Appearances Can Be Deceiving (Mark 12:38-44)

If you're not a believer in Jesus, you're very welcome.

We're glad you're with us this morning.

Glad to have you. Hope you've enjoyed the service

so far. I hope you'll enjoy the sermon.

And I'd be delighted to talk with you afterward at the door

about anything that we've sung or prayed or read or anything

I'm about to say in the next few minutes.

One of the most common reasons I've heard from those who aren't

Christians for why they're not Christians is that Christians

are hypocrites. Lots of people who don't believe

in Jesus list Christians hypocrisy as one of their

reasons for not believing. Jesus commands that we love our

enemies, but so many Christians seem full of hate.

Jesus calls his followers to be salt and light, to be different.

But so many Christians seem no different from the world.

They just seem to be putting on a religious show, going through

the motions certain outward actions like attending church on

Sunday, but if you saw what they were doing on Friday and

Saturday, you'd say they're no different from anybody else.

Oh, except the only difference is that Christians preach

against and condemn other people for doing all the same stuff

that they do. A hypocrite is someone whose

actions don't match their heart. A hypocrite has ulterior motives

for their religious practice. They care more about impressing

people than worshipping God. They want to appear more

religious than they really are so that they can get some

personal benefit from the religion that they're faking.

One fact that sometimes escapes notice in this conversation is

that Jesus is himself the original and greatest critic of

hypocrisy. Jesus was aware of the problem.

He called it out, He exposed it, and he pointed the way to its

opposites. This morning we resume our

series in the Gospel of Mark with chapter 12, verses 38 to

44. If you don't have a Bible, you

can put up your hand. Someone will bring you one.

If you don't have a Bible, like you don't have one at home, then

take this one. Keep it read.

It looks like we've got one right down front, someone who

needs the Bible. If you're not familiar with the

Gospels, they're biographies of Jesus.

They were written by eyewitnesses and those who

consulted eyewitnesses within about a generation after the

time of Jesus. There they exist to tell the

story of what he did, what he taught, and then ultimately his

betrayal, his crucifixion, his resurrection.

We're about 75% of the way through Mark's Gospel here.

Our verses for this morning present the last little bit of

Jesus public ministry he's been teaching in the temple in

Jerusalem. He's had several rounds of

debate and conflict with the religious authorities there.

In the next chapter, all of chapter 13, he's going to

privately instruct his disciples about what the future is going

to hold for them and for the whole world.

And then after that, through the rest of Mark's gospel, he's

going to be betrayed, tried, crucified, and then rise from

the dead. In our short passage, the last

little bit of public teaching before all that happens, he

calls out hypocrisy and he points out the alternative.

Please follow along as I read Mark 12 verses 38 to 44.

Mark 12:38–44

And in his teaching, he said, beware of the scribes who like

to walk around in long robes and like greetings in the

marketplaces, and have the best seats in the synagogues and the

places of honor at feasts, who devour widows houses and for a

pretense make long prayers. They will receive the greater

condemnation. And he sat down opposite the

treasury and watched the people putting money into the offering

box. Many rich people put in large

sums, and a poor widow came and put in two small copper coins,

which make a penny. 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, for they all contributed out of their abundance, But she,

out of her poverty, has put in everything she had, all she had

to live on. Here Jesus presents a stark

contrast. He condemns the scribes and he

commends the widow. He warns against these

influential religious leaders, and he celebrates the act of

this one poor woman whom nobody noticed and nobody cared about.

The choice Jesus presents to all of us is just as stark as this

contrast. Will you devote your heart to

self or to God? That's the challenge our passage

holds out to each of us this morning.

Will you devote your heart to self or to God?

That's the difference between a real follower of Jesus and a

fake one. That's the difference between

hypocrisy and holiness. So the two parts of our passage

present this choice by holding up two contrasting pictures.

The two points in the sermon, Each one will have 3 sub points

.1. A heart devoted to self.

