The Widow's Offering

Introduction to Consecutive Expository Preaching and the Sermon's Context

0:03 This sermon was preached on Sunday morning, March 27th, 1988, at the Trinity Baptist Church in Montville, New Jersey. Now, for those of you who may be visiting among us, who are not familiar with what is called consecutive expository preaching, perhaps a word of explanation is in order. However, consecutive expository preaching is the practice of selecting a book of the Bible, a large section or chapter of the Bible, and following the language and thought as it appears in the text of Scripture, seeking to open up the meaning of the words, and then to apply the message of those words to the hearts and minds of the hearers. Several years ago, I began to do this with the gospel according to Mark. And in the ongoing process, we have arrived, as we have taken Mark's gospel, paragraph by paragraph, verse by verse, at this point in chapter 12, where we have the record of the giving of the poor widow.

1:28 And here you are, your first visit to Trinity Church, and lo and behold, what does the preacher talk about but giving money to the work of God? They're no different from anyone else. They're just out to fleece you. I go there, and the first time what I hear about is money.

1:48 Well, my dear friends, so that our good may not be evil spoken of, let me assure you that in the 137 sermons already preached on the gospel of Mark, this is the first one preached. This is the first one preached on the subject of giving. And do you know why? Because it's the first section in the gospel of Mark in which the subject is dealt with.

2:11 So I beg you, I plead with you, in spite of all of the shocking revelations that have come to us in recent days of people who obviously use religion as a means of personal gain, don't put us in that category simply because we are committed, to consecutive expository preaching. Believe us when we tell you, and the tapes of all the previous expositions will bear this out, that we do not fleece the people of God. We do not seek yours, but we seek you. And the only reason you've heard a paragraph read in your hearing dealing with the subject of giving to the work of God, the only reason you will hear an exposition and an application of that theme, is because in the course of consecutive expository preaching, we have come to such a section in Mark's gospel. Let me remind you of the setting of this paragraph. Last Lord's Day we looked at verses 38 to 40, in which we have a summary statement of our Lord's withering exposure of the official religious leaders of that day, the scribes.

3:38 He exposes the sickening sight of their religious decadence. He describes them as pompous, proud, pushy, greedy, grasping, unprincipled hypocrites who cover their horrible deeds of selfishness with prayers. And other external actions of apparent piety. And now as a tremendous study in contrast, our attention is directed primarily today to a poor widow who by the manner and activity of her giving to the work of God stands in stark contrast as a marvelous example of purity of religion in the midst of the fraudulent religion of the scribes and of the Pharisees. And as we seek to draw near to this passage and to understand what it tells us and then what its message to us is, let me suggest that our understanding of the passage can be helped if we approach it considering its content under two major,

Jesus' Observation: Place and Focus

5:02 in verses 41 and 42, we have a record of what I am calling the observation of Jesus. And then in verses 43 and 44, the evaluation of Jesus. First of all then, the observation of Jesus. And under this heading, we will consider the place of his observation and the focus.

5:32 You will notice in verse 41 that Mark tells us that the place of his observation was over against the treasury. And he sat down over against the treasury. Now, what is the treasury? And what did it mean for our Lord to sit down over against the treasury?

6:02 Well, I found it very helpful in my investigation of that question to come across a very helpful description in a book entitled The Temple, Its Ministry and Services as They Were in the Time of Christ, written by Alfred Edersheim. And he describes a section in the temple that was called The Court of the Women. And it was in that Court of the Women, that this event took place. And I read now his description of those circumstances to the end that when we come back to the passage, you'll be able to draw up, as it were, from the well of the faculty of imagination, a picture of the situation as Mark describes it. The Court of the Women obtained its name not from its appropriation for the exclusive usage of women, but because they were not allowed to proceed farther except for sacrificial purposes. So this was the court in which women could enter along with men, but they could not enter any further into the inner precincts of the temple except for sacrificial purposes. Indeed, this was probably the common place for worship.

