Jesus Sees and Knows
Mark – God’s Message for Today - # 58 of
Jerry Watts
Mark 12:41-44
• It’s an old story but: Late one night, a burglar broke into a house that he thought was empty. He stealthily crept through the lounge and was stopped dead in his tracks when he heard a loud voice clearly saying, 'Jesus is watching you!' Silence returned to the house, so the burglar crept forward again. 'Jesus is watching you', the voice rang out again. The thief stopped dead again. He was frightened out of his wits. Frantically, he looked all around. In a dark corner, he spotted a birdcage and in the cage was a parrot. He asked the parrot, 'Was that you who said Jesus is watching me?' 'Yes', said the parrot. The burglar breathed a heavy sigh of relief and asked the parrot: 'What's your name?' 'Ronald', said the bird. 'That's a stupid name for a parrot, 'sneered the burglar.' What idiot named you Ronald?' The parrot said, 'The same idiot who named the Rottweiler Jesus.'
• Almost every time I read this story, which we call the “Widows Mite”, I am reminded of that story because just like that ferocious dog named Jesus was watching that burglar, so is our Lord was watching & is watching everything we do. And I wonder if we either forget Jesus is watching or don’t think it’s a big deal. So this morning, let us be reminded of this truth, “Jesus Sees & Knows.”
• There are 3 simple parts of this story which will speak as a reminder, a point, or even conviction.
1. The Eyes of Jesus – The text says, that Jesus sat down and watched. Guess what He was watching? He watching what each person GAVE to the Temple. When Jesus finished teaching (11:15) in the court of the Gentiles, He entered the court of the women. Against the wall of this court were 13 trumpet-shaped collection receptacles for receiving the worshiper’s offerings and contributions. From the vantage point opposite of one of the receptacles, Jesus was observing how people were giving as well as what people were giving. According to our story, He saw the people giving but I would submit, that He saw and He sees much more than we think.
• Consider the eyes of Jesus as is revealed in scripture. In Rev. 1:14, the Apostle John see them as “eyes of fire.” When John gets a picture of the glory of our Lord Jesus, he is overwhelmed and falls prostrate on his face like he was dead. In my mind’s eye, seeing the holy Lord of glory with his eyes like a flame of fire would be a startling & sobering experience. Very few things can stand up to fire.
• When I think of these eyes of fire I am reminded of my mom when I was a child. Now honestly, I know that my mama did not have eyes of fire or superhuman eyes like those of Superman, but it sure same like she did. Somehow, someway, and in some fashion, it seemed she always knew the truth no matter what I tried to tell her. Also when I was growing up, Superman was a big hit. You well remember that Superman had x-ray vision, he could see through anything except lead.
• I submit to you that those eyes of flaming fire which are Jesus’ natural eyes can even see through lead. He was sitting here seeing what the rich people and poor people put into the treasury of the temple, but beyond that, he knew what they should be putting in to the church. He also knew their attitudes. He saw the pride of the one who could drop him a lot of money, He saw the one who could drop in little money, and He saw the one who could drop in no money. And he knew what was in their heart. He could see those folks who were giving out of pride as well as those who were giving out of poverty.
• We should never lose the awareness that He sees what we do, He sees how we act, He sees what we give, and He sees how we serve. What amazes me is how seemingly unconcerned people are with the truth that Jesus sees and He knows. To be honest, it blows me away. Last Wednesday night, my entire devotion headed toward two questions: What if God’s people gave the same passion, commitment, and support, to the gospel and the church that they gave their favorite sports team, ballpark, or hobby?
• Conversely, I asked what if God’s people gave the same passion, commitment, and support to their sport team, ballpark, or hobby that they gave to the gospel and the church?
• The second question was: How many times do you invite someone to your home if they keep declining the invitation? So the follow-up is; how many times do we expect our Lord to invite us when we keep declining His invitation?
• Jesus offers us many invitations and with those eyes of fire He sees and knows what we do with His invitation. His first invitation is for us to come to faith in Him & be saved. To come to faith in Jesus is a life transforming decision. For all of God’s people in this building this morning, let me remind you of the play-by-play about people coming to faith. First, the followers of Christ became so excited because of being filled with the spirit of God that people came to take a look. (How long since that’s happened?) In fact, God’s people were so excited that the community thought they were drunk. (How long since that’s happened?) At that point, when they had the attention of the community, Peter preached the gospel message to thousands of lost people. (How long since that’s happened?) While Peter preached the gospel, hearts were pierced, cut by the Holy Spirit of God. That day, 3000 people were saved. And God’s people were so filled with the Spirit after that, that they met daily which means they put off other things, they prayed, they studied, they shared, they ate together (seems they were Baptist), and every day people were being saved. Being saved or coming to faith is a landscape changing, and life transforming event. Jesus gives us the invitation to be saved and He sees and knows what we do with this invitation.
