Three Rivers Grace Community Church

Here are some application questions for you to consider as you continue to reflect on Mark 12:38-44.
1) What are some characteristics of hypocrisy that Jesus points out in the lives of the scribes? Compare also to Mark 7:6-13.
2) How is the poor widow contrasted with the hypocritical scribes?
3) Translate the scribes’ behavior into present-day evangelicalism. What can this look like today?
4) In what ways do you see hypocritical behaviors in your own life? Often we’re so blind to this. How can we recognize and acknowledge this sin in our lives, and how can we combat this?
5) How do we cultivate the kind of attitude of the poor widow? Compare her actions to what Jesus taught in Mark 8:34-38; 9:35-37; 10:42-45. How does she serve as an example of the radical discipleship Jesus has been teaching about?
6) How does the Gospel message reveal the foolishness of hypocrisy and the blessedness of true devotion to Jesus?
7) What are some implications of this passage for how we view money, possessions, time, energy, career, etc.?
8) What if you feel like you don’t have very much to offer to God? How should this story be an encouragement to us? See also the story of Jesus feeding the five thousand (Mark 6:38). They only had five loaves and two fish.

In preparation for our corporate worship this coming Sunday, I encourage you to meditate on Mark 12:38-44, the passage from which I'll be preaching.
Read over the passage a few times and consider the stark contrasts between the hypocritical scribes in verses 38-40 and the humble, devoted widow in verses 41-44.
Think back over what we've studied so far in the Gospel of Mark. Read again Jesus' words in chapter 7 concerning hypocrisy, and look again at the emphasis on discipleship in chapters 8, 9, and 10. It seems that in 12:43-44 Jesus calls attention to this widow in order to give His disciples a real life example of discipleship.

This week I saw an amazing illustration of sin. Over the years I’ve thought about different ways to describe this, but I think this was the most vivid portrayal of it I’ve ever encountered.
It was our kids’ spring break this past week, so we went to a cabin we’ve gone to before out in the middle of nowhere in West Virginia. You might think that all of West Virginia is out in the middle of nowhere. Well, this is really out in the middle of nowhere. And we really enjoy this place because there’s no cell phone reception and no TVs or internet or anything like that, and we just hang out as a family and play games and go on hikes and enjoy being together.

We hadn’t been there long—Stacy and I were still unloading some things and the kids were playing outside—when our older kids (Milaina and Noah) found our 2-year-old (Annalyse) trying to eat a muddy stick. I don’t know what came over her to make her want to taste this thing, but apparently these kinds of things happen to 2-year-olds from time to time. And sure enough, she had dirt around her mouth, and Stacy and I brought her inside to clean her off. And we were telling her she shouldn’t eat sticks.

Then it was time for her to sit on the potty, which is an exciting part of our lives right now. Many of you can identify. I think the fact that parents have to potty-train their children is part of the curse. I was there in the bathroom supervising (I guess it was my turn). And we have some good talks while Annalyse is sitting on the potty sometimes. So I said to Annalyse, “Why did you put that muddy stick in your mouth?” She said, in all seriousness, “I thought it would taste like candy.” I’m not even making this up. It was all I could do not to burst out laughing. But I said, “Did it taste like candy?” And with almost a surprised and perplexed look on her face, she said, “No?!” Then she told me, “And my brother was telling me, ‘No, don’t put that in your mouth.” So I told her, “That’s because your brother loves you and doesn’t want you to hurt yourself.”

When we were hiking later we talked about how that muddy stick is a lot like sin. We think it’s going to taste like candy, but we end up with dirt on our faces and a bad taste in our mouths. And when our brothers and sisters in Christ call out to us, “No, don’t do that,” we better listen, because they’re doing that out of love for us.

