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(upbeat music) - Hi, this is Pastor Tom and I want to welcome you to week five of
our look together through the Book of Luke, chapter by chapter a day. Because
we're going through it so quickly, this is our last week of looking through this
book. This is when we get to hear the news of everything we've been looking
forward to throughout the Book of Luke.

The good news of Jesus' love in the cross and in the resurrection. As we've gone
through this book, we've looked at a birth, a beginning, a ministry, a journey
on the way up to Jerusalem, and now a death and a resurrection these last couple
of weeks. These are the last few days in these chapters leading up to the cross.

And in these last few days, Jesus is going to be teaching his disciples about that
which is most important. He talks to him in this chapter, in the beginning of
this chapter about values. What is it that is most important?

And he begins by talking about a widow with two very small coins. Luke chapter
21, verses one to four. As he looked up, Jesus saw the rich putting their gifts
into the temple treasury.

He saw a poor widow who 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 that she had to live on. It's amazing that this widow who
didn't even know that anybody was watching her, that this widow's story still
lives on today. Two very small copper coins.

Two widows' mites. And yet they live on today because it was all that she had. I
love this prayer recorded in Ken Geer's Moments with the Savior about the power
of the small.

Dear Lord Jesus, teach me not to despise small beginnings, for it was in
Bethlehem, the least among the cities of Judah, that you chose to start your
life on this earth. Teach me the meaning of little things, for a mere cup of
water has eternal significance when given in your name. Teach me the value of
little things, for a widow's mites are the true treasures of heaven.

Teach me to be faithful in little things, for it is by being faithful in little
things on this earth that I will be given responsibility for greater things in
your kingdom. Teach me the far-reaching effects of little things, for a simple
request by a crucified thief ended up changing his destiny for all eternity.
Teach me the power of little things, for how silently the mustard seed grows,
and yet how pervasive its influence, how invisible the yeast works, yet how
transforming its power.

It was only a little stone taken from the brook, but in David's sling it became
the first guided missile that brought down a kingdom. It was only a little lunch
from a boy, but in the hands of Jesus it became the source of sustenance for
thousands. It was only a little bottle of perfume, but when poured out on Jesus,
its fragrance filled the room and beyond, and its remembrance transcends 20
centuries.

Amidst a world so big, we seem so tiny and insignificant, but he still values
little things, knowing that in his hands they accomplish great things as dreams
are realized. The old saying is true, little is much if God is in it. The words
of that prayer are true, and in these widow's mite, in these two small copper
coins, we see very much of her faith.

The interesting thing about the beginning of this chapter is we go from what was
seemingly a very little thing to what seemed to the disciples in Jesus' day to
be a very big thing. We go from these two small copper coins given by a widow to
the temple, the greatest building, the greatest example of a monstrosity that
you could imagine in their day, from a little thing to the temple, and the
disciples' feelings about it, verses five and six. Some of the disciples were
remarking about how the temple was adorned with beautiful stones and with gifts
dedicated to God, but Jesus said, "As for what you see here, "the time will come
when not even one stone "will be left on another.

"Every one of them will be thrown down. " What an example. From the widow to the
temple, what is big in this world is not what's so important in the next,
because what's big is not what's noticeable.

What's big, according to Jesus, what we should value as really being big, really
being important, what's big is what will last, and the temple, it wasn't going to
last. As big as it seemed, Jesus said, "The day's going to come. " It was just a
few decades that the temple would be torn down.

Not one stone would be left on another, but the faith of that widow, it still
lasts today. The faith of that widow lasts all the way into eternity. What's big
is what will last.

That's what you hold onto. So I don't know about you. I need to pray about this
one, 'cause I tend to focus on the little things sometimes and think about how
nobody notices them, and I forget about what's really big in God's sight, which
is oftentimes the little thing that no human being might notice, but it's what's
going to last.

It's what's going to make an impact in all of eternity. Jesus talks to his
disciples, and he says, "Now, not one stone someday is going to be left on another.
" That brought some immediate questions for the disciples.

What's he talking about? What does he know that we don't know? So they asked the
question, beginning in verse seven.

"Teacher," they asked, "when will these things happen? "What will be the sign
that they are about to take place? " He replied, "Watch out that you are not
deceived, "for many will come in my name, claiming I am he, "and the time is
near.

