They held that He was a prophet at least. A number of times, Jesus' enemies wanted to seize Jesus. But even in the texts we have here, they want to arrest him, want to lay hands on him, but they're held back by their fear of the people, so they have to strip his protection away. The Jewish people have to turn on Jesus. Somehow they have to manipulate the crowd so that they turn on Jesus and hate him.

If Jesus espoused that they should pay taxes to Caesar, that would do it for a lot of them. The patriotic Jews among them, not just the zealots but just general rank and file Jews would be deeply offended by this open teaching of submission to Rome and paying taxes to Caesar and all that. Hence, I hope you can see the dark genius of this plot laid. They have him, they think either way. 

Now, springing this trap, bringing this trap are some strange bedfellows here,  the Pharisees and the Herodians.  Matthew 22:16, "The Pharisees sent their disciples." So some young zealous Pharisees are sent, dispatched along with the Herodians. The eyebrows really should go up if you realize who these people are. The Pharisees on the one part are Jesus's most vocal and consistent enemies. Vehement, they're known for their passionate commitment to the laws of Moses and their belief that obedience to the laws of Moses was the means by which they could earn their salvation, favor with God and they thought they did keep the laws of Moses. Now along with this, of course, with their fierce commitment to their Jewish heritage, they hated the Roman occupation, the Roman legions. Some Pharisees were even zealots who were secretly plotting rebellion against Rome, wanting to overthrow the Romans. They would've adamantly, passionately rejected the Messiah teaching that we need to pay taxes to Caesar, would've hated that, the Pharisees.  The Herodians on the other hand are disciples or followers of King Herod who was a puppet king of the Romans. He derived his power from Roman rule, that's how he was in power, and all the taxes that were gathered, some of them went to Herod and to the Herodians. They actually benefited from the taxes paid to Rome. 

How in the world do these people get together? Ordinarily, they would've hated each other, but there's an old adage, the enemy of my enemy is my friend. We see this, you see it in the military , as in World War II. How did the UK and the United States get together with the wicked Soviet Union and Joseph Stalin? They had nothing in common in terms of government, but they had a common enemy: Hitler and the Nazis. So we see this kind of thing, these two groups who are normally enemies, they get together, they represent opposite sides of the question on taxation, but they're both committed to one thing and that's getting rid of Jesus. They hated Jesus so they banded together in their desire to get rid of Jesus.

This is a sinister, dark, devious trap that Jesus is encircled with here and they bring it with some flattery. Look at verse 14, “They come to him and said, ‘Teacher, we know that you're a man of integrity. You aren't swayed by men because you pay no attention to who they are, but you teach the way of God in accordance with the truth.’"  This should make you feel sick as you read that, you realize who it's coming from.  Flattery is very different than encouragement. I hope you realize that. It's good to encourage other people, it’s bad to flatter them. What's the difference? The difference is your motive, and whether you believe what you're saying or not. Flattery is insincere praise given for selfish reasons. 

Years ago I was reading the Aesop's Fables and I came across one of the fables, the fox and the crow. It's a fun story. A wily fox sees an ugly crow sitting up on a branch up high with a coveted piece of cheese in its beak. The fox looks up and persuades the crow that it has the most beautiful singing voice of any bird in the forest and that he would love to hear a single song from its golden throat. Filled with pride, the crow opens its beak and begins to squawk its nasty little song while the precious piece of cheese falls to the ground right into the open mouth of the fox. Moral of the story, don’t trust flatterers.  The Book of Proverbs says the same thing. Proverbs 29:5, "Whoever flatters his neighbor is spreading a net for his feet." That's exactly what Jesus' enemies are doing here, they're flattering him and spreading a net for his feet.

The thing is the words they used are actually true and for us as believers in Christ, we could walk through them and worship Jesus for these things, but they didn't believe them, for the most part. First of all, Jesus was in fact a man of integrity. Never has there ever been a man so much, a man of integrity, a man absolutely committed to the truth, willing to die for the truth and exactly what he appeared to be. There's no deception, no corruption. He wasn't just true, He was truth incarnate. He didn't say, "I am the way and I teach the truth." He said, "I am the way and I am the truth and I am the life." He is truth incarnate. That's who He was, but they didn't believe this. They actually believed that He was a deceiver, teaching false doctrines.  Jesus actually did teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. He perfectly spoke the words of his heavenly Father. No one has ever taught more pure and perfect doctrine than Jesus. He did teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. But again, they didn't believe this. They believed He was a heretic, a false teacher.

The next statement they make, "We know that you aren't swayed by men since you pay no attention to who they are, but you just say your convictions no matter who you're talking to." They actually did believe that, and it actually was true. Jesus wasn't concerned at all with the person He was talking to in terms of any fear He would have. He wasn't afraid of Pontius Pilate, He wasn't afraid of Annas, He wasn't afraid of crowds, He wasn't afraid of anybody ever.  He taught what He believed. He didn't look at the individual's face, that’s literally the expression. He wasn't moved by the face, the appearance, the position, it didn't intimidate him at all. Nowadays, politicians are constantly governing by opinion polls. They stick their finger in the wind and try to find out the prevailing opinion, and then they'll make their judgments based on that. Jesus never did that. He had zero fear. He's the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, He's the judge of all the earth, and He knew it. No fear.

Now, as I said, Jesus' enemies actually did believe this about him and they were counting on it. You understand they're counting on Jesus just saying what He thinks here. They are wanting to trap him in his words so they come, the trap sprung. They say, "Is it right to pay taxes to Caesar or not? Should we pay or shouldn’t?" He was stuck so they thought.  If Jesus says, "No, we should not pay taxes to Caesar,” how long do you think it would've taken them to go tell Pontius Pilate? I mean it would have been later that hour that he would've heard about it.  But if on the other hand Jesus says, "We should pay taxes to Caesar." He's surrounded right there in the temple area by hundreds of people that are listening to every word He says. He would've lost a lot of those patriotic Jews right there and then. So either way, it was a trap designed to get Jesus killed.

Jesus begins by exposing their hypocrisy. Look at verse 15, “Jesus knew their hypocrisy. ‘Why are you trying to trap me?’” Now it's one thing to have an instinct about hypocrisy or an instinct about flattery. It's another thing to actually know the motives of another human being's heart and Jesus is omniscient. John 2:25 says, "Jesus doesn't need any testimony about a man because he knows what's in a man.” He knows what's inside someone's heart. It’s like when He spoke to Nathaniel, He knew that Nathaniel was a man of integrity and he was a true Israelite. “How do you know that?” Nathaniel asked.  "I saw you while you were under the fig tree.”[ John 1]. Jesus knows people. He knows their hearts because He's omniscient. He understands what they're trying to do and He evades their trap. 

