Grace Notes - Matthew 20 v 20

Matthew 22:20-21 "And he said to them, Whose is this image and superscription? They said to him, Caesar's. Then He said to them, Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's; and unto God the things that are God's."

The grace of God is free to all, there ready to be received and enjoyed.  When we believe in Christ and accept his sacrifice at Calvary, our Spirit’s are made alive in Christ and are made into a new creation.

It is our Spirit that is born again and but our soul is contaminated with all the lies and pollution of our dead ‘sinful nature’.  Our sinful nature died at the cross and we are left with the residue of the world in our flesh.

We live in the world, but are not controlled by the world. We feel the effects of the ‘cursed earth system’ but we are now ‘seated in heavenly places in Christ’. We chose where we live, either according to the Spirit or according to the flesh.

The more we identify with Christ and his victory the more we live in all Christ won for us at the cross and enjoy all the wonderful benefits of His grace.

Here Andrew Wommack explains that a simple thing as a coin shows us that we live in the world but are united with Christ:-

“The image on the denarius, the only small silver coin acceptable for imperial tax payments, was probably that of Tiberius Caesar (reigned A.D. 14-37). The inscription upon the coin read "Tiberius Caesar Augustus, Son of the Divine Augustus" with the reverse side reading "Chief Priest." This inscription was a claim to divinity and as emperor, the right to be worshiped.

The Jews had tried many times to accuse Jesus on the basis of religious issues and had always failed. Now they approached Him about paying taxes in hopes that His answer might give them the opportunity to deliver Him to Pilate for prosecution.

These Pharisees and Herodians reasoned that any answer that Jesus gave would be wrong. If He approved of the Roman taxes, then He would lose popularity with the masses. If He spoke against the Roman taxes, then the Jews would hand Him over to the Roman government and Pilate would dispose of Him. It looked like they had Jesus trapped. Jesus, however, answered with such simple wisdom that these Pharisees and Herodians were caught in their own trap and made to look like fools.

Jesus declared, "Render (give back) to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's" (Mk. 12:17). People are made in God's image, so we must render to God the things belonging to God (our lives) and to Caesar the things belonging to Caesar (his money and other benefits of his rule).”