The Applause of God
Mark 12:37b-44
NOTE: This sermon begins with a 1 minute video on Hypocrisy.
Sermon Objective: We have two options when it comes to the Christian faith; we can customize it into a flash and flesh religion (which brings judgment) or we can humbly seek to love and serve God (which elicits God’s applause).
Supporting Scripture: James 1:21-27, James 3:13-18
INTRO:
37 … The large crowd listened to him with delight.
38As he taught, Jesus said, "Watch out for the teachers of the law. They like to walk around in flowing robes and be greeted in the marketplaces, 39and have the most important seats in the synagogues and the places of honor at banquets. 40They devour widows’ houses and for a show make lengthy prayers. Such men will be punished most severely."
41Jesus 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. 42But a poor widow came and put in two very small copper coins, worth only a fraction of a penny.
43Calling his disciples to him, Jesus said, "I tell you the truth, this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others. 44They all gave out of their wealth; but she, out of her poverty, put in everything—all she had to live on."
Have you ever purchased a new car that was a specific color or make thinking there were not many of them like it around and, once you bought it, you began to see them everywhere? It is sort of like that with me sometimes. When God begins to show me things about myself I begin to see it in other realms as well.
Such is the case today.
I see it more than I used too. I do not think it is any more prevalent – it is just that I see it more. That is, as I have explained, probably because I see it more in myself.
It’s ugly.
It’s real.
It’s easy to fall into.
I am talking about what I call “FLASH AND FLESH RELIGION” … showy religion … playing for the camera … performance … making sure to do the right things when others are around (solely so others will see you doing the right things). I’m talking about pretense … ego … hypocrisy.
I am talking about adopting a spirituality that is flesh (self)-centered. By that I mean it is about what you are going to get out of it more than it is about loving God with all your being and loving your neighbor as yourself.
James describes this kind of religion in chapter 3:
13Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show it by his good life, by deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom. 14But if you harbor bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast about it or deny the truth. 15Such "wisdom" does not come down from heaven but is earthly, unspiritual, of the devil. 16For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice.
17But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere. 18Peacemakers who sow in peace raise a harvest of righteousness.
The problems with this flash and flesh religion are many:
IT CLAMORS FOR PROMINENCE
It feeds the ego – which is the last thing we need! What becomes important in showy fleshly religion is building up one’s self; feeling good.
You become a god created in your own image and serving / sacrificing to that God is the order of the day … everyday … because it has an insatiable appetite.
IT CREEPS UP SUBTLY
Nobody sets out to use God’s name as a means to serve one’s self. It happens subtly; Maybe a false teaching creeps in, a desire for comfort gets a stronghold, or something within tells you that you deserve to “treat yourself” even if you have to rationalize God’s Word and commands away.
IT CONSUMES OTHERS
Jesus used a very graphic and gruesome image when he said that those trafficking in the flash and flesh religion “devour” other people for their own purposes.
Other people become tools to be used rather than fellow sojourners to be in relationship with.
IT IS CREATED IN HELL
These words about flash and flesh religion are as stern as Jesus ever spoke. Using religion for self-comfort, self-gain, and self-advancement is anathema.
It is corrupt – it operates from pride and covetousness. Outwardly there appears to be holiness but inwardly there is only self-centeredness.
It has a fundamental flaw in how such a faith understands God and God’s design for human worship. Instead of loving God and man with one’s whole being it really only loves itself. Any religion that caters to self-love is corrupt.
A few months ago, while working through Mark 12:29-31, I came to a striking realization. It happened after I snapped at my wife in a particularly rude manner because I was … “inconvenienced.” I wanted to apologize. I wanted to tell her that she was the most important person in my world and that, as far as I was concerned, she was the more valuable than anything else God had placed in my life … but my actions had just proven otherwise. What my rude actions really proved was that she was NOT the most important person in my life … I was the most important person in my life. I loved myself more than I loved her and that is why I got snippy when she inconvenienced me.
That’s what a religion of flash and flesh gets you … a superficial and hollow faith experience. That, like the video we watched, looks polished on the outside but is messy on the inside.
As James said (3:15) Such "wisdom" does not come down from heaven but is earthly, unspiritual, of the devil.
James also said (1:26-27): If anyone considers himself religious and yet does not keep a tight rein on his tongue, he deceives himself and his religion is worthless. Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.
Believe me my friends, this flash and flesh religion is created in hell and keeps us much further from God than we care to admit.
A FAITH THAT GOD APPLAUDS
Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.
Those verses sure fly in the face of a “flash and flesh religion” don’t they?
And speaking of widows … this story now turns its attention to a seemingly insignificant widow to give us a contrasting alternative understanding of our faith.
Because, you see, THERE IS A WAY TO PRACTICE YOUR FAITH THAT GOD APPLAUDS!
The core of the widow’s faith has already been clearly explained by Jesus. He did it while talking to these same men who prefer the flash and flesh alternative (Mark 12:29-31):
29"The most important one," answered Jesus, "is this: ’Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. 30Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’31The second is this: ’Love your neighbor as yourself. ’There is no commandment greater than these."
Jesus said the one who really moved his heart and contributed tremendously to the kingdom of God was a little, unnamed, unknown widow. She came and put in two tiny coins that added up to no more than a penny; but because she loved the Lord her God with all her heart, all her soul, all her mind, and all her strength … she became to model we should follow.