Now how in the world is He going to get out of this one? You've already read the text so you know how He gets out of it, but it's really quite remarkable. First of all, fundamental to this whole exchange is that they do not understand who He is. They don't understand who they're dealing with. Like most of you do, I like the amazing person incognito kind of story. I mean the Kyrie Irving, Uncle Drew thing. I mean there are a lot of athletes that do this. Eli Manning dressed up, Chris Bryant, Greg Maddox, you don't know who he is. It's like, "Man, this dude's got a good curve ball." That was Greg Maddox. What did you think? But you didn't know. He thought he was the sound guy. I like those things.  Or Joshua Bell, the violinist just incognito there with his Stradivarius in a DC subway kiosk playing some amazing pieces. People just walk by and don't even care. That's Joshua Bell right there. Or there's some of these CEO incognito stories, like there's a TV show about this where you don't know that you're dealing with, the CEO of the whole company, and you find out later who you were dealing with.

Isaiah 53 says, “He [Jesus] had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him." He was despised and rejected so they underestimated him. They thought, "Hey, we're going to trap him. We're going to kind of triangulate and trap him." They're crossing swords, however, with the mind that created the universe. They're playing chess with the infinite God of the universe. You're not going to trick him. You're not going to trap him. Jesus' death could never be an accident, could never be a trap or a trick. He will say in John 10:18, "No one takes my life from me, but I lay it down of my own accord." “You're not going to trap me. You're not going to trick me into dying here. I'm going to die because I want to die.”

He wanted to teach principles. He wanted to teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. He wanted to talk about taxation. He's not shrinking back from it. So He uses an object lesson. Look at verse 15, "Bring me a denarius and let me look at it." They brought it. They bring in this coin, and He's holding it. You can picture him holding up the coin and then He says, "Whose portrait is this?" He points to the coin. "And whose inscription?" The coin itself would've been odious to any religious Jewish person  because it would've had an image of Tiberius Caesar proclaiming him to be God. On the obverse, it would've had a picture of Tiberius Caesar in priestly robes like he was some kind of a high priest. It would've been extremely offensive, a violation of a law against idolatry. Anyway, Jesus' enemies are happy to produce the coin. They think He's about to put his head in his own noose with his own words. "Whose portrait is this?”  "Caesar's," they answer.  Then He gives his answer, "Render to Caesar what is Caesar's and to God what is God's?"

Jesus changed the word the Jews used. It’s not that we are to give the tax to Caesar as if it was something that didn't really belong to Caesar, but we're going to give it to him anyway. He changes the word in the Greek, it's “give back”, or “render,” with a sense of give what is truly owed to that individual. That's the word. He actually changes the word. The word “render” in this case is a little awkward for us. It’s  not a word we would use commonly, and therefore I think it's good to think of it that way. "Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar." It means to give back to him what is really his. That's the whole point of the object lesson. Do you see it? If you mint the coin, you're in charge, you run the country and therefore you have that authority, give it back to him. It belongs to him. That's what Jesus is saying, but He doesn't stop there.

He says, "Render to God the things that are God's." It's amazing in the first half, "Render to Caesar." Jesus is vigorously, clearly, no doubt about it, upholding the very government that very soon will execute him and He knows it, and yet there He is upholding the authority of this idolatrous pagan government and the right they have to receive taxes. He upholds it. But that second statement, "Render to God the things that are God's." We'll spend eternity understanding it and doing it.

The reaction to this is that they're astonished when they heard it, they were amazed. [Matthew 22:22] They left them and went away. I would think bad move, be astonished and fall on your face and worship him. How about that? They're impressed, they're amazed, probably a little frustrated, they're not going to be able to do anything with that statement, and they walk away. Instead, they should have loved him and worshiped him and believed in him.

Let's go back and try to understand this. What must we render to Caesar and what must we render to God? How do we understand that? First of all, taxes. I know, I know, but I'm not going to be up here saying you don't need to pay your taxes. You do need to pay your taxes. Jesus says so. We need to pay taxes, and the reason is that you are supporting, you're paying the salaries of God's servants who are governing in the language of Romans 13, "The authorities that exist have been established by God." God set them up, so of course the Son of God is going to uphold them.

Daniel 4:17 says, "The most high is sovereign over the kingdoms of men and gives them to anyone he wishes and sets over them the lowliest of men." That's Nebuchadnezzar's statement, it's absolutely true. That means that Caesar's power, Rome's power, came from God. It's not an accident.  Furthermore, and this would've really stung for patriotic Jews, Caesar's power is just in a line of Gentile overlords that were there as a direct judgment on the Jews for not keeping the law of Moses. That's why the Romans had control of the Promised Land. It's the very thing that God had said through Moses in Deuteronomy He would do. They're getting the Promised Land on condition of their obedience to the laws of God and the laws of Moses. It's the condition. If they do not keep his laws, He's going to use Gentile armies to evict them. It's in the song of Moses in Deuteronomy 32. It's a clear prediction that that's what He's going to do.  He's going to make them jealous," he said, "by people that are not a people." It's a very clear statement. He's predicted ahead of time what they're going to do.

This is not an accident. It's not something He didn't know. From the Babylonian exile through the Medo-Persians, through the Greeks and now the Romans, it’s been a series of Gentile overlords that were direct judgments by God on the Jews for violating the laws of God. He specifically judged Jews who refused to submit to the Gentiles. Read about it in Ezekiel 17. He's very angry with them that they're not submitting to Babylon. It’s very surprising. I mean do you think those things were taught much among the Zealots and among the Pharisees and all?  I don't think those themes were lifted up much, but it was clearly true. Jesus called it the “Times of the Gentiles.”

Ezra knew it. When a small remnant of Jews came back from the exile of Babylon to rebuild Jerusalem and to rebuild the temple, Ezra said these things. Ezra 9:7, "Because of our sins, we and our kings and our priests have been subjected to the sword and captivity to pillage and humiliation at the hand of foreign kings as it is today." That's it. That's why this is happening says Ezra. “But now for a brief moment, the Lord our God has been gracious in leaving us a remnant and giving us a firm place in a sanctuary, and so our God gives light to our eyes and a little relief in our bondage. Though we are slaves, our God has not deserted us in our bondage. He has shown kindness in the sight of the kings of Persia, allowing us to return and rebuild the city in the temple.” That's what he's saying. Ezra understood it. The patriotic Jews, the Zealots who wanted to rebel against Rome were forgetting the sins of their fathers and God's just judgment against them. 

In addition, they were forgetting the benefits of wise Roman government, and there were many. The Roman conquest of the Mediterranean world brought with it tremendous advantages and unification. They united that part of the world in something called the “Pax Romana,” the “Roman peace." This meant that as long as a conquered country accepted the Roman yoke, accepted Roman rule, they pretty much could live out their whole lives in peace free from warfare. That's a big advantage back then. You're not going to have raiders coming in and taking your crops.  The Romans were excellent at long-term stability. They used local leaders and regional kings to keep the peace. They allowed freedom of religion within a certain measure and guaranteed a semblance of justice for the people. They established commerce, roads, a economic system where some people became pretty prosperous in that system. As with any reasonable government, they protected its people from rampant crime, from anarchy, from armed mobs roaming the streets. They brought stability and order and daily peace to life.

