Opening Prayer for Guidance and Focus

We’ll be picking up in Mark chapter 12 this morning as we continue through Gospel of Mark. Before I read this text for our sermon this morning and preach from it, and we hear and receive from the Spirit that which he has there, let’s ask his blessing upon those very things right now. Let’s pray together. Our glorious and gracious Heavenly Father, we thank you even in our scattered lives and our scattered minds and all the things that would Detract us from focusing on you this day at this time, as your people together, as the body of Christ. We thank you that you have come in the power of your spirit. We ask, Lord, that you would help us to be attentive to your leading, Lord, that we would be attentive to the call to hear, Lord, and to I truly have a posture of grace and reception before you and your word. Lord, we ask that all of those things, all of our infirmities, all those distractions, the remainder of our lives here in a fallen world with imperfect hearts and imperfect bodies, Lord, we pray that all of those things would fall away at this time as we undergo the simple The simple but profound means you have given to us to grow us and to strengthen us and to lead us and to nourish us, particularly in word and in sacrament, Lord. Help us, we pray, to praise you and to give ourselves to you. We do pray now as we seek your face and your word and seek to listen to the preaching of the Lord Jesus Christ, we pray that you would send your spirit to help us. even afresh, that we may not merely come as tasters or bystanders, but as children who are hungry and long to feed upon every word that you say to us. We pray for grace that we may sit under this word, we may listen to your voice, and that it would break through our distracted, calloused hearts, and that your gracious love and your passion would transform us into the likeness of our Savior Jesus. So we pray, Lord, that you would, by your word, through your spirit, do us good as we come to you for counsel, for your presence. We pray, minister to us according to the wide variety of our needs, Lord. We thank you that you know each one, but bring every one of us as your people here today, we pray, to see that you are good and that you have provided all that we need in Christ, that when we come to him and find our all in him, And so we pray all this for his glory and for our good and in his name and all God’s people said together, amen, amen.

Scripture Reading: Mark 12:35-44

Mark chapter 12, starting at verse 35, please once again give your attention, this is the word of God. Inspired, authoritative, necessary, sufficient. Mark 12, 35. And as Jesus taught in the temple, he said, how can the scribes say that the Christ is the son of David? David himself in the spirit declared, the Lord said to my Lord, sit at my right hand until I put your enemies under your feet. David himself calls him Lord. So how is he his son? And the great throng heard him gladly. And in his teaching, he said, beware of the scribes who like to walk around in long robes, and like greetings in the marketplaces and have the best seats in the synagogues and the places of honor at feasts, who devour widows’ houses and for a pretense make long prayers, they will receive the greater condemnation. And as he sat down opposite the treasury, and he watched the people putting money into the offering box, many rich people put in large sums, And a poor widow came, and put in two small copper coins, which make a penny. And he called his disciples to him, and 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, for they all contributed out of their abundance, but she, out of her poverty, has put in everything she had, all she had to live on. So for the reading of God’s word, grass withers, The flowers fall, but the word of the Lord endures forever.

Addressing Misused Scriptures

The Danger of Assumptions in Biblical Interpretation

I was talking with a friend this past week. One of my visits and one of the things we discussed was some of the things that are often just assumed in the church, in sermons, just givens that are held to or just unquestioned or just accepted and then repeated and accepted again in sermons. And this is true, sadly, quite a lot. These kind of things happen. I’m on my schedule. One of the studies I want to do in one of our study times is go through a series of misused Bible texts to highlight some of these historically things that have gone on. But I suppose we’re all susceptible to this in some way at some points, but we ought to be careful in what we do. We ought to be careful in our thinking, in our speaking, and in our believing. We ought to seek to avoid blind spots or unjustified assumptions as we practice our analysis and our discourse and our reading of Scripture whenever possible.

