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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 39 and have the best seats in the synagogues and the places of honor at feasts, 40 who devour widows’ houses and for a pretense make long prayers. They will receive the greater condemnation.”
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. 42 And a poor widow came and put in two small copper coins, which make a penny.1 43 And he called 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. 44 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.”
[1] 12:42
(ESV)
Redeemer exists to celebrate and declare the gospel of God as we grow in knowing and following Jesus Christ.
For those who I don't know, my name is Ford Galen, and I get to serve on staff primarily with our home group ministry at Redeemer, and I'm so excited to get to be here worshiping alongside you all this afternoon. Originally, I was actually supposed to preach at the 4 o'clock last week, but with some schedule changes, they asked if I can move back a week, which, I had no problem with, and it was only after I said yes, I realized that last week would be a great sermon on loving the Lord with all your heart, and this week, I get to talk about giving. So thanks, Joel. But as I've prepared in recent weeks, this has actually turned out to be a deep encouragement to my soul and I pray it will be for you guys as well. So if you wanna read with me, we'll be in Mark chapter 12 verses 38 to 44, which are in your worship guide.
Caleb Chancey:Mark 1238 through 44. 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 synagogues, in the place of honor at feasts, Who devour widows houses and for a pretense make long prayers. They will receive the greater condemnation. And he sat down opposite the treasury and watched the people putting money into the offering box. Many rich people put in large sums.
Caleb Chancey:And a poor widow came and put in 2 small copper coins, which make a penny. And he called 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. This is the word of the Lord. Thanks be to god.
Caleb Chancey:If you would pray it with me. Lord, god, we are here to hear from you. So lord, I pray that you would speak for your servants listening. By your word and through your spirit, Lord, would you allow us to see and to behold you. And Lord, would that transform our hearts and our lives that we may move forward just as this widow did, in complete and true devotion and worship of you with everything in our lives.
Caleb Chancey:This time is yours, not ours, so would you do with it what you will. And again, Lord, speak, for we're here to hear from you. In Jesus' name, amen. Well December 29, 2021 was probably the most overwhelming and stressful, moment of my life, certainly an intimidating one. I, at this point, had had the incredible blessing of getting to know, my now wife named Megan And a few days earlier, I had had what I thought would be a lot more intimidating than it was, which was sitting in a Moe Southwest, in Johns Creek Georgia where I asked her dad for his blessing to marry her, and actually got through that one okay.
Caleb Chancey:It went well. He was incredibly kind aside from the fact that I don't know why we met at a Moe's of all place for one of the most foundational conversations of my life, but got the yes, which meant that a few days later after Christmas break, I was back in Birmingham and on December 29th, I walked into the jewelry store. Let me tell you, as a guy who at the time lived with 3 other guys in the house and paid a few $100 a month for rent, a guy who had peanut butter and jelly for an absurd percentage of his meals, I'll leave out how often, the idea of paying for a ring was daunting to say the least. I walked in and was already phoned off not knowing how to answer all these questions about all these different c words that apparently I was supposed to know before I went in there, had no idea what an inclusion was, and was looking at 4 different scales that all looked identical to me. But I actually made my way through most of those conversations until the question I'd been waiting for and wrestling with for a few days came.
Caleb Chancey:He asked me what my budget was. And for a while, I'd been thinking, I don't know, I've heard the 3 month thing, but is that an actual thing, or is that way too much or way too little, and is that wise, and what does Megan want, and what does she expect? And I I have no idea, and all I know is that this is really intimidating, and I'm not sure what to do. But the day before, I'd been with a married friend, and he gave me the most helpful advice I could, which was that there's not a right amount, it's ultimately what you're comfortable with, but know it should probably hurt a little bit, and it's okay if it hurts a little bit. So, eventually worked through it and got to this point where I wrote this check that did sting in the moment.
