In the sermon 'A Widow Amidst Wolves' by Peter Allison, the story of a widow's offering in Luke 20 is explored, contrasting her sacrificial giving with the corrupt practices of the Jewish leaders. Jesus warns against the scribes and Pharisees who seek public admiration and exploit vulnerable individuals like widows. The sermon challenges modern interpretations that view the widow as a victim of a corrupt religious system, instead suggesting that her offering was an act of sincere devotion. Historical commentators such as Calvin and Matthew Henry are cited, affirming the widow's piety and dedication. The sermon emphasizes that true worship is measured by the heart, not the outward appearance of the gift. It also explores the biblical context of giving, including references to the rich young ruler and the widow of Zarephath, arguing that Jesus sometimes expects complete devotion and sacrifice. The sermon concludes by urging believers to offer gifts from a heart of love and dedication to God, rather than seeking recognition or adhering to legalistic practices.

Please turn to Luke chapter 20. I'd like We read beginning at verse 45. Then in the hearing of all the people he said to his disciples, Beware of the scribes who desire to go around in long robes, Love greetings in the market places, The best seats in the synagogues, And the best places at feasts, Who devour widows' houses, and for a pretense make long prayers. These will receive greater condemnation." And he looked up and saw the rich putting their gifts into the treasury, and he saw also a certain poor widow putting in two mites. So he said, truly, I say to you that this poor widow has put in more than all, 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.

May our soul keep His testimonies and love them exceedingly. Gracious Father in Heaven, thank you for preserving your Word. And may this hearing of your Word be mixed with faith. And may this proclamation of your word be not with human words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power. That our faith should not be in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.

In Jesus' name, amen. Well, the picture that Jesus paints of this Jewish church is not pretty, it's not complimentary. Today's jet setting, high rolling, big stage preachers have nothing on the Jewish leaders of Jesus' day. Matthew, the Gospel of Matthew, was written to the Jews and it therefore gives a lot more detail on this occasion where Jesus addresses the failures of the elders and the Levites who were shepherding this Jewish church. And even though this passage in Matthew doesn't contain anything about this widow and her two mites.

All the other events that are recorded before and after Jesus' observation of this widow giving her two mites exactly match the events and the order that are given in Matthew. There's the triumphal entry, the cleansing of the temple, the questions of the Jews, the Sadducees and the Pharisees seeking to know by what authority he did the things that he did, another question on whether it was proper to pay taxes to Caesar, and then another question on whose wife a widow of seven husbands would be in the resurrection, which was then followed by Jesus' question to them after he had silenced them, his question to them about how David could call Jesus his Lord if Jesus was actually and in fact the son of David. And of course they couldn't answer that. And that was followed by Jesus' warnings about the Jewish leadership, given here in this passage that we read, which was then followed by his discourse on the temple and its looming destruction That immediately follows what we read. Whereas you see Luke, which was probably written to a believing priest, or Levite, to provide a defense of the Christian faith, doesn't spend near as much time relating this meeting, this discussion, this condemnation that Jesus gives of the Jewish leadership.

But I think it's clear from both what is said and from the similarities of the immediate context of both passages that the same event is in view, that the same event that Luke summarizes here in a couple of verses where Jesus says, beware of the scribes and the Pharisees who desire to go around in long robes, and they love greetings in the marketplaces, in the best seats in the synagogue, in the best places at feasts. That this Condemnation here in Luke that's summarized here is the same discourse that Matthew takes a whole chapter to expound on and goes into a lot more detail. It's a long litany of condemnations and woes that Matthew records Jesus pronouncing on them. Luke summarizes that. One of which is that they devour widows' houses and for a pretense make long prayers.

For a pretense is for a show. They do it just to be seen. They're not praying to God. They're simply doing something so that people can see them and think that they are very religious and very spiritual. And then after this discussion, Luke immediately jumps to this account of the widow's two mites that we just read.

Mights. Now we just read and this juxtaposition of these two events has led some commentators more recently more modern commentators today to think that Jesus was not holding up this widow as an example of godliness, and as an example of true worship, but rather As an example of a widow whose house was being devoured by the Jews and the church leaders. And of course the context would seem initially to support that. Support that. If you read many of the older commentators, though this widow is seen as a godly woman who is giving sacrificially.

