“Everthing is the Lords”
Scripture Reading: Mark 12:38-44
Sermon Transcript for November 19, 2006
By Pastor Bob Coleman
It’s is easy enough to say “everything is the Lords”. It’s almost like “God Bless America” in the Christian faith. People say it. Do they mean it? Do they understand it? That’s yet to be determined until you get to know a person and see what they do, hear what they say, see how they live. That’s where the truth comes out. I want to read a Scripture to you that is our Scripture for the day. It is one that is foundational in one single image called “the widow’s mite” or “the widow’s offering”. But before we read it and hear God’s Word presented, here’s a little bit of a setup. This is a worship setting you might say sounds like receiving an offering. Actually in those days people could bring their offering to the Temple at most any time, at almost any hour of the day their might be a parade of people. Because, you see, the Temple was only one place and the faithful had to come in from sometimes great distances to bring their offerings and place them on or near not the holy of holies, because that was inside, but this was outside in the court where they could be presented, where they could present their offerings. So it wasn’t like a service that we have here.
That’s part of the set up. The other one is that Jesus tells a story as presented in Scripture like setting up the goal posts of the styles and types of offerings, the extremes of one side and the other. Last night at the 5:30 p.m. service I said, “Now this wouldn’t be reminiscent of any football game going on between two Big 10 teams or anything, but does anybody know the score?” And also after that service, I didn’t tell it, but there is an old, funny joke that says, I think there is an old country western song, “Drop kick me Jesus through the goal posts of life.” It’s a little bit more serous than that because the extremes of giving are the edges. Most of us find ourselves somewhere in between and a whole host of combinations. In the tradition long standing in the church then, I would ask that you would stand as you here the Gospel read this morning as you are able.
“As he taught, Jesus said, ‘Watch out for the teachers of the law. They like to walk around in flowing robes and be greeted in the marketplaces, and have the most important seats in the synagogues and the places of honor at banquets. They devour widows’ houses and for a show make lengthy prayers. Such men will be punished most severely.’ Jesus sat down opposite the place where the offering were put and watched the crowd putting their money into the temple treasury. Many rich people threw in large amounts. But a poor widow came and put in two very small copper coins, worth only a fraction of a penny. Calling his disciples to him, Jesus said, “I tell you the truth, this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others. They all gave out of their wealth; but she, out of her poverty, put in everything—all she had to live on.” May God’s wisdom be added to the hearing of His Word. Thanks be to God. (Please be seated)
Nancy shortened her prayer and we almost didn’t wear robes this morning. We didn’t want to be identified with that group that brought in wearing their fancy robes and having lengthy prayers. I doubt if any of us want to be identified with that kind of a person, do we? It is nice to have recognition for what we give, but we surely don’t want to parade in front of every one else. What we hear today is the focus of Jesus saying, “That’s one style of giving but I’m telling you this person put in more than all of the rest of them together.” As small as it was, it was the greatest gift. That’s all we know about this woman other than she was described as a widow. No name, no other history. No other awareness. So what I would like to do for you today is take some of the liberty and license and describe the person sort of in a historical novel setting. You know she’s a widow; you know she’s poor. You know she’s in Jesus’ time, but that is all you know. I’m going to build a profile for you based upon who I think this woman is, was, and will be. A profile that will be a profile for Christians every where.
You see, this woman gave of herself first by simply being there. I mean if you had only two coins or less than a penny would you even bother to bring it to the church? Would you even bother to come forward in the presence of all those other rich people? She was physically there because it was the call of her heart to go and present her offering before the Lord. Now some people have the impossibility of physically being there and that’s not to disclaim that at all. But the impossibility should not be because you have two prime tickets to the Colt’s game, or you had a really hectic week and you know, I need “some time for myself” and Sunday morning is so relaxing. She didn’t apparently have any of those excuses to stay away. Oh, she could build them up. She was poor, what little could she give, it would be an embarrassment; it would be a bother to the tellers to count those two little small coins. But she brought herself. Sometimes we must come. We must come to present ourselves before God. Clearly she was able not only to be present and to come forward, but to offer her offering in a humble way, quietly before her God. In the presence of others, yes. But not for their acknowledgement. Only Jesus saw it. It was not for show and personal acclaim that if at all possible she herself would be the offering to God.
