The Heart of Giving: Exploring Sacrificial Generosity

You're listening to the Bible Guys, a podcast where a couple of friends talk

about the Bible in fun, in practical ways. Here we are, good

morning, good morning, through good morning, good morning to you and you

and you all right, well there you go. That's what three four weeks

in a row? Now? Yeah? Yeah, yeah. Hey, by

the way, what movies that from? Go? I have no idea seriously

singing in the rain? Okay, I've seen singing in the rain. Yeah,

it's really good. I'm singing. Hey, look at you and name

the actors. Go the dancer guy? Oh, sorry, you can,

Kelly Geane, Kelly, there you go. Yeah, Debby Reynolds. Yeah,

okay, So today I have talking about movies. Yes, I have

five words summaries of movies, and I have to see how fast you can

guess what movie it is. So I'm going to say five words. It's

kind of each one of these is a sentence, five word sentences, and

you have to say this. There's a lot of pressure. Tell me the

movie, and I guess the listeners could try to say it up before me.

That's right, We're gonna race. Here you go, ready, okay,

cat Cat returns to defeat Uncle Cat return Oh, lion king, yes,

Cat. It was like Cat's pretty redhead chooses belching monster Shrek. There

you go. Man becomes father, steals moon. Oh uh, despicable me

steals Moon. That's that's perfect. That's that's perfect. Uh. Enchanted arborist

lectures saves Forrest. But say it again, Enchanted arborist lectures saves Forrest.

No clue, the lore acts. Oh my word, yeah, there you

go. Okay, he didn't save anything. What No, he the one

trufula tree at the end he had to replant and he didn't save it.

It was actually the okay, here's your last one. I boo on that

one. It was the Wintler whatever his name was, that at the very

end that felt guilty and he actually he lost the battle. Boo. We

could start a new podcast about Seuss if you want to know that. That

is just hell. If you like the Biba guys, you should go over

to the sus. I'm thinking like I'm thinking like he saved the forest.

He didn't save anything. There was nothing there for like years and years.

Anyway, go ahead, all right, here's the last one, Chris,

go ahead, you better up your game. Immoral Electric company solicit scares.

Oh, munsters inc isn't good? Immoral? Yeah, oh immoral? So

I said, so, yeah, I wouldn't ever described it that way.

Well, they were taking a people, I guess, so yeah, yeah,

I guess. So okay, yeah, so that's that's pretty funny.

Anyways, Okay, well we got that out of the way. Well that

was a big one. I I'm still going to go home and read this.

So, by the way, my daughter Tory, uh, her number

one favorite thing in all the world is Winnie the Pooh. Okay, okay.

Her number one favorite book and all the world she hasn't memorized, believe

it or not, is the Lorix. It's the Lorx. Oh so you

know this well, very well, very well. Okay, so I've seen

this, I've seen this movie, this little cartoon. So did you just

disappoint Tori? Is that what happened? That you missed that one? No,

I think she'd be on my side with us. Is that she gonna

be mad? Yeah? I mean, are you guys gonna go protest Desiree's

house out there in the front, get the story right? You're gonna be

carrying. Probably grabbed that from a resource which means she probably copied and pasted

it somewhere. And so I'm not mad at Desiree. I'm mad at the

person who says he saves the forest. So anyway, we went to uh,

just this past Christmas, I went down to visit my daughter who lives

in Saint Petersburg, Florida, and we went to Universal Studios and uh,

there's you could you could walk through Doctor seuss Land, Okay, and on

the side there's like a little thing where people just walk through and it's just

the Lorax, right, And all it is is just like it's a throwaway

kind of a thing. It's not a ride, right, It's just like

this little thing they built that you can just walk through. She was happier

walking through the Lorax through there then she was probably riding almost any ride.

Oh wow, right, and uh and so I was like right there,

we got pictures and everything like this. And so if you know the story,

uh, he fights and fights this guy making sneeds and and I forget

what his name is, the Winsler or the Westler, whatever his name is.