Caleb Chancey:But but, sure, this engagement ring diamond rings, they're they're important, right? And it's not it's not because somehow that ring was gonna win Meghan's love for me. She'd already told me that she did, I already knew what an answer was gonna be and whether or not she said yes when I popped the question had nothing to do with how big of a rock I gave her as I did. Now, the reason that the diamond ring and that engagement gift is such an important part of our culture, is because it shows that a man loves a woman enough that he's willing to sacrifice for her. He's willing to do something costly out of his love for her, not to win her love, but because he is willing to sacrifice because he knows that she is worth it.
Caleb Chancey:I know what some of you guys are thinking here is, well wait a second, I had a family ring, does that still count? And the answer is no, you cheated. And I say that out of nothing but jealousy and envy. And so without knowing anything else, well done on who you pick to marry. Like great great call.
Caleb Chancey:But now I I share all that because what we're about to see is or what we just read is a contrast between the scribes and between this poor widow. And the the main part of the contrast you see is for the scribes, they look really impressive and good. It looks like they're giving these great gifts to God in the ways they go about their life. But as you read the text, you see that though they look impressive, they're actually owned and motivated by their own gain. Now in contrast, you have a poor widow who has nothing impressing to offer, gives a gift to God that everyone else would not have a second thought of, But it is commended not not because she gave some great amount, but because she was willing to give up something.
Caleb Chancey:She was not scared or put off by the cost it would take to be devoted to the Lord. So that's the contrast we see in this text. And as we go, if it's helpful, the the three kind of points that you can use here, or think about are we're gonna look at false devotion, true devotion, and ultimate devotion. We'll spend majority of our time with that second one, what is true devotion to the Lord. But first false devotion which we see in the scribes.
Caleb Chancey:So just gonna kinda work through this passage fairly quickly. Back in 38, it says, and in his teaching he said, beware of the scribes. I'll stop here, and if you're thinking, uh-oh, he only got 7 words in before we stopped, we'll get there. Appreciate you all sticking with me. But the scribes, they were these experts in the law.
Caleb Chancey:And so there were 600 and some odd commandments throughout the old testament. And the scribes, their role was to be so well educated in this that they safeguard and stewarded the written law. And then as people had questions or need to figure out, well, how do we actually apply this law to their lives? That's where they would have the scribes come in. The scribes, these experts in the law were supposed to be these religious leaders that would show the people how to put this law into practice in their life.
Caleb Chancey:What we read here is that the scribes aren't functioning as religious leaders. No. They're what they're categorized as doing is, showing that they love the the robes that come with being a scribe. They love wearing these garments that would draw attention to themselves and show, wait a second, this person is an expert in the law. They have some place of prominence right here.
Caleb Chancey:And they love the greetings in the marketplace, how they would go around and they would love it when people would notice them, or come up and say, wait a second, that's that's one of the scribes, one of the experts in the law. Talks about how they would make these long prayers looking really spiritual, but but it was a pretense, on a pretense. They the scribes, so they were supposed to love God and love his law. What we see is they actually are just putting on a performance, making themselves look really spiritual, but they're motivated by what they can gain from it, by the recognition, by the notoriety, or as we see ultimately, so much so that they would devour widows house as a financial gain. And there's a lot of kind of discrepancy and, uncertain on what exactly is meant here when it talks about how they devour widows houses.
Caleb Chancey:2 of the most likely possibilities are the widows in those days, who had no one to give their property or inheritance to, would trust the scribes to be kind of the executors of their will or the people who would safeguard their estate, and so they would entrust their estate to the scribes who were supposed to faithfully disperse as they could but would oftentimes use that for their own selfish gain. Another potential interpretation is that the scribes weren't allowed to charge for their work and so they would be reliant on the generosity or hospitality of others, obviously, widows being a category of people who would offer that to them and they would abuse that generosity and hospitality in the way that we may use the phrase, they they ate them out of house and home. So we don't know exactly what this means, but what we do know is that one of the central things we see throughout the law in the Old Testament is God's incredible heart for widows, for the poor, for the oppressed, for for those who are in need. We see that the scribes, well, they know the laws but they don't care.
