SPEAKER_00: What is stewardship?
SPEAKER_00: It's one of those words that gets tossed around in church circles.
SPEAKER_00: One that sounds good, respectable, even a little spiritual.
SPEAKER_00: But when we stop and think about it, we may not be entirely sure what it really means.
SPEAKER_00: If we asked 10 people to define stewardship, we'd probably get about 11 different answers.
SPEAKER_00: Some might say it's about management, taking good care of what you've been given.
SPEAKER_00: Others might think of multiplication, turning a little into a lot, like the servants with the talents.
SPEAKER_00: Some would emphasize preservation, maintaining what's entrusted to you, guarding it faithfully.
SPEAKER_00: And still others might say it's about maximization, making the most of every opportunity, resource, and relationship placed in your life.
SPEAKER_00: Those are all solid answers.
SPEAKER_00: They each capture something true about stewardship.
SPEAKER_00: But here's the question I want us to wrestle with this morning.
SPEAKER_00: What if stewardship is more than that?
SPEAKER_00: What if stewardship isn't just about what we do with what we have, but about who it really belongs to?
SPEAKER_00: What if the way we've been thinking about stewardship has been far too small, too earthly, too centered on us and what we do, and not nearly focused enough on the one who owns it all to begin with?
SPEAKER_00: Our passage this morning doesn't use the word stewardship, but it reveals it in the deepest sense.
SPEAKER_00: It reorders our thinking entirely, showing us that stewardship begins not with our hands, but with God's ownership.
SPEAKER_00: It lifts our hearts from the counting of coins to the contemplation of Christ.
SPEAKER_00: It calls us to see that stewardship isn't simply managing God's stuff.
SPEAKER_00: It's about recognizing God's ownership of us.
SPEAKER_00: When we begin to see that every breath, every dollar, every relationship, every inch of our lives belongs to Him, stewardship stops being a duty and becomes a delight.
SPEAKER_00: It becomes worship, it becomes love expressed in action.
SPEAKER_00: That's where our text in Mark 12 takes us today.
SPEAKER_00: It's going to challenge how we think about our lives, our loyalties, our loves, and even what we give.
SPEAKER_00: But before we open God's word together, let's pray, asking Him to open our eyes to His ownership and our hearts to His grace.
SPEAKER_00: Let's pray.
SPEAKER_00: Father in Heaven, we turn to you this morning.
SPEAKER_00: We pray that you would help us to understand stewardship rightly, that we would fix our eyes upon you, and believe that all of this is not for us, all of it belongs to you, and therefore you are worthy of our worship in these ways.
SPEAKER_00: We pray for your help this morning, in Jesus' name.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: Mark chapter twelve, beginning with verse thirteen.
SPEAKER_00: Then they sent some of the Pharisees and the Herodians to him in order to trap him in a statement.
SPEAKER_00: And they came and said to him, Teacher, we know that you are truthful and defer to no one, for you are not partial to any, but teach the way of God in truth.
SPEAKER_00: Is it lawful to pay a tax to Caesar or not?
SPEAKER_00: Shall we pay or shall we not pay?
SPEAKER_00: But he, knowing their hypocrisy, said to them, Why are you testing me?
SPEAKER_00: Bring me a denarius to look at.
SPEAKER_00: And they brought one, and he said to them, Whose likeness and inscription is this?
SPEAKER_00: And they said to him, Caesar's.
SPEAKER_00: And Jesus said to them, Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's.
SPEAKER_00: And they were amazed at him.
SPEAKER_00: The religious leaders think that they finally got Jesus cornered.
SPEAKER_00: In the last episode, Jesus had silenced them with his own impossible question about John's baptism.
SPEAKER_00: Do you remember that?
SPEAKER_00: He asked, Was John's baptism from heaven or from men?
SPEAKER_00: Either answer would have condemned them.
SPEAKER_00: So embarrassed, they said, We don't know.
SPEAKER_00: Now in this passage, they're trying to return the favor.
SPEAKER_00: They come with flattery on their lips, but malice in their hearts.
SPEAKER_00: Teacher, we know you are truthful.
SPEAKER_00: Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar or not?
SPEAKER_00: At first glance, that sounds like a fair question, but it's a trap.
SPEAKER_00: This particular tax, the Roman poll tax, was a painful reminder of Roman domination.
SPEAKER_00: It wasn't just an economic burden, it was a symbol of subjugation.
