Whose Inscription? Recognizing the Divine Currency Within Us

Oct 18, 2026

Devotional

Day 1: The Inscription That Defines Your Worth

When Jesus held the Roman coin, he exposed more than political games—he revealed the eternal truth stamped on every human soul. The coin bore Caesar’s blasphemous claim to divinity, but humanity bears God’s sacred image. To reduce our value to taxes, social status, or others’ opinions is to deny the divine imprint within. True worth comes not from external validations but from the Creator’s hands that shaped dust into vessels of glory. Every struggle, every doubt, is an invitation to reclaim this identity. [55:03]

Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. (Genesis 1:26–27, ESV)

Reflection: Where have you allowed society’s “inscriptions” to define your value more than God’s image in you? How might embracing your divine imprint change how you move through this week?

Day 2: Currency That Cannot Fail

Humanity is heaven’s currency—the medium through which God’s kingdom transactions occur. Just as Rome’s economy relied on coins, God’s redemptive work relies on people who recognize their inherent worth. The church often fixates on material resources, yet the real wealth lies in hands that serve, voices that testify, and hearts that love. When believers grasp their role as conduits of grace, even small acts—like a viral social media clip—become eternal investments. [01:03:38]

But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. (1 Peter 2:9, ESV)

Reflection: What “transaction” is God inviting you to make today—not with money, but with your time, voice, or compassion? Where do you feel most spent, and how might that exhaustion point to a deeper calling?

Day 3: Rejecting the Price Tag of the World

The world insists every person has a price, but Christ-followers carry a value no empire can appraise. Like the Sadducees trying to trap Jesus, systems still try to commodify souls through debt, shame, or comparison. Yet the same hands that formed Adam from dirt now hold believers beyond the reach of exploitation. To wear the wedding garments of love and justice (Matthew 22:11–14) is to refuse the rags of others’ expectations. [01:06:17]

Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. (Romans 12:2, ESV)

Reflection: What subtle “price tags” have others placed on you—at work, in relationships, or even in religious spaces? How can you actively reject those labels today?

Day 4: The Collective Power of a Redeemed People

One coin holds limited value, but a treasury changes nations. The church thrives when its people recognize their interconnected worth—like social media reach multiplying through shared stories. Resurrection’s 110 members could become 440 if each person invests in four lives. This isn’t mere math; it’s the miracle of Pentecost repeated through ordinary believers who dare to see their influence as God does. [01:11:33]

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, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God. (Ephesians 4:11–13, ESV)

Reflection: Who are the “four lives” in your sphere needing intentional encouragement this week? How can you leverage your unique gifts to strengthen our collective witness?

Day 5: Prophetic Defiance Against Nothingness

To declare “life” over a church or a weary soul is to wage war on despair. Just as Ezekiel spoke to dry bones, believers today confront societal death—immigration crises, fractured families, dying dreams—with words that resurrect. This defiance isn’t optimism; it’s obedience to the God who stamps his breath on dust. Every “Let there be life” prayer becomes a hammer against the tomb. [01:12:34]

Thus says the Lord God to these bones: Behold, I will cause breath to enter you, and you shall live. And I will lay sinews upon you, and will cause flesh to come upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and you shall live, and you shall know that I am the Lord. (Ezekiel 37:5–6, ESV)

Reflection: What “dry bone” situation in your life or community needs you to speak life into it today? How can your words become an act of holy rebellion?

Sermon Summary

Matthew’s chapter keeps putting God’s gifts and human response in front of the people. The tenants receive a task and turn violent. The wedding guests receive an invitation and even the clothing for the feast, yet one man refuses to put on the compassion, inclusion, and love that were already provided. The text keeps asking what people will do with what God has placed in their hands.

Jesus faces another trap when the Pharisees and Sadducees bring their question about Roman taxes. The question is not innocent, because a refusal to pay could make Jesus look guilty of treason, while payment seems to honor an empire whose coin bears a blasphemous image. The coin carries Caesar’s icon, his inscription, and even the claim that the emperor is god in flesh.

Jesus answers with more than a lesson about taxes. The word for “give” carries the sense of returning what was stolen. The Roman system had taken farmers’ crops, land, labor, and freedom through taxes, tolls, debt, and peonage. The coin belongs to Caesar because Caesar’s face is on it, but humanity belongs to God because God placed God’s image on human lives.

