Love is Giving: We Give Because God Gave

Overview

We give because God gave first. God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, and 1 John 4 says that if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another. In this teaching Rev. Jon Ryan works through 1 John 4, 1 John 3, Ephesians 5, Luke 4, 2 Peter 1, Acts 3, 2 Kings 4, Acts 16 and Philippians 4 to show what that giving actually looks like: Peter and John stopping for the lame man at the gate called Beautiful, the Shunammite woman building a room for Elisha, Luke joining Paul’s journey across the Aegean, and the Philippians sending once and again to Paul’s necessity. The opportunities are there to be looked for.

Transcript

We Give Because God Gave: God Is Love

God bless you, and I’m so thankful for the opportunity to share with you. I call this teaching Love is Giving. We give because God gave.

If you take your Bibles and turn to 1 John chapter 4. God’s expression of love is too big for us to actually comprehend. He is love, it says in 1 John, and he so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life. That’s John 3:16. So we get the privilege and opportunity as sons of God to be like God.

1 John 4: Beloved, Let Us Love One Another

Here, if you turn, like I said, to 1 John chapter 4, and we’ll start here in verse 7. 1 John 4:7. Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God, and every one that loveth is born of God and knoweth God. He that loveth not knoweth not God, for God is love. In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten son into the world, that we might live through him. Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his son to be the propitiation, or the payment, for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another.

See, God set the standard. He’s the one that made, formed, and created all of life, and we get to enjoy this, and even greater, we get to walk as his sons and daughters.

Not Loving in Word Only, but in Deed and in Truth

If you look back one chapter, chapter 3, it says in verse 17, But whoso hath this world’s good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him?

My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue, but in deed and in truth. So we want to see how we can be like God, how we can be those men and women that make him known by the way that we love, by the way that we give, and there’s so many ways to give. We’ll see that we can give the word, we can give people assistance in different situations they have need, we can certainly pray for people, we can minister, we can operate the gifts of healings. All these are ways that we can give.

Be Imitators of God: Christ Is the Greatest Example of Giving

Look at Ephesians chapter 5. The greatest example of giving, of loving, is Jesus Christ. In Ephesians chapter 5, this epistle was written by the Apostle Paul, and the Apostle Paul we can read about in the book of Acts and in the epistles. He certainly saw his life change dramatically when he learned who Jesus Christ was and how to walk in the steps of Jesus Christ.

Here in Ephesians 5 verse 1 we read, Be ye therefore followers of God as dear children. The word followers can be translated as imitators. We’re to be imitators of God. Verse 2, And walk in love as Christ also hath loved us, and has given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling savor.

Jesus Christ Came to Declare the Father: John 1:18 and Luke 4:18

We can read in the gospels how Jesus Christ sought to know his father, to make him known. In the gospel of John in chapter 1 verse 18 it says he came to declare God, to make him known. We can read in the gospels that even at 12 years old he was pursuing to understand his father. He was in the temple. His parents had left to travel back home and somehow he had got separated. They came back three days later and find him in the temple, and he’s astounding these men and women that were students of the word of God with his understanding and his answers.

When his mother asked him, Son, why have you done this? Why didn’t you come with us? He said, Don’t you know I must be about my father’s business. He studied the word to know who his father was.

He opened his ministry. In Luke chapter 4 we read he’s about 30 years old and he’s just opened his ministry, and he declares what his purpose is. As he reads, as we read a quote that he has quoted from Isaiah in verse 18. Luke chapter 4 verse 18. Jesus Christ says, The spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor. He has sent me to heal the broken hearted, to preach deliverance to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord. Jesus Christ came to make known his father, to give in these different capacities. He knew what he had been called to do and how he had been called to live.

From Fishermen to Followers: What Peter and John Learned

Imagine what it would have been like to have walked with Jesus Christ. If you turn to 2 Peter chapter 1. Early in Jesus Christ’s ministry he came down to a little fishing village on the Sea of Galilee, and there he certainly was directed by God. He meets Peter and Andrew and James and John. James and John were the sons of [the name is lost in the recording here], they were brothers, Peter and Andrew were brothers, and they were fishermen. And he comes there and he implores them, follow him. He is going to change their lives.

They certainly had been trained to make their livelihood as fishermen, but Jesus Christ gives them this opportunity to be followers of him and to see how much more is available as they learn who God is and how to walk with the father.

2 Peter 1: Partakers of the Divine Nature

So at the end of Peter’s life he writes in 2 Peter chapter 1 verse 2. Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, according as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that has called us to glory and virtue, whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises, that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.

See, Peter, like Paul, says we’re to be followers, we’re to be imitators of God. We can be partakers of the divine nature. We can walk in the steps of Jesus Christ, and show people and teach people about how God gave his only begotten son that we might live, and how he desires to be our sufficiency, to supply all of our need. We can walk in the steps of our Lord and Savior.

Not Walking By the Need: The Woman With the Issue of Blood

Just consider what Peter and John would have learned as they walked with Jesus Christ during his ministry. They saw him on so many occasions doing what we read in Luke chapter 4. The spirit of the Lord is upon me, he has anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor, to heal the broken hearted, to set the captives free. They saw him doing this, and they learned that you can be so in tune with God that you don’t walk by needs. You have opportunities to show people the father.

There’s one time when this man Jairus came to Jesus Christ because his daughter was very sick, and he asked if Jesus Christ would come, and Jesus Christ consents to go with him. And on the way there there’s a crowd around him, and a woman who’s been with an issue of blood for 12 years and had not got healed determined in her mind that she needed to come to Jesus Christ and touch the hem of his garment, and she believed she would get healed. And so she manages to get through the crowd and she touches his garment, and she’s healed.