Caleb Chancey:They're in it for their own gain. So people are looking to him. It seems like they have this incredible devotion to the Lord, but it's false devotion. They're putting on a show. Joel made the point this morning that in some ways, the scribes, they were, they were kinda like the influencers or celebrities of their day.
Caleb Chancey:They loved the things they would wear that would draw people's eyes. They loved the way people would come up to them and notice them and that they'd get recognized or perhaps people wanted to be shown knowing them. They they loved the fact that they had notoriety and recognition and got given places of honor, they were given the best seats in the house. The same way that you may have a celebrity who posts on social media about how much they love a product that they've never actually used before, not because they love it, but because they can get some financial benefit from it. That's that's what the scribes did with the law.
Caleb Chancey:They acted like they loved it. They talked about how great it was, but they were just using it for their own gain, their own benefit. But notice that in here, Jesus, he doesn't actually rebuke the scribes in this passage. No, it's an address to the crowds or to the disciples, we're not really sure which to beware of the scribes. And so why is he giving us this call to beware?
Caleb Chancey:Well, it's a few things. I think one, is that we're really susceptible to see in the way that the world sees and to be caught off guard or distracted by how prominent someone looks. How influential they may be. The fact that they may seem impressive or seem like an expert. We see this right now when we think about many of the spiritual leaders in our day and age who look really impressive, gain a really great following, but then have these terrible followers from grace because their motives in their heart didn't match the impressiveness they had to the world.
Caleb Chancey:But I think actually the second reason that he gives this call to beware, is that Jesus knows that just a few months after this, the church is gonna start rising to prominence and the disciples are gonna have many people looking to him. He's saying beware of them because there's gonna be a temptation to be like them. There's a temptation for each of us to use our religiosity, our spirituality, not in true devotion to the Lord, but there's a temptation for it to become a performance and us think about the things we may gain from it. Those others may respect or look to us, the way that others may think that we're wise, the way that somehow we can even use it for benefit or gain. And so, what we're seeing in this this cautionary tale is for us to not be caught up in the influence or the impressiveness of others, or not to pursue our own influencer impressiveness.
Caleb Chancey:That ultimately is a false devotion that looks really good, but falls short. But the contrast we're gonna get between the scribes is gonna be this poor widow. So we'll keep working our way through. Says that right after this, Jesus sat down opposite the treasury and watched the people putting money into the offering box. Many rich people put in large sums.
Caleb Chancey:And a poor widow came and put in 2 small copper coins which make a penny. It's an interesting scene to picture. So instantly, Jesus first, Mark brings us to these rich people. So again, it's another tale of these popular impressive people who gained notoriety. And what this would have looked like is Jesus sitting down opposite this courtyard at the treasury, and around the courtyard, around the edge, there would have been these 13 different offering boxes that were shaped like trumpets.
Caleb Chancey:At the top of each of these boxes, there'd be a small slit where people would come and start bringing their offering in, where they'd have to drop coin after coin after coin until they've given up their offering and it would fall to the bottom and make this loud clink as they did. And Jesus is saying that in this era, we have these 13 different offering boxes for these different things, you have all these rich people coming up with these large bags of coins. You can think about the sound of them dropping gold coin after gold coin after gold coin, and the way people would notice how long they putting things in there, clearly, they had some incredible gift. A little while is perhaps people were looking at these loud noises and seeing these trumpets kind of going off as these large sums are getting dropped off. Maybe off to one of the side, they're just little, almost imperceptible.
Caleb Chancey:What had happened is, poor widow, someone who hardly anyone, probably no one noticed, had gone up and waited her place in line to go, and then she went and she was just up there for a second or 2, because all she had were these 2 copper coins that were they were so small that they probably didn't even make a noise. You can picture her coming up there, perhaps even embarrassed or ashamed at how little she had to offer. No one pays any mind to her. Yet for some reason, Jesus gathers everyone together and says, wait a second, something incredible has happened here. And surely they're thinking about these rich people putting in these great sums, but no, instead he says, that widow, the one who perhaps they didn't even notice, she put in more than everyone else.
