Well, good morning, everyone. If you would, open your Bibles
with me to Mark chapter 12. Lord willing, we'll conclude
our study through this chapter this morning. Before we begin,
let's bow before our Lord together. Our Father, we carefully, reverently,
humbly come into your presence this morning, bowing before your
throne. Father, thankful that you're
God alone. Thankful that you are the one who's on the throne,
ruling and reigning over all of your creation. How thankful
we are that you've left nothing to chance, no event of history. has been left to chance, but
it's all according to your divine will and purpose. And we're thankful
that you sovereignly oversee it all, always accomplishing
your eternal will and purpose. And father, I beg of you this
morning that you might be pleased in your purpose to reach down
among us this morning and reveal the glory of your son to us in
the preaching of your gospel this morning. Father, be merciful
to us, we pray. We wouldn't even think of asking
that you bless us because of anything that we've done or haven't
done. But Father, be merciful to us.
Have mercy upon us, oh God. Help us, Father, as we look into
your word by your spirit to be able to worship you in spirit
and in truth and not just go through the motions of religion.
Be with me, Father, as I attempt to open your word and preach
your gospel to your people, that you would uphold me with thy
spirit and open my mouth and enable me to rightly divide the
word of truth. And be with your people, give
us a hearing ear and a believing heart, we pray. We know that
salvation is of the Lord and we can't see you, believe you,
understand you, love you, or being able to worship. We can't
do anything without thee. Bless us, Father, we pray, for
your great namesake. Show us your glory and how merciful
you are to your people through your son. And what we pray for
ourselves, we pray especially for our children's classes right
now that you might use this hour as a time to plant the seeds
of faith in their hearts. And bless your people wherever
they're meeting together today, Father. Bless them for your great
namesake. It's our desire that you might
bless your word and cause a revival to sweep across the land. Father,
bless us for your great namesake. Father, it's in Christ's name.
For his sake and his glory, we pray. Amen. titled our lesson this morning,
a lesson on giving. And I thought about as I was
preparing this message, how giving this congregation already is.
And I'm very thankful to be able to teach this lesson without
feeling like I've got to correct an error. I've got to correct
an error in attitude or an error in giving. I don't feel that
way at all. And I am very, very thankful for it. But you know,
all these graces still need to be taught. Now, one thing about
believers is they give. The nature that God gives us
in the new birth is a nature that desires to give, that will
give. But at the same time, we also
have to be taught to give. The same thing's true about every
grace of God. Believers love. Believers love one another. They
have a love and a care and concern for man. Believers love. They
do. It's the nature that we've been
given. But we have to be taught to love, don't we? Believers
are forgiving people. How can we not be after God's
forgiven us? but at the same time we have to be taught to
be forgiving. And the same thing is true about
this grace of giving. And as I've really looked at
this this week, this is more clear to me than ever before,
that you can't truly preach the gospel of God's grace without
preaching this grace of giving. So let's look at these verses
and we'll come back and make a few comments on them. Beginning
in verse 41 of Mark 12, And Jesus sat over against the
treasury, and beheld how the people cast money into the treasury,
and many that were rich cast in much. And there came a certain
poor widow, and she threw in two mites, which make a farthing.
And he called unto him his disciples, and said unto them, Verily I
say unto you, that this poor widow hath cast more in than
all they which have cast into the treasury. For all they did
cast in of their abundance, But she of her want did cast in all
that she had, even all of her living. Now when the Lord's watching
here them casting into the treasury, this is not the people coming
and paying a tithe. This widow woman didn't come
in and give because she had to give. It wasn't a tithe required
by the law. It was a free will offering.
And they use these gifts for the upkeep of the temple and
to help the poor. And even though this woman is
the poorest of the poor, you'll notice she gave. She gave into
the treasury willingly. And the Lord was sitting watching
this. And he watched, and the rich
cast in much. Now, that tells you something
about the Lord, his sovereign, I don't know what you'd call
it, but he's all knowing. He knew people that came up,
whether they're rich or poor, whether they're middle class,
he knew them. And I don't know if they tried
to flaunt how much they were giving. You would think they
kind of, you know, people wouldn't easily tell how much they were
giving, but the Lord knew. And the rich cast in much. And
they should have, shouldn't they? They have more to give. The rich
should have cast in much. And then this poor widow, she
came to give a freewill offering for the upkeep of the temple,
to help the poor people of the town. Now, think about this widow
at this time. There's no social programs, like
no safety net, like we have today. This woman didn't have a husband.
