Posted on 07/19/2018 6:06:41 AM PDT by SandRat
Today I am thinking about money.
I’m thinking about how money is treated in churches. Some churches have discreet offerings, and you may need to ask how you can leave an offering there — they will be happy to direct you to the receptacle. Others have offerings accompanied by beautiful music. Sometimes the offering ends before the music does, but that’s OK.
Still others have monitors watching what you put in — that will sober a person! And then there are fundraising campaigns.
More inside
Maybe there is a thermometer to show how far we have come. Maybe there is a report in the bulletin or on the screen every week. Some say, “Give until it hurts.” Others are more mellow. Some prefer a kind of competition.
Some want you to make promises (the Bible talks about that, too).
There is instruction for giving in the Bible. The classic teaching for our time is found in 2 Corinthians 8-9. You should read it; the principles are not difficult to find.
Jesus said something unusual one day about giving. He was sitting for a while where he could see the worshippers placing their offerings into the receptacles. Lenski in his commentary on Luke says, “Thirteen trumpet-shaped, metal receptacles, each marked with a Hebrew letter, stood in the court of the women to receive the gifts of the worshippers for the benefit of the Temple and for the Temple tax.”
It was a spectacular arrangement. Some suppose that the amount someone gave was announced, and it may have been. That happens today in some places, but we can’t say for sure.
But, as in other cases, Jesus knew regardless of whether it was announced.
Probably many of the people were ordinary, but some were rich. Elsewhere, we are told that some of them gave in ostentatious ways. Jesus said in Matthew 6 that when you give that way, you will have your reward here on earth and not in heaven.
Then came along a poor widow.
In fact, let’s just read what the text says. “And He saw a poor widow putting in two small copper coins. And He said, ‘Truly I say to you, this poor widow put in more than all of them;’” (Luke 21:2-3; NASB).
The Theological Dictionary of the New Testament says the word “poor” here means “very poor,” “needy,” “wretched.” You could say she was extremely poor. We don’t know what the value of her gift was, but you could compare it to donating just two pennies.
What could it buy?
Look carefully at what Jesus said: He did not say that she had put in more than someone else, but he did say that she had put in more than all of them together! That seems preposterous when you know what she actually donated. But he explained in the next verse, “ … for they all out of their surplus put into the offering; but she out of her poverty put in all that she had to live on.”
The Greek word used here for “poverty” means “what is missing.”
She gave out of what was missing. What a contrast to people donating out of their surplus!
I learned something about generosity from a college roommate. He came in one day, said he had just paid his tuition bill, and had $1.36 left. Then he asked me to join him in the snack shop. He was older than the average student, but his family didn’t help him at all — he was on his own (or so it seemed).
God provided.
I once knew a farmer who had come into unexpected wealth through oil being discovered on his land. He said his toughest job was deciding every month where to give it. He was trying to be a good steward.
I also knew of another man who had grown rich through oil, and he complained to his friend that he had to pay so much in taxes. His friend, who had a large family and whom the Lord had also blessed financially, said to him, “You don’t give enough away.”
I’m glad when people give, but giving is not a matter of amount — it’s a matter of the heart.
We know the condition of the poor widow’s heart. We are not always sure about someone else.
So you and I have a decision to keep making. Do we want to limit our reward to earth, to what other people heap on us? Or do we want to lay up treasure in heaven?
Each person will have decide for themselves what that will actually be.
ARLIE RAUCH has retired from 41 years as a pastor, is thankful for God’s provision, and can be reached at arlieandruth@cox.net.
The love of money will throw Godliness right out the window when it rears its ugly head.
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