"With Sincerity" based on Mark 12:38-44
The
Twenty-Third Sunday after Pentecost -
Pastor
Troy Slater - Our
In
this day of entertainment and when it seems that everyone is putting on a show,
there is a hunger for that which is genuine.
With so many putting on airs in order to try to impress or entertain you
or just trying to get into your wallet or get your vote, sincerity can be a
rare and for that reason a very desirable virtue. Sincerity. Whether it be in our business dealings or
personal relationships or politics or religion we all like sincerity.
And in fact
that was even the case with Jesus. For
in our Gospel reading for this morning, Jesus notes how he is looking for a
little sincerity. He notes that He's
looking for actions that come from the heart.
Not just putting on airs, not just acting for a show or for a profit or
for a vote. Rather He's looking for good
actions that arise from a good heart. Godly actions that arise out of an unfailing trust in God. Yes even Jesus is looking for a little
sincerity.
And
He sees it on this day described for us in our Gospel lesson. It's the Tuesday of Holy Week, just a few
short days before He would carry His cross up
But
while man looks at the outward appearance, while mankind is impressed with a
show, God looks at the heart. That is, Jesus,
God in the flesh looks at the heart. As God Jesus knows this woman. He knows that she is a widow and He knows
that widows in that day and age had no financial safety net. This is before the days of Social Security
and Medicare and such. Jesus knows that
this woman, those two little coins that she just humbly placed into the temple
offering box, this was all she had. This
was it. This was her supper for tonight,
her breakfast for tomorrow. In our
reading Jesus says that she "put in
everything that she had. All she had to
live on." All she had to live
on. This was it and she was giving it
all back to her God whom she worshipped; releasing it to the One who owns it
all anyway. Talk about a woman of great
sincerity.
Especially when you contrast her with the rich whom Jesus observed
that day. I mean, yes they gave
more - their offerings were 'impressive', but, as Jesus points out, it was what
we might call a "selfish giving".
A 'selfish giving'. And I know that at first
that might seem like a bit of an oxymoron.
For how can giving be selfish?
Aren't those two opposites?
Not
if we are giving with an expectation of receiving something in return. Not if we are giving to impress others. Like the rich whom Jesus observed. Giving that they might be
regarded as great and honorable leaders.
And perhaps we do that at times also.
Giving to be noticed, to be thanked, giving with the expectation or at
least the hope that it will benefit me or mine at least somewhere down the
line. So often we give expecting
something in return. And that is a
selfish giving.
Or,
we give out of our surplus. With the
rich that Jesus observed he noted how "they
all contributed out of their abundance." They gave out of their leftovers - no
sacrifice here. And we do that too at
times, don't we? Giving
only after I make sure that I'm taken care of. After all the bills are paid, then I'll see
what I have left over to give to the work of the church or the local food
pantry. I'll help but I'm going to help
based upon my convenience. That's giving
out of our surplus and that is a selfish giving - that is anything but sincere.
…
Now
here more than one preacher has no doubt been accused of just trying to fill
the offering plate. Send the people on a
guilt trip to get them to open their wallets.
But God doesn't need our money. Certainly
we do take an offering, after all, we live in a world
in which money is needed to do so much.
But this isn't a money issue Jesus is addressing here. There is something much more important going
on here than just filling up an offering plate.
There is something much deeper going on here. For this is a heart issue. A heart issue.
Jesus
says in Matthew, chapter six, "Where
your treasure is, there your heart will be also. … No one can serve two
masters. Either he will hate the one and
love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money." Jesus knew that probably nothing captures our
heart quite as easily as the love of money.
Whether we be rich or poor, it's easy to look at the almighty dollar as
our Savior from all our troubles. Luther
wrote in the Small Catechism, "whatever you set
your heart on and put your trust in is truly your god." In other words, whatever it
is that our heart looks to for security, for protection, for happiness, that is
our 'god'. And so God, being a
jealous God, He wants your heart. He
doesn't just want us going through the motions, paying lip service to Him,
offering Him a token of trust all the while our heart is clinging to something
else. That is idolatry and idolatry is
damning. He wants you to fear, to love,
and to trust in Him and in Him alone. He
wants sincerity.