But some of the recent teachers, one well-known preacher who is often a reliable exegete, who you would probably know, so I won't name, said, quote, I don't know what you have been taught about the story about the widow giving her last two cents. That was not an example of Christian giving. God doesn't expect you to give your last two cents and go home and die. That's what happens to a widow who is suckered by a religion of works. She was trying to buy with her last two cents her way into the kingdom because that's what she'd been taught.

That's the example that she had seen. And in another message, the same pastor titled, Abusing the Poor, he says, in fact, I think what she did displeased him immensely. I think It was more than displeased. I think what she did angered Jesus. Let me put it this way.

The system that had developed in Judaism abused poor people. Yes, it did. It abused them on a spiritual level. Yes, it did. If you just read Matthew 23, it's very clear that the Jews abused people and abused them spiritually.

It abused them on a spiritual level. Basic human needs come first with God, before religious offerings. God's law was never given to impoverish people, but to help them. Man was not made for the law, but the law was made for man. We could conclude that this woman was part of a system that took the last two mites out of her hand on the pretense that this was necessary to please God and to purchase her salvation and to bring her blessing.

She was manipulated by a religious system that was corrupt. This is not an illustration of a heartfelt sacrificial giving that pleases the Lord. This is not a model for us to follow. Jesus never expects that." End of quote. See, in this view, in his view, this widow was an example of a sad, misguided, woeful, poor, victimized lady.

But historically, that has not been the understanding of most of the church. Calvin said of this widow, This widow must have been a person of no ordinary piety, who rather than come empty into the presence of God chose to part with her own living. And our Lord applauds this sincerity because forgetting herself, she wished to testify that she and all that she possessed belonged to God." Matthew Henry says likewise of this widow, "...it was but two mites which make a farthing, but Christ magnified it as a piece of charity, exceeding all the rest. She has cast in more than they all. Christ does not blame her for indiscretion in giving what she wanted herself, nor for vanity in giving among the rich to the treasury, but commended her liberality and her willingness to part with what little she had for the glory of God, which proceeded from a belief of an independence upon God's providence to take care of her, Jehovah-Jireh, God will provide." Well, who's right here?

Which is the biblical view? Which view does Jesus have? Well, one statement that was made by the modern commentator was that man was created, Or that man was not made for the law, but the law was made for man. Is that true? Well, I don't think that's true at all.

The law reflects God's character, what is good, holy, just, and true. It condemns sinful man. Psalm 19 speaks of meditating upon the law day and night, of loving the law, of seeing it as more precious than gold, because it speaks of what is true. Christ came to redeem us from the curse of the law, from death, which is the wages of sin. And sin, of course, is the transgression of the law or breaking the law.

Christ came to redeem us from the curse of the law in order that we might be able to keep the law. Paul told Titus that the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, living according to the law and godly in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for us that He might redeem us from every lawless deed. Christ came to redeem us from breaking the law and enable us to obey the law. That He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself His own special people zealous for good works. That's why Christ came to save us.

Not just so that we, when suffer in hell, He came so that He might have His own people who are zealous for good works, who do His will. Paul was made an apostle to bring the obedience of the faith among the nations through whom, Paul said, we have received grace and apostleship for obedience to the faith among all the nations for His name. Paul said my whole calling as an apostle was to bring the obedience of the faith. That the law might be obeyed. Man was created to obey the law.

The purpose of redemption is that the Lord might secure for Himself a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people that we may proclaim the praises of Him who called us out of darkness into His marvelous light. That's why we've been saved. The hope of the gospel for which we are to pray is that His will would be done here on earth, as it is already being done in heaven. That's what we're taught to pray for. That's what Jesus is accomplishing in this world through his reign, through his messianic reign.

And he's accomplishing it in the lives of his people. And So I don't think it's right at all to say that man was not made for the law, but the law was made for man. No. Man was created to obey the law. Now The second thing that was said was that Jesus never expects people to give him all their wealth and go home and die.