Caleb Chancey:But we have a we have a problem because she didn't. Like, it sounds really great, but this widow, she put in 2 mites, 2 leptas. It comes out to about a 64th of a day's wage. She put in what would be the equivalent of about $2 in our modern currency. Like, what what was that gonna do as an offering?
Caleb Chancey:I mean, it's enough to buy a drink at a convenience store. But Jesus says somehow she put in more than all the rest. I remember a few months ago, my wife and I were at this fundraiser for a non profit that tries to give really cool experiences to young adults who have significant medical bills and otherwise wouldn't get to. We're at this fundraiser and the guy who ran it seemed like a really great guy. He was talking about all these huge and impressive gifts that they had received.
Caleb Chancey:And he was getting really excited about it as he talked about the ways that they were able to use these gifts for these incredible things they were gonna do for some of the people they were sponsoring. And you can't fault them. It seemed like a really great nonprofit, but it shows the way we view things. For him, he was so excited by gifts based off their functionality, what they could do. But the way the Lord draws attention here to to this nothing offering shows the Lord sees things differently than we do.
Caleb Chancey:In God's economy, he looks not to impressiveness, not to functionality, but to faithfulness. So verse 44, we read, 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. So here, Jesus gets the heart of issue. He says says, she put in more than all the rest. You know why?
Caleb Chancey:Because they gave out of their abundance all these rich people putting in these great sums, they gave what they could afford to lose. She gave what she couldn't. We see that that the Lord looks not to what we give, he looks to what we give up. Not to what we put in the offering box, but what we keep for ourselves and hold back. The Lord looks differently.
Caleb Chancey:It's not based off the size of the gift, but the faithfulness behind it. I remember when I was in college, one summer, the Lord called me to go on a mission trip to East Asia. And so, for the first time in my life, I had to raise support. It was a several $1,000, another intimidating moment for me. And I remember being blown away by the generosity of a number of people who, especially parents of some of my college friends, who gave way more than I would have expected.
Caleb Chancey:But I think back to that summer, there's one gift, one person who supported me that stands out above all the rest. It's from my college roommate. My college roommate was paying his way through college, he was paying for all of his meals, he was completely cut off from his parents, financially at least, and he was having to work to put himself through college. And when he knew I was going to East Asia on this trip, he started each week taking a meal or 2 a week he otherwise would have eaten out and made a point of eating ramen noodles that night. And slowly slowly saving up a few dollars a week to then end up giving me support.
Caleb Chancey:It was like a 30 or $40 support gift. It was actually one of the smallest amount to anyone gave me. But gosh, I was so honored by that. Not because he gave so much, but because of what he was willing to sacrifice for the sake of investing in what I was doing. It's the way the Lord sees.
Caleb Chancey:He looks not to the size of the gift, but he looks to what it costs. We sacrifice what we give up. This is actually a common theme you see throughout scripture. 2nd Samuel 24, the very last chapter of 1st and second Samuel, which we went through as a church a year or 2 ago and it kinda chronicles David's life. The last account we get in 2nd Samuel of David's life is this story about David building an altar to sacrifice to the Lord.
Caleb Chancey:And he ends up at the house of a man named Arana, I'm sure I'm mispronouncing that and apologize. But he's there and he's getting ready to build this altar and Arana comes up to him and says, David, you're my king. Whatever you want, you can take. Take any of my oxes to sacrifice. It's yours, have them for free.
Caleb Chancey:But David says, no. Anything I take, I will buy for a price. And this is 2nd Samuel 2424. He says, I will not offer burnt offerings to the Lord that cost me nothing. Can the rich people, they look so impressive here, but what we see is they give out of their excess.
