WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:09.000 We are in a series on the Gospel of Mark looking at the life of Jesus week by week. 00:00:09.000 --> 00:00:13.700 And today is our very last look at the Gospel of Mark until February of the year of our 00:00:13.700 --> 00:00:15.720 Lord 2024. 00:00:15.720 --> 00:00:17.120 So this is the end for now. 00:00:17.120 --> 00:00:19.820 We'll revisit next year. 00:00:19.820 --> 00:00:23.219 This is about true discipleship, the passage Nor just read for us. 00:00:23.219 --> 00:00:28.699 And so let's jump right in because there's four things, not three things to see today. 00:00:28.699 --> 00:00:31.399 We've got to get started fast. 00:00:31.399 --> 00:00:34.679 The first is the nature of true discipleship. 00:00:34.679 --> 00:00:39.439 And then after I say what that is, I'm going to give you the other three. 00:00:39.439 --> 00:00:40.439 Why? 00:00:40.439 --> 00:00:41.439 Because drama. 00:00:41.439 --> 00:00:42.600 That's what you have to do. 00:00:42.600 --> 00:00:44.359 You have to create drama. 00:00:44.359 --> 00:00:46.200 So there's three points you don't yet know. 00:00:46.200 --> 00:00:47.560 Otherwise, you'll go to sleep. 00:00:47.560 --> 00:00:48.560 Something to look forward to. 00:00:48.560 --> 00:00:49.560 All right. 00:00:49.560 --> 00:00:53.320 So first, the nature of true discipleship. 00:00:53.320 --> 00:00:57.200 The whole of chapter 12, we're reading the very end of it. 00:00:57.200 --> 00:01:01.440 This has been attacked really by the Sanhedrin. 00:01:01.440 --> 00:01:04.680 The Sanhedrin are the religious elite of the time. 00:01:04.680 --> 00:01:07.799 It's the Pharisees, Sadducees and scribes. 00:01:07.799 --> 00:01:13.520 And each of them have asked Jesus a question, a theological question and a political question. 00:01:13.520 --> 00:01:19.520 And it says in verse 34 right before the beginning of our passage in verse 35, it says, they 00:01:19.520 --> 00:01:22.640 dared not ask him any more questions. 00:01:22.640 --> 00:01:23.840 They tried to trap him. 00:01:23.840 --> 00:01:25.060 It did not work. 00:01:25.060 --> 00:01:26.600 He came out of it pretty well. 00:01:26.599 --> 00:01:27.719 Every single time. 00:01:27.719 --> 00:01:30.159 So they didn't dare ask him another question. 00:01:30.159 --> 00:01:32.799 And so now it's Jesus' turn. 00:01:32.799 --> 00:01:36.199 And he has a theological question to ask the scribes. 00:01:36.199 --> 00:01:39.119 The question about David's son in Psalm 110. 00:01:39.119 --> 00:01:42.560 We'll come back to that toward the end of our time. 00:01:42.560 --> 00:01:49.319 But more than questions, after a long chapter about questions, theological questions, Jesus, 00:01:49.319 --> 00:01:55.280 you'll notice instead draws his disciples in towards him in verse 43. 00:01:55.280 --> 00:02:01.680 He calls them to him and he wants his disciples to look at a person. 00:02:01.680 --> 00:02:06.840 So he's standing in a public court in the temple where people give their offering. 00:02:06.840 --> 00:02:12.080 And instead of going on about some of the theological questions people were having, he draws the 00:02:12.080 --> 00:02:15.240 disciples close and says, look at that person. 00:02:15.240 --> 00:02:17.280 I want you to see her. 00:02:17.280 --> 00:02:23.439 And the person that he points to is this poor widow who's giving her tithe, her gift in 00:02:23.439 --> 00:02:25.479 the offering box. 00:02:25.479 --> 00:02:27.240 And the question is why? 00:02:27.240 --> 00:02:33.280 Why does Jesus want to pull the disciples in, to pull all of us in to say, look at the 00:02:33.280 --> 00:02:35.800 widow, look at the poor widow? 00:02:35.800 --> 00:02:43.479 What is it about her that gives her this honor of being memorialized forever in holy scripture? 00:02:43.479 --> 00:02:46.360 One day we will get to Lord willing, learn her name. 00:02:46.360 --> 00:02:48.560 I look forward to that in heaven. 00:02:48.560 --> 00:02:49.560 Here she is. 00:02:49.560 --> 00:02:50.560 He says, look at her. 00:02:50.560 --> 00:02:51.560 Why? 00:02:51.560 --> 00:02:52.960 Why is she so significant? 00:02:52.960 --> 00:02:58.200 And what he says about her is that she is true. 00:02:58.200 --> 00:02:59.200 She's an image. 00:02:59.200 --> 00:03:02.120 She's an example of true discipleship. 00:03:02.120 --> 00:03:03.120 And that's the main idea. 00:03:03.120 --> 00:03:06.640 That's the big idea of the whole of what we've just read. 00:03:06.640 --> 00:03:11.719 Let me just say it in large form, the big idea, and we'll come back to the details in the 00:03:11.719 --> 00:03:12.920 next points. 00:03:12.920 --> 00:03:14.280 But you'll see it in verse 44. 00:03:14.280 --> 00:03:22.560 In verse 44, Jesus says, all the rich people, all the scribes contributed to the offering 00:03:22.560 --> 00:03:28.240 in the temple out of their abundance, out of their margin, out of their extra. 00:03:28.240 --> 00:03:35.599 But she, out of her lack, very literally, out of her lack, she put in everything. 00:03:35.599 --> 00:03:37.280 Now here's the big idea. 00:03:37.280 --> 00:03:42.439 That very last little clause in verse 44, if you have a bulletin, you can see it there 00:03:42.439 --> 00:03:44.280 or a Bible open. 00:03:44.280 --> 00:03:49.480 The ESV says, all she had to live on. 00:03:49.479 --> 00:03:53.119 One of the English translations, our interpreters, are translators. 00:03:53.119 --> 00:03:58.399 They have to sometimes interpret some Greek or Hebrew phrases and give them to us that 00:03:58.399 --> 00:03:59.399 way. 00:03:59.399 --> 00:04:00.560 And they've done that here. 00:04:00.560 --> 00:04:02.000 And it's good and right. 00:04:02.000 --> 00:04:08.399 But the ESV here doesn't give you it simple enough, and so it doesn't give it to you full 00:04:08.399 --> 00:04:09.599 enough. 