Question
Be Always on the Watch and Pray
Luke 21:1-38
Key Verse 21:36
1. Think about the widow's offering and Jesus' comment about it in verses 1-4. Why do you think Jesus brought this to the disciples' attention?
2. In verses 5-6 we see two "different" views on the "same" subject, the temple. Why the differences? Why is it important for us to see things (such as church buildings) the way Jesus does?
3. Think about the two questions the disciples asked in verse 7 and Jesus' reply in verses 8-28. What does Jesus' reply tell us about the following?
1) The things (or events) that will happen to:
a) The race (or generation) in general (8-11);
b) The disciples (12-19);
c) Jerusalem and its inhabitants (20-24); and
d) Celestial bodies before the end time (25-26).
2) The time the "end" will come (27).
4. Read verse 28. What does "your redemption" mean? Why is it such good news (that the disciples should stand up and lift up their heads)?
5. Consider the parable in verses 29-33. What does this passage tell us about Jesus' words and the kingdom of God coming?
6. Read verses 34-36. Why should we be careful? Why should we always be on the watch and pray?
7. Think about what Jesus did during the last few moments of his life in verses 37-38. What does this passage teach us about the practical way to remain alert all the time?
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Message
Two Copper Coins
(Holy Faith)
Luke 21:1-38
Key Verses 21:3-4
"I tell you the truth," he said, "this poor widow has put in more than all 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."
Luke 21 is called the Olivet Discourse. It is brief, but it gives us a panoramic view of the entire course of human history spanning from the present to eternity. But this is more than a history lecture. It is a farewell message given to his disciples. Jesus knows that he is about to leave the world, leaving his disciples behind. Jesus also knows that he is going to come back again to this planet Earth. During the interim, Jesus and his Bride will have to be separated.
But we do not know when Jesus will come back. But he will come back for sure. Now here is the question: How does Jesus want us to live until the time of his glorious return? And what does Jesus want us to do in this exciting generation? Here are three things to consider:
First, the faith of a poor widow
Look at verses 1-4. “As he looked up, Jesus saw the rich putting their gifts into the temple treasury. He also saw a poor widow put in two very small copper coins. ‘I tell you the truth,’ he said, ‘this poor widow has put in more than all 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.’”
In reading the passage, a question comes to mind: “Why did Jesus bring the matter to the disciples' attention?” We can find an answer to this question from what Jesus said: "this poor widow has put in more than all 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." Rich people must have put in a large amount of money, like $1 million. But the widow put in a small amount, like one dollar. But Jesus says that the poor widow’s one dollar is more than the rich people’s one million dollars. Why? It is because the widow’s one dollar represents her all, whereas the rich people’s one million represents a small percentage of what they had. Certainly, what they donated was plenty. But it was only partial. Which is greater, all or plenty? You know the answer.
But there is a deeper message for us to consider: she out of her poverty put in all she had to live on. I don’t know how she could do that. But what moved Jesus so much is this: her faith in God. The two small copper coins (2CC) represent her full trust in the Lord on all matters, especially on her material life.
What is being compared here is the God the rich relied upon and the God the poor widow relied upon. By partly believing in God and partly in the money in their bank accounts, the rich people treated God as if God is less than money.
Jesus does not want his disciples to live like the rich people did. Jesus does not want them to treat God as the rich people of Jesus’ day did. Jesus wants his disciples to learn from the poor widow. He wants them to know what it is to honor God all the time. Later, the Apostle Paul learned of the secret of this faith, and he said in Romans 1:17, “The righteous will live by faith.” He also said in Philippians 4:6, “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.”
Thanks to Jesus’ help the disciples learned to live by faith in God. When they lived by faith in God alone, God enabled them to do the impossible. God empowered them to successfully meet and overcome all challenges; God enabled them to conquer all that needed to be conquered: they conquered money; they conquered sin and Satan; they conquered demons and kingdoms. Because they fully relied on God, no one or thing could stand in their way. As they believed and prayed, God miraculously opened the way for them to pioneer Bible Jerusalem, Bible Judea, Bible Samaria, and Bible Rome! Although they did not know how to speak Italian, the Lord God empowered them to change the Roman Empire into Christendom.
Remember who donated the 2CC: a poor widow. She is poor and she is a widow. In other words, she is doubly handicapped. Yet, Jesus puts her on a high pedestal, teaching all peoples on earth what kind of faith they should live by.
