If you have a Bible, we're gonna be in Mark chapter 12 this morning. Mark chapter 12, it's up on the screen. If you aren't familiar with the Bible, if you find the middle of the Bible and start working your way towards the end, you'll find Matthew towards the middle, then you'll find Mark right afterwards. Mark chapter 12, I'm gonna start reading in verse 41. And I'll read through the end of the chapter to verse 44. Mark 12, starting in verse 41. Now Jesus sat opposite the treasury and saw how the people put money into the treasury and many who were rich put in much. Then one poor widow came and threw in two mites, which makes a quadrants. So he called his disciples to himself and he said to them, assuredly I say to you, this poor widow has put in more than all those who have given to the treasury, for they all put in out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty put in all that she had, her whole livelihood. Let's pray. Father, thank you for your word this morning. Lord, it is sufficient, it is inspired. It is exactly what you have for us. Lord, we know that all scripture is God breathed and is profitable for all of life. And so, Lord, as we look to your word, we pray that we would be instructed. We pray that we would be corrected. We pray that we would be encouraged. Mostly, Lord, we pray that Jesus would be glorified and worshiped. And Lord, we pray this in his name. Amen. Well, as you can see, this section of scripture is about giving. Preaching about giving is difficult and awkward. It's awkward for one, because many people abuse what the Bible says about giving. Many preachers have taken what the Bible says about giving, namely God's people should support God's work through their gifts. And they've taken that and abused it. I heard a sermon once by a pastor from a very different stripe than we would be, preaching a sermon and he said, and I quote, none of you should have a problem with the fact that I used the church credit card this week to buy my family's groceries. And I'm like listening to the radio and I raise my hand and I'm thinking, I don't even go to your church and I have a problem with that. Many people have abused what the Bible says about giving and they've used it simply to promote their own greed, their own self-interests. And so because of that, it makes it difficult for faithful God-honoring preachers to preach about giving. Another reason it's hard and awkward to preach about giving is because visitors are often especially in tune to how does this church think and how does this church talk about money and if it's your first Sunday here and you're hearing a sermon about giving, you're like, okay, that's what these people are after. A man was once going to a law enforcement academy learning how to be a police officer and the instructor of the academy asked, how would you, what technique would you use to disperse a large crowd? One of the cadets raised his hand and he said, I would preach a sermon about tithing and everyone would disappear. That's how many people feel about preaching a sermon about giving. And so to avoid the awkwardness or the perception that the church is all about people's money, many pastors either don't preach about giving or they invite guest preachers to come in and beat the church up and preach about giving and then run away before the bullets fly. It shouldn't be awkward to us to preach about money. It shouldn't be awkward to preach about giving. It might interest you to know that there's 2,162 verses in the Bible that talk about giving. If you want some perspective on that, there's only 714 verses that talk about love. The Bible talks about prayer in 271 verses and faith in 272 verses. So the Bible talks about giving more than it talks about faith, more than it talks about love, and even more than it talks about prayer. So it shouldn't surprise us that there's times where as a church we need to preach about giving. If you've been coming to this church for any length of time, you know we're committed to not preaching about my hobby horses. We take books of the Bible and we start at the beginning of them and we work all the way through to the end and we preach anything and everything that God has for us as we preach through the Bible. So I don't think in over six years I've ever preached an entire sermon about giving, so here we go. God's word doesn't though just call us to be giving people. Like you don't have 2,000 something verses that just say give, give, give. What God's word does in Mark chapter 12 is yes, it has application for how we give, but more importantly, it shows us God is not so much concerned with the amount that we give as the heart from which we give. And so what we see in Mark 12 is that Jesus is watching over the giving in the temple. He's watching how his people give. And he is far more impressed by one lady who gives very little than he is the entire group of people who give much. And he seeks to reward her by calling her out for her faithfulness. So as we begin this morning, I wanna remind you where we're at in the life of Jesus. We are in the last week of Jesus's life. He's come into Jerusalem for Passover, but not just to celebrate Passover, to be the final Passover. Jesus has come into Jerusalem for the final week of his life with all the events now of his life driving quickly towards the end of this week where he will lay down his life as the Passover lamb, the lamb that takes away the sins of his people. And so this is the final week of Jesus's life, and everything he's