What are we living for? – Luke 20:41-21:4.

Well, I wonder what is important

to you.

You know, what is it that you think

that's that's really important? Maybe

it's your marriage. Maybe it's your

family, your children, your your

friends. Maybe maybe the thing that

really matters to you is your career.

Or maybe it's just your exercise. that

is the thing that you wake up and you

just want to exercise or certain

personal goals or maybe the thing you

aim for in life is having enough money

and enough time to do what you want to

do and that is what your life is about.

Or maybe you think you important to me

is my reputation,

the legacy that I I leave

that I I want to feel like I've made a

difference. I've done my bit. I have

furthered humanity in some way.

I suppose for most of us, if we think

about what's important to us, there'll

be a mix of different things in there.

One of the ways we can discern what our

priority is is by looking at where our

time goes,

what do we spend our time on, where our

money goes, what do we spend our money

on. that that will reveal where some of

our priorities are.

Or if we consistently say

yes to something

or consistently say no to something

else, that is quite revealing too.

Do you know sometimes we when times get

tight, we're willing to let certain

things go, but at other times we're we

think we're but not that. you know, I

can do without my extra coffee, but I'm

not going to do without my chocolate or

whatever it is. You know, shows our

priorities. In our passage, we come

across the scribes and a widow, and they

are both living for radically different

things.

Jesus was in the week leading up to his

time on the cross and he's set himself

up in the temple. He's teaching daily

and we've seen over the last few weeks,

he's been coming under heavy fire. But

whether it be the chief priests, the

scribes, the elders, the Sadducees,

Jesus has emerged triumphant.

All their accusations, all their traps,

their clever questions have been dealt

with decisively by Jesus.

And for the listening crowd, they seem

to have loved what's been going on. It's

been great to listen in. Uh but for the

highest ranking religious leaders in the

country, it was embarrassing. They have

unleashed

their best attacks.

But eventually, verse 40, they no longer

dared to ask him any question.

So as that intense time of questioning

comes to an end, Jesus has his own

question for them. It's a question that

links back really to to the first one

they asked him when they asked by verse

two by what authority do you do these

things and there if you remember he gave

them he didn't give them a direct answer

but he told a parable which clearly

condemned them um but actually if they

had understood that parable they would

have seen that there was an indirect

answer he was the son of God

but Jesus gets a bit more direct here

and confronts them with this theological

question about the Messiah. So really

this is a question about himself,

who he is and what authority he has. And

we'll look at this uh as we look at

this, it will reveal our priority or at

least what our priority should be.

This will be revealing to us,

who should be most important to us. So

we can consider that in our first point.

Let's see if this thing works. There we

go. And our first point, who should we

be living for?

There's an ancient proverb that goes

like this. The enemy of my enemy is my

friend. And the meaning of obviously is

that when two parties have a common

adversary, they can form an alliance

because of that common um adversary

there are are against. And after Jesus

has silenced the Sadducees, the scribes

are delighted. Verse 39, teacher, you

have spoken well. See, the scribes were

the teachers of the law, many of whom

were Pharisees, they didn't agree with

the Sadducees. They didn't get on very

well. They had completely different

ideas about things. Jesus has just

embarrassed the Sadducees. So, the

scribes kind of cuddle up to him a

little bit. Um, but Jesus isn't taken in

by their flattery. and he doesn't want

to be used to further their cause.

And of course, that is always a

perennial problem,

a danger. People using religion, people

using the name of Jesus

to achieve their own personal agendas or

goals.

I'm not sure if you're aware, but there

are those who some would consider to be

on the political far right who have a

growing interest in Christianity.

People who look at the influx of Islam

and and don't like what that brings with

it. And so they are calling for a return

to our

Christian heritage.

For example, at the Unite the Kingdom

rally on the 13th of September, 2025,

somewhere between 100,000 and 150,000

people attended this rally carrying

Christian symbols and banners saying

Jesus is king.

