For a moment, let's bow our heads in prayer.
Father, it can be very lonely in life.
It can be very stressful.
It can be very hectic.
There can be lots of anxiety in our lives.
And so, Father, we give you thanks and praise
that you have invited us week by week
to gather with others who are your people
and to come into your presence
to sit and stand and sing and pray in your presence
and to receive grace from you Sunday by Sunday.
Father, it is a great honour and privilege
that you desire us to be in your presence
to receive grace from you.
And we know, Father, that you bestow grace on your people
as we are in your presence.
And we ask, Father, that your Holy Spirit
would work deeply but gently in our hearts,
that we might receive the grace you desire
to give us this morning
and that we might respond in a worthy manner,
a manner which is worthy of your glory,
worthy of us,
and worthy of the great needs of the world.
And so, Father, we ask that you would do this gentle
but deep and mysterious miracle in our hearts
once again today as we gather in your presence.
And we ask this in the name of Jesus,
your Son and our Savior.
Amen.
Please be seated.
So I have a trigger warning this morning.
And the trigger warning is,
some of you might have noticed,
if you're familiar with the fact
that we preach through books of the Bible
and we're preaching through Mark's Gospel,
an ancient biography of Jesus,
Jesus talks about money.
So we're going to talk about money.
And that is probably one of the least popular things
to talk about.
And if you're here online,
you're thinking,
oh, good grief,
they're going to talk about money.
Maybe some of you are thinking about the same thing.
But Jesus talks about it.
And, you know, really,
if you think about it for a second,
for us who are followers of Jesus,
the question is,
what does it mean to follow Jesus
in a world where there is money?
And what does it mean to follow Jesus
in a world where money is very, very, very, very important?
What does it mean to follow Jesus
in a world where money is desired
and we feel anxious about it?
What does it mean to follow Jesus
and trust him as our Savior and Lord
in such a world?
And so while on one hand
it might seem like a scary topic,
probably some of you have heard me say it before,
the thing which is so shocking about the Bible
isn't that it's like a hallmark,
unrealistic movie,
but the problem we have with the Bible
is that it's so deeply realistic
that it talks about real life,
it talks about suffering,
and it talks about,
in fact today we're not only going to talk about that,
it talks about hypocrisy,
it talks about climbing the greasy pole
and stepping on others to climb the greasy pole,
it talks about these profound things
that make up our day-to-day life
and we get a bit shocked,
thinking we'll maybe just get
a couple of little pleasing quotes
to discover that it talks about
what it really is like to live.
So we're going to look at that
because we're looking at what the Bible says,
but we have to get to,
there's two other little short stories
that all linked
that we have to look at first.
So if you have your Bibles,
turn in them to Mark chapter 12,
verses 35 and following,
and if you're using these little booklets,
it's on page 78,
Mark chapter 12,
verses 35 to 44,
and here's what is happening.
And just one of the things to remember
as we read this
is that even though if you look at this,
you have the whole book
with a little study page on the side,
there's still a fair amount of pages left in it,
but what's happening here
is just happening maybe two days
before Jesus is dying on the cross.
So when you're reading this,
you need to keep this in mind.
Jesus knows that he's going to die on the cross.
He's told his disciples
he's going to die on the cross
and rise from the dead.
They don't believe him.
I don't know what they think.
They think he's being metaphorical
or poetical or something.
Who knows?
But they don't believe him.
Nobody believes he's going to die on the cross.
His enemies are plotting his death upon the cross
and he knows he's going to rise from the dead.
And so all of these words,
you need to hear them remembering
that that's what Jesus knows
and also must be the,
you know, for some of you
who have really good imaginations,
I'm not one of you,
the emotional shock.
And then even just thinking back
as the disciples,
they go through the shock of seeing Jesus die.
They see the shock of the blood
coming out of his side,
the shock that he's covered in spices,
the shock that he's buried in a tomb.
And then the huge shock three days later
when the tomb is empty
and the grave cloths are there
and the stone is rolled away
and they can't find the body
and he appears alive
and they now start to think back
to all of these things that he had said
in the days preceding his death upon the cross
and his resurrection.
That's how we have to amend
and enter into this
imaginatively and emotionally.
