Scripture Reading: Matt. 17:24-27
"Take that and give it to them for Me and you."
It might seem as if the Lord was wrong when He instructed Peter to pay the temple tax, because according to verse 26 "the sons are free." God does not make any demand on His sons; therefore, it is not His mind or will for sons to pay. They are free! In God's mind payment should not be made, because this would put the Lord in the false position of a stranger. Yet in spite of all this, Jesus Christ paid the money! Some might think that He was not according to the mind of God in doing this. Why then did the Lord pay the tribute? He paid for this and only this reason: "That we do not stumble them." He did it so that they might not be offended. Jesus Christ did not act on the basis of rights but on the basis of grace. This is not a matter of the will of God but a matter of the cross. The cross has to work in us to such an extent that we are willing to do what is not necessary lest we stumble others. We stress the fact that we need have no fear of man, that the fear of man is a snare, and that we must be delivered from it. In regard to our duty, the fear of man must never come in, but in regard to our privilege, the fear of stumbling man must come in. In the incident of the tribute money, it was not a matter of evading duty but of sacrificing privilege. This is the cross. The principle of this passage is deep and important.
It is according to God's mind that we be exempt, but it is also God's mind that we not give offense. When these two principles clash, we have to follow the will of God in not giving offense, instead of insisting on our rights and privileges.
There are many things that God has shown us personally that we should or should not do. We might call this God's will A. If we try to carry it out, we may have difficulties with our parents, family, elders, or the brothers. What are we going to do? Which will are we going to follow? A second matter, which we may call God's will B, is also the mind of God because He has spoken of obedience to parents and husbands, and of submission to one another in His Word. We cannot just ignore these commands. It seems as if God's will A and will B clash! We always prefer will A to will B, because will B brings in a human element which is contrary to us, and we would rather not have it. We want to hang on to will A, which is in the principle of not paying the tribute money. Yet more than just the human element is involved because God has brought in will B as well. Whenever provision is made in God's Word for will B, the principle of God is that we should follow it to do will B before will A because we are members of the Body. The Son Himself acted in this way and so must we!
We get so involved with will A and are so keen on pushing it through that we find we are kicking against everything and everyone in the way; thus we lose our rest and blessing. It is the same principle with the Lord in choosing between the will of God and the cup. The Lord prayed, "Let this cup pass from Me; yet not as I will, but as You will" (Matt. 26:39). He could go to the cross or not go to the cross, but it was impossible for Him not to do God's will. We must always hold on to God's will, not the cup. If we are involved with the cup, that is, God's will A, we will get taken up with a thing and miss God's will.
As soon as we try to push things through, we get away from the cross. Our attitude should be, "God has shown me something, but I am perfectly prepared to be contradicted, limited, checked, and to abide by God's time. I will trust God to bring about will A. It is not necessary for me to push that through." This is bearing the cross.
Bearing the cross has two aspects: (1) The cross crosses out our own will; and (2) when it is the will of God for us to do something, our heart and will respond to it. However, when God's will A and our will are both crossed out, we do not like it. This is another experience of the cross. When I was still at college, God showed me that I should go to an island which was infested with pirates and preach the gospel there. It was quite a struggle for me to obey. I visited the island and found the people willing. After much difficulty, I rented a house, repaired it, and prepared everything. A hundred brothers were praying for me and had also given me money toward the expenses. During this time my parents said nothing, but five days before I was to go and everything had been packed, they suddenly stepped in and forbade me to go! The house was ready, the money was spent, and the will of God was burning in my heart. What was I to do? My parents said no, and God's Word says, "Honor your father and mother." I sought light from the Lord, and He said to me, "Yes, going to the island is My will, but it is not My will for you to force My will. Wait and I will work out My will; you must submit." I had no liberty to explain to others the reason for my change of plans — that my parents had stopped me — and everyone misunderstood me. The one whose opinion I valued the most said, "It will be difficult to trust you in the future."
In God's time the way was opened and souls were won. But this taught me a deep lesson. I had a preference for His will! Not going was a cutting feeling for me; it was difficult for me not to go. This shows that God's will had become my will. I became too much involved with it. I had made up my mind to go. If I had a pure desire for God's will alone, it would not have touched me. There would have been a detachment of spirit. God allowed all this to happen in order to teach me this lesson.
We have to submit to the things revealed in the Word of God. If we find that the revealed will of God is contrary to other indicators, we must wait for Him to bring will A to pass. We must trust Him to work it out. He needs no help to bring about His will. God is seeking to show us that we do not need to push. It is so easy for the self to come in to do the will of God. God has His time and He will do it. The self is fed and nourished when it can boast, "I am doing the will of God." We think that nothing on earth should stand in our way, but God Himself lays something across our path in order to counter this attitude. The most subtle and difficult thing for the cross to accomplish is cutting across our zeal and love for the will of God.
The cross the Lord bore was God's will B; that is, it was something revealed in the word: "That we do not stumble them" (Matt. 17:27). We may be one hundred percent sure of will A, and yet the cross will cut in.
Verse 27 ends with the phrase "for Me and you." It was as if the Lord said to Peter, "I am not the only One going this way; you are going this way too. You have to submit." This relationship comes in especially in the church, the Body. It is a deep lesson. Many times we do not mind giving in to the Lord, and we do not mind our personal will being crossed out, but giving in to others is harder.
Matthew 17 shows the only miracle performed by the Lord for Himself, and half of it was for Himself and half for us! It takes a miracle to supply this need and enable us to do His will. He Himself has to do it. (Recorded by P.D.)
