Should Christians Vote? — Matthew 22:15–22

Name: Should Christians Vote? — Matthew 22:15–22
Uploaded: 2026-11-02T23:00:54+00:00
Duration: 31 min 12 s
Channel: Medical Lake Community Church

00:00you know those gotcha questions, those gotcha questions? Reporters love to ask gotcha questions.

00:06Kind of like, have you stopped beating your dog? Well, if you say no, then that means you're still

00:14beating your dog. And if you say, well, yes, that means you were beating your dog. So it's like,

00:18you can't win. It's like a gotcha question. They love asking gotcha questions because it doesn't

00:23seem like there's an appropriate answer for the question. In the text today, the opponents of

00:29Jesus try a gotcha question on him. They only forgot that he is wisdom. So he has a good answer

00:36for them. But they tried a gotcha question, thinking that they would corner him in whichever

00:41way that he answered, it would look bad for him. He would look bad in front of the people. He

00:46would

00:46look bad in front of Rome. So however he answered, he was going to look bad. They thought they had

00:51him cornered, but they forgot one thing. They were not expecting how he was going to answer their

00:57question. So we're going to be in Matthew chapter 22, Matthew chapter 22. We'll begin reading in

01:04verse number 15 as we get there. But as we, as we think through the text, the idea that we

01:09want to

01:09work with is this, is that Jesus shows us as believers, how to order our lives living in a yet

01:16imperfect world governed by secular authorities. We're not in the perfect yet. The perfect will come,

01:22but we're not there yet. We're in an imperfect world governed by secular authority. How do we order

01:26our lives? How do we walk in this world that's still led by secular authorities? Often many of

01:32them are ungodly secular authorities. Now you and I understand that we are citizens of heaven. We

01:38understand that. We know that our citizenship is in heaven. We're awaiting that city whose builder and

01:43maker is God. We understand that part. However, I think we forget sometimes that God has also placed

01:48us on this earth in nations right now. I mean, we lived in Germany for a period of time and

01:54now

01:54we're back in the United States, but God puts us in nations and that we do have obligations to the

02:00nations that we live in. We kind of forget the one side of the equation and in reality, we are

02:05dual

02:05citizens. So Jesus had just taught a parable. Matthew doesn't listen, Luke does. He just taught a parable

02:13and at the end of the parable, the Pharisees realized he was talking about them. It was talking

02:18about rejecting the stone. And if you reject the stone, the stone is going to fall on you and crush

02:23you. And they knew exactly what he was talking about. So they're seeking a way to discredit him

02:28because they're really angry at him right now. So that's what prompts this question. Look at verse

02:35number 15. Here's the plot. Here's their plot. They think they've got him in a gotcha question.

02:41Verse 15. Then the Pharisees went and plotted how to entangle him in his words. So they're trying to

02:49get him to use his words to put him in a trap. And they sent their disciples to him. So

02:54the Pharisees,

02:55the disciples of the Pharisees or Pharisees in making, I guess you would say, they sent their

03:00disciples to him along with the Herodians. So these two groups, Pharisees and the Herodians saying,

03:04teacher, we know that you are true and teach the way of God truthfully. You could just hear the

03:11sarcasm coming off of their voices. They don't believe any of this stuff. They don't even like

03:17him. Oh, you teach the way of God truthfully and you do not care about anyone's opinion for you are

03:25not swayed by appearances. Oh, talk about flattery. Here's the question. Tell us then, what do you think?

03:34Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar or not? So they think that God, I mean, a gotcha question.

03:41They think that either way he's going to answer, he's going to look bad to Rome or he's going to

03:45look bad to the people. See, the question he had was about paying taxes to a pagan government.

03:53Obviously, Caesar was over the Roman government. That was a, he was the Caesar of the, of the empire.

03:59Jews were in underneath that. And the question is, do we, as Jews pay taxes to a pagan empire?

04:05What do we do with that? That's the question. And it's diabetically formed. It's not meant as a,

04:10as a helpful question about, Hey, we just want information. It's we want to trap you in what

04:15you're trying to say. We want to trick you up. So you'll look bad in front of the people.

04:20What is this tax? This tax was simply an annual census or a poll tax. And you, you paid it

04:27just

04:27once a year and you got it over with and you didn't pay that the next year. It was just

04:30an

04:30annual poll tax, a head, a head tax for all adults, a painful reminder that they're under Roman

04:36domination, painful tax. So the group that came to me consisted of Pharisees, very strict religious

04:45leaders and the Herodians. The Herodians were very loose, not so strict as the Pharisees.