Anyway, he loses the battle and so all the trees, the last

truffy the tree falls down, it's gone forever, and then he finds then

the then the guy who destroyed the forest finds a seed and then keeps it

for decades and then finally gives it to a kid to replant. So the

lorax actually lost the battle of trying to save the force. Wow, which

means it is a wrong distriss, it's a wrong description. Okay, all

right, well, thank you for that. You clarified the false doctrine of

the lorax, and so that was appreciative of that, Chris. Yeah.

Well, you know, listen, that's what made Chris Madden today. Yeah.

Well, if we have any listeners left, holy cow. Yeah.

Yeah, sorry, Yes, that was thank you for clarifying. That was

a big one. So today is a really sweet story. It's only just

a few verses long, but I think that this story might be one of

the best known stories in the whole Gospels. Yeah right, And so it's

found in Mark and Luke, which is rare that you don't get Matthew and

Mark. This one was Mark and Luke. Right. In Mark, chapter

twelve, verse forty one, it says Jesus sat down near the collection box

in the temple and watched as the crowds dropped in their money. Many rich

people in large amounts put in large amounts. Then a poor widow came and

dropped in two small coins. Jesus called his disciples to him and said,

I tell you the truth. This poor widow has given more than all the

others who are making contributions, for they gave a tiny part of their surplus.

But she, poor as she is, has given everything she had to

live on. And in Luke chapter twenty one, verse one, it says

while Jesus was in the temple, he watched the rich people dropping their gifts

in the collection box. Then a poor widow came by and dropped in two

small coins. I tell you the truth, Jesus said, this poor widow

has given more than all the rest of them. For they have given a

for they have given a tiny part of their surplus. But she, poor

as she is, has given everything she has. Yeah. Wow, yeah,

And it's known as the widow's mites, right, right, And so

do you know anything about the word might because in the King James version that

you and I grew up reading, right, it's this version. The NLT

says two small coins or two small copper coins, right, but ale is

what it was. It was the smallest of the Jewish coins. Then where

the word might come from, I don't know really, that's how it was

translated. King James h widows mite. Yeah, yeah, I think it

was probably an appropriate word. Well obviously if it was written. You know.

So the King James version, by the way, was translated into English

in the year sixteen eleven. And so both Jeff and I grew up reading

the King James and at the same time Shakespeare was writing. Yeah, Shakespeare

same level of English. More academic than Shakespeare. Shakespeare is a little bit

more bullish, but yeah, yeah, and so anyway, the King James

version, it doesn't read as fluent as let's just say, like the NLT

because language has changed. Uh. You know, it felt like to me

growing up and reading it, it was like yoda, you know really yeah,

yeah, it was like it was like you know, how it did

how it you know, it would it would put words like that, and

uh. And then also you would use words that you had to sort of

look up and figure out the translation because we no longer use those words,

and and then uh. But the accuracy of translations is obviously the concern,

right so the concern about the King James was, uh, you know,

uh, we have to make sure that whatever translation it is, that it

accurately represents the language. But Greek was a is a hard language to translate

from. Sure it really is so anyway, and so widows might or here

it would have been in the Greek, it's too Lepta. It was the

smallest of the Jewish coins or codrants, which means quadrons, right. So

there's a lot of different ways of saying this, but basically what he's talking

about is the smallest of the coins that they used, and in their day,

the coins were weighted, so that's the value of the coin. The

value of the coin was how heavy the coin was, because they would use

the scales of justice. That's right. So if you and I were thinking

about it, if you could have a fraction of a penny, if it

was possible to have a coin that was a fraction of a penny, this

is what this lady gave is she gave two fractions of a penny, and

they were the smallest coins, the least value, but for her it was

everything. So I think it's interesting. Let's unpack that Jesus is sitting there

watching people drop their money in. Yeah, well I thought that was private.

Well yeah, well back then it wasn't it was, right, And

so I don't think it is today either. I think it's personal, yes,

right, but if you're expecting a receipt for tax purposes, it's not

private, correct, correct, that's right. Well, somebody, somebody's looking

at it. Somebody has to look at it. And so here's Jesus.