7:29 The females occupying, according to Jewish tradition, a raised gallery along three sides of this court. The court covered a space upwards of 200 feet along each wall. So if you can imagine, this building is 100 feet along its longest side walls, a building twice that long on every side, and a gallery or balcony around three sides, and it would be in that gallery or balcony, that the women would sit while the men would take their place below them. And all around those walls, there were 13 chests or trumpets for charitable contributions to be placed. Some of you have heard of the shofar, the horn or the trumpet made of a ram's horn. Well, these were called the shofaroth, plural. And these offering receptacles, were in the shape of a trumpet.

8:34 And some differ as to whether the bell of the trumpet was held outward and the coins placed in down to the narrow end. Others, of reasonable authority, take the position that they would be the other way around. That the narrow end of the trumpet would be where you would drop in your coins, and then the larger end, like the bell shape of the trumpet, would be there where they would be collected. Well, there are a number of ways to do that.

9:03 There were 13 of these. And Edersheim goes on to describe how each one was clearly marked for various gifts to be made for various parts of the temple worship. Some of them were to collect offerings to take care of the sacrifices for the wood that would be burnt upon them. But four of them were set apart for the use of what we would call benevolent offerings for the care of the poor and of the needy.

9:35 And apparently what Mark is describing is this, that our Lord left the general area of the court of the Gentiles and perhaps placed himself on the steps near to the entrance of this court of the women where these 13 offering receptacles were found along the wall. And there, where concentrated his attention, perhaps upon the receptacles where offerings for the needy were being given. So the place of his observation was that particular spot in the temple where receptacles for freewill offerings as well as the required temple taxes would be placed. Now, having said a word about the place of his observation, notice the focus of his observation. And he sat down opposite over against the treasury, that is, the place where these offerings were made, and beheld how the multitude cast money or literally brass into the treasury. And many that were rich cast in much.

10:57 And there came a poor widow, and she cast in two mites which make a farthing. So the focus of our Lord's observation was particularly upon a group called the rich and upon a specific individual called the poor widow or one poor widow. The group upon which our Lord focused his attention are described as rich. And many that were rich cast in much.

11:38 So our Lord concentrates his attention upon a scene in which wealthy men are passing by and they are throwing in numerous brass coins. Perhaps they were doing this as a genuine expression of their love to their God and their commitment to his cause. If they were of the scribal Pharisaic group, perhaps they were doing what our Lord describes in Matthew 6. Perhaps they stood there with a whole handful of coins and one by one threw them in and, as it were, smiled and looked around as they heard them clunking into the receptacles. Perhaps they were doing it for show. Perhaps they were doing it sincerely. But this much is clear from the text that on that particular day, at that particular hour, there were many rich people, those who had in their personal possessions far beyond what was necessary for a mere subsistence existence and they were casting in many of these coins.

12:54 All of the money and currency was in solid coinage. There were no federal reserve notes. There was no pure paper money cranked out of Jerusalem or Rome. And so if one was to give money of any kind, it had to be in solid coinage.

13:14 But then our Lord focuses his attention not only upon a group called the rich, but according to verse 42, he focused his attention upon, literally in the original, one poor widow. His attention zeroes in upon one poor widow. And if you ask the question, how did he know she was a widow? How did he know she was poor?

13:46 How did he know, as he states later, that what she gave literally represented every last bit of coinage that she had in her possession at that time? Well, we could speculate, but I think the simplest answer is the right one. He knew because of who he was. And this is a case where our Lord knew with infallible knowledge because as the God-man there were times when he manifested that knowledge which only God possesses.

14:23 You remember John said he needed not that any should testify of man for he himself knew what was in man. And I believe we here have an instance where our Lord by his own omniscience was fully cognizant of this woman's marital state. She was a widow. Of her economic state she was a poor widow.

14:49 And of her present cash flow state she cast in all of her living. And so our Lord focuses his attention upon her. And when she came to the particular receptacle where she was to give her gift she cast in literally two lektah, perhaps the smallest coin made in that day. And it's fruitless to try to give you equivalencies in current currency and buying power.

