Tag Archives: religious leaders questions

Sunday – February 17, 2013

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February 17, 2013 – Read the Word on Worship

Less is More from Sunrise Community Church on Vimeo.

How different are God’s ways when compared to the ways of men? The Pharisees loved riches and considered their wealth as the evidence of God’s reward for their piety. In their minds, God would be pleased with the size of their contributions. Yet in our passage we see Jesus condemn the “rich and famous” for their faulty thinking and elevate the insignificant gift of the widow. The rich were only focused on how much their gift was. Jesus was focused on what the gift meant to the giver. That small donation was her life and all she had to live on. In making this gift, she gave evidence of her faith in God, not her money, to provide for her needs.
I am not here to tell you or myself how much to give. I do not see in Scripture where Jesus was ever impressed with how much was given. But I do see Jesus is very impressed with how much was left after we give. How much faith do you have that God is Jehovah-Jireh (the Lord Will Provide)? With all the corruption going on, the widow’s gift was an act of faith. When those coins left her hand, she had totally entrusted herself to God. But she did what she believed God had for her to do. The question is what will we do as stewards with the limited time, talent and treasure He has given us?
Join us Sunday morning as we continue our series in the Gospel of Mark in Mark 12 verses 38 to 44 and see “Less is More”

Word On Worship – February 17, 2013 Download / Print

 Mark 12:42-44
“A poor widow came and put in two small copper coins, which amount to a cent. Calling His disciples to Him, He said to them, “Truly I say to you, this poor widow put in more than all the contributors to the treasury; for they all put in out of their surplus, but she, out of her poverty, put in all she owned, all she had to live on.”

How different are God’s ways when compared to the ways of men? The Pharisees loved riches and considered their wealth as the evidence of God’s reward for their piety. In their minds, God would be pleased with the size of their contributions. Yet in our passage we see Jesus condemn the “rich and famous” for their faulty thinking while elevating the insignificant gift of the widow. The rich were only focused on how much their gift was. Jesus was focused on what the gift meant to the giver. That small donation was her life and all she had to live on. In making this gift, she gave evidence of her faith in God, not her money, to provide for her needs.

It is easy to use the widow and her two coins as an example of sacrificial giving. Clearly this is a woman who loves God with all she has and stands in stark contrast to the rich in light of her poverty. She also stands in contrast to the scribes who go to great lengths to highlight their piousness for personal gain and attention. She is just another person fallen through the safety net of society and holds no honor in this community of alleged faith. Yet she still loves God and will sacrifice all that she has in service to God as she responds to Him.

The so-called “little gifts,” which count as nothing in human circles, eclipse the gifts given from excess from God’s perspective. Religious institutions cannot build great temples with their massive stones from the meager gifts of widows. But then God is not looking for stone buildings to call His home. God is looking to occupy people’s hearts. But He can only do that with disciples willing to submit themselves to Him and to love Him with all their heart, soul, mind and strength.

I am not here to tell you or myself how much to give. I do not see in Scripture where Jesus was ever impressed with how much was given. But I do see Jesus is very impressed with how much was left after we give. How much faith do you have that God is Jehovah-Jireh (the Lord Will Provide)? With all the corruption going on, the widow’s gift was an act of faith. When those coins left her hand, she had totally entrusted herself to God. But she did what she believed God had for her to do. The question is what will we do as stewards with the limited time, talent, treasure and breath He has given us?

Sunday – February 10, 2013

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February 10, 2013 – Read the Word on Worship

Friendly Fire from Sunrise Community Church on Vimeo.

Let us be very clear: our love for God is a response to God’s love for us. So when did Christians decide our love would be like tithing? As long as I love 10% of the time, I must be in God’s good graces. We are overwhelmed by God’s infinite grace that does not save us by fractions, but still sadly surprised that God is not satisfied with a mere fraction of ourselves. The command given to Israel is the command given to the Christian: give your entire life to the personal God who first loved us by sending His Son as an offering for our sin.
The sum of what Jesus is saying is our love for God needs to be all of who we are: heart, soul, mind and strength. Not some fraction of ourselves, a tithe of who we are to somehow horde the rest of ourselves to squander as we see fit on ourselves. We sing about how the world will know we are Christians by our love, but love of God is how we are known by God. “But if anyone loves God, he is known by Him.”
Join us this Sunday as we see Jesus give His commentary on the greatest commandments in the Scripture as we see “Friendly Fire” in Mark 12 verses 28 to 37

Word On Worship – February 10, 2013 Download / Print

Mark 12:29-32
“Jesus answered, “The foremost is, ‘HEAR, O ISRAEL! THE LORD OUR GOD IS ONE LORD; AND YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND, AND WITH ALL YOUR STRENGTH. The second is this, ‘YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”

Let us be very clear: our love for God is a response to God’s love for us. So when did Christians decide our love would be like tithing? Some may reason: As long as I love 10% of the time, I must be in God’s good graces? Yet we are overwhelmed by God’s infinite grace that does not save us by fractions, but we are still sadly surprised that God is not satisfied with a mere fraction of ourselves. The command given to Israel is the command given to every Christian: give your entire life to the personal God who first loved us by sending His Son as an offering for our sin.