Sounds like she had no children. She had no means of earthly support
whatsoever. And that had to be such a scary
place to be at that time. There's no help for her. And
she gave, willingly, happily, she gave two mites, which is
roughly $3 in today's money. You know, $3 won't buy much. I don't think $3 can buy a Big
Mac today. I mean, it just won't buy much.
But what she gave is not insignificant at all, was it? There saith the
Lord of Glory. watching how people cast their
gifts into the treasury. And the Lord of glory took note
of her giving. He didn't take note of anybody
else's, but he did hers. And he told his disciples, she
gave more than everybody else gave. Now the Lord wasn't talking
about what she gave as a percentage of her income. That's not what
she was talking about. Verse 41 says that Jesus set
over against the treasury and beheld how the people cast money
into the treasury. He wasn't really just looking
at what they gave. He was looking at how. He was
looking at their motive. This woman gave all of the money
that she had in the world and put it into the treasury. She
cast it into the treasury. She leaves the temple. If she
needs new clothes, she doesn't have money to buy them. If she
needs food to eat that afternoon, I mean, if she doesn't already
have something in the refrigerator, she's got no food to eat. She's
got no way to heat her house or buy the necessities of this
life. She gave everything that she had into that treasury. And there's a couple of reasons
for it. Number one is this, she gave everything that she had
because she loved God. She loved him. The rich, they're
not giving out of love. They're giving for show. They
want people to see what they're giving. So hypocritical. I bet they wouldn't have given
if it wasn't a public show where they could give it. So hypocritical. Just so people could see them
and be impressed with them. Not out of any love for God.
Not out of any love for the poor people that needed help. It was
just for show. But she gave out of love. She
gave out her love for God. Now remember, part of this, what
they're giving in the treasury is to help the poor. Even though
she's the poorest of the poor, she had some love for poor people
and gave to help them, even though it meant she gave everything
she had. The other thing that's pretty obvious is she gave in
faith. Faith, faith in God, trust in God. Once she put her offering
in that treasury, she was left with nothing. Nothing. Now, the only reason you do that
is faith, that you trust the Lord to provide. And she trusted
in faith, trusted the Lord to provide. The Lord pointed this
out, the rich gave out of their abundance. They gave what they
didn't need. This is what we have left over.
We don't need this, so we gave it. This poor widow gave what
she did need. I mean, let's face it. You need
money for food and clothing to live in this world. She gave
what she did need. And it reminded me of David.
Remember when the plague was sweeping through Israel and David
needed to make an offering, an atonement for this, to stop this
plague. And it's in 2 Samuel 24, verse
24, the man told David, here, just take it. I'll give it all
to you to make an offering. And David said, no, no, no, you're
not giving it to me. I'm going to buy it of you. I
will offer to the Lord that which cost me nothing. And that's what
this woman did. She's not given to the Lord what
cost her nothing. It was everything that she had.
This woman is a daughter of David, isn't she? She'd been given the
same kind of attitude that David, the man after God's own heart,
had. And the Lord used, I went through
all this to show you this, the Lord used this poor widow as
a lesson in giving. Now that applies to every believer,
because every believer, I don't care who you are, what station
of life that you're in, every believer is to give an offering
to the Lord. And scripture gives us some very
good instruction on this matter of giving. And I'd like for us
to look through the scriptures this morning and get some understanding
of what the scriptures teach us about this matter of giving.
