Wealth & Giving (Morning)
Download MP3If you have a Bible, I invite you to turn to Mark chapter 12, as we are continuing our study in the gospel of Mark. We started a little over a year ago. I think we will, we'll go through maybe February or so. This summer I had a sabbatical, and Lauren and I, we we got to spend some of that time in England. I'd never been there before.
Joel Brooks:It's a fascinating country, there's beautiful homes, beautiful gardens, the food is, you know, it's, yeah. The people were lovely. We were in York, the town of York one day, and I got to have a conversation with another pastor there. And he was asking me all about Redeemer, and, so I told him that the church was 16 years old, but our church building is actually over a 100 years old. And he goes, that's that's great.
Joel Brooks:Because you know, I'm pastoring now at my 3rd church, and all of them have been over a 1000 years old. That that's crazy. Lauren and I, we actually spent a lot of our time touring, cathedrals like that, places where churches like he had pastored. And one of the things that you'll notice if you go into any of those old gorgeous cathedrals, is that they're filled with statues, filled with plaques everywhere. These might be statues of old Christian saints, or kings, or prime ministers, or war heroes.
Joel Brooks:But usually what they are statues of are the wealthy people who had given generously to the cathedral. And sure enough, you know, it takes a lot of money to keep up a cathedral like that. York Minster takes $35,000 a day to maintain that cathedral. It's about $25 a minute. The stained glass windows are especially pricey, and so if you're really wealthy, one of the things that they would do is, you could actually for a certain amount of money could get your face etched into the stained glass of these old cathedrals.
Joel Brooks:What the wealthy they'd look at, you know, there's gonna be a stained glass of Peter walking on the water. But if you gave a ton of money, they will put your face where Peter's is, because they have no idea what Peter looks like. And so just for a small sum, you could have your face immortalized in the stained glass. We've got a lot of stained glass here, and I'm open. If any of you guys have any ideas, any money, just talk to me later.
Joel Brooks:The story I wanna look at this morning, it's about a woman who, no church ever had a statue of her. There was never a plaque that was made in her honor. Never a stained glass with her face etched in it. And there was not even a pew with her name entered or a garden bench in memory of her. And yet, Jesus says that this woman gave more than anyone.
Joel Brooks:So let's read this story in Mark chapter 12 beginning in verse 38. And in Jesus' teaching, he said, beware of the scribes who like to walk around in long robes and like greetings in the marketplaces and have the best seats in the synagogues, and the places of honor at feast, who devour widows' houses, and for a pretense make long prayers. They will receive the greater condemnation. And He sat down opposite the treasury and He watched the people putting money into the offering box. Many rich people put in large sums, and a poor widow came and put in 2 small copper coins, which make a penny.
Joel Brooks: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. 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. This is the Word of the Lord. You would pray with me. Father, thank you for preserving this story for us for the last 2000 years.
Joel Brooks:That we could read it in this place. We could read about this beautiful gift from this widow, and have our hearts stirred in their affection to you. Would you be so kind to do that in our midst? I pray that my words would fall to the ground and blow away and not be remembered anymore. But Lord, may your words remain, and may they change us.
Joel Brooks:We pray this in the strong name of Jesus, amen. So I cannot think of another story in the Bible where Jesus actually gathers his disciples together, and he tells them to look at someone doing something praiseworthy. Normally, Jesus has to point to things in nature, like look at the lilies, or look at the ravens, or maybe he has to come up with a story or a parable in order to illustrate some point about God's kingdom or how we should have more faith in God. But he doesn't ever point at actual people. But here he is.
Joel Brooks:He's pointing to an actual living, breathing person As a person doing something praiseworthy. That alone should get our attention as to the story. But before Jesus asked His disciples to look at her, He first says you need to look at someone else. And he gives a word of warning about these people. Mark, he puts the story of the scribes and the story of this widow side by side, because he actually wants us to compare and to contrast 2 very different lifestyles.
Joel Brooks:Jesus is currently, He's in the temple, He's teaching. He sees some of the scribes there, and so He warns His disciples about them. Verse 38, beware of the scribes. Beware of them. So I've got a little guilty pleasure, I'm gonna confess, I hope you don't think less of me when I confess this.
