Transcription

Connor:
You’re listening to The Bible Guys, a podcast where a couple of friends talk about the Bible in fun and practical ways.

Jeff:
Here we are.

Chris:
Good morning. Good morning. We talk all night through. Good morning. Good morning to you and you and you.

Jeff:
All right. Well, there you go. That’s what, three, four weeks in a row now?

Chris:
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Hey, by the way, what movie is that from? Go. I have no idea. Seriously? Singing in the Rain.

Jeff:
Okay. I’ve seen Singing in the Rain. Yeah, it’s really good.

Chris:
Hey, look at you. And name the actors.

Jeff:
Go. The dancer guy.

Chris:
Oh, so sorry. Gene Kelly.

Jeff:
Gene Kelly.

Chris:
There you go. Yeah. Debbie Reynolds. Yeah. Okay.

Jeff:
So today I have, talking about movies. Yes. I have five word summaries of movies and I have to see how fast you can guess what movie it is. So I’m going to say five words. It’s kind of each one of these is a sentence. Okay. Five word sentences. Okay. And you have to. This is a lot of pressure.

Chris:
Tell me the movie. And I guess the listeners could try to say it up before me. That’s right.

Jeff:
They’re going to race me. Here you go. Ready? Okay. Here we go. Cat returns to defeat uncle.

Chris:
Cat return. Oh, Lion King. Yes. Cat. I was like, cat?

Jeff:
That’s funny. Pretty Redhead chooses Belching Monster.

Chris:
Shrek.

Jeff:
There you go. Man becomes father, steals moon.

Chris:
Despicable Me. Steals moon. That’s perfect. That’s perfect.

Jeff:
Enchanted Arborist lectures, saves forest.

Chris:
What? Say it again.

Jeff:
Enchanted Arborist Lectures Saves Forest.

Chris:
No clue.

Jeff:
The Lorax. Oh, my word. Yeah, there you go.

Chris:
Okay, he didn’t save anything. What? No, the one Truffula tree at the end, he had to replant and he didn’t save it. It was actually the…

Jeff:
Okay, here’s your last one.

Chris:
I boo on that one. Boo on that one. It was the Winsler, whatever his name was, at the very end that felt guilty. And he actually, he lost the battle. Boo.

Jeff:
We could start a new podcast about Seuss if you want to. No, that is just… Hey, if you like the Baba guys, you should go over to the Seuss guys.

Chris:
I’m thinking like he saved the forest. He didn’t save anything. There was nothing there for like years and years. Anyway, go ahead.

Jeff:
All right. Here’s the last one, Chris. Go ahead. You better up your game. Immoral electric company solicit scares.

Chris:
Oh, Monsters Inc. That’s great. Isn’t that good? Immoral? Yeah. Huh. Immoral.

Jeff:
That’s what I said.

Chris:
Son of a gun. Yeah. I would have never described it that way.

Jeff:
Well, they were taking advantage of people.

Chris:
I guess so. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I guess so. Okay. Yeah. So that’s a, that’s pretty funny.

Jeff:
Anyways. Okay. Well, we got that out of the way. Well, that was a big one.

Chris:
I’m still going to go home and read this. So by the way, my daughter, Tori, her number one favorite thing in all the world is Winnie the Pooh. Okay. Her number one favorite book in all the world, she hasn’t memorized, believe it or not, is the Lorax. The Lorax, really?

Jeff:
It’s the Lorax. Oh, so you know this well.

Chris:
Very well, very well. Okay, so I’ve seen this I’ve seen this movie this little cartoon Lorax.

Jeff:
Did you just disappoint Tori? Is that what happened that you missed that one?

Chris:
No, I think she’d be on my side with this.

Jeff:
Is she gonna be mad? Yeah, I mean, are you guys gonna go protest Desiree’s house? No, what I’m saying out there in the front the Lorax story

Chris:
Desiree probably grabbed that from a resource, which means she probably copied and pasted it somewhere. And so I’m not mad at Desiree. I’m mad at the, uh, the person who says he saves the forest. So anyway, we went to, uh, just this past Christmas, I went down to visit my daughter who lives in St. Petersburg, Florida, and we went to Universal Studios. And you could walk through Dr. Seuss land. And on the side, there’s like a little thing where people can just walk through and it’s just the Lorax, right? And all it is, is just like a, it’s a throwaway kind of a thing. It’s not a ride, right? It’s just like this little thing they built that you can just walk through. She was happier walking through the Lorax, through there, than she was probably riding almost any ride.

