Digging The Word I rejoice in your word like one who discovers a great treasure.   [PSALM 119:162] FacebookTwitterGoogle +RSS Feed

Thursday, March 01, 2012

The Widow's Offering - A Picture Of Jesus Sacrifice

The widow gave her all, Jesus gave his all, how is your giving? 


Luke 21:1-4 While Jesus was in the Temple, he watched the rich people dropping their gifts in the collection box. 2 Then a poor widow came by and dropped in two small coins.

3 “I tell you the truth,” Jesus said, “this poor widow has given more than all the rest of them. 4 For they have given a tiny part of their surplus, but she, poor as she is, has given everything she has.”

Proverbs 11:24 Give freely and become more wealthy; be stingy and lose everything. 
Lets get real, Jesus knows how much you give, how could he not see, but what he really looks for is the sacrifice that is involved. Jesus saw the rich and famous and how large their gifts were and then he saw the poorest of the poor and Jesus told his disciples that in God's economy the widow was the best giver in the temple that day.

Jesus commends those that give until it cost something and he always praises the ones that give with the right attitude. God has never been pleased with an offering given with the wrong attitude, look at the offerings of Cain and Abel, or how about King Saul when he offered the sacrifice instead of waiting for Samuel.

The widow's offering was an enormous sacrifice, it is a picture of the sacrifice that Jesus would soon make. He sacrificed the riches of heaven for thirty-three years, he subjected himself to the woes of the human experience, hunger, sadness and temptation were things that Jesus would not have experienced in heaven. (Luke 4:1-13, Hebrews 4:14-16) 

Give like Jesus
Philippians 2:3-5 Don’t be selfish; don’t try to impress others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourselves. 4 Don’t look out only for your own interests, but take an interest in others, too. 5 You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had.

The widow had it right, she put aside all of the things that the world values, things like happiness, comfort and security are important to most of us, but the Bible teaches us to be different, we need to hold on to these things loosely and be ready to let go of them.

Research has shown that when your income increases the percentage that is used for charitable contributions tends to drop. Just like the scene in the story of the widow, those that had the most gave the least, we tend to give less the more we are blessed.

Just before Jesus gives us his all he makes sure that we see what he expects us to give to him. I will never go broke being generous if I am generous with the right motives. Jesus wants my sacrifice but he only wants it with the right attitude.

I want to be a generous giver Lord, thank you for giving your all!
Related articles
Labels: , , ,

Tuesday, February 28, 2012

Was Jesus The Messiah

It's Jesus' turn to ask the Pharisees some questions.


Luke 20:41-47 Then Jesus presented them with a question. “Why is it,” he asked, “that the Messiah is said to be the son of David? 42 For David himself wrote in the book of Psalms:
‘The Lord said to my Lord, Sit in the place of honor at my right hand 43 until I humble your enemies, making them a footstool under your feet.’ 
44 Since David called the Messiah ‘Lord,’ how can the Messiah be his son?”
Jesus has just been questioned by the leaders in the temple, they were "Putting Out Some Traps" to try and catch Jesus in a debate with a controversial answer, problem with that was that he gave the perfect answer to every question that they threw at him. You would think that they see how futile their discussions with Jesus are.

After he answers them, Jesus turns the tables on them, according to the account of these events in Matthew 22:41-46, Jesus asked them two questions:

Question number one: “What do you think about the Messiah? Whose son is he?”


Every Israelite knew the answer to that question. For hundreds of years they have been waiting for the arrival of the Messiah, they thought that they knew everything about the Messiah and what the signs of his arrival would be, but in their study of the Old Testament prophets they missed it somehow.

They knew that prophecy said that:
  • The Messiah would be a descendant of David
  • He would be born of a virgin
  • He would be called out from Egypt after hiding from Herod
  • The children would be killed by Herod
  • A messenger would precede the Messiah's arrival
The Pharisees answered the question, the Messiah will be a son of David, but they didn't put it all together. Jesus, David's son fulfilled so many prophesies, it was even prophesied that he would ride into Jerusalem on a donkey, which he did just a few days before today's scripture and yet they still cannot see the Messiah. Sometimes the obvious isn't so obvious, they had all of the information about the Messiah but they didn't have the spiritual eyes to see him.