The Need for Deep Engagement with God’s Word

And in our text this morning, I’ve seen this very problem be fallen into, and you probably have, too. Maybe you’ve not been aware of it, but we want to grow, right, our approach to Scripture as God’s people. We want to grow in our ability to read deeply and richly and fully what God has given us in His Word. must never accept triteness, or silliness, or thinness, or flatness in our consumption of God’s Word. God’s Word is not trite, nor thin, nor flat. It is all-important. It is meaningful. It is full, and deep, and complex, as we would expect it would be, given the character of God. It will bear some of His character in His Word. And our reflexes, as we do show, should be that Whenever we encounter views or assumptions or givens of God’s holy, clear, authoritative, inspired, necessary and sufficient word that are anything less or anything that are weak or thin or anemic, our reflex should be to cringe at those things. And that eternal alarm should sound loudly, the discernment that God has given us. It is our longing that we, in all of our thoughts, our entire worldview should hunger for consistency and fullness and comprehension in all that God has given us, in all that we reflect back to Him in our thinking and in our worldviews. And our thinking should, about Scripture particularly, should require us to disavow and be discontent with inconsistencies. in ideas and propositions, but also in the character of those ideas and propositions. God’s word is sure. He’s given us a sure word for our good and life and Godliness and ultimately for his glory. We have an obligation before that, therefore, not to be slothful in our consumption of it. We’re to be a deep people because we are the people of a deep God, right?

Misinterpretations of the Widow’s Offering

The Common but Flawed View

You’re all likely aware of times when a text like ours this morning has been given or has been used as a tool by the church to bludgeon people, to burden people, to crush them because they just aren’t giving enough. Rather than trusting the work of God, the Holy Spirit, to press into the hearts of the people, to do his work in changing them from the inside out, churches very often revert to an outside-in approach, right? And so they essentially go from gospel, inside out, to law. outside in. And in doing this, they distrust the Spirit’s inner powerful work in transforming a people. People aren’t changed, it’s just their actions that are changed. Nevertheless, this particular subject is fronted in our text, right, this particular issue. We see a woman, poor, humble, yet profusely generous, giving all that she has. She has very little, according to the text, it makes clear. And as she gives, that very little that she has willingly. And the text says, she gave away her very life, all that she had to live on. And this is a text that when you hear commonly being made certain applications from it or takeaways drawn from it in sermons specifically, this woman we hear often is celebrated as an example of great piety and faith and the ability to give out of her lack in order to please God because of her great faithfulness, right, is a common thing. And this typical kind of text that you hear preached is usually highlighted around campaigns for fundraising. I don’t know if that’s been your experience in churches. You may have seen that. And it usually ends with something like this. You can give more. You’re not giving enough. Look what she did. Give till it hurts. And they say, look how uncomfortable it was for this widow to give. And so it should be for us. That’s kind of the takeaway that’s given very often. And that’s how you know if you’re pleasing the Lord in your giving. If it hurts, if it’s painful. And indeed, if you look historically at how this text has been preached, that’s it. It’s always, almost always preached as having to do with sacrificial giving or the attitude of the giver or the obligation to give according to your means all to the end so that God will be happy with me when I do so. And so it would seem our text is set before us as an example of tremendous faith, an example of sacrificial giving, that we then are to model our lives after, to be an example for us.

Questioning the Traditional Interpretation

But we have to ask the question, as often as that is repeated, and as common as that is the theme that’s set forth to us from it, is that what the text is actually putting before us? Is that the point of this text? I believe it is not. I hope that you would see that it’s not at the end of this, it’s actually something different. Certainly God has put before us things that we should be doing and contributions we should be making, but in giving certainly is part of the Christian life, no doubt about that. But is this text primarily teaching us about how one is to give to the church?