Now first look over at Acts chapter 20. Every believer is to give
because it's a blessing to give. God doesn't require this to be
mean to us or be a heavy burden for us to bear this matter of
giving. Every believer is to give because it's a blessing
for us to be able to give. Acts 20 verse 33. I've coveted
no man's silver or gold or apparel, Yea, ye yourselves know that
these hands have ministered unto my necessities and to them that
were with me." Well, Paul was there. He worked with his hands,
making tents to support himself and the people that were with
him. He said, I've showed you all things, how that so laboring
you ought to support the weak and to remember the words of
the Lord Jesus, how he said, it's more blessed to give than
to receive. Now, You remember this tomorrow
morning when the alarm clock goes off at 5 or 5.30, whatever
time you've got to get up to go to work. Might be hard to
see it at that time of day, but you remember this. You know,
it's a blessing to be able to get up and go to work every day,
not just so you can supply your needs and supply the needs for
your family, and those things are important, but it's also
so you've got something to give, something to give. And if you're
a believer, you found this to be true. Giving to others is
a greater blessing than somebody giving something to you. It's a greater blessing to be
able to do something for somebody in need. That's a blessing. And
God's given us this opportunity of giving so that we receive
a blessing. All right, now look at the book
of 1 Corinthians. 1 Corinthians chapter nine. Here's the second
thing. It's a blessing for us to give.
so that we can support the gospel being preached to us. 1 Corinthians
9, verse seven. Who goeth to warfare any time
at his own charges? Who planteth a vineyard and eateth
not of the fruit thereof? Or who feedeth the flock and
eateth not of the milk thereof? Say I these things as a man,
or sayeth not the law the same also? For it's written in the
law of Moses, thou shall not muzzle the mouth of the ox that
treadeth out the corn. Does God take care for oxen?
Or sayeth he it altogether for our sakes? Did the Lord just
say that for the oxen? Or did he say it for our sakes?
For our sakes, no doubt this is written, that he that ploweth
should plow in hope, and he that thresheth in hope should be partaker
of his hope. If we have sown unto you spiritual
things, Is it a great thing if we shall reap of your carnal
things? If others be partaker of this power over you, are not
we rather? Nevertheless, we've not used
this power, but suffer all things lest we should hinder the gospel
of Christ. Do you not know that they which
minister about holy things live of the holy things of the temple?
And they which wait at the altar are partakers of the altar? Even
so hath God ordained that they which preach the gospel should
live of the gospel. You know, when we give our offerings,
one of the things that we're giving to support is the pastor,
to pay his salary so he can pay his bills so that he doesn't
have to go to work. He doesn't have to get up and
go out to someplace to work in the day in order to pay his bills
and support his family. and then come home after work
and study in his spare time. Now, I know people do that. I
know several pastors that have done that and are doing that.
And this is all I can, I've done it. And here's what I can tell
you. The preaching is better. If a man can get up in the morning
and study and prepare and pray and work over these messages,
and he doesn't have to do it in his spare time when he's worn
out from having to work all day, I can just tell you that preaching
is better. Because this takes time. It takes
time to pray and to read and to study. It takes time not just
to preach, it takes time to pastor. You support. Me, you pay my salary,
and that gives me time. I hate to tell you, here's something
you can do selfishly for yourself, but that gives a man time to
pray for you every day, to think about you as he's preparing and
studying. But you think what a blessing
it is to be able to give an offering so that the gospel's preached
in your town. You think what a blessing that is. Everybody
doesn't have that blessing to have the gospel preached in their
town. I've texted with two people like that just this weekend.
They don't have a place in their hometown where they can hear
the gospel preached, but you do. And what a blessing it is
to be able to give to help keep the gospel here. That's a benefit
to you, but it's also a benefit to your family. to your children,
to your loved ones, to your neighbors, to our community. What a blessing
that that is. And I'm not trying to tell you
give selfishly, but I promise you this, when you sow of your
carnal things, God, you're gonna reap spiritual things. Let's
just sow. Now look at 2 Corinthians chapter
eight. In 2 Corinthians, Paul just,
he gives a whole commentary, a masterclass on this matter
of giving. And as I've read through it this
week, I thought, well, he's just, he's picking up and just giving
a commentary on what the Lord said about this poor widow and
giving. Here's the third thing that scripture
teaches us about giving. Give what you can. Give what
you can. Verse one of 2 Corinthians eight. Moreover, brethren, we do you
to wit, we want you to know of the grace of God bestowed upon
the churches of Macedonia. How then in a great trial of
affliction, the abundance of their joy and their deep poverty
abounded under the riches of their liberality. For to their
power or their ability is what that word is. I bear record,
yea, and beyond their power, they were willing of themselves,
praying us with much entreaty that we would receive the gift
and take upon us the fellowship of the ministering to the saints.
