Submission Volume 5

As we grew and matured into adulthood we no longer had a dependence on our parents and we were able to start making decisions on our own. The decisions we made were based on the lives we wanted to live. An immature thought I’m sure we all had in our preteens and teenage years was that we could not wait to move out from under our parents so that we could do whatever we wanted to do in life. That idea most likely came to an abrupt end when we found out that we were still subject to authorities such as professors in college, drill sergeants in the military, or supervisors on the job. We soon found out in order to survive in this country we had to obey the rules of the land and to pay taxes each year. God continues to place authorities in our lives in order to keep us in a place of learning how to submit. While many have rebelled against the authorities in this world as to show men that they are only subject to God, the scriptures teaches us another way. The Word of God teaches us to be in the world but not of the world, meaning that we must continue to understand that we are subject to the authorities that have been placed in our lives. We should obey their laws and regulations as unto God, as long as they do not directly go against the principles of God’s Word and His Commands. God wishes to save every man walking the face of this earth and many of the authorities we deal with every day and are subjected to, we are to respect in the hope that one day we will have the opportunity to share our Gospel of Hope and Reconciliation with them. We cannot be a light to the world if we are operating in the spirit of rebellion for our own selfish motives. If we continue to do so, the thin line that is drawn between how we treat our neighbors and how we treat God will be crossed. The rebellion that we show our authorities, we will ultimately start to show God!!! Once again let us draw from the Word of God and see our Perfect example Jesus Christ and how He dealt with His Authorities!!! Be Encouraged!!! Have a wonderful life of submission on purpose!!!!!

Luke 20

Paying Taxes to Caesar
20 Keeping a close watch on him, they sent spies, who pretended to be sincere. They hoped to catch Jesus in something he said, so that they might hand him over to the power and authority of the governor. 21 So the spies questioned him: “Teacher, we know that you speak and teach what is right, and that you do not show partiality but teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. 22 Is it right for us to pay taxes to Caesar or not?”

23 He saw through their duplicity and said to them, 24 “Show me a denarius. Whose image and inscription are on it?”

“Caesar’s,” they replied.

25 He said to them, “Then give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s.”

26 They were unable to trap him in what he had said there in public. And astonished by his answer, they became silent.

Matthew 17

The Temple Tax
24 After Jesus and his disciples arrived in Capernaum, the collectors of the two-drachma temple tax came to Peter and asked, “Doesn’t your teacher pay the temple tax?”

25 “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 children or from others?”

26 “From others,” Peter answered.

“Then the children are exempt,” Jesus said to him. 27 “But so that we may not cause offense, 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.”