Contextual Analysis of Mark 12:35-44

Understanding the Broader Narrative

Let’s look at our text. And as we do so, we’ll try not to isolate it from its context, not to read it atomistically, removing it from the bigger picture, not anemically, not flatly. Rather, we’ll look at the context. We must consider the flow of what’s going on, what Jesus is doing, and take a macrospective view and a microspective look at this text. Scripture is full, it is deep, it is consistent, and it is whole. And so the first thing we want to look at as we look at this text to try to rightly understand it is what the text teaches us in a surrounding context, right? Where is it giving? What’s going on before and after, right, the context. And when we do so, notice we see we’ve given lots of time, or Mark gives a chapter and a half, right, going over this conflict, these controversies that Israel’s leadership is having with Jesus. And all those controversies, remember, were prompted by one specific event. Christ comes and he sees what’s going on in the temple, the abuse of the leadership in the temple, how the Gentiles are being squeezed out, pushed out of the temple. And this was so upsetting to him. Remember, he responds, and what does he do? He overturns the tables in the temple, which is a foreshadowing of the judgment that is surely coming because of these And you recall that the leadership in Israel didn’t quite like that he did that, right? They didn’t like being called out. They didn’t like being called to the carpet on this. They indeed were incensed by it, and they seek to get rid of him and conspire against him, the Lord’s anointed. And for a chapter and a half, we’ve seen there is this constant confrontation with them. And in the midst of that confrontation, Jesus, remember, tells a story. And he gives us this parable in the middle of this conflict. And he tells the story, and he says, this guy owns a vineyard, and he keeps sending out workers to collect the wages of the vineyard. And every time he sends someone to do so, they kill him. And he can’t collect the rent that he’s owed generated by this vineyard. And so finally he says, I’m gonna send my own son. Surely they’ll listen to him. But they see him far off, and they beat him, and they kill him, and they think as they’re killing him, Now the vineyard will belong to us. It’ll be ours. And Jesus asks his opponents in this parable, what do you think the owner of the vineyard is going to do when he finds out they’ve killed his son? And the answer comes back, he’s gonna bring those wretches to a terrible end. He’s going to end them. Christ says, yes, that’s right. That’s right. But you’ve never listened to the prophets. You’ve always rejected them. Every time I came to Israel, you never heeded their call. Every time they came to Israel, you never heeded their call to repentance. And here I am, the very son of God, and you haven’t heard my call. And so this text is surrounded by all these passages concerning judgment, the overturning of the tables. Christ is making plain in this parable that God is going to judge his people for their actions, for their rebellion, for their obstinance.

The Temple’s Impending Judgment

And notice what immediately follows this text this morning. It says, And his disciples came out of the temple, and one of his disciples said to him, Look, teacher, what wonderful stones and what beautiful buildings. Right? Referring to Herod’s temple, the temple that Herod helped to build. And the text says, And Jesus said to them, Do you see these great buildings? There will not be left here one stone upon another that will not be thrown down.

Jesus’ Observation of the Widow

And in the middle of all of this, right, we have Jesus taking time out to sit and to watch this giving going on in the temple where he seemingly commends this woman for her gift. And it’s pretty strange, right, given the context, given what’s been going on, for him to stop and consider this woman, what she is doing, what she’s giving in the temple, right? And it can seem kind of disjointed. If you’re reading this for the first time, you know, it’s impossible to read something for the first time, the second time, but if you were just to look at it and you’ve seen the flow, we might quizzically think, why is that there? How does that fit? And most people realize this, and that’s why many say things like, well, we have to connect the story here of the woman’s gift to the rest of the stories going on in Mark, but we’re not sure how it fits. And so usually what they do is one of several things is they’ll say things like, remember Jesus, his answer about the greatest commandment that was asked of him? You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength, and your neighbor as yourself. They’re saying, see, this woman, her giving everything that she has, that’s an example, a model. of that great commandment, loving the Lord your God with everything. She’s given everything. Or they’ll connect it this way. They’ll say, remember what Jesus taught about the nature of discipleship and how if you’re gonna follow him, you’ve gotta take up your cross and that includes suffering. And this woman is a perfect example of what it means to suffer for God and to give yourself away for the sake of the kingdom. It’s these kinds of things and others that we see, but all that Jesus says actually in the text about the woman is one sentence where he gives a comparison, right? That’s it. He says, see, everyone else came and had enough wealth to give, but not her. She gave her two coins and she had nothing left over. And therefore she gave all, even her life.” It’s translated sometimes. And he doesn’t say anything more than that. He doesn’t say things that we might add in our thinking, like, now go and do likewise, right? He doesn’t lay this out and then say, like her, of such is the kingdom of heaven. Nor does he say, I have not seen greater faith in all of Israel than this, right? He doesn’t say any of that. That’s not in the story. All he does is give this comparison. They had enough to give. and still have some left over when they get home. She was very poor. She gave very little. And in giving that very little, which was her whole, she gave her whole living away. And he leaves the story there. And the very next words out of his mouth are concerning back again the temple, seemingly totally unrelated.

