Michael Youssef here and with all the team bringing you greetings on this very special season of Christmas. And I pray that as you celebrate Christmas that you remember that God in His mercy sent His only Son who coexisted with Him before all of eternity. To come as an embryo in a virgin's womb, to be born as a babe, to grow up and like all of us so He can experience what humanity experienced.
And then He died on the cross, rose again so that anyone would come to Him, believing in Him, surrendering to Him, will be saved eternally. It's a blessed Christmas and a blessed New Year. Welcome to Leading the Way with Pastor and the author of more than 50 encouraging, life-changing books, Dr. Michael Youssef. On this Christmas Day, as Christians, we can't help but think about how God gave His Son, sending Him as a loving, sacrificial gift for our sin. It is the ultimate example of generosity. Today on Leading the Way, Dr. Youssef takes you to a biblical scene of generosity. Jesus sees a widow giving out of her poverty and He highlights her as a great example of sacrificial generosity. Please turn with me to Luke chapter 21 verses 1 to 4. As he looked up, Jesus saw the rich putting their gifts into the temple treasury. He also saw a poor widow putting in two very small copper coins. Now that's an interpretation, not a translation.
I'm going to explain that in a minute. And Jesus continues, I tell you the truth, he said, this poor widow has put in more than all of the others. All these people gave their gifts out of their wealth, but she, out of her poverty, put in all she had to live on. Now this was Passover time. It is a busy time. The city of Jerusalem is wall to wall with people.
I mean they are shoulder to shoulder. It was a ruckus to say the least during Passover time in Jerusalem. The wealthy and the poor from all over the world came for a pilgrimage in Jerusalem.
The wealthy and the poor throughout the country of Israel, they came to Jerusalem. And there at the treasury, in the temple, they placed 13 brass chests called trumpets. Now there's a reason why they call them trumpets. It's because they were shaped like an inverted horn or trumpet. Narrow at the top, but enlarged at the bottom. And this is how people would come and they put their offerings in it.
And because it's made with brass, they were designed that way. So these silver coins or the denaries and the shekels, as they pour in, they make a ruckus. And everybody gets impressed of how much of this kind of noise, get the maximum noise out of their giving. Remember this, neither the widow nor the rich people knew that Jesus was watching them. But beloved, I want to tell you, we are too watched by Jesus. He is watching every move, every conscious moment. And many times I have defined integrity is doing the right thing when nobody is watching you.
And that is exactly what was happening here. You see, in our least conscious moments, we are being watched by Jesus. As Hannah prayed in 1 Samuel chapter 2 verse 3, she said, the Lord is weighing our actions. The psalmist in 139 2 says, you perceive my thoughts from afar. Before we think our thoughts, he knows them.
So please, please, please, before I go any further. Don't fall in the trap of thinking that Jesus was disparaging of the big givers. He's not. He's not anywhere in the text.
He's not disparaging at all. No doubt many of them were faithful and sincere and have noble motives. But you can imagine the hush in the crowd when one of those celebrities coming in with a bag of silver, with one of the servants carrying it for them. And they come in and the noise it makes in the whole temple. And these kind of rich givers probably look at their business partners and all the others around and say, top that buddy. But Jesus saw something at that moment that made his heart leap for joy. Remember, nobody else saw, nobody else did.
He is the only one. You see, she had deep, deep, deep love for God. This woman's beauty of soul led her to offer the smallest coin in the realm. These coins were called lepta. This lepta was one four hundredths of a shekel.
In today's money were probably around one eighth of a cent. The lepta represented no value whatsoever. And no wonder she was approaching these trumpets so quietly, so timidly, stealthily almost, head bowed, hoping nobody will see her. But she knew that God is watching her.
That's all that mattered. She did not know Jesus was watching too. So, she only sought to please the Lord. She only sought to express her love for the Lord. She only sought to express her gratitude to the Lord. She only wanted to give God her everything. Her only motive in such giving was her love for God. In fact, it was she, more than all of the religious establishment who really lived up to Shama.
Loving God with your all and neighbor as yourself. Probably, as these two coins were dropped into the trumpet, nobody heard anything. Nobody noticed anything. Oh, but Jesus did. Here's a reality. Listen carefully. Here's a reality.
It's a fact. The temple was no richer by her coins. But she was immeasurably poorer because she gave everything.
But what she was saying was this, Lord I love you. Here's my heart. Here's my life. It is not much. That's all I have. Now beloved, living generously is saying to God, God you gave me everything.
And not a lot of Christians say that. But think about this with me. You gave me everything. It all belongs to you. Use it.
