Isn't Loving One Another Enough?

Okay, today we are going to talk about doctrine. I got one.

I got one on my side here.! I got one on my side here.

I got one on my side here.

One on my side here.

by our love, not by our doctrine. And lest you misunderstand me to say that I'm saying love is not important, that's not what I'm saying at all. Matter of fact, I would say that if you have a true understanding of right doctrine, you're going to say that love is extremely important. How we live out that doctrine is extremely important to us. And so it's unfortunate, I struggle with this, the idea that people are being encouraged today to set aside doctrine for the idea of coming together for the common good, for whatever cause, for whatever purpose, that doctrine or theology, it's twin word that we also might have disdain for.

Those ideas are stuffy, they're dry, they're dead, that what really matters is life and experience and feelings. The problem with that mindset is that it brings us into direct conflict with Jesus, as we're going to see today. Jesus very much so held to, I would say continues to hold to sound doctrine, what is right theologically. And we're going to see that in our text today as we see Jesus handling some difficult questions. This is the portion where Jesus is still dealing with these questions. They're trying to trap him, trying to catch him into saying something that's wrong, wrong, or that's, that would be, that would run him afoul of the, of the crowd or of the Sanhedrin or of Roman authorities. So we find ourselves in Luke chapter 20 verse beginning in verse 28, there came to him some Sadducees. Now, last week we looked at how the scribes and the Herodians, we have Pharisees and you have Herodians, two political parties, one even more religious than political. Then the Sadducees were another group of people and the Sadducees were more the aristocrats of the, of the, of the groups in that day. These were the, the higher ups, the higher ups in the Sanhedrin. The, the chief priests usually came from, uh, the Sadducees. And these guys had some really difficult views in terms of what they believed. They subscribed basically to only the first five books of the old Testament, what's known as the Pentateuch. They believe that the rest of the old Testament was just commentary was, was perhaps worthwhile from that perspective, but they believe that only the first five books that Moses wrote were, were the only inspired word of God. And so they would hold to those positions. And because of that, um, they believed some very wrong things. For instance,

Luke points out one of them, uh, those who deny that there is a resurrection. They, they didn't believe in the resurrection of the dead. Matter of fact, they didn't believe in heaven or hell. They didn't believe in angels or demons. They just believed that we were called, we're created to live in this life alone. And that the kingdom that is described is just to be something that's lived out in this life alone. And once this life is over, that's it. There is nothing after this life. So it's actually not that much different from atheism. Now they would not say that they were atheists. They absolutely believed in God and that God should be honored, but only during the lifetime that you have. And, and that's it. So they were some really problematic people. Matter of fact, there's a, there's an old joke.

Some of you are familiar with it, that a preacher is like obligated. It's in the contract. There's fine print of where the Sadducees got their name. Does anybody know this old, old joke? I saw Mark there raising his hand. He's like, yes, he, he's waiting. He's waiting with bated breath for this joke.

Because he can't, he can't go on if I don't tell this joke. So for Mark's sake, I'm going to tell this joke. Okay. The Sadducees didn't believe in the resurrection. So they were sad. You see, how was my delivery Mark? Was that, is that okay? Okay. So these sad fellows came and they asked Jesus a question. And so they would have again, been natural opponents of, or enemies of the Pharisees and the Herodians, but because of their common hatred of Jesus and because they, they had a threat, they, they would lose their authority. Uh, if Jesus is indeed who he says he is. And so they're, they're questioning Jesus and wanting to catch him in, in something. And they believe, they believe, I mean, last week we talked about how the Pharisees and the Herodians had a question that they thought was checkmate. And no, it really wasn't. Now these guys think they've got a question that's going to end all questions. And for them, it was a question that was, they kept it convenient in their pocket. Anytime they got in an argument or a debate with Pharisee, because Pharisees believed in the resurrection, they didn't. And they thought, here's this question. That's just, it just shuts up the

Pharisees. They don't have an answer for it. So it's going to shut up Jesus too. And, and so here's, here's their, their big question. Teacher, again, not a recognition of deity, just the idea of rabbi or teacher. Moses wrote for us.