Joel Brooks:The 8 o'clock service did, no one laughed. The 9:40 was a little more generous, but here it goes anyway. Here's my guilty pleasure, I like to watch on YouTube, videos of people at Yellowstone being attacked by bison. Thank you. It's just I mean, it's natural selection most of the time.
Joel Brooks:It's there's just I mean, I know it's not funny, but it kinda is. So these because they're ignoring every sign. I mean, people are telling them, don't go near the bison, there are signs that say, beware dangerous animals, and they're looking like, they're just cows. And so they get as close as they can, and then they take their last selfie before being rushed to the hospital. And so I I just find it humorous.
Joel Brooks:Jesus, he's here telling anyone who will listen at the temple, beware. Beware of the scribes. Beware of them. Meaning, I know they don't look dangerous, but they really are. And the disciples had to be looking at some of these scribes, and they're like, them?
Joel Brooks:They're dangerous? No. Scribes are harmless. Now scribe was a religious lawyer. If you remember the Old Testament had 613 laws, hard to keep up with, even harder to keep up with and actually apply to day to day living, that's what your scribes were for.
Joel Brooks:They helped you remember the law and they helped you learn how to apply that law to day to day situations, they would figure that all out for you. They were educated, they dress nicely, They were obviously very religious, and the people respected them. They were the types of people that you you hoped could become friends. You hoped would invite you over to dinner. So why is it that Jesus says, beware, watch out for them?
Joel Brooks:Well, He tells us why. Let's look at what He says about them. First, He comments on their clothes, He says they like to wear long robes. The long robes were kind of the distinguished, you know Armani suits of the day. When I was in high school, I wore different things to impress.
Joel Brooks:When I was in high school, what was in at the time was the penny loafers, and so we wore the penny loafers with an actual shiny penny in them. Of course you couldn't wear socks, you had to wear faded jeans, rolled up cuffed. If you had a letter jacket, you were not allowed to wear it but your girlfriend was because she was always cold. But if your girlfriend was right next to you wearing your letter jacket, and you had everything else on it was it was the perfect ensemble. It lets you know, let other people know that you were somebody, you were dressed impressed, and so you would walk down and people will give you the fist bumps, they would give you the nods, those are the greetings in the marketplaces here.
Joel Brooks:Now most of us are no longer teenagers, but nothing really changes. I mean, we still dress to impress, don't we? We still wanna put forth some kind of image, we want people to think well of us, that's the scribes here, they wanted to put forth an image. They also, they had the places of honor at the feast or all the public festivals, that means they got the window seats at the best restaurants. If Beyonce or Taylor Swift came into town, they got the tickets, they actually got good tickets, maybe even backstage passes, and they also devoured widows houses.
Joel Brooks:For pretense made long prayers. We're not exactly sure what Jesus means by this. It's pretty graphic language to devour, to consume a widow's house. But it's not hard to imagine how a religious lawyer could do this. Perhaps they convinced the widows to let them be a guardian of their husband's estate.
Joel Brooks:Perhaps they overcharged for legal advice. We're not really sure, the options were limitless. It's actually pretty easy to still take advantage of old people today, it happens all of the time. You know, you just phone scams are everywhere, you call and say, Hey, you have to give to this political candidate, if you don't give right now the whole country is going to pot in a week. Or, you know, my mom is amazing, but she has been contacted by the Prince of Nigeria 4 times.
Joel Brooks:And, you know, for just a little bit of money if she would give it, it would unleash all of his inheritance. When we read about these long prayers here, possibly the scribes were selling their prayers. Hey, you can hire me and I could give you that long, beautiful, articulate prayer that you always wanted to say, oh, even light a candle for you. Jesus looks at all that and he finds it despicable. But I want you to notice here, Jesus isn't warning the widows.
Joel Brooks:He's not telling widows, look out for these scribes who are gonna take advantage of you. He doesn't warn them. He warns those listening to, He's warning His followers. Why is He warning them? It's not like they're gonna go out and scam a bunch of widows.
Joel Brooks:And Jesus, He says, Well, maybe, maybe not. But you have to remember that these guys here, they're influencers, and seeing them living their best life now, you might wanna go down the same path, and you need to know where that path is going to lead. I mean, let's face it, guys. The clothes that you're wearing right now, 10 years ago, you thought were unfashionable. 10 years ago, you would've thought, nah, I'm not gonna wear that.