15:24 Every time a writer attempts to do so by the time his book makes its way to the marketplace the equivalents have changed. But suffice it to say that we would say in common ordinary parlance she cast in two cents. And Mark expresses it in language that would have communicated very clearly to the Roman mind for he takes a Latin term and he turns it into a Greek word in order to give some equivalents for those to whom the Gospel of Mark was targeted primarily at Rome and they would have well understood that what this woman cast in was the most meager of offerings to God and to his work at the temple. Well there is the observation of Jesus. The place of it was in the court of the women particularly as he focused his attention upon a number of rich people who threw in many coins and one poor widow who threw in two leptar. Now then notice the evaluation of Jesus in verses 43 and 4.

Jesus' Evaluation: Recipients, Climate, and Essence

16:43 And he called unto him his disciples and said unto them Verily I say unto you This poor widow cast in more than all they that are casting into the treasury for they all did cast in of their accumulated and excess wealth but she of her want did cast in all that she had even all her living. Now as we consider this section of the text under the heading The Evaluation of Jesus note with me three things. First of all the recipients of this evaluation. Who were the specific recipients of Jesus evaluation of what he saw? Well the text is clear. He called unto him his disciples and said unto them Apparently when our Lord went to that place near the court of the women his disciples were either at some distance from him or they may have scattered but after his careful observation and that is the emphasis of the words in the original after his scrutinizing gaze upon many rich casting in much and this one poor widow casting in her two leptar

18:10 he then calls the disciples unto him. Now five times in our previous studies in Mark we have found that that construction Jesus calling the disciples unto him 3, 13, 6, 7, 8, 1, 8, 35 and 10, 42 and each time our Lord called his disciples unto them he had a very vital lesson to convey to them and it seems apparent as our Lord knows that the days of his earthly interaction with his own are drawing to a close. There is another of those vital lessons that he desires to impart for their future perspective as individual believers but more so for their future influence upon the church of God as the great foundation stones in that church being apostles. And so he calls his disciples unto him. They are the primary recipients of the evaluation. Now notice secondly the climate of the evaluation.

19:27 Jesus begins the evaluation with these words Verily I say unto you This is one of those magisterial sayings of our Lord Jesus in which he highlights the importance of his own words by the use of the Amen the verily I say unto you. Now our Lord did not do this on every single occasion when he had something important to say but he did it only on occasions when he himself would give peculiar stress and emphasis to his own words and by the use of that word verily our Lord is drawing together the concepts of unusual solemnity certainty and importance. And so as he gathers the disciples about him he now further sobers their minds by opening his mouth and saying Verily I say unto you So the recipients of the evaluation were the disciples the climate of the evaluation was one of peculiar solemnity certainty and importance but now look at the essence of his evaluation

20:55 the essence of his evaluation is comprised of two things a startling assertion and then a satisfying explanation look at his startling assertion Verily I say unto you This poor widow cast in more than all they and the ASV rightly renders the tense of the verbs in the original than all they that are into the treasury now that is a startling assertion perhaps the disciples had at least observed with some degree of thoroughness though not as thoroughly as our Lord that the rich when they came to the horn shaped receptacles were casting in many many coins perhaps dozens of coins of large denominations and now our Lord makes this startling assertion that the widow who paused and perhaps so quickly out of a sense of shame perhaps and even a sense of embarrassment that she had so little to give and she quickly slipped her two leptah in and walked away our Lord makes the startling assertion

22:22 that her two leptah her two one sixteenth of a cent was more than all that was previously cast in by the rich and was even being presently cast in in other words our Lord says if we could separate her two leptah from the dozens or hundreds of coins cast in up to this moment and yet being cast in by the rich and pile them up and say which is the greater amount he says her two leptah exceed all that was and is being given by the rich now that's the meaning of his words that's the startling assertion made by our Lord and he states he states it with unusual solemnity and certainty underscoring its importance this poor widow cast in more than all they that are casting into the treasury well then he gives the satisfying explanation for his assertion notice the next verse verse forty four begins with the four here is the explanation for our Lord's funny arithmetic here is the explanation

