thoughts and ruminations while in exile (1 Pet. 2:11)

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Sermon Manuscript

And in his teaching he said, “Beware of the scribes, who like to walk around in long robes and like greetings in the marketplaces and have the best seats in the synagogues and the places of honor at feasts, who devour widows' houses and for a pretense make long prayers. They will receive the greater condemnation." And he sat down opposite the treasury and watched the people putting money into the offering box. Many rich people put in large sums. And a poor widow came and put in two small copper coins, which make a penny. 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. 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" (Mark 12:38-44).

It is one of the greatest paradoxes in life that the greatest enemies of God are the most religious. This is perplexing to us because we would assume that it would be the opposite. You see, it is NOT true that the more religious you are, the more God is pleased with you. The greatest enemy of God is false religion. And those who propagate false religion and false doctrine will suffer the greatest condemnation.

We see this in this passage because Jesus is confronting the scribes. The scribes are the biblical scholars of the day and one of the things they did was interpret the Bible. One would assume that if you make a living interpreting the Word of God, you actually know how to interpret it. But that’s not what we find here. To get us up to speed, Jesus has been asked a series of questions by opponents. They are not heartfelt questions, they want to trap Jesus. Last week we saw that Jesus returns the favor by asking them a question. In doing so, he reveals their ignorance, and shows that they do not understand the Word of God. In the passage before us today Jesus gives a warning to his disciples, followed by a time of instruction. We can summarize what Jesus teaches them in one sentence:

Jesus opposes the proud, but commends those who give sacrificially.

1. God Hates Hypocrisy (V. 38-40)

38And in his teaching he said, "Beware of the scribes, who like to walk around in long robes and like greetings in the marketplaces 39and have the best seats in the synagogues and the places of honor at feasts, 40who devour widows’ houses and for a pretense make long prayers. They will receive the greater condemnation."

First of all, notice that Jesus says, “Beware.” This means, “Be on the lookout,” or “Watch.” And the word is used here in the sense of warning. Jesus is telling us to lookout for the kind of behavior he is about to mention.

He tells his hearers to beware of the scribes who like to walk around in long robes and like greetings in the marketplaces and have the best seats in the synagogues and the places of honor at feasts, who devour widows’ houses and for a pretense make long prayers.

What’s Jesus saying here? He’s saying that these scribes—these theological scholars—wear these long robes that identify their position. And that’s what they like. They love when people see them and know that they hold a prestigious position. I don’t think Jesus is condemning robes per se. There are some Christian traditions where the minister wears a robe or some other attire to identify the pastor, and to give him a sense of authority, because when the minister proclaims the Word of God he is speaking with authority. And the robe reflects that authority. What Jesus is condemning here are those who like to wear these robes to boost their own ego.

Jesus goes on to say that they “like greetings in the marketplaces.” That is, they want everyone to see them and give them respect; they want to be surrounded by their entourage. Not only do they want people to see them in the marketplaces, but their desire to be seen also extends to the synagogue and special feasts. In essence, they loved their reserved seats. They wanted everyone to know where they were sitting, and they wanted to make sure everyone could see them. Again, they did this because it boosted their own ego.

Now, Jesus is not condemning reserved seats. His condemnation here is very specific. He is condemning the Scribes because of their preoccupation with the appearance of godliness. As one commentator writes, “The extent of their faith runs no deeper than displays.”

Jesus has very harsh words for these people. In Matthew 23 Jesus pronounces a series of “Woes” upon the Scribes and Pharisees. Jesus says this to the crowds surrounding him about the Scribes and Pharisees: For they preach, but do not practice. 4 They tie up heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on people’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to move them with their finger. 5 They do all their deeds to be seen by others . . . 13"But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you shut the kingdom of heaven in people’s faces. For you neither enter yourselves nor allow those who would enter to go in. 15Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you travel across sea and land to make a single proselyte, and when he becomes a proselyte, you make him twice as much a child of hell as yourselves.

This is why I say it is one of the greatest paradoxes in life that the greatest enemies of God are the most religious. The greatest enemy of God is false religion. And those who propagate false religion and false doctrine will suffer the greatest condemnation. That’s what Jesus says here. He tells the Pharisees, “You are liars! And unless you repent and accept me for who I am, you are going to hell and you’re taking all of your converts with you.”

That’s what Jesus has to say about the scribes. And he’s not done yet, look at verse 40: who devour widows’ houses and for a pretense make long prayers. They will receive the greater condemnation.