Joel Brooks:Some of you would've thought maybe this outfit was hideous 10 years ago. But then something changed, you saw an advertisement. Maybe you saw a movie with somebody wearing these things. Maybe you just saw someone who was good looking and respectable wearing those things, and all of a sudden you're like, camouflage Crocs are not that bad. UGG boots, boots with the fur, I mean, all these things, they kinda go in cycles.
Joel Brooks:This might be painful for you to hear, but you need to know you have changed because you have wanted the approval of the crowd. Every person here has, you've changed because you wanted the approval of the crowd. That's what the scribes were doing, They lived for it, they lived for the approval of the crowd, not for the approval of God. They loved what others thought about them with all their heart and all their soul and all their strength and all of their mind. They loved the recognition, the wealth, the honor, all more than they loved the Lord their God.
Joel Brooks:And that love for all of those things led them down this path through where they finally began taking advantage of the most vulnerable in society, and even using their religiosity, not as a way of seeking God, but as a way of seeking the approval of man. And Jesus says, Judgment's coming, beware the scribe. Beware, that is not a harmless lifestyle. Then Jesus says, and now I want you to notice this widow. The lifestyle of the scribe is now contrasted with the lifestyle of the widow.
Joel Brooks:Jesus, He goes and He finds a place just outside of the treasury where He can sit down and He could do a little people watching. Who doesn't love to do a little people watching? And in particular, he's watching people give their money into the offering boxes. At the temple, there were 13 offering boxes. They actually looked like trumpets.
Joel Brooks:They had a small little opening at the top and then they kind of fluted out at the bottom. And so people would give in one of these 13, each one of them had a different category for it. So you could designate your giving. You could give, one had, the designation of incense, you could buy incense for the temple, the other you could buy gold for the temple, you could buy wood for the temple, you could buy sacrifices for the poor, you could pay for aid to be given to the widows, and some were just kind of general buckets that the temple could use however they wanted. It's actually the closest thing we have in the Bible to a church budget.
Joel Brooks:Now Jesus is not condemning this, He's just observing. The truth is, takes money to run a temple, takes money to run a church. You have to have these things in order to keep the doors of churches open. So He's not condemning this, just observing. He's watching as people would line up and they would drop their coins in these chests.
Joel Brooks:And because of the trumpet nature of these chests, you can only put in a single coin at a time. So if you're wealthy, and some of these people are really wealthy, that's a long time of coin after coin after coin. Some of the people were so wealthy, they actually hired servants to come and to carry all of their coins, it's a lot of weight. And so they would just be there putting in all these coins, and you could actually hear about the sound these coins would make if it was a really heavy coin, which means it was worth a lot or something light. And I gotta confess, it'd be really fun to watch that.
Joel Brooks:I it would be, if you wanted to people watch that would be a really fun thing to watch all these people give and guess how much they're giving and all of that. I mean, can you imagine if we did it up here? That's how we had our offering, you gotta come forward, you gotta put it out there and you know, we'll actually put it up on the screen, what you write the check for. I mean, you would all watch, we'd probably get a whole lot of money if we did it that way. Just one of our elders write that down, future note.
Joel Brooks:So Jesus, He's watching all of these people. Once again, He's not critical of them, He's not critical of the rich, how they're giving, He's not judging their motives, he merely observes, the wealthy people are putting in a lot of money. However, he does make a comment about the widow. Now when he sees this poor widow give, he calls all of His disciples over and He's like, Hey, hey, guys, quick over here. Look at that woman there, see that poor woman?
Joel Brooks:She just gave more than anyone. They gotta be thinking, Oh my gosh, her? How much does she give? Two small copper coins. These copper coins, they were called leptas.
Joel Brooks:Some of your translation might say mites. They were the smallest of all the copper coins out there. Each was worth 1 128th of a denarius. I know that doesn't mean much to us, so in today's money each one was worth about a dollar, so she put in a couple of bucks. Enough where she wanted to buy a little something to eat she could.