And this they did, not as we had hoped, but first gave their
own selves to the Lord and unto us by the will of God. Now these
people gave, they were in deep poverty. Most of them, they were
believers, had been run out of Jerusalem, run out of Israel,
you know, and being persecuted for the gospel's sake. They had
no home, they had no job, they left everything, the places where
they lived and grew up, and they were under trial. They were in
deep poverty. And just like this widow, even
though they were in deep poverty, they gave. They knew of believers
in other places that were in need, and they took up this gift
and gave it to Paul. And it sounds like Paul's even
told them, now wait a minute, you all need this. You're poor,
you need this, and I don't want to take this from you. And they
insisted, Paul, we want you to take this to help people over
here that are in need, to help the gospel be preached in other
places. They gave what they could. They
gave what they could. but twice in here in these, in
these first five verses, Paul tells us something very interesting.
They gave themselves. Did you just catch that? They
gave themselves to the Lord. Once they committed themselves
to the Lord, they're going to give, aren't they, of their carnal
things. They're going to give what they
can. Paul goes on in verse six and
said in so much that we desire Titus. that as he had begun,
so he would also finish in you the same grace also. Therefore,
as you abound in everything, now the Corinthian church, they
weren't in poverty, they were abounding. Therefore, as you
abound in everything, you abound in faith and utterance and knowledge
and all diligence and in your love to us, see that you abound
in this grace also. You give what you can. And notice
what Paul calls it here, A grace. God bestowed this grace upon
the churches of Macedonia. It's a grace that God gives to
enable us to give. A grace the same way that faith
is a grace. Love is a grace. Forgiveness
is a grace. Joy is a grace. Giving is the
same thing. It's a grace that God bestows
upon us to give. To just give what you can. Don't
give what you don't have now. Give what you can. And here's
the fourth thing we've kind of already touched on this in the,
in the widow woman give because you love because you love. Verse eight, Paul says, I speak
not by commandment, but by occasion of the forwardness of others
and to prove the sincerity of your love. Now, love gives. You don't have to be told, you
don't have a commandment, you don't have to have a piece of
paper, you know, outlining five things that you gotta do and
when you gotta give and how much you gotta give to somebody that
you love. Do you? Now if you love somebody, you
give. You give. You don't have to be told when.
You don't have to be told how much. You give. Love gives. Same thing applies in giving
an offering. Give because you love. You know
what, when we put an offering in that box back there, it's
not just to pay the bills. It's not just to keep the lights
on. It's not just to keep the air conditioner running. Although
I'm driving to church this morning, my air conditioner on high, I
sure am thankful the air conditioner's on. But that's not why, that's
not the only reason we give. We give out of love for Christ. We don't think, well, what's
the bare minimum that the church needs to get by on? What's the
bare minimum that I should give that lets us just get by? Love
doesn't ask that question. Love gives. It's a heart of love. It's a
love for Christ, and it's a love for other people. They could
hear the gospel. They could be helped when they're
in need, the same way this widow woman gave out of love. The fifth
thing, is give willingly. Verse 12, for if there first
be a willing mind, it's accepted according to that a man hath
and not according to that he hath not. So that's why I said
a minute ago, don't give what you don't have, give what you
have and do it willingly. Do it willingly. You know, if
you feel like, oh, the pastor's up here pounding the pulpit and
telling me that I have to give and I'm gonna do it cause I have
to, If that's the way you feel, don't give. Honestly, don't do
it. If you feel like it's something
that you have to do, certainly don't call it a tithe and figure
out on your calculator 10% of your income and give 10%. Don't do that. The law of the
tithe is over, just like all the rest of the law. Give a dollar
less or a dollar more, but don't give 10%. Don't do it. Give it
willingly. The law of the tithe was not
a willing offering at all, was it? It was a tax, exactly what
it was. It was a tax to support the tribe
of Levi. That's what it was. Our offerings
are not a tax. They're what we give willingly.
