Phony Scribes And A Widow's Mite

Things are not always as they seem.

It was a lesson that I learned in a hard way many years ago.

Julie and I were in college.

She'd been chasing me around for a little while.

And finally I said, you know, I guess we can go out on a date or so.

But we had been dating actually for a little while.

You may remember this.

We had gone every year.

We went on a student leadership trip.

If you were in some form of leadership on the campus,

we would go on these trips to New York City.

We had to report to campus a week early from all the other students.

And they would drive us up to New York City,

really for no other reason but to enjoy a trip away from North Carolina.

And while we were there, we would have different leadership lessons

and things like that as we would go.

Well, we enjoyed some time with some of our friends from college

going to different places around the city as we always do.

One of Julie's favorite places to go in New York City is Chinatown.

And if you've ever been there, you probably will understand why she likes it so much.

It really is a fascinating area of the city.

For one moment, you're walking through a portion of lower Manhattan

that is really just like any other big city in the United States.

And then suddenly you kind of take a turn,

depending on which direction you're coming,

you take a turn around the block.

And it's like you've suddenly been transported to a downtown area of a major city in China.

And in China, everything changes.

The majority ethnic is Asian at that point.

Just the people everywhere are very different.

There are signs that are not in English anymore.

They're in Chinese.

There's vendors everywhere, which is the reason that Julie loves it so much.

We go and there's all of these vendors that are offering consumer goods

at really extreme discounts.

And if you've been there, you know how this works.

Julie loves it because she loves to go and shop with all these vendors

and all these little tiny shops there in Chinatown.

And if you're really lucky, this is what Julie likes.

If you're really lucky, you get invited to a secret room in the back of the shop.

And there's usually a false wall and they will let you in.

We went into one.

One time that was in a cellar.

There was a walkie-talkie.

I don't know what was going on there.

But there was a walkie-talkie situation.

And once they got the clear, they opened up the doors to the cellars

that go down underneath the city.

And we went down and we were ushered quickly into this area.

Julie loves to go and do that kind of shopping.

And on this particular trip, we were trying to figure out

who was going to get the better deal.

And so, of course, I eventually found a vendor.

And that was selling men's cologne at just ridiculously cheap prices.

And my scent at that particular time in my life was Acqua Di Gio by Giorgio Armani.

That was a step up from the brute that I had grown up wearing.

And I found this vendor.

And he was offering me a $55 bottle of Acqua Di Gio for like $20.

And which seems too good to be true.

But I'm like 21 years old.

That just seems like a good deal to me.

And so I'm looking at it.

And I inspect it.

It looks like anything else that I would have bought at a department store back home.

It even had the tag on the back.

Like the Macy's tag that says $55 or $65, whatever it is.

And he's saying, I'll sell it to you for $20.

And I was like, you got a deal.

$20.

I stick it in my bag.

And I go on.

And of like any good man, I'm bragging about I'm the one that got the better deal of everybody

that was shopping here that day.

And then later on, I opened up the package.

And I pulled out the bottle, which is an Acqua Di Gio bottle.

Looks exactly like it's supposed to look.

And I go to spray it on for some cologne.

And I quickly realized that what was in the bottle was not Acqua Di Gio.

It was more like Acqua Di Windex is what was in there.

It was just some kind of cleaner that had been replaced in this bottle and resold.

And I learned very quickly that things are not always as they seem.

Sometimes even people are not always as they seem.

And that's what we find in these verses that we just read in Mark chapter 12.

Mark 12 · chapter mention

Two classic examples of people who we make assumptions about based on the way that they

carry themselves or perhaps the way that they look and the trappings that they have worn

and the behavior that they have demonstrated.

And then come to find out the reality is they are very different than what you might have

originally assumed.

On the one hand is the scribes who maintained every appearance of faithfulness to God,

but were in actual fact religious hypocrites.

On the other hand, Jesus marks a woman who though considered utterly insignificant

and probably outcast by most of the people of her day,

was the one with the truest devotion.

And Jesus makes note of her publicly to the people around.

So as this long day in the temple begins to wane,

Jesus contrasted the inauthentic, pretentious scribes

with the bona fide devotion and worship of the faithful widow.

And Luke's account reveals to us when he writes about this,

that though there were many people within earshot of Jesus in the temple at this moment,

his teaching here was directed specifically toward his disciples.