Well, that's an exaggeration. There's no expectation of going home to die. But does Jesus, can we say that Jesus never expects people to give him all their wealth. Would he ever be pleased with somebody who does? Well, we want to answer that question.

We just have to look at the Scriptures and see what Jesus did expect and what He did command. What about the rich young ruler? That was a few chapters earlier in Luke 18, who came to Jesus asking, what must I do to inherit eternal life? And Jesus loved him. He had compassion on him.

And so he said, if you want to inherit eternal life, obey the law. When the man replied that he had obeyed the law from his youth, then Jesus told him to go and sell all that he had and give it to the poor. Did Jesus expect him to give all his wealth away? I think he did. It's what he told him to do.

Did Jesus expect this man to do what Jesus told him to do? I think we have to say he did, that Jesus did expect this man to go and sell all that he had and give it to the poor. So if that's what Jesus commands him to do, calls him to do, urges him to do, wants him to do, how could we ever say that Jesus never expects people to give away all their wealth? What about the widow at Zarephath? That is exactly what God expected her to do.

God told Elijah, arise, go to Zarephath, which belongs to Sidon, and dwell there. So it's out of Israel. See I have commanded a widow there to provide for you. A widow is going to provide for one of God's prophets. So Elijah did as he was told.

He came to the gates of the city and there was a widow gathering sticks. And so he called to her and said, please bring me a little water and a cup that I might drink." And as she was going off to get it, he said, Oh, and please bring me a morsel of bread. And she said, As the Lord your God lives, I do not have bread, only a handful of flour in a bin and a little oil in a jar and see I am Gathering a couple of sticks that I may go in and prepare it for myself and my son that we may eat it and die It's all we have We have nothing else And Elijah said to her do not fear Go and do as you have said, but make me a small cake from that flower first. And bring it to me. And afterward, then you can make some for yourself.

Now, all she had was enough for them to eat a little bit and die. Elijah is telling her, give me everything you have first, and then Go make some more for yourself She didn't say well, what am I gonna make it out of? Did God expect this widow to give away all that she had? Every bit of food? Yes He did.

And she did it. But she didn't go home and die. She first gave everything she had to Elijah, and afterwards she made some for herself. And she and her household ate for many days, because the bin of flour was not used up, nor did the jar of oil run dry, according to the word of the Lord which he spoke by Elijah." God protected her. God expected her to give all her food to Elijah first, and then, having done that, God provided for her household and Elijah.

And she never ran out of oil or flour. She never ran out of food. Or what about when Jesus sent the 12 apostles out to preach to the lost house of Israel. He told them, don't take any gold, don't take any silver, copper in your money belts, no bag for your journey, don't take two tunics, nor sandals, nor staffs. You mean go out without any of those obvious preparations for a worker is worthy of his food.

In other words, go with no provisions and God will provide. Did Jesus expect them to go that way? Well, yes, he did. And that's how they went. When he called the apostles, the Gospel say that they left everything to follow him.

He saw Levi, Luke 5, sitting at the tax office and he said, follow me. So he left all, arose and followed Him. And in that same passage about the rich young ruler, Peter later reminded Jesus that they had left all. He said, see, we have left all and followed you. So I don't think it's correct to say that the Lord would never expect people to give everything they had.

Everything we have belongs to the Lord. All of our wealth belongs to the Lord. The significance of the tithe is just that, That all of our income, not just 10%, but all of our income belongs to the Lord. That's why He has a right to 10% of it. Because it's all His.

Remember, The authority to tax is to basically, the authority of ownership. It's to say you own it. So if the Lord, does the Lord call everybody to give all that they have? No, he doesn't. Does he call some?

Yes, he does. Does he expect those people to do that? Yes, he does. Some people have felt called to give all of their wealth away. Some very, very rich people in history have felt called to give all of their wealth away.

And they've done that. Some people, very, very rich, even in the modern era, have felt called to give all their wealth away. And when they've tried to do it, they've found they couldn't do it. The more they gave away, the more profitable their business was. And they found out that after spending a year trying to give all their money away.

They have more than what they started with. So I think we have to agree with. The historical commentators who see the action of this woman as something that is commendable. Jesus is observing and contrasting this widow with the other givers. Mark 12, the parallel passage of this account, says that Jesus sat opposite the treasury and observed.