Question number two: "Since David called the Messiah ‘Lord,’ how can the Messiah be his son?”


Jesus quotes Psalm 100:1 and asks them the question that they can't answer, it would be ridiculous for King David to call any of his sons "Lord," a new king would never be given that esteem by the old king. The people knew that this Psalm referred to the Messiah. David was referring to somebody greater than himself, somebody with a greater mission than David.

The king described in Psalm 110 that David call Lord, is a king that sits at the right hand of God, he is a king that rules over all other rulers, an everlasting priest and the judge of the nations. Israel looked for a Son of David to sit on the throne in Jerusalem and restore Israel's political fortunes. Jesus tried to tell them that they had the wrong idea of the Messiah.

The resurrection is the final proof
Romans 1:2-4 God promised this Good News long ago through his prophets in the holy Scriptures. 3 The Good News is about his Son. In his earthly life he was born into King David’s family line, 4 and he was shown to be the Son of God when he was raised from the dead by the power of the Holy Spirit. He is Jesus Christ our Lord.

There was already so much overwhelming evidence to prove that Jesus is their Messiah, but if that isn't enough for you then there is always an empty tomb, the apostle Paul makes it all crystal clear.

Nobody could decide to be a phoney and try and imitate the Messiah. Nobody could decide to fulfill all of the prophecy that Jesus fulfilled, the evidence is undeniable, I just pray that each reader of this column has the ability to see the plain truth  better than the citizens of Jerusalem did.
Related articles
Labels: , ,

Friday, February 24, 2012

Putting Out Some Traps

The religious leaders try to trap Jesus with earthly issues.


Luke 20:20-26 Watching for their opportunity, the leaders sent spies pretending to be honest men. They tried to get Jesus to say something that could be reported to the Roman governor so he would arrest Jesus. 21 “Teacher,” they said, “we know that you speak and teach what is right and are not influenced by what others think. You teach the way of God truthfully. 22 Now tell us, is it right for us to pay taxes to Caesar or not?”

Luke 20:27-35 Then Jesus was approached by some Sadducees, religious leaders who say there is no resurrection from the dead. 28 They posed this question: “Teacher, Moses gave us a law that if a man dies, leaving a wife but no children, his brother should marry the widow and have a child who will carry on the brother’s name. 29 Well, suppose there were seven brothers.

Matthew 22:34-40 But when the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees with his reply, they met together to question him again. 35 One of them, an expert in religious law, tried to trap him with this question: 36 “Teacher, which is the most important commandment in the law of Moses?” 37 Jesus replied, “‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’ 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 A second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 The entire law and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments.”
Jesus has been making a lot of waves in Jerusalem and the religious leaders are out to get him, between the Triumphant Entry, Clearing the Temple and calling them out in the parable about the Wicked Farmers, they are hot. Not only does he make them mad then he keeps showing up each day in the temple and teaches a large crowd of people.

The religious leaders decide that they need to set out some traps so they try and work up some difficult questions, that doesn't seem like a very likely trap to use on Jesus but they try it anyway, they have tried this trap in the past but they don't know what else to do.

Jesus vs Traps

Traps lose.
John 10:17-18 “The Father loves me because I sacrifice my life so I may take it back again. No one can take my life from me. I sacrifice it voluntarily. For I have the authority to lay it down when I want to and also to take it up again. For this is what my Father has commanded.”

Jesus answers all of their questions with ease, two questions that were of little value but at least there was one good question, the question about the greatest commandment. When he asked the question he had no idea that the Golden Rule was going to come about. 

Using traps is a way of trying to gain control, they needed to get rid of Jesus before they lost anymore control of the people, they couldn't take anymore chances. What they didn't realize is that Jesus didn't come to Jerusalem to rise to a position of power.

Jesus came to Jerusalem to be the Passover Lamb, he was voluntarily giving his all for us, there wasn't any need for traps. (Luke 18:31-33) Our Savior was prepared to be beaten, spit upon and crucified. No, he wouldn't topple their rule and power know but one day he will. (Colossians 2:15)

I thank you Lord that you are in control, help me to remember that the schemes that we devise to try and be in control can never be successful. You make everything work out according to your plan. (Ephesians 1:11)

Related articles
Labels: , , , ,
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)