And again, they only believed in the first five books that were written by Moses. So of course, they're going to quote from Moses. Moses wrote for us that if a man's brother dies, and this is, this is taken from a passage in Deuteronomy, that if a man's brother died, now this is going to sicken some of you. So hold on, hold on to your lunch, or I guess breakfast. Okay. If a man's brother dies, having a wife, but no children, the law prescribed that the man must take the widow and raise up offspring for his brother. So if, if, if I were to marry and, and I then died childless, my wife would then prescribed by law, be required to marry my brother, who would then go in and have relations with her and produce a child who would be known as my son, not his son, and would carry on my name. And some of you are like, really? The old Testament law really prescribed this? And yeah, it did. And it's not required today. And all of you were like, praise

God really don't want to have to marry my brother-in-law. Um, yeah. And I, I get you, I get you. Um, and so this, this is a big deal. And for them, it was a way to carry on a person's name and even more so importantly, carry on their property rights because women in that culture did not have ownership of property. They couldn't do it. And so to be a widow in that culture was a very dangerous thing. And so rather than just continue to be a widow on her own, she would marry her husband's brother. Okay. So you got all that kind of grossness out of the way. Okay.

Okay. Okay. It's interesting. Now there were seven brothers. Can you guess where this is headed? The first one took a wife. This is all hypothetical by the way. Otherwise it'd be like the globe or whatever national inquire. One of those, remember those, those rags that they had at the checkout stands, you know, what the aliens from outer space and married your mom, whatever. The first took a wife and died without children. And then the second and the third took her. Likewise, all seven married this woman and left no children and died. So seven brothers, they all died one by one after marrying this woman. So I, my natural question is what's she putting in the soup? What, what in the world is, is brother number three or four somewhere along the line is figuring out it's not going to go well for me if I end up marrying this woman. So not only is this a hypothetical, it's a crazy hypothetical, but according to the Sadducees who normally are very serious people want to make a serious, silly, actually a silly question like this be a, let's have a serious response to it. So all seven married this woman had no children. Afterward in the resurrection, here's their question. Afterward, the woman also died in the resurrection. Therefore, whose wife will the woman be for the seven had her as wife? Okay. This is actually not an uncommon question. At least that last part is about, okay, so when we get to heaven, am I still going to be married to Sherry, my wife? Is she still going to be married to me? Am I going to be married to my spouse in heaven? How's that going to work out?

Well, that, they didn't really, the Pharisees didn't have an answer to this question. Well, we don't know was their only answer. And so look at how actually, actually, before we do that, if Jesus didn't care about doctrine, this is how he would have answered their question.

I want you to notice that the text that we're using for this next two, next two screens is from the richest, perverse version.

Okay. So be aware of that. Jesus said to them, the important thing, guys, is that we all love God and love one another. We're all Jews. We all believe in the scriptures. You hold that there is no resurrection. Well, some of us believe that there is a resurrection, but none of us can know for certain.

So let's just get together on matters where we agree and sing songs that make us all feel good. After all, love, not doctrine is the main thing. Amen. It's not what Jesus said.

It is kind of the answer for some in Christian circles who would say, well, this point of doctrine is not a big deal. Let's just kind of sweep it under the rug and pretend that, you know, we agree to disagree and this kind of stuff.

And let's get together because we all love each other and that's what matters. And that's not how Jesus handled this, nor I think he would handle any other question about what we believe in our doctrine or theology in this.

And so before we go on and see what Jesus actually did say, let's answer the question, why should we care about sound doctrine? And we should, and this is on your notes now.

There is such a thing as doctrinal truth and doctrinal error. And that this truth matters. What we believe matters.