23:48 for the apparent inaccuracy of our Lord's arithmetic and bookkeeping and accounting techniques and methods for I make this statement for they all that is the rich did cast in of their the word superfluity we wouldn't use in a hundred years it literally means their accumulated and excess wealth now what is our Lord saying he's saying this all the coins that the rich cast in were taken out of the hoarded coins that constitute their excessive wealth their excessive accumulated monetary substance which they don't even need to maintain their present rich life in other words it's right for a rich man who has servants to pay his servants according to Jewish Old Testament law he was not to withhold the wage beyond sundown and if they were wealthy with a rich with wealth that was being used for God's glory for many of them were apparently generous givers and the Lord does not in any way cast aspersions upon the generosity of their giving but what he is saying is this

25:15 everything they gave came from a source that was utterly unnecessary for their daily needs they cast in out accumulated excess wealth in other words what they gave unless they were keeping a close account they never would have missed one shekel of it all their bills could be paid without touching that amount out of which their great giving to the temple was taken you see that in the text for they all did cast in of their accumulated excess wealth but in contrast to that she out of her want out of her conditions a condition of poverty out of a condition in which she lacked even the bare necessities she came into the temple in a condition of want she was not merely a widow but a poor widow and out of that situation of existing poverty out of her want

26:44 what did she do she cast in all she had even all her living in other words on that occasion at that point in her life all she possessed that she could trade for food for clothing for rent for whatever she might expend money was put into the offering receptacle there in the temple therefore our lord is saying in his satisfying explanation of his startling assertion that in the giving of these rich ones there was no element of sacrifice and there was no element of faith they all of their stores of wealth gave what they gave they did not empty those stores let alone into anything that would have altered their wealthy lifestyle and their present wealthy possessions they did not even get near that there was no element of sacrifice no matter how many coins they had cast in they could still from the human standpoint see every need met every luxury anticipated

28:11 and plenty of supply to meet both necessity and luxury there was no sacrifice there was no faith there was no faith but in the case of this widow here she came into the temple in dire want and what she had in her hands were two leptah i don't know how many loaves of bread that would have bought if any i don't know how much of a handful of meal the two leptah would have purchased i don't know but at least the two leptah represented a minimal albeit meager buying power in her hands a poor hair that could be exchanged for meager provisions and what did she do she out of her want or poverty cast in all that she had her gift was an expression of an ultimate expression both of sacrifice and the faith she was giving in a sacrificial spirit and giving in the context giving in the confidence that the god to whom she gave would not allow her to starve though she may have had to fast for a day while she went back to work somewhere the next day to earn a few more leptah

Lesson 1: The Constant Activity of Our Lord in Giving

29:39 so that she could meet life's basic necessities well there's the passage there's our lord's observation there's our lord's evaluation now what is the fundamental lesson of the passage what are the fundamental lessons to us well allow me as time permits to set three or four of those lessons before you this morning and the first is this consider from the passage the constant activity of our lord in conjunction with our giving to the work of god consider the constant activity of our lord in conjunction with our giving to the work of god you have been with us in the previous studies we'll remember that we've underscored again and again on this occasion jesus came into jerusalem deliberately proclaiming himself as the messianic king he went immediately to the temple which was his temple and was his father's house and there he cleansed himself he cleansed the temple of all of its crass commercialism that it might be what it was intended to be a house of prayer for all people not only has he cleansed the temple but within the temple he has authoritatively

31:06 silenced his enemies by his handling of the word of god and by his skillful response to their questions and now he sets himself to scrutinize that part of men's worship in which they will show the measure of their commitment to the honor of god as it finds expression in the activities and rituals of the temple and in the ability of the religious officials to minister to the needs of the poor through the giving that would go on at the temple you see our lord in this passage is indicating that as the messianic king he is not only lord over his temple to secure the purity of its worship lord over its temple to secure the purity of its teaching but he is lord over his temple to secure the purity of the giving of those who come within that temple and we know from our study of the word of god that the lord does not visit any earthly temples but according to revelation one through three our lord does indeed walk amidst the lampstands the living temples called in scripture his church and we know from his own word that where two or three are gathered in his name

