Take your Bibles with me and turn again to Luke chapter 20. We're going to look at the last couple of verses of Luke chapter 20 this morning and the first few verses of Luke chapter 21. I think you'll see that they go together. It's one story.

Jesus is in the temple. He has basically taken it over. Earlier that week — during the busiest week of the year, Passover — He rode in on a donkey as the Messiah, the King. He went straight into the temple and asserted ownership by driving out the money changers. For the last several weeks we've been watching the conflicts between Jesus and the religious leaders. The scribes, who were often political adversaries of the chief priests, liked what Jesus was doing. So now Jesus turns His attention on them.

That's where our text picks up today. Luke 20:46-47:

“Beware of the scribes, which desire to walk in long robes, and love greetings in the markets, and the highest seats in the synagogues, and the chief rooms at feasts; which devour widows’ houses, and for a shew make long prayers: the same shall receive greater damnation.”

Then in chapter 21:

“And he looked up, and saw the rich men casting their gifts into the treasury. And he saw also a certain poor widow casting in thither two mites. And he said, Of a truth I say unto you, that this poor widow hath cast in more than they all: For all these have of their abundance cast in unto the offerings of God: but she of her penury hath cast in all the living that she had.”

In the middle of Jesus confronting the religious fakes, He looks up and sees rich men throwing their gifts into the temple treasury. In the Court of the Women there were thirteen trumpet-shaped offering boxes. Some were for specific offerings, but others were for freewill gifts. This was Passover — the busiest week of the year. Crowds everywhere. Long lines at each box.

You can picture the wealthy men making a show of it. Some probably had servants carrying their money. They wanted everyone to notice how much they were giving. People would stand in awe and applaud their “generosity.” All of this was happening right where Jesus had been teaching. He turns, looks, and sees it.

The main thing I want us to see today is that Jesus sees things differently than we do. God sees everything.

Proverbs 15:3 says, “The eyes of the Lord are in every place, beholding the evil and the good.”

Jeremiah 23:24 asks, “Can any hide himself in secret places that I shall not see him? saith the Lord. Do not I fill heaven and earth?”

And Hebrews 4:13 tells us, “Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight: but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do.”

God doesn’t just see what we do — He sees why we do it. He sees the heart. Just like when He chose David over his stronger brothers, God looks past outward appearances.

In our story today, as Jesus confronts the religious leaders and watches two very different groups giving their offerings, we are reminded what Jesus truly sees.

This morning I want to give you three things Jesus sees.

Let's pray and we'll jump into those three points.

{Prayer}

1. Jesus sees religious predators

While Jesus was criticizing the scribes, He said that they "devour widows’ houses."

In Bible times, the scribes were the experts in the law. They were trusted as religious leaders to look after the most vulnerable people in society. Widowed women were among the most vulnerable. In that culture, a woman was almost completely dependent on her husband or adult sons for provision and protection. While there were exceptions like the Proverbs 31 woman or Lydia, most widows without family support were in a truly desperate position.

The scribes and Pharisees — the pastors and spiritual leaders of their day — were supposed to protect these women. Instead, Jesus says they were devouring their houses. They were using their position and expertise to take from the very people they should have been helping.

Maybe they charged exorbitant legal fees. Maybe they pressured widows to give more and more, promising God’s blessing. Maybe they tricked them into writing them into their wills. However they did it, Jesus saw it clearly, and it made Him angry.

I think of Uncle Bob, Pastor Pullen’s brother-in-law. He was one of the poorest men I ever knew. He lived in Pastor Pullen’s house with almost nothing — just an old beat-up car he used for little trips to play bingo. He died with very little to his name. Yet even over ten years after his death, I still get mail from charismatic preachers asking for donations from Uncle Bob. They hound people like him with promises of prayer cloths and “seed offerings.”

These religious leaders live like kings — palaces, expensive cars, private jets — often financed by the poorest and most vulnerable among us.

