“HOW’S YOUR GIVING?”
LUKE 21:1-4

I. Introduction
A church member had a heart attack and was rushed to the hospital. While in the hospital a rich uncle died and left him a million dollars. The doctors said he could receive visitors but he was not to be agitated or excited. His family wondered how to tell him with the least amount of excitement. It was decided to ask the man’s pastor if he would go and break the news quietly to the man. The pastor went, and gradually worked his way up to the question. He asked the man, “What would you do if you inherited a million dollars?” The man said, “I’d give half of it to the church.” The pastor had a heart attack and dropped dead.

At our Communion service a few weeks ago we talked about the condition of our hearts and the fact that the Lord sees into them as no one else can. In the silly little story I just told, that fictional pastor’s physical heart wasn’t very strong. It couldn’t take the shock of a half mil-lion dollar gift to his church. But what about the spiritual heart of the man who gave the half million dollar gift? “Wow,” most of us would say, “He gave 50% of his windfall to God. What a guy! What a wonderful, humble, loving, and grateful heart to give so much.”
Really? Can we be so sure that’s an adequate description of his spiritual heart? The guy kept 50% for himself, didn’t he?

This morning, in Luke’s gospel, we’re going to hear, not just a silly little story about two fic-tional characters, but the real truth about a real person. We know it’s the truth because the words will come from the lips of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. He’s going to tell us about a woman who, in His own words, “…gave all that she had…”

Before I go any further I simply want to ask you a question. Do you think there will be an application for us in Jesus’ words today? Are you beginning to think, “Here comes another sermon on sacrificial giving. I’m going to be made to feel guilty again.” Please believe me when I say, “That’s not the main point.” Yes, this morning’s passage in Luke talks about sacrificial giving. And it carries what might be called a universal application because it applies not only to every Christian’s money, but to every Christian’s “everything.” Are we not called to give all we have and all we are for Christ? Of course, we are.

And one more thing – just mull this over for a moment. If the giving of yourself and all you possess is not sacrificial, can you truly call it “giving” at all? Let me explain that by this example from 2 Samuel. When King David sought to buy a piece of land (a threshing floor) on which to build an altar, he offered the owner of the land, a man named Araunah, a certain price. But Araunah did not want to take the money. He said…
*2 Samuel 24:23-24
23 “Everything, O king, Araunah gives to the king.” And Araunah said to the king, “May the LORD your God accept you.”
24 However, (King David) said to Araunah, “No, but I will surely buy it from you for a price, for I will not offer burnt offerings to the LORD my God which cost me nothing.” So David bought the threshing floor and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver.

What is the context of this incident? David had forgotten God and had put his faith and trust in the number of Israel’s people as opposed to the provision of God. So he ordered a census to determine the nation’s population. The time came when David recognized his sin, but the consequences of it were already sweeping through the land. David repented and the prophet Gad told him to build an altar and make atonement for his sin at the place that was owned by Araunah. That’s why David wanted that threshing floor. And that’s why he said, “I will not offer burnt offerings to the LORD my God which cost me nothing.” What was the outcome?
*2 Samuel 24:25 (the last verse of 2 Samuel)
25 And David built there an altar to the LORD, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings. Thus the LORD was moved by entreaty for the land, and the plague was held back from Israel.

So there it is. True worship – God-pleasing and God-honoring worship – includes not just repentance, but giving – sacrificial giving. Are you and I giving to the Lord mere bits and pieces of our lives and resources, bits and pieces that cost us nothing, or at best, very little? And if that’s the case, are we really pleasing and honoring God, or are we just fooling our-selves? But is that the real issue that we find before us this morning? Maybe it isn’t.
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II. Review
How did we get to this point in Luke’s narrative? Remember, this is the last week of Jesus’ life. The notes in some of your Bibles may say it’s still Tuesday, but many scholars believe it’s already Wednesday. He will die on Friday. I mention that because right up until this incident Jesus has been explaining who He is and inviting people to believe in Him and receive the salvation He is so graciously offering them.