And so it is today, the benefits of government today, Romans 13:4 says, "The ruler is God's servant to do you good." 2 verses later, Romans 13:6, "This is also why you pay taxes for the authorities are God's servants who give their full time to governing," and because they give their full time, they need to be paid. That's their salary, so it's right to pay taxes. God's servants and government do you good. They promote peace and public order. They establish and uphold a system of justice. They punish evildoers. They protect people from military threats. They promote health and prosperity by roads, infrastructure, common economy, all of these things. There are many benefits.

By contrast, I think the worst possible situation there could be, I've thought about this, it's debatable whether it's tyranny, dictatorship or anarchy. I think anarchy is worse. It's not like there aren't going to be any people trying to control that situation. You look at, for example, the reign of terror during the French Revolution or you look at Somalia for example, from 1991 to 2006. There was no permanent government in Somalia, it was just anarchy. What would it have been like to live in Somalia in 2000? You couldn't go out of your home really. There’re roving bans of gun-wielding young men that gun you down, steal things from you. It was horrible. There are all kinds of markers of what life was like in Somalia in terms of infant mortality, in terms of disease, in terms of education, literacy, adult literacy rates. All that plummeted, it was horrible.

But we owe to government more than just the payment of taxes. The scripture says there's other things. We owe honor. We owe honor to governing officials. 1 Peter 2:17, "Show proper respect to everyone, love the brotherhood of believers. Fear God, honor the King." There's a certain respect that goes to governing officials. We owe obedience as far as we're able. Romans 13:1. It says, "Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities for there is no authority except that which God has established." The authorities that exist have been established by God.

In our government system, we also, I think, owe wise participation. We're able to take advantage of being, for those of us that are, American citizens, who are able to participate in government, able to vote out officials that we think have policies we disagree with. We're able to debate them, raise up questions, concerns, et cetera. You look at the way Paul behaved nine times in the Book of Acts, the Apostle Paul is referred to as a citizen of Rome. He had that Roman citizenship card in his back pocket and he's going to pull it out at some key moments, like one time when they were stretching him out to beat him. He says, "Is it lawful for you to beat a Roman citizen who hasn't even been condemned?" The Roman guard at that point pull back and said, "Whoa, whoa, whoa. What are we doing here?" Paul used that Roman citizenship card. It was his Roman citizenship and it was his appealing to Caesar, which was his right to do as Roman citizen that enabled him to go to Rome and preach the gospel to Caesar.

For us, it's a matter of voting, participation, jury duty. Also, many godly Christians, as I mentioned at the beginning of my sermon, actively participate as elected officials or participate with government, federal, state and local officials. Throughout history, Christians have used their convictions to be salt and light in those settings. Very much like Daniel in Babylon where he was the third-highest ruler in the kingdom. He's able to do that.

What else do we owe to government? We owe prayer. We need to pray for governing officials. 1 Timothy 2: 1-2, "I urge then first of all that request prayers, intercession, and thanksgiving be made for everyone, for kings and all those in authority that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness." So pray those things. Go to 1 Timothy 2 whenever some elected official from the President on down, even to local government does something that really irritates you. I would say first and foremost, go to 1 Timothy 2: 1-2, read the text and then pray for them. Pray for them. Paul goes on in the next two verses to imply we should be praying for their salvation. 1 Peter 2: 3-4, "This is good and pleases God our savior, who wants all men to be saved and come to a knowledge of the truth."

Friends, think of it this way. If the tyrant Nebuchadnezzar could be, as I believe, genuinely converted, so that he writes incredible worship to almighty God at the end of Daniel 4, I do expect to see him in heaven. If a guy like that who's running the world, can be converted, God can convert anyone. We pray because God desires all men to be saved and  just because they are leading, are leaders, a prime minister, a dictator, whatever, doesn't mean that they can't be converted. 

But there are limits, aren't there, to our obedience? There should be limits. When government commands something contrary to the Word of God we need to resist.  For example, in the Book of Acts, the governing officials there, the Jewish government, the Sanhedrin, forbad Peter and John from preaching the gospel. "We forbid you from speaking the name of Jesus anymore." Just shortly before that, Jesus had given the Great Commission, right before He ascended to Heaven, to preach the gospel in all the world. So who are you going to listen to? They knew who they were going to listen to. They said, "Judge for yourselves, whether it is right in God's sight to obey you rather than God, for we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard.” 

A Christian should still do this disobedience with a respectful attitude. I think we see this with Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, and also Daniel. Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego in the fiery furnace were respectful to Nebuchadnezzar still. How do I know that? I mean it's important don't you think for governments to make laws that are enforceable? That's why I say no government can ever make a law against coveting because they can't enforce it. Well, here's the most unenforceable command ever. They're in the fiery furnace, miraculously sustained by the hand of God, and Nebuchadnezzar shouts "Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, come out.”  Suppose they said, "Come and get us." What's he going to do? His soldiers burned to death throwing them in there. It's unenforceable. But that wasn't their attitude. There was nothing immoral about the command to come out. There was something immoral about the command to bow down and worship an idol. You've got to distinguish. It’s the same thing with Daniel in Daniel 6. It was immoral to be commanded not to pray to any God except the emperor. Daniel disobeyed it. He continued to pray to God, and they threw him in the lion's den, but he was still respectful to the emperor.

Romans 13 presents government as a servant of God. Revelation 13 presents government in its final state as a direct servant of Satan. No doubt about it. The dragon is Satan and he's behind the beast from the sea, who is the Antichrist. It's one thing to be demon possessed, what it's like to be Satan possessed?I believe that is the final form of human government on Earth, and in that final form during the reign of  the Antichrist, which is that one world government that I believe is coming, all the nations of the earth are going to bow down to this one individual. It's the final form of human government. One of the indicators of submission to that wicked ruler will be the mark of the beast. It’s very plain that if you receive it, you'll spend eternity in hell [Revelation 14].  So none of the elect ,Jesus said, will be deceived and none of the elect will receive the mark of the beast. That's overt rebellion against the world government.

 What must we render to God? I'm going to table a full discussion of this to three sermons I'm going to preach on the first and greatest commandment, but here's what you owe God. You owe it to him to love Him with all of your heart, soul, mind and strength, and to show your love by your total absolute obedience to him. That's what you owe him. You owe him your worship, you owe him your heart, you owe him everything. As a matter of fact, your rendering to Caesar is a subset of what you owe to God. You do it because God's told you to do it. Everything you give to God.