Caleb Chancey:But this poor widow gives what she cannot afford to lose. Does she trust the Lord? Because she loves the Lord? Because ultimately, it's not what we give, it is what we give up. So what does this mean for us?
Caleb Chancey:How do we actually apply this? It's the takeaway that all of us are to give up everything we have and give it all to the church. For the most part, no. That is not exactly what is being called to us here. For 1, think about how chaotic that would be if we tried to do that.
Caleb Chancey:And so we'd give everything and then we would turn around and go to the church and say we needed the church's generosity and in a sense we'd become burdens on the church, aside from the fact that it would be utter chaos if we all had absolutely nothing left. And there are certainly times when the Lord calls us to radically give up all or most of what we have. Melinda and Jean Claude Pierre, incredible example of 2 brother or brother and sister faithfully doing that. But for the most part, no, this woman is not being held up as a picture of how we're supposed to give. Notice, Jesus doesn't hold up her offering and then says, go and do likewise.
Caleb Chancey:No, he simply remarks what she put in was more than everyone else combined. She's not being held up as a picture of giving, she's being held up as a picture of devotion. I think what Jesus is doing here is I think he's giving us a picture of what we studied last week at Mark 12:30, just a few verses ago. And the command to love the Lord our God with all of our heart and soul and mind and strength, with all that we have, with everything we have. She puts in everything we have, everything she has her very life.
Caleb Chancey:It's it's a picture of loving the Lord with all. So again, what does this mean for us? Well, I can't tell you how much we are, or you, or each of us individually are supposed to give. God hasn't given us a threshold, either for us to reach and think we've done something really incredible by doing, or a threshold that becomes a burden on us of what it looks like to be generous. Can't tell you what it's supposed to look like but I can tell you it's probably gonna hurt a little bit.
Caleb Chancey:Just like that diamond ring did for me. So a few ways that I want us to consider this, for those who are redeemer members, each of us in our church membership vows have committed to love or sorry, have committed to live a life of worship within our church community in the giving of our time, finances and attention. So in each of those areas, I wanna ask, are we fitting God and squeezing God into the margins of our life? Or are we orienting our life around him? Are we, like the rich people, fitting God into the margins of our life, seeing where we have excess and giving him the last little bit that we can honestly afford to spare?
Caleb Chancey:Or are we orienting our lives around the lord in worship and in devotion? So can look at that in each of those areas. 1st, time. Do you think about time the way you schedule your days or your weeks? You think about where you'd spend time with the Lord or where we'd prioritize worshiping God, where we'd prioritize things like serving.
Caleb Chancey:Do we set our schedule and think about all the things we would want to do, all things we feel like we need to do and then see what's left over and say, okay, well, whatever I can spare that that margin, that's where I will serve the Lord or spend time with the Lord or worship the Lord? Or is that the first thing we put into our schedules? I can say that, as I've reflected, this is actually the biggest way where I personally have felt convicted on just putting God in the margins of my life. Think back to prior to coming on staff and being required to be here on Sundays. How often I would have weeks weeks stretches where I would have out of town trips or out of town weddings or Auburn football games that would cause me to miss Sunday after Sunday after Sunday.
Caleb Chancey:And sure, if I was ever here and it was easy to be a redeemer worshipping the Lord, then no problem. But once it got costly, it was one of the first things to go. And so we're prioritizing worshiping the Lord. I think about even now, how when I have a busy day at work, and I know my schedule's pretty full, how often there are days where I feel like working out is a non negotiable, but I'm so willing and content to say, well, I'll spend time in the word and prayer tomorrow. I just don't have time for it today.
Caleb Chancey:So I'd ask, in your time, are you and are we squeezing God into the margins where we find excess time or do we orient our lives and worship around him? Finances. So we think about our finances. When you think about what you were budgeting or planning to give and, where generosity comes in, do we first put in all the things that we want and think we need? And only then figure out how much is left over for us to be generous towards God and others with?
