In November of 2000, Sharp released
the J-SH04 camera phone to the Japanese market. It was the first camera phone
that allowed images to be sent electronically.
The phone allowed storage of 20 pictures and cost $500. BBC reporter, Jon Wurtzel asked his readers
what on earth they would do with a phone that had a camera; this is what they
said[1]:
Take pictures of
friendly dogs I see when I walk around.
John, US
John, US
I would use the
camera phone to take pictures of my best friend, my dog Benson.
Miles Brown, England
Miles Brown, England
I would use the
camera during business meetings to take sneaky pictures of competitors’ notes
for analysis later.
Levi Buckley, UK
Levi Buckley, UK
I can't wait.
There's so much I'm looking forward to photographing ... grumpy commuters,
clouds, sleeping dogs, minor vehicle collisions in car parks, geese, steam,
have-a-go-heroes, ... and then presumably I'll be able to email the pictures to
all my friends.
Glenn Broadway, UK
Glenn Broadway, UK
I would like to
use it when I am very angry, like when I have taken a day off work and a tradesman
does not appear. I would also use it to express joy, like when I am especially
pleased by a present. As an amateur artist it would also help to show what I am
currently working on, to enquirers.
John Cornish, Australia
John Cornish, Australia
Infinite uses for
the teenager, not entirely sure what the rest of us would do with one
though.
Lizz, UK
Lizz, UK
It is hard to imagine that the
camera phone was only invented 14 years ago.
There have been infinite uses of the camera phone including sending
pictures to your friends of your dessert during date night, taking selfies
during sporting events, and taking thousands of pictures of your children doing
cute things.
.jpg)
Although
camera phones are useful, they are not always helpful. Images have overtaken
our culture. According to Jonathan Good,
“Every 2 minutes today we snap as many photos as the whole of humanity took in
the 1800s. In fact, ten percent of all the photos we have [in the history of
time], were taken in the past 12 months.”[2] And
as Jim Gaffigan has eloquently noted, “I have more pictures of my kids than my
father ever looked at me.” Although taking pictures can be harmless or even
beneficial, there may be unintended negative consequences and dangers that
result from living in an image driven culture. We may try to protect ourselves
from it, but we have to be aware of the dangers of living in an image driven
culture and, in particular, the dangers of raising children and grandchildren
in this culture.
Several
months ago I was at a party with some friends and met a sophomore in high
school. This high-schooler was a very typical teenager; he was glued to his
iPhone and could not stop talking about himself. He recently posted something on his twitter
page and kept checking every minute on who else “liked” his post. Teenagers (and many young adults) are
desperate to know how many people “like” their ideas or pictures. They are desperate to be acknowledged and
recognized; they are desperate for their own glory. This desire for their own glory
must be addressed.
This
desire for glory may be most easily seen in young people, but the desire for
our own glory is in every human heart.
New technology only gives an expression for the desires that are already
in our heart. Jesus warns us to avoid
those who seek their own glory and warns us from being those who seek to steal
God’s glory.
The Great Condemnation
of the Glory Stealers
The
scribes, Pharisees and the Sadducees have all challenged Jesus’ authority. Jesus has answered every challenge raised
against his authority, but as he ends this discourse, he directly warns the
people about the leaders. Verse 45,
And in the hearing
of all the people 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 and the places of honor at feasts, who devour widows'
houses and for a pretense make long prayers. They will receive the greater
condemnation.” (Luke 20:45-47)
The scribes were stealing God’s
glory because they were living to draw attention to themselves rather than to
God. They were using their spiritual influence for their own prestige.
The
scribes did not love God, but they used Him.
They used Him for their own comfort and their own prestige. They wore
long, flowing expensive robes to draw attention to themselves. The scribes also loved the special greeting
that religious leaders received when entering the marketplace. And not only did they loved the special
greetings in the marketplace, they loved the best seats in the synagogues and
at the special feasts. They were the
religious, spiritual leaders, who wore the Armani suits, loved the box seats at
the Panthers game, and the free meals downtown.
None of these things are bad in themselves, but the problem was that
they were living for these benefits rather than to God. These were not mere
blessings given to the leaders, but the very reason they pursued the ministry.
