2022.03.13 The End of the World As We Know It: Start Small

The End of the World As We Know It: Start Small

Mark 12:13–17 • Mark 12:41–44

Have you ever looked at a sink full of dishes and felt like you’d never get them all clean?

How about overflowing baskets of laundry?

Have you ever wanted to do a project for work or home, but the size and scope of the project just froze you up?

When we feel overwhelmed, our instinct isn’t to roll up our sleeves and get to work. Our instinct is to curl up in a ball and wonder how to even start such a project.

And when we do that, what happens to the size of the project? It grows.

We dirty more dishes; wear more clothes; and the project deadline moves ever closer.

The overwhelmed feeling gives way to fear, and fear tells us we’ll never be able to accomplish the goal. But … in case you don’t remember … FEAR IS A LIAR!

Sure, when we look at our world today, the idea of making a difference seems impossible. The world is SO messed up! In the period of 2 weeks, over 2.5 million Ukrainians fled their country. In 2020, >37 million Americans lived below the poverty line. In 2019, the US Dept. of Justice secured 475 convictions for human trafficking. Imagine how many individuals were trafficked by those 475 people … then think about how many traffickers weren’t caught or convicted.

Statistics are staggering … and there are far more social problems than we even know about.

I’ve shared this with you before: In 2017 statistics, 53,139 people in Vigo County don’t know Jesus. That — is an overwhelming statistic. How can we possibly make a difference on that large of a scale.

The brutal truth is … we can’t!

If we think we can make a difference in those staggering numbers, we’re deluding ourselves and deep down we know it. That’s why we don’t do anything. And just like the dishes and laundry, the numbers grow every year.

In the 5 years from 2012-2017, the Vigo County number of people who don’t know Jesus grew by 30%!

We have to get ourselves out of shutdown mode. How?

First of all, we need some perspective. I’ve seen this quote attributed to many different people, but the wisdom is eternal:

Do you know how to eat an elephant?

One bite at a time.

The End of the World As We Know It: Start Small

In today’s first reading, Jesus is being challenged by the religious leadership (what’s new?). This is after Palm Sunday, so time is getting short, and the leaders are getting more desperate to get Jesus out of the picture one way or another.

These cowardly leaders send in some Pharisees and some politicians with a question about paying taxes. We know this is a trap because the question changes in the middle. First they ask, “Is it right to pay taxes to Caesar or not?” and before Jesus even answers, they change the question to: “Should we pay taxes or not?”

That’s a shade of meaning, but the fact that Herodians (politicians) were involved makes this a big distinction. Saying it’s “wrong” to pay taxes to Caesar isn’t punishable. But saying the people “shouldn’t” pay taxes was enough for criminal charges. Jesus calls out their trap and teaches a good lesson using a coin. But he didn’t ask for just any coin. He asks for a denarius. A denarius was a silver coin worth about a day’s wage to a common worker - so no small amount, except to Pharisees and politicians. He knew a denarius would have been easily available in the crowd challenging him, and perhaps may have been the smallest coin they would’ve been carrying.

When a magician asks for money from the audience, do they ask for $100 bill? No. They ask for something smaller, because they know there’s a possibility no one will have a $100 bill in the audience … or no one is willing to trust them with it. :)

Jesus did the same thing. He started with what he knew the Pharisees would have with them.

Our second reading takes place near the end of the same day at the Temple. And the money involved is a heckuva contrast. They see a widow among the other people who are putting money in the Temple treasury.

don’t read passage

Mark 12:42 NASB 2020

42 And a poor widow came and put in two lepta coins, which amount to a quadrans.

Of course, the rich people are contributing large sums, but this widow puts in “two lepta coins, which amount to a quadrans.” What the heck is a lepta? It’s a half a quadrans, of course!

graph of lepta’s value

The singular “lepton” is the smallest value of coin in the Roman economy. The widow gives two of these coins, which is worth approximately 1/128 of a day’s wage. That’s half; of a half; of a half; of a half; of a half; of a half; of a half (7 half’s) of a day’s wage.

Halley’s Bible Handbook says these two copper coins “were worth almost nothing”.

No one was sitting with baited breath waiting for the widow’s offering to pay the light bill.

So what?