SPEAKER_00: Every Jew who paid it was reminded that they were not free.
SPEAKER_00: So if Jesus says, yes, pay the tax, he looks like a traitor to his own people, a messiah who bows to Rome.
SPEAKER_00: If he says, no, don't pay it, he becomes a revolutionary, an enemy of the state.
SPEAKER_00: It's a no-win scenario.
SPEAKER_00: But notice, Jesus isn't flustered.
SPEAKER_00: He doesn't dodge the question, he sees right through it.
SPEAKER_00: He asks for a denarius, a small Roman coin worth a day's wage.
SPEAKER_00: On it was the image of Tiberius Caesar with the inscription, Tiberius Caesar, son of the divine Augustus.
SPEAKER_00: The other side read Pontifix Maximus, meaning high priest.
SPEAKER_00: Think about that.
SPEAKER_00: The coin they hand to Jesus literally declared Caesar to be both the son of God and the high priest.
SPEAKER_00: Now for a faithful Jew, this was blasphemous and idolatrous.
SPEAKER_00: And here they are, carrying it around in their pockets.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus holds it up and asks, Whose image is this?
SPEAKER_00: They answer, Caesar's.
SPEAKER_00: Then comes the line that silences them.
SPEAKER_00: Now on the surface, that's a brilliant political answer.
SPEAKER_00: He avoids their trap completely.
SPEAKER_00: But it's far more than political.
SPEAKER_00: It's profoundly theological.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus doesn't just divide life into church and state.
SPEAKER_00: He's revealing a hierarchy of ownership.
SPEAKER_00: The coin bears Caesar's image, so give it back to him.
SPEAKER_00: But you bear God's image, so give yourself to him.
SPEAKER_00: That's the heart of it.
SPEAKER_00: Caesar's claim is temporary, God's claim is total.
SPEAKER_00: Money may bear Caesar's likeness, but you bear God's likeness.
SPEAKER_00: And if the coin belongs to Caesar because it bears his image, then you belong to God because you bear his.
SPEAKER_00: This takes us all the way back to Genesis 1, 26 through 27, where God said, Let us make man in our image after our likeness.
SPEAKER_00: We are the crown of creation, stamped with God's image.
SPEAKER_00: That means we exist not for ourselves, not for the state, not for our own ambitions, but for the glory of the one who made us.
SPEAKER_00: So when Jesus says, render to God what is God's, he's calling us to give back to God what already belongs to him.
SPEAKER_00: Our lives, our hearts, our worship, our obedience, and our love.
SPEAKER_00: Augustine captured this beautifully.
SPEAKER_00: You are the coin of God.
SPEAKER_00: But unlike Caesar's coin, you have reason and life.
SPEAKER_00: You can know whose image you bear.
SPEAKER_00: We are God's money.
SPEAKER_00: Though the image has been marred by sin, Christ came to restore that image, to re-stamp us for his glory.
SPEAKER_00: Church, this isn't just about paying taxes.
SPEAKER_00: This is about ownership and allegiance.
SPEAKER_00: We can give the government its due, but it has no claim on our souls.
SPEAKER_00: We can render Caesar his coin, but only God deserves our worship.
SPEAKER_00: Because the image stamped on our hearts declares whose we really are.
SPEAKER_00: And that means the greatest act of stewardship isn't about money, it's about surrender.
SPEAKER_00: It's about giving back to God what already belongs to him, our very selves.
SPEAKER_00: How we view money and possessions says a lot about how we view God.
SPEAKER_00: For example, if we see money as ours, something we've earned, built, and must protect, then we'll treat it like our master.
SPEAKER_00: We'll serve it, worry over it, and let it dictate our decisions.
SPEAKER_00: But if we see money as God's, something entrusted to us for a time, then it becomes a tool for worship.
SPEAKER_00: It's no longer our master, it's our servant.
SPEAKER_00: The way we handle what's in our hands reveals what's ruling our hearts.
SPEAKER_00: If we hold tightly to what God has given, we're saying that our security is in the gift, not the giver.
SPEAKER_00: But when we open our hands, giving freely, generously, and joyfully, we demonstrate the reality that all of these things are already his to begin with.
SPEAKER_00: We're just giving it back to God for his own purposes.
SPEAKER_00: Stewardship, then, isn't about what portion of your life you give to God.
SPEAKER_00: It's about recognizing that all of it is his.