04:50They aligned themselves with the party of Herod. Herod aligned himself with Rome. So they were more

04:55on the side of the Romans, Mark 12. And they sent to him some of the Pharisees and some of

05:01the

05:01Herodians to trap him in his talk. So these two groups, Pharisees who hated Rome and Herodians says,

05:08Hey, yeah, we can deal with Rome. They're okay. Craig Bloomberg describes it like this.

05:12The Pharisees resented having to pay taxes to Rome as an infringement on Jewish law. They're very

05:18serious. These, these Pharisees, the Herodians were a small group of Jews loyal to the various

05:24members of Herod's family. They had made their peace with the occupying invaders and saw taxes

05:29as an appropriate way to fulfill the responsibility as good citizens. So the Pharisees who didn't like

05:36they resented paying taxes are together with the Herodians and Jesus later is going to call them a

05:40bunch of hypocrites. They're just, they're just trying to trap him with his words to make him

05:44look bad for the people in front of Rome. They wanted Jesus to take a stand on the issue of

05:51taxes.

05:52Do we pay taxes to Caesar? Is that the right?

05:58Think about it. These taxes supported a pagan oppressor. Do we pay taxes?

06:05The answer Jesus gave them is not at all what they expected. It's not at all what they expected.

06:10Look at his answer. Verse 18 down to the end of verse number 22.

06:15But Jesus, aware of their malice, in other words, he knows that they're not doing it with a good heart.

06:21They're doing it because they don't like him. They want to destroy his reputation among the people

06:25or among Rome. Aware of their malice said, why put me to the test, you hypocrites?

06:35Show me the coin for the tax. And they brought him a denarius. And Jesus said to them, whose likeness,

06:42the word is image, whose image, whose likeness and inscription is this on the coin? And they said,

06:48well, it's Caesar's. Then he said to them, therefore, or for this purpose, therefore,

06:54render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's and to God, the things that are God's. When they heard

06:59it, they marveled and they left him and went away. They didn't get what they were hoping for. They

07:04didn't trap him in his words. Jesus calls them a bunch of hypocrites. The Pharisees, they don't want

07:11to pay taxes anyway. The Herodians are okay with paying taxes, but they didn't do it out of a sincere

07:16heart. They're hypocrites. Luke says it like this. So, they watched him and sent spies. Remember after

07:22he told this parable against them? So, they watched him and sent spies who pretended to be sincere

07:28that they might catch him in something he said, all right, to trip him up. So, as to deliver him

07:33up to

07:33the authority and jurisdiction of the governor to get him in trouble with Rome. That's what they're

07:39trying to do, to get him in trouble with Rome. Imagine if Jesus would have said, no, don't pay taxes

07:44to

07:44Caesar. He would immediately been labeled a revolutionary and Rome would have the, right

07:49now, Rome doesn't care about Jesus. Even Pilate said, I don't find any fault in this. It's the Jews

07:54that are having an issue with Jesus right now. Rome is just indifferent right now about Jesus.

07:58They're just indifferent. Herodians loyal to Herod, loyal to Rome, they would certainly run to

08:05the governor and say, hey, this Jesus said, don't pay taxes. The coin that they asked for, the coin,

08:11the denarius, had the image of the emperor Tiberius stamped on it, the likeness, the image of Tiberius

08:18stamped on the coin. And also written these words, divus ex pontifus maxifus, God and high priest

08:26was on that coin as well. I can see why the Pharisees resented paying tax, especially with

08:31the denarius. It's like idolatry. I can understand them. Still, they wouldn't want to do that.

08:38But Jesus answers in a way that brings them up short, that they have to start thinking for a

08:44second. See, God's sovereignty must be acknowledged, but human governments also have legitimate

08:51authority. Why? Because it comes from him. He delegates the authority down to human governments.

08:57He has the supreme authority, yes, but he delegates authority down to the governments.

09:01And governments have a right to reasonable taxation. Even evil governments have the right

09:08to reasonable taxation. Look with me in Romans chapter 13.

09:13For because of this, you also pay taxes. I know that's not a nice word. I got it. You know,

09:19you're like me. For the authorities are ministers of God, attending to this very thing.

09:25Pay to all what is owed to them. Taxes to whom taxes are owed. Revenue to whom revenue is owed.

