117 Acts 20:33-35 PAUL TEACHING THE EPHESIANS TO GIVE Introduction: On his way back to Jerusalem to carry an offering from the Gentile churches to help the Jerusalem church in time of drought the Apostle Paul has stopped at Miletus. He sent for the brethren of the church at Ephesus to come to Miletus and meet him, which they did. In this text Paul encourages the brethren of the church at Ephesus not only to give generously to aid the church at Jerusalem, but to be generous in all their giving. He points out that it is more blessed to give than to receive. I. The example which Paul had set in giving Also in this text Paul again refers the sacrificial example which he had set before the Ephesians as he preached the gospel to them and organized the church there out of those who professed Jesus as Savior. V. 33, “I have coveted no man's silver, or gold, or apparel.” Even after Paul got the church organized he had not called upon them to support him. Rather he had given his time and effort on their behalf without seeking any support or any kind of payment for his services. The natural tendency of man is not to give, but to seek to get. He covets what belongs to somebody else. His covetousness is in direct disobedience to one of the Ten Commandments. In Exodus 20:17 the tenth commandment says, “Thou shalt not covet...” Then it goes on to be more specific. It says, “Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that [is] thy neighbour's.” In Paul’s day one did not covet his neighbor’s bank account nor his automobile because they had no such things. Yet he was likely to covet his neighbor’s silver or gold or fine apparel. Paul said that as he labored to win these people to the Lord he had not coveted their silver nor gold nor their apparel. V. 34, “Yea, ye yourselves know, that these hands have ministered unto my necessities...” Paul was not claiming that no man or no church had ever contributed toward his support on the mission field. But he was saying that the support which he had received from others had not been sufficient to provide his necessities. In order that his necessities of life be met Paul had labored with his own hands to earn enough money to put bread on the table and to keep clothes on his back. Paul had not even taken advantage of his legitimate right to expect support from the young churches which he had organized. In I Corinthians 9:9-12 Paul wrote to the church at Corinth explaining that a gospel minister has a legitimate right to receive his support from the people whom he serves. “For it is written in the law of Moses, Thou shalt not muzzle the mouth of the ox that treadeth out the corn. Doth God take care for oxen? Or saith he [it] altogether for our sakes? For our sakes, no doubt, [this] is written: that he that ploweth should plow in hope; and that he that thresheth in hope should be partaker of his hope. If we have sown unto you spiritual things, [is it] a great thing if we shall reap your carnal things? If others be partakers of [this] power over you, [are] not we rather? Nevertheless we have not used this power; but suffer all things, lest we should hinder the gospel of Christ, I Cor. 9:9-12. Paul had a legitimate right to call upon them to support him, but he had not done so. The reason that Paul had labored to provide his own support was that he was afraid that an appeal from him for their money would hinder his effort to win them to Christ. Even after they professed Christ and were organized into a church, Paul felt that they were not yet mature enough in the Christian work for him to appeal to them for his support. He was still afraid that such an appeal would hinder this new group of Christians. He was afraid that they would think that his only interest in them was to get their money. V. 34), “...and to them that were with me.” Paul not only labored to support himself, but he labored to support other missionaries who labored on the mission with him. Even in this labor, the main beneficiaries of his labor were the people in the city of Ephesus. Those who were unsaved benefited in that they not only had Paul working to win the Ephesian citizens to the Lord, but they also had Silas, Timothy and others. After the church was organized, the members of the church were the beneficiaries. As Paul helped to support the missionaries who worked with him, the church received the benefit of their work at Paul’s expense. on field. The new converts who made up the new churches were benefited by receiving the labor of Paul’s helpers and they received this benefit at the cost of Paul’s labor. So Paul, himself, had set a great example in giving before the people in the church at Ephesus and, likewise, in all the cities where he organized churches. Paul now expected that the brethren in the church at Ephesus should follow his example and that they, in turn, should give generously to help the Jerusalem Christians, who were hurting because of the drought. Paul had labored so that he could serve them. He had also labored so that the other missionaries could serve them. Now Paul encouraged the Ephesian brethren to labor so that the church at Jerusalem could receive their support. II. Paul citing the words of Jesus concerning giving In addition to citing his own sacrificial labor as an example of giving, Paul cited the words of Jesus Christ which encourage Christians to give. What greater authority could you quote on any subject that of the Lord Jesus Christ Himself? Whatever Jesus says about anything ought to settle the matter. Whatever Jesus says is absolutely right and Paul was able to quote Jesus, Himself, on the matter of giving. Jesus recommended giving. That ought to settle the matter. Christians ought to believe what Jesus says and do what Jesus recommends. Paul had evidently taught them about giving on previous occasions, although not appealing for support for himself. He called to their remembrance those times when he had taught them to give. He reminded them even of the words of Jesus which he had previously mentioned to them. V. 35, “I have shewed you all things, how that so labouring ye ought to support the weak, and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus...” Paul wanted them to remember that he had earlier taught them to be generous in their giving. He wanted them to remember the words of Jesus which he had earlier cited to them. I asked earlier, “What greater authority on the subject of giving than Jesus?” I now ask, “What words could be spoken which give greater encouragement for one to give than the word of Jesus which Paul had quoted? (V. 35), “... how he said, It is more blessed to give than to receive.” Just as a matter of curiosity, we might wonder how Paul knew that Jesus had spoken these words. It is safe to say that Paul did not hear Jesus speak these words. Neither are these words of Jesus found in any of the four gospels written by Matthew, Mark, Luke or