00:04:09.599 --> 00:04:14.399 And so I want to say it, and I'll say it to you with the two Greek words that Mark writes 00:04:14.399 --> 00:04:17.639 here because you'll hear them and you'll know them when I say them. 00:04:17.639 --> 00:04:22.639 It says here at the very end, after it says she, out of her poverty, put in everything 00:04:22.639 --> 00:04:28.479 she had, and literally it says whole bio. 00:04:28.479 --> 00:04:33.159 WHLE in English, whole bio, meaning life. 00:04:33.159 --> 00:04:37.279 The study of biology is the study of life, and in Greek, bios, bio. 00:04:37.279 --> 00:04:44.079 It says, all it says is she gave her whole life. 00:04:44.079 --> 00:04:47.879 So Jesus takes it beyond money at the very end. 00:04:47.879 --> 00:04:50.839 He says not that it's about her offering. 00:04:50.839 --> 00:04:57.639 No, she had given, he says, her whole life, all of who she was. 00:04:57.639 --> 00:05:00.039 And that's true discipleship. 00:05:00.039 --> 00:05:06.959 True discipleship, Jesus is saying, is giving your whole life, your whole self away to God. 00:05:06.959 --> 00:05:07.959 That's it. 00:05:07.959 --> 00:05:09.719 Okay, there's point one, the big idea. 00:05:09.719 --> 00:05:11.560 Now points two, three, and four. 00:05:11.560 --> 00:05:16.280 True discipleship is giving your whole life to God. 00:05:16.280 --> 00:05:19.600 And I want to take that little phrase, your whole life to God, give your whole life to 00:05:19.600 --> 00:05:22.399 God, and take it in reverse. 00:05:22.399 --> 00:05:28.240 So let's think about what it means to give it to God, and then to give your whole life, 00:05:28.240 --> 00:05:30.120 and then what it means to give. 00:05:30.120 --> 00:05:32.439 So go backwards in that sequence. 00:05:32.439 --> 00:05:37.279 So second, true discipleship is to give your whole life to God. 00:05:37.279 --> 00:05:44.439 And that means that you were made for God, from God, to God, that everything about you 00:05:44.439 --> 00:05:47.319 is from God and for God. 00:05:47.319 --> 00:05:49.359 Everything is about being unto God. 00:05:49.359 --> 00:05:52.839 That's what one of the ways Jesus frames it for us here. 00:05:52.839 --> 00:05:54.000 Now how does he teach us that? 00:05:54.000 --> 00:05:55.799 Here's how he teaches us. 00:05:55.799 --> 00:06:00.359 Sometimes to understand what Jesus is trying to get at, you've got to look at what he points 00:06:00.359 --> 00:06:03.159 to as the opposite. 00:06:03.160 --> 00:06:08.560 So he says, look at the widow, that's true discipleship. 00:06:08.560 --> 00:06:10.840 And to understand what that means, you've got to look at the opposite. 00:06:10.840 --> 00:06:17.840 And he gave us the opposite in the story, he's pointing out the scribes just before the widow. 00:06:17.840 --> 00:06:23.400 So you can see that in verse 38, he says in verse 38, beware of the scribes. 00:06:23.400 --> 00:06:25.879 Beware of the scribes. 00:06:25.879 --> 00:06:27.120 Why? 00:06:27.120 --> 00:06:31.879 These are the religious elite, and particularly their role in the Sanhedrin was that they 00:06:31.879 --> 00:06:36.519 are the scholars, the intellectuals, the academics of the day. 00:06:36.519 --> 00:06:42.920 So Jesus is saying, he's pointing out that these men have a very good intellectual grasp 00:06:42.920 --> 00:06:47.120 on the things of God, but they do not follow God. 00:06:47.120 --> 00:06:53.319 So he says, and this can happen, he says, they are theologians, but not disciples. 00:06:53.319 --> 00:06:57.759 They have an intellectual grasp on the things of the Lord, but they do not follow the Lord. 00:06:57.759 --> 00:07:02.800 In other words, he's saying they've given their minds to God, but not their hearts to God. 00:07:02.800 --> 00:07:03.879 And that those are two different things. 00:07:03.879 --> 00:07:07.759 They know about God, but they don't know God. 00:07:07.759 --> 00:07:10.039 And he gives it to you in a very particular word. 00:07:10.039 --> 00:07:14.240 He says they live just after that for appearances. 00:07:14.240 --> 00:07:19.680 So they want to be seen, they want to be known, they want to use their religion to live for 00:07:19.680 --> 00:07:22.159 public appearances, how he puts it. 00:07:22.160 --> 00:07:29.400 Now, that means that when Jesus says beware of the scribe, he is saying that the scribe 00:07:29.400 --> 00:07:33.360 stands for something much bigger than the scribe. 00:07:33.360 --> 00:07:38.800 The scribe is just a particular external form of something much deeper, and he's saying 00:07:38.800 --> 00:07:42.400 you need to beware of the inner scribe. 00:07:42.400 --> 00:07:48.280 John 2.25, Jesus looks out at humanity, every single person he had ever encountered so far 00:07:48.279 --> 00:07:53.639 in the gospel, and it says Jesus did not have to be taught about the human heart. 00:07:53.639 --> 00:07:57.559 He knew what was in the heart of every single human. 00:07:57.559 --> 00:08:02.879 And what is in the heart of every single human, according to the Bible, is the inner scribe. 00:08:02.879 --> 00:08:10.439 And the inner scribe is the natural instinct of the human ego to be entirely self-absorbed, 00:08:10.439 --> 00:08:14.119 to be the center of our own universe. 00:08:14.119 --> 00:08:16.279 And it's not just the scribe, it's the inner scribe. 00:08:16.279 --> 00:08:20.879 The inner scribe comes out in the outer scribe, and every single person has in them, every 00:08:20.879 --> 00:08:23.439 single one of us has in us the inner scribe. 00:08:23.439 --> 00:08:27.319 The fact that we live in the center of the universe. 00:08:27.319 --> 00:08:33.120 The universe is our universe, that we are fundamentally, Jesus is saying here, self-absorbed. 00:08:33.120 --> 00:08:34.120 And that's what he's pointing out. 00:08:34.120 --> 00:08:35.120 A.W. 00:08:35.120 --> 00:08:38.879 Tozer called it the self-life, the life entirely devoted to the self. 00:08:38.879 --> 00:08:40.759 Now, here are the details, a couple of details. 