The image of God makes people the real currency of the kingdom. God has stored heavenly value in human hearts, hands, and communities, while dollars, oil, and every human system can fail. The church becomes like a bank that does not understand the investment inside it when it talks only about money and overlooks the human capital God has gathered.

God’s image cannot be erased by kings, tax collectors, disparagers, depressors, or people trying to name the church dead. The value of a life cannot be measured by human instruments, and every person must refuse to sell out that value. The currency of the kingdom gets spent when lives lift others, feed neighbors, care for orphans and widows, preach good news, and speak life against nothingness.

Love of neighbor cannot stand apart from love of self, because people who cannot recognize God’s image in themselves will struggle to honor it in anyone else. Resurrection’s future depends on the congregation believing that life still dwells within it and courageously speaking that life over one another. Jesus leaves the question hanging: What kind of coin will each life become, and whose inscription will it acknowledge?

Key Takeaways

1. God’s image defines human value. The coin bears Caesar’s image, but every human being bears God’s image. God’s claim on a person therefore runs deeper than any government, market, insult, or social label. The soul is not cheap currency for empire to spend. [1:02:28]
2. Refuse to sell out. The world keeps asking whether every person has a price. God’s value within a life cannot be bought by fear, convenience, acceptance, or despair. Kingdom character shows up when people refuse to abandon neighbors in order to protect themselves. [1:05:53]
3. Spend life as kingdom currency. The currency that lasts is a life poured out in mercy, courage, witness, and care. God’s power in human hands becomes visible when those hands lift somebody else. Emptiness grows wherever God-given worth remains unused. [1:06:55]
4. Speak life against nothingness. Life is a prophetic word that defies the forces declaring death, defeat, and decline. God calls the church to speak life over abandoned dreams, hurting families, exhausting work, and a fractured community. Faith does not deny pain, but it refuses to let pain have the final word. [1:12:08]
5. Come home to beloved community. The longing to come home can be God awakening a person to the need for healing and belonging. God’s invitation makes room for baptism, rededication, and a return after wandering. The church receives those who are ready to stop carrying life alone.

## [1:17:15]

Youtube Chapters

[00:00] - Welcome
[43:03] - A Review of Matthew 22
[45:54] - Putting On the Wedding Clothes
[48:30] - God’s Gifts and Human Response
[49:33] - The Question About Caesar’s Tax
[50:43] - More Than a Sermon About Taxes
[54:46] - Whose Inscription Is on the Coin?
[57:57] - Return What Was Stolen
[1:00:05] - Rome’s System of Exploitation
[1:02:07] - God’s Image on Humanity
[1:03:38] - The Church’s Hidden Currency
[1:05:28] - Too Good to Sell Out
[1:08:05] - Speak Life Over the Church
[1:13:09] - Loving Neighbor as Self
[1:14:49] - What Kind of Coin Will You Be?
[1:16:12] - An Invitation to Come Home

Bible Study Guide

Bible Reading

Matthew 22:15-22
“Then the Pharisees went and plotted how to entangle him in his words. And they sent their disciples to him, along with the Herodians, saying, “Teacher, we know that you are true and teach the way of God truthfully, and you do not care about anyone's opinion, for you are not swayed by appearances. Tell us, then, what you think. Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not?” But Jesus, aware of their malice, said, “Why put me to the test, you hypocrites? Show me the coin for the tax.” And they brought him a denarius. And Jesus said to them, “Whose likeness and inscription is this?” They said, “Caesar's.” Then he said to them, “Therefore render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's.” When they heard it, they marveled. And they left him and went away.” [49:33]

Genesis 1:27
“So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.” [01:02:28]

