Sermon - 3/29

Jesus Watched the Offering Boxes
Mark 12.41-44

I am going to talk about money and giving this morning – that is a warning. We as a church do not talk about it a lot. There is one of the radio preachers, who uses the month of January each year as the time to talk about tithing, giving and offerings – every Sunday for a month. This is just one sermon, but I hope it is one that will help to see the importance that Jesus puts on giving. This teaching came near the end of the ministry and life of Jesus. He has been debating with the teachers of the law all day and this is the last of his teachings for the day.
Read Mark 12.41-44. The scene is the temple in Jerusalem in the court of the women where the offering boxes were set up – they were trumpet shaped boxes – 13 in all according to one source. We pass the offering plate, but they came be the boxes and put in their offering. I can imagine, since I know human nature, some people would just come by and slip in their offering. Others would make a lot of fanfare about their giving letting everyone know that they had given and how much. (Big bag of money or maybe stand there and count out the amount so all could see.
In this scene Jesus is watching all of the people, when a widow lady walked up and quietly put in two small copper coins – the smallest coin as far as value. (This woman is not named – I want to give her the name – Esther.) They were worth less than a penny. Others might have just laughed at what she gave or thought little of it, but Jesus called his disciples to himself and pointed out what she had done so they would notice it and so they would learn from her example. (Does the Lord watch what we put into the offering plate?)
This widow was a poor lady – widows were in those days. They had no Social Security. They had to beg sometimes or depend on their children for money. I think Esther had very little, but she was praised by Jesus because she gave out of her poverty, not out of her wealth. She put in all she had to live on. This is sacrificial giving, the kind of giving few people give. Why would she give like this? It certainly was not out of duty – the law did not require her to give like this. She did not give out of guilt – no one would check on her to see how much she gave.
I am not sure why she gave so much, but here are some possible reasons. 1) The giving was an expression of Esther’s love and trust in God. She would not have given what she did it she did not love God. She obviously loved God more than she loved money. In the verses just before the ones we are looking at is this statement – read Mark 12.38-40. The phrase I see is “they devour widow’s houses.” They thought the money they could get by stealing it from widows was more important than being honest, helping widows, and serving God with their money. These were the best of the Jewish religious men of the day. They probably taught the people that they should tithe and give as much as they could. But they were then stealing all that widows had. I can tell you, they received their reward from doing that, I think in this life and the life to come. Esther loved and trusted God to supply what she needed. Does he supply what we need? Have you seen that? This is the real issue for so many – if I give this amount, I will not have enough in 5 years, 10 years, 20 years. God supplies what we need today and he will give us what we need all of our lives.
2) Esther gave because she was also a thankful woman. Being thankful is one of the best reasons to give. God gives so much to us – so much. We show our thankfulness by giving to him and his work. I had printed a page from my prayer booklets – the one that encourages us to: Thank the God who is Generous. These are some of the things I thank God for every time I pray through this section of the booklet. Look at some of them with me.
A) I thank you God for eternal salvation because of the death of Christ. As Chrs we are saved by Christ. Our sins are forgiven completely and eternally. All of us are sinners, but through Jesus Christ, God forgives us of all our sins. B) I thank you God for purpose in life, reasons to live and serve. A few years ago we went though the book, The Purpose Driven Life by Rick Warren. As Chrs we all have a very definite purpose and reason to live for the Lord – a purpose that only we can accomplish. C) I thank you God for my children, their spouses, and my grandchildren. I could take a 100 sermons to tell you how thankful I am for my kids, their spouses and my 4 grandkids, soon to be 5. What a blessing God has given. D) I thank God for a husband or wife who is loving and faithful. I do not have a wife, but I have my friend Mary, who loves me and I can love. God has truly blessed me with her. E) I thank God for my parents, grandparents, and other relatives. Again, I do not have parents or grandparents any more, but I have relatives who love God and serve him. F) I am thankful God for my Chr friends who walk with me in the Chr life. That is all of you – you encourage me to live for the Lord as I encourage you to live for him. I am not going to go through the whole list but I challenge you to take this list home and slowly pray through it, thanking God for all he has given you.
Since I am thankful for all of these people and things God so generously gives me, I love to give to him and his causes.
3) I believe that we are motivated to give to God and his causes because the needs are so great. You know I am committed to missions of all kinds, especially foreign missions. I give because the need is so great. In our world today there are missions in every country in the world – even ones than tell Chr missionaries they can not come into their countries. There are billions – billions with a B – who still need to hear about our Lord Jesus Christ and the message of salvation that come only through him. There are millions of children who need food and clean water just to live. Missions are working to dig wells and plant crops and give food for them to eat. There are people who need to just the minimal amounts of medical care and do not get it unless we do something about it. There are AIDS victims and orphans of AIDS victims who need help. There are missionaries that need to be sent to replace ones that are retiring – young couples who want to give their lives to preach the gospel of the Lord. I could go on all day with this list too, but just to say, we need to give so the causes of God can be funded.
We have been blessed by God – Chrs and non-Chrs. I am talking about nearly all Americans – maybe blessed too much. With the blessing of God comes the responsibility to help others. We as a nation are extremely generous to others. As Chrs we need to give even sacrificially because of our love and trust in God, out of our thankfulness to God, and because we see the needs in our world that God wants fulfill.