Luke 20:19-21:4, Where Does He Stand?

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Luke 20:19-21:4 Where Does He Stand?

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Luke chapter 20 the reading for verses 19 to chapter 21 verse 4
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Hear the word of the Lord The scribes and the chief priests sought to lay hands on him at that very hour
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For they perceived that he had told this parable against them, but they feared the people
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So they watched him and sent spies who pretended to be sincere that they might catch him in something
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He said so as to deliver him up to the authority and the jurisdiction of the governor So they asked him teacher.
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We know that you speak and teach rightly and show no partiality But truly teach the way of God.
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Is it lawful for us to give tribute to Caesar or not? But he perceived their craftiness and said to them show me a denarius whose likeness and inscription does it have?
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They said Caesars He said to them then render to Caesar the things that are Caesars and to God the things there are gods and They were not able in the presence of the people to catch him in what he said, but marveling at his answer
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They became silent There came to him some Sadducees those who denied that there is a resurrection and they asked him a question saying
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Teacher Moses wrote for us that if a man's brother dies having a wife But no children the man must take the widow and raise up offspring for his brother
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Now there were seven brothers the first took a wife and died without children and the second and the third took her and likewise all seven left no children and Died afterward the woman also died in the resurrection.
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Therefore whose wife will the woman be? for the seven had her as wife and Jesus said to them the sons of this age marry and are given in marriage
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But those who are considered worthy to attain to that age and to the resurrection from the dead
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Neither Mary nor are given in marriage for they cannot die anymore Because they are equal to angels and our sons of God being sons of the resurrection
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But that the dead are raised even Moses showed in the passage about the bush Where he calls the
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Lord the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob Now if he now he is not
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God of the dead but of the living for all live to him Then some of the scribes answered teacher you have spoken.
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Well, so they no longer dared to ask him any questions But he said to them
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How can they say that the Christ is David's son for David himself says in the book of Psalms The Lord said to my lord sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool
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David thus calls him Lord. So, how is he his son and in the hearing of all the people?
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He said to his disciples beware of the scribes who like to walk around in long robes and love greetings in the marketplaces and the best seats in the synagogues in the places of honor at feasts who
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Devour widows houses and for a pretense make long prayers. They will receive the greater condemnation
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Jesus looked up and saw the rich putting in their gifts into the offering box And he saw a poor widow put in two small copper coins
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And he said truly I tell you this poor widow has put in more than all of them For they all contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty put in all that she had to live on May the
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Lord add his blessings to the reading of his Holy Word Well, I think
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I have an unhealthy craving for controversy It's a weakness and Paul warns against that in 1st
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Timothy chapter 6 verse 4 And so I try most of the time to suppress that a face -to -face.
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I'll bite my tongue and walk away sometimes Once we had a controversy right here in a gym that the youth meeting on Sunday evenings when two girls got into a fight
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Vicious brawl. I tried to break it up It was the main one to break it up after getting punched in the nose myself
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And I'm getting one of the girls outside and then preventing her from going back in to rejoin the fight I didn't enjoy that controversy at all
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I have no craving at all for that kind of Gertrude controversy and about a half hour later myself still kind of hyped up on Adrenaline her parents came back having been lied to that I put her a quote in a chokehold
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Which never happened and wanted to confront me about it and I knew that was a horrible
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Idea that is to me to talk to those parents that would almost certainly end in an ugly argument.
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So I just refused To talk to them and and let others handle it some controversies
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I just want nothing to deal with but I have a weakness for controversies of ideas and now with social media is it's easy
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Just a quick search. I can always find something who says something wrong that I can argue with So convenient now to argue many people have commented how the atmosphere on some social media is just toxic particularly
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Twitter I think with people always looking for arguments for controversy trolls They're called just people out there looking to argue.