Use all of me as you see fit. I want you to look at verses 3 and 4. Jesus said, I tell you the truth. This poor widow has put in more than all the others. For the others all gave out of their wealth, but she gave everything. As if Jesus was holding one of those old fashioned scales.
You know what I'm talking about. You can hold them up there and you put the weights and the pound here and you put the goods there. It's like holding those scales and he's putting all of the giving but all the others on the one side. All the thousands and thousands of shekels on one side and her two worthless coins on the other. And hands down her coins tip the scale. For her incredible act of love and for her incredible act of love for God and for others. Jesus lifts her up for all generations to be both blessed and challenged by her. Now as I looked at this passage afresh and I said, Lord what you teach me so that I can share with you people. And the Lord taught me five things that I pray the Holy Spirit will teach you every one of us from this widow. First, hard giving is what matters to God. Secondly, hard giving is always sacrificial giving. Thirdly, hard giving accomplishes much, much more than we can even imagine. Fourthly, hard giving has its own reward. And five, hard giving is a great equalizer. Let's look at these very quickly, those five lessons that this widow teaches us. Hard giving is what matters to God. It is vitally important to God.
Let me illustrate this. I write a check to the IRS, we call the Internal Revenue Service. The tax man when he gets my check, he could not care less about my attitude. He really doesn't. The tax man does not care whether I give that check begrudgingly or lovingly. He doesn't care whether I write this check lovingly or joyfully or sadly. He doesn't care. All the tax man cares about is the bottom line.
Just pay up buddy. Oh, not so with God. Why? Because while the world sees quantity, God sees quality. Listen to what Paul said in 1 Corinthians 13. It's a very familiar passage, always read in weddings. He said, if I give all my possessions to the poor and surrender my body to be burned.
That is I'm going to die a martyr's death. But have not love, I care nothing. You see, heart giving is what matters to God. And that's really who matters in the end, right?
That's the only one who matters. Secondly, heart giving is always sacrificial. It's always sacrificial. Giving that pleases God cost us something. Giving to God must always be asking this question. What have I given up in my giving? What have I gone without in my giving?
What do I love to hold on to, hang on to the most, but give it away anyway? What discomfort did my giving cause me? What did I give that I could not spare? That's heart giving. Always ask the question. You see, when you give God the crumbs of your time and your energy and your possessions and resources and everything else. Or you give the unwanted or the cheap or the thing you don't want.
Jesus says to God, God, you don't really occupy the top priority with me. Listen to what C.S. Lewis said on the subject. C.S. Lewis said, if our expenditure on comforts, luxuries, amusements, etc.
Is up to the standard common among those with the same income as our own. We are probably giving away too little. Trust this man to put it in such brilliant English. Heart giving is all that matters to God. Heart giving is always sacrificial. Heart giving accomplishes much.
What do I mean by this? Those two coins probably combine maybe quarter of a cent. Think about it. Quarter of a penny. Given completely from the widow's heart.
It can only come from her heart. But they have provided more for the kingdom of God in the last two thousand years than the loads of shekels that were offered on that Passover day. How? You see, down through the ages those two little coins have been multiplied into billions and billions and billions of times for God's work. Through the years millions of people have been challenged by this humble widow. Millions of people gave and blessed the work of God in ways that would not have happened any other way.
In ways that we cannot even comprehend until we get to heaven. I think of the millions who have been liberated to give of themselves because of this widow. The many who like her gave their all for the work of God is so unfathomable on this side of heaven. Our Lord did what he could do best. He converted those two small coins into millions of souls saved, into millions of people fed, into many many many were comforted and healed and millions others were encouraged. That kind of return on investment can only be explained from the heavenly realm.
Why? Because whenever there is love for God and neighbor in our giving, there are untold, untold, because you can't really understand it in earthly language, spiritual powers in that gift. Someone said a large gift is a gift of any amount into which the element of sacrifice is entered.
I say amen to that. You see, God is looking for sacrificial givers. Heart giving is what matters. Heart giving is always sacrificial. Heart giving can accomplish much.
Fourthly, heart giving has its own reward. Please look at this gospel account. I see no evidence that this widow herself ever knew that Jesus was watching her. I see no evidence that she prospered and got a mansion and a rosary.
I see no evidence of that. But listen, listen, listen before you rush into judgment. I know and you know that God will not, God will not say that with me. God will not forget or neglect to reward her eternally. He may have rewarded her earthly as well. I don't know that.
It's just not mentioned in the text. He may have rewarded her earthly. I just know that according to 1 Corinthians chapter 3 verses 11 to 14, it says that in the last day, all of what we've done for Christ is going to be lit a match. And if it's done, if it's sacrificial, it's going to be like gold. And when you burn gold, it shines brighter. But those things that will give crumbs and don't take faith seriously, it will be like hay. You light the match and it will be nothing but ashes.
