Matthew-030

God in his nature is love, and love gives

Today, I would like to continue to expound a little further on some important points that we did not touch on in connection with Matthew 11:28,

I would like to concentrate today on this word “give.” God gives his rest through the Lord Jesus to whosoever comes to his Christ. The characteristic of God is that he gives, because God as to his nature is love, and love gives. When you have trouble, where do you go for help? You go to someone who loves you. Why? You know that because he or she loves you, whether it is your mother or father or whoever it is, he or she will give what you need. Likewise, God loves us because he loves in his character, so he gives us rest.

The Lord Jesus says in John 8:12, “I am the light of the world. In Matthew 5:14 he says, “You are the light of the world too.” Do you notice what light does? Light is always emitting and radiating, giving out itself. The moment light stops giving out, there would not be any light. Here, the Lord Jesus chose the picture of light to portray him­self because he is forever giving: giving of himself, giving out his light. When we become his disciples, it means we become like him, we become as light in giving out, giving out ourselves to others.

The church is a black hole

Does the church function as light today? I challenge anyone who dares to say the church functions as the light of the world. I don’t think anyone would dare to say so. What is the reason? It’s because the church has become one that is taking in all the time.

There are two kinds of stellar formations out in space. The ones that you see always shining out light are the stars, which are tens of thousands of times bigger than the sun in our solar system, but they seem so small because they are so far away. But astronomers have discovered another which is called a black hole, and there are millions of these as well out there in the universe. What are black holes? We are told that these black holes used to be giant stars, some of them may be thousands of times bigger than the sun in the solar system. But what happened was that gradually, the fire inside began to die out, then immediately, the pressure on the surface of these giant stars becomes too great as the inside begins to shrink, so the outer surface of the star collapses inwards.

Now think of a planet thousands of times bigger than the sun, and suddenly, the whole thing collapses on itself right into the center. What happens also is that gravity increases as the outer surface of the star collapses inwards, and it spins faster and faster. The result is that it becomes a very solid mass towards the middle, which has tremendous power of gravity pulling in everything. So a star that once gave forth light like a thousand suns now begins to pull in all kinds of particles to itself, even the light of other planets, and every­thing that goes into it just disappears. That is why it is a black hole. Not only does it not emit light but it also sucks everything to itself.

Two kinds of Christians

When I read about these things, it reminded me about two kinds of Christians. One kind of Christian sends out warmth, light and life to others. Without the light of the sun, not only would we freeze to death but we would also speedily die, because there is absolutely nothing in this world to keep life going. But then there are other so-called “Christians” who, because the fire of God has disappeared in them, they collapse in themselves and suck everything towards them. Or they are even like the non-Christian.

When God created Adam, he had the glory of God in the image of God. But when he sinned, the light went out. And when you look out on the world, what you see is that every sinner is like a black hole sucking everything inward to himself. Every sinner is a black hole, whether he has the label of a Christian, or whether he doesn’t have the label of a Christian. There are therefore two kinds of persons: the black holes and the stars. It is so beautiful that in Daniel 12:3, the true followers of God are described as stars:

Today, the question is whether you are a black hole or whether you are a star.

When the church grows weary of giving, its light will grow dim

For the church, there should never have been a question. The church was meant to be collectively shining as the light of the world. But in order to shine, you have to be able to give out, and be willing to give out all the time. So the true Christian is one who always gives out.

I thank God that many of you are carrying the mark of this true discipleship by learning to give out all the time. I see now, many people are learning to give money to begin with. For example, a few weeks ago, someone gave a thousand dollars to the Training Fund. Last Sunday, we thank God that again, someone gave $2,000 anonymously, a thousand to the Training Fund and a thousand to the church. I wonder whether this represents someone’s total savings.

There are not very many rich people in our church. We don’t have any bosses of “Colgate” or “ICI”, for example. For them, maybe $2,000 is peanuts, but for most of us here, $2,000 is a fortune. Many of you who don’t even have this kind of money have given hundreds of dollars too. We thank God for this, because we know that is a lot of money to them, but you have done that out of love for God. We are all learning to give. Those in training have offered to God not only all their savings but also their time and their lives. They are learning to follow in the footsteps of Christ, to give all.