And if we do that,
we start to see
the profound beauty of the text,
that the way that it,
you know,
those who've been Christians for a long time
and the gospel becomes real to their heart,
it's that there's a deep emotional satisfaction
with the gospel
that grows as you become more,
as the gospel becomes more real to your heart
because there's this deep resonance
with our deep longings and yearnings
and the gospel has this profound ability
to form us in ways that are for our good.
This, what Jesus teaches
and what he does,
well, let's look.
So it begins in a bit of an odd way
and for some people,
it just seems like he's playing a bit of a word game.
But look what happens first.
Mark chapter 12, verse 35.
And as Jesus taught in the temple,
he said,
how can the scribes say that the Christ
is the son of David?
Now, once again,
some of you might remember,
what's a scribe?
A scribe, if you go back in time,
or sorry, if you imagine today,
imagine one person
or a group of people
who are three different things in our society.
A public intellectual,
a legal scholar,
and then think of somebody
who's like an assistant deputy minister
or a deputy minister in the government
and is really competent
and she just knows how things work
in the government,
in the real world.
And so when you see scribe,
think of that.
Somebody who knows how the world works,
how bureaucracies and systems
and the culture works.
Somebody who's a public intellectual
and somebody who's a legal scholar.
That's what a scribe is, okay?
And they're experts in knowing
what our Jewish friends call the Tanakh
and what we would call
the Old Testament in particular.
And so one of the things
which is interesting here
is that Jesus asks a question
and this is easy for us to miss
the significance of this.
On one hand, it's just fair.
Just before this,
people have been asking him hostile questions
and then just immediately before this
there was a friendly question.
But here's the thing,
if you think about it for a second,
if there really is a triune God
that actually does exist
and if that triune God does exist
and has created and sustained all things,
and many here would of course
believe and accept that,
but for some of you that would be
maybe some of you watching
or some of you here,
that's like,
I don't know if I believe that,
that's fine,
but if,
imagine for a second
that there is really in fact
the triune God
who does exist,
who's created everything,
sustains all things,
is sovereign over all things.
Our mental and spiritual
and emotional and aesthetic
and cultural and intellectual categories
couldn't grasp him.
If you think about it for a second,
if my,
if the categories of thought
in Ottawa in 2022,
the aesthetic and spiritual
and emotional and intellectual
and philosophical
and scientific categories,
if our categories were adequate
to completely understand
such a God,
that would mean we were bigger than God,
which means that God doesn't exist.
And so one of the things
which is important
when Jesus asks questions
in the Gospels
is you see the questions
of his critics
and even the questions
of the seekers
aren't going to be adequate
to understand who he is.
He needs to challenge
my categories.
He needs to challenge
your categories.
And actually,
as we see just in a moment,
if you think about it for a second,
what he's doing
is a profound challenge
of our categories
because in our categories,
if such a God exists,
we would set down criteria
by which he should relate
to the world.
If you think about it for a second,
you know,
he should be inclusive.
And in fact,
the matter is,
is no, no, no, no, no,
don't do things in history.
They should do things,
God,
you should reveal yourself
at an emotional level
or somewhere inside each of us
in some way,
which is sort of,
I don't know,
democratic and equitable,
but it shouldn't be in history
and it shouldn't be in the past
and good grief,
it shouldn't be a Jewish guy.
I mean,
what's going on with that?
And we'd have all of our criteria
and it should be connected,
your revelation about yourself
should be connected to us
in such a way
that it's going to help me
to thrive
and be the best me that I,
we'd have all our criteria.
And we put these criteria,
see,
what Jesus is doing here,
he's challenging our criteria.
and that has to be the case
if there is in fact a God
like Jesus describes.
If our criteria aren't challenged,
then we're God.
We're God.
Not only we're God,
our culture is God
and we can look down our noses
at other cultures
who have different criteria
because, you know,
frankly,
we have the God criteria.
So that's one of the subtle things
which is going on
in this question.
All the times in the Bible
that in the ancient biographies
of Jesus,
when Jesus asks a question
and when he raises issues
that we feel uncomfortable with,
he's challenging our criteria,
but that's exactly
what should be happening
if there is in fact
a God that's real.
