The Gift

Good morning. Good to see all of you here and those watching online. You wouldn’t know this, but I track numbers here at Shepherd’s Gate, so I can tell you that even though our numbers are lighter in the summer, which you know we go on vacations, uh, my family’s on vacation, but our online numbers have been way higher, which is great. So thank you when you’re uh taking a break uh from being here physically, uh watching online, catching the service. That’s a wonderful way to stay connected to Shepherd’s Gate. So I’m glad we’re doing that as a community, and I’m glad we’re getting out too, you know, winter’s just a step away. I hate to say it, but let’s let’s be at a park, let’s get outside, let’s be on our decks, let’s do what we gotta do to enjoy what God is giving us right now. Amen? Well, uh, so um this week is the last week in our series called Little Things. We’ve been talking about little things that make a big difference. And uh the first week we talked about the tongue. The tongue is a small part of the body, you know, but we form words with it. Words matter, that’s important. Or we talked about the seed of faith and how when everything’s going right, it seems like a small thing. But the moment something happens in our lives that goes wrong, boy, faith takes on a lot more significance.

And today we’re talking about the gift. If you don’t think little things matter, if you’ve ever been with your significant other and you’ve been in the kitchen and suddenly you’re arguing about a spoon, you know, little things can kind of blow up in your face really easily. Sometimes little things uh make a big difference. That’s that’s what we’re looking at. So uh the gift, we’re actually talking about uh one particular story in the Bible today. This is ChatGPT’s version of the story, the widow who gave two little coins in the temple treasury. You can see her there. We don’t know a lot about her, she’s only mentioned here, and yet she’s in the pages of scripture for all time. 2,000 years later, we’re talking about her. And for some reason, this story was significant to Jesus, uh, her life and what she did, and it made a difference to him and ended up in Scripture. So uh actually, today we are talking about money. And uh, you know, often when I speak, I try to get the stakes. I try to uh help us understand why a topic is so important. But do I really need to do that today? I mean, I think we all know that finances and money are important. They are important. It uh affects so much of our lives. It affects our daily life. Uh it causes stress, doesn’t it? It affects our marriages, our priorities, our freedom, our security, our fear, our generosity, and our trust. It has long-term and short-term implications. Uh finances, money, giving, possessions. Uh these things matter.

So, but let me be clear up front, uh, today’s not gonna be a guilt trip message. So everyone can just relax. It’s okay. Uh we’re just gonna look at what the Bible says about giving to this one particular story. And it’s so it’s not a guilt trip, it’s not a sales pitch either. I’m not trying to beef up our offerings or something like that today. We’re really just looking at God’s word and how it’s gonna speak to us. Uh, and you know, Shepherd’s Gate is not interested in wheedling money out of anybody. So if you’re a guest here today, just it’s okay, relax. Um, we’re gonna look at what the Bible says, uh, but we’re uh we’re not after anyone’s money. But if we’re serious about following Jesus, we cannot avoid this topic. The Bible doesn’t avoid it. Jesus didn’t avoid it. Any church that’s seeking to be biblically centered cannot avoid the topic of money. In fact, the entire Bible devotes 7.5% of all Bible verses to some form of money or possessions or finances. That’s 2,350 verses. Just to put that in context, prayer, which we would all consider to be a foundation, a key discipline of the Christian faith, is only talked about in 500 verses or 1.6%. So God obviously felt that this topic was important enough to devote a significant portion of Scripture to it. The Bible often speaks about money and possessions not because God needs our money, by the way, He doesn’t need our money, but because money has a way of revealing our hearts.

And that’s one reason why generosity is baked into our vision statement. We only have three little phrases in our vision statement. One of them talks about this topic. Let’s say our vision statement together. It’s in there. We want to live generously with our time, our attention, our homes, our abilities, our resources, our lives, not just money, but certainly not less than money. It has to be in there too, right? Live generously with everything we have. So why am I speaking on this today? Well, it’s not because uh Pastor Tim didn’t want to do it. He’s not here today, but he’s on vacation with his family, and you know, he carries the weight of preaching in this church and so much more, so I’m glad he’s on break, but it’s not because he’s on break that I’m talking about it, and it’s not because I drew the short straw among those of us that speak. It’s okay. Uh, you know, as executive director, it’s my job to make sure that uh this vision is carried out. And so I’m looking at the ministries of the church, I’m looking at our staff, and yes, I’m looking at our finances and our budgets to make sure we’re being efficient and we’re being impactful in the world to share the love of Jesus through this vision statement. And so I’m kind of in it. And you know, my dad was a pastor. I heard lots and lots of sermons growing up. I was in church all my life growing up. I heard plenty of giving sermons, and now I’ve preached a few of them. So I feel like I’m I got it from all angles, you know.

