Lal, I think the link you are referring to is this: Mahā Cattārisaka Sutta (Discourse on the Great Forty).
In it, you wrote:
A better statement would be “respecting and making offerings to those with higher virtues has no merits”.
That is what was in the post, “Micchā Ditthi, Gandhabba, and Sōtapanna Stage“, and I have revised it in the post you referred to.
“Those with higher virtues” could be human or devas.
Of course, devas do not need our food, for example. Making offerings there is a gesture, done with good intentions.
– However, I remember listening to a desana by Waharaka Thero, where he mentioned that those food offerings can be used by higher devas to feed their underlings (there are different levels, just like in the human world).
– He mentioned that when people offer nice-smelling fruits etc, just after the offering, the aroma would be gone (if it is done right). That means the “essence” (oja) of the food has been extracted.
– However, one does not need to offer large quantities. The higher devas can make the offering to “multiply” to feed many.
– I don’t want to get into that issue right now. This is not a critical issue, but could be beneficial.
– This is just like giving (dana) cannot directly lead to magga phala, but can help set the background.
But we should ALWAYS give merits to ALL BEINGS.