Look at Me, Look at God

Luke Following Jesus Brings Focus: Look at Me, Look at God

Text: Luke 20:45-21:4

MPS: The Lordship of Jesus Christ calls for humble sacrifice while eliminating prideful religion.

Intro: In today’s passage, Jesus is continuing his preaching ministry in the temple, and after a long and trying day, Jesus wants his disciples to observe something. He compares scribes, who society regards as examples and people to be admired (well-dressed, holding positions of power, and respected when they enter an area), with a widow (poor, having a low social status, and for the most part invisible). But Jesus saw her. This story addresses the difference between being seen and not being seen by people and by God. Jesus is saying, “I know typically you pay attention and watch these guys, but today, I want you to see this person – watch her.”

1. Warning To Those Who Say, “Look at me.”
   1. Jesus spoke to the people, but did so loud enough that everyone could hear his warning concerning the scribes.
   2. Scribes - religious scholars who were experts in the law. They read, recorded, studied, interpreted, and were the authorities concerning the law.
   3. They saw themselves as the most important people in Jewish culture, which created a position of great pride.
   4. Jesus tells the people to beware of the scribes - watch out, be on guard, as they act correctly, but their motives are wrong.
   5. The scribes' motives moved away from loving God to power or influence. When we do this, we can become infatuated with what others think rather than what God thinks of us.
   6. They Loved to look special.
      1. Jesus describes the religious elite walking around in power outfits. Long robes signified wealth and the elite. A working man would wear short robes because a long robe would get in the way of their work.
      2. We often judge books by their cover. When you see someone dressed in a special way, it communicates that they are distinguished or set apart.
      3. No one can foster the impression that they are great, then exalt a great God.
   7. They loved to look superior.
      1. They enjoyed being called Rabbi in the marketplace. They desired to be called by their title.
      2. Today, some religious individuals still aspire to occupy esteemed seats, deliver speeches at prominent gatherings, and receive titles.
      3. They would receive nods of submission from people sitting on stages as proud lovers of self.
      4. They loved sitting on the platform in the temples, evaluating everything and comparing it to their understanding of the law and their traditions.
      5. The Scribes had an unhealthy enjoyment of being noticed and receiving recognition, as it elevated their opinion of themselves.

• The Chosen features an actor named Jonathan Roumie, who plays Jesus on the series. In an interview for The New York Times, Roumie said:

Very often, I don’t feel worthy of playing the role of Jesus. I struggle with that a lot. But I also acknowledge what God has done for my life as a result of playing Christ and how God has changed my life.

On set in Season 1 — it was the first time in the series where I started preaching directly from Scripture as Jesus — I stood at a doorway looking out onto a crowd of about 50 extras, dressed as people coming to hear the teacher. This overwhelming anxiety swept over me. I had to tell Dallas Jenkins, the creator of our show, “Hey, man, can we stop for a minute?” He said, “Why?” I said, “Because I don’t feel worthy to be saying these words right now.”

1. They Loved themselves more than anyone else.
   1. They devour widows’ houses - fattening themselves from the troubles of the widows.
   2. Rabbis made legal judgments within the Jewish community. They would settle homes going into foreclosure because of death, and widows couldn’t pay the house payment. What they did was legal, merciless, and against scripture. Ex. 22:22-24
   3. One commentator said that Jesus accused them of any of the following:
      1. Taking payment from widows for legal aid, even though such payments were prohibited
      2. Cheating inexperienced widows of their inheritance
      3. mismanaging widows’ property who had dedicated themselves to service in the temple
      4. accepting money from naive older widow women in exchange for a special prayer.
   4. Misuse of Psalms 37:4 so that everything I want God must give, rather than my wants become what God wants as I delight myself in HIm.
   5. In the middle of their pride, they would present themselves as godly by “For a pretense make long prayers.” The length of the prayers is not the issue, but they pretended to be godly rather than having a heart that pursues God.
2. They will receive the greater condemnation -
   1. Greater condemnation than whom? A wicked person who doesn’t hide who he is.
   2. Jesus’ half-brother James wrote something similar when he said James 3:1. Increased responsibility equals increased accountability.
3. The solution for every believer is to immerse ourselves in the truth of God’s word and obey it.
4. Jesus uses an example of genuine generosity to reveal the opposite of hypocrisy and a true heart for following God.
5. Example of One Who “Looks To God.”
   1. Jesus is in the temple, probably in the outer court or the court of women. He uses the temple treasury for his final communication against the religious elite and those living lives of hypocrisy. Jesus refers to the treasury of the temple, which was in this area..
      1. The chests were called trumpets because they were narrow at the top and wide at the bottom. (show pic)
      2. Each chest had a label for a different type of offering, and the earmarked funds were for specific uses: new shekel dues, old shekel dues, bird offerings, young birds for the whole offering, wood, frankincense, and Offerings for the mercy seat. Six were for free-will offerings.
   2. Jesus Observes
      1. During Passover, this area bustled as people made their offerings in the Temple. Jesus observed the givers without drawing attention to himself. He was watching people.

