Don't Believe Everything You See. Mark 12:35-44

As we begin this morning, please turn in your copies of God’s Word to Mark 12:35-44. We will read these verses a little later, so have them marked and ready for that time.

I want to begin this morning with pop quiz. I know, I know…you thought pop quizzes ended when you graduated. But this one is easy. It is a fill in the blank quiz. Next Slide

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

A penny saved is a penny earned.

Appearances can be deceiving.

Great job, you all passed the quiz! You know the last question on this quiz fits well with this morning’s passage. This morning we are going to look at 3 small sections of Scripture were the participants in the events were not seeing what they thought they were seeing. They thought one thing, but the reality was, they were wrong, and in the last 2 instances, the exact opposite was true.

In Isaiah 55: 8-9 we read: “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways, declares the LORD. 9For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts.” This is clear throughout all of Scripture, it seems like every book of the Bible we see evidence that God has a different perceptive on things than we do. One of my favorite passages that give evidence to this truth is in 1 Samual 16. At this point in time in the history of the nation of Israel, their first king, King Saul, had failed God in virtually every conceivable area. As a result, in 1 Samuel 15, God informs the prophet Samuel; “I am grieved that I have made Saul king”. A little later in the chapter, we read that God had “rejected” Saul as king. This leads us to what we see recorded in 1 Samuel 16. As chapter 16 opens, Samuel had spent considerable time morning God’s rejection of King Saul, finally God broke the silence by stating “How long will you grieve Saul, since I have rejected him from being king over Israel?” In other words, “Saul, quit your weeping, get on your feet and go to Bethlehem, I have a job for you to do!” The job, anoint the next king of Israel who would come from the house of Jesse. As Samuel made his way to Bethlehem, I imagine in his mind he was thinking; “Alright, I need to identify from Jesse’s sons the one most similar to the size and stature of King Saul.” Scripture tells us that Saul was a mountain of a man, head and shoulders taller than anyone in Israel. Samuel waits as Jesse brings his oldest son Eliab, before him. The moment Eliab walked into the room, Samuel jaw dropped. He practically ducked as he entered the doorway. Samuel thought to himself, “This has got to be the one!” But no sooner did the thought enter his mind that God spoke to his heart. “Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For the Lord sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.” 6 more times Jesse brought a son before Samuel, and God rejected every one. Finally, after the 7th son passed before Samuel, Samuel asked Jesse; “Is this it?” Jesse replied; “Well I guess I do have one more, but surely he’s not the one, he’s my youngest, he’s out tending sheep.” And of course we all know the rest of the story, that young shepherd, the one so insignificant, he wasn’t even invited to the party, became the greatest king Israel ever had. God’s perspective is sooo different than ours, He sees things we can’t see, and the things that impress us, don’t even register on His screen. As I mentioned a moment ago, this is what we see in this mornings passage. We see 3 accounts where the limited perceptive of man is completely wrong, man sees things one way, God sees them completely different.

With that as an introductions, would you please stand in honor of the reading of God’s Word? Again, we will be reading Mark 12:35-44. Next Slide

Mark 12:35–44 ESV

35 And as Jesus taught in the temple, he said, “How can the scribes say that the Christ is the son of David? 36 David himself, in the Holy Spirit, declared, “ ‘The Lord said to my Lord, “Sit at my right hand, until I put your enemies under your feet.” ’ 37 David himself calls him Lord. So how is he his son?” And the great throng heard him gladly. 38 And in his teaching he said, “Beware of the scribes, who like to walk around in long robes and like greetings in the marketplaces 39 and have the best seats in the synagogues and the places of honor at feasts, 40 who devour widows’ houses and for a pretense make long prayers. They will receive the greater condemnation.” 41 And he sat down opposite the treasury and watched the people putting money into the offering box. Many rich people put in large sums. 42 And a poor widow came and put in two small copper coins, which make a penny. 43 And he called his disciples to him and said to them, “Truly, I say to you, this poor widow has put in more than all those who are contributing to the offering box. 44 For they all contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty has put in everything she had, all she had to live on.”

May the Lord add His Blessing to the reading of His Word, please be seated.

