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. Let's go to the Lord in prayer. Father God, we thank you. that you've given so much to us. We pray that you would help us to be grateful, to be more open handed with our possessions, with our money, with other gifts and resources that you've given us. Time, our time for other people, our time for our church family, our time for our own children and loved ones. Time, money, talents that can be employed to bring you glory or can be employed selfishly. We pray that we would be generous in all of these things. God, we pray that as we consider how to use our resources, that you would help us not only to be willing and cheerful and sacrificial in our giving but God that specifically we would give to relieve others of heavy burdens that they carry and help to support those who are most vulnerable rather than to take advantage of others or to overlook and neglect the struggles and the burdens that others shoulder. And we pray that we would do this as we are becoming more like Christ who left glory, and although he was rich, became as poor for us, in order that we might become rich. God, so remind us of these things as we study your word together. May it bear fruit in our lives for eternity. We pray all of this in Christ's name, amen. Jesus draws attention here to a situation that's going on in the temple in order to show a contrast between the corrupt religious establishment of his time and someone who is from among the most vulnerable class of people, a poor widow who gives all that she has. Money is not a topic that is, for many Christians, it's not a topic that's very comfortable to discuss. And you can understand why. There are some ministers, some whole ministries that have really emphasized donations. And they have solicited, I'm thinking especially of certain televangelists that we have probably all been familiar with in the past. But even today, there are prosperity teachers that are carrying on this legacy of soliciting millions of dollars in donations. that are then misappropriated or diverted to fund the lavish, luxurious lifestyles of these men. Fred and Nadia moved into Wrens and there's a pastor, I won't say the person's name, I don't know the person's name, but I won't try to give any indication of who they are. But they're from a church tradition that would probably be very similar to prosperity, health, wealth, and prosperity, very charismatic. And this man drives luxury vehicles, essentially. There's nothing wrong with luxury vehicles, but when you see a man of God, a minister driving multiple luxury vehicles, and you definitely get the sense that he's a part of a tradition of ministers who enrich themselves at the expense of those that they're meant to serve, living actually above the level of many or most of the people within their own flock, I think we sense that there's a real problem here, to say the least. Some of these men have rightly been held accountable and have been prosecuted and have had to pay back enormous sums or have had to do time, probably not enough time. But finances, because of all this, church finances can become a touchy subject. For some people, and I've heard this from some people, they'll tell me, you know, I went to this church and the pastor was preaching on money. And all they do is preach on money, all they want is us to give money to them. And I think well that could be the case. I think most the time when I hear that people are just become so sensitive about the topic that one sermon is one sermon too many. And they're too sensitive about it. They don't want anybody to talk about money. The Bible talks about money. The Bible talks about personal finances and it talks about charitable giving. It talks about offerings that are given to the Lord. Financial offerings and offerings of other things also. And so because the Bible talks about it and gives us wisdom, there's so much of this is in the book of Proverbs. It's a part of what it means to be a wise person, much less an obedient Christian, to know how we handle our finances and to do it well. And as we approach this text, it's really about more than finances. It's about more than money, but it's not about less. Jesus, again, draws attention to this situation In order to contrast the failures among the religious leadership with the faithfulness of this poor widow. And so this is really our two divisions for our sermon this morning, if you're following along or taking notes. First of all, we find here an example of failure among the religious leadership. Jesus tells us that by giving two small copper coins, this widow gave all she had to live on. Our instinct probably is to first of all consider what a great example this is. And we'll come to that in a moment. There's certainly an example that we can learn from. a tremendous example of faithfulness. But I think there are actually two implications of this. What first comes to mind is how much does this woman love and trust God to give in such a way? How much does this woman love and trust God to give in such a way? That's the positive example of a trusting sacrifice, which we'll consider momentarily. But there's also implicit in this account the negative