#47 Lu. 6:38 LEARNING TO GIVE

Introduction:

    In our previous text Jesus gave three commands.  He commanded  us to
judge not, condemn not and to forgive.  He also gave us an incentive for
obeying each of these commands.  For instance, He said, "Judge not, and ye
shall not be judged..."  I would say that this is a pretty good reason to
learn not to judge.  Wouldn't you?  Jesus said, "...condemn not, and ye
shall not be condemned..." I would also say that this is a pretty good
reason not to condemn.  Wouldn't you?  He said, "...forgive, and ye shall be
forgiven..." I would say that this is a good reason to learn to forgive.
Wouldn't you?

I.  Another command from Jesus

    In our text today, Jesus gives another command.  He said, "Give..."
Earlier He said, "Forgive..." and now He says, "Give..."  There seems to be
a deliberate play on words in order to catch our attention.
    The instruction to give as issued here in this verse does not refer
primarily to giving to support the church.  It refers primarily to giving to
people who are in need.  The term "give," however, is broad enough that it
could include giving to support the church, but the context in this passage
shows that is not what is primarily under consideration in the verse .
    Now the Scriptures do teach us to give to support the church.  The very
fact that the church had a treasurer is proof enough that the members of the
church were to contribute to the financial support of the church.  The
Apostle Paul said that the churches of Galatia helped to support him on the
mission field.  This shows that those churches received offerings from their
membership and that, among their other expenses, they helped to support Paul
on the mission field.
    Let me say to you that each member of each church has a responsibility
to help to carry the financial load of the church in which he holds
membership.  He should do this on a regular basis.  Then, as he is able to
do so, he is at liberty to support other causes in addition to his local
church.  But no church member should expect the other members of the church
to pay all of the bills on a local basis in order that he may be able to
support some project off somewhere else no matter how worthy that project
may be.  Each and every member should help to carry the load on a local
basis.
    This, of course, does not mean that each and every member ought to give
the same dollar amount.  Each person or each family should give as the Lord
has prospered, and this means that those whose income is more should
contribute more into the treasury of the church.
    Each member ought to be able to contribute something.  That is, with a
very few exceptions, each and every member ought to be able to contribute
something to the support of the local church.  If he has only one dollar, he
is able to contribute a dime to the church.  And let me say to you that the
person who has an income of only one dollar and gives a dime to the church,
has given as much proportionally as the person who has an income of one
hundred dollars and gives ten dollars or has an income of a thousand dollars
and gives one hundred dollars.  What I am saying is that some can give more
than others in dollars and cents and they ought to do so.  But that does not
excuse anybody from giving something to support the church.  Giving to
support the church is giving to the Lord and everybody ought to give
something to the Lord.  The Lord gives to everybody and everybody ought to
be able to give to the Lord.  Let me say also that one who gives less in
dollars and cents but gives just as much proportionally, has no reason
whatsoever to feel inferior to those who give the larger sums.  Also, one
who gives more in dollars and cents has no reason to feel superior to those
who give less.
    On rare occasions, it just could be that somebody may not be able to
give anything.  For instance, if one is without a job and has no income at
all, then this is an exception and he ought not to feel bad that he cannot
give at that time.  But such times of complete inability to give are rare in
the Christian's life.  They may come, but they are rare.
    Thank God that such occasions in our lives are rare.  Thank God that
there are not my times in our lives when we have absolutely nothing coming
in and nothing to give to the Lord.  Thank God that most of the time we do,
at least, have something coming in and something to give.
    So while this verse is not primarily talking about giving to the support
of the church, never-the-less the principle set forth here in this verse
applies also to church giving.
    What Jesus is primarily talking about in this passage is our personal
dealings with other people around us.  Jesus here is primarily talking about
learning to give to others who are in need.
    If we are not careful we will live our lives with a view to having
everything coming in and little or nothing going out.  This is true even
when a person is as honest as the days are long during daylight saving time.
We will pay our bills because we owe them and we will give to the church
because we love the Lord and want to support His cause, but, if we are not
careful, that is all we will do.  If we are not careful we will not give one
thin dime to those around us who are in need.
    Oh, maybe I have overstated the matter just slightly.  Perhaps we will
reach out a helping hand to the members of our family or to our close
neighbors or close friends when they are in need.  But this is not what
Jesus is talking about.  Jesus is talking about helping people whether they
are family members or not.  Jesus is talking about helping people whether
they are close friends or close neighbors or not.
    For example, the Good Samaritan on the Jericho road helped a man who was
a perfect stranger.  He picked the man up, washed his wounds and bound them
up.  He put the wounded man on his own animal and carried him into town to
an inn.  He got a room for this stranger in the motel.  Then  he told the
motel manager, "When I come back I will pay the bill for his room and
board."  That is a classic example of the kind of willing generous spirit