Governing officials need to be careful and not seek to be gods themselves. It's always that temptation, and that's what's going to happen with the Antichrist. He's going to want to be, he's going to demand to be worshiped. This is that tendency where governing officials get filled with themselves and filled with ego and they seek to be worshiped. That is not something we render to Caesar. That's something we give to God alone - worship. Render means to give back as rightful due, ascribe to the Lord, Psalm 29, "Ascribe to the Lord almighty men, ascribe to the Lord the glory and strength, ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name." That's what you owe him. Give him the glory that his name deserves. Then realize if render means give back, everything in the universe is going back to God. From him and through him and to him are all things, everything's getting rendered back to God ultimately.

Therefore, everything that we do, whether we eat or drink or whatever we do, we do it for the glory of God. We Christians can look forward to a perfect government yet to come. We're looking ahead to the Kingdom of Jesus Christ, the Eternal Kingdom of Christ described in many places. One of my favorite is this Isaiah 9: 6-7, "For to us a child is born, to us a son is given and the government will be on his shoulders." Think about that. "And he'll be called wonderful counselor, mighty God, everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and of peace, there will be no end. He will reign on David's throne and over its kingdom, establishing and upholding it. From that time on and forever, the zeal of the Lord Almighty will accomplish this."

That was going to be the end of the sermon until this morning. Then I wrote this extra page, and I want to read it to you. I believe many Christians living in America today are intensely disappointed with what's happening with our government, and I share your disappointment. Many Christians have expectations of government that I am worried about, frankly, I'm concerned about it. Those expectations are not being realized. And as they look ahead, they wonder how can we get those expectations realized? So I wanted to just say a few things about the difference between the kingdoms of this world and the Kingdom of Christ. There's just a significant difference between the kingdoms of this world and the Kingdom of Christ.

How do they advance? How do the kingdoms of this world advance?  How does the Kingdom of Christ advance? How are they governed? How do the kingdoms of this world, how are they governed, and how is the Kingdom of Christ governed? I mean right now? How do they handle opposition? How do they handle enemies? How do they handle opponents? With the kingdoms of this world, it is the compulsion of the sword. You oppose, you die, ultimately. Whether you're criminal or if you're taking up a sword against the government or an opposing an enemy army, it's the sword, the compulsion of the sword. With the Kingdom of Christ, it's the compulsion of truth and love. That's what we do with our enemies, we love them and we give them the truth.

Therefore, it is force, physical force even, compulsion by force on the one side versus persuasion and love on the other. Or if I could keep it simple, the kingdoms of this world advance, get larger by killing, and the Kingdom of Christ gets larger by its subjects dying. It's very different. Therefore, there are two verses in my mind. John 18:36, "Jesus said to Pilate, ‘My Kingdom is not of this world. If it were my servants would fight for me.’" Think about that. That's what it means to have a kingdom of this world. My servants would take up the sword and fight for me. But Jesus said earlier in John 12:24, "Unless a kernel of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains a single seed. But if it dies, it brings forth much fruit."

That's why I say the kingdom of this world, kingdoms of this world advance by killing and the Kingdom of Christ advances by us being willing to die. Maybe not physically, but you die to yourself, you die to what's best for you, you share the gospel, you're willing to serve. And in some cases, some martyrs actually did lay down their lies. The blood of martyrs was seed for the church, they're willing to die for Christ.

Therefore, I go back to the beginning of the Gospel of Mark as I conclude, Mark 1:15, Jesus said when He began his preaching ministry, "The time is at hand. The Kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the gospel." That's how we enter the Kingdom of Christ, by repenting of our sins and believing the good news that God sent his son to die for us under the wrath of Caesar, under the wrath of the Sanhedrin, to die for us that we might have eternal life. So repent and believe the good news, enter the kingdom, live that life for his glory. 

Close with me in prayer. Father, we thank you for Jesus's amazing statement here. I don't think we've even begun to scratch the surface of what it means to "Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's and to God the things that are God's." But I pray, oh Lord, that you would just teach us, oh Lord, help us to understand government biblically, help us to fulfill our duties properly, help us to look ultimately to the Kingdom of Christ, while we do not shrink back from influence, salt and light influencing policies as we're able. God give us wisdom for the facing of this hour. We thank you for the gospel. Thank you that Jesus Christ offers full forgiveness of sins by his death and his resurrection. In Jesus' name we pray, Amen.

Jesus exposed hypocrisy through a question on Caesar's taxation and said it is lawful to support the government, but essential to obey God.

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In 1 Timothy 2, Paul gives Timothy instruction regarding intercessory prayer and God’s saving intention for the world. Paul also addresses specific concerns for men and women.

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No opposition against Christians can derail God’s purpose for them: conformity to the image of Christ and glorification for all eternity in heaven.

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Jesus is the cornerstone in the eternal temple of the living God. The sinful men who despise and reject this stone are doomed to be destroyed.

"The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone.” The Lord has done this and it is marvelous in our eyes. Today's text, if you look at it in a certain way, is effectively the story of two builders and their differing perspectives on building. Their differences, immeasurably deep and profound, though it manifests itself in a simple controversy over proper building materials or a proper building material, a single stone that one builder hates and rejects, but the other builder delights in, chooses, and establishes. The two builders in this scenario are sinful man on the one side and Almighty God on the other. Their philosophies of architecture are radically opposed to each other.

Sinful man builds a building and so does God. Sinful man builds for his own glory and God builds for His own glory. The building projects go on day after day. Both sinful man and Almighty God add daily to their buildings and their architectural glories are in direct contradiction to each other. One of those buildings will sink back down into the dust from which it came and the wind will blow it away like chaff as though it was never there at all. But the other building will shine, will radiate with the glory of God for all eternity. Almighty God in his wisdom has chosen to make his only begotten son, Jesus Christ, despised and rejected, the head of the corner or the chief cornerstone of his entire building project. Day after day, this building rises, built out of other living stones, quarried and shaped to fit the cornerstone.

When the last living stone is set in its proper place according to the plans of the eternal architect, the chosen stone will also be in some mysterious way, the capstone, the completing stone, as it was also the cornerstone. Every stone in it will glow with his glory. Sinful man having despised and rejected this stone builds every day for his own glory by his own principles, with his own building materials, his thoughts, his preferences, his achievements, his choices, his tastes, his lusts, his styles, his drives, his ambitions, and so the building of sinful man rises. It's outwardly impressive, in some sense, but it is ultimately doomed for it is built on the temporary sand of sinful man's own rebellious wisdom, and the storm will come and it will beat on it and it will fall with a great crash.

Habakkuk 2 describes these two building projects in direct contradiction to each other and Habakkuk 2:11-14 says, "The stones of the wall will cry out and the beams of the woodwork will echo it. Woe to him who builds a city with bloodshed and establishes a town by crime. Has not the Lord Almighty determined that the people's labor is only fuel for the fire that the nation's exhaust themselves for nothing?" As the nations are building their empires out of their own effort, God says they're exhausting themselves for nothing. It's only fuel for the fire, for the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. That's God's building project. So we have two builders, two approaches to architecture. One destined to stand in glory forever, the other doomed to be destroyed, blown away like chaff in the wind.