So,
read verse 35 again
and as Jesus taught
in the temple,
he said,
how can the scribes
say that the Christ,
in other words,
that's one way of saying
the Messiah,
is the son of David
and in that time period
it was recognized
that when the Messiah came,
he would be,
in a sense,
in the lineage,
the human lineage of David
that you would be able
to trace back
whom his dad was
or his mom was
and trace them back
and back and back
and back
and it would go
all the way back,
you know,
dad to baby,
you know,
dad to baby,
you know,
parents to baby,
all the way back to David
and so that was
one of his titles
and so Jesus says,
okay,
it's accepted
that he's going to be human
and he's going to be
in the lineage of David.
We all accept that
and then what he does
is he says these two things.
He says,
verse 36,
David,
that's King David,
himself,
in the Holy Spirit
declared,
and now Jesus
is going to quote
what we now know of
as Psalm 110,
verse 1.
The Lord said to my Lord,
sit at my right hand
until I put your enemies
under your feet.
Now,
King David calls his son
Lord,
so how is he his son?
And the great throng
heard him gladly.
Now,
just a couple of things
to sort of help us
to understand
what's going on here.
There's no way in English
to translate this
to capture what's going on.
It's just,
it's impossible to translate.
And that's why you need
to have gatherings like this
where we talk about it.
The first thing here,
by the way,
is
like,
true confessions,
and this isn't like coming out,
but for maybe some of you
who are guests
or some of you online,
I believe that,
on one hand,
I believe this is a work
of accurate history,
that when we read Mark,
we're reading
an accurate historical account
of things which happened
in the past.
I also believe
that every word
which is there
is the word
that God wanted there.
Now,
I don't believe this
because I'm an uneducated,
narrow-minded,
bigoted,
modernist
whose mind needs
to be decolonized.
Although,
maybe I am
all of those things.
I believe it
because I trust Jesus
as my Savior and Lord,
and that's what Jesus
just taught us
with his question.
Did you notice
what he says?
Look back at verse 35.
David,
so he's acknowledging
that David
wrote Psalm 110,
verse 1,
but he also said
that David wrote it
in the Holy Spirit.
In other words,
when you read,
the Lord said to my Lord,
sit at my right hand
until I put your enemies
under your feet,
you are hearing
the Holy Spirit
speak words
to you and me.
Unworthy,
ungrateful,
presumptuous,
ignorant,
sinful,
foolish,
all those things
that we are,
people who are going
to die someday.
This is the Holy Spirit
speaking
word by word.
That's what Jesus
is just telling us.
They're the real words
of David,
but the Holy Spirit
superintended them
so that the very words
that the Father,
the Son,
and the Holy Spirit
wanted were communicated
and written down to us.
You see,
that's one of the reasons
why if you're a guest
or you're watching online
and you're curious,
that's one of the reasons.
Like,
if in fact it really
is the case
that the triune God,
the creator and sustainer
of the entire universe,
the one who is sovereign
over the entire universe,
if he really has spoken,
doesn't it make sense
to want to sit
and listen?
And that's why
it's part of
a worship service
in a church,
not only the reading
of the scripture,
but us trying to enter
into it
and meditate upon it
and hear it speak
directly to us.
But here's the other thing
which is going on
in the text.
In the original Hebrew,
and all of,
not all,
but most of the hearers
would have understood this
when Jesus was speaking.
What he says is this.
Look at verse 36.
He's quoting Psalm 110.
The Yahweh said to my Adonai,
sit at my right hand
until I put your enemies
under your feet.
David himself calls him Adonai,
so how is he his son?
And the throng heard him greatly.
Now Yahweh
is the ancient Jewish name,
a covenant name for God.
He is the true God
that exists
that's over all things
and he is the God
who is in a covenant relationship.
A covenant relationship
is sort of like a marriage
with his people.
And maybe another way
to put it is
every one of my kids
at some point in time
in their life,
they would call me George.
And I would correct them
and say there's
eight billion people
in the world
who can call me George.
There's only nine
who can call me Dad.
And you're one of them.
So call me Dad.
It's a special covenant name.
And so there's all sorts of ways
to talk about God
and the high God,
but for the Jewish people,
it's Yahweh.
And that became
such a special name
that we don't even know
if we're pronouncing
the name correctly now
because that's a whole other
long story.
But the other thing is
that in the Old Testament,
one of the most other
common names for God
was Adonai.
And it means most high,
the most high ruler,
the highest of all gods.
If you went to the pagan Romans,
if you went to the pagan Greeks
and they believe in,
I don't know,
50, 100, 200, 300 gods,
and if they have a sense
that there might be a high God,
when a Jewish person said Adonai,
they would mean
above all gods,
above all gods and goddesses
that you think you know,
above all of them is Adonai.