doing through this week is moving his life towards its end. He'll eventually, at the end of this week, be crucified. Three days later, he'll be raised from the dead as the only one who has power over sin and death. And so Jesus starts that process by going right into the temple at the beginning of the week, and some estimate there's 250,000 people in Jerusalem for Passover, and Jesus goes into the temple where the religious people are buying and selling, and Jesus goes in and he starts throwing stuff, he starts rebuking people, he gets mad and he rebukes the religious leaders for turning his father's house into a den of thieves. So he starts by picking a fight, a fight he needed to pick, but he starts by picking a fight. And that event sparked a barrage of attacks from the religious leaders. So all through chapter 12 of Mark, we've seen the religious leaders come with questions for Jesus. They're coming to question him, not sincere questions, like we really want to know truth. They're coming with questions to try to trap Jesus, to try to make him say something seditious or blasphemous so that they can have him arrested, so they can discredit him and get back to business as normal in the temple. And so finally, when the religious leaders are done bringing question after question after question, And Jesus says, now it's my turn. So Jesus starts asking them questions. We saw in Mark 12, 35 through 37, he asked them a question. How is it that David calls his son Lord? Like you guys think, you guys are supposed to be the religious teachers. Here's one for you. How does David call his son Lord? Jesus is David's son, but he's also his Lord. Jesus is saying the Messiah that David prophesied about is standing right in front of you and you guys are so spiritually dense, you don't even see him. And so then after Jesus proves the incompetence of the spiritual leaders, he turns to the crowd with the scribes still standing right there. And what does he do? He says, let me warn you about these guys. Let me warn you about the false teachers. Beware of them, they're dangerous. And so Jesus warned the crowds about the dangers of the scribes. And one of the characteristics we saw last week about the scribes is that they devour widows' houses. It's interesting because Jesus is teaching that, and as he's teaching that to the masses, he's also watching. Here comes this lady, this poor widow. She has two pennies. She comes and she puts them in the offering. It's this beautiful illustration of here is a woman who's had her household devoured by the scribes. They have robbed her to the point where she only has two pennies to bring. So we saw last week, this woman in Mark 12 is a victim. She's a victim of the religious establishment that is designed to make scribes rich and widows impoverished. But Jesus doesn't just see her as a widow, or as a victim. She's also a model for us to follow of what sacrificial giving, wholehearted commitment to God looks like. So as we look at this woman and her offering, the first thing I wanna do is paint a mental picture of where we're at in the temple. We're in the court of the women in the temple. The temple, you know, is made up of various rectangular courts, and different people are allowed to progress further towards the presence of God than other people. And so you have the court of the Gentiles, then you have the court of the women. That doesn't mean women are the only ones allowed here. What that means is that women aren't allowed to go any further. And it's in this court of the women that Jesus is sitting, and he's watching how people give. Inside the Court of the Women, there were 13 receptacles where people would bring their offering. So there's 13 receptacles that line the wall where you would go and you'd put your money in. And so we pass a basket around at the end of the service. They didn't do that, they had these, and they were shaped like a trumpet, an upside-down trumpet. So there's this upside-down trumpet with this treasure chest at the bottom, and you'd go in and you'd put your money in. And there were 13 of them because each of these different trumpets were like line items in the temple's budget. So if you want to support the incense for the temple, you go over to that one and you put it in. If you want to support the wood for the temple, you go put it in the wood one. And so each of these trumpet shaped chests had a purpose. It's also interesting, they were made out of not wood, they were made out of metal. We have to know that as we understand what Jesus is teaching us because they didn't write checks like we do and they didn't carry dollar bills. All of their currency was metal. And so you're going to this metal receptacle with metal coins and it bangs and it clangs the whole way down. You have to remember there's a few hundred thousand people in Jerusalem this week. The women would have sounded like a slot machine in a casino on a busy Friday night. There would have been people just like ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding all over the place. That's where Jesus is, and he finds himself this place to sit down on a bench so that he can watch how these pilgrim worshipers will give. More than likely, there's lines of people, each of them in front of these 13 receptacles, some of them holding baggies full of money, and Jesus is just sitting back watching. What's the attitude towards giving? How is it that my people come into my presence and give? It's interesting that it says, that Jesus is watching how they