When Less Is More
A Ransom For All: Gospel Of Mark • Sermon • Submitted
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INTRO
INTRO
My first job I ever had was selling fireworks at a fake castle in my hometown in Muskogee, Oklahoma. I was 16, just beginning to drive so I needed money to buy gas. The owner of this business was a man named Jeff. And everyday Jeff would sit us down and remind us how selling fireworks was the most important job we could have. Now I was 16, so I completely bought into what this guy was saying. I worked long days, cut the grass, wrapped the fireworks, was selling fireworks left and right, and then after about 2 weeks I realized that this job isn’t everything that Jeff said it was. Even though Jeff wanted me to devote my life to selling fireworks, I soon realized that selling fireworks in a shop that resembled a castle, was not going to be the career I chose. There are very few things in life that can actually demand your entire life. Marriage is one of those things. Imagine if on your wedding day, the pastor said “for the rest of your life do you promise to give yourself fully to your spouse” and you responded “is there an option for 50%?” No! Marriage demands all of you. When it comes to Christianity and the Gospel of Jesus, Jesus makes a similar claim on your life, that if you want to follow Him, HE demands all of who we are. Let’s stand for the reading of the word.
Sitting across from the temple treasury, he watched how the crowd dropped money into the treasury. Many rich people were putting in large sums. Then a poor widow came and dropped in two tiny coins worth very little. Summoning his disciples, he said to them, “Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others. For they all gave out of their surplus, but she out of her poverty has put in everything she had—all she had to live on.”
耶穌面對銀庫坐著，看著大家怎樣把錢投入庫中。許多有錢的人投入很多的錢。後來，有一個窮寡婦來投入了兩個小錢，就是一個銅錢。耶穌把門徒叫過來，對他們說：「我實在告訴你們，這窮寡婦投入庫裡的，比眾人投的更多。因為他們都是把自己剩餘的投入，這寡婦是自己不足，卻把她一切所有的，就是全部養生的，都投進去了。」
THE GIFT奉獻
THE GIFT奉獻
CONTEXT: Jesus in Jerusalem: Passover, while they are conspiring against Him to kill Him. Notice that this was the last occurrence in the Savior’s public ministry, except the trial and the crucifixion. This is the last appearance of Jesus in the Temple. His public teaching is over save the words of defense in his trial and the seven sayings on the Cross. The Pharisees and Sadducees had withdrawn after Jesus’ last teaching, and Jesus is preparing His disciples for His final moments here on earth before He goes to the cross. Yet in Jesus’ final moments, just a day or so before He goes to the cross, He takes time to sit by the temple as people are giving their offerings. Now if you were a historian why in the world would you include this seemingly insignificant story about a unimportant poor widow who gives a seemingly insignificant amount?
Jesus is “sitting across from the temple treasury and he watched how people were dropping their money into the treasury”. The treasury was the temple’s offering box. Like the one we have here at CityLight except their offering boxes were 13 horns made out of gold and they were placed in the opening of the temple. So Jesus sitting across outside, was able to see in full view how people were giving their money to the temple. Now how would you feel if on Sunday, me or Rich or one of the deacons, just sat back there by the offering box, and watched every person, how they gave, how much gave, who gave? That would be really uncomfortable wouldn’t it? Why does Jesus do this? The first thing from the text that we see is that while people, like the rich, thought that they were giving their money primarily before people, to be seen by people, the text shows us that our giving is done primarily before a God who sees. God sees what we give.
He sees our lives, He’s involved in our lives. The Bible says that there is no where we can hide from His presence. This is comforting news, but also should bring a fear of God in our lives. There are some of us here, who think that just because maybe we are behind closed doors, or because we are away from our community that we are away from accountability, we can hide, but God sees all.
And what does the text say Jesus observes?
“Many rich people were putting in large sums.”
This very public act, Passover: this is offering time for the church! Everyone is in town, as well as Roman historians, remark on the immense wealth of the Jerusalem temple. Many of those donating large sums were wealthy landowners who lived in or near Jerusalem; others were Jewish businessmen and merchants of the Diaspora who had journeyed to Jerusalem for the Passover and are coming to give their offerings to the temple.
There were different types of offerings in the Old Testament, some were animal sacrifices, but others were money and were called tithes. The word tithe means 1/10. But when you look at the Old Testament there were 3 different tithes the people were asked to give:
1 for Levites(priests)祭司
2 For banquets and feasts盛宴
3 For the widows and orphans 寡婦和孤兒
So when you add up the total amount of the yearly tithe for the people in the Old Testament it could have been close to 30%.
What was the heart behind the tithe?
