Mark:
12: 41-44 November 8,
2009
Illus: A college student had left the following
message on his answering machine: “Hi,
this is Joe. If this is the phone
company, I sent the money. If it’s mom
and dad, please send money. If it’s the
bank, you didn’t loan me enough money.
And, if it’s my girlfriend, leave a message – and don’t worry, I’ve got
plenty of money…” J
Illus: Wait a minute they get worse! Two men were marooned on an Island, one man passed back and forth afraid that no one would ever find them, while the other man just sat there sunning himself on the beach. The first man said, aren’t you afraid we’re never going to be found… the second man answered, No, don’t worry – I tithe a $1,000 a week to my church, my pastor will find me…
Last week we talked about How to Love God… As we learned last week, a part of loving God is showing God how much we love Him… In order for us to show our love for God requires our giving to God… So today I want to talk about How to Give to God… and our giving to God is called stewardship.
Today is Stewardship Sunday, but before you turn your hearing off, it’s not about money… for the Bible talks about giving 10% of what we have to the church as an offering – just 10%… Whether you do that or not, is entirely up to you – that’s between you and God… what I want to talk about this morning is what’s left over – the 90% that you keep…
I think that our true giving comes from the 90% that we keep… the 90% that we have left over…
Many times, we are guilty for giving God our leftovers…
Our gifts to God are to be consecrated… Consecrated means to dedicate something to some service or goal…
As I raise the offering plates to the Cross on Sunday mornings, I’m not showing the choir the offering, I’m lifting up your gifts and your offerings to God, presenting them to God and consecrating them to His kingdom and to His service… hoping that He will find them to be pleasing and acceptable in His sight…
But can I tell you something… Our offerings to God, that which we consecrate (dedicate to His service) should taste good and should smell good to the Lord…
In Leviticus 1, it talks about the “Burnt Offering” that was offered up to God… When properly prepared the burnt offering would offer up an “aroma pleasing to the LORD…”
In Leviticus 2, it talks about the “Grain Offering.” And when properly prepared the grain offering would offer up an “aroma pleasing to the LORD…”
In Leviticus 3, it talks about the “Fellowship Offering.” And when properly prepared the fellowship offering would offer up an “aroma pleasing to the LORD…”
And in Leviticus 4, it talks about the “Sin Offering.” And yes, you guessed it – When properly prepared the sin offering would offer up an “aroma pleasing to the LORD…”
Do you want to know what makes an offering smell good? What makes it appeal to God? Well the answer to that question is found in our scripture this morning from the Gospel of Mark…
The first thing we notice is that Jesus was watching the people give their offerings… Verse 41 says, “Jesus sat down opposite the treasury, and watched the crowd putting money into the treasury…”
What does that say? Well it says just that… It says that Jesus was watching the people give their offerings… I don’t know about you, but that might make me feel a little uncomfortable…
Illus: What if I took up the offering on Sunday mornings and I made it a point to see how much each of you give to the church… would that make you feel uncomfortable?
Well, I can assure you that I have no clue who gives and how much you give… I don’t think that’s my business… I’m more concerned about your soul than about your giving… But I can assure you that God knows whether or not you give and how much you give… because He watches our giving… It is His business and He wants to know how much we’re giving…
Now the Bible teaches us that we should give 10% of our first fruits… First fruits means from the top, in our language it means before taxes…
Our call to worship this morning from Malachi said that we
should “bring the full tithe into the storehouse…” If you’re not bringing the full tithe into
the Lord’s house, you are robbing and stealing from God… Does the Bible say that? Absolutely, look at Malachi 4: 8, it says, “Will
anyone rob God? Yet you are robbing me!
But you say, “How are we robbing you?”
In your tithes and offerings! You
are cursed with a curse for you are robbing me…”
And that leads me to our question of the morning: How much are you willing to give?
