Introduction:

Every Christian must have to understand this principle of noticeable offering.

The story in our passage is about the poor widow woman. We can imagine that this poor woman have all the psychological trauma status. However, this widow poor woman instead of staying at her home licking her wounds, she decided to go to the temple and gave an offering. And because Jesus was present in the temple that day, we are certain that this poor widow woman was glad. We read and learn that Jesus commended this poor woman for her offering and said that her giving was a great offering. If an offering is significant to Jesus, then we are interested to know why an offering is significant to Jesus. Let us find out the offering that made Jesus take notice.

Reason offering is noticeable:

I – GIVING THAT JESUS NOTICED – v.1-2

Luke 21:1-2 "And he looked up, and saw the rich men casting their gifts into the treasury. ²And he saw also a certain poor widow casting in thither two mites.”

Jesus watches people give.

Would your giving become different or affected when if the Pastor was sitting next to you? Are you aware that Jesus was with you today, and of course Jesus is more important that your Pastor. The closest that your Pastor can get to you is to be in your pew while Jesus resides in your heart. Remember, Jesus is not only saw your method of giving but Jesus was your motive of giving. Again, Jesus was watching you give.

A. Jesus saw that despite of their economic status people give – v. 2

Luke 21:2 “poor widow casting in thither two mites.”

There are some contrasts given in this passage:

1. Rich men (v.1); with poor widow (v.2)

2. The word “men” is plural; the word “widow” is singular (she was by herself)

3. Men, the providers of the house; widow and thus lost her provider.

4. Men were rich; widow woman was poor.

Jesus watched both of these groups as they give. In other words, Jesus saw the rich men and He saw the poor widow.

If we had been there during that time, we would interestingly focus our attention to all the poor widow that were present. We would have watched many rich men in their giving, but we would have counted insignificant the two mites offering of this poor widow woman. However, the Lord Jesus is intently watching how the rich man give but interestingly Jesus also watching how this poor widow woman give. Oh, what a comfort and encouragement to know that Jesus is watching the way everyone gives.

There are many church members in different congregation that live in near poverty-stricken circumstances. Their giving is not able to match the giving of some rich members of the congregation. Jesus pay attention to the giving of the poor, but He does not consider their giving as insignificant. Despite of their economic status people give, and Jesus is watching the poor widow casting two mites.

B. Jesus made accurate assessments of people's giving – v. 3

Luke 21:3 “And he said, Of a truth I say unto you, that this poor widow hath cast in more than they all:”

Jesus made an accurate assessment of the poor widow’s giving after He watched how she gives. Not only Jesus assessment is accurate but is a truth. Every assessment of Christ in our giving, He is always accurate. Jesus is omniscient God. And since that He is an all-knowing God, so Jesus knows all things and absolutely perfect or accurate in what He knows.

Isaiah 40:28 “Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? there is no searching of his understanding.”

Job 37:16 “Dost thou know the balancings of the clouds, the wondrous works of him which is perfect in knowledge?”

Psalm 147:5 “Great is our Lord, and of great power: his understanding is infinite.”

I John 3:20 “For if our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart, and knoweth all things.”

Romans 11:33 “O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out!”

God never commit mistakes. God’s way is perfect. Whenever God watches the way you give, His assessment of your giving is the truth. Not your assessment and not the assessment of others about your giving, it is God’s assessment that is truth. You cannot hide anything from God, Jesus knows your motive, and He knows your heart. Do not please others when you give, do not tell others about your giving. Be careful, God is watching you, He will assess your giving accurately and that is the truth.

C. Jesus has comprehensive knowledge of people’s giving – v.4

Luke 21:4 “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 knowledge of God is not only accurate but also comprehensive.

Notice the phrase of Jesus about the giving of this poor widow woman, “cast in all the living that she had.” Did Jesus know that the poor widow cast in all that she had? Did Jesus know what this woman had at home?

Example: We had our records updates given by the treasures into every church member about our giving to the church. Our church treasurers assess what every member’s giving. The treasurers my be able to say of a truth that this is your giving for specific period. However, our church financial treasurers have no way of knowing what amount you do not give, she does not even know your heart motive. The treasurers can give an accurate assessment of what is the exact giving in the plate but she has no comprehensive knowledge at all about what you have kept out of the offering plate. The treasurer does not even know your personal living status in your home.

Jesus is different than any of us. Jesus is God who knows everything about everything. Jesus' assessment of our giving is not only accurate but is totally comprehensive.

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

Proverbs 5:21 “For the ways of man are before the eyes of the Lord, and he pondereth all his goings.”

God knows everything and God knows everything about everything. Nothing can hide from His eyes. God knows your mind, your heart before you act. There is no knowledge about your giving that has escaped the knowledge of God. God is the blesser, so be cautious of your giving because He will bless you according to His accurate assessment and comprehensive knowledge on the way you give.

II – GIVING CAN BE DONE BY EVERYBODY – v.1-2

Through God’s grace everybody can give something.