Now, the question for every individual member of the human race is this, which of these two buildings are you investing your life in? What are you building? I've seen some magnificent buildings in my life. I've had the privilege of traveling various places and seen some stunning displays of human ingenuity and architecture. Architecture is an interesting discipline, a fascinating discipline, a combination of science and art. Science because the building needs to be sound in its construction principles, needs to be built well on a solid foundation, needs to rise by tried and true technologies of engineering with structural members on which everything else is based so that it will stand strong supporting its own weight, surviving wind and weather, erosion and earthquakes, and years of subjection to sunlight and water. It must have wise provision for heat and venting and air conditioning, also plumbing and electricity now and walls and doorways that meet building codes.

It needs to be soundly built, but it also needs to be beautiful, I think. I've seen some really ugly buildings that stood behind the Iron Curtain. It seemed like they were designed to suck the life out of anyone that looked at them. Talk about form and function, it was nothing but function and ugly in form. It was intended to be so. You want there to be an art to the architecture, light, color, a space that captures the heart while it supports the body physically. Every great culture has expressed its greatness, at least in part, through its architecture, its great buildings. Five of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World were displays of architecture. The Great Pyramid of Giza, the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, the Temple of Artemis in Ephesus, the Lighthouse of Alexandria, the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus. They all sought to proclaim the greatness of the cultures that built them, but since all flesh is grass and all its glory is like the flowers of the field, the glories are here today, God blows on them and they wither and the wind blows them away like chaff.  God has determined that the glories of man, including the stacking up of stones one on top of the other, will eventually be toppled and sink back down, as Jesus said of the temple, "Not one stone here will be left on another." 

For me, personally, what are the most impressive buildings I've ever seen? Oh, of course, this one here that we're in, definitely. Well, what are my seven wonders of the modern world? It's objective, of course. I was speaking at a pastor's conference in Chicago last year and they took me on a river tour of the skyline of Chicago, and it was very impressive. Lots of steel and glass and crown jewels, building formerly known as Sears Tower, they still call it Sears Tower though Sears sold it a long time ago. It's impressive, shiny and beautiful. I've seen the Great Wall of China, Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, the United States Capitol Building, Washington D.C., London Bridge, the Louvre Art Museum, the Eiffel Tower. Those are impressive.  Four years ago, April 15th, 2019, I was saddened to hear the fire that attacked the cathedral at Notre Dame. I was sad about that. I know that they're refurbishing it, but it's not the same when it gets rebuilt, but it's a reminder to me, again, everything man builds is temporary. 

The text that we're studying today points, along with other passages, to a work of spiritual architecture that will never be destroyed. This morning, we're going to look at one small passage, but I'm going to use it as a portal, a doorway to go through into something much bigger, and I want to use it to meditate in an extended fashion with you on the greatness of Jesus Christ. That's what I'm about today. "The stone the builders rejected has become the capstone. The Lord has done this and it is marvelous in our eyes." It is one of the most significant Old Testament prophecies about Christ.

It's cited by Jesus here in this debate with his enemies. It's cited again by Peter and John in Acts 4 in their controversy with the exact same men, the exact same enemies as they boldly proclaim the Gospel. It's cited again by Peter in his epistle in 1 Peter 2. And as a matter of fact, I would urge you to turn there. Put your finger here on Mark and turn also to 1 Peter 2  because we're going to be leaning on it to get some of our information today. This passage, "the stone the builders rejected, et cetera", is a magnificent image of a building rising from its perfect beginning, from its perfect foundation, to its perfect consummation, the true temple of God in which God will dwell with his people in glory forever. It is eternal and heavenly architecture, the foundation laid by Christ's perfect life and substitutionary death. The wall's made up of living stones, that's us Christians quarried from Satan's dark kingdom, and positioned in walls of a rising spiritual structure, a true spiritual temple in which God dwells and will dwell by his spirit.

Ephesians 2 talks about this, I know you're in 1 Peter 2 and I'll get to that in a moment, but Ephesians 2:19-22 says, "You are no longer foreigners and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with God's people and members of God's household built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. In him, the whole building is joined together and rises to become a dwelling, to become a holy temple in the Lord, and in him, you two are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his spirit.” So you've got this holy spiritual temple rising, rising now, and it's a place that God dwells and will dwell by his spirit. Again, in the passage in 1 Peter 2:4-5, the same illusion, "As you come to him, the living stone rejected by men but chosen by God and precious to him. You also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.”  This is the true and eternal architecture, the eternal temple of the living God, which is rising right now by souls that are being won to Christ through evangelism and missions all over the world. Rising now, though we cannot see it, it's built on the foundation laid by Jesus Christ, but it all starts with him as that first stone, the cornerstone, the foundation of everything. 

The context of this statement in Mark's Gospel, it was the final week of Jesus' life. He has already ridden in triumph into the city to cries of "Hosanna!" and "Blessed is the coming kingdom of our Father, David," and all that. That was the high point emotionally. From then on would come Jesus' final descent down to the cross, his humiliation, the consummation of that infinite downward journey of his humiliation described in Philippians 2,  “Jesus, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant being made in human likeness and being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death, even death on a cross.” That downward journey is on display in the final week of Jesus' life and that's where we're at in Mark's Gospel. Central to this downward journey was his increasingly sharp conflict with his human enemies, the chief priests, elders, teachers of the law, the Pharisees. His human enemies are surrounding him. He had already made a mortal enemy of the high priest, the real high priest, Annas, whose business He impinged on twice by cleansing the temple, when He overturned the benches of the money changers and those selling doves and says, "Take these out of here. How dare you turn my father's house into a marketplace? My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations. You've made it a den of thieves."

The next day, Jesus continued his teaching ministry right in that location in the temple, taking it over, teaching, healing, ministering. His enemies come back, the priests and Scribes and Pharisees come to challenge him with controversial questions trying to trap him into a fatal error with his mouth. They challenged him with the question of his authority. What authority did He have the right to do these things? By what authority? Cleansing of the temple, his teaching of the people, all of that, "Who are you to do these things?" Jesus challenged them back with a question about John the Baptist's authority. Where did he get his authority to do his baptism? Where did that come from? "You answer me, then I'll answer you." They wouldn't answer him so He didn't answer them. Then He told them, as we studied last week, the Parable of the Tenant Farmers, the wicked tenant farmers, how God expected fruit, and represents, I think, Israel, the people of God. It represents them and He sent messengers, prophets to them, and they just killed them, et cetera.  Ultimately, he sent his son.  "They'll respect my son," he said. But when they saw the son, they said, "Look, this is the heir. Let's kill him, and the inheritance will be ours,” meaning the vineyard. So they took him and killed him and threw him out of the vineyard.