The Contrast Between Scribes and the Widow

The Scribes’ Hypocrisy and Exploitation

And so we notice the contrast that’s coming, right? In the context that this comes to us, there’s a contrast. It’s in the middle section this morning, this passage that we’re looking at. Of this widow, Jesus introduces this teaching by saying to his disciples, how? Remember, all that’s going on here, he says, Yeah, verse 36, beware the scribes. That’s his introduction. Beware of the scribes. And then he begins to describe the kind of lives that they live. And it’s interesting, he says, they love prestige. They love the position they have. They love being greeted in public with their titles. They love going to the synagogue and having their seats, their special seats assigned, their names on them. And in the synagogue, when you look at the setup of the synagogue, where the Torah was, there was a cabinet that it was held in, and the scribes would sit right in front of it, facing the rest of the congregation, so that everyone knew. that these men are of great faith, of prominence. They were teachers of the law. They’re men who know the law, and they’re the men who transcribe the law. And with that position of prominence came certain power and luxury, ultimately. And notice what Christ says, beware these men. They love to go to parties. They’re always the VIPs. Every feast you go to, you get a seat of honor as a scribe. And you thrive on these things. And so he describes for us the lifestyle of this leadership.

The Widow’s Vulnerability

And in contrast to those scribes, there’s this widow. And the text doesn’t tell us much about her. What it tells us is important. And it tells us enough of what life was like for her that we can see at this time in Israel’s history and in its culture. And the first thing that we know that she is a woman, obviously. And during this period of history, in this culture, she was not highly regarded simply because of her sex. Women were not allowed to worship with the men in the temple. And I think even this building at some point before Providence was here, there were separations between men and women and who could sit where and worship. This is what was, they were not allowed in the synagogue. Women could not worship with men in the temple. And they had to sit, if you’ll remember the kind of the structure, they were to stay out in the court of the women, right? That’s where they needed to remain. And we know from history that the Pharisees would pray daily. And one of the things historically we know because it’s documented, they would pray daily and they would give thanks to God that they were not born Gentiles. And they would give thanks to God that they were not born women. And they felt that they’d been given this great gift of superiority because they were men. And they really did feel that they were in a position of power simply because of their maleness, because of their sex. And so women were not highly prized. So this is a woman, not only that she’s a widow, which means she is automatically vulnerable and lacking in status. She doesn’t have the comfort of a husband. to provide, to care, to protect. She doesn’t have the honor or the safety that would come with a husband. She has no influence. She has no vote. She has no right to own property, no power whatsoever. And beyond that, we are told she’s a widow, a woman, and that she is poor. She’s poor. Those all normally kind of go together anyway, right? Poor, vulnerable woman, no husband, and no means, right? No means. And so if she has no sons, it’s particularly devastating Completely vulnerable. She’s left in a terrible way. And ultimately, what? She’s at the mercy of the society that surrounds her. She is surely on her own. This woman, we read, has two lepta is the word to her name. It’s the smallest denomination of money, the smallest amount of money. It doesn’t buy or get you anything. It’s the very smallest coinage in circulation at this time. And that is all that she possesses. That’s the kind of poverty that she’s in. And so imagine that, having two pennies to your name. That’s all the reserves that you have. That’s your whole livelihood.