Out of all of the terrible things the scribes did, this is by far one of the most heinous. To understand the weight of this indictment, you have to know something of role of widows in the history of the Jewish people.

In the OT, widows and the fatherless were the most vulnerable of all people. As you can probably guess, ancient Israel was an agrarian society, that is, they lived off of the land. And a woman without a husband, particularly an elderly woman, was unable to support herself.

Because God knew this, widows were actually given protection under the Law of Moses. Exodus 22:22-24, for example, God says, You shall not mistreat any widow or fatherless child. 23If you do mistreat them, and they cry out to me, I will surely hear their cry, 24and my wrath will burn, and I will kill you with the sword, and your wives shall become widows and your children fatherless. Clearly, God is very serious about this. In Dt. 18:10 the people are reminded that the sovereign, all mighty God who does not show partiality or accept a bribe will indeed execute justice for the widow.

In addition to promising protection, God also took practical measures to make sure widows were taken care of. Every third year the people’s tithes were to be brought to the local town and give to the widows, among others. The point God is making in all of this is that the widows are not to be overlooked.

This is why the Bible speaks so highly of Ruth. After Ruth’s husband dies, and her mother-in-law, Naomi’s husband dies, Naomi encourages Ruth to leave, but she will not; it’s because she knows Naomi will be a widow.

God clearly established what he expected of his people. And he actually pronounces a curse upon Israel in Dt. 27 if they withhold justice from the widow. But, as the prophets tell us—from Isaiah to Malachi—both Israel and Judah fail in this respect. What we learn from both the major and minor prophets is that the treatment of widows is an indicator of the spiritual health of the nation. Throughout the prophetic writings when God is calling his people to repentance, one of the things for which he calls them to repent is the treatment of widows.

In Isaiah 1:17 the people are called to seek justice, which includes pleading for the widow. In Jeremiah 7:6, Ezek. 22:7, and Zech. 7:10, God pronounces woes upon the people for not showing compassion to the widows.

Bringing it Home
With that OT background in our minds, we can better grasp the criminal nature of the scribes’ behavior. Furthermore, as I just mentioned, this text shows us that the spiritual health of the nation is at low point and God is going to bring judgment. Make no mistake about it, this text is placed here on purpose, and everything is unfolding to show that God is going to bring judgment on Israel.

In Mark 11 we read about Jesus’ triumphal entry. You would think the nation would be happy to receive its Messiah. But when Jesus comes into the temple he cleanses it. Then he pronounces judgment upon the nation in parabolic form in Mark 12. After hearing a variety of questions from the Jewish leaders as they try to trap him, Jesus turns the tables on them and asks them a question that they couldn’t answer. The point Jesus is making to the leaders is this: “Look, you’re supposed to be the theological scholars of the day and you can’t even interpret the Bible correctly!”

In fact, Jesus says, far from protecting the people, you actually exploit poor widows. You actually steal from the ones you are supposed to be protecting! And then you try to cover it up with your long prayers. The scribes wanted everyone to hear their long, eloquent prayers so no one would ever think that they’re the ones stealing from the widows.

Mark shows that there treatment of the widow here is God’s final straw. One commentator says, “She represents one of the last nails in the coffin of national Israel.” We see this in what follows: Mark 13 consists of Jesus’ prophecy of the destruction of the temple, which took place in 70A.D.

We learn from this section that God hates hypocrisy. I’ll make some application on this in my third point, but for now let’s go to the second point which is:

2. Giving says a lot about our hearts (V. 41-44).

And he sat down opposite the treasury and watched the people putting money into the offering box. Many rich people put in large sums. And a poor widow came and put in two small copper coins, which make a penny. And he called his disciples to him and said to them, “Truly, I say to you, this poor widow put in more than all those who are contributing to the offering box. 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.”

This woman stands in sharp contrast to the scribes we just heard about. While the scribes exploit the widows, this widow is the picture of the true faith and devotion. The scribes probably exploited people for their money, and did very well for themselves. So any money they had to give didn’t put much of a dent in their pockets. But this woman gave everything she had.

Picture it: she would be left with no money, no savings, no investments, no guarantees. The next day she would wake up and wonder how she’s going to eat breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Of all people, she could have used the excuse, “What will this little amount of money do?” She doesn’t do that. She gives everything. She gives, “two small copper coins.” I’m aware that different translations say different things to try and communicate the point. Think of it this way: A days wage was one denarius, and she gave 1/64 of a denarius. The NIV translation gets it right. It was worth a fraction of a cent.

