February 16th, 2025 - "Just a Mite More" - Rev. Dr. T. Ray Wheeler

Matt Nelson: Welcome to the sermon podcast from First United Methodist

Church in downtown Bentonville.

If you have questions related to what you hear today or just want to

find out more about the ministries at First United Methodist Church, please

visit us online at fumcbentonville.

org or check us out on Facebook, Instagram, or TikTok.

Rev. Dr. T. Ray Wheeler: Oh, it's so wonderful to be here and worship with you.

I want to add my welcome to Pastor Michelle's and we're

so grateful that you're here.

We hope you feel respected and loved and celebrated in this place.

This morning we are in our stewardship time and I'll just confess to you that

when I first started working at the church I was a little embarrassed about asking

people, can you help, can you, is it okay if you, and then I realized I'm not

asking for me, I'm asking for the Lord.

So I got my attitude straightened out a little bit about asking for things

because we're really giving unto the God's kingdom and so that's how I like

to think about it and I hope that's the way that you all feel as well.

So our scripture lesson this morning comes from The Gospel of Luke.

It's a very short scripture lesson.

21 verses one through four.

Looking up, Jesus saw rich people throwing their gifts into the

collection box for the temple treasury.

He also saw a poor widow throw in two small copper coins worth about a penny.

And he said, I assure you, this poor widow has just put in more than them all.

All of them were giving out of their spare change, but she, from

her hopeless poverty, Has given everything she had to live on.

This is the word of God for us, the people of God, God.

Amen.

I'd love it if we have a quick prayer together, loving and

merciful God, let your presence be with each person this morning.

Those who are in our building and those who are worshiping online,

give us ears to hear the message that you would have us receive.

We pray this in all of your holy names.

Amen.

So this scene in the Gospel of Luke is centered on Jesus

teaching the people in the temple.

And the author of Luke gives a flurry of stories that are all

around Jesus teaching in the temple.

And many of these stories seem to be getting at the same message.

And I think that message is, are you looking with spiritual eyes?

Are you looking with the eyes of the flesh?

At the beginning of this big flurry of stories, while Jesus is teaching

in the temple, the priests and the religious leaders come and ask Jesus,

by whose authority are you teaching?

Now, the priests and the religious leaders, they're not necessarily

asking an inappropriate question there.

This is not a synagogue.

I mean, in a synagogue, when, when someone comes to a synagogue at that time,

There was a lay involvement and anybody was welcome to speak in a synagogue,

but that's not true of the temple.

In the temple, it's totally in the hands of the clergy and the

scribes and the chief priests.

You see, the chief priests had to be members and descendants

of the family of Levi.

So it's really their birthright to lead as a religious leader in the temple.

So when they asked by whose authority, it's a proper question.

But before Jesus witnesses to his divine nature in front of these

folks, he offers them a test.

And he says, let me ask you a question.

If you answer my question, I'll answer your question.

So Jesus asks, was the baptism of John from heaven or was it of human origin?

Now, Jesus is not being contrary or cute when he responds with

this question to their question.

Christ would surely have welcomed them to have a conversion and to

believe in him as the Son of God.

After all, Jesus is preaching in the temple.

I'm sure that most of the crowd around are Jewish, so it could happen.

They could have a moment.

But the priests and the scribes confer among themselves, and they

say, If we say John's baptism comes from heaven, then Jesus will

say, Well, why didn't you believe?

And if we say John's baptism is of human origin, the people will

riot, and that could be bad for us.

So they kind of cop out the answer by saying, We don't know.

And Jesus then says, You're looking with human eyes, not spiritual eyes.

He basically says, I'm not going to tell you either.

But that's really what he's saying.

That's really the point of his story.

They're not seeing him with their spiritual eyes.

And then later, these chief priests and scribes send spies to

trap Jesus and try to get him in trouble with the Roman authorities.

So these spies come and they flatter Jesus a little bit and they say,

Teacher, we know what you're teaching is true and you're a true leader.

But then they spring this trap question.

They say, Is it lawful for us to pay taxes or not?

And of course Jesus sees right through this crafty query and he

says to them, Show me a denarius.

You probably all could tell me this story yourselves.

He says, Whose picture's on this?

Whose name is on this?

It's the emperor's.

And you probably know the famous answer Jesus gives them give to the

Emperor what belongs to the Emperor and give to God What belongs to

God look with your spiritual eyes?

Jesus seems to be saying that economy of the kingdom of heaven

is not the economy of the world

And then the writer of Luke has Jesus worn the disciples in the hearing

of all the people to beware of the religious authorities who walk around

with long robes and they love to be greeted with respect in the marketplace

and have the best seats in the temple and places of honor at the banquets.

But they devour widows houses and for the sake of appearances they pray long

prayers and Jesus concludes by saying they will receive a greater condemnation.

And that story leads directly into our story today.

So it's against the background of all these ideas where Jesus seems to be saying

the kingdom of heaven is not contained in earthly power or earthly wealth.