The Scribes’ Condemnation

And it’s interesting that she’s introduced to us immediately after Jesus has what, just warned about the scribes and describing the lifestyle they have, right? You see the highlighting, the contrast, right? The VIPs, the prestige, the power, the seats, the titles. over against this woman who is utterly destitute, vulnerable, having nothing. Describes the scribes, and then he describes this woman, at least enough for us to know what sort of life she was relegated to. Again, they have power, prestige, luxury. She has no clout, she has no honor, she has poverty, that’s it. But what is interesting, notice in the text, again, he warns about the scribes, beware of them. But he doesn’t say anything describing the woman other than that, that she’s a widow, right? He doesn’t say, do as she does, be like her, follow her example. We make those conclusions on our own, but they are warned against the scribes, right? Jesus does say, beware the scribes. And the question is, why? Right, other than what he’s given us already. Why are they warned? Right, we have this comparison from the context, and then we have this condemnation of the scribes. And notice he warns the disciples about the scribes. But it’s not just a kind of warning that says, they’re bad guys, don’t be like them. Rather, the warning is, don’t be like them because they’re dead guys. Right, they’re not just bad, they’re dead. And we see in verse 40 how he says this, they will receive the greater condemnation. They will receive the greater condemnation. They’re going to deserve what they get, right? What they get, they will deserve, have deserved. Their condemnation will be great because they have what? Feigned a certain kind of religiosity. They have gained a certain prominence because of that. And they have held it over the people in a way that is uncharitable and unloving and ungodly and cruel. which of course is against God’s character and his will and his command.

Jesus’ Discernment and Judgment

Observing the Treasury

But notice in the text, after speaking these words, Jesus does something that’s, again, seems somewhat disjointed or odd for us. It says, as this is going on, this conflict and the warning, it says, he takes a seat opposite the treasury and just begins to watch the people put in their money. There’s people watching. Christ takes this seat, and he’s watching people gather into the court of the women in the temple where these boxes were hung. And he’s sitting there, and actually, they weren’t boxes so much. They were like a horn, like a ram’s horn with a closed bottom. He put the offering in the top, and it would filter down. And he’s sitting, and he’s watching these 13 different boxes or horns, giving boxes, be filled by different people. And as he’s doing so, notice what he says in verse 41. He says, he sat down opposite the treasury and watched the people putting money into the offering box. Many rich people put in large sums. So he’s just spoken about beware of the scribes. And the very next thing he does is take a seat opposite this treasury and he just sits down for a look. And we wonder why. And if you keep reading Mark’s gospel, which remember the chapter and verses are not original to the text, but if we keep reading, we’re gonna see Christ do the same exact thing in the next chapter in chapter 13. There’s this pattern that repeats. In verse 3 of chapter 13, it says, and he sat down, and he sat on the Mount of Olives opposite the temple. Again, he takes a moment and he sits to observe. And we know what happens in that text. In chapter 13, as Jesus is sitting there on the Mount of Olives facing the temple, he gives a diatribe against the temple and tells everyone it’s going to be torn down. And he makes plain that as he’s sitting there opposite the temple, a judgment is coming on that temple. And so the posture that he’s taking in chapter 13 is one of discernment of what’s going on and then speaking about judgment that is coming. And we have to ask, well, is that the same thing that’s going on in our text this morning at the end of chapter 12? Is that the same thing? Is he doing the same thing here? He’s sitting opposite the treasury, discerning what’s going on, and is he now giving a sentence of judgment?

The Scribes’ Devouring of Widows’ Houses

I notice he’s already given us a hint of this. Why are the scribes condemned? He tells us that they love. He tells us what they love. They love their names on their seats in the party. They love their spot in the synagogue. They love honor. They love their power and position. And he says there’s one thing they do that’s atrocious that he adds. One more thing, and I’ll read again what this is. Mark 12, starting verse 38. And in his teaching, he said, beware the scribes who would like to walk around in long robes and like greetings in the marketplaces and have the best seats in the synagogues and the places of honor at feasts, verse 40, who devour widows’ houses and for a pretense make long prayers. They will receive the greater condemnation. And so the thing he adds there, what they’re doing in the guise of all of this, devouring widows’ houses, devouring their houses. And that’s an interesting thing. We were talking this morning about different views of Scripture and how we can look at Scripture and the appropriateness of approaching and analyzing testimony of God’s Word in different ways, whether systematically or like a fuller biblical theological view. If you’re doing that, it’s going to just jump off the page at you. When we hear a discussion of widows and the fatherless and the needy and the poor, right? This isn’t dropped in out of nowhere, right? This issue. They’re condemned. They’re condemned, right? Because of their misuse of this religiosity. They use this false religion and all the power and honor they have and they rob from old women within Israel. They go to the weakest members of society, and they take the last thing that they have.