He's paying attention, he's just watching. And so this area is near the

women's section. If you know about the temple, there was the public section

for the men, there was a section for gentiles who weren't Jewish, and

there was a section for the women. And so this is near the area

the women's portion of the temple that had the collection boxes. And so all

the rich people love to make a big presentation about it. Here's my thing

dropping in their money, and Jesus is like, that's just from the surplus,

right, And this poor little lady she comes and gives everything she has.

And by the way, that's actually true. So usually the richer that

people get. And by the way, when I say rich, I'm including

you and me in that equation. Absolutely, So what does it say It

says, if you make like forty five thousand dollars and you have two working

cars, you're in the top one percent of the richest people in the world,

right, which is hard to believe because we don't feel rich, right,

But the reality is you are rich. But were some of the richest

people in history. Yes, And so when the Bible talks about those who

are rich, you know, to do good deeds. Uh, he's talking

about you, right, even though that you don't feel rich. And so

we only don't feel rich because there are we we know of richer people.

Yes, a lot of richer people, right, So we know that richer

people exist, and so we go, I'm not that rich, right,

But the reality is you're in the top one percent if that's if you qualify.

So, so the bottom line is is the richer we get usually the

less percentage we give, so the amount becomes greater. But you know,

you could you can, Like I think of my mom all the time.

So my mom when I was a kid, I remember going to church with

her very infrequently. We were sort of infrequent uh nonpracticing uh churchgoers. And

I remember one time the uh plate, the offering plate, there was like

an actual plate, like a like like a steel brass plate or something,

and and you would they would, it would be passed and and so people

could literally if they were paying attention, out of the corner of the rye,

they can see what you drop in there. And I remember the minister

said this, and I don't even know what church it was, but the

minister said, hey, drop in what you can, and if you need

something for your bills, take it out. By the way, have you

ever heard that in your life? Yeah? Have you, because I've never

heard that. That's crazy, that's right. And so for a pastor to

have that kind of faith and all these kind of things. So anyway,

so that the plate passed and I looked and there was a pile of money

on there. I looked over my mom and I said, there is take

it. Take it, said, you can have it. Yeah, And

so she grabbed she looked in her purse and she looked and I remember her

opening her a little coin compartment and she had five dollars that's all she had

in the whole thing. And I know how poor we were, and she

took the five dollars and she threw it in and I was like, what

is the matter with you, like you gave literally everything you have, and

do you know that to this day she's still that way. She will have

absolutely nothing for herself and she will give one hundred percent of everything she has

if she feels like you need it. And she's always been that way.

And so therefore I think that regardless of growing up in ministry and struggling and

not having a lot of salary, I'd never struggled with giving because it was

always model for me. My mom was always sacrificial. But the richer that

I've gotten, the more I've realized, like, whoa, instead of giving

five dollars, you know, when you write that check and it's hundreds,

right, or you know at the end of the year when you know it's

thousands, right, it's like, wow, that's different than giving five dollars.

The percentage wise, it's really the same. Yeah, right, my

dad, I can remember my dad was a tither, so he gave ten

percent of his income off the gross every week. And so when he became

a Christian, he immediately, like the first week, he knew because that's

what his parents did. He knew that's what he should do. And so

you know, my dad was talking to me one day. When I was

growing up, we were poor, very poor, and we had a lot

of struggles. But after I had gone off to college and got married,

my dad had a business that was really successful. And so my dad said,

let me tell you which is harder. Is it harder to tithe when

you don't have very much or is it harder to tithe when you have a

lot. And I said, I don't know. He said, so,

when I first started tithing, my tithe was fifty dollars and he said,

now my tithe is one thousand dollars a week, right, well, or

whatever it was, And he said, so, which is harder. I'll

tell you. He said, right now, those zeros is hard. But

he said ten percent. Ten percent, right. God deserves, God deserves

what he asks for. He says, I want to tithe, bring a

tithe back so that my house be full, so that the you'll be able

to the work of the ministry can go forward. And he said, so,

whether I have a little or a lot, ten percents the same.

