Sermon Tone Analysis
Overall tone of the sermon
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This morning we are picking back up in the Gospel of Mark.
If you’re new to MCF, it would be good for you to know that we practice a form of preaching called “Expository Preaching”.
What that means is we believe the Bible is best taught by taking a book of the Bible, and then breaking it down chapter by chapter, verse by verse, in order to understand what it means in our lives today.
With that said, we are currently working our way through the Gospel of Mark, a Gospel that is meant to teach us who Jesus is, what he came to do, and what it means to follow him.
And as we come back to Mark’s Gospel today, we find ourselves in the final week of Jesus’s life.
And as we’ve learned, it’s been an eventful week for Jesus, as the religious leaders of his day have worked to discredit Jesus through a series of verbal attacks and arguments.
But their attacks have fallen short.
With each encounter, Jesus has come out on top.
With each argument, Jesus has been one step ahead.
And at this point the religious leaders have abandoned their efforts to discredit Jesus, and will now focus their efforts on killing Jesus which will begin to take place in chapter 14.
That begin the case, and as we come to the end of chapter 12 today, we are coming to the end of Jesus’s public ministry.
In fact, beginning in chapter 13, the only teaching and instruction Jesus gives will be given privately and only to his disciples.
And just as a preview, you don’t want to miss chapter 13, because the majority of chapter 13 is focused on the end times as Jesus will give us a glimpse into what the last days will be like before his return.
So, if you are curious when Jesus is coming back, you don’t want to miss chapter 13.
But before we get to that, Jesus has one more lesson to give his audience.
A message that for the most part sums up what it means to follow Him.
So, in order to set some framework for what Jesus is about to say, I want to begin by asking you a few questions.
First Question - When it comes to your finances and your livelihood, would you say that you trust God?
In other words, would you be willing to say that you believe God is your provider.
That regardless of how much money you have or don’t have, God is going to take care of you.
How many of you would say you believe that?
As Christians, I think a good number of us would at least say that.
Second Question - So, let me ask yo this, when it comes to your finances, what percent of your income would do you say you trust God with?
In other words, if God were to ask you to demonstrate your financial trust in Him, what percent of your income would you be willing to designate to Him? (Would it be 1%, 5%, 10%, 20%, 50%, 75%, 100%).
How much financial trust would you be willing to put in God’s hands?
That’s a different question, isn’t it?
For example, if I said in order to follow Jesus
Third Question - One more question.
If you struggle to trust God financially with a certain percent of your income, what income level would it take for you to trust God with your finances?
In other words, if God were to ask you to give 10% of your income back to him, which the Bible calls the tithe, what level of annual income would you need in order to feel comfortable with that?
($50,000, $75,000, $100,000, $150,000).
At what point would you be able to say, “Yeah, now that I make “x” amount of dollars, I feel comfortable giving 10% of my income to God.” What’s the number?
Or how about this, what if God asked you to give him 50% of your income.
What level of annual income would it take for you to do that?
($100,000, $200,000, $500,000).
How much money would you need to make in order to feel comfortable giving God back 50% of your annual income?
Now, at this point, some of you are probably thinking, “Oh wonderful.
I came on the Sunday that pastor is going to talk about money.
Awesome!
I knew I should have just watched online today.”
Or maybe this is your first time to MCF today, and you’re thinking, “Of course, I knew it.
I knew that’s what this church was about.
I should have listened to what my friends were telling me.
It’s all about the money.”
Well, if any of those thoughts are running through your head, let me put your minds at ease.
Because the main point of today’s message isn’t about tithing or how much money you should put in the offering bucket.
There will be no tithe challenge today.
So you can all relax.
Everybody take a deep breath.
Today’s sermon isn’t about giving more money to the church.
However, I will say this, today’s passage does involve the subject of money and today’s passage does involve the giving of certain amounts of money.
Now, you might be thinking, “Pastor, that doesn’t make any sense.
How can you say the sermon isn’t about money, but then tell me that’s what the passage is about?”
I can say that because while Jesus isn’t going to challenge us to necessarily give money, he is going to challenge us to give him something.
Something we have to be willing to give him if we want to follow him.
Something that is necessary to be a disciple of Jesus.
And because money tends to be something that is near and dear to us, Jesus is going to use the subject of money to illustrate what that something is.
So, before I confuse you to much, here’s what I want to do.
First, I want to read through the passage and give some explanation to what is happening.
And second, I want to show you what Jesus is asking from us in order to follow him.
So, with that as our basis, let’s pick back up in as Jesus delivers his final public words.
Listen to what Mark tells us:
“And he sat down opposite the treasury and watched the people putting money into the offering box.
Many rich people put in large sums.
42 And a poor widow came and put in two small copper coins, which make a penny.
43 And he called his disciples to him and said to them, “Truly, I say to you, this poor widow has put in more than all those who are contributing to the offering box.
44 For they all contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty has put in everything she had, all she had to live on.”
(ESV)
I can say that, because on the surface, it would seem that money is the main idea.
But what were going to learn is, money is simply the object that Jesus uses in this passage in order to illustrate a greater point.
A subject that is near and dear to all of our hearts.
And using the subject of money, Jesus is going highlight what it truly takes to follow Him.
So, if you’re serious about following Jesus, then I would encourage you to listen very carefully to what Jesus is about to say.
Because in this final public message, Jesus is going to lay it all out.
In other words, Jesus is going to use the subject of money as an object lesson in order to illustrate what it takes to follow him.
So,
We’ll get to those questions in a moment.
But before we do, I want to begin by accomplishing a couple of
First, I want to read through the passage, and then second, I want to give some explanation to the context of the passage.
So,
That’s what
You may recall, we are in the final week of Jesus’s life.
You may recall
“And he sat down opposite the treasury and watched the people putting money into the offering box.
Many rich people put in large sums.
42 And a poor widow came and put in two small copper coins, which make a penny.
43 And he called his disciples to him and said to them, “Truly, I say to you, this poor widow has put in more than all those who are contributing to the offering box.
44 For they all contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty has put in everything she had, all she had to live on.”
(ESV)
Let me ask you something, “How many of you have ever been to a mall?”
Most of us, right?
I don’t know about you, but I’m not a big mall fan.
To be honest, I get zero enjoyment out of walking around a mall and looking in stores for endless hours.
Not my cup of tea.
And the truth is, if I do go to a mall, its only because I have something specific that I’m buying at a specific store.
Meaning, when I go to the mall, I’m on a mission and my mission is to get in and get out.
No dilly dally.
However, I did raise two girls who like to go to the mall, so I’ve spent some time at the mall.
And while I don’t enjoy walking around from store to store, what I do find I enjoy about the mall is what you might call “People watching”.
Have you ever done that?
You know what I’m talking about, right?
It’s when you find a place to sit at the mall and then you sit there and watch and observe all the interesting people walking by?
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