And so that's what's going on
in the text.
And Jesus is just pointing out
this is a really weird thing.
Yahweh says to Adonai,
but David also knows,
we all know that the Messiah,
everybody knew this was
a messianic text,
that the Messiah was going to come,
but now, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa,
the Messiah is called Adonai?
And how can the Messiah
be both a human being
and be God?
And Jesus is posing
a riddle to them,
a riddle that he himself
would show that he is
the answer to the riddle,
because he's ultimately
referring to himself.
And this is going to become
very important
when we talk about money
and when we talk about
climbing the greasy pole
and stepping on people,
because what Jesus is saying here,
I mean, part of,
why is it that I as a,
I mean, there's all sorts of reasons
why I as a Christian
believe that Jesus,
in fact, is the Messiah,
that he is both fully human
and fully God,
but not two different beings,
but one person,
Jesus, the Christ,
the Son of God,
the second person
of the Trinity,
who set aside his glory
and divine prerogatives
and his appearance of God
as God,
and emptied himself
and takes the form
of a servant
and comes
and he becomes Emmanuel,
he comes and lives
amongst us
in all of our mess,
and he lives amongst us,
and what Jesus
is saying here,
just remember,
this is two days
before he dies
on the cross,
Jesus is telling them,
when you see me
hanging on the cross,
you are seeing Adonai
hanging on the cross,
that is who is dying,
you are seeing the Messiah,
the Christ,
you are seeing God
die on the cross,
and that is nonsense
to all human categories,
the prime minister
sends others
to go to die in war,
the king sends others
to go to die in war,
the prime minister,
the king,
are protected by others
at the cost of their life,
and Jesus is revealing
that all of those
depictions of God
that fit in our categories
are massively missing
the God
who actually does exist
because the God
who actually does exist
isn't the God
who sends others
to die for his glory,
but he is one
who dies for others
so they might be glorified.
He becomes rich,
that we,
through his poverty,
sorry,
he became poor
so that we,
through his poverty,
might become rich.
We'll see how it works out
in a very common human problem
which is described
immediately afterwards,
and it's actually,
as you look at these
two common human problems
that come right after this,
you start to get a sense
of the deep emotional power
once you come to accept
that Christ is in fact
the Savior and the Lord,
that the gospel is true,
that there is this profound
good news
that God loves you so much
that he himself
emptied himself
of all of his glory
and splendor
and divine prerogatives.
He emptied himself
of all of that
and emptied himself
of all of the praise
which was due with him,
and he left the safety
and the glory of heaven
to come and live amongst us
and experience human life
in all of its fullness,
and then out of love for you,
he dies in your place
and in your stead.
Out of love for you.
This is a story of one,
of two things.
Your need for salvation,
your potential doom
is vastly worse
than the worst
three o'clock in the morning
time you have ever had
when you wake up terribly anxious.
Your condition is actually
vastly worse.
But on the other hand,
you are vastly more loved
than you can possibly imagine.
And that is the news
of the gospel.
You are vastly more loved
than you can dare to dream.
Look how it works out
in this.
This is a problem
of appearances
and of climbing
the greasy pole
and of,
well, look what Jesus says,
verse 38.
And in his teaching,
he said,
beware of the scribes
who like to walk around
in long robes
and like greetings
in the marketplaces
and have the best seats
in the synagogue
and the places of honor
at feasts.
And then look at this
little neat little thing
he puts in,
who devour
widows' houses
and for a pretense
make long prayers.
And look at this.
This is really
a sobering thing.
I mean,
on one level,
he's talking about
the general problem of,
he's talking about
the general problem
of hypocrisy.
He's talking about
the general problem
that we appear
to be one thing
but we're actually
something very different.
He's talking about
the problem
of how we look
to the rich
or we look
to the popular
or we look
to the powerful
and we do things
to cater their favor.
We do things
so that they'll like us,
that the rich person
will like us,
that the powerful person
would like us,
that the influential person
would like us,
that if we're in business
or government
we look for
who the cool person is,
the person on the up and coming
and we try to ingratiate
ourselves into them
and fit in with them
and fit in with their circle
in the hope
that as they rise
that we will rise with them
and it's a very,
very common human problem.