So we are beginning to learn to shine. We need to go beyond the giving of money to giving our energy, time, love and personal concern for each person. Often, I am very afraid that the money can be a substitute for giving ourselves. We just give the money so that we don’t have to give ourselves anymore. But if that giving is the first step of giving ourselves, then thanks be to God for it! From there on, we learn to really care for one another until our lives really know what it is to give out all the time, and never to be weary of that giving. Because once we begin to get weary of giving, we are going to start to go inward.

I have to say that especially to myself. Sometimes, I feel so utterly exhausted and worn out until my head is throbbing like a hammer inside. And sometimes, I wonder whether I will survive the winter. Many times, even like this morning, I seemed to feel a weight on my chest. Then I said to myself, “What are you trying to do? Are you trying to kill yourself? Do you want to die before the Lord Jesus comes?” But the moment I begin to think to myself, “No, I’d better save my life. That’s enough,” I’m going to start taking in instead of giving out, then my light begins to get dim. Indeed, it’s better to burn out than to rust out. At least you have shone to the end.

So the mark of the true disciple is to give. If you want to know how the church functions as light, it is to give. The only way to function as light is to give of yourself all the time. That is why the Early Church shone as a light in the world in the midst of the darkness. Every­where they went, they were either giving to the poor, or helping someone in need, or comforting someone. They were always giving, and they just shone as the light in that Roman Empire.

Every Christian has something to give

If you are a true Christian, you have something to give. If you are not a Christian, you have nothing to give. The Lord Jesus said in John 7:38, “Whoever believes in me, out of his innermost being will flow rivers of living water.” If you are truly a Christian, you are bound to have something to give. Rivers of water will flow through you. But if you are not giving anything, then you are more likely to be a black hole than a star.

Even if you have no money to give, can it be that you have no encouragement to give anyone? Can it be that you don’t even have a smile to give someone? Can’t you give someone warmth or encouragement? There is something you can give if you want to. You don’t have to wait until you have a reservoir to give. You can begin with giving even a cup of cold water.

It is the whole attitude that matters. The person who is willing to give a cup of cold water will soon find that God will give him a whole bucket to give. And when you have received a bucket from God, and you give that water to others, you will find that he is going to give you a whole swimming pool of water. And when you give that, you will find he has a whole reservoir for you! Then you will know what it is to become rivers of living water. It is so wonderful to go to your college, your office, your hospital, wherever, and be giving out the light, the radiance, the warmth, the sweetness, the fragrance of Christ. Do you have nothing to give? What kind of Christian are you? So I beg of you to remember the Scriptural teaching that the mark of a true disciple is giving out, not one who is always taking in.

The essence of Jesus’ life: “It is more blessed to give than to receive.”

Therefore, the apostle Paul quotes the words of the Lord Jesus in Acts 20:35,

Where did the Lord Jesus in any specific sentence say that to give is more blessed than to receive? We find no such statement in the Gospels. So we say, “Paul, where did you get the statement from?” But it’s so common in the Scriptures to find that a saying is quoted from somewhere as: “such and such a prophet said this,” and you cannot find the prophet saying something like that. Our error is that we think it is a word-for-word quotation from somewhere. What the apostle Paul is saying here is: “This is the essence of what the Lord Jesus taught.” It’s not quoting a particular saying but expressing the whole spirit of the Lord Jesus’ teaching. You are not quoting the exact words but the summary of all that he said, and say, “He said this.” Now you can see how profound Paul’s spiritual insight is. He clearly saw that what the Lord Jesus taught on being a Christian could be expressed so perfectly in these words.

For those of you who are academic-minded you might say, “Maybe this is a saying from the Agrapha (that is, the sayings of the Lord Jesus not recorded in the Gospels). But this saying is not known to us in the Agrapha. Rather, it expresses the whole spirit of the Lord’s teaching concerning what is a true disciple. For example, in Matthew 10:39 he said,

What is to lose your life? You only lose your life by giving it. No one is going to take it from you. You choose to lose your life, that is, you choose to give your life, and when you do that, you become a disciple. And when you become a disciple, you know what it is to receive the light of life from God.

