Sermon Tone Analysis

\\ /Scripture: Mark 12:41-44/

 

You know, people who don’t come to church regularly will always come for their kids.

They’ll come to see them sing in a choir or give a two sentence recitation, or hold up a sign, or wear a crazy little costume.

They won’t make it a priority to come to see other people’s kids but they will come to see their own.

Not only that but they’ll come and sit in the front row.

They’ll bring video cameras and lighting systems.

Without a thought they will stand up in the middle of a service and make any necessary spectacle of themselves to secure a memory in picture form.

We’ll unthinkingly sacrifice our dignity for those precious moments and rightly so.

Kids light up when their parents are watching.

They wave and smile as though no one else in the world were watching them at that moment – just Mom and~/or Dad.

What a great thing that is.

Totally unconscious of self and wrapped up in that relationship.

Somehow, I think that there is a parallel here as to the way that worship is meant to be.

You’re not standing on a stage.

In all likelihood, you’re sitting in a pew, fairly inconspicuous.

You say that you have come to worship God.

And of course, God attends because He loves to see His children perform . .

.  and participate in acts of worship.

Unfortunately we come to church many times to sit and take in.

We make judgments on sound levels, musical styles, the sermon.

And all of these judgments are related to the way that it impacts us personally, as if someone else were performing for us.

Whatever this may be, it is not worship.

You may be safely tucked in a pew.

You might have come early enough to get a back row, but God takes you at your word this morning and He is looking to see what you are going to do to capture His attention and ultimately He will be the one who evaluates the nature of the service today.

It doesn’t have to be flawless.

It can be as imperfect as most kids programs are and yet He can be delighted, not by our performance but by our participation.

God blesses imperfect sermons, songs, services because He loves his kids – as a matter of fact He delights in them.

*/Psalm 149 /*

/1 //Praise the Lord.a

Sing to the Lord a new song, his praise in the assembly of the saints.

2 Let Israel rejoice in their Maker; let the people of Zion be glad in their King.

3 Let them praise his name with dancing and make music to him with tambourine and harp.

4 *For the Lord takes delight in his people; he crowns the humble with salvation.

5 Let the saints rejoice in this honor and sing for joy on their beds.*

*[1]* /

/ /

I believe that God shows up every week according to promise when we gather together to worship Him.

He obviously loves to see what we have to offer Him.

He expects that He will be the audience, or even the honored guest and we will be the cast and crew offering our praise to Him.  Often He may find the house full.

The majority of people sit as spectators and there are some few designates on stage.

And we sit and evaluate ourselves by our own criterion, our preferences, our dislikes our likes.

God sits in the nose bleed section and tries to bless and direct and guide and do all the things that He would like to do.

But because we are self-absorbed, lost in our own performance, many leave from week to week never really “/getting it/”.

The scripture this morning tells the story of God going to church and what he gave particular attention to.

I wonder if He still does this sort of thing.

I wonder if he is here today, what might be the most accurate proclamation of faith that He would find.

Would it be the music, the message?

What might his attention be directed to?  Let’s read:

/ /

/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 two very small copper coins,a worth only a fraction of a penny.b

Calling his disciples to him, Jesus said, “I tell you the truth, this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others.

They all gave out of their wealth; but she, out of her poverty, put in everything—all she had to live on.”

*[2]* Mark 12:41-44 (NIV)/

/ /

*/1.

/**/Watching Intimately/*

 

Mark 12:41 says */Jesus went to church/* with His disciples.

“/Jesus sat down opposite the place where the offerings were put and *watched the crowd* putting their money into the temple treasury.”

/

/ /

*/Jesus' watch was very intimate./*

Today we are very private about our giving.

We don’t want to Pharisaically flaunt our gifts when they are large – a gift truly given to God should draw attention to His goodness not our own.

Or we are private because we give less than we know we should give and we fear being judged or questioned.

When Jesus told us to give in secret it was to curb the pride of a person’s heart and the tendency to rob God of glory by drawing attention to self.

It was not meant to provide escape from accountability.

The scripture tells us that Jesus intentionally went to where the offering was taken.

He gave his attention to what was being given and by whom.

Then as now, Jesus knew that how the people gave their money said something about their hearts.

It's important to note that God is not primarily interested in your money, but He is interested in how you use your money because that is a clear indicator of where your heart is.

The temple Jesus visited in this passage, Herod's temple, was quite impressive.

Approximately 15,000 people could pack themselves into the temple court, and it was truly an amazing place.

Even the disciples were astounded by this majestic place.

*/“ . .

./*/ one of his disciples said to him, “Look, Teacher!

What massive stones!

What magnificent buildings!”

*[3]* /

 

It was a place to behold.

Jesus was in the midst of all these people, watching them give their offerings.

In this plush place, the rich were obvious.

/“Many rich people threw in large amounts.”

– v. 41/

 

Jesus was so close to the offering receptacle He could tell the */amount/* the people were contributing.

Not only were the rich obvious, there was a woman there who was obvious to Jesus.

/But a poor widow came and put in two very small copper coins,a worth only a fraction of a penny.

(v.

42)./

This widow had no human means of support.

Her husband was gone and she was alone.

She put in two small coins, lepta, that made a little "ting, ting" sound as they hit the bottom.

*/A lepta was less than one of our pennies, and we all know you can't do much with a penny/*.

As a matter of fact, a good number of people today will not bend over to pick a penny off the ground.

A minister friend of mine with back problems used to tell me that he wouldn’t bend over for anything less than a quarter.

I suppose that if Jesus was blessed then by “lepta” he might be blessed today by the pennies that we walk over or the money that we carelessly spend on this or that.

A lepta was the smallest currency in Palestine at the time.

And Jesus watched her put two lepta in the offering.

He must have been pretty close to see those tiny coins!

He sits opposite the treasury and watches this take place, and it tells Him volumes about this woman's heart.

*/2.

/**/Watching Critically/*

 

Jesus saw what everyone gave, and how they gave, and */He analyzed what He saw/*.

He watched critically, going beyond the obvious and */looking into the heart of each giver./*

He wanted to know what was behind what they gave.

Then,

 

/Calling his disciples to him, Jesus said, “I tell you the truth, this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others/.

(v.

43).

Jesus was so taken by the widow's actions, He called the disciples over for a life lesson.

He didn't want His disciples to miss what had taken place.