A Lamp Unto My Feet Bible Study Website
Matthew 17:14-27
Lesson #43
FAITH AND TAXES
- Memory verse: Heb 11:6
- Read Mat 17:14-21 Essential faith
- We see real religion through Jesus in these scriptures.
- Real religion draws strength from God on the mountain top in order to minister to the people in the valley of trouble.
- Real religion has infinite patience with the failure of others.
- The disciples were not able to heal the epileptic boy, possessed with demons.
- Jesus says they failed because of their lack of faith.
- Nothing is accomplished without essential faith.
- Notice that the boy’s father had faith. He believed Jesus could heal him even though the disciples failed. Moved by faith the father did not give up at the failure of human disciples.
- Real religion draws strength from God on the mountain top in order to minister to the people in the valley of trouble.
- The Parable of the Mustard Seed (Mat 17:20)
- What did Jesus mean by faith as a grain of mustard seed?
- The mustard seed: (We discussed this before in Mat13 with the parable of the mustard tree).
- Use of the mustard seed to indicate something quite small was a common metaphor. Because of the tiny size of the seed, it came to symbolize small beginnings, and was the smallest weight of measure.
- A seed contains life and growth potential.
- Why did Jesus rebuke his disciples for unbelief?
- If they hadn’t had some kind of small faith, they wouldn’t have attempted to heal the boy. Right?
- His rebuke was for the quality of their faith not the quantity.
- The central truth of the parable is:
- If we have the right quality of faith, even a small amount is sufficient to surmount even the most difficult problems.
- What we need, therefore, is the right quality of faith.
- Faith is the most simple of things, yet the most complicated to understand, the most misunderstood, the most violated, the most unbalanced of Christian doctrines.
- For example:
- We see real religion through Jesus in these scriptures.
Read Heb 11
Notice:
The righteousness of Noah was by faith. (7)
Old Testament saints were saved by faith.
Verse 26 says that Moses knew Jesus Christ by faith. (35-39)
Then there are those who had faith but did not get what they wanted!
Quality Faith: Heb 11:6 2Cor 5:7
| Bible Definitions and explanations: | Dictionary Definitions: |
| Heb 11:1
“Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” |
Webster’s College Dictionary 1991
Confidence, trust, belief not based on proof. |
| Noah Wester’s Original Dictionary of 1828
To persuade, to draw towards anything, to bind or lead as with a rope, to believe, to obey. |
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| The source of faith is God: | |
| Rom 12:3, 6 2The 3:2
God gives a measure of faith to every believer at the new-born experience. |
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| The object of faith is God/Jesus Christ | |
| Heb 12:2 1Pet 1:21
Faith is based on the divine character of God. |
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| How can faith grow? | |
| Rom 10:17
Studying and hearing the Word of God enables us to know the will of God. When you discover God’s plan, His will, and how He works with people, it ignites a spark within us to believe God in our own lives. |
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| What faith requires: | |
| Jam 1:5-8 Stability
Jam 2:17-20 Works If you are so convinced that something is true that you put your faith in it, your actions will automatically correspond to what you are convinced of inside. |
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| What faith is not! | |
| Faith is not mental assertion, for that is based in the mental processes (the soul of man). Faith is based in the spirit of man. It is not the process of saying that something is true when it is not, believing that it will become true if you say it long enough (Simple oral confession). It is not a blind determination of acting like something is true when it is not for that is works and not faith. | |
| What faith is: | |
| Faith is being so persuaded that God’s will is true and will come to pass because He is faithful, because He loves me, and because He is in control, that my life’s actions cannot help but reflect what I know to be true in my spirit. | |
| The key to faith: | |
| Heb 11:6
Faith is the believer’s desire to please God based on love. Faith means that God is the focus, the motive, and the object. Faith is not the thing that we want God to do for us. |
- Read Mat 17:22-27 Taxes
- Background:
- In Exo 30:13 every male Jew over 20 years old must pay a temple tax of one half shekel.
