Well, it's good to see those of you who are here. Good job, brave in the snow. It's great to have you here and I trust and be praying that God takes you home safe.
We find ourselves this morning in Luke chapter 20. We're going to be picking this up in verse 41 and it's going to take us to Luke chapter 21 verse 4.
Just to set some context for where we are, we've been spending some time kind of looking through this final week of Jesus' life and ministry.
This is the Passion Week. We picked it up on a Friday as Jesus is making his way into Jericho and the interaction that he has with the blind men that are there,
the interaction that he has with Zacchaeus and then that group of individuals are making their way up to Jerusalem on a Saturday.
And then on a Sunday, Jesus is making his triumphal entry into Jerusalem. And then we find ourselves on Monday that Jesus is cleansing the temple.
And then on Tuesday and Wednesday, he's teaching. He's made it a point to address these crowds. He's made it a point to extend to them the grace of God through the Word of God.
But just for a moment, with me marvel at the wonder of God's kindness to continue to make himself accessible to the very people that were going to kill him on Friday.
Here he is extending his very person. He's accessible. He's near. He's available for their questions.
He's fielding the criticism of these religious leaders. He's instructing them from the Scriptures.
He's extending himself an invitation, trying to make the truth of the Word of God clear to them so they will hear it.
They will receive it and they'll know without a shadow of a doubt who he is.
His identity is clear through these final days of his life.
And we find again the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ extending himself again to these individuals again here at the temple.
And we find these many facets this morning of God's grace.
Three little stories, three little pieces, snippets of this day.
And it doesn't seem apparent at first what is really going on and how these pieces connect together.
But that God is extending his goodness, his grace to those who are there.
And that's what I want to just kind of draw your attention to this morning.
The different facets, the different aspects of God's kindness to various individuals that he encounters here on this day here in the temple.
I wonder if maybe you've ever asked yourself the question,
How did I miss that?
You ever ask yourself the question, How did I miss that?
It was so obvious. It was so clear.
And I missed it. How did I miss it?
And maybe you were putting together a piece of furniture.
Or maybe you were trying to fix your car.
Or maybe something that required some instructions and a recipe.
And it just didn't turn out the way it was supposed to turn out.
And you look back at the instructions like, What did I miss?
How did I miss that?
And you look at those instructions and there it was in bold.
And it was numbered. It was clear.
And somehow it escaped your attention.
Well, I had an experience like that several years ago when I was in my first year at seminary.
I was in a hermeneutics class.
And hermeneutics just basically is a study of interpretation.
Interpreting the Bible.
And my professor had kind of built up.
There were two assignments.
Two main papers that were due.
One at the middle and one at the end of the semester.
And he built these papers up to be,
If you don't do well on this paper, you should not be a pastor.
I go, Wow, this is really important.
I got to get this right.
I got to work hard.
I got to follow the instructions.
And so I worked on this for weeks.
I poured my heart and life into this paper.
And there were two sections of instructions on how to do this.
One at the beginning of the syllabus.
And one towards the end of the instructions section.
And so I read those instructions.
I followed them to the T.
I had the right length.
I had the right content.
I had the right number of scholarly sources.
I used the right number of interpretive elements.
I had the right format.
I turned it in on time.
And to my surprise and utter dismay,
I got the paper back, D minus.
D minus!
What in the world was I missing?
So I called the professor.
And we talked it through.
And come to find out there was a formatting issue.
Everything was intact.
All of the things were in place.
It was a formatting issue.
And because of a formatting issue,
I got a D minus.
I'm like, well, where were the instructions for that?
And so going back in the day, the early 2000s,
the syllabuses did not come out electronically.
You got a physical copy of that syllabus.
And it was printed by the library.
And I received my syllabus.
And come to find out, I was missing a page.
A page of my syllabus was missing from the library that printed this for me.
And I could not know because it was at the end of a section that went from myrman numerals to enumeration.
One, two, three, four, five.
Now just because the instructions were not captured for me in my copy of the syllabus,
I was still responsible for the standards, the expectations of the paper.
And so while it may seem to be impossible for me to meet the expectations
because they were hidden from me,
it didn't mean that those expectations were still not in place.
And I was still accountable for them.
And while it seemed unfair because those instructions were hidden,
I was still accountable to meet the expectations that were written.
God, in this final week, is making the instructions clear.
God, by His grace, is extending truth.
