Sermon Tone Analysis

Christmas In God’s House

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A Lesson On Giving Demonstrated In God’s House

Mark 12:41-44

 

 

        In my study for the sermon series “The Houses of God,” it dawned on me, or The Holy Spirit revealed to me the following thought:  “Christmas actually began at The House of the Lord, i.e. in Herod’s Temple.”

Since we are suspending the series on “The Houses of God” to do four Christmas messages.

It seemed expedient to me to continue to talk about Christmas as it relates to the House of God.

In our first message, we talked about how the first Christmas was tied up with God’s House.

Zacharias received the revelation concerning John the Baptizer, the forerunner of Jesus Christ, while carrying out his priestly duties, in Herod’s Temple.

*John the Baptizer, being the forerunner of Jesus Christ, is actually the forerunner of the first Christmas.*

In the second message, we talked about the prophecies of Simeon and Anna and where they took place:  in God’s house.

In the third message, we talked about one of Christ’s Christmas gifts:  the promise of the Father or the baptism~/filling of the Holy Spirit.

Christmas is a season that is inextricably bound to prophecy, joy, goodwill, promise, potential, and giving.

/(That brings us to what I want to talk about today.)/

*Today I want to discuss what should be one of the major activities of Christmas.

That activity is giving!!!*  For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, and the Son so loved us that He gave His life, so that He might be able to give us the promise of the Father, which is the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit so loves us that He gives His presence, and we ought to love one another enough to give our lives for each other and that is often demonstrated in the things that we give to each other.

*So, Christmas ought to be about giving, not only to each other, but also to God.*  *But, because of the self-centered, self-conscious, self-absorbed society that we live in, we need an example or object lesson on giving.*

Well, guess what?

There is a dynamic object lesson on giving that Jesus pointed out to His disciples and it took place in God’s House.

Would you turn with me to Mark 12:41-44?

Let me read this aloud for us, as you follow along.

The setting of this particular narrative is the treasury.

Without understanding what the treasury is, we have *no* idea what this narrative is all really about.

So, let’s talk about what is meant by the word “treasury.”

\\         Remember that Herod’s Temple was a restoration of Zerubbabel’s Temple and the plan for Zerubbabel’s Temple was based upon Solomon’s Temple.

Herod’s Temple had several courts surrounding the Temple.

First there was the Court of the Gentiles, then the Court of the Women, and then the inner Court, which was the court of Jewish men.

The /Bible Knowledge Commentary/ states that Jesus did most of His teaching from the Court of the Gentiles.

In the narrative before us, Jesus evidently entered into the Court of the Women from the Court of the Gentiles.

/(And what was this Court of the Women like?)/

Well, “Against the wall of this court were 13 trumpet-shaped collection receptacles for receiving worshipers’ freewill *offerings *and contributions (Mishnah /Shekalim /6.

5).”[1]

The /Wycliffe Bible Commentary/ says the receptacles were for “gifts and the temple tax” (/Wycliffe/).

Other scholarly material suggests that “Nine chests were for the appointed money-tribute and for the sacrifice-tribute, i.e., money-gifts instead of the sacrifices; the other four chests being for freewill-offerings for wood, incense, temple decoration, and burnt offerings” (Lightfoot’s Hor.

Heb.).

*Mathew Henry states that one of these receptacles was for alms for the poor.*

Each was marked with the purpose to which the offerings were to be devoted.

This colonnade under which these chests were placed, was called The Treasury (/Wuest/).

This amounted to worship!!!

        Are you getting the picture?

Let me give it to you again.

There is a court with columns surrounding that court.

There were thirteen trumpet-shaped collection receptacles for receiving freewill offerings for the business of the Temple.

So if we would modernize the backdrop, this would be equivalent to passing the offering baskets in church.

It is very sad that we do not realize that “how” and “what” we put in the offering plate amounts to one form of worship.

That is why offering time is not a time to talk or visit.

It is not intermission from the service.

