Today we continue our exposition in the word of God in Mark chapter 4, verses 21 to 25. This, as you will see, follows immediately on the parable of the sower, which we expounded last week. And so we turn now to this passage in Mark 4, verses 21 to 25. And we shall read it together. And I ask you to read it very thoughtfully so that by the grace of God you may be able to understand what he is saying.
"And the Lord Jesus said to them, 'Is a lamp brought in to be put under a bushel, or under a bed, and not on a stand? For there is nothing hid except to be made manifest, nor is anything secret except to come to light. If any man has ears to hear, let him hear.' And he" — that is, the Lord Jesus — "said to them, 'Take heed what you hear. The measure you give will be the measure you get, and still more will be given you. For to him who has will more be given, and from him who has not, even what he has will be taken away.'"
Now I would like to read to you also the parallel passage in Luke chapter 8, verses 16 to 18, so that the words of the Lord Jesus may come to you in a very clear way. "No one," the Lord Jesus says here, "after lighting a lamp, covers it with a vessel, or puts it under a bed, but puts it on a stand that those who enter may see the light. For nothing is hid that shall not be made manifest, nor anything secret that shall not be known and come to light. Take heed then how you hear. For to him who has will more be given, and from him who has not, even what he thinks he has will be taken away."
I have a vision of the church — the church as the light of the world. I wonder if you can see this vision. The church as the light of the world. Can you think about that for a moment? Try to conceive of this church as light in this whole world. Can you think of it? A church that is able to bring forth light to this whole world that walks in darkness. Can you see a church that radiates forth in beauty, in brightness, in warmth, in holiness — the life of God? Can you picture in your mind a church that functions as light?
Look at these windows. How bright they are. When tonight the sun sets, it will be very dark outside. You will see no colors, no brightness, nothing. But now it's bright. The light floods in and brings everything — its cheer, its warmth, its beauty. If you take color photographs, you know that when the sun goes in, even if you have a very good color film in your camera, everything turns out rather colorless and dull. But let the sun come out, let the light shine, and everything shines with a new beauty.
Can you picture the church as the light of the world? That functions as a light to which the world looks in its darkness? That illuminates the world that sits in darkness? I have a vision of the church. And for this vision I shall work. For this vision, that we can rebuild the church, restore the church to what it should be.
Now nobody looking at the church today will remotely describe it as the light of the world. No. The world disregards it. The church ceases to function as light. I don't know what it functions as, but it ceases to function as light — pouring forth the glory of God. What is the light but the glory of God? That people look and say, "Ah, I see that this is the glory of God." The people looked at these humble fishermen and they said, "These people have been with Jesus. They shine with the glory of Jesus." They took knowledge of them that they had been with Jesus. I wonder when they look at you and me whether they can see something of the glory of God or not.
But if they cannot see the glory of God in us, what do we function as? Jesus saved us, he tells us, for one specific purpose — not just so that we can reserve our seat in heaven and let the world go to hell, but so that we may function in this world for him as light. He wants to clothe us with his glory. That is what the apostle Paul says: "Put on the Lord Jesus Christ." Well, what happens when you put on the Lord Jesus Christ? People just see Jesus, because you put him on.
Who preaches such texts today? All we want to talk about is free salvation — like giving out sweets and lollipops to everybody. You get to heaven. Never mind the world — go to hell. We forgot that we have been saved in order to be light. But I still have a vision of the church as light. I intend to work towards this goal, whatever happens, that the church may be rebuilt in these days until it shines once again as light in the world, with the glory of God coming forth from it, the love of God radiating forth from it. Can you catch that vision? Where those who freeze in the cold of hatred are warmed by the love of God coming through us. When people who have fellowship with you say, "I know there is something different about you. There is something different about you. I don't know what it is, but I can only describe it as the glory of God coming through you." Then you are functioning as a Christian.
Jesus saved us in order to be light. Can you catch a vision of the church? I have enough of this preaching that only talks about personal salvation, that only speaks: "You save your skin, you get to heaven. What kind of salvation? I don't care what kind of a life you live. You are going to be saved anyway. You can sin as much as you like." I tell you something — read Ephesians. God saved us that we might be holy to himself. What is holiness but the glory of God shining through us? "Put on the Lord Jesus Christ." That is what the apostle Paul commanded the church — not suggested as a rather nice idea, as an afterthought. He says, "For this purpose you are saved, in order that you may manifest his glory in the world." This is what he says in Ephesians chapter 5, verse 8: "Once you were darkness, but now are you light in the world." You are light because Jesus has transformed your life from darkness to light.