She did more to move the Kingdom of Heaven than all the outward performances of all these others combined.
God applauded.
I think it is important to recognize that the widow’s faith WAS public and high profile … for a Jew it could not have been in a more high profile place (The temple treasury in the temple courts). It was a placed where people (like Jesus) could actually sit and watch others give their money to God. To say that genuine faith is private and secretive, or passive is incorrect. Real faith has its sleeves rolled up and is found active it the public square.
The difference, you see, was not WHAT she did but WHY she did it!
THE WIDOW’S GIFT REVEALS A GENUINE TRUST IN GOD
The fact that the widow gave two coins is significant. She could have kept one for herself. But this was not about a performance this was about obedience and trust. We, like the original disciples, fail to appreciate the total commitment to God that the widow’s gift illustrates. SHE GAVE HER WHOLE LIVING – HER WHOLE SELF (kind of like Mark 12:29-31 suggests).
Do you claim to trust God? Do your actions prove it? Even giving, maybe especially giving, shows what/WHO you really trust.
The call of the Gospel is a call to absolute surrender and total trust in God.
THE WIDOW’S FAITH EARNED HER GOD’S NOTICE AND APPROVAL
This simple act of devotion has been recorded in the Word of God for all eternity. The widow had no idea how much of an example of pure and simple faith she really was.
There was no flash. There was no pretense. Just love for God that resulted in acts of obedience.
That reminds me of other words from the lips if Jesus. Words you find in John 14.
† If you love me, you will obey what I command. (v. 15)
† Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me. He who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love him and show myself to him. (v. 21)
† If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. He who does not love me will not obey my teaching. These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent me. (vv. 23-24)
WRAP-UP
Some Christians crave the applause of other people. Be careful … you might get what you wish for. In seeking the applause of men you forfeit the applause of God.
Our Gospel reading compares empty religious trappings with true spirituality. One is condemned because it is a false religion that has all the right look to it and the other is praised because it comes from a heart turned to God.
Who are you really trying to please?
Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. and ’Love your neighbor as yourself.’
Let’s listen to the praise team as they sing Matt Redman’s “Coming Back to the Heart of Worship.”
I watched on of my favorite movies last night. It is an old comedy called “The God’s Must Be Crazy.” It is about a bush tribe that lives in the Kalahari Desert; they have no earthly possessions. They are happy, content, and self sufficient.
A bush plane flies overhead (which they mistake for a god’s tummy rumbling) and the pilot throws an empty Coca Cola bottle out which lands in the middle of the village.
The Bush people think it *must* be a gift from the gods and sure enough, they begin to find good uses for it. They discover it can make music, it can effectively help them grind grain, and it pulverizes pulp. But this “possession” brings other things too … envy, anger, covetousness, and violence. They learn to hurt each other by using the bottle. They soon name the bottle “The Evil Thing.”
The Evil Thing threatens to destroy their whole way of life so the tribal leader begins a journey to the ends of the earth of get rid of the bottle.
So many times the things we think are good and gifts can become the “evil” that destroys our relationships too. We are wise to discard them and return to harmony with our God.
He who has ears to hear
Let him hear.
This sermon is provided by Dr. Kenneth Pell
Potsdam Church of the Nazarene
Potsdam, New York
www.potsdam-naz.org
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Children’s Sermon
How Can You Tell?
Object: A fan & a streamer or small flag
Objective: We cannot see God’s Holy Spirit except through the changes he brings in our lives.
Hi guys! It is sure good to see you today!
I have this fan up here with us today because I sometimes get warm and the fan helps me cool off. I only wish that I could see the breeze coming out of the fan so that I would know exactly where to stand to get the most effect.
I cannot see the wind coming out of the fan. Can you? No, of course not. We cannot see the air or wind … it is “invisible.”
But, we can know when and where the wind is blowing can’t we? Do you know how? We look at the “effects.” For example, if we are in the woods we can look at the leaves on the trees and see which way they are blowing. Or with this fan we can look at the streamer I have attached to it. Watch what happens when I turn the fan on … now you can tell exactly which direction the wind is blowing.
Speaking of “wind.” Did you know that the words in the Bible for the Holy Spirit are the same word that we would use for wind? The word means breath or wind. In fact, when the Holy Spirit came upon God’s people in the book of Acts it was like a “violent” wind (Acts 2:2). The people could not see the Holy Spirit, they saw the “effects” of the Holy Spirit.
That’s how people can tell if you have God living in your heart today too. They cannot look into a window and see God. They can only tell if God is REALLY there by the “effects” that God’s presence has on you. If there is no effect, if we are not acting like God, then there is reason to question God’s presence isn’t there? God’s presence is always evident in a person just like the streamer shows the wind blowing through this fan.
What does God’s presence look like? There are a lot of places in the Bible where we could find that answer but the one I want to read to you today in from Galatians 5:22-26.
The Bible says [T]he fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other. (Galatians 5:22-26)
God bless you very much. Let’s pray together and thank God that He will come and live within us and make us like Jesus.
This Children’s Sermon is provided by Dr. Kenneth Pell
Potsdam Church of the Nazarene
Potsdam, New York
www.potsdam-naz.org
