Morning Worship Services Sunday, November 16, 2008 Face to Face: Rage and Kindness Mark 12:41-44 In a recent article in Christianity Today, Ted Olsen cites the following statistic: Widows and widowers in the United States who say they give 10 percent or more of their income to the church: 17.6 percent. Non-widowed Americans who say they give 10 percent or more: 8.6 percent. 1 Sociologists interpret this statistic by stating that those with less are doing more. Jesus secret of the abundant life lies in a change of heart. It is an inward transformation that causes an outward reformation of behavior. For Judaism, good conduct depended upon obedience to the Law; for Jesus, a person s behavior is a product of conscience. This is what made Jesus so dangerous. This is what upset the Pharisees. You see, the establishment not only wants law and order to prevail, but also to remain in a position of authority within the social structure. The Pharisees understood that Jesus words would undermine their authority and their power. That was essentially the reason they sought to do kill Jesus. Rage is a vice, the logical end of unresolved anger. Rage is a physiologically based affective reaction to experiencing high levels of pain or displeasure. 2 Kindness, however, is a virtue. Kindness can obliterate hatred and the emotional rage that goes with it. What is it that God is looking for in our lives? A response of gratitude that in our poverty God is wealthy. In this text from Mark, we see Jesus telling us that our expectations of the kingdom of God are too small. Why? Our expectations from ourselves are too great. Without acknowledging our poverty we will never be dependent on God s wealth. The teachers of the law primarily lived on subsidies. It was forbidden that they be paid for exercising their profession as teachers. They were poor. Hospitality to the teachers of the law was 1 Ted Olsen, Go Figure, Christianity Today (November 2008), 18. 2 Henri Parens, Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association (Vol. 39, Issue 75, 1991), 89.
strongly encouraged as an act of piety. A family was held in high esteem if they took on supporting a teacher. Many placed their financial resources at a teacher of the law s disposal. Earlier in Mark 12, Jesus states that the teachers of the law devour widows houses. 3 These teachers prayed lengthy prayers that were irrelevant. We too can be like the teachers of the law. We too can be consumed by doing more from our strength as opposed to doing less from our strength and relying more on God s strength. The truth in today s text is less is more. The widow placed two small coins into the receptacle for her offering. In the Temple there were thirteen trumpet shaped containers that lined a wall in the court. They were made out of metal. When money was placed in them, everyone could hear the coins clanging around. There was no paper money. Some sources say that those giving would announce the value of the gift to a priest before placing it in a container, Seven Shekels for the Temple. The widow placed two of the smallest copper coins which circulated in Palestine into the offering receptacle. The coin was called a lepta. It was worth one four hundredth of a shekel or 1/8 of a cent in our currency. These coins were small and thin. The lepta would disintegrate over time. The widow put in everything she had. How does she give everything by placing two, for all intensive purposes, worthless coins in an offering receptacle? She did not have to give it all. The widow could have kept one of those coins, but she didn t. What is the value of her offering? The value is total commitment. She put it all in. What was left? Only herself and God. Placing the only two coins she had in the offering is not the point of this story. No, placing the coins in the offering was a phenomenal step of faith. As those two small coin fell from her hands, the widow s current life fell away. There went the rent money, her next meal, the shoes she needed and any possibility that she could take care of herself. This was a great act of faith. The widow gave her total trust to God. 3 Mark 12:40 2
Think for a moment. The widow gave her offering, turned and walked away. What did she feel? Fear? I contend that the emotion that flowed over her as she turned away from the offering was relief. I finally did it. I released my fear. I am now free. Why? The widow knew in whom she placed her faith. She gave all she had. She held back neither money nor self. The widow, by her act of faith, received more as she walked out of the Temple than any one of the teachers of the law would ever see in their lifetime. The widow made the critical step of release. She dropped those coins and turned from her old life, a life where she took care of things, to one of new life, where God takes care of things. In 1892, a group of young men were working their way through Leland Stanford University. They needed money and had the idea to hire Ignacy Jan Paderewski (1860-1941) for a piano recital on campus. The pianist s agent asked for a guarantee of $2,000. They decided to stage the concert. After all their efforts, they took in only $1,600. They went to the pianist and told him the situation, then handed him the entire $1,600 and a promissory note of $400. No, boys, said Paderewski, that won t do at all. Then he tore up the note and returned the money. He said, Now take out your expenses, give yourselves each 10% of the balance, and let me have the rest. The years rolled by, the First World War came and went and Paderewski became the prime minister of Poland in 1918. He was striving to feed the starving people of his war-ravaged country. He asked the United States for help, and as a result, thousands of tons of food poured into Poland from the United States of America. Paderewski journeyed to Paris to thank Herbert Hoover for the relief sent him. That s all right, Mr. Paderewski, was Hoover s reply. I knew the need was great. Besides, you helped me once when I was a student at college. 4 The moral ideal for followers of Jesus does not lie in obeying a legal code, but in yielding our lives to God. Everyone at Eastminster has been affected either directly or indirectly by the current worldwide economic crisis. Economic fear surrounds us today-fear based not always in the reality of the moment, but in anxiety about the future. Paul writes, I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well 4 www.polishamericancenter.org and www.ushistory.org 3
fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do everything through him who gives me strength. 5 Being a disciple of Jesus is always a challenge and no more so than now. As followers of Jesus, we worship God, not the denomination. As followers of Jesus, we worship God not the Dow. As followers of Jesus we are called to shed Pharisaism and Sadduceism. As followers of Jesus we are called to live as wheat amongst the weeds. 6 Eastminster, individually and collectively, is to bear Jesus Christ to the world. King Solomon writes, The plans of the diligent lead to profit as surely as haste leads to poverty. 7 God tells us that steady plodding is how we should expect to prosper-not quick gain. One hundred and fifty years ago, Anglican pastor William Walsham How penned the words of the first verse of a very familiar hymn, We Give Thee But Thine Own. How writes, We give Thee but Thine own, whate er the gift may be; All that we have is Thine alone, a trust, O Lord, from Thee. When it comes to giving to Eastminster, our financial giving must be rooted in faith, not fear. Fear is often rooted in rage. Eastminster s ministry is made possible by the gifts of its members and friends. It takes nearly $5.4 million to fund the current mission and ministry of Eastminster. Jeremiah writes, For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. 8 God is in control. We must seek him when we are afraid and worried. Seek God in these difficult times. As followers of Jesus, we believe a revolutionary message. As followers of Jesus we are connectional and missional. We connect and fulfill the mission of Jesus, not independently, but collectively. As followers of Jesus, individually and collectively, our existence is for the proclamation of the gospel for salvation of humankind; the shelter, nurture and spiritual fellowship of the children of God; the maintenance of divine worship; the preservation of the truth; the promotion of social righteousness; and the exhibition of the Kingdom of Heaven to the world. 9 The Church is a spiritually organic reality. The relationship between Jesus and his disciples is not just that between a charismatic leader and his followers or a gifted teacher and his students, but is like that between a vine 5 Philippians 4:11-13 6 Mark 4 and Matthew 13:25-30 7 Proverbs 21:5 8 Jeremiah 29:11-12 9 Book of Order, G-1.0200 4
and its branches 10 and like that between a human body and its head. 11 Eastminster is committed to this understanding of being Church. We equip the followers of Jesus at Eastminster to fulfill the great ends of the Church not as an end but as a means to move out from our address on Webb Road and connect with other congregations in order to demonstrate the simple gospel of Jesus Christ, thus fulfilling both the great commandment and great commission. A missional congregation is one that intentionally engages the city, region and world. A missional congregation is driven by its love for the lost and a passionate desire to fulfill personal and corporate responsibility to incarnate the good news in homes, neighborhoods, places of work and the community. A missional congregation is one that is faithful to Jesus Christ. Paul writes, Now it is required that those who have been given a trust must prove faithful. The trust is the simple gospel in a complex world. Eastminster is a missional congregation. A missional congregation is entrusted with the simple gospel and understands the primary expression of her identity is that of witness--a winsome, creative and purposeful engagement in a culture that has become skeptical of rhetoric and distrustful of authority. Embodying the good news in a complex world in ways that proclaims the larger story of God s love and purposes for the world is the only hope for meaning. Jesus Christ came into the world not to condemn it but to save it. There is no more critical time than now for each who calls Eastminster home to examine their lives as did the widow twenty centuries ago. As followers of Jesus we are to love our enemies and tell everyone that there is salvation in Jesus Christ and him alone. As followers of Jesus at Eastminster, we have a daunting task. Will we continue to fund the connectional and missional ministries of this place or will we hold back? Everyone who calls this place their church home must give. In fact, we must give the minimum of ten percent. That is what the Bible teaches. Whom do you trust in these difficult times as the world continues to meltdown economically? The widow knew whom she trusted. God is asking you and me to tithe. Several passages of scripture are important for our consideration. First, Leviticus 27:30 declares, A tithe of everything from the land, whether grain from the soil or fruit from the trees, belongs to the LORD; it is holy to the LORD. Second, Malachi 3:10 reads, Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this, says the LORD Almighty, and see if I will not throw open the 10 John 15 11 1 Corinthians 12:12-31 5
floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have enough for it. And third, 2 Corinthians 9:6 states, Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. We are to tithe. We are to bring the tithe to the storehouse, which is the local congregation. We are to sow the seeds of the gospel. Janet and I tithe. In 2009, Janet and I will tithe on our gross income to the general operating budget of Eastminster. Eastminster is the storehouse in our lives at this time. Janet and I must trust the LORD with what we have and we will be given more with which to be trusted. We must sow the seeds of the gospel. In 2009, Janet and I will give as we have since 2003 when we redirected the tithe exclusively to the local congregation we serve. All monies above the tithe will go to such ministries as Floresta, Every Nation Ministries, KLOVE, Sterling College and Compassion International. The Bible teaches that we are to tithe. The Bible teaches that we are to bring the full tithe into the storehouse, the local congregation. The Bible teaches that we are to sow generously. Next Sunday is Ingathering Sunday. As an act of worship, we will get up from our pews and move to the Chancel steps to place our pledges in the baskets as our offering of self and monies to the Lord Jesus Christ for 2009. At whatever level you are currently giving, I challenge you to move toward tithing. Let go of those copper coins. Walk away with a new sense of freedom. Look into Jesus face of kindness. Kindness exposes rage for what it is. Should we as followers of Jesus be about acts of doing less or more? I tell you the truth, this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others. They all gave out of their wealth; but she, out of her poverty, put in everything-all she had to live on. 12 Face to face with Jesus. Come closer. Be changed. Let us pray! This sermon was preached on Sunday, 16 November 2008 by the Rev. Dr. Steven M. Marsh at Eastminster Presbyterian Church in Wichita, Kansas Copyright 2008 Steven M. Marsh All Rights Reserved. 12 Mark 12:43-44 6