Getting it right does matter. And it matters not so that I can win a debate with my fellow church member.

It's not so that I can argue well or just know that I'm right and you're wrong and be able to say that.

It matters because what we believe is what we believe about God. And if my calling is to love and to worship God and to know him, this doctrine is going to help me to do that all the better.

So I want to absolutely have right doctrine and it matters. The source of sound doctrine is not human reason, but scripture properly interpreted.

Human reasoning is great, but if we all depended on just human reasoning, we'd be in a world of trouble. And so our source, the thing that matters for us, our standard is the word of God.

And we have to understand that it needs to be properly interpreted. And Peter tells us, this is 2 Peter 2, that this word of God that we have is not up to our own private interpretation.

It's there is a specific meaning for it. And we need to strive well to determine what it is that God is saying in his word so that we're not out in left field believing something or teaching something that's out of bounds from proper doctrine.

Because that's going to lead us down a wrong path. Your life now and in the hereafter depends on holding faith to sound doctrine. Even just the simple matter of the gospel.

If we believe something wrong that's not true about the gospel, that threatens my life and my future existence.

So I need to have a proper understanding of the gospel, proper understanding of right doctrine of what I believe. So these are important things for us. Now, coming back now to what Jesus actually did say to their question.

Okay, we left it with the seven brothers and the wife and whose husband, all of that. And Jesus said to them, the sons of this age. And I highlighted of this age, that prepositional phrase on purpose here.

He's talking about in this life, this dispensation. Some people, you know, they say that dispensational theology is wrong.

I would argue that dispensational theology is correct. It is the right view. And Jesus kind of proves the point here. The sons of this age or this dispensation marry and are given in marriage.

But those who are considered worthy to attain to that age, the age to come. It's a different dispensation in the kingdom, in heaven.

It's different. And notice how he phrases this. Those who are considered worthy to attain to that age. And to the resurrection from the dead, neither marry nor are given in marriage.

For they cannot die anymore because they are equal to angels. We're going to come back to that. And are sons of God being sons of the resurrection. So there is an age to come, both in the kingdom and in heaven, in our eternal existence, in heaven, where we will not be married in those places.

We just, we won't be. And I have to admit, there's a part of me that's like bummed. You know, some of you are like, whew, yes. No, I hope not.

I hope not. But in that age, no. We won't be, because the purpose for marriage will have been fulfilled.

Remember, the purpose for marriage goes all the way back to Genesis chapter 1, talking about producing and replenishing the earth and all of that. And that age will be over with.

So the purpose of marriage will be completed. And our marriage to Christ as the body of Christ, that will be the fulfillment of that. And even our earthly marriages are a picture of that ultimate fulfillment in heaven.

And so there will not be marriage in heaven. So Sadducees, your question is quite silly and has a rather simple answer, that the marriage that was described in Deuteronomy with this prescription for brothers marrying the widow, and et cetera, et cetera, et cetera, all of that will be completely unnecessary in the age to come.

Now, I think it's somewhat unfortunate to see this translation of this phrase, they're equal to angels. We see this in some of the translations. It's probably better understood as like or as the angels as opposed to equal to the angels.

We'll be like the angels in this aspect, that they don't have marriage. Angels don't get married. And so in that sense, we will be the same as the angels in heaven.

It's not that when we die, we become angels. We don't. We will still be at that point the sons and daughters of God, which to me is even more precious because it meant that Jesus shed his blood for us and died for us and came for us, and we will be part of the family of God.

The angels do not get that distinction. When they see someone who becomes a follower of Jesus Christ, they look on at that and are puzzled, and it's a mystery to them because they don't have a Savior who died for them.

They just obey God without question at this point. Now, at the beginning when God created angels, there must have been some sort of choice that they had available to them because at some point Lucifer and the demons and the angels that followed him disobeyed God, rebelled against God, and that's what we know today as demons.