Jeff:
Oh, wow. Right?

Chris:
Yeah. And so I was like, right there, we got pictures and everything like this. And so if you know the story, he fights and fights this guy, making sneeds. And I forget what his name is, the Winsler or the Wessler, whatever his name is. Anyway, he loses the battle. And so all the trees, the last truffula tree falls down, it’s gone forever. And then he finds, then the guy who destroyed the forest finds a seed and then keeps it for decades. And then finally gives it to a kid to replant. So, so the Lorax actually lost the battle of, of, of trying to save the forest, which means it’s, it is a wrong description.

Jeff:
It’s a wrong description. Okay. All right. Well, thank you for that. You clarified the false doctrine of the Lorax. And so that was appreciative of that, Chris.

Chris:
Yeah. Well, you know, listen, that’s what made Chris mad today.

Jeff:
Yeah. Well, if we have any listeners left.

Chris:
Holy cow. Yeah. Yeah. Sorry about that.

Jeff:
That was, thank you for clarifying. That was a big one. So today is a really sweet story. It’s only just a few verses long, but I think that this story might be one of the best known stories in the whole Gospels. Yeah. Right. And so it’s found in Mark and Luke, which is rare that you don’t get Matthew and Mark, but this one’s Mark and Luke. Right. And in Mark chapter 12, verse 41, it says, Jesus sat down near the collection box in the temple and watched as the crowds dropped in their money. many rich people in large amounts, put in large amounts. Then a poor widow came and dropped in two small coins. Jesus called his disciples to him and said, I tell you the truth, this poor widow has given more than all the others who are making contributions, for they gave a tiny part of their surplus, but she, poor as she is, has given everything she had to live on. And in Luke chapter 21 verse 1 it says, while Jesus was in the temple, he watched the rich people dropping their gifts in the collection box. Then a poor widow came by and dropped in two small coins. I tell you the truth, Jesus said, this poor widow has given more than all the rest of them, for they have given a tiny part of their surplus, but she, poor as she is, has given everything she has. Yeah. Wow.

Chris:
Yeah, and it’s known as the widow’s mites, right? Right. And so do you know anything about the word mite? Because in the King James Version that you and I grew up reading, right? This version, the NLT, says two small coins or two small copper coins.

Jeff:
Right. The lepta is what it was. It was the smallest of the Jewish coins.

Chris:
Then where’d the word mite come from?

Jeff:
I don’t know. Really? That’s how it was translated, King James. Oh. Widow’s Might.

Chris:
Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Jeff:
I think it’s probably an appropriate word.

Chris:
Well, obviously, if it was written, you know. Sure. So the King James Version, by the way, was translated into English in the year 1611. And so both Jeff and I grew up reading the King James.

Jeff:
Which is the same time Shakespeare was writing. Yeah, Shakespeare. Same level of English. More academic than Shakespeare. Shakespeare is a little bit more bullish, but yeah.

Chris:
Yeah. And so anyway, the King James Version, it doesn’t read as fluent as, let’s just say like the NLT, because language has changed. You know, it felt like to me, growing up and reading it, it was like Yoda.

Chris:
help you, I will.”

Chris:
It was like, you know, how it would put words like that. And then also you would use words that you had to sort of look up and figure out the translation because we no longer use those words. But the accuracy of translations is obviously the concern, right? So the concern about the King James was, you know, we have to make sure that whatever translation it is, that it accurately represents the language. But Greek is a hard language to translate from. It really is. So anyway.

Jeff:
And so, uh, widows might, um, or here it would have been is in, in the Greek it’s two Lepta. It was the smallest of the Jewish coins, um, or Codrantes, which means quadrants, right? So there’s a lot of different ways of saying this, but basically what he’s talking about is the smallest of the coins that they used. And in their day, uh, the coins were weighted. So that’s the value of the coin. The value of the coin was how heavy the coin was.

Chris:
because they would use the scales of justice to purchase things.