So when we step back and we consider that fact,

we begin to think about what is actually the purpose of this passage,

of all the things Mark and Matthew and Luke could have included in their gospels,

why did they include these two stories?

And of all the places to put them,

why did Mark decide to put them here?

And maybe you've realized that these two stories in Mark's gospel

actually fit perfectly in this place.

The lesson is another one from the Lord about the nature of true discipleship.

In making these comparisons between the scribes and this woman,

Jesus tells the disciples two things.

Beware of the scribes and be aware of the faithfulness of this lady.

And his point is that discipleship, true discipleship,

does not result in a life that looks like the scribes.

It actually results in a life that looks like the poor widow.

And our aim this morning as we come through these verses

should be to heed Jesus' warning first.

We want to take notice of the lesson that he's teaching us.

And then in conclusion, we want to evaluate our hearts

and see where we line up as far as this text is concerned.

Really just two points to go through.

The first one is this.

I want you to see a warning against religious hypocrisy.

A warning against religious hypocrisy.

Look with me at verse 38.

In his teaching, he said,

Beware 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 feast.

They devour widows' houses

and for a pretense make long prayer.

They will receive the greater condemnation, Jesus says.

Beware of the scribes.

Beware of them.

There are six elements to this warning that Jesus gives

specifically describing the scribes.

If you want Jesus' full treatment of this,

you're going to have to go to Matthew 23.

And I would encourage you maybe to do that

if you have some downtime this afternoon.

There is just the entire chapter

is Jesus going through this condemnation of the scribes.

Mark condenses it down here to three verses.

But Matthew chapter 23 goes into much greater detail.

Matthew 23 · chapter mention

Let's look at the six elements that Mark mentions

The first thing he says is,

Beware of the scribes.

They like to wear long robes.

But that just seemed like a big deal, right?

What's he getting at here?

These were full length white prayer shawls.

They were meant to be seen.

They had tassels that was according to the Old Testament law.

There were particular ways that they would go about this,

but they had tassels that would be sewn

into the four corners of the robe.

They would be full length.

In fact, when the ESV says long robes here,

the idea in Greek is flowing,

that there is motion that is associated with these.

So they're not tight to the body.

They're very wide.

They're very motion driven.

They're meant to catch your attention.

The common garments of that day were colorful tunics,

and these were always this starch white.

And they were specifically designed to stand out in the crowd.

So that if you're walking through the marketplace,

and there's a few hundred people there,

and they're all wearing the colorful garments of the day,

the tunics of the day,

you would be able to notice,

even from a distance,

when a scribe was around,

they would stick out in the crowd.

The garments were often ornate,

and they communicated a measure of wealth

and superiority over common people.

It was essentially the first century version

of the modern power suit.

That's what these men were wearing.

And they loved to wear them, Jesus says,

because they wanted to be seen.

But he says it's not only about the long robes,

they love greetings in the marketplaces, he says.

They demanded a measure of deference

from the people that they felt was worthy of their status.

They wanted to be called rabbi or father.

In fact, that's something that Jesus addresses

specifically in Matthew chapter 23.

Matthew 23 · chapter mention

He says, do not call anybody rabbi or father.

But that's what they wanted to be called.

And so as they would make their way through the city,

they would wear their bright, white, long, flowy prayer shawls

that what everyone would notice, this person is a scribe.

And this, unless someone was involved immediately

in their work in the marketplace,

what was expected was that they would stop what they're doing,

stop the conversations that they're having,

make way for the scribe to come through,

and in deference, greet them.

Good morning, rabbi.

Good morning, father.

How are you today?

So nice to see you.

The world stops when the scribes show up.

That's what Jesus is pointing out here.

They love to wear the robes.

They love to get the greetings.

So Sinclair Ferguson says,

they not only craved the trappings of power,

but the adulation of man.

That's what they lived for.

Then we see that they liked the best seats in the synagogue.

This is a description of a platform.

Essentially, there were benches

that would be situated in the synagogue,

and those seated on those benches

would face the congregation.

If you've ever seen a picture,

or perhaps you've been in a place

that has created a replica of a first century synagogue,

you'll notice that there were risers along the walls

that people would sit on these risers,

and then people would sit on the floor.

Then there would be benches up toward the front.

Those seats were reserved for people of rank.

That's where the scribes, they wanted to sit.

And they wanted to sit there for two reasons.

