The Heart of Giving: Exploring Sacrificial Generosity

Show Notes

Episode 362: In today's episode, we delve into the concept of generosity and its significance in the Christian faith. The core of our conversation focuses on the biblical story of the widow's mite, as found in the Gospels of Mark and Luke. We explore the profound act of the poor widow who, despite her financial constraints, gives two small coins – all she had – as an offering in the temple. This act of giving is contrasted with the larger, yet less sacrificial, donations of the wealthy. We discuss how Jesus highlights the widow's offering as being greater than the rest because she gave out of her poverty, while the rich gave out of their abundance.

What is The Bible Guys?

Whether you’ve been following Jesus for years or you’re just starting to ask questions, there’s a seat for you here.

Join Jeff and Chris for honest conversations about Scripture, faith, and the everyday stuff we all navigate. With humor, personal stories, and plenty of back-and-forth, The Bible Guys explore what the Bible says and how it connects to your life.

Subscribe, bring your questions, and get to know the Bible one conversation at a time. Head over to TheBibleGuys.com for more information!

You're listening to the Bible Guys, a podcast where a couple of friends talk about the Bible in fun, in practical ways. Here we are, good morning, good morning, through good morning, good morning to you and you and you all right, well there you go. That's what three four weeks in a row? Now? Yeah? Yeah, yeah. Hey, by the way, what movies that from? Go? I have no idea seriously singing in the rain? Okay, I've seen singing in the rain. Yeah, it's really good. I'm singing. Hey, look at you and name the actors. Go the dancer guy? Oh, sorry, you can, Kelly Geane, Kelly, there you go. Yeah, Debby Reynolds. Yeah, okay, So today I have talking about movies. Yes, I have five words summaries of movies, and I have to see how fast you can guess what movie it is. So I'm going to say five words. It's kind of each one of these is a sentence, five word sentences, and you have to say this. There's a lot of pressure. Tell me the movie, and I guess the listeners could try to say it up before me. That's right, We're gonna race. Here you go, ready, okay, cat Cat returns to defeat Uncle Cat return Oh, lion king, yes, Cat. It was like Cat's pretty redhead chooses belching monster Shrek. There you go. Man becomes father, steals moon. Oh uh, despicable me steals Moon. That's that's perfect. That's that's perfect. Uh. Enchanted arborist lectures saves Forrest. But say it again, Enchanted arborist lectures saves Forrest. No clue, the lore acts. Oh my word, yeah, there you go. Okay, he didn't save anything. What No, he the one trufula tree at the end he had to replant and he didn't save it. It was actually the okay, here's your last one. I boo on that one. It was the Wintler whatever his name was, that at the very end that felt guilty and he actually he lost the battle. Boo. We could start a new podcast about Seuss if you want to know that. That is just hell. If you like the Biba guys, you should go over to the sus. I'm thinking like I'm thinking like he saved the forest. He didn't save anything. There was nothing there for like years and years. Anyway, go ahead, all right, here's the last one, Chris, go ahead, you better up your game. Immoral Electric company solicit scares. Oh, munsters inc isn't good? Immoral? Yeah, oh immoral? So I said, so, yeah, I wouldn't ever described it that way. Well, they were taking a people, I guess, so yeah, yeah, I guess. So okay, yeah, so that's that's pretty funny. Anyways, Okay, well we got that out of the way. Well that was a big one. I I'm still going to go home and read this. So, by the way, my daughter Tory, uh, her number one favorite thing in all the world is Winnie the Pooh. Okay, okay. Her number one favorite book and all the world she hasn't memorized, believe it or not, is the Lorix. It's the Lorx. Oh so you know this well, very well, very well. Okay, so I've seen this, I've seen this movie, this little cartoon. So did you just disappoint Tori? Is that what happened? That you missed that one? No, I think she'd be on my side with us. Is that she gonna be mad? Yeah? I mean, are you guys gonna go protest Desiree's house out there in the front, get the story right? You're gonna be carrying. Probably grabbed that from a resource which means she probably copied and pasted it somewhere. And so I'm not mad at Desiree. I'm mad at the person who says he saves the forest. So anyway, we went to uh, just this past Christmas, I went down to visit my daughter who lives in Saint Petersburg, Florida, and we went to Universal Studios and uh, there's you could you could walk through Doctor seuss Land, Okay, and on the side there's like a little thing where people just walk through and it's just the Lorax, right, And all it is is just like it's a throwaway kind of a thing. It's not a ride, right, It's