Mark 12

Mark 12:41-44

CHRIST AND THE BOX Mark 12:41-44. Compare Luke 21:1-4. THE Jews were very proud of their city, Jerusalem; “Beautiful for situation; the joy of the whole earth, is Mount Zion, the city of our God,” they were wont to say.”But travelers tell us it is a very ordinary sort of a city, and only strikes one as having something of beauty when it is approached from the East side, and that is the side on which the Temple stood.You remember that the Temple was made up of a system of courts, and that in the court of the Gentiles, the outer and greater court, Christ did much of His teaching. And it was while He was there one day that the time of the annual offering for the Temple service was at hand, and the Jews came not alone from Jerusalem, nor yet only from Palestine, but from the ends of the known world to bring their offering to the Temple of their God.Many of them were rich and made their offerings accordingly. Up from Alexandria, and Cairo, and other Egyptian cities; out of Greece and Rome these faithful folks came to bring their gifts unto their God.Say what you please about the despised Jew, but just remember that he never did the irreligious thing of running away from a collection. I know many a so-called Christian Church that is almost depopulated on that day set apart for a big offering unto the Lord.But not so with the ancient Israelites. They came in great crowds and they brought with them their splendid gifts. The rich from Asia, from Babylon, from Ephesus, from Greece, from Rome, from Jerusalem, and the poor as well, all put their offerings into the treasury. Bars of gold, bullion, moneys of many kind, they put into the treasury this day.Princely men, attended by a retinue of servants, filled the treasury chest and necessitated the bringing of a new one.And along with such came the less favored of Israel with their small offerings, the very smallest of which was this widow’s two mites—an amount equalling about a tenth of a present-day penny.Truly around that treasury chest the rich and the poor met together, and by their offerings acknowledged God as the Maker of them all; and out of this scene upon which the Son of God looked that day, I want to bring some suggestions for present-day instruction and action.I think we shall find this text full of helpful lessons.CHRIST WAS OVER AGAINST THE . “And Jesus sat over against the treasury” (Mark 12:41). He is always present when His people present their gifts. Many years ago this church voted to exchange our long-handle boxes for plates, to have the deacons of the church take up the offering, and the pastor to ask God’s blessing upon it, moved by the thought that the offering made to the Lord ought to have greater prominence in the service of the sanctuary, and be reckoned as a most important part of the praise rendered our Redeemer.No part of our temple service is more attractive to Him who gave His life for us than this same service of gifts to His cause. And His eye is upon it.One time Dr. John A. Broadus, when his ushers were about to take the offering, left his pulpit and walked down to where the usher was beginning his work, and went along with him and looked at every penny, nickel, dime, quarter, dollar that went into that basket. Some of the people were angry, some were confused and shame-faced, some were filled with amazement, all were evidently surprised.

When the collection was over, he went back to his pulpit to speak from this morning’s text, and he said to them, “My people, if you take it to heart that I have seen your offerings this day, and know just what sacrifices you have made, and what sacrifices you have not made, remember that the Son of God, your Saviour, goes about the aisles with every usher, and sees, with His sleepless eye, every cent put into the contribution by His people.”If Dr. Gordon’s dream, “How Christ Came to Church”, changed his whole ministry, would not a realization of the Master’s espionage upon the collection plate mightily affect our offerings unto Him?Christ reads character in the contribution.