And so it is with us. We are physically able to attend but we can find excuses not to. Or we can physically be able to attend and we see it as the height of our week. Something we look forward to and are deeply thankful for having the freedom and the opportunity to be here. You see God’s call upon us is not what we put in, it’s the fact that we are there. The circumstances of this life, whatever they are, as difficult as it might be, are not meant to keep us away from God but to draw us to God. You see, all else flows from such an offering when you offer yourself. That was her first offering.
Now this woman, I’m going to guess and expand her profile to believe that she was probably a woman of prayer. Prayer, you see, is something of a gift to us by God. The first understanding of the power of prayer is that we tell God we are thankful. We just sang a lot of music and heard music that was intended to say “thank you” God for all that we have. The cornucopia flowers, the Thanksgiving week set aside in this country to recognize the bounty that we receive. Just as we are asked to offer ourselves as the first gift to God, we should also offer words of praise. I trust that she praised God in her words, in her way, from her heart. I’m also sure that she also prayed for wisdom. “Lord, how am I going to make it through the next day?” She just gave away everything she had according to Jesus. How would you make it through the next day? Would you do it on your own, by your own will, desire, even guile? She had to understand what she was facing. It was a hard and difficult life.
I believe this woman would also have prayed for people from her heart’s desire that God might bless others. Yes, of course, she needed a blessing. But, you know, the people who have the least tend to be the most compassionate for others. Not always, not exactly in every case. But if you look at the level of giving, people who have the least give the most of their income and their resources. I heard the story just the other day of a person who had been homeless, without a home at all, living in a car. Finally was able to get to a better situation and took a good portion of their Social Security check, all that they received, and would take it to others who were homeless. As soon as they could get that better situation, turned it around and gave it away. She would understand what it would mean to pray for other people for she knew the power of prayer in her life.
She may have learned a long time ago to set aside those people we call “enemies” and pray for them. Because, you see, as God gives us the tool and the power of prayer it is meant as much to change our hearts as it is to change any one else. You see other people in a different light when you pray for them. Just as we see many faithful men and women here at this church weekly take the blue prayer card and other forms and lists that we use for people that we know have concerns. They pray for them, they do things for them, they send cards of greeting and hope and encouragement. They make contacts and calls. They are living out what it means to give to others through prayer. I have been blessed to see as I’ve visited the people who lovingly and faithfully pray for others, for themselves, and for the church and countless other people of all ages who have learned the joy of prayer. Philip Yancey in his book says, “Don’t be discouraged when prayer becomes heavy and not always easy to do for eventually there will be that moment. Be steady; stay with it; be consistent. Pray for others above all as well as you pray for yourself and that will help you to see and understand better.” I read the prayer cards. I consider it a privilege to pray for those concerns that are listed.
She was a woman of presence. She was a woman of prayer. She was a woman of service. That’s the way I would see her. For you see, the rest of the story must be that, in reference to the earlier statement about the person with the social security that service would have been easy for her to do. When you don’t have much, maybe what you can do the most is to be kind to others. Service to another person who might have more or might have less than what she had. It’s considered that she would give service to those who had a higher status. Wouldn’t it have been fascinating for her to see, provide an act of kindness to the ones who were so wealthy presenting their gifts? Service to others along with others so that she could be part of the community--maybe her neighborhood, maybe her family. Service to others in the quiet and privacy to protect the dignity of that individual. Service to another not for her own glory but for an opportunity to give thanks because God’s spirit in her heart led her to do so.
She was a woman of presence, of prayer, of service. And then clearly, because of the story, she was a woman of giving. It was a sacrificial gift, definitely, in her case. Jesus’ own words, “Those are her last two coins.” Was she foolish? Was she out of touch with reality? Shouldn’t she have held on to that and maybe found a way to invest it and make it grow? Was she in the twilight gray years of Alzheimer’s? That would be our intellectual reasonable response. The woman must have lost her mind to give away her last two coins. Maybe she had nothing left because when her husband died she had nothing left to her. Maybe she had a little but with children left to raise she spent it all to raise them. Now they are up and grown. Maybe she was a grandmother and took care of grandchildren and gave what she could because of her soft heart and desire to help. Maybe she had planned well but then disaster had struck and took away what little or great resources she might have had. How she got to where she was is not important. How we get to where we are is not important. It’s where are we and what do we do with it.