It's something different.

So while he's teaching there in the temple, he's in a courtyard there, and

there are these receptacles all around.

And the historian Josephus reports that these receptacles

were called so far chests.

Now, if so far sounds familiar, we have a so far.

Pastor Michelle bought a so far.

It's, it's a horn.

It's a trumpet.

I have played it very badly in here sometimes.

And, and Alison has played it really well.

She's a very good so far player.

So when he believes, and we take this from the historian that the so far

chess were, they look like a trumpet.

They were big and then they kind of came down more narrowly and they were

probably made out of some type of metal.

So when Jesus looks up and he sees the rich people putting their gifts into

the treasury, they're likely tossing metal coins, mini metal coins or heavy

metal coins into this round trumpet shaped thing that's made out of metal.

And you can imagine that's going to make a lot of noise.

And you also have to think that Jesus has just warned the disciples,

don't show off your religious piety.

Wearing long robes, praying long prayers.

And here are all these wealthy people, taking their coins and

tossing them into this, this metal container, making all kinds of noise.

But then Jesus sees the poor widow give her offering, and these are two small

copper coins, and I can imagine, that after all the clanging of the large

coins, and all the amount of large coins, these two little copper coins,

Probably did not make a lot of noise as she tossed those into the, so far.

They probably were just very quiet, and if Jesus had not looked up and noticed

her and commented on her, she would have gone unnoticed by anyone, probably.

But then, Jesus gives a surprise assessment of her gift.

He says, this poor widow, truly I tell you, this poor widow has

given more than any of them.

Now, if we think about this and the people of that day and us today, we

know that math doesn't really add up.

If wealthy people are giving huge sums of money and this poor widow is

giving probably what was less than a penny, it's not a logical thing to

assert that she's given a greater gift.

But all these stories are pointing to the reality of economy that is not of this

world, the economy of the kingdom of God.

When we share what we have, our gifts, as we are able, God takes

our gifts and transforms them from scarcity into abundance.

This is a theme throughout the gospel.

We put in our might and God gives the increase.

Praise the Lord.

A few weeks ago, Brooke Tilly, one of our youth, preached a beautiful

sermon entitled Rations, and she spoke about the feeding of the 5, 000

from the five loaves and a few fish.

It's another story of scarcity becoming abundance by God's grace.

Now, what does this story of the poor widow, what does this mean for us today?

As you're praying about what to pledge this year, Know that we can come as a

community and put in maybe just a mite more and we can have marvelous increases.

I took a leap of faith this week and I did some math.

That's not an easy thing for me to do.

That was a sacrifice.

I'll just say that.

I'm pretty sure my figures are right because I know a gal who helps me with it.

If you don't know, my wife is a math professor, so I checked

all these formulas out with her.

I didn't want to tell you something wrong.

So what I found out, I talked with Chandra, our accountant, and we

have 371 giving units in our church.

And all that means is if you come as a single person and

give, you're a giving unit.

If you're a family of five or six and you give, you're a giving unit.

And so I did a little quick math, and what if we put in just

a mite more than we're giving?

Just a little more.

And I figured that if all 371 of us gave two more dollars a

week, , it's not a lot of money per month, just two more dollars a week.

Over the year, we would collect $38,584 more than we did last year.

But let's say we can't all do that.

So 50% of us give about $5 a week, and over the year if we continue to give

and we give that $5 a week, it comes out to $48,100 more than we have.

A small amount becomes a great increase, but let's say 20% of us can

give a little more and we give $20 a week over the period of the year.

If we give 20 extra dollars a week, it comes out to $76,960, almost $77,000.

But if only 10% of us give $200 a month, and that's a pretty big commitment

over what you're already giving.

Over the year we'll collect 88, 800 more, almost 89, 000 more.

So, my point here is, if we give as we are able, as a community,

it can add up to quite large sums.

And this can be a resource for us at this church.

We can use it for outreach, we can use it for teaching, we can use it

for music and worship, and all of the things that feed our souls and help

us care for this greater community.

I can tell you this thing for certain, that everything we give as an act

of worship will become part of the economy of the kingdom of God.

In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, Amen.

Matt Nelson: Thanks for listening to the sermon podcast from First United

Methodist Church in downtown Bentonville.

If you would like to let us know you were here, follow the link below to connect.

To participate in worship through giving, You can give online at FUMCBentonville.

org or on Venmo @FUMCBentonville.

FUMC Bentonville welcomes all.

Because we believe the communion table is God's table, we invite

everyone into our church family.

We welcome and celebrate every race, gender, gender identity, sexual

orientation, marital status, age, physical and mental ability, national origin,

economic station, and political ideology.

We come together in action and outreach, aspiring to follow Jesus' example of

radical hospitality, love, and grace as a transformative movement in our community.

Please join us for worship on Sunday mornings at nine and 11:00 AM, both

in person and on Facebook Live.

All are welcome and we'd love to have you with us.

Grace and peace.