He wants
sincerity and where does that sincerity come from? Well, it certainly can't be forced, can
it? After all a forced sincerity is no
sincerity. A forced sincerity only
brings about hate and contempt. I mean
have you ever made a child say their sorry to someone. They'll generally mouth the words, "I'm
sorry." But, as you can usually
tell from the tone of their voice - it's not sincere. It's not from the heart. It's more to get mom or dad off of their
back. A forced sincerity is no sincerity
at all.
But God
does not force anything, does He?
No. Rather he loves, in fact, He dies
for us. God doesn't force anything on us
but rather He takes - He takes our sin, He takes our selfishness, He takes our
insincerity and He nails it to the cross where He died. In our epistle reading the author of Hebrews wrote,
"Christ has appeared once and for
all … to do away with sin by the sacrifice of himself." Jesus has given Himself,
He has given His all for you and for me.
He has shed His blood; given His life.
Not just a token, not just his left over change or whatever was
convenient; rather He has given His all for you and for me. In our 'alleluia' verse for this morning we
heard
And with a
God like that, knowing that she was in the hands of a God whom she could trust
with her whole life, the widow in our story this morning, she gave her
all. And though in the world's eyes it
didn't seem like much, well, given in faith, her humble gift far, far,
out-measured anything that the 'rich' were giving. What did she eat for supper that night? Did she eat supper that night or breakfast
the next day? We don't know, Holy
Scripture says nothing else about her.
But I think it's safe to say that the Lord provided. The Lord who just a couple of days later was going to the cross for her sins, He provided.
There's a
story that a few of you have heard me share before that I would like to share
here now with all of you. And I tell the
story not to show how well I trust in God for the truth is that I can fail in
that regard just as much as anyone. And
I tell this story not try to say that God is some kind of an ATM machine or anything
like that. Rather I tell this story as
an encouragement to you to trust in our good and gracious God. But going to school at the Seminary didn't
pay real well. And our second year of
Seminary was particularly challenging financially after our savings from
selling our house had run out and were pretty much just
living day to day not knowing where the money for next month's bills
would come from. But towards the end of
that second year things got particularly hard and being the accountant that I
am, at the first of the month I figured out how much we would need to get us
through that month and after totaling our bills and what I wanted to give as an
offering to our church and then subtracting out the little income that I knew
would be coming in, we were left with a deficit of $790.00. Now here is where I would normally start
worrying and fretting over it but this time I decided I'm not going to worry
about it. I'm going to let God worry
about it. He can take care of it. And so on that little piece of paper next to
the deficit number of $790.00 I wrote "God" and basically turned it
over to him. Two days later as I was
checking the mail, there was an envelope from our home congregation in Garden City. And in it was a check for $790.00. To this day I've kept a copy of that check, in fact it's in the front of the notebook we keep our
budget in. It's there as a reminder that
the Lord will provide as He knows best, when He knows best.
And again,
not that God's an ATM, but He doesn't forsake His children, does He? He doesn't forsake us but rather He encourages
us - invites us - to trust in Him - to fear, love and trust in Him above all
things. For "He who did not spare His own Son, but gave Him up for us all -
how will He not also, along with Him, graciously give us all things." He who gave Himself fully upon
And so, "The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not
be in want" we say. "I am trusting
Thee Lord Jesus" we sing. "Thy will be done on earth as it is in
heaven; give us this day our daily bread" we pray. "To
live is Christ, to die is gain" we boldly confess. Trusting God - with our heart - with
sincerity is what we do. It's what we've
been enabled to do by Him who grants us an unfailing faith in Him. A faith that knows that we're in His hands -
we're under His love and mercy and grace, both now and forever. Amen.