give. He's watching how they give. The word that's used there for watching is not just Jesus is like daydreaming and he's noticing there's these lines forming, it's actually he's studying. He's observing with purpose, he's observing with intent. He's watching, he's learning, he's looking at the way people are giving and saying, what can I deduce about these people? It's also interesting in verse 41, it says that he's watching how they give. It doesn't say he's watching how much they give, he's watching how they give. How do they put their money in these receptacles? In other words, Jesus is not primarily concerned with how much people give, as how people give in their hearts. Because Jesus knows that where our treasure is, there will our heart be also. And so Jesus knows that as he's watching these people give, he can learn what their hearts look like. How these people are giving is a reflection of their heart condition. Again, remember, there's no dollar bills or checkbooks in Jesus's day, there's only metal coins. So Jesus knows that if there's this guy that comes up and he's got a baggie full of money, and instead of just dumping it in and walking away, he goes, bing, bing, bing, and he just stands there and makes noise after noise after noise, this is a guy who, by the way he's giving, is saying, look at how much I'm giving. He's not there to get it over with and to make his offering and to humbly walk away. He's there to draw attention to himself by the way he gives. He wants to appear generous. It would show a lot about people's hearts the way that they gave. So Jesus is watching over the giving and he's watching to see how his people give. Let me make a point of application here, and it's this. Jesus continues to watch how his people give. Jesus is still not primarily concerned with how much we give, as the heart condition with which we give. John Broadus was a Baptist pastor in the mid-1800s. He was also the second president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, and during the Civil War, he was a chaplain for Robert E. Lee. One Sunday as he was preaching in his church, they did the offering before the sermon, And he was preaching this passage that week and as the ushers took the offering plate and walked down the aisle and passed it, he got up from his seat and he followed the ushers. And every time a new person grabbed the plate, he would stare them directly in the eye with like a paw washer piercing gaze. And so the offerings going through and people are like, what is going on? Some people were proud, some people were scared, some people were ashamed, everyone was surprised. And then this is how he started his sermon. He said, my people, if you take to heart that I have seen your offerings this day and know just what sacrifices you have made and what sacrifices you have not made, remember that the son of God, your savior, goes about the aisles with every usher and he sees with his sleepless eyes every cent put into his collection by his people. Broadus is obviously being really provocative to his church, but the point he wanted them to see is, you guys are nervous and awkward and embarrassed and proud because I saw how much you gave. Jesus is watching over how much you give, and that should be far more important to us than whether your pastor sees. The point of scripture is that God continues to watch how do his people We know God continues to watch because we see in places like Acts 5. In Acts 5, you have this husband and wife, Ananias and Sapphira. They make this promise, this covenant with God that if we sell this property, we will give you X number of dollars from the proceeds. And so they sell the property and greed boils up in their hearts and they decide, yeah, we might've promised that, but we're not actually gonna give that. We're gonna keep some of it back for ourselves. So listen to Acts 5 verses 3 and 4. Peter said, Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and to keep back part of the price of the land for yourself? While it remained, was it not your own? And after it was sold, was it not your own to control? Why have you conceived this thing in your heart? You have not lied to men, but to God. So Ananias keeps back some of the portion of the sale of this property. And what does the apostle say? He says, you didn't lie to men. God was watching. You lied to God and God is the judge over your gift. We also know God watches over us not only if we give deceitfully and greedily like Ananias and Sapphira, he's also watching when we give cheerfully. Listen to 2 Corinthians 9 verses six and seven. The point is this, whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. Each one must give as he has decided in his own heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, but God loves a cheerful giver. God is watching over the emotional disposition of our heart. When you write your check every week to the Lord's work. God is watching, is he doing this because like they have to do this? Are they doing this begrudgingly? Or are they doing this joyfully because they love the Lord's work? Matthew six verse two says, thus when you give to the needy, don't sound a trumpet before you like the hypocrites do in the synagogue and in the streets, that they may be praised by others. Truly I say to you, they have received the reward. God's watching over to see, are we giving to be seen by men? Are we giving publicly so that people look at us? Or are we giving to praise the Lord and be praised by him? We also know from Hebrews 