Ashes. No doubt in my mind, this widow will be like a gold shining for all of eternity. Listen, I am not minimizing all of the promises of God in the Word of God that when you give of yourself generously and sacrificially, that God will bless you and provide for you.
I am not ignoring those important passages at all because God will always, always, always, always keep His Word no matter who obeys it. But here's the clincher. Reward was not on her mind.
She didn't even know anybody watching. Hard giving is what matters to God. Hard giving is always sacrificial. Hard giving will accomplish much. Hard giving has its own reward. Finally, hard giving is a great equalizer. Listen carefully please. There is no virtue in being poor. Did you get that?
Now I don't want you to misunderstand. There is no virtue in being poor, just there is no virtue in being rich. There is no virtue in having string degrees after your name or not being schooled at all.
I know a lot of educated people who have not been schooled. There is no virtue of being famous. Anymore there is a virtue of being unknown. Beloved, these are circumstances in life. But the question every one of us must be thinking about is this. Is my giving of myself, of my time, of my resources, of my intellect is done willingly, joyfully and sacrificially or begrudgingly, regretfully, menscually.
You see it is the attitude that God is watching. And he's the only one who does. He's the only one who will reward you. Nobody can reward you.
He's the only one who will. I hear some people sometimes say, I don't want to give to this ministry and I'm not going to give to them. If you're giving to a ministry then you already got your reward. But if you're giving to God, watch out. Because he's the only one who can truly bless you out of your socks. If you're giving to God, your eyes should be on God, not on people.
The bottom line is this. God does not need nor want our money. He wants us. He wants us. Because God knows when he gets your heart, when he gets my heart, he got everything. When he gets our hearts, he will get more than money. And that's why Jesus said, where your treasure is, there is your heart.
Not the other way around. People like to twist it, but that's not what he said. He alone is the one that matters. Because he alone is the one who's going to bless you. He alone is the one who's going to reward you. He alone is the one who's going to fulfill all of his promises to you. Thank you for joining Dr. Michael Youssef for Leading the Way. And a message challenging you to experience a life of living generously.
And as you heard, it's not about the money, it's the heart. Want to connect further with Leading the Way? Reach out to Dr. Youssef and the team at ltw.org or give us a call.
866-626-4356. Okay, do you ever need just a few minutes in the middle of your hectic day to get recalibrated? You know, kind of refocus on things that really matter instead of all those distractions around you? Well, that is what my devotional will do. This is a daily email from Dr. Youssef and it's based on a few thoughts from the Bible, along with some down to earth reflections, making the Bible's words applicable for today. As an encouragement to Leading the Way listeners, Dr. Youssef is offering to send this e-devotional to you every single day.
It's a quick read. And he hopes to encourage and deepen your faith journey as a result. You can sign up for my devotional and you can also see the other resources available whenever you visit ltw.org. My devotional is also available as a daily audio podcast. So if it sounds like a little better option for you, subscribe today wherever you listen to your content.
Or do both! The website again for my devotional, ltw.org. And I'm sure a ministry representative would love to help you as well.
They can assist. Just give them a call. 866-626-4356. As we close out this episode, let's pause and experience some of the incredible Christmas worship music from Dr. Michael Youssef's church, further engaging us with The Christ of Christmas. Jesus Christ is born, Jesus Christ is born, Let all of heaven and earth rejoice on this Christmas morn.
Sing that! Jesus Christ is born, Savior of the world, Let all of heaven and earth rejoice, Jesus Christ is born. Hallelujah! The Spirit told the prophets, and the prophets spoke the word, That word was spread throughout the land, Prepare the way of the Lord, And the angels told the shepherds, And the shepherds bowed to pray, That the angels and the shepherds and the wise men Sang this song on Christmas day. They were singing, Jesus Christ is born, Jesus Christ is born, Let all of heaven and earth rejoice on this Christmas morn.
Jesus Christ is born, Savior of the world, Let all of heaven and earth rejoice, Jesus Christ is born. Thank you for listening to Leading the Way with Dr. Michael Youssef. And if you're ever unable to attend your own local church, won't you consider joining Dr. Youssef for Leading the Way Live from Apostles?
Most Sundays, it's right around 1030 a.m. Eastern Standard Time. Visit ltw.org for a link to the live page. Also watch for special events that you'll want to be a part of.
ltw.org This program is brought to you by Leading the Way with Dr. Michael Youssef. Merry Christmas everyone. Let all of heaven and earth rejoice on this Christmas morn. Jesus Christ is born, Savior of the world.