And um, I’m I’m happy to share about it today because I think it’s a very important topic for us. And, you know, for SG members, giving is a part of our shared discipleship. As members, we commit to supporting our church through giving because we want to accomplish our mission and our vision, and we want to live as Christ’s followers and be generous. But if you’re not a member today, it’s okay. Uh if you’re just uh you call shepherdate your home church, but you’re not a member. Uh the principles that we’re gonna talk about today, really just one principle, is important for anybody. And if you’re a guest today, if this is your first or second time here, this message has something for you because this subject matters a lot to everyone. I was looking at a study of givers. Over 4,400 people were surveyed, Christians that have given in the past. And I read the answers to the survey. One section asked people, now when you’re not giving, why are you not giving? Like what’s the reason? Or what’s the reason why uh you’re not giving? And here are the top three. So uh I cannot afford to give, 38%. That’s number one. I have too many debts. A close second. 33% said that. My spouse and I do not agree on giving. I don’t know why that’s so low. I feel like that should be a little higher than 18%, but it was the number, it was the number three answer. So listen, we shouldn’t make light of this. These are serious concerns.

I mean, uh, these are real pressures, and for some people this is real pain. And so we don’t want to make light of this. So the goal today is not to pretend like giving is easy, it’s not. But to let the words of scripture teach us how God sees giving. Now, I have preached a couple of giving messages here at Shepherd’s Gate, and I actually did one last October, and I purposely looked at it again because I don’t want to cover uh old ground, but I do want to review it because that message was a survey of what the Bible in general says about giving for Christ’s followers. And so just to set the stage, I’m gonna go through uh there were seven words that we pulled out of the scripture at that time. That message is still online, by the way, if you want to watch it. If you’re curious and you didn’t uh you didn’t uh listen to it or hear it at that time, or you forgot and you want to do it again, just look online, it’s there. So, for a follower of Jesus, giving is generous. Not stingy, but generous. Voluntary. It’s not something you have to do, but it’s something you should want to do. Heartfelt, so uh it matters. It matters to you internally. Cheerful. There’s actually a verse about giving being cheerful, we’re gonna look at it later. Regular. So not on a whim or once in a while, but something that’s part of our regular discipleship as a follower of Jesus. Proportionate, not everyone gives the same amount, proportionate to what God has given us. And then intentional.

It’s something we talk about, we pray about, we think about as a family, and we have some intention behind it. So that’s what the Bible says about giving. But today, I really just want to talk about this story, this widow’s gift. And I really only have one thing to say. And it’s gonna take me about 20 minutes to say it, but it’s okay. We’ll get there, and uh, you’ll get it by the end, I think. But let’s look at the um, let’s look at the story right now. It’s found in the Gospel of Mark, chapter 12, it’s just a couple of verses. Jesus sat down opposite the place where the offerings were put and watched the crowd putting their money into the temple treasury. Many rich people threw in large amounts. But a poor widow came and put in two very small copper coins worth only a few cents. Calling his disciples to him, Jesus said, Truly I tell you, 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. See, it wasn’t the amount that she gave compared to the wealthy givers that mattered to Jesus. You see that right away in the story. It was the sacrifice that mattered to Jesus, not the amount. He says, She has put more into the treasury than all the others. He’s obviously not talking about totals, she just put in a couple of cents.