"Do not follow them. "When you hear of wars and revolutions, "do not be
frightened. "These things must happen first, and then the end will come, "but
the end will not come right away," Jesus said.

Jesus ties into our hearts today with this one, too. When it comes to the end of
this world, when it comes to the second coming of Jesus Christ, there are people
who want to use every world event to tell you that they know things that you don't
know, that even Jesus said he didn't know, and that is the exact time of his
coming. Jesus said, "Don't let people frighten you.

"God has this in control. " In these verses, Jesus begins to talk about what
will happen in the future. He talks about what will happen in the world,
beginning in verse 10, in the way the world will respond to the message of
Christ.

He talks about what will happen to the disciples, beginning in verse 12, how
their lives will be changed because of their faith in Jesus, and how their lives
will endure suffering because of their faith in Jesus. He talks about what will
happen specifically in Jerusalem, beginning in verse 20. He knows that it will
not be many years and the fall of Jerusalem will come, and Jesus talks about
this to his disciples.

And then, he skips ahead 2,000 years and begins in verse 25 to talk about what
will happen when he comes again, at least 2,000 years. Now, in these verses,
Jesus is going from here to there and back again, and as Jesus is teaching here,
to me, I don't know about you, to me it seems oftentimes like he's describing an
elephant when I've never seen an elephant. Jesus clearly sees some things that
are going to happen, but it's so big, it's hard for me to take in.

I can't see when the transitions are sometimes between Jerusalem and the end of
time and what's happening to the disciples and what's going to happen in my life.
My prayer as I read these verses is always, Lord, help me to see the whole and
not just the parts. Help me to see the reality that this world will not last.

Help me to see the reality that your words will never pass away. Help me to see,
Jesus, that our world is fading away, but our redemption is drawing near, what's
getting closer and closer. You see, when it comes to thinking about the second
coming and when Jesus will come again, we often tend to get caught up in the
events, and Jesus' focus is not on the events, the exact dates in history when
this will happen.

He said, I don't even know when that's going to happen. That's for the Father to
know. Jesus' focus when it comes to the second coming, it's always on our
hearts.

It's on my heart. It's on your heart. Verses 34 to 36, here's what Jesus said.

Be careful, or your hearts will be weighed down with dissipation, drunkenness,
and the anxieties of life, and that day will close on you unexpectedly like a
trap, for it will come upon all those who live on the face of the whole earth.
Be always on the watch, and pray that you may be able to escape all that is
about to happen and that you may be able to stand before the Son of Man. That's
what Jesus wants us to look forward to.

Not the events that are going to be happening on this earth, but the event that's
going to happen in heaven. When we stand blameless before him because of what he
did for us on the cross, Jesus says, pray that that will happen, that you'll be
able to stand before the Son of Man. Well, I cannot stand in heaven before God,
the Son of Man, Jesus, the Father, the Holy Spirit.

I cannot stand before them in heaven except for what Jesus did. If all I had to
stand before God with was my sin, then I'd be lost, but I'm not, and you're not,
because of what Jesus did for us. And so as Jesus talks about the second coming,
he says, pray that you won't be so anxious about the things of this world that
you'll live just for this world or so caught up in the things of this world that
you're focused only on this world.

Think about what I'm doing. The reason I'm coming again is because I'm going to
create a new heaven and a new earth, and you're going to stand before me because of
my love for you. That is what we look forward to.

That is what the second coming is all about. That is what is big in Jesus' words
about the fact that someday he will come again. You always keep an eye on
eternity.

Let's pray together. Jesus, help me to do that today. I'm going to keep an eye on
eternity in the midst of the maybe seemingly normal, routine, everyday events of
my life today, or even if it's something seemingly very big to me today, help me
to keep my eyes on the eternity and to realize that you are at work through any
and every circumstance, developing my character, developing my heart, helping me
to look forward if only I'll trust in you.

And so Jesus today, help me to see that in the small things you are often
working in greater ways than I understand. Help me to see that in the things
that seem so important to this world, there's really often no importance at all.
And help me to see that you want to work in my heart.

You want to work in my heart so that I can anticipate that day of standing before
you. Help me to see with your eyes today, Jesus, I pray. In your name, amen.

Tomorrow, we're going to go together from the upper room to the Garden of
Gethsemane to the courtroom.