32:35 there is he in the midst and may i underscore in your hearing this morning that we must never forget that as we give lord's day by lord's day in this place jesus sits over against the treasury beholding us as we give as surely as he reads our hearts when we bring the sacrifice of praise and either accepts that offering of whole soul praise offered up in his name and through his virtue as a sweet incense or he says take it away this people draw near with their lips but their hearts are far from me as surely as he watches over the sacrifice of our praise as surely as he scrutinizes those of us who stand and open his word as surely as we shall give an account as to whether or not we have twisted the scriptures as to whether or not we have honestly handled the word of truth so he is here every time we engage in the spiritual activity of offering up of our substance unto him and we need to think in a mindset that beholds our Lord

34:04 with the eye of faith every single Lord's day when those who lead the service say the brethren will assist us as we worship the Lord in the giving of our tithes and offerings we need to think in terms of the message of the Spirit in this passage Jesus stands over against the treasury and he scrutinizes us he watches and in his perfect omniscience he knows the motive that impels our gift he knows the substance out of which the gift is taken and what he measures is not it's monetary amount And so now, he measures not the quantity, but the quality of the gift. And that brings us to our second observation. We must not only consider the constant activity of our Lord in conjunction with our giving, but the changeless standard by which our Lord evaluates our giving. The changeless standard by which our Lord evaluates our giving.

Lesson 2: The Changeless Standard of Evaluation: Sacrifice and Faith

35:26 By His striking language, our Lord has forever etched on the minds of His own disciples, and I trust on ours, that the standard by which He evaluates our gifts is not the amount which appears in the treasurer's ledger. It is not the quantity which counts. But its quality and the quantity only insofar as it validates and expresses the quality.

36:01 He is not indifferent to quantity, but He is concerned with quantity only insofar as it is indicative of and validates the quality. And the qualities which He seeks to see in our giving are, The qualities of sacrifice and the faith. Sacrifice. She, out of her want, did cast in all that she had, even all that was presently available in cash for her barest necessities.

36:45 She gave it all. She could have given one lepta and kept the second for herself and left the temple uncondemned. But she gave lepta. The wealthy skimmed off from the top of their excess wealth and still less wealth.

37:09 It cost to toss dozens of their coins into the receptacle. It cost her everything to give her. And it's interesting, is it not, that in the midst of the two most significant chapters on the subject of giving in the New Testament, 2 Corinthians 8 and 9, the Apostle Paul has given us this text. For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that you through his poverty might become rich.

37:53 Excuse me. What did our Lord do? He showed the principle of grace. You know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. And how do we know it?

38:06 We know it because he did not skim off the top of all the excessive wealth that was his as the eternal, non-second person of the Godhead. But from the infinite wealth of the undimmed glory of the Father's. His immediate presence. He came to a womb. And he came into a world of sickness and woe. And he came into a humble, poverty-stricken home and grew up doing the task of a common artisan.

38:45 And he had nowhere even to lay that being rich, he became poor. In other words, we know the grace of Christ because it was grace. The grace that came to us in the conduit of voluntary, sacrificial, self-giving.

39:08 And when our Lord evaluates our gifts, he doesn't look at the number amount on the check. He doesn't look at the denomination on the bill. He looks to see if indeed there was any sacrifice connected with what we give. What did it cost us?

39:29 What have we voluntarily relinquished? To give this amount to God, and to his kingdom, and to the advancement of his cause? What legitimate liberty have we foregone that we might give that amount? What legitimate possession have we either not accumulated or relinquished that we might give that amount?

39:57 What privilege, what enjoyment, what anything have we said no to voluntarily? Not voluntarily. Not voluntarily to Christ, and imbued with the spirit of the gospel.

40:18 Sacrifice is in the very texture of our offering to the Lord.

