The highest giving, the condition of the highest getting
I.The highest giving.
1. Giving to the Best Being.
2. Giving the best things to the Best Being. The surrender of self is essential to give virtue and acceptance to all other contributions (Rom_12:1).
II. The highest getting. By giving this you get back--what? The choicest and fullest Divine blessings.
1. He who yields his all to God attends to the conditions of all true prosperity--industry, temperance, economy, forethought, etc.
2. He who yields his all to God will insure the special favour of Heaven (see Heb_6:10.) (David Thomas, D.D.)
Giving, a privilege
This rule of sacrifice is a costly precept to the worldling and the formalist; but to the servant of God it is a privilege to lay aside a portion of substance with a sacred stamp on it, bearing the inscription, “This is for God.” Well may we think our substance due, where we owe ourselves. (C. Bridges, M.A.)
The duty of honouring God with our substance
I. A duty enjoined. Honouring the Lord with our substance.
1. We are to honour God in the expenditure of our substance upon causes of piety and benevolance. Our money--even our time, our health, our talents--is not our own. The humblest and the greatest are but stewards. Whatever they have is a trust.
2. God is to be first considered in the distribution and expenditure of our means. Our general plan is to see whether we have anything left for God. To honour the Lord is our positive, our first, duty.
3. Charitable and religious expenditure should be systematic.
II. A promise annexed to the discharge of the duty: “Thy barns be filled with plenty.” Expenditure here is gain. Have faith in God. “There is that scattereth and yet increaseth.” Christian liberality is gain, because it is giving unto the Lord. You cannot lose by faith, you cannot lose by obedience. Do not narrow too hastily, too selfishly, too covetously, the limits of what you think you can spare. Shrink not from self-denial. The test for us is our comparative expenditure for self and for God. (John C. Miller, M. A.)
Honouring the Lord with our substance
Under the old dispensation the Divine directions respecting religious observances and the use of property were more precise and definite than they are under the new. With the Jew it was in no sense optional whether or not he should contribute to the maintenance of the institutions of religion, nor whether he should contribute little or much. Under the Christian dispensation giving is voluntary. This may weaken the sense of obligation in many minds.
I. The duty here enjoined. We do not honour the Lord with our substance when we use it for purposes of display or of self-gratification. God is honoured--
1. When we relieve the physical wants of our fellow-creatures.
2. By devoting it to the maintenance of gospel institutions.
3. By employing it for the diffusion of the gospel in the benighted portions of the earth.
II. The promise by which we are encouraged to perform the duty. (W. M. Birchard.)