just like this little thing they built that you can just walk through. She was happier walking through the Lorax through there then she was probably riding almost any ride. Oh wow, right, and uh and so I was like right there, we got pictures and everything like this. And so if you know the story, uh, he fights and fights this guy making sneeds and and I forget what his name is, the Winsler or the Westler, whatever his name is. Anyway, he loses the battle and so all the trees, the last truffy the tree falls down, it's gone forever, and then he finds then the then the guy who destroyed the forest finds a seed and then keeps it for decades and then finally gives it to a kid to replant. So the lorax actually lost the battle of trying to save the force. Wow, which means it is a wrong distriss, it's a wrong description. Okay, all right, well, thank you for that. You clarified the false doctrine of the lorax, and so that was appreciative of that, Chris. Yeah. Well, you know, listen, that's what made Chris Madden today. Yeah. Well, if we have any listeners left, holy cow. Yeah. Yeah, sorry, Yes, that was thank you for clarifying. That was a big one. So today is a really sweet story. It's only just a few verses long, but I think that this story might be one of the best known stories in the whole Gospels. Yeah right, And so it's found in Mark and Luke, which is rare that you don't get Matthew and Mark. This one was Mark and Luke. Right. In Mark, chapter twelve, verse forty one, it says Jesus sat down near the collection box in the temple and watched as the crowds dropped in their money. Many rich people in large amounts put in large amounts. Then a poor widow came and dropped in two small coins. Jesus called his disciples to him and said, I tell you the truth. This poor widow has given more than all the others who are making contributions, for they gave a tiny part of their surplus. But she, poor as she is, has given everything she had to live on. And in Luke chapter twenty one, verse one, it says while Jesus was in the temple, he watched the rich people dropping their gifts in the collection box. Then a poor widow came by and dropped in two small coins. I tell you the truth, Jesus said, this poor widow has given more than all the rest of them. For they have given a for they have given a tiny part of their surplus. But she, poor as she is, has given everything she has. Yeah. Wow, yeah, And it's known as the widow's mites, right, right, And so do you know anything about the word might because in the King James version that you and I grew up reading, right, it's this version. The NLT says two small coins or two small copper coins, right, but ale is what it was. It was the smallest of the Jewish coins. Then where the word might come from, I don't know really, that's how it was translated. King James h widows mite. Yeah, yeah, I think it was probably an appropriate word. Well obviously if it was written. You know. So the King James version, by the way, was translated into English in the year sixteen eleven. And so both Jeff and I grew up reading the King James and at the same time Shakespeare was writing. Yeah, Shakespeare same level of English. More academic than Shakespeare. Shakespeare is a little bit more bullish, but yeah, yeah, and so anyway, the King James version, it doesn't read as fluent as let's just say, like the NLT because language has changed. Uh. You know, it felt like to me growing up and reading it, it was like yoda, you know really yeah, yeah, it was like it was like you know, how it did how it you know, it would it would put words like that, and uh. And then also you would use words that you had to sort of look up and figure out the translation because we no longer use those words, and and then uh. But the accuracy of translations is obviously the concern, right so the concern about the King James was, uh, you know, uh, we have to make sure that whatever translation it is, that it accurately represents the language. But Greek was a is a hard language to translate from. Sure it really is so anyway, and so widows might or here it would have been in the Greek, it's too Lepta. It was the smallest of the Jewish coins or codrants, which means quadrons, right. So there's a lot of different ways of saying this, but basically what he's talking about is the smallest of the coins that they used, and in their day, the coins were weighted, so that's the value of the coin. The value of the coin was how heavy the coin was, because they would use the scales of justice. That's right. So if you and I were thinking about it, if you could have a fraction of a penny, if it was possible to have a coin that was a fraction of a penny, this is what this lady gave is she gave two fractions of a penny, and they were the smallest coins, the least value, but for her it was everything. So I think it's interesting. Let's unpack that Jesus is sitting there watching people drop their money in. Yeah, well I thought that was private. Well yeah, well