shed light on what we see. The fear of God is pure and lasts eternally. The standards of the Lord express His perfect truth and righteousness. ♪ Of far more worth than gold ♪ ♪ And much more gold they are ♪ ♪ Than honey from the comb ♪ ♪ And honey sweeter bar ♪ ♪ They warn the servant of the Lord ♪ ♪ And keep thee, them his praise ♪ Oh, let the words I speak be pleasing in your sight, and let my impulse thoughts be Amen. People of God, we come now to the hearing of the Word of God. Mark chapter 12. Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. Mark chapter 12, we will read verses 38 to the end of the chapter, verse 44. 12 verse 38 to 44. Let us hear the word of God. And in his teaching, he, that is Jesus, 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 he sat down opposite the treasury and 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 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 far the reading of God's holy word. The grass withers, the flower fades, the word of our Lord endures forever. Dear brothers and sisters of our Lord Jesus Christ, It has been calculated by those who enjoy the math for these kinds of things that for an American adult who makes an hourly wage, if you make $10 an hour and perhaps even if you make less than that, it is not worth the time that it takes when you see a penny on the ground to stop bend over, pick up the penny, and stand back up again. Now, we see the word penny in our text this morning, and we do know that it is speaking about not an American penny with Abraham Lincoln printed on one side, but it is speaking about coins, which are the smallest coins in the Jewish circulation and in the Roman circulation. If we were to, instead of saying two small copper coins and one penny, if we were to put it into the Greek terms that are there, it would say two small leptas, which that's the smallest Jewish coin, or one Roman quadrons, the smallest Roman coin. And we could say, we could say that a penny has now become so so monetarily worthless in America that you really can't buy anything with a penny. Well, at least you could buy something with a lepta. We think you could buy a small bit of flour, maybe one meager meal. But the similarities between these coins certainly outweigh the differences. The lepta, the quadrons, the American penny, they are all worthless or very close to worthless. They have very little value. They are all literally small coins. And they are all the smallest coin in terms of value for, in one case, the Jewish circulation, in one case, the Roman circulation, in one case, the American coinage circulation. These are not valuable monies. They do not have great buying power. But of course, Contributions by God are not measured in terms of monetary value. As God told Samuel so long ago, man looks at the outward things, but God looks at the heart. And we see in this passage that principle being lived out in a a living contrast between the scribes and Pharisees of the Jewish temple and the widow who comes to that temple with her two small coins. On the one hand, an outward appearance of status tied to a corrupt heart. On the other hand, an outward appearance of total poverty. and a contribution as meager as it gets, but a devoted heart. And that's our theme together this morning, that God measures service in terms of sacrifice, in terms of sincerity. And so we see first our warning looking at verses 38 to 40 and then second our devotion versus 41 to 44. So what is the warning? What is going on? What is the woe to the scribes and Pharisees? First, here in the shorter account, Matthew has a much longer account of this, of the words of Jesus in Matthew chapter 23, 36 verses instead of three verses. But here in this short account, it's summarized this way, the sin of pride, sin of pride, which is seen in their clothes and seen in their desire for honor and titles, their clothes, which were long robes, Matthew, Adding more details, says this in Matthew chapter 23 verse 5, they do their deeds to be seen by others for they make their phylacteries broad and their fringes long. The scribes and Pharisees, they went around in these white robes, which was a sign of having some kind of high status. They were long white robes and they had these fancy fringes and strings on them. And this was all part of their status. It was all part of their status. It was something they delighted in, which they were proud of, how they were so much different than others. Again, there are many more verses in Matthew 23. These verses might be making some kind of reference to the clothes as well. Verse 27, woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for you are like whitewashed tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but within are full of dead people's bones and all uncleanness. So you also outwardly appear righteous to others, but within you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness. Whitewashed tombs, perhaps a reference to those robes, those long, fancy white robes. You know, the streets were dirty. Most people didn't want to have white clothes. You couldn't keep them clean. So we can almost imagine the kind of thoughts that would go along with this, can't we? I'm a scribe and a Pharisee. I get to wear my long fancy white robe and