example of the religious leaders who look on and who greedily accept these coins. Giving them will ruin her. Jesus tells us here it's all she had to live on. Presumably she would give these coins and return home penniless. Reality is this isn't much to live on anyhow. These two coins combined are worth less than a penny. This is nothing. And yet it's all she had, and she gives it. And these men look on, and they take this money, and they don't say anything about it. And the woman is ruined. Instead, they ought to have sought to prevent this, or to provide for her need. They could have stepped in. They could have said, God knows your heart. You love the Lord. You trust Him. and here, have a much larger coin. They could have helped her, supported her, provided for her. And instead, they readily devour her estate, as Jesus puts it in verse 47 of the previous chapter. You see that? These are men who devour widows' houses. It's a part of their wickedness. is that they greedily accept all that she has to live on, ruining her, doing nothing to provide for her need, and instead taking only and devouring her estate. The truth is, and this is maybe not what we think of when we think of this example, but the truth is this woman should not have been required to give this money. In one sense, it was an imprudent financial decision on her part, giving beyond her means, really. By the way, if you're in a similar situation, you should never think that God requires you to give money that you don't have or that you need to buy bread. You'll never hear me as your pastor or any of our deacons encourage you to give what you need to live on, to provide for your basic necessities, and God does not require this. A man who takes money needed to feed or clothe his children and send it in in support of his favorite ministry is not wise and should not be committed for this. And likewise, a person living alone who takes money they need to survive and sends it to a televangelist or gives it to their church with entirely pure and godly motives is not making a prudent financial decision and God does not require this. However, Jesus doesn't blame the woman for this. You won't find in here a condemnation of this woman. If based on biblical principles I were to counsel you and you were living on such a subsistent sort of budget where you could barely afford to meet your basic needs, I would encourage you to take money from the church. Let us help you. We have money that's collected to support people in these situations rather than us taking your money from you when you need it most. But Jesus nowhere here condemns this woman or blames this woman. He rather condemns her leaders. And why? Because it was they who led her to believe that it was pleasing to God for her to finance their lifestyles though it caused her to suffer. And these men made themselves fat and lived large at her expense. And again, you just, I think of certain of these, these televangelists, some of these prosperity preachers, ones that were much in the news 30 years ago or ones that are enormously popular today and have best-selling books and are flying around on private jets and so forth. Some of these men have been held accountable, but many others continue to peddle the gospel for filthy lucre. that use guilt and manipulation to convince people, like the widow in this account, to give beyond their means to support the ministry. James 1.27 says, A test of any leader's integrity is not how well they themselves can live, but how well they care for and are concerned about the most vulnerable and needy among their flock. And it isn't just infamous televangelists. This sort of corruption can affect any church, and so we must keep watch over our own hearts and maintain high standards and biblical expectations for our leaders. Godliness with contentment is great gain. Caring for widows and orphans is God's will. This is what a Christian leader ought to look like. So we have, first of all, which Jesus condemns. Even by the way that he frames this text with what comes before, in his warning of his own disciples, his warning against following in the way of the scribes and the Pharisees who devour widows' houses, and his condemnation of them. implicit in what comes after, as he foretells the destruction of the temple, he has in his sights lasering in on these corrupt religious leaders who will enrich themselves at the expense of the most vulnerable among the people of God, who they ought to have taken care of instead of taking advantage of. Secondly, though, we see an example of faithfulness, a positive example of faithfulness from a poor widow. This widow should not have been required to give what she needed to live on. But the fault here is with the corrupt religious leaders. Turning our attention to the positive example which the widow provides us, we find that Jesus does not condemn her. He does not blame her. She is, in many ways, although this isn't a prudent financial decision, this is one that has been motivated by and enabled through the corruption of these leaders, through the way that they guilt and manipulate those who are under them in this ungodly way. But Jesus does not condemn her. Matthew Henry the great