Because God watches to see if we give Him our 10%, but what about the other 90%… that’s just as important as the 10%… maybe more important…
Illus: Did you know that in the Bible prayer is mentioned 371 times… love is mentioned 714 times… but giving is mentioned 2,162 times… Our giving is just as important as our praying and our loving… but obviously God knew that a lesson on giving is a lot harder than a lesson on love or prayer… and He knew that He had to repeat it over and over until we get the message…
Does God call us to give more than 10%… of course He does… In fact, He wants 110% from us… He wants us to be willing to give our all… willing to give everything we have…
That’s what Jesus noticed about the widow in our scripture this morning… It wasn’t the amount that was so impressive… for she only gave two-mites (which is equal to a penny in today’s money)… but what impressed Jesus is that she gave everything she had… She gave her all…
What she gave was a sacrifice… It was sacrificial giving… and Jesus took notice of it… In fact, He was so touched by her giving, that He called His disciples together and told them about the woman…
Look what it says in verse 43, it says, “Then He called his disciples and said to them, “Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all those who are contributing to the treasury, for all of them have contributed out of their abundance; but she out of her poverty has put in everything she had, all that she had to live on…”
That’s sacrificial giving… She made a sacrifice… That was an offering with a pleasing aroma to the LORD…
I wonder how many of us would be willing to give knowing that it’s going to be a sacrifice – that we really can’t afford to give what we’re giving? That’s giving from the heart…
That’s what the widow did – she gave from the heart… that’s what made her giving so different, so unusual…
I read during my studies that this widow didn’t even have to give… She was like a foreigner in this country and wasn’t bound by the law to give an offering… but she gave because she was bound by God and her love for God knew no boundaries… she gave even though she couldn’t afford it… and she gave because she wanted to give…
I said earlier that today’s message is NOT about money… and it’s NOT… but it’s about giving the other 90% that God is looking for… it’s about making a sacrifice – Are we willing to make a sacrifice?
I think that Christ and the church calls us to make a
sacrifice… You see, your 10% tithe is
not a sacrifice – it’s a command from God…
God commands us to give our 10% to His kingdom and if you’re not giving
your 10% to God then you are stealing from God…
As the book of Malachi says, “we rob God when we don’t give our tithes…”
Personally, I think it’s easy for us to give our 10% in tithes… but the real giving, the sacrificial giving begins with the 90% that we keep- it begins with the other part of our lives… how we live… and how we serve…
Perhaps our giving is NOT measured by what we put in the offering plate, but by what we keep… You see, you and I have so much to give to God’s kingdom and to each other… but many of us do very little giving… we don’t have the time to give… we have the resources, but not the time…
For Example, how many of you could sit down and write a get-well card to someone who is sick – but you don’t take the time…
How many of you could pick up the phone and call someone who is going through a rough time just to offer a word of encouragement – but you don’t have the time…
How many of you could bake a cake or cook a meal and go visit someone who is lonely – but you don’t have the time…
How many of you could go to the rest-homes and visit the home-bound and the elderly – but you don’t have the time…
How many of you could sit down and write a check to help feed the hungry – but you don’t have the time…
How many of you could stop and invite an un-churched person to join us for church – but you don’t have the time…
How many of you could stop by the church during the week to see if there is anything that needs to be done – but you don’t have the time…
How many of you could be singing in the choir – but you don’t have the time…
These are just a few examples of how we can give to God’s kingdom and many of us have the resources, but we don’t have the time…
Friends, we need to find the time… because if you and I don’t fill these needs, the chances are, they won’t be filled…
That’s why it’s called sacrificial giving… we need to be giving of ourselves and of our time as a sacrifice to God… We’ve got to give until it hurts… They say, no pain, no gain…
Well, how can our offerings to God be pleasing unto Him if they don’t cost us anything? If you’re tithing 10% and don’t do anything else to further God’s kingdom, do you think that God is pleased with your giving? I don’t think so!
The poor widow gave two-mites… but it was all that she had… And that’s what Christ is looking for… He wants His people to be people that are willing to give their all…
People who are willing to make a sacrifice… people who are willing to give not necessarily their money, but their hearts…
Illus: Many times I’ve been to visit someone when I really didn’t feel like going… Perhaps it was in the afternoon… I had worked all day and now I was going to drive for two-hours to visit… I would skip supper, and postpone getting some rest… I would take time away from my family… in a way, I would make a sacrifice just to visit someone who was sick, or grieving, or having problems…
I would always visit in hopes of being a blessing to someone… but every time I’ve done this, I was the one that received the blessing…
God always provides in ways we least expect… but the question is: How much are you willing to give?
Do we do enough for the kingdom? Do we do enough for the church? Someone once asked, “What would my church be, if everyone was just like me…”
I’m afraid it would come up short if everyone was just like me… But if I’m willing to do my part, and you’re willing to do your part, and you’re neighbor on the other pew is willing to do their part… we may have a church that is willing to give God an offering that will be pleasing in His sight – an offering that will have an aroma that is pleasing to His smell… but we all have to be willing to give our share…
We have to be a giving church and it has nothing to do with the budget…
But can I tell you something? It’s impossible to give what we don’t have… but we serve a giving God…
God has given us everything that we need… He has given us the resources to give and He provides many opportunities for us to use those resources… Take a look around you… there are many needs that are going unmet…
The question is: How much are you willing to give?
I believe that as you and I draw closer to Christ, and Christ draws us closer to the Cross – it becomes easy to see how much God has given to us… but it also becomes easy to see how little we give to God…
HE GAVE HIS ALL – How much are we willing to give?