It is a time of high worship of our God!!!

 

/(This is the backdrop of the action that is about to take place.)/

The next actions are the actions of Jesus.

Jesus *sat*, *studied*, and then He *spoke*.

Jesus *sat* down opposite one or more of these receptacles.

Jesus obviously positioned Himself intentionally to be able to watch the people putting money into the chests in the Treasury.

\\         As Jesus sat opposite the receptacles in the Treasury, He observed or studied how “(/pos/ ‘in what way’)”[2] the multitude were putting money into the treasure and how many rich people were putting in large sums.

He intentionally observed or studied how the multitude was putting money into the treasury.

Notice that Jesus was not necessarily concerned with how much, but */how/* each person gave.

*He could tell a great deal about the people who were contributing to the treasury by watching how they gave.*

*You can tell a lot today about the spirituality of people by observing how they give.*

Because giving is very spiritual!

Giving is one form of worship!

And, in order for giving to be worship, it must be done cheerfully and with thanksgiving.

Paul covered this in

 

2 Corinthians 9:7, “Let each one do just as he has purposed in his heart; not grudgingly or under compulsion; for God loves a cheerful giver.”

God loves the giver who gives in a cheerful manner.

The Greek word means “hilariously.”

That is why we do not beg; pass the plate twice, etc.

You should ask God what He wants you to give, purpose that in your heart, and then give it cheerfully.

So if you know something about */how/* a person gives to God, you know something very important about that person’s spirituality or maturity.

Why?

Because you know something about */how/* that person worships God!!!

        “It appears that Jesus continued watching the giving for some time and that he observed a number of wealthy persons making gifts” Wycliffe.

What Jesus saw was a lot of ‘gilded givers.’

The word ‘gilded’ means

 

“2: displaying a fine but deceptive outward appearance” (/Webster’s Third New International Dictionary/, unabridged).

Some people only give, when they think they are going to be noticed or get recognition for their giving.

*Jesus had just finished rebuking the scribes for being outwardly pious, but inwardly wicked.*

Now he moves to the treasury evidently to teach the disciples another lesson on the same subject.

The rich were putting in large sums.

Their giving seemed to be meritorious, but they were rich.

They were throwing in large sums of money evidently for appearance sake.

But what they were giving was of no consequence to them because they had plenty.

Not only does Christ take note of the demeanor of the givers, but whether their attitude is one of liberality or stinginess.

Jesus looked at the hearts of the givers and observed the principles that they were acting upon.

He took note of whether they were giving as unto the Lord or to be seen of men.[3]

Although most of us are not rich, I don’t think we will have any trouble relating to the way that these rich people were acting.

We probably tend to give a little bit more, depending upon who is watching us.

Well, be aware of this:  *even** though we are not consciously aware of it, Jesus watches what we give every time we come to church!*

This reminds me of the Internet joke “Jesus Is Watching You!”  If you are not on the Internet, let me share it with you.

There was a burglar who broke into a house to rob it, when he heard a voice, from the dark, say, “Jesus is watching you!”

This startled him and he shinned his flashlight in the direction of the voice, when again he heard a voice say, “Jesus is watching you!”

The burglar searching for the voice asked who said that.

His flashlight illuminated a parrot that said, “Moses.”

The burglar was relieved it was a parrot, but replied to the parrot.

Who in the world would name a parrot Moses?

The parrot responded, “The same person who would name a rottweiler Jesus!!!”

        Jesus is certainly not a rottweiler, but He is watching us and He is a lot more formidable than a dog!

 

/(Now, notice there was a multitude of people throwing money into the treasury and many of them were rich.

Evidently, this kind of open giving drew those who wanted to *display* their piety.

Today some churches print a list of contributors and their contributions, just for this purpose./

/Then something curious happened:  the greatest giver unveiled herself.)/

A poor widow came and put two small copper coins in the treasury.

poor /4434 ptocheuo/ “be or become (extremely) poor in contrast to /ploutein/ (rich).”