The heart is more than just our bodily pumping station. The heart is where our decisions are made, plans are evaluated and the calculations of our lives are weighed in the balance. We may agree with something in our mind and speak about it with our lips, but that is not where the decision is made. It is in the heart, not the mind, where we decide for or against God and expose our true loyalties. The people perceived the scribes to be models of those who loved God, but Jesus examined their hearts to unveil the object of their true love: themselves.

Our soul is the vitality and motivating power of our lives. Together, with the heart, the soul determines how we will conduct ourselves in our daily walk. To love God with all of our soul will focus our energy on pursuing God’s purposes no matter the response from those around us as we are consumed to proclaim the gospel and fight the good fight. The mind is what directs our opinions and judgments. Our love for God must be more than an emotional response, but a demonstration to all that we “know why” instead of trying to impress others with our “know how.” Our strength is all that we possess while we walk this earth. Yes, it is the physical demonstration of love by what we do, but it is also the leverage for the work of love that our possession can do. The widow who gives her last mite provides the best example of this love.

The sum of what Jesus is saying is our love for God needs to be every part of our being: heart, soul, mind and strength. We are not to offer God only a tithe of ourselves we are while we somehow horde and squander the rest on our own shallow purposes. We sing about how the world will know we are Christians by our love, but love of God is how we are known by God. “But if anyone loves God, he is known by Him.” (1 Corinthians 8:3)

Sunday – February 3, 2013

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February 3, 2013 – Read the Word on Worship

Did the Religious Leaders Wear Boxers or Briefs? from Sunrise Community Church on Vimeo.

Our passage raises the important issue of the relationship between God and the governments of the earth. This is not just an issue in Jesus day, but an issue that every generation in every society must confront. Jesus is not saying Caesar is control of the political sphere and God is in control of the religious sphere, as if they were counter-weights against each other. To Jesus, the coin with the face of Caesar was just another idol in a long list of idols and Caesar can have it back if he desires it.
Whoever’s face is on the money has the right to ask for it back in terms of taxes. Jesus had no problem with the people giving back to Caesar what was his. But the expectation goes both ways- just as Caesar expected to get back the things that were his, so too God expects to get back the things that are His. If we bear God’s image, as we are told in Genesis 1, then God owns us and we owe Him worship and obedience. The danger is we have grown to love our money. If government owns the money, and we make money our god, then the government owns us.
Join us this Sunday as we look at Jesus answering questions about money and marriage as we look at “Did the Religious Leaders Wear Boxer or Briefs?” as we continue in Mark 12 verses 13 to 27.

Word On Worship – February 3, 2013 Download / Print

Mark 12:15-17
[Jesus] said to them, “Bring Me a denarius to look at.”  They brought one. And He said to them, “Whose likeness and inscription is this?” And they said to Him, “Caesar’s.” And Jesus said to them, “Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.”

Our passage raises the important issue of the relationship between God and the governments of the earth. This was not just an issue in Jesus day, but an issue that every generation in every society must confront.  Jesus is not saying Caesar is control of the political sphere and God is in control of the religious sphere, as if they were counter-weights against each other. To Jesus, the coin with the face of Caesar was just another idol in a long list of idols and Caesar can have it back if he desires it.

In the past it was the desire of the church to exercise sovereign control over the state in the name of God. For centuries in Europe, the rule of kings was just another instrument of the papacy to enforce the will of the church in secular society. But the church that seeks earthly power and glory always loses both its moral compass and its spiritual vigor. The pursuit of power in earthly terms, whether by the church or the state, has always done tremendous harm to both. It is the spirit of this world that lies to us with the promise of might makes right and take before it is taken from you. It is only the power of Christ which enables people to give so that God can give us yet more.

Whoever’s face is on the money has the right to ask for it back, usually in the form of taxes. Jesus had no problem with the people giving to Caesar what was his, but the expectation must go both ways. Just as Caesar expected to get back the things that were his, so too God expects to get back the things that are His. Since we bear God’s image, as we are told in Genesis 1, we are owned by God and we owe Him worship and obedience. The danger is we have fallen in love with our money. If government owns the money we love, and we make money our god, then the government owns us.

An unhealthy union between church and state has been the undoing of both. We are drawn away from our primary mission of the proclamation of the gospel when the church becomes politicized. Inevitably, politics distracts the church to get behind good causes, not the gospel which transcends every society and government. However this should not distract the individuals who make up the church from being salt and light in every arena they are called to serve, from the school room to the board room and from public sector to the private sector, even political action. However, the church must deter the things of God from becoming political wallpaper for programs and policies promoted by politicians. The church is to have clean hands and hearts to speak with power the words of life: “Repent, for the kingdom of God is at hand.”