The Widow’s Offering as a Sign of Exploitation

And just then, Jesus comes. He happens to take a seat across from the treasury, and lo and behold, what happens? A widow comes in and puts in her last two pennies. It’s as if it was all scripted, right? As it was all decreed to happen, planned out, of course it was. And the way that Christ describes it is that she has nothing left. She gave away all of everything, her whole life. And then it’s commonly thought we hear, right? Wow, look at the hugeness of grandma’s faith. What a faithful woman. And this still happens. This still happens in this way and in other more corrupted ways. You probably have known or have heard of these kinds of stories. A woman goes to a church that teaches some form of what’s been called the health, wealth, and prosperity gospel. And the goddess promised certain material blessings in this life, of course, by faith shown in giving. And she goes, this woman, and she thought she’s, even though she’s on a fixed income, she lives solely on perhaps her retirement check or social security check. Working is not an option for her at this age. She doesn’t have the ability. She’s alone. There’s no family near or far to take care of her. Her base cost of living requires the widow, the whole of her, whatever that income is, her whole social security check. No reality of a disposable income. Always a curious term to me, disposable income. But she’s frugal. She lives carefully. She has a frugal life. And her health and wealth preaching church knows her situation, and they see it, and they pretend an expected degree of concern for her. But week after week, they press in and highlight that giving to God will only result in getting you 1,000 a hundredfold if you continue to give. Just give. Give, give, give. And one Sunday, they may have a call in the middle of the service for a faith gift to God. And then the next Sunday, the same. And ultimately, they stir up enough emotion in the people, and they say, if you will give to the Lord, surely he will supply all of your needs. And this woman takes her check fresh from the mail, barely covering her cost of living, and she puts it in the offering. takes all of it, places it into the bag. And what’s the takeaway from those kinds of sermons? If you see that story, is our reflex to think, wow, what big faith she has? Or do we say, probably more accurately, who are the scoundrels running this church, abusing this woman? Who would allow her to give away all that she had and nothing to live on for the rest of her month all in the name of God and in the name of religion. Because that’s much closer to the story that we have in Mark this morning. In Mark’s gospel, he has just told us the scribes devour widows’ houses, and he watches a woman put in her last two pennies. And notice what he says. He doesn’t say, good job. He doesn’t say, great faith. He doesn’t say, be like her. He says instead, everyone else put in something. Yes, but when they got home, there was still something there. This woman has put in this mere two pennies, the last to her name. Why in the world does she only have two pennies in her name in the first place? And the two pennies she has, she gives away, and not a word is spoken. She goes home having given away everything. She goes home to nothing. And the very next words out of Jesus’ mouth are, you see these buildings? None of them are gonna be left. Not a stone is going to be left upon them. They will all be torn down.

The Broader Biblical Context

Old Testament Condemnation of Exploiting the Vulnerable

And you see, this isn’t a rare charge against God, that God brings against Israel. Again, this is not unique and new and novel and dropped in just here. If you read the Old Testament, if you’re familiar with Old Testament canon. One of the signs that they had forgotten the God who had saved them is that they allowed the widows and the weak in society to be destroyed by their false religion, their fake piety, their feigned religiosity, ultimately skimming off the back of the weak and the wounded. And they’re condemned. The prophets come again and again, bringing that lawsuit against them for this very thing. In the text we read this morning from Isaiah 10, notice again what the Lord says in the midst of it. He says, woe to those who decree iniquitous decrees and the writers who keep writing oppression to turn aside the needy from justice and to rob the poor of my people of their right, that widows may be their spoil and that they may make the fatherless their prey. And then he goes on, what will you do on the day of punishment in the ruin that will come from afar? I mean, notice what the prophet is saying here, speaking the very words of God. He says, you’ve prayed on these widows. What are you going to do when I come to destroy you all?