One, they wanted to observe the people below them, right?

They're on the bench at the front.

They want to observe the people below them.

This was a status symbol.

They also wanted the people below them

to see them situated in the place of status.

They wanted to see,

and they wanted to be seen in the church,

in the congregation of the people.

Now, we're not far removed from that idea now.

I can remember in college,

and in the early years of ministry even,

in serving in churches,

going to conferences,

or going to large churches,

and at the beginning of the service,

right when things are beginning to happen,

the significant people in the church,

or in the school,

or in the circumstance that we're in,

are paraded onto the stage.

In some places,

the people stand and applaud as they come out,

but they're paraded onto the stage,

and then there are the seats of honor

that are on the platform.

And just to be transparent,

here's what I would think.

I would see them come out,

and I would think,

I want to sit in that seat one day.

How awesome to be the part of the it group,

the group that gets paraded on the platform

in front of the church,

that everybody stands and applauds when you come out,

that you get to sit on the seat,

and you get to look at everybody else's there,

and then they get to look at you,

and maybe they will look at you,

and say,

I hope I get to sit in Jared's seat one day.

How he must be awesome.

I never got to sit in one of those seats.

It's a good thing.

We all have a little bit of this in us, don't we?

That's the picture of the scribes here.

They love the seats in the synagogue,

the best ones.

They want to be seen.

And then he says,

it carries on not only in the assembly of God's people,

but Jesus said it's also,

they like the places of honor at feast.

So in the cultural city celebrations that would take place,

they were the VIPs of society.

And they settled for nothing less than the honor

that accompanies celebrity and status symbols.

But then it takes a turn in the description here.

It's not just about these things that they desired.

Now Jesus gets into the problem of their actions.

He says that they devour widows' houses.

Literally eat their houses.

And of course,

we don't want to over-literalize that.

They weren't literally eating houses.

They were devouring the belongings of vulnerable people.

You say, well, how does that even happen?

Well, you might even recognize it today.

These scribes were forbidden to receive compensation

for their work in the temple.

So either they had to get a common job

to compensate financially,

or many of them survived on the donations of individuals.

Now here's what they would do.

In the process of raising money for themselves,

they would go to the poor widows,

or maybe the wealthy widows,

the widows who had no one else to care for them,

and they would pray on these people.

They would become their pastor.

They would pray with them.

They would then ask them to support their ministry

as they continued to serve.

And what they would do

is they'd begin to steal the belongings of these widows.

But there's a second way.

Josephus said there was a measure of embezzlement

that went on with this.

They'd go to the widows,

and they'd say,

tell you what,

I'm gonna take care,

Christian,

I'm gonna take care of your contributions

to the church for you.

All you gotta do is give it to me.

I'm gonna take it down to the temple for you,

and I'll deposit it on your behalf.

And so they'd get the lump sum from Christian,

and they'd go to the temple,

and they'd take their portion first,

and they'd put the rest in the donation boxes.

Literally, they're devouring the belongings

of the vulnerable.

Using their spiritual status,

they quite literally robbed them,

robbed the people who had no one else

to care for them.

And that's just as prevalent today.

The scammers love to prey on the vulnerable.

They love to prey on widows.

So do those who claim the name of Christ.

One of the issues with the people

who champion the prosperity gospel

is that they have amassed

an incredible amount of wealth

by doing precisely what these scribes were doing

and that Jesus was condemning them for.

They make careers out of manipulating people

by telling them that they will use their spiritual power

that has been uniquely gifted to them by God.

And they're gonna use that spiritual power

on your behalf if you send some money

to their specific ministry.

And of course, there's the extreme examples

of the TV preachers where

if you will just send in 20 bucks,

they're gonna send a prayer cloth

that they've sneezed on,

and you get to receive the power

that comes along from that particular thing.

But there's much more subtle ways

that this happens all the time.

This kind of abuse isn't just for those

and proponents of the prosperity gospel.

You'll find this kind of spiritual abuse

and manipulation in every circle of religion.

The powerful using their status,

using God as their banner,

as an opportunity to prey on the vulnerable.

Spiritual abusers rather than spiritual leaders.

That's what the scribes were doing.

Using their status to hurt people.

Using their power to hurt people.

And then Jesus finishes up and he says,

they also, out of pretense, make long prayers.

Jesus doesn't have a problem with long prayer.