00:08:40.759 --> 00:08:46.720 So it says in verse 38 that they love to walk around in long robes. 00:08:46.720 --> 00:08:47.960 So they were the best clothing. 00:08:47.960 --> 00:08:50.720 The long rope here is the tallit. 00:08:50.720 --> 00:08:53.279 It's a prayer shawl, actually. 00:08:53.279 --> 00:08:57.679 And it flowed from the head all the way down to the ground, and it had tassels coming out 00:08:57.679 --> 00:08:58.679 all around. 00:08:58.679 --> 00:09:04.559 Now, in an age where almost every single person only had one pair of clothing, the Sanhedrin 00:09:04.559 --> 00:09:08.159 wore this very elaborate, very luxurious prayer shawl. 00:09:08.159 --> 00:09:10.000 It wasn't about prayer. 00:09:10.000 --> 00:09:11.000 It was about luxury. 00:09:11.000 --> 00:09:12.000 It was about wealth. 00:09:12.000 --> 00:09:14.000 It was about being seen, appearances. 00:09:14.000 --> 00:09:19.120 And then he tells us they love to receive greetings, verse 38, in the marketplaces and 00:09:19.120 --> 00:09:22.879 the best, the seat of honor at all the banquets. 00:09:22.879 --> 00:09:27.840 So it was expected in this age that when the Sanhedrin walked into the temple, walked into 00:09:27.840 --> 00:09:33.639 the room, walked into the synagogue, everybody that's not Sanhedrin was expected to stand 00:09:33.639 --> 00:09:38.000 before them and to wait to be seated until the Sanhedrin had been seated. 00:09:38.000 --> 00:09:44.279 So they expected this atmosphere, this air of dignity all around them. 00:09:44.279 --> 00:09:48.320 It says that they always have the best seats in the synagogue. 00:09:48.320 --> 00:09:52.720 So in the synagogue, the seats of the Sanhedrin face the congregation. 00:09:52.720 --> 00:09:57.480 So they would come in for worship, and instead of facing towards the object of worship, the 00:09:57.480 --> 00:10:01.600 Sanhedrin would sit up here and look out at everybody else while they worshiped. 00:10:01.600 --> 00:10:03.960 So they loved the best seats. 00:10:03.960 --> 00:10:07.919 How about that, VIP seating in church? 00:10:07.919 --> 00:10:11.799 And then lastly, it says that they, we'll come back around to this, but they love to 00:10:11.799 --> 00:10:15.919 make long prayers for pretense, and they devoured widows' houses. 00:10:15.919 --> 00:10:17.919 They were self-important. 00:10:17.919 --> 00:10:19.839 They lived for appearances. 00:10:19.839 --> 00:10:24.120 Jesus is saying that that is in every single one of us. 00:10:24.120 --> 00:10:27.839 That you can't look at the scribe and say, oh, I see it, it's so obvious, they lived 00:10:27.839 --> 00:10:30.799 for appearances, they're a walking Jane Austen novel. 00:10:30.799 --> 00:10:35.559 No, he's saying that this is the human heart. 00:10:35.559 --> 00:10:37.279 It's self-absorbed. 00:10:37.279 --> 00:10:40.079 And so the Bible says that this is us. 00:10:40.079 --> 00:10:42.319 It's the natural condition of the human ego. 00:10:42.319 --> 00:10:44.480 Paul uses the word when he talks about this. 00:10:44.480 --> 00:10:51.039 For all of us, he says, he uses a word for pride that is very literally inflation, or 00:10:51.039 --> 00:10:52.759 to be self-inflated. 00:10:52.759 --> 00:10:59.600 So it's got this idea of self-absorption where it's like pumping up a balloon. 00:10:59.600 --> 00:11:04.399 And the ego is always trying to fill the balloon, pumping helium, helium, helium into the self, 00:11:04.399 --> 00:11:09.759 doing things to appear to be great, to appear to be respectable, to appear to be a good 00:11:09.759 --> 00:11:10.759 person. 00:11:10.759 --> 00:11:11.759 That's religion. 00:11:11.759 --> 00:11:12.799 That's religion. 00:11:12.799 --> 00:11:15.559 And the helium is always leaking out. 00:11:15.559 --> 00:11:18.639 And so you're always trying to inflate and inflate and inflate and reinflate. 00:11:18.639 --> 00:11:20.000 That's the human ego. 00:11:20.000 --> 00:11:22.959 That's the life of self-absorption. 00:11:22.959 --> 00:11:25.720 This is the story that Jesus is telling. 00:11:25.720 --> 00:11:27.220 It's this. 00:11:27.220 --> 00:11:30.120 You were made for God. 00:11:30.120 --> 00:11:31.879 You were made for God and to God. 00:11:31.879 --> 00:11:37.240 You were made by God, for God, all of life, unto God. 00:11:37.240 --> 00:11:44.439 And that means that because we've replaced God with self-absorption, we have a God-sized 00:11:44.439 --> 00:11:47.879 hole in the midst of our souls. 00:11:47.879 --> 00:11:54.759 And we try to fill it with appearances, with helium, with the self, with making the self 00:11:54.759 --> 00:11:57.440 great, with being good, with religion even. 00:11:57.440 --> 00:11:59.440 And it doesn't work. 00:11:59.440 --> 00:12:00.720 It can't hold the air. 00:12:00.720 --> 00:12:02.080 It just leaks out. 00:12:02.080 --> 00:12:03.680 The hole is too big. 00:12:03.680 --> 00:12:05.320 We live for appearances. 00:12:05.320 --> 00:12:08.040 Very literally, we think that we are the center of the world. 00:12:08.040 --> 00:12:09.040 And it's an appearance. 00:12:09.040 --> 00:12:10.040 It's not real. 00:12:10.040 --> 00:12:11.480 God is actually the center of the universe. 00:12:11.480 --> 00:12:16.399 And so he says, beware of the scribe, the scribe that's living within you. 00:12:16.399 --> 00:12:21.440 And it's simply to say, it's to think, I am my own purpose in life. 00:12:21.440 --> 00:12:22.840 I exist for me. 00:12:22.840 --> 00:12:25.800 Now Jesus, let me move on. 00:12:25.800 --> 00:12:30.639 Jesus is saying, remember Jesus, he said earlier in Mark. 00:12:30.639 --> 00:12:35.919 If you want to save your life, you have to lose it. 00:12:35.919 --> 00:12:38.600 And he's saying there, if you want to save your life, you've got to get out of the center 00:12:38.600 --> 00:12:39.799 of it. 00:12:39.799 --> 00:12:42.279 You've got to de-center yourself. 