• We value our vision. Seeing is important.
• Many have had to experience, either for a temporary period, or in an advancing stage, life without good vision.
• Part of that is getting old, I am learning. Just another inconvenience of living to be older.
• A pastor went to a new church only to find that the three deacons were the oldest people he had ever met.
• He decided to check their mental capacity.
• He asked the first one, “What is one plus one?”
• Without pausing, the first one answered, “274”.
• He scratched his head and asked the second one, “What is one plus one?”
• The second deacon answered, “Tuesday.”
• Frustrated, he asked the third one, “do you know what one plus one is?”
• The third deacon smiled and said, “Two”.
• The preacher said, “I am so glad you got that right. You would think these other two could figure out what one plus one is.”
• The third deacon said, “Yeah, all they had to do was subtract 274 from Tuesday.”
• Now, whereas as we get older, our eyes start to fail us, spiritually, the more mature we get, the better we can see.
• Jesus was concerned with the vision of the people he taught.
• He wanted the people to see truth plainly.
Mar 12:35-37 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.
I. (Savior) Jesus is concerned with how we view Him.
• Jesus had just almost complimented a scribe on how close he was to the kingdom of God.
• Lest the compliment, or actually admonition, confuse the people watching, Jesus says what the problems of the scribes were.
• The scribes collectively were emphatic about what they expected from the Messiah, the Christ.
• They said the greatest recognized characteristic would be that He would be of the lineage of David.
• They had taken all other prophesies about the Messiah and had “spiritualized” them.
• People would ask, “…what about ‘healing in His wings’?”
• They would answer, “Oh, that is just a reference of Him fixing our nation’s problems by restoring the throne in Israel.”
• Jesus said that the thing that stopped the scribes from righteousness was their view of the Messiah, and thus their view of Him.
• Jesus used passages with which they were very familiar to show the weakness in their belief system.
• They said that the Messiah would be marked mostly by His heritage, being from the line of David the great king.
• Jesus took a psalm written by David that confounded the scribes to illustrate His point.
• Look with me to Psalm 110:
• Psa 110: A Psalm of David. The LORD says to my Lord: "Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool." 2 The LORD sends forth from Zion your mighty scepter. Rule in the midst of your enemies! 3 Your people will offer themselves freely on the day of your power, in holy garments; from the womb of the morning, the dew of your youth will be yours. 4 The LORD has sworn and will not change his mind, "You are a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek." 5 The Lord is at your right hand; he will shatter kings on the day of his wrath. 6 He will execute judgment among the nations, filling them with corpses; he will shatter chiefs over the wide earth. 7 He will drink from the brook by the way; therefore he will lift up his head.
• Obviously a Messianic Psalm.
• The question one must ask is, who is saying to whom, “Sit at my right hand?”
• Obviously, God is talking to the Messiah, Jesus Christ, in this prophetic passage where Jesus sits at the Father’s right hand.
• The scribes recognized that this was a Messianic Psalm, but had difficulty with the wording.
• David said, the Lord (God) said to my Lord (Messiah).
• They agreed with this, but here was the problem.
• If Jesus’ greatest qualification was being a descendant of David, why did David not say, “my son”?
• He called the Messiah “my Lord”, the same word used to address God.
• In Hebrew, he said, “Jehovah said to my Adonai.”
• He was not speaking of someone who’s primary qualification was being from the lineage of the great King Jesus.
• The Messiah had a greater qualification, being from the lineage of Jehovah.
• Jesus asked, How could David say, “One who is superior to me and worthy of my reverence” to simply one of his offspring?”
• The answer is clear, Jesus was God wrapped in human flesh.
• He left heaven to redeem us, but to redeem us, He chose to be born in human skin and bone.
• He chose to be one of us and that is who the Christ is.
• See the issue that they struggled with that men, women, boys and girls are struggling with to day is the same.
• Who is Jesus Christ?
• That is the question you must settle in this life or be eternally lost.
• You can reason it away, you can smoother out the question with insignificant questions.
• You can convince yourself that He is a myth that was used as a crutch for previous generations.
• But let me warn you. If you miss Jesus today, you are rejecting the loving gift of God.
• There is no excuse acceptable, not logic justified, no feeling that can excuse, no price that is acceptable, no works that are righteous enough, or no plea that will be heard if you refuse God’s only gift for peace.
• That gift, that love, that hope, that assurance has a name. His name is Jesus.
• Then Jesus warns that there are two major areas that will stop you from relying on the reliable one.
II. (Self) Jesus is concerned with how we view ourselves.
Mar 12:38-40 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."
• How many things do we do just to impress others?
• Jesus talked about how the scribes dressed with longer, different color robes, just to be notices.
• He talked about how we would be honored if we got the best seats and how we would be offended if we got the worse seats.
• Yet, when it came to loving others, that takes a back seat.
• Our hearts will ever struggle between two gods to worship.
• I don’t care how long you have been a Christian, you will struggle between worshiping two gods.