I can keep it clean. I can put on a new clean one. I do not have dusty clothes like so many around me. It became the sin of pride. They delighted in being seen in their fancy white robes. The sin of pride also seen in their desire for their honor, for their titles. Oh, you better make sure that you call the the scribe and the Pharisee who has attained the title of rabbi, you better make sure that you call him rabbi. He's gonna make sure you do and he's gonna delight in the fact that you do. I have different clothes and you have a different title than you. All of this was tied to a poison in their heart. Contrast this, of course, with the Apostle Paul. We know that to have a title is not inherently wrong. In fact, there are times in his letters when the Apostle emphasizes the fact that he has an ordained position, not merely as a minister or elder, but as an apostle. He will even emphasize this then to show that he does have an authority from God, that he has a position. But the same apostle time and time again, time and time again, stresses how he is on the same level as his fellow brothers and sisters. He time and time again uses pronouns such as we and our. time and time again shows that he is only a sinner, even the chief of sinners totally dependent upon God for salvation. You see, the title itself is not inherently wrong, but the hard attitude of the apostle is one which would give up his title if it meant that he would be heard, who only emphasized it when he had to. so much different from the scribes and Pharisees of Jerusalem, who made sure their title was always used and delighted in the pride of their hearts to hear it. Certainly this brings applications into this day, doesn't it? Is it wrong to call a pastor, pastor, or to call a reverend, reverend? No, it is not wrong. The titles themselves are not inherently wrong. But if a pastor insisted upon always, in every case, being called by these titles, if an ordained man never had any kind of grace about these things, if an ordained man absolutely required that this was the only name he was ever given, and it was tied to pride of the sin in the heart, that would be a parallel to what is going on in Jerusalem. Much better to follow the example of the apostle who though he had the highest ordained New Testament office, yet only emphasized it when he had to. So they have the sin of pride seen in their clothes, their desire for honor also in their desire for honor in the best seats. The sin of pride is not even done yet. Remember, as one commentator summarized, that banquets, that feasts in the first century were rituals of social status at which the most honored guests were given the best seats and the best food. There's evidence that during this time it was a great honor for someone to to host a feast and to have a rabbi come with his students. And that then the rabbi and his students would be given the best seats above the elderly and often even above the host's own parents. They delighted in this. It fed the pride of their hearts. And of course, we remember Mark 9, 33 and following. Jesus instructing his disciples that if anyone would be first, he must be last of all and servant of all. So there is the sin of pride seen in these ways. There's also the sin of covetousness, of theft, that they are those who, in verse 40, devour widows' houses and for a pretense make long prayers. Now, while we have a lot of evidence about what these social ritual feasts look like. Here is a specific detail, which certainly Jesus knew what was going on, but now here we don't even know exactly how they did it. How did the scribes, how did the Pharisees devour widows? We don't know. Maybe it was tied to, even as grammatically here in verse 40, the devouring of widows is tied to these making long prayers. Maybe they said, we'll come and we'll pray for you, and if you pay for us, it'll be a really good prayer. We don't know. What we do know is that they did it. That like the leaders of Jerusalem, the prophets condemned of old, they became fat upon those who were lean. The rich became richer and the poor became poorer. They devoured widows. So, so wrong. Scripture again and again. makes it clear. We could easily turn to more than a dozen passages in the Old Testament, speaking about the very character of God, who is the one who, in Psalm 146, watches over the sojourners, upholds the widows and the fatherless. direct command, such as that of Exodus 22, 22, you shall not mistreat any widow or fatherless child. If you do mistreat them and they cry out to me, I will surely hear their cry and my wrath will burn. For again, Psalm 68, God is a father of the fatherless and a protector of widows. We could say that this is brought together into the command of Deuteronomy 27, verse 19, where it says, cursed is anyone who perverts the justice due to the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow, to which all of the people were to say amen. May those who are in positions of need, be those who would be first assisted and never be those who are devoured. And widows and orphans stand as the preeminent example followed only by sojourners in the Old Testament of this truth. It is a sad reality that even religious leaders would use their position to pervert what God has so clearly