Puritan Bible commentator writes, Christ does not blame her for indiscretion in giving what she herself lacked, nor for vanity in giving among the rich to the treasury. but commended her liberality. Christ commended her liberality. He commended the freeness with which she gave what was most precious to her, what was most valuable to her, what she actually, in fact, needed greatly, and sacrificed this. It's a painful gift. And Christ commended the liberality of her gift, the freeness with which she gave. Matthew Henry goes on to say, in her willingness to part with what little she had, for the glory of God, which proceeded from a belief of independence upon God's providence to take care of her." As we think about the positive example of this woman, how could she do this when most of us wouldn't consider doing this? Even those of you who might should consider it because truly you're in poverty. I mean there are people who are in such poverty. It's rare in our day and it's more rare in our nation to be in such poverty with the welfare that's available and the resources that we have. But nevertheless people live on a shoestring and they're living on very little, on a fixed income. Very few of us are willing to give everything that we have in this way. What enables this? Well, as Matthew Henry suggests, she was able to do this with such liberality and willingness because she was doing this for the glory of God. If I'm doing this to impress another human being, that will only motivate me to a point. I can throw some big coins in the offering plate and make them clink around if I know someone's going to hear me because I might get a little bit of goodwill from that or someone may have a good reputation from that. But at the end of the day, that's only going to go so far. If we know something of the glory of God, there is no gift that is too great. There's no gift that can even approximate His glory. And so we can actually give our own lives. That's the picture of the radical generosity that is native to Christianity is that Christians down through our long ages have not just given everything that they possessed, of course they've been willing to to let go of houses and lands and move away from family and move on to the mission field, but even to give their own lives as martyrs for the cause of Christ because they knew none of it is as valuable as the glory of God. And so this woman used something of the glory of God and she was able to part with what little she had for the glory of God. She was able to do this though because of a belief in and a dependence upon God's providence to take care of her. we can give, this goes, I think, about the example of certain businesses. Chick-fil-A, chief among them, who has made a stand. They will not open on Sunday. It is immoral to open your business on Sunday. It is. Unless this is some kind of, you're providing some kind of life-saving service, and it's truly an act of mercy. It cannot be denied. God's word makes it absolutely clear. It is immoral. So any Christian business owner that opens on Sunday is not pleasing God with their business practices. And Chick-fil-A is such a great example of this, of saying, you know what? How much money could Chick-fil-A make on Sunday? They can make a killing on Sunday. Everybody would flood there after church and eat up their fried chicken because it's delicious. And it's a weekend, and they would make, they already make, bukus, they probably make more in a day than most fast food restaurants make in a week. They're so successful, and yet, as much money as they could take in on that day, they say, you know, we would be better off to please the Lord and be obedient to His commands, commands that we've read earlier in the service, to observe the Sabbath, to keep it holy, You know, no matter what. And we need to be reminded of this so that we, in this sense, learn to trust in God's providence. One more week, one more day of the week working and that little bit of money is not going to make us safe. A million dollars could be deposited in your account this morning and you would not be secure. Do you realize that? You'd feel secure, perhaps, for a moment. You would not be secure. It could all go to pot. It could all be taken away. There's hyperinflation. You know, the prices of things go away. Assets can be confiscated. There's no real security in this world. The only absolute financial, physical or financial security comes from the Lord. And so by just taking in a little bit more money on the Lord's day, you are not making yourself any better off. And this woman knew that to give everything that she had and not to keep anything for herself, in her mind this was enabled by a confidence in the providence of God. I can give just like Abraham in sacrificing his son. How is God going to fulfill his promises to Abraham if he sacrifices his son? And yet he obeys the will of the Lord and trusts that God will provide for him. And we also ought to set an example if we want to be witnesses in this world. We want to show people that this isn't just a show, this isn't just skin deep, it's not superficial faith, that we're willing to put our money literally where our mouth is and we're willing