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You could always find someone online who is willing to argue about anything whatever it is take your pick many people seem to think that social media has created these
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Kind of people as if before they were all peaceful harmony loving good neighbors, but I don't believe that I Believe that they or maybe we
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Were always like that The before we just didn't have the outlet you'd have to write letters to the editor denounce something or maybe
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Yell at somebody on TV is so dumb Whoever you are or for that rare moment of you look for a rare moment of actual face -to -face disagreements
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That was of course also cumbersome letters to the editor don't give you an immediate feedback yelling at the
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TV It gives you no feedback at all. And most of us would be if we see our actual person Talking to them we see the person and not just the bad what we think of us the bad ideas that there happen to be saying but now we controversy addicts
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Can get our controversy fix on our phones That's not good
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That's not good at all. That's like Getting drunk not good It's that kind of not good and Paul condemns it as unhealthy and specifically says that pastors should not be quarrelsome
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That is someone who just quarrels for no reason This goes out of his way just to kind of argue for their entertainment for the love of arguing of quarreling
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So I have to watch myself restrain myself to tell myself not to comment Some things and to tone it down when
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I do I don't always succeed How do you think Jesus would be on social media
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What would his Twitter feed be like or his Facebook post Would he be just above all that?
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It's too busy to engage with people face -to -face teaching Healing delivering and praying that he wouldn't spend any time with that or would he use it like kind of John Piper does as a venue
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To get the word out, but never really interacting with particular people or would he respond to people with two critics?
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Would he deal in controversy? Can you see my posting something about these these hypocrites are these
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Pharisees are hypocrites. What do you do that? Deal in controversy disagree correct rebuke
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Or is that there's social media just not a good tool for that Generally, though putting aside social media.
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How does Jesus? handle controversy Well, we see that here in four parts first here
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H e re the place not the command to listen second heaven third himself and fourth the heart
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So here heaven himself heart first here as in how do we live here on earth?
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How responsible are we to the world here? the systems the politics
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The government's the society are we just so much citizens of heaven that we don't have anything to do with the demands of the here
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And now it's all above all that stuff. It's just so carnal. We don't have to worry about it Well here the scribes and the chief priests are out to get
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Jesus especially after that last parable the parable of the wicked tenants unlike some of his parables in which the average person was going at you
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And I huh? I don't understand what he's talking about this time. They all knew They all knew exactly what he was saying it was about them
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It was about how they're like the wicked tenants of a vineyard who beat the servants the prophets and murdered the beloved son
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And so we'll have the vineyard the kingdom of God taken away from them. That was so controversial
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How about dealing, you know, not being afraid of controversy. That was controversial So controversial that even many of the people hanging on his every word
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Cried out, you know, even his fans were saying whoa May it never be So the religious leaders wanted to get him after that get him all the more but the people were still for him
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They might think he's you know, he's kind of controversial that Jesus guy. He's edgy But you know as long as he's not hitting them too directly
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They probably didn't mind especially by that last parable. They were they were still eating up his teachings And so in verse 24 20 the religious leaders watched
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Jesus and sent spies. That's kind of undercover agents acting like they're sincere to try to trap him in some controversy to get him to take a stand on some controversial topic in which he'll alienate a large group of people
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Our politicians try this all the time against their against their opponents You know, are you for defunding the police or are you for racism?
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Are you for court packing or are you for systemic injustice? Are you for amnesty for illegal immigrants or are you for are you xenophobic?
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You know, I try to put you in one of those categories It's a tactic to try to get the target to say something take a stand
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That's controversial so controversial that it will alienate many people from him or her here
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The religious leaders that were trying to turn the crowds away from Jesus so that they could then send in their guards to arrest him
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They already tried that by asking about his authority But they struck out Next at bat are the scribes.
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It's kind of the devout religious Scholars leaders in verse 20. They were going to pretend to be sincere
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They were they were acting like they really respected Jesus that they supported him
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But they just really they really just wanted to know his beliefs. That's really all they were about. Of course.