Why then does Jesus want us to live by faith in Him? The answer is this: God wants us to be fully blessed by God and God alone, for man’s blessings are at best stained, temporary, and partial, but God’s blessings are wholesome and altogether beautiful.
Each time I think about the difference between the blessing that comes from God through our faith and the blessing that we earn by our own wits and might, I am reminded of a particular episode, that is, the emergency prayer offered by a lady named Rebekah. Through the prayer of a pastor, she was introduced to a man. By faith she decided to marry him. But by the time she stood in front of the podium at the wedding hall to say, “Yes, I do,” doubts arose: “Is this man the right person? Will this marriage work?” So what did she do? She offered an emergency prayer. “Lord, if you protect this marriage, I would like to dedicate the marriage on your altar and in ten years we will go out as missionaries to wherever you send us.”
Then what happened? In exactly ten years, the family went out to the U.S. as a missionary family. During the ten year period what did she do? Nothing! But, God honored her faith, and worked out all the details through her husband. So here is the point: you can work with your hands but you can accomplish the work through faith as well! And listen to this: the work which faith accomplishes is far better in quality and quantity than the work which you fulfill with your own might and wisdom, just as Isaac [the fruit of the one hundred percent faith of Abraham] is far better than Ishmael [the fruit of the human efforts as Abram].
At this moment then I pray that all of you should learn the faith of the poor widow and be blessed by it. May the Lord bless you to live with the faith of the poor widow, so that the Lord can pour all the blessings upon you, your school studies, your career, your finances, your marriage, your family, your ministry, and on all you do.
Second, witnessing
In the UBF ministry, October 9th has special meaning. When you go to Guayaquil, Ecuador right next to the University of Guayaquil you will find a beautiful street named October 9th(El nueve de Octubre) To Ecuadorians, October 9th has special meaning: it is the independence day of the city of Guayaquil. To me, October 9th also has special meaning, for it is the day on which I got married. But in our ministry, the elders designated October 9th as "Founder's day." Why is October 9th Founder's Day? It is the day when Dr. Samuel Lee was born. But Dr. Samuel Lee is not my point. What is my point? My point is this: each time Founder’s Day comes, I am reminded of Missionary Grace A. Lee, the wife of Dr. Samuel Lee. Through her marriage life with Dr. Samuel Lee, she personally tasted the divine love offered by her husband. She feels so good about it that even a long time after Dr. Samuel Lee’s passing away, each time an opportunity presents itself, she talks about all the good things Dr. Samuel Lee did for her. In this way, she is a good witness about the good deeds of Dr. Samuel Lee.
Now here is my real point: what she does for Dr. Samuel Lee is a good example of how we are to live as witnesses of Jesus Christ! Amen! As much as Grace A. Lee loves Dr. Samuel Lee and always speaks well of Dr. Samuel Lee, so also we need to live as Jesus' good witnesses no matter what. Rain or shine, we must live as witnesses of Him who loved us even to the point of shedding His blood for us.
Essentially this is what Jesus is saying in the remainder of the Bible passage for today. Verse 5 reads, "Some of his disciples were remarking about how the temple was adorned with beautiful stones and with gifts dedicated to God." Jesus is the true temple. And he is the temple whose beauty is beyond human description. The voice of Jesus we hear, the miracles we see him performing, and the blessings we receive from his sanctuary are fully life-giving. Compared with the glory of Jesus, the living temple, Herod's temple amounted to nothing for it is merely a pile of dust. Yet to the eyes of the disciples, Jesus looked so poor, but Herod's temple looked so glorious. If this is the case, how can the disciples be good witnesses of Jesus Christ?
Look at verse 6. “But Jesus said, ‘As for what you see here, the time will come when not one stone will be left on another; every one of them will be thrown down.’” In Jesus, past, present, and future, the life for the present age and the life for the age to come are seen all at the same time. Yet the physical temple existed only for a while. Indeed, in A.D. 70 it was brought down to ground zero. But Jesus and his kingdom are still standing and expanding. The disciples however did not see this. So when they heard of the temple coming down, they asked Jesus, "Teacher, when will these things happen? And what will be the sign that they are about to take place?"