And throughout His ministry, He's made it so clear, so evident, so obvious.
And the testimony of Scripture is that it's a testimony of God giving us everything that we need,
as 2 Peter says, for life and godliness.
All the instructions are there.
All the words, all the truths, nothing is hidden from view.
It's all available.
It's all accessible.
The question is, will you read it?
Will you know it?
But we also need to realize that just because the truths are shared,
just like they were from Christ's ministry,
through the teaching of His words and through the evidence of His works,
His miracles,
it was still hidden from view from these religious leaders,
and it was still hidden from view from many of those who were listening and watching Christ as He taught.
You see, even though we have access to truth,
we can still miss it.
We can still miss it because we need the Spirit to help inform our hearts
and to bring the blinders down, as it were,
and to reveal in us the truths that only the Spirit can reveal.
Paul says to the church of Corinth in 1 Corinthians 2, verses 13 and 14,
he's communicating this when he says,
and we impart this in words.
He's speaking about the gospel.
Not taught by human wisdom, but taught by the Spirit.
Interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual.
The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God,
for they are folly to him.
And he is not able to understand them
because they are spiritually discerned.
So even this morning, as we enter our time of looking into the Word of God,
the only way for the Word of God to have its impact in our life
is for the Spirit to do His work.
His truth, however accessible, however clear, however direct,
in order for it to have its way in your heart, you need the Spirit.
I'm just going to pray briefly that God will do this for us.
We're going to invite the Holy Spirit to have His way
as we work through this passage together.
Lord, thank you that you've made your Word clear.
Thank you that it's direct and accessible.
But, oh Lord, we understand that even in what seems a very simple task,
that we need the help of your Holy Spirit,
because natural men cannot receive the things of the Spirit of God,
their foolishness to us,
unless we have the help of your Spirit directing, informing,
convicting, and helping us as we seek to know what you say.
So, Father, I pray that you would graciously meet us,
even in these moments,
as we dive into the Scriptures.
I pray that we would not just be hearers of the Word,
but doers of it.
In Jesus' name, amen.
We're going to see three different aspects of God's grace
through Jesus Christ,
these gifts that He is imparting to those listeners here at the temple.
The first is the gift of God's Word.
The gift of God's Word.
We see that in verses 41 to 44.
Notice with me.
By the way, we're in Luke chapter 20.
If you're using the Pew Bible,
it's on page 880.
I trust you're following along with us.
It says this.
This is Jesus.
He said to them,
How can they say that the Christ is David's son?
For David himself says in the book of Psalms,
The Lord said to my Lord,
Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool.
David thus calls him Lord.
So, how is He his son?
The question may seem a little out of place.
If you're kind of following along with us,
and you've been with us along these several weeks,
you'll realize that Jesus has been answering some questions.
We saw that last week.
He answered some questions of the Pharisees and Sadducees.
To the Pharisees who asked Him about the coin.
Should we pay taxes to Caesar, right?
And in Luke chapter 20 verse 25,
He says,
Give to God the things that are God.
Give to Caesar the things that are Caesar's.
And then for those Sadducees who asked Him a question about the resurrection,
the thrust or the focus of Jesus' answer is found in verse 38.
He says,
It's a question of belonging.
It's a question of what are you living for?
It's a question of value and treasure.
Where is the direction of your life?
What is the focus of your priorities?
Where is your life driving to in the present moment?
And where will it end up in the future day?
And now this question that Jesus asks about the identity of the Christ,
is He the Son of David?
It almost seems out of place.
But I think this is what's going on here.
Jesus is giving the gift of truth.
Jesus is seeking to help pull down the last two obstacles that the scribes and the Pharisees
and the Sadducees have about the identity of Jesus.
He is speaking to these individuals who are the elite thinkers in Jerusalem.
He's making them really look silly, as it were,
by answering their questions and doing it right in the midst of the people.
So now Jesus is taking the initiative.
He's silenced the chief priests.
He's silenced the Sadducees.
And now He's taking the initiative to ask them a question.
He's speaking to the heart of the issue.
What is the core of their inability in believing in Jesus?
It was His claim to be God.
That's what's at the heart of their problem,
their issue that they're struggling with.
You see, this had been their question throughout His public ministry.
It really came to a head,
and we see it really front and center in John chapter 6, verses 41 and 42.
