“Give to him that asketh thee, and from him that would borrow of thee turn not away” (Matt. 5:4242Give to him that asketh thee, and from him that would borrow of thee turn not thou away. (Matthew 5:42)). In this verse we have a grand principle for the Christian. It comes at the close of the exhortation to resist not evil, but rather to suffer it. Christ is the pattern for the disciple, and no sound exposition can explain His Word away, however distasteful to flesh and blood. The new nature goes along with it loyally as the perfect law of liberty, and only the fleshly mind seeks to evade it.
The disciple learns from God that he is a debtor to grace, not only in the outward mercies of every day, which he shares with all mankind, but in that still-deeper love which quickened him when he was a child of wrath by nature. Whether Jew or Gentile —it made no difference — all were hopeless before God. Those whom Christ then addresses had tasted already that the Lord is good. Soon they were to be brought into its fullness when He died, rose, ascended on high, and sent forth the Holy Spirit to guide them into all truth. The Lord, having before Him such fullness of grace which we were to receive, looks for our appreciation of it by faith and the action of the Holy Spirit on our souls. As He said elsewhere, “Freely ye have received, freely give” (Matt. 10:88Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils: freely ye have received, freely give. (Matthew 10:8)). It is the mind of heaven reproduced on earth — an earth which was full of sordid selfishness. None were more characterized by covetousness than the Jews, who, having for the time lost their place as witnesses for God, sought an excuse for their energy in heaping up wealth. No wonder that souls so blessed by grace should be called to an entirely new walk and an equally new worship, unintelligible to those who do not enter into the Christian calling and hope. Yet the Apostle says plainly that “we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works” (Eph. 2:1010For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them. (Ephesians 2:10)).
God’s Character
But Christ came to save not only from wrath but ruin, not only from penalty but from sin, and to form a new character in those that hear His voice and follow Him. It was and could only be His own character. What was the character of those like Socrates, Antoninus Pius, Gautama Buddha, or Confucius? Only shades of vanity or pride, in comparison with Him who never did His own will. He came into this world of sin to give Himself up as a sacrifice, thus bringing God into it and putting sin out of it.
Therefore, as a part of the spiritual process, He would impress on His own the character of grace. Was there ever a need, a want, a suffering presented to Him without an answer of divine grace and power, and in all human tenderness? He that was about to give Himself up to God for us, what of good did He ever withhold? Money was too small and mean to give, save as meeting the temple tax. “Take that [from a strange bank!], and give unto them for Me and thee” (Matt. 17:2727Notwithstanding, lest we should offend them, go thou to the sea, and cast an hook, and take up the fish that first cometh up; and when thou hast opened his mouth, thou shalt find a piece of money: that take, and give unto them for me and thee. (Matthew 17:27)). Hence the words in Luke 6:3838Give, 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. (Luke 6:38), “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.” It is literally “they shall give,” but Luke often states truths impersonally, as it is really pointing to God. Thus His grace produces its like in others.
Reproducing His Grace
We know that if we strive to reproduce such giving, we will soon be weary. Only Christ set the example, and only He gives the power. Before we can think of giving of our means, we must have come to Him, as those who were the neediest of all, to receive of His fullness. Only then, when we have Him as our unfailing treasure, will we have the faith and love to make to ourselves “friends of the mammon of unrighteousness” (Luke 16:99And I say unto you, Make to yourselves friends of the mammon of unrighteousness; that, when ye fail, they may receive you into everlasting habitations. (Luke 16:9)). Only then will we be able to give with a single eye and liberal heart, for “God loveth a cheerful giver” (2 Cor. 9:7). He is able to make every grace abound toward us, that, having in every way always all sufficiency, we may abound to every good work.
W. Kelly, adapted from
The Bible Treasury, Vol. N4