In verses 8-26 Jesus then told them about what will happen to everything and to everyone, specifically to the race in general, to the disciples, to [the temple in] Jerusalem, and to the heavenly bodies. What will happen to the people of this generation? This generation, or simply the race, will go through lots of turmoil. Disaster will follow disaster, and they will all fall on the people living on the planet. And the terrible disaster that hit the World Trade Center on 9/11 is just one of them. What then will happen to the disciples? Overall, and in increasing measure, the people of this world will hate them simply because of Jesus (21:17). What will happen to Jerusalem? As Jesus predicted, after the temple came down, the holy city remains trampled upon. Even now if you go to Jerusalem, you will quickly realize that it is no longer a holy city; it is one of the most secularized cities of the entire world. And it is being dominated by unbelievers. It is a dungeon of unbelief.
How long will the city be trampled upon by the Gentiles? Jesus says that it will remain so until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled. We are now living in one of the times of the “Gentiles” (20-24). We do not know when the times of the Gentiles will end. But we know for sure that there will be an ending point. And by the time Jesus comes again, Jerusalem will be restored back to God fully.
What will happen to the heavenly bodies (sun, moon, stars, and the earth)? There will be a major shake up. Everything that is shakable must be shaken, so that only what cannot be shaken will remain. Then the end will come which is timed to the glorious coming of Jesus Christ.
The key point of the discourse is seen in verse 13, "This [persecution] will result in you being witnesses to them." Jesus' prophecy was fulfilled to his disciples and is still being fulfilled to believers living in this 21st century. In the case of the disciples, the synagogue rulers and even their family members persecuted them. Earthly rulers, like the Roman Emperor Nero, persecuted Christians. Yet these persecutions provided the disciples with golden opportunities to being witnesses to unbelieving people. In the movie Quo Vadis we see this being described. In the movie Ben Hur we see the same thing.
In our generation the persecution, although it is based on the same hatred against Jesus, takes on different forms. Just as Esau [who was a man of flesh, and lived for instant gratification] hated Jacob [a man of God’s Spirit, who believed in delayed gratification], so also materialistic and secularly minded people hate Christianity and their hatred is deceptively and yet appallingly direct.
But here is a glorious truth to consider: to Jesus, these seemingly unfavorable circumstances are opportunities for evangelism! Lately, a lot of people entertain negative thoughts on the newly emerging generation. Their negativity is expressed even in the way they describe new generations, like saying, “Oh, new gens are all like walking zombies.” But, from Jesus’ perspective, bad times for men are good times for God; terrible times for men are great times for God’s people to witness about Jesus Christ! If we adopted a right approach then, God’s work can arise explosively. In order to accommodate the need then we are going to develop a program. We also put together a Fall Conference Program entitled “Count the Stars.” In addition, we would like to develop a small tract and present it at the Fall Bible Conference.
The life that lives as Jesus' witnesses is truly wonderful, because in verses 14-19 Jesus promises to be with his disciples, protecting them and providing for them, so that as they stand firm to the end, Jesus should reward them with eternal life.
Third, each day, each evening, and early in the morning
In verses 28-33 Jesus says that Jesus' words especially the promise of his second coming is as real as cold cash. Jesus personally guarantees that all he said would be fulfilled.
Then in verses 34-36 Jesus exhorts us to be always alert. He says we must be always on the watch, and pray, so our hearts would not become like a flat tire.
In verses 37-38 Jesus set a practical example of how we can be alert and pray all the days of our life time. All of our days then consist of each day, each evening, and each morning.
1) Each day
"Each day Jesus was teaching at the temple..." This tells us that teaching the Bible each day is one of the best ways to keep ourselves alert. While Jesus was in Jerusalem Jesus taught the Bible at the temple each day. When he was out of Jerusalem he taught the disciples on the streets, in synagogues, around the eating table, beach sides, and on mountainsides. In this way Jesus taught God's word every day.
2) Each evening
Verse 37b says, "..and each evening he went out to spend the night on the hill called the Mount of Olives." We do not know who offered a place for Jesus to spend a night. Most likely it was one of his disciples. Then while staying there in the evening, I believe Jesus prayed and then rested.
3) Early in the morning
Verse 38 reads, "And all the people came early in the morning to hear him at the temple." Soon, the Fall Bible conference is due. So from Monday through Wednesday I would like to open an early morning worship service at the Downey center from 6a.m. to 7a.m..
One word: two copper coins