The Jews grumbled about Him because He said,
I am the bread that came down from heaven.
They said, is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph,
whose father and mother we know?
How does He now say,
I have come down from heaven?
You can appreciate the struggle.
I think all of us who have a theological underpinning,
we can recognize that there are some things that Jesus was saying
that seem so out of place.
God is eternal after all.
God is not born.
God has no beginning or end.
And if Jesus was born,
and Jesus is from Joseph,
then how can He be from heaven?
Add to that the clear teaching of the Old Testament,
that God is one.
And in the Shema,
this part of the Scripture
that was built into the knowledge
and the fabric of Judaism,
in Deuteronomy chapter 6, 4 and 5.
Hear, O Israel,
the Lord our God,
the Lord is one.
You shall love the Lord your God
with all your heart,
with all your soul,
with all your might.
And here Jesus is making Himself
to be equal with God.
Jesus is saying He's from heaven.
How can it be that God is one
and that now Jesus claims to be God,
but He's speaking of coming from a Father?
John chapter 10, verses 33,
kind of brings this to the forefront.
The Jews answered Him,
It is not for a good work
that we're going to stone you,
but for blasphemy,
because you being a man,
make yourself God.
That, of course, was the problem.
So we've got to appreciate the struggle
that these religious thinkers were having.
Those who were entrusted
with the doctrines of the people
and seeking to help,
to guide them in correct theology.
And this concept of Jesus coming from heaven,
that He was also born,
and that He was equal with the Father,
it broke every piece of their doctrine.
It made their mind hurt.
They couldn't wrap their heads
around how this was even possible.
So Jesus,
with a desire to overcome this obstacle,
uses the gift of Scripture.
He uses the Word of God.
The very Word, by the way,
that they had attached
to messianic fulfillment,
fulfillment,
Jesus is going to use
that verse,
He's going to apply it
to this situation,
and He's going to make it
so clear to them
that they,
at this point,
never ask Him a question again.
Because they know the answer.
The answer is clear,
and yet it just shatters.
It shatters everything
about their theology.
Jesus pulls from Psalm 110,
and He deals with both
of these theological issues simultaneously.
First, He deals with this issue
of monotheism,
which of course the Lord is one,
and that is not disputed here,
but Jesus is trying to help them
get their heads around the fact
that while God is one,
there is this triune nature of God,
these persons of God,
the Father, the Son,
the Holy Spirit,
that they had no concept of.
And yet here it is,
in Psalm 110.
Here is this truth
that is clear.
It's unmistakable.
And in this Psalm,
it begins with,
the Lord said to my Lord,
sit at my right hand.
And this first word for Lord,
we're not ready for this slide,
by the way.
This first word for Lord
is the word Yahweh.
It's the word that's used
throughout the Old Testament
to speak of God
as the covenant keeper,
the God who's preeminent
over His people.
And then this Lord,
Yahweh,
is speaking to a Lord
who the word is Adonai.
It's the word for master.
And here we find both names
that are present.
Both clearly represent God.
Because God says to the Lord,
sit at my right hand
until I make your enemies
your footstool.
This right hand was a hand of power,
a hand of authority.
I'm going to make your enemies
your footstool,
which means I'm going to give you
this honor.
I'm going to allow you
to exercise power,
which of course is a right
that's only reserved to God
and God alone.
This truth would have dismantled
their conventional thinking
about God.
Yes, God was one.
But He was one God
represented in this way
of Yahweh speaking to the Lord.
Somehow,
the persons of this Trinity
even show up here
in Psalm 110.1.
And so,
because He was this way,
He existed
from before the foundation
of the world.
He possessed the same essence,
the exercise,
the same power.
And we see
at least a glimpse
of this captured for us
in Psalm 110.1.
So,
it deals with their concept
of the oneness of God,
but also deals with
the issue of headship
and authority.
Inherent in the Jewish mind
was that the Father
was the head of the family.
And as the head of the family,
He was preeminent.
He was the ultimate.
He was the most important.
And so,
sons would call
their father Lord.
Fathers would not call
their sons Lord.
And yet,
that is exactly
what is happening
here in our text.
This was an issue
of succession
in the mind
of the Jew.
That those who
came from the head
then served the head.
They were the ones
who carried on
the name of the head
and served the purposes
of the head.
And so,
everything traced back
to that starting point.