back then it wasn't it was, right, And so I don't think it is today either. I think it's personal, yes, right, but if you're expecting a receipt for tax purposes, it's not private, correct, correct, that's right. Well, somebody, somebody's looking at it. Somebody has to look at it. And so here's Jesus. He's paying attention, he's just watching. And so this area is near the women's section. If you know about the temple, there was the public section for the men, there was a section for gentiles who weren't Jewish, and there was a section for the women. And so this is near the area the women's portion of the temple that had the collection boxes. And so all the rich people love to make a big presentation about it. Here's my thing dropping in their money, and Jesus is like, that's just from the surplus, right, And this poor little lady she comes and gives everything she has. And by the way, that's actually true. So usually the richer that people get. And by the way, when I say rich, I'm including you and me in that equation. Absolutely, So what does it say It says, if you make like forty five thousand dollars and you have two working cars, you're in the top one percent of the richest people in the world, right, which is hard to believe because we don't feel rich, right, But the reality is you are rich. But were some of the richest people in history. Yes, And so when the Bible talks about those who are rich, you know, to do good deeds. Uh, he's talking about you, right, even though that you don't feel rich. And so we only don't feel rich because there are we we know of richer people. Yes, a lot of richer people, right, So we know that richer people exist, and so we go, I'm not that rich, right, But the reality is you're in the top one percent if that's if you qualify. So, so the bottom line is is the richer we get usually the less percentage we give, so the amount becomes greater. But you know, you could you can, Like I think of my mom all the time. So my mom when I was a kid, I remember going to church with her very infrequently. We were sort of infrequent uh nonpracticing uh churchgoers. And I remember one time the uh plate, the offering plate, there was like an actual plate, like a like like a steel brass plate or something, and and you would they would, it would be passed and and so people could literally if they were paying attention, out of the corner of the rye, they can see what you drop in there. And I remember the minister said this, and I don't even know what church it was, but the minister said, hey, drop in what you can, and if you need something for your bills, take it out. By the way, have you ever heard that in your life? Yeah? Have you, because I've never heard that. That's crazy, that's right. And so for a pastor to have that kind of faith and all these kind of things. So anyway, so that the plate passed and I looked and there was a pile of money on there. I looked over my mom and I said, there is take it. Take it, said, you can have it. Yeah, And so she grabbed she looked in her purse and she looked and I remember her opening her a little coin compartment and she had five dollars that's all she had in the whole thing. And I know how poor we were, and she took the five dollars and she threw it in and I was like, what is the matter with you, like you gave literally everything you have, and do you know that to this day she's still that way. She will have absolutely nothing for herself and she will give one hundred percent of everything she has if she feels like you need it. And she's always been that way. And so therefore I think that regardless of growing up in ministry and struggling and not having a lot of salary, I'd never struggled with giving because it was always model for me. My mom was always sacrificial. But the richer that I've gotten, the more I've realized, like, whoa, instead of giving five dollars, you know, when you write that check and it's hundreds, right, or you know at the end of the year when you know it's thousands, right, it's like, wow, that's different than giving five dollars. The percentage wise, it's really the same. Yeah, right, my dad, I can remember my dad was a tither, so he gave ten percent of his income off the gross every week. And so when he became a Christian, he immediately, like the first week, he knew because that's what his parents did. He knew that's what he should do. And so you know, my dad was talking to me one day. When I was growing up, we were poor, very poor, and we had a lot of struggles. But after I had gone off to college and got married, my dad had a business that was really successful. And so my dad said, let me tell you which is harder. Is it harder to tithe when you don't have very much or is it harder to tithe when you have a lot. And I said, I don't know. He said, so, when I first started tithing, my tithe was fifty dollars and he said, now my tithe is one thousand dollars a week, right, well, or whatever it was, And he said, so, which is harder. I'll tell you. He