And then those angels who stayed faithful to the Lord became angels or continued on as angels as we know them today. But there's not a lot of information that we have about how that happened or why that happened or how evil is introduced into the world where Satan could choose this, but we know that it happened.

And so we will be like angels in the sense of not being married, but we won't be flying around with wings. We won't need wings, by the way.

I don't know if angels do or if it's just a part of their creation. I'm guessing they do, but we won't need them. If you remember in Jesus' resurrected body, he was able to just show up at places where he wasn't before.

And we will have that ability as well with our resurrected bodies just to be able to – I don't know. Do you call it teleporting? They don't do it with tell us anything, but it's just like Philip and the Ethiopian eunuch where Philip just jumped from one place, and he wasn't even resurrected at that point.

But it's amazing the stuff. We can't even imagine what heaven is going to be like for us or what living in a resurrected body will be like. But it will be better than you can ever imagine in this life.

Just know that as well. So that was the answer that Jesus gave to this question. And then Jesus, to kind of reinforce this idea, goes back to one of their books.

Actually, the beginning of the book of Exodus. So it's still in the first five books of the Old Testament that the Sadducees would have subscribed to or believed in. But that the dead are raised, even Moses showed.

In the passage about the – remember the burning bush? Okay? When Moses is introduced to the Lord Almighty at that point? And he calls the Lord the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob.

He's not, well, I used to be the God of Abraham. Or the God – I used to be the God of Isaac, but he's dead now.

Remember, these three were long dead by the time Moses shows up on the scene, right? And so according to the Sadducees, Moses – I mean, Abraham and Isaac and Jacob are just long dead.

Not anywhere else. But God is saying, no, I am the God of the living, he would say. He goes on to say it here.

Now he is not God of the dead, but of the living, for all live to him. So when Moses was being introduced to the Lord at the burning bush, God introduces himself as the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob.

And he is the God of the living, not of the dead. So Sadducees, you've got this all wrong. You need to be corrected in your theology.

And their response, some of the scribes – now, the Sadducees, we don't get their response. But the scribes answered, teacher, you have spoken well. So they're still not to the point of repentance yet.

But they're still just saying, teacher, okay, that's a good answer to our riddle. That's a good answer. But we're not willing to bend the knee yet. We're not willing to submit to your lordship yet.

For they no longer dared to ask him any questions. So the time for questions was done. Except now, Jesus is going to turn the tables and ask them a question.

And then before he even waits for an answer, he just answers it himself. Because they don't have a clue. So here's the question that Jesus asks. But Jesus said to them, how can they say that the Christ is David's son?

Now, the word Christ is just the word for Messiah, anointed one. How is it possible – and he goes back into Psalm 110, which he's going to quote from here.

It's a messianic psalm. And how can they say that the Christ, the Messiah, is David's son? How is that possible when you consider what David wrote?

And some of the scribes – oh, wait a minute. I went the wrong way. For David himself says in the book of Psalms, the Lord said to my Lord.

That's the key phrase. The Lord said to my Lord. Who is he talking to? Well, in this phrase, David is in the position of the first Lord.

And Jesus, the Messiah, is in the position of the second Lord. So how is it that the Lord, King David, is saying to his son, my Lord?

How can you call your son my Lord? And what are the implications of this statement, of what he is saying here?

What David is giving admission to is that Jesus, the Messiah, would be Lord even over his life, and that Jesus is divine, and that he is eternal as well.

That he existed before David. How is that possible? How can the son exist before the father? Well, if you understand the incarnation, the idea that Jesus is both divine and human all at the same time, you understand that Jesus has existed in eternity past.

God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit, they are eternal in nature. They have no beginning. Can someone explain to me how God has no beginning?

Anybody help me out because I haven't figured this out yet. And it's because our finite minds can only think about in terms that are temporal, in terms that have a beginning and an end.

We can't understand something not having a beginning. Well, God exists. Well, when did he get there? No, he's always been.