We see
in the religious leader's
question
of Jesus
six months earlier,
the same kind
of question
that comes up
in John 8,
verse 53.
Are you greater
than our father Abraham
who died?
Speaking all the way
to the beginning
of the people,
Abraham,
which was kind
of the preeminent figure
of this people,
this nation.
So,
who is this Lord
in Psalm 110?
Well,
of course,
he is the Christ,
the Messiah.
And we see
the traces of that
in the rest of this psalm,
particularly in Psalm 110,
verse 2,
in Psalm 10,
verse 5.
It speaks about
what the Lord will do.
The Lord sends forth
from Zion,
your mighty scepter.
Rule in the midst
of all your enemies.
The Lord is at your right hand.
He will shatter kings
on the day of his wrath.
This was the fulfillment
of the promise
that had been given
to David
about his future son,
this Messiah,
this Christ figure.
And the Pharisees
and scribes
and chief priests
who were all present
understood
this very truth.
So,
they're not providing
any pushback,
any resistance,
because Jesus
is speaking in a way
that they agree.
They know this is speaking
of this messianic figure,
but they had never
conceived of the fact
that David is referring
to him as
my Lord.
He's my Lord
as David is writing
this psalm.
Connection is this,
that while the fulfillment
of this psalm
is messianic,
it speaks here
of Christ,
the Messiah,
who is presented
both as David's son
and as David's Lord.
Thus,
he's fully God
and fully man,
a concept which would
have broken
their theology.
It was mind-blowing.
It broke
the way
they viewed God,
but because
of their hearts
were unwilling
to be teachable,
they could not receive
the truth
that Jesus
was sharing.
Jesus graciously
offers them
the gift of the Scripture,
the very Scriptures
they even knew
and embraced,
and yet they still
could not receive it.
Aren't we so much
like the Pharisees
at times?
That God has graciously
given us his Word,
that his instructions
are clear to us.
They're not hidden,
they're not missing,
they're not too sophisticated,
they're written
in simple language.
He's given us
everything that we need
for life and godliness,
but in order to enjoy
this gift of God's Word,
there are three things
that need to be true.
First, we need to be
those who are in the Word.
We need to be those
who are in the Word,
reading the Word,
listening to the Word,
studying the Word,
meditating on the Word,
as the psalmist says,
day and night.
And then you'll be like
a tree that's planted
by rivers of water.
Be those who see
the Word of God
as David did,
more precious than gold.
The kind of Word
that is sweeter
than honey in the honeycomb.
We need to be those,
first of all,
who are in the Word of God
and receive this gift
of God's grace.
Do you realize
that you can have
as much of God's grace
as you want?
Just open up the book.
Read the Word.
Enjoy the grace
that God has given to you.
He's entrusted to you.
He's dispensed to you
through the Scriptures.
But second,
we need to be those
who ask God for help
in understanding the Word.
Those who ask the Spirit
to do the work
of informing our hearts.
1 John 2, verse 27 says,
but the anointing
that you receive from Him,
it abides in you.
And you need,
not that anyone should teach you,
but as His anointing teaches you
about everything
and is true
and is no lie,
just as it has taught you,
you abide in Him.
This is speaking of the Spirit.
The Spirit's work
in the heart
of every true believer
to make His Word clear,
to apply it to your life,
to take those truths
and to sift through them,
to make them available to you
so that you know
what He's saying
and you can apply it
to your life.
And that's the third thing.
Not just reading,
not just asking for help,
but obeying it.
We see that in James,
chapter 1, verse 22.
Be doers of the Word
and not hearers only,
deceiving yourselves.
Allow the Word,
this gift of God's grace,
allow it to not only
inform your heart,
but allow it to change your life.
This gift of God's grace
extended through His Word
and here Jesus is,
a couple of days away
from His crucifixion,
continuing to extend
this gift of grace
through His Word.
And now Jesus
will transition
from this teaching moment
to a warning moment.
And that's where we get
to the next gift,
this gift of God's warning.
Not just of His Word,
but of His warning.
And God throughout
the Scriptures
has graciously warned us
about the things
that He wants to keep us from,
those things that are going
to hurt us,
and He's warned us
to stay away
from those individuals
who will shipwreck our faith.
That's what He's doing here
in verses 20,
or chapter 20,
verses 45 to 47.
It says,
in the hearing of all the people,
He said to His disciples.
So now Jesus is turning
His attention to His disciples.