There was a guy called Tommy Robinson

who was key in organizing that and also

key in organizing a carol service in

London under the banner of putting

Christ back into Christmas, which sounds

great, doesn't it? Putting Christ back

into Christmas. You think, "Hey, yeah, I

could get on board with that." and and

probably a lot of what was said at those

events, you would be able to get behind,

but mixed in with gospel truth seems to

be a nationalistic agenda that doesn't

seem to be compatible with the gospel.

Now, I'm aware I'm sort of treading in

probably dangerous water by approaching

all this, but I just think we need to be

aware. It's hard to discern the true

hearts motives of all the people in

these kinds of movements

and it's hard to see well yet that that

bit seems good but that bit doesn't seem

so good. But we need to be aware there

are those who will co-opt Christianity

and Jesus and use it for their own

purposes.

Even the famous atheist Richard Dawkins

has called himself a cultural Christian.

He still thinks everything we believe is

complete nonsense. I mean, he said this

in a TV interview. U but he likes what

Christianity produces. It looks

he likes what it does.

And he was asked the question, "What

would you choose? Would you prefer Islam

or Christianity?" And he said,

"Actually, I've looked at Islam and he

doesn't like what that brings.

But just because some people agree with

us over certain things, it doesn't

actually mean they are completely and

fully for Jesus and all he is. And so we

need to be careful about how closely we

align ourselves to those who seem

sympathetic

to aspects of Christianity.

We might be able to agree on some

things, but make no mistake, unless they

truly accept Jesus as their Lord and

Savior, any deep and lasting alliance

would be unwise.

So, we need to be careful about those

who kind of like to cuddle up to

Christianity and use the name of Jesus

because there might be going more going

on than there appears to be.

Jesus is aware the scribes are merely

aligning themselves with him

because in that moment he suits their

their purposes. But actually he's right

to keep them at a distance because not

too long in that very week they're going

to turn fully against him and be calling

for his death.

They haven't believed who he is. And so

he confronts them with this question.

Now, Matthew's gospel fills in a bit

more of the detail and tells us Jesus

has already asked another question to

this. In Matthew 22:42, he says, "What

Matthew 22:42

do you think about the Christ? Whose son

is he?" And they reply, "He is the son

of David," which of course is true. And

Jesus has accepted this in Luke 18:38

Luke 18:38

from the lips of blind Bartameus um near

Jericho. We looked at that a long time

ago. But even at the beginning of the

gospel when Jesus' birth was foretold,

the angel Gabriel gives Mary the inside

scoop. He he tells her Jesus will be

called son of the most high. Just in

your brain, Mark that son of the most

high, that's who he's going to be. Son

of the most high is important.

But the the angel carries on and says he

will be given the throne of his father

David. So in saying that the Christ, in

other words, the Messiah, Christ means

Messiah, in saying that the Christ is

the son of David, that is true. It's a

good response. They're right.

But Jesus wants to push them on a bit

further, quite a lot further, because

that isn't all he is. He's more than the

son of David. So he challenges them in

verse 41.

But he said to them, "How can they say

that the Christ is David's son? For

David himself says in the book of

Psalms, the Lord said to my Lord, sit at

my right hand until I make your enemies

your foottool." David thus calls him

Lord, so how is he his son? That's a

quote from Psalm 110. and and David

there is saying the Lord as in God says

to my Lord as in the Messiah

sit at my right hand etc. Now the

cultural assumption would be that a

father doesn't bow to his son.

But here is David the patriarch the the

great king

referring to Messiah his own descendant

as my lord.

And Jesus is asking how can this be?

Well, we actually saw a bit of an

insight into this. If you can remember

this far back back in Christmas, over

Christmas, we looked at Isaiah chapter

Isaiah 11 · chapter mention

11 and we saw there was a Messiah, a

prophecy about the Messiah that says he

is both the branch. He comes out of the

stump and he's also the root. He is

after David, but he's also before David

or Jesse as it's speaking there. So, he

comes before and after David. That's

what Jesus is proddding them at this

point to realize the Messiah isn't just

the son of David.

