Summary: The widow's offering. 4 verses, we often breeze through them and pull out a few tried and true statements about giving. But a deeper look gives many more principles to apply.

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.

Part of what was happening here—and this is why Jesus is going to, next week, give a stern warning about the idol that they've turned the temple into—because we can take something good and godly and turn it into a circus and make an idol out of it. And that's what was happening here. So he keeps watching, and he saw a poor widow put in two small copper coins. We'd be similar to a penny today if you study it historically, those 64th of a day's wages each coin, about 1/128th of a day's wages. Fortunately, I had somebody doing math in their head in the last service; they can't stop a dollar and a half if you're earning fifteen dollars an hour, not much, but it's all she had.

And here's what I want us to start to latch into: he saw a poor widow put in two small copper coins. Now I want you to consider what was going on: you have the people putting in the show—'Wow, that's a lot of jingle, must be nice to be like them, I wish I could be that rich.' And you have the widow, and copper sounds a little different than gold and silver—'Oh, poor widow.' As he's watching this, he says, 'Truly, I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all of them.' You go, 'That's interesting, because it's just 1/64th of a day's wages; surely, people were giving more.' Well, Jesus wasn't talking about dollar amounts; he was talking about the heart, the motivation behind the giving.

This system had become very unrighteous from what the law intended. The tithe was a way of dedicating the first fruits of the labor, but the religious system had turned it into so much more. It was a place to showcase who you were and how great you were, and it also took advantage of those who were less fortunate.

One of the things that we've marveled about going to third world countries is we see this a lot of times in churches overseas. One of my craziest examples of this is a bishop that we know in East Africa, that he decided he needed a new automobile several years ago, and so he went to all of his churches and said, 'You folks need to give more, you need to sow that seed of faith, and I need this automobile so I can serve you better.' He lives in the nicest house, wears high-dollar suit, high-dollar shoes, and his people are barely getting by, but they're digging deeper because the 'man of God' has tied their faith to the way they give. He's guilting them, and that's exactly what this is.

This poor widow doesn't want to feel guilty, so she puts in all she has. But here's what's interesting: it's a corrupt system, but Jesus didn't get up from where he was seated and go, 'Ma'am, ma'am, don't do that,' because there's a greater principle at work, and he's going to talk about this.

'Truly, I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all of them, for they all contributed out of their abundance, but she, out of her poverty, put in all that she had to live on.' Her giving gave a powerful statement coming from, 'But I trust God. I don't know how the roof is going to be over my head tonight, but I trust God. I don't know how things will get taken care of, but I trust God.'

And as we would say in our terms, she put it all on the line to prove it. Let me talk to you about what this looks like, and some of you have met this individual, so you'll be able to relate. Our pastor in Southern India is Pastor Paul Jessadas; he runs an orphanage outside of Madurai, India. So about 15 years ago, he called me in a panic one morning and said, 'Listen, I've got 40 kids right now; nobody will sell us food because we've extended our credit, we're maxed out, and the other vendors in town won't sell to us because we're Christians, and they're Hindu, and these kids are starving. Pray with me.'

So he gets all the orphans together, and they begin to pray, and about two to three hours later, all of a sudden, this wagon shows up in front of the orphanage, loaded down with food. Come to find out, there was supposed to have been a wedding somewhere in the area, and either the bride or the groom backed out, and the celebration was canceled. And so the family didn't know what to do with all the food, so they showed up at the orphanage. Kids were fed not just for one day, two or three more days with that. They trusted God, trusted God.

I won't tell the story again; if you've heard me talk before, you've heard our toilet paper and toothpaste story from a few years ago. God provides, even simple things. How much do we trust Him? Am I willing to put everything on the line because I trust Him that much, or do I come up with my own solution?

Anybody here ever had financial problems, like more months, no money? Sure, we all have at some point. What tends to be our default? What can I sell, what job can I take on, who can I call? But we don't really rely on God. Let me see you provide.

That's part of what's fascinating about traveling to the mission field. You meet people who have no other option. There is no Union Rescue Mission; there is no church that's going to hand out stuff. You either starve, or you don't. God either has to come through, or He doesn't. It takes a different kind of faith.

And that's what Jesus is pointing out. This widow is holding nothing back because she trusts God implicitly. But let's talk honestly, where a lot of us are at: we trust God fully if there's money in the bank, we trust God fully if we're employed, we trust God fully if everything is going our way. But the truth is, we don't fully trust God. We start to get uncomfortable instead of turning to Him, we turn to our own solutions.