Well, when did that happen? We can't compute. We can't figure that out. But this is David's admission just in this little phrase.

The Lord said to my Lord, Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool. David thus calls him Lord. So how is he his son?

Good question. The only way that that's possible now is through a right understanding of who he is. Now, I'm getting ready to say something that I have trouble saying, and that's this.

True and false religion are going to be on display here from this point forward. Now, normally, for me, religion is a dirty word. Religion is not a good word because religion is man's attempt to try to reach God.

It's trying to be good enough, trying to earn it, trying to work my way to God's favor, and it's just not a good thing. But if you were going to use the word religion in a positive context, here is some text of Scripture that would help you to understand that.

And so we're seeing true religion and false religion on display here in these next few passages. And this first question about a right understanding is this.

A true religion is to know Christ as Lord. That's the bottom line, that he is my Lord. He is my Savior.

He is eternal. He is God. And so there's two aspects of this, that knowing Christ as Lord means having the right understanding of his person.

And this is where some of the cults go offline. Now, a definition of a cult, a cult are those religions who believe in Christ, but they have a wrong understanding of his deity.

They have a faulty understanding of his person. And that's what defines what a cult is. So, for instance, Islam is not a cult.

They're not portraying themselves as Christians. Or trying to say that they are using a Christian Bible. Islam or Buddhism, these are just false religions.

They don't even pretend to worship Jehovah God, the one true God. They're doing something completely different. But there are cults, and perhaps the two most famous ones are the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints or Mormons, and Jehovah's Witnesses.

And they both have a faulty view of the person and deity of Jesus Christ. And so that's a concern for us.

That's what defines a cult. It is absolutely appropriate to define a Mormon church or a Jehovah's Witness church as being a cult because of their misunderstanding of the divinity of Christ.

They both would teach that Jesus is a created being and thus had a beginning. As we just demonstrated, that's completely false.

And they're worshiping something of their own creation when they do this. And therefore, not only is it a cult, but it's a false religion in that sense as well. So it's having the right understanding of his purpose, that Jesus is completely defined, divine.

When Jesus said, I and the Father are one, it's an understanding that he is co-equal with the Father and the Spirit. We believe in this thing called the Trinity.

That's another thing. Can someone explain to me the Trinity? And again, someone might say, well, it's like an egg. There's a shell, there's a yolk, and there's a white. And it's one.

And it still gets you in a bad place if you're going to go down that road. Or it's like water. It can be liquid or frozen or vapor.

Yes. Thank you. Thank you, Eric. And yeah, that's no, no. You're still getting a misrepresentation of the Trinity.

They're co-equal. I can't wrap my mind around it, but the scriptures portray it that way. And so we accept it and we believe it.

And by the way, I've said this before. There are some things about God that I can't explain, like his eternality, like the Trinity. I can't explain it. That should bring you comfort.

Because if you could understand everything about God, what kind of a God would he be? The fact that I can't understand, that's comforting. That's a good thing.

I know what I need to know. I have the information that I need to have clearly presented in the word of God. And so having the right understanding of the person of Christ, that he is eternal, that he is God, all of that is important.

And then secondly, knowing Christ as Lord is having the right response to his person. And the only right response to the Lordship of Christ is complete and utter submission.

It's just to bow before him and to worship him for who he is. To honor him and to love him and to cherish him and to worship him and all of these things. To live in complete obedience to him.

That's the right response that we need to have to him. And then now we're going to get some false religion, some bad religion on display.

In hearing of all the people, in the hearing of all the people, he said to his disciples. So he's speaking to his disciples, but he's saying it in such a way that the crowd could hear it.

Whether there were Sadducees, whether there were Pharisees, whether there were Herodians in the room and scribes, whoever was there, they were able to hear this. But in speaking to his disciples, he said this.

Beware of the scribes who like to walk around in long robes and love greetings in the marketplaces and the best seats in the synagogues and the places of honor at feasts, who devour widows' houses and for a pretense make long prayers.