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They were faking Well first they start with flattery in verse 21 teacher itself a term of respect
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We know that you speak and teach rightly. Oh That's that's a true statement, but they didn't really believe it they don't really believe that They assume like most people that most people assume that other people are like them
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And so what be careful what people accuse others of often sometimes that exposes What they're like and here they're assuming that they're like them that they love they love being flattered
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They love being exalted and so they're gonna assume Jesus likes the same thing He loves being buttered up and flattered and so he will let his guard down if he thinks he's with supporters
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And they said with fake deference You show no partiality You don't care who you're talking to even the powerful
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You don't care who you're rebuking But truly you teach the way of God You don't care even you don't care if you make
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Pontius Pilate mad You say it like it is and here they're trying to hint at him to coax him
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Toward the controversy they want something that they can report to the Romans is seditious and and get him crucified
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Come on Jesus, that's what they say. Come on Jesus say the Romans are illegitimate. Come on, say it
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We know you want to say they're illegitimate and and we don't owe them anything say it It's about to speak clearly into this microphone.
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I have here under my shirt and So they ask him in verse 22. Is it lawful for us to give tribute to Caesar or not?
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They put it as a yes or no question Putting him on the horns of a dilemma if he says yeah, it's lawful
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It's according to God's law you can do it you should do it Well many in the crowd that the zealots, you know, the kind of the hot -headed
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Patriots will say well, he's a collaborator He's a spineless Quizzling captive to the power of Rome If he says no, it's not lawful.
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It's against God's law Well, then they'll make a beeline for Pontius Pilate who will send in the Roman soldiers to grab him
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So they think they have him here. He's no way out. How does Jesus handle controversy? Many think well, he just avoid it
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It voids all controversy that he's always above the fray above controversy unwilling to get pinned down to the practical issues here
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And now that he deals in platitudes, you know sweet general impractical
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Statements nice sounding phrases like peace on earth goodwill toward men who doesn't love that you might find on a
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Christmas card But he doesn't come down clearly on any particular issue He doesn't take a stand.
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He's above it all in The late 80s and early 90s There was a movement against abortion called
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Operation Rescue that organized people to physically block the entrance to abortion clinics The pro -life protesters would either sit down or maybe lock arms in front of the clinics or abortion mills as some call them
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I'm sure you should call them clinics when about 50 % of your patients come out dead. That's not really a clinic
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I don't think but anyway, the object was to prevent them from entering from entering them
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Then the police would have to come and drag them off and arrest them. Please. That's their job to enforce the law and I remember watching that news coverage of this on in seminary on TV on Mary's TV near Los Angeles and Just wondering what would be like if you were a
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Christian policeman? I understand. It's your job to enforce the law And just turning over this ethical issue in my head not really looking for controversy and ask a fellow students watching with me on Mary's TV Do you think a
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Christian policeman could do that could arrest legitimately peaceful protesters blocking the entrance to these clinics
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He got agitated nearly angry and said don't ask me questions like that You know, there's a kind of spirituality this otherworldly that just doesn't want to be involved with the actual of real -life affairs of this world doesn't want to deal with Real issues that people face here and now don't take a stand on any particular thing.
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It's all just below us I guess of the mentality at least the real the real spiritual us. We're above all that We shouldn't be bothered by it.
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Now, of course if we have to go along with what the world says to do Well, we'll go along Our bodies will go along and do our duties, but there are our heart is above it
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All I guess is the attitude if the government says to round up Jews and send them to camp So we'll do what we're told and then we'll go to church and sing
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Silent Night assure that we're justified Untouched by the contamination of the controversies of this world. That's not
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Jesus's way Here Jesus does in fact answer the question
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He answers it actually quite clearly, but first he had to deal with a real issue, which was their craftiness their heart
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They weren't asking a sincere question. Oh, the question is legitimate, but they weren't asking it for legitimate reasons
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They're asking it to catch him People are often like that today
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They may use questions and debates But they're often not really interested whether whether God exists or Jesus really walked the earth
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They're they're interested in furthering their agenda. Whatever it is their cause maybe just maybe just to discredit the faith
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You can answer all their questions Intellectually, but if you don't get to that basic issue
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You're nearly not going to convince them we'll just go on to another question and So Jesus tells them in verse 24 show me a denarius and someone pulls out one
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And Jesus asked whose likeness and inscription does it have? Caesars So it's his money, isn't it?