Jesus doesn't have a problem

with flowery language in prayer,

if you like to do that.

The issue here is that this wasn't real prayer.

They were spiritual monologues

meant to be seen by men and heard by men

and recognized by men.

They weren't actually communing with God in this.

That's not where their heart was.

Jesus saw through that and he said,

there is religious hypocrisy here.

In fact, that's what he's pointing out with the scribes.

Things, men, are not always what they seem,

Jesus tells his disciples.

Just look at the scribes and beware of them

because they look like they've got all of it together

and they look like they're the pinnacle

when it comes to spirituality.

But the truth is you need to watch out for them

because they're a bunch of hypocrites.

We need to understand that term hypocrisy.

Sometimes we misuse it.

Hypocrisy is not a person who takes a particular stand

or professes a particular belief

and then falls short of that in their life.

That's just called being an imperfect human.

A hypocrite is not someone who fails.

The word comes from a Greek word.

It means to wear a mask.

It quite literally is the picture of an actor

who portrays a character on stage or on screen,

but in reality is a totally different person.

That's what spiritual hypocrisy is.

That's what's happening with the scribes.

They're portraying in public to believe something

and to be something that they are not truly in their heart

and Jesus sees through it.

They pretended to be devoted to God,

but in reality, they were only devoted to themselves.

And Jesus says two things about them.

Beware of them, he says.

And I think he means two things by this.

One, beware lest you be fooled by them,

I think Jesus means.

Beware.

This was not permission from Jesus

for us to constantly be critical and suspicious

of every person that we encounter in our lives.

Some of us are experts at finding something wrong

with every person in every circumstance that we meet.

That's not what Jesus is saying here.

Not giving us permission to be suspicious

or have a disposition and critical nature all the time.

He's just saying, pay attention.

Pay attention to the warning signs of spiritual hypocrisy.

Pay attention to the warning signs of spiritual abuse,

lest you become one that is fooled by these men.

Beware of them.

And then I think there's a second part to this

that Jesus is saying.

Beware of becoming like them.

Beware of becoming like them.

Because the truth is we all have a little scribe in us

who doesn't enjoy honor and recognition and status.

All of us in some way have a tendency toward prideful ambition.

And Jesus exposed these men so that we might watch out

and beware of being like them.

And it's highlighted in Jesus' final statement.

They will incur the greater judgment.

Now most people would look at the scribes

and judgment would never come to their mind.

Jesus is acknowledging that not only will they be judged,

but he's saying in some way

they will receive an even greater judgment than others.

Because God has no tolerance

for someone who uses his name and his glory

and his work to benefit themselves and abuse others.

So beware, Jesus says.

Now if you lived in the days of Jesus,

you would have probably recognized the scribes

as the disciples likely did.

As shoe-ins for the kingdom of God.

Jesus saw this very different.

He looked beyond their robes.

He looked beyond their places of honor.

And he saw the truth in their hearts.

And he can see the truth in your heart too.

It doesn't matter what kind of showmanship

you bring on a Sunday morning.

It doesn't matter what your persona is

on Instagram or Facebook or TikTok

or the newspaper or whatever it is that you like to use.

It doesn't matter.

He sees your heart.

He sees who you really are.

And he's the one ultimately that we stand before.

So beware.

Beware lest you become like these men.

So we see this warning against spiritual hypocrisy.

Secondly, we see an example of authentic worship.

An example of authentic worship.

And so Mark transitions the scene here.

He's moving away from exposing hypocrisy

to acknowledging the devotion of this widow woman

that we read about.

We're gonna divide it into three sections, okay?

Just to help us work through these verses.

First, I want you to see where Jesus sat.

Where Jesus sat.

Look at verse 41.

He sat down opposite of the treasury

and watched the people putting money

into the offering box.

So Jesus, no doubt tired from a full day

of teaching and interacting with people in the temple,

dismisses himself from the crowd

and goes and finds a place to sit and rest for a moment.

And I love these little snippets that we get of Jesus

that just remind us that he's also man.

He's not just God.

He's also man.

He got tired.

He needed a break.

He needed to sit down.

He needed to rest.

And I love what he's doing.

He's people watching.

You ever like to people watch?

I love it.

I love to go into places where the weather's nice.

Julie and I have done this.

We went on an anniversary trip one time to Disney World

and we spent an entire day basically sitting on park benches

watching people and laughing

and enjoying and learning and talking.