Jesus’ Condemnation of the Temple System

And Jesus is saying the exact same thing here as he watches, and at the end of all the controversies that’s been going on, the back and forth, at the end of that, all of this discussion about how the temple is being misused, and he’s sitting there watching this gift being given in the temple, And his point is that the woman who is a widow and is to be cared for by this establishment and this system, instead is being abused and destroyed by the very system that God had given to her for nurture and for her life. And therefore the system and all the leadership will be destroyed. And that’s exactly what the whole of the next chapter is about as we move forward next week. It’s not a coincidence that Christ is speaking these words in the text that follows. This woman is surrounded by a society that is able to put in enough in the offering and still have some left over, thinking nothing of the woman who goes home with nothing. And she is left in weakness and becomes weaker still, and she seeks to be faithful in the midst of this religion, seeking to follow the leadership that is in place. And Christ’s basic point is that the problem is with the system. is become a false religion. It is contrary to God’s will, His intent, His way. It’s so upside down that it actually preys on the weak and says to the weak, become even weaker in order to fulfill the obligations of the system.

The Gospel’s Contrast to False Religion

The Nature of False Religion

And that’s what all false religion does. Ultimately, it requires of people that which they cannot afford to give in order to have a status that they can never hope to keep. Give to God and you’ll become rich. Right? It’s abhorrent to us, right? We, as people who don’t go along with that stuff, it’s glaringly clear. We see it and it’s revolting to us. But we’ve seen this over and over again. And it’s even kind of a, you know, colloquial joke in the culture. It’s the only ones who get rich are those who are in leadership and everyone else is left in destitute, right? Whether, you know, regardless of the institution, And they say to dead men, come alive by your own works. We say to the immoral and the broken, become good. Here’s how you’re going to make your life better. And we give them steps to improvements, or they are given steps, we don’t hear, but every form of false religion does these very same things. It requires a people that which they cannot afford to give and cannot muster up on their own.

The Gospel’s Offer of Grace

And that’s what separates the gospel from all other forms of religion, even false gospels. It acknowledges that men are dead and they need life. They’re dead. They need to be given life. It acknowledges that this poor widow gave her very life. And Christ sees people in this condition. weak, wounded, poor, blind, naked, unable to help themselves. And instead of saying, come on, get up, give more in order that I may be pleased. Instead of that, he comes as the one who is rich and gives himself away in order that the poorest might have a home and that the most sinful might have a righteousness that is not their own. And that the broken might be made whole and requires nothing of them in return. It is a gospel that goes out to those who have nothing, those who have nothing to offer to God except their need for God. And God says to them, I see where you’re lacking. And in my son, I have met that very need fully and finally. And because Christ has come, all other forms of religion can ultimately and will be destroyed, even this kind. which is why the temple will come down. It is Christ himself, this one who has riches beyond measure, who willingly became poor, willingly emptied himself by becoming a man and joining into our story, our story of weakness and poverty and brokenness, in order that he might meet people like you and like me, broken, wounded, needy, unable to fix our own situations. unable to fix ourselves, and he does not come and say, come on, I’ll help you become a good person so that you may be accepted. It’s not the gospel, brothers and sisters. What does he say instead? What does he say? He says, I see that you’re dead, therefore I will give you my life. I see that you’re destitute, therefore I will give you my riches. All that is mine is yours. I see that you’re heavy, weighed down and crushed. Therefore, I will take your burdens upon me and place my yoke upon you, for it is easy and light. That is good news. That is the gospel. Not that you can pull yourself up by your own proverbial bootstraps, make yourself acceptable to God, but that God knew that you were unacceptable and unable. He knew you were poor and needy, and therefore, in his riches, he became poor and needy to offer you something you will never be able to repay. And because of that, there’s no more working to be done. There’s nothing that we could ever do to offer back that would be sufficient to pay for God’s gift of his own son. And that is why we want freely to give ourselves to God, because it has already happened. The battle is over. The work has been done. The wages have been earned, and not by us, but by the one who had nothing to gain by that losing, and had to give himself to those who had nothing to give once they were gained.

