Let's pray for God's blessing on our time in this work, please. Father, we bless your name for giving us the words of eternal life. May we receive their truth with faith and love laid up in our hearts and practice it in our lives. We ask in Jesus's name. Amen. Please take your Bible and turn to Luke chapter 20, Luke 20, verse 45 through chapter 21, verse 4. So Luke chapter 20 verse 45 through Luke 21 verse four. Luke 20 beginning at verse 45, this is God's word. And while all the people were listening, he said to the disciples, beware of the scribes who like to walk around in long robes and love respectful greetings in the marketplaces and chief seats in the synagogues and places of honor at banquets. who devour widows' houses and for appearance's sake offer long prayers. These will receive greater condemnation." And he looked up and saw the rich putting their gifts into the treasury, and he saw a poor widow putting in two small copper coins. And he said, truly I say to you, this poor widow put in more than all of them. For they all out of their surplus put into the offering, but she out of her poverty put in all that she had to live on. May God bless the reading of his holy words. When Cain murdered his brother Abel, the scripture says that God spoke directly to Cain the following frightening words from Genesis 4 verse 10, what have you done? The voice of your brother's blood cries out to me from the ground." And Abel, his righteous blood is spoken of figuratively as crying out to God. And what is that blood, that innocent blood crying out for? Divine vengeance. People are not animals. Animals are not people. There are bizarre groups, as you well know, I'm sure, out there advocating that animals ought to have the same rights as human beings, but the vast majority of people recognize that such ideas are untrue. God identifies with humanity because every human being is an image of God. From the smallest to the largest, from the healthiest to the sickest, from the youngest to the oldest, from the strongest to the weakest, every human being is an image of God. After Noah's flood, the death penalty is set forth by God as what is just if someone takes a human life. In Genesis 9, 6, God said, whoever sheds man's blood, by man his blood shall be shed, for in the image of God, he made man. The prophets of God repeatedly rebuked Israel and rebuked Judah both for their mistreatment of people. Their mistreatment primarily of the weakest in society, their mistreatment of orphans, of widows and children, because they were the most vulnerable in society. They were the ones most in need of protection. Jesus identifies with the weak, the mistreated, the discarded, and the forgotten. We could spend a great deal of time just quoting those passages from the prophets where God rebuked them for their mistreatment just of widows. The point is this, God is dreadfully provoked by the mistreatment of his images, particularly the most vulnerable and weak, the most unable to defend themselves. God is dreadfully provoked by that. Widows were vulnerable to abuse, especially in legal matters at this time, but poor widows were really the people most in need along with orphaned children, children that had no one to care for them. And this block of texts that I've read here, the end of chapter 20 and the beginning of 21, it really goes together. Luke 20, verse 45 through 21, verse four are a unit of text. The chapter divisions, they're not original, as I know you all know that. What is really being emphasized in Luke 21, verses one through four, is really not the generosity of the widow, but rather the fact that she is a poor widow. And that's what I wanna try to demonstrate to you this morning. It is really a rebuke to the religious system he is confronting and warning people about and has been doing that for chapter after chapter after chapter. He's been warning people again and again and again. This religious system is evil because it loves money and it doesn't understand grace. It doesn't understand the law. It doesn't understand the path to heaven at all. Two small copper coins was, as the end of our passage, chapter 21, verse four, two small copper coins was, quote, all she had to live on, end quote. For all of the pretentious flowing robes that were supposed to exude and project this idea of piety and holiness and godliness and all of the high and lofty public greetings, oh, great father and rabbi, the sanctimonious and pretentious long prayers, the appearance of true piety and holiness here right in the middle of all of them is the end result of the religion before them, an impoverished widow. And she puts an incredibly small amount of money into one of the offering boxes. And that small amount of money was the totality of what she had to live on to feed, clothe, and shelter herself. And this is really the punch of the passage before us in Luke 21 verses one through four. So much has been written. I read so much this week on the generosity of the widow. And certainly she's to be commended for giving sacrificially. But is that really the main point of the passage? I don't think that it is. A lot of stuff on generosity, how much greater her gift was than those who gave out of their abundance. Now, it is a clear biblical principle that God loves a cheerful giver, and that we are blessed by God in order to be a blessing to others, to share what we have with others. Money and possessions are just like anything else that we have. We didn't come into the world with them. We don't take them out when we die. They're tools for the glory of God in this world. Everything you own is a tool for the glory of God. Money and possessions can subtly, very easily become idols. And the Bible contains very many stern warnings regarding the trappings of wealth and how not money itself, but