Luke 6:38 Give away your life; you'll find life given back, but not merely given back--given back with bonus and blessing. Giving, not getting, is the way. Generosity begets generosity."
Luke 6:36-38
The Gospel Teaching.
I. "Be ye merciful, as your Father also is merciful." And how merciful God is! It is the attribute, the quality, by which He is distinguished. And that mercy of God is proposed for our imitation. Remember that mercy, pity, compassion, a readiness to be appeased, a wish to take a more favourable view of our neighbours’ faults, that this is the teaching of the Master—a teaching enforced by His own example.
II. "Judge not, and ye shall not be judged." Well did our Lord know what was in man when He gave us this commandment. For what is there so common as this very fault of judging and condemning our neighbour? We all are too apt to set up for judges; we all have our eyes too open to see the faults of our neighbour; and we all shut our eyes too close upon our own failings. Be sure that as followers of Jesus Christ, as men who look to Him for guidance as well as for salvation, we are bound to be especially careful, not hastily, not without the strongest cause, to take upon ourselves to be judges and condemners of our brethren.
III. "Give, and it shall be given unto you." There is the golden rule of God. As you deal by others, so shall you be dealt with by Him. Be kind, be liberal, be ready to make allowance, easy to be appeased, be ready to do good with what means you have, and by this same measure it shall be measured to you again in the day of necessity. "The liberal soul shall be made fat, and he that watereth shall be watered also himself."
R. D. B. Rawnsley, Village Sermons, 4th series, p. 1.
I. "Be ye merciful." These words were spoken to an age in which mercy was poorly esteemed. Among the old Roman virtues mercy held an insignificant place. The gods themselves were unmerciful. Prometheus bound to his rock through centuries bore witness to the implacable resentment of Jews. The savage instinct by which the sick and feeble are left to perish by the wayside, while the strong hurry on unheeding, survived even among the comparatively tender-hearted Hebrews. There was a wounded traveller on many a high road, and priest and Levite preferred to let him perish. Hospitals, infirmaries, homes for the aged and the sick, were undreamed of by the most enlightened statesmanship of the age, the extraordinary efforts which men made to secure the survival of the fittest froze their hearts, and the fittest became themselves the most unworthy. It was the age, too, of slavery. No one can look into the ghastly history of Roman slavery without realising how much Christ’s words have done for men. Every cross set up on the Appian way was the landmark of the decaying civilisation. How strangely such words as these must have sounded to the early Christians even after they were enlightened "Paul, the slave of Jesus Christ," "Peter a slave and an Apostle!"
II. We sometimes hear it said that our age is too merciful. The reason is, that some who use words loosely confuse mercy with lack of moral fibre. We must be so merciful, that we be not too remiss. The mercy of God has nothing inconsistent with the sternest justice. Mercy in man is not the lazy acquiescence with things as they are, an idle benevolence that finds it comfortable to hold that "whatever is is right." It demands effort, energy, the concentration of the will. In its highest form it is found only in company with strong matured graces of the Christian life.
III. Few realise the marvellous influence of mercy. It calls out all that is noblest in its object. By giving him new hope it restores his belief in goodness. Nothing can be truly great but gentleness. In its highest form it is the charity which is the bond of perfectness, and which lasts when tongues have ceased, and even prophecies have vanished.
[Original.]
References: Luk_6:36.—H. J. Wilmot-Buxton, The Life of Duty, vol. i., p. 35; Homiletic Magazine, vol. vi., p. 193. Luk_6:36, Luk_6:37.—Clergyman’s Magazine, vol. iv., p. 225. Luk_6:36-42.—Ibid., vol. ii., p. 348; Homiletic Quarterly, vol. i., p. 202.
Luke 6:38
This is one of those keen-edged, far-reaching sayings of our Lord’s which make us understand the testimony of the Apostle who knew Him best: "He needed not that any should testify of man, for He knew what was in man"—one of those sayings which sum up in a few words the experience of all lives and of many sides of life. Our consciousness witnesses to its truth, and in doing so witnesses to the justice of the world of what has been called God’s "natural government."