Jesus interpreted the parable in light of their imminent rejection and murder of the son of God, himself. He finished with the allusion to this Old Testament prophecy, "Have you never read in the scripture the stone the builders rejected has become the capstone. The Lord has done this and it is marvelous in our eyes." So that's where we're at in Mark's Gospel, and that's what we're going to consider today. This one prophecy is so rich I believe it's worthy of our entire attention this morning. It's a direct quotation of Psalm 118 : 22-23, and I desire to unfold it.

This is my simple interpretation. The stone is Jesus Christ. The builders are the Jewish leaders. The rejection of Christ shows that they're directly opposing God in their rejection, for the stone that they reject, God makes the chief cornerstone or the head of the corner, a chosen, strategically placed stone. The text says, "The Lord has done this." So the Jewish leaders’ rejection of Jesus is directly in contradiction to God's intentions, God's estimation, God's selection of him to be the head of the corner. The psalmist says, "The Lord has done this and it is marvelous in our eyes." Therefore, it is worthy of worship, it is worthy of us marveling over it, and that's what I think we've assembled to do this morning, is to marvel at Jesus. I'm using this one concept, the stone the village rejected as a portal through which to contemplate some of the marvels of Jesus Christ.

It's mysterious. How is Jesus like a stone? What does that mean? What does the head of the corner mean? In Hebrew, what does that mean? How is this placement of Jesus celebrated in the Bible? All of these questions and others came into my ever questioning mind, my engineering mind, my verbal mind. I won't deny that it wasn't accidental that I ended up with a bunch of Ps in the outline. If you look at the outline, all right, you'll see the list of where we haven't even begun to start yet this morning. There you've got all of these P’s: a predestined stone, a prophesied stone, a perfect and perfected stone, a rejected stone, there's no P for that one, a precious stone, a position stone, a permanent stone, proclaimed, pattern, praise, and I thought of one more, paradoxical. We'll get to that in due time.

But I feel okay with it because in Psalm 119, the psalmist does it with the success of letters of the Hebrew alphabet, eight verses on “aleph”, eight verses on “beth”, eight verses on “gimel”. I don't usually do it. I know it seems a little gimmicky. The other day, I was with a good friend at one of my favorite restaurant coffee shops around here, and the servers brought us a tray with a bunch of samples on it of a new product that they were rolling out.  I took it and popped it in my mouth, it was delicious and that was it.  That's what this sermon's going to be like, a sampler.  So let's walk through.  

First, Jesus is a predestined stone, predestined. God planned this whole thing from eternity past. The blueprint was laid in the mind of God before He said, "Let there be light.” This is no new thing for God. God is the architect that made the blueprint. He figured all of this out. He knew that He wanted a spiritual temple in which He would dwell forever with his people in intimate connection with them. He knew that his people would be essential to that dwelling place. They would make it up in effect as themselves living stones. He figured all of this out, that his only begotten son would be the head of the corner or the chief cornerstone, et cetera. Peter tells us he was predestined for this role. Look at verse 4 of 1 Peter 2, "As you come to him, the living stone rejected by men but chosen by God." That's implied in the Psalm 118 quote, the Lord has done this. This is God's plan, God's purpose. Also, two verses later in 1 Peter 2:6, “For in scripture it says, ‘Behold I lay a stone in Zion, a chosen and precious cornerstone.’" So He is chosen for this role. 

These verses tell us that Jesus was chosen for the role but doesn't say when. But Peter tells us that in the previous chapter, 1 Peter 1:20, that “He was chosen before the creation of the world."You look at it right there in First Peter 1:20, "chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times for your sake.” That's what I mean by predestined. All of this is consistent with the biblical doctrine of predestination. Ephesians 1:4-5 says, “God chose us in him before the creation of the world, [him being Christ], to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love, he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ in accordance with his pleasure and will.” Also, Second Timothy 1:9 says, "This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time.” Before the beginning of time, this whole thing was worked out. He is the predestined stone, predestined cornerstone, part of a blueprint that God worked out in his mind before time began.

Secondly, he's the prophesied stone. Not only did God choose and predestine and work all this out in his mind, He rolled out his ideas of it ahead of time through the prophets. He told the prophets what would happen and the prophets proclaimed it to the world. They prophesied it, they predicted it. So we get Psalm 118, verse 22-23, "The stone the builders rejected has become the capstone. The Lord has done this and is marvelous in our eyes." Jesus quoted it. Jesus thought, “Have you never read like in your synagogues on the Sabbath? Haven't you read this Psalm, Psalm 118? Of course, you have." Who wrote Psalm 118? It's not titled. If you look at it, it's not titled, but, traditionally, logically, in the psalter, in its position in the psalter, it's ascribed to King David. That would've been 1,000 years before Christ, 1,000 years. "The stone the builders rejected, it has become the capstone." David was prophesying. He's a prophet as he wrote the psalm. God prophesied these things about Christ ahead of time so that his chosen people could read the prophecies that predated him by 1,000 and know it was all true. It's a sense it is validation of our faith. He's the prophesied stone. 

He's also a perfect and perfected stone, perfect and also perfected. What does that mean? First of all, He's already perfect, flawless, morally pure, but that perfection was not formed or fashioned by man. He is flawless. 1 Peter 2, same chapter verse 22 says, "He committed no sin and there was no deceit in his mouth.” He was a perfect man. Jesus' perfection was not the work of other people. It certainly wasn't the work of Joseph and Mary. They were really great parents and did a really great job raising him, but no, not at all. They were godly people, but his perfection was not because of their great parenting.

There is a picture of this, if you know what to look for. As a requirement, the stones used for the altar and for the building of the temple were not to be formed or fashioned by chisel and hammer on the work site. It's very interesting. Exodus 20:25, "If you make an altar of stones for me, do not build it with dress stones for you'll defile it if you use a tool on it." 1 Kings 6:7, Solomon's Temple, "In building the temple, only blocks dressed at the quarry were used and no hammer, chisel, or any other iron tool was heard at the temple site while it was being built." Why this little detail? Because Christ was not formed or fashioned by human ingenuity or power. It's a picture of the work of God in the perfection of Christ. We also have this in Daniel 2 with the image of human history of the statue in Nebuchadnezzar's mind that had feet of clay.  The whole thing is destroyed by a stone, we're told, cut out but not by human hands that struck the statue on its feet of clay and destroyed it and turned the whole thing to chaff. 

Hence, my earlier comments as I introduced this sermon saying, everything man built will turn into chaff and the wind's going to blow it away without leaving a trace. But the stone that struck it became a huge mountain that filled the whole earth representing the kingdom of Christ, and it's called "a stone cut out but not by human hands." His perfection was his own and yet He was perfected by his sufferings, we're told. The author of Hebrew tells us, Hebrews 5:8-9, "Although he was a son, he learned obedience from what he suffered and once made perfect became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him." Wow, what a mysterious assertion. Jesus was made perfect by his sufferings to be our mediator, our savior.  As I meditate on that, it doesn't mean there was any imperfection in Jesus, but He had to go through the suffering and death on the cross to save us. So I would look at “made perfect” as “qualified by his sufferings." By his suffering He was qualified to save us. By the shedding of his blood, He was made a perfect savior, a mediator for us. That's what I think of as “made perfect.” He was fitted to be the foundation stone by his suffering and death. Therefore, the stone the builders rejected, their rejection of him was essential to him being made perfect to be our savior. So Jesus was both perfect and perfected stone. 