And on one level,
Jesus' words
is speaking to this
common human problem
but he's also looking
very specifically
into that
which is the visible church
and he's making it say
that it's very possible
for me as a minister
to start to maybe,
you know,
to want to just look
with appearances
and whatever's going
to make myself
more popular
and maybe bring in crowds
or maybe bring in more money
or, you know,
maybe get,
you know,
have more,
you know,
influence,
have more,
whatever it is,
that it's easy for me
to change the way I dress,
the way I speak,
the topics I speak on
and do all of these
types of things
because I want to connect
with the rich,
the popular
and the powerful
and I want to move up
and if I want to move up
I step on those
who are little people
because that's the only way
you move up.
You can't move up
to those people
without stepping on little people.
It's completely
and utterly impossible.
If you're spending
all your time
looking up
at those people,
you don't see the others
that you're stepping on
and we all know it
and Jesus says
that when it happens
within the visible church,
when he says
the greater condemnation,
he doesn't say this
about LGBTQ plus activists.
He doesn't say it
about the people
who are off
just spending all their time
drinking in bars.
He says it about people
like me
and you.
This is a profound
warning to us.
And you see,
we're going to get
to the good news
in a moment.
But you see how
there's this very,
very profound
if in fact
the news
that I have just
shared with you
at different times
throughout this sermon
and the news
of this
that Jesus is saying
all of this
just before he dies
on the cross.
Nobody thinks
he looks like God.
Nobody thinks
he's anybody special.
He doesn't have
any armies.
He doesn't have
a PhD.
He doesn't have
villas.
He doesn't have
sermons.
He's a nobody.
And he dies
on a cross
stripped naked
not even having
his clothes
at the end
as they embarrass him
and humiliate him.
The religious leaders
and the cultural leaders
and the political leaders
and the intellectual leaders
and the aesthetic leaders
who want to climb
the greasy ladder
have stepped
on him
on their way
up
that
greasy
pole.
He's the one
stepped on
on the way up.
and he does it
out of love
for you and me.
And you see
if
you begin
to have the gospel
become
if you realize
I can give
my life to Christ
it's
it makes sense
it's
what I need
it's the
I need to give
my life to Christ
and it's the story
of Christ
and the good news
of what he has done
for us
as that starts
to become more real
to us
at a deep level
it forms us
not to be a person
who is going to be
one thing in public
and another thing
in private
who's going to be one
who's never looking
at the little people
and we don't care
if we step on them
it's going to create
within us
a very different thing
because our
our imagination
and our heart
is captivated
by the picture
and the truth
of God
setting aside
his glory
and divine prerogatives
and entering
into our human existence
entering into the existence
of the little people
the forgotten people
that they might loved
and lovely be
at a very very deep level
it starts to form us
in a very different
way of living
but it's exactly
the way of living
that most Canadians want
we do not want
to be separate people
and for most people
we might brush it off
if somebody
if you confronted somebody
about how they've
stepped on this person
and this person
up to the top
and you confronted
them about it
and they might
they might rail at you
and stuff like that
but inwardly
they would either rage
or be ashamed
because nobody
wants to be that guy
nobody wants to be
that gal
and what we see here
is at a very very
very deep level
Jesus is forming us
for something
that on one level
we deeply
deeply deeply
desire to be
when we accept
the gospel
it's in that context
that he talks
about money
now just before
I read this
I'm going to have
my standard caveat
if you're here today
and you don't know
what you think
about Jesus
you're not sure
whether you
believe in him
or want to belong
to him
maybe you're thinking
you're going to leave
maybe you're trying
to figure out
what to do
if you're watching
online
and you're just curious
so I love
what
before you hear
anything else
just listen to
what he has to say
but I want to make
you aware
of the fact
that the council
and myself
would like it
if that describes
you
you haven't given
your life to Christ
we don't want you
to give us any money