6.10 that whenever we give to God's people, whenever we alleviate the needs of God's people, God is not only watching, he's also keeping an account so he can reward us. Hebrews 6.10 says, for God is not unjust to forget your work and the labor of love that you've shown toward his name, and that you ministered to his saints and continue to minister today. So for good or bad, God is watching how his people give. He's watching to see, are they giving begrudgingly? Are they giving proudly? Are they giving stingily? Are they giving out of a greedy heart? Or are they giving cheerfully and generously and graciously because they love me? That's what Jesus is watching in the temple. The first group of people he notices is described in verse 41 as rich, simply rich people. Verse 41 tells us Jesus noticed that many rich people were putting in much. That in and of itself isn't wrong. Jesus isn't condemning these people either for being rich or for giving much. If you believe in proportional giving, in other words, if you believe in giving a proportion of however much money God gives you, then it shouldn't surprise us that rich people give a lot of money. That should logically follow. On the one hand, we need to be careful not to be any harder on these rich people than Jesus is. Jesus isn't condemning them for being rich, neither is he condemning them for giving a lot of money. Scripture does warn us, though, that there's dangers associated with being rich. There's the deceitfulness of riches. There's the fact that it's harder for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God than for the camel to go through the eye of a needle. There's dangers associated with wealth. There's dangers associated with a desire to be rich. But riches in and of themselves are not sinful. Neither is giving a lot of money. Many of the Old Testament saints were wealthy. Abraham was very wealthy, David was wealthy. So we have to recognize that riches in and of themselves is not sinful, neither is giving a lot of money in and of itself sinful. But we also have to recognize that in the scope of the world today, and in the scope of human history, each and every one of us should be considered rich. Listen to this, the average annual household income that's not the average individual income, that's the average annual household income, is right around $10,000 in the world. Here's what that means. That means in a worldwide scale, if your average household income is more than $10,000, you are not in the middle class of the world, you are in the upper class of the world. I think that would put almost all of us in the upper class of the world. I point that out because we would probably naturally be like, we're poor. Like, I have all these things I wish I had money for, and I don't have it, so I'm poor. And we have to recognize we are, by God's grace, a wealthy people. We're a people that God has given much. We have to recognize that, because we have the tendency to think of ourselves as poor, but by a worldwide standard, all of us are rich. Rich person after rich person is coming into the court. They're lining up to give their money into the treasury and they're giving large sums of money. They're bringing baggies full and they're just like dumping them in. But in the middle of one of those lines, Jesus notices someone else. To most people, she wouldn't have stood out. She was just a normal, ordinary lady, but Jesus notices her. Jesus sees her. Jesus calls attention to her. She's not rich and she's not giving much. She's a poor widow. It's hard to say how Jesus knew she was a poor widow. He might have been relying on his divine nature to know what he couldn't have known otherwise, that she was a poor widow. Maybe it's the way she was dressed. Maybe she's wearing shabby clothes without a husband and Jesus just deduced that. Whatever the case, we know because the scriptures tell us this is a poor widow. She has no husband to go out and work. She has no job to provide for herself. She has no trust fund. She has no retirement. The scribes have depleted whatever money she had, whatever estate she might've had, it's all gone and she's now impoverished. She's also in line. And when she gets up to the trumpet shaped receptacle, She drops in two mites or two leptas, depending on your translation. The original Greek word to describe these two coins is the same word we get our word for leaf. Two little tiny light things, that's the idea. These aren't big, heavy silver coins that would have made a lot of noise going down. These are two coins that she would have dropped like little leaves and they would have floated to the bottom. They were small, they were worthless in terms of their buying power. We saw last week, the actual value of these coins was about 1 64th of a day's wage each, which means two of them together makes 1 32nd of a day's wage, which means it would have taken 32 of her offerings to make one day's wage. That's how poor this woman is. So here's this poor woman and everyone in front of her is just dropping large amounts of money, making all sorts of noise. And here comes this lady who drops two small, insignificant, worthless coins. There's no fanfare. She simply drops them in and walks away. That's the scene Jesus is watching play out. And while most people would have never noticed this woman, and had they noticed her, they would have thought, Well, she didn't give much, but Jesus notices her and he's impressed. Jesus notices her and he says, this is a teaching opportunity for my disciples. And