(Prior to this sermon we presented a children’s talk with some optical illusion images that can be seen in two different ways....eg. indian face/eskimo, polar bear/seal, old woman/young woman, saxaphone player/women’s face....
then we talked about things not being all that they seem....
like in today’s gospel reading....
where some people gave lots of money (held up some larger notes), and one lady gave two small coins (held up 2 5c coins and asked who gave the most??? Then talked about why the lady gave the most.
Sermon
Things are not always as they seem, are they??
Sometimes we can jump to conclusions…..
Making judgements
Without knowing the full facts
Or we may even have the wrong perception
One of the biggest things for Christians is not to adopt the culture of this world as our way of living
As Christians we need to be careful that we don not use the world’s way of thinking instead of God’s way of thinking
In Romans chapter 12 God tells us the following
Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is true worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.
And when it comes to giving
God’s approach is very different to the human approach
Before I go much further there are some things that I need to make clear.
Firstly, God does not need your money!!!
Secondly, our congregation and parish does need finances to exist, but that is not the reason I am talking about money.
Thirdly, using all the gifts we have and that is everything for sharing God’s love as we are told in 1 Peter 4:10 does not mean that the church wants all your money. It does mean God is with you every second of the day, and wants you to use every opportunity to share his love through what you say and what you do.
But as a church we talk about money, not because we want all your money, but because as a church and as a pastor we want to be faithful to scripture, to God’s word, so we need to talk about money. You see over 2300 verses in scripture relate to money, 15% of what Jesus says is in relation to money. But Jesus attitude to money is different to your banks, the supermarkets or even our own. Money is so powerful that Jesus took time during the last week of His life to talk with His disciples about it. In fact, Jesus even judged people as they gave their offerings. But He judges them differently to how we might judge them.
Today’s Gospel reading is about three givers of money…
Not two
But three givers
To give us a perception of what it truly means to give
We are told there are the rich who put in large amounts of money
Now apparently these are the givers who made a show of things
They loved talking about what they gave to the church
What they had done for the church
What they had done for others
And they wanted everyone to know
They gave large amounts of money for God’s ministry
Now as Jesus watched them
He knew them better than they probably knew themselves
He could identify at least three problems
First he knew how they had obtained their wealth
This is something that each of us should keep in mind.
God knows how we obtain our money or anything else we have
He knows when have obtained it honestly, transparently and how we have treated others in obtaining our wealth
And He knows when we have obtained it dishonestly, in deceptive ways and when we have hurt others
The second problem Jesus saw was that the rich were acting as if they were doing God and others a favour
They weren’t giving unconditionally
They believed they were actually offering God something
They were resting on their achievements
What they had done and what they were doing?
They expected that their achievements and giving would earn them something in God’s eyes
There is something they forgot
Everything they had comes from God
The eyes of all look to You, and You give them their food at the proper time. You open Your hand and satisfy the desires of every living thing. Psalm 145:15-16
And thirdly they were giving
But they were not giving everything
In otherwords what they were giving was not really a sacrifice
In fact they were keeping the majority of their wealth for things other than sharing God’s grace and love
They were keeping things to please themselves
For their own satisfaction
Ted Turner who is married to Jane Fonda
And one America’s biggest media moguls in 1997 pledged $1 billion dollars through the UN to help with some of the biggest problems in the world
It sounds a lot but in perspective for Ted Turner
it was really only pocket change
it was about 9 months profits
so he was not sacrificing too at much at all”
When we give we need to put it in perspective
As Christians are we using our money to share God’s love and grace??
Or are we using it for some other purpose?
Now the second giver was the widow
She gave two small coins
Which were worth about two one cent coins,
That is so worthless now days that we don’t even have that in circulation
And yet from Jesus point of view
This gift was tremendous
This gift was far more than what any of the rich had given
Why???
Because she gave everything
This was a sign that her whole life was dedicated to sharing God’s love with what she had
She could have kept one coin for herself and placed one on the offering bowl
But she didn’t
she gave everything!!!
It is also a wonderful reminder to us
That God does not value us on what we have
We need to remember our value in His eyes is shown to us when we were baptised
This morning God said to Caitlin,
you are precious to me
you are my child
welcome to our family
No matter what you have God looks at you
and says you are special
You are valueable
And to understand how special we are to God lets look at the third giver
The third giver was watching all those who gave
You see the third giver in today’s reading is Jesus
This event took place about a week before Jesus gave his life on the cross for YOU
And he did it for one reason only
So that you can be part of God’s family
So that you can receive the riches that heaven offer
So that you can be with Him and His father
And It is the only way it can happen
Money can’t get you into heaven
No matter how hard you work…that won’t get you into heaven
Not even dedicating your life to a cause will get you into heaven
Nor will your family history
There is only one way into heaven
And that is Jesus giving his life for you
That is the only thing that can do it
That is how special you are to God
That is how special each person you know is to God
And so what does this say about our giving?
In a few moments you will have the opportunity to give
As the bowl comes around
Reflect on what Jesus has given you
Think about the future Jesus has given you
We give of our time, talents and money
To God and others
not as a favour to God or anyone else
not so we can earn anything in God’s eyes or anyone else’s eyes
But as a sign of our thanks to God
Think about this…when you give your mum a mother’s day present is it because she earnt it or because you love her and are thankful for what she has done?
And we also give to share God’s grace and God’s Good News with others
So that others can also know how much Jesus has given for them
Now before we go
Consider the following little story
"Once upon a time, a pig and a chicken were walking down Forbes St, Devonport (or St John St Launceston/Mooreville Rd, Burnie). They came upon a church sign which was advertising a garage sale and breakfast which was going to be held in a few days.
At the bottom of the sign the menu was given, it read ‘Ham and eggs will be served from 8:00 am.’ The chicken turned to the pig and said, "See!!’ Even us as smelly small little animals can help the work of the church!!!"
"Yes," said the pig, "but yours is only a contribution, mine is a total SACRIFICE."
So as you live your life
Remember that Jesus gave everything for You
and that all we give is as a result of His giving and so people can share in the benefits of His gift to us...Amen