Matthew 22:1-14
“And again Jesus spoke to them in parables, saying, “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a wedding feast for his son, and sent his servants to call those who were invited to the wedding feast, but they would not come. Again he sent other servants, saying, ‘Tell those who are invited, See, I have prepared my dinner, my oxen and my fat calves have been slaughtered, and everything is ready. Come to the wedding feast.’ But they paid no attention and went off, one to his farm, another to his business, while the rest seized his servants, treated them shamefully, and killed them. The king was angry, and he sent his troops and destroyed those murderers and burned their city. Then he said to his servants, ‘The wedding feast is ready, but those invited were not worthy. Go therefore to the main roads and invite to the wedding feast as many as you find.’ And those servants went out into the roads and gathered all whom they found, both bad and good. So the wedding hall was filled with guests. But when the king came in to look at the guests, he saw there a man who had no wedding garment. And he said to him, ‘Friend, how did you get in here without a wedding garment?’ And he was speechless. Then the king said to the attendants, ‘Bind him hand and foot and cast him into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ For many are called, but few are chosen.” [45:54]

Observation questions

In Matthew 22:15–22, what trap do the Pharisees and Herodians try to set for Jesus with their question about paying taxes?
What details about Caesar’s coin make it especially troubling for faithful Jewish people? [56:43]
In Matthew 22:1–14, what was provided for the wedding guest who came without wearing the proper clothes, and what did those clothes represent? [46:26]
What connection is made between the image on Caesar’s coin and God’s image on human beings? [01:02:19]

Interpretation questions

Why does Jesus ask whose image and inscription are on the coin instead of simply answering yes or no to the tax question? What does this response reveal about the trap being set for him? [54:46]
How does Genesis 1:27 deepen Jesus’ words about giving to God what belongs to God? What does it mean for a person to bear God’s image?
The wedding clothes were available but not worn. How might compassion, inclusion, and love be understood as gifts God provides that people can still choose not to live out? [46:47]
If human lives are the lasting “currency” of God’s kingdom, how does that challenge the way a church measures its health, strength, or success? [01:03:52]

Application questions

What messages—from family, work, social media, past hurts, or society—have tried to tell you that your worth is small? How can remembering that you bear God’s image speak back to those messages? [01:04:39]
Where are you tempted to “sell out” your values for acceptance, comfort, fear, or convenience? What might it look like to refuse that pressure this week? [01:05:45]
Whose God-given value do you need to recognize more clearly: someone in your home, workplace, neighborhood, or church? What is one concrete way you can treat that person with compassion, inclusion, and love?
What gifts, experiences, abilities, or relationships has God placed in your hands that could be “spent” to lift someone else up? Name one person or need toward which you could direct that gift. [01:07:11]
Where do you see “nothingness”—discouragement, division, loneliness, exhaustion, or despair—in your own life or community? What words of life can you speak, and what action can you take to support those words? [01:12:08]
Loving a neighbor includes loving that neighbor as oneself. What would healthier self-respect, accountability, or care look like in your life right now, and how could that help you love others more freely? [01:13:49]
Is there an area of faith, community, healing, or service where you feel a longing to come home? What next step could help you stop carrying that longing alone? [01:17:28]

Sermon Clips

57s

#DivineImage

“But the thing that Jesus was actually saying to the crowd was something more profound and deep. This gold or silver coin, it has an impression on it. It has an image on it. People call it currency. But there's a God in heaven who looked at some clay and impressioned God's face on it. That the only currency that matters is humanity.”

56s

#SelfLove

“We can't change anything anywhere if we don't change ourselves. The law of love, people love to quote it all the time, love God with all your heart, all your mind, all your spirit, and love your neighbor, and they stop right there. But the sentence says, love your neighbor as yourself. That until we learn to love ourselves, lift ourselves, and hold ourselves accountable There's no love possible anywhere else. And if we are a collective, one collective as this one church, we exist as one entity here. If we don't do the same as this collective in this church, nothing's possible. Nothing.”

41s

#SpeakLife

“So today I speak life over you. A prophetic word spoken by God to willfully defy the nothingness. If we can speak life each and every day moving forward over this church, at least there'll be life here. you go to sleep tonight, I ask you to pray that there'll be life in this church. When you wake up in the morning, I just said, boss, for just one second. And ask, god, let there be life in me”

57s

#ChooseHealing

“It's now decision time For those of you who have wondered in your life and in your day, what can I do to add value? I've tried hard, pastor. I've lived. I've worked. I've struggled, but it's decision time. It's today the day that we decide we're gonna be different. It's the day we decide that we're gonna get well. It's the day that we decide we've hurt long enough, and it's time to heal. I've lived without community, family, but I don't wanna do that anymore.”

