SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 11/13/2012
11:18:22 AM
My Worship Time Focus: False
Teachers
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Mark 12: 38-44
Message of the verses: Mark
12:38-44 “In His teaching He was saying:
"Beware of the scribes who like to walk around in long robes, and like
respectful greetings in the market places, 39
and chief seats in the synagogues and places of honor at banquets,
40 who devour widows’ houses, and for
appearance’s sake offer long prayers; these will receive greater
condemnation."
“41 And He sat down opposite the treasury,
and began observing how the people were putting money into the treasury; and
many rich people were putting in large sums. 42
A poor widow came and put in two small copper coins, which amount to a
cent. 43 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; 44 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.’”
As we look at the section of Scripture for Today’s SD I
want to say that in true Mark writing that he does not include all of the things
that Jesus actually said to the Pharisees, and this is probably because of the
audience that he was writing to, and the things that Jesus states at this time
to the Pharisees is for Jewish instructions, but we have the benefit of looking
at all four of the gospels to find out more of what Jesus actually said to the
Scribes and Pharisees. I copied the
section from Matthew’s Gospel in an earlier SD, but will mention that Matthew
23: 1-33 contains the entire message that the Lord gave to the Scribes and the
Pharisees. I will also mention that
Jesus told it like it was to them, as He did not mince any words when speaking
to them. He uses the word “woe” to them
eight times and this word means that Jesus was filled with grief along with
judgment towards these false religious leaders.
Jesus had given up on the spiritual leaders of Israel at
the midpoint of His ministry on planet earth.
He then spent the night praying to His Father and then in the morning
appointed the twelve apostles, and of course Judas would be replaced after he
betrays our Lord. One of the reasons
that Jesus chose twelve men was because they would replace the leaders of the
twelve tribes of Israel, for God was going to set aside the nation of Israel
for a while and He would graft into the olive tree (Israel) a wild olive tree
(The Church) until the time when the Church would be taken to heaven at the
event called the rapture, and then God would once again work with the nation of
Israel, and this would be the time of the tribulation, the seven year period
that Jesus will speak of in the next chapter of Mark. As the tribulation comes to its end then we
will see that “all Israel will be saved.”
We find Jesus in the temple teaching His disciples during
this section along with rebuking the Scribes and Pharisees for their false
teachings, and when He concludes His teaching perhaps He and His disciples
began to observe how the people of Israel would give money in the temple. As He was observing people give their money
we see a widow come and put her last two coins into the coffers and Jesus
remarks about this in the last paragraph of chapter twelve. I suppose that I have misunderstood this
section for a long time, but now after listening to John MacArthur’s message on
this section I begin to understand it like never before.
I want to quote Dr. Wiersbe here before getting into what
I want to day about this section. “There
were thirteen trumpet-shaped chests around the walls of the court of the women,
and here the people dropped in their offerings.
The rich made a big production out of their giving (see Matt. 6:1-4),
but Jesus rejected them and their gifts.
It is not the portion but the proportion that is important: the rich gave out of their abundance, but the
poor widow gave all that she had. For
the rich, their gifts were a small contribution, but for the widow, he gift was
a true consecration of her whole life.”
This is all we are told about this woman. We don’t know her spiritual condition or her
motives for giving her last two coins that she had to live on. We can see what Jesus said to the Scribes and
Pharisees about widows in verse 40 “’who devour widows’ houses, and for appearance’s sake
offer long prayers; these will receive greater condemnation.’” This is what these false religious leaders
did and it could be that they have stolen all of this woman’s money and she
still believed what they taught her and this is you had to pay your way into
heaven and she was doing it with her last two coins. I don’t believe that Jesus is teaching about
giving in this section as some would say, especially some of the false TV
evangelists we find on our TV’s. If you
hear one of these teachers tell you that you have to give your money to them so
that you can receive a blessing and a healing from the Lord you are listening
to the wrong message. This is what these
false teachers of Jesus’ day were teaching and it is still going on today. Jesus rebuked them and we should do the same
today.
When Jesus came into the temple to “cleanse” it we read
these words, “"Is it not written, ’MY HOUSE SHALL BE CALLED A HOUSE OF
PRAYER FOR ALL THE NATIONS’? But you have made it a ROBBERS’ DEN.’” They had these thirteen trumpet -shaped
chests in order to rob the people who gave their money in order to pay for
their salvation, and this was surely what the Lord was talking to them
about. Jesus was right there and soon He
would die for the sins of those who would eventually accept His work on the
cross, but they did not see it.
Spiritual meaning
for my life today: There are many
times when I think that I know what the Scripture is talking about, but then
find out that I did not know and this section was one of those times, so I must
be like the Bereans and study the Scriptures daily.
My Steps of Faith for Today: I want to put myself inside of a circle and
ask the Holy Spirit to bring revival to my heart, the only one inside that
circle, and then continue to pray for a Holy Spirit revival for the Church in
our land. Continue to learn contentment
and be transformed by the Word of God.
Memory verses for the
week: Psalm 130:1-4
1 Out of the debts I cried to You, O LORD. 2 Lord, hear my voice! Let Your ears be attentive to the voice of my
supplications. 3 If You, Lord, should
mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand?
4 But there is forgiveness with You, that you may be feared.
11/13/2012 12:11:23 PM
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