40:26 That's the changeless standard. And then the other part of the changeless standard of how much of faith is mixed in with what we give. She gave in such a way as to put the promises of God between herself. And total destitution.

40:45 The one thing she had that stood between herself and being utterly and totally destitute. We would say literally penniless. A lot less. The smallest fine she gave in all that she had.

41:04 And she put the promises of God and the faithfulness of God between herself and utter destitution. The element of faith. In which she was prepared to put to practice Matthew 6.33.

A Warning and Clarification on Sacrificial Giving

41:22 To seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness. And to know that all other things would be added unto her. Now I must give a warning because we have so many of tender conscience. And I thank God for that.

41:37 Am I saying this morning that you ought to go home today. And every last piece of coinage. And every last piece of coinage. And every last dollar bill.

41:49 And every last bit of accumulated wealth of money and things. Liquidate it all. And give it to the cause of Christ. No, no, a thousand times no.

42:00 This passage is not the whole doctrine of responsible stewardship of money and things. And anyone who builds a whole doctrine on one passage is mishandling the word of God. I am not saying, suggesting, even hinting that you do that. The scripture says, if any man provide not for his own, especially of his own household, he is worse than an infidel.

42:25 He hath denied the faith. I am not saying you should do that. But what I am saying is that if you are to have the commendation of our Lord upon your giving. Something of the element of sacrifice and faith must be present in the amount that you give.

42:42 That is what I am saying.

42:45 And what that means for one. It will not necessarily. Mean for another. I believe Lenski has captured the heart of the meaning when he says this.

42:55 Did this widow star? I think not. The great painter Tissot depicts this widow with a little child on her arms. It makes the image of the woman more poignant.

43:07 Can you imagine yourself in her place without the fear of starving? Few can. Many who live in abundance decline to give or give too little. Because they fear they'll.

43:18 Not have enough for the future. They give from lack of faith and that robs their giving of its true value. The widow's gift, though copper was pure gold in the eyes of the Lord. How do your gifts appear in his eyes?

43:34 The widow's act cannot be reproduced mechanically, even if you too gave all that you could not in the way. Sorry, gave all that you could not in that way alone. Matt. Sure, you could not in that way alone match your performance copy her faith and then you will be in her class and the size of your gifts will, of course, take care of itself.

44:01 You see, the great principle is that our giving must be such that we, in the language of Malachi, we prove God, we put God to the test. Is it true that in money and things, if we seek first the kingdom of God? God and his righteousness, all other things will be added to us.

44:25 Some of you don't know that that verse is true, except that you see it in the Bible. Some of us know it is true because it's in the Bible and we have confirmed its validity times without number in our experience. And what you and I need to do in the working through of the budgeting of our tithes and offerings to the Lord are giving in the face of unusual needs. Is to ask.

44:52 I asked the Lord. O God, give me the spirit of that poor widow, the spirit of sacrifice and the spirit of faith. That my giving will be such that there is at least a little margin, Lord, that something that I could not expect that I could not calculate, that I could not print out of my computerised projection of my financial status. Lord, give me the faith.

45:21 To at least have a little bit. little margin in there to prove you to be the god you say you are to those who seek first your kingdom you see wasn't that the principle with that widow to whom the prophet came he found her gathering a few sticks and she had a little handful of meal and a little oil and he said what are you doing she says i'm baking a cake for my son and myself it's our funeral meal that's all that stands between us and starvation then we're going to die and you remember what the prophet said bake me a cake first i represent jehovah the god of israel and when the prophet said bake for me first it wasn't crass selfishness and self-centeredness what he was saying is seek first jehovah's kingdom and all other things will be added unto you and as a woman of faith she baked the cake first for the prophet and what did god do something she never could have anticipated and throughout the entire famine as a woman of faith she lived upon the fruit of god's faith dear people that's the principle that's the changeless standard by which our lord evaluates