SPEAKER_00: There's no separate bank accounts for us and God.
SPEAKER_00: It's not even a joint account.
SPEAKER_00: Our money, our time, our homes, our health, our relationships, every square inch of it belongs to him.
SPEAKER_00: We are not owners, we are caretakers, we are merely stewards of his grace.
SPEAKER_00: And so Jesus' words in verse 17 press a question into every heart here today.
SPEAKER_00: If the coin belongs to Caesar because it bears his image, and you belong to God because you bear his image, then what part of your life are you still withholding from him?
SPEAKER_00: Is there some area where you're still clutching what isn't really yours?
SPEAKER_00: What part of your life are you least willing to give up control?
SPEAKER_00: That's the tension of this passage.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus isn't after our loose change.
SPEAKER_00: He's after our hearts.
SPEAKER_00: When we begin to see that everything we have already belongs to God, giving stops being an obligation and becomes an act of worship.
SPEAKER_00: It's not about losing anything, it's about returning everything to its rightful owner.
SPEAKER_00: And that brings us to the next encounter: another round of religious leaders looking to trap Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: It's like one boss battle after another.
SPEAKER_00: In this next section, we'll encounter the Sadducees, another denomination of Judaism in Jesus' time, who only accepted the books of Moses as scripture.
SPEAKER_00: They denied bodily resurrection, future judgment, the existence of angels, demons, and spirits, and affirmed human free will.
SPEAKER_00: Let's look now at verse 18.
SPEAKER_00: Then some Sadducees, who say that there is no resurrection, came to Jesus and began questioning him, saying, Teacher, Moses wrote for us that if a man's brother dies and leaves behind a wife and leaves no child, his brother should marry the wife and raise up a seed for his brother.
SPEAKER_00: There were seven brothers, and the first married a wife, and died, leaving no seed.
SPEAKER_00: And the second one married her, and died, leaving behind no seed.
SPEAKER_00: And the third likewise.
SPEAKER_00: And so all seven left no seed.
SPEAKER_00: Last of all, the woman died also.
SPEAKER_00: In the resurrection, when they rise again, whose wife will she be?
SPEAKER_00: For all seven had married her.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus said to them, Is this not the reason you are mistaken, that you do not understand the scriptures nor the power of God?
SPEAKER_00: For when they rise from the dead, they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven.
SPEAKER_00: But regarding the fact that the dead are raised, have you not read in the book of Moses, in the passage about the burning bush, how God spoke to him, saying, I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.
SPEAKER_00: He is not the God of the dead, but of the living.
SPEAKER_00: You are greatly mistaken.
SPEAKER_00: If the Pharisees and Herodians tried to trap Jesus with politics, the Sadducees now try to trap him with theology.
SPEAKER_00: They didn't believe in the resurrection.
SPEAKER_00: To them, death was the end.
SPEAKER_00: No afterlife, no judgment, no eternal reward.
SPEAKER_00: So they present a far-fetched scenario about seven brothers who each marry the same woman in turn, citing the Old Testament law from Deuteronomy 25 5, which required a man to marry his deceased brother's widow to preserve the family name and inheritance.
SPEAKER_00: It's a strange illustration.
SPEAKER_00: But their goal wasn't to understand Scripture, it was to make the very idea of the resurrection look absurd.
SPEAKER_00: But Jesus exposes the flaw in their thinking.
SPEAKER_00: Their entire argument assumes that life in eternity will function exactly like life on earth.
SPEAKER_00: He replies, Is this not the reason you are mistaken?
SPEAKER_00: That you do not understand the scriptures, nor the power of God?
SPEAKER_00: In other words, you're wrong because you don't know God's word and you don't know God's power.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus explains that in the resurrection, people neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven.
SPEAKER_00: He doesn't mean that when people die, they become angels.
SPEAKER_00: This is a mistaken belief that some people believe today.
SPEAKER_00: Rather, when people die, they will no longer marry or procreate in heaven.
SPEAKER_00: Earthly institutions will give way to eternal realities.
SPEAKER_00: Marriage, beautiful as it is, was designed to point beyond itself, to the covenant between Christ and his church.
SPEAKER_00: Once the bridegroom comes, the symbol gives way to the substance.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus turns to a passage the Sadducees accepted as authoritative.
SPEAKER_00: The account of Moses in the burning bush in Exodus 3.
SPEAKER_00: God says to Moses, I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.