said, right now, those zeros is hard. But he said ten percent. Ten percent, right. God deserves, God deserves what he asks for. He says, I want to tithe, bring a tithe back so that my house be full, so that the you'll be able to the work of the ministry can go forward. And he said, so, whether I have a little or a lot, ten percents the same. It's the same for everybody. And he just decided he was going to honor God. And so, you know, my wife and I, as I grew up. That was a a focus, and then even when I was a teenager in college, I tithed my wife and I But it's not always easy, no, because every time it's a heart check. Every time it's you know what I could be doing with his money? Yeah? Right, but you decide, Okay, God, I'm bringing it back because you don't give a tithe, you bring back a tithe. God gave it all to you, right, and then you bring back that's a push that So in this situation, this lady's not tithing. So in the temple at that time, there were there was a note in here that really spelled it out. I remembered these things, but then it has it in the note. Jesus was in the area of the temple called the Court of Women. In this area were seven boxes in which worshippers could deposit their temple tax that would be the tithe right, and six boxes for free will offerings like the one this woman gave. This woman was not only poor, but had few resources for making money. Her small gift was a sacrifice, but she gave it willingly. So lots of people come in just drop their temple tax in ten percent of all their stuff and she comes in and she's not dropping her tithe in, not ten percent. She goes over the free will offering area and instead of giving one out of the two, she just gives everything hands. And there is something to be said about she wasn't placing her trust in what little she had. She was placing her trust in God, right right. She didn't go and buy a scratch off with it, right right. She didn't go and try to find someplace to turn two into four. In this moment she said, Okay, I have nobody to trust but God. It's just me and God, and so I'm going to trust him. And here we are, two thousand years later talking about her. And so this goes to show you that when we do drop a tithe in, or maybe we pay, most of us probably pay electronically now right, and we're all by ourselves, and we hit a little button. The question is does God see? Does God see? Because nobody else sort of knows besides the person who writes the receipt for our tax purposes, nobody else really knows what we give. But that's not true at all? Is it? Because God notices this woman who and recognizes the sacrifice, so she know her reward her blessings in heaven, her you know, her, her faith, all all those things have increased, and she's gonna be blessed because of it. And you know what, it's really hard, it's really hard to give like that. But yet she again, she just has complete faith. When I was thinking about what you said is back then their money was weighted. Uh. Did you know that when you drive through a toll booth and you just grab your money and you toss it in and it goes and all of a sudden the gate lifts up. Did you know that they don't actually measure it by size. It's they measure by weight. You know that. Yeah, so you're able to just throw a handful of chains in there, and and on those coin machines where you actually take them and you throw them in at Kroger or something like this. Uh, they measure all that by weight. Yeah, it makes sense. Yeah, that's interesting. So there's a process forgiving and and and Jesus is celebrating how incredibly sacrificial this lady is. But I think so generosity is one of the signs of people of faith. The Bible mentions this, Jesus mentions it. Paul mentions it. Peter mentions it. It's a big part of the lifestyle of a Christian should be. Luke mentions it in the Book of Acts that they sold what they had and they took care of the poor around them with their own resources. Right. And then historically I'm reading a book right now by Chuck Colson called The Faith, and he spells out how sacrificial the early Church was back in the early days, even to the point where they were willing to risk their lives to care for people during the plagues, when all the rich people would leave the cities, they would come in and build hospitals and take care of the sick people. Or they would use their resources in order to take care of the poor and the impoverished when much of the rest of the Roman citizenry would ignore them, right, and all this kind of stuff. So it's always been a hallmark of Christianity that real Christians are givers, right, And it comes from one God says tithe Right, So that would be part of it. Many people who so I would say, for if you're not yet generous, generosity is the anidote to self centeredness, right, Generosity is the antidote to envy. I think it's the antidote to jealousy. I think generosity is the anidote to materialism. So if your kids are struggling with this, teach them to be givers. Right, if