Now that is a gospel worth preaching — a gospel that can take darkness and change it into light. That is a gospel worth preaching. Who wants to preach any other kind of gospel? That can take hatred and turn it into love. That can take a sinner and make him holy. Now that is a gospel — darkness to light. What kind of a gospel is being preached today in the churches? I don't know what kind of gospel. Nothing seems to change. All that changes is your beliefs. Your life is the same before and after.
Are you light in the world? Wherever you go, do you shine, so that people look at you and say, "Wow, that is a Christian"? But what I see are Christians who are constantly overcome by the darkness. They are defeated. If somebody says something unkind to you, you become bitter. Now take a candle — even a weak little candle, small little candle, birthday candle if you like — so skinny, so small, tiny little light. Put it in a room and see whether this massive darkness all around it can put out that light. Can it? You see that thing is so small, the room is so big. The darkness will not put the light out. There is no way the darkness can put it out, because light in its nature cannot be crushed by darkness, cannot be put out by darkness. The darkness is conquered by the light, even if the light is that weak. It will still not be crushed by darkness.
But I find that we as Christians are being conquered by the world all the time. If somebody is unkind to you, what happens? Your face becomes first green and then purple and blue, and the color gets darker all the time until it gets black even. So what happens? We have the light in us, but that is overcome by darkness. The apostle Paul says, "Overcome evil with good. Do not be overcome by evil." Don't let the darkness overpower you. If somebody is unkind to you, that's the time to let the light shine even more brightly, because the light stands out ever more brightly the darker the surrounding is.
What's the use of moaning to say, "You know, in my college nobody is a Christian"? Hallelujah! If there are no Christians there, then never did they need you more. What's the use of moaning to say, "In my office I am the only Christian"? Praise God! If they were all Christians there, what do they need you for? If this room were full of lights, what do they need another light here for? We don't need another light; we've got plenty enough lights here. But if this room had no lights, how precious is that one light that shines! But is it that every time somebody sniggers at you, your light goes out? Or if some fellow Christian in ignorance ridicules you, you are so offended — "Say, I'll take it from a non-Christian, but not from a fellow Christian." Finished. So your light goes out. Switched off. Light doesn't switch off because of darkness, whether it's the darkness in a fellow Christian or the darkness in the non-Christian. It's all darkness. It doesn't matter. My light should not go off because of darkness. It's precisely the darkness that challenges the light to shine, to give forth its light.
I wish we could catch the vision that in these last days, the gathering gloom as we come towards what is rapidly — even the non-Christian knows — coming towards an end of an age. Everybody is predicting disaster around. It's not the Christians who have to say that. It's the non-Christians saying the overpopulation is going to kill the world, the pollution is going to kill the world, and so on. Everything is going to kill the world. Okay, let them say that. The point here is they observe that we are at the end of an age. Human history is in decline. This is the time for the church to shine. Can you catch the vision of that?
You may say, "Well, it's rather useless. Look at us. We are such a small bunch of people. The world is so big and we are so small. The challenge is impossible." I mean, we are simply overpowered by the vastness of the task. That's true. It's true. We are a very small bunch of people in a very big world. But is that a cause that we should not shine?
You know, when I was a little boy I lived in the war, the Sino-Japanese war. I still remember many things of that war even though I was small. And I noticed that every time the bombers came across Shanghai — we got bombed by everybody. First we got bombed by the Japanese, then we got bombed by the Americans. We got bombed by everybody. That's the fate of civilians in war. But one thing that happens is that when the bombs come, you know what happens? You have to have blackouts. They cut out all lights. The power station closes down and everybody sits in darkness. Why? So that the bombers when they come over have no targets. They can't see any light. When they look down, they see everything is black. Where are they going to drop their bombs? They can't pick out a target. And do you know that anybody who so much as smokes a cigarette would be shot? You say, "Now that's ridiculous." It's not ridiculous. You know, the cigarette light is so small, but a bomber crew several thousand feet up can pick out a cigarette light in the midst of total darkness, just because the total darkness makes that tiny little light stand out. It's remarkable, isn't it? And if you put a candle there — that's all a bomber needs. That's all it needs. He'll pick it out from the darkness. You see, that little light stands out from the darkness. We may be very little. But what does it matter? We are here to shine. And we are going to do our job and it's going to function.