But there's more. The the psalm says how

David's Lord is sitting at the Lord

God's right hand. That is the place of

honor. Uh it suggests the closest kind

of relationship. And the Lord God says

he will act on behalf of this David's

Lord to bring all of his enemies under

into submission. This is a picture of a

king,

a vice regent, someone who is given the

power and authority of another. This is

the Messiah. He's been given this this

honor, this authority.

And Jesus is challenging them to work

this out. How can this be if the Messiah

is merely the son of David?

Matthew's gospel records that they had

no answer.

But this is the answer to their

question. By what authority do you Jesus

do these things by by God's authority?

Because Jesus the Messiah is the son of

David but is more than that. Remember

what Gabriel said about him. He is the

son of the most high.

That is who Jesus the Messiah is. He has

been given all honor, all authority, and

he reigns on behalf of his father. He is

the king of kings

and God's blessing, his grace, his rule,

they come to us through Jesus.

So what right has Jesus

on your life,

every right, every single right.

He is the king of kings. He is the lord

of lords. He is over all things. We owe

him our unreserved honor, allegiance,

praise, and worship. And anything else

is a jarring insult to the King of

Kings.

It's all about Jesus.

And if it's not,

then we've got something very wrong.

So, let me ask you, who are you living

for?

who is on the throne of your heart

over everything else needs to be Jesus.

It is his rightful place. It's it's

right because of who he is. And

actually, it's right because that is

what is best for you.

It works

in all sorts of ways. Even Richard

Dawkins admits Christianity

works. He doesn't believe it, but he can

see the results. He says, "Yeah, it

works. It works for for society. It

works for the people."

Trouble is, he wants the effect without

the cause. And the cause is always

Jesus. It's Jesus that makes the

difference. David saw that the Messiah

would be his descendant, but also that

he was his Lord, and that was right and

proper. So, is Jesus your Lord?

Is he in charge of your life?

Is he your priority?

Well, many aren't happy with that. In

fact, Jesus is about to expose what the

religious leaders priorities are. And

we'll look at that in our second point,

who they were living for.

In 1955, a group called the Platters

released a song called The Great

Pretender. Goes a bit like this. Oh, I'm

the great pretender. You all go if you

recognize that. So, it was a big hit. It

was, you know, covered multiple times,

but that is essentially what the

Pharisees were. Great pretenders,

pretending to love God when they love

themselves.

Matthew records in his gospel a much

fuller account of Jesus's expose of

them. But Luke gives us just the

highlights. So, firstly, Jesus issues a

warning. Verse 46, beware of the

scribes. The Greek uh word beware uh it

means to take care. Imagine if you had a

a big bundle of brambles and you have to

pick them up with your bare hands. You

wouldn't just go Yeah. You would go

right. Okay. Where's a bit I can pick

that. You would be take care, wouldn't

you? That's what the word means is is

take care with this one. The the these

are dangerous guys. Like beware of the

scribes. They're not what they seem. And

Jesus characterizes their behavior or

they long these wear these long

exaggerated robes, their clothes that

draw attention to themselves. They want

people to look at them and go, "Well,

they must be important people." Look at

what they wear, all the tassels and the

flowing and they love to be noticed.

They love to be greeted in the

marketplace. They want to be recognized

for people to to greet them and say,

"Oh, Rabbi, wow, so glad you're here."

many years ago at the um FIC leaders

conference I was attending

with another guy and uh he was pretty

well known in those sorts of circles. I

I wasn't at all and uh and and and and

as we arrived we sort of went through

the foyer. Imagine it was bustling full

loads of people and it was really

strange. It's as if um someone had lined

up all that the handful of people that I

did know in this this event and lined

them all up. And so the path I was going

through, everyone knew me. It was like,

"Hi, Matt. Hi Matt. Yay. Great. Oh, hi."

And it's just like, "Wow, I I know loads

of people." I didn't really, but it just

looked like I And my friend who was much

better connected than me was following

me going, "How do you know so many

people?" I didn't, but it felt good. I

felt really important. It's like, "Yay,

they love me here."

And we like to feel important, don't we?