A heart devoted to self. That's what Jesus is warning

against. The scribes in verses 38 to 40

shows us looking at the beginning of verse 38.

And in his teaching he said beware of the scribes.

Now the scribes were professional religious leaders

in Jerusalem. They were highly trained.

They were teachers of the people.

They instructed the people about how to fulfill God's law in

matters of daily life. Notice that Jesus warns his

disciples against them. Beware.

And we also should beware. Beware what religious teachers

you listen to. Beware who you let influence

you. From friends to preachers to

podcasters to the ever growing category of social media

influencers. Evaluate teachers who vie for

your attention based on how they're teaching accords with

scripture. Evaluate teachers based on what

you can see of their character. Evaluate teachers based on

whether they model and promote love of God and love of

neighbor. Beware Now.

Why does Jesus want his disciples to beware of the

scribes? It's because at least some of

them were hypocrites. Jesus goes on to describe a

radical disconnect between what the scribes practiced and what

they preached. There are three main parts to

Jesus's critique. Three ways in which the scribes

show that their hearts were devoted to self, not God #1 vain

glory. Vain glory, Not a word some of

us might know. That's OK, I'll unpack it in a

minute. Vain glory.

Look at verses 38 and 39. And in his teaching, he said,

beware of the scribes who'd like to walk around in long robes and

like greetings in the marketplaces, and have the best

seats in the synagogues and the places of honor at feasts.

Jesus is describing Vainglory. That's a word that's fallen out

of use, but it is useful enough for us to bring it back.

Vainglory is being overly attached to how you appear to

others. Vainglory is the excessive and

disordered desire for recognition and approval from

others. Notice the very beginning of

Jesus's description of the scribes.

Beware of the scribes who like to walk around in long roads.

They like it, they desire it, they want it.

The root of all these problems is in their heart.

It's in their desires. The robes that Jesus refers to

here are distinctive garments that mark them out as scribes.

Everyone they saw would know who they were.

They were authoritative, They were honored.

They were set apart, they were set above, and that's where they

liked to be. The next thing they liked too

much is greetings. In the marketplaces and ancient

Judaism, how you greeted someone was a big deal, and it was an

especially big deal to recognize someone's station or rank if

they were in any way superior to you.

One distant analogy today would be military etiquette and

protocol around how you're meant to address superior officers, or

who can speak to whom when there's any difference in

hierarchy. The best seats in the synagogues

would have been ones where they actually sat up front facing the

congregation, so everybody saw them and they saw everybody they

liked being seen. The places of honor at feasts

were another way to publicly display status and rank.

You might think about a state dinner where the president hosts

a whole delegation from another country.

There's this big elaborate meal, dozens or hundreds of people all

sitting together. Staff members will obsess for

hours over who gets to sit where.

There's many factors at play, but one of them is proximity to

the most powerful person. The closer you are, the higher

that shows you rank. The scribes hearts were captive

to Vainglory. They were addicted to other

people's admiration, respect, praise, approval.

They cared more about being praised by people than pleasing

God. These scribes are turned in on

themselves and they love to turn other people's attention toward

themselves. Whereas as religious leaders of

the God of Israel, what they should have cared more about,

what they should have loved more about what they should have

loved more, is turning people's attention to God and to their

neighbor. Their job wasn't to turn

attention to themselves. It was to teach people how to

worship God and love their neighbor.

The scribes hearts are devoted to self.

One reason it's worth scrubbing the rust off of a word like

Vainglory and bring it back into our vocabulary is that we live

in an absurdly vainglorious society.

Our society is constantly inventing new ways to tempt us

all to Vainglory and to immerse us in Vainglory.

There's a reason our culture has forgotten the word.

It is a willful forgetting. Vainglory is one of the single

best words to describe the entire society we live in, so

how convenient that we don't have a word for it.

Imagine that if you do anything with excellence, you will incur

the liability of other people's admiration.