It's fun to people watch.

That's essentially what Jesus is doing.

He finds a place to sit and he's people watching.

He's resting his mind and his body.

And the place that he sat was near the temple treasury

which was located in the court of women.

The treasury had 13 offering boxes situated nearby.

They were wooden boxes, big wooden boxes that sat on the ground

and then attached to the top of the box was a trumpet-like shape,

trumpet-like shape that was made of brass.

Sometimes they might have been made out of gold or silver.

We think in this particular time it was made of brass

and there was a more narrow funnel at the top

and that's where people would put in their deposit.

And they would deposit their money into the funnel.

It would cling down through the trumpet shape

and then it would find its place in the secure wooden box at the bottom.

And there were 13 of these in the temple treasury in the court of women.

They were all labeled as well.

So some of them were labeled for the temple taxes.

You could only put certain types of currency in some of those offering boxes.

You had to use the shekels that related specifically to the temple

and there would be people there to acknowledge you

and acknowledge what you've given and keep record of all of those kinds of things.

Six of these boxes in the temple treasury were marked as freewill offerings,

meaning there's no requirement.

You don't have to give that.

It's just when you want to give something

and you want to in some form of worship give to the Lord.

You determine what it is that you're going to give

and you would go and you would put it in those particular boxes.

That's where Jesus is sitting.

And he and his disciples are taking a rest.

And the Lord observed as many people came

and made their contributions in worship to God

and obedience to the law.

Now American Christians wouldn't appreciate that very much.

But biblically, in the Old Testament and the New Testament,

giving was always a very public matter,

not a private one like we often treat it.

And Jesus is sitting over and he's just watching.

He's watching people give.

He's hearing the noise.

He's listening to the attendants as they make their records

and they write down their data.

And he's just watching what's happening in the treasury.

Now we see what Jesus saw.

You see where he sat.

Now let's see what he saw.

Verse 41, again,

many rich people put in large sums

and a poor widow came

and put in two small copper coins,

which make a penny.

So Jesus observes two things.

First, he observed that the rich gave much.

They gave much.

By the way, that's good.

We need to be careful not to vilify them

just because they're rich.

The Bible doesn't condemn wealth.

It only condemns the attitude

that very often can accompany wealth.

And Jesus makes no specific judgment here

about the motivation.

But as we're looking at the context

of this particular chapter,

we can discern that there were probably many people

coming into the temple that day

that the motivation behind their gift

was to be seen.

After all, as goes the leaders,

generally, so goes the people.

And we've already seen in this passage,

the scribes lived for attention.

They lived for credit and recognition.

They wanted to be seen

for the things that they were doing.

Jesus in other places said

they give their alms

in order that they may be seen of men.

We know this was common in Jesus's day.

Now take that and think about

what they were giving.

They didn't have bank checks and paper bills.

They had gold and silver

and these brass coins, copper coins,

all things that make a lot of noise

when you pour it into a brass funnel.

And you can just imagine

the rich that maybe wanted to be seen

bringing in their barrels.

Perhaps they've got a servant

carrying the money for them,

and they walk over

to their freewill offering box

and they begin to pour the bucket of coins

down into this brass funnel.

Everybody can hear

the great amounts of wealth

that they're pouring in

and they're receiving this credit

and acknowledgement as they do so.

Jesus is noticing that.

Now, it's important to notice

Jesus isn't saying

he's not passing judgment on this.

At the end of the day,

his observation doesn't actually relate

to their motivation.

It's just merely that they gave a lot,

which is a good thing.

So the rich people gave a lot.

Then he makes another observation,

one that likely only he made.

Because there was no reason in the world

for anyone to notice this poor widow.

There's no reason for anybody to notice her.

In fact, they probably didn't.

Jesus' eyes were fixed on her.

He's locked on her

as she enters the court of women

and she goes over to one of these

probably freewill offering boxes

and she brings her two small copper coins

and the person next to her

is pouring in their bucket of coins,

maybe with pure motivation.

We don't want to judge that necessarily,

but they're pouring in their bucket of coins.

And then here comes the lady

with two small copper coins

that barely makes a sound

as she puts it in.

And she puts it in

and she begins to walk away.

The two coins she gave,

they were called leptas.

Two of them together made a single coin,

but she's bringing two of these leptas,

which were equal to one 64th of a denarius.