God of the Living: Mark 12:18-27
1) What was the Sadducees assumption about the idea of the resurrection that made them think this bizarre question would have been such a problem for Jesus?
2) How do you picture heaven?
3) What is your initial reaction to Jesus’ teaching that there will not be marriage in heaven?
4) Contrast the Christian view of heaven with the view of heaven in false religions like Islam and Mormonism. How is this instructive?
5) Why did God create marriage? Read Ephesians 5:22-33. Also look at Revelation 19:6-7.
6) Spend some time meditating on 1 Corinthians 15 and the significance of the resurrection.

Loving God, Loving Neighbor: Mark 12:28-34
1) What are the theological connections between resurrection, regeneration, and radical love? See Romans 6:4; 1 Peter 1:3.
2) Why is it important to view Jesus’ commands in this way? What is the significance of understanding our inability?
3) If one loves God merely with mind, or merely with heart, or merely with strength, what is the danger? Do you find yourself gravitating in one of these directions? What’s wrong when that happens?
4) What’s the connection between loving God and loving neighbor?
5) What’s the connection between loving self and loving neighbor?

I was reading this week from a book entitled Worship by the Book, edited by D. A. Carson. And in one of the chapters I read some things about preaching that were very insightful and very encouraging to me. The author was making the point that “the experience of listening to the Word of God . . . [is] a participatory experience” (page 99). The congregation should have their Bibles open and should be following along. There should be attentiveness and eagerness to learn from God’s Word, to be transformed by the Word, to apply the Word specifically to our own lives. The preaching event in a corporate worship service is not something you just sit back and observe. You actively participate by engaging yourself in the study and application of the text.

Then I read these words: “A faithful congregation will draw faithful preaching out of their pastor. Conversely, it is very hard to persevere as a faithful teacher of the Word of God to a congregation that does not want to have it taught to them. . . . [P]reaching is a two-way process: the attitudes of preacher and congregation must unite in a humble hunger for God’s Word” (page 100). I think those comments are very insightful because the preaching of a sermon is not something that a preacher “performs.” The preaching of God’s Word involves not only the preacher, but the whole congregation. And we all need to do our part in order for this to strengthen the church week after week. I have to put in the time to think and pray and meditate and study the Word. I have to humble myself before the Word and prepare to expound the Word out of a love for God and a love for you. And you, too, need to think and pray and meditate and study God’s Word throughout the week. You need to humble yourself before the Word on a daily basis. And on the Lord’s Day you need to prepare your heart for the special privilege we have to come together in corporate worship to pray together and sing together and to hear God’s Word proclaimed.

I’m very encouraged by these statements, too, because I feel like I see this happening at Three Rivers Grace. Your intense hunger for the Word spurs me on to go deeper into the Word. As I see you with open Bibles, listening attentively, and sometimes later asking questions or commenting on particular ways that the Word has impacted your life, those things are a tremendous motivation to me to serve up some hearty meat each Sunday. So let’s all come hungry, and by God’s grace, we’ll feast together on God’s Word.

I got an email from Aaron Ashoff last week, and he shared this inspiring story. He and his wife, Aimee, are serving as missionaries in Liberia, which is right next to Cote D’Ivoire (the Ivory Coast). And because of the political unrest and fighting that has been going on in Cote D’Ivoire, there have been tens of thousands of refugees who have fled into Liberia. Aaron was meeting with a large group of Liberian pastors in an area where these refugees were relocating, and he was amazed by the eagerness of these Liberian pastors to reach out and help, even though they have very little themselves. The really interesting part of the story is that not so long ago the roles had been reversed. Liberia had been in the midst of civil war, and people were fleeing into Cote D’Ivoire. The pastors Aaron was speaking to told him that many of them had been refugees in Cote D’Ivoire during those years, and that was when they became Christians.

Now they find themselves with the opportunity to give. They understand that everything they are and everything they have is God’s, and they are generously giving of themselves and their possessions in order to help those in need. Aaron said that the generosity of these pastors (in spite of their limited resources) had quite an impact on him, and I hope it will have an impact on us as well.