00:12:42.279 --> 00:12:45.919 If you make yourself the center of your life, you will lose your life. 00:12:45.919 --> 00:12:47.360 And some of you have experienced that. 00:12:47.360 --> 00:12:48.360 You felt that. 00:12:48.360 --> 00:12:50.159 You've made yourself the center of everything. 00:12:50.159 --> 00:12:51.159 And it's not worked. 00:12:51.159 --> 00:12:52.159 It's left you empty. 00:12:52.159 --> 00:12:53.159 You've been deflated. 00:12:53.159 --> 00:12:59.879 Here's how you know if you're struggling with an inflated heart, with self-absorption. 00:12:59.879 --> 00:13:06.279 You know it when one single word of critique, one single bad circumstance, one single loss 00:13:06.279 --> 00:13:12.000 of the thing that you've built your life around pops you, completely deflates you. 00:13:12.000 --> 00:13:20.080 You know you're inflated when circumstances can make you incredibly deflated. 00:13:20.080 --> 00:13:21.080 That's fragility. 00:13:21.080 --> 00:13:22.080 It's living a life of fragility. 00:13:22.080 --> 00:13:26.320 You see, self-absorption is the beginning of all misery because it creates a life of 00:13:26.320 --> 00:13:27.879 fragility. 00:13:27.879 --> 00:13:33.120 One critique, one bad word from the person you desperately want to affirm you. 00:13:33.120 --> 00:13:34.120 And you're deflated. 00:13:34.120 --> 00:13:35.120 You're done. 00:13:35.120 --> 00:13:36.120 You're done for. 00:13:36.120 --> 00:13:37.720 You've lost your identity. 00:13:37.720 --> 00:13:41.840 That means there's self-inflation, there's self-absorption in the middle of your life. 00:13:41.840 --> 00:13:44.480 And Jesus says, you want to save your life? 00:13:44.480 --> 00:13:45.480 You want to save your soul? 00:13:45.480 --> 00:13:47.360 You want to save your psychology? 00:13:47.360 --> 00:13:48.360 Lose it. 00:13:48.360 --> 00:13:49.360 Lose it. 00:13:49.360 --> 00:13:51.200 Realize that your life is not for you. 00:13:51.200 --> 00:13:52.200 It's for God. 00:13:52.200 --> 00:13:54.240 You are made by God for God, unto God. 00:13:54.240 --> 00:13:55.240 That's really the key. 00:13:55.240 --> 00:13:58.480 It's a secret to success, to spiritual success. 00:13:58.480 --> 00:14:04.360 And that means that one day, one day when you're hooked up to the wires, and we all 00:14:04.360 --> 00:14:12.279 will be, right, hooked up to the wires in the hospital, in that moment, if we have made 00:14:12.279 --> 00:14:20.720 our lives entirely about ourselves, we will be on the brink of losing everything we built. 00:14:20.720 --> 00:14:25.720 But if you made your life about the one who made you, about God, the one who you live 00:14:25.720 --> 00:14:30.279 unto, if you've made your life about God, when you're hooked up to the wires, you'll 00:14:30.279 --> 00:14:35.320 be on the brink of gaining everything, of gaining everything. 00:14:35.320 --> 00:14:36.440 Beware of the inner scribe. 00:14:36.440 --> 00:14:38.440 That's the second thing. 00:14:38.440 --> 00:14:44.040 Third, true discipleship is to give your whole life to God. 00:14:44.040 --> 00:14:45.040 To God. 00:14:45.040 --> 00:14:48.519 That's what we focused on now, your whole life. 00:14:48.519 --> 00:14:51.679 So that's somewhat obvious here. 00:14:51.679 --> 00:14:56.000 Jesus is trying to tell us that the true, the life of the disciple is not just to give 00:14:56.000 --> 00:15:01.199 some of their life, not just their margins, their abundance, but the whole, the whole 00:15:01.199 --> 00:15:03.559 of the self to God. 00:15:03.559 --> 00:15:10.159 The scribes gave their minds to God in a way, their intellect, but not their hearts. 00:15:10.159 --> 00:15:15.439 And the rich gave the extra their abundance, but not their whole life. 00:15:15.439 --> 00:15:16.439 That's exactly what Jesus says. 00:15:16.440 --> 00:15:21.320 He, you're called to be a disciple, to give your whole life to God, not just your abundance, 00:15:21.320 --> 00:15:25.480 not just your margins, not just your mind, but something much more than that. 00:15:25.480 --> 00:15:31.200 Now the way we learn about that more is by looking closely at the widow here. 00:15:31.200 --> 00:15:34.960 One of the ways to say this is that the old writers used to call it this. 00:15:34.960 --> 00:15:38.560 They said that true discipleship is blessed poverty. 00:15:38.560 --> 00:15:41.560 And that's what we see here in the life of this poor widow. 00:15:41.560 --> 00:15:42.840 It's not about money. 00:15:42.840 --> 00:15:44.040 It's much deeper than that. 00:15:44.040 --> 00:15:46.120 And you'll see it in verse 41. 00:15:46.120 --> 00:15:50.519 In verse 41, we learn that Jesus is still sitting in the public court. 00:15:50.519 --> 00:15:56.080 This is the court where anybody, Gentile, Jew, men and women, children can all be, it's 00:15:56.080 --> 00:15:58.600 a very open space, a very public space. 00:15:58.600 --> 00:16:04.080 Now my understanding is that in the court that he's sitting in, there are 13 offering 00:16:04.080 --> 00:16:05.080 boxes. 00:16:05.080 --> 00:16:06.080 How about that? 00:16:06.080 --> 00:16:09.399 13 places that you can give your tithe. 00:16:09.399 --> 00:16:14.440 And each of these is shaped like a ram's horn upside down. 00:16:14.440 --> 00:16:18.240 So the little end is at the top, the big end at the bottom with a covering so that you 00:16:18.240 --> 00:16:23.160 can't stick your hand in and get anything out once you've dropped it in. 00:16:23.160 --> 00:16:25.400 That's what he's seeing here. 00:16:25.400 --> 00:16:26.400 It's very public. 00:16:26.400 --> 00:16:29.320 Giving was a very public act of worship. 00:16:29.320 --> 00:16:34.800 And there's a temptation here to say, what do we learn? 00:16:34.800 --> 00:16:38.320 You can see where the prosperity preachers might go with this. 00:16:38.320 --> 00:16:43.720 They might say something like, remember, here's what we learn that every time you walk past 00:16:43.720 --> 00:16:46.000 the offering box, Jesus is watching you. 00:16:46.000 --> 00:16:49.360 But we're not that kind of church. 