He wants them to recognize
that the Word that is coming
now is a Word that's going
to help inform their understanding.
He says this,
Beware of the scribes
who like to walk around
in long robes
and love greetings
in the marketplace
and the best seats
in the synagogue
and the places of honor
at the feasts,
who devour widows' houses
and for a pretense
make long prayers.
They will receive
the greater condemnation.
This warning
that God is now giving
to future leaders,
to His apostles,
those who are going
to help lay the foundation
for this church,
this new church age.
And they're going
to take the place
of these religious leaders
who have been entrusted
with that responsibility
here in the first century,
who are unfaithful
with the task.
And now Jesus
is warning His disciples
of the kinds of leaders
they need to be.
Jesus addresses
this telltale sign
of ineffective,
false leaders.
and it narrows in
on one thing,
their pride.
We see their pride
throughout each
of these six characteristics.
They're drawing attention
to themselves.
They love their popularity.
They seek the most
prominent places.
They serve their own purposes
regardless of who
they hurt in the process.
They flaunt their spirituality
through their long prayers.
They, in one word,
are proud.
They only care about themselves.
It's a dangerous trap.
This self-affirming trap
that Jesus identifies
as a clear flag
of false teachers.
We find these six characteristics here.
They walk around
in long robes.
These long, flowing robes
were part of their fancy,
expensive wardrobe.
It was meant to
kind of set them apart
to distinguish themselves.
Kind of like the
coat of many colors
distinguished Joseph
from his brothers.
These long, flowing robes
that they wore
wherever they walked.
They're like,
oh, there's a rabbi.
There's so-and-so.
There's the Pharisee.
There's the religious guy.
And these long, flowing robes
also had tassels
at the bottom.
These tassels
were extra long
to show their own spirituality,
to boast about
their closeness
and proximity to God.
They also love
these greetings
in the marketplace.
They love to be addressed
in public.
They love when people
notice them.
They love to be called
the teacher,
the rabbi.
They also love
the best seats
in the synagogue.
Those seats that were up close.
Those seats that were prominent.
Those seats that
distinguish them
from the rest.
They wanted to be
the center of attention.
This position of distinction.
And then they also love
these places of honor
at the feast.
They wanted to be invited
and they wanted
the best place
at the table,
which was the spot
that was closest
to the host.
They wanted to be honored.
It's the right-hand man.
But then this.
They devour
widows' houses.
This word for devour
is a Greek word.
It's an intense
Greek word that calls
attention to eating
or consuming
or devouring completely.
They're taking advantage
of the weakest
individual among them.
They're going to do
whatever it takes
to line their own pockets
to serve themselves.
The temple authorities
were those who managed
the property of widows.
Those who were
widowed would then
entrust their property
to these managers
and those authorities,
those temple authorities
would then take advantage
by charging exorbitant fees.
Pharisees didn't care.
It was a way for them
to collect on their position.
They felt that they were
worthy of such payment.
And finally,
they make long prayers.
The idea is that the scribes
give the appearance
of piety,
but they're not actually pious.
And you remember
the parable
of the tax collector
and the Pharisee
who's praying in the temple.
And what does he do?
Well, he's praying in public
and he lifts up his arms
and he says,
thank you that I'm not like
that guy over there.
He wants to draw attention
to how prominent
and spiritual he is.
But in all of his efforts
to demonstrate his spirituality,
it's actually having
the opposite effect.
And that's what Jesus
wants to warn
his disciples about.
Humility,
not pride,
needs to be the focus,
the center
of a person
who loves the Lord.
And Jesus has consistently
confronted these religious leaders
for these various issues.
Pride and their self-centeredness
should be the flashing signs
and neon lights
that help us to see
the warning signs
from God stay away.
Do not listen.
These false teachers
are the same in every age.
Always accompanied by
this striving for financial gain
that we see in them.
Like your best life now.
Send in $100
and you'll begin the seed
of having more for yourself.
God will multiply it.
God doesn't work that way.
But you wouldn't know that
from these false teachers
who are just interested
in their own success,
their own prominence.
How do we protect ourselves
from this?
Well, one word.
The word humility.
Paul says in Philippians 2,
verses 3 to 7,
he helps those who are
seeking to grow
in Christ's likeness
to wear and to embrace
the identity of Christ
in the example of Christ
in this way.
Do nothing from selfish ambition
or conceit,
but in humility.