You'll remember the denarius from a few weeks ago.

A denarius was a day's wage for a common laborer.

This is one 64th,

these two coins together,

one 64th of a day's wage.

And I'm gonna put that in modern terms.

Let's say Andy decides,

I'm done with reds,

I'm tired of pruning trees,

and I'm gonna go to Walgreens instead

and work the cash register.

And let's say he goes in

and they hire him for 10 bucks an hour

is what they're gonna pay Andy

to run their cash register.

His daily wage,

his denarius is gonna be 80 bucks.

In that scenario,

the equivalent of what this lady gave

was a buck 25.

It's all she had.

And she comes into the court of women

and it's probable that the box

that she gives in is this free will box,

which means that there was no requirement

on her gift.

She's not paying a temple tax.

She couldn't use those coins for that tax.

That's why we know it's not that.

No one's pushing her to do this

as far as we can tell in the text.

She gave these two leptas

because it was in her heart

to give those two leptas.

And Jesus says it's all she had.

She might have easily taken one of them

and gone to the marketplace

to buy a small piece of bread

so she could have dinner for the evening.

But she didn't do that.

She kept nothing for herself.

And seeing that her offering

was basically nothing

in the grand scheme of things,

she couldn't have been motivated

by adulation

as the scribes might have been motivated.

In fact, she might have even

been embarrassed by this,

by the public nature of giving.

Here she comes

and here's the people

bringing large sums of money

that Jesus is noticing.

And here's this poor widow

that would really probably love

to give a massive amount of money

to the work of the Lord

in worship to her God.

But all she has

is these two little leptas,

a buck 25,

and she goes in

and probably embarrassed,

hoping that nobody notices.

She goes and she gives

these two coins.

Why would she sacrifice like that?

Why?

It doesn't make sense.

Is it not love

that motivates us

to do such things?

That's what Kent Hughes discerned.

He said her humble motivation

could be nothing but love.

She was living out the Shema,

loving God

with all she had.

So Jesus observed

the rich give much

and then he observed

the widow give everything.

Do you see that?

Do you see the difference?

He sees the rich give much,

a lot of money.

He sees the widow

give everything that she has.

Do you know what the difference is

between a person

who is counting on their works

for salvation

and a person who is trusting Christ

for salvation?

One gives a lot.

They give a lot of their money.

They give a lot of their time.

They give a lot of their effort.

The other gives

everything they have.

Everything they have

goes to pleasing their Savior.

That's the difference.

That's the picture

Jesus is drawing here

in this observation.

So we see where he sat.

We see what he saw.

Finally,

we see what Jesus said.

What he said.

Verse 43.

And he called his disciples

to him

and he 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.

I love so much

about Jesus' reaction here.

He immediately calls

his disciples over.

I want you to picture this

for me if you would.

Things are busy.

Remember,

this is probably

day before Passover,

day before the day

of preparation at least.

This is busy in the temple.

All these people

are coming in.

They're giving of their money

in the offering box

and Jesus locks his eyes

in on this woman

and he sees what she does

and he immediately

calls the twelve around him.

He says,

Guys, come here.

And what is it that he says?

He says,

Look at her.

Look at her.

Look at what she just did.

Because we know

that their tendency

like our tendency

was probably

to have their eyes drawn

to all the rich folks

who were given

a lot of money

because that's impressive.

That catches our attention.

Their eyes were drawn

to the scribes

and Jesus is saying here,

No, no, no, no, no.

Don't look at those men.

Don't look at them.

Don't look at the phony,

hypocritical scribes.

Look at this woman.

Look at her.

Look what she gave.

Look what she just did.

And can I just remind you today

that Jesus sees you?

He sees you?

Many times we'll say that.

We'll quote,

and rightfully so,

we'll quote the proverb,

The eyes of the Lord

are in every place

beholding the evil

and the good.

I had that verse quoted to me

so many times growing up.

My dad would always tell me.

He would say,

Jared, I may not know

what you're doing,

but God sees you

and he'd quote the verse

and he'd say,

And he's going to tell me

what you're doing,

is what dad would say.

And usually he did.

And I don't mean it that way

in this case.

That's true.

But I don't mean it as a warning.

I mean it as an encouragement.

Jesus sees you.

Because no doubt

there's some of us here this morning,

you feel utterly insignificant

when it comes to

the big picture of things.