There is no question that He was doing so on this day of the Temple offerings. There is no truer touch-stone of present-day Christian profession than the collection plate of the present-day church.A man or woman may have many desirable traits, be very companionable indeed, fitted by mental culture and moral character to move in good society, so affable as to be a social favorite, and yet in the absence of the spirit of giving, all pretentions to Christianity are either self-deceptions or a vain effort to impose upon the public.There were notable traits in the character of Jesus Christ, but I make bold to say that the fundamental trait of His character, the one that differentiated Him from man, as no one other did, was His giving-spirit. He gave everything, even His life, in evidence of His love.And the public is wont to judge a professed Christian upon this same basis. Let a man seek higher education for himself, and, as he comes more and more into its possession, shut up his mind against others, becoming a mental recluse, feeding upon books while refusing to contribute anything to the world’s mental needs; and cultured people will call him mean; and they are right. Let a man aspire to social or political position, and when he attains unto it, treat with contempt those who are below him, never stretching out the sympathetic hand of help, and the public will condemn him; and they are right. Let a man seek wealth and succeed in his effort, and, as he grows richer, grow more penurious, until he parts from every penny with a pain, and the public will call him a miser, and think of him in a stronger term; and the public is right.Nothing so evidences character as one’s contributions, and success in itself is a temptation to sin.The very growth in these best things appeals to the flesh to use them for selfish uses.A good business man said to me once, that while he had many appeals made to him, he was glad for them, because he wanted to keep his heart open to the world’s needs, and never become a mere money grabber.Ah, it is keeping not only the heart open to the world needs to give as we believe God requires of us, but it is keeping character itself.

It is keeping all of life that is worth the living, for covetousness and selfishness can so bury a man up as to put him into the deepest grave ever dug long before breath leaves his body.A few years ago I was preaching in an Illinois town. A gentleman there took me driving one afternoon and as we passed an elegant place—a mansion swept about by a great lawn—he told me that a banker had lived there.

For years he and his wife had hoarded their money, never parting with a penny of it except for the necessities of life, and since the husband’s death, the wife was so absolutely eaten up of greed, so utterly lost to all other desires but that of accumulation of silver and gold, that she would not buy food for herself, and the cashier of the local bank had to carry her meals daily to keep her from starving.Of course this is an extreme case and yet it serves perfectly to illustrate the fact that character is a question of one’s contributions to the world in which he lives and moves and has his being.And by as much as I desire the development in the members of the church over which God has set me of all that is Christ-like, of all that makes for character here and character hereafter, it is mine to urge upon you, as Paul did upon the Corinthians, that “as ye abound in every thing, in faith, and utterance, and knowledge, and in all diligence, and in your love to us, see that ye abound in this grace (of giving) also” (2 Corinthians 8:7).The church is measured by the offering of its members. It is not measured by its numbers. It makes little difference to me that we are now above the 3000 mark, unless an increase in membership is an increase in all that is Christ-like.I am familiar with churches, the multitude of whose numbers becomes their shame at every annual report. It is not a question of wealth, for some of the richest churches in America exhibit the least spiritual power and exert but small sacred influence.It is not a question of social standing. On one of the hills of a great city stands a church that has the elite of that beautiful suburb in its membership. One of its officers writing a young minister a while ago regarding the pastorate, said, “We have a beautiful house; our manual has in it the names of many important people; in social matters we are much in the lead, but we have nothing to do with the Holy Ghost of God.”So long as the members of the church are making money to give in proportion to their prosperity, God is greatly glorified thereby; but, as one has well said, “When the church becomes a coffer for holding coveted wealth, she becomes also a coffin for enshrining a dead Christianity.”Pollution easily becomes the experience of such a people; and domestic crimes, social stains, and religious stagnation are the inevitable results.That is a remarkable expression in Luke 11:41 where Jesus said, “Give alms of such things as ye have; and, behold, all things are clean unto you”.You go look on the sea of Galilee today and its waters are bright and sparkling and alive.

It receives a river on the one side; it gives out a greater river on the other side. You go look on the Dead Sea and its waters are foul.

No fish live in them, no fowl swim upon them, and to the taste of man they are bitter indeed. It is a receptacle for the Jordan River. It contributes nothing, and what the Dead Sea is as compared with the Sea of Galilee, so is the covetous Christian as compared with the liberal soul, and the close-fisted church as compared with that Christian institution whose sacrifices are “fountains whose streams of benevolence make glad the city of our God”.THE RICH AND THE POOR GAVE .The wealthiest Jew and the widow! As Jesus watched that day, He looked upon the offering of the wealthy Jew and the poor widow, and He sees the same as He watches today.In the late life of George Mueller, we find him writing down under one date as offerings to the Orphan Asylum, “A shilling and seven pence from two factory girls, and $20,000 in the same mail from a Christian of means.”The rich Jew gave grandly. Our text tells us, “And many that were rich cast in much”. It must be so, if God’s work is to go on.