Do anything well and you run the risk of other people noticing,

and not just noticing, but saying something about it to you

or to other people. Not only that, but there are

good and right reasons for showing honor to those who are

in authority and for honoring those whose achievements merit

recognition. There's a sense in which that's

good for everybody. So Jesus's point here isn't that

any of these outward circumstances are wrong in

themselves. His point is that it's wrong to

love them. It's wrong to be hungry for

them. It's wrong to be devoted to

them. It's wrong to be addicted to

being seen and noticed and recognized.

How can you combat Vainglory if you're a believer in Jesus?

First, realize that God loves you despite everything that's

wrong with you. God loves you not because of any

achievements. God loves you not because of any

moral accomplishments. God loves you simply because he

loves you. And God sees you and approves

you not because of your good works, but because he looks at

you as you are unified by faith with His perfect, beloved Son.

When God looks at you, He sees Jesus, and He is well pleased.

A second way to combat Vainglory is to labor for God's approval

more than any human approval. Don't seek the praise that comes

from man, but the praise that God Himself will pronounce over

you on the last day. One great test of that is

whether you are willing to continue doing something that

you know pleases God when it doesn't seem to be pleasing any

people. No one seems to notice, no one

seems to honor you, no one seems to recognize you.

A second feature of the scribes self devoted hearts.

Greed, greed. Look at verse 40.

Who devour widows houses? In all times, in all places,

widows are vulnerable to exploitation, but in ancient

Israel they were particularly vulnerable.

Their surviving family members were responsible to provide for

their needs. So if their family members

didn't, or if the widow didn't have any surviving family, she

simply have no one to look after her, no one to care for her, no

way to be provided for. What does it mean that the

scribes devoured widows houses? It means they economically

exploited them. They took advantage of them to

enrich themselves. We don't know exactly how they

did this, but some good historical hypothesis would be

that they might have charged excessive fees for legal

services, or when they managed widows estates they could have

siphoned off money and resources for themselves.

Oh sure, I'll take care of that for you.

This house, this field, this building.

And they sort of whittle it away for themselves little by little.

In any case, the point is that they abused their position of

religious authority to enrich themselves.

They took advantage of people who are humble, pious, trusting.

They fleeced vulnerable people by making them think their money

was going to the work of God. Sadly, today there's a close

analogy to these practices and what's often called the

prosperity gospel. Preachers who claim to represent

Christ promise people that if they give to support their

ministry, God will make them rich.

It's essentially the same logic as what the scribes were doing.

And it's just as false, just as abusive, and it can be just as

devastating. The prosperity gospel makes a

predatory promise. If you enrich me, God will

enrich you. Throughout Scripture, God

demonstrates committed care for widows and other vulnerable

people, and He exhorts us as his people to have the same heart,

the same compassion, the same commitment, the same care.

As Deuteronomy 10/18 declares, he executes justice for the

fatherless and the widow and loves the sojourner, giving him

food and clothing. How can we use a congregation

care for those among us, among our own members who are most

vulnerable? One way to look at it is the

less support someone has from their natural family, the more

the church should step in to help them as their spiritual

family. That's a principle Paul uses in

for in First Timothy 5 when he's talking about how to support and

care for widows in the church. So among members of the body, be

on the lookout for those who have fewer people looking out

for them. They might live far from their

family. They might have strained

relationships with their family. They might have few or no

surviving family members to help care for them positively.

Consider how you can share whatever abundance the Lord has

given you with brothers and sisters who need it.

That abundance includes money, but it goes well beyond money.

My friend Jake Meter in an article recently said that the

local church should be a community of abundant

competence. Even a local Church of 63

members or now 83 members is a community of abundant

competence. So we should share whatever

competencies we have with those who lack and need them.

I'm going to keep this anecdote sort of anonymous.

Let's just say someone in the church might have a washing

machine that broke. Let's just say when they went to

replace the washing machine, they discovered a long standing

leak in the pipe that it drained out of, which damaged the

drywall and required the tearing out of a portion of the wall and

the replacing of many little bits of plumbing.