Jeff:
So if you and I were thinking about it, if you could have a fraction of a penny, if it was possible to have a coin that was a fraction of a penny, this is what this lady gave us. She gave two fractions of a penny and they were the smallest coins, the least value. But for her, it was everything. So I think it’s interesting. Let’s unpack the idea. Jesus is sitting there watching people drop their money in. Yeah. Well, I thought that was private.

Chris:
Well, back then it wasn’t.

Jeff:
It was public, right? I don’t think it is today either. I think it’s personal. Yes. Right? Yes. But if you’re expecting a receipt for tax purposes, it’s not private.

Chris:
Correct. Correct. That’s right. Well, somebody’s looking at it.

Jeff:
Yeah. Somebody has to look at it. And so here’s Jesus. He’s paying attention. He’s just watching. And so this area is near the women’s section. If you know about the temple, there was the public section for the men. there was a section for Gentiles who weren’t Jewish, and there was a section for the women. And so this is near the area of the women’s portion of the temple that had the collection boxes. And so all the rich people love to make a big presentation about it. Here’s my thing, dropping in their money, and Jesus is like, that’s just from the surplus, right? And this poor little lady, she comes and gives everything she has.

Chris:
And by the way, that’s actually true. So usually the richer that people get, and by the way, when I say rich, I’m including you and me in that equation, right? Oh, absolutely. So what does it say? It says if you make like $45,000 and you have two working cars, you’re in the top 1% of the richest people in the world, right? Yeah. Which is hard to believe because we don’t feel rich, right? But the reality is you are rich.

Jeff:
But we’re some of the richest people in history.

Chris:
Yes. And so when the Bible talks about those who are rich, you know, to do good deeds, he’s talking about you, right? Even though that you don’t feel rich.

Jeff:
We only don’t feel rich because we know of richer people.

Chris:
Yes. A lot of richer people. Right.

Jeff:
So we know that richer people exist. And so we go, I’m not that rich. Right.

Chris:
But the reality is you’re in the top 1% if that’s, if you qualify. So, so the bottom line is, is, um, the richer we get usually the less percentage we give. So the amount becomes greater, but you know, you can, you can, like, I think of my mom all the time. So my mom, when I was a kid, I remember going to church with her very infrequently. We were sort of infrequent, non-practicing churchgoers. And I remember one time the plate, the offering plate, there was like an actual plate, like a steel, like a brass plate or something. And it would be passed. And so people could literally, if they were paying attention, out of the corner of their eye, they could see what you drop in there. And I remember the minister said this, and I don’t even know what church it was, but the minister said, hey, drop in what you can, and if you need something for your bills, take it out. By the way, have you ever heard that in your life? Yeah, yeah. Have you? Yeah. Because I’ve never heard that. That’s crazy. Yeah, it’s amazing. And so for a pastor to have that kind of faith and all these kinds of things. So anyway, so the plate passed and I looked and there was a pile of money on there. I looked over at my mom and I said, there it is, take it. Take it. Said you can have it. Yeah. And so she grabbed, she looked in her purse and she looked, and I remember her opening her little coin compartment and she had $5. That’s all she had in the whole thing. And I know how poor we were. And she took the $5 and she threw it in. And I was like, what is the matter with you? Like you gave literally everything you have. And do you know that to this day, she’s still that way? She will have absolutely nothing for herself, and she will give 100% of everything she has if she feels like you need it. And she’s always been that way. And so therefore, I think that regardless of growing up in ministry and struggling and not having a lot of salary, Uh, I’d never struggled with giving because, uh, it was always modeled for me. My mom was always sacrificial, but, but, but the richer that I’ve gotten, uh, the more I’ve realized like, Whoa, instead of giving $5, you know, when you write that check and it’s hundreds, right. Right. Or, you know, at the end of the year when, you know, it’s thousands, right. It’s like, wow, that’s, that’s different than giving $5. Right. But percentage wise, it’s, it’s really the same. Yeah. Right.