The End of the World As We Know It: Start Small

Jesus said the widow’s 2 lepta were more or more valuable than the rich people’s large amounts!

Do you know how to eat an elephant?

One bite at a time.

You see, we will not make a difference to the entire world. We simply are not capable.

But like the little girl throwing starfish back into the ocean … we can make a difference for ‘this one’.

How do we bring about the world God envisions?

How do we help 53,139 people in Vigo County discover God’s love for them, and help them run into the arms of Jesus Christ?

One bite at a time! The end of the world as we know it begins small. It begins with 1 of those 53,139 people.

It begins with you and me deciding we’re not going to be overwhelmed anymore.

What’s the first bite?

In years past, the church has thrown out tracts and trusted they’d bear fruit … “well, we did our part.” But that’s not how people come to Jesus. People come to Jesus by way of a relationship with Jesus’ people.

In the coming week’s I will be outlining an approach to helping people discover God’s love for them through relationship building. It’s a simple, and doable approach.

I didn’t invent or even dream up this process of evangelism, but I’ve seen lots of testimonies about its effectiveness.

Today, we’ll take the first bite. Maybe it’s a half of a half of a half of a half of making a difference. But the first bite is this…

Write a list of people you want to see commit to faith in Christ. Unchurch People in my life:

● Friends

● Relatives

● Acquaintances

● Neighbors

● Colleagues

These may be people you already know (or sort of know), and would love to see changed by the love of Christ.

If you’re an overachiever when it comes to lists … whittle down your list. You want a short list. 3-5 is ideal, but keep the bigger list — you’ll need more names after the first 3 discover Jesus. :)

The next step involves you making a choice … how do you start your day? Wherever that is, put your list somewhere that you’ll see at the beginning of each day. And commit to start every day with prayer asking God to use you to bless these people who do not know him. Not sure what to pray? May I suggest you place their name into scripture?

Don’t read any of these passages…read the prayers below the text

John 7:37 NASB 2020

37 Now on the last day, the great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink.

Lord, make ____________ thirsty for you.

John 6:44 NASB 2020

44 No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up on the last day.

Father, draw ____________ to you, and prepare him for your love.

2 Corinthians 4:4 NASB 2020

4 in whose case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so that they will not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.

O Lord, open ____________’s heart to help him see the light of your Truth.

Romans 3:23–24 NASB 2020

23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus,

Jesus, help ____________ see his own guilt and recognize your redemption is available.

2 Corinthians 7:10 NASB 2020

10 For the sorrow that is according to the will of God produces a repentance without regret, leading to salvation, but the sorrow of the world produces death.

God, give ____________ the strength to repent and lead him to salvation.

1 John 3:18 NASB 2020

18 Little children, let’s not love with word or with tongue, but in deed and truth.

Lord, help ____________ experience your love today.

And conclude your prayer with something like this…

…and let me be available to help them discover you.

The ushers will have a prayer guide with these and more prayer suggestions for you on your way out of the sanctuary this morning. Please take one, add your names, and use this in whatever form to pray for your people.

You can put it in your Bible if that’s where you begin the day.

You could stick it to your bathroom mirror, so you can pray while you brush your teeth each morning.

Feel free to take a picture of the sheet if a pic on your phone would be more useful.

Some phones will even let you make a photo into a widget on your phone’s home screen.

Some Bible apps let you type out prayers to be used each day … you could use a few of these with your friends’ name inserted.

You could retype it as a note in your phone if that would work for you. (or email me and I’ll send the text to you so you can just copy/paste)

You could send it to yourself as an email, and put it in a spot where you’ll see it every morning.

The methods of using the list are infinite … but PRAYER is how we start small: listing friend’s names and actively praying for them. That’s not so overwhelming is it?

Bring your list of names next week, and we’ll take another small step with them. And slowly, you and I can bring about the end of the world as we know it.

The End of the World As We Know It: Start Small

Every great move of the Church has begun with prayer. 53,139 people don’t come to Christ just because we sat back and lamented their eternity. They come to Christ one at a time, and only when we get off our backsides and work to help them see God’s love for them. Like every great movement of the Church … that begins with prayer.

And one person may feel like 1/128 of a difference … but bring your friends and your availability to Christ as an offering and see if he doesn’t make a difference with it.