to let go of money. As much as to give money, sacrificial to ministry, we're able to let go of money by not working in the Lord's day so that we can do the things that the Lord's commanded of us, trusting all along that God will provide for us. I don't worry. I don't need that extra money, the Lord will provide for me. He always has, he always will. This woman was an example of this, a striking example of this. Jesus sees, he sees the heart. He knows whether or not we're trusting in him. He knows the motivation behind all of our gifts, all of our use of money. He knows because he sees the heart of the giver. He sees the heart of this giver, this poor widow. He knows the hearts of all givers. There is nothing inherently commendable about giving large sums. As we see here, Jesus is not especially big on the gifts of the rich. Although I'm sure they were the gifts that really funded the temple and the ministry that went on there. And yet there's nothing inherently commendable, nothing wrong with that. And to give money is fine, you know, but there's nothing inherently commendable about giving large sums. Some people can do so without having to give up any comforts whatsoever. Undoubtedly, the rich gave impressive amounts to the temple, but it was out of their abundance. And in other words, they didn't have to put anything back at the grocery store in order to give to their church. And that's the difference. This woman knew that this was gonna cost her, that she would have to adjust her budget, that now she was gonna have to find another way. She was gonna have to go home and pray that the Lord would deliver her. And so it's the heart. She didn't give out of her abundance, but out of her lack, whereas these men give out of their abundance. And all their gifts, it doesn't hurt them one bit. They're not having to go without anything that they enjoy or any worldly comfort. The rich and the poor can both please God equally with their gifts, even though one may give but a little and the other a great deal. Both of these gifts can be displeasing to the Lord if we had the wrong heart behind a small gift or a large gift. And both people can please the Lord with this if their heart is in the right place. But again, what matters is the heart of the giver. The Apostle Paul touches on this in 2 Corinthians 9, 7 when he writes that each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. And here in Luke 21, we learn that in addition to being a willing and cheerful giver, that the Lord is pleased by our being sacrificial in our giving. If we would each of us focus on giving in this way, giving willingly, giving cheerfully, and giving sacrificially the church. And I don't just mean this church, which is well supported. You guys support the ministry here, and you're very generous. But the church around the world, with all of its needs, with all the financial needs that are required, for example, to take the gospel to places unknown, where the gospel is not yet reached. If we gave in this way, willingly, cheerfully, sacrificially, the church would never lack for any funds needed for any work of ministry or missions. And forget the tithe. You know, the tithe is not a command of the new covenant. You may be surprised to know. You'll look in vain. Look when you get home. There's no command in the New Testament to give 10%, and I won't say that you should. Some of you shouldn't, and many of you should be giving more than that. Let me address in conclusion several types of people, a couple types of people. First, some of you are living on a fixed income, or you are in a very difficult financial situation that's not owing to a refusal to work, widows especially. God is pleased with your generosity. He delights in your gifts, but He doesn't require you to go without what you need to give to others. And so what we need to do as a church is to do what these scribes and Pharisees failed to do, and that is to say, we don't need you to support the work of ministry. We exist to support you. As your church family, we want to shoulder your burdens. And so communicate what those needs are so that we can do what we can to meet them. And so there are some people who need to hear this. There's no magical number. The tithe was an old covenant institution. It's a part of the sacrifices. Actually God's people gave much more than a tithe in the old covenant. That was just a part of their overall giving. But in the New Covenant, a tithe is not mentioned, but we're told to give willingly, cheerfully, sacrificially. And that may be for you to give willingly, cheerfully, and sacrificially less than, but it may require to give more than for it to be sacrificial. And so if you have some need that you can't meet or you come to me or one of the deacons and we can discreetly help you. The second type of person is some of us can give more. And the reality is that God has given us everything and our hearts ought to be moved with gratitude to gladly give a portion of what he has given back to him. And we shouldn't just be giving when there is an abundance of funds. Sometimes that's the way I've thought about it in the past. You know, when I get an abundance, that's when I'm, okay, now I'm glad to