• You may sanctimoniously deny it, but you would also not give your pastor an open discussion about your life, your actions, your reactions, what bothers you, what hurts you or what offends you.
• Why? Because that would hurt your feelings. Because it would offend you further.
• We think that Christianity is a belief that shields us from things that offends us, as long as they look Christian.
• But Jesus was pointing to the heart. These people did 95% of what they did to be seen of others.
• Let me illustrate. I don’t have a problem with people raising their hands in worship.
• I do that in my private worship, and sometimes I get overwhelmed with praise and my hands go up.
• But it has always concerned me about those who raise their hands in public worship and look around to see who is noticing.
• That is worship the God of self. It is about what others think about us.
• Some people come to Church, not because it pleases the Lord, but because they would be thought of less in the community or Church if they missed a certain amount.
• Some get offended if someone crosses a line to do their job because they see that as disrespect.
• That job is important to them because it is supported by how they think they are perceived when doing it.
• Yes, I am just as susceptible to that self-worship as anyone here, and you know it.
• It is a battle we will face until we draw our last breath.
• But Jesus warns us: Do not surrender to that type of thinking and that type of living.
III. (Sustenance) Jesus is concerned with how we give to Him.
Mar 12:41-43 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.
• When Jesus finished His sermon, you can picture the people thinking the service is over.
• As they prepare to leave, they begin filing by the offering boxes.
• Gill tells us that there were commonly six offering boxes available side by side in those days for different types of offerings.
• He couldn’t help but notice those who sought to make a show by making sure they had the loud clanging metal coins to drop in.
• The more noise they made dropping coins into the box, the better they looked.
• The larger denominations, you know, the bigger bills, didn’t make much noise, so they didn’t give them.
• They gave lots of pennies because their pennies made lots of noise when they hit together in the bottom of the offering box.
• However, the pennies were not the smallest coin.
• Then Jesus notices a poor widow. She places two copper coins in the box.
• These coins were worth about 1/5th of a penny in today’s economy.
• Not much noise there. No theatrics. No drama. No show. Just a love for God and a sacrificial offering.
• See, she was a widow. That means she had no one to supply her needs.
• She was a poor widow. The husband that died was too poor to leave her enough to meet her needs.
• Yet, she gave out of her poverty, out of her need, sacrificially.
• She didn’t trust in the money to keep her. She was obviously trusting God to meet her needs.
• And what Jesus said was this. The one who gave the least amount gave the most as far as heaven was concerned.
• You see, to those who much is given, much is demanded.
• To those who little is given, little is demanded.
• Some of you have not been supplied much by God. Yet God is sitting at the offering box watching what you give.
• He is looking to see if you are going to trust Him or trust those funds.
• Some of you have been deeply blessed. God is watching you to see if your trust will turn from Him to what He is supplied.
• It’s not a matter of money for Him, and it’s not a matter of amount for you. It’s a matter of trust.
• Do you trust Him? He owns everything. It’s all His anyway.
• If you claim it and live like it is yours, you have failed the test.
• If you remain loyal and trusting to Him, you will pass the test.
• God isn’t counting pennies because He needs your pennies.
• He has given you money and blessings to show you the battle for your heart.
• He loves you. He wants you. He wants to share His glory with you. But He longs for you to grow up.
• What kind of parent would really want their children to stay babies? A sick one.
• What kind of mother or dad would enjoy seeing their children’s growth stunted and remain dependent upon their constant care?
• Parents rejoice in seeing their children grow, accomplish, become strong and stand.
• Parents celebrate their children’s victories and accomplishments.
• God is the same. So He sets up difficult tests for us to grow us, give us an opportunity for victory, to reveal to us our need for development and dependency upon Him.
• That is all your bank account is.
• That is all your property and livestock is. It is an opportunity to honor Him and remain faithful.
• It is an opportunity to deny trusting in wealth and always looking to Him.
• And He rejoices when we succeed. But He is showing His love for us when we fail, showing us the weakness that will harm us.
• Now, don’t get me wrong. I am not saying that you should sell all and give all to the Church.
• It’s not that test. It is the test of the heart. What price will it take for you to stop trusting God?
• Whatever it is, it is too cheap.
• This widow said, “I may give my last red nickel to God, but God will keep me and sustain me.
• Where is your heart today?
• You see, we often look past what we need to see and see what we want to see, only to find out that our oversight was a blindness.
• Taken from the tomb of a Bishop in Westminster Abbey 1100 A.D.:
• When I was young and free and my imagination had no limits I dreamed of changing the world.
• As I grew older and wiser and realized the world would not change I shortened my sights somewhat and decided to change only my country: but it too seemed immovable.
• As I grew into my twilight years I settled on changing only my family and those closest to me, but alas they would have none of it.
• Now as I lay on my deathbed I suddenly realize that if I had only changed myself first, then by example I could perhaps have changed my family, and from their inspiration and encouragement to me I would have been better able to help my country and from there I may even have been able to change the world.