Much of my time in Bible College I worked for the athletic department. One of my many jobs was lining the soccer fields. Since I didn’t go home during the summer, I was the first one to line the soccer fields as we approached the school year. On the opposite side of the field from where we had our spectator stands, sat our scorers table. One particular year, as my friend Ricky and I were getting things prepared for the soccer players to return for pre-season training, I noticed the scorers table laying face down with the legs in the air. Let’s just say, I was a tad bit on the ornery side, so as I walked over to the upside down scorers table, I brought with me a can of the white spray-paint we used to mark the fields. I stood on the table and began to use the can to write on the underside of the table, “Ricky......umm, let’s just say I wrote Ricky stinks!”, because the first letter and the last 2 letters match... Well before I finished the last “s”, I heard a buzzing and began to experience some pain. Turns out that some yellow jackets and made a nest under that table and they were less than thrilled with my presence! I don’t know how familiar you are with yellow jackets, but unlike bees, when they sting, they don’t leave their stinger in you. They just keep stinging and stinging and stinging! Did i happen to mention that I wore my socks like Pete Maravich! How many of you remember how Pete Maravich wore his socks? Like Pistol Pete, I wore floppy socks. which means as I was fleeing the swarm of yellow jackets, many of them were stuck in my floppy socks stinging me over and over again as I fled!

In some ways this is what we are seeing take place in this morning’s passage. In this morning’s passage, Jesus stirs ups a nest of yellow jackets, the difference is, I stirred up the next accidently, Jesus knew full well what He was doing!

From the last half of Mark 11, through most of chapter 12, the Sanhedrin had been on the offensive. They had approached Jesus with 4 phases of what they thought were impossible questions, certain in their hearts that they were leading Him into a trap that would end His life and get Him out of their hair. Instead, Jesus handled each question masterfully, until we read at the end of Mark 12:34; “And after that no one dared to ask Him any more questions.”

In the true story I told you earlier about my encounter with the yellow jackets, before the end of that afternoon, my “stinky” friend Ricky and I had turned the table and within a couple of hours had the entire nest, with thousands of yellow jackets, In a big plastic trash bag and in a dumpster, where they all eventually died! Well starting in verse 35, we see Jesus turn the table on the Sanhedrin! They may have been done with their questions, but he wasn’t, and in His first set of questions, He stirs up their nest! He does so by:

Next Slide

Correcting Their Misconception Of All The Messiah Would Be. Vs. 35-37; Mt. 22:41-46

The Sanhedrin, as well as practically every Jew that had ever been looking for the coming Messiah, were not expecting the Messiah to be anything other than a man. Yes he would be spectacular, but he would still be nothing more than a man. They were probably expecting someone with the power of Sampson, the battle techniques of Joshua, the wisdom of Solomon, and the fight and no fear mentality of David. Someone who would lead them in a military expedition against whatever enemies they had of the day. And in this particular time in history, that enemy was the Roman’s. They were expecting one who would be their physical savior from their physical enemies. To be honest; Next Slide

They had set their sites to low!

You see, in His first coming, that was never the plan for the Messiah. He came first to be our spiritual Savior, not the physical savior. One provides salvation from a short term enemy, the other provides ultimate salvation from the devil himself opening the door for an eternity in heaven.

In Matthew’s account of this event, we get them impression that the Scribes and Pharisees were gathered together in a group, probably off to the side apart from the filth of the world. Jesus looks in their direction, most likely still in midst of the crowd, and asks the a question; “What do you think about the Christ (the Messiah)? Whose son is he?” Jesus knew them well enough to know exactly what they would answer. It would be the same answer given all the way back to the days of David and the prophet Nathan. When Nathan prophesied that one would come from the line of David who’s kingdom would know no end. As expected, they answered “The son of David.” In my mind, I imagine they answered rather emphatically, wanting to prove their superior intellect. Not realizing Jesus had led them into a trap. Jesus then delivers the blow;

“How can the scribes say that the Christ is the son of David? David himself, in the Holy Spirit, declared, ‘The Lord said to my Lord, “Sit at my right hand until I put your enemies under your feet.” David himself calls him Lord. So how is he his son?’”

Now to you and me, this is initially a head scratcher. Jesus is quoting from Psalm 110, the most quoted Psalm in the New Testament. It is a messianic psalm. It was a Psalm of David which all of the Scribes and Pharisees considered to be inspired. That is why Jesus adds “David....in the Holy Spirit”. In other words, Davids words came from God Himself. In their eyes, David was the greatest King that ever walked the face of the earth. He was superior to all others, and that included any king that would come in his line in the future. David goes on to write in Psalm 110 “The Lord said to my Lord, Sit at My right Hand, until I out Your enemies under Your feet.” The moment these words came out of the mouth of Jesus, these men knew exactly what Jesus was doing. Jesus was pointing out that the One Whom David was writing about in this Messianic Psalm, would not be Just a man, He would be God. 2 phrases in this Psalm make this clear. The first is “The Lord said to my Lord”. This was a declaration from God that the coming Messiah would be equal with God the Father. The next phrase was just as powerful; “Sit at My right hand”. In other words, the coming Messiah would be seated on a throne right next to Him as Co-equal. If the scribes and Pharisees weren’t livid before, they would be now!