Observed. He was looking. He was an observer of people. And he observed how people put money into the treasury. In other words, this was not just a random act that Jesus happened to see as He was standing around the temple or resting for a moment from His teaching.

But he specifically sat in the treasury. He specifically went to the treasury. He sat opposite the treasury and observed how people put money into it. Now the treasury that was mentioned in that's mentioned here in this text people putting their gifts into the treasury or in Mark Jesus sitting opposite the treasury and observing people giving and how they gave it's further described by Alfred Edersheim, who's drawing from other various historical resources as being in the court of the women. And we know that that's consistent because here's a woman who is present there in it.

And all around this court of the women was a simple porch and within it, against the wall were 13 chests or actually they were trumpets. They were shaped like a trumpeter shofar. And they were there for charitable contributions. These thirteen chests were narrow at the mouth and they were wide at the bottom. And that's why they were called trumpets.

They were shaped in that way. And their specific purpose of each of these 13 the specific purpose was carefully marked on them nine Were for the receipt of what was legally due from the worshipers the other four were for voluntary gifts So for example trumpets one and two were for the half shekel temple tribute. One was for last year and two was for this year. You could, if you forgot last year or weren't there last year, you gave it in one. Two was for the current year, trumpet number three or box number, treasury box number three were for women who had to bring turtle doves for a burnt offering or a sin offering.

They dropped in the equivalent of the money which was then taken out every day and a corresponding number of turtle doves were offered. It apparently was a labor saving device that people have found to sort of streamline their sacrifice that they were required to bring. And Alfred Edersheim supposes that it might have been a way to for people to be able to offer the sacrifice without the occasion or the circumstance of their offering being publicly known. Into this trumpet Mary the mother of Jesus would have dropped her offering in Luke 2 when they were in the temple and the agent Simon took the infant Jesus in his arms and blessed God. Trumpet four would have received the value of offerings of young pigeons, five would have been for contributions for wood to the temple, six for incense, seven for the golden vessels of the temple, and if a man had any money left over after a sin offering or a trespass offering it would have been deposited in a trumpet eight and nine to thirteen were for what was left over from various offerings, offerings of birds, offerings of the Nazirite, cleansed leper, and involuntary offerings.

So Jesus is watching this go on as these people are giving. He's studying it. And so we can see and we can understand from the unique arrangement of each of these thirteen trumpets that the Lord would have some ability to distinguish the contributions of the rich who were given out of their abundance and out of this poor widow who had given all the living that she had. And when he saw this widow put these two mites into one of these boxes, Mark says that he called his disciples to him. And He begins with the words, truly, truly, I say to you.

This isn't just a random observation that he was making as he just happened to be standing there. He's been studying these people, how they give, and he saw something that he wanted to teach from. He wanted to make a lesson of. And so he called his disciples to him, Mark says, and Luke says, truly, I say to you that this poor widow has put in more than all the others. Others.

He doesn't contrast this widow with the Jewish, corrupt Jewish leadership of the church that he had recently condemned. He contrasts her with the other givers. And he never condemns the widow, but rather he's highlighting this for something that she does more than the others. This woman gave two mites. She's called a poor woman.

This is the same word. Jesus uses two words for poor here, and Mark uses the same word. But the second word that Jesus uses for poor is the same word that's used to describe Lazarus. Lazarus, in there it's translated a beggar. Ptochas is somebody who lives not by his own labor or industry, but on other people's gifts.

That's a poor. The rich here were those who could make large gifts and still have plenty of money to live on. That would probably classify most of us, would be rich in that sense. In that our gifts, we can make a gift and still have money to live on. But what were these two mites?

The Greek text calls it a lepton, which is a Greek coin, not a Roman coin, and it's worth 128th of a day's wages. Less than 1% of a day's wages. It's a bronze coin about half the size of our penny and we can dig these kind of coins up by those who do the archaeological digs in Israel. These coins were around for a couple hundred years, 150, 130 years before Christ, about the same time after. One author said the lepton is probably the lowest denomination coin ever struck by any nation in all of history.

