Turn with me in your Bibles to Mark chapter 12. Mark chapter 12 as we're going to look at verse 38 through 44.
It is the story of the widow's offering.
Now when I get back from Orlando, we're going to be starting in 1 John, working our way through the book of the Bible, 1 John.
But during the summers, I like to look at pictures of Jesus and the words because I think we all want to know about Jesus.
And I believe here is a passage that the church overall needs to hear in our day and age when people seem to be leaving the body of Christ and they are not committed to any church.
They are committed to themselves and what they want, but not the church, not the kingdom of God.
So let's see what Jesus says in this passage.
Jesus sat down opposite the place where the offerings were put and watched the crowd putting their money into the temple treasury.
Many rich people threw in large amounts, but a poor widow came and put in her two very small copper coins.
Worth only a few cents, calling his disciples to him, Jesus said,
Truly I tell you this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all others.
They all gave out of their wealth, but she out of her poverty put in everything.
All she had to live on.
Let's pray and ask God to bless what we have just read.
Our Lord and our Savior, help us enter into this gospel story to take heed of what God's word says to us this morning.
And may the word of God spread and the teachings that we see here about a woman who gave all she had to the kingdom of God.
Press upon our hearts, our need for serving you and loving you with all that we have.
I make this prayer in your name, amen.
True story, Jan and I once went out to look for a new vehicle.
We went to one place.
The salesman was an older gentleman, retired military.
He was eating a sandwich.
The food was sort of falling out of his face.
And we were interested in a Mitsubishi van, but he acted like he just didn't care.
And it was sort of, yeah, there's one over there and that was it.
So we went to Pensacola Ford.
There was another gentleman there.
He was more of your salesman type.
And there was a white station wagon there we were interested in.
And he gave us the full treatment.
And then he asked me, what do you do?
And I said, well, on a Presbyterian minister.
He says, I go to church too.
Now right away, I'm getting worried when they tell me that.
I sometimes wonder if I said, well, I'm an astronaut.
Would he have said, well, I've been to outer space.
You sometimes wonder if you said, well, I'm the president of the United States.
You would say, you're in Congress.
I sometimes worry when people tell me they're a Christian and they're a salesman at the same time.
Now, do you know why?
It's because of past experience where people say, I'm a Christian and it means absolutely nothing.
You hire the plumber who says, on their van, follower of Christ, and yet they do a terrible job.
You think, well, what's the point then of saying such thing?
Well, to get advertisement to impress upon you that they are people who believe.
And you can trust them even though in their lives they are not.
It's all a facade. It's a sham.
Bottom line, there are a lot of people who say they're Christians, but they're really not.
They're using the name, the title for some reason we don't fully know about.
And today what we want to have is a bit of a heartchop for ourselves.
And Jesus gives us a wonderful story here of a lady who truly followed Christ and the kingdom of God with her faith.
And it forces us to ask questions of our own soul.
Is our faith true or is it false?
Is it genuine or is it shady?
Is it credible or is it a counterfeit faith?
And I think those are questions that we need to look at all the time to make sure that we are truly following Christ.
And one of the ways that we can tell that is by our actions.
Do we follow out on our commitments?
And this passage I think gets to our heart when we look at it.
Thomas Long is a mainline Presbyterian minister, very well known in mainline circles.
And here's what he wrote.
He said in America today the main heresy is not atheism, but it's superficiality.
In other words, we're putting on a false front.
It is not deep.
Our commitment is not as deep as it should be.
So let's delve into this passage this morning so that we can look at the desires of our heart.
And the first image of devotion we are given here, it's a false devotion.
It's a devotion that is really self-centered and self-focused.
We need to be careful.
Because when I say that we need to be aware of self-centered devotion, we can come away and think that anytime I do something for myself, that's wrong.
No, it's not necessarily wrong.
It's dangerous though to think that anytime you do something for yourself, you're in sin.
It's not.
God made us so that we have to eat, drink, and need rest.
You don't function well if you are missing out on these things.
It is not wrong to have a hobby, to go to a movie.
Some people would say, yes, that's wrong, but no, that's not what we believe.
We have to have rest.
Now there was a movie on.
Turner Classic Movie was called, I think, Dive Bomber.
It was an old black and white movie.
And it was the early days of the air combat during World War II, and there was a problem.
The fighter pilots would get to a point where they could no longer function effectively.
They were fatigued because they were flying all the time, and it was starting to cost the United States, not only airplanes, but train fighter pilots.
And so what they discovered is through a process they could tell someone had been overworked.
Is it possible for you to be overworked?
Need a break?
Yes.
Certainly so.
We need to be aware of that.
And it is not wrong to take a break.
It is not wrong to do these things.
