Taxes, Taxes, Taxes! | Matthew 22:17

[00:00:00] We'll truth, Daily. This is Daily Truths with Dave Ahlman. Hi everybody, welcome back to Daily Truths. Today I want to talk about taxes and of course in Jesus Day, taxes were collected. Now remember the Pharisees that said a couple of

[00:00:17] representatives to Jesus representing them and also Herodians representing the Caesar government, the Roman government right? And so these two groups of folks come to Jesus to trap Him with a question. And the question is this in verse 17.

[00:00:33] This is what it says. Tell us then, what you think? Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar or not? Now how were these taxes collected or what were the taxes inflicted upon?

[00:00:44] First of all was grain and fruit right? And so if you sold grain I had to pay taxes on that. Also imports any kind of import that came into the Roman government that too is taxed.

[00:00:56] If you were Roman citizen when his census was taken that was taxed. And what did that money go for? Well it went for the oppressive Roman government for the luxurious lifestyle of the Roman officials and for he then temples. That's what the money went

[00:01:13] for. So no water the Pharisees were so opposed to it. But the Herodians, they were okay with it. They thought this is great. We need taxes, we need our luxury lifestyle, we need temples

[00:01:24] that are pagan temples. We need all of that and so the Herodians were four taxes. The Pharisees were against taxes. So if Jesus said yes you should pay taxes. It's going to take the Pharisees off. If he says no you shouldn't pay taxes.

[00:01:41] It's going to take the Herodians off. You get what I'm saying? So it's a trapping question and I already told you where those taxes went. So let's talk about now. Let's

[00:01:50] blip it a little bit and say why we pay taxes. Because a lot of times we have people today who say I don't want to pay taxes, we call them tax evaders. But why do we pay taxes? I want

[00:02:02] to fundamentally identify three different reasons today why we pay taxes. Number one, we have roads and bridges that need to be built and need to be maintained. I thank God for our road system, interstate system here in the United States. It's wonderful. Our taxes go for

[00:02:19] our taxes go for governmental officials for mayors and representatives. And those who serve our communities. I understand that. It goes for schools for teachers, for administration, and it goes for this is my favorite safety and protection of our citizens. Whether it's a military, whether it's a police

[00:02:36] forces or whether it's a firemen. We need to support those people. Didn't it drive you crazy some three or four years ago when people were saying let's defund the police? What? And it says right on

[00:02:50] police cars and in trooper cars, it says this to serve and to protect. This is why we have them to keep us safe and to make sure that we can live our lives and safety and protection. This is

[00:03:02] why we have police forces. This is why we have state troopers. This is why we have firemen and we should support them as much as possible. So today we've talked about taxes and where they

[00:03:13] go and yes, I know that sometimes our taxes support things that we may not approve of. I get that. But still as Jesus answers here, you're going to get the answer. Pay into Caesar, the things that

[00:03:26] are Caesar is going to have to God, the things that are gone. Right? We understand that. Okay? So we understand we have to pay taxes. Here's the problem though. A lot of people complain about

[00:03:36] our government and complain about what's happening in our country and I'm one of them. However, today I want to identify this. Thank God for our military that keeps us safe. Thank God for our

[00:03:49] police forces that keep us safe. And when you see them, when you see a military person, be sure to thank him for his service. When you see a police officer and many times I see them on the side

[00:04:00] of the road and if I can, I pull over and I'll say thank you for your service. I think I told you here maybe about a year ago that one time I said that to a police officer and he must have

[00:04:11] had a really rough day because he started to tear up when I said that. Right? So they need our appreciation. They need our encouragement and when you see them let them know that you appreciate

[00:04:23] their service and my friends, this is part of where our taxes go to support these men and women in service who sacrifice so many different things in order for us to be safe. Thanks be to God

[00:04:35] for our taxes supporting those who keep us safe and say a prayer for them today because they are public servants that truly serve in our best interest. So that is today's daily truth. Have

[00:04:49] a great day in the Lord Jesus Christ. Thank you for tuning in todayly truths with Dave Olman. Pastor Dave Olman is the pastor of Mount Ho Church in Boulder, Colorado. If this ministry is

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