But the leaders of the Jews – the chief priests, elders, scribes, Herodians, Pharisees, and Sad-ducees – have all rejected Him and His message. And they’ve done their best to lure Him into committing some offense against either Rome or the rest of the Jewish people so that they can accuse Him of sedition or blasphemy or both. But Jesus has deflected it all, and by His answers to their foolish questions, He has confounded them and made them look foolish.

By the time we get to Luke 20:46-47 Jesus has stopped speaking to the Jewish leaders and the crowds that He knows will turn on Him in the next few hours. Now He addresses His disciples and the others who believe in Him with a warning that is as much for you and me today right here in Lake Geneva as it was for them on that day in Jerusalem. His message is simple and to the point: “Beware of false religion and the false teachers who promote it!”
Jesus identified such men as self-righteous, vain, outwardly pious, demanding of respect, and demonstrating a willingness to take even widows’ houses from them. He said they “…will receive greater condemnation.”
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III. Text
At first glance it may not be apparent that we have come to a major turning point in Luke. Up until now Jesus’ message has been one of love and invitation.
Matthew 7:7-8
7 “Ask and it shall be given to you; seek, and you shall find; knock, and it shall be opened to you.
8 “For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it shall be opened.”

Matthew 11:28-30
28 “Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest.
29 “Take My yoke upon you, and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart; and you shall find rest for your souls.
30 “For My yoke is easy, and My load is light.”

Mark 10-14b
14b “Permit the children to come to Me; do not hinder them; for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.”

John 11:25-26
25 “I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me shall live even if he dies,
26 and everyone who lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?”

This has been Jesus’ message throughout the gospels. But soon, when we come to Luke 21:5, He will change the focus of His message and begin to talk of judgment. For Israel that judgment is less than forty years away when Rome will not only destroy the very temple in which He is now speaking, but the rest of Jerusalem and much of Israel as well. In 70 A.D. the Jews who survive the coming Roman onslaught will be dispersed throughout the world, not to begin to return to their precious homeland until the end of the age in which we now believe that we live today.

But now, after Jesus’ warning about false religion and false teaching, come these four short verses about giving. What are they doing here? Let me suggest that it might be a little eas-ier to understand them in their proper context if, rather than having them begin Luke 21, they should have ended Luke 20. In other words, they might make more sense if they were numbered Luke 20:48-51 instead of Luke 21:1-4. (Remember that chapter and verse numbers are not a part of God’s Word. They were added my men in the 13th and 16th centuries respectively.)
But regardless of how they’re numbered, these four verses address a topic that comes up again and again in Jesus’ teaching. It’s all about the believer and his money. Or is it?
*Luke 21:1-4 (Please stand with me in honor of reading God’s Word.)
1 And (Jesus) looked up and saw the rich putting their gifts into the treasury.
2 And He saw a certain poor widow putting in two small copper coins.
3 And He said, “Truly I say to you, this poor widow put in more than all of them;
4 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.”

Did you know that in the gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke one out of every six verses deals with money? Did you know that sixteen of Jesus’ twenty-nine parables deal with the issue of man and his money? So the traditional interpretations of this passage would seem to apply. What are some of those traditional interpretations?

The first is one that you’ve all heard before – “It’s not how much you give; it’s how much you keep.” You might say that it’s a “percentage thing.” You know, like that guy in the hospital who is going to give half of his windfall to his church. (That’s 50%, and that’s really something. Do you suppose that would cover his tithe for five years?) So the lesson from, “It’s not how much you give; it’s how much you keep,” might seem to be that you should give as much as you possibly can, and keep only enough to cover your most basic needs. But the poor widow in today’s text didn’t do that, did she?

