Building a Life of Christian Stewardship
Pt 3 – Finishing the Inside
Mark 12:41-44
We’ve spent the first two weeks of stewardship month dealing with the major portions of building this life of Christian Stewardship. First was the foundation established in God’s ownership and our management of His creation. Last week we built the walls firmly established in the ability of God to do miracles if we only bring Him the little we have.
This week things slow down a bit. Have you ever seen a house being built? It seems to take no time at all to go from bare ground to a standing structure, then everything slows down. Have you ever noticed that the inside takes a lot longer to build than the outside? It’s true for our lives of stewardship as well. Because the inside work deals with our attitudes, our assumptions about life, and our spiritual journey with God.
I want you to look with me this morning at one of the greatest stewardship lessons Jesus ever taught His disciples.
Mark 12:41-44
Who is the steward in this passage? Last week it was a little boy with his lunch – this week it’s a poor widow with nothing to her name. Let’s look at what this woman can teach us about stewardship.
1) Stewards Understand the Now - The fact that this woman gave is incredible to me. Understand a little bit about this woman’s life. She was a widow – her husband had died. She had no sons or other family in her life. If she had it would have been their responsibility to take care of this woman. If she had sons or brothers or brothers in law even she would have been provided for. But like Naomi in the Old Testament this widow had no one on which to rely so she was reduced to living off the kindness of strangers or gleaning from the fields. Understand this widow had nothing – not the nothing you and I like to talk about – she had literally nothing. Jesus said that the two copper coins she put into the treasury represented all that she had to sustain her. Yet she gave. Her giving demonstrates a great principle of stewardship and that is that stewardship deals with right now. Stewardship is a now issue, it deals with present realities and present resources. What are you doing right now with your life? We live lives that say “tomorrow I will” , “When such and such happens I will…”. When I retire I will give my time. No you won’t. When I have more money I will. No you won’t. When I learn more I will. No you won’t. If you are not a steward now – you won’t be a steward then. This is about God working in us. God doesn’t call us to give from our excess – no one ever has excess. He calls us to give from our poverty – a faith offering that starts a miracle. Bring me your lunch, your pennies, your minutes and I will do with them what only I can do.
2) Stewards Are Moved by Love – All the others who came that day gave out of their excess but she gave the very last that she had to live on. She didn’t know where her next meal was coming from – but she gave. Here is a great principle for us today: stewardship begins with loving, not giving. Can you imagine with me for a moment this widow – seeing all the gold and silver shining in those treasury boxes? Then the copper coins in her hand. My copper has no meaning in the context of that gold. But it did. It is my contention that Jesus was standing there for one purpose and one purpose alone – to see this gift of love. We never see Him standing in this place before or after but this day a wonderful thing is going to happen. A widow with nothing, out of a heart of love will give God all she has. On this subject John Maxwell says it wasn’t utility that moved her (her coins were worthless), it wasn’t obligation (no one cared), it was simple love that moved her. Folks love gives Lust takes. Often in our relationships with God and others we confuse the two. If love is not the foundation of my relationship with God I am always going to have a problem. The basis of my stewardship has got to be the fact that I love Him with all my heart, my soul, and my strength. Time, talent, worship, gifts, money are given not because we have to but because we can’t do anything else. Love says how much can I give. Lust says how little can I get away with.
3) Stewards see life in terms of eternity – v25 – We are consumed with what we can investigate with our senses. It begins as infants discovering our world – what we can see, touch, taste, smell, and hear are all-important. Those things are what is real about life. We live life consumed by these moments that surround us. God’s focus is on eternity. Look at this widow – she drops into the offering the very last penny she has – she can’t do that without a focus on eternity. When we focus our lives on today – we become stingy, greedy, hoarding everything (time talent and money) we have so that we will be safe. When we focus on eternity we understand that there is much more than what we see. Like the little boy she could have kept her pennies and no one would have known she existed – but by giving her pennies she is even today teaching people about eternity. Stewards begin to see life as an investment in eternity – we are given these years, these resources, these talents for a purpose – God’s purpose in the world around us. Eternity is our goal. That is one of the reasons I am so excited about our family life center. It gives me a chance to be a part of something that will outlast my life. I dream about the people who will come to Christ as a result of this ministry years after I am gone. Maybe they will look back and thank God for those who sit here today – because we looked not to our own moment in time but towards a moment yet to come.
4) Stewards rest in the promise of God – There is a simple trust here that we often miss. She gave God all that she had to live on, all that she owned. How was she going to survive? How was she going to eat? What was she going to do when she left the Temple? She didn’t know – but let me tell you what she did know – She knew God. She knew Him and trusted Him to provide for her every need. Turn for just a moment to Matthew 6:25-34. I am sure that this woman was not present when Jesus spoke His sermon on the mount – but I am also sure that she understood the message that He shared. Like the widow of Zarephath that we talked about last week – this widow rested in the promise of God that He would provide for her if she walked with Him. I don’t know what happened to this widow when she left the temple that day. The scripture doesn’t tell us. But of one thing I am assured – her needs were provided for when she left. Maybe a stranger on the street handed her some money, maybe someone provided her a meal, maybe the fields were richer in gleanings but I can assure you that God met her needs.