00:16:49.360 --> 00:16:50.360 That's not what this is about. 00:16:50.360 --> 00:16:51.600 That was a joke. 00:16:51.600 --> 00:16:52.600 Nobody got it. 00:16:52.600 --> 00:16:54.560 But we're not that kind of church. 00:16:54.560 --> 00:16:56.879 That's not the point of the passage. 00:16:56.879 --> 00:17:00.399 Instead, notice Mark's language. 00:17:00.399 --> 00:17:02.200 Notice the specifics of Mark's language. 00:17:02.200 --> 00:17:08.160 He points out right after that many rich people put in large sums. 00:17:08.160 --> 00:17:14.840 And then verse 42, again, the SV doesn't quite get the distinction as clearly as it could. 00:17:14.840 --> 00:17:19.800 Verse 42, and a poor widow, but in the Greek text it says, and one poor widow. 00:17:19.800 --> 00:17:24.560 So he says, look at the many, and then there was one. 00:17:24.560 --> 00:17:26.000 A deep contrast he's making. 00:17:26.000 --> 00:17:27.000 The many and the one. 00:17:27.000 --> 00:17:29.600 And he's saying, look at her. 00:17:29.600 --> 00:17:31.600 Another contrast, take it back to the scribes. 00:17:31.600 --> 00:17:32.920 He's not just talking about rich people. 00:17:32.920 --> 00:17:34.440 He's talking about the scribes. 00:17:34.440 --> 00:17:35.440 Why? 00:17:35.440 --> 00:17:41.120 And he had mentioned, and I said, I'd come back to this, that they devoured widow's homes. 00:17:41.120 --> 00:17:48.799 And we have an account from Josephus, a first century historian, about a woman named Flavia. 00:17:48.799 --> 00:17:54.720 And Josephus tells the story of a scribe who convinced this woman, Flavia, to sell, she 00:17:54.720 --> 00:17:59.400 was a widow, to sell her home and give all the money to the temple. 00:17:59.400 --> 00:18:04.039 And then the scribe, according to Josephus, embezzled all the money. 00:18:04.039 --> 00:18:07.279 And so Jesus probably knows about that, or something like that. 00:18:07.279 --> 00:18:08.279 He has that in mind. 00:18:08.279 --> 00:18:12.519 He says, the scribes are devouring, devouring, devouring, I can't say that word, the widow's 00:18:12.519 --> 00:18:14.079 homes. 00:18:14.079 --> 00:18:16.720 They're taking their money away. 00:18:16.720 --> 00:18:22.639 And you remember in places in the Old Testament like Amos chapter 2 where it says, God loves 00:18:22.639 --> 00:18:24.720 to care for the widow. 00:18:24.720 --> 00:18:25.720 He loves to care for the widow. 00:18:25.720 --> 00:18:26.839 He loves to care for the fatherless. 00:18:26.839 --> 00:18:29.159 He loves to care for the vulnerable. 00:18:29.159 --> 00:18:32.759 And the religious leaders ought to look like God in that. 00:18:32.759 --> 00:18:34.279 And they look like the exact opposite. 00:18:34.279 --> 00:18:38.000 They are stealing the homes of poor widows. 00:18:38.000 --> 00:18:43.599 Being a widow in this time in the first century makes you particularly vulnerable, typically 00:18:43.599 --> 00:18:44.599 poor. 00:18:44.599 --> 00:18:45.680 And we see that here. 00:18:45.680 --> 00:18:49.279 And the scribes are stealing, stealing their money. 00:18:49.279 --> 00:18:52.319 And so Jesus says, look at her. 00:18:52.319 --> 00:18:54.359 This is true discipleship, not them. 00:18:54.359 --> 00:18:56.559 Look at the widow, not the scribes. 00:18:56.559 --> 00:18:58.559 And he says, she's given everything. 00:18:58.559 --> 00:19:00.359 She's given her whole life. 00:19:00.359 --> 00:19:02.460 Now here's the details of that. 00:19:02.460 --> 00:19:07.640 She comes up to the offering and puts in, we're told here, a lepta. 00:19:07.640 --> 00:19:12.680 A lepta is one one hundredth of a day's wage. 00:19:12.680 --> 00:19:17.200 So that's about 80 pence or a pound in today's money, something like that, a hundredth of 00:19:17.200 --> 00:19:18.200 a day's wage. 00:19:18.200 --> 00:19:20.240 And it says that that was everything she had. 00:19:20.240 --> 00:19:24.640 She does not know where her next meal is going to come from, not at all. 00:19:24.640 --> 00:19:25.960 She gave God everything. 00:19:25.960 --> 00:19:30.400 Now one of the commentators calls this the divine exchange rate. 00:19:30.400 --> 00:19:35.080 You see, the rich and the scribes had put in so much money into that public offering 00:19:35.080 --> 00:19:36.080 box. 00:19:36.080 --> 00:19:37.360 Everybody saw it. 00:19:37.360 --> 00:19:41.200 They could hear the clinging, all the coins going down the gold, right? 00:19:41.200 --> 00:19:47.120 And of course, it's true that their money is going to support most of the budget of 00:19:47.120 --> 00:19:48.720 the temple. 00:19:48.720 --> 00:19:49.880 They're big givers. 00:19:49.880 --> 00:19:52.000 The temple needed big givers. 00:19:52.000 --> 00:19:56.120 They needed somebody to give a good chunk of the percentage of the needs for the year. 00:19:56.120 --> 00:19:59.120 And the rich and the scribes were doing that. 00:19:59.119 --> 00:20:05.759 But in the divine exchange rate, Jesus says they gave little to nothing. 00:20:05.759 --> 00:20:12.479 And when she drops in one one hundredth of a day's wage, one pound, and now she doesn't 00:20:12.479 --> 00:20:15.799 know if she's going to eat that day, he says she gave everything. 00:20:15.799 --> 00:20:16.879 You see the divine exchange rate? 00:20:16.879 --> 00:20:19.039 It doesn't see the things the way we see them. 00:20:19.039 --> 00:20:20.039 It's quite different. 00:20:20.039 --> 00:20:21.799 And you see what he's saying. 00:20:21.799 --> 00:20:23.839 He's not really talking about money. 00:20:23.839 --> 00:20:25.119 Money is just the surface. 00:20:25.119 --> 00:20:27.079 Money is just the symptom. 00:20:27.079 --> 00:20:35.919 He's saying beware of the inner scribe, being wealthy on the inside. 