So it wasn’t about the total. But what did Jesus see? What did he see? He saw the heart behind the gifts of both the wealthy givers and the widow as she gave. The wealthy gave out of their wealth, it didn’t cost them anything. The widow gave sacrificially, even though the amount was small. It cost her a lot. On the surface, the story looks like a rich versus poor thing, right? But it’s really not. It’s about surplus versus sacrifice. Jesus isn’t impressed with the amounts, he’s impressed with what it costs the widow to be generous. And this principle isn’t found just in this story. It’s uh there’s throughout the Bible. I’m just gonna give you one other place that it’s found in the Old Testament, in the book of Deuteronomy, as God is giving the nation of Israel instructions about religious festivals. It says, No one should appear before the Lord empty-handed. Each one of you must bring a gift in proportion to the way the Lord your God has blessed you. Giving out of wealth asks, what can I afford to part with? Sacrificial giving asks, what does my love for God lead me to offer? That’s the difference. So let’s just dig in this a little further. Jesus wasn’t impressed with the totals, he was impressed with the heart behind the gift, he was impressed with the sacrifice. Why? Why would God care about financial sacrifice? What is it about the internal motive that’s important to him? Well, you can probably answer that if you think about it a little bit.

What are we willing to sacrifice for? What we’re willing to sacrifice for reveals what we truly care about, doesn’t it? Or to put another way, we sacrifice for what we love. Think about that. We sacrifice for what we love. God doesn’t need our money, but he wants something, he wants our hearts. And our money often reveals where our hearts really are. The Bible talks about how God looks at the heart in 1 Samuel 16 very clearly. People look at the outward appearance, but God looks at the heart. God looks at something different. He looks at the heart. God is interested in what we care about, He’s interested in the alignment of our focus and our love. And listen, sacrifice, you know, making a sacrifice is not always a good thing. We make sacrifice plays for stuff that is unhealthy all the time. Just because it’s a sacrifice doesn’t mean it’s good. We sacrifice sometimes for pride, our own pride or our reputation. Sometimes we’ll sacrifice for ambition or control or even our own pleasure. But our God, if he’s our creator, right? If he created us, then he knows what we should sacrifice for. He knows where our love should be aligned better than any of us could. If he made us, then he knows. I could summarize this point this way. Our lives are directed by our loves, and our loves are revealed by our sacrifices. They’re revealed. They’re revealed by our sacrifices. Okay. So last week, if you’re here last week, uh I told you that I’m the chef in our family.

And it’s been that way for many years, over a decade. And especially when the girls were little, I have two daughters, uh, uh, we would sit down to dinner, and since I’m the chef, I would make sure that there was enough food. But on certain nights, like leftover nights would be one of them, or just if maybe there’s something on the table that everyone really, really likes, that would maybe run short. And maybe this happens around your dinner table, but you know, if there’s like one potato left, or there’s like there’s one piece of steak left, they’re like, who’s gonna get that? You know, and it was just really easy for me to be like, oh, you guys have it, or let’s cut that in half, and each, you know, two of you can have it, or whatever, and just make the sacrifice play because you know it’s not really that important, but it’s important enough to me that my family gets what they want at the dinner table, and so sure, I’ll sacrifice. For some reason, I can’t do it anymore. They got wise or something. I try to do it now, and they’re like, no, Dad, you like steak too. And I do like steak. I don’t mind so I don’t mind it sometimes if I get the last piece. That’s fine. Uh but yeah, I can’t get away with that anymore. But I’ll tell you, I love my family. I’m sure all of you love your families. You know, I would sacrifice a lot more for them if I had to. Thank God that I’ve never been in a position where uh we didn’t have enough food.

But if we didn’t, I would I would go without eating anything at all. If it meant that my family could eat, I’d make that sacrifice. I mean, I would I would put myself in harm’s way for my family. I think many of us would do that too. To keep them safe. If somehow giving my life would save my family, I would do it. Because I love my family. Don’t you? We sacrifice for what we love. So how does that fit with what Jesus says here in Matthew 22? Someone asked him, Teacher, what is the greatest commandment in the law? Jesus replied, Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul and your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. So I have to ask myself, is this the way my loves are really aligned? Do I love God at least as much as I love my family? If I do, what kind of sacrifice am I willing to make? Am I willing to give him my time? Am I willing to read his word and spend time with him in prayer? Am I willing to adjust my thoughts and actions when I know they aren’t in line with God’s word? Am I willing to set my personal desires aside if they conflict with what God wants for me and my career or for my family? Am I willing to change the way I handle my finances? Or am I giving when it doesn’t align with what God says about it in the scriptures? Jesus sees the alignment of the wealthy givers, he sees the heart condition of the widow who gives, he sees my heart, he sees your heart.