Now I am very challenged by this thought, that we are called — weak and small as we are, our light may only be as a birthday cake candle, so small — but we are called to give forth the light that we have. Now this is the point of this passage that we are going to study. And so we come to this passage because this passage is going to answer some questions. How do we function as light? How can we become light and function as light? And how may our light increase? You say, "You mean all that is in here?" Praise God, it's all in there. That is the riches of God's word.
Now maybe before you have looked at this passage many times and said, "I can't see a thing. I don't even understand what it's talking about." Well, what is this passage talking about? We are going to look at it under three headings very quickly.
The first thing we notice here in this passage is that verse in Mark chapter 4, verse 21, or Luke chapter 8, verse 16 — either way it doesn't matter, and we can look at the Luke passage for the moment, it also is all right. Luke chapter 8, verse 16, reads like this: "No one after lighting a lamp covers it with a vessel, or puts it under a bed, but puts it on a stand that those who enter may see the light."
Now what is all this saying? First observe this. Let me give you the key thought of this passage, which will make it easier for you to follow. There are three things in this passage, and all related to each other. First: the lighting of the lamp. Second: that this lamp, once lighted, is to shine out without hindrance — not to let anything hinder it. And third: the more it shines, the brighter it gets. The less it shines, it will end up losing even the light that it's got. Very clear. Very easy to understand.
Let me repeat that again. Firstly, a light has been lit. It's the lighting of the lamp. That's a statement of fact. The light has been lit. No matter how small, how weak, the light has been lit. "Xing xing zhi huo, kei liao yuan" — we say in Chinese — "A spark has been lit, but that can burn the entire field." Just a spark will burn the entire prairie, the whole ground will be burned down by one spark. The second thing is that once it has been lit, it must not be allowed to be hindered. This second point studies what causes the light not to shine forth. Why does the church not shine? And the third point then is: the more you shine, the brighter you get. The less you shine, you will end up even losing the light you got. The scripture thoughts are very clear. Nothing confused about it. Now once I have given you the key, of course, if you read this passage again it should be very easy to understand. Without the key, you might look at it and you don't understand what it says.
Now let's take these points together briefly. Firstly: a light has been lit. Who lit it? God lit it. God kindled a light. He kindled a fire in the world. The Lord Jesus says, "I am come to cast fire upon the earth." He lit a light. That light is now burning — ever so weak, but it burns. And all through history it keeps on burning. No matter how many attempts have been made to put it out, no matter how many failures on the part of the light, the light still burns. Ever so weakly, but it burns. Thanks be to God for that. Let's take courage in the fact that it's still burning, and it will continue to burn because the Lord Jesus promised that all the power of hell, all the darkness together, will not succeed to put that light out.
Now the question is this: in this passage we'll notice that this light here, in this context, in fact refers to the word of God. But we also noticed, when we looked at Matthew chapter 5, that it refers also to the church of God. This same passage is used in various contexts. How shall we understand this? Very easy to understand, because they are all related to each other. It is the word of God that makes us to become the light of the world. So the sequence of thoughts is very plain and very clear in scripture, once you see it.
Let me give it to you in this order. How can we become a light? Well, first of all, God's word is a lamp to us. Psalm 119, verse 105: "Your word is a lamp to our feet, a light to our path." God's word is that by which the fire will be kindled in our hearts, just as we read, putting it under another picture, in 1 Peter 1 and verse 23, that we are born again by the word of God. That light of life is kindled in us by the word of God. So the first step is that God's word is a light.
But God's word is not just that which we find here in print. God's word comes to us in the life and teaching of Jesus — not just his teaching, but also his life. Thanks be to God for the Lord Jesus. Today we have lots of teachers who can talk with their mouth, but if you examine the life, the life doesn't quite match up to the words. God forgive us when we preach his words and our lives say one thing and our mouths say something else — we are seen to be hypocrites because the two don't match. It's easy to say nice-sounding words, and you look at the life and you don't see the light there. But the Lord Jesus — not just his teaching is the word of God, but his life is the word of God. His life illuminates his teaching. So John chapter 8 and verse 12: "I am the light of the world. He that follows me shall not walk in darkness." So God's word is the light, both as the living word in the Lord Jesus and as the written word that we have in his teaching and in the scriptures. That is why the apostle Paul says in Colossians chapter 3 and verse 16, "Let the word of Christ dwell in your heart richly."