The second of the traditional interpretations of Luke 21:1-4 is related to the first. It has to do with self-denial. And Jesus did teach us to deny ourselves, didn’t He?
*Luke 9:23-25
23 And He was saying to them all, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me.”
24 “For whoever wishes to save his life shall lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake, he is the one who will save it.
25 “For what is a man profited if he gains the whole world, and loses or forfeits himself?” (loses his own soul)

Is this about giving? No, it is not! It’s about standing up for Christ in a hostile world. It’s about our Christian service, our obedience and our submission to Jesus and His Word. And it’s about our willingness to suffer for Him, and if necessary, to die for Him. Just look at the next verse.
*Luke 9:26
26 “For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words, of him will the Son of Man be ashamed when He comes in His glory, and the glory of the Father and of the holy angels.” (back to Luke 21)

But according to the “self-denial” interpretation of Luke 21:1-4, it all goes right back to the “percentage thing.” It essentially teaches that the percentage of what you give is somehow directly proportional to your love of God. “What, only 10%? Is that the extent of your love for God?” Do you see how self-denial can be used as a sledge hammer for spiritual abuse in the hands of a corrupt church, an unscrupulous preacher, or a world-wide television ministry that claims to represent God and teach His Word?

So is Jesus teaching self-denial in Luke 21:1-4? I’m not so sure He is. If He is, wouldn’t this poor widow be commended for her self-denial and 100% commitment to God? To be sure, Jesus doesn’t condemn her, but wouldn’t you expect Him to commend her for her love and generosity? He has commended others for their faith. Do you remember the case of the Roman centurion who expressed his faith in Jesus?
Matthew 8:10
10 Now when Jesus heard this, He marveled, and said to those who were follow-ing, “Truly I say to you, I have not found such great faith with anyone in Israel.”

After the resurrection the Apostle Thomas saw Jesus and expressed his faith by saying, “My Lord and My God!”
John 20:29
29 Jesus said to him, “Because you have seen Me, have you believed? Blessed are they who did not see, and yet believed.”

Jesus commends others for their faith. If this poor widow’s gift of all she has comes from a heart filled with faith, wouldn’t you think He would commend such a generous gift? But He does not. The gift is acknowledged, but it is not commended.

There is a third traditional interpretation of Luke 21:1-4. It has to do with the heart attitude of the giver. Again, this interpretation is related to the first two. Is the gift given in love and humility? Is the giver’s heart “right” before God? But does that mean that if you give 100% of what you have that your heart is 100% right? Isn’t that just another version of the “percentage game” that can carry with it all of the same potential for spiritual abuse?

But the reality is that Jesus never taught anything about percentages – not even the 10% of the OT tithe. When He confronted the Pharisees about their tithing every little thing, He was not commending them. He was condemning them for their obsession with the letter of the law rather than the spirit of the law. The point was that if they were so intent on living under the law, then they had better obey even the tiniest detail of it.

At this point let me reiterate something we’ve been talking about for a number of weeks now: The issue is our hearts. The issue is what is in them. The real issue is what you and I are. Everyone can see and hear what you and I do and say. And, of course, that gives everyone some indication of what you and I are.
Only God knows exactly what we are because only God sees our hearts. Our giving is to be an outgrowth of the spiritual condition of our hearts.
2 Corinthians 9:7
7 Let each one do just as he has purposed in his heart; not grudgingly or under compulsion; for God loves a cheerful giver.

Is this poor widow giving grudgingly? We don’t know. Is she under compulsion? We don’t know. Is she giving from a cheerful heart? We don’t know that either, since Jesus doesn’t tell us. In fact, He tells us nothing – zip, zero, zilch, nada – nothing. Is she doing it out of devotion and love for God? We don’t know. Is she doing it out of guilt or fear? Is she doing it out of desperation? We don’t know. All we know is she gave 100% of what she had to live on. So is that the lesson for us? Should we just “go and do likewise”?