The very constitution of things require that the favored of the earth shall employ their good fortune in behalf of the oppressed, the ignorant, the needy, the sin-cursed. And what a blessed thing it is, that many of those to whom God has given money, have triumphed over the flesh and retained a generous spirit.In 1814, the Synod of the Reformed Church was in session, and money was being raised for the education of young men who were entering the ministry, and many orators had made as many brilliant speeches concerning the subject, when old Elias Van Benschoten came into the meeting.

Presently he arose to speak, and the people looked chagrined, for they thought this unlettered layman would speak but poorly. But the old man said, “Mr. President, I will give $840 in cash toward this object and $13,000 in bonds.” That was a mighty fortune then.Such oratory is heard in Heaven and interests the angels of God.The poor widow put in a small sum. It was very small indeed, about a tenth of a cent. Henry Ward Beecher says, “So small was it that you might have listened and you could not hear it chink. It was almost like dust in her hand, and I am not exaggerating when I say, you could not have heard it fall into the chest, especially after the ringing of the bullion of some big Jew;” and yet it was heard in Heaven!And it was heard on the earth by the Son of God, and through His Word the sound of it has gone around the world, and for nineteen centuries now it has been stirring stingy men and women to make an offering to the Lord, and inspiring the generous hearted to give again, and again, and yet again.It is certain that the offerings of the poor are worth while.

The avalanche of snow is made up of so many flakes. You understand that the cochineal insect is only about as big as the point of a pin, and feeds on the underside of a cactus leaf and is not easily discovered because it is so small; and yet, when myriads of these little creatures are brought together, they produce a coloring of the brightest scarlet, and when the small offerings of the poor, whether in money or good deeds, are brought together, wonderful results are affected.

What would the Church of God do without her little offerings? What would our missionary treasuries do without the small gifts?But the greatest blessing is to the giver. They are blessed themselves by making them.Our text tells us that “this woman of her want did cast in all that she had, even of her living”. Ah, what a grand giving!I have heard people talking about giving “the widow’s mite”, but I do not want any of you to give so much.She went without her dinner that day. She looked at her old clothes, her worn-out sandals, and said, “Well, I need new ones, but I need the love of God more, and I need more to show Him my love.”There are some who would advise those who are in difficult financial straits to give nothing, but Christ did not so speak, even when He saw a woman giving all her living, casting in all that she had. Perhaps He knew that such an act would bring her the blessing much above the value of those two mites.When Abraham Lincoln arrived at Gauga Seminary for a second term, he had but a six pence in his pocket. The next day the contribution box was passed at the church and he put in that six pence, “all that he had, even all his living”, and yet God took care of him through that entire term, and when it closed, he had paid his expenses and had $3.00 in his pocket.A close, calculating character, such as would have said, “It behooves me to take care of myself and keep this last six pence,” could never have become Abraham Lincoln, our noble President—Abraham Lincoln of broad mind and of bigger heart.CHRIST’S IS A OF . “And He called unto His disciples and saith unto them, Verily I say unto you, That this poor widow hath cast more in than all they which have cast into the treasury; “For all they did cast in of their abundance; but she of her want did cast in all that she had, even all her living” (Mark 12:43-44). There are three points in this to which I call your attention.First, the proportion of one’s living. The largest gifts I know, reckoned proportionately, are made by the Lord’s poor. There are members of my church who have made offerings within a year, when the money given meant of necessity either hunger, or cold; and in some instances, I think it meant both.When I reckon my offerings to the cause of Christ Jesus in the light of what my fortunate fellows do, I am filled with contentment and congratulate myself. But when I reckon them in the light of the gifts of those who put the butter from their bread, and take the sugar from their tea, in order to add $5.00, or $10.00, or $15.00 to the treasury of the Church, I am filled with shame and ask God to help me bear a better proportion of the expenses of that institution; and when I look about me and see many whose fortunes have been swept from them, and I remember that they are left in old age with meager incomes, and yet out of that, manage to make a liberal gift to God, I am again ashamed, and I find in my heart a longing for the privilege of paying more that they may be called upon for less.I know of no sin of a prosperous Christian of the present-day greater than that of his failing to properly share the burdens of life with his less fortunate brethren.Many years ago when fortunes were few, an enterprising newspaper reporter in the city of New York looked into the cost of living in the fashionable circles of that city. He found the well-to-do were living at an expense of thirty to fifty thousand a year, while one rich man admitted that he managed to rub along at $25,000. A certain well-known after-dinner speaker of that city, in making up a schedule of necessary expenses, put down $250 for his church and $5,000 for a box during the opera season, and yet I expect he had brethren and sisters who were day-laborers, and who spent many sleepless nights in praying and planning to be able to meet the rent; and possibly he was a member of the finance committee and scolded because the plain did not better contribute.Again, this proportion is upon the basis of what one has left.