SPEAKER_00: Not I was, but I am.
SPEAKER_00: That present tense matters.
SPEAKER_00: Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob had long died physically, yet God still identifies himself as their God.
SPEAKER_00: Why?
SPEAKER_00: Because they are not gone.
SPEAKER_00: They live before Him.
SPEAKER_00: As Jesus declares, He is not the God of the dead, but of the living.
SPEAKER_00: The Sadducees thought they were confronting Jesus with logic, but Jesus confronted them with truth.
SPEAKER_00: Their problem wasn't intelligence, it was unbelief.
SPEAKER_00: They had mastered the scriptures academically, but missed the God of those scriptures.
SPEAKER_00: And here's where this ties back to us and the main point of our passage today.
SPEAKER_00: The Sadducees' error wasn't just a misunderstanding of the resurrection, it was a misunderstanding of ownership.
SPEAKER_00: They saw life as something they possessed and controlled.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus reminds them and us that life itself belongs to God.
SPEAKER_00: He gives it, he sustains it, and he raises it again.
SPEAKER_00: Just as the denarius bore Caesar's image and belonged to him, we bear God's image, and we belong entirely to him, both now and forever.
SPEAKER_00: How often do we treat life, money, success, or even theology as our own possession, forgetting that all of it belongs to God.
SPEAKER_00: When we lose sight of the scriptures and the power of God, we start living like practical Sadducees, believing in God with our lips, but living as if this world is all there is.
SPEAKER_00: But when we see rightly and remember that our life, our breath, and our eternity belong to Him, our worship deepens, our hope strengthens, and our stewardship becomes not just about what we give, but about whose we are.
SPEAKER_00: As one commentator notes, God is one whose authority and ownership goes beyond what is visible, audible, and tangible.
SPEAKER_00: His authority is from eternity to eternity, for his power knows no bounds, death can do nothing to thwart his plans, and this authoritative one's word and scripture can be trusted, for he is faithful to his people.
SPEAKER_00: Let's continue with verses twenty-eight through thirty-seven.
SPEAKER_00: And when one of the scribes came and heard them arguing, he recognized that he had answered them well, and asked him, What commandment is the foremost of all?
SPEAKER_00: Jesus answered, The foremost is here, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord.
SPEAKER_00: And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.
SPEAKER_00: The second is this You shall love your neighbor as yourself.
SPEAKER_00: There is no other commandment greater than these.
SPEAKER_00: And the scribe said to him, Write, teacher, you have truly stood.
SPEAKER_00: stated that he is one, and there is no one else besides him.
SPEAKER_00: And to love him with all the heart, and with all the understanding, and with all the strength, and to love one's neighbor as himself, is much more than all burnt offerings and sacrifices.
SPEAKER_00: And when Jesus saw that he had answered thoughtfully, he said to him, You are not far from the kingdom of God.
SPEAKER_00: After that no one would dare to ask him any more questions.
SPEAKER_00: And Jesus began to say, as he taught in the temple, How is it that the scribes say that the Christ is the Son of David?
SPEAKER_00: David himself said in the Holy Spirit, The Lord said to my Lord, Sit at my right hand until I put your enemies beneath your feet.
SPEAKER_00: David himself calls him Lord, so in what sense is he his son?
SPEAKER_00: And the large crowd enjoyed listening to him.
SPEAKER_00: After a long line of hostile questioners, this scribe's question stands out.
SPEAKER_00: It's sincere.
SPEAKER_00: He isn't trying to trap Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: He's seeking truth.
SPEAKER_00: He asks what every thoughtful person wants to know what matters most to God?
SPEAKER_00: Jesus answers with what every Jewish child would have known by heart the Shema from Deuteronomy six, four through five It was recited every morning and evening Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one.
SPEAKER_00: This confession declared both God's oneness and our total obligation to him.
SPEAKER_00: To love God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength means nothing is exempt, not your affections, not your intellect, not your body, not your resources.
SPEAKER_00: Even strength in Hebrew carries a sense of means or possessions, that is your substance, your wealth.
SPEAKER_00: Then Jesus adds something unexpected.
SPEAKER_00: The second is this you shall love your neighbor as yourself.
SPEAKER_00: The scribe asked for one commandment, but Jesus gives him two, because love for God and love for neighbor are inseparable.
SPEAKER_00: You cannot truly love God without loving those who bear his image.