46:46 our gifts to the work of god is there anything of sacrifice in them is there anything we knowingly believe in that is the principle that's the changeless standard by which our lord evaluates them deliberately joyfully relinquish that others may know of him though he was rich became poor that we through his poverty might be rich may i state it this way as surely as our salvation was procured only through the sacrificial self-giving of the son of god generally speaking the triumphs of that salvation through the gospel are known in direct proportion to which the spirit which brought it to us is manifested in us as we bring it to others dear people of god in the light of all of the tremendous needs that we increasingly hear about open doors and as we're praying with renewed intensity for the lord of the harvest to send them forth we will have the horrible embarrassment of saying here are the laborers we have nothing with which to send them unless a new dimension of the spirit of sacrifice enters our giving

Lesson 3: Insignificant Deeds Have Great Implications

48:07 and a new dimension of the spirit of faith and then thirdly note in this passage this great truth that insignificant deeds are done out of devotion to god often have great implications which only our lord can evaluate insignificant deeds done out of devotion to god often have great implications which only our lord can evaluate there are times in the recorded ministry of our lord where he commended certain graces oh woman great is thy faith he said to another man i've been a priest in the temple of a very popular priest called john deacon and he said i've been a priest in the temple of a very popular priest called john deacon and i've been a priest ind hassled for sure today because the church is hungry for big незar Maxim Alamoupoulis we read in not seen such great faith no not in all israel but there's no indication that the lord took this woman aside and commended her she went that day and did what was probably to her one of the most insignificant acts of her whole life quickly shuffled her two left into the trumpet shaped receptacle and went her way and now literally she has literally put more in the treasury than all those people ever did who would like to calculate the millions and millions of dollars that have

49:28 gone to the work of god and for the spread of the gospel because of this one act of this woman that she never even knew was noticed not a precious thought one insignificant act noticed by our lord embodied in the scriptures has been an instrument to release the perhaps in god's reckoning over the years of the history of the church billions of dollars to the work of god long after the wealthy had thrown in their fistfuls and their influence is only noted as something to reject and never to emulate this unsung hero did the most important act of her whole life when she took two little thin wafer thin coins and threw them in a trumpet shaped receptacle under the eye of jesus for those of you called to places of service that seem so insignificant some of us pushed into higher profile will never know perhaps the measure of reward that some of you will know

50:52 just labor on knowing that the eye of jesus is upon you and when you get there you will be able to see what the lord has done for you you put the two laptop of that telephone call to a needy brother or sister when you put those two laptop of that little effort to take of your meager fare and to bake that loaf of bread and share it as an expression of christian love and compassion jesus said not even a cup of water given in his name shall fail of its reward why because he beholds it and oh dear people of god i would encourage you from this passage to grasp the principle that insignificant deeds done out of devotion to god often have great implications which only our lord can evaluate and then finally as my final word of application it's really a word of entreaty and that is to plead with god for your elders and deacons that we may be given wisdom and spiritual grace in dispensing the gifts of god's people as one of the elders mentioned last night when i read that letter on wednesday from our dear widow friend mrs denning how much of what comes into our

Final Application and Entreaty: Pray for Wisdom in Stewardship

52:17 treasury is the widow's might poor struggling saints of god even in other places who are helped by a little mechanical preacher helped by a letter by a telephone call of counsel and they want to show their gratitude and out of very meager fare they give into the treasury of the lord there are some of you who live a perpetual sacrifice and we're not unmindful of that nor is the lord you've committed yourself out of principle to live in this area to live on a subsistence standard because of the values that you deem of more importance than the security of owning your own home the luxury of owning a new car and you're committed to this church and all of the implications of that in terms of the economics of living in this area why because with all your heart you long to support its ministry you long to have your children under the benefit of the school that is available on these premises you've got your eye fixed on the world to come and every single tie that you give unto the lord has woven through you and you've got your eyes fixed on the world to come and you've got your children under the benefit of the lord sacrifice and faith when you take from the top of your check the lord's portion there are many times when on the ledger of human reckoning there's no way

53:44 you're going to meet your other commitments but what you do is you put the promises of god between you and your unpaid bills like our dear sister did and you say lord i could meet those bills if i would cut into your portion but lord it's you who has given me the right to do it and you say lord i could meet those bills if i would cut into your portion but lord it's you who has given me the right to do it your portion. I dare not rob you of what is your own, Lord, that is yours. Now, Lord, here are the remaining needs. You've said, if I seek first the kingdom, you've said, prove me now herewith.