Jeff:
My dad, I can remember, my dad was a tither, so he gave 10% of his income off the gross every week, and so when he became a Christian, he immediately, like the first week, he knew, because that’s what his parents did, he knew that’s what he should do, and so my dad was talking to me one day, When I was growing up, we were poor, very poor, and we had a lot of struggles. But after I had gone off to college and got married, my dad had a business that was really successful. And so my dad said, let me tell you, which is harder? Is it harder to tithe when you don’t have very much, or is it harder to tithe when you have a lot? And I said, I don’t know. He said, so when I first started tithing, my tithe was $50. And he said, now my tithe is $1,000 a week, right? Or whatever it was. And he said, so which is harder? I’ll tell you, he said, writing all those zeros is hard. But he said, 10% is 10%. Right? God deserves what he asks for. He says, I want a tithe. Bring a tithe back so that my house will be full, so that the work of the ministry can go forward. And he said, so whether I have a little or a lot, 10% is the same. It’s the same for everybody. and he just decided he was going to honor God, and so my wife and I, as I grew up, that was a focus, and then even when I was a teenager in college, I tithed, my wife and I, but it’s not always easy, because every time it’s a heart check. Every time it’s, you know what I could be doing with this money? But you decide, okay, God, I’m bringing it back. Because you don’t give a tithe, you bring back a tithe. God gave it all to you, and then you bring back a portion of that. So in this situation, this lady’s not tithing. So in the temple at that time, there was a note in here that really spelled it out. I remembered these things, but then it has it in the note. Jesus was in the area of the temple called the Court of Women. In this area were seven boxes in which worshipers could deposit their temple tax. That would be the tithe, right? And six boxes for free will offerings like the one this woman gave. This woman was not only poor, but had few resources for making money. Her small gift was a sacrifice, but she gave it willingly. So lots of people come in, just drop their temple tax in 10% of all their stuff. Right. and she comes in and she’s not dropping her tithe in, not 10%. She goes over to the freewill offering area and instead of giving one out of the two, she just gives everything she has. And there is something to be said about she wasn’t placing her trust in what little she had. She was placing her trust in God. She didn’t go and buy a scratch off with it. Right? She didn’t go and try to find some place to turn two into four. In this moment, she said, OK, I have nobody to trust but God. It’s just me and God. And so I’m going to trust him. And here we are 2000 years later talking about her.

Chris:
And so this goes to show you that when we do drop a tithe in, or maybe we pay, most of us probably pay electronically now, right? Yeah. And we’re all by ourselves and we hit a little button. The question is, does God see? does God see? Because nobody else sort of knows, besides the person who writes the receipt for our tax purposes, nobody else really knows what we give. But that’s not true at all, is it? Because God notices this woman and recognizes the sacrifice So, you know, her reward, her blessings in heaven, her, you know, her faith, all those things have increased and she’s going to be blessed because of it. And you know what? It’s really hard. It’s really hard to give like that. But yet she, again, she just has complete faith. When I was thinking about what you said is back then their money was weighted. Did you know that when you drive through a toll booth and you just grab your money and you toss it in and it goes tiki-tiki-tiki-tiki and all of a sudden that gate lifts up? Did you know that they don’t actually measure it by size, they measure it by weight? Did you know that? So you’re able to just throw a handful of change in there and on those coin machines where you actually take them and you throw them in at Kroger or something like this, they measure all that by weight. Yeah, that makes sense. Yeah, that’s interesting.