Based upon this, some people I’ve known have gone on to find out that the first gift that this woman made would continue to be her ongoing gift. Even though it was all that she had, I believe it would not have been her last gift. She didn’t give those two coins away out of desperation hoping that God would take care of her. It had been a long history of giving and it would continue the next time she had a chance to give. In my past I called upon a couple who had gotten to the end of their resources literally. They were down to only a couple of hundred dollars a month available to them. They quietly said, “Bill, we’ve run out of resources. We’ve always tithed, but we want to let you know that we still will tithe. That’s just what we do.” I said, “Well, you don’t have to.” “Well, it’s what we do. We’re glad to do it.” All this was shared with a smile on their faces. Not a sense of embarrassment because of what had happened to their earthly resources but out of a sense of joy that they could count thanksgiving for what they had. Just like this woman who quietly was glad in her heart that she could do what she could do. Jesus points at her gift as a goal for us--that we are to do what we can do. How often I have seen it done by faithful servants throughout my time of service with the church of people who give quietly, humbly, out of a desire to do good, of thanksgiving to God, with the hope that God will bless and move on with their gifts.
As a pastor I am privilege to hear this story time and again, done usually in the privacy of ones own home, but still indeed a joy to hear. How often I have seen people embarrassed that they can’t give as much as someone else. How misunderstood that is. It’s a joy to give whatever you can give! And your circumstances in this season of life, whatever you are able to do as God directs you and gives you that joy to move forward and live in that joy. And so it is for each of us as we come to whatever those moments are. We take stock of what we have, we take a measurement of where we are in our life, we take an account of where we are on our journey of life with God and we say, “And Lord, here is my offering to you. I sought first my prayers, my presence, my service, my gifts.”
What we want to offer for you today is an opportunity to renew, or maybe for the first time to make a commitment. The opportunity is not just the sheet that was mailed to you. It’s much greater. That’s why we gave you so many choices and recognizing that it’s an identification of who we are by first of all offering ourselves. Are you a Christian, a follower of Christ or not? Do you consider yourself a child of God or not? That’s the first order of the offering. In a moment we are going to ask, if you are able to do so, to bring yourself forward by this basket as first a statement of the offering of yourself. Nobody’s going to watch or take pictures of whether you drop anything at all in the basket or how much it is in your offering for today or your commitment sheet. But you are offering yourself. And the purpose of that sheet is also to say prayer is essential. For if you are a child of God, if you are a follower of Jesus Christ, then you must be in conversation with the One who has made you and the One who has saved you. Prayer is important in your life. The fact that you are here today is an indication that you are offering at least your physical presence. But what the Lord requires of us is our whole heart. And then out of that flows the service. We can do good things. People can do good things all of the time. But what are your motivations? What is the drive? The gift is at last the actual physical gift blessed by God will accomplish God’s ministry. But it should be an expression of what you see God has, is, and will be doing in your life.
So we give you that opportunity this morning in a simple, straightforward way to come forward. Do not be embarrassed if you can not. You are still offering yourself by being here. But we wish for you to also think and maybe as you walk forward, give a prayer for a faithful person that you know who can not be here this morning and who would love dearly to be so. There are many. If we live long enough, we may well experience that ourselves when we physically can not come to church but we are able by Spirit to be present, the great cloud of witnesses present among us.
We are going to give you a time in silent prayer to first consider. We are going to ask one of the ushers if they would come down and just guide people. And you come forward and make your way around and go back around. You are welcome to take time here at the altar rail and to pray if you would like. You are welcome to go back and be in your seat and pray from there. The location isn’t important; the fact that you pray is. It will be a time of silence and preparation. The ushers will guide you forward. At that time music will be played for you to be inspired by that. We will be singing two versus of one song, then at the conclusion that will be our benediction, so we sing the third verse of “Take my Life and Let it Be”.
Will you consider today, maybe for the first time ever, that truly everything is the Lords starting with you and everything else that flows out—the possessions that you have that you can hold, the family and the love of people that you hold in your heart? Let us enter into a time of prayer as we prepare for this moment. “Gracious God, you have made us, you love us, you wish to care for us, your Spirit wishes to dwell in us. Let us open anew our hearts to you, our minds, our very bodies, all that we have we offer it to you today for truly everything is yours and you are greatly to be praised. May each one here today from the circumstances that they find themselves simply give in joy and thanksgiving. As we offer in the name of Christ, our Lord. Amen”
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