Let's say the person whose washing machine this is did not

know how to do any of that. Let's say there's a church

member who knows how to do all of that and who, in an act of

astounding generosity, spent half a Saturday at the drop of a

hat taking care of it all. That's a way to share your

abundance, to share your competence with those who lack

it. Money is great when money is

what you need. Skill in a plumbing and drywall

and painting and all sorts of other stuff is also really great

when that's what you need and you lack.

Look for ways to share your competence, your abundance, and

your concern, especially with those who are most vulnerable.

1/3 feature of the scribes devotion to self is hypocrisy.

Hypocrisy. Jesus names that explicitly in

verse 40 who devour widows houses and for a pretense make

long prayers. They will receive the greater

condemnation. Why will the scribes receive a

greater condemnation? It's because instead of using

their authority to help others flourish, they use it to enrich

themselves at others expense. Instead of humbling themselves

to serve others, they exploit others to serve themselves.

And on top of all of that, they make a show of devotion to God

to hide their injustice. That's why on the last day and

throughout eternity, they will receive an even more severe

retribution than they would have otherwise.

God will hold them to account forever because if they spat in

His face by using the position He'd entrusted to them to enrich

themselves and exploit others. In verse 40, note the word

pretense. A pretense is something false

that you throw out like a blanket to cover the truth and

keep it hidden. A few days ago when we were on

our in the process of getting our kids out the door to school,

no one could find Margaret's backpack.

We looked in the car, not there. We looked in her bedroom, not

there. We look in the little entryway

where kids going to dump their stuff when they come in, not

there. We look in the kitchen, not

there. I get down and look under the

couch to see if it's like, fall, you know, someone push it under,

not there. So Margaret had to go to school

with like a Trader Joe's canvas bag and, you know, not her usual

lunch box and not her usual water bottle.

Kind of a bummer. The next day, Kristen found the

backpack in the living room on a couch under a blanket.

The blanket looked just naturally rumpled enough that

you could not detect the backpack underneath.

What are the scribes using to hide the backpack of their

injustice? The blanket they're throwing

over it all is prayer that should hit you in the gut.

To use something that is meant to be pure devotion to God as a

cover up to hide evil. This is compounding evil, evil

upon evil. Jesus is saying that they are

praying long prayers with ulterior motives.

Not to praise God, not to confess sin, not to bring

requests and needs of the body and try to advance the work of

the gospel, but to pray the kind of long prayers that make

someone go, wow, that person must be really godly.

Wow, that person is impressively holy.

While that person really must have a Direct Line to God.

I mean they must if they are just there talking to him for so

long, praying long prayers as a cover up.

A blanket thrown out to hide injustice.

The scribes were using fake devotion to God to cover up

their real rejection of God. The scribes were using fake

devotion to God to cover up their real devotion to self.

That's the essence of hypocrisy. They were not seeking God truly

yet imperfectly. The only way anyone can see God

in this life is imperfectly. The only way any Christian can

live a real Christian life is truly yet imperfectly.

But that's not what they were doing.

Instead, they were seeking self and they were using a religious

front to cover up their self seeking.

If you are in any way a religious person, especially if

you're a professing Christian, why do you pursue any religious

activity? Why do you come to church?

Why do you pray? Why do you read your Bible?

Is your goal to glorify God or to Polish an image of yourself?

Who are you concerned to impress?

Who would you especially like to see and notice your religious

activity? Now, some genuine believers have

extremely sensitive consciences about this sort of thing.

In some ways, that's a good thing.

You want to serve the Lord, not honor yourself.

You want to serve the Lord, not impress people.

But you can become so paranoid about not seeking praise from

people that it can threaten to cripple your service to others,

especially if that service is in any way public.

So how can you serve God, especially in public ways,

without becoming either a hypocrite or vainglorious?

Some examples you can think about leading in prayer, in

church or scripture reading, or any form of public teaching,

whether here or in the assembly, here in the assembly or with

kids. You should prepare for any of

those things diligently and carefully.

