Text: Mark 12:41-44, Title: Spiritual Economics, Date/Place: NRBC, 12/28/08, PM
A. Opening illustration: W. A. Criswell tells of an ambitious young man who told his pastor he’d promised God a tithe of his income. They prayed for God to bless his career. At that time he was making $40.00 per week and tithing $4.00. In a few years his income increased and he was tithing $500.00 per week. He called on the pastor to see if he could be released from his tithing promise, it was too costly now. The pastor replied, “I don’t see how you can be released from your promise, but we can ask God to reduce your income to $40.00 a week, then you’d have no problem tithing $4.00.”
B. Background to passage: this is Jesus’ final week, he has been teaching in the temple complex all day, answering questions and accusations with the sharpest counsel, and telling parables and warnings against the hypocritical religious people of the day. And it seems that at least somewhat that Jesus has ceased teaching, and taken a seat to rest, where He can see the offering buckets made of shofars (13). They were all labeled with signs for specific kinds of offerings, and most were attended by a servant of the temple who would inspect and announce gifts as they came into the treasury.
C. Main thought: Five observations about this event
A. Pride is warned against not knowledge (v. )
1. Jesus is watching people give, probably listening to the ringing of the coins and the announcers heralding and blowing the trumpets for large givers. But back in the Sermon on the Mount, he was saying not to let the right hand know…so which is it Jesus? Surely Jesus is not sinning by watching/knowing what people give! Don’t worry, He’s not. Knowledge of others giving is not condemned, but pride. Giving a lot and gaining the praise of men, that’s what is sinful. Giving preference to the rich over the poor.
2. Matt 6:1-4,
3. Illustration: 20% of members give 80% of all funds, 30% of members give the other 20%, 50% of members give nothing – ever!, me trying to send out a letter to the church body who doesn’t give…
4. American Baptists have it in their heads that there is some kind of sin involved in knowing what is given by others. Maybe we are overly cautious against sin and following the Sermon on the Mount? Maybe, we are ashamed about what we give? Maybe we have a heightened sense of fairness? Maybe we know that many church members are not mature enough to handle such knowledge without prejudice? I think it would be good accountability to make it known what people give.
B. Money is an important lesson (v. )
1. I guess this was one of those teachable moments that Jesus was always using. But He actually called the disciples to Him to teach this lesson. Don’t know what they were doing, but he stopped them when he saw the widow coming. Money is a key component in discipleship. It is a litmus test of commitment. There are over 3000 verses in the bible about the use of it.
2. Mal 3:7-12, Luke 16:10-13, Philip 4:17,
3. Illustration: Jason Boothby asking whether the tithe is off the gross or the net, J. D. Rockefeller said, “I never would have been able to tithe the first million dollars I ever made if I had not tithed my first salary, which was $1.50 per week.”
4. We must not leave this component out of discipleship. We must submit ourselves financially to Christ’s leadership and lordship. Teach your children well about it. And don’t just deal with it on a surface letter. There are also applications here of warning, that if we take this lightly, we may be chastened, or miss blessings in our lives because of our lack of faithfulness.
C. Giving is sacrificial, proportionate, and by faith (v. )
1. NT giving is exemplified here in this widow, POOR widow. She was not expected to give more quantitatively than the upper class. She gave everything she had to live on. That was sacrifice. And it is also a deep abiding trust in God to take care of her.
2. 2 Cor 8:3-5, 9:6-8, Philip 4:19,
3. Illustration: “Give according to your income, lest God make your income according to your giving” - Peter Marshall, tell the testimony of the SS girls going without dessert to save money for giving,
4. So we must steer clear of pride regarding amounts given. The language or tithing is not used often in the NT, WHY? The emphasis in the NT is not on a legal system, but on willing, cheerful, trustful giving. The NT didn’t want to have a limit to how little or how much, yet it still emphasized proportionate giving. The NT didn’t you’re your tithe to be another bill, but a sacrifice of gratitude. However Jesus did affirm tithing in principle to the Pharisees, but not in requirement. Most of us give what we really don’t miss. What has your giving cost you? What have you gone without in order to give to another? 10% good start.
D. Value is reckoned by cost to giver (v. )
1. This amazing statement gives us insight into what the main point of the parable is: the value in God’s estimation of the widows gift is greater than others who put in large gifts. This widow offered the smallest amount coin in circulation at the time, ¼ of a penny. And it is not just about proportion instead of quantity. God figures the bottom line on an offering base on what the giver sacrificed to give it.
2. 2 Sam 24:24,
3. Illustration: I do not believe one can settle how much we ought to give. I am afraid the only safe rule is to give more than we can spare. - C. S. Lewis, people giving old furniture to charity, sent tea bags
4. Our reward in heaven will be determined by how much we kept. This makes us evaluate our lifestyles instead of just our tithe check. Let this also fix in your mind that human evaluations of giving may be flawed immensely. We tend to put great stock in those in our churches who are big givers. And I would be lying if I told you that I don’t ever think about it that way. But we must adjust our own thinking and remember that God counts by what it costs the giver. Do we give stuff that doesn’t cost us?
E. Heart of giver is the most important thing (v. )
1. This is all really about discipleship. If you go back about two weeks to the lessons that Jesus has been teaching, from marriage and divorce to Bartimaeus leaving all and following Jesus, from the straight faced walk up to Jerusalem to his lesson of the fig tree, from rich young ruler to the religious leaders questions about taxes, resurrections, and the heart of religion, Jesus has been teaching the disciples about being a disciple. He has been raising the bar and raising it some more. This and Mary with the costly ointment in chapter fourteen are the culminating examples. This poor widow gives all that she has! She is totally reliant on God for sustenance. She is exemplary of those that will go anywhere, do anything, pay any price to glorify Christ.
2. Deut 15:10, 1 Sam 16:7, 2 Chron 16:9, Jer 17:10, Matt 15:7-9,
3. Illustration: “Faithfulness in giving has nothing to do with how much we give; it has everything to do with how much we keep.” Garibaldi had an incredibly committed volunteer army. He would appeal for recruits in these terms: “I offer neither pay, nor quarters, nor provisions; I offer hunger, thirst, forced marches, battles and death. Let him who loves his country with his heart and not with his lips only, follow me!” Jesus invites you to discipleship. But He lets you know up front that it is a commitment that will cost you something. It’s not going to be easy. To paraphrase Garibaldi, “Let him who loves the Lord with his heart and not with his lips only, be Jesus’ disciple!”
4. One of the greatest needs in the evangelical church, in NRBC is to raise the bar of discipleship. Or more accurately, for us to live the bar that Jesus gave us. Our commission is to teach all new disciples to observe everything that Jesus commanded. Total reliance on God for sustenance is something that most of us will never experience because of our land of blessing. But discipleship is not just about money. It is about the whole of our existence following Christ with all our strength, and valuing Him above every other thing that competes for our loyalty. And therefore whether its money, power, sex, family, friends, job, or any other created thing, if it gets in the way of our followership of Christ, we must tear it out of its high and lofty place in our hearts. We can’t just pull down the external structure all the while wishing for its return, but we must aim the wrecking ball at our own heart’s desires!
A. Closing illustration: quote the words of Denbigh’s song If You Ask, put them on the PPT
B. Recap
C. Invitation to commitment
Additional Notes
• Blessings that come from giving, faithfulness and being entrusted with valuables
• Other NT perspectives on tithing
• Church Covenant and practice
• The point of giving to the treasury was for support of the temple and of widows!