And the sixth thing is, you give. Every one of us, you give. Verse
13 says, For I mean not that other men be eased, and you be
burdened. Don't depend on others to give.
Well, everybody else is giving, so I don't have to. No, you give. Every believer, you give, and
give what you can. This is something that is a blessing,
is a grace that's bestowed on every believer. You give. Now,
give what you can. I can't stress that enough. Nobody's
telling you, give your last $3. And you don't have any more.
No, nobody's saying that. Give what you can. The seventh
thing is this, give generously. 2 Corinthians 9, across the page,
verse six. For this I say, he which soweth
sparingly shall reap also sparingly. And he that soweth bountifully
shall reap also bountifully. Now Paul's using the illustration
of a farmer here. You know, the more seed that
a farmer buys and he sows out in his field, the more harvest
he's gonna have. That just is obvious, isn't it? The more you sow, the more you
plant, the more you're gonna reap. And the less you sow, the
less you're gonna reap. This is what the Lord's teaching
us about giving. Give generously. Do it with an
open hand. Because the more that you give,
the greater blessing that you're going to receive. Now I say that,
and I give you this warning. Don't look at that and think,
well, this is an investment. I mean, you know, the illustration
that Paul uses of a farmer here, it's just an illustration. Now
you can't take that illustration too far. What the farmer's doing
is really, he's investing, isn't he? He's buying more seed, he's
investing more, he's sowing more, hoping to get a bigger return.
Don't give more, hoping that God will give you more, more
carnal things, more spiritual things. False prophets have pressed
that on people, haven't they? Oh, the more you give, God's
gonna give you back more money and more money. That's not the
blessing that Paul's talking about here. Now I'll tell you
this, give generously. Don't worry now, you can't out
give God. He's not gonna let you go bankrupt
in giving. But give so that you receive
a greater blessing, the greater blessing of being able to give.
The greater blessing of supporting the gospel and having the gospel
preached to you. The greater blessing of knowing
that the sum of our offerings have been able to go to help
other people who are in great need. That's a blessing. Just,
you don't have to worry about giving so generously. You're
not gonna have something that you need. Now, it'd be good for
us to give a lot of things we want, but you won't go without
something that you need, because you can't out-give God. One of
the reasons that God gives to his people is this, so we can
give to others. So give generously. And give
cheerfully. This goes back to giving willingly.
Give cheerfully. Be happy. It's not a grudging
duty. Verse seven, Paul says, every
man, according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give,
not grudgingly or of necessity, for God loveth a cheerful giver. God loveth a cheerful giver.
Paul told the church at Philippi, they had taken up gifts and sent
to him when he was in other places to support the ministry and be
able to help him, you know, pay his bills and get the things
that he needed. And Paul wrote and thanked them. And he said,
your gift is a sweet smell, a sacrifice acceptable and well-pleasing
to God. That willing, generous gift was
something that was well-pleasing to God. And you know, doesn't
that make a believer happy? It's hard for me to think I've
ever done anything that pleases the Lord. I mean, it's so filled
with sin and self But that's well-pleasing to the Lord. To
be well-pleasing to our father, that makes a believer so happy.