Count others more significant
than yourselves.
Let each of you
not look to his own interests,
but also to the interests
of others.
Have this mind among yourselves,
which is in yours
in Christ Jesus,
who, though he was
in the form of God,
did not count equality
with God a thing
to be grasped,
but emptied himself,
taking the form
of a servant,
being born in the likeness
of men.
Embrace the task,
the privilege of humility.
Serve the people
that God has put you
in company with.
Learn to sacrifice
the things that are
important to you
for the sake
of laying it down
and showing
this Christ-like preference
for others.
Work in the way
of growing in humility
because God
opposes the proud,
but gives grace
to the humble.
That picture
of God's acceptance,
that picture
of God's favor,
the humility
that is accompanied
with the presence
of God,
that's really
what we want.
More than anything
is God's presence,
this gift,
this gift of God's presence.
And here,
Christ is giving
this warning,
which was a gift
to these disciples.
And finally,
in chapter 21,
verses 1-4,
we see the gift
of God's watchfulness.
The gift
of God's watchfulness.
Chapter 21,
verses 1-4,
it says,
Jesus looked,
he looked up,
he saw the rich men
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 the others,
or 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.
Notice that Jesus
looked up.
Jesus saw the rich,
Jesus saw the poor
widow.
it doesn't escape
his attention.
He's alert,
he's aware,
he's watchful,
he's attentive,
he sees,
he knows,
he cares.
There is no detail
that's hidden
from the grasp
or the view
of our Savior.
In this moment,
as Jesus is talking
about the activities
and the warnings
of those religious leaders
who devour
widows' houses,
and in that moment,
as Jesus looks up,
he's in the midst
of teaching,
all of a sudden,
this widow woman
walks in.
Do you think
that's a coincidence?
No way.
Now she becomes
this object lesson
of all that Jesus
has been teaching
up to this point
here in the temple.
This warning
has been given,
and now this object lesson
unfolds
in that very moment.
We find that
they're opposite
the treasury.
We find that
from Mark's account
in Mark 12,
verse 41.
It says,
he sat down
opposite the treasury
and watched the people
putting money
into the offering box.
Many rich people
put in large sums.
This treasury
was in the court
of women.
And here in this court,
there were 13
trumpet-shaped
kind of receptacles
where money
would be poured in
and you could hear
this money,
kind of like a big funnel
as it were,
and they would pour
in this money
and you'd hear
the money kind of
clanging in
and based upon
the amount of money
they had,
essentially that trumpet
would sound, right?
And it reminds you
a little bit
of when Jesus
talks about
not letting the trumpet
sound
at what you're doing,
your good works
that you're doing.
And here,
that's exactly
what's taking place here.
These massive gold coins,
this coinage
that's being emptied
into these receptacles
and then this poor widow woman
that's placing
just two tiny
copper coins
into this treasury.
She walks in
and Jesus knows
she's poor.
He says
he saw a poor widow.
This word for poverty
describes someone
who is poor
but not destitute,
at least not yet.
it's probably pretty clear
from her appearance,
from what she's wearing,
from how she looks,
that there's something
about her
is out of sync
with all of the wealthy
parade that's gone before.
And this intensifies,
this poverty
intensifies her condition.
This condition
that's desperate
and it likely showed
on her outward appearance.
But she gives
her last two coins here,
we find.
And these two coins
were the smallest currency
available
in the first century.
It's called a lepta
and it computes
to one one hundredth
of a denarii.
And if you remember,
a denarii
is the wage
for one day.
So she's giving
two of these leptas
which is two one hundredths
of a day's wage.
It's a pittance
to say the least.
It's negligible.
It's next to nothing.
And yet she gives
it all.
And of course
those who are watching
would have thought,
who cares
what she's giving?
It's nothing.
But Jesus
in his watchfulness
notices.
He knows.
It doesn't escape
his attention.
And he draws attention
to it.
This poor widow
has put in
more than all of them.
And now this word
for poverty
is this intensive term,
very poor,
destitute individual.
spiritual.
They all contributed
out of their abundance,
Jesus says.
But she,
out of her poverty,
put in all she had
to live on.
In other words,
literally,
in the Greek,
she gave
her livelihood.
She gave
her life.
She put her life
in the altar,
as it were.
What they gave
cost them little
in comparison.
But the woman
gave,
not from her abundance,
but from her
very life.