The Scribes, Pharisees, the whole Nation of Israel, had set their sites of what the Messiah was to be, woefully low. They expected Him to lead them in conquest over their current enemy, the Roman Empire. He came to set them free of their eternal enemy, the powers of darkness, who set out to imprison them for all eternity alongside them in the flames of hell. They expected Him to come into Jerusalem riding on a white horse, wearing a suit of armor, helmet adorning His head, shield in one hand and a sword ready to be removed from it’s sheave on the other side, ready to vanquish Roman after Roman. He came in riding on a donkey, setting His sites on the hill Golgatha, where He would win, not by drawing His sword but by spreading His Hands out to be nailed to a rugged Roman cross to pay the price for their redemption. They had set their sites to low!

You know, sometimes we fall into the same problem that the Nation of Israel and the Scribes and Pharisees had fallen into. We set our sites to low.

We look at this Book and think that we see a Jesus that is going to make all the pain go away, and when that doesn’t happen, we think, Oh, that must not be Him. We assume if that’s Him, I shouldn’t feel the weight that I feel. I shouldn’t carry the burdens I carry. I shouldn’t be faced with the sufferings that I face. That crib should not be empty. There should not be an end date on that tombstone yet. My child....my child should not have left our home in rebellion. If that was Him, we would have heard the word “benign”, not “malignant”. If that was Him, none of this would have happened!

And I tell you, It Is Him! It is our vision that is clouded. Jesus did not come to this earth because it is awesome, He came because it’s not. And He gave His life to make things right. But they will not be so, until we either go to Him, or He returns to take those that have surrendered to Him home.

You know, Pam’s family has this cool app we use called Marco Polo. It is a way we can communicate with one another via video messages, which is great because we live in at least 6 different States. Well most of you know that our 39 year old nephew, Kevin, recently had quadruple bi-pass. Just this past week he finally was able to return home, and we are praising God. One of the video messages posted as he began to improve was “God is Good!” And that message could not have been more accurate, God Is Good! But guess what, His goodness would not have diminished one bit had Kevin died on the operating table.

Can I make this even more personal to us as a church family? I wept this week when I allowed my mind to think of the possible diagnosis for Hailey Myers. I praise God that I was wrong, but had the diagnosis been Leukemia, we could have all still said, “God Is Good!”

Are you basing your view of Jesus, on the wrong thing? Have you set your sites to low? Next Slide

Do you need to set your expectations higher?

Jesus did not come to make you happy. He came so that you and I could be holy, and reconciled to God the Father.

But there is something else I want to add here, and that is that while those who accept that gift of reconciliation, who accept the gift purchased by the blood of Jesus on the cross, while that blood does not guarantee a trouble free life, it does guarantee that the believer never walks through those troubles alone. God Himself, through the indwelling of His Holy Spirit, is with the believer every step of the way.

The next thing Jesus does in this morning’s passage that shows His perspective of things is like night and day compared to ours. Was equally powerful to the first. He: Next Slide

Correcting Their Misconception Of Who Should Be Held in High Regard. Vs. 38-40; Mt. 23; Luke 20:45-47

The crowd assembled there that day held the religious leaders in highest regard. The knew the Torah like the back of their hands. Studied it tirelessly, and as far as the crowds could tell, they followed the Law fastidiously. There was little doubt in their minds that you couldn’t be any closer to God that what they saw in the religious leaders. Yet here Jesus is, surrounded by a crowd, and He had just made the Scribes and Pharisees look foolish. But He didn’t stop there, He went on to shine a very powerful spot light on the collective hearts of the religious leaders. I would imagine that as Jesus addressed His disciples here, the growing crowd listening in, the Scribes and Pharisees within ear shot, it was a pretty surreal moment! Jesus moves from making them look foolish, to delivering to the listeners an outright warning about these religious leaders.

Mark 9–16: The MacArthur New Testament Commentary The Caution (12:38a)

The scribes were revered as the gatekeepers of the law and the protectors of the people. In theory, they defined the law for all and held all to its standards, obedience to which, they promised, brought blessing. In reality they were hypocrites, sons of hell who made their disciples twice as much sons of hell as they were (Matt. 23:15).

Jesus went on to point out the hypocrisy of their ways. Opening the eyes of the listeners to the fact that they did nothing out of a love for God, but were driven completely by a “what’s in it for me mentality”. From the types of robes they wore when walking around, robes designed to draw the eyes of the crowd, not to God but to them. The Greetings they expected of the people in the marketplace. The seats they demanded in the synagogues and at feasts. But, perhaps the most powerful condemnation came in regards to their treatment of widows. The first 2 revealed their prideful hearts, but this one revealed what their own greed had led them to do. It led them to take advantage on the most helpless members of their society, the widows. The Old Testament repeatedly taught of the protective way widows were to be treated. These scribes did the exact opposite. As lawyers, experts in the law, widows would come to them for assistance in handling and protecting their homes and possessions, the scribes would draw up the legal paperwork in such a way that one way or the other, the property would soon be theirs. Lastly, they offered up long public prayers that were meant for the ears of the crowd, instead of for the ears of God. Consequently, God turned a deaf ear to their prayers.