He is also a rejected stone, as I just said a moment ago. There is no P for this. Therefore, it really sticks out, doesn't it? How could such a man be rejected? Stunning. But, actually, most people that know and hear about Jesus reject him. It's actually normal, but it's still bizarre.  "The stone the builders rejected has become the capstone." The Jewish nation officially rejected Jesus. "Led by these builders, he was despised and rejected," it says in Isaiah 53. John 1:11, "He came to his own and his own did not receive him." Officially, on his trial before the high priest, Matthew 26:65-67, "The high priest tore his clothes and said, 'He has spoken blasphemy. Why do we need any more witnesses? Look, now you've heard the blasphemy. What do you think?' 'He's worthy of death,' they all answered.  Then they spit in his face and struck him with their fists.” That's them rejecting Jesus, officially rejecting him. How astounding that He would be rejected. This speaks to the perversion of the sinful mind. Jesus was God incarnate. He was love incarnate. He was kindness incarnate, goodness incarnate, mercy incarnate.

He did a river of healings for the people. Why did they hate him? The sinful mind steeped in darkness hated him, rejected him. The sinful mind is twisted and perverted by sin and evil. It loves what is hateful and hates what is lovely. It puts darkness for light and light for darkness. It puts bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter. It calls wickedness righteousness and righteousness wickedness. It is fundamental. It is essential to sin, this rejection of goodness, this rejection of God. It's at the core of our wickedness. We are commanded to love God with all of our heart, with all of our soul, with all of our mind, all of our strength, and we actually hate him with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength until we are converted, steeped in sin. Jesus was the rejected stone. 

But Jesus is the precious stone. Rejected by men, but precious. Chosen by God and precious to him, we're told. The stone the builders rejected has become the capstone. The Lord has done this and is marvelous in our eyes.  Look at 1 Peter 2:4, "As you come to him, the living stone rejected by men but chosen by God and precious to him." What does that mean, “precious"? Precious means “unspeakably valuable.” How can you properly measure the worth and value of Jesus Christ? One way to get at it is Romans 8:32. So you know, God the Father, ”He who did not spare his own son but gave him up for us all, how will we not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?” That puts everything that God had to give in two categories, his own son and all things. That would be everything other than Jesus. The entire universe, physical and spiritual, lays before him because He made it all, He owns it all, and He says, "Of these, what's really precious to me is my only begotten son and I gave him for you. Therefore, how would I not also, along with him, graciously give you everything else?" That means, in God's estimation, Jesus is more precious than everything else in the universe.

And isn't it amazing that now He's precious to us too? Look at 1 Peter 2:7, "Now, to you who believe the stone is precious." How beautiful is that, “precious to God”, in verse 4, 1 Peter 2, precious to us who believe. 

How did that happen? Is it not because of the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives? Do you not give credit to the Holy Spirit for making Jesus precious to you? How many of you could testify right now that Jesus is precious to you? How many of you be willing to say, be able to say, "Jesus is precious to me,” ? You might've been converted a week ago and you would be able to say, "Jesus is precious to me." You might've been a Christian for 50 years and you'd be able to say, "Jesus is precious to me." Those would say, "Jesus is more precious to me now than when I was first converted."

The more I study him, the more precious He becomes to me, and the more you study his preciousness, his value, his worth, the more you feel you've just begun to scratch the surface. Give him the credit and the glory. Thank him for your salvation. You are surrounded every day by people who are familiar with Jesus, who know some things about him, and He's not precious. They're rejecting him. But not you. How did that come about, dear brother and sister? Is it not because the Holy Spirit sovereignly worked grace in your life? Is it not because He took out your heart of stone and gave you a heart of flesh and made Jesus precious to you? 

What does that word mean, “precious”? Charles Spurgeon, meditating on this, said, "Something is precious because it's rare, and because it has intrinsic value to it, and because of its beneficial qualities.” Jesus is rare. He is utterly unique in the universe. He is the only begotten son of God. We're all adopted children of God. He's the only begotten. He's unique. He's the God-man. He has intrinsic value because in him dwells the fullness of the deity in bodily form. And one of his beneficial qualities, Spurgeon put it this way, "He is eyes to the blind. He is ears to the deaf. He is feet for the lame. He is healing to the sick. He is freedom to the slave. He is joy to the mourner. He is life to the dead. Think of his life and how it gives life to the believer. Think of his death and how it redeems from hell all those who trust in him. Think of his resurrection and how it justifies believers. Think of his second coming and how it delights our hearts. Think of our Lord in all of his offices of prophet, priest, and king. Think of him in all his relationships as husband, brother, and friend. Is he not precious to you?” 

He is also a positioned stone. He is positioned by God as the foundation to the entire building. Everything's based on him. Cornerstones are laid first. Everything else finds its orientation based on the cornerstone. The angles must be perfect. Let's imagine that the architect wants a 90 degree angle. If it's 89 or if it's 91 and you measure out over 200 feet, you're going to be off by three feet or more. It's got to be just right. It's a cornerstone. Everything is based on him. He's positioned as the foundation. As Paul said in 1 Corinthians 3:11, "No one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ." Everything's based on him, his death, his resurrection. 

Therefore, He's a permanent stone. He's laid for all eternity, He cannot be moved. Stones have immense weight and compressive strength. You can stack stone upon stone upon stone and make a big building. There's that sense of permanence with Jesus. He is positioned permanently, and He is more permanent than the universe itself. It's hard to believe, but it is really true.  Hebrews 1:10-12 says, "In the beginning, oh Lord, you laid the foundations of the earth and the heavens of the work of your hand. They will perish, but you remain. They all wear out like a garment. You'll roll them up like a robe. Like a garment, they will be changed, but you remain the same and your years will never end." Speaking to Jesus, He's more permanent than the universe. The finished work of Christ on the cross cannot be undone. He is permanent foundation for the eternal dwelling place of God. "Heaven and earth," Jesus said, "will pass away, but my words will never pass away." Therefore, also, everyone who builds his or her life based on the words and work of Christ, it will last for eternity, the things you are building.  At the end of the Sermon of the Mount, Jesus says, "Therefore, everyone who hears these words of mine and puts the into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock.  Rains came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, but it did not fall because it had its foundation on the rock." Your work will be permanent too if it's based on Christ and on his words. "But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on the sand, and the rains came down and the streams rose and the winds blew and beat against that house and it fell with a great crash.” [Matthew7:24-27] That's somebody who does not obey the word and builds on sand.