Honor the Lord with your possessions and with the first produce of your entire harvest;
你要把你的財物， 和一切初熟的農作物，敬奉耶和華。
The tithe was meant to be a way to honor God, and to show that the people understood all that they had was a gift from Him. The law instructed the Israelites to bring their tithes as a sacrifice in gratitude to God for provision.
People are bringing their offerings before the Lord, and here you have this group of ultra rich people dropping some serious cash in the offering box. Now if this was me or you we would be impressed by this wouldn’t we? We could easily look at money these people were giving and say “wow look how much they love God!” “Look at their generosity!”
Someone sent me a statistic that said that Jeff Bezos(owner of Amazon) makes almost $3000(USD)a second. He makes 8.9 million an hour. So in the time we spend together as a church, Jeff Bezos earns 8.9 million USD!
That’s wealth, that’s impressive. As people we get can be impressed by all of that.
But does Mark tell us that Jesus was moved or impressed by their giving?
Who actually catches the attention of Jesus? Who does Jesus point to as an example to the disciples? The rich throwing in large sums of money? Disciples comes and look at all of this money they are giving to GOD! No.
A poor widow. She is doubly poor. She is both a widow, which at that time was often a dangerous state for a woman in ancient times, because economic security was often based on a husband's income and work, and she’s poor! And what does this poor widow give that catches the attention of Jesus? Two tiny coins worth very little. Now these coins would amount to about 1NT a piece. So literally all she throws in comparison to the rich people is 2 NT.
But Jesus gets up calls His disciples over points out this poor widow and says “Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all of the others”
The disciples are thinking, Jesus what are you talking about. The rich are dropping diamonds into the offering box, and this poor widow has put in a penny. How in the world can you say that?
Imagine God’s scales: you have the rich heaping on wealth, and cash, and expensive things, status symbols, good works and it doesn’t move the scales an inch, but then you have this poor insignificant widow, in humility, who puts on two pennies, and the scales drop to ground! Why?
Because Jesus doesn’t only see the gift, but He sees the HEART OF THE GIVER.
THE GIVER奉獻者
THE GIVER奉獻者
God doesn’t just look at our means, but HE looks at our motivation. God weighs our hearts.
But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not look at his appearance or his stature because I have rejected him. Humans do not see what the Lord sees, for humans see what is visible, but the Lord sees the heart.”
但耶和華對撒母耳說：「不要看他的外貌和他高大的身材，因為我不揀選他。耶和華看人不像人看人，人是看外表，耶和華是看內心。」
What moves the heart of God, is not good works, it’s not our money, it’s not our tithes, but FAITH. A heart of faith.
The rich people gave their riches and still remained wealthy. They gave out of their surplus. They gave out of their comfort. That their giving didn’t affect their wallets or their lifestyle. You can say that these rich people were giving God just the left overs. They were giving the 10% in order that they might keep the 90% for themselves.
“Okay God we will give you this 10% of our money, we can look good in front of people, but the rest of our lives we live how want. We will worship you with the 10%, but the other 90% is ours.
Is this not how all other religions operate? If you look at Daoism or Islam, there are rules to follow, duties to perform, in order to make people feel like they have done their duty before God and can live their lives how they want. If all I need to do is bai bai, then tell me, if all I need to do is burn paper money, then tell me, if I’ll need to do is go to church then tell me. Even with Christianity, we have to be careful, where we don’t live divided lives, where this part of our lives become about God, but then the rest of my life I can live as I please. There is a story of a well known pastor in the United States, if you heard his name most of you would know who he is. But his wife had called a counseling service and began to tell them that every night this pastor would eat dinner with his family, but then go into his office, lock the door, eat candy, and drink alcohol until he would get drunk and watch tv every single night! How does that happen? It happens by believing this: that all God desires of you is your duty. I’ll give God this part of my life, I can look good in front of people, it can be ministry, but when I go home, or when I’m by myself, it’s revealed that HE doesn’t actually have my heart. Religion operates around, duty, but God desires to be your DELIGHT. He’s not after your money, He’s after your heart.
What about the widow. What does her gift show about her heart?
“For they all gave out of their surplus, but she out of her poverty has put in EVERYTHING she had-all she had to live on”
2 things Jesus tells us about her giving:
1)She gave out of her poverty: Her giving was a sacrifice. She didn’t give out of her surplus, out of her comfort. Her giving wasn’t from a place of strength but out of weakness.
Church, biblical giving, whether it be our money, our talents, our time, is meant to be a sacrifice. The gift , whether it’s 1NT or 1 million NT, does not matter so much to God, as does the HEART of the giver. What I love about what this widow shows us is that her poverty, her seeming weakness did not stop her from bringing her worship to God. They are some of you here who think believe the lie, that you have nothing to offer God because of a weakness you have, it could be you are suffering with sickness, you are single mom, your marriage might be in a hard place, but the Bible says that weakness should never be an obstacle from us bringing our worship before the Lord:
But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is perfected in weakness.” Therefore, I will most gladly boast all the more about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may reside in me.