commanded. This is then our warning. This is our warning to each one of us. That we would uphold the cause of those who are weak. That we would give honor to those who need protection. This is something which we are all called to do, which the church is called to do, even in a specific way, which we are all called to do. Why is it widows that are explicitly stated and not widowers? Certainly widowers need care, but for one thing, our church is the exception. We have more widowers than widows. Usually, the woman outlives the man. That was true a long time ago. That's still true today. That's one reason. Another reason is why, as the Apostle reminds us, the woman is the weaker vessel. And so you combine it together, a widow, one who has lost a spouse, one who is old, one who is a woman. Well, no surprise that time and time again in the Old Testament and then again in the New Testament, the widow is specifically pointed out as one who needs care. But the sad reality is that again and again, the widow is is the one along with the orphan and the sojourner who is oppressed in the Old Testament. That the widow is the one here who is devoured. And that's the sad pattern of this world. That those who are weak are those who are oppressed. Those who are most vulnerable are those who are most persecuted. People of God, this is a warning to us all. A warning to us all to not ever misuse religious position or what the church ought to be, to never abuse those who most need protection. There's another warning here as well. Notice as we're going into our second point that, first of all, Mark has clearly put these two things together intentionally. The devouring of widows leading directly into the account of the faithful widow. Notice also that these all happen within Jerusalem. In other words, where is the widow's offering going to? The widow's offering is going to the Jerusalem temple where there's so much corruption. What does this mean for us? When there is corruption in the church, that is no excuse to abandon the church. Do you see that direct line tied together in this passage in Jerusalem at this time? the same Jerusalem where there is widespread hypocrisy and sin within the religious leadership, the same Jerusalem which is only days away from crucifying the Savior, that's the Jerusalem temple where a faithful offering is given. So we can see that at the church level. How about at the individual level? J.C. Ryle called it, quote, a common delusion, unquote, that since some are hypocrites due to a false profession of faith, therefore, I should not publicly profess faith at all. Do you see the connection? On the corporate level, we might be tempted to say, well, look, the church is not perfect, and so I shouldn't be a part of it, but no. It's the corrupt church where the faithful widow gives her offering. Or someone might say, look, there's so many hypocrites and isn't that the excuse that we hear so often? Look, the church is not perfect. So many Christians are not perfect. And so, I still love God, but I don't have to have anything to do with the church. I don't have to make a public profession. Wrong, wrong, wrong. Even if you are in Jerusalem, Even if you are in Jerusalem, where the scribes and Pharisees who needed to hear a public woe from Jesus Christ on so many levels, even in that Jerusalem, you're still to go to God's temple and make an offering to God. That brings us then into our second point on our devotion. Let us not be deluded. Let us not be corrupt within the church or use the corruption of the church as any excuse to leave the church. No, no, no. We are called out of that and into devotion, even devotion in the context of corruption. And so here, to this temple, to the offering box. This is the Jerusalem Temple. There's no doubt. There's even descriptions of these money boxes in ancient accounts. Remember when Jesus is giving his corrections in previous verses, he's standing in the fourth level of the temple. He's standing in the court of the Gentiles. Now this is one level further in. This is the court of the women. This is where men And women who are Jews can freely come, can give their offerings. This is where the widow comes. Not the Holy of Holies, not the Court of the Priests, but the Court of the Women, which is inside the Court of the Gentiles. Jesus has, of course, been teaching in the Court of the Gentiles. Now we're further in. It's this temple, this temple of Jerusalem, where the offering is brought. Many rich people were coming and putting in large sums and the poor widow came, verse 42, and put in two small copper coins. Three things that giving is, three things that giving is not. The New Testament makes it clear that giving is to be something which is joyful from the heart. Of course, that's that's why the Scribes and Pharisees were so sinful that they delighted in these things that they had pride in their heart and in those things which we heard in the warning in our first in our first point, but clearly this widow is giving with a joyful heart. We know that's part of what giving must be. So we read in 2 Corinthians 9, beginning at verse 6, the point is this, whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly. Whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to make all grace abound