Jesus
further shows why the scribes should not be followed. The scribes were using
God for his blessings without actually serving God. Jesus said they were
devouring widows’ houses. Scholar
Darrell Bock notes,
Jesus pictures
destruction when he speaks of the scribes “devouring” the houses of widows.
They take from the group most in need and leave them devastated. The nature of
this crime is not detailed, but four possibilities are suggested: (1) the
temple authorities managed the property of widows dedicated to the temple in a
way that took advantage of them (Ellis 1974: 239), (2) the scribes took
advantage of widows’ hospitality (Jeremias 1969: 114), (3) the scribes took
homes as pledges of debts they knew could not be repaid (Leaney 1958: 256), or
(4) they took fees for legal advise against the provisions of the law (Stählin,
TDNT 9:445). [3]
Instead giving to those most in
need, the scribes took from them.
They were
religious leaders acting in a false religion. James, the half-brother of Jesus,
writes:
Religion that is
pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit orphans and widows
in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world. (James 1:27)
Their religion was false and
defiled before God because they were full of the world and did not care for
those most in need. This was why Jesus warned the people of them. The warning was necessary because out of
pretense the scribes made long prayers. They wanted to show the people how
spiritual and religious they were with their lofty and long prayers, but their
lives did not match their profession.
And
the true warning comes with the last sentence, “They will receive the greater
condemnation.” The end of the scribes is woe, because they are not true
disciples. They lived for themselves and did not care about the needs of
others. They made great boasts with
their mouths, but their lives were far from God. Many of have seen this first hand with Jimmy
and Tammy Faye Bakker and the PTL Scandal up the road in Fort Mill in the
mid-80’s. A few months ago, Roland Drye,
pastor of Inspiration Baptist Church told a story of how PTL followers tried to
work their way into his church. He held
a members meeting and warned everyone from falling under the influence of PTL
and the Bakkers. Secret meetings
continued to happen, so Pastor Drye and a deacon went to confront the organizers
of the meeting. As the conversation
continued, the organizer started getting angry and agitated and Roland just
started laughing. He said at that
moment, the Holy Spirit revealed to everyone there who was in him and what was
in the follower of the Bakkers.
Beloved,
the likes of Jimmy and Tammy Faye Bakker are still around. They may look different, but their end is the
same. Beware not to fall under the
influence of popular preachers who use God for his blessings without living connected
to the true gospel. But you do not only
need to be careful of those false preachers, but you have to be careful not to
follow in their steps. We follow in the steps of the scribes when we seek to
steal glory that only belongs to God. Do
we desire for people to see us or to see the God we serve? In our ever increasing technological world,
we must be thoughtful and humble to give all honor and praise to God. We need to shift the glory from ourselves to
God.
The Great Commendation
of the Glory Shifters
Jesus
criticizes the leaders to his disciples within earshot of the people. He wanted the people to hear his warning, but
after a warning of who not to follow, we get a picture of who to follow. Verses
21:1-4,
Jesus looked up
and saw the rich putting their gifts into the offering box, and he saw a poor
widow put in two small copper coins. 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 she had to live on.”
Throughout the temple, there were
offering boxes where people gave freewill offerings to offset the costs of
temple worship. Jesus looked and saw the
rich putting their gifts into the offering box and he also saw a woman put in
two small copper coins. The two coins
were “lepta” the smallest currency equaling 1/100th of the average
daily wage. It would have been easily
identifiable by its size. It was an
extremely small sum, but Jesus draws attention to its very high value in
saying, “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 she had to live on.”
Jesus
uses the word “penichros” here referring to someone who is intensely poor and
in need. This widow is in sharp contrast to the scribes mentioned above. She did not have long, flowing expensive
robes or the best seats at the feasts. She had nothing, and yet she contributed
to the Lord’s work out of her poverty. Indeed there were others who gave more
money than this widow, but there was not anyone who gave more than she
did. Her giving costs her the most
because her gift came with the greatest sacrifice. She gave all she had to live on and
therefore, showed the greatest love. Her sacrificial giving revealed her love
for God.
.jpg)
There
are several important applications we can draw from this passage. First, Jesus sees the real costs of your
giving. As we have seen several places
throughout Luke’s gospel, how we handle our physical resources is an indication
of our spiritual condition. No one but
the Lord knows the true cost of your giving.