09:32Respect to whom respect is owed. Honor to whom honor is owed. So, the annual tax was one denarius,

09:39which was one day's labor. Now, if a person made $30 an hour, I don't know what the going wage

09:46is.

09:46It's a little bit more than minimum wage. And they worked eight hours, that's $240.

09:52Listen, I would be happy to pay only $240 to the federal government for the entire year.

09:58That would not be a problem for me. Now, you and I can have a discussion, a debate on the

10:04reasonableness of taxation. What is reasonable taxation? But we don't have a debate on whether

10:08we should pay taxes. Reasonableness, yeah, we can debate that. But whether we ought to? No.

10:13He says, we ought to. We ought to pay taxes. See, the person who has accepted the protection

10:18of an actual government has entered into its political constitution and has acknowledged

10:24its rights. If I live in a country, I live under its rights, under its laws. I have a responsibility

10:31to this nation. Remember, I said we're dual citizens. It's true. And we focus mostly on

10:37our citizenship in heaven, Philippians 3.20. But our citizenship is in heaven. It's true.

10:43We're citizens of heaven from whom we await a savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. We're citizens

10:49of heaven. However, we're also citizens of the nation where God has placed us now. We're

10:55dual citizens. So, if we're supposed to render to Caesar the things that are Caesar, what are

11:04the things that are Caesar? Or better mean, what does it mean to render? To render? We don't

11:11normally use that word like that. It means implying a payment of an incurred obligation.

11:17A payment of an incurred obligation. Or the Lexham Theological Workbook says, a verb used

11:22to describe giving payment in return for something. It's the duty, it's the obligation to render

11:29to Caesar the things that are Caesar. It's our duty to do that. It's our obligation. As a matter

11:33of fact, it's a command. It's an imperative verb. Now, the render isn't on the side of God

11:39as well. It's implied because it's part of that verse. It's part of that sentence. So,

11:43render applies on both sides. Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar and render unto God

11:48the things that are God's. But it's a verb that's a command. We're supposed to do that.

11:53We have an obligation to do that. We are to pay what is rightfully due to Caesar.

12:01Verse 21 formed the Reformation's view of the authority, the spheres of government and the spheres

12:07of God, these different, different authorities. But we understand that all government is under

12:13God. However, it is our responsibility to give its proper due. That's our, that's our, we're

12:20to render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar. Our obligation, our duty is to render to Caesar

12:25the things that are Caesar. In Romans 13.1, we read this,

12:29let every person be subject to the governing authorities. Okay. To Caesar, for there's no

12:35authority except from God. In other words, all governments derive their authority from God. And

12:39those that exist have been instituted by God. So, authority resides with him. He passes on down

12:45to governments and they have authority over the people in their nation. Peter talks about it.

12:50Be subject for the Lord's sake to every human institution, whether it be to the emperor as supreme,

12:56so the Caesar, or the governors as sent by him. In other words, those are underneath Caesar to punish

13:02those who do evil and to praise those who do good. And then jump down to verse 17. Honor everyone,

13:07love the brotherhood, fear God, honor the emperor, honor Caesar, give honor to Caesar, give respect to

13:13him. It's what our obligation is, what we owe him, what we do him. Notice that Jesus didn't say,

13:21render under Caesar the thing that is Caesar's. Then he would have been talking strictly about taxes

13:27because that's what he's talking about right here. But notice that it's a plural, the things

13:32that are Caesar, the things that belong to Caesar, not just singular, but plural. It involves more than

13:42just paying taxes, what we render. And since Jesus commands us to render under Caesar the things that

13:49are Caesar, there's a couple of questions we have to answer. Who is our Caesar? And what are the

13:58things we're supposed to render to him? Who is our Caesar? I mean, that was the question the

14:03founding fathers were trying to wrestle with when they're putting together what we know as the

14:08American form of government. Would we have a king? Most of them came out of Europe. The nations in

14:14Europe all had kings as the Caesars of their nations. So the founders said, do we want to have

14:21a king or do we want to have some other form of government? Who's going to be our Caesar is

14:26what

14:26the founders are going to say. Is it a king? But who's our Caesar? Well, they drew upon a guy

14:31named

14:31Samuel Rutherford about a hundred years before they were wrestling with this question in the 1740s and

14:361550s. About a hundred years earlier in 1644, Samuel Rutherford, a Scottish Presbyterian minister,

14:42wrote a work called Lex Rex or the law and the prince. Lex Rex simply means the law is king.

