Taxes Archives

How would Jesus spend our taxes?

“For because of this you also pay taxes, for the authorities are ministers of God, attending to this very thing. Pay to all what is owed to them: taxes to whom taxes are owed, revenue to whom revenue is owed, respect to whom respect is owed, honor to whom honor is owed.” —Romans 13:6–7

Taxes are the talk of the day. Do you think you pay too much? Are your tax dollars being spent honestly, in ways you would approve? Those subjects are the debate in today’s news. But maybe the better questions to ask are, “Do you wish you lived somewhere else?” “Do I wish the country I love had better spending policies?” Finally, maybe we should be asking ourselves, “Who can I vote for that will do the best job with the dollars we send?” I wish we could vote for Jesus. Then we would know our taxes were being spent properly.

If Jesus were in charge of our tax dollars, how would he spend them?

Jesus spoke often about money

About 15 percent of all the recorded words of Jesus in Scripture mention money. About 40 percent of his parables addressed the subject. Jesus knew that money was a significant aspect of our earthly lives, so he provided important teaching on the subject.

Money can be an idol in our lives, but it can also purchase our idols as well. Jesus was preaching his Sermon on the Mount when he taught, “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Matthew 6:21).

Jesus wanted his followers to have the right perspective on their possessions. To understand what Jesus taught, we need to examine the word “treasure” in its original language.

We should “treasure” things as Jesus taught

According to Strong’s Concordance, the Greek definition for “treasure” in the Sermon on the Mount describes “the location of treasure,” which “reveals the object of affection, shaping attitudes, priorities, and behavior.”

In other words, Jesus was describing our treasure as the places where we invest our money, but also our time, emotions, and values. I’ve heard preachers say, “If you want to know what you treasure, look at the monthly withdrawals from your checking account.”

If you are an active, Spirit-led Christian, you can probably feel pretty good about your spending. I’ve often said that if every Christian tithed, we would never need sermons about budgets or building campaigns. The money would just be there for everything the church needed to do. There is a reason God said, “10 percent.” That would be more than enough if everybody tithed.

The same is true at the national level. If everybody in our country went to work and paid their taxes, we would never have a pothole in the road, inadequate health care, or a person who was cold and hungry. If everyone paid their taxes and tithes, our world and our churches would function as God intended. Of course, we would still need to treasure the same things Jesus treasured. We would need to spend and prioritize our lives as Jesus taught.

Do we spend our money on the things Jesus wants us to have?

You might think I’m about to tell you to give up your expensive cup of coffee, your nice car, or your designer clothes. Those things might be just fine if they don’t reflect your treasure. How high a priority is having costly things in your life? If you lost your ability to purchase those things later this year, what would you do, think, or feel? Does wanting those things keep you from paying your “taxes to Caesar” or from giving your “tithe” to God’s kingdom work?

My husband and I were married in 1980, two weeks after we graduated from college. We combined our checking and savings accounts, paid our moving expenses and rental deposits, went to the grocery store for necessary items, and, after balancing the checkbook, we were in really bad shape financially.

Jim was a seminary student, and I was looking for a teaching position that wouldn’t actually happen until three years later. Jim worked part-time while attending his classes. I worked full-time at a receptionist/secretarial position that didn’t pay well. Both of us found a second job, and we were able to make it, but not easily. I found out later that we could have qualified for some help from the government, but that thought never crossed our minds.

Those early years in our marriage were tough, but formative. We tithed because God told us to. This year, our first quarterly tax payment exceeded our combined annual income from that first year of our marriage. Our income has changed over the past forty-six years, but our priorities, our treasure, are still pretty much the same. Living in poverty is not the measure of spirituality. If that were the case, then we would have been stronger Christians in our first year of marriage. (Thankfully, we’ve grown some!)

How would Jesus spend our taxes?

Living a life that God has directed and blessed is a witness to our treasure, our investment priorities. We don’t just invest our money in our personal priorities; we invest our time, our emotions, our energies, and our focus.

How would Jesus spend our tax dollars? Jesus was fully invested in those things that matter eternally. When God is King of our lives, we realize he is King of everything we own. Are we investing in things that matter for a moment, or matter eternally? Are we investing in possessions or people? Do we mistakenly teach others, especially our children, that their earthly lives matter more to us than their treasure in heaven?

Jesus would spend our taxes on things that prioritize people’s souls. Everyone has both an earthly life and a life eternal. If our priorities are eternal, we will spend our money, time, emotions, and focus on the things that will matter most forever. Everyone we meet today is either destined for heaven or hell; there is no third option. Does Jesus guide our spending with his priorities?

Jesus said:

To the tax collectors: “Collect no more than you are authorized to do” (Luke 3:13).
To the Pharisees: “Therefore render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s” (Matthew 22:21).
To his disciple: “What do you think, Simon? From whom do kings of the earth take toll or tax? From their sons or from others?” And when he said, “From others,” Jesus said to him, “Then the sons are free. However, not to give offense to them, go to the sea and cast a hook and take the first fish that comes up, and when you open its mouth you will find a shekel. Take that and give it to them for me and for yourself” (Matthew 17:24–27).

Be encouraged today

Taxes have never been fair because not everyone pays them fairly. The tithe has never been given because some keep part of their 10 percent for themselves. Some will always pay more than others, and some will always pay less. Jesus knows all of that and reminds us that he will provide all we need to give if we live according to his will for our lives.

