Luke 21:1-4 A Deeper Discussion Of Giving

Here's what I want us to see: this is part of a bigger story. This isn't just a talk about giving, but it's a continuation of what's been happening with the scribes and Pharisees. To fully understand this set of verses, we actually have to back up to the last couple of verses of Chapter 20, where Jesus is giving a warning about the scribes. He said, 'Beware of the scribes who like to walk around in long robes, and love greetings in the marketplaces, and the best seats in the synagogues and the places of honor at feasts. They devour widows' houses and for pretense make long prayers; they will receive the greater condemnation.' So, Jesus is giving this warning about the scribes—that what they do is for their own self-celebration, what they do causes harm to other people. They've taken God's law and created a religious system around it that oppresses people who are less fortunate but builds up their place in society and life. And that's the place where we really begin this.

So, Jesus had this interaction with the scribes. The parallel to the passage we're reading today comes from Mark 12, and what Mark 12 says is that he went to the treasury area of the temple, and he sat down and he's just watching the people as they come through. One of the things you want to understand about that area of the temple, the treasury area, is there were 13 offering boxes—those offering boxes had a trumpet-like opening, and people would put their money in. Now you have to consider, in those days, there is no paper currency, you can't give online, you can't give through the app, you can't write a check, there is no offering box, it's public so you get to watch and listen as people come through and give.

So real quick, who here has been in church like a long time, like since the 70s or 80s, early 80s? Yeah? Who are my old people—that's really what I'm asking, right? Okay, yeah, loud and proud, here we go. So if you remember back in the old days, we passed a plate, and that plate was kind of hard, right? Now they would put a little cushion in the bottom of it, but the truth is you could hear who wasn't giving much, or as it came down the aisle, you go, 'Wait a minute, Joe just put a dollar in there; Joe's got a good job.' I'm so thankful we don't do offering that way here. It's really a heart matter.

But here's what became of the system, and you've been wondering, 'Why is the Bowl here?' This is how the system worked. Brian comes by, oh he's put some money in, Brian must be doing pretty well. Oh, Shane and Mandy just came by; things must have gone pretty well for them this week. School teaches pretty lucrative, right? Oh wait a minute, here's Katie; I know what Katie makes—that should have been louder, right? And you get to the point where you're kind of educated like, 'That one's going to make a lot more noise than that one. Huh, that poor widow, she doesn't have much.'

So Jesus is watching this whole thing go on. That's our first point—Jesus is watching. Of all the things he could have been watching, that's what he's watching. There's an important lesson in that; it means he's watching how you give too. Not for amounts, but for the reason behind it. And we're going to dive deeper into that, we're going to get into it—financial stuff, so we'll talk a little bit about that.

But here's the thing I want us to see: he's watching. He's watching: are you giving, why are you giving, what's the heart, what's the motivation behind your giving? Jesus looked up and saw the rich putting their gifts into the offering box. Well, how do you know they're rich? Just what he told us in the previous passage: they like to walk around in long robes, get their greetings in the marketplaces, and the best seats in the synagogue. And when they give, I got some money, and everybody knows it; everybody knows it. Why? Because they like to show it off. Jesus looked up and saw the rich putting their gifts into the offering box, so they wanted to be seen.

It's really interesting when we go down to third world countries to do mission work; for whatever reason, they really love to do the public offering at the front, and man, it is a show sometimes. It is a real show sometimes, and you have to say, 'I want to judge your heart, but you really are making quite the show of your giving.' And at the same time, you'll watch those who have less hunkered down, staring at the floor, don't really want anybody to see what they're giving, because they're ashamed.