00:20:35.919 --> 00:20:40.599 Because that is when you say, I live to be safe. 00:20:40.599 --> 00:20:43.759 I live to be in control. 00:20:43.759 --> 00:20:49.839 I live to develop a great life, to be a good person, a decent, ordinary person that's respectable. 00:20:49.839 --> 00:20:53.119 I live to be taken care of and to be entertained. 00:20:53.119 --> 00:21:00.119 And when all that is settled and when I feel secure, I will give God something out of my 00:21:00.119 --> 00:21:01.959 margins. 00:21:01.959 --> 00:21:03.359 I'll give God some extra. 00:21:03.359 --> 00:21:07.839 I'll give God the extra time that I have, the extra money I have. 00:21:07.839 --> 00:21:12.199 Once I'm safe, once I'm in control, once I'm entertained, once I'm fed and taken care of, 00:21:12.199 --> 00:21:15.039 once I feel like I've done enough. 00:21:15.039 --> 00:21:16.559 I've done enough for God to accept me. 00:21:16.559 --> 00:21:19.279 I've done enough to be a respectable citizen. 00:21:19.279 --> 00:21:22.479 Then I will give out of my margin. 00:21:22.480 --> 00:21:25.400 And he's not really talking about money. 00:21:25.400 --> 00:21:29.120 What is it to give your whole self like the widow? 00:21:29.120 --> 00:21:33.440 The whole of the self, the whole of your life is not your money, not your stuff. 00:21:33.440 --> 00:21:35.599 Where is the whole of your life? 00:21:35.599 --> 00:21:37.360 It's your soul. 00:21:37.360 --> 00:21:39.079 It's your heart. 00:21:39.079 --> 00:21:43.799 And when he says at the end, when she dropped in her last penny, she had given her whole 00:21:43.799 --> 00:21:44.799 life. 00:21:44.799 --> 00:21:45.799 Not in that moment. 00:21:45.799 --> 00:21:47.360 No, no. 00:21:47.360 --> 00:21:48.360 Long before. 00:21:48.359 --> 00:21:53.399 You see, the reason she did that was because she had already given her soul to God, her 00:21:53.399 --> 00:21:56.119 heart to God, her bios. 00:21:56.119 --> 00:21:57.119 Where is it truly? 00:21:57.119 --> 00:21:59.399 It's deep down in the depths of your consciousness. 00:21:59.399 --> 00:22:00.399 It's your soul. 00:22:00.399 --> 00:22:01.399 It's your heart. 00:22:01.399 --> 00:22:03.159 And she had given that the scribes never did. 00:22:03.159 --> 00:22:05.519 The scribes had religion. 00:22:05.519 --> 00:22:11.559 And religion is when you say, I will do what I need to do to make a good name for myself, 00:22:11.559 --> 00:22:15.119 to be a decent person, to be respectable. 00:22:15.119 --> 00:22:18.759 And if I do enough, God will accept me, it will be good enough. 00:22:18.759 --> 00:22:21.479 And I'll be observed by everyone around me with a good reputation. 00:22:21.479 --> 00:22:23.839 I'll make a life for myself. 00:22:23.839 --> 00:22:26.199 And I'll be a good person, not a bad person. 00:22:26.199 --> 00:22:27.839 You see, that's religion. 00:22:27.839 --> 00:22:29.919 And that's the exact place the scribes lived. 00:22:29.919 --> 00:22:35.719 I'll give my extra, my intellect, my theology to God, because theology, being a good theologian, 00:22:35.719 --> 00:22:38.439 it makes you respectable. 00:22:38.439 --> 00:22:41.319 But I will not give him my heart. 00:22:41.319 --> 00:22:43.239 I will not give him my time, not to the bottom. 00:22:43.240 --> 00:22:46.200 I'll not give him my resources, my talents, my gifts. 00:22:46.200 --> 00:22:48.400 I'll not give him my soul. 00:22:48.400 --> 00:22:49.400 And that's the difference. 00:22:49.400 --> 00:22:55.319 The widow stands before God and she says, I'm poor, therefore I am blessed. 00:22:55.319 --> 00:22:57.839 You see, blessed poverty is this. 00:22:57.839 --> 00:23:02.759 It's when you know how poor you are before God and therefore you are so wealthy. 00:23:02.759 --> 00:23:03.759 It's spiritual poverty. 00:23:03.759 --> 00:23:09.599 You see, when you know you're spiritually poor, you become spiritually rich. 00:23:09.599 --> 00:23:13.839 When you know that you're spiritually poor before God, that everything is by God's gift, 00:23:13.839 --> 00:23:18.119 everything by His mercy, everything by His grace, then you can be in the midst of blessed 00:23:18.119 --> 00:23:19.279 poverty. 00:23:19.279 --> 00:23:22.159 You stop holding on to things so tightly. 00:23:22.159 --> 00:23:24.679 You're willing to give it away. 00:23:24.679 --> 00:23:26.679 That's the state of the widow's heart. 00:23:26.679 --> 00:23:30.199 And it says she is the true disciple, not the scribes, not the rich. 00:23:30.199 --> 00:23:31.199 It's her. 00:23:31.199 --> 00:23:34.639 Now, finally, fourthly, what can you do today? 00:23:34.640 --> 00:23:40.280 We talked about to God giving your whole self, your heart. 00:23:40.280 --> 00:23:42.280 And lastly, what does it mean to give? 00:23:42.280 --> 00:23:47.400 Okay, lastly, that means we're called today to give our whole selves to God. 00:23:47.400 --> 00:23:49.720 What does it mean to give? 00:23:49.720 --> 00:23:54.840 Here is how we learn the meaning of the word, the verb to give. 00:23:54.840 --> 00:24:00.640 Right back at the start, verse 35, I said at the beginning there was a Jesus at the end 00:24:00.640 --> 00:24:06.000 of these series of questions, he had a question of his own to ask the scribes. 00:24:06.000 --> 00:24:11.759 And he asked them a fairly tricky theological question, a question of exegesis, as we say, 00:24:11.759 --> 00:24:16.480 a question of interpretation from Psalm 110. 00:24:16.480 --> 00:24:17.480 So you can see it. 00:24:17.480 --> 00:24:20.280 Now, this is the point in the sermon where we're nearing the end, but we're getting to 00:24:20.280 --> 00:24:21.800 the hardest thing to understand. 00:24:21.800 --> 00:24:26.640 So you've got to come in close with me on this in verse 35. 00:24:26.640 --> 00:24:29.000 As Jesus taught in the temple, he had a question. 00:24:29.000 --> 00:24:32.519 How can the scribes say that the Christ is the son of David? 