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He minted it. You're dealing with his realm. So you owe him So in verse 25, here's the conclusion the principle therefore because of that because it's
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Caesar's money render or give to Caesar That is the government. What is Caesar's render to Washington?
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What is Washington's to the state the government the nation here in which you live? What is the government's
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Jesus practically answers their question? He comes down on a definite side of this controversy
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Yes, your taxes are due if you're dealing with the world's money you owe the world's taxes
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You live here in this world in particular countries under particular governments You must be a reliable citizen here and not use your spirituality as an excuse to pretend like you're not living here
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Kent Hovind was a kind of self -proclaimed evangelist. I get to put that in quotation marks who got various unaccredited degrees
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Really fake degrees and in the 80s and 90s became somewhat prominent as dr
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Dino be his nickname for his teaching on dinosaurs. Although his his fake education had nothing to do with Archaeology or dinosaurs, but never beside never mind that Including though he opened a theme park called dinosaur adventure land near Pensacola, Florida he started businesses to sell the his teachings and product products with business licenses issued by He said the kingdom of heaven
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Not the state of Florida He was associated with a group called the unregistered
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Baptist Fellowship UBF That is committed to quote a theology of Christian resistance to civil governments
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They claimed that the government's authority stops quote at the threshold of the church.
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I guess right up there We have the door propped open and get better still I guess it stops out there and so they wouldn't file to become a 501c3 nonprofit corporation or abide by state and federal laws or pay taxes
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It turns out believe it or not that the government did not agree in 2006 it convicted
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Hovind of 58 felonies and sentenced him to 10 years in prison all of that Because he thinks he's not really living here
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Oh his body may be here, but he's not under the government's that we have here. What do we owe the government?
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Well here we see from Jesus that we do owe it something. We owe its taxes taxation is not theft as Some American conservatives like to say contrary to that Some American Christians are more shaped by their anti -government politics than they are by the
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Bible They'll talk and write as if the government has no right really to tell them to tell them to do anything
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You know wearing a mask is tyranny They scream but the government here we see does have
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Authority and we owe it submission in so far as it doesn't command us to do what
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God says not to do Prevents us from doing what
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God says to do Understand and in America now, it's more complicated in other democracies
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It's more complicated because we we can all have some say in the government by voting
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And so we should all vote and because the ultimate authority Here is supposed to be the
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Constitution Not the actual office holders and the Constitution tells us for example that the
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Congress which is now interpreted to mean on all Governments in the US state local shall not prohibit the free exercise of religion now
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Here's the question is Issuing a they like to call it now a mandate, which is it's really an edict
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It sounds less oppressive to call it up a mandate if they issue it an edict that we can't meet or that we can only have at most ten people and In a building even a building this size at one time
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Is that prohibiting the free exercise of religion That we're supposed to be guaranteed in the
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US Constitution Well, you know if it's just 15 days to slow the spread just really two services that were restricted
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Our small number. Well, maybe not. Maybe it's not really restricting us and We want to be good neighbors.
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We want to be good citizens but if it's nine months and Counting if it's just indefinite if it's just they say until we say otherwise
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That's obviously prohibiting the free exercise of religion and it's beyond what
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Caesar what our government? By its own definition Has the authority to do?