As Jesus told Simon Peter, “The sons are free.” God’s children live imperfect, earthly lives, knowing that things will never be fair because God gives people freedom to make choices. Jesus would tell us that we are free to choose what is best. We can live our earthly lives with his priorities, and our obedience will produce an eternal treasure. We can trust Jesus to provide us with all we need.

Pay your taxes with joy because we probably don’t want to live anywhere else. Prioritize the 90 percent that God has allowed us to keep and freely use. Invest with the priorities and direction of our King. When we asked Jesus to be our Savior, we also offered him our lives, including our finances. We asked Jesus to be our Lord and our Savior.

Americans will “render unto Caesar” today, but hopefully Christians will be reminded to “render unto God” today as well. Our taxes will be spent. Everything we give to God is invested eternally. Consider it your “401K-ingdom” account. Let’s spend our treasure as Jesus leads, investing in his kingdom priorities.

Photo by Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash

What else should we “render” to God?

Most of us are probably feeling a bit poorer this week. When Jesus taught us to “render unto Caesar” (Matthew 22:21) what we owe, our annual taxes became both a financial and spiritual responsibility. Rendering seems to get more complicated and costly every year. It is a good feeling to put a stamp on those envelopes and just mail them off!

According to Strong’s dictionary, the biblical definition for the word render is “to give away, give up, or give back.” I couldn’t help but think how much easier it is to give back than to give up. It was difficult for the Jewish people to give up their earnings to Rome because they didn’t agree with the way Rome used their money. It’s easier to give to those things we believe in and trust.

That’s why Jesus’ words were so powerfully important to the early church and remain equally important today. Our taxes are owed, whether we like what the money is used for or not. We have to give up some money that doesn’t feel like gratefully “giving back” for something we owe.

Why did Jesus tell Christians to “render to Caesar?”

Caesar Augustus was the Roman ruler at the time of Jesus’ birth, but he wasn’t the Caesar during his earthly ministry. Roman history regards Caesar Augustus as the most important and successful ruler, even though he worshiped multiple gods and allowed himself to be honored as a god.

The Caesar who Jesus told his followers to pay taxes to was Tiberius, the stepson of Caesar Augustus. Tiberius was a reluctant leader and while successful, he never achieved the acceptance and acclaim of his stepfather.

The Roman leaders crucified people for crimes, worshiped their gods in vile and detestable ways, and randomly enslaved and taxed people as they willed. There was good reason for the Jewish nation to be angry and distressed about financially supporting ungodly people and their policies. Yet, Jesus clarified their emotions with his truth.

Jesus didn’t ask people to give to Caesar what he deserved; he asked the people to give what they owed because doing so would be their best service to God. That statement may be of great help to Christians in our American culture going forward.

What else should we render to God?

My husband and I were talking about the coming months, especially with the social and political divisions in today’s culture. We talked about something we need to remember personally, and wish we could stress to God’s people today.

As Christians, we will need to be careful that politics don’t become our “religion” this year. There are Christians on both sides and equal opportunity to sin on whatever side we choose. So much of the political rhetoric these days is caustic, slanderous, one-sided, and sometimes just downright untrue. It’s so important we do our best to make our faith a higher priority than our political positions.

Jesus would teach us to carefully “render unto Caesar” our vote for the people and policies our faith should support. At the same time, Jesus would teach us to render our words, our attitudes, and our witness to honor God. We are called to serve his kingdom purpose through the leadership of God’s Holy Spirit.

And I admit this is a tough thing to do! People who know me know I have definite opinions, and I’m not afraid to offer those opinions to others. I’ve often said the same mouth that teaches Bible is the same mouth that speaks sinful things too. It’s always been a problem for God’s children. James told the first-century Christians, “If anyone thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart, this person’s religion is worthless. Religion that is pure and undefiled before God the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world” (James 1:26–27).

As I typed those verses from James, I thought, “Is there anyone whose politics are unstained from the world”? I can’t think of one, can you?

We can’t allow our politics to become a religion. We owe it to our country to “render unto Caesar,” but we owe God everything.

Jesus paid it all. All to him I owe.

I believe and can sing (off-key) every word to the hymn, Jesus Paid it All. I wish I lived more often like I believe those words I sing. Sometimes this world makes it difficult to “walk the talk.” I expect that this year will be one of the most difficult to navigate.

We owe our vote to the country but we owe everything to God. If we will remember what Jesus paid for our sins, we will be less likely to commit them. That’s especially important for those of us who do a lot of “walking and talking” for the Lord.

Again, our politics cannot become a religion, especially this year. God’s children serve a higher purpose, with a higher calling. I wonder how Washington D.C. would change if God’s elected children put their faith ahead of their candidacy.

What else do you need to render to God?

We have “rendered” our taxes and now, on to the higher priorities of God! We have a kingdom purpose this year as the subject of politics heats up. What do you need to render to God so that you can walk away after all those conversations knowing you honored and served your Lord?

Thankfully, all of us have his grace for our imperfections. This is going to be a messy year, and we might as well accept that reality. I just wanted to write a blog post that planted a few seeds ahead of time. What if we all worked on a commitment to God for this upcoming political season? Our words can speak to our shared faith more than they speak to our differing opinions.

I know I’ve got some more “rendering” to do. I just thought the taxes were tough this year! I needed to write this blog post to myself before I could give it to all of you. I’m praying that all of us will take our souls to God and walk away from his throne having left several of our opinions, attitudes, and unspoken words at his feet!

Let’s keep ourselves “unstained by the world,” and we will be kept securely blessed by things eternal.