And Jesus,
he puts it this way,
she gave
all of her life.
This is what Jesus
commends,
by the way,
to the scribes
and chief priests
who are challenging
him about the,
is it right to pay
taxes to Caesar,
right?
And Jesus will respond,
give to Caesar
the things that are Caesar's
and to God
the things that are God's.
And what is the thing
that belongs to God?
Everything.
Everything belongs to God.
And she does this.
She does this.
She gives it all.
She gives away
her life,
as it were,
her livelihood.
She comes,
she honors God.
And while we don't know
the motivations
of her heart,
if she was obliged
to do this
because of the conditions
and the legalism
that was kind of built
into the structure
of the temple,
and she was being devoured
in this moment,
and that was the object lesson
of widows being devoured
by giving the very end,
or if in devotion
she's giving to the Lord.
We don't know.
But one thing we do know
is throughout the testimony
of Christ's teaching,
it is safe
to give everything to God.
It's safe.
It's safe to entrust
your life to God.
It's safe to trust Him
with your finances.
It's safe to trust Him
with your health.
It's safe to trust Him
with your future.
It's safe to trust Him
with your relationships.
It's safe to trust Him
with that crisis
that's happening
in your life right now.
You can trust God.
It is safe to trust Him.
Luke chapter 12,
I would just encourage you
if you're in Luke chapter 20,
turn back just briefly
to Luke chapter 12.
This is not going to be
a helpful slide for us.
If you can just go back
to the main points, please.
Luke chapter 12.
Let me just read for you
picking up in verse 22, okay?
It says this,
this is Jesus speaking.
He says to the disciples,
therefore I tell you,
do not be anxious
about your life.
Does that sound familiar?
What you will eat,
nor about your body,
what you will put on.
For life is more than food,
and body more than clothing.
Consider the ravens.
They neither sow nor reap.
They have neither storehouse
nor barn,
and yet your God feeds them.
Of how much more value
are you than the birds?
And which of you,
by being anxious,
can add a single hour
to the span of his life?
If you then
are not able to do
what is small,
why are you so anxious
about the rest?
Consider the lilies,
how they grow.
They neither toil nor spin.
Yet I tell you,
even Solomon,
in all his glory,
was not arrayed
like one of these.
But if God so clothes the grass,
which is alive in the field today,
and tomorrow is thrown
into the oven,
how much more
will he clothe you,
O little faith?
It's safe
to trust the Lord.
And it's safe
to trust him
with everything.
And this is an example
we see of this widow woman
entrusting
just a sample
of a glimpse
of her trusting God
with the last two
little coins
that she had.
It is an example
to us
of how safe it is
to trust God.
We can trust him.
How much more
are you
than those things?
I love how
Paul puts it
in Romans chapter 8.
He says,
If God is for us,
who can be against us?
He who did not spare
his own son,
but gave him up
for us all,
how shall he not
also with him
freely give us
all things?
There's a watchful God.
We have a God
who gives us
the gift
of care
and watchfulness
and concern.
And the more
we grow
in faith
and the more
we trust him
with the things
that we have,
then the more
we're going to see
the kindness
and the favor
of God
in carrying us,
in helping us,
in strengthening us,
in supporting us.
Even when things
may never change,
he'll use our lives
as a testimony
to his goodness.
Even when we may
feel and look
and seem
very destitute
just like
this poor widow.
Nothing
was going to change
about her circumstances
except
if she was giving
with a heart
of faith,
she was going
to see
the power of God
in meeting her needs
just like
Jesus commands
in Luke chapter 12.
You can trust
him with
your life.
May God help us
to do that well
and to be a testimony
to those around us
that he is trustworthy
because he's a watchful,
observant,
loving God.
Let's pray.
Father, I pray
that you'd help us
to grow in this.
I pray, Lord,
that we would
embrace the gift
of your word,
that it would be part
of our life
day by day,
that we would not
just be hearers
of the word
but doers of it.
Lord, help us
help us to embrace
the gift
of your warnings,
those warnings
that you put
in the scripture
that help keep us
away from the things
that would hurt us,
harm us.
And Lord,
thank you
that you're watchful.
And Father,
I pray
that our lives
would show
a growing
commitment
and confidence
in your care
and watchfulness.
I pray in Jesus' name.
Amen.
Have a great week.
Be safe.
for driving home.