Passion: The Widow’s Mite•
A Sermon by Dr. Bob Griffin, Teaching Elder at Sovereign Grace Church
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Gordon Gekko said about money, “Greed, for lack of a better word, is good. Greed is right. Greed works. Greed clarifies, cuts through, and captures, the essence of the evolutionary spirit. Greed, in all of its forms; greed for life, for money, for love, knowledge, has marked the upward surge of mankind.”
Let us note what Jesus, not Gekko, has to say about this concept of giving.
I. GIVING APPRISED
A. APPEARANCE
Mk 12:41 As Jesus sat down across from the [temple] depository He watched people putting money into the box. Many rich people put in large sums.
1. PEOPLE WATCHING
2. PUBLIC GIVING
B. APPROACH
Mk 12:42 And a poor widow came and put in two small copper coins, worth a few cents.
1. FAITH IN ACTION
2. SACRIFICIAL GIVING
II. GIVING APPRAISED
A. APPRECIATION
Mk 12:43 And He gathered His disciples closely and said to them, “Truly, I say to you, this poor widow has put in more than all those who are contributing in the depository.
1. LESSON
2. LOVE
B. APPOSITION
Mk 12:44 For out of their abundance they all contributed, but out of her destitution she has put in everything she had, her entire livelihood.”
1. EXPLANATION
2. VALUE
III. GIVING APPLIED (FOR US TODAY)
A. APPROVAL
1. SACRIFICIAL GIVING
2. ENCOURAGEMENT FOR US ALL
B. APPREHENSION
1. GIVING ENOUGH?
2. NEED?
In heaven a poor widow who died in the faith awoke from the sleep we call death and saw her Messiah. She probably never heard Him or even saw Him in the temple that day. She had her head lowered, slipping in a couple of wafer-thin pennies to the offering box.
She fell at His feet in worship, but He took her by the hand and lifted her up and said simply, “I saw what you did.”