And sometimes in the church world, we put a guilt trip on people for doing those things, for going on vacation, for taking a trip, and we should not do that.
But we also need to be aware that we can also be led to hypocrisy, where we do things not because they are truly part of our life or our heart, but we do it merely to impress people in our devotion.
And sometimes that devotion seems pretty heavy.
We do lots of things.
We give lots of money.
We show up all the time, but it may not be for the right purposes.
Is it truly for a love of God?
Is it truly for a love of our neighbor?
And that's where Jesus strikes at the hypocrites that he saw.
And here, look at what's going on right before this passage, because here's the connection.
You see verse 38 and following, Jesus is teaching.
And Jesus said, watch out for those teachers in the law, but like to walk around with flowing robes and be greeted with respect in the marketplace, and have the most important seats in the synagogue, and the places of honor at banquets.
They devour widow's houses, and for a show make lengthy prayers.
These men will be punished most severely.
Do you see what he's saying there?
You've got these religious types.
They're well known.
They can be seen.
But their hearts are full of pride, and they're very self-centered.
They're wearing the long robes so people will say, ah, there goes a religious man.
It would be like a medical doctor who goes to the grocery store in his scrubs, not because he's in a rush, but because he wants everyone to know he's a doctor.
Look, it would be like a judge going to Walmart in his judges' robes.
He wants to be noticed.
Their prayers are long.
Why?
For the good of God or the people?
No.
So people will notice them, and they love being greeted in the marketplaces where people would say such things, oh, great rabbi, oh, great one.
And when it comes to the synagogues, they've got to have the best seats up front, where everyone will see them, and they will take the widow's homes by excessive taxation.
But the money is being used for the kingdom of God.
And Jesus rejects all this.
And notice what Jesus says in other places like Matthew 6.1, be careful not to do your acts of righteousness before men to be seen by them.
If you do, you have no reward with your Father in heaven.
And in the epistles of John, you have diopthes who love to be first.
In other words, he's got to be seen.
He seems to be a follower of Christ, but he's really not, because he's more interested on being seen and heard than actually serving God.
The problem is attention getting.
That is what is going on here.
And it even takes place when they give money to the church.
Now you got to understand this is before the days of checks and paper money.
So you got these rich folk who are high up in the religious orthodoxy, and they're putting money into one of the 13 collection places, collection boxes in the temple.
Now what are you going to hear when you drop a lot of coins?
Ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding. Everybody's going to know you're giving a lot of money.
You know, it'd be like today, you've seen the big checks when a charity is going to get some money.
They get the big checks.
Well, it would be like today, these people coming in and they've got a big check and that big check is bigger than this collection plate, because they want to be seen.
So that's what's going on here.
And these people, the giving is not really hurting them, but they're doing it.
So other people will notice and they will say, that's a godly person.
That's a holy person.
And when we think of this passage here and what is going on, it should remind us, be careful how you do your acts.
Be careful.
Now, we probably don't have a lot of people like that.
The big givers.
But I think there is an attitude check that we've got to have.
And the attitude check comes down to this.
Why do we come to church?
Is it to be seen?
And if we don't get attention, do we feel hurt?
Did we come to worship?
Are we concerned about what God thinks?
Or are we more concerned with what people think of us?
And what we need to do is to think about why we are here.
Why do we come to church?
Is it to be seen?
Is it to serve God?
Is it to love our neighbor and to love God?
Or is there some other reason?
And people will often say, well, we don't come to church because, well, there's nothing there that we get out of it.
But they just couldn't give anything to God.
If you're saying you're not getting anything out of it, then you're doing the same thing that these religious officials were doing back then.
You have come to be seen and to get, not truly, to give.
Let me give you another example.
It was by a PCA pastor named Jimmy Lyons who is now with the Lord.
And here's how this attitude works out, which he described.
He was supposed to be a guest speaker.
But that sermon was not going real well as he was trying to develop it.
He was having a lousy week.
He couldn't get his thoughts together.
He couldn't pull it together.
There were all these interruptions.
Then he got sick and he dreaded going to do these services.
And he was a well-known evangelist.
And then it finally struck him.
Why are you doing this?
Are you doing it for God or are you doing it so people will think positively of you and how great of a speaker you are?
You see, that is the attitude of these Pharisees.
No, it didn't deal with money, but there is a heart issue here that it exposes.
Then there is another picture as well.
It is the picture of genuine devotion.
The devotion of self-sacrifice to God.
Now, there's a dichotomy here.
You've got two groups.
You've got the teachers of the law who are dropping the big bucks in.
And then you've got one elderly widow.
And what's she doing?
She's just dropping in a few cents.
Not very impressive.
It's sort of like people who give to the college or university athletic associations that they are connected with.