so what does Jesus do? He calls his disciples over in verses 43 and 44, and he teaches them a lesson. Look at verses 43 and 44. So he called his disciples to himself and said to them, assuredly I say to you that this poor widow has put in more than all of those who have given into the treasury. For they all put in out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty put in all that she had, her whole livelihood. If you would have asked anyone in the temple that day, who gave the most? Everyone would have said, it's the guy that owns the paper factory in Jerusalem, or it's the rich business owner from over there. They would have found someone that brought bags and bags of coins, maybe even had servants carrying them for him. They would have said, that guy gave more. And Jesus says, no, this poor widow gave the most. Math has never been my strong point. But if a rich person gives much and a poor person gives two coins, my math says the poor person gave the least and the rich person gave the most. And Jesus' math is absolutely backwards. You don't have to understand exchange rates. You don't have to understand inflation. You don't have to understand percentages. You have to be able to look at this with the most simplistic eyes you can and say, Jesus is obviously evaluating the value of these gifts very differently than we would. He's evaluating this on a different standard. When everyone else saw copper coins, two little tiny light copper coins, Jesus sees a treasure chest of diamonds being poured out. What was it about this woman's gift that makes it so impressive to Jesus? Why is it so impressive to Jesus that he not only calls his disciples over and says, let's learn a lesson from this lady, he also preserves it in scripture for us to learn the same lesson. He tells us this woman gave more than anyone else because she gave out of her abundance and she put in out of her poverty. The rich people did give a lot of money. But the way that they viewed giving is they gave out of their abundance. In other words, they looked at their budget at the beginning of the month and they had their housing expense, their food expense, their insurance expense. They had all these expenses. They paid all of those things. Then they were like, OK, we need some fun, like some blow money. So we put that in our pockets. And then we need some vacation money. So we put that over here. and they spent all the money that they thought they needed and then whatever was left out of that, not all of that, but out of that, they gave. So they're not giving sacrificially, they're not giving out of their wealth, they're giving out of their leftovers. I have a friend who read a book and asked me to read it to give him my thoughts from a Christian perspective. It's a book called Rich Dad, Poor Dad by a guy named Robert Kurosaki. He's a very wealthy, self-made millionaire. As a child, he asked his friend's dad, who was a successful business owner, to teach him some principles of wealth. And the book is really a recounting of the principles this friend's dad taught him and how he's implemented them in his own life to become a self-made millionaire. And one of the principles that he gives in that book is that you always pay yourself first. So if you have a stack of bills on your desk, you're the first one to get paid. You pay everyone else out of the leftovers. That's the mentality these rich people have as they approach giving. We give God our leftovers. We give God what we don't need. We don't give sacrificially in a way that hurts or makes us ask, okay, where can we cut corners? We say, what do we want? What do we need? What do we think we want and need? And then if we have leftovers, we give. But in contrast to the way rich people were giving, this poor woman, Jesus says, gave out of her, not abundance, her poverty. She only had two coins and she gave both of them. She kept nothing back for herself. She's not saying, what do I want? What do I need? If she would have done that, she would have given nothing. She comes and she says, what do I have that I can give? And she gives everything. And verse 44 tells us she gave her whole livelihood. The word Jesus uses for livelihood is the Greek word bios. It literally means her life. It could be referring to her livelihood, speaking only in financial terms. I think it's more likely Jesus's way of saying, yes, she gave all of her money, but she gave all of her money because she's already given her whole life to Jesus. She has already given herself up to this self-sacrificial surrender to following God in total abandon. That's what Jesus is telling us. about this woman, he's telling us she's a true disciple. She's the exact opposite of the man we saw in Mark 10, the rich young ruler. In Mark 10, Jesus is talking to the rich young ruler, a man from a worldly perspective, he had everything. But in his heart, he knew that even though he has everything, he doesn't have eternal life. So he comes to Jesus looking for eternal life to add to his possessions and achievements. And Jesus comes to that man in Mark 10, 21 and says, one thing you still lack, go your way, sell everything that you have, give it to the poor, and then you will have treasure in heaven and come take up your cross and follow me. Jesus tells the rich young ruler in Mark 10, sell everything you have, give it away and follow me. And that guy went away sad because he loved his money more than he loved Jesus and he was unwilling to do it. And Jesus is showing us where the rich young ruler