And here's the real crux of the issue: if you can't trust God with everything, how could you even trust Him with eternity? You say you trust Him with your kids, but you don't trust Him with your finances. You trust Him with your health, but you don't trust Him with your finances. Do you really trust Him?

See, when you come to a place like this today, people are going to give for different reasons, or they're not going to give for different reasons. Some people aren't going to give today because you're going to sit there and go, 'Man, I've got this bill and this bill and this bill due, I just don't have enough left to give to God.' You wouldn't have any of that if it wasn't for God. What do you trust more, what's left or the one who provides?

Some people won't give today because they'll say, 'Well, I didn't really like the message, I didn't get much out of it.' Fair enough, but your giving isn't based on the preacher, it's based on the one who provides.

Then there are people who are going to give because, well, that's just what you do. You just write the check, but you don't put any thought into it: 'Why am I giving and what am I giving for?'

And like it or not, there are others who give so people can see it. My first pastorate, everything in the church had a memorial tag on it. So you old people again, you know what those are: 'Betty Jones gave $500 to buy a new water fountain at First Baptist Church in whatever Place, America.' So they stick a plaque on it, and it becomes a memorial.

So my first church, my desk had a memorial plaque, the water fountain had a memorial plaque, the men's room had a memorial plaque. Everything had a memorial plaque, and the church had dwindled down to eight people. People were giving to be seen and not giving because they knew God was their provision.

I pastored another church in Corpus Christi, Texas, several years ago. Beautiful stained glass window; people would give like twenty thousand dollars to put new lighting on the stained glass, yet our evangelism budget was fifteen hundred dollars a year. We'll spend more money on stained glass than people going to hell. What's wrong with this picture? Oh, and I want a memorial plaque when we light up the glass. Well, just keep your money; that's not what we're here for.

But that's what happened with this system; these people were seen, were celebrated because they can make more money when they give, and everybody heard it. 'Oh, they're doing so well, I hope I can be like them someday.' The truth is, we really don't want our left hand to know what the right hand is doing.

I'm thankful that we give; it's not out in public, brings all the wrong attention. Years ago, I had a large gift given at a church, and I had a little cranky guy show up in my office. 'Well, I don't know how much that was.' It's none of your business, but we should know what people give. I said, 'Great, how about we print out the giving records for everybody this year, and we'll tack them up to the bulletin board, and you just go highlight your name.' All of a sudden, he didn't really care how much that gift was because his heart was going to get exposed. You're so worried about what everybody else is giving; worry about your own motivations.

So here's the point that we want to get to: if our giving is for all the wrong reasons, we're going to get really disappointed at some point.

Let me help drive this home, and then we'll start to land the plane, because some of you are desperately watching your clocks. Okay, I have a big one back here; I know what time it is too. The game doesn't get good till the fourth quarter anyway.

So here's what happens: we put all of our faith in our accomplishments, our financial achievements, and what we've built up. Now, lock that in, and then answer truthfully, 'Who has enjoyed watching their 401K become a 201K this summer? Has that been fun for most people? Not so much.'

We can't put our faith in the materials; the material isn't what provides for us, it's God who provides for us. If you've been blessed, you've been blessed to be a pipeline of God's resources, for His work, not for your own glory. And if you're on the other side of the equation, you're not sure where the next meal is going to come from, here's where you put up or shut up: either God is your provider, and He holds everything in His hands, and He is who He says He is, or He's not. Are you willing to trust Him even when it's uncomfortable, even when you don't know what the answer is?

And truthfully, even if you've been blessed, the question really is the same, because all it takes is one bad decision that you don't control, and you can be wiped out in a moment. So why do we put our faith in those things?

My final admonition is this: don't take what God has created for good and turn it into an idol, an opportunity to build up your own ego, to build up your own accolades. The widow was pointed out because she trusted God with everything. The system was rigged; it was put in place to devour her, the scribes were building up their own cult of personality at her expense, but Jesus didn't stop her because her trust in God was the more important thing.

She trusts Him with everything. Do you trust Him with everything? And that's where it flows today, and I'm just going to ask you to bow your head, close your eyes, and I want you to pray one simple prayer, but it's a dangerous prayer. You may not like the answer, and that prayer is this: 'Father, today I come before you in the name of Jesus, and I ask you to show me all the places in my life where I do not trust you completely. And Father, wherever you find that lack of trust, I ask that you would bring me to the place that I trust you wholeheartedly with everything, whether times are good or times are bad, that I would recognize that you are the one who holds it all in your hand. You give, and you take away. Father, I want to trust you fully and completely.'

Maybe this morning you're here, and you've never trusted Jesus with your life. There will come a day when your efforts aren't going to matter. Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life. He is the one that allows us to experience God's saving grace.