Joel Brooks:Now I actually have one of these widows mites right here. Years ago, I bought this on eBay from a supposed antique dealer, how to trust it was, and said it was 2,000 years old. I've kept it in my pocket now for many years. I've actually, I've had to put like a clear coat all around it to protect it, otherwise it would just turn into, you know, a bright shiny copper little penny because it's in my pocket all of the time. But I keep it on me to remind me of this story because I need reminding of the story.
Joel Brooks:I actually gave one of these to each one of my girls when they turned 13, and asked that they would keep it on them. They've all lost them. But I tried. But I keep this on me because I want to remind myself what it is that Jesus notices. This is what Jesus notices.
Joel Brooks:This is it right here. This is what he notices. I wanna be reminded of what it looks like to live a life of generosity, to live a life that is totally dependent upon God. I mean, this widow here, she's she's not dressed to impress, she couldn't dress to impress anyone. I mean, she's poor.
Joel Brooks:When she came into the temple, there was no fist bumps, nobody giving her the nod. I mean, she was, she might have been embarrassed to even come in the way she was dressed. She likely came, trying not to draw any attention to herself, quietly she would get in line, when it was her time to put in the coins, it would have taken no time at all, and it would have also not made any sound, these little copper coins would have been so light. And yet when they hit the bottom, the clang of that reached all the way to heaven. I mean, church bells could not have been any louder.
Joel Brooks:Jesus heard that sound. And in verse 44, he says, Truly I say to you, this poor widow has put in more than all, all of those who are contributing in the offering boxes, for they all contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty put in everything she had. All she had to live on. Let me tell you, you would think that after carrying carrying this around with me for all these years, I'd have something like a whole lot to say about this text. I'd have something really profound to say, but I actually don't.
Joel Brooks:This isn't a hard story to interpret. It's not. The truth is I carry this just because I need to constantly be reminded of the simple truths this story teaches. I need to be reminded that when evaluating the worth of an offering, Jesus doesn't look at how much you keep or how much you give, but He looks at how much you keep. That the cost of a gift is what matters, not the amount.
Joel Brooks:What do I give that's actually costing me something? I don't know about you but I need to be reminded of that. A lot of people wonder why Mark put this story about giving here. I mean, if you've been going through Mark, it doesn't really make sense. You know, thematically Jesus is having all these arguments with the Pharisees, scribes, or the Herodians and Sadducees.
Joel Brooks:And then there's this little section on giving. And then right after this, He's gonna talk about judgment coming on the temple and all this judgment coming. And like, what a strange place, like 2 days before He's going to the cross, to have this little thing about giving. And granted, it would be a really strange place to put this story if this story was only about giving, but it's not only about giving. This is a story about what it looks like to love the Lord your God with all of your heart, and all of your soul, and all of your strength, and all of your mind.
Joel Brooks:She's a picture of what Jesus just said was the most important commandment last week. This is a woman who trusts God completely with her life. And Jesus makes this clear in what He says about her. He says, She put in everything she had, all she had to live on. At first, it seems like Jesus is just saying the same thing twice.
Joel Brooks:No just different ways of saying the same thing when he says she gave everything she had, she gave all that she had to live on, but he's actually saying 2 different things. She gave everything she had is she gave all of her money. She gave all she had to live on, well actually in Greek, it's only 3 words, and that she gave all her life. She gave all her life. That to live on is actually just one word, it's bios, it's where we get the word life.
Joel Brooks:She gave her life, all of it. That's why this is here, what a beautiful picture this is of loving the Lord your God with all of your heart and your soul and your strength and your mind. What a beautiful picture of trusting God with everything. That's why I keep this coin. The scribes, they live for the approval of the crowd and I feel that pull in me.
Joel Brooks:I don't know about you but man, I feel that pull. This woman lived for the approval of God. The scribes trusted the crowd to give them whatever they wanted. I feel that pull within me. This widow, well she trusted God to give her everything she needs.
Joel Brooks:She could have held on to that money, you know, to buy one more meal which would have bought her a little bit more time to where she can maybe earned a little bit more money to where she could have bought another meal, which have given her a little bit more time to maybe earn a little bit more money where she could have bought another meal. And she could have kept on doing that and doing that, but instead what she sees is at the very least she'll skip a meal, but she's going to show how she utterly depends on God, and she gives him everything. She might not have been rich in money, but she was rich in faith. I had a friend in college, her name was Tammy. She had been on her own since she was 16 years old.