that Jesus is talking about.
    Give!  Give to those who are in need!  Give out of a willing spirit.  Do
not give grudgingly.  And give generously.  Do not be chinchy with your
giving.  Give generously.
    Now a few weeks ago when I preached from another text about giving I
sounded out a warning to you.  I warned you not to give cash money to those
whom you do not know.  It just might be that all they want is enough money
to go to the liquor store and buy a bottle of liquor.  Or, they might even
want just enough that they can go to the grocery store and get a bottle or
extract with a high alcohol content or to the drug store to get a bottle of
beef-iron-wine.  I have known of a few who would drink even wood alcohol if
they could not get anything else.  When I was in Longview I was called to
the home of a man who had drunk wood alcohol and he hovered between life and
death for about three days before he ever regained consciousness.  There is
no need to give them the money to buy alcohol.  If they are hungry, they
will be glad to accept food.  If they tell you they are hungry but insist on
money instead of food, they are just lying.  All they are after is
alcohol.
    Let me issue another warning to you that I said nothing about in that
earlier sermon.  Not every so-called "charity" is charity.  Not every group
who sends you a letter through the mail appealing for funds is worthy of
your support.  It is against the law of the land for any group to solicit
funds through the mails unless that group actually support the causes that
they claim to support.  But the United States postal authorities cannot
police everybody that uses the mails asking for your money.  You have to use
some good judgment of your own.  Furthermore, even the law of the land
allows that organization to use a huge portion of the monies that are sent
in to pay the salaries of their personnel.  Some of those organizations pay
out most of your money to their own personnel and the people who are in need
get very little of it.  I hasten to say that this is not true with every
charity, but you had better know something about the charity group that you
support even when is operating within legal bounds.
    I am not saying that you should not at all support a public charity
fund.  I am just saying that if you are going to soak very much of your
money into it, then you ought to take the time to do a little investigating
to find out something about it.
    So help strangers carefully and help the public charities carefully, but
the very best charity work that you can do is to look about you and find
people that you know who are in need and help them.  For instance, if you
know a family who is out of a job and could use a little help, dig down in
your own pocket and help them out.  Even there, the Bible urges us to use a
little caution.  In II Thessalonians 3:10 we are told that if a man can work
and just will not work then neither should he eat.  You are not obligated to
God to feed that man.  Rather you are instructed not to feed him.  That is
why I say that one of the best and safest ways of helping others is to look
about you and help those whom you know and whom you know to be in need of
your assistance.
    There is another example I would cite you to concerning those who are in
need.  There are people who face outrageous hospital and medical expenses.
Most people have some kind of medical insurance whether it be medicare or
something else.  But the high cost of medical treatment and the high cost of
medication today often goes far beyond what their insurance will cover.  If
you know of someone--anyone--around you with a lot of medical expenses, you
can be reasonably sure that they could use some help financially.  You may
at least offer and if they do not need your help they will let you know.
    Even in this I must offer you some caution.  There are those who get
some kind of governmental assistance.  Be careful not to endanger that
assistance by the financial l help that you give.
    Yet with all the caution that needs to be given in the exercise of our
assistance to those who are in need, perhaps the greatest caution of all is
this:  Brethren, let us not sit idly by and render no assistance at all to
those who need our help.  Let us help in whatever way we can.  Let us help
as much as we can in keeping with the need of the party in need.
    There is at least one other thing I should mention regarding the need of
others around us.  In the case of some of them, what they need is not money.
Jesus said, "Give..." and He was talking chiefly about giving money.
However, it just could be that what some people need is not money.  It could
be that what they need is some of our time and attention.  I feel very
confident that there is somebody around you who needs your help in this
respect.
    I am not necessarily talking about a child who needs an adult to take
some time with him and show him some attention although I am sure that there
are such children around.  Please do not take for granted that they get all
the love and attention they need at home.
    However, as I said, I am not necessarily talking about just the young.
I have especially the elderly in mind.  They are no longer able to be active
as they once were and therefore they are left out of the mainstream of life.
Most of them just hunger for somebody--just anybody--to take a few minutes
with them and just listen to them talk.  The other day my mother-in-law
called me in and talked to me for a few minutes.  When I started to leave
she said, "Harold, I thank you for listening to what I have to say." I tell
you, my friends, there are lots of older people who are starved to death for
somebody to just listen to them for a few minutes.  Along this same line,
there a number of people who are left alone who cannot drive and some of
who can but shouldn't.  They need somebody to give not only their time but
the use of their automobile to carry these people to town to the grocery
store or to the drug store or to the doctor's office of somewhere.  Some of
them just need a friend who will phone and say, "We want you to eat dinner
with us tomorrow."