• When we feel as if God is nowhere, He is watching over us with an eternal consciousness, above and beyond our every hope and fear.” George MacDonald Hannah 1 Sam. 2:3b The Lord is weighing our actions. David knew the Lord discerns our thoughts from afar. Ps. 139:2

1. Jesus saw some wealthy people who gave to be seen by others. Jesus is not saying that every wealthy person gave to be seen, but some did. 21:1, Matt. 6:2
2. Imagine the gasp in the crowd as a wealthy giver pours their gift into the chest. He may have needed help to carry the gift. They have a pious “beat that” expression.
3. This sight can create a feeling of spiritual superiority when, in truth, the financial gift proves nothing other than its size. The gift creates no intrinsic goodness, nor does it provide any spiritual safety for the giver.
4. Jesus also observed a poor widow put in two small copper coins.
   1. It should not surprise us that Jesus points out a widow on the heels of saying the scribes devoured the widows’ houses. Jesus uses contrasts to reveal spiritual truth.
   2. Widows were their job, not an opportunity for gain. James 1:27
   3. This widow would have been easily noticed because, just like the scribes, widows wore specific clothes, and hers was probably tattered and torn. The life of a widow was unusually tough.
   4. Life would have been easier had she been married. She is called “poor” as she has no family to care for her. Her situation has changed, but her relationship with God has not. Ps. 103:1-8
5. Her gift was the smallest allowable offering: two small copper coins. She could not give less, and she could not give more.
6. She participated in worship through giving. Does God count the coins? Yes. But He also weighs the heart.
7. One lepta would have been 1/400th of a shekel or ⅛ of a cent, and two would still have been barely anything. Imagine dropping two pennies in the offering when many won’t even pick up pennies.
8. Jesus Measures
   1. She approached the treasure chest differently from the scribes who wanted others to see their gift. She only cared that God saw her because He was the only one she came to please.
   2. She lived out a deep love for God through her gift as she slipped her two copper coins into the chest, and they fell without a clinking sound, but God knew and heard her gift. Deut. 6:4
   3. Because of her gift, the temple was no richer, but she was poorer, having given all she had to live on. 21:3-4
   4. Jesus held in his hands the balance scales of eternity, and the massive amount the rich gave fades in comparison to what the widow gave. “She gave more than all of them.”
   5. How did the widow put in more than all of them? It wasn’t more in quantity?
      1. What she gave cost her.
      2. “She put in all she had to live on.” She gave two; she might have retained one, but instead she gave all.
   6. The Old Testament standard for giving was a tithe. The word “tithe” means tenth, so a person would give 1/10 of their income to the Lord through the temple, which today would be the local church. In the New Testament, some argue that the tithe is no longer required, but the call to generosity remains. The standards for following Jesus in the New Testament are not decreased; they are increased.
      1. Don’t murder - don’t be angry. Don’t commit adultery - don’t lust after another man’s wife. Love your enemy and hate your enemy - love your enemy and pray for those who persecute you.
      2. Priests in the OT gave the inferior rather than the best to God, and God called it evil. Mal. 1:8
   7. 2 Cor. 9:6-7 God knows whether or not you are being generous and knows if your generosity flows from your heart cheerfully or if you are giving begrudgingly.
9. So What?
   1. When giving to God, our hearts matter.
      1. When you pay your taxes to the IRS, they don’t care at all if you are paying from your heart 1 Cor. 13:3
      2. The point of the passage is not to do better, or give more, but to get to know the Lord better and fall in love with hIm. When we do, we give and live sacrificially.
      3. Levi, the tax collector, left his white collar job and followed Jesus. Peter, Andrew, James, and John left their family fishing business and followed Jesus.
   2. Giving to God Should Cost.
      1. David was approached by a man named Araunah who desired to give him property to build an altar to God, and David wisely said. 2 Sam. 24:24

• C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity: “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 at all pinch or hamper us, I should say they are too small. There ought to be things we should like to do and cannot do because our charitable expenditure excludes them.”
• Fifty-six men signed the Declaration of Independence. In signing, they put their lives and their fortunes on the line. The British describe them as treasonous. Many of them lost everything.

Thomas Nelson Jr. was one signer. Nelson was wealthy and often purchased, or lent the money to buy, the artillery George Washington's men desperately needed. During the Battle of Yorktown, British General Cornwallis took over Nelson's home as his headquarters. This move was more than just for comfort, but it also made a symbolic point about who was in charge. It was a strategic defensive move. The British general knew Washington's men would never open fire on the grand estate of their great friend and benefactor, Thomas Nelson.

However, Nelson saw the predicament General Washington was in, and how they did not point the cannons in the direction of the enemy's headquarters. Nelson quietly went up to Washington and urged him to open fire on his own home, now Cornwallis’s new headquarters. Washington did open fire, and they destroyed Cornwallis’ home.

1. God can do Great Things With My offerings.
   1. Notice that Jesus gives two pictures of two different givers. He doesn’t even give the option of not giving. The idea that giving is a theological matter and a significant expression of your Christian faith has been, for the most part, lost.
   2. The two copper coins given by a widow have motivated givers for more than two centuries. Those two little copper coins have multiplied into billions of dollars.
   3. When the heart of the giver bends towards worshipping God, then God uses the gift to bless the giver, and God often utilizes it in miraculous ways.
2. God Is Equal Opportunity and Equal in Expectations
   1. We will all stand before God to give an account of how we used our funds. Have we been good stewards of the time, treasure (money), and talents that God has given to us?
   2. The expectations from God are the same regardless of race or financial status.

Conclusion: Giving generously is the Potty Training of the Christian life. It is appropriate for you to struggle with giving generously if you are a new Christian or if you have never gotten out of the stage of being driven by your flesh, which the bible calls a carnal Christian. However, if you have been a believer for years and have grown in your walk with Christ, but you are not yet spiritually potty trained, may I challenge you to decide to give God every area of your life, which includes your money.