他卻對我說：「我的恩典是夠你用的，因為我的能力在人的軟弱上顯得完全。」所以，我更喜歡誇自己的軟弱，好讓基督的能力臨到我的身上。
Remember that Mark is writing this Gospel to a suffering church in Rome who probably had lost jobs, maybe businesses, they might be wondering what do I have to give to God? Well Mark tells us that you still have so much to give, your very life!
2) She gave all that she had, all she had to live on. This word “all she had to live on” is the greek word for life “bios”. Jesus is making the point, that she didn’t just give out of her poverty, but in her giving she gave God her very life. She could of just given one coin, and that would have still be so much! If you came to me and said, I want to give 50% of my income away to the church and to God’s kingdom, I would call that faith! But did this widow just give 50% of her coins? This isn’t 10% giving, this isn’t even 50% giving, this 100%. This is heart that says everything I have, my money, my life is yours Lord.
The question for the disciples of Jesus isn’t “is this enough” but rather “is there anything I am holding back from you God?”
They said that when they use to baptize the vikings, those warriors from a long time ago, that the vikings would be baptized on one condition: their swords would be held above their heads and never enter the water. What were they saying? That Christ can every part of my life EXCEPT my sword and this way of life. I wonder if that was you or me, what would be the thing we are holding above our heads out of the water, saying Jesus every other part of my life you can have but this. It might be your finances, does our giving show that Jesus is Lord? Maybe it’s a relationship with a boyfriend or co-worker, and you’re saying Jesus I will let you have everything, BUT THIS RELATIONSHIP. Maybe it’s your future, your career? Jesus wants it all. You know what it is, because it’s the very thing that you don’t want Him to ask for.
You might be asking the question why would Jesus ask for so much? Why does He ask us to not just give our Sundays, or our money, but He asks for our very hearts? So that in giving all that we have we can receive all of who He is. There is no other way to receive the grace of God, without our surrender. We must come to Him like this widow and say, all that have is yours. But here’s the problem. None of us do that. None of us wakes up in the morning, and says “you know what, I think I’m going to give my entire life to Jesus today!” That’s what this story so special.
Jesus never asks from us what HE has not already given Himself. This widow’s sacrificial offering points us to the sacrifice of Christ.
In the same way it was a seemingly insignificant widow, making a seemingly insignificant sacrifice that in the eyes of God was an offering of worship. Isn’t the same, that it was in the world’s eyes, that a seemingly insignificant Jewish carpenter, despised and rejected by men, making what people thought to be a waste of a sacrifice on the cross, ended up being the means, the power, the way that God would save and rescue and redeem humanity? Jesus doesn’t just give us 10% of Himself, not just 50% of Himself, He gave us all of Himself, His very life.
Jesus can demands our life, so that we can receive His.
I have been crucified with Christ, and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
我已經與基督同釘十字架；現在活著的，不再是我，而是基督活在我裡面；如今在肉身中活著的我，是因信 神的兒子而活的；他愛我，為我捨己。
The only way we can live this kind of life, where we say everything we is yours, is through faith. Jesus living through us.
The sacrifice pleasing to God is a broken spirit. You will not despise a broken and humbled heart, God.
Jesus says where our treasure will be there our heart will be also. Your giving has the ability to lead and shape your heart. What you care about. What we invest in from finances to time, shapes what we value. Church there are 90,000 just here in Linkou who do not know Jesus, there is 90% of this island that do not know Jesus, and if we want to be a church that sees people reached with the gospel, churches planted, we must have a faith, we must give like this widow.
CONCLUSION
CONCLUSION
CONCLUSION
What does God now require of me? To search my heart and consider not just WHAT I am doing, but WHY AM I DOING IT? God requires my faith and trust, not just my duty. He wants to be my delight.
Where does He require this? To be fair none of us will have pure motivations, but look at our giving. Does our giving reflect faith and trust in God? Does our giving reflect that Christ is our delight? That we value what He values? I want you to take a look at your marriage, right now is your motivation to love your wife or your husband just because it’s the right thing to do? Your co-workers, just because it’s the right thing to do? Is there anything right now that you are holding back from the Lord?
Why do we do this? Because it is possible to do all the right things, look good externally, give large amounts of money but be no more holy or righteous than the buddhist who lives down the street. What God requires, what God asks for is a heart of faith. We do this because when we give Him our hearts, everything else follows.
How do we do this? I want us to remember that when we come to Christ and give Him all that we are, we receive all of who HE is. That means His Spirit, His power, His grace, His mercy. We can only do this as we abide in His Spirit and His power.