But it’s not just the flashy prosperity preachers who can be guilty of this. Even in our own tradition, some pastors can become the “little god” in people’s lives. They cut vulnerable people off from their families, become their financial advisor, and find ways to direct money toward their own priorities.

Here’s what our story shows us today: Jesus sees it. He sees right through the show, and it disgusts Him. Unfortunately, instead of praying for God’s people, too many religious leaders prey on God’s dear people. They love the fleece more than the flock.

If you are someone who has been preyed on in the past, I want you to know that you have not only my compassion — you have God’s compassion. He sees you. He sees what has been done to you. And those who do such things will not go unpunished when they stand before God’s judgment.

2. Jesus sees religious performers

But there is a second thing that Jesus sees in this story. Jesus doesn’t just see religious predators.

Remember, Jesus is teaching, and right in His view are these offering boxes. Wealthy people are making a big deal out of the amount of money they are giving to the Lord.

This passage reminds me of Matthew 6:1-4:

[1] Take heed that ye do not your alms before men, to be seen of them: otherwise ye have no reward of your Father which is in heaven.

[2] Therefore when thou doest thine alms, do not sound a trumpet before thee, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.

[3] But when thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth:

[4] That thine alms may be in secret: and thy Father which seeth in secret himself shall reward thee openly.

Matthew 6:1-4 (KJV)

Apparently it was common practice in Bible times for people to literally blow a trumpet to draw attention to themselves before they gave a large gift. In this busy Passover crowd, these wealthy men were doing exactly that — making quite a show of their giving. And Jesus saw it.

Now, I want to be careful here. There is nothing wrong with wealthy people giving generously to the Lord or to the church. There is nothing wrong with giving a large gift. What is wrong is when people give for attention. When giving becomes a performance.

I once heard about a church business meeting where a need was presented. A rich man stood up and announced loudly, “I’d like to give $10,000 anonymously.”

Friends, when you give, it is not a performance. It is not for applause or recognition. It is for the Lord.

Some churches put plaques on everything — “This was given by so-and-so in honor of so-and-so.” You open a hymnal and find a sticker saying who donated it. But it has long been the habit of this church — long before I came — that if you cannot give anonymously, we don’t want the gift. Our God owns the cattle on a thousand hills. He can take care of us without plaques, announcements, or bragging rights.

But this goes beyond money. If you are doing any religious works to be seen of men — know this: God sees it, and you already have your reward.

If you get special satisfaction from dressing up, being seen as the most religious person in the room, or having your neighbors think you’re especially godly — they might see it, but God sees the heart. He sees when our religious performance is really motivated by selfishness.

Think about it. How often do we do things in church not for God, but to be noticed? We serve on a committee so people will see how dedicated we are. We teach a class or sing in the choir hoping someone will compliment us. We post our good deeds on social media so others will think well of us. Jesus says that kind of religion has already received its reward — the temporary applause of people. But it has no eternal value.

The antidote is simple: Do it for the Lord alone. Give, serve, pray, and worship in secret when no one is watching. Let your Father who sees in secret reward you openly. That is the kind of religion that pleases God.

3. Jesus sees our giving by proportion, not by portion.

There is a third thing that this passage teaches us that Jesus sees and it is the thing I want to spend the most time on today.

In the midst of all these rich people making a big deal of how much money they were giving, walks a destitute widow. And she gives 2 mites.

Now, a mite was the smallest level of currency that they had. A mite was like a penny. They stop making pennies, and places are not giving them out anymore. Most people, if they see a penny on the street, don't even bend down to pick it up because it's basically worthless at this point. A mite was 1/128 of a typical worker's daily wage.

And so this widow comes in who is truly poor, truly destitute, and she gives 2 mites. She gives maybe a dollar in today's money, and Jesus said something amazing. He said:

[3] And he said, Of a truth I say unto you, that this poor widow hath cast in more than they all:

Don't miss this. Jesus didn't say that the widow gave more than any of the rich people. Jesus said the widow gave more than all of the rich people — all of them combined.