give or that's when I'm glad to be generous. And I feel good about being generous with others when I've got an abundance. Well, in other words, that's when it doesn't really hurt me to give because I now have an excess for some reason. Someone has given me a gift. I can now share that with someone else. But some of the examples we have in scripture of churches in the book of Acts who gave out of their extreme poverty. And this is an example, this poor widow is an example of this also, of giving out of her extreme poverty. We shouldn't just be giving when there is an abundance of funds, but giving what amount, what for us amounts to a sacrifice. I'm not too proud to say that I could give more, willingly, more cheerfully. and more sacrificially, and I've been thinking about how to do that. And I'm committed to continue growing in this because it's important. And I'd encourage you to think about it as well. What would the Lord have you do? Maybe you're giving exactly what he wants you to give. I don't know what anybody in this church gives. Maybe you're giving exactly what you need to be giving. Maybe you need to be humble and ask for help. Or maybe you need to think about giving more so that you're giving in a manner that pleases the Lord. If giving hasn't been a conscious part of your worship, but more like just a bill that you've put on auto-draft, just giving charitably, giving to the church, maybe it's time to reconsider how you give. so that you are giving to the glory of God, trusting in his providence to take care of you, giving cheerfully, giving sacrificially, giving willingly, giving to him because of all that he's given to you. I mentioned this verse at the beginning of our service, I think it bears repeating. This is 2 Corinthians 8, 9. Apostle Paul says, for you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor. so that you, by his poverty, might become rich. The most important thing for any of us is not what we give. We could categorize giving, charitable giving, sacrificial offerings, all of this is, these are good works that have their place in the Christian life, but none of them will save you. You can't buy your way into heaven. If you give a little more or a little more sacrificially, it doesn't mean it's going to turn God's opinion of you from being angry with you because of sin to accepting you. You can't do that. All of us, in sin, we need what only Christ can give. He is the one that makes us truly rich. Not rich in things, not worldly material possessions, but rich in spirit, rich with heavenly rewards, the expectation of eternal glory. Christ brings us all into all of this through what he sacrificed for us. The most important thing when it comes to giving and receiving is not ultimately what you give to God, but what you receive from God as his gift of grace to you. So if you're not in Christ this morning, this church doesn't want any money from you, by the way. And if you don't like sermons where the pastor's asking for money, that's not what this sermon is about. Again, I don't know what anybody gives and I'm not asking you for money. What I'm saying is this is a biblical command as for Christians to give in a particular way. But if you're not in Christ, this church doesn't want your money. This church wants you to receive, not to give, to receive what only Christ can give you. The grace of salvation that comes from believing in him. His hands are open to receive you, to give you these blessings. And so I would urge you this morning to take the salvation that is on offer by believing in Jesus Christ and know that you have salvation. And if you do, you can go through any lack, any want, any poverty, any hardship in this world and not sweat it because you know God will provide what you do need. And this is only a pilgrimage in this world through the certain difficulties, through many trials and tribulations onward to glory wherein we will be with Christ. and all of the riches of heaven. Let's pray. Father God, we thank you that you have given us salvation and every spiritual blessing that are in the heavenly places, which are ours in Christ. We thank you for this. You've been so generous with us, and at times we can be more close-handed. And this could be with our money, but it could be with our time, unwilling to take time to spend with others. Not everybody in our church needs financial support. There are people who need encouragement. They can only come with spending time, paying a visit, speaking the right word into their life that will lift up their countenance and give them hope, the hope of the gospel. God, we pray that in whatever way that you would make us a more generous people. They would care little for claiming our money, our time, our talents. But God, that we would be most concerned with giving all of these things for your glory, with spending and being spent for the cause of Christ in this world. Make us not earthly-minded, but heavenly-minded. Give us a different value system than that of this world. God, that we would not lay up treasures on earth, but that we would treasure the things that you've promised us in your word that belong to the age to come. Be proud of these things in Christ's name. Amen.