No, that’s not it at all. Vows of poverty are made and commended by the laws and traditions of men, not by God’s Word. If we are going to rightly divide the Word of truth, we must consider the context of the passage, or in this case, what precedes these four verses. What is it that the Lord is talking about in the previous verse, Luke 20:47? Well, who has He been describing since the beginning of Luke 20? The answer is the religious leaders – the false teachers of false religions – who, among other things, prey on poor people and, “…devour widows’ houses.”

Do you see it? The first four verses of Luke 21 really aren’t introducing a new subject or giving us instruction on how to give our money to the church. They’re completing the story that we’ve been told throughout Luke 20 and instructing us in how not to give. They’re completing the picture of the false teachers of false religions – especially those who, without remorse, or any real compunction at all, are ready, willing, and able to virtually suck the life out of those who are the most vulnerable and weakest among us. Am I overstating the case?

Look again at this morning’s text in Luke 21. Jesus sees the rich giving their offerings. The religious leaders gladly accept the gifts of the rich even though everyone knows that the rich are giving, as Jesus says in v. 4, “…out of their surplus.” What does that mean? It means that no matter how much it is, they don’t need what they’re giving, and they won’t miss it.

But these Jewish religious leaders are false teachers who are running a corrupt system in a false religion, and will happily take the last two cents from this destitute woman. We know that because Jesus says, “…she out of her poverty put in all she had to live on (v. 4).”

Earlier I asked if she was doing this out of devotion, love, guilt, fear, or desperation. Again, we don’t know. But seeing this incident in its larger context, do you think you can begin to draw an inference? Personally, I’m going to opt for desperation. That’s not to say devotion, love, guilt, and fear are playing no role in what this poor widow is doing, but it is to say that she probably hopes this one final act will bring her some kind of blessing. I admit that’s only a guess, but I think it’s an educated guess.
Spiritual abuse is all around us today. Look at those who promote “seed-faith.” You know, “Plant a seed. Send in your money and God will multiply it back to you. Do you need $1,000? Send me $100 and God will multiply it back to you. Do you need $10,000? Send me $1,000 and God will multiply it back to you. Exercise your faith.”

Listen to those in the “word-faith” movement. Do you need money? Make a vow of faith to someone like televangelist Robert Tilton, and make it big. Let me quote Tilton from John MacArthur’s book Charismatic Chaos:
“I like a thousand-dollar vow because I like don’t like half-hearted people, lukewarm, just, ‘Well, I’ll do a little…’ I like a thousand dollar vow of faith. I’m not talking to you that’s got it. You that’s got it don’t pay a bit of attention to me. I’m talking to you that don’t have it, and I’m showing you how you can get it! Yes, the Lord’s work gets a portion of it. But you get the biggest portion. You get the biggest blessing. I’m trying to talk you out of that dump you’re in! I’m trying to talk you into a decent car! I’m trying to help you! Quit cursing me! Quit cursing me! God, what will pull this blessing from you? I am a blessing!”

Think of Robert Tilton and the scores of others like him. And then think of the poor widow Jesus saw putting her last two pennies in the temple treasury. The connection is easy to make, isn’t it? Is it believe and receive? No, it’s believe – make a vow before God to send me your money, especially if you can’t afford it – and then you’ll receive the big blessing. Who falls for that? The most desperate people out there, that’s who! And they’ll send these charlatans whatever they have and wait for the blessing. But you can take comfort in this:
Jesus said, “…these will receive greater condemnation (Luke 20:47).”

The problem with so many churches today is that they exist to have their needs met. What I’m saying is that they exist to ensure their existence. But that’s not what we’re here for. God has put us here to meet the needs of the people He has given us. Let me give you an example of what I’m talking about.