Nice. Beware. Beware of these guys. And these guys majored on religion.

And certainly it was false religion. Jesus went on to say they will receive the greater condemnation. Because they were students of scripture.

Absolutely. They knew the scriptures inside and out. And in spite of that, they still chose to live in such a way as to dishonor God with their lives. False religion is being religious to impress people.

That's what it's about. I want to impress my fellow religious people. So I'm going to fast harder than they fast.

I'm going to pray longer than they pray. And I'm going to give and announce it more than they do. And I'm just going to do everything for show, which breeds hypocrisy.

Now, I don't see anybody today wearing long robes. Could, I guess. I don't know.

What would religious garb look like today? I don't know. But praying long prayers and all of that kind of stuff. Listen, it just is a breeding ground for hypocrisy.

And it's rooted in the desires of the flesh. And it's why we see today there are some churches or denominations that are so legalistic that they get caught up into hiding some really dastardly things.

And as I thought about me saying this, you see pastors, preachers that get caught up in inappropriate relationships and falling.

And listen, that happens amongst all the stripes, amongst all the churches. It can happen. So we need to be aware of that and beware of that as well.

And it's certainly not spiritual in any way. This false religion is manward in focus. It's not focused toward God.

If they want to impress people, but I think there's also a sense in which they want to impress God as if that's something to seek for. Do you think God's going to be impressed with any of us?

That's kind of a silly pursuit. But now, number three on your notes here, another aspect of true religion that's represented by this. And we're at the end of chapter 20.

And then we're going to be going into now the first verses of chapter 21. And so we're seeing here that the chapter division doesn't work quite well because the first four verses of chapter 21 should go in with this section, talking about here's what bad religion or false religion looks like.

Here's these scribes. Here's a glimpse of what true religion looks like, these first four verses. As a matter of fact, in Mark's gospel, that's where it's at. It's actually at the end of a chapter contained with.

But usually in our devotional reading, we'll read to the end of a chapter and stop and then begin the next day at the next chapter. So sometimes these chapter divisions can have an impact in how we understand things.

But true religion is now going to be represented by a very famous and very short little story here. The devotion to God by the poor widow who gives her widow's might.

Two copper coins. Jesus looked up, now verse 1, and saw the rich putting their gifts into the offering box. He saw a poor widow put in two small copper coins.

And he said, truly I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all of them. And in our minds, we're like, well, wait a minute, Matthew. I mean, Jesus, your math doesn't compute.

Because they put in however much money they put in. It's obviously a whole lot more than two little copper coins. Think of it in our context. Two little pennies.

We don't even use pennies anymore, right? I mean, there are some places that did away with pennies altogether. And two little copper coins. And all that they gave, which was obviously a whole lot more.

And Jesus said, no, she gave more. And what's the lesson of that? Well, the lesson for us is not so much about, hey, I just got to go home and get two pennies and put them in the offering box when I come to church.

Right? That's the lesson here. No, that's not the lesson that we learn from this. For they all contributed out of their abundance.

And he's talking about the rich people. They contributed out of their abundance. In other words, these rich people who were contributing to the offering boxes outside of the temple, they weren't going to be hurting for a meal because of what they gave in the offering box.

They weren't going to be concerned about where their next meal or their next clothing or any other provision was going to be coming from.

They had plenty of resources. They were just giving out of their abundance. They weren't going to miss it, what they were giving. But the widow, she gave out of her poverty.

And she put in all that she had to live on. So the lesson of the story now is that we need to make sure that whenever you come to church, you empty your bank accounts and put it in the offering box.

Right? That's what... No. Again, let's not be silly about this. But what is the lesson for us in this?

Does what I give matter? And who am I giving it to? How does this work? And so I have just kind of as a way for us to close out today three observations about our giving to the Lord that we can view just from these four little verses here.