It's half the size of our penny. In the parallel passage in Mark tells us that two leptons were worth a quadrant. Two mites are worth a quadrant. Now remember the Gospel of Mark was written to a Roman audience, so Mark provides the conversion to Roman coinage with which his readers would be more familiar. The mite, the lepton, was a Greek coin used in Israel.

His Roman readers may not have been as familiar with it. So he says it's, he compares it to its value of a Roman coin, the smallest Roman coin, a quadrant. Now a denarius was a day's wages for a typical worker, for a laborer, for what we might call an hourly worker. So we could say that this would be worth about a dollar fifty in our coinage. It's not much in any context.

And it's certainly not much if it represents all the money that someone has. In an absolute sense, of course, she's put in the equivalent of a penny's worth of copper. But of course, they were a lot poorer nation, and so her one penny is probably worth what a dollar fifty is for us. But Jesus says that she gave more than all the other givers who gave much bigger gifts. She gave more.

What do we learn by this account? One application is that God has his remnant even in corrupt churches. We can think of the days of Elijah when Elijah despaired. The whole nation had gone after Baal. It was overrun by Baal worshippers.

And Elijah said, Lord, they've killed all your prophets and they've torn down all your altars, and I alone am left and they seek my life. I alone am left and they seek my life. And what was God's answer? I have reserved to myself 7, 000 who have not bowed the knee to Baal. See, God reserves His remnant even in corrupt churches.

And this woman was still worshipping at this church, still making sacrifices to the Lord that the Lord was pleased with. Now widows are not necessarily godly just because they are widows. Paul told Timothy to honor widows who are really widows, but if they had children, they should provide. But she who is really a widow and left alone trusts in God and continues in supplications and prayers night and day, but she who is living in pleasure is dead while she lives." He's talking about widows here. A widow who is truly a widow trusts in God and continues in supplications and prayers night and day.

He goes on a little later in that passage to say that a godly widow would be known by her works. He says, Don't let a widow under sixty years of old be taken into the number, and not unless she has been the wife of one man, well reported for good works. If she has brought up children, if she has lodged strangers, if she has washed the saints' feet, if she has relieved the afflicted, if she has diligently followed every good work but refused the younger widows for when they have begun to grow wanton against Christ they desire to marry having condemnation because because they cast off their first faith. So this is So God has His remnant of godly widows. This is a widow who is engaging in an act of worship that is pleasing to God.

Even though this is a corrupt church with corrupt leadership, I should say that the leadership is corrupt. They still had the Word of God. This was still the church where Jesus went and preached. This is still the church that the apostles ministered in. This is where the apostles themselves still went up to the temple to pray.

Even after Christ's resurrection, these apostles are still going to the temple for prayer. Paul was still going to the temple even years later still worshiping there because that was where worship was and so this widow is widow who is engaging in a good work. She's engaging in the worship of giving. To the Lord. The second thing we see is that the size of our gifts is not measured by the quantity, but by the proportion of one's ability to give.

She gave more than all the others, even though it was the least gift that could be given. I think some have said that the requirement to give was at least two mites. You couldn't give one. I don't know if that's true or not, but some have said that. But so she gave the least that could possibly be given, and yet she gave more than everybody else.

She gave more than everybody else because she gave the greatest proportion of her money. She gave it all, 100%. Maybe you feel closer to the widow in your ability to give than the rich. You might be tempted to think, well, compared to what I can give, my gift isn't very much. It's not worth much.

Maybe it's meaningless. That's maybe true of other gifts besides money that God gives. Maybe it's other kinds of gifts, intellectual gifts, physical gifts, skills, labors, and so forth. These are all gifts that God has given us and maybe we think Our ability isn't much. We don't have the ability to speak or to do other teach or to know much or do much.

But what this passage is teaching is that we can be assured that our gift given out of love to God and our Savior, given by one who is set apart to the Lord, is worth more than many other gifts. And it's certainly worth no less than if you were able to give all of the gold in Fort Knox, if there's any there. See, this is a contrast between what is a large gift as measured by men and what is a large gift as measured by God. And the lesson to the poor is that even our little gifts are much, are great in the sight of God. And the lesson to the rich is not to trust in their wealth.