- This was the amount of wages for 2 day’s work.
- This tax was obligatory.
- The temple authorities could garnish a man’s wages or take his possessions if he did not pay it.
- The tax money was used to support the temple priests, to pay for the maintenance of the temple, and to pay for the animal sacrifices, oil, and incense used in the offerings.
- The tax authorities came to Peter and asked if Jesus had paid his taxes.
- The question was asked maliciously.
- They hoped they could catch Jesus in some failure so they could prosecute him.
- Peter said Jesus had paid it. Then he told Jesus about the situation.
- What is Jesus’ view of taxes to those in authority?
- Remember that Jesus did not think highly of the religious authorities at that time.
- Jesus indicates that when a king collects taxes, he does not expect members of his own household, those in his family, to pay them.
- Jesus should therefore be free of paying taxes because he is the son of God, a member of God’s household.
- However, Jesus indicates that they will pay them not because the Law commands it, but because of a higher obligation.
- They must pay so they do not “offend” others.
- The word “offend” means = to put a stumbling block in the path of another person.
- Therefore, they will go beyond duty and obligation so as to set a good example to others.
- Historical note:
- When Jesus talked about the taxes, there was a temple in Jerusalem.
- However, that temple was destroyed in 70 AD by the Romans. At that time, the Roman government said the temple tax would now be paid to support the pagan temple of Jupiter Capitolinus in Rome. That was the practice when Matthew wrote this book between 80 and 90 AD.
- The implication is that the Christian must still pay the tax even if it goes to support something in which you do not believe or favor.
- The Christian that believes he is exempt from the law of good citizenship is failing his duty as a good Christian.
- Money in the fish’s mouth
- This is usually thought of as a miracle that actually happened. Notice that the Bible does not tell us that Peter went and found coins in a fish’s mouth.
- Why is this probably not an actual miracle?
- God does not perform miracles to relieve us of working and performing the things we are able to do for ourselves.
- Jesus never used miracles to provide for his own personal needs.
- If this is not an actual miracle, what did Jesus mean
- When Jesus told Peter to go and find coins in the fish’s mouth, He was using a metaphor to tell Peter to go back to his job of fishing and work for 2 days to get the money to pay the tax.
- Hard work is the only way to meet life’s obligations not faith in some miracle.
- What do we learn about Jesus in Mat 17:14-27? God responds to an essential quality of faith focused on His Son, Jesus Christ.
- What do we learn about faith in Mat 17:14-27?
- Faith requires that Jesus be the correct focus.
- Faith grows and matures by hearing the word of God.
- Faith will accomplish what is beyond our power to do for ourselves.
- Background:
Homework
Matthew 18:1-14
- Application of Mat 17:14-27
- Examine the focus of your faith. If you have been asking God for something, is your focus based on Christ or is it based on your request? How do you know?
- In what way is your request truly beyond your ability to do it for yourself through hard work?
- Preparation for Mat 18:1-14
- Read Mat 18:1-6 Kingdom principles
- The kingdom of God works just the opposite from human reasoning.
- For example:
- Human reasoning says that if you want to be rich, accumulate and hold on to everything you get.
- God says, if you give it away, you will receive more in return.
- Find as many kingdom principles as you can in this
- Read Mat 18:1-6 Kingdom principles
passage and make the following chart.
| Human Reasoning | The Kingdom Principle |
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- Read Mat 18:7-14
- Parable of the millstone and lost sheep
- To whom is the parable spoken?
- What does Jesus mean by hanging a millstone around one’s neck? (6)
- What does Jesus mean by cutting off a hand, a foot, or an eye that offends? (8-9)
- What is the meaning of the 99 sheep? (13)
- What is the meaning of the 1 lost sheep? (13)
- What is the central truth of the parable?
- Parable of the millstone and lost sheep
- Read Mat 18:7-14
- Memory verse: Jam 4:10