SPEAKER_00: To love your neighbor is to honor the God whose image they reflect.
SPEAKER_00: Prior to Jesus making this connection no one had previously combined these commandments.
SPEAKER_00: And yet this has become standard for Jesus's followers.
SPEAKER_00: This is one of the ways that we as Christians stand out.
SPEAKER_00: Not that the world is incapable of loving their neighbors but rather that Christians exclusively carry out the fullness of loving both God and neighbor.
SPEAKER_00: So even here Jesus is reinforcing the same truth he's been teaching all along everything we have our hearts our strength our neighborly love belongs to God and is to be given back to him.
SPEAKER_00: The scribe recognizes this and responds wisely, affirming that such love is much more than all burnt offerings and sacrifices.
SPEAKER_00: That's the kind of answer God has always desired.
SPEAKER_00: As 1 Samuel 1522 declares to obey is better than sacrifice and to heed than the fat of rams and Jesus seeing that the scribe has answered with understanding says you are not far from the kingdom of God.
SPEAKER_00: He isn't merely commending the scribe's intellect he's pointing out how close he is to full surrender.
SPEAKER_00: To love God with everything and to love others rightly is to live as one who recognizes that all things belong to him.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus recognizes this scribe who had answered wisely and ironically the scene ends with Jesus judging the scribe rather than the other way around it's interesting how Jesus always finds himself in the driver's seat not being reactive but fully in control.
SPEAKER_00: That's what true authority looks like having silenced every challenger Jesus now takes his own initiative verse thirty five and Jesus began to say as he taught in the temple How is it that the scribes say that the Christ is the Son of David?
SPEAKER_00: David himself said in the Holy Spirit, the Lord said to my Lord, sit at my right hand until I put your enemies beneath your feet.
SPEAKER_00: David himself calls him Lord so in what sense is he his son?
SPEAKER_00: And the large crowd enjoyed listening to him Jesus quotes Psalm 1101 the most frequently quoted Old Testament verse in the New Testament and this is his final question to the religious elite they rightly believed that the Messiah would come from David's line but they never considered that David's son could also be David's Lord.
SPEAKER_00: Here Jesus affirms that the Messiah is both fully human David's offspring and fully divine David's Lord by quoting this psalm in the temple Jesus declares right under their noses that he himself is the promised king to whom Yahweh says at my right hand he is the one enthroned at the Father's side the one through whom God will subdue every enemy and extend his rule to the ends of the earth this isn't a distant theoretical kingship.
SPEAKER_00: It's a present active reign that began with his resurrection and continues even now as his kingdom grows and his enemies fall beneath his feet.
SPEAKER_00: The crowd listens with delight but the religious leaders remain blind they see a teacher standing before them not the reigning Lord of Psalm 1101 yet even in their unbelief Jesus will stand victorious not only over their arguments but over the powers of sin, death and the grave And so the pattern of this whole chapter continues render to Caesar what bears Caesar's image but render to God what bears his image your whole self your whole love and your whole allegiance for the Christ who commands our love is also the King who reigns and will reign until every corner of creation gladly confesses him as Lord.
SPEAKER_00: We conclude our passage today with verses thirty eight through forty four and in his teaching he was saying Beware of the scribes who want to walk around in long robes and want respectful greetings in the marketplaces, and best seats in the synagogues and places of honor at banquets, who devour widows' houses, and for appearances offer long prayers, these will receive greater condemnation and he sat down opposite the treasury and began observing how the crowd was putting money into the treasury and many rich people were putting in large sums.
SPEAKER_00: And a poor widow came and put in two lepta which amount to a quadrant and calling his disciples to him he said to them Truly I say to you this poor widow put in more than all those putting money into the treasury for they all put in out of their surplus but she out of her poverty put in all she owned all she had to live on here we see a contrast between false piety and true devotion Jesus exposes the scribes men who looked righteous on the outside but were consumed by greed and pride they walked around in long robes wearing garments meant for ceremony not for daily life signaling that they were above ordinary people greetings in the marketplaces public displays of honor that fed their egos they sought the best seats in the synagogues and places of honor at banquets wanting to be seen admired and elevated all of it was for show ancient virtue signaling at its finest.