I. It is true as between man and man. Such as we are to others, such in the long-run will others be to us. Generosity calls out generosity; confidence wins confidence; love is answered to by love. We know all this very well, though we sometimes forget it. Men are to us what we are to them. The disposition that hoards, that grudges, that counts up its own rights, and is extreme to mark any omission or slight on the part of another, seals up men’s hearts against itself. "Give, and it shall be given," even in money; but in things far beyond money—in love, trust, loyalty, hearty and affectionate service.
II. It is true, again, as between ourselves and life. Life, too, is what we make it, deals with us as we deal with it.
To the selfish it is as a churl. To the generous it opens its fountains of beauty and happiness. Give your best, and you shall receive its best. Stinted and measured labour, half-hearted devotion, lukewarm interest—what mutilated results, what poor inadequate returns do they always bring, in youth and in age, in work and in play. Lose yourself, forget yourself in healthy work, in true love, in a noble cause, and you will find yourself again in a larger, freer, happier life.
III. Once more, the saying is verified as between ourselves and God, "With what measure ye mete." Even He is, in a sense, to us what we are to Him. Pray, and your prayers shall be heard. Believe, and God will be real to you. Trust and obey, and you shall know that you have not trusted in vain. Shut yourself up from Him, and He will shut Himself up from you.
E. C. Wickham, Wellington College Sermons, p. 146.
The first word to be said on this subject—and one which must come before the word which we are specially to consider—is "Get." Fill the basket and the store. The desire of possessing is one of the springs of many a noble character and of many a noble career. It is one of the root principles of the manifold and wonderful activity and enterprise and resource of our industrial life. That principle builds our cities, wings our ships, extends our empire over all the world. A great part of Christian virtue and goodness consists in harmonising this principle with others; but without it nothing could be done. And now comes the second word, "Give." Begin to give as soon as you begin to get. That, and that only, will prevent the danger of a growing covetousness.
I. The giving should be in some proportion to the income. I do not presume to fix the proportion with arithmetical exactness. There are insuperable difficulties in the way of fixing or naming any numerical proportions for Christian liberality. But we insist on the principle of a fair and just proportion, and on the consequent duty of the individual to turn the principle into practice, and to find out for himself how much his own proportion ought to be.
II. This proportion will never be reached, or, at any rate, will hardly for any long time be continued, except in connection with another principle of far deeper hold and wider sway: the principle that what is left is given top—that all we have belongs to God—that we ourselves are not our own. This principle penetrates to the very centre of our being, and sweeps round the widest circumference of our life. It is becoming more and more evident that the religion of Christ is such that we cannot touch the spirit and essence of it by anything less than wholeness of consecration. But when we give the whole—ourselves, our endowments, our possessions—then the giving of each part in fit time and place cannot be less than a blessedness and a joy.
III. It is also true that we shall never understand really what Christian giving is until we get beyond and above what is called the "duty" of it—to this higher ground, where only the blessedness of it will be felt, and where we shall hear very clearly the Master’s words, standing as we shall do in His nearer presence, "It is more blessed to give than to receive."
A. Raleigh, From Dawn to the Perfect Day, p. 204.
References: Luk_6:38.—H. Whitehead, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xiv., p. 19; Church of England Pulpit, vol. viii., p. 89; F. O. Morris, Ibid., vol. xvii., p. 49; Preacher’s Monthly, vol. v., p. 346; E. H. Abbott, Church of England Pulpit, vol. iv., p. 278. Luk_6:39, Luk_6:40.—Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xxi., No. 1248.
One Desireby Hillsongs |
|
Intro: E - A - E - A
(Verse 1)
E
You gave it all for me
A
My soul desire, my everything
E A
All I am is devoted to you
(Verse 2)
E
How could a fail to see
A
You are the love that rescued me
E A
All I am is devoted to you
(Pre-Chorus)
B C#m
Oh, how could I not be moved?
A
Lord here with you
E B
So have your way in me
C#m
Cause Lord there is just one thing
A
That I will seek
(Chorus)
E B
This is my cry my one desire
C#m
To be where you are lord
A
Now and forever
E
More than a song,
D
My one desire
F#m
Is to be with you
C#m A
Is to be with you
E - A - E - A
Jesus
(Bridge)
E A
The one thing,
E/G# A
The one thing,
C#m B E
That I ask is to be with you
There is an electric lead line tha is used in the chorus and in the
interludes
between verses. it by nots is played in 4/4 time
e - e - b - b - f# - g# - a - g# - g# - e
No comments:
Post a Comment