II.  The incentive which Jesus gives for us to obey His command

    Jesus said, "Give..." and then He gave us an incentive for us to give.
He 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.  For
with the same measure that ye mete withal it shall be measured to you
again."  In other words, you will reap what you sow.  This is as it has been
with the other commands that Jesus gave us.  He said, "Judge not and you
will reap what you sow.  You will not be judged."  He said, "Condemn not,
and you will reap what you sow.  You will not be condemned."  He said,
"Forgive and you will reap what you sow.  You will be forgiven."  Now Jesus
says in effect, "Give and you will reap what you sow.  There will be those
who give unto you."
    But did you notice this:  You will receive a lot more from others than
you gave out.  With whatever measure you give, you will receive that same
measure back again plus considerably more.  When it is given back to you it
will be packed down and running over.  You will get much more back that what
you gave.
    Who will give to you?  People will give to you.  People will give to
you, but not necessarily the same people to whom you gave.  It may be
somebody else altogether.  You may never be repaid by those to whom you
give.  Don't worry about that.  Somebody else will give to you.  God will
see to it that you get more in return than what you gave.  You don't lose by
giving.  You gain by giving.  You gain when you give to the support of the
Lord's church.  You gain when you give to the support of the Lord's cause
out on the mission field.  Some of our people have given to support Keenan
Witcher and Randy Horn on the mission field.  You did not lose by giving.
You gained.  You gain when you give to those about you who are in need.  And
you gain when you give of your time to help others who are in need.
    I will tell you, my friends, you will be the richer for it.  In more
ways than one, you will be the richer for it.  You will be richer
materially.  Let me suggest to you that instead of working your way to
riches that you l give your way to riches.  But you will also be richer in
ways that mean more than money.  The Bible says, "It is more blessed to give
than to receive."
    The Bible does not say that it is not a blessing to receive.  It just
says that the greater blessing is in giving.  Let me illustrate.  Let us
suppose that you give a pint of blood.  Somebody will get that blood and it
will be a blessing to them.  It just might save their life.  But it is a lot
better for you to be on the giving end than to have to be on the receiving
end.  It is better to give blood to somebody in need than for you to be in
need of blood.  The same thing is true in any of the giving.  It is better
to be on the giving end than to be the one in need and on the receiving end.
You just learn to give and the Lord will see to it that you receive and you
will receive in a way that is far better.  You will receive--not because you
are in need--but because you have helped to meet somebody else's need.  Try
it; you'll like it.  Well, most of you have tried it already and I think
that you will testify that you do like it.  Give!  You will like it.  Give
more next time and you will like that even better.  In fact, the more you
give, the more you will like it.

III.  A change of subject

    But now allow me, please, to suddenly change the subject.  I want to
stop talking about you doing the giving.  I want to talk to you about you
doing the receiving.  God has a gift that He would like to give to you who
are unsaved.  It is absolutely free.  All you have to do is to be willing to
receive it.  And it is absolutely the most fabulous gift that you can even
imagine.  It is far more wonderful than to receive a free gift of one
million dollars--or one billion dollars for that matter.  I am talking about
the gift of salvation.  God is offering to see to it that you do not go to
hell when you die and He is offering to give you a wonderful home in heaven.
    I repeat---it is absolutely free.  It will not cost you one thing.  You
will not need to do one single thing to earn it.  You cannot do one thing to
earn it.  What you must do in order to receive this gift is to believe that
God's offer is genuine and trust in His promise that He will give it to you.
It may sound too good too be true, but I can assure you by the very word of
God that it is true.  Listen to Mark 1:14-15, "Now after that John was put
in prison, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of
God, and saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand:
repent ye, and believe the gospel."  You just turn to God in repentance and
believe the good news --the gospel news--that God has sent His Son, Jesus
Christ, to save your soul and you will be saved.  To put it another way, you
trust the promise of God concerning Jesus Christ and trust Jesus to save
your soul and God will give you the free gift of salvation.

Conclusion:
    I am interested in each of you learning to give as Jesus has commanded.
If you will not give for the benefit of others, then give for your own
benefit.  However, I cannot do anything about it.  You must do the giving.
    I am even more interested in you who are unsaved receiving the free gift
of salvation.  However, I am helpless to do anything about it.  It is up to
you to do something about it.