That's what the scribes love, to feel

important, to be recognized, to be seen,

to be honored. Rabbi, you know, oh, it's

such an honor to have you coming to my

stall. You a free donut for you.

And they would be expecting the best

seats in the synagogues, the ones at the

front on the raised platform near the

speakers who would be praying and

reading. And they would be able to look

out over the congregation. And you would

be able to look at the the scribes and

see, oh, what important people they are.

They expect you to have the place of

honor at the feasts, to be at the top

table with the incrowd. I'm not saying

that we shouldn't honor people who

deserve to be honored. Um, but verse 46,

Jesus says, "This is what they love.

This is what they're after. This is what

they live for. They love this. This is

what they they they want to happen."

Completely lost my place. Found it. It's

all right. Um, so they they live for

this stuff,

but the thing is is they didn't deserve

it. They didn't actually deserve it. You

see, whilst they were swatting around

with their flowing robes looking for the

praise of the people, in actual fact,

they were taking advantage of the

poorest in society, the widows. So, it

says they were devouring widows houses.

And we're not entirely sure what that

looked like. Um perhaps seeking gifts or

financial favors from from the widows,

praying on the vulnerable. Maybe they

were helping them manage their their

little bits of money that they had, but

they're taking advantage of the very

ones they should have been taking

special care of. And as for their

prayers, Jesus accuses them making long

prayers. It's not wrong to pray a long

prayer, of course, because there might

be just a lot of things you want to pray

for, and that that's good, but it is a

pretense. Jesus says it's for for a

show. You know, look at me and my long

prayer. You know, my prayer is so long,

so spiritual, it'll even send you to

sleep. That's how great their prayers

were. How important am I? You see, this

was their priority themselves. How

people saw them. They want to look good.

They want the praise. They want the

recognition of the people. And this is

linked to what Aaron was saying a few

weeks ago about the fear of God versus

the fear of man. If our priority, if our

desire is to be thought well of, to be

respected, to be admired, we will end up

being people pleasers

and they will have control over us. We

will be constantly trying to live up to

their expectations. If we are living for

their affirmation,

then we're going to work hard to keep

it, perhaps do anything to keep it. So

if your boss, your husband, your friend,

your parent asks you to do something and

you know it's wrong or unwise,

if you are living, if you need their

affirmation,

you will struggle to say no because you

need their approval. Do you see how de

debilitating it is? They have the power.

If you're living for the approval of

people, you will be constantly trying to

please them and putting on a show. You

can't let people down. You can't say no.

you can't and you will be living to

please them.

If that's you, can I tell you there is a

better way to live? There's a better

way. It is to live to please God and not

man.

You see, when God is our highest,

when he is our treasure,

when we know who we are in Christ, that

deals a glancing blow to our need for

affirmation from people.

Look at uh this passage from Romans

Romans 3 · chapter mention

chapter 3 uh 8:32.

What then shall we say to these things?

If God is for us, who can be against us?

Just note this bit. He who did not spare

his own son, but gave him up for us all?

How will he not also with him graciously

give us all things? Do you see how much

God loves you? He didn't spare his own

son for you so that you could be saved.

We matter to God. Male and female are

made in the image of God. We have value

before God.

And so just look at this Psalm 139:14. I

Psalms 139:14

praise you for I am fearfully and

wonderfully made. You're not just a

product of chance or randomness. You are

fearfully and wonderfully made. Look at

this. First John 3:1. See what kind of

1 John 3:1

love the father has given to us that we

should be called children of God. And so

we are. Isn't that a wonderful thought?

You're a child of God. If you're in

Christ, you are a child of God.

Luke 12:7.

Luke 12:7

Why? Even the hairs of your head are

numbered. Fear not. You are of more

value than many sparrows.

Don't doubt your value before God. Don't

look to people for your affirmation or

to give you your meaning. Look to God.

Isaiah 49:16, "Behold, I've engraved you

Isaiah 49:16

on the palms of my hands. Your walls are

continually before me."

In Jesus, we are chosen. We are accepted

by God. We are loved. We are adopted

into his family. We are children of God.