Living in Response to the Gospel

Freely Giving Ourselves to God

May we offer ourselves, brothers and sisters, freely to Him as those who have been loved in a way that we surely do not deserve. And I pray that it’s just a bit overwhelming to each of us as we reflect upon this, just a bit unable to bear when we consider the magnitude of His love for us and what He’s done for us. Just a glimpse of it. It’s too much. It’s overwhelming to me. And I pray it will be for you as well. And in all the blackness of my own heart and in the blackness of your heart, in all of your lostness, in all the rebellion of our soul, in my and your continued weakness and stumbling, He continues to call us. He commands us. Trust in me. Remember me. I am yours and you are mine. See who you are. See who you are. Now be who you are. So let us go back from the holy mountain here in corporate worship for us, back into a world in such need for the truth of the gospel, in such need of the promise of life and forgiveness and love and peace. This one who had it all spared nothing so that we who had nothing would have everything. And so let us live our lives accordingly in gratitude, in gratefulness, in love, in witness to this very one, withholding nothing from him in our lives, withholding nothing, giving ourselves freely back to him. It’s one who died and rose to give us life.

Closing Prayer

Let’s pray. Our gracious heavenly father, we praise you for your mercy. We praise you for your goodness. We praise you for the faith that you give us, and we ask, dear Lord, it is so weak and feeble in us. Distrust and lack of believing looms heavy on all of us to different degrees from time to time, and we would just pray that you would increase our faith, help us to trust you, help us to believe what you say, help us to know the truth of the truth, Lord. Help us to set that before ourselves, in our minds, in our thinking, in our wills, in our ways, that we would truly be changed by the work of your Spirit. Help us to know that we have died to sin, been raised to newness of life. Help us to know that we are united to Jesus. We pray, Lord, that those truths would permeate our very DNA to the depths of who we are, For we know, Lord, that as we believe that and as you grant that faith, we are never the same. And all the competitors for our affection grow dim and grow pathetic, and truly they grow disgusting in our hearts before the affection appropriately that belongs to Christ alone. and to hunger for the truths that you tell us, that we would know you more, that we would know you better, and that we would know ourselves better. We’re so grateful that you’ve not left us without instruction or direction in this life. We thank that you’ve given us your word, and that you’d be kind to us, and that you’ve sought us and called us to yourself and cleansed us in Christ. We thank you that you have established for our weak, feeble souls the means of grace to remind us, to seal to us, to communicate to us again the benefits of our salvation in Christ. We pray, Lord, continue to tune our hearts for glory. We do pray for the households here and the many who are not here this morning. Lord, bless us and strengthen us. We ask that you would grant us your spirit to faithfully serve you and to live for you. We pray for our children, Lord, in the various stages that they are, in the various points of wander and closeness, and Lord, we thank you that you are sovereign. Bless them, we pray. Those who are far, Lord, bring them near, bring them close. Prick their hearts. Bring to their remembrance the gospel. Give them a heart that loves the gospel, that loves the Savior. guide us, even as parents, to model for them and to teach them the most valuable thing that we have, and that’s the truth of the gospel and life in Christ. Lord, we pray for your people in general here, whatever we might endure in this life. We remember the various members and family members we have. We think of Brother Don, we think of the Bylers, and others, Lord, we pray that you would comfort their souls, that you would guide their future, that you would give them peace in the midst of the turmoil that they’re going through and the sorrows and the sourness that seems to come new every morning. Help them to remember and help us to remember that though those sorrows come, your mercies are new every morning. Your word is true. Your will is sure. and our fate, our end, is secure and it is glorious. It is more than we can imagine. It transcends our thinking and our comprehension. Help us to know the truth, we belong to Christ, that all things will work for our good, even as you have called us. And help them and help us to know whatever we endure, that we would see you, our God and King, that you are faithful and gracious to us, and that you alone are our sure refuge amidst it all, even until and into glory. We pray, Lord, work through us, even us, to be the light of Christ in this world. Provide for our needs, Lord, we pray, especially this year, especially in transitions that we’re making, Lord, we pray that you would help us to better reach this city with the purity of the gospel, and the truth of the gospel. Lord, direct our ways, we pray, Lord. We pray that you would indeed, as we seek to be faithful, that you would draw many, that you would draw many that you have decreed to faith for your glory. We pray, be merciful to us, strengthen us spiritually, conform us, we pray, Lord, evermore into the image of our King, your Son. For it is in his glorious name that we pray all of these things, amen.