The text doesn’t suggest that she gave in order to receive anything back from the Lord. She gives out of the goodness of her heart because she loves God. And Paul writes in 2 Cor. 9:7 that God loves a cheerful giver. This woman loves God, and she is prepared to give all she has. You’ll recall that in Matt. 6:21 Jesus says, “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” God is this woman’s treasure.

You may be thinking to yourself, “Well, if this woman was really devoted and she gave away everything, does that mean I have to do the same?” No. Remember, nowhere in the Bible does God say we have to give away all of our money to him. But, presumably God led this woman to do this. The Bible, however, does not state that.

This is why the point here is that giving says a lot about our hearts. You know it has been said that you can tell a lot about a person by the way they spend their money. And that’s true.

I’m not aware of the financial situation of every person in this church, but I’m sure that for some of you, giving five dollars takes great faith. But the point for us, in fact, is that it’s not even about money! Giving says a lot about the heart.

I heard this story once (I have no way of verifying this, by the way), about a little girl in church who, when the offering plate came around put in her favorite doll she used to play with. And this was a doll everyone knew she carried around with her all the time. And of course, the deacons in the church, along with the pastor thought it was really sweet. During the next week as the pastor was making visitations, he brought the doll back to the little girl and he asked her if she wanted it back. She said, “No.” She said, “I didn’t give the doll to you, I gave her to the Lord.”

That’s what Jesus is saying here. It’s not the amount you give, it’s the sacrifice. What we see from this woman is that Jesus commends her because she gives sacrificially. This is what being a disciple is all about. Jesus demonstrated this in his own life. He didn’t give us the leftovers. Unbelievably, He gave us himself. He gave his life for you and me.

This takes me to my next point. We’ve seen that God hates hypocrisy, and that giving says a lot about our hearts. These are taken directly from the text. My next two points, however, will help us understand the first two points in light of the gospel.

3. God Saves Hypocrites

As we read Jesus’ words to the scribes, in our sinful nature we want to shout, “Get em’ Jesus!” When, in reality, we have no business saying such things. To the extent that we look down upon other people, and begin to carry around an attitude of superiority, and thinking that we’ve arrived, we’ve missed the gospel.

As much as we read of Jesus rebuking the scribes and Pharisees in the gospels, let us not forget how Jesus ended his message to them in Mattt. 23. He weeps over the nation and says, O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you would not!

Jesus weeps over those who are lost because he sees their pitiful condition. I imagine he had anguish in his heart as he was rebuking the scribes because they couldn’t even explain the Scriptures they were trying to defend. It is a sad thing to be that blind.

And I fear that as Christians, sometimes we can be guilty of the same behavior. We can become Pharisees. While we are looking down upon others calling them hypocrites, we are also guilty of hypocrisy. And we know the main reason unbelievers say they don’t come to church is because there are too many hypocrites there. But let us pray for such people and never forget that we serve a God who saves hypocrites.

We know the greatest example of this in the Bible is the apostle Paul. For all of the harsh words that Jesus has for the Pharisees, we do well to remember that Paul himself was a Pharisee. In Philippians 3 Paul outlines all of his religious credits. 3For we are the circumcision, who worship by the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh— 4though I myself have reason for confidence in the flesh also. If anyone else thinks he has reason for confidence in the flesh, I have more: 5 circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; 6 as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless.

Paul says if anyone has the right to brag and boast about what he has done, it’s him. In Acts 22 when Paul is on trial before the Jews who want him dead, he says that he was “educated at the feet of Gamaliel according to the strict manner of the law of our fathers . . .” He was educated under the most prominent rabbi of his day. When Paul writes to the Galatians, he reminds the readers, For you have heard of my former life in Judaism, how I persecuted the church of God violently and tried to destroy it. And I was advancing in Judaism beyond many of my own age among my people, so extremely zealous was I for the traditions of my fathers (Gal. 1:13-14).

This is not a man who was messing around. Paul had perfected the art of spiritual pride. But God changed his heart. Back to Philippians 3:

7But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. 8Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ 9and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith— 10that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 11that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.