54:16 Lord, I would prove you. I would not tempt you, but Lord, I would prove you. And some of you have the joy of having one confirmation after another that God means what he says. I wouldn't give up those days when our children would sit and at family worship, I'd show them some money that came from an unexpected source to pay the next Christian school installment payment or some other need, and sometimes almost to the dollar, and see the kids say, Daddy, God does answer prayer, doesn't he? Yes. To know that prayer is more than a notion. Their daddy preached it. It was a

55:03 reality. That they saw with their own eyes. I want to give my kids everything. You've given them nothing if you don't give them the legacy of a God who answers prayer. So start regulating your giving so that the element of sacrifice and faith begin to enter. And then you begin to see the family realize that God's not just someone that the pastors talk about. God is the living personal being who helps us. They are billed, but now when giving comes in that context, then I know for not a few of you it does. You see what an awful stewardship this hours to dispense those funds wisely. Oh dear people

55:57 pray for us that God will help us to be good stewards. Of that, which is given as in the case of this woman, out of love to the God of the covenant out of desire that his work be forwarded in his house. house which is now his church and the knowledge of that God be spread to the ends of the earth all those are the applications that came with freshness to my own heart and I hope they've come with freshness to yours and I come around to where I began this morning if you're visiting among us surely you're convinced at least I trust you are that this has not been a harangue to try to stretch open people's purse strings dear visitor if you're a stranger to Christ non-visitor a stranger to Christ you see the very setting of this passage is significant our Lord in a couple of days would make the greatest sacrifice he would lay down his life the just for the unjust that he might bring sinners to God and I wonder if he did not withhold this great lesson on giving on this occasion that it might be brought nearer to the cross and more firmly etched upon the consciousness of his followers

57:21 but whether that's why it occurred here God alone knows but this I know that if you're here without Christ my appeal to you is not to give a sacrificial gift that is suffused with faith my appeal to you is to look at the wells to where the grace and grace is set on him and you but if this is what it is to act to God's great sacrificial gift in faith, the gift of His own dear Son, and that God calls upon you to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ that you might be saved. And if you're sitting there this morning saying, Pastor, I've never thought about giving in such a way that sacrifice had to be in the texture of my gift, and faith part of the whole complex of my giving, that'll have radical implications. My idea was I gave the Lord His tithe, and that was it. Well, aren't you here to grow in grace and knowledge? That's what you're here for.

58:23 And this passage has expanded your knowledge of what acceptable giving is. Now, you've got to go home and have some dealings with God, and have dealings with God that are reflected in what you give. You see, the amount is significant, only so far as it reflects and validates these two great criteria, sacrifice and faith.

58:49 And I'm convinced if those graces are worked in us in new measures, as Lenski says, the amounts will take care of themselves. You children are not exempt from this.

59:04 You children. Yes, that little bit of allowance you gave, the sacrifice that you are given, the sacrifice. What you may make is that very thing you've been saving up for, you've really wanted. There's nothing wrong with it.

59:17 But you don't need it to live. You don't need it to exist. The joy you'll have if you sacrifice that others who know not Christ may know it. You children are not too young to start learning those lessons, and then to say, God, you've said you honor those who honor you, and begin to put God to the test, that, as we seek first his kingdom, all other things will be added up to us.

59:48 Let us pray.

59:56 Our Father, we thank you for this record of the giving of this unnamed, poor, widow woman who threw in her two thin coins that day, little thinking that we would be remembering her today, almost 2,000 years later, that she, she would be set before us as a model of the grace of holy giving. Oh, our Father, we thank you for giving us this record of her deed, and we bless you for working the grace of giving in her. Work that grace in us in measures that we have never known before. Hear our prayer and answer us, we plead in Jesus' name. Amen.