the love of money. The love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. God's wisdom in Proverbs tells us this very wise prayer, Proverbs 30, verse seven. Two things I have asked of you, do not refuse me before I die. Keep deception and lies far from me. Give me neither poverty nor riches. Feed me with the food that is my portion, that I not be full and deny you and say, who is the Lord? Remember Israel did that when they got wealth and when they built big houses, they forgot about God. Who is the Lord? Or that I be in want and steal and profane the name of my God. Give me neither poverty nor riches. I don't want to be poor. I don't want to be Elon Musk either. Jesus taught us to pray, give us this day our daily bread. God's law teaches us, you shall not steal. Ownership of wealth and property is a blessing from God and something we should all take very seriously. We ought to give sacrificially and generously and not allow our eyes and our hearts to be drawn away toward wealth and things. God the Holy Spirit gives this very strict warning in Proverbs 23 verse four, do not overwork to become rich. Don't overwork to be rich. Because of your own understanding, cease. You feel yourself being pulled in that direction because you want this, you want that, you want bigger, better, whatever. Because of your understanding, cease. Don't do that. Will you set your eyes on that which is not? For riches certainly make themselves wings. They fly away like an eagle toward heaven. And Jesus taught his people where the true treasure always is. Matthew 6, 19. Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, he said. where moth and rust destroy, where thieves break in and steal. But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." Always remember, the way we live our lives, the priorities that we have, speak for us. Where are we? What do we really value? That which is a priority, that will say directly what we really are. 1 Peter 1, Peter understood the same thing. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to his abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you. Paul told Timothy, a young minister. Young people, listen. 1 Timothy 6.6, godliness with contentment is great gain, he says. For we brought nothing into this world, it is certain we can carry nothing out. And having food and clothing, with these we shall be content. But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and harmful lusts, which drown men in perdition and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows. and the Holy Spirit writing through Paul there in verse 17 of that same chapter, 1 Timothy 6, 17, command those who are rich in this present age not to be haughty, nor to trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God who gives us richly all things to enjoy. 2 Corinthians 9, 6, but this I say, he who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly. And that's not just money, it's also your time, your effort, your energy. If you sow just a little bit in evangelism, you'll reap just a little bit back. If you sow a little bit in your daily Bible study and prayer, you'll reap a little bit back. He who sows bountifully will reap bountifully. So let each one give as he purposes in his heart, not grudgingly or of necessity, for God loves a cheerful giver. There's no shortage of biblical commands to be generous. There's no shortage of biblical warnings against the idolatry that wealth and materialism can and often do lead to. We come into the world with nothing. We take nothing out of it. We are but stewards of all that we have and are and possess during our very, very short pilgrimages here. So I want to encourage you, own your things. Don't let them own you. Own your money. Don't let money own you. Contentment is, as the great purist and writer Thomas Watson called it, it's a divine art. Did you notice when you were converted, if you remember when you were converted, you didn't at that instant become content with everything in your life. You still struggled, you brought all that truckload of sin into the Christian life with you. Paul even said that contentment was something he learned. He wasn't content either. Initially, Philippians 4.11, I have learned in whatever state I am to be content. He wasn't perfectly content the moment he was converted. He had to learn to be, and we learn to be as well. And I would say this, being so blessed as we are in this country, so blessed with stuff and so blessed with comforts, we're probably the most discontent generation of grumblers and complainers in the history of time. You would think the people that have so much would just be looking at it all day going, wow, it's amazing. We can fly in airplanes at 30,000 feet. My cell phone bounces stuff off of satellites and it comes right back. And I get mad when it's not back within one second. You think we'd just be walking around all day. Everything's amazing. Everything's incredible. Everything is awesome. You saw the Lego movie too? Okay. We watched that this past Friday. So everything is awesome. So I want to warn you, watch out for the idolatry and stuff. Watch out for the idolatry of stuff. Watch out for the lies, the siren calls of money. The word of God warns us, those who desire to be rich fall into temptation and a snare and into many foolish and harmful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition. And I would say also renders them almost useless to God. If that's what we live for, if that takes hold of us, what good are we gonna be for the Lord then? If the amount given by the impoverished widow, if that really were the thrust of this passage, if that is the main point we're supposed to get, then the thing, the only application I can come up with for you is that every Sunday, you have to give everything you own every