SPEAKER_00: But Jesus wasn't fooled he says something that would have sent a chill through the crowd they devour widows' houses that's a shocking accusation what does it mean well in that culture widows were among the most vulnerable of people they had no husband to provide for them no steady income and very little legal protection many depended on the spiritual leaders the scribes to manage their affairs interpret the law and offer guidance but instead of helping these men were taking advantage of them persuaded widows to give beyond their means promising that generous giving would please God while secretly benefiting from their gifts others handled widows' estates as legal representatives using their position of trust to steal or mismanage property still others used long prayers and spiritual language to appear holy manipulating these women's devotion for personal gain so when Jesus says they devour widows' houses he's saying they're consuming the very lives and livelihoods of those they were called to protect it's a picture of spiritual predation men who use religion to serve themselves and Jesus declares that such people will receive greater condemnation why greater because they were supposed to represent the very God who commands his people to care for widows, orphans and the poor to exploit them is to mock God's heart of justice and mercy.
SPEAKER_00: And right after condemning this hypocrisy Mark gives us the most striking contrast possible Jesus sits down opposite the temple treasury and he watches the temple had thirteen trumpet shaped chests where people would drop their offerings the sound of coins clanging down the metal funnels made it easy for everyone to know who gave what many rich people came by dropping in large sums loud impressive gifts that drew attention then almost unnoticed comes a poor widow she drops in two small copper coins together worth less than a penny no sound no applause just quiet faith to the crowd her gift looked meaningless but Jesus calls his disciples over and he says she gave more than all the rest not because of the amount but because of the heart they gave from their abundance money they wouldn't miss but she gave from her poverty all that she had to live on.
SPEAKER_00: And in doing so she becomes the living picture of what Jesus has been teaching all along render to God what is God's everything she had already belonged to God and she trusted him enough to give it back it might seem easy to give up everything when you don't have much but remember the rich young ruler back in chapter 10 he had great wealth and walked away sorrowful because he couldn't let it go.
SPEAKER_00: For most people who gave that day their offerings cost them very little it's easy to give out of abundance but for this widow giving anything at all was a profound sacrifice our whole passage today forms a kind of Marcan sandwich two outer stories that mirror each other with an intersection that ties them together.
SPEAKER_00: At the beginning we saw men trying to trap Jesus with a question about taxes what belongs to Caesar and what belongs to God now at the end we see what it really means to give God what is his not with pride or performance but with total surrender.
SPEAKER_00: Between those two moments Jesus revealed himself as the rightful king, David's Lord from Psalm 110, the Son who sits at the right hand of the Father until all his enemies are placed beneath his feet.
SPEAKER_00: And here the poor widow gives us a glimpse of what his kingdom looks like humble faith, quiet trust, wholehearted devotion.
SPEAKER_00: While the proud scribes devour, she gives while they seek honor she seeks God while they cling to what they have she releases everything into his hands.
SPEAKER_00: And that's the call for us today we don't give to earn God's favor.
SPEAKER_00: We give because we already belong to him everything we have every dollar every day every breath comes from him so when we give whether much or little we're not parting with our possessions we're returning them to their rightful owner.
SPEAKER_00: That's the kind of giving that pleases God not measured by amount but by surrender because the God who owns it all is worthy of it all if we look closely this widow's story doesn't just illustrate devotion it foreshadows the cross because in just a few days Jesus himself will give everything not out of abundance but out of poverty not from comfort but from sacrifice he will offer all he has his very life for the sake of those who could offer him nothing in return.
SPEAKER_00: We as sinners owe a great debt that we could never repay but through his shed blood on the cross Jesus paid it all therefore all to him we owe so when we give our time our treasure our hearts we're simply following the pattern of our suffering servant King the one who owns everything yet made himself poor so that through his poverty we might become rich.
SPEAKER_00: Let's pray Heavenly Father we thank you that you are a God who delights to provide for us in your word that you own a cattle on a thousand hills and all of it is yours because you made it and you made us better yet you made us in your own image God we praise you that you have a special kind of love for your image bearers and that you call us to live differently than the rest of creation.
SPEAKER_00: And so help us as we seek to be good stewards giving back to you what is already yours we pray that you would work in our hearts not to cling to the things of this world but to cling to you.
SPEAKER_00: We thank you Lord Jesus that that you paid it all on the cross every sin past, present and future you paid on the cross through your shed blood that all who confess that you are Lord and believe in our hearts that you are raised from the dead will be saved.
SPEAKER_00: We give you glory and it's in your precious name we pray.
SPEAKER_00: Amen