in you. As it is written, he has distributed freely, he has given to the poor, his righteousness endures forever. So first, what giving is and should be is a joyful giving. What is a giving to the church? What is one of the purposes of it? It's to provide for the widows. Again, the Old Testament makes this clear again and again. The New Testament is no different. The very institution of the office of deacon in Acts chapter 6 was why? What was going on? In those days, Acts chapter 6 verse 1, the disciples were increasing in number and a complaint against the Hellenists arose against the Hebrews because their widows were being neglected in the daily distribution. And the 12 summoned the full number of the disciples and said it's not right that we should give up preaching the Word of God to serve tables and therefore there was the very beginnings of the division of office so that some would be devoted to what task specifically? Caring for widows. That's where the very origin and the very first ordination of deacons begins. It's to provide for those in need, especially widows. It's to provide for those who labor for the gospel. And the Old Testament makes this clear even with specific instructions as to what was to be given from each tribe for the Levites. The New Testament makes this clear as well. 1 Timothy chapter 5 actually pulling some of these things together. 1 Timothy 5, beginning at verse 16, if any believing woman has relatives who are widows, let her care for them, let the church not be burdened so that it may care for those who are truly widows. In other words, those who are truly widows in desperate need of care, let the church not be burdened so that they can care for all. Let the elders who rule well be considered worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in preaching and teaching, for the scripture says, you shall not muzzle an ox until it treads out the grain, and the laborer deserves his wages. Giving is something which is to be joyful, which is to provide for the needy, which is to provide for those who labor in preaching and teaching. There could be more illicit, but that's three things that giving is. Notice if we take together providing for those in need, providing for those who labor, it's a widow who's in need who is giving in this passage. You see, there's There's a specific temptation which might come upon those in need and actually upon those who would labor as pastors as well. Say, what is the connection between the giving of widows and the giving of a pastor? It is this. If the church is doing what it ought to do, when a needy widow gives to the church, The church will be giving her more in return than she has first given to the church. See that, right? That's the principle which we see. This widow, we might say, she's given her last two coins. That's terrible. How could she do that? She's not gonna live. Well, the principle is clear. She should be getting more back. She should be being provided for, but that does not mean that she cannot have the joy of giving the little that she has. Do you see the connection? You see the connection? One might be tempted to say, I'm a widow. Why give? It's pointless. The church has to provide for me more than I am able to give for the church. And see, here's where a pastor can actually have the same temptation. A pastor might say, whatever I give, since the church is providing for my very livelihood, for eating, the church is always going to give me, monetarily, more than I gave the church. The widow can feel that way. The pastor can feel that way. Those who, despite honest labor, fall into a time of need can feel that way. It's humiliating. It might be tempting to let that take away the joy of giving. I am an honest laborer, but I have fallen into a time of need. I'm a Dutch person and I've fallen into a time of need. That makes it extra humiliating. The church has to give to me. And no matter what I give to the church right now, the church is giving more back to me. It's humiliating. But no, no, no, no, no. Combine all these three things together for the widow, for the pastor, for anyone who is in a desperate time, Let all have the joy of giving. Don't tell the widow that she can't give because the church is just gonna be providing it back for her. All should have the joy of giving. Giving to the Lord is to be something that we do with joy, or giving to God, something which provides for those in need, which provides for those who labor. What is three things that giving is not? So again, more could be given in both of these lists, but what's three things that giving is not? Giving is not buying your seat at church. Related to that, it's not something which we would ever speak about first to a new Christian. In fact, It would be wrong if we talked about giving all the time. That's something which false churches tend to do. Talk about giving all the time. By that I'm referring to TBN-style seeds of giving where, you know, if you give this much, then, oh, look, you'll get this much and more back in return if it's a true giving. Those are just schemes. Those are just lies. It's not buying your seat at church. It's not buying more if you give earnestly in some twisted system like that. It's not buying influence in God's church. Certainly