Sunday. And the reality is that we're not supposed to do that. We're not supposed to do that. If the head of a household did that, he's denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever. 1 Timothy 5, 8. But if anyone does not provide for his own, and especially for those of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever. When I was an undergraduate at Ohio University, I had a wonderful circle of Christian friends and there were some really odd ideas. I myself had some odd ideas about God back then, but I remember the story being told by one of them that they read this passage and decided to empty all their bank accounts and give all their money away to the poor people in Athens, Ohio. Thankfully, they announced this to all their friends. And then money and checks and things started appearing to them. appearing in the mailbox as if it was almost mechanical or something that God would provide. But if you give away everything you own and have to live on, the thought is God will somehow miraculously provide money for you to live on for classes and for food and for clothes and things like that. That's not very sound biblical theology really. My kids have a book that's buried somewhere in our house and it has a wonderful title. The title is, What If Everybody Did That? And it has instances where kids talk out of turn when the teacher's reading a book to the class, and instances of kids pushing grocery carts, or as I've learned, they're called buggies down here, pushing buggies around grocery stores as fast as they can and riding on them with their siblings in the cart area, and littering, and kids doing all kinds of stuff. And the book constantly has the adults asking the kids, what if everybody did that? And then it would have a picture of all the kids talking at the same time. If everybody did what you're doing, no one could hear the teacher. If everyone ran their grocery carts or their buggies all over the grocery store, there'd be wrecks everywhere and food everywhere. If everybody did what you're doing and littered, the whole world would be full of garbage. And it's sort of the same with that odd interpretation of this passage. One Christian decides to give away all they have to live on, but what if everybody did that? What if everybody did that? Who then would put the checks and envelopes and money into their mailbox? It's only because some were good stewards of their money that such people would be able to survive, right? Mark this down, make a mental note of this, Ephesians 4, 28. Let him who stole steal no longer, but rather let him work, working with his hands what is good that he may have something to give him who has need. or have something to give the person who reads Luke 21, one through four and gives away everything. Keep some for yourself so you can help them out. There's nothing wrong. In fact, there's everything right with being wise with your money and building your estate, building your wealth. But God warned the people of Israel about this in Deuteronomy 8, 18. And you shall remember the Lord, your God, for it is he who gives you power to get wealth, that he may establish his covenant, which he swore to your fathers as it is this day. God is the one who gives us the ability to gain wealth. Gaining wealth is a good thing. This paragraph from Proverbs is vitally important for people to understand, especially heads of households and people that handle the finances in their homes. Proverbs 27, 23. Listen, be diligent to know the state of your flocks. and attend to your herds. For riches are not forever, nor does a crown endure to all generations. When the hay is removed, it will be your clothing, and the goats the price of a field. You shall have enough goat's milk for your food, for the food of your household, and the nourishment of your maidservants." Knowing the state of your flocks, the state of your herds, that means knowing your monetary assets. That's what that's talking about. It was the way that wealth was described back then. Remember, Job was described as a man of tremendous wealth. How was that described? By the number of heads of various animals that he owned as well. Be diligent to know where you've got your money, how much is there, what your bills are. That way, when the needs arise, you will have what you need in order to clothe your household, to buy a field, to feed everyone, and to be generous to others who have real needs. Now notice Ephesians 4.28 does not say, be diligent to give away everything you own. It says, be diligent to know, or Proverbs 27, verse 23 to 27, be diligent to know the state of your flocks, not give away everything you own every week. We're to give generously, so generously. And remember where all of our strengths, our abilities, and our wealth ultimately comes from. It comes from God and God alone. We are but stewards of everything, absolutely everything. Our time that we live, our days of health that we have, our God-given talents and abilities, and our money. Everything we have, we have from God. And this is why pride has no place in the life of God's children. Pride about what? Everything that we are, everything about us, everything we're good at, everything we possess, our discipline, our work ethic, our strengths. What do we have that we did not receive? Nothing. And why do we boast at times or have our heads swell with pride as if we didn't receive everything that we have and everything that we are? Sin is irrational and so is sinful pride. There's so very much that can and ought to be preached from the Word of God on stewardship of money, stewardship of everything else that God entrusts into our hands. Remember the parable of the minas that we looked at there earlier in Luke? That's really about the gifts that are sown for the kingdom of Christ, the gospel that