John. There can be no doubt that he must have heard them from one or more of the other apostles. It is likely that Paul heard this statement of Jesus made many times by brethren who had actually heard Jesus make that statement. But no matter how Paul heard them, the important thing is that Jesus said, “It is more blessed to give than to receive. III. An examination of the statement made by Jesus Jesus said that one gets a greater blessing by giving than he does by receiving. This is absolutely contrary to what we would ordinarily expect. Our Adamic nature craves to be on the receiving end and we most naturally expect that the greater blessings come by receiving rather than by giving. When we receive something comes in. When we give something goes out. So we naturally assume that it is better to have something coming in than going out. But Jesus plainly said that the greater blessings come by giving rather than by receiving. Since Jesus said it there can be no doubt that this is right. Jesus said it and that settles it. That is right whether or not we understand how it works. Because Jesus said it we can believe it whether or not we understand it. But I hope to show you a little bit of how it works. First, let me remind you that all of our blessings come from God. “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning,” James 1:17. Every blessing that we have ever received has come to us from God. Every blessing that we presently have has come to us from God. Every blessing that we ever hope to have must come to us from God. God has promised that when one gives, he will get a greater blessing in return. God will see to it. In Luke 6:38 Jesus said, “Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom....” The blessing that one receives in return may come through other human beings, but it come from God.! And God will see to it that when the blessing is returned, it will be “...good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over...” In Ecclesiastes 11:1 it is said, “Cast thy bread upon the waters: for thou shalt find it after many days.” The illustration here is that of casting something upon the water at the outgoing tide. It will be carried away by the tide. But the tide will later return it to shore again and another time and perhaps at another place. But in light of what Jesus said, when the blessing is returned it will be a greater blessing than that which was cast on the outgoing tide. Giving is one way by which you can open the windows of heaven so that God can give the greater blessings out of His storehouse to you. But there is more involved in the statement made by Jesus than just having greater material blessings given to you in return for your generosity. There are blessings that are worth more than silver and gold. There are blessings that are worth more than any material blessing that you can receive. There are joys that you receive in return for your giving that are worth more than the material gift that you gave. Let me cite you to an example. The Ephesian brethren contributed of their material things to help put food on the table for the Jerusalem brethren who were starving. Later when they would get news concerning the Jerusalem church and how that their gifts helped men, women, little boys and girls and kept them from starving to death, the joy which the Ephesian Christians would be greater than the joy which the Jersusalem brethren experienced when the gift arrived. Let me cite another example. I am confident that you can remember giving a gift to someone that you loved and the joy that you received when you saw their eyes light up was greater than the joy they received in getting the gift. . Yet let me remind you of one other thing. When a Christian gives to another, God is pleased. Therefore, God will not only bless you in this life, but He will reward you in eternity for doing the thing that has pleased Him. Now let us stop and do a little arithmetic. When one gives to another he will get material blessings from God that are greater than that which he gave. In addition to that he will get joy that is worth more than the gift which he gave. Yet for the Christian that is not all he will get. When God gives out His rewards there will be a reward for his kindness and his generosity will be far more valuable than the gift which he gave. Let me tell you that this truth which Jesus spoke and which Paul related to the Ephesian Christians should have made them rejoice at the privilege of giving to help the Jerusalem brethren. It should also make any Christian rejoice at the privilege of giving to help other people and at the privilege of giving to help the cause of Christ. By giving to help the cause of Christ you are giving to help many people whom you may never meet in this lifetime, but God will richly bless you for giving. Conclusion: Now let me turn your thoughts away from giving and turn your thoughts to receiving. God offers a free gift to every man, woman, boy and girl in the world. I am talking about the free gift of salvation. If you are unsaved then I am talking about the free gift of salvation that God is offering to you. Romans 6:23 says, “For the wages of sin is death...” That is what we all deserve. We all deserve do die and the penalty of death is placed upon the whole human race. We all deserve to go into everlasting fire to be punished for our sin and all who refuse to receive God’s free gift will go there. But God offers the free gift of salvation to everybody because He wants everybody to be saved. God wants you to be saved. god wants you to accept His free gift of salvation and be saved. I am a messenger from God sent to tell you that if you will turn to Jesus Christ and trust in Him to save your soul that you will receive a free gift that will worth more to you than all of the silver and gold of this world. It will be worth more to you than the whole world with all of its treasures. For one thing it is a blessing and a joy to be able to give. Pity the poor folks who are really not able to give. They just do not have anything to give. It is a blessing from God and it is a joy to know that we have sufficient that we can share what we have with others. For another thing, it is more blessed to give than to receive because we have the joy of being a help to somebody else. When we give to a needy person we get a great joy out of helping that person. He gets the joy out of receiving help, but the greater joy goes to the person who renders the help. When one gives to the cause of Christ, the one who gives gets the joy out of seeing the cause of Christ prosper by his gift. He gets the additional satisfaction of knowing that he has had a part in causing the cause of Christ to prosper. For another thing, giving opens the windows of God’s greater blessings upon the one who gives. Receiving from others does not open the windows for greater blessings, but giving does.