What God has established, let no man put asunder. I just said those words last weekend at a wedding. It comes shortly after the vows and exchange of rings. It acknowledges that God has brought this couple together. They may not think it is that way, but He did.

It also speaks to the whole idea of marriage. The inventor of marriage probably has something to say about every marriage, every union He creates. It is for a lifetime. It's not just for the couple who is standing there at the moment the words are said, but for every couple. He establishes marriages and marriage itself. As we know, because of our sinfulness, or as Jesus had said, because of our hard-heartedness, divorce is a reality, but that is not what He had established. Instead, He established marriage, the union of man and woman, until one of them dies. He established it and each one. He establishes families. He establishes vocations and careers. He establishes laws of science and laws of finance, even laws of law. He establishes everything. Yes, He does, even those laws. He is the Creator. If you think about it, we humans just simply discover those laws and then give them names.

All of these have something in common. If we were to lump them all together we would find they are in the same realm of life--the same realm or kingdom. God, the Creator, created and established all of these, but He operates differently in this one than He does the other. You could say He created two realms. Jesus, that Creator now in the flesh, refers to both of them in our text. It's not really direct, but He is very clear. "Give to Caesar what is Caesar's and to God, what is God's."

So, as we look at that list, what they all have in common is how they operate in their realm. They don't run by Grace, God's riches at Christ's Expense. Jesus dying on the cross for all of mankind, doesn't amount to a whole lot when it comes to these things. The fact that Jesus died has no bearing on the law of gravity or that couples are going to get married.

Two realms or areas of life. We call what I was talking about before, marriage, families, jobs, politics, laws and so on, Caesar's realm but we also call it the left-hand kingdom. The other one, the one that is run according to Grace, is considered the right-hand kingdom.

This may be new for many of you, and pretty unfamiliar. It's helpful to distinguish between these two because when they cross over into each other, it creates confusion, and even jeopardizes the Gospel.

I suppose you can kind of see it with the phrase we hear so frequently, "Separation of church and state." For as much as that phrase is misused, Jesus agrees with it. Church is in the right-hand kingdom; the state is in the left. Unfortunately, leaving it as just Caesar or just state, confuses things, because there is much more to the left hand kingdom. In fact, it involves almost all of our lives. Marriage, family, vocation, work, school, politics, government, sciences and just about everything else make up the left-hand kingdom.

But don't get the idea that God is not in the left-hand kingdom. He is in both. He created all those things I listed and keeps them going. We just don't look for Him in the one we call "Caesar's" as we do in the way that is His own. He's much more hidden in Caesar's. Now, let's back off a little bit and catch our breath. I think if you were to ask a lot of people, what is the purpose of church, they would say, "To learn about God." That puts quite a burden on the pastor. He always have to be finding something new, every week. And to teach some of you who already know a lot, but not lose some of you who don't, is even more challenging. But to learn about Him, you have to learn something new.

I have to admit, this is probably pretty new. I don't talk about the two kingdoms very often, if ever. Maybe God established them, but it might seem a little confusing. Actually, it is help you in your world. It is to help you make sense of your life. It will help you in your world.

Normally, my preference is not to teach from the pulpit, in the sense of giving you something new. My preference is to simply proclaim what you already know. It is to tell you what--you don't forget so much--as what you don't believe. It is to tell you what you say you know is true, but still have trouble accepting as true. It's not teaching you anything new, but it is saying the same thing over and over in a little bit different way.

That thing I say is the Gospel. It is God's selection of you before time, your adoption as it came in your baptism, His grace to you as He speaks to you words of forgiveness, His wonderful gift of His body and blood, by which you are given further forgiveness. This is the right-hand kingdom. You may not see Him, but you see His work, much more clearly in this realm. Of course, in order to prepare the way for the Gospel, the Law is also proclaimed. First, you are killed and then made alive. This is what is meant in the other realm, the other kingdom. The Gospel predominates.

If I tried, I suppose I could use guilt to get you to obey the commandments--at least outwardly. Guilt and pressure to get you to do different things, but that is not the way of the right hand kingdom. Guilt and pressure are the way of the Law. That is the left hand kingdom. The right hand kingdom is about freedom and life and grace. It is motivated by the new life, by love. Of course, that new life, that love, that freedom are a matter of the new creation, something that comes only after the only nature is killed.

So much for not wanting to teach something new about God. Today is obviously different. This is new, therefore you are learning. You are learning what God has established. And I want to make sure you are getting it, because Jesus said, "Give to Caesar what is Caesar's and to God what is God's.

The context, once again, was the religious leaders, the Pharisees wanting to trip up Jesus. They want to know if they should pay taxes to Caesar. They really weren't looking for an answer, they just wanted to trap Him. Jesus says, "What is Caesar's pay to him. What is God's pay to God."