Maybe when it comes

to the big picture of your family

or the big picture of the church

or the big picture

of the gospel work

around the world

and you start thinking about

and comparing yourself

to the things

that other people may

be gifted in

or the other things

that they can do

and you may think

that you have no significance

in this life.

That you have nothing

of real value

to bring to the Lord

and his work.

And the truth is

you may not have

a lot of money

you can give.

You may not have

a tremendous amount

of talent

that you can use

but when you give

what you have to God

Jesus always sees that

and he is filled with joy

over your worship.

Whether it's a bucket

full of coins

or it's a couple of leptas

when you give everything

to God

he notices that.

He sees that.

He is glorified

by that.

He sees you.

We don't know

what the result

of this scenario was.

We might easily

make an application

that may not

have necessarily

been true of this woman.

We may say

well I bet

when she got home

there was like

one of those

hallelujah handshake

kind of moments

where there's just

like a basket full

of all this food

waiting for at her house.

But the scripture

doesn't tell us

that that happened.

She may have

spent the night hungry

that night.

But Jesus saw her.

The truth is

she may have never

known Jesus

was even watching.

She may have never

known the impact

of her worship

on others

throughout Christian

history as they've

come to Mark's gospel

and they've read

this story time and again.

But look at how

the Lord used her gift.

Look at how

he has been glorified

for 2,000 years now

because of the worship

of this woman.

And you may never

know the impact

of your devotion

on others either

but you can be sure

that God is always

working.

He's working in you

and he's working

through you

to glorify his son

and uplift his gospel.

And that's exactly

what Jesus did

with this poor woman.

I like how James

Edwards said it.

How powerfully

ironic is the word

more in Mark's

description

because everything

about this woman

has been described

in terms of less

particularly in

comparison to the

scribes and wealthy

crowd.

And yet the contrast

between her genuine

piety and faith

and the pretense

of the wealthy

is beyond compare.

And by Jesus'

account

she gave more

than all of the

other people

who contributed

that day.

And we know

there's some

mathematicians

among the disciples.

Matthew was a tax

collector prior

to coming to Christ.

We know he knew

how to count.

Judas we're told

in John's gospel

was skimming money

off the top

so we know that

he knew how to count

as well.

And perhaps

they're sitting there

and they're counting

up on their fingers

there's no way

Jesus how do you get

that she gave

more than anybody else.

So he explains

in verse 44.

For they all

contributed out

of the abundance

she out of her

poverty

has put in

everything she had

all she had

to live on.

So we find out

at the end of the day

in the accounting

process

Jesus is not

concerned about

the sum of your

gift

but the proportion

of it.

He's not concerned

about the amount

of currency

you give

but the amount

of sacrifice

that you make.

Why?

Because God

doesn't need

our money.

God doesn't

need our money.

Giving to God

is like

at Christmas

this year

the girls

will save money

throughout the year

and as soon

as we go to Target

they'll hit that

$3 section

and they'll blow

all their money

on stamps

and papers

and markers

and things like that.

And then Christmas

will roll around

and Ashlyn's

going to say

dad I really

want to get

mom a Christmas

gift

can you give

me some money

so I can go

get you and mom

a Christmas gift

and I will gladly

give Ashlyn some

money and she'll go

and she'll buy

a Christmas gift

and then on Christmas

day I'm going to

open the gift

and I'm going to

be so happy

to receive that

gift

but it was a

gift that I

bought.

That's what

giving to God

is like isn't

it?

It all belongs

to him.

It's all

controlled by him.

He can take

it away as soon

as he gives it.

It's all from

him.

He owns the

cat on a thousand

hills the

psalm says.

He doesn't need

our money but

just like I will

be just as

pleased with that

Christmas gift

that Ashlyn and

Harper give me

though it even

comes from my

bank account

so is Jesus

so pleased when

we give to him

though he's the

one that has

blessed us to

give to begin

with.

God doesn't need

our money.

He's not concerned

about the sum

here.

He's not biting

his nails every

Sunday hoping that

our church will

meet budget this

week.

God doesn't do

that.

He's not

impressed by

vast sums that

we may give.

He owns it all

and he provides

it all.

But what God

is undoubtedly

concerned about

is the measure

of sacrifice

and worship

demonstrated in

what we give.

And by the way

the point of this

story lest you

misunderstand me

the point of

this story is

Jesus is not

telling us and

commanding us to

give all of our

money to the

church.