So God's word is the light, whether it be in Jesus or whether it be in the written word that we have before us. From this we go to the second stage: our heart is a light to our person. This I am saying as a paraphrase of the Lord's teaching in Luke chapter 11, verses 34 to 36: "Your eye is a lamp to your body" — by which, of course, which I have expounded before when I expounded Matthew chapter 6 and verse 22 onwards — which we saw that here it means the heart is the eye to the whole person, the light of the whole person, just as the physical eye is the light to the body. Now if you are blind, you are in darkness. You can't see where you are going. Your eye is the light of your body, which helps you to see where you are going. It lets in the light so that you do not fall into a ditch, so you don't bang your face against the pillar when you are walking, or into the wall. Your eye is the light of the body. In the same way, your heart is the light of your soul, the light of your person.
So remember again the first point: God's word is the light to our person. But that light has to reach into us through our hearts, which is the light of our soul. And finally, as a result of this, our person becomes the light of the world. So the third stage is the person becomes the light of the world. So we see that from God's word we become the light of the world through this very clear, step-by-step process revealed to us in the word of God. First, God's word comes. That light has been lit. Jesus has come into the world. Then that light comes into my heart through my — it comes into my person through my heart. And as a result of that light coming into me, I become light. "Once you were darkness," remember Ephesians 5 and verse 8, "but now are you light in the world." So we can see the first point here: a light has been lit. That's what we see in this passage.
But secondly, once you have lit a light, when God has lit a light, he does not mean that light to be hidden. He does not mean that light to be covered. When God has put light into you and made you a light, he does not mean that this light should now be covered. No, no. So how does that light become covered? If it does become covered, it is not he who covers us, but we who cover ourselves. Again, when I was preaching in Matthew 5, I expounded this in some detail, so I shall not stop here long at this point.
Here we see several things that do cover us, that is mentioned here. Luke mentions the vessel: when you light the light, you do not cover it with a vessel. Mark mentions a bushel: when you light a light, you do not cover it with a bushel. And both Mark and Luke mention the bed: when you have lit a light, you do not put it under the bed. What is this saying to us? Oh, it is beautiful. And as I said, I have expounded this before, so I just mention it to you in summary. It is to say: don't let the world get on top of you. If you let the world get on top of you, your light will not shine anymore.
Notice these things literally get on top of the light — covered with a vessel, covered with a bushel, covered by the bed (that is, under the bed). These things get on top of you, and your light can't shine anymore. Have you grasped it? A bushel — it contains grain. It's a measure for grain. Grain is what? It means wheat, it means barley, it means corn. It means food. In other words, if you let your concern for food, for how to earn your living, get on top of you, you are going to let the light be put out. No wonder the church doesn't shine today. Because what do we have in the church? We have people whose concern is so divided. They are concerned with the world. They are concerned with making their way in the world, getting more money. The world has got into the church today. The church is a very worldly church. Any of you who have been to a church will know that very soon — how worldly the church is. When the Christians talk, they talk about their business success. They talk about — God is saying, "I did not light the light for you to put a bushel on it."
So the second thing that conceals the light, as we saw, is the vessel in Luke. What is a vessel? A vessel is what contains liquid. The bushel contains dry matter, it's a dry measure. And the vessel contains liquid. Liquid is very important — you've got to drink. So food and drink, the basics of life. That is why the whole of Matthew 6, the Lord Jesus is so concerned: "Do not be anxious about your life, your physical life — what you shall eat, what you shall drink, what you put on, about your job, study — all these things so important to you." You are going to let the light be put out if you let the world get on top of you.
What about the bed? Well, we know the bed. The bed in the Bible symbolizes marriage — "the bed undefiled" in Hebrews. Of course you can also think of it as ease, as comfort, and so forth. But also marriage. How often has marriage got on top of people and put the light out? Because when a person gets married, he begins to get preoccupied with his family — his wife, her husband, the children, the house, the car. All these things. You see, when you are alone, life is easy, isn't it? Eat a sandwich, be done with it, forget it. But now you've got children to think about. You've got to think about your father-in-law, mother-in-law coming to visit us. Everybody is coming, and they have to be impressed with my new house. Now when I was alone, I lived in one small little hovel. It doesn't matter. But now my relatives come. I have to impress them. How is my car? Shiny, good, latest model, so they can think, "Oh, my son-in-law, my daughter-in-law, there is such a success in the world. See how God has blessed me." Remember this: God has only blessed you? Non-Christians also don't do too badly. They also are well preoccupied with the world. And so what has happened is we let the bed get on top of us.