00:24:32.519 --> 00:24:37.880 And then he quotes Psalm 110, David himself declared in the spirit, the Lord said to my 00:24:37.880 --> 00:24:42.839 Lord, sit at my right hand until I put your enemies under your feet. 00:24:42.839 --> 00:24:45.759 David himself calls him Lord. 00:24:45.759 --> 00:24:47.880 So how is he his son? 00:24:47.880 --> 00:24:50.799 Now, what does that mean? 00:24:50.799 --> 00:24:54.519 Jesus is interpreting for us Psalm 110. 00:24:54.519 --> 00:25:00.839 And he says to the scribes, how could David who wrote, wrote Psalm 110 have looked up 00:25:00.839 --> 00:25:06.720 in some one 10 and someone 10 David looks up and has a vision of heaven. 00:25:06.720 --> 00:25:11.000 And David, this is the important bit you've got to have to understand that David in his 00:25:11.000 --> 00:25:14.599 time is the king and he is called Lord. 00:25:14.599 --> 00:25:21.039 So if you address the king in, in the Old Testament, you called him out on I Lord. 00:25:21.039 --> 00:25:29.319 So David is the Lord and yet he looks up into heaven and he says, I saw the Lord God speaking 00:25:29.319 --> 00:25:31.519 to my Lord. 00:25:31.519 --> 00:25:34.079 So now you've got three Lords in Psalm 110. 00:25:34.079 --> 00:25:38.359 The Lord looks up into heaven and he sees the Lord speaking to the Lord. 00:25:38.359 --> 00:25:42.279 And Jesus is saying, how could the Lord look up into heaven and see the Lord speaking to 00:25:42.279 --> 00:25:43.279 the Lord? 00:25:43.279 --> 00:25:48.159 In other words, how could the king, how could David say the Lord, the king on earth, look 00:25:48.160 --> 00:25:55.600 into heaven and see God talking to another Lord? 00:25:55.600 --> 00:25:59.560 And he says, you know, this second Lord, we've always interpreted the Jews that are always 00:25:59.560 --> 00:26:04.519 interpreted with someone 10 that second Lord, that's the Messiah. 00:26:04.519 --> 00:26:06.400 That's the Messiah, the Messiah that was to come. 00:26:06.400 --> 00:26:13.200 And he's saying to them, how could it be that David looked up and called the second Lord, 00:26:13.200 --> 00:26:17.880 Lord Messiah, and yet he be called David's son? 00:26:17.880 --> 00:26:20.480 Now here's the logic. 00:26:20.480 --> 00:26:26.400 The scribes and everybody else, the disciples included, did not think that the Messiah, 00:26:26.400 --> 00:26:30.720 the anointed one of the Old Testament that was to come to save the people, was going 00:26:30.720 --> 00:26:34.440 to be anything but a normal human being. 00:26:34.440 --> 00:26:35.440 That's what they thought. 00:26:35.440 --> 00:26:40.360 And so Jesus is saying, you see, he's David's son, that was the promise. 00:26:40.360 --> 00:26:44.720 The Messiah would come and be David's son, but we all know hierarchically that if you 00:26:44.720 --> 00:26:49.400 are a son of a father, you are less than the father. 00:26:49.400 --> 00:26:53.920 And the anointed was going to be one of David's grandson, so how could David turn and then 00:26:53.920 --> 00:26:56.279 say, no, he's my Lord? 00:26:56.279 --> 00:27:00.079 So how can David say, this is my grandson and my Lord? 00:27:00.079 --> 00:27:01.600 This Messiah that is to come. 00:27:01.600 --> 00:27:03.160 Now here's the answer. 00:27:03.160 --> 00:27:11.160 The only way that is possible is if the Messiah is both human and divine. 00:27:11.160 --> 00:27:17.400 He had to be both David's son and God's son. 00:27:17.400 --> 00:27:24.080 How could David look at one of his sons and say, he's my son, yet my Lord? 00:27:24.080 --> 00:27:30.320 Only if that son, that Messiah, is truly human and truly God. 00:27:30.320 --> 00:27:32.880 Both David's son and God's son simultaneously. 00:27:32.880 --> 00:27:34.040 Nobody expected that. 00:27:34.040 --> 00:27:35.400 Nobody believed that. 00:27:35.400 --> 00:27:36.400 You realize that? 00:27:36.400 --> 00:27:39.360 Now listen, if you're here today and you're not a believer and you're curious and wrestling 00:27:39.359 --> 00:27:45.559 with these claims, let me say this, nobody expected Jesus. 00:27:45.559 --> 00:27:51.799 Nobody thought that God, the second person in the Trinity, God the Son was coming to 00:27:51.799 --> 00:27:52.919 take on human flesh. 00:27:52.919 --> 00:27:55.159 That was not the expectation. 00:27:55.159 --> 00:27:58.039 This could not have been written. 00:27:58.039 --> 00:28:00.759 It was never an idea in anybody's head. 00:28:00.759 --> 00:28:04.000 The only way this could have been written is if it happened. 00:28:04.000 --> 00:28:06.759 The disciples didn't even believe it, not until after the resurrection. 00:28:06.759 --> 00:28:12.440 It was only then that they finally realized who he really is. 00:28:12.440 --> 00:28:16.440 And you see, this is the nature of the meaning of the verb to give. 00:28:16.440 --> 00:28:20.240 What does it mean to give your whole life to Jesus Christ? 00:28:20.240 --> 00:28:21.960 It's all about the incarnation. 00:28:21.960 --> 00:28:26.000 You see, in the incarnation, the Son of God took on human flesh. 00:28:26.000 --> 00:28:27.000 And you see what that's saying? 00:28:27.000 --> 00:28:30.759 Jesus Christ came, he came to be humiliated. 00:28:30.759 --> 00:28:35.879 He took on human flesh to give himself fully away. 00:28:35.880 --> 00:28:39.200 Now here's the last bit. 00:28:39.200 --> 00:28:46.760 As Jesus is looking at this woman, this poor widow, give her last penny to the offering. 00:28:46.760 --> 00:28:51.480 And he says, you know, she's given her whole heart, her whole life to following God, her 00:28:51.480 --> 00:28:52.800 whole self. 00:28:52.800 --> 00:28:55.360 That's true discipleship. 00:28:55.360 --> 00:28:58.360 You know, she's very important. 00:28:58.360 --> 00:29:00.680 She's a great example. 00:29:00.680 --> 00:29:04.200 But she was not really the point. 00:29:04.200 --> 00:29:07.960 She was pointing to somebody better than her. 00:29:07.960 --> 00:29:11.000 You know, she gave her whole life away. 00:29:11.000 --> 00:29:14.559 But Jesus had to have been sitting there thinking. 