you struggle with these things, you need to be a giver. It's one of the antidotes. When you start letting it go and you begin to trust God, you trust in it less, trust God more. It becomes so just learning to begin to be any kind of a giver. And then I would say, be a regular giver. So set up a regular time, Paul says, on the first day of the week, set aside. You know you're offering when he was receiving the special offering for Jusalem. So be regular giver, consistently regular, and then get to becoming a percentage giver where you're saying, Okay, you know what, I'm going to work up to this ten percent or I know many people who have gone eleven, twelve, thirteen percent. One of my friends wound up writing the best selling hardcover nonfiction book in history, made goajillions upon gajillions of dollars, and he and his wife paused with their giving from it, and they're spending for a little while while they tried to forgeut what that God wanted to do, and they decided to reverse tithe and they've given away ninety percent. Now is their process before he dies, We're going to give away ninety percent. They've already given away, like so they set the goal for ninety percent, but they've given ninety three so far. Oh wow, Yeah, it's pretty neat, right, or we've given away. So there's this idea of be regular. Just set up a regular time that you're going to give. If you don't, you'll forget. Then be be percentage giver. Decide, hey, i'm gonna I can't give ten right now, but I'm going to give five, and then i'm gonna give seven, and then i'm gonna give ten, and then i'm gonna get eleven whatever, and then be sacrificial. And that's what he's celebrating because there were the people that were being they were giving their percentage. That's the part of their surplus. And then he goes, but look at this lady. Yeah, you want to get Jesus attention, You want you want to impress Jesus. Yeah, right, get to that point where you're generous and sacrificial well, and there's something to be said about that. Yeah, And let me just say this too. Usually this is difficult for people. Giving is emotional. Giving is because that's where your heart is. It's where your heart is. And I would also say this in my experience and you probably have experienced this too, Giving is sometimes and I would say even more typically the last thing that people sort of do when they become a Christian. It's like it's like, oh, I'm I'm gona immediately stop cussing. You know, I'm going to immediately, you know, stop doing this or this or that, and I'm going to go to church. And these things are sort of easier. But then the giving part of the faith comes with maturity, and it comes with because that's true sacrifice. You know, you know you're entering into my world now, you know you're not just asking for this or that you're asking for this. And I think that we see that a lot, Like for instance, I'll just give you an example. You can see it even even from Afar. So for instance, our church has grown by uh, you know, a large percentage, like forty percent year over year. So we had just this last year, so we had a booming year attendance wise, and yet our giving is actually has it gone up, like up three point three percent? Three percent? Right, yeah, right, but our givings up three point three percent. Now, Now, as as a as a leader, as a pastor, that's hard, that's difficult because because now you have twice as not twice as much, but forty percent more events and ministry and staff in cars up, the costs go up. You've got to hire people to to you know, mend your nets while you're catching fish and all these kind of things. And uh. And yet when people don't give, then it's like, okay, well hit, we still have almost relatively the same budget. I would just say, hey, if there are truly thousands of listeners who listen to us and and hundreds that that are ten herited church, if you were one those people and you're on the sort of the fringe of your maturity there where you're like, hey, I'm there, I have the knowledge, but I haven't crossed the line, I would just challenge you. And I'm boldly doing this. I'm unapologetically saying it is just as much a part of our faith, and it's just as important part of our faith as anything else. So if you had an anger problem, I would not shry away from saying, let's deal with your anger problem. Sure, right, so make no mistake of it. Not giving is a spiritual problem. If you think your provision comes from your money, it's very difficult to drop it in. If you think your provision comes from God, it's easy to bring it back to him because He's going to keep providing for you, which is why fifts your perspective, which is why my favorite phrase attached to that is I will not put my hope in riches, but I will No, I will not put my trust in riches, but I will trust the one who richly provides. Yeah. Wow, Yeah that's great. So hey, well listen, that is a great place to end and hopefully we will see you next time on the Bible guys. HM