This is so continuous in the Lord Jesus’ teaching and also in the apostles’ teaching. I would like to show you how Paul expresses so perfectly what is the change from a non-Christian to a Christian. He said for example, in Ephesians 4:28,

Most of us will say, “All right, when you become a Christian, you stop stealing.” But Paul did not stop there. He continued, “But rather, let the thief go and work with his hands so that he may be able to give to those in need.” Isn’t that amazing? He didn’t just say, “Work,” he said, “Work so that you can give.” The whole purpose of working is to give.

Now you see the difference between Paul’s teaching and the teaching we are so accustomed to hearing. We stop at the lowest minimum. We say, “When you become a Christian, you stop stealing.” But Paul says, “No, that’s not yet becoming a Christian. A Christian means not only you stop stealing but you also work so that you can give."

People in the world covet

The Lord Jesus’ teaching is so completely opposite to the world’s way of thinking, isn’t it? In Luke 12:15, the Lord Jesus says,

What does this word “greed” or “covetousness” mean? This word in the original means literally to desire more. There is a desire to have more things. And the Lord Jesus says to us, “Beware of always desiring to get more things.” But it is our very nature to want to have more things. We look at someone who has the latest quartz watch, or a slim-line camera, and immediately, we desire to have these very exciting things. When you see someone driving a new car with computer ignition and other new gadgets, you say, “Good stuff!” Immediately, your heart longs for it. Your eye is beginning to draw you away – the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh. We always want to look for more things. So the Lord Jesus says, “Be on your guard about wanting more.”

The very nature of man desires to possess. The nature of man is like the black hole, sucking everything to himself. We cannot look at a beautiful girl and say, “Praise you God, that you have made something so beautiful!” and not desire her. Could you say, “Lord, may she serve you, may she just shine for you”? Rather, many boys would say, “Ah! I wish I could have her as my girlfriend, even better, as my wife!” We want to have things for ourselves. That is so characteristic of man.

It’s amazing how every little child is a black hole! They suck every­thing to themselves, especially sweets. The only phrase children always seem to understand is, “I want.” As for giving, they won’t part with a toy even if it is to let the other child play with it for three minutes. Oh no! They are very cute, but they are still spiritual black holes. It’s wonderful if you have a child who is very generous! He has great potential. I have yet to see one such child, but there may be one or two around. Your parental training must be exceedingly good, and I think you should give us the chance to learn from you.

Human beings, by nature, always want to have more. So the Lord Jesus says, “Life does not consist in the abundance of the things you possess” is just the opposite of human thinking, because the whole of human philosophy is based on the notion that life does consist in how much you possess. Therefore, you have to work hard so that you can have nice things. You can enjoy a color television, not just a small one but one with a big screen. You can have a nice car, even better, two cars. Nowadays, I see some houses with even three garages. Two cars are not enough, you must have three. So you graduate from a one-garage house to a two-garage house, and then to a three-garage house. Finally, when you get to that, you will want a helicopter pad for a helicopter. And when you get to that, you will want a house beside the sea or the lake, and then you will have your yacht.

Who said life does not consist in what we possess? After you have one television, you will want to have two so you can watch two programs at the same time, so as not to miss anything. I am sure you have seen many families in Hong Kong with two televisions, and they are watching both of them at the same time. I find it very confusing, but apparently for them that is all right; they can concentrate on both. This is the life that is to possess, so that you can show off. Do you only have one television? Look at me, I’ve got two! Do you drive a Toyota? Look at me, I drive a Mercedes!

This is our thinking, so we find that the Lord Jesus’ teaching is exactly the opposite of man’s. If you give more, you won’t be able to buy your Mercedes; and you will go from a big house to a small house, from a small house to a smaller house. It’s not the world’s philosophy. It’s only possible to think in the way that the Lord Jesus thinks, “It is more blessed to give than to receive,” when you are transformed, when your thinking is renewed. That is the life of the Christian.

A true Christian gives all to God, even his life

The life of the Christian goes in the opposite direction, as far as from the way the people in the world are going. It’s a remarkable thing that the true disciple longs for one thing: that at the end, not only may he lose everything, but may he also lay down his life for God, following the example of the Lord Jesus. He keeps on giving, until in his last breath he still gives. As I said, there are such wonderful true disciples in the church. There are people whom I have known who have given away their inheritance, given away everything gradually until they had nothing except their lives.