Now, how can that be? How can somebody giving a dollar be giving more than somebody giving thousands of dollars?

As the kids say, make it make sense.

Jesus tells us in verse 4:

[4] For all these have of their abundance cast in unto the offerings of God: but she of her penury hath cast in all the living that she had.

The reason why she gave more than all of them combined is because of the proportion of what she gave. You see, Jesus, when He looks at us and He looks at our giving, He doesn't see the portion. He sees the proportion.

Now this is both an amazing comfort and an amazing challenge.

If you are somebody who has limited resources, limited time, limited talents, and you look at people who are wealthy or people who have lots of free time to dedicate to service, or people who have been gifted with immense natural talents, and you think, “I can never keep up with these people. I'm just not even going to try.” Then this passage should be a massive encouragement to you.

Because Jesus doesn't see the end result of the gift. Jesus sees the proportion of the gift based on what you can give.

• That means there might be somebody in our church who puts a few dollars in the offering plate or toward a special gift for a missionary, and that person in the eyes of God is giving far more than the person who can comfortably afford to give hundreds of dollars.
• It means when our little children take out a few of their dollars and give it to the Lord, that is a bigger offering in the eyes of our seeing Savior than the well-off guy giving thousands.
• It means if you are somebody who is taking care of children by yourself and you're working crazy hours to provide for those children, and you can only make it to church one service a week but you'd love to come more — in God's eyes that is more of a commitment than the person with tons of free time that comes to every service.

Jesus sees the proportion, not just the portion. Isn’t that a great comfort?

You might be tempted to measure yourself against others and feel less than, but that's not how God measures you and your service and your gifts at all. God measures you against you.

That's a great comfort — but do you know what? It's also a great challenge.

Because maybe you are a person who is down to your last mites — and you are giving them. But maybe you are the person who has so much to give, and you are just comfortably giving from your abundance and acting like it is a lot.

Remember, in the verses right before this Jesus said “render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's but to God the things that are God's.” Because Caesar’s face was on the coin — it belonged to Caesar — it’s not a big deal to give back to Caesar what belongs to him. But you — you bear the image of God. You belong to God. All of you belongs to Him and if you live your life as a living sacrifice — that is a reasonable service.

[1] I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.

Romans 12:1 (KJV)

Giving that pleases God costs us something.

Remember the story of David. He was looking for a place for the temple and he was offered a parcel of land for free and he wouldn’t take it for free — if it was for God, it should cost something.

As I was reading for this sermon I read a convicting piece from C.S. Lewis in one of my commentaries. Lewis said this:

I do not believe one can settle how much we ought to give. I'm 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're probably giving away too little. If our charities do not at all pinch or hamper us, I should say they're too small. There ought to be things we should like to do and cannot do because our charitable expenditure excludes them.

Let me try to summarize that: your giving should affect your lifestyle.

I had kind of a unique experience growing up that always changed the way that I think about this. I lived in 2 houses with 2 men that made the exact same salary. They had the exact same job. One of them was a dedicated Christian, dedicated to the church, dedicated to the Lord. And the other was somebody that just lived for himself and the pleasures of this world. I remember going to one house and there were always new cars, new toys, vacation homes, golf clubs. And going to the other house, and it was like, we don't have any of that stuff. What's going on? And what I learned is that my Christian parents' priorities were in different places. They were generous. They gave to missionaries generously. They gave to the church generously. They invested in things like Christian education for their children. And it definitely hurt. They definitely went without a lot of things they could have had.

God sees not just the portion of what you give, but the proportion of what you give. If you are giving comfortably and it makes no real difference in your lifestyle, then God sees it.

Conclusion

Now, as we close today, I want to just remind you of one simple truth. No matter what Man sees - God see what is real.

If you are here today and you are going through the motions, but you've never really trusted Christ - God sees that.