like really
literally
we don't want you
to give us any money
because it's not
about money
it's about
figuring out
whether Jesus
is in fact
the one
who can reconcile
you to the
triune God
the creator
and sustainer
of all things
and that's the
great existential
question
and money
is completely
and utterly
irrelevant
and
and I'll explain
in a moment
why Jesus
says what he says
and why it matters
to us
once we're
following him
but if you
haven't decided
to follow him
yet
we don't want
your money
not about money
it really isn't
what does Jesus
say
and this is a
very scary thing
it touches on
our deep fears
about Christ
and money
verse 41
and he sat down
opposite the treasury
and watched the people
putting money
into the offering
box
many rich people
put in large sums
and a poor widow
came in and put in
two small copper coins
which make a penny
now that's a very
inadequate translation
and there's not really
any good way
to make an English
translation
unless if you had
a study bible
or something
there might be
a footnote there
I looked up
the average
Canadian salary
and so basically
what you understand
is imagine
that in Canadian
society
and I've known
people who've
had to
had their money
managed for them
and so every day
they have a couple
of dollars
or whatever the
amount is in the
bank
and five days a
week they get
money available
to them
and in Canadian
in our current
current day
this is somebody
who every day
from Monday to
Friday gets
two toonies
that's what it
means for Canadians
two toonies
four bucks
Monday
Tuesday
Wednesday
Thursday
Friday
they go to
wherever the
social service
center
hand them
two toonies
and that's
what she has
to live on
and she
puts both
of them
aside for the
glory of God
now
and then
Jesus says
this
verse 43
and he
calls his
disciples
to him
and said
to them
truly I
say to
you
this
poor
widow
has put
in more
than all
those
who are
contributing
to the
offering
box
for they
all
contributed
out of
their
abundance
but she
out of
her
poverty
has put
in
everything
she
had
all
she
had
to
live
on
be a
little
bit
as if
Bill
Gates
came
to
visit
us
and by
the
way
Bill
if
you're
watching
you're
always
welcome
but he
comes
and after
the
sermon
he
you know
ignores
what I've
said
about not
giving us
money
and he
writes us
a check
for
$25,000
I don't
know how many
billions he has
left over
but he has
lots
of billions
left over
after $25,000
my guess is
most of you
here
couldn't drop
a check
for $25,000
very easily
maybe a couple
of you could
but
here's the
deep fear
we have
with the
text
if we're
honest
with it
what is
Jesus
doing
here
George
don't
you
think
this
woman
was
foolish
George
don't
you
think
does
God
just
want
us
to be
poor
George
I
would
like
to
be
able
to
own
a
condo
or
a
house
someday
I
want
to
make
some
money
so
I
can
just
like
I
don't
want
to
have
a
McMansion
I
would
just
like
to
be
able
to
have
a
house
of
my
own
and yet
Jesus
seems
to be
talking
here
in a
particular
way
as if
what
he
wants
is
that
the
best
thing
I
could
possibly
be
is
a
poor
widow
giving
all
of
my
money
until
I
starve
to
death
like
George
this
just
seems
to be
completely
kooky
doesn't
he
know
what
it's
like
to
be
human
doesn't
he
know
what
it's
like
to
have
to
worry
about
money
doesn't
he
know
the
answer
is
he
does
know
all
of
those
things
he
does
know
all
of
those
things
and
if
we
just
listen
to
our
heart
for
a
second
why
is
it
that
it
would
be
like
a
dagger
in
our
heart
if
all
of
a
sudden
I
don't
know
God
showed
up
just
in
front
of
us
and
said
I
need
you
to
write
a
check
for
$3,000
and
for
almost
every
single
one
of
us
here
that
would
be
like
that's
not
all
your
money
in
most
cases
here
probably
but
why
is
it
that
we
get
so
anxious
around
money
and
why
is
it
that
we
hate
being
anxious
around
money
yet
we
are
anxious
around
money
and
you
know
if
you
think
about
it
for
a
second
if
you're
anxious
around
money
and
you're
having
problems
with
money
doesn't
that
usually
indicate
that
you
need
someone
who
loves
you
so
much
that
he
died
for
you
that
maybe
you
need
his
help
with
your
money
it's
not
that
he
wants
us
to
be
poor
first
of
all
Jesus
is
pointing
to
what
he's
about
to
do
on
the
cross
Flannery
O'Connor
wrote
a book
back
in the
50s
and
one
of
her
lines
in it
which
I
love
is
that
you
can't
be
poorer
than
dead
you
can't
be
poorer
than
dead
and
Jesus
literally
does
he
is
the
true
and
greater
widow
he
literally
truly
gives
all
that
he
has
there's
a
very
wonderful
quote
I'm
sure
St.