But there is another way the bed can get on top of us. We find that when two people get married, personality differences begin to grate on each other. The sharp corners of each other's characters stick into the other, and then each is at the other's throat. The bed really starts getting on top of it. Oh, the marriage breeds all kinds of problems, and the light — what happens to the light? The light has gone out. It has gone under the bed. Have you ever heard of anybody putting a candle under the bed? That is what happens. It all got on top of you.
So we find then that here we find the second thing that we find in this passage. Nobody having lit — who lights a lamp puts it under a bed or under a bushel or under a vessel, but he puts it on a lamp stand so it can shine, so that everyone who comes into the house can see the light. So we see the second point is so important: though God has lit a lamp in the world, why does the light not shine? Because the church has let the world get on top of it. The world dominates the church. I go to many churches and I see the world has dominated the church. Who are the elders of the church? The big businessman. He is the local boss, general manager, director of this and that. He becomes — "No, no, no. If you don't tone down your message, we kick you out. But if you do what we tell you, you will find that next week's pay packet gets a pay rise." Now you just be — the people get chopped out of the church. Now if you want to be a good pastor in Hong Kong, you learn how to pat the rich guys on the back. Don't rub them the wrong way. Just pat them on the back. They'll be all your friends. Make sure you smile nicely, and next time your paycheck gets bigger. The world gets on top of the church, and these pastors — as though they have learned no lessons — because it is important to bring the world into the church. Appoint all the important people in society. As I said before, if you are only a shoemaker, if you are the local shopkeeper, you don't hope to become elder in the church. No, no, no. You don't qualify. The qualification is to be big in the world, then you can come in. And just put enough money in the offering. But if you don't do any of these things — no way. No way. Alas, is it not true? You know I speak the truth. We have all been in churches. We have all served. We thank God for those churches where this is not the case. We thank God for those churches where the world has not dominated the church. But how many there are.
Now let's press on to the third and final point here. What do we see in this third point? It says this, verse 18 in Luke chapter 8: "Take heed how you hear. For to him who has will more be given, and from him who has not, even what he thinks he has will be taken away." Now verse 17 says: "Anything secret that shall not be known and come to light." This is a word of judgment. If you let the light be covered, let me tell you, God is going to judge. This verse, as you look at it, how it is used in the New Testament, is a verse of judgment. In the judgment everything will come to light — your sins, your failings, my failings. All will come to light. Nothing is hidden that will not come to light. If the church does not expose the sins of the world, God will expose the sins of the church. Judgment will begin. The apostle Peter said, at the house of God. God is a God of justice. He will deal with the church if the church does not reveal the light, does not uncover the darkness. God will uncover the church. Just as he dealt with Israel, so he will deal with us. May the Lord be gracious to us.
But then what is the principle of shining or not shining? There it is, all in verse 18. "Take heed," the Lord Jesus says. These words as a word of warning. "Take heed. Watch. Be careful how you hear." Because God's word, as I said to you in the previous messages, comes to you either as a word of grace and salvation, or a word of judgment and condemnation. You are the one who will decide what it is going to be to you — if God's word is going to come to you as light, or it's going to come to you as judgment. That's what he says here. "Take heed how you hear. For to him who has will more be given, and from him who has not, even what he has will be taken away." The whole responsibility here is placed upon us. Whether you have more or less — notice this passage says it's up to you. "To him who has will more be given. To him who has not, even what he has will be taken away."
Now let's think about this for a moment. So important is this passage that the Lord Jesus has given us two whole parables to illustrate this point. This parable, for example, is the parable of the talents in Matthew chapter 25, which concludes at verse 29 with the same words as we have here. What does it say in Matthew 25, verse 29? The parable of talents — I think you are familiar with that. The Lord Jesus gave talents to his servants as he left. That is, a master gave talents to his servants as he left, and then when he returned he asked the servants to give an account of what they did with the talents. And what did they do? One servant increased the talents that he had. The second one also did the same, though he had less talents. But the other one did absolutely nothing with the talent that he had. The result was that even that one that he had was taken away, and he lost even what he had. Verse 26, which is again the same as this passage.