we're given. How are we investing the gospel? What did we do with that? Remember the parable of the talents. Some get one, some get two, others get five. The more talents we have, the more of a return the Lord expects to get from us at his return. But the notion that Luke 21, one through four is primarily a moral lesson in which we're supposed to give away absolutely everything that we own, I think is simply not the point. Chapter divisions are usually good. They're usually helpful in scripture, but sometimes I think they can distort what it means. And I wanted to do the first half of my message to you on what scripture teaches about finances, so it would be clear that finding application in Luke 21, one through four to that subject really isn't what we're supposed to do here. There's everything good about sacrificial giving, generosity, but if principles of giving are the main point of Luke 21, one through four, then all I can see in terms of application would be always, every time, give away everything that you have to live on, 100% of it. And that's clearly not a biblical principle as we've seen. Be diligent to know the state of your flocks so that you have something to give others, so you have something to share with others. The passage before us gives us two things. Number one, greater condemnation upon pretentious religious leaders that perpetuate poverty among poor windows. It sounds like the title of a Puritan book, doesn't it? greater condemnation upon pretentious religious leaders that perpetuate poverty among poor widows. And secondly, a sad illustration of what corrupt religion produces. So let's look at verses 45 to 47 here in Luke 20. And while all the people were listening, he said to the disciples, beware of the scribes. who like to walk around in long robes and love respectful greetings in the marketplaces and chief seats in the synagogues and places of honor at banquets, who devour widows' houses and for appearances sake offer long prayers. These will receive greater condemnation. The first thing that needs to be recognized here is that being a scribe did not necessitate that one be pretentious, evil, or hypocritical. When you see the word scribe in the New Testament, you almost assume that's part of the job description. If you're corrupt, evil, and horrible, great, you can be a scribe. But there were actually good scribes. There were good scribes in the Old Testament. For example, Ezra. Ezra was a scribe. Ezra 7, 6 describes him as a skilled scribe in the law of Moses, which the Lord God of Israel had given. And in the book of Nehemiah, we meet Ezra again, and he reads the book of the law and the site of all the gathered people as they celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles after rebuilding the wall and the return from exile. And they engage in national repentance for all their sins and for all their father's sins. The following verse is wonderful and encouraging. Historically speaking about what a scribe was supposed to be doing. Nehemiah 8, 8, listen. So they read distinctly from the book in the law of God and they gave the sense and helped them to understand the reading. That's what scribes are supposed to do. That's what pastors and elders are supposed to do as well. Open the word of God and give the sense and help people understand what they're reading. In Jesus's day, the scribes were primarily made up of Pharisees. Most of them were Pharisees. And the scribes were seen as interpreters of the law of Moses. And they were also experts on the writings and traditions of the great rabbis down through the ages. It was the scribes whose interpretations of the law resulted in the legalistic system of works righteousness that was followed by the Pharisee party. Scribes were the ones that were referred to as rabbi. They were really the most prestigious of all the different groups. They were very much held in reverence by all the people of Israel because they were so knowledgeable of the content of Scripture. If you started a verse, they could complete it for you, even from the most obscure parts of Leviticus and Numbers. They were the men who had the answers to people's questions, and it must have angered them greatly When Jesus introduces them as, you see verse 46, beware of the scribes. I mean, the scribes are standing right there. And he's saying, beware of these guys, followed by very critical things to say about them. And the fact of the matter was simple in Jesus' thinking, here it is. You know why he was like that towards them? If you believed what the scribes taught about God, about heaven, You're gonna die on your sins under God's just condemnation. Always remember this, dear congregation, this again and again, as I've worked through Luke in painstaking detail, Jesus was a passionate, vehement, uncompromising opponent of false religion. And if we would be his disciples, we have to be too. And in our culture of ironic, peaceful coexistence where everybody's right in their own way and nobody's ever really wrong, we're just misunderstood. That's not gonna go over well with nearly everyone outside the church and sadly, many within the church as well. Any group that you and I are willing to stand up and say, beware of blank, I just wanna warn you, get ready for some pushback. Jesus got pushback, we will too. The scribes and the Pharisees were what Paul called Satan's ministers in 2 Corinthians 11. They masquerade as ministers of righteousness and as angels of light, but all of their spirituality was fake and Jesus called it that. It's pretentious. They're acting. They're pretending. They were in it for the money. They devoured and destroyed widows' houses, we're told. They enjoyed the prestige they were given by men, and they cared nothing for the God that they pretended to know and represent. They liked