Everything

Everything – Mark 12: 38 - 44

Intro: You may know who Vincent Van Gogh is; but, did you know that he had a dizzy aunt named Verti Gogh? He had a magician uncle named Where Diddy Gogh? His Mexican uncle was name A Mee Gogh. His rock star cousin was named Ring Gogh. He had another uncle who was a banker named Wells Far Gogh. His dancing cousin was named Tang Gogh and he had a Chinese bird-loving cousin named Fla Min Gogh. He had another aunt who love to travel in her RV whose name was Winnie Bae Gogh. Finally, He had yet another aunt who taught the power of positive thinking. Her name was Way to Gogh! (Contributed by David Dykes on SermonCentral. 2018)

I It is this aunt, Way To Gogh, that I think about when I read this story from Mark. VS. 41 “Jesus sat across from the collection box for the temple treasury and observed how the crowd gave their money.”

A The collection box for the temple treasury consisted of 13 SHOFARS built into the wall running beside the Court of the Women. They were called shofars because they resembled a horn made from a ram’s horn that the Jews would blow to signal religious holidays.

B The shofars were made of brass and shaped like trumpets. Large coins would rattle and clamor as they made their way down into the boxes below. The money from 9 shofars was used for the temple while the other 4 were for voluntary gifts used for the ministry, wood, incense, decorations, and burnt offerings.

C We do not know which shofar was used by the widow for her offering. We do know that her two coins were very thin coins worth about 1 penny in American coins. It would not have made much noise, if any when she threw it into the shofar.

II Jesus wasn’t there to watch how much the people were giving. He was there to observe the people themselves.

A A little boy was sent to Sunday School with 2 quarters, one for the offering and the other to buy himself some candy on his way home. As he was walking to church, he was playing with the money when one of the quarters fell to the sidewalk and rolled into the rain gutter. The boy immediately prayed, “Sorry, Lord. I just lost your quarter.”

B Unfortunately, that is the attitude of many people today when it comes to giving to God. We tend to think of giving our “leftovers” to God, if we have any.

C In the time of Jesus, a woman who was widowed was the lowest form of humanity. Men owned everything. Any money or property a woman possessed before she was married became the property of her husband at the marriage. If her husband died before her, she was left with nothing except her home only if her husband’s brother didn’t want it. A widow could not remarry unless her brother-in-law would marry her. If not, she was left on her own rejected by society with no means to support herself.

III VS.44 “All of them are giving out of their spare change. But she from her hopeless poverty has given everything she had, even what she needed to live on.” She gave EVERYTHING!

A. Jesus doesn’t really criticize those who have wealth. He isn’t talking about how much was given. He is teaching about the attitude of the giver. Jesus celebrates the sacrifice of the giver, not the size of the gift.

B. God doesn’t need your money. Actually, the church doesn’t need your money either. However, if your heart is in the right place and you are committed to God as you should be, all you have actually belongs to God and giving is just returning to God what belongs to God.

C. God is watching. There will be a payday someday for everyone. God doesn’t just look at the size of your gift. The widow gave NOT according to her means but EVERYTHING! What does it mean to give your whole life for people who, for all your trouble, may not even notice what you have done?

Concl: It seems to me, we think that sacrifice is best when someone else is doing it. --- I ask you this; what would our church and our lives look like if we put in ALL that we have to live as people of faith relying totally on God for everything?

A chicken and a pig were walking down a road together when they saw a sign in front of a build that said, “Annual Fundraiser Ham and egg breakfast.” The chicken said to the pig, “Hey, that’s right up our alley. Why don’t we go in and help out? To which the pig replied, “That’s easy for you to say. For you it’s just a contribution. For me we’re talking total commitment.”