It's the same for everybody. And he just decided he was going to honor

God. And so, you know, my wife and I, as I

grew up. That was a a focus, and then even when I was

a teenager in college, I tithed my wife and I But it's not always

easy, no, because every time it's a heart check. Every time it's

you know what I could be doing with his money? Yeah? Right,

but you decide, Okay, God, I'm bringing it back because you don't

give a tithe, you bring back a tithe. God gave it all to

you, right, and then you bring back that's a push that So in

this situation, this lady's not tithing. So in the temple at that time,

there were there was a note in here that really spelled it out.

I remembered these things, but then it has it in the note. Jesus

was in the area of the temple called the Court of Women. In this

area were seven boxes in which worshippers could deposit their temple tax that would be

the tithe right, and six boxes for free will offerings like the one this

woman gave. This woman was not only poor, but had few resources for

making money. Her small gift was a sacrifice, but she gave it willingly.

So lots of people come in just drop their temple tax in ten percent

of all their stuff and she comes in and she's not dropping her tithe in,

not ten percent. She goes over the free will offering area and instead

of giving one out of the two, she just gives everything hands. And

there is something to be said about she wasn't placing her trust in what little

she had. She was placing her trust in God, right right. She

didn't go and buy a scratch off with it, right right. She didn't

go and try to find someplace to turn two into four. In this moment

she said, Okay, I have nobody to trust but God. It's just

me and God, and so I'm going to trust him. And here we

are, two thousand years later talking about her. And so this goes to

show you that when we do drop a tithe in, or maybe we pay,

most of us probably pay electronically now right, and we're all by ourselves,

and we hit a little button. The question is does God see?

Does God see? Because nobody else sort of knows besides the person who writes

the receipt for our tax purposes, nobody else really knows what we give.

But that's not true at all? Is it? Because God notices this woman

who and recognizes the sacrifice, so she know her reward her blessings in heaven,

her you know, her, her faith, all all those things have

increased, and she's gonna be blessed because of it. And you know what,

it's really hard, it's really hard to give like that. But yet

she again, she just has complete faith. When I was thinking about what

you said is back then their money was weighted. Uh. Did you know

that when you drive through a toll booth and you just grab your money and

you toss it in and it goes and all of a sudden the gate lifts

up. Did you know that they don't actually measure it by size. It's

they measure by weight. You know that. Yeah, so you're able to

just throw a handful of chains in there, and and on those coin machines

where you actually take them and you throw them in at Kroger or something like

this. Uh, they measure all that by weight. Yeah, it makes

sense. Yeah, that's interesting. So there's a process forgiving and and and

Jesus is celebrating how incredibly sacrificial this lady is. But I think so generosity

is one of the signs of people of faith. The Bible mentions this,

Jesus mentions it. Paul mentions it. Peter mentions it. It's a big

part of the lifestyle of a Christian should be. Luke mentions it in the

Book of Acts that they sold what they had and they took care of the

poor around them with their own resources. Right. And then historically I'm reading

a book right now by Chuck Colson called The Faith, and he spells out

how sacrificial the early Church was back in the early days, even to the

point where they were willing to risk their lives to care for people during the

plagues, when all the rich people would leave the cities, they would come

in and build hospitals and take care of the sick people. Or they would

use their resources in order to take care of the poor and the impoverished when

much of the rest of the Roman citizenry would ignore them, right, and

all this kind of stuff. So it's always been a hallmark of Christianity that

real Christians are givers, right, And it comes from one God says tithe

Right, So that would be part of it. Many people who so I

would say, for if you're not yet generous, generosity is the anidote to

self centeredness, right, Generosity is the antidote to envy. I think it's

the antidote to jealousy. I think generosity is the anidote to materialism. So

if your kids are struggling with this, teach them to be givers. Right,

if you struggle with these things, you need to be a giver.

