Hard Questions Answered | Luke 20
Introduction
Today, we're going to be talking about Hard Questions Answered. What is a question anyway? A question is words asking someone for something. Before the internet 30 years ago, you would have to go to a library to research the answer to your questions.
Today, you just type your question into Google or the newest rage ChatGPT. And in a second or two, you get back an answer or answers. However, how do you know that those answers are correct? It's not so easy to discern between truth and falsehood, is it?
The most important questions in life are not about facts and figures. The most important questions in life can only be answered by God, our creator. Questions such as: who is God?, how can know God, what is my purpose in life? And so on.
How can you get answers from God about your questions? We're going to talk briefly about three complementary ways to get answers to the most important questions of life.
Answers from the Bible
Psalm 119:105 (ESV) "Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path."
When you have an unanswered question, you're in the dark. Oftentimes our questions have to do with direction in life. God's Word lights up the way in front of us by answering our questions. The amazing thing about the Bible is that we can trust everything within it as being true.
The Bible has answers to every important question you may have. The answers in the Bible are there for everyone. But what if you need an answer for a specific question for yourself?
Answers through the Holy Spirit
The Holy Spirit is important even in getting answers from God's Word. But the Holy Spirit is essential to receiving specific answers for your life. For example, God's Word will tell you that as a believer, you should only marry another believer.
However, you need the Holy Spirit to tell you which believer you should marry.
How can you get answers from the Holy Spirit? You get answers from the Holy Spirit through prayer and listening to Him speak back to you.
James 1:5 (ESV) "If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him."
James tells us that we can ask God for specific wisdom about anything in life. And God will give it to us through the Holy Spirit if we ask in faith. This is an incredible promise from God. Any wisdom you need about anything is simply a prayer away.
Answers from Other Believers
Ephesians 4:11-12 (ESV) "And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ,"
This is one of the many reasons that God requires every believer to be part of a church family. Within a local church family and our much larger world-wide church family, there are leaders that are able to answer questions and equip you. You can also get questions answered from other believers in one of our small groups.
Jeremiah 33:3 (ESV) "Call to me and I will answer you, and will tell you great and hidden things that you have not known."
Isn't that a wonderful promise. When you call to God, when you ask Him a question for something, He promises to answer you. The answers that God gives will give you insight and direction. God loves to answer hard questions for those who are seeking Him. Today, we're going to look at ...
Jesus' answer on government
Luke 20:20 (ESV) "So they watched him and sent spies, who pretended to be sincere, that they might catch him in something he said, so as to deliver him up to the authority and jurisdiction of the governor."
Last week, we saw where Jesus did not answer a question by the Jewish leaders. He responded to their question with a question of his own. These same Jewish leaders were now trying to find something to get Jesus arrested. Their goal was to find something in His words that could be prosecuted. And that Jesus would ultimately be crucified.
Luke 20:21-22 (ESV) "So they asked him, "Teacher, we know that you speak and teach rightly, and show no partiality, but truly teach the way of God. Is it lawful for us to give tribute to Caesar, or not?"
First of all, the leaders begin to flatter Jesus in order to trick Him into answering the question. The question was a trick question, asking for one of two answers. If Jesus answered that the Jews should not pay taxes, He would get in trouble with the Roman government.
If Jesus answered that the Jews should pay taxes to the government, He would get in trouble with the Jewish people. The Jewish people thought they should not have to pay taxes to their occupiers. However, it is never possible to trick Jesus or to catch him in a trap.
Luke 20:23-24 (ESV) "But he perceived their craftiness, and said to them, "Show me a denarius. Whose likeness and inscription does it have?" They said, "Caesar's."
Jesus understood what was going on with the question. Although He answered their question, He answered in a way completely different than they expected. He began with asking them to show Him a denarius coin.
On that coin was a portrait of the Roman emperor and an inscription describing him as the son of God. Many strict Jews considered the coin blasphemous and only used copper coins without that inscription. The Jews answered Jesus' question about the likeness and inscription, the emperors.
Luke 20:25-26 (ESV) "He said to them, "Then render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's." And they were not able in the presence of the people to catch him in what he said, but marveling at his answer they became silent."
Jesus then gave a profound answer to their question that speaks to us today. First he said, render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's. What does this mean? The coin was issued by the government, headed by Caesar. Jesus was saying that the Jews should pay their taxes to Caesar to support the government. Even though the government was certainly no perfect, it did provide order.