the chief seats in the synagogues and the places of honor at banquets. Everything for them was about the show. They wanted their due before men, but their hearts were so very far from God. They drew near only with their lips, but their hearts were far from the Lord, being cold, dead, hardened, unregenerate. And that's why Jesus warned people about the scribes. The scribes were very dangerous people, very dangerous people. What would be more dangerous than a person who looks, acts, sounds, walks, and talks like they're a sure guide to heaven, when as a matter of fact, they're sure guides only for hell? Could a person be more dangerous than that? What was true then continues to be true today. The unbelieving world has posted a giant blinking neon sign over the path to hell, and that sign says, heaven ahead. Many believe it. And Jesus warned people about it and those who pointed people to go towards it. If we are quiet about such things, shame on us. If we refuse to denounce false gospels and false doctrine that lead to damnation, that lead to the overthrow of biblical authority, in what way then are we loving God or our neighbor? About the scribes of his day, Jesus goes on to say, in Matthew's gospel, there's a much longer account of the woes. Matthew 23, 27. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites. You are like whitewashed tombs, which endeared appear beautiful outwardly, but inside are full of dead men's bones and all uncleanness. Can you imagine how offended they were by this? The Bible answer men of the time, Jesus sees them, beware of the scribes who like to walk around in long robes, verse 46b says, and then verse 47, and love respectful greetings in the marketplaces. You know, they made those tassels. The Old Testament, Numbers 15 has the robes that the scribes wore, had tassels on them. But in Jesus' day, they made them obnoxiously long in a very pretentious way. They love to walk around in these gaudy garments, so people will think they're super duper pious. And they love respectful greetings in the marketplace. One of the things I learned this week looking at some of the sources and reading Alfred Edersheim's The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah, looking at quotations from the Midrash and the Mishnah, the Talmudic sources, I just wrote on my notes here, scribal honor equals crazy. Listen to some of this. What the historical sources tell us about these greetings and about the honor given to these men, it's hard to believe. It's hard to read it. The Mishnah, which is a written source of Jewish oral traditions, actually says, this is a direct quote, it is more culpable to transgress the words of the scribes than those of the Torah, of the Bible. You get in more trouble for transgressing the words of a scribe than the very word of God itself. Alfred Edersheim quotes, here's a quotation from his book. So weighty was the duty of respectful salutation by the title rabbi that to neglect it would involve the heaviest punishment. In some respect, they were held to be higher than kings, end quote. These rabbis ordered people to bury them in white garments so they'd be worthy of standing before God after death. One tradition even tells the story, listen, one tradition tells the story of a disagreement between God himself and the academy on a question concerning the laws about purity. And you guessed it, a rabbi was summoned to settle the dispute. And I'm sure that God was biting his nails, hoping he'd side with them. The scribes also wanted the people to call them father, rabbi, father, and there's nothing new about that either. See what the verse goes on to say at the end of verse 46. And chief seats in the synagogues and places of honor at banquets. The rabbinic writings, the traditions, they spell out these elaborate directions on how seating was to take place and who was supposed to sit where to show their scholarly attainments and their piety and everything else. And there was a real problem here with entitlement and what people thought that they were owed based on their positions. So these men love the greetings in public places in front of people. They loved the best seats at the synagogues and banquets to be seen by men. But the clearest evidence of their hypocrisy is verse 47. You see it? Jesus says, who devour widows' houses and for appearances sake offer long prayers. Remember what we learned earlier about the religious leaders from Jesus in Luke 16, 13? Listen, no servant can serve two masters. You see, these men were obsessed with money. They were in it for the money, for the long robes, for the best seats, for the pride, the prestige, for the wealth. Jesus said to them, you guys cannot serve two masters. You will hate the one and love the other, or else you'll be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money. Now, the Pharisees, who were lovers of money, also heard these things and they derided him." The ultimate proof of that love of money was their devouring of widow's houses, the last assets of poverty stricken widows. They consumed them, it says, they devoured them. What little the poor widows had, they took even that. Remember these scribes, they were well aware of all these passages from the Torah. Listen, Exodus 22, 22, you shall not afflict any widow. Says the Lord. Deuteronomy 10, 18. He administers justice for the fatherless and the widow. Deuteronomy 27, 19. One of the covenant curses that God would have the entire assembled congregation shout amen to when they heard it read. Deuteronomy 27, 19. Cursed is the one who perverse the justice through the stranger, the fatherless and widow. And all the people shall say amen. Jeremiah 22 3 thus says the Lord execute judgment and righteousness and deliver the plundered out of the hand of the oppressor do no wrong and do no violence