A small boy in Chicago, a son of a deacon, complained to his mother that it was a hardship to have to give a whole dollar out of the $10.00 he had saved up, but when his mother had said, “Johnnie, remember that while you only gave $1.00, you have $9.00 left,” it impressed the boy profoundly, and from that time he always reckoned not on what he gave, but upon what he had left.There are some people who have another way of reckoning on what they have left. They provide every necessity, and even some luxuries, and if there is anything remaining, they tithe that for God.In the olden time, Solomon wrote, “Honour the Lord with thy substance, and with the firstfruits of all thine increase; so shall thy barns be filled with plenty, and thy presses shall burst out with new wine” (Proverbs 3:9-10).

The reason why we find it more difficult to give as we get more, is that we put our eyes upon what we part from and forget what we retain.A good woman in New York who, out of her poverty, had given regularly one-tenth, when she received $5,000 from a friend, wrote in her diary, “Quick, quick, before my heart grows hard.”But, after all, the real proportion is upon the basis of what our Lord asks. I do not believe that a man necessarily meets the requirements of God when he gives a tenth, while I am sure that he comes short of it if he gives less. God may demand a fifth. God may demand a half. God may demand all.If we would enjoy His blessing, we must inquire His mind and make our offerings accordingly.I dislike debts. I believe thoroughly in paying what one owes.

I see no reason why a church should not meet its every bill with promptness; and I believe that can be done, and that it would be done, if every man inquired of God and gave what the Lord asked of him.Years ago a young girl in the South married a well-to-do New York man. She had been an active Christian, but her new position plunged her into a mad whirl of social gaieties and she was intoxicated with social life and neglected her prayer, ceased largely from church attendance, paid no attention to the old custom of contributing to the cause of Christ.

On a return trip from California, the train was ditched and she was fatally injured. When the physician at the little station to which they brought her, told her that she had not more than an hour to live, she said, “But, Doctor, I must go home to New York.” “No,” said the physician, “it is impossible. If you are moved in any way, it will only shorten the time.” “I have only an hour, you tell me?” “My dear madam, I cannot tell you more.” “And this is all there is left to me of the world? It is not much, Doctor.” Tears came into his eyes and she covered her face and lay quiet awhile. Then looking back at him, she said, in a frenzy, “Less than an hour to live? To think of all that I might have done with my money and with my time.

God wanted me to help the poor and the sick. It is too late now.

I have only an hour.” She started up wildly and said, “Why, Doctor, I have been doing nothing—nothing but leading the fashion. Great God! I have only an hour—only an hour.” But the exertion was too much for her and she lay dead at the Doctor’s feet.Beloved, when we sweep out of time into Eternity, we will either go rich or poor, and our riches in the world to come will depend upon how much we have laid up where moth and rust doth not corrupt and where thieves do not break through nor steal. And if we go out bankrupt, go out to find ourselves wanderers in Eternity, without home or friend, it will be because we refused to befriend Him, and help Him on whom all hope of salvation depends.