Joel Brooks:She had left her mom, her dad was never in the picture. She went to University of Georgia, she was a hardcore atheist. The Lord radically saved her, and just gave her such a gift of faith. It was extraordinary to see. She trusted God for everything, and she was so generous with the little that she had.
Joel Brooks:I mean, God would just, crazy ways, would provide for her tuition, or provide for her rent, or for her next meal, And then with whatever little money she has, she just kept giving it away and giving it away. And you would ask her, it's like, how can you actually do that? I mean, how can you just give away, you don't have any money, how are you giving it all away? And her answer was always this, she would smile, she goes, it's because I have a rich daddy. I love that.
Joel Brooks:I've got a rich daddy. She knew she was a child of God. She knew her heavenly father loved her and would take care of her. She knew that her father owned the cattle on a 1000 hills. She might not have been rich in money, but she was rich in faith.
Joel Brooks:And so she didn't operate out of the scarcity mentality that I have so much, which I feel like I just got a hold on to things, she could just freely give knowing that the Lord would give to her and give to her and take care of her. She was not rich in money, but rich in faith. Now although this story here is not primarily about giving, there's a couple of quick takeaways we can have about giving. Both of these should be an encouragement to us. 1st, no gift is meaningless.
Joel Brooks:This widow's gift was not even a drop in the bucket compared to what other people gave. It wouldn't buy a single ounce of gold, it wouldn't even buy a good meal for a priest. And yet, Jesus saw that gift as priceless, no gift is meaningless. 2nd, everyone can give this way. That doesn't mean you have to give away everything you have, but you could give to where it cost you.
Joel Brooks:Everyone can do this. You you don't have to be rich and give a whole lot of money in order for God to notice. It's not the amount of money that matters, it's the cost. Let me ask you this, when is the last time you've given in such a way it actually cost you something? You had to change your lifestyle.
Joel Brooks:Have you ever given that way? Have you ever maybe had to spend a little less on a vacation, or a little less on an outfit, or a little less on a new house renovation, all so you could give more? These are things we could do. We don't have to be rich to give more, we just have to give in such a way that it actually cost us something. And don't think for a moment that when I'm talking about denying yourself of something, that I'm talking about denying yourself of joy, that's not what I'm talking about.
Joel Brooks:You are not in any way denying yourself of joy when you practice self denial. Jesus was dead serious when he said, It's more blessed to give than to receive. You give, and you will get joy. The most joyful people I know are the most generous people I know. Because I mean, they're not, they're not trying to make more of something, more of wealth than it actually is.
Joel Brooks:They're not turning it into an idol, but just something they can freely give away because they have a rich daddy. One final thought about this story, and we'll close with this, and this is actually the reason I think Jesus was so moved by this widow's gift, and I think it's the reason that we should be so moved by it. It's because what she's actually doing here is pointing to something so much greater. She's pointing to something that Jesus would do just a couple of days from now. Jesus looked at her and her life resonated with with His life, because Jesus was about to give away His very life on a cross.
Joel Brooks:He was about to offer it up as an act of atonement for our sins. Jesus was about to give the most costly gift that had ever been given. If you were to actually add up the worth of what Jesus was gonna offer, it would not only be worth more than all the wealth of this world, it will be worth more than every act of righteousness we've ever tried to perform. Jesus offered the most costly gift of all when He gave His life. It was enough to purchase our forgiveness, it was enough to purchase eternal life, it was enough to give us the riches of heaven.
Joel Brooks:The Apostle Paul, he puts it this way in 2nd Corinthians 2 when he says, for you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sake He became poor, that through his poverty you might become rich. And it's only in understanding how rich we actually are in Christ that we can actually let go of the riches of this world. Pray with me, church. Jesus, I pray that you'd be so kind that through your Spirit now you would, you would give us freedom over the the many things that distract us from your glory. You would teach us to let go of the things that don't matter and hold on to you.
Joel Brooks:You would remind us of your gospel that you have become poor so that we might become rich. Lord, would you make us generous people so we can, through our money, reflect the very gospel that we believe. And we pray this all in the sweet name of Jesus. Amen.