There are some people who will drop a lot of money.
And those organizations at that particular university, they'll remember you, but if you give a couple of dollars to the football team, they're not going to remember you.
They're not even going to think of you.
Well, that's the situation here, but it's dealing with the faith.
And so she just puts a little bit in, but it's all that she has.
She doesn't have any more money.
And notice what Jesus says.
They all gave out of their wealth, but she, out of her poverty, she put in everything.
All she had to live on.
Just two small coins.
Who would be amazed at that?
And all those people around by those collection boxes, they were thinking, man, those men of God, they are putting in some big, they are great people.
They are close to God.
And that little woman, eh, who's she?
Not much to give.
Who's closer to God?
Who does Jesus notice?
And I think in our poverty, when we give a lot, and believe me, there's a lot of you in this church who give a lot.
God doesn't notice.
Jesus notices.
And he sort of rejects the big givers.
The point of the story is this.
She sacrifices what she has for the kingdom of God.
She gives a lot.
All that she has.
And you know, as we look at another incident in the Bible, it is the church of Macedonian, 2 Corinthians, chapter 8.
And listen to what that church was like.
Probably not very powerful or big, but Paul says this,
and now, brothers and sisters, we want you to know about the grace that God has given to the Macedonian church.
In the midst of a very severe trial, their overflowing joy and their extreme poverty welled up in rich generosity.
In other words, in their troubles and in their poverty, they still gave to the kingdom of God to help the saints in Jerusalem who were suffering.
So what do we think of this?
What should we draw from all this?
Well, you can test the genuineness of your piety by how much you give of yourself to the kingdom of God.
Could be money.
Could be your time.
It could be how much time you spend with other people in this church.
I can't tell you what your particular giftedness and talents are, which you can give.
But fulfilling the law of God, it's loving the kingdom enough that you are willing to give your all for it.
It's sort of like the old story about who's more committed to your breakfast, the chicken or the pig.
Pig is.
He's got to give up his life.
Chicken just lays a few eggs.
And here's what amazes me when it comes to other institutions.
It is the people who will give and give and give to entertainment, to sports.
But all of a sudden when it comes to the church, oh no, no, we got to play it cheap with our lives and with our talents.
I don't get it.
You know, we often complain about communism and how the communists will take over a country.
Well, there's a reason for that.
It's because a lot of their followers will give up everything to support their cause.
But when it comes to the cause of Christ, there have been surveys that have been done that have said Christianity has become the enclave of the upper middle class.
Why? Because it's comfortable.
You really don't have to suffer any for the kingdom of God.
But as I look at the Bible and I look at this widow, I see someone who's given their very lives.
And a lot of times in our upper middle class life or our middle middle class life, we really don't have to give a whole lot.
It doesn't cost us anything.
On the other hand, we need to be honest with ourselves in this.
None of us in this room.
And you're the good people. You're the people who are coming to church.
A lot of you are giving.
But we've never given to this level of the widow.
Well, what then should we think?
Probably never will.
Well, it's why we need Jesus.
Because Jesus gave his very life.
He was so dedicated to the kingdom of God.
He was so dedicated to you that he gave and gave and gave.
He gave up the glories of heaven to come and be with you.
And yeah, I could manipulate you this morning, but thanks be to Jesus who gave his life.
Should we give it our all? Yeah.
And I guess there's a lot of people who need to hear that and they may not be here.
But also I need to talk to people who do give and keep two things in mind.
You've got to save your who gives when you can't.
And just as Jesus Christ noticed that poor widow, he notices what you do too.
And the Bible is right. It is more blessed to give than to receive.
Lewis Evans was the pastor at Hollywood Presbyterian Church.
And there was a surgeon who gave up a very prosperous practice to go into the mission field to help people who were struggling.
And Lewis Evans reports as he was visiting this missionary doctor that you could see the strain on his face from having to do all those surgeries.
And he asked him, so what do you get paid here?
He knew in America he made a lot of money. Here was his response.
A few dollars, a smile of gratitude, and the blessings of God.
This is really living.
He's right. Giving everything for the kingdom of God is really living.
Let's pray and ask God, the blessed word to us to encourage us and help us see how much we need Jesus.
Jesus, this morning we fully admit to you that we have not given our all.
But we thank you, Jesus, that you did.
For those who need conviction of sin, convict.
But for those of us who need comfort, comfort our hearts that you notice us in our sacrifices for you,
and help us to keep in mind the most important thing is not our comfort, even though you have given us a lot of comfort.
But it's your kingdom which lasts forever and ever.
May we put your kingdom first, our God, and love you with all of our heart and with all of our soul and with all of our might, and love our neighbor as ourselves.
Hear our prayer now. Amen.