Welcome to Redemption Church of Plano Tx! Hello to everyone joining us on our facebook livestream. Praise the Lord to everyone joining us in person. My name is Chris Fluitt, and I am about to open up the powerful, unchanging, life altering, word of God. Who is ready?!

Nobody Left Out

We are in the 7th week of our sermon series “Nobody Left Out.” That means this upcoming week you who have kept up with the reading plan will be finishing your 40 day devotional.  Let’s give everyone who has been reading an applause.

My favorite thing about this sermon series is that it has gotten us into our Bibles!  

For anyone who is joining us tonight and you are like… “What are they talking about?” We have been doing a sermon series in tandem with a 40 day devotional book called “Nobody Left Out” by author Michael Murray.  

If you are just joining us, I want to encourage you to go find this book on amazon and go do this devotional sermon series with us. You can find all our sermons at redemptionplano.com, facebook, or youtube.

Available here: https://www.amazon.com/Nobody-Left-Out-Messes-Devotional-ebook/dp/B08MY583G8

Tonight, I want you to turn to Mark 12 where you will be reading about the poor Widow.

The Poor Widow

We will be reading a short story in Mark 12, beginning at verse 41. This story is only 4 verses long, and that is very different from last week’s story that took the entire 9th chapter of John.

Mark 12:41-44(NIV) 41 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. 42 But a poor widow came and put in two very small copper coins, worth only a few cents.

43 Calling his disciples to him, Jesus said, “Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others. 44 They all gave out of their wealth; but she, out of her poverty, put in everything—all she had to live on.”

This story only takes up 4 verses in your Bible, but can I suggest that this story is much larger than 4 verses. Let’s look back at verse 41…

Mark 12:41 (NIV) 41 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.

What is Jesus doing? Is Jesus people watching?

Jesus the people watcher

Have you ever gone somewhere to just watch people?  When I first moved to the North Dallas area I would go to a certain Starbucks in Highland Park. I would set up my laptop and get some work done, but I have to admit I was always amazed by the people who would wander in…

-the rich…
-the maid who worked for the rich…
-the child that came from the rich and looked like they were having trouble with college…

-the high powered CEO…
-the even higher powered soccer mom…
-the very eclectic people…
-the poor minister in a church plant… oh wait, that was me…

I’d set myself up to see all the people that were coming in, and I would try to guess what their story might be.

 

Now here in Mark 12 we see Jesus sitting down opposite the place where the offerings were put and intently watching the crowd…

Jesus is a people watcher.  He watched the people as they gave their offering… Perhaps Jesus was paying close attention to the motivation in which they offered their gift?

Now notice the last sentence of verse 41.

*Mark 12:41 (NIV) 41 …Many rich people threw in large amounts.

 What do you envision when you read “rich people threw in large amounts?”

They threw in a large check…
They threw in a bit-coin…
They made it rain or threw in a tightly wound stack of cash…

The word for large is polys (pol-oos’). https://www.blueletterbible.org/lexicon/g4183/kjv/tr/0-1/

[“a word indicating quantity and number, not size” Alexander Souter, A Pocket Lexicon to the Greek New Testament (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1917), 210.]

 

Polys (Pol-oos’) – Quantity rather than size

The word means quantity rather than size. It is likely that the rich would come up to the offering plate and instead of putting 1 dollar bill in, they would get the dollar changed for 100 pennies… not size value amount but polys quantity. These rich people would come up and give their offering in such a way that it would make the most noise when it landed in the collection plate.

The rich threw in polys amounts. 

Let’s watch the people along with Jesus for a moment. Why do you think they gave their offerings in QUANTITY rather than in SIZE?

Dollar Bill vs 100 pennies

This was their motivation. They wanted everyone to know they were giving… and that they were giving polys, a great quantity. The people around them would turn and see who gave that very loud amount. 

Likely the crowd would start to judge who is the richest and most powerful among them.

42 But a poor widow came and put in two very small copper coins, worth only a few cents.

What do we know about this woman?

• She is a widow. We have talked about how an unmarried woman would struggle in the ancient world.
• She is poor. Scripture literally defines her as poor. 
• She gave 2 copper coins. 

Coins of the Gospels

The 2 coins she gave were likely called leptons (sometimes translated as mite). These lepton coins were the smallest in size and smallest in value. I read this week that the lepton is believed to have been the smallest denomination of money in the history of the world.

One has to wonder if the 2 lepton coins could even have been heard when they landed in the offering plate.

The stupid act of judging the worth of others

[bring in the ladder]

That crowd was participating in a contest of worth. While I am sure we can agree that this is gross, we also need to admit that we sometimes do the same thing.

We constantly rank ourselves against others, as well.

• The homeless person on the side of the road.
• The guy driving a Tesla beside us
• The Popular
• The Powerful
• The good looking
• The millionaire
• The billionaire

 

“At least I’m not that person. What losers they are.”
“I wish I were that person. What a loser I am.”

