A Study of the Book of Luke
Sermon # 58
The Widow’s Mite!
Luke 21:1-4
Dr. John Broadus, on one memorable Sunday as the ushers were about the offering, left the platform and walked down to where the ushers were beginning to take the collection and went along with them and looked on as every dime, nickel and dollar went into the plate. You may well imagine that some of the people were upset, even angry. Some were confused, some shamefaced, others filled with amazement. All were evidently surprised. When the collection was over, Dr. Broadus said, “My people, if you take to heart that I have seen your offerings this day and know just what sacrifices you have made and what sacrifices you have not made, remember that the Son of God your Savior, goes about the aisles with every usher and sees with his sleepless eye every cent put into the collection by His people.” He then reminded them of this truth by reading them the story of the “widow’s mite.”
Let’s read the story in Luke 21, beginning in verse one, “And He looked up and saw the rich putting their gifts into the treasury, (2) and He saw also a certain poor widow putting in two mites. (3) So He said, "Truly I say to you that this poor widow has put in more than all; (4) for all these out of their abundance have put in offerings for God, but she out of her poverty put in all the livelihood that she had."
Jesus chose the treasury as the place that he would give his final teaching before leaving the temple forever. Jesus contrasts the phony goodness of the religious leaders with the true devotion of the poor widow. With this great story He gives three great principles about giving; (1) God cares about our giving, (2) God cares about how we give and (3) God cares how much we give.
The first principle is, God Cares About Our Giving.
In the parallel account in Mark 12:41, it says ”Now Jesus sat opposite the treasury. And saw how the people put money into the treasury. And many who were rich put in much.” Mark gives us a picture of Jesus’ concern for the treasury of the house of the Lord. Mark tells us that Jesus “saw” or as the King James Version says, “beheld” what the people gave. The word used here means to look at something with interest and purpose, usually indicating the careful observation of details. Of all the people that Jesus saw giving into the treasure only one person impressed him. In spite of the fact that “many of the rich put in much” he was not impressed.
God is interested in our giving because He has a plan for our giving. God’s plan is called tithing. The word “tithe” is in reality a very simple word it means one tenth. The believer is expected to give one-tenth of his or her income to the Lord. In Malachi 3:10 we read; “Bring all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house, and try me now in this, Says the LORD of hosts, ‘If I will not open for you the windows of heaven and pour out for you such a blessing that there will not be room enough to receive it.”
Now I realize that the subject of money is a touchy one to some people. But it should not be. One of my favorite quotes about giving is by Frank Hubbard who has said, “When a fellow says, ‘It ain’t the money, but the principle of the thing,’ it’s the money.”
I can think of at least three or four good reasons why some people do not tithe.
1. Some people do not tithe because they
have never been taught to tithe. Because of the way some people react to the mention of money, some preachers are naturally gun-shy about preaching on the subject. And with all the shenanigans that TV preachers have pulled in the last few years some preachers are even more reticent to talk about money. Although Jesus had more to say on this subject than any other single subject.
Some say that tithing is a part of the Old Testament law and that Christians are not bound by the Old Testament law. The fact is that tithing is four hundred years older than the law, when Abraham offered a tithe of all that he had (Gen. 14:20). Tithing was practiced before the law, under the law and after the law in the New Testament.
2. Some people do not tithe because they do not understand the importance of tithing, or at least they say they don’t. I suspect that reason that at least some of them don’t tithe is they don’t want to. And if that is the reason, that’s fine but at least be honest about it.
“When you go to the doctor for your annual check-up he or she will often begin to poke, prod, and press various places, all the while asking. ‘Does that hurt? How about this?’ If you cry out in pain, one of two things has happened. Either the doctor has pushed too hard, without the right sensitivity. Or more likely, there’s something wrong, and the doctor will say, “We’d better do some more test. It’s not suppose to hurt there!’
So it is when pastors preach on financial responsibility, and certain members cry out in discomfort, criticizing the message and the messenger. Either the pastor has pushed too hard, or perhaps there’s something wrong. In that case, I say, ‘My friend, we’re in need of the Great Physician because it is not suppose to hurt there.”
[Annual Checkup. Source Unknown. www.bibleorg/illus/g/g]
3. Some people don’t tithe because they
have tried to tithe the wrong way. For may years I wanted to tithe but I tried to tithe off of the bottom and not the top. By that I mean I would say, “If I have enough left after I have paid all my bills and stuff then I will tithe.” I will tell you right from personal experience this philosophy will not work.
To give to God off the top is a step of faith, it trusts Him to provide for your needs. Stop bargaining, (“Lord, you get us through this month and we’ll give what’s left”) and start trusting (“Lord, here is our love gift. Thanks for taking care of us!”)
1 Corinthians 16:1-4 speaks of setting aside at the first of the week what we plan to give. What we give to God deserves priority. He should not receive our leftovers. As is all too common, the leftovers mysteriously shrink in size to take care of things that are not necessities.
4. Some people don’t tithe because they refuse to do so, no matter what God says. I hope this does not describe you. This kind of person can be described by the story I heard of the notorious miser. “This miser was called on by the chairman of the community charity, ‘Sir, said the fund-raiser, ‘our records show that despite your wealth, you’ve never once given to our drive.’
‘Do your records show that I have an elderly mother who was left penniless when my father died?’ fumed the tightwad. ‘Do your records show that I have a disabled brother who is unable to work? Do your records show I have a widowed sister with small children who can barely make ends meet?’
‘No sir,’ replied the volunteer. ‘Our records don’t show those things.’