failed, this woman succeeds. She has counted the cost of following Jesus. She has given her, yes, her money, but all of her life, and she now stands before us as a model for us to follow. Even though the scribes have plundered her house, even though the religious leaders have turned the temple where she wants to worship into a den of robbers, even though her husband is dead and can't provide for her, she has counted the cost of following God, and she's giving him everything that she has. This is total surrender. It's complete sacrifice. Remember the scribes. She's really contrasted also with the scribes. The scribes look at religion and think, how can I get wealthy? How can I get famous? And how can I get honored? This woman finds in God a treasure so valuable. She's not saying, what do I get? She's saying, what more can I give? I love God so much. I'm not after what I can get. He's precious. He's valuable. He's gracious. He's kind. He's compassionate. He's loving. He's my provider. He's my sustainer. He is everything and so here's my life. And so she in total abandon gives everything that she has, totally trusting and depending on him. I wanna bring this passage to a close by giving us a couple ways we can apply it in our own lives. This would be one of the easiest passages in scripture to apply in a way that would increase your giving and increase your guilt. In other words, I could take this passage and I could say, if you're not giving everything that you have to this church, you should feel guilty and you should tear up your check and rewrite it with a bigger dollar amount. And we could do that. Would that produce results in a sense? Absolutely. We could use this passage that way. I don't think that's the right way to use this passage. Does this passage have relevance on our tithing and our giving? Absolutely. But if we obey this command, the commands that are implicit in this passage and we're motivated out of a sense of guilt, we've actually missed the passage. We've missed the fact that this woman is responding to God in his grace, in his love, in his mercy. If we're gonna apply this passage rightly, we have to start by asking the question, what in the world possesses a person with two pennies to give the only two pennies they have to the Lord? What possesses her to do that? She gives everything that she has, firstly, because she has already adopted a Matthew 6 mentality in her life. Listen to Matthew 6, starting in verse 19. It says, don't lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he'll be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money. Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow, nor do they reap, nor do they gather into barns, yet your heavenly Father feeds them. And are you not worth more value than they? Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature? So why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow. They neither toil nor spin. And yet I say to you, even Solomon in all of his glory is not arrayed like one of these. Now, if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not also clothe you? Oh, you of little faith. Therefore, don't worry saying, what will we eat? Or what will we drink? Or what will we wear? For all these things, the Gentiles seek after. Your heavenly father knows that you have needs for all these things, but seek first the kingdom of God. and his righteousness, and all of these things will be added to you. Therefore, don't worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for today is its own troubles." This woman is a true citizen of God's kingdom, and as a citizen of God's kingdom, she has embraced the priorities of God's kingdom. She is seeking first the kingdom of God. And she's doing so with her money. God's kingdom, I wanna serve it with my money. And as she's doing so, she's embracing a mentality that says, if I am seeking first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, will he not also add to me all the things I need in this life? When the scribes are devouring her household, when her husband is dead and unable to provide for her, when she can't get a job, she has a God in heaven, the king of her kingdom. And what has he promised? He's made her a promise that if she will seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, all of her needs will be met. And the fact that she gives the only two coins she has is a reflection of the fact that she believes it. So one of the things that should motivate sacrificial giving in our lives is a confidence that the Lord is our provider. Is a firmly embraced commitment in our hearts that says, Do we believe the prosperity gospel that if we sow seeds and stuff, God just like chucks money at us? No, that's not what we're talking about. But God makes a promise that if we will seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, he will not allow us to starve. He will provide for us. He provides for the grass of the field by arraying them with the lilies even more beautiful than Solomon anything he wore. If he'll do that for the grass, how much more will he meet our needs? So I was reading this week a quote by John Calvin. He said, if a preacher is not first preaching to himself, it's better that he falls on the steps of the pulpit and breaks his neck than preaches that sermon. So as I was working through this passage this week, I had to ask myself, am I preaching to myself? If I look at my checkbook over the last year, does my giving reflect a widow-like giving or a rich person giving? I have to