not buying the Holy Spirit or salvation. Remember, Sinai in Magnus tries to do this in Acts 8. He is quickly rebuked by the apostles. Related to that, someone might think, well, elder is just a position of influence, so it could be bought in some way, right? I give so much to the church, therefore I deserve to serve as a leader in the church. Note the only thing that 1 Timothy 3, the lengthiest description about qualifications for office, the only thing 1 Timothy 3 says about money is a negative statement, that he not be a lover of money. So giving is not buying your seat at church, not buying influence in God's church. And it's not giving just enough. Notice that the widow, she had two leptos, two of these tiny Jewish coins. Why didn't she just give one? Well, she gave both. She gave sacrificially. She gave everything. It's not giving just enough. It's giving each as He is able, not under compulsion, but willingly with joy, bringing us back to the positive of what giving is. And so when we consider again that the widow gave both of her remaining two leptos, we see then that this is a sacrifice. It's a sacrifice. She's giving till it hurts, as we could put it. Might even say that since the church in Jerusalem is so corrupt, Perhaps she doesn't know if she will get more back than she has put in, as she ought to. Still, she gives. She gives not to the corrupt leaders. Giving to the church is never giving to the deacons or to the pastor. It's giving to God. She gives to God. And she is glad to make that sacrifice. And of course is implied Jesus Christ is able to commend her instead of condemning her because Christ sees the heart. So the same Jesus who has so plainly seen the hypocritical heart of the scribes and Pharisees now sees the heart of devotion and sacrifice which the widow has. Sacrifice, even when outwardly it appears to be so small, equivalent to one Roman penny, is valuable to God. It's Mother's Day. What about the sacrifice of hours unseen raising often ungrateful little children, to put it bluntly. What about the sacrifice of diligent labor in any place, not cutting corners, working diligently in the tasks that is set before you, What about the sacrifice of enduring pain with patient hope? What about the sacrifice of giving my time and my energy in addition to my money to God's bride? All of these things contrasted with self-absorbed false service seen in the scribal community of Jerusalem so long ago, and yes, too often seen in the church to this day. God, of course, knows something about sacrifice. We're at the point where now we must say this each week. We are only days You could even count the hours from the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. Even the heart felt devoted to God's sacrifice of this widow, which Jesus saw Jesus calls his disciples over. They weren't just sitting next to him. He had to call them over. He wanted to make this point. It was an act of faithful devotion to God. It was worthy of being singled out, even though it's the kind of devotion which would so often go completely unseen, or if seen, be seen as so invaluable in human terms. No, God knows something of sacrifice, and God on earth is going to sacrifice everything, everything, for sinners. The widow gave two leptos to a corrupt church. Christ gives his life for corrupt sinners that we might live. Jesus is exactly the one who would see a devoted sacrifice because he is the one who makes the greatest sacrifice. Oh, there's a contrast between the externally poor widow and the outwardly magnificent scribes. But it's the widow who has a heart for God, and it's us who must have a heart for God. Take my life and let it be. Make me your faithful servant, oh God, whether I be rich or a widow or anything in between. Amen. Let us pray. Lord, our Lord. You have given everything to us. Help us to be faithful. In all forms of giving and service and energy. Also. With our money, which is so valuable and humanized to you. Lord, you know it is, it is what is in the heart which determines true devotion. Turn our hearts to you. Give us true love for you. In Jesus' name, the example of perfect love We pray, amen. People of God, let us stand now, singing together, take my life and let it be. Let's stand and sing all the stanzas together. take my moments and my days let them flow in ceaseless grace let them flow in ceaseless grace the impulse of thy love. Take my feet and let them Take my lips and let them be filled with messages from Thee. would I withhold. Take my intellect and use every power as thou shalt choose, every power as thou shalt choose. mine it shall be no longer mine take my heart it is And I feed this treasure store. Tame myself and I will be Ever only all for thee. Ever only all for thee. People of God, let us remain standing as we hear now God's parting blessing. And following this, we sing the doxology 567 together. Let us receive the parting blessing of our God. The Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you. The Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace. Amen. Praise God from whom all blessings flow. Praise Him all creatures hear. Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Amen. I'm happy to see you boys here. There's silence. She's going to wait too, right? Everybody.