Your preparation in private should be a form of spiritual

meditation. You should engage with God

privately in order to then lead others.

In engaging with God publicly, you should seek to benefit from

God's Word and humble yourself before God's Word.

Before you in any way lead others from God's Word.

And then when you come to your service, you should dedicate it

to the Lord, pray that it will serve others, pray that it will

be for His glory, and leave the results to Him.

If people encourage you for your service, thank them and give

glory to God. If you mess up in any way

committed to the Lord and rejoice that you're not

justified by your service to Him, but only through faith in

Christ. If you're not a believer in

Jesus, what do you make of Jesus warnings against Vainglory,

greed and hypocrisy? Do you see any of those sins in

your own life? Where do they come from?

If you're not a believer in Jesus again, what do you think

Jesus wants you to take away from His warning against

hypocrisy? Is it enough to be able to

identify and judge hypocrisy in others?

What does Jesus want for you? So Part 1 of the contrast.

A heart devoted to self. That's the root of hypocrisy.

The deepest root of hypocrisy is self devotion, self worship,

putting yourself in the place of God.

If you put yourself in the place of God, you will care more about

putting on a religious show then about the reality of worshipping

God and serving others. What's the alternative point #2A

heart devoted to God? A heart devoted to God?

That's the point of Jesus commendation of the poor widow

in verses 41 to 44. Look first at verse 41.

And he sat down opposite the treasury and watched the people

putting money into the offering box.

Many rich people put in large sums.

Jesus is in the part of the temple complex that was called

the Court of women. Jewish historical sources tell

us that there were 13 large metallic trumpet shaped

receptacles attached to the walls where people could come

and make donations that would go to the upkeep and the service of

the temple. This was not the payment of a

required temple tax, so it wasn't anything required.

It didn't have a specific amount.

These were generous free will contributions.

And just as Jesus watches, many rich people are coming and

putting in large amounts. Nothing surprising about rich

people putting in large amounts. And the point here is not even

necessarily that it's a critique.

It's possible that those rich people were giving in such a way

that it drew attention to themselves, but the text doesn't

say so Jesus doesn't criticize them.

Instead of criticizing, he's interested in drawing a contrast

based on what he sees next. Verses 42 to 44.

And a poor widow came and put in two small copper coins which

make a penny. 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, for they all contributed out of their abundance.

But she out of her poverty has put in everything she had, all

she had to live on. How did Jesus know this was all

that she had to live on? He seems to be displaying His

divine omniscience. He knows everything.

He knows how much money she does and doesn't have.

Now, how much exactly did this poor widow give?

I am not going to get into complex math.

I'm not going to bore you with ancient currency conversions.

We can simply say that these two coins combined would be worth

about a dollar in today's money. Everybody knows a dollar does

not go very far. It will not get you a tank of

gas. It will not get you a burger.

At most fast food places. It's not much.

It's hardly anything. And if it's all you have, you

are really, really poor. Some interpreters have suggested

that the widow here is a victim and that Jesus is further

condemning the scribes. Some people have argued that

Jesus is criticizing an oppressive religious system that

would rob a widow of her last dollar based on false religious

promises, But I don't think that's an accurate reading of

the passage. What does Jesus say?

He commends her. Truly, I say to you, this poor

widow has put in more than all those.

He's making a comparison. He's assigning greater value,

greater worth to her gift than even these big sums put in by

rich people. Her gift is greater.

It's worth more. Why?

Verse 44 tells us because she didn't contribute some from her

wealth, instead she gave all from her poverty.

She had two coins, she could have kept one.

She gave both. In other words, this poor

widow's gift is a living parable of total devotion to God.

It's a living picture of what it looks like for your heart to be

fully given to God rather than self.

It's a stunning contrast with the scribes.

Their hearts are devoted to self.

Her heart is devoted to God. The language in verse 44 even

echoes the greatest commandment that Jesus taught about a few

verses earlier. What is that greatest

commandment? Mark 1230 quoting Deuteronomy 6.

