Dear Christian friends:

On December 2, it will be our LOYALTY SUNDAY here at Pilgrim. On that Sunday, we will give attention to our church: What it is, What it does, and What each one of us can do to help it. Each of us will be asked to make a commitment of our time, talents and treasure.

One of the things that we will do is pledge financial support to our church for 1980. We are now thinking, "How much should I pledge?" our text today, tells about giving money for church. This morning, I want to preach about giving money to church. All of us, if we really love Jesus, and desire to please Him, should make a good pledge on Dec. 2. Let us attend to this text and answer this question:

This is not an easy question to answer, but if we attend to our text, we shall learn some important things about giving. First, we should give knowing that Jesus is watching us while we give. Our text says, "Jesus sat down facing the contribution boxes in the temple. He was watching how the people put money into them." (v. 41) Many people think that God does not see their gifts to church. So they give only a little bit of their income. They think, "Nobody will see; nobody will know." Often, they refuse to sign a pledge. Some even refuse to use offering envelopes. They think, “If I do not pledge and if I do not use the envelopes, nobody will know how much I give." But they forget that Jesus sees and Jesus knows.

As Jesus watched the people give money long ago in the temple, He does the same thing today, looking down from heaven and watching how each one of us gives for church. He knows if we are generous or stingy and He knows if our heart is happy or sad to give. We may deceive the pastor and other members, but we cannot deceive Jesus. Jesus knows everything about us: how much we earn, and how much we can afford.

So when we make our pledges, let us remember that Jesus is watching us, Jesus, our God and Savior who gave His life on the cross for our salvation, Jesus, our best Friend and Helper, He is watching us. He will be happy and proud to see each one of us make a generous pledge with love and honor to Him. Jesus will be sad and disappointed if we do not show love to Him in this way also.

Secondly, we learn from our text that Jesus watches to see what percent of our income we give. He does not consider the amount whether little or much. We should give a certain percent.

In our text, we read that some people who were rich put large amounts of money into the box. Then a poor widow came and dropped in two pennies. When Jesus saw that, He called His disciples and said to them, "That poor widow has given more than all those rich men because they gave a small percent of their riches, but she gave all her living (Money that she needed for food and rent, etc)." The rich people perhaps gave 2 or 3 percent of their money, but the widow gave 100%! (v. 43)

The rich people did not give their food money or rent money or clothes money. After they gave, they still had plenty of money left to buy food, clothes and to pay other bills. But the widow gave her food money, clothes money and rent money. “She gave all of her money that she needed for herself."

Perhaps you say, "She was foolish and crazy!" Does Jesus call her foolish? No!!! He praises her to the disciples. And even today, 2,000 years later, millions of people read this story and praise her and also praise God's love. People read this story about the poor widow and feel admonished and inspired to love God like she did.

Does Jesus expect us to give all our money to church, like the poor widow did? No. But I am sure that Jesus would be very pleased if we did that. But first, He would need to give us the faith and love to do it. This, we cannot do ourselves alone. Only by the power of the Holy Spirit can anyone give like the poor widow did.

The widow showed strong trust in God by giving 100%. She trusted that God would give her more money later on, so she could buy food and pay her bills. Many Christians do not give much to church because they are afraid. They say, “I can't give to church first. First, I must buy food and pay for my car and other monthly bills. If I have some money left over after all my bills are paid, I will give that to church."

If we think like that and do like that, we do not show any trust in God that He will take care of us. We should grow in our faith and love to God and trust God like this widow. The Bible does not tell us anymore about this widow, what happened to her later. But I know that God took care of her, as He promises in His Word.

In the Old Testament, we read about another widow who trusted God and gave her last food to Elijah the prophet. It happened during a season of no rain and famine in Israel. God told Elijah, His prophet, that he should go to a widow who lived in the village of Zarephath, near the city of Sidon. God said the widow will feed him. God had instructed her to do it. So Elijah went to her home. At first, she didn't want to do it. She said to Elijah, “I have only a handful of flour left and a little cooking oil in the jar. I was just gathering sticks to cook this last meal and then my son and I must die because no more flour or oil." But Elijah said to her, "Don't be afraid! Go ahead and cook that last meal, but bake me a loaf of bread first; and afterwards there will still be enough food left for you and your son. For the Lord God of Israel says that there will always be plenty of flour and oil left in your containers (jars) until the time when the Lord sends rain and the crops grow again."

The widow believed God's promise through Elijah, the prophet. Then she baked a loaf for Elijah with the last handful of flour. Later she was surprised! There was still flour and oil left for herself and her son. No matter how much flour and oil they used each day, there was always plenty left in the jars, just as the Lord had promised through Elijah. (1 Kings 17: 8-16)

Like these two widows, the widow of the Old Testament and the widow of the New Testament, you and I must learn to trust God's Word and promises to us and give to church FIRST, before we buy food and other things for ourselves.

We read in Proverbs 3:9, “Honor the Lord by giving Him the first part of all your income and He will fill your barns with wheat and barley and your wine vats will overflow with the finest wines."

And through the prophet Malachi, God makes another promise and challenge to us. He says, “Bring all the tithes into the storehouse so that there will be enough food in my temple. If you do, I will open the windows of heaven for you and pour out a blessing so great you won't have room enough to keep it! Try it! Let me prove it to you!" (Malachi 3:10)

So when we consider our pledge this LOYALTY SUNDAY, remember:

• Jesus watches to see how we pledge and give.



• He considers the percent of our income that we give.



• He expects us to give to Him first before we pay any other
  
• bills so that we learn to trust Him and honor Him as our


• Keeper and Lord.

If we remember these things, God will help us to have a very blessed and successful new church year.

Amen