In everything, I showed you that by this kind of hard work we must help the weak, remembering the words of the Lord Jesus Himself: ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’”In all things I gave you an example, that so laboring you ought to help the weak, and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, that he himself said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’ ”I have shewed you all things, how that so labouring ye ought to support the weak, and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he said, It is more blessed to give than to receive.In all things I gave you an example, that so laboring ye ought to help the weak, and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, that he himself said, It is more blessed to give than to receive.
8 sermons cite this verse
… Jesus is offering reward over and over again in his teaching. A summary of Jesus' teaching and ethic in Acts 20, verse 35, is it is more blessed to give than to receive. In other words, it's happier to give. That's the secret to Christian sacrifice. Christian sacrifice is not kill my pleasure. It's I pursue a greater pleasure that will uphold me through the loss of the sacrifice for the gain on the other side. That's the teaching of Jesus. I could send you to desiringgod.org where we've got thousands of resources on pursuing your pleasure in God, tackle objections. We got an article today on how school and the life of the mind serve joy in God. But let me end with one text. And the reason I end with this one text is this is the text that was decisive for me as a college student. When I was wrestling through these things and thinking, is this just too good to be true? That God means for me to pursue my joy and that he means to satisfy my soul and his great purpose in the universe and for my life to be glorified happens through the satisfaction of my soul in him. …
… in the history of our nation. The Bible tells us, in fact, Jesus is quoted here in Acts chapter 20, verse 35. We've all heard this. It is more blessed to give than to receive. Jesus said that. According to the world, the world is better off because of the generosity of the United States of America. Listen carefully. But where did America get that generosity? And where did America get the tools and the wherewithal to be generous? by the hand of God. We're going to see that today. And I'm going to argue today that the poorest person among us is still blessed by more than many of those in the nations of the world. this morning if you're hungry it's probably because you've chosen to go hungry if you're not wearing shoes it's because you're probably wearing flip-flops because it's a nice tropical day outside in fact somebody asked me earlier if i was going to go sailing in my little spring outfit i'm wearing i guess i don't listen people you have no idea lisa's usually asleep at the hour that i get dressed i reach into the closet i pull stuff out i iron it and then I turn the light on to put it on and away I go. I often don't care what this stuff looks like. …
… or noun or whatever it is. The Lord Jesus himself said in Acts 20 verse 35, there is more happiness in giving than receiving. That's the good news translation and it's very accurate. Again, most English translation says it's more blessed to give than to receive. It's very striking because it's the only verse in the book of Acts that is only there, but not in the gospels. So nowhere in the gospels will you find, not even the gospel of Luke, and Luke wrote Acts as well, will you find it's more happy making to give than to receive, but it's almost like Luke is looking back and saying, oh, here's something that I didn't include in my gospel but that Jesus said, and I'm gonna quote Paul saying it, it is more happy making to give than to receive. The striking thing about it is when we think of blessed, we don't think of happy but that's what it actually means, even historically. I found an old Webster's Dictionary in the early 1800s and look up blessed and it says happy. …
And of course, it was Jesus who famously said, it is more blessed to give than to receive. Now, what we find is truth in scripture is also what we find the researchers, secular researchers are saying is true in life today. So I think about the John Templeton Foundation and there's an article that they had, really written the title captured the very question or the very statement Jesus made, it is more blessed to give than to receive. Their article was, is it really better to give than to receive? And they described a survey of over 600 Americans. And here's what they found. Those who spent money on others reported notably higher levels of happiness compared to those who spent money on themselves. Now in their book, The Paradox of Generosity, this is by Christian Smith and Hilary Davidson. They described their survey results. They surveyed 2000 Americans and then conducted 62 in-person interviews. And here's what they found. they asked people up front, you know, how happy are you? And they could rate how happy they were from very happy to very unhappy. And then they asked a whole series of questions. They were trying to find correlations between happiness and the activities of people in their daily lives. …
… oh here it is all of a sudden there's red Acts chapter 20 verse 35 Acts 20 here is Paul's last will and testament to these dearly known dearly beloved elders in Ephesus he has them meet him on the beach in Miletus he says farewell to them he's making his way to Jerusalem he's thinking he won't see them again So he gives him this rich and moving farewell speech, verses 18 to 35. And then it culminates, surprisingly, with these red letters, out of the blue, in Paul's speech in Acts 20. as he comes to the close of his message he reminds them of his own hard work and they themselves have seen that nobody's going to argue with the Herculean work ethic of the Apostle Paul apparently he wants to model that for him and then he says this in verse 35 this is so good and it's so relevant to our pursuit of real joy in God. In all things, I have shown you that by working hard in this way, we must help the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he himself said, it is more blessed to give than to receive. …
… and the apostle Paul in Acts chapter 20 verse 35 he says remember the words of Jesus how he himself taught us it is more blessed to give than to receive more blessed that means more happy is happier you will be more joyful you will experience real joy when you give to others rather than trying to take from them Paul appeals to our joy and how did Jesus himself endure the cross this is what I want. This is what was most significant to me. 20 years ago, as I was hearing these truths for the first time that we'll talk about this weekend, what I wanted to know is, how did Jesus endure the cross? What sustained Jesus in the greatest achievement in the history of the world that secured our salvation? I want that. I want to live that way. What is it? In Hebrews 12, 2 says, for the joy that was set before him. He endured the cross. And tomorrow morning, we're going to linger over that. …
… summarizes Jesus' teaching in Acts chapter 20 verse 35 if you're reading through the book of Acts you got a red letter Bible you're expecting a lot of red letters in the Gospels it's a little surprising at the end of Acts 20 like I thought he ascended and now Paul is giving us what I think is an outstanding summary of Jesus' ethic and it's especially clear about Jesus' teaching in the book of Luke. Luke and Acts go together. Here's what Acts 20, 35 says. Remember the words of Jesus, how he himself said, it is more blessed to give than to receive. Questions for you. How tight are your fingers with your finances? do you know the joy of giving to others and trusting God to provide for you and the reward of fellowship with him that comes through sacrificially and joyfully giving? has God met your needs of this life and given you access to share and give generously in Jesus' name? and then how might he call you to some sacrifice it's one thing to have excess and get from your excess there's another reality biblically called sacrifice and that's where you make some particular sacrifice of possession or finances that you otherwise would be enjoying for the sake of some act of love, meeting others' needs in Jesus' name. …
… He says this, he says, in everything I showed you by this kind of hard work, we must help the weak, remembering the words the Lord Jesus himself said, it is more blessed to give than to receive. So he says to them, he says, first of all, work hard. This is your responsibility. Don't be a consumer, be a contributor. We've asked Archie and Sam, what would you like us to do? And I'll tell you in a moment what he's asked us to do. But I'd love to think that all of you will say to Archie and Sam, what would you like me to do? How can we contribute? How can we help? Don't just be a consumer. Be a contributor. Then he says, help the weak. We must help the weak. I'm so thrilled that, I mean, I'm just so thrilled generally that Archie and Sam are coming here. But one of the things that fills me with joy and excitement is their passion for the weak, for the homeless, for the prisoners, for the refugees. You know, Sam has gone actually into Ukraine in the last few weeks to deliver clothes and food. She gets her hands dirty. She cares passionately about the poor and the weak and the marginalised. They care passionately about racial justice. They care passionately about all these issues. And that's high on God's agenda. And then be blessed in giving. You know, we're in a difficult economic situation. And I know giving is hard for many people. And I've always encouraged you to give. …