You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all

your soul, and with all your mind and with all your strength.

The phrase at the very end of verse 44 echoes this command.

She gave everything she had, all she had to live on.

That's a good translation. It's idiomatic.

It gets the point across. But the Greek wording is

literally her whole life. She gave her whole life and

giving those two coins she gave her whole life because she gave

all that she had to live on. Her giving her whole life

expressed her loving God with her whole heart, soul, mind and

strength. She loves God with all that she

is and all that she has. You are what you love.

If you love self above God, you'll live for yourself and

other people will pay the price for your selfishness.

If you love God above self, you'll live for God, and other

people will benefit from your selfless giving.

Jesus contrast between the scribes and the poor widow

highlights the most fundamental divide between human beings.

Either you love self above God, or you love God above self.

Augustine put this point so powerfully 1600 years ago in his

work City of God that even though I have already quoted

this passage from this very pulpit, I'm going to do it

again. Nobody said it better, and it's

a crucial point. Accordingly, 2 cities have been

formed by two loves. The earthly by the love of self,

even to the contempt of God. The heavenly by the love of God,

even to the contempt of self. The former, in a word, glories

in itself, the latter in the Lord.

For the one seeks glory from men, but the greatest glory of

the other is God, the witness of conscience.

The one lifts up its head in its own glory.

The other says to its God, Thou art my glory and the lifter up

of mine head. That's the choice that confronts

you this morning. Will you love self to the

contempt of God, or will you love God to the contempt of

self? Will you devote your heart to

self or God? To help us apply the passage

like we did in the first point on a highlight, three features

of a heart devoted to God that Jesus teaching about the widow

shows us #1 generosity. Apart from sort of cultural

background knowledge. You know, we assume this woman

is Jewish. We only know three things about

her. One, she's a widow. 2 she's

poor. 3 She gave God everything she had.

A heart devoted to God will be a generous heart.

A heart devoted to God knows that everything you have is from

God, and so a heart devoted to God will be eager to give back

to God and to give to others for God's sake.

This certainly applies to money, and one of its most important

tests is money, and it also extends far beyond money.

When it comes to applying the woman's example in this passage,

we need to avoid 2 extremes. 1 extreme would be to say that

this woman is a model for all believers at all times in all

places. But that's clearly not true.

Jesus does make an example of her, but he doesn't say that all

his followers must always give up all that they have to live

on. For one thing, this woman had no

dependence. She was not responsible to

provide for anyone else. She could depend on God more

directly in some sense because she didn't have others depending

on her. So this verse is not a

comprehensive one verse theology of stewardship.

But another extreme would be refusing to let the passage

challenge us and shake us up. Jesus does hold up an extreme

act of generosity as an example. We want to be careful not to let

prudence speak louder than Jesus.

This kind of radical generosity is not a required rule for every

believer, but it is an example that Jesus holds up of what it

means to dedicate yourself completely to him.

We should let that challenge us. There should be times when we

give in ways that don't make sense to the world, that we give

in ways that don't make economic sense.

We give in ways that show we are totally dependent on God and not

on our bank accounts. More practically, to think about

giving as Christians giving money, one good place to start

is Galatians 66. Paul says the one who is taught

the Word should share all good things with the one who teaches.

There's a principle of reciprocity here.

Every church member receives spiritual benefit from the

church, which means that every church member is responsible to

help sustain and support the church.

Now, that obligation doesn't land on every member in the same

way. You might be a college student

and have literally no income. If you have literally no income,

I would not expect you to give from the income that you do not

have. You might be retired living on a

small fixed income, which imposes certain challenges and

constraints. But you should ask yourself, how

can I fulfill what Paul teaches in Galatians 6/6?

What does it mean for my money? What does it mean for my other

resources? The Bible doesn't lay an

obligation on Christians to give a certain percent of our income

to the church, but it does command us to give regularly,

cheerfully, proportionately, and sacrificially.

