MORE BLESSED TO GIVE THAN TO RECEIVE

(Message delivered by Pastor at the True Life Church 10.30 am Service, Feb 6, 05)
Text: Acts 20:32-35

 

“And now, brethren, I commend you to God, and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up, and to give you an inheritance among all them which are sanctified. I have coveted no man’s silver, or gold, or apparel. Yea, ye yourselves know, that these hands have ministered unto my necessities, and to them that were with me. 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, how he said, It is more blessed to give than to receive.”

I. The exact words of this quotation from our Lord Jesus, how He said, “It is more blessed to give than to receive”, cannot be found in the Bible. But there is plentiful teaching on giving with Jesus’ own example in giving.

1. In Lk. 6:38 Jesus says, “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.” Earlier Jesus said, “Do good, and lend, hoping for nothing again; and your reward shall be great, and ye shall be the children of the Highest.”

To illustrate this let me tell you a Chinese New Year story. I had a friend, Stephen by name, who found a job as a security guard in one of the high rise condominiums at Gilstead Road opposite our church. He came from Penang. To help him further I gave him a small room in our Beulah House so he had somewhere to stay when off duty. This happened about ten years ago.

A few years later he returned to Penang. A few days ago he suddenly reappeared. He had come to Singapore in search of a job again. Sorry, he found no job. He came to ask for help. He needed $50 to pay his way back. I gladly helped him. The next day he came again. “I  got pick-pocketed” (Watch out for pickpockets during Chinese New Year). I gave him another $50, less enthusiastically. As he was waiting downstairs I gave the money through my wife. As this was Chinese New Year she put the money in a red envelope, plus another $50 of her own. How doubly thrilled Stephen must be now on his homeward journey. A Christian should be ready to help anyone who comes to him in need.

2. In respect of giving, Jesus had given the most. He gave His powers of healing to hundreds of the sick. To the hungry, He once fed 5,000 (Jn. 6:1-11) with five loaves and two fishes and on another occasion 4,000 with seven loaves and a few little fishes (Matt. 15:32-34). Wasn’t our Lord more blessed than the poor and needy who received at His Hand?

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. (Jn. 3:16) He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things? (Rom. 8:32)

3.God blesses us with riches when we come to believe in the Saviour. Now we know how to return a tenth to His House and we gladly help the poor and needy in the Church.

II. 1. The second person who sets us the example in giving is the Apostle Paul. He testifies of himself, “I have coveted no man’s silver, or gold, or apparel. Yea, ye yourselves know, that these hands have ministered unto my necessities, and to them that were with me. 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, how he said, It is more blessed to give than to receive.”

In all his long travels in his missionary journeys, Paul did not face a penniless situation until he came to Corinth. As his principle in such matters is “Self help, with God’s help is the best help”, he found a certain Jew named Aquila with his wife Priscilla. As Paul had learnt tentmaking in his youth and Aquila and Priscilla were tentmakers he found a job with them. He earned his self-upkeep. In no time Paul had earned enough, so with further support from new believers he ceased tentmaking.

2.After Paul had remained in Corinth for a good while, well over one and a half years, Aquila and Priscilla gave up tentmaking to join Paul in the work of the Gospel so that they sailed with him on his return journey. When they all came to Ephesus Paul left them there. At Ephesus, Paul’s partners instructed Apollos, an eloquent preacher who knew only the baptism of John the Baptist, to whom Aquila and Priscilla expounded more perfectly the way of God. The Scripture does not say how the couple were supported. But from our text which says, “Yea, ye yourselves know, that these hands have ministered unto my necessities (his tentmaking), and to them that were with me (Aquila and Priscilla). I have showed you all things, how that so labouring ye ought to support the weak, and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, “It is more blessed to give than to receive.” Paul evidently was Aquila and Priscilla’s supporter.

III. Paul, being God’s specially chosen, set the example of supporting his coworker couple and himself, now has instructions for us. In view of the fact that we today are working together as a local church without the necessity of Paul’s constant travelling about, we should teach members:

1.To give first of all to God by tithing and secondly to fulltime workers such as the local pastor and others such as the clerical staff and missionaries in foreign lands, e.g. Hien our Vietnamese graduate now in Brisbane, Australia. We should support a suitable Bible College such as FEBC so that more ministers will be trained. Far Eastern Bible College will have graduated 500 in 44 years. Besides we are in a Bible College movement to upgrade the Bible College of East Africa in Nairobi, Kenya with 120 students and another in Tanzania, the Tanzania Bible College. God has blessed True Life B-P Church because we are a giving Church.

2.We should increase our giving at special seasons to remember our Lord such as Easter and Christmas and Chinese New Year. At Chinese New Year we naturally give a bigger angpow in thanksgiving to God and some to relatives or members that they might be happy at this season. And I am deeply touched by members who cease not to give to worthy persons like Bible College students and missionaries. Jesus says, “It is more blessed to give than to receive.”

Are you a giving Christian?