The first observation is this, that Jesus observed the giving of the rich and of the poor widow. He just stood there and watched. And as a lesson for the rest of his 12 disciples there, he's saying, hey, guys, pay attention.

Pay attention. Look at this. Watch this. So he observed their giving. And he still sees today every giving.

Now, I feel in a way a little bit silly about this because do we feel like, okay, my giving, God's not going to pay attention to that. And God's not going to pay attention to that.

Right? He's looking at my life. He knows everything about me. He knows every thought that I think. But when I cut the check or I make the deposit or whatever it is and I make the offering that's between me and me or me and my family, me and my wife or me and my husband, as if God isn't paying attention.

Of course he does. We don't pay attention to that. But God pays attention to that. He sees every gift.

He sees every giver. He knows. He observes. He sees what we do in that. Second thing is that Jesus evaluated the cost of the gift to the giver.

And he also evaluated the motives of the giver. So what is this gift costing me? Is it costing me anything?

In the case of the widow, it was costing her everything. But what's that dynamic? And I'm not here as your priest to tell you how much to give or to tell you how much you should write your check for or what percentage or those kinds of things.

That is between you and the Lord. But understand the Lord knows and the Lord is evaluating. Giving. Is it what you should be giving?

And you determine that in your relationship with the Lord. And he does the same thing still today. He evaluates the way that we give.

What we put into the offering box. How it impacts our finances. How little or how much.

And then the final thought here is that since the Lord observes and evaluates our giving. When we give, we give unto God.

You might be thinking that you're writing the check to the church or you're going online and making an offering to the church.

But ultimately, you're giving us to God. And so the idea of supporting the local church, that's biblical. The idea that where you go to be fed week by week, that you support that ministry.

All of that's biblical. But when you're giving, you're giving. In every area of life, you do it as unto the Lord. It's true for your giving as well.

So Colossians chapter 3, everything that you do, you do it as unto the Lord. Whether you're working, whether you're playing, whether you're carrying on with your children, conversing with your spouse, whatever you're driving down the road, everything that you do, you do it as unto the Lord.

You're serving him. You're serving the Lord Christ in every aspect of your life. That's also true for your giving as well. So yes, you give to your local church.

You give to ministries that you support. But you also, in a very real sense, you're giving to the Lord. Not that he needs it. But it's a statement of your own faith.

It's a statement that says, Lord, I believe in you. I believe in your work. And I'm going to, as David would say, not give an offering that costs me nothing.

Like what these rich people were doing. So we give to support the Lord's work. We give to the Lord. Lord, we thank you so much.

For all that you have done for us. We know from your word, very famously, that because of your love for us, you gave your one and only son.

You are a God who gives gifts to us. And most importantly, the gift of relationship with you. May we live out our days honoring you with our very lives.

And Lord, a part of that is how we handle our finances. So, Lord, I pray that we would be faithful in that area of life as well.

Lord, thank you for providing for the needs of this church. And I thank you for a congregation who lovingly and generously supports our ministry.

Lord, we thank you for that. You are so gracious to us. Lord, I pray that as we go forward, that you would continue to use this ministry for your glory and your honor.

I pray that we would be a church that is filled with people who are all about true religion, if it can be said that way.

A true faith in you that comes from a right understanding of who you are and a right response to your lordship. Lord, that we wouldn't be a church that we are and a right response to your lordship.

That we wouldn't be about trying to impress others. That we wouldn't be about trying to gain influence or respect through the things that we do or say or give.

But, Lord, that our relationship with you would be marked with sincerity, honesty, and a true understanding of our place with you where we belong.

Lord, we love you. And may that be reflected in the way that we do give. The way that we live. The way that we carry on our life.

In our workplaces, in our homes, in our families. In relationships. May we honor you in every area of our lives.

Lord, we love you. We praise you. And we ask it all in the name of Jesus Christ, our Savior. Amen. Amen.