You can hear those principles in the following passages.

First Corinthians 16 Two, on the first day of each week each of

you is to put something aside and store it up as he may

prosper, so that there will be no collecting when I come. 2nd

Corinthians 8 Two to three in a severe test of affliction.

Their abundance of joy and their extreme poverty have overflowed

in a wealth of generosity on their part, for they gave

according to their means, as I can testify, and beyond their

means of their own accord. 2nd Corinthians 9 seven.

Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not

reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.

Jesus teaches that what matters far more than the amount you

give is what that amount says about your heart, what it says

about your devotion to God. The kind of giving Jesus wants

is an expression of your devotion to him and trust in Him

and love for Him. Giving money should be an

expression of giving yourself to God.

As Paul says in Second Corinthians 12/14, I will not be

a burden, for I seek not what is yours, but you.

God seeks not what is yours, but you, and you show that you are

devoted to Him by what you do with what is yours.

Are you giving sacrificially and cheerfully?

That's a far more important question than how much.

But giving money is only one of the ways we give.

We give not only treasure, but time and talents.

This passage also has a lot to teach us about how to use all of

our gifts generously to glorify God and benefit others.

So still on this theme of generosity, one of the most

common temptations regarding spiritual gifts is to despise

your own. To think that your gifts don't

amount to much. They don't seem important or

impressive. Doesn't seem like God has given

you anything big or flashy or notable to do.

Brothers and sisters, service isn't a race.

Service isn't a competition. There are no church Olympics, no

gold, silver and bronze. Your job isn't to rank your own

gifts compared to the size or shape of others gifts.

Your job is to use your gifts for God's glory and other

people's good. Your job isn't to judge your

gifts, but to give them. What does Jesus say?

Truly, I say to you, this poor widow has put in more than all

those. God doesn't care how big or

small your gift is. He's the one who's given it.

He's the one who's decided how big or small it is.

And it doesn't matter. What he does care about is that

you give all of that gift. In service to him and others.

Brothers and sisters, comparing your gifts to others and then

deciding that they somehow aren't worth using is a great

way to let Satan sideline you from doing any spiritual good.

The simple meal served in a messy house to welcome someone

new into the church is more than a Michelin star caliber meal

served to impress. The short, simple, heartfelt

prayer with someone right after the service is more than a

theological treatise delivered off the top of your head with

perfect accuracy and 0 compassion.

Sometimes the things we're tempted to think are nothing are

more than the thing you're comparing it to.

Kids in the congregation, Remember that Jesus cares not

about how much you give, but that you give him all you have.

What can you give to Jesus today?

What can you give to someone else for Jesus's sake?

A heart devoted to God will be a generous heart, generous with

money and generous with everything else God has given

you. Second dependence.

Dependence. This poor widow gave all that

she had to live on. Who did you have to depend on?

Not family, no rich friends, no bank account or 4O1K.

So who did she depend on? Got alone?

That's impressive. That's something marvelous and

miraculous. What does Jesus find impressive?

Not wealth, not status, not power, but faith.

Not impressive gifts or influence, but faith.

The scribes had knowledge, They had standing, They had

impressive appearances. This woman had nothing.

But Jesus saw in her what no one else did.

He saw utter dependence. He saw radical faith.

He saw a woman free from the world's clutches and a woman who

had power that nothing in the world could give her or take

away from her. If you become a Christian in

order to advance in the world, then you will throw away your

Christianity as soon as it stops advancing you in the world.

But this woman was clinging to God alone by faith, when she had

nothing and no one else. Third commitment, Commitment.

This poor widow was totally committed to God.

She was utterly devoted to Him. She held nothing back.

She kept nothing for herself. She embodied the whole sold

commitment that the Great Commandment calls us to.

She gave all that she had to live on.

She gave literally her whole life.

How can you live out that kind of commitment to God?

It's only by trusting the God who is totally committed to you.

How can you give God your whole life?

