[Note: This sermon expounds Matthew 11:28 and the theme of giving as part of the continuing study of the Lord's teaching in Matthew. Delivered 20 November 1977, Montreal.]
"Come to me, all who labour and are heavy-laden, and I will give you rest." God is a giver because he is love, and love always gives. This is not incidental to God's character — it is central to it. John 8:12: "I am the light of the world." Light, by its nature, always gives out. A light that does not give out is a contradiction in terms. And immediately after declaring himself the light of the world, the Lord turns to his disciples in Matthew 5 and says: "You are the light of the world." What he is, they are called to become.
Modern astronomy has discovered something that provides a striking illustration of two kinds of Christians. When a giant star exhausts its fuel and its fire dies, it does not simply go dark — it collapses inward under its own gravity and becomes a black hole. A black hole emits no light whatsoever; it draws everything in the vicinity inexorably toward itself. Nothing escapes it. The contrast between a living star, radiating warmth and light outward into the universe, and a black hole, collapsed upon itself and consuming everything around it, is the contrast between two types of Christians. Every sinner, in the biblical account, is a black hole: Adam was made in the glory of God, but sin extinguished the light and turned the soul inward upon itself. The church was meant to be collectively what it was individually — a light shining in the darkness — but a church that becomes self-absorbed, concerned only with its own comfort and survival, becomes a corporate black hole.
Daniel 12 says that those who are wise, who lead many to righteousness, will shine as the stars forever. This is the destiny of those who give — who pour out their lives rather than gather to themselves. There was an anonymous gift to a training fund of £2,000 — almost certainly someone's total savings. That is not an easy gift to make; it represents months or years of careful accumulation poured out in an act of love for the work of God. But the giving cannot stop at money. The call is to give energy, time, personal concern, attention — to give yourself. "Better to burn out than to rust out." A life consumed in giving for Christ is not a wasted life; it is the only life that will have eternal meaning.
John 7:38 describes the true believer as one from whom rivers of living water flow — not a reservoir that holds water in but a channel through which it passes and flows outward to others. The early church demonstrated this in the Roman Empire. The ancient world had no welfare state, no social safety net. The church created one — caring for widows, orphans, the sick, the poor — and through that constant, practical outpouring of love, it transformed the Empire. It shone. Acts 20:35 records Paul summarising the spirit of the Lord's teaching: "It is more blessed to give than to receive." This is not a verbatim quotation from the Gospels — it is Paul's distillation of what he learned from everything the Lord said and did.
Ephesians 4:28 goes further than most people expect. Paul tells the former thief not merely to stop stealing and to work honestly. He tells him to work "so that he may have something to give to those in need." The minimum — stop stealing, provide for yourself — is not the goal. The goal is to become a giver. Paul takes the man who was defined by taking and turns him into someone defined by giving. That is the transformation the gospel works, and it is the transformation every Christian is called to undergo. Even a cup of cold water — the most modest imaginable act — begins the journey.
# Give, to Be the Light of the World — Matthew 11:28 (Part B) — The Seven Things Jesus Gave; Cambridge Students; Not Black Holes but Shining Stars
[Note: This is Part B of the sermon on Matthew 11:28, continuing directly from Part A. Delivered 20 November 1977, Montreal.]
Luke 12:15 states plainly: "A man's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions." The human philosophy of our age says the opposite. We measure lives by possessions — two televisions or one, a Mercedes or a Toyota, a house with three bedrooms or five. We have so thoroughly absorbed the world's measure that we barely notice it any more. The man who has more is assumed to be more successful, to have lived better, to be worth more as a person. The Lord Jesus says this calculation is simply wrong. A life is not its possessions.
A true disciple of Christ longs to give until the very end — even to give his life. In England there was a man who came down from Cambridge with a first-class honours degree in engineering. He had inherited a substantial sum of money. He gave away every penny of his inheritance and turned his back on the career that his degree would have opened to him, and went to Japan to preach the gospel. He died there, having given everything. In a single year, seven students from Cambridge universities turned their backs on promising careers and went out to preach the gospel in difficult places. Seven, in one year. They had understood what the Lord was saying: life is not possessions, and the giving of yourself is worth more than anything you could accumulate.
The Lord Jesus himself is the model and the measure of giving. In John's Gospel alone, seven things can be identified that he gave. First, his body — John 6:51: "The bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh." Second, his life — John 10:11: "The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep." Third, his example — John 13:15: "I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done to you." Fourth, the Holy Spirit — the Comforter whom he promised to send after his departure. Fifth, his peace — John 14:27: "Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you." Sixth, his words — John 17:8 and 17:14: "I have given them the words that you gave me." Seventh, his glory — John 17:22: "The glory that you have given me I have given to them."
Everything he had, he gave — his body, his life, his example, his Spirit, his peace, his words, his glory. Nothing was held back. And having given everything, he turns and says: come, follow me, do the same thing. This is not a request for partial commitment. He gave all, and he calls for all. The prayer with which we close is simple and urgent: God help us not to be black holes in this generation — collapsed inward upon ourselves, absorbing everything and giving out nothing, creating darkness around us — but shining stars, giving out light and warmth and life to those around us, as he gave to us. Let us be quiet before God in prayer.