We have the approval of the most high.

And he even rejoices over us.

Isn't that magnificent?

In Christ, we have the full approval of

God and he is pleased with us. So we do

not need to crave the praise and

approval of people. If he loves me, if

he accepts me, if he is pleased with me,

that is enough.

Christian, your identity, your worth is

found in Christ,

not in the fickle praise of fleeting

people.

Sadly, the scribes were not living to

please God. They were living to please

themselves and to make themselves look

good. So, they didn't recognize Jesus

and they didn't like Jesus because Jesus

exposed them for what they were and that

hurt their pride. But for Christians,

our calling isn't to make ourselves look

good and impress people. Our calling is

to make much of Jesus

and to impress people with Jesus.

Our attitude should be something like

John the Baptist. I think John chapter

3:30, John said, "He must," so Jesus

must increase, but I must decrease.

And when we make much of Jesus, when we

speak of him and share the gospel, that

does mean that actually perhaps people's

estimation of us will go down. It does

mean that actually some people might

laugh at us and say, "You don't really

believe that, do you?" And we're not

going to get people's applause for what

we believe. People might say, "You're

old-fashioned. You're a bit weird.

You're bigoted. You're narrow-minded."

And that can be hard because there's

something within us that wants to be

liked, isn't there?

But actually if we are living for Christ

then if we lose the affirmation of

people it's not the end of the world

because in Christ we have the approval

of God and the king of kings says they

are mine and I love them deeply and

that's what matters

but Jesus had just had a long day of

questioning

teaching and Mark's gospel tells us that

at some point in all this, Jesus sat

down. And as Jesus watches, he sees

someone who impresses him. And we'll

think about her in our final point

together. Who was she living for?

So Jesus has sat down

opposite the treasury that was located

in the women's court which housed 13

trumpet-shaped chests that narrow to the

top so you could only put stuff in and

it wasn't easy to take stuff out again.

Um and Jesus sits there and as he does

he looks up and he sees the rich putting

their gifts into the offering box. And

of course there's nothing wrong with

that. That's a good thing. Yeah, even

today the church benefits from kind and

generous gifts of wealthy people.

But that's what you would expect, rich

people

giving richly.

But it seems that that doesn't

especially

impress Jesus.

He says in verse four, they all

contributed out of their abundance.

They're not really going to miss what

they give. They were simply paying their

dues. Jesus sees the rich pouring in

their money and well, that's what they

should be doing. That was right. That

was expected. That was the thing. But

then he sees this widow.

And remember, widows, the very people

the scribes were taking from and sucking

dry.

And it's this poor widow

who gets it right.

Whilst the Pharisees are out there in

their flowing robes receiving the praise

and recognition, what wonderful

spiritual people they are, in comes the

most poor

widow without fanfare. And she just puts

in everything she has into the offering.

What a contrast. The scribes look

significant and spiritual, but they are

the great pretenders because in their

hearts they're greedy. But this this

woman, she looks so insignificant, but

in her heart, she wants to give her all

to God.

And Jesus was impressed. So much so that

Mark's gospel tells us that he calls his

disciples over. Guys, guys, come here.

Come on.

And it says in in in verse three of

Mark's gospel, truly,

oh no, in in verse three of our passage,

truly I tell you, this poor widow has

put in more than all of them. For they

all contributed out of their abundance,

but she out of her poverty put in all

she had to live on. The rich took no

real risk with their riches for God. But

the widow who barely had enough to buy a

cup of coffee, that's how much we're

talking about here, she gave him

everything she had.

Now, I don't think Jesus is calling all

of us to give everything so that next

week we all come back completely

homeless. I don't think that's what

we're meant to take away from it. But we

need to see the heart here because

everything she has

She uses to honor God. She is totally

committed

to God and his cause. She's totally

committed to God and his cause. And no,

she couldn't afford to do this,

but she did it anyway.

What a challenge that is.

I don't know how much you are currently

giving. I do not look at the church

accounts. I don't have access to them

and that's right and proper because I

don't I don't want to be able to be be

accused of like you were getting at me.