to the stranger the fatherless or the widow What are we learning from this? Knowledge of Scripture while that's it's a wonderful thing. It doesn't save anybody Knowing your Bible backward and forward it certainly doesn't hurt, but it will not save you knowing Scripture Being able to exposit it accurately and obeying it are real different things. What good does it do a person to know the voice of God speaking in scripture, to understand what it means if it does not impact us and our regenerated hearts? It will only result in greater condemnation, is what Jesus is saying here. Human beings are images of God. That's why God is offended when any image of God is mistreated. The way we treat people is taken notice of directly by God, especially the way that we treat the people that we are the most called to love, like our spouse, like our children, our church family, and the weakest and the most vulnerable in society. You know, Paul spoke of love in such a convicting and memorable way. It's a passage that's always read at weddings, but it should be read every day. He said, though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become a sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. Why is Paul writing this? Because he at one time was a Pharisee himself. He was at one time knew the content of the Torah. He knew the Old Testament backwards and forwards. He could quote it. He was a prestigious rabbi in his own right, but he knew that there was no true love in his heart because his heart was hard and unregenerate. He says, it doesn't matter if I can speak in the tongues of men or of angels. If I don't have love, I'm nothing. And though I have the gift of prophecy and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. And here he's talking about love for people, for human beings, for images of God. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing. Love suffers long and is kind. Love does not envy, does not parade itself, is not puffed up, it does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil, does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth, bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails. But how many times have the love of the scribes and the Pharisees and the religious establishment failed its most impoverished members, the widows? How often has the love that we owe to the images of God around us, to our neighbors, how often has our love failed? How often has our love failed for our spouse, for our kids, for our church family? A lot. Jesus loved us to the end, we're told in John 13. Jesus suffered long with each of us and is always kind. He bears all things with us, does he not? And how little do we bear with others? Paul wrote in Philippians 2.6 about Jesus, who being in the form of God did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of man, and being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. He who alone has the right, the eternal right to all praise, honor, glory, majesty, love, adoration, and fame out of love for us miserable wretches. took the form of a bond servant, a slave, to suffer and die in our place so that we who have no right to anything but damnation and the curse of God would be redeemed and have everlasting salvation. God who loved so freely, so fully, so infinitely, and we love so sparingly. We still have the unmitigated audacity, the gull to assert what we think we deserve, what we think we're entitled to. If I know every doctrine of the Christian faith perfectly, and I can defend the truth of God on every subject the Bible covers, and I can read it in its original languages, and my exegesis is flawless, but I have not love, I am nothing. I am nothing. These scribes didn't see it before God, because that law had not penetrated their heart and showed them the need for a Messiah, a Savior, to die in their place, for their own Passover lamb to save them. They were nothing too. understood all mysteries and all knowledge, had all the content in their minds, could answer everybody's questions, could complete all the Bible verses, would get an A plus in Bible trivia, they did not have love. And so they were nothing. The Spirit of God still had not done that work in their hearts. What about widows? What about our spouse? What about our kids? What about our brothers and sisters in our church? Do our concerns day in and day out, do they extend beyond ourselves, beyond our noses, our own interests? Remember Paul's great application of the consolation that we have in Christ. He says from a prison cell, Philippians 2.1, therefore, if there is any consolation in Christ, if there's any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and mercy, fulfill my joy by being like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord of one mind. And then he says, let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind, let each esteem others better than himself. What's the church killer, the marriage killer, the relationship killer? Selfishness. Not really putting yourself in the shoes of someone else. How much do each of us have yet to learn about being like Christ? A lot. And aren't you glad he bled and died even for our Christian failure? All we can do is be thankful for the cross. All we have is Christ. Without the gospel, where would we be? In light of all this information about scribes and what we know the rest of scripture teaches about stewardship of money, being generous, and how the devouring of widows' households is really the apex of Jesus's criticism of the scribes. Now look at verses one through four of Luke 21, one through four. And he looked up and saw the rich putting their gifts into the treasury. And he saw a poor widow putting in two small copper coins. And he said, truly I say to you, this poor widow put in more than all of them, for they out of