How We Grow: Give

How we Grow: Give
Acts 20:35

INTRODUCTION:
What do you collect? Here are the top 8 items that people collect that are the most valuable…

Jesus tells us in Matthew 6:20-21: “But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal; for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” The treasure we will have in heaven is of the ultimate value. Earthly treasures are not inherently bad; it’s just that they have no ultimate value either.

In Proverbs 11:25, the wiseman says, “The generous man will be prosperous, and he who waters will himself be watered.”

The context of Acts 20:35 is this… Paul was traveling and had come to Miletus and called for the elders of Ephesus. Paul gave them a long speech and reminded them that he held nothing back that was spiritually profitable to them. He taught them publicly and from house to house. He will say in 20:26 that he was “innocent of the blood of all men.” Paul warns the elders that false teachers will arise from among them, teaching error, and will draw away followers after them. At the end of that long discussion, Paul said in verse 35: “In everything I showed you that by working hard in this manner you must help the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, that He Himself said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.”

If we want to grow spiritually, we must practice the spiritual discipline of giving what we have, whether it is resources, skills, time, or other things. When we give away what we have, we also benefit from the simplicity of things. Our space and minds aren’t cluttered with the items or the care of them. If we practice giving things away, we will likely find that we frequently have more things to give away.

BLESSED:
The word blessed or a similar word is used over 600 times in the Bible. The medieval theologian, Thomas Aquinas, said, “creation sprang from the goodness of God - His love for giving.” When Adam and Eve sinned, God showed His love by putting the plan into place where He would give His only, unique Son for the sins of mankind.

But it seems to me that the teaching of Acts 20:35 is not hardly believed in our modern times: Is it more blessed to give than to receive?

Man has pursued a path of hate that ultimately has ended in suicide or near-suicide of cultures and nations because man wants to receive rather than give. Wars happen when one country wants to receive rather than give.

Across the board, research shows that people who claim to be Christian - across the board - give between 3-5% of their income. That shows that we simply do not trust the words of Jesus: It is more blessed to give than receive.

“Stewardship is the voluntary and generous offering of God’s gifts of resources, time, talents, and treasure for the benefit and love of God and others. … Stewardship means recognizing that nothing we have really belongs to us. Everything we own belongs to God. We are simply stewards of this wealth, his gifts, his opportunities, his houses, his cars and his computers. Sharing is in our DNA” (Adele Ahlberg Calhoun, Spiritual Disciplines Handbook: Practices That Transform Us [Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2015], 224–25).

IT IS MORE BLESSED TO GIVE BECAUSE IT IS AN EXPRESSION OF LOVE:
Christianity is the religion of love: 1 John 4:8; 3:14.

We love our family by constantly doing things for them.
Can a father love his family if he spends all his time and money on himself?
Does a man really show his love to God if he gives God the scraps out of his wallet?

The love of God has been shed abroad in our hearts, as Christians, by the Holy Spirit given to us (Rom. 5:5). So we give to support missionaries. We give to feed the hungry and clothe the naked.

But our first motivation to give is our love for God: 2 Corinthians 5:14.

We have problems trying to decide to be generous in our giving because we are not quite to the point of loving God with all of our being.

Love ever gives
Forgives - outlives
And ever stands
With open hands
And while it lives,
It gives
For this is love’s prerogative -
To give, - to give, - to give.
John Oxenham

Scientifically speaking, living things can grow in two ways, based on the division and replication of living cells.” If we want to grow spiritually, we can practice the discipline of dividing what we have and giving it away to bless someone else and, perhaps, make space for more things that we can give away in the future.

IT IS MORE BLESSED TO GIVE BECAUSE IT MAKES THE CHRISTIAN STRONG:
Jesus calls on us to spread the gospel and we are told that we are blessed if we do so. When we support the preaching of the gospel, people are being saved and we are being made stronger through our giving. We give, then, for our benefit, not God’s. God is rich. God already has everything: Psalm 24:1; 50:10; Haggai 2:8.

God knows that if we are always on the receiving end, we tend to become warped and selfish. But if we give often and we give generously, our spiritual heart is enlarged and our Christian character develops more like Jesus.

The Sea of Galilee gives; the Dead Sea receives. One is a channel of blessings; the other is a stagnant pool. Similarly, there are two kinds of people, those who receive but also give and those who receive but do not give.

Money that is hoarded moulds at last,
Until we know some day;
The only things we ever keep,
Are the things we give away.
It is the things we always hold,
That we shall lose some day.
The only things we ever keep,
Are the things we give away.

A great example of someone sharing their time and talent is Rosemarie Bessette from Lebanon, Connecticut, who runs a free children’s clothing swap. She began her swap from her garage, storing, sorting, and organizing clothing that children in the community had outgrown. She invited people to come and get more clothing in the sizes they needed and asked for any clothing that was still in good condition to be brought back for another family to use. Her donations outgrew her garage very quickly. Churches offer her space to store and organize the clothing. Bassette treats all families as if they are her honored guests, never looking down on them for accepting clothing from her (Kristina Tedeschi Wayne, “Clothing Swap Called a Blessing in Lebanon,” The Bulletin, December 3, 2017).

IT IS MORE BLESSED TO GIVE BECAUSEIT IS REWARDING:
Many people have come to realize and then to testify to the fact that it is a great joy to give to help others. Everyone who gives knows how richly he or she has been blessed for that giving.

Jim Elliott said, “He is no fool who gives up what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.”

Jesus says that happiness does not come by satisfying personal desire: Mark 8:35.

Jesus says that greatest does not depend on what position one holds: Mark 10:44.

Jesus says that we should return kindness to both friends and enemies: Matthew 5:44.

Jesus says that pleasure comes from giving, not receiving: Acts 20:35.

Until we can honestly say that it is more blessed to give than to receive, we have not reached maturity when it comes to Christian stewardship.

I think of Ebenezer Scrooge when I hear these words:

Here lies a miser who lived for himself
And cared for nothing but gathering for self.
Now, where he is or how he fares
Nobody knows and nobody cares.

Take home message: If we want to grow, we will share what we have with others.