January 23rd Devotion

Matthew 17:24-27 (NIV)
24 After Jesus and his disciples arrived in Capernaum, the collectors of the two-drachma tax came to Peter and asked, "Doesn't your teacher pay the temple tax?" 5 "Yes, he does," he replied. When Peter came into the house, Jesus was the first to speak. "What do you think, Simon?" he asked. "From whom do the kings of the earth collect duty and taxes--from their own sons or from others?" 26 "From others," Peter answered. "Then the sons are exempt," Jesus said to him. 27 "But so that we may not offend them, go to the lake and throw out your line. Take the first fish you catch; open its mouth and you will find a four-drachma coin. Take it and give it to them for my tax and yours."

“The sons are exempt.”
As believers, we are the “Sons of God”, and therefore exempt from being taxed. Taxes collect from those who are not part of the family. We owe no such debt, although we should think of it as a “sin tax”. Isn’t it interesting that our secular government actually charges so-call sin taxes. The government profits from such taxes. When it comes to Jesus, he paid for Peter’s tax, and ours as well.

“So that we may not offend them.”
Jesus could have declare himself and all his followers, exempt from human taxes, yet for the benefit of others, he instructed Peter to pay the unnecessary tax. We must live according to the scripture not to be saved, but so that nothing bad can be said about believers, and thus Christ, so the unbeliever may repent and be saved.

Titus 2:1-8 (NIV)
1 You must teach what is in accord with sound doctrine. 2 Teach the older men to be temperate, worthy of respect, self-controlled, and sound in faith, in love and in endurance. 3 Likewise, teach the older women to be reverent in the way they live, not to be slanderers or addicted to much wine, but to teach what is good. 4 Then they can train the younger women to love their husbands and children, 5 to be self-controlled and pure, to be busy at home, to be kind, and to be subject to their husbands, so that no one will malign the word of God. 6 Similarly, encourage the young men to be self-controlled. 7 In everything set them an example by doing what is good. In your teaching show integrity, seriousness 8 and soundness of speech that cannot be condemned, so that those who oppose you may be ashamed because they have nothing bad to say about us.

Love, Pastor Don