‘Well, I don’t give to any of them, so why should I give anything to you.” [Landon Parvin. Reader’s Digest. May 1996, pp. 67-68 www.bibleorg/illus/g/g.]
If you do not tithe, that is give one-tenth of the income that God has blessed you with then you are disobedient, plain and simple. You might respond by saying, “But that is legalistic.” Well I think that we should be willing to apply the same logic to our personal finances. Suppose when you received your next paycheck it was $20.00 short and your employer’s response was “Don’t be so legalistic, it is only twenty bucks.” Would that satisfy you? I bet it wouldn’t!
The first principle is, God Cares About Our Giving And ….
The second principle is, God Cares About How We Give
Look again at the parallel passage in Mark 12:41 here we read “..and he saw how the people put the money into the treasury.” The word translated “how” here is (pos) meaning “in what way.”
The people brought their gifts to God and God sat in the shadows and watched his people as they gave in his house. We can never escape the watchful eye of God. He sees us as we earn the money and as we determine what we will give to the Lord’s work through the church. He watches as we write the check and he knows whether or not it is a tithe.
I want you to note a couple of things in conjunction with “how” we give to the Lord’s work.
1. When it come to giving, the attitude of
the heart makes all the difference.
When I write a check for my taxes to the
I.R.S., that governmental agency could care less about my heart’s attitude. The I.R.S. does not care if I give grudgingly or willingly, lovingly or angrily, joyfully or sadly. All the I.R.S. is interested in is the bottom line. Just pay up! But it is not so with the Lord.
Paul tells us in 2 Corinthians 9: 7, “So let each one (KJV – let every man) give as he has purposed in his heart, not grudgingly or of necessity, for God loves a cheerful giver.”
2. The kind of giving that impresses God is
giving that cost us!
Of all those who gave into the treasury that day only one persons offering impressed the Lord. In verse three Jesus says,“… Truly I say to you that this poor widow has put in more than all; (4) for all these out of their abundance have put in offerings for God, but she out of her poverty put in all the livelihood that she had."
We are told that this woman is not just a widow she is a poor (ptochos) widow, which describes abject poverty, a pauper rather a poor peasant. She is in very real danger of imminent starvation.
She put in “two mites” (literally lepta) they are the smallest coins made – each worth about 1/100 of a denarius (or the equivalent of five minutes labor at minimum wage). “The amount of the gift never matters so much as its cost to the giver, not the size of the gift but the sacrifice.” [Barclay.]
As regards amounts it is not true that she has “put in more than all,” but in regards to personal sacrifice it is. When it says, “she gave out of her poverty her whole livehood,” it conveys the idea of “the means by which life is sustained.” All the others had given more but they also had given “out of their abundance” or surplus. What they had given would never be missed, but she had given sacrificially.
In the Old Testament we see an example in the life of King David. David needed to make an offering to atone for his sin, he decided that he would need to buy the threshing floor of Araunah on which to build his altar. When David offered to buy the property, Araunah offered to give him not only the land but everything he needed to make the sacrifice. On the surface that may seem like a very attractive offer, but David responded by saying, “No, but I will surely buy if from you for a price. For I will not offer to God that which cost me nothing” (2 Samuel 24:24). But is what these rich men were doing and that is what you and I do when we only give to God out of our surplus.
I found the words of C.S. Lewis very convicting in this regard when he wrote. “I do not believe one can settle how much we ought to give. I am afraid the only safe rule is to give more than we can spare. In other words, if our expenditure on comforts, luxuries, amusements, etc. is up to the standard common among those with the same income as our own, we are probably giving away too little. If our charities do not pinch or hamper us, I should say they are too small. There ought to be thing we should like to do and cannot because our charitable expenditures excludes them.” [C. S. Lewis. Mere Christianity. (New York: MacMillan, 1957).p. 57]
The second principle is, God Cares About How We Give And….
The third principle is, God Cares About How Much We Give
Jesus not only observed their giving, and how they gave, he observed what they gave. He saw the rich people come along and some of them put in rather large sums of money. As they did He did not say a word, He just kept on watching. And then along come the poor widow and drops in the two smallest coins possible. It was not the amount that was important but the proportion. As Warren Weirsbe puts it, “When it come to our giving, God sees more than the portion: he also sees the proportion. Men see what is given, but God sees what is left and by that he measures the gift and the condition of our hearts.” [Warren Wiersbe. Be Courageous. Luke 14-24. (Wheaton, Illinois: Victor Books, 1989) p. 93]
Although what she was not much in monetary value, she gave all that she had. Jesus could remain silent no longer and he said, “she has given more than all the rest.”
There is no evidence that the woman ever knew what Jesus thought of her gift. There is no evidence that she ever became a prosperous woman in this life. It is possible that she went home and starved to death, but I sincerely doubt it. What a surprise one day when she stood before the Lord and heard Him say, “I saw what you did and it thrilled my heart.”
Let me close by reading 2 Corinthians 8:1-5,
“Now I want to tell you, dear brothers and sisters, what God in his kindness has done for the churches in Macedonia. (2) Though they have been going through much trouble and hard times, their wonderful joy and deep poverty have overflowed in rich generosity. (3) For I can testify that they gave not only what they could afford but far more. And they did it of their own free will. (4) They begged us again and again for the gracious privilege of sharing in the gift for the Christians in Jerusalem. (5) Best of all, they went beyond our highest hopes, for their first action was to dedicate themselves to the Lord….” (NLT)
God does not want your money he wants you. And yet we cannot give ourselves to Him apart from our money. It is true that money tells where our hearts are? If Jesus watched you give what would His opinion of your giving be?