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So we don't have to render that to Caesar Now ideally in our system the
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Supreme Court would recognize that in a case like that Or we just shut down Indefinitely until they say the storm has blown over would recognize that the government has overstepped that is asking us to render something to it that doesn't belong to it and and the
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Supreme Court would step in and just say no you can't do that and Thankfully, they did just that the day before Thanksgiving Saying that the state of New York did not have the right to restrict churches and synagogues
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That's something to be thankful for the day before Thanksgiving but the scary thing is
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It was only five to four in the Supreme Court it would it barely passed seems to be the most obvious thing, but it barely passed and and it only and It only passed because of the new judge who was had been appointed just last
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October if then We didn't have a new judge and the
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Supreme Court that upheld the restrictions and so we could go for Who knows how long?
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Having what is supposed to be a constitutional right to the free exercise of religion this taken away until they say otherwise
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If we are prohibited from meeting indefinitely Do we? submit
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No We do not that doesn't belong to Caesar Doesn't belong to Caesar Biblically from what
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Jesus says it doesn't belong Constitutionally and what the what Caesar in the Constitution says is the role of the government
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Now if the money bears the government's image the government can tell us what to do with it But when it comes to what bears
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God's image That belongs to God and what bears God's image people do we do we render ourselves to God and if Caesar says
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No, you can't Well, we quietly smile and we do it anyway right here
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Believers in China have been having to deal with this really for a long time They have official churches to come the three self churches
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Which the government approves of and controls the many believers there? believe that the government does not have the right to tell them how to worship and who should be their pastors and so on and Control the churches and so they'll meet an unregistered technically illegal churches
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If we have to meet illegally Then we'll do it Because we're rendering to God what is
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God's? worship our hearts our lives
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Here Jesus both answered the immediate question about taxes. Yes, you have to pay them and the real issue
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That these men here tried to trap him Their real issue their real problem render to God the things that are
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God's That's what they haven't been doing. That's why they are trying to trap him
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With that he answers their thorny question and he shuts them up. He put it so perfectly There's just nothing they could accuse him of you'd think then after that that perfect answer
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That that would change their hearts and they believe in him But hostile people aren't aren't really won
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By reason and then and then change their hearts their hearts have to be changed
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Before they'll be open to reason Well, that's strike two Next comes the
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Sadducees. They're kind of the aristocrats. They're the priest. They don't believe in the resurrection They thought they're smarter than everyone else
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They're not coming to try to trap him on it doesn't look like from like to try to trap him like the Pharisees were
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They're just coming to try to show what what they think is how stupid he was
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Just like all those other bumpkins who believe that there's that there's a resurrection what we might call heaven
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They thought that they just have they have just the scenario to show how ridiculous is this idea of a resurrection is and so they come up to him probably with a smirk on their face and Tell this long story
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About how a woman had seven husbands and they were all brothers None of them they no children.
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And so whose wife will she be in the resurrection? I'll be snickering in the background. We've got him on this one and Jesus answers
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You're just assuming that the age to come is like this age a lot of Christians today
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Assume the same thing they assume that heaven we often call it will be a big family reunion
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We'll get to meet all our deceased relatives there and we'll all get to be about 30 something
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Eternally, that's nice and convenient and our kids will be running around. I guess they'll be eternally kids Which maybe they won't like that.
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I don't you ever you ever thought of that Maybe our kids don't want to be our kids forever and our elderly parents will be there with us
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Perpetually elderly, maybe they don't want to be old for eternity either. I guess every everything of course revolving around Us, of course when you put it like that that doesn't make much sense does it
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That's why the Bible doesn't put it like that It doesn't really teach much a Bible with you know For for a faith that critics often say you your otherworldly heavenly minded about sugarcandy mountain high truths about heaven that that are
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Over the rainbow the Bible really doesn't say a whole lot About what?
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Quote heaven will be like here partly here. Jesus does it doesn't teach us much
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About what it will be like in that age what Jesus calls it here at verse 35. This is Jesus's language
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He talks about that age the resurrection a myth of our culture is that some of the dead are like ghosts
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You know like the ghost of Charles Dickens at a Christmas carol. They're kind of only a shadow of Who they were?