Here are some discussion questions from recent sermons.

The Stone the Builders Rejected: Mark 11:27 – 12:12
1) What does people-pleasing look like in your life? Consider how the religious leaders feared man (11:32; 12:12) and the irony of their manipulative flattery in 12:14-15.
2) What is the ultimate authority in your life?
3) Read Romans 2:4-5. How does this relate to Jesus’ parable in Mark 12:1-12?
4) In what ways are we prone to treat God’s Word or messengers from God (your spouse, a parent, a godly friend) like the tenants treated the servants whom the landowner sent to them? What sins are at work in this kind of behavior?
5) When we view life in light of what is going to happen at the end of the age, what are some implications for how we ought to live now?

Render to God the Things that Are God’s: Mark 12:13-17
1) Do you every give insincere flattery in order to get something you want?
2) Did you pay your taxes?
3) What are some implications of the fact that Jesus is not a people-pleaser?
4) How are we to render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s? Read Romans 13:1-7; 1 Peter 2:13-17; 1 Timothy 2:1-2.
5) How are we to render to God the things that are God’s? Read Deuteronomy 10:12-13; Micah 6:8; Mark 12:28-31.

I have been praying a lot lately for our good friends who are missionaries in Syria. I was planning to visit them in May, but that trip has been postponed at this point because of the upheaval in that country right now. I have also been praying for Aaron and Aimee Ashoff, who are in Monrovia, Liberia. RIght now they are looking for ways to reach out to tens of thousands of refugees who are fleeing from the Ivory Coast.
In both Syria and Liberia, there are unreached people groups who need to hear about Jesus. This should be on our minds and hearts as believers. The Great Commission is not yet complete. Many nations (people groups) still need the Gospel.
This is true far and near. The amazing thing about our world today is that the nations are not confined to certain areas of the globe. For us here in Pittsburgh, many nations are represented within this very city.
So let's pray for the missionaries in distant lands, and for the salvation of the unreached peoples in those lands. And let's also pray for the unreached peoples who are living in our own neighborhoods, our own city. May God use us to show the love of Christ to them and to share with them the Gospel of Christ.

Whose authority do you answer to? I would encourage you to read Mark 11:27 - 12:12 and the sermons I just preached on this passage. Is your ultimate authority the opinions of other people? Do you fear man like the chief priests did? And thus are you rejecting Jesus' ultimate authority over your life?
Think about the foolishness of rebelling against the One who rightfully rules over your life.
It would be like a freshman on the football team who says, I’m going to do things my own way. I’ll come to the practices I feel like coming to, and I’ll play whatever position I want to, and I’m going to be the one who calls the plays. No coach will put up with that.
It’s like the defiant 2 year old who looks up at her Daddy, who is a giant next to her, and says, “No!” only to get a swift spanking to remind her that she is subject to a higher authority.
This is us when we ignore God’s absolute authority over our lives, when we say, "I’ll submit to God in these ways but not in these ways. In certain areas of my life, I’m going to do what I want."

Should a young man look to be attracted to a woman's godliness before her outward beauty?
Here's my response:
I think it's natural and good for there to be "chemistry" between a man and a woman - that there would be physical attraction to accompany the attractiveness of godliness. But a young man should be exhorted to make the imperishable beauty described in 1 Peter 3 a more fundamental criterion. He should not be taken with outer beauty, especially if that outer beauty is contradicted by inner foolishness and wickedness. Proverbs 11:22 says this: "Like a gold ring in a pig's snout is a beautiful woman without discretion."
I would also stress the importance of purity of thoughts and avoiding pornography and sensual movies. If a man fills his mind with those images, it can have the devastating affect of making him feel that he would not like to marry any woman unless she looks like the women he has lusted after on the screen.
Bottom line - a man should seek to conform his perception of beauty to what God says is beautiful, and 1 Peter 3 is one place that tells us what true beauty is "in God's sight." Proverbs 31 is another passage to consider.