their surplus put into the offering, but she out of her poverty put in all that she had to live on. That should have caused them to gasp. How could a widow be reduced to two small copper coins? The main point here is that this widow, that's all she's got to live on. That's the point. That's the end result of this corrupt religion. The rich get richer on the backs of poor people. The rich put in out of their abundance. And that's not necessarily a bad thing. But a human being, an image of God, a widow who is already very poor, puts in two small copper coins, which is all she's got to provide for herself, shelter, food, and clothing. And this is why the end of verse 47 there in the previous chapter says, these will receive greater condemnation. It's about the abuse of images of God. It's the will of God that his people take care of one another, that we look out for other people. We look out for each other, for God's people. In the court, where people are dressed in long flowing robes and are rich, how could there be something like this? How could there be a poor widow, someone who is this destitute, that all they've got to live on are these two small copper coins? because the corrupted, money-loving, works-righteousness, outwardly showy, false religion which had taken over most of Israel, it did not, and it could not change people's hearts to have real love for anyone but themselves. That was the problem. False religions, false gospels always lead to an utterly self-centered piety. Always. You can call the religion anything you want. If it's a form of works righteousness, it will lead to utter self-centeredness. Dateline, the news program, expose, investigative journalism program, did an expose on one of the most notorious false teachers alive on earth today, a man named Benny Hinn. Benny Hinn travels the world over, staying in $10,000 a night hotels, living like a king, on the love offerings that he's built from poor people, from desperate people all over the world. People who have terrible sadness because of sick children, sick loved ones. And at some of Benny Hinn's stadium crusades, and they pack these stadiums out with people, where he does things like pretends to throw the Holy Spirit at entire sections of the stadium and everybody passes out and shakes. Dateline sent cameras and film crews to one of these crusades. And the people who make it up onto the stage are very carefully screened by Benny Hinn's staff. When they get up there on stage to get their miracles, there's certain people they would never allow onto the stage. What Henn's TV crews don't show you, however, on TBM, they don't show you the people in the back, and they don't show you the people in the shadows of those stadiums, cradling sick and dying small children, infants, husbands holding dying wives, wives holding dying husbands, dying loved ones, with tear-stained faces, hoping somehow if they give enough money, maybe Benny Henn will heal them. And they leave heartbroken, wondering if God let their loved one die because they didn't have enough faith, they didn't give enough money, or because God really doesn't love them. And Dateline also showed, and this is the part that made me think of this passage, Dateline also showed hundreds, thousands of opened envelopes with handwritten prayer requests on them, with all of the money and the checks taken out of them and the paper prayer requests discarded in the trash. Not much has changed, has it? You see verse 46 of chapter 20 again, you see it? This is why Jesus said, beware of the scribes, who desire to go around in long robes, who love greetings in the marketplaces, the best seats in the synagogues, and the best places at feasts, who devour widows' houses, and for a pretense make long prayers. And then you see verse four of chapter 21, the very last part of verse four, but she out of her poverty put in all the livelihood she had. That's why such individuals will receive greater condemnation. Indeed they will. Jesus despised false religion and denounced very forcefully all who believed in it and promoted it and was dreadfully provoked by those who suffered at the hands of it, like that poor widow. And we, if we care about the glory of God and the eternal destinies of people, we have to oppose the very same kinds of ideas and doctrines. And we need to give until it hurts. And we need to give generously of our money. We need to give generously of our energy. We need to give generously of our time. We need to put the needs and interests of others ahead of our own. and truly live like the Lord Jesus did who laid his life down for others. All the while, I promise you though, you're gonna feel like you're falling short because you always will fall short. And that's why our only hope of heaven is always, no matter how well we're following Christ, no matter how much progress we make in sanctification, our hope of heaven always rests only on the blood and righteousness of Jesus Christ. Let's close in prayer. Father in heaven, thank you for the love of the Lord Jesus. We thank you for his strong opposition. to false religion, and we pray that we would give generously of our time, of our talents, the abilities that we have, and of our money, that we would share with those in need. That we'd be diligent to know our own affairs, our own estates, and that we would love our neighbor in that way. We thank you for the gospel. We thank you that Christ is our savior, that he is our risen Lord and redeemer. We bless your name that he died for all of our sins, for all the ways that we fail to love those most in need. And we pray that every day we grow closer to Christ, not farther, and that our love would more and more and more mirror his own as we die more and more unto self and live more and more as Christ lives in us. We ask in Jesus' name, amen.