14:49The law is king. See, what they had were kings that would speak words and then you as a subject

14:55had to

14:55abide by those words or you would get in trouble. The king was law. And Rutherford says, no, no, no.

15:02I

15:02want a system where not the king as an individual is, but those who are in the nation themselves get

15:10a

15:10voice about who our Caesar is. They get a voice. That's why they wrote in the Declaration of

15:19Independence, Thomas Jefferson said this, after he lists all of these rights that God gives to us,

15:25he says, governments are instituted among men deriving their just powers from the consent

15:31of the governed. They didn't want a system where a king, a Caesar was making all of the laws. They

15:38wanted the people to come together and say, this is our Caesar. They wanted to give you and I a

15:44voice

15:45in this participation. This is who was to form the government, the consent of the governed,

15:52which would be you and me because we live in this nation right now. Not a king. The king doesn't

15:59have the authority. The people give the authority. So who is our Caesar? Who is our Caesar? Let me

16:10suggest to you that our Caesar in America, just America, doesn't apply to other nations.

16:15Our Caesar in America is the United States Constitution.

16:21And it puts into practice these fundamental truths that the Declaration of Independence talked about.

16:25What did it talk about? It talked about you, the people, electing those people who represent you,

16:31whether it be representatives, whether it be senators, whether it be mayors, whether it be a dog

16:35catcher, whether it be the school board. You as the people get a choice who you want to represent you

16:41in this thing we call the United States government. Even John Adams says, we're a government of laws,

16:48not of men. Think about this. Remember my military brothers and sisters. Remember, we swore an oath.

16:59Remember that? Remember that day you raised your right hand? I remember the day.

17:03Raise your right hand. Portland, Oregon is where I stood. Raised my right hand and swore this oath.

17:09I, Mark Hudson, do solemnly swear that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States.

17:19Against all enemies, foreign and domestic, that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same.

17:27Who's our Caesar? It's the United States Constitution. That is our Caesar. That's the one we have an

17:33obligation to. We have an obligation and a duty to do what it has asked us to do as the

17:38citizens of this

17:39nation. Actually, when a person becomes a citizen, they're an immigrant, become a citizen in the United

17:45States of America. They swear an oath also. It goes like this. I hereby declare an oath that I absolutely

17:52and entirely renounce and abjure all allegiance and fidelity to any foreign prince, potent state or

17:59sovereignty, of whom of which I have heretofore been subject or a citizen, that I will support and defend

18:06the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America against all enemies, foreign and domestic,

18:12that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same, the Constitution. Who is our Caesar? It's not

18:19the president. The president is not our Caesar. The Supreme Court is not our Caesar. The Congress is not

18:26our Caesar. Who is our Caesar that we are obligated to give duty to? United States Constitution. For the law

18:33is king in our nation. Okay, so we've established who's our Caesar, but what does our Caesar ask of

18:43us? What are the things of our Caesar that our Caesar ask of us? Well, we know that Peter and

18:48both Paul

18:49said that we ought to pay taxes. That's part of what it asks for us. We have to honor it.

18:53We're to respect

18:54it. We're to subject ourselves to it. Paul said in Romans 13, subject to the Caesar, our Constitution.

19:01So we know those things for sure. Those are some of the obligations that we have to our Caesar.

19:08But there's another obligation that you and I have, and it's a serious obligation. It's granted to us

19:14because we live in this nation. And that obligation that you and I have is voting to choose who you

19:24want

19:24to represent you in this constitutional government. Who do you want to represent you in the city,

19:30in the state, in the federal level? I mean, every two years, according to the Constitution,

19:36we're supposed to choose representatives. They're elected by the people, it says. Senators elected

19:42by the people. You and I get to put our voice in. We get to participate in this thing. And

19:48our Caesar is

19:49asking us to participate. It's not demanding. We don't go to jail if we don't vote. It's asking us,

19:56as our obligation of living in this nation is to participate in this area of choosing who is going

20:02to represent us. He wants us, the Constitution wants us to participate. He wants us to choose who we

20:09represent, who represent us. He wants us to vote. Obviously, that's coming up here on Tuesday. And I would

20:18ask you, if you have not voted yet, would you please vote? Your Constitution, your Caesar is asking you to

20:26vote, to participate in this. It's giving you the right to do this. If you choose not to vote,

20:36that's our obligation. We're not rendering them to Caesar, the things that are Caesar's. He's asked us

20:40to vote. He's asked us to participate. Now, when we vote, we always, always, always take the Bible

20:50in the voting booth with us. We want people that are most closely aligned to our biblical values.