It's one of the antidotes. When you start letting it go and you begin

to trust God, you trust in it less, trust God more. It

becomes so just learning to begin to be any kind of a giver. And

then I would say, be a regular giver. So set up a regular

time, Paul says, on the first day of the week, set aside.

You know you're offering when he was receiving the special offering for Jusalem.

So be regular giver, consistently regular, and then get to becoming a percentage

giver where you're saying, Okay, you know what, I'm going to work

up to this ten percent or I know many people who have gone eleven,

twelve, thirteen percent. One of my friends wound up writing the best selling

hardcover nonfiction book in history, made goajillions upon gajillions of dollars, and he

and his wife paused with their giving from it, and they're spending for a

little while while they tried to forgeut what that God wanted to do, and

they decided to reverse tithe and they've given away ninety percent. Now is their

process before he dies, We're going to give away ninety percent. They've already

given away, like so they set the goal for ninety percent, but they've

given ninety three so far. Oh wow, Yeah, it's pretty neat,

right, or we've given away. So there's this idea of be regular.

Just set up a regular time that you're going to give. If you don't,

you'll forget. Then be be percentage giver. Decide, hey, i'm

gonna I can't give ten right now, but I'm going to give five,

and then i'm gonna give seven, and then i'm gonna give ten, and

then i'm gonna get eleven whatever, and then be sacrificial. And that's what

he's celebrating because there were the people that were being they were giving their percentage.

That's the part of their surplus. And then he goes, but look

at this lady. Yeah, you want to get Jesus attention, You want

you want to impress Jesus. Yeah, right, get to that point where

you're generous and sacrificial well, and there's something to be said about that.

Yeah, And let me just say this too. Usually this is difficult for

people. Giving is emotional. Giving is because that's where your heart is.

It's where your heart is. And I would also say this in my experience

and you probably have experienced this too, Giving is sometimes and I would say

even more typically the last thing that people sort of do when they become a

Christian. It's like it's like, oh, I'm I'm gona immediately stop cussing.

You know, I'm going to immediately, you know, stop doing this

or this or that, and I'm going to go to church. And these

things are sort of easier. But then the giving part of the faith comes

with maturity, and it comes with because that's true sacrifice. You know,

you know you're entering into my world now, you know you're not just asking

for this or that you're asking for this. And I think that we see

that a lot, Like for instance, I'll just give you an example.

You can see it even even from Afar. So for instance, our church

has grown by uh, you know, a large percentage, like forty percent

year over year. So we had just this last year, so we had

a booming year attendance wise, and yet our giving is actually has it gone

up, like up three point three percent? Three percent? Right, yeah,

right, but our givings up three point three percent. Now, Now,

as as a as a leader, as a pastor, that's hard,

that's difficult because because now you have twice as not twice as much, but

forty percent more events and ministry and staff in cars up, the costs go

up. You've got to hire people to to you know, mend your nets

while you're catching fish and all these kind of things. And uh. And

yet when people don't give, then it's like, okay, well hit,

we still have almost relatively the same budget. I would just say, hey,

if there are truly thousands of listeners who listen to us and and hundreds

that that are ten herited church, if you were one those people and you're

on the sort of the fringe of your maturity there where you're like, hey,

I'm there, I have the knowledge, but I haven't crossed the line,

I would just challenge you. And I'm boldly doing this. I'm unapologetically

saying it is just as much a part of our faith, and it's just

as important part of our faith as anything else. So if you had an

anger problem, I would not shry away from saying, let's deal with your

anger problem. Sure, right, so make no mistake of it. Not

giving is a spiritual problem. If you think your provision comes from your money,

it's very difficult to drop it in. If you think your provision comes

from God, it's easy to bring it back to him because He's going to

keep providing for you, which is why fifts your perspective, which is why

my favorite phrase attached to that is I will not put my hope in riches,

but I will No, I will not put my trust in riches,

but I will trust the one who richly provides. Yeah. Wow, Yeah

that's great. So hey, well listen, that is a great place to

end and hopefully we will see you next time on the Bible guys. HM