Jeff:
So there’s a process for giving and Jesus is celebrating how incredibly sacrificial this lady is. But I think, so generosity is one of the signs of people of faith. The Bible mentions this, Jesus mentions it, Paul mentions it, Peter mentions it. It’s a big part of the lifestyle of a Christian should be. Luke mentions it in the book of Acts. that they sold what they had and they took care of the poor around them with their own resources, right? And then historically, I’m reading a book right now by Chuck Colson called The Faith, and he spells out how sacrificial the early church was back in the early days, even to the point where they were willing to risk their lives to care for people during the plagues. when all the rich people would leave the cities, they would come in and build hospitals and take care of the sick people, or they would use their resources in order to take care of the poor and the impoverished when much of the rest of the Roman citizenry would ignore them, right? And all this kind of stuff. So it’s always been a hallmark of Christianity that real Christians are givers, right? And it comes from, one, God says tithe, right? So that would be part of it that many people do. So I would say for, if you’re not yet, Generosity is the antidote to self-centeredness, right? Generosity is the antidote to envy. I think it’s the antidote to jealousy. I think generosity is the antidote to materialism. So if your kids are struggling with this, teach them to be givers, right? If you struggle with these things, you need to be a giver. It’s one of the antidotes. When you start letting it go and you begin to trust God, you trust in it less, trust God more. So just learning to begin to be any kind of a giver. And then I would say be a regular giver. So set up a regular time. Paul says on the first day of the week, set aside, you know, your offering when he was receiving the special offering for Jerusalem. So be regular giver, consistently regular, and then get to becoming a percentage giver where you’re saying, okay, you know what, I’m going to work up to this 10%. Or I know many people who have gone 11, 12, 13%. One of my friends wound up writing the best-selling um hardcover non-fiction book in history made gajillions upon gajillions of dollars and he and his wife paused with their giving for a minute and their spending for a little while while they tried to figure out what that god wanted to do and they decided to reverse tithe and they’ve given away 90% now is is their process before he dies we’re going to give away 90% they’re they’ve already given away like uh so they set the goal for 90% but they’ve given 93 so far Yeah, it’s pretty neat, right? So there’s this idea of be regular, just set up a regular time that you’re going to give. If you don’t, you’ll forget. Then be a percentage giver. Decide, hey, I can’t give 10 right now, but I’m going to give 5, and then I’m going to give 7, and then I’m going to give 10, and then I’m going to give 11. whatever, and then be sacrificial. And that’s what he’s celebrating because there were the people that were being, they were giving their percentage. That’s the part of their surplus. And then he goes, but look at this lady. Yeah. And you want to get Jesus attention. You want to impress Jesus. Yeah. Right. Get to that point where you’re generous and sacrificial. And there’s something to be said about that.

Chris:
Yeah, and let me just say this too. Usually, this is difficult for people. Giving is emotional. Giving is… Because it’s where your heart is. It’s where your heart is. And I would also say this, in my experience, and you probably have experienced this too, Giving is sometimes, and I would say even more typically, the last thing that people sort of do when they become a Christian. It’s like, oh, I’m going to immediately stop cussing. You know, I’m going to immediately, you know, stop doing this or this or that. And I’m going to go to church. And these things are sort of easier. But then the giving part of the faith comes with maturity. And it comes with, because that’s true sacrifice, you know, you’re entering into my world now, you know, you’re not just asking for this or that, you’re asking for this. And I think that we see that a lot. Like, for instance, you know, I’ll just give you an example. You can see it even from afar. So for instance, our church has grown by, you know, a large percentage, like 40% year over year. just this last year, so we had a booming year attendance-wise, and yet our giving has actually gone up.

Jeff:
It’s up 3.3 percent. So we’re up 42 percent, but our giving is up 3.3 percent. Now, as a leader, as a pastor, that’s hard. That’s difficult.

Chris:
because now you have twice as, not twice as much, but 40% more events and ministry and staff members. The costs go up. The costs go up. You got to hire people to mend your nets while you’re catching fish and all these kinds of things. And yet when people don’t give, then it’s like, okay, we still have almost relatively the same budget. I would just say, hey, if there are truly thousands of listeners who listen to us and hundreds that attend Heritage Church, if you’re one of those people and you’re on sort of the fringe of your maturity there where you’re like, hey, I’m there, I have the knowledge, but I haven’t crossed the line, I would just challenge you. And I’m boldly doing this. I’m unapologetically saying it is just as much a part of our faith and it’s just as important part of our faith as anything else. So if you had an anger problem, I would not shy away from saying, let’s deal with your anger problem. So make no mistake of it, not giving is a spiritual problem.

Jeff:
That’s what it is. If you think your provision comes from your money, it’s very difficult to drop it in. If you think your provision comes from God, it’s easy to bring it back to Him because He’s going to keep providing for you. So it shifts your perspective.

Chris:
which is why my favorite phrase attached to that is, I will not put my hope in riches, but I will, uh, no, I will not put my trust in riches, but I will trust the one who richly provides.

Jeff:
Yeah. Wow. Yeah. That’s great.

Chris:
So, Hey, well, listen, that is a great place to end. And hopefully we will see you next time on The Bible Guys.