confess, in my own heart this week, there was some repentance that had to take place. Because I find it very easy to say things are tight this month, things aren't what I would like them to be. We have, like this is coming up in the kid's life, we need to hoard and we need to save and we need to budget and we need to do all this. And in my own life, I had to come and I actually had to rewrite my check for the church this week. put out the first one and then say no, that would not be embracing the mentality that God's people should have. So the first one gets torn up, the second one gets written, because we all need to evaluate our giving and say, not only can I give more, that's the wrong question. The question is, does my giving to the Lord's work, whether it's at this church or wherever else you're giving to the Lord's work, Does it reflect a mentality that believes that if I am seeking first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, all of my needs will be met? So what about you? Are you giving like a rich person or are you giving like a poor widow? That's one motivator to selfless giving, but we have an even greater motivator than that. We also have the example that Christ has given us in his own sacrificial giving. How does Christ give? In 2 Corinthians 8, Paul is instructing the church at Corinth about the importance of sacrificial giving. He's also encouraging them in the sacrifices they've already made. And listen to what he says starting in verse 8 of 2 Corinthians 8. He says, I speak not by commandment, but I am testing the sincerity of your love by the diligence of others, for you know that the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, that even though he was rich, for your sake he became poor, so that you, through his poverty, might become rich. Paul says there's no one that's ever been richer than Jesus. He created everything, he owns everything, he has all creation, he has all majesty, he has all glory, he has all wisdom, He has all money, he has the cattle on a thousand hills, he has everything. And what did he do in the incarnation? He took all of his money, he laid it aside, he even emptied himself of his own glory in a sense, he lays everything aside, and he who was rich became poor, why? So that through his poverty, we could become rich. Paul's obviously talking in spiritual terms. He's saying that Jesus laid aside his spiritual wealth, he took on our spiritual indebtedness, our sin, so that through him becoming poor and taking our sin, what do we get? We get his riches. There's never been anyone richer than Christ and there's never been anyone who has fallen lower than Christ spiritually as he took on our spiritual indebtedness. He gave up all of his wealth, taking on the form of a servant so that through his emptying of himself, we could become as rich as he is. If you struggle to be a generous giver, you need a fresh look at Jesus. He gave his life for you. He gave his righteousness to you. He gave his eternal inheritance to you. He gave a right standing before God to you. He gave you the forgiveness of sins. He gave you the right to be adopted into his family and called God's own son. He gave everything to you. And he did it by himself becoming poor. And as his followers, that truth should motivate us to empty ourselves. Not just empty our checkbooks, to empty our time, to empty, our priorities, to empty our selfish lifestyles, and to say, what more could I give to his kingdom? Another way we can apply this passage is by recognizing this should be an encouraging passage to us. On one level, this is a passage that comes and causes us to examine, am I giving sacrificially, but it should also be an encouraging passage to us. Because maybe you are already a sacrificial giver. But maybe, like this woman, by our standards here in middle-class America, maybe you're poor. Maybe you don't have a lot to give. Maybe you only put two coins in the offering today. Maybe you don't put anything in the offering today, but your heart is to be a generous, sacrificial giver. This passage should be encouraging to you because Jesus is obviously praising the person who gives the least. He's not coming and clubbing people over the head saying, you just need to give more. He's finding this lady who has a heart that is surrendered to him, that desires to give him everything she has, and he's lifting her up as a model saying, here's someone worthy of honor. In other words, Jesus measures the value of our gifts, not by how much we give, but by how much we keep back. And in spite of the fact that this woman has nothing to give, Jesus is praising her for her generous heart. So be encouraged. God continues to watch the giving of his people. He continues to honor and reward the generous sacrifices we make. Let's pray. Father, the reality of all of our spiritual conditions, if we are in Christ, is that the one who was rich became poor so that we, through his poverty, might become rich. Father, as your people, we are loaded. We are loaded, as we read in Ephesians, with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places. Father, the grace of God that has come to us in Christ and given us all that Christ is, all that Christ has, all that Christ has done, Lord, it's an overwhelming grace. We truly are a rich people. Father, would you work in our hearts to create a love and a gratitude a joy in that truth that causes us to have the same heart as Christ, to sacrificially give and spend and be spent for His kingdom. We pray this in His name. Amen.