Mark just touches the surface on Jesus condemnation of the religious leaders. Matthew goes to great length in Matthew chapter 23, delivering blow after blow to them. At one point saying; “You serpents, you brood of vipers, how are you to escape being sentenced to hell?!” No wonder they wanted Him dead!

Jesus is correcting their misconception of who the people were to hold in high regard. But He has one other misconception to correct. He goes on to:

Correct Their Misconception Of What True Devotion Looks Like. Vs. 41-44; Lk. 21:1-4

Up to this point in time, Jesus had been moving to and fro throughout the Temple, teaching as He went. Probably using object lessons as He walked about. Now He appears to separate Himself from the crowd as He moves into the Court of the Women. This was the largest part of the temple. After moving into the Court of the Women, Jesus then sat down and spent a few minutes just observing what was taking place. Scattered throughout the Court of the Women there were 13 very large trumpet shaped receptacles designed for the people to put in their tithes and offerings. Jesus sat opposite one of the receptacles and began to watch people as they gave. I picture things happening something like this; the wealthy would parade through the Court of the Women, making sure to act in such a way that eyes would be drawn in their direction. Then, once they had the attention of the common folk, they would approach one of the offering receptacles, and unload their coins. It was clear as they put their coins in that they were giving large sums of money. Jesus noticed a poor widow, she too, was watching the crowd, but for the opposite reason. She was waiting for their eyes to be directed in another direction. As Jesus watched her, He called to 12 by His side. Knowing Peter, he began to speak....Jesus shushed him, telling the 12 to just watch. Perhaps a couple religious leaders came forward and unloaded their money pouches into the receptacle, then, when someone was doing the same thing at one of the other 13 receptacles, the widow quietly stepped up to the one opposite Jesus and the 12, and dropped in 2 small copper coins. Had Jesus not directed the 12 to look, no one would have even noticed. In my mind I imagine Judas speaking up at this point; “Jesus, what exactly did you want us to see?” Judas, who had made a god out of money, was probably impressed with the giving of the wealthy. Jesus next words stunned the disciples. Next Slide

Mark 12:43–44 ESV

43 And he called his disciples to him and said to them, “Truly, I say to you, this poor widow has put in more than all those who are contributing to the offering box. 44 For they all contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty has put in everything she had, all she had to live on.”

Jesus is making two powerful points to both the 12 as well as us in these verses. One is a negative point, the other a positive. I’d like to start with the positive, and end with the positive. The negative: Next Slide

Maybe We Shouldn’t Pat Ourselves On the Back so Frequently.

What do I mean by that? If, as we give of our time, our treasure and our talents, to the work of God, our motive is anything other than to bring glory to God, to make Him look good, as Michale W. Smith said the other night at the Klove awards, “To make Jesus famous!” Then the only reward we receive is the recognition of men. Our God in heaven looks the other way, it means nothing to Him. God looks at the heart, He sees our motive and it is our motive, not the amount of our gift that gets the attention of God.

On the positive side: Next Slide

Even Today, Jesus is Still Watching.

His eyes miss nothing, NOTHING. And His heart is moved when we serve Him, when we give to further His ministry, when we work behind the scenes, hoping against all hope that no one sees what we are doing because that’s not why we work, that’s not why we serve, that’s not why we give. God watches, and He takes note of it. And He forgets nothing. He sees our heart. The question is: Next Slide

What Does He See In My Heart?

Let’s close our time this morning in prayer.

Father God, So much of the time we set our sites too low when we look at You as our Savior. Our eyes focus on the troubles we are faced with, our circumstances, the words of the Dr., a diagnosis, and we struggle with the goodness of God, forgetting that Your goodness stands strong no matter what we are facing, and that You are with us as we travel down troubled roads. Father, sometimes we become impressed with the wrong people, our eyes are drawn to people because of outward things they do or say to draw attention to themselves, but you....You look at the heart. May You, when You look at our heart, when you look at our offering up of our time, our treasures and our talents, see a heart motivated by a desire to bring You glory. That You would reward us accordingly, not so that we can focus on those rewards in eternity, but that we can then lay them at the nail scared Feet of the Savior. To God be the glory, great things He hath done. These things we pray, In Jesus Name, Amen.