I think of one person I knew at theological college, who had first class honors at Cambridge in engineering, and he was one who had a great inheritance, but he gave away his inheritance, he gave away his high-paying job, he turned his back upon his first class honors degree and went out to preach the gospel. The Lord used him greatly in Japan. Here are people who give away their degrees and good jobs, and everything when many are longing for money, degrees and good jobs. No wonder they are extraordinary in the eyes of the world. People look at a person like this and say, “That is something!” Light shines out from this kind of people and everyone notices it. These are the “stars” of the Lord Jesus, the diamonds in his crown shining forth God’s light. We thank God for such people! If it were not for such people, the church would not only be black holes, it would be an absolute disgrace of all time!

In my year in theological college, there were seven people from Cambridge University who turned their backs upon their careers, their jobs to go out to preach the gospel. These were the people who were learning to be true disciples. They were learning what it is to give and give. The world cannot understand such people, but they notice such people, and the testimonies of such people come across with tremendous power. It is through people like this that other true disciples begin to appear. It is people like this who are the backbone of the church, because they have learned this very thing we are preaching about today, that the nature of true discipleship is giving. And it is in giving that they become Christ-like.

How was the Lord Jesus like? How easily we read these words in Matthew 11:28, “I will give you rest.” Do you know how much it cost him to give us rest? Do you know how to give rest to someone’s soul? “I will give you rest” sounds so easy, doesn’t it? It’s as though you come to the Lord Jesus and he gives you a piece of something called “rest.” You cannot get a piece of rest. Do you know how he gives us rest? By giving himself to us. There is no way he can give his rest without giving himself. In fact, you can give nothing without giving yourself. In anything you give, you have given something of yourself.

Jesus gave us seven things to give us rest

The Lord Jesus gave us seven things in order to give us rest, and these seven things that he gives to us all come from John’s Gospel.

1. His flesh, his body. We see that in John 6:51.

The Lord Jesus says, “I am going to give my very flesh, my very body to feed you.” You cannot have rest if your physical stomach is empty, and so you cannot have rest if your spiritual stomach is empty. Just go and find out what rest is if you are hungry. There is no such thing as rest when you are hungry. But the Lord Jesus feeds us with his own flesh. His body is broken on the cross so that we may have life.

 2. His life is the second thing that he gives us in John 10:11,

You have no rest so long as you are under the bondage to sin. In order to give us that rest, to protect us, to free us from the bondage of sin, he had to give us his life; to lose his life for us.

3. His example is the third thing he gave us in order to give us his rest. In order to rest, we have to learn to live as he lived. The reason why we did not have rest is because we lived the wrong way, did things the wrong way. Now we must learn to live his way.

He also gave us his example of giving to others, which we see in John 13:15,

4. The Comforter, God’s Spirit of holiness, is the fourth, and Jesus asks his God and Father to give this to us. You find this in John 14:16.

This is so that we may have a constant help to live out his example, so that we don’t have to strive only in our own strength. Otherwise we will be worn out again, and we won’t have the rest that we need. The Comforter enables us to remain in the spiritual rest, the rest unto our souls.

5. Peace is the fifth thing he gives to us. Without peace, you cannot have rest. You try resting when you have children in the house screaming around the place. It’s not so easy to rest without peace. But God gives us the peace that comes through reconciliation, and through peace we have rest. In John 14:27,

6. God’s teaching is what he gives us sixthly (Jo. 17:8, 14). In John 17:14 he says,

God’s Word is the message of salvation, words of life, and Jesus gave this to us. And he said in John 15:3,

7. The glory that God gives to him is what he gives us seventhly and finally. This is so wonderful! In John 17:22 he says,

He gave us everything, including glory, so that we may shine as he shone. If you have received his glory, isn’t it obvious that you are bound to shine? Aren’t you bound to be able to give of yourself as he does?

So he gives us these seven things, which represent everything that he has. It’s so wonderful he gave us everything he has! And then he says, “Come and follow me. Give as I have given you.” God help us not to become black holes but shining stars in this generation, and that we may have the mind of Christ in us. Christ Jesus did not come into the world asking, “What can I get for myself?” But he came to give, and to give everything he has. That is why he is the light of the world, and he wants us to give everything we have, so that we may be the light of the world.

God help us to be completely changed in our way of thinking, no more to think that life consists in how much we can possess, but rather that life consists in how much we can give, so we will be the light of the world.