God saves hypocrites; he changes peoples’ hearts. We must never forget this great gospel truth. B. B. Warfield, the great Princeton theologian said that you can summarize Reformed Theology in three words: God saves sinners. That is, we believe, as the Bible teaches, that God is the sovereign ruler of the universe who governs all things by the word of his power. We believe that because God is sovereign, through the preaching of the gospel, God grants new life to dead sinners and saves them. He accomplishes salvation. He does not simply make salvation possible. He does not simply make human beings savable. No. He actually saves them. And he does this for sinners, those who are dead in their trespasses and sins, and those who otherwise, had God not granted regeneration would have ultimately and finally perished.

Let us never forget that God is by nature a savior, and all of history consists of God putting his saving nature on display. We must remember this gospel truth.

God hates hypocrisy, giving says a lot about our hearts, God saves hypocrites, and finally:

4. Giving Does Not Save Us

Remember, I said giving says a lot about our hearts, but the other side of that is that we are not saved because we give. It’s important that we remember this because we must get the gospel right!

This applies to our passage today because Jesus is warning his disciples not to be like the scribes, because, while they look holy from an external perspective, all they want is the praise of man. The poor widow, on the other hand, is a picture of faith because she loved God and trusted him to provide. But what we are not to take away from this story is that God wants us to give away all that we have. What we learn from this passage is that true holiness is a matter of the heart, and that while it may go unnoticed by those around us, we can be sure that God takes notice of us.

And, we also learn, contrary to what the scribes and Pharisees taught, true holiness is not a matter of mere external conformity to the law. This is what is so counter-intuitive to people: You are not holy because you keep rules! And this is why I said don’t be fooled into thinking someone is religious just because they live a very strict and disciplined life. When Martin Luther was a Catholic monk living in a monastery, he said he saw just as much pride there as he did before he became a monk!

The holiness and righteousness that God demands cannot be found in the law. True holiness and righteousness is found in Jesus Christ alone. His righteousness is seen in the fact that he loved God and neighbor perfectly. Surrounded by his enemies, Jesus asked, “Which one of you convicts me of sin?” (John 8:46). The response was dead silence. The truly righteous one, as we saw last week, is both David’s son and David’s Lord. He is the Messiah that is prophesied about in Scripture. And contrary to what many were expecting, he is going to do something far greater than lead Israel to victory over Rome. He is going to put all of his enemies under his feet, including our sin, and its wage, which is death.

So to say that we are not saved because we give, is to say that we are not saved by our works. You may be saying to yourself, “Why is he telling us this? Isn’t this basic Christianity? Why do I need to hear this?” Yes, you do need to hear it. We are in error if we think we do not need to hear the gospel after we become Christians. We need to preach the gospel to ourselves everyday.

The gospel is about objective historical facts that actually occurred in history: The life, death, burial, resurrection of Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ, fully God and fully man came to earth, lived a perfect life and fulfilled the law of God, and earned perfect righteousness for his people. When a person repents, turns from their sinful life and places their trust and Christ, and receives him for who he is, that is, Lord and savior, and supremely valuable, they receive the perfect righteousness of Christ and are secure. This will be evidenced by a life of repentance, a hatred for sin, and a desire to please God that does not go away, but grows stronger with every moment. So let me make myself clear: You are not saved just because you walked an aisle and prayed a prayer one time.

The gospel is not that God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life. The gospel is not your personal testimony, it’s not about health and wealth, it’s not signs and wonders, it’s not about your best life now, it’s not about having a purpose-driven life, it’s not about loving life, and it is not about you! As Michael Horton says, “The gospel is good news for us, precisely because it is not about us.”

We have got to get this right! I know I harp on this a lot, and it may seem like overload since last week pastor Andy’s message was evangelistic and centered around the gospel. But we do this because you need to be able to spot error when you hear it. Let me close with this one illustration:

There was a preacher on T.V. who was talking about her legalistic upbringing. And she went on to say these words: “I used to think the gospel was all about rules and regulations, but I’m glad that I finally learned that the gospel is about loving God and loving other people.” Now, do you hear anything wrong with those words?

Loved ones, I realize God calls us to love God and love other people. But that is NOT the gospel message. As we start an evangelistic program to reach out to those around us, our message is not to come to them and tell them to love God and love other people. We need the gospel precisely because we DON’T love God and other people perfectly! So, rather than this preacher thinking she has left rules and regulations, she’s actually under the most difficult rules and regulations because Jesus said the whole law is summarized in loving God and loving neighbor!

May we trust in Christ for the forgiveness of our sins, may we give sacrificially, and may we get the gospel right, and proclaim it here and to the ends of the earth.