There's a danger in comparing what we give to what other people give and comparing our ability to serve with other people's ability to serve. There's a danger in trusting in our wealth and looking at what we can do and thinking we can do a lot. We can do more than somebody else. Or we have all this blessing because what we can do. And the lesson here is that's not the way God looks upon our gifts.

We aren't giving more because we have more quantity. God looks upon the heart. And true worship is measured by the attitude of the heart. That's the next third lesson that we can see here. This is a contrast between true worship of this widow and the false worship of the Jewish leaders.

See, the worship of the Jewish leaders was all outward. It was all for show. They made long prayers for a pretense. They loved to be seen by people in the marketplace. This was all about show.

Matthew 23. Jesus said, Whatever they tell you to observe, that observe and do. But don't do according to what they actually do, for they say and they don't do it. They bind heavy burdens hard to bear, but they themselves don't move them with one of their fingers. All their works they do to be seen by men.

They make their phylacteries broad and enlarge the borders of their garments. They love the best places at feasts and best seats at the synagogue, greetings in the marketplace. They love to be called by their titles, rabbi. They love their glorious liturgies and trappings of their office. They love the long robes, Luke says.

Jesus says, Whoa, whoa to you. You shut up the kingdom of heaven and you don't go in yourselves. Whoa to you. He condemns some of the things that they taught about swearing. You condemn them as hypocrites because they tithe all of their mint, cumin, and anise.

They're very scrupulous about tithing every increase that they have received, but They've neglected the weightier matters of the law. They cleanse the outside of the cup, but inside is there full of dead men's bones. Inside it's rotting, it's stinking. This is a religion that is all about outward show. It's all about outward show.

The Jewish leaders, Luke says, were lovers of money. Jesus is pointing out in this contrast that true worship is not focused on the outward actions, but it arises from a heart that loves the Lord, the one we worship. Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this, to visit widows and orphans in their trouble. Those are sacrifices. True and undefiled religion is to visit widows and orphans, not parade in long robes in the marketplace to be seen of men.

Widows are the people who live in the poorest of the poor in housing. Orphans are those who lack anybody to care for them. They're dirty. They're smelly. They're scrawny.

They're scrounging for food to eat. That's a orphan. James says, true and undefiled religion before God and the Father is to visit those people. It's to help them. True religion is sacrificial and giving.

The false religion that Jesus is condemning and contrasting with this widow is selfish and outward. The Lord looks upon the heart. It's the affection of the soul in offering the gift that determines the value of the gift. The Lord loves a cheerful giver. In Pharisees, Jesus said, we'd blow trumpets.

It's interesting that that word is the same word used to describe these treasure boxes. But they would blow trumpets when they gave alms. Jesus says don't do that. Don't make a big show of it. Don't make a big picture of a check and take a picture of it and put it on the front page of your donation.

That's not religion that is pleasing to the Lord. That's what the world does. That's what philanthropy does. But that's not giving. What the Lord is pleased with his gifts that are given.

From a heart that loves him, gifts that are sacrificial. Remember, David was offered when he had sinned and numbered the people, he was offered the land, a place to be able to make his offering, and he was offered even the animals to sacrifice. And David said, no, I'm not going to take that gift, because I wouldn't want to make a sacrifice to the Lord that costs me nothing. I'm going to pay for it. That's really the measure of our worship, of our sacrifices for the Lord.

What of our gifts, sorry, what is the sacrifice on our part? Are we giving something that we have lots of and we don't miss it? Or are we Giving something that calls us to sacrifice, that calls us to give up. And are we doing it because we love the Lord and doing it with a cheerful heart? That's the lesson of this widow that Jesus points out.

May we be like that in our worship. Heavenly Father, we thank you for your Word. We thank you for your Holy Spirit that instructs us. We thank You for this example and many others in the history of Your church who out of their love to you have given greatly to you. Father, we ask That our gifts might arise from a heart that loves you is dedicated to you and not out of a desire to be seen and known of people.

We pray Lord that our religion might be that which is true and undefiled, and not that which you condemn and upon which you pronounce great woes. We ask this in Jesus' name, Amen.