The world may look at the dollar amount, but the Lord looks at the
sacrifice. The Lord sees what your
giving costs you and he will commend you for it. We have many widows in our
church who give with the same heart as this woman. A refrain that I often hear
from our widows is “I wish I could give more.”
Beloved, the Lord sees your true sacrifice. You may feel that the amount
is small, but your “small gift” may worth more than all the rest. Take comfort
that Lord sees the heart in your giving. He sees how you desire to shift the
glory to God through your sacrifice.
This passage shows us who the real “big tithers!” are. It is not the
ones who give the most money, but give up the most to give their money.
Second, Jesus is
not putting down the contributions of others.
He is highlighting the sacrificial giving of one of the saints, but not
discounting the giving of others. Both
the rich and the poor were contributing to keep up the ministry of the temple
worship. This morning, we voted on our church budget for the coming year. Putting together a budget can often be a
challenging time in the life of the church. Our finance committee has worked hard
to ensure that we are being good stewards of our resources. We want to spend our money wisely and yet
want to be generous in pursuing ministry of the lost and the building up of the
saints. The budget we voted on today is our family budget. We all have an obligation to work to meet the
needs of our budget. How does your giving compare to this widow? What does your
giving cost you?
It can be awkward
for a pastor to speak about giving. It
is easy for people to think that the only reason that ministers talk about
money is because our salaries are provided for by the church. Hear me, I do not
want to know the amount you give, but that doesn’t mean that I do not care what
you give. If giving is an indication of
your heart, than what kind of pastor would I be if I didn’t care about your
giving? Money shows our priorities. Jesus said, “For where your treasure is,
there your heart will be also.” (Matt. 6:21) God wants you to show that He is
your priority and your treasure with how you use your money. People see your priorities. Our priorities
reveal our loves. We have the opportunity to show the world that we treasure
Christ above the things of this world with how we spend our money.
There are some of
you who need to give more to the needs of the church. Take a hard look at your spending and look
for areas where you can cut so that you can give more. Jesus commended the poor widow, because she
contributed out of her poverty. You will
never regret sacrificing your earthly comfort for God’s glory. Live to shift the glory off of yourselves to
God.
Beloved, this
widow was commended because she gave like Jesus Christ. She gave all she had as Jesus Christ gave all
that He had for God’s glory. Jesus gave his life for the sheep. Jesus says in John 10,
I am the good shepherd.
The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. He who is a hired hand and
not a shepherd, who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the
sheep and flees, and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. He flees because
he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep. I am the good shepherd. I
know my own and my own know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the
Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep. And I have other sheep that
are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice.
So there will be one flock, one shepherd. For this reason the Father loves me, because
I
lay down my life that I may take it up again. No one takes it from me,
but I
lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I
have authority to take it up again. This charge I have received from my Father.”
(John 10:11-18)
Jesus laid down his life for his
sheep. He gave all that he had for the glory of God. The one who deserved all glory gave his life
so that sinners could be reconciled to God. And after he laid down his life in
death, God raised him from the dead offering hope to the world. For if anyone
turns from their sin and trusts in Christ sacrifice on their behalf they will
receive eternal life.
Jesus
Christ is not asking you to do anything that He has not already done. Jesus
Christ gave all that he had to give God glory. And know the reason that God
gave all that he had was because of his love for the sheep. 1 John 3:16, “By this we know love, that he
laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers.”
The motivation for Jesus giving all that he had was His love for the Father and
his love for his sheep.
Our lives should
be motivated by the same love. We show
our love for God in how we are willing to lay down our lives for Christ and the
sheep. Jesus Christ laid down his life
for us. He gave all that he had for us.
If Christ did that for us, then what are you willing to lay down? Are you willing to lay down your hobbies? Or
your cable? Or traveling? Or children’s activities? Or lattes at Starbucks? The
church will never fully display God’s glory until we are willing to love God
more than the things of this world. The reason we do not give more is because
we do not love more. The more we love
God, the more we will delight in giving to his glory.
We should never
give in drudgery, but in joy. In love, Christ gave all that he had, should we
not desire to do the same?
[3]
Bock, D. L. (1996). Luke: 9:51–24:53
(Vol. 2, p. 1643). Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic.
image credit (https://encrypted-tbn3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTAs4Qg_A58csO_3s9P3ACM5CKg2NWcF0rIfs963KaCDpDA3dYg)
No comments:
Post a Comment