That's not what

he's saying here.

He's not even

passing a judgment

on whether or not

this woman should

have given in the

way that she did.

He's acknowledging

what she did.

The lesson here is

that Jesus is

teaching that we

are to give not

all of our money

but to give all

of ourselves to

him.

All of ourselves.

Can't you say

God doesn't want

your money.

He wants you.

But you can't give

him all of yourself

apart from your

money because that's

a part of it.

And this is what

motivated Paul to

write of the

Macedonians in

2 Corinthians 8.

He said we want

you to know

brothers about the

grace of God

that has been

given among the

churches of

Macedonia.

For 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

begging us earnestly

for the favor of

taking part in the

relief of the saints.

And here's what he

says.

And this not as we

expected.

We didn't put the

pressure on them to

do this.

He said but they

gave themselves

first to the

Lord and then by

the will of God to

us.

They gave themselves

first and then when

there was a need in

another church it

wasn't a problem for

them to sacrifice out

of their poverty to

give because they'd

already given it all to

the Lord anyways.

They'd already said

Lord I'm yours.

Everything I have is

yours.

My family is yours.

My money is yours.

My job is yours.

My church is yours.

Use it however you

want.

Of course this doesn't

apply only to our

money.

It's about our time.

We give our time to

the work of God.

It's about our talent,

our gifts.

We use them for the

glory of God.

It's about our

affection.

giving it not to

ourselves, not to

meet the cravings and

lust of our life, but

setting our affections on

the things of God.

When we give all of

ourselves to him, it's

no surprise when we're

willing to sacrifice

tremendous resources in

time for his glory and

work.

That's the point of what

Jesus is pointing out.

He's not saying you got

to give your whole

paycheck to the church.

He's saying you got to

give your whole paycheck

to him, which means

glorifying him with it

may be paying the bills

this week, and it may be

helping your kids this

week, and it may be doing

other things to help

others, and it may be

giving to the church and

giving to the Lord.

He's just saying it's all

his.

It's all his.

The lesson Jesus was

teaching in the temple

wasn't new.

It's the same lesson when

we step back and view

these passages together.

It's the same lesson on

true discipleship that

we've seen over and over

in Mark's gospel, right?

Remember in chapter one,

Jesus is walking by the

Sea of Galilee, and he

sees four fishermen, and

he says, hey guys, come

and follow me.

I'll make you fishers of

men.

And Peter and Andrew and

James and John, it says

they left everything.

They left their nets.

They left their boats.

They left their livelihood.

They left their business

to follow Christ.

And we see it time and

again in Mark's gospel.

We get to chapter eight,

and Jesus actually

explicitly says it.

He says, if you're going

to come after me, deny

yourself and take up your

cross and follow me.

For whoever seeks to

save their life will lose

it, but whoever loses

their life for my sake in

the gospels, the same

will save it, Jesus says.

And he says, what does it

matter if you gain the

whole world and at the

end of this life you lose

your own soul?

And he says, if you

want to follow me, if

you really want to be my

disciple, you have to

give everything, leave

everything behind and

follow me with your

heart and with your

affection with 100%.

We're leaving everything

behind.

And then we get to this

woman here and what do

we see in her?

In contrast to the

scribes, we see true

discipleship.

A woman who has been

willing to put everything

behind, everything behind

in order to be devoted

to her God.

And once again, we see

this beautiful picture of

what it means to actually

be a disciple of Christ.

true discipleship is when

we forsake everything, all

sin, all ambition, all

relationships, all

ideologies to believe in

Jesus and follow him as

Lord.

It doesn't look like the

pretentious scribes.

It looks like the

faithful widow.

And the question for us is

which one of those people

do we most resemble?

Are we in this for

ourselves using God's name

and using God's work to

build ourselves up and put

other people down?

Or are we actually devoted

to Christ in reality?

And of course, there's a

gospel parallel here, isn't

there?

It's easy to see it.

The woman gave everything

out of love for God.

Jesus gave everything out of

love for us.

He takes the wrath of God

against our sin as he dies

on the cross.

But he offers eternal life

and forgiveness to whoever

will come to him in faith

and repentance to be a true

disciple.

Will you come to him?

Will you receive him?

Is he the treasure in the

field?

Is he the pearl of great

price?

Yes.

Follow him.

Thank you.