Don’t mistake the fact that God can see our internal motivations. He can. He does. He sees everyone’s internal motivations. He knows. He knows that we reveal our love in part by how we handle our finances. He knows that. In another place, Jesus put it this way: Jesus said, do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth where moths and rust destroy, where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven where moths and rust do not destroy, where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. He knows. He knows. We talk about, we talk a lot about the love we’re supposed to have for God, for Jesus. We sang about it this morning. It was great. The band did a great job. I was singing along too. We pray it, we hear it, we teach it. Why is it so hard to express our love for God with our finances? Well, it’s because money is just not math. We know this. What is money really? Security? Control? Options. A future. That’s why giving can feel so spiritually exposing. When God touches our money, he’s touching one of the places where we’re most tempted to build a life apart from him. This is heavy, but I need to share it. It’s it’s it’s it’s one of those ways where we can say, yes, God, all of this, but not this. I got this. And it represents so much.

To give up that, to give up that control, to give up that security by being generous with our money, by giving some of it away, it is very difficult. That’s precisely why it’s so prominent in the Bible, right? Why are there so many verses about it? Because God knows. God knows this is a difficult subject for us. It’s precisely why this widow, we’re talking about her today. That’s why the story was in the Bible. That’s why it moved Jesus. God does not need anything, but he wants something. He wants our love. He wants our trust in these areas that are hard to give to him. I said we get back to this verse. Here it is in 2 Corinthians. Each of you should give what you’ve decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. Why does God love a cheerful giver? It’s not because he needs the money, it’s not because the church needs the money, it’s because the sacrifice of giving to the Lord reveals the state of our heart, aligned towards him, not toward using our money to give ourselves security, comfort, or control. So this is the this is the one thing I want to say today. I’ve been saying it over and over. I want to say it plainly. Giving is a heart issue. Giving is a heart issue. That’s what Jesus was looking at. It seems like a little thing, but it’s way, way more important than what it appears. Because it’s about our hearts and where our trust lies. Have you heard about the sandwich generation?

Does anyone know about the sandwich generation? It’s not about food. So I’m in the sandwich generation. Uh I have aging parents, and my wife, uh, her mom is aging, and we are beginning to care more and more for them. The time and financial responsibility for caring for our parents is falling more and more on our shoulders. At the same time, my youngest daughter is going to college in the fall, so I’ll have two daughters in college. And dealing with the uh financial implications of that. And we’re kind of sandwiched in between right now. We’re the sandwiched generation. It’s it’s difficult. We have to trust that God will provide for us. That’s why it’s a heart issue. Because I would like control, you know, I would like to be the one in control. I would like to hoard everything I have. But it’s a heart issue. And you know what? There are always good reasons not to give in every season. When I was a college student, I was poor. I was very poor. It was hard to give. When we were newly married and we were just starting out and we were on one income, we were barely making it. It was very difficult to give. When we had a family and we had two young kids running around at home and we had the expenses associated with those children, man, it was hard to give. I’m in the sandwich generation now, it’s difficult.

I suppose that when I retire and I become on a fixed income, it will be difficult to give. It’s just it’s it’s it’s not really about the reasons, just like it’s really not about the amount. It’s about the focus and condition of my heart. No matter what season I’m in, no matter what season you’re in, as we close, consider the sacrifice that the widow gave. And it lives on, but Jesus gave way more than that. I wonder if this story ended up in the Bible and it moved Jesus so much in part, because Jesus saw something in that sacrifice that really resonated with him, because just a few months later, he would give something too. He would give his life. For us. If you want to know the key to releasing the grip that money has on us because it’s a heart issue, look to Jesus. He is our example, he’s the one that we need to emulate. We were dead in our sin. There was no way we could be right with God, there was no way we could have a relationship with Him, there was nothing we could do that we’d be perfect enough. And God knew that. And Jesus died for those sins and rose from the dead, and all we have to do is receive that free gift of salvation, and we are his children and we’re forgiven. It’s amazing. What a gift. The more we understand that, the more we look at that, the more we concentrate on that, the less the money matters. The less it matters. And the more, the more we can just be grateful and say, God, thank you. Thank you so much for this new life.  And I don’t want, I don’t want anything to come between me and you. I don’t want to hold on to something in my heart that I have control over that I’m I’m using and you’re not.