Ever hear this quote?  “Second place is the first loser.”  Instead of honoring the accomplishment of 2nd place, we belittle the accomplishment because we are ranking ourselves against others.

Welcome to the stupid act of judging the worth of others.  The widow finds her way to the bottom rung of our ladder.

And what are we judging the widow on today? Her money.

Don’t we understand that your bank account is only one small aspect of your life? Do we not understand that there are many aspects that make us who we are?

Intelligence
Speaking skills
Artistic ability
Athletic ability
Kindness
Discipline
Integrity
Honesty
Loyalty
Longevity and faithfulness
Heart
Spirit
Energy
Ingenuity
Speed
Humor
Discernment…

It is stupid to try to judge someone’s worth based on 1 single aspect of their life.

It is stupid to judge others like this… It is also foolish to judge yourself in such a way …

It is stupid to judge when you don’t know every aspect

 

We do not know this poor widow’s story. We know so very little… We do not know every aspect.

The person you are judging. Do you know every aspect? 

The people who are judging you… learn to laugh that off and keep walking. They don’t know every aspect of you.

 

But you know who does know every aspect?

God, the judge, knows every aspect

This is why it only makes sense for God to be our judge. God knows every aspect of you. He knows you completely. He knows you better than you know yourself.

And because God knows every aspect, Jesus looked at the offering of the widow and said this.

43 Calling his disciples to him, Jesus said, “Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others. 44 They all gave out of their wealth; but she, out of her poverty, put in everything—all she had to live on.”

Everyone else has their ranking system based on polys amounts… but Jesus reveals how God sees this widow’s true gift.

Jesus Notices

It was such a small amount… but Jesus noticed the gift and he says it was the greatest of all.

Could it be the same for your small amount… Jesus notices it and Jesus wants to call attention to it.  He sees great value in you and your gift.

The widow could have thought… What is the point? Why bother?  But that is not how Jesus felt about her nor her gift.

Can I preach to the one who has been wondering “why bother? What is the point?”

To the parent who feels like they aren’t reaching their child…  Don’t give up. Jesus notices.  The promise is still true – train up a child and they will never get away from that truth. (Proverbs 22:6)

To the one in ministry who has put in years of effort but feels like you have only seen moments of harvest… Don’t ‘grow weary in well-doing.’ Jesus notices and He says one day you will reap if you faint not. (Galatians 6:9)

To the Christian single who is trying to stay pure and holy before the Lord in a world that is telling you anything goes… Don’t give up. Jesus notices… You are a city on a hill who’s light cannot be hidden. (Matthew 5:14)

To the person who is trying to get out of debt, get in shape, grow spiritually, defeat an addiction… Don’t give up… I know it is hard. I know you feel judged.  BUT JESUS NOTICES EVERY ASPECT OF YOU AND HE IS SO PROUD OF YOU.

 

What I am about to tell you, I do not know for certain. It is something that I always dream about when I read this story of the poor widow.

Do you think Jesus was waiting specifically for the poor widow?

Could it be that He had positioned himself by the place of giving, and brought his disciples with him, SPECIFICALLY to show them the widow?  She is the only one whom Jesus points out to his disciples. 

Can you imagine this is not the first time she has brought her small offering? Perhaps Jesus had even seen her bring her humble offering before. Perhaps he was so moved by the widow that on this, the passion week, the week leading up to the cross… he made sure to take his disciples to the right place and the right time to see something truly amazing.

Jesus notices.

It is time to say goodbye to the stupid act of judging the worth of others

The stupid act of judging the worth of others

The truth is that this hierarchy, this scoreboard of who is worthy, does not really exist 

The true judge of your worth is God. And He loves you so much that it is unsurpassable.

He loves the widow and the billionaire with the same unsurpassable love.

He loves the homeless man and the powerful business owner with His same unsurpassable love.

Knowing every aspect of our life… He lifts all of us to a higher place and He offers us His unsurpassable love.

Whis is that unsurpassable love?  His own son comes to earth to ultimately reign as King, yet Jesus doesn’t rank at all.

Jesus was thrown down.. spit upon.. ripped.. beaten.. killed.

Why?  Because God loves you with an unsurpassable love.

There is no one on the face of the earth that God loves more than _____

Some of us need to put YOU in the blank.
Some of us need to put our worst enemy in the blank.
Some of us need to put the person we have trouble forgiving in the blank.
Some of us need to put the person we keep judging in the blank.

We need to say goodbye to this ladder. All that really exists in the unsurpassable love of God revealed by the cross of Jesus Christ.

If God were to love someone more than you, His love would not be unsurpassable. Do you understand that?

If God were to love you more than others, then His love would not be unsurpassable.

You have never met a person that God does not love with an unconditional, unsurpassable love.

Poor widows with seemingly little to offer are more than welcome… because nobody is left out.

 

Come tear down your judgment hierarchy today.
Come celebrate the unsurpassable love of God.
Come give what little you have to offer, with a full assurance Jesus will notice and say, “I love you.”