Caleb Chancey:Or do we first seek to find where we can be generous to the Lord and others and then see with the remaining finances that we have, how we can go about the things we not need and things we want? When was the last time that we actually had to deny ourselves in some ways in order to be generous to the Lord and to others? And finally, attention. Someone looked at our screen time. What would they see we prioritize reading and listening to?
Caleb Chancey:What would be the things that seem to fill our mind? Where do our minds go when we first get up in the morning? Do we squeeze God into the margins there or do we orient our lives and worship around him? And so as I've reflected on that this week, I'll say for me personally, I've felt a good bit of conviction. And there's some ways I need to pre or reprioritize a few things.
Caleb Chancey:Conviction. Now there's some ways I need to pre or reprioritize a few things. I've been pretty clear that I realized there's some areas in my life where I do think I'm faithful, Lord, but there's also plenty of things where I'm holding something back. Can't say as this widow did that I'm putting in everything that I have, but there's areas where I just take the excess and the things that won't really cost me much and say, okay, Lord, you can have those. But I kinda am getting first priority here.
Caleb Chancey:But I also wanna say, as I've reflected and thought about this passage, I've tried to meditate on this on behalf of Redeemer and how we're doing. Well, I want each of us individually to wrestle with that question of if God's in the margins of our life or orienting our life around him. I also want a lot of you guys to hear that so many of you are being so faithful in the ways that you were sacrificially following and serving the Lord in these areas. Think about or I thought about this week each of these. I think about time.
Caleb Chancey:And the number of redeemer men and women who are taking the limited vacation they have and using it to go on mission trips or even thinking about radically changing their life to go overseas. Think about college students who are giving up their spring break to go bring clean water and the hope of the gospel to places like Haiti year in year out. Think about this morning seeing a woman at Redeemer who was greeting at the 8 AM, then went to the service. And after that, I saw her walking over to serve at Children's. Then I saw her leaving knowing that she, like every other Sunday, was going to serve with a homeless ministry downtown.
Caleb Chancey:What a tremendous sacrificial worshipful use of her time. When it comes to finances, which I have a little bit less of a window to see than some of these others, I think about a redeemer member who told me early on in his career he started tithing but committed to saying that every time he got a pay increase or a raise, he was gonna take half of that raise and immediately put it in his generosity bucket and only keep half for himself. And now much later on in his career, he has given away a tremendous amount of money both in tithing to the church and in generosity and caring for others, and say that it has cost their family some different vacations they otherwise may have taken. They may be living in different parts of town than they otherwise would have. Some of their possessions look a little bit different, but it's been remarkable how generous he's been to the Lord.
Caleb Chancey:I think about a number of people that, are giving consistently and faithfully who don't have much with which to give but do it otherwise. Think about Melinda and John. I think about when it comes to attention, how often I'm getting texts from brothers and sisters at Redeemer, at like 5 in the morning with scripture and with meditations and with prayers. So for each of us, I want us to wrestle with that question of, are we fitting God in the margins of our lives? Are we orienting our lives and worship around him?
Caleb Chancey:And if you're here and you feel a conviction around that, then I encourage you to wrestle through that with the Lord this week and see if there's ways that you, like I, may need to reprioritize some things. But for a number of you, and many of you specifically that I'm thinking about in here, I hope that you're also to hear well done. Like this widow would have put in these 2 coins and she probably walked away, maybe even wondering why she did it. Thinking, was that a waste? Was it all for nothing?
Caleb Chancey:But know that he doesn't go up to her and make it clear that he knew that Jesus saw what she gave that day and would hold her up, that what she may have thought was a waste, what other people would have thought was useless, the Lord said was gonna be the example he would give to his church for generations and generations of what devotion to him really looks like, of what it means to love the Lord, our God, with all of our heart. Many people put in great offerings that day, but it was this small gift that the Lord used above everything else. And so if you're here and you don't have that much to give, know that in the Lord's eyes, it may be incredibly significant. And for those in here who feel like they're sacrificing and sacrificing, hear this, that the Lord sees you. And I don't know what it'll look like, but hear well done and keep pressing on.