I'm not getting at anyone in particular.

So I don't know how much you're giving.

But this is going to feel horribly

uncomfortable

for most of us. I think isn't it?

We don't take up an offering in this

church because we don't want it to be a

distraction. We don't want to give the

impression to visitors that the church

is just out for their money.

The truth is,

we want much more than your money.

We want you to give 100% of your

devotion and your love and your loyalty

and your commitment to Jesus, not just a

few hundred pounds every month.

But we shouldn't pretend how we feel

about Jesus has got nothing to do with

our giving. That the two aren't

completely divorced because actually

they are very much connected. We spend

our money on what matters to us, don't

we?

And so if all you are going by is how

much you are currently giving to the

Lord,

it's interesting to think what does that

say about my priorities?

What sacrifice is involved in my giving?

What does that say is important

to me?

I want to when we approach this thought

of giving, do we look at what we have

and just give what we think we can spare

without it making too much of an impact?

I I can give that and then the rest is

mine and that's good. I can enjoy my

life without it really making much of a

difference. Or do we look at what we

have and try and work out, well, how can

I give more? Is there something I can do

to like free up a bit of money so I can

I can give a bit more

to the to the Lord, to his work?

Because if we love the Lord, we will

want to honor him with all we are. And

we can't avoid the fact this is deeply

challenging for most of us because our

giving is probably not what it could be.

But I also want to recognize not only is

this deeply challenging and

uncomfortable for some of us,

actually

it is encouraging too.

Um because some of us are really up

against it and there's not a lot of

money. In fact, it doesn't really go

around and you you give what you can and

you think, but it's so small. It's like,

is anyone really going to notice? Does

it make any difference? It's not going

to pay for a light bulb, let alone

anything more significant. And you might

be discouraged. You think, I I I you

know, I just feel like I can't

contribute as I would like. But there's

encouragement here because God isn't so

much in so interested in the amount, but

it's it's the heart behind it. For those

like the widow who can only give a very

small amount, be encouraged because God

sees the pennies.

He sees the sacrifice

and he delights in that. He delights in

the heart that is willing to give even

though it's really difficult. It's the

heart behind the gift that matters, not

the amount.

When we're talking about giving, people

always want to be given a percentage.

You know, how much should I give? what

percentage? And I I do think maybe

that's so that we can say, right, I paid

my whatever percent and now I'm free to

enjoy the rest of my money without

feeling guilty. But, you know, the New

Testament doesn't give us a figure. It

doesn't give us a percentage. Rather,

we're told what God God loves is a

cheerful giver. Someone who so prizes

him that our money becomes one of the

ways in which we honor him. So, it's

not, oh, if I just going to get my 10%.

Right, done it. Great. I can give myself

a tick. Actually, no. Maybe I can afford

to give 15, maybe 20, maybe 50, maybe

2%. I don't know.

But I want to give to the Lord with what

he's given me.

If if you struggle with this and you

find yourself conflicted and you think

ah it's so hard because you know I' I've

got money but I maybe the prayer to pray

in the light of this is Lord would you

give me a heart like this widows? A

heart that longs to please God. A heart

that praises him above all else. A heart

that counts a joy and a privilege to

give. A heart that longs to give. Not

out of duty and guilt and it's something

I feel like I should do. But Lord, you

are my treasure. And so, Lord, I I want

to honor you with with what you've

you've given me.

When we realize that Jesus isn't just

the Messiah, he's not just the son of

David, but he is the son of the most

high. He is the king of kings. When we

remember how the father didn't spare his

own beloved son, how he gave Jesus to us

and Jesus willingly came himself, how

can we not respond in thankful praise,

in humble obedience, and yes, in

generous giving?

It's not about impressing people. It's

not about hitting a percentage. It's

about recognizing Jesus and treasuring

him and so giving him our all.

I wonder if you need to rethink who and

what you are living for.

If Jesus is your treasure, if he is your

Lord,

you need to be living for him in all

areas. Let's be quiet before the Lord.