The Lord does not leave us guessing what he means. He tells us in plain language what he means. He said, "I have given to you this talent, or this pound. This is given to you as a free gift of grace. You didn't earn it. I gave it to you." But just because it's a free gift of grace — don't think that because you got eternal life you can go on and do what you like. You are going to explain to him what you did with that life. When he gives you light, he wants you to know: what did you do with the light that I gave you? He gives us a talent. He gives a pound. And we are going to answer to him. Now either we increase the talent or the pound that has been given to us, which is the whole point of these parables, or else if we do not increase it, even that which we have we lose. And what happened to those servants that lost, that had their talent taken away or the pound taken away? You read it for yourself. I don't care what kind of doctrine you hold. They were thrown into the outer darkness. They perished in outer darkness. Even though they were servants of God. That may not sound nice. I don't care what kind of doctrine you hold. But there is the scripture for you to read, not what I have to say. Think carefully.
So the first point I would like you to think on in this section is the relation of grace to responsibility. Today the notion is that grace given to you is up to you what you do with it. Oh no, it's not up to you in the sense that you can disregard it, or that it's yours to keep regardless of what you do with it. Not at all. The Lord has made this so plain to us. Willful ignorance to disregard — willful blindness to disregard the Lord's teaching.
# The Responsibility Incumbent upon the Hearers (Part 2)
Grace and responsibility is a major scriptural theme. For example, in 2 Timothy chapter 1 and verse 6, the apostle Paul says to Timothy, a servant of God, "Stir up the gift of God that is within you." The Revised Standard Version has "rekindle the gift of God that is within you." Now notice: a gift of God was given to Timothy, but it seems that he had let it die down. And the apostle Paul is saying to him, rekindle it. You see, the gift of God does not automatically do a job. You have got to do something with the gift of God. It's so important to understand this. God may have given you a gift, but if you don't use it — remember the Lord's teaching — you will lose it.
The same thing is true of salvation. Salvation is a gift of God. But the apostle Paul says in Philippians chapter 2, verse 12, "Work out your salvation and work it out with fear and trembling." Why fear and trembling? There is no danger of it being lost? Why fear and trembling? Because it is God who is at work. You see, salvation is God's gift, but we have to work it out. We preach one part of the truth today in the churches; we don't preach the other part. This could not be put more clearly than the apostle Peter put it, in 1 Peter chapter 4 and verse 10: that we as Christians are to be good stewards of God's very grace. Now notice — grace is a free gift to you, but you've got to be a good steward. What does a steward do? A steward is somebody who looks after something, who takes care of something, who manages something. Grace is given to us, not just so we can stick it in our pocket and say, "Oh, that's it, that's the end of the matter." No, grace is given to you so that you do something with it. And if you don't do something with it, there are two parables to remind you of that in the Lord's teaching — the parable of the talents in Matthew 25, the parable of the pounds in Luke 19 — each warning that if you do not use that free gift of grace, it will be taken away from you.
These are the same words here in this passage. "To him that has, will more be given. To him that has not" — like that servant in the parable of the talents — he used the talents and more was given to him. The other person didn't use it, and he lost even what he had. Is not the meaning very plain? Is there anything difficult to understand? Is this a matter of complicated interpretation? To the mind that is open to the light of God, who does not want to twist the truth around, the language is very plain to understand. They require no gimmicks, no logical acrobatics. It's all there, very plain to understand. God's grace is given to us, the apostle Peter says, that we may be stewards of it.
Now this is all very easy to understand. Think of it, even on the physical life, this is true. Very true. Did you ask for the life you have now? Did you ask to be born into this world? The life that you have now, that you are able to live today, that you are able to study, that you are able to look at the sunshine, enjoy the flowers — did you earn that life? That life was given to you as a gift. I have this life in me as a gift. But it doesn't mean that because I have this gift of life in me, that I will automatically be all right. Of course not. The life that is given to me as a gift, I have to do something with it.
Now you understand this perfectly well. That is why you study. That is why you jog, to keep your body in shape. That is why you work with your mind, to improve the quality of your mind. That is why you learn to worship, to improve the quality of your spiritual life. You know that even though the life is given to you as a gift, it is not up to you to sit back. You know that if you do not cultivate this life, you will decline physically, you will decline mentally, you will decline spiritually. Life is something that will either grow or it will die. It is up to you to be a steward of it, to manage it. In fact, the word "steward" is precisely the word that is being used in the parable of the pounds and the talents. Is it not perfectly easy to understand? Life is not automatically developing. Life either grows or it dies. It declines, or it waxes from strength to strength. Perfectly easy to understand.