Paul
was
thinking
about
this
story
when
he
wrote
this
wonderful
quote
it's
not
going
to
be
up
on
your
screen
you
just
have
to
listen
to
it
it's
2nd
Corinthians
chapter
8
verses
9
and
10
and
it
says
this
for
you
know
the
for
your
sake
he
became
poor
so
that
you
by
his
poverty
might
become
rich
you
know
if
you
think
about
it
for
a
second
there's
no
free
lunch
about
15
years
ago
there
was
a
very
wealthy
man
in
the
congregation
and
he
invited
me
out
and
Louise
out
to
a
$500
a plate
banquet
this
is
15
years
ago
I
don't
know
what
that
would
be
today
with
inflation
a
$1,500
$2,000
a plate
banquet
and he
invited
us
to it
and of
course
Louise
said
oh yeah
we have
like an
extra
$2,000
each
in our
pockets
we'll
buy
no
we
said
we
can't
afford
it
I
said
no
it's
on us
it's
on me
it's
on me
you're
my
guest
now
did
I
get
a
free
meal
yeah
was
the
meal
free
no
for
Tom
to
take
us
out
to
that
meal
in
today's
dollars
he
was
out
four
grand
somebody
had
to
pay
and
what
Jesus
is
saying
here
is
that
he
is
going
to
pour
himself
out
he
is
pouring
himself
he
is
becoming
completely
and utterly
poor
and he's
becoming
poor
so he
will pay
the cost
that you
cannot
pay
he
will
pay
to
cover
that
heavenly
banquet
and that
time
of
eternity
that
you
cannot
possibly
ever
imaginatively
pay
and he
will
pay
it
all
and he
does
it
all
for
you
out
of
love
for
you
and
it's
not
that
these
things
are
free
they
come
at
a
cost
but
he
bears
the
cost
not
you
he
offers
it
to
you
completely
and utterly
out
of
grace
and
out
of
love
and
so
when
we
see
Jesus
dying
on
the
cross
we
see
him
dying
on
the
cross
to
pay
that
price
that
we
cannot
says
he
pays
it
for
the
hypocrites
he
pays
it
for
the
people
who
climb
the
greasy
pole
he
pays
it
for
the
people
who
are
squashed
by
the
greasy
pole
he
pays
it
for
the
indifferent
rich
he
pays
it
for
the
poor
widows
he
pays
it
for
you
and
me
that's
who
he
pays
it
for
you
and
me
this
is
not
a
text
to
condemn
us
but
to
show
us
our
need
for
a
savior
and
here's
the
thing
how
can
I
say
that
I
follow
the
one
who
is
meek
and
lowly
if
I
am
arrogant
shouldn't
it
mean
that
if
my
heart
is
set
on
the
one
who
in
meekness
and
lowliness
died
for
me
that
I
should
learn
to
be
meek
and
lowly
how
can
I
say
that
I
follow
the
man
who
shunned
appearances
to
really
deal
with
reality
if
I
in
my
life
only
want
to
deal
with
appearances
and
not
reality
shouldn't
that
wonderful
tale
that
he
in
reality
deals
even
if
the
appearances
don't
seem
to
match
up
shouldn't
that
form
within
me
this
deep
desire
for
integrity
and
how
can
I
say
I
follow
the
God
who
gave
him
his
all
if
I
give
nothing
how
does
that
make
any
sense
to say
that I
am being
saved by
the one
who has
given it
all if
I give
nothing
I'm
not
we're
going to
say this
right now
just so
it's
very
out
front
by
those
of you
who know
me
know
that I
am
not
even
remotely
organized
enough
to
orchestrate
anything
like
this
like
you
know
me
I
used
to
say
regularly
people
who
don't
like
organized
religion
should
come
to
my
church
because
we have
disorganized
religion
lots of
times
but
I was
going to
in the
announcements
announce
that those
of you
who call
this your
church home
just so
you know
that as
of the
end of
last
Sunday
we needed
$58,000
to balance
our books
I didn't
preach this
sermon
because of
that
complete and
utter coincidence
really is
or providence
I didn't plan
it that way
and I'm not
preaching this
sermon because
we have a need
for $58,000
to balance
our books
I present
that to
you for
this is
your
church
home
whether
you're
online
or here
and not
everybody
can give
that much
money
but everybody
can pray
and pray
that we
as a church
are always
seeking to
know God
to do
his will
to bring
him glory
to make
a difference
in the
world
for him
trusting
that he
will supply
the issue
isn't about
that the
issue here
is about
how can
you follow
the God
who gave
himself
for you
if you
never
give
the Bible
gives you
a very
very rough
estimate of
how to
handle that
generosity
and what
it is
and it's
called a
tithe
it's 10%
of your
income
which is
a shock
and when
Louise and
I began
to move