49s

#HumanCapital

“the problem is the church is like a bank that doesn't understand the investment that's inside it. keep talking about dollars on the outside and not the human capital within, which is so much more valuable than any debt that we can possess. The moment we begin to recognize our worth as human beings is when our situation can change. Don't believe me? Try almost sixty years ago when this church formed, and they didn't think we were worth anything. Yes. Yes. But we knew better.”

73s

#BelieveInMore

“There are persons within this institution that have currency, that have yet to be recognized. And if we encourage one another, if we dare one another to believe that more is possible, this assembly of about a 110 people in... On Sunday morning could easily be 220 or three and thirty or 440 if each of us brings four people. If each of us reaches one person, you have to believe in the inherent power that's within you. God is not through with us, so we need to be patient. But as people from the outside pick at us and try to declare our death, we have to be the people that courageously speak life over this institution. That life is a prophetic word spoken by God to willfully defy nothingness. That's life.”

52s

#WearLove

“They were provided. So if you chose to show up to the feast without the right clothes on, it wasn't because you couldn't afford them. It wasn't because you didn't have them. It's because you didn't take the time to put them on. And Maria said that those clothes that that they were wearing was a symbol. What were the clothes actually? Compassion. What else? Okay. What'd you say? Inclusion. Okay. What are some of the other things? Because you can imagine what the clothes are. What else? I mean, nobody said the big one, the usually easy one in a place like this. Love. That's right. Love. Love with some of the clothing that you gotta wear.”

48s

#FalseGods

“The inscription on that denarius, that Roman coin, it had a picture of Tiberius who was the the the Caesar. So the the emperor's was on the coin. There was a phrase in Latin on the coin that gave a couple of his titles. Among them was a title saying that he was the god in flesh. On the coin, we think it's bad enough that in America on the dollar, it says, in god we trust. Well, the god they were trusting was the emperor.”

46s

#StayTrue

“What god was saying to us through this text, don't get down about your value. Don't get tricked by people who are willing to play games because those same people who are willing to play the games with the coins, guess what? When Jesus asked them, give to me. I'll put that coin. Let me let me see it. When he said that to them, they handed it. They they were reaching their pocket and just gave it to them, which means they were readily sold out already. Without a doubt, without a fear, without a a hesitation, they were carrying Roman currency with blasphemy on it.”

34s

#EconomicJustice

“In a year where there was a drought, you didn't have anything, and they were still taxing you. So you would go into peonage. You owed. You would go into this situation where the the land that you had now became the land of somebody else, and you were now just a tenant farmer. I know something about that from my family's history, about what being a tenant farmer is.”

49s

#EngageWithTruth

“And Jesus was trying not to be called out for something that he wasn't trying to commit. So he didn't answer the question the way they wanted him to, and he rarely did. He was a great philosopher, a great debater. And I think that when we say we wanna be like Jesus, Lord, I wanna be a Christian in my heart, maybe some of us need to take that to task to to... That lesson to heart. If we wanna be like Jesus, he wasn't just kind and compassionate, he was also a great debater who engaged with people that opposed his viewpoint. Because the only way you convert people from the wrong position is through engagement.”

53s

#FaithAndReason

“Jesus is talking to scholars from the academy, and they ask him a theological question thinking, this is a little country preacher. Surely, he doesn't know what he's talking about. Surely, we can catch him in a trick. And so, they play a word game with Jesus. And this word game, they say, you know, they collect these taxes in Rome. when they collect these taxes in Rome, you gotta pay it. But the Torah, the law, teaches us that you're not really supposed to honor others. And so maybe we should ask Jesus in front of everybody.”

48s

#Rededication

“And when I got there, I heard a word that touched me, that just reminded me of the power God had put inside me, even as a teenager. And I remember I walked up that aisle and rededicated my life, and I had planned my speech out what I was gonna say in front of the congregation. I knew it. And when I got there and the pastor had that mic in his hand, and he he said, brother George, what do you come to say? I had planned it out what I would say. And that might gotten my mouth in front of my face, and I I couldn't remember a word.”

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