Only by trusting the God who gave his life for you.

God has given us everything we have and everything we are.

He's our creator, He sustains us.

He makes your heart beat every time, but the way we've

responded to Him is as if we're self creators, as if we've done

this all for ourselves. We've made ourselves, we've made

everything we need to live on. And so we can do whatever we

want with it. We can take all the credit for

it. We can do anything we want with

our lives, our bodies. And God can't really tell us

what to do or have anything to say about it.

That's the essence of sin. Putting self in the place of

God, living how you want instead of how God wants you to and

giving back no thanks to God. Seeking to live independently

from God. That's spitting in God's face.

It's rejecting His goodness. It deserves His wrath.

And He does promise that he will punish in eternity all those who

persist in rejecting Him. And yet, on top of his

astounding generosity and giving us life itself, on top of his

astounding generosity and giving us all that we have, He sent

Jesus into the world to give his life, to give all that he had to

pay for our sin, to redeem us from sin, to ransom us from sin,

so that anyone who believes is instantly reconciled to God.

Jesus proved to be accomplished on the cross by rising from the

dead on the third day, defeating death, conquering the grave,

entering into a whole new glorified life so that all who

believe in Him will experience that glory too.

You cannot outgive Jesus. You cannot be more generous than

Jesus. The only way to come, to start

to live this kind of life of devotion to God, this kind of

life of generosity, is by first receiving the infinite gift that

is Christ himself. The only way to be generous from

the heart is to know the God who's been infinitely generous

toward you. If you've never turned from sin

and trusted in Jesus, believe in Him today.

One test of your commitment to God is how you handle

disappointment now, how you handle loss, how you handle

going without. Does your commitment to God rise

and fall depending on how much he's giving you?

Think of all that This woman was not receiving.

No wealth, no help, no support, and yet she gave God all she

had. Jesus sees that.

Jesus celebrates that. No one else notices her.

But Jesus does. So often.

The Acts that most demonstrate your devotion to God are acts

that no one else sees. You don't get any reward for

them now. No praise, no recognition, no

status boost to feed your Vainglory.

No one sees, no one cares. No one except God.

What did Hagar name God? The God who sees God sees.

God cares. God is keeping perfect records.

And on the last day, God will do for every single one of His

people what Jesus does for this woman.

Now, just as Jesus commends her now, if you trust in Jesus, so

will God commend you. Then God sees your hidden

devotion, and on the last day He will display and reward your

hidden devotion, as Paul proclaims in First Corinthians

4-5. Therefore, do not pronounce

judgement before the time before the Lord comes, who will bring

to light the things now hidden in darkness and will disclose

the purposes of the heart. Then each one will receive his

commendation from God. Part of your reward on that day

will be God himself commending you.

So devote yourself to God now. Devote your heart to God now.

If you're overlooked, if you're unrewarded, if no one sees and

no one cares, you're simply storing up a greater weight of

glory for them. What's the difference between a

hypocrite and a real follower of Christ?

The hypocrite covers up their failures.

The real Christian confesses their failures to God and

others. The hypocrite cares more about

what people think than what God thinks.

The real Christian cares more about what God thinks than what

people think. The hypocrite protects their

image with no concern for spiritual progress.

The real Christian pursues spiritual progress with no

concern for their image. No Christian is perfect, but

every real Christian is really trying to become more like

Christ. Why do that?

Because you love him more than you love yourself.

Why do that? Because he's your perfect life.

He's your Prince of Peace. Let's pray now together.

Heavenly Father, we thank you for your astounding devotion to

us who don't deserve it. We thank you for your generosity

to us when we've deserved the opposite.

Father, we pray for all of us who trust in Jesus, that we

would really seek real devotion to Him.

That our lives, our bank accounts, how we use our time,

and our gifts would all reflect love for you and devotion to

you. Pray for those who don't know

Jesus that they would be melted in their heart by His generosity

and entrust themselves completely to Him.

We pray in Jesus name, Amen.