And it also makes a believer happy to be able to give. I mean, God's given to me. What
a blessing it is to be able to give and to help others too. And that leads us into the ninth
thing. Give thankfully. Verse 11 says, being enriched
in everything, to all bountifulness, which causes through us thanksgiving
to God for the administration of this service, not only supply
at the wants of the saints, but it's abundant also by many thanksgivings
unto God. You know, when we give an offering,
honestly, what is it that we're giving? It's just a portion of
what God's already given us. If God hadn't given it to us,
we wouldn't have to give to others. It's just what God's already
given us. And we give it thankfully. Give it thankfully. Thankful
that God's given me something to give. Thankful that God's
given us this opportunity to give, to help others. Do it thankfully. If you can't do it thankfully,
just don't do it. Do it thankfully. Now I said
all that to get to this. That's some good instruction
on giving. But here's the next thing. Give
as a picture of saving faith in Christ. As a picture of saving
faith in Christ. Now, you make sure you get me
here. I'm not telling anybody, especially
our widows, go give your last dollar in an offering, you know,
so we can have something more here. Nobody's saying that. What I am saying is this. You
make it so that you don't have one blessed thing. to contribute
to your salvation, so that you are completely dependent on Christ
alone. Whatever it is you think you
have, it's worthless, it's rags, it's something that's defiled,
it's something that's not pleasing to God, you throw it away. You count it, like Paul said,
as dung. So you have nothing to contribute,
and you're totally dependent on Christ to save you. That's
the picture of what this widow did. She cast in everything into
the treasury. So she's completely dependent
on God. Now you give that same way, trusting
the Lord to supply your need, just like he supplied your salvation. You know, when God saved you,
where were you? You were without anything. without anything that God requires
of you, you're completely dependent on Christ to supply everything. You're in poverty, that's the
way we're born in this world, spiritually bankrupt with the
nature of our father, Adam, and Christ our Savior supplied everything
that you have none of. He supplied all of your righteousness. Now, if you have a little bit
to contribute to your righteousness, Christ didn't supply the rest
to fill it up. If you have a little bit, Christ's
not gonna give you any. But if you have no righteousness,
Christ makes you righteous. If you have no holiness, it's
not like, well, I've done most things wrong, but I've done this,
this, and this good. If you have no holiness, Christ
will make you holy. If you need him to cleanse you,
it's not like, well, I'm not as bad as that guy over there.
I didn't do this and I didn't do this. You know, I kind of
quit doing this and cleaned myself up a little bit and now Christ
can finish the job. Then he's not gonna do it. But if you need
Christ to do all of the cleansing for you, he'll wash you in his
blood and make you white as snow. But he's gonna do it all. He's
gotta give you all faith. How many people's got to tell
us from their own experience, I tried to believe God and couldn't.
But when God gave me faith, Now I cannot believe him. And God's
gotta keep me. Now don't think, oh, I've grown
in grace and I've gotten stronger and I can do this better now
and I'm not a babe in Christ anymore and I can handle some
of this on my own. No. We're completely without strength. We're completely without any
ability to please God. We're completely dependent on
God to take us all the way to glory. Completely dependent on
him. That's what this widow's a picture
of, being completely dependent on God to save us. And that leads
me to the last thing. Give as a picture of Christ who
gave everything to redeem you. Verse 15, Paul says, thanks be
unto God for his unspeakable gift. If you're a believer, really,
I mean, the rest of this word of God is obviously necessary. God wouldn't have given it to
us. But that one verse sums up everything we need to know about
giving. Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift. Now, doesn't
that grab your heart? The Lord Jesus Christ came to
redeem his people who had nothing. And when he paid their price,
the price of their redemption, he sacrificed himself. He didn't just pull out his wallet
and pay the price out of the abundance that he had in his
wallet. He sacrificed all that he is. He sacrificed himself. He was made sin for his people. So he took their debt and made
it his. The humiliation of that, the
horror that that was upon his holy soul is something I don't
think we'll ever understand even in glory, but he took it. And he paid the price under the
rod of his father's justice. The father that he loved, who
loved him, from eternity was daily the delight of his father,
and now his father turned his wrath on him. with no hint of
love, with no hint of mercy, with no hint of grace, nothing
but pure unadulterated wrath. And the Savior suffered it willingly. And he did it gladly. The writer
of the Hebrew says for the joy that was set before him. And
he gave it to his people freely. Now Paul says that's unspeakable.
There's no words for it. There's just no human words to
describe that sacrifice that Christ gave to redeem his people
from their sin. Now think about that for two
seconds and then let me ask you, how can you not give? How can
you not give cheerfully and thankfully and willingly and count it a
blessing? Well, of course we will if we
see the unspeakable gift that Christ gave to redeem our sorry
souls. That's a pretty good lesson on
giving. I hope you think so. I hope you think so. That's a
blessing to you.