The same is true if God gives to you his own life, which is called eternal life, because it is God's quality of life. Now remember one thing: the physical life we have also comes from God. So does the spiritual life. When you read in Genesis, it was God who breathed into the nostrils the breath of life. We have physical life as a gift from God, and we are stewards of the physical life. We have the spiritual life as a gift from God too. If you understand the one, do you not understand the other? The spiritual life does not automatically develop. It will decline if it is not looked after, if it is not cultivated. That is why Paul says, "Strive after holiness." The spiritual life does not automatically arrive. You have to strive for it. That is why Paul himself uses the picture of cultivation. He speaks of his having sown a seed, and Apollos waters. God gives the increase. But there has to be watering, and there has to be sowing of seed. There will be nothing to give an increase to if there is no sowing and no watering. There won't even be a plant for God to give an increase to. Is this not plain to us?
But now, once we understand the principle of this, then understand this most important spiritual principle. You are responsible for the spiritual life, that life of God, the eternal life that God has given to you. And I am responsible for the life that God has given to me. What I will do with it, I have got to answer to God. And since God has given to me that, he can also take it away. Remember that. What he gives, he can take. "The Lord has given, the Lord has taken." It makes you think that what he gives, he cannot take, if you prove unfaithful? That is another strange piece of logic that I do not understand, that some people imagine. That what God gives, he cannot take again. The Lord has given, and the Lord can take, as free as that. He gave the pounds and the talents to these stewards, and he also took the one from the one that was unfaithful. Be careful how you live. He says, "Take heed how you hear. Watch and pray, that you don't fall into temptation."
But once we see this side of the matter, we also see the other side of the matter. Because these truths are all interconnected. If you neglect the one, you will neglect the other. Once you see that life is given to you as a trust, you will also see that unless you keep using it, it will decline. Now this principle is very easy to understand. We understand it in the physical world; let's understand it also in the spiritual world.
If I have good health, what happens? I exercise some more, I have even better health. If I exercise some more, it even gets better. If I have some strength, and I use that strength, I get even stronger. If I have a little bit of strength, I can lift a one-pound weight, and I lift that one-pound weight. After a while, I find I can lift ten pounds' weight, so I keep lifting the ten pounds' weight. Do you find what happens? After a while, you can lift a hundred pounds' weight. And if you keep practicing, you will be lifting two hundred pounds, three hundred pounds. But can you go straight and lift three hundred pounds? No, you can't even get it off the ground. You'll be struggling, the tongue hanging out, and you can't lift it off the ground. No, you can't. But you start with one pound, right? And you go on to ten pounds, and after a while, you go to a hundred pounds, and one of these days, you find, oh, three hundred pounds can be done. The same way: "To him that has, will more be given." The more you use it, the more you've got. The more you use it, the more you've got. The more you use the talent that God has given to you, the more you will have.
The same thing with the intellect. Is it not true in the world as well? So easy to understand. You try solving a mathematical problem. Oh, at first you struggle, you bungle it. Notice a child — he can hardly add three and five together. Three and five — one, two, three, four, five. You sit there waiting for him to add up. One, two, three, four, nine. You say, "No, no, not nine. Start again." One, two, three, seven. "No, no, no, not seven." You say, "How old is this person?" But this same person, who when he was a child could not put five and three together, becomes a mathematical genius. One day he can solve complicated problems with square roots, and you name it — the whole thing. He knows how to handle it all. That same child who couldn't add — how do you think of it? I'm sure that you see people like Eric here, and Joe, these mathematicians here — I think surely he can recollect the day when his mother asked him, "How much is five and three?" And he says, "Eight — no, no, seven — no, no, nine." This is all guesswork. Sometimes I ask Eileen, "How much is there?" Sometimes she gets the number by sheer guesswork. Other times it's all wrong. But then as time goes on, look at this — they can solve mathematical problems. How? Because to him that keeps using it, it improves. It's a law in every area.