Jesus is also a proclaimed stone. I'm doing it right now. I'm proclaiming the greatness of Christ. I'm preaching him. He is proclaimed throughout the world, proclaimed in scripture, and He's proclaimed by preachers who go and proclaim the greatness of Christ, and in that proclamation, people hear and believe and are saved. 1 Peter 2:6 says, "Behold I lay a stone in Zion, a chosen and precious cornerstone, and the one who trusts in him will never be put to shame."

So as this proclamation is going out around the world, people are hearing and trusting and they are built on that foundation. Peter and John give a very good example of this in Acts 4. It's one of my favorite parts of the Book of Acts. They heal a lame beggar. He's walking and leaping and praising God and all that, and they come and arrest Peter and John and haul them up in front of the exact same human enemies that had condemned Jesus. Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, spoke to these wicked enemies of Jesus these words, "Rulers and elders of the people, if we are being called to account today for an act of kindness shown to a cripple and are asked how he was healed, then know this, you and all the people of Israel, it is by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified but whom God raised from the dead, that this man stands before you healed." Now listen to this. It's my favorite part, "He is the stone you builders rejected which has become the capstone. Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved." [Acts 4:7-12] Do you see what Peter did to the quote? He changed it a little bit. I've been reading it out of Psalm 118, "The stone the builders rejected has become the capstone." Peter said, "The stone you builders rejected..." in case you missed it, filled with the Holy Spirit, he applied it to Jesus's enemies. But he's saying, "Salvation is found in no one else and that's how we get saved. That's how our sins are forgiven, by the proclamation of this cornerstone." 

He is also a pattern stone. Jesus is the first of a vast sequence of similar stones.  Look at 1 Peter 2:4-7, "As you come to him, the living stone rejected by men but chosen by God and precious to him, you also like living stones are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. For in scripture it says, 'Behold I lay a stone in Zion, a chosen and precious cornerstone, and the one who trust in him will never be put to shame now to you who believe the stone is precious.’" So, by believing Jesus becomes precious, you become instantly like him, a living stone.  

Now I'm going to insert another P in here, and that is a paradoxical stone. What does that mean? “Paradox” means, it's “internally mysteriously, contradictory”. By dying, we live. By living, we die. This kind of thing. Do you not see the paradox of a living stone?  Think about it. Don't we use stones as an example of things that are dead, that are not alive? Dead as a stone or stone dead, something like that? But here Jesus is a living stone. I was on another bike ride and I was thinking about that phrase, living stone. How is a stone living? What does that mean? And I don't know for sure, but let me tell you some guesses. I think stones not just are pictures of deadness, but they're also pictures of permanence and unchanging nature. They just are what they are. If something's engraved in stone, it never changes. If something's rock solid, it has a solid foundation. It doesn't move. So I think it's a sense of Jesus's permanence and immutability, but tied to his life. He's eternally alive. As Romans says, "Since he died, he cannot die again. Death no longer has any mastery over him." He's alive forever. He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. What he was yesterday, he will be today and he will be forever.

And you can count on him. He never changes. He's rock solid. You can build on him. He's alive and gives you life. The giving of life will keep on happening. He's a living stone. You also become like him, living stones. That's pretty cool too because you are positioned in a wall of the rising spiritual temple in which God will dwell forever. You're positioned there in a place, I believe, through predestination. You're the only one that could have been positioned there. That place was made for you. Imagine, not that anyone would ever do this, a 100,000 piece jigsaw puzzle. Imagine someone with the diligence and discipline to do a 100,000 piece jigsaw puzzle and there's one piece missing. Let's imagine it's a real type-A person. That person's not going to shrug and say, "Oh, well, we got most of it." What are they going to do, friends? They're going to search until they find that missing piece, aren't they, because that piece can't be replaced. It's got a certain contour, certain shape. It's got certain colors on it. It's the only one that can go there. Didn't Jesus tell a story about a woman who lost a coin and she looked everywhere and everywhere until she found that coin? So we also, like Jesus, are positioned in a certain place in the wall that only we could have filled and God will not rest until all of his chosen people, Ephesians 1 says "chosen in him before the foundation of the world", are positioned like him in our proper place in the wall. It's pretty awesome when you think about it. 

Now, with this, we have a bit of a translation problem. Is Jesus the cornerstone or the capstone? Have you ever wondered about that? Now, which is it? They are different. The one is the beginning stone and the other is the ending stone. One of them starts the whole thing and the other one finishes it or consummate it.  The Hebrew is "head of the corner". KJV brings it over to “chief cornerstone”. He's the head of all the corner, that kind of thing. He's the chief. So people have wondered, are we talking the foundation, the cornerstone foundation stone, or the capstone the consummate? Why not both, friends? I'll tell you what, let's go both, because Jesus is the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end. He is the beginning of this whole structure, and He will end it. And every living stone in between is conformed to him in beautiful ways. In Revelation 3:12, it says of believers, "Him who overcomes, I'll make a pillar in the temple of my God. Never again will he leave it." You're going to be positioned and be radiant forever and you're going to glow. In Revelation 21, the holy city Jerusalem is coming down out of heaven from God. It's shown with the glory of God and its brilliance was like that of a very precious jewel, like a jasper, clear as crystal.

Think about that, clear living stones. You're going to radiate with the glory of Christ. You're going to shine with his glory in that beautiful spiritual temple. 

Finally, a praise stone. That's all I've been doing in this sermon. That's the whole point of this sermon, this gimmicky-looking sermon with all of its Ps. I just wanted to praise Jesus. Doesn't it say right in the text, "The Lord has done this and it is," what? "marvelous in our eyes." Do you know you're going to get a chance for all eternity to celebrate how marvelous Jesus is, how marvelous this whole building project really was? It is marvelous. It's more marvelous than you think. 

We've only scratched the surface. I've given you a sampler sermon today. Each of the Ps you could delve into more, but Jesus is infinitely greater than any meditations you could ever do, and you're going to have heaven. If you repent and believe in Jesus and trust in him, you're going to have heaven forever to think about the greatness of Christ. Close with me in prayer.

Father, we thank you for this one text, for its power. We thank you for the concept behind it, of this grand and glorious structure that is rising to become a dwelling in which God lives by his spirit. We thank you. We pray that you would take these meditations, however brief, however imperfect, and use them to fill us with glory. Help us to proclaim Christ to a lost and dying world. Help us to be filled with expectancy that we have so much more to learn about Jesus than we ever thought we did. Fill us with a sense of his greatness, of his preciousness. Thank you for saving us, Lord. I want to thank you for each of my brothers and sisters that are here for whom Jesus is precious. Thank you for working that in them. In Jesus' name, Amen.

Jesus is the cornerstone in the eternal temple of the living God. Sinful men reject him, but his position as the perfect stone is permanent.

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