The Bible instructs children to care for their parents when the time comes that the parents need that care. But look at what false piety and man’s religions have done to that. Sadly, there are those who say they can’t take care of their parents because the money is committed to do “God’s work.” When they do that, they break God’s law.
*Mark 7:8-13 (Jesus speaking to the religious leaders)
8 “Neglecting the commandment of God, you hold to the traditions of men.”
9 He was also saying to them, “You nicely set aside the commandment of God in order to keep your tradition.
10 “For Moses said, ‘Honor your father and your mother’; and ‘He who speaks evil of father or mother, let him be put to death’;
11 but you say, ‘If a man says to his father or his mother, anything of mine you might have been helped by is (given to God.),’
12 you no longer permit him to do anything for his father or his mother;
13 thus invalidating the word of God by your tradition which you have handed down; and you do many things such as that.”

This is only one example, but it gets to the heart of the problem of churches existing to stay in existence as opposed to existing to care for God’s people. May we at LBC never fall into that trap!

In Luke 21:1-4 there is no indication that the Jewish religious leaders existed to help this poor widow at all, while there is every indication that they were there to get every last bit of her existence from her. That’s what Jesus sees. He sees a poor, helpless, and deceived widow throwing away what she believes to be her only hope to receive a blessing.
What He sees is not only shameful, it’s criminal. It’s not only criminal, it’s evil. The temple treasury is filled with money, but the temple is “sitting on it” while growing its wealth and power and neglecting the needs of God’s most needful people.

Those of you who are acquainted with church history know that this issue was one of the things that drove the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It was Martin Luther who argued that this kind of abuse of the poor was one of the greatest failures of Roman Catholicism. But Protestants today aren’t off the hook. The “name it and claim it” charismatics, the so-called “word-faith” preachers, the “seed-faith” crowd, and many others out there today couch it somewhat differently, but they’re doing the same thing. And Jesus says that at the judgment they will all “…receive greater condemnation.” “Beware of false teachers!”
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IV. Conclusion
But in all of this the question of giving has come before us and I don’t want to leave it alone. So in closing, let me address it biblically. I want to close with a story such as you’ll often here about how much (what percentage) you should give.

When you go to a doctor for routine check-up you’ll often be poked, pressed, and prodded in various and sundry places, and asked, “Does this hurt? How about this?” If you cry out in pain, one of two things has happened. Either the doctor has poked, pressed, and prodded too hard, or he has found something wrong, and he’ll say, “We’d better do some more tests. It’s not supposed to hurt there!”

My little story continues: So it is when pastors preach on financial responsibility, and cer-tain members cry out in discomfort, criticizing the message and/or the messenger. Either the pastor has poked, pressed, and prodded too hard, or perhaps there’s something wrong with their giving. In that case, I say, “My friend, we’re in need of the Great Physician because it’s not supposed to hurt there.”

Good story, huh? Good story to make you give more, huh?
But are you supposed to give until it makes you hurt? No, you are not! That is not biblical giving. You’re supposed to give until it makes you happy. Or maybe a better word would be, “cheerful.”
*2 Corinthians 9:6-8
6 Now this I say, he who sows sparingly shall also reap sparingly; and he who sows bountifully shall also reap bountifully.
7 Let each one do just as he has purposed in his heart; not grudgingly or under compulsion; for God loves a cheerful giver.

What’s the result of such giving?
8 And God is able to make all grace abound to you, that always having all suffi-ciency in everything, you may have an abundance for every good deed…

Paul is saying that when we give to God with a sincere and cheerful heart, He will give back. Why will He do that? So that “…you may have an abundance for every good deed…

He will give back so that we will be able to do more good with it. You know, like meeting the needs of God’s people, and then leaving the needs of His church up to Him.

So take these two truths with you today: Luke 21:1-4 isn’t a lesson in Christian giving. It’s an exposition of the corrupting influence of false religion. And it’s Jesus’ last warning to us about false teachers before He goes to the cross.

2 Corinthians 9:6-8 is a lesson in Christian giving. When you give to God, just how cheer-ful are you? You may want to think about that.

~ Pray ~