We are not surprised and there is no doubt that rich men are able to give. Actually, we expect rich people to give. But many people have that mentality that they promise to give when they become rich. People who are rich give because they have lot of resources to give, but poor people cannot be expected to give because they do not have the resources or money to give.

ILLUSTRATION: There was a Pastor who visited the house of a man who attended the church who was a farmer. And the Pastor asked the farmer, “If you had ten cows, would you give God five of them?” The man responded, “Pastor, if I had five cows, I would give God five of them.” The pastor then asked, “If you had eight cows, would you give God four of them?” The farmer replied, “Pastor, you know if I had eight cows, I would give God four.” “Well,” said the pastor, “if you had four cows, would you give God two?” The man said, “Of course.” Finally, the pastor asked, “If you had two cows, would you give God one?” The farmer responded, “Pastor, that ain’t no fair; you know I only have two cows.” In fact, many are guilty of that mentality, and many times that is the way many people give. Many are very impulsive with their mouth that they said they would give and help the church when the large amount of money would come into their pocket, these people are very generous with their lips with that which is has not come into their possession yet. Giving is not a state of your purse, giving is a state of your heart.

This poor widow woman demonstrates this truth that giving is a state of the heart. The Bible says this woman was a poor widow in verse 2 “And he saw also a certain poor widow.” Luke uses the word here translated “poor” in Greek is “penichran” which is a very unusual word and is used only here in the New Testament. During bible times all widows were poor. Beside widows had a very few ways to earn money, in effect all widows were poor. Therefore, when Luke described this woman was a poor widow, it means this woman was really poor. In case, this widow woman was among the poorer widows, we can now imagine how poor this widow woman really was.

Despite of the economic status or deep poverty, and yet this poor widow was able to give. Thus, it was evident and now we know that everybody can give something. In comparison with others who are able to give more we may not be able to give like the way others give. I don’t believe that there is someone who exists in this earth by the grace of God that can truthfully say, that has nothing that they can give. Think my friend, if this poor widow woman could give, then the truth is you, I and everybody of us can give.

It really very encouraging and blessing to study through the Bible to find out and learn that there are people gave in spite of their economic poverty condition. Paul has written this truth in II Corinthians 8:1-2.

II Corinthians 8:1-2 “Moreover, brethren, we do you to wit of the grace of God bestowed on the churches of Macedonia; ²How that in a great trial of affliction the abundance of their joy and their deep poverty abounded unto the riches of their liberality.”

In the context, these churches in Macedonia who were in deep poverty still gave liberally for the sake of those poor believers in Jerusalem. The deep poverty people help and give to the poor people. How did they do that? In verse 1, it is the grace of God who operates or work mightily in the lives of these afflicted and people who were in deep poverty. Again, the amount of money in a wallet do not condition the giving of each one. The giving of money does not depend on the condition of money you possessed. It was the grace of God in the heart of each believer condition the way of giving. We repeat, everybody can give something for God and His work.

III – GIVING THAT IS MORE IMPORTANT THAN MONEY – v.1, 3-4

Is there anything more important than money? Do we need to give something more important than money? In this passage, we find important comparison. Take a look at verse 2 “two mites”. This poor woman gave two copper coins, two lepta. This word denotes a small Jewish coin that has a very small monetary value and thus this was a minimum offering compared to others who give their offerings. Listen, worshippers were not permitted to give less than two lepta. It is important to know that one mite was not considered significant enough even used for some operation. That is why two mites was the minimum gift. But even though this poor widow woman gives the minimum gift of two lepta that has a very small monetary value, according to the Lord Jesus this poor woman gave more than the rest. Obviously, she did not give more money and the offering was the smallest gift allowed during that day. The point is that this poor widow woman must have given something more than money that day. The emphasis that all of us should learn is that we have to give something more important than money.

A. Equating of Giving – v.3

Luke 21:3 “And he said, Of a truth I say unto you, that this poor widow hath cast in more than they all:”

This verse says, this poor widow woman gave more than the offering of them all. We have the symbols for greater than and less than in our Mathematics subject. Now, if we do some equation of the offering casted by the poor woman compared to the offerings given by the rich men, what can you say who gives more? But listen to our Lord Jesus statement who knows the right equation, who knows our heart, who has the perfect assessment, who says that these two mites were greater than the rest of the money given in the treasury box.

Now, the important thought we should give attention here is that Jesus did not say that this poor woman gave more than any other single individual. I mean individual comparison. What Jesus did say is that this poor woman gave more than the rest of the people put together. Jesus said, “this poor widow hath cast in more than they all.” So, the value of giving money is not everything. In our human perspective, the giving of this poor woman was less than the giving of them all, but when it comes to spiritual perspective, Jesus said, the giving of this poor woman was greater than the giving of them all. That is the equating of giving. We have to think and evaluate this word of Jesus can made the accurate assessment and has comprehensive knowledge of our offering.