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transparent spirits some grim looking some like walking corpses or For others
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Heaven is spirits got floating on a cloud But the Bible says that I has not seen or ear heard nor no mind has imagined what
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God has Prepared for those who love him in 1st Corinthians chapter 2 verse 9. In other words, it's greater than we can we can dream and It is a resurrection
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And so it's physical Here the side you see is a smart Alex. They assumed
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I like the Mormons today the Mormons believe the same thing Who believe that believers will be
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Eternally married and eternally begetting children That that's what heaven is like the sad you see is the same way that heaven the resurrection
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Is like it's just like this life. And so Jesus just explodes that assumption
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Dealing with controversy gets beneath the assumptions of the people. He's in controversy with He says that those who are considered worthy
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Considered worthy by who another passive voice. Well by God those who God considers worthy to be resurrected.
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They are not married Married in the family is a temporary institution for this life for this age.
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They aren't married in verse 36 He says because they cannot die They don't need to raise children to keep the race going.
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They are equal to angels and our sons of God being sons of the resurrection
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So in other words, he's saying to the Sadducees your whole Assumption about the nature of the afterlife is wrong
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You just assumed it you didn't think through For proof of the resurrection proof that people don't just die and are no more that there's no life after physical life
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Jesus points to one of the most important passages of the Old Testament These people thought they were smart And he did go to some like obscure quote somewhere in Leviticus where hardly anyone reads
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He went to one of the most prominent passages in the entire Old Testament The passage of Moses at the burning bush where the
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Lord says he's the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob You know if Abraham Isaac and Jacob had died and just kind of disappeared as worm food
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God would not say that he is present tense their
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God Jesus says he's not the God of the dead but of the living For all live to him
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They still exist in the presence of God Strike three the
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Sadducees had probably been stumping the Pharisees with that riddle for years They thought it was so clever and now
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Jesus has just blown it up. And so even some of them it is amazed They exclaim teacher some of the scribes the
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Pharisees teacher. Well, we never knew what to do with that question teacher You have spoken. Well, so no one dared asking me any more questions
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But Jesus is it done yet? It's a question. He wants wants to be asked. It appears like he wishes someone would ask it and so he asked it himself
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And it's about himself How can he ask how can the teachers the scribes?
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Say that the Christ the anointed one is David's son How can they say that?
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Now Jesus not really rejecting the idea that the Messiah as himself is the son of David You know the blind man on the way into Jericho in chapter 18 called him called him that son of David have mercy on me
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And he responded to it. This is kind of like the rich young ruler calling, you know, good teacher
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What must I do to be saved? Why do you call me good? Jesus was a dying. He's good here He's not denying that the
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Messiah is the son of David that he's a son of David What he means is getting people again to get think through what does this mean?
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What's behind this? What he means is is how can the Messiah be just? David's son merely another physical descendant any other man coming from the line of David and Then he quotes from Psalm 110 which is attributed to David the
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Lord Yahweh Says to my Lord if you're reading in English It's the
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Lord and it's all capital letters which means represents Yahweh says to my Lord and then it's capital L But it's in small or D my master
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Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool Now in that verse God is speaking to the
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Messiah But David calls the Messiah Otherwise known as the son of David He calls him
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Lord. I don't I master now Who calls his own son?
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master Who do does that? Now I remember as a kid visiting my grandmother when she told my father told mine you
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To take out the trash You know, I was a stunned as a little kid
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Yeah, I was thinking in my little head No one tells daddy what to do Well, his mother does
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Now what would have really been strange? Of course is if his mother my grandmother called him, sir and Served him hand and foot
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You know who calls their own son, sir Nobody that I know of who calls their own son master unless the son of course is more
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Than a son a son. Yes, but more than a son more than a baby born in Bethlehem on Christmas away in a manger unless unless He's God That's how
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Jesus is dealing with controversy. He's trying to get them to think think about these things. He's planting seeds
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That's about himself. Finally. Jesus has to deal with the heart for hypocrites. What is in their heart?