20:56If they're going to represent us on the city, state, and federal level, we want them to think like us,

21:01right? We want them to think like we do. So, we take our Bible into the voting booth and we

21:06say,

21:06okay, which candidate most closely aligns to the biblical worldview? Likely, that candidate will

21:12probably be a good one. Maybe, maybe not, but anyway, it's at least a place to start with us.

21:16Do they align to the biblical worldview? Proverbs 29.2 says, when the righteous increase, the people

21:24rejoice, but when the wicked rule, the people groan. Who do you want to represent you?

21:34Now, I have in the back, we believe we vote as an organization that, that, that, that vets the

21:39candidates on their closest view, biblical worldview, and gives them a rating. How close are they to the

21:44biblical worldview? If that's important, which I think it should be to us, there's a sheet back there

21:48you can take home if you've not yet voted. Listen, we understand no candidate is perfect.

21:58Hey, let's be honest. The person voting is not perfect either.

22:06So, government, Jesus says, does have an actual rightful place in the life of a believer.

22:12Render under Caesar the things that are Caesar's. It belongs to him. This is our obligation,

22:17our duty to him, and our Caesar is the constitution. You say, well, our believers ought not to be involved

22:23in politics. No, don't. That's wrong. Then I think you need to apologize to Joseph,

22:29who was second in the kingdom. How about Daniel, who was third in the kingdom. Then he went to second

22:35in the kingdom. Then he went over to a brand new kingdom with the Persians and the Persians and

22:39became a delegate in the upper echelons of the, of a political system. Or what about Mordecai?

22:47Mordecai, second in the kingdom of the Persians. We can do both. We can be loyal to God and we

22:55can

22:55also participate in this right now here that God has placed us into. Richard Franz says this,

23:01loyalty to a pagan government was not incompatible with loyalty to God. However, when the two loyalties

23:08conflict, our loyalty is always to God, always, when the two loyalties conflict. We know this from

23:16Acts 5, but Peter and the apostles answered, we must obey God rather than man. So, we as believers are

23:24obligated to support all the government's lawful requirements. And they say, what does that mean?

23:29Could there be an unlawful requirement? Yeah, well, think about, think about China. Years ago,

23:34they had a one child policy. You have one baby. If you get pregnant again, by law, you had to

23:40abort

23:40that child. That is a law that we can't abide by. That's an unlawful law. So, yes, there may be

23:46unlawful laws, but we are obligated to support all the government's lawful laws. Believing a believer

23:53does not exempt us from our civil duties. Okay. So, we know who our Caesar is. What are the things

24:00we want?

24:00One of them is voting. One of them is taxes, but also we know we're supposed to honor. Honor our

24:05Caesar. Honor the Constitution. We're supposed to respect our Caesar. We're supposed to submit

24:12to our Caesar. Submit to the Constitution and all lawful requirements it asks of us.

24:20We are to choose our representatives. We are to vote. It's an obligation we owe to our Caesar.

24:29It's a duty of citizens to render to the government that which is their due. Now, that's the one side.

24:36Okay. So, we talked about that. We've hammered that out enough. There are things that Caesar

24:39asked for us to do. It's our duty and responsibility to render to him, to pay back, to give to

24:45him. We're

24:45obligated to do that. But the other side of that is this, and render to God the things that are

24:51God,

24:52the things that belong to God. Well, we don't have a problem figuring out who God is. That's easy. We

24:56know who that is. That's easy. But what are the things that you and I are to honor to God?

25:03What

25:03are the things of God? Well, number one, God's image is on all people. Remember the coin that

25:09denarius had the image of the emperor on it? God's image is on all people. He created the male and

25:16female, and he placed his image and likeness on them. Genesis 1. So, God created man in his own

25:23image. In the image of God, he created him. Male and female, he created them. So, just as human

25:28beings, we have an obligation to our creator. We have a duty to our creator because he has stamped

25:34his image and likeness on us. That's just humanity. Now, you and I as believers, it's even a step above

25:42that. He has placed his name on us, and he has bought us. What are we to render to him?

25:51First of

25:51all, loyalty. He deserves our loyalty. If there's ever a conflict of loyalty between business and

25:59between God, God wins. Conflict of loyalty between your family and God, God wins. If there's ever a

26:05conflict of loyalty, he's a supreme one we give to, but it's loyalty. Like we would give to a king,

26:10we have an oath of office. I give you my loyalty. There's nothing that's going to come between us.

