In His Steps: Radical Generosity
Dr. Chris Montgomery | Mark 12:38-13:2 | Aug. 17, 2025
The most important thing for you to give to God is everything.
(Mark 12:38-44) 38 And in his teaching he said, “Beware of the scribes, who like to walk around in long robes and like greetings in the marketplaces39 and have the best seats in the synagogues and the places of honor at feasts, 40 who devour widows’ houses and for a pretense make long prayers. They will receive the greater condemnation.” 41 And he sat down opposite the treasury and watched the people putting money into the offering box. Many rich people put in large sums. 42 And a poor widow came and put in two small copper coins, which make a penny. 43 And he called his disciples to him and said to them, “Truly, I say to you, this poor widow has put in more than all those who are contributing to the offering box. 44 For they all contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty has put in everything she had, all she had to live on.”
(Deuteronomy 14:28-29) 28 At the end of every three years, bring all the tithes of that year’s produce and store it in your towns, 29 so that the Levites (who have no allotment or inheritance of their own) and the foreigners, the fatherless and the widows who live in your towns may come and eat and be satisfied, and so that the Lord your God may bless you in all the work of your hands.
What the poor widow teaches us about a radically generous heart:
1. Radical generosity is not about my place in life but flows from my heart no matter my place.
2. Radical generosity is not about gaining honor but giving my heart because I honor.
3. Radical generosity reflects a heart that has received radically from God.
4. Radical generosity reflects a heart that has been set free.
(Mark 13:1-2) And as he came out of the temple, one of his disciples said to him, “Look, Teacher, what wonderful stones and what wonderful buildings!” 2 And Jesus said to him, “Do you see these great buildings? There will not be left here one stone upon another that will not be thrown down.”
Jesus reminds His followers that there is only one way to build their life and only one stone to build it upon.
Jesus is not just any stone He is the cornerstone. (Isaiah 28:16, Matthew 21:42, Mark 12:10-11, Luke 20:17, Acts 4:11, 1 Peter 2:4-7)
Something in the heart breaks at the thought of a life of mediocrity.
-CS Lewis