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We talked about them earlier this year. Remember the infection of hypocrisy Well here he's telling his disciples.
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That's us Hopefully to be where they are being infected with their hypocrisy
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Look for the symptoms here. They like special clothes. They like the holy clothes here the holy robes.
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They like greetings They like titles a reverend bishop Apostle they like to be pointed out in public as someone special in the marketplaces or to feast having special seats or parking places
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What's in their heart? Agreed greed for recognition to be somebody
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They're also just play greedy Promising you God's blessings if you if you give to them and and not caring, you know
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If poor widows believe these promises and then give them everything they have and then they don't have anything
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They're showy. They'll pray long flowery prayers Maybe maybe emotional heavy breathing prayers.
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Oh God So, you know how zealous they are or maybe the informal?
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Sweet kind of intimate starting and ending every sentence with father God father God So, you know how close to God they are
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Now if they're new believers, okay, I understand maybe they're new they can be sincere they mean well But for others sometimes all that is just a pretense it's a show and Jesus says they will receive the greater
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Condemnation greater than all the sinners. They look down on because of what's in their heart their greed
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Now in contrast to them is a sincere poor old lady
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Unnamed that Jesus sees in the temple Jesus you're teaching Caesar there points her out
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They had an offering boxes set up in the temple and which everyone could see you're giving You can see how much you're putting in there
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Now the only way to get hypocrites to give because they love money The only way to get hypocrites to give is either either you got to convince them
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That is the law from God. You've got to give or you're robbing God. It's a law You got to give your set percentage
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And so if you teach them that they will give that set percentage right to the penny and No more because they don't really want to give they just want to keep the law or You have them given public
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So they can show it off. Look how much I've given everybody like today when someone or some organization
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It gives a big gift to a charity and they do it with a one of these huge checks I don't know where you get these things from but somebody makes them
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I guess it's about six foot long And they're black two or three people holding this one check And they make sure of course to take a picture.
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That's what some of the rich folks here. We're doing But then came along this a poor widow
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Probably no one else noticed her except Jesus. She's not giving much. No one makes six foot long checks to give two cents
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Here in chapter 24 verse 1. She gave two small copper coins. That's the smallest
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Amount amount of money they had these these coins the smallest Worth coins they had around who cares.
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She's giving two small copper coin who cares Jesus does He sees that he points it out.
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Look at that lady. She gave those two coins Says truly you can take it to the bank.
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I tell you this poor widow Has put in more than all the others
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More than the millionaire with a six -foot -long check and the photographer Because they all those rich people with their six -foot -long checks and photographers
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Contributed out of their abundance out of their excess of what money they had left over after they spent it on You know on nice clothes and cars and everything else big
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TVs And they had a bunch left over and so they thought you know what I do with this money. I know what I'll buy respect
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By giving it publicly in the temple this lady didn't think that did she no one is going to respect her for her two small copper coins
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She'd have to go without something because it's all she had so she'd have to give up something maybe bread maybe oil maybe cable
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TV Because she gave to the support the worship of God She did it because she had a heart for God she wasn't a
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Hypocrite Where does Jesus stand in Controversies when he stands against the hypocrites
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Exposing the greed in their hearts. He stands for those with sincere hearts whose sincerity means that they they give
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They give more Because they've given their hearts to God He stands for for living right here in this age
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Responsibly under governments but giving our lives to God rendering to God What is God's presenting ourselves as living sacrifices here in our work and our families and our social media?
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Looking forward to that age That resurrection which is better than anything we can imagine.
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He stands for himself Because he is God. He's not just a son.
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Not just a man. Not just a baby born in a manger. He is called Lord even by Kings He is called
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Lord He expects us to stand for him, too Do you?