26:16You are supreme in my life. I love you, God, with everything. Faithfulness. What is the obligation to

26:24God? It's to be faithful to him, to obey him. His commands are not burdensome, he tells us.

26:32To obey what he's asked us to do. And of course, how do we know what he's asked us to

26:36do? We got to

26:37get in the word, figure out what he's asked us to do. So, to be faithful and to be obedient

26:42to him

26:42and to love him, to love him. That is our obligation as believers, is to love God. We never

26:49loved God before. After he redeemed us and placed his spirit in us, we understand what love means

26:54because he gave us his love. His love was poured out into our hearts by the Holy Spirit.

26:59our obligation is to love him. We are to love the Lord our God with all of our heart, soul,

27:05mind,

27:06and strength. In other words, your very being love him above all, above all.

27:18Picking on my wife, she probably is going to cost me money here.

27:24When I was looking for someone to marry,

27:28one requirement I had, probably the first one is, they must love God more than me.

27:33Because I know if they love God more than me, they're going to love me correctly.

27:39Do we love God?

27:42Serve him.

27:43Our obligation is to serve him and to serve those who he's given to us.

27:47Our obligation is to be loyal, to be faithful, to love him, to serve him.

27:53These are our obligations. We are to render to God the things that are God.

27:56And these are God's things. These are what he deserves.

28:01See, God has a claim on us, believers.

28:04We must give our very selves to him.

28:07We must deny self, pick up our cross,

28:11and follow him daily.

28:15Too many times I get in the way.

28:18He's to touch every area of our lives.

28:22So this isn't the answer they expected.

28:25And Jesus' answer upholds both what the Pharisees and the Herodians held dear,

28:29but he avoided the two-pronged attack.

28:31He did not answer that.

28:33In fact, they marveled at his question.

28:35Even though they didn't get what they wanted out of him,

28:37they still marveled.

28:37And they went away and they didn't ask him anything else.

28:40So in this discussion, Jesus was showing us as believers

28:44how to order our lives living in a yet imperfect world

28:49governed by secular authorities.

28:51Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's

28:54and render unto God the things that are God.

28:56Both and.

28:58Not either or.

28:59Both and.

29:02Here's some things that we learn.

29:04As believers, we have an obligation to our Caesar,

29:07the Constitution, we honor and respect the Constitution,

29:11paying taxes and submitting to what the Constitution asks of us.

29:14The Constitution is our Caesar.

29:16Not the President, not the Congress, not the Supreme Court.

29:19Those fall underneath what the Constitution lists as the ordering of government.

29:23The Constitution is our Caesar.

29:25Secondly, as believers, we have an obligation to God.

29:29We are to be loyal, faithful, and obedient to Him,

29:33serving Him with hearts filled with love for Him.

29:38Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar

29:39and render unto God the things that are God.

29:43Both and is our duty.

29:46Let's pray.

29:47Father, thank you.

29:48Thank you for this discussion that Jesus teaches us something,

29:51even though these wicked people, hypocrites and insincere,

29:55just trying to trap Him to make Him look bad.

29:58Even out of the midst of that, He teaches us something valuable

30:00about living in this world, yet this imperfect world that we live in, Father.

30:03Father, thank you.

30:05Thank you that we now can at least figure out how to order our lives

30:09in this imperfect world, ruled by secular governments.

30:13Some of them are extremely ungodly.

30:16And so, I thank you, Father, for the instruction He gave to them,

30:20to the opponents, but also to us now as we read this.

30:24So, I pray that we would be able to do both

30:26and exactly what you told us to do.

30:29Obligation to our constitution and our obligation to you,

30:34that we're to do both.

30:36So, give us the strength as we walk in this imperfect world

30:39ran by a secular government to be lights in this world,

30:44salts in this world.

30:45We don't light a candle, you told us,

30:47and place it under a basket.

30:49No, we set it on a hill so everyone can see it.

30:51Let us be lights in our society and salt of the earth.

30:57And let us love you with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength,

31:00serving you to the best of our ability all the days of our life.

31:04For we want to do what you've asked us,

31:06to render unto Caesar and to render unto you.

31:09So, we thank you in Jesus' name.

31:11Amen.

Should Christians Vote? — Matthew 22:15–22

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