B. Cheapening of Giving – v.1

Luke 21:1 “And he looked up, and saw the rich men casting their gifts into the treasury.”

These rich men are doing something to cheapen their gifts offering. Luke gave us the clue as to what cheapened these gifts, it says in verse 1 “rich men casting their gifts into the treasury.” In the temple there was a section of the women’s court that was named “the treasury.” There were thirteen-shaped collection boxes in this court. Each one of these trumpet-shaped boxes had an inscription indicating the purpose of the money placed in that container would go for. These rich men cast their money into these trumpet shaped boxes.

Let us read Matthew 6:1-2 to give us the entire picture of casting money into the trumpet shaped boxes.

Matthew 6:1-2 “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. ²Therefore 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.”

There are people who wants to be noticed in their giving, so when they went into the temple, they place their coins in these trumpet-shaped boxes so that the coin rattled all the way down. This way of giving is no doubt a wrong way of giving. Many referred to this giving as demonstrative method of giving as according to Jesus “sounding the trumpet” and they used the trumpet-shaped collection box to make a noise in getting attention. Jesus do not want that motive of giving, He said “do not sound a trumpet” (Matthew 6:2).

Some people practice this questionable motive of giving. Look again on what Jesus said in verse 2 “the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets.” Jesus is saying that these hypocrites sounded the trumpet in the synagogues and the streets. Of course, the collection boxes were not in the streets. Therefore, these hypocrites’ people who want to be praised in their giving actually hired little trumpeters who would go before them (v.2 “sound a trumpet before thee.”) and play a tune announcing about their giving. These people want their giving to be heralded in the streets.

These hypocrite type of giving people love to be seen, notice and praised by men as Jesus said in Matthew 6:2 “they may have glory of men”. Anyone who give in order to be seen and notice by men, it cheapens our giving. That is cheapening of giving is all about.

Notice again what Jesus said in Matthew 6:2 “Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.” Jesus is saying that giving that is done before men receives a human reward while giving that is done before God receives a heavenly reward. Giving that is done in secret is considered of higher value than giving that is done publicly. That is why God rewarded openly the giving that is done in secret. Are you giving your offering in secret?

As Jesus talks about these hypocrites who give with a wrong motive by hiring trumpeters before them to announce publicly their giving to be noticed by others but the poor widow woman in our passage did not give with wrong motive, but Jesus noticed her.

Jesus saw the motive of this poor widow woman was pure, so Jesus viewed her giving as greater than those rich men who cheapened their offering through demonstrating in public. Don’t give with a motive to get attention from others, instead you must trust God as the Lord sees everything about you and everything that is in you.

C. Foremost in Giving – v.4

Luke 21:4 “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.”

Jesus explains why the giving of this poor widow woman was greater in verse 4 “she of her penury hath cast in all the living that she had.” Jesus is saying that the poor woman gave out of her poverty, but the rich men had given out of their abundance. These rich men had given money, but the poor woman had given something more than money. Why? Because Jesus said, “cast in all the living that she had.” This poor widow woman gave all her living. This widow poor woman’s very life went into that offering plate. She gave sacrificially that is why she put her very life through her giving. The first that this poor woman gave was her heart to the Lord before she had ever opened her wallet.

Example of this is the Macedonian believer.

II Corinthians 8:5 “And this they did, not as we hoped, but first gave their own selves to the Lord, and unto us by the will of God.”

Paul had admonished the Macedonian Churches to give financial help to the poor saints of Jerusalem. But Paul said, “they did, not as we hope” means these Macedonian brethren gave beyond what Paul had hoped. The ultimate reason why these believers in Macedonian churches followed the will of God and gave to mission’s program is because they first gave themselves to the Lord. Giving first their own selves to the Lord is the is the first and foremost gift of these brethren who are in deep poverty. The most important thing to give, is not giving God your money but giving God your life. If you give God your money, thus God has your money but God may not have your life. On the other hand, if God has your life, God will have your money. It is therefore, the ultimate or the foremost gift to God is never your financial but the ultimate or foremost gift is spiritual. God may have your money that you have given but the question is does God have your life, does God have your heart?

Example:

You can surrender as missionaries so other lost people might be saved.

You can give your dreams and own will in life in order to obey the will of God in your life.

You can forsake your worldly lifestyles just to follow holiness and righteous living.

You can give up all your secular activities and other schedules that hinder your fellowship with God.

You can give up your household chores that hinder your faithfulness and commitment to the Lord.

Like the Macedonian brethren who “first gave their own selves to the Lord,” the same is true with this poor woman she “cast in all the living that she had.” This poor widow gave up her living. The ultimate and foremost gift is giving first your heart, your soul to the Lord, that is what the poor widow woman did before she ever cast in two mites.

No one will get saved and go to heaven and have the free gift of eternal life by giving money. The ultimate and foremost and highest gift you can give God before you go to heaven is the gift of your heart, yourself, your whole life. Amen!