• He also invites us to serve Him. I admit that I’m using the term invites here a little bit loosely because once were saved it is more than an invitation to serve, it’s an expectation. It seems the prevailing attitude is “Jesus expects little of me & I’m not to give Him more than He expects.”
• The problem is that, while on earth Jesus was always telling his disciples to do something. To the first disciples, He said, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.” To those of us who are avid fisherman, this sounds like a lot of fun, but to those professional fishermen whom Jesus spoke, they knew fishing to be work. For instance, on two occasions after they had fished all night Jesus told them to cast their nets one more time. This was not the same as casting you reel one more to time. For you see, to cast your reel one more time was easy, but those nets real work.
• Jesus invites us and he calls us and he sees with those eyes of fire what we do with his words.
• In context were story, Jesus saw the offering as it was being collected, but watch now:
2. The Evaluation of Jesus – Jesus saw all the people as they gave what they would give to the treasury of the temple, the church. He saw the Rich people give their large sums and He could see in their heart and knew how proud they were. He knew that they thought the temple could not survive without their gifts. I can imagine the rich man walking up with his gold coins, looking around to make sure people were watching, and if they weren’t looking, then so dropping those coins in such manner as to make a large noise so that people would turn to see what they were giving. They were so proud. It amazes me how many people believe you can buy God’s kingdom.
• Jesus, sitting there & looking seeing the rich man giving and is seemingly not moved at all by the gift. However, when that poor widow came & gave her two copper coins, those two mites, Jesus was moved to comment. Jesus was evaluating who was really giving & who was gifting!
• You see, our Lord Jesus created all there is, owns it all, the Scripture says He owns the cattle thousand hills, so the things of this world, the earthly size of a gift, don’t really register with Him, because He sees and He knows. He knows that the rich man gave out of his abundance and that that gift didn’t tax him at all.
• It’s just like in this room, there are people in this room who can write checks for a huge amount and it wouldn’t affect their lives at all, because they have more than enough to survive. At the same time there are people in this room who are almost like this widow who only have those to copper pennies give.
• For one moment, let’s take the emphasis off of money, let’s put the emphasis on commitment, service, and consistency. For those who have received the offer of salvation which Jesus gives because of Calvary’s cross, Jesus sees and knows what you are doing with what He has given you. Everyone who has come to Christ has been given at least one spiritual gift (most are given more than one). With every word from Jesus’ mouth, He implored His followers to be faithful, committed, consistent, and in service. By the way, this has implications. Matthew 7:21 says, “Not everyone who says to me ‘Lord, Lord’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.” Matthew 9:36 says, “When He saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a Shepherd. Then He said to them, “the harvest is plentiful but the laborers are few; therefore prayed to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.” Matthew 10:38 says, “And whoever does not take up his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.” Matthew 12:33 says, “The tree is known by its fruits.” (By the way, that text goes on to say that “On the day of judgment people will give an account for every careless word they speak.” Brothers and sisters, Jesus sees with his eyes and he evaluates by his standard.
• Let’s get back to our story for the last thought and will be through. (Recap)
3. The Emphasis of Jesus – This is the take away for today. Whether you have ever been told it or not, our Lord is very fair. He doesn’t expect everybody to do the same things. To those with many talents he expects more than of those with only one time.
• To those with much money, he expects more money but not more commitment than with those who have little money. It’s not about the amount, it’s about the commitment. Consider in the matter finances, God’s share of your income is 10%. So, if you make $100 a week than God share is $10, if you like $1000 a week then it’s $100, if you make $10,000 a week then it’s $1000. It’s not equal gifts but equal sacrifices. And in God’s economy, be reminded I said in God’s economy, everyone who gives the 10% is giving equally. That’s a hard concept for us humans to understand because it is a divine concept.
• You remember the story that Bro Lawrence Phipps told us about the man who used to tithe when he made a little bit of money. He told his preacher to pray for them because he just simply cannot afford to tithe anymore in the preacher prayed for God to take away his big paycheck. Candidly, God’s principle holds true, if you are faithful in small things then you’ll be faithful in big things. The converse is true also. If you’re unfaithful in small things you will be unfaithful in big things. (As an aside, although it may make little difference to the person who would do this, two things are of note: 1) If the tithe belongs to the Lord, you nor I have a right to designate where God’s money goes. It’s either His or it isn’t. And it’s His no matter what you do with it, 2) You nor I can give an offering until we return His Tithe.)
• Today’s message has been largely about giving. If you’re sitting here today and saying, “All the preacher ever talks about is money” then you are giving away your lack of attendance in worship. The message for me is about giving and money however, that is only the starting place. For I believe the real message for each of us today is found in verse 44, “They contributed out of their abundance but she out of her poverty, she put in everything she had.”
• In those last six words is God’s call for you today. Please don’t miss this: Jesus sees and knows.