Caleb Chancey:But I also wanna point out that it's not just that we're called to live with this sacrificial way, where God's not just in the margins, but has everything we have, or but gets everything we have in worship. We also see elsewhere in places like 2nd Corinthians that we're called to give joyfully and not begrudgingly. And so I think there's 2 quick warnings I wanna give you. 1st, is that as we sacrifice more and more, there's gonna be a temptation to wanna have other people know that we're doing it, to wanna be seen for the ways we're sacrificing or living our lives in worship. At that point, I'll remind you of the call to be aware of the scribes who love to be noticed for their religious devotion.
Caleb Chancey:It is not hard for true devotion to quickly turn into a pursuit of the ways that we make it recognition for it. But second, and the bigger warning I may wanna mention is that for a lot of us in here right now, I imagine where we're feeling is just some low grade guilt of knowing there's aspects where we're not putting in our full lives, Lord. And knowing there's a few ways that we should probably be more generous with our time, with our finances, with our attention, whatever it may be. So So there's gonna be a thought of going here, alright, feeling some conviction, I guess I guess I'll give a little bit more, guess I'll be a little bit better spending time Lord this morning, and for us to begrudgingly go forward. But if we're called to give generously and cheerfully, not just grudgingly, the Lord actually isn't honored by that either.
Caleb Chancey:But instead, he has called us to sacrificially lay down our life. I want each of us to hear and realize this, that the only way we could ever do that, the only way this doesn't become a frustration, but actually becomes an incredible invitation to joy and living a life of purpose of worthwhile glory to the Lord, is if we first realize what he gave up for us. Our true devotion only comes through his ultimate devotion. So I've been looking at this passage this week, I've been reminded of Matthew 1344, which is the shortest parable we see in scripture. I'll read it real quick.
Caleb Chancey:We read in the parable, the kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy, he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field. Now it's easy for us to hear that parable which is about a man who sees this great treasure and decides it's so worthwhile that he'll give up everything he has to go and to buy that field to acquire it because it was more worthwhile than everything he'd have to give up for it. It's easy to hear that parable and think, okay, got it. Message, I have to give up everything to go and to follow Jesus.
Caleb Chancey:But there's 2 problems with that interpretation of the parable. 1st, we don't have to earn Jesus in our life. He gives himself freely. He comes for us when we are still in our sin. And second, how could you and I ever give up enough that we would ever deserve Jesus or could somehow acquire him?
Caleb Chancey:So if that's not what's in play this parable, what is going on? Well, generally speaking with the parables, if you want the solution, the key to figure them out, what's helpful is to first figure out who Jesus is in the parable. Where is God or Christ represented? So again, I'll read that parable again and think about where Christ may fit into this. The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up.
Caleb Chancey:Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field. Well, in there, if Jesus fits in there, the only place that makes sense of you is not some treasure that we go and acquire, that Jesus is actually the man in this parable. So what this parable is saying is that the kingdom of heaven, it's like Jesus looks and finds this great treasure in a field, then he goes and gives up everything he has to go and acquire this field. The parable, it's not pointing to how we give up everything to go and to get Jesus. It's about how Jesus actually went and gave up everything so that he could have us.
Caleb Chancey:So as we think about our passage today, it's important to remember where Christ fits into this. How has he given up everything to follow us? Well, we contrast to the false devotion of the scribes and he's greater than the true devotion of this poor widow with an ultimate devotion. So quickly working through the passage, he he doesn't take on these impressive robes that would draw attention to have people look at him. No.
Caleb Chancey:He he leaves the ways. He was perfectly robed in splendor and beauty in heaven to come take on flesh, having nothing in his appearance that we should devour desire him. And is actually stripped naked and beaten and blooded and bruised. He doesn't take the place of honor at these feasts like the scribes know. He leaves a place of honor, the highest honor of the throne of heaven, to come and to take a place on a cross, a place of humiliation.