towards
tithing
we didn't
do it
by just
instantly
doing
because we
were
scaredy
cats
or I
was probably
more of a
scaredy
cat
Louise is
less of a
scaredy
cat
than I
am
and but
we moved
to that
point where
we would
give 10%
of our
income
to the
local
church
and to
others
for the
furtherance
of the
gospel
and that's
just a
very simple
rule of
thumb
to understand
what it
means to
follow the
one whose
gave is
all for
you
and that
means you
are going
to be
formed to
be one
who gives
and once
again that's
the answer
to our
longings and
our yearnings
nobody at
their funeral
if you could
go over here
what people
said nobody
would want
at their
funeral to
say you
know the
problem with
George is he
was really
cheap
the problem
with George
is he was
really miserly
the problem
with George
is he was
unbelievably
ungenerous
if I was
to hear that
I would be
crushed
what would
we like
people to
say
we'd like
to hear
people say
you know
the problem
with George
is he was
too generous
the problem
is that
you know
Sue is
too giving
the problem
with Bob
is they
just
he's so
giving
it's almost
like a
problem
wouldn't
that be
the error
we'd like
to have
to be
known for
let's
stand
and bow
our heads
in prayer
and if
you're here
or you're
watching
online
and if
you'd like
to know
more about
Jesus
let us
know
we'd love
to connect
you with
some people
who could
just walk
with you
as you
maybe look
at one
of the
gospels
Mark
or John
and talk
it through
so you
get to
know
him
and
maybe
it is
that you've
never really
considered
Christ
but now
you feel
maybe
that you
should
become
his child
by adoption
and grace
there's
no better
time
than now
than just
to stop
listening to
me
and say
Jesus
please
I need
you to
be my
savior
and Lord
please
take me
and if
you say
that
with your
heart
he will
never
turn you
away
he will
take you
as his
own
and for
all of us
let's
pray
father
you know
how anxious
we are
about money
you know
how anxious
we are
about appearances
you know
how anxious
we are
about our
health
and how
anxious
we can
get about
our future
you know
how anxious
we can be
about relationships
you know
how anxious
we can be
about having
our needs
met
and father
we know
that you
you know
these things
about us
and still
you love
us
and you
have
invited us
to be
your children
by adoption
and grace
you have
provided
a wonderful
savior
for us
who loves
us
loved us
to the
point of
death
and rose
from the
dead
and has
come into
our lives
and this
is your
world
you are
our father
in heaven
and we
give you
thanks
and praise
that you
know us
and that we
can pour
out our
hearts
to you
about the
things that
make us
worried
and afraid
and the
things that
we feel
guilty about
and that
everything
about you
all you know
all of these
things and
you and you
knowing them
all you still
sent jesus
to die on
the cross
for us
because you
love us
and so we
thank and
praise you
help us
father to
make the
gospel so
real to
our hearts
that we
can be
more and
more honest
to you
and pour
out our
hearts
to you
and that
we can
pour out
our hearts
to your
people
and with
one another
and feel
through their
arms and
their prayers
your love
and concern
for us
and lord we
ask that you
help us to
be people
of integrity
to put
aside the
appearances
that so
beguile us
to help us
to put aside
trying to
step on
others in
our pursuit
of the
popular
the powerful
the influential
as we try
to climb
the greasy
pole
and father
help us
to be so
enamored
and in
love with
the gospel
that we
like him
might become
people who
are people
of giving
and generosity
and you know
how hard it
is we ask
that you
help us
to trust
you that
you will
only walk
with us
through the
world of
appearances
and money
and all
those other
things in
hypocrisy
that you
will walk
with us
in a way
that leads
to our
freedom
and our
wholeness
and our
integrity
and our
beauty
and our
loveliness
because
you died
for the
loveless
that loved
and lovely
we might
be
please make
the gospel
more real
to our
heart
we ask
this in
the name
of Jesus
your son
and our
savior
and all
God's
people said
amen