It's true in finance, it's true in everything you like. That's why there's the saying in economics, oftentimes you find the rich grow richer, the poor get poorer. So it's the case. A person who has $100,000 — his interest alone will be $9,000 a year, right? And those of us struggling can hardly get $9,000. This fellow just twiddled his fingers and he got $9,000 because he's already got. To him that has, more is given. But the fellow who's got a million dollars in the bank — he gets, even assuming an interest rate of 9%, he gets $90,000 a year for doing nothing. Absolutely nothing. To him that has, more is given. And the poor guy who hasn't got it, what does he do? He lives on Chargex. Like me. Chargex. And then the month you get a bill come in. What's this? You see, since you haven't got the cash, you pull out the Chargex. No, actually I don't use Chargex as much because I'm aware that "to him that has not, even what he's got, he will lose." So you be careful. This Chargex is actually working on this dangerous principle, because it ends up that when you can't pay back, you lose everything you've got. You notice when you apply for a Chargex card, what they do? They ask you, "How much — have you got a house? How much is your house worth? How much longer mortgage do you have to pay? Have you got a car? How much is your car worth?" You say, "What are you asking these questions? Am I applying for a Chargex card?" Sure. That's why they're asking you the questions — so that if you don't pay back their money, they will come and take your car, they'll take your house, they'll take everything you've got. That's why. That's why they don't mind lending you money — because they're going to collect all your possessions, so that "to him that has not" to pay back his debt, even what he's got, he will lose. Very easy to understand.
What's so difficult about understanding scripture? Just think about it. It is true to life. That's what it is. So straightforward to understand. Now when we understand these things in the world, I say to you again, can't you understand it in the spiritual life? God has given to you life — eternal life, his own life. And he says, "Now I want you to shine." He gave you the light of life. Now shine in the world. You don't use it. You put it under a bushel. You let the world get on top of you. And you're going to lose what you've got. He's going to say, "I didn't give you a light to put under the bushel, did I? I didn't give you a light so you can put it under your bed. Since you are not going to use the light, since you neglect the light, I'm taking it away." Did you not read it in the very words, the very same words there in the Revelation? "I will remove your candlestick from its place." He warns the church. "I will take your light away." That's what it means. You don't shine for me, I'll take it away. I gave you the light of life so that you will shine.
I'm sorry for those people who have been told that they were saved so that no matter what kind of a life they live, they're going to get to heaven. I am so sorry for them because God never said anything like it. He gave us the light to shine.
Now here's the beauty of it. The more you shine, the brighter you get. That's what we find there in the parallel passage in Mark. Isn't it beautiful? The more you shine, the brighter you get. "To him that has — to him who gives will more be given." Verse 24 in Mark chapter 4: "And he said to them, 'Take heed what you hear. The measure you give will be the measure you get, and still more will be given to you.'" You see, this is the same principle which comes actually before verse 25. "For to him who has" — verse 25 in Mark is explaining verse 24. That's why you have "for" — "to him who has." To warn us that it's a dynamic concept, which means this: the more you give, the more you get. If you don't give, you end up with nothing.
Have you noticed the nature of light? The nature of light is to shine forth. It gives all the time. The light is going out all the time, radiating forth. You say, "Well, if I keep giving, I'm going to end up with nothing." Don't you worry. The principle of light is: the more you give, the more you get. Wonderful. It's true in the spiritual life in every sense. You can never give so that God is outrun by you. So wonderful. Whether it's in giving to the Lord of your money, or of your time, or of your energy, of your life — the measure with which you give will be the measure that you get.
So that as you use the new life that God has given to you — you use it to the maximum extent, even though it's so little the light that you have — you use it to the maximum extent, and you will find it getting brighter. Now every person here is a light. Not just me. You are light. Every one of you. God has given to you the light of life. If you are a Christian, you are the light. Make sure it shines, brothers and sisters. Make sure it shines. Because the more you shine in your college, in your home, in your place of work, the brighter it gets. And don't let the darkness overcome it. Just let it shine. Overcome the darkness with the light. And the more you shine, the brighter you will get. We may be a very small light right now. But the more we live in a total commitment to him, the brighter will the light shine. But bear in mind this: if you don't shine, if your light is darkness, then how great will that darkness be?
So, I hope that we take hold of these important spiritual principles. And we return, as I said at the beginning, and I mentioned that I have this vision of the church. God has given us the light as the gift of his own free grace. We have been given his own life as a gift of grace. He says, "I have given it to you. Now see that you don't let anything cover it. See that you don't let the world get on top of it. But give out the light. Keep giving it out. And the measure you give will be the measure you get." So that "to him that has will more be given." You will grow from strength to strength.
Let me say in closing one thing. In the Christian life, nothing stands still. Nothing stands still. Because that is the principle of life. Life never stands still. It either advances or it decreases. It gets brighter or it gets dimmer. There is no such thing in the spiritual life as standing still. That responsibility is upon you. And because you have that responsibility, so you need to depend more upon the grace of God to fulfill it.
Let us be quiet before God in prayer.