00:29:14.559 --> 00:29:18.160 When she dropped her last penny in the offering box, he had to have been thinking about the 00:29:18.160 --> 00:29:23.440 fact that he came to give his whole life away. 00:29:23.440 --> 00:29:27.920 You know, she points to him, she's a metaphor, but he's the object. 00:29:27.920 --> 00:29:33.279 Jesus Christ, God himself, the Son of God, took on human flesh, veiled him flesh, the 00:29:33.279 --> 00:29:34.599 incarnate deity. 00:29:34.599 --> 00:29:38.519 See, that's from Hark the Herald's angel seeing. 00:29:38.519 --> 00:29:45.079 You see, when he came incarnate, he came to give his whole self away. 00:29:45.079 --> 00:29:47.920 She was the example, but he's the object. 00:29:47.920 --> 00:29:50.079 What does it mean to give? 00:29:50.079 --> 00:29:52.680 It means to look and see. 00:29:52.680 --> 00:30:00.680 Can you admit today, when I was self-absorbed, Jesus Christ came to give everything for me. 00:30:00.680 --> 00:30:04.640 He went to the cross to give his whole self for me, and so today I want to respond by 00:30:04.640 --> 00:30:07.080 giving myself to him. 00:30:07.080 --> 00:30:10.039 Here's the gospel as we close, and I have to cut it short. 00:30:10.039 --> 00:30:12.960 Here's the gospel as we close. 00:30:12.960 --> 00:30:16.320 You see, it is not, it is not this. 00:30:16.320 --> 00:30:21.799 It is not that if you give your whole life away to God, your time, your talents, and your 00:30:21.799 --> 00:30:28.200 treasures, if you give your whole life away, then God will accept you. 00:30:28.200 --> 00:30:29.320 Then God will give himself to you. 00:30:29.319 --> 00:30:31.079 You know, that's religion. 00:30:31.079 --> 00:30:32.599 That's what the scribes believed in. 00:30:32.599 --> 00:30:38.839 Now, instead, the gospel is that Jesus Christ came while you were self-absorbed, while I 00:30:38.839 --> 00:30:46.679 was self-absorbed, and he gave himself away completely so that you could one day respond, 00:30:46.679 --> 00:30:49.720 be accepted, and then give your life away to him. 00:30:49.720 --> 00:30:53.119 See, that's the difference in religion and gospel. 00:30:53.119 --> 00:30:54.119 That's good news. 00:30:54.119 --> 00:30:59.639 Let's say a final word. 00:30:59.639 --> 00:31:07.679 Whenever he says this about Psalm 110 in verse 37, he gives the conclusion, David calls the 00:31:07.679 --> 00:31:08.679 Messiah Lord. 00:31:08.679 --> 00:31:10.079 How can he be a son? 00:31:10.079 --> 00:31:17.559 And then we see this, the last thing, and the great throng heard him gladly. 00:31:17.559 --> 00:31:23.919 Whenever Jesus, in this very complicated theological take on Psalm 110, explains it, it says all 00:31:23.920 --> 00:31:28.320 of a sudden, the great throng heard him with gladness. 00:31:28.320 --> 00:31:37.320 Now, one of the ways that you can ask yourself today, am I following Jesus Christ? 00:31:37.320 --> 00:31:39.920 Am I, have I really experienced the gospel? 00:31:39.920 --> 00:31:46.279 Have I realized that the gospel is that he gave himself so fully for me before I ever 00:31:46.279 --> 00:31:49.039 did anything, apart from me completely? 00:31:49.039 --> 00:31:53.240 And so today, I just want to respond by giving myself to him. 00:31:53.240 --> 00:31:58.799 There in my life has the gospel not changed me to the point where I'm putting away things 00:31:58.799 --> 00:32:02.480 that I would have had because of Jesus, right? 00:32:02.480 --> 00:32:05.240 Here's a way to know, have I experienced this? 00:32:05.240 --> 00:32:06.680 Has this happened to me? 00:32:06.680 --> 00:32:10.759 Well, how did they experience it? 00:32:10.759 --> 00:32:17.240 They, it said that when they realized that he was the Messiah, truly God, truly human, 00:32:17.240 --> 00:32:19.120 it simply made them glad. 00:32:19.120 --> 00:32:23.120 The great throng, the crowd, they awoke. 00:32:23.119 --> 00:32:26.559 He came to give himself and they became joyful. 00:32:26.559 --> 00:32:30.639 And he said, I have joy in him. 00:32:30.639 --> 00:32:31.799 I have joy in this one. 00:32:31.799 --> 00:32:35.719 David's son, God's son, there's my joy. 00:32:35.719 --> 00:32:36.719 There's my gladness. 00:32:36.719 --> 00:32:42.679 Look, if you have your joy and your gladness in Jesus Christ, God come for you, then that 00:32:42.679 --> 00:32:49.679 means all the stuff in your life that God has given you, you won't possess it anymore. 00:32:49.680 --> 00:32:54.320 You'll hold it loosely because you hold Christ so closely. 00:32:54.320 --> 00:32:57.880 Let's pray and ask that he would give us these hearts. 00:32:57.880 --> 00:33:05.000 Father, teach us to be disciples like the poor widow. 00:33:05.000 --> 00:33:07.680 Thank you for her great example. 00:33:07.680 --> 00:33:12.600 And we make no defense before you, no self-defense that we are self-absorbed. 00:33:12.600 --> 00:33:13.600 We own it. 00:33:13.600 --> 00:33:19.080 So I'll ask today that you would come and help each of us in our hearts right now, maybe 00:33:19.079 --> 00:33:26.039 for the first time for somebody here to own it, to say, I am self-centered. 00:33:26.039 --> 00:33:32.000 We are, and yet in the midst of our self-centeredness, you were so selfless. 00:33:32.000 --> 00:33:38.039 So reorient us, Lord, help us to see that that's the gospel, that you did it all, and 00:33:38.039 --> 00:33:45.480 to respond today by asking where in my life am I not giving the whole of me to you. 00:33:45.480 --> 00:33:50.000 Maybe Father, some of us here have lived in intellectual Christianity. 00:33:50.000 --> 00:33:52.920 We're mere theologians. 00:33:52.920 --> 00:33:56.079 Help us and teach us today to give our hearts away to you. 00:33:56.079 --> 00:33:57.079 And so we pray for these hearts. 00:33:57.079 --> 00:34:16.000 In Christ's name, amen.