That leaves us asking the question, "What do we owe to Caesar?" Taxes, obviously, but this is more than just a passage to tell us to pay our taxes. It is more than just the government. We'll come back to the taxes in a bit. "What do we owe Caesar?" is better asked, "What are we to do in the left-hand kingdom?"

This is vocational talk. What is your vocation? Are you a spouse? Be the best you can be. A parent? Love your children by providing them the material goods and direction they need. Are you a student? Study hard--not for good grades, but so you can learn about God's world. Are you a worker? Work hard, not when your boss is watching, but because you are serving your neighbor, in whatever you are doing. Are you a citizen? Be a good citizen. Be loyal. Vote when you are able, and try to change things for the sake of peace for everyone. Pray for the government. Let's pause on that one.

Think about it. Only those who are holy can have the ear of our Lord. You know that. We are not holy on our own, but in Christ, we are, so therefore, we can come to our Father with our prayers and petitions. We can pray for our lawmakers and for our leaders. In fact, we will want to because only Christians are going to be heard. This is why we have petitions for our government leaders in our prayers, every Sunday. It is to model our prayer lives at home. We will want to pray for our leaders with our families, or on our own, always remembering we have peace, because God has established government. To run the government, a gift from Him, yes, His gift, for the sake of peace and order, of course we have taxes.

Let's get back to that. At one time, the people of Israel were to pay the tithe, and this was their tax. A tenth of their income was to go to God as a tax. You may still hear people talk about tithe, and talk about it as though it were required. It is not. You are not sinning if you don't give 10% of your income to the Lord. In fact, I would say that it has shifted from one kingdom to another.

Now the tithe is simply called, first fruits. It's the first part of your income. Here's how it works. What do you give now? Many of us simply open our wallets, see what's inside and decide to give a few bucks in there. We see a ten and three ones. We look at the ten and say, "I wish it was a five, so we throw the ones in." O.K. if that's what you do. Here's the next step: figure out what you are giving as a percentage of your income. Don't worry about whether it is gross or net, this is to be done freely, joyfully. If you want to do it based on your net income after taxes, go ahead, but figure out what you give as a percentage of your income.

Remember, your offering is to be given in light of all the Lord gives you. He has not only given you eternal life but all you need to support your body and life. To remind you of this--that He operates in the left-hand kingdom, that He has provided your income--give your first fruits. Figure out what you give and then lock in with that every week. For example, if you make $1,000 a week, and you put $1.00 in the plate, you are giving a tenth of 1 percent. Now, that hardly seems that you are grateful for all He has given, but if that is all, stick with it. But make it first. Set aside your dollar first thing. Don't give what's left-over after your other expenses. This way it is firstfruits. If you don't make it to church, set it aside for the next week. As you do this way of giving, you will begin to realize what firstfruits giving is all about, and probably want to raise it some.

Yet, this is hardly all, when we talk about giving to God what is God's. Our life is a life of response to our God. We serve Him as we serve our neighbor--the left hand kingdom. But when we consider what we do when we give to God what is God's, we have to take into consideration what we did when we were baptized, and when we were confirmed. When you were baptized, you said that you renounced the devil and all his works and all his ways. When you were confirmed, you said you would stick with the faith that you have been taught, the faith the Christian Church has taught for 2,000 years, and die rather than leave it behind. We show a loyalty to the truth, and a willingness to defend it.

But all of this is focusing on what we do. Whether we are talking about giving to Caesar what is Caesar's, or to God what is God's, it's still all focusing on what we do. In other words, it's all Law. And what always happens when we are talking about what we are to do? We see we fail. Even if we were to do these things outwardly, our heart may not be in it.

By God's grace, we have His realm, the right-hand kingdom for when we fail to do what we are supposed to do. When we are not good spouses, good parents, good workers, good students, good friends, good citizens; when we don't give our offerings cheerfully, when we don't value the truth God has so graciously given to us, and would rather sell it off, for the sake of fitting in or getting a few more members into our church, when we see these things in ourselves, we have the realm of the right hand kingdom where we run for relief.

Here is where we find forgiveness for Christ's sake. This is something that we must treasure with all of our hearts. Here in the Divine Service, we receive forgiveness. Here is where God gives it.

We might think one of the things we would give to God is our worship, but that has it all backwards. We don't give Him our worship. He gives to us. We may not be eager to receive His gifts, but we don't want to get worship and His giving to us mixed up with what we do for Him. We must keep in mind, first and foremost when we are talking about the right hand kingdom, it is His gifts to us. When we look at the Church and think it is all about what we do, we are not recognizing what makes the right hand kingdom unique. When we focus on what we need to do to grow the church or to get more money, we are still dwelling in the area of the Law. When He invites you to His table to feast, this is pure gift, pure forgiveness, righteousness that He gives to you simply because He wants to give it to you. This is the way of our God in His realm, and your privilege as His child.

AMEN