But Jesus' second phrase, was render to God the things that are God's. Where does the likeness and inscription of God exist? It exists, not on coins, but in people, created in the image of God. Not only are we created in the image of God, God's truth has been written on the hearts of every person. We are to give ourselves to God, for we are not our own, we are God's. Jesus answered a hard question with the wisdom of God.
Application
Jesus' answer to this hard question is very instructive to us today. It speaks to how we respond when there are two authorities in our lives. Today, we still have the tension between being obedient to the government and being obedient to God. The government does serve a role to restrain evil and reward good. Even though this role has been seriously degraded in America, our government still derives its authority from God. So, we must pay our taxes here as well.
More importantly, we must recognize that God's authority is greater than the government's. If the government asks us to do something contrary to God's authority, we must obey God, not the government. And we must seek to be an influence on our government to make its laws and operations more biblical.
Jesus' answer on government will become increasingly important in the years ahead in America. We must not give up on our government, but seek for God's will to be done on our government, as it is done in heaven. The church must not stay out of politics but must be involved in every aspect as God's ambassadors. There are no neutral governments. In their different laws and actions, they are either instruments of God or of Satan. May we learn from Jesus' answer on government.
Jesus' answer on resurrection
Luke 20:27-28 (ESV) "There came to him some Sadducees, those who deny that there is a resurrection, and they asked him a question, saying, "Teacher, Moses wrote for us that if a man's brother dies, having a wife but no children, the man must take the widow and raise up offspring for his brother."
This next question of the Jewish leaders was a spiritual one about the resurrection. This particular type of Jewish leader, the Sadducees did not believe in the resurrection. They believed that when you died, that was it, there was no life after death and no resurrection. They invented a made-up case that they thought would prove that the resurrection of the dead made no sense.
Luke 20:29-33 (ESV) "Now there were seven brothers. The first took a wife, and died without children. And the second and the third took her, and likewise all seven left no children and died. Afterward the woman also died. In the resurrection, therefore, whose wife will the woman be? For the seven had her as a wife."
Their made-up story ended up in the after-life with seven men and one wife. They thought this story made the whole idea of the resurrection preposterous. Of course, Jesus had an answer for them that is very instructive for us.
Luke 20:34-36 (ESV) "And Jesus said to them, "The sons of this age marry and are given in marriage, but those who are considered worthy to attain to that age and to the resurrection from the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage, for they cannot die anymore, because they are equal to angels and are sons of God, being sons of the resurrection."
Jesus taught that there are major differences between this age and the age to come. The relationship between a man and a woman in marriage will not exist in the coming age. Like the angels, believers as sons of God will be eternal, never to die again. So, the made-up story of the Sadducees had no merit. If it happened and all were believers, they would happily live eternally together with God.
Luke 20:37-38 (ESV) "But that the dead are raised, even Moses showed, in the passage about the bush, where he calls the Lord the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob. Now he is not God of the dead, but of the living, for all live to him."
Jesus then dealt with the Sadducees' main error, denying the resurrection from the dead. Jesus used Scripture which told of Moses calling the Lord the God of Abraham, who was long dead. God is the God of the living and Abraham and the others mentioned were alive with God and would continue eternally. That was Jesus' answer on resurrection.
Application
The importance of the resurrection cannot be overstated. Jesus' resurrection from the dead was essential for our salvation. As Jesus' physical body was raised from the dead, so will ours be. When Jesus returns, everyone will be raised from the dead, both believers and unbelievers. Believers' bodies will be both physical and spiritual as Jesus' was. Believers will live in the kingdom of God in a new heavens and new earth. Unbelievers will spend eternity in hell with the devil and his demons.
The resurrection is our hope and what we look forward to. Spending eternity with an infinite God who will be forever showing us new and amazing things about who He is and what He can create. We must seek to live every day in light of Jesus' coming and our resurrection. If we are alive when Jesus returns, our bodies will be transformed in an instant. Although many today deny the afterlife and the resurrection, we must believe and give others the hope of eternal life.
Conclusion
We can learn much from Jesus' answers to hard questions. God will give you the wisdom to answer hard questions of unbelievers. God desires for you to receive answers to the questions that are on your heart. To receive answers from God, you must have faith and be willing to obey what God reveals to you. God's answers for us give us wisdom to live righteously today. And they give us hope for resurrection and a wonderful eternity.