Caleb Chancey:He doesn't devour widows houses. No. He comes and he fulfills the law that the scribes were rejecting by caring for and loving and dwelling among the widows and the poor and the of orphans and those who needed him. He doesn't come and take on these great riches in this impressive way. No.
Caleb Chancey:He leaves incredible unthinkable riches in heaven and takes on poverty for our sake. And where this poor widow puts in everything she has to live on, Jesus puts in his very life. And why? Why is it that he doesn't just give so much, but he gives up everything? Well, because God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son that whoever should believe in him should not perish but have eternal life.
Caleb Chancey:Know that Jesus came as that man and looked at a treasure so valuable that he would give up everything, even his own very life. And what was the thing he saw that was so worthwhile he would leave it all behind to acquire this thing? It was you and it was I. And so as we think about our generosity, we only think about it in the mix and in the context of his incredible ultimate devotion to us. How are we led to live where God is not just the margins of our life, but we are orienting our lives around him.
Caleb Chancey:First we see what he gave up for us. And we let that lead us to loving him with all of our heart. And as we love him, we devote ourselves to him. And all of a sudden, we become willing to be an open hand with all that we have. I remember the the pain of writing that check for that engagement ring.
Caleb Chancey:And I'll be honest, it it did hurt a little bit. But then I remember the next morning, I I got to see Megan for the first time in a few days. Once I was with her and reminded of the incredible blessing that spending my life with her was gonna be, let me tell you what I wasn't thinking about. I wasn't thinking about what it cost me to buy a ring. I was thinking about what a great blessing it was, I was gonna get to enter into that relationship.
Caleb Chancey:Imagine for many of us here right now, we might be thinking about how moving God from the margins of our life, to the center of our life, to live in worshipful devotion and our time, finances, attention with everything we have, would be pretty costly. And there's a degree to which we're right. But know that as we think about our life, what we give up is nothing compared to what he's given us. And as we start to see him and behold him as he is, that cost, it doesn't feel that painful anymore. A minute, we're about to sing from Man of Sorrows which has the line, now my debt is paid.
Caleb Chancey:It is paid in full by the precious blood that my Jesus spilled. And as we think about the ledger of our life, what it may cost us to follow Jesus, I want you to think about that ledger and realize that we had an infinite debt, but that debt has been paid. And to the things that we in worshipful generosity give to the Lord, it doesn't balance the scales. We've been given so much more than we could ever think it could cost us to follow Christ. So 2 things I ask you to meditate on this week.
Caleb Chancey:1st, I want you to ask, am I squeezing God into the margins of my life, or am I orienting my life around worshipful devotion of him? But second, and do this one first, have I really seen what Christ has given up for me? Remind ourselves of what God gave up that he may have you with him. And as we do that, whereas the pain of living generously towards him and towards his kingdom, it's really not that painful at all, because we've already been given everything. For he gave up his life, so that in him, we might have life.
Caleb Chancey:Let's go to him now in prayer. Lord God, we admittedly come to imagine scared and fearful, anxious, resistant when we think about living generously towards you. We think about how it may cost us to give up everything our very life and devotion to you. But God, we call to mind that you have done that for us. Lord, that you held nothing back, that you took on the greatest cost possible, the blood of Jesus of which there could be nothing that was more valuable, Lord, that you might have us.
Caleb Chancey:And so, Lord, we just praise you. We pray in these final moments of worship today, Lord, that you would be praised in our singing. And we pray as we leave, Lord, that you'd be praised and worshiped in how we live our lives. Lord, stir in our hearts, an understanding of who you are and what you've been to us, and stir in our hearts a willingness to live generously towards you. We love you, Lord.
Caleb Chancey:Would you lead us to love you more? We pray this in the good name of Jesus. Amen.