And Jesus is aware of this, in the midst of all this that he’s doing, and he says, Who touched me? Those around him say, What do you mean, who touched you? There’s all these people. But he turned and looked and saw the woman, and he completed her wholeness. She got healed physically because of her believing, and then he is able to help her to receive the wholeness that she was seeking. That’s how we can walk. That’s how they learned to walk. So many instances of this.

Acts 3: Such as I Have Give I Thee

Look at Acts chapter 3. Acts chapter 3. How do you see yourself? We’ve been learning that our identity is in Christ. We want to see ourselves more the way God sees us. You know, in Acts chapter 3, Jesus Christ has just lived his life, given his life for all of us, God raised him from the dead, and he’s seated at the right hand of God. After he’s been in his resurrected body for about 40 days, he’s at the right hand of God, and then shortly thereafter Pentecost happens in Acts chapter 2, and for the first time men and women are able to get born again, to receive this gift of Holy Spirit. And Peter stands up at the close of chapter 2 and declares to the audience there, people, thousands of people that have come in, what is available, and it says about 3,000 of them get born again.

Shortly thereafter we read, as chapter 3 opens up, Now Peter and John went up together into the temple at the hour of prayer, being the ninth hour. Just consider, they’re walking to the temple. This is an hour of prayer, when people would be praying in the temple. That six o’clock in the morning, nine o’clock in the morning, 12 noon, three o’clock in the afternoon and 6 p.m. were the hours of prayer. And you can imagine there’d be many people that would be coming here. This has been one of the most exciting times in history.

And consider their conversation as Peter and John are walking together here. They thought that they were going to be fishermen, and now they’re so much greater. They’re ministers, they’re able to show people how to walk with the father. And as they’re walking into the temple, they’re going to see this man that has been brought to the temple every day. For he says he’s above 40 years old, and says every day. So he would have been like a fixture. Like, you’ve seen this every day, you may not even take notice. He, that’s the man that’s there, the man that’s lame, that’s never walked, and carried to the temple. And yet on this occasion there’s an opportunity, and they don’t walk by the need.

It says in verse two, A certain man lame from his mother’s womb was carried, whom they laid daily at the gate of the temple which is called Beautiful, to ask alms of them that entered into the temple. Who seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple asked an alms. And Peter, fastening his eyes upon him with John, said, Look on us. And he gave heed unto them, expecting to receive something of them. Then Peter said, Silver and gold have I none, but such as I have give I thee. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk. And he took him by the right hand and lifted him up, and immediately his feet and ankle bones received strength.

Look at Peter, had to give. He had the opportunity, as he’s walking in love, to change the course of this man’s life. For 40 years, above 40 years, he’s never walked, and now his life has changed, where he’s walking and leaping and praising God. How amazing. They learned how to walk with God from listening to the teachings and seeing the actions of Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ told them shortly before he was taken to be crucified that the things that he did would they do also, because he was going to his father. Such as I have give I thee.

2 Kings 4: The Shunammite Woman Who Made a Room for the Man of God

2 Kings. Here’s another incident where there’s a need that arises and someone that’s walking with great love in their hearts determines how they can help, in the course of taking care of a need. This is amazing, because this woman that we’re going to read about just sees an opportunity to help others. She’s going to see this man of God that’s coming by her home on his way, on his circuit where he teaches the word, and she’s going to consent with her husband to, let’s offer something, let’s help this man.

And 2 Kings 4 verse 8. And it fell on a day that Elisha passed to Shunem, where was a great woman, and she constrained him to eat bread. And so it was, that as oft as he passed by, he turned in thither to eat bread. She saw that this man, you know, certainly he’s doing the work of the Lord, he’s giving people the opportunity to learn the word of God, and she determines, let’s feed this man as he comes by, let’s make a meal for him.

Verse 9. And she said unto her husband, Behold now, I perceive that this is a holy man of God, which passes by us continually. Let us make a little chamber, I pray thee, on the wall, and let us set for him there a bed and a table and a stool and a candlestick, and it shall be, when he cometh to us, that he shall turn in thither. And it fell on a day that he came thither, and he turned into the chamber, and lay there.

So again, here she sees a need. This wonderful woman sees where she has an opportunity to contribute to this man’s life, to help him as he’s out doing this great thing. He’s a holy man, he’s giving people the word. And she consents with her husband, and they make a room.

Giving Today: Two Families Helped to Settle in South Florida

See, we can do these kinds of things. We’ve had a couple of situations like this where, not too long ago, we had a family that moved here to South Florida from Ohio, and they were moving here, relocating, and they got all their belongings, furniture and such, into a moving truck, came down here, and the home that they were going to move into was not quite ready for them when they got here. So they had to unload the truck and have it put into this storage area. Well, a few days later they were able to move in, and so we, together with the believers in the area, said, how can we help this family?

And we could go and set up a group of us and try and help them to load the belongings out of the storage area into the truck and bring it over to their home and set it into their house. But a lot of us are older and have, you know, perhaps not the skill to do all of that. And we determined, why don’t we just give towards them and they can hire some professional movers to move them into the home. Well, the people thought this was great. Everyone just chipped in a little bit. We paid these professional movers, who did the whole job in three and a half hours. It certainly would have been much longer for all of us to do this. So everyone was blessed. There was a need, the need was taken care of by the household, and we moved forward.

We had another situation that happened, though, a little while longer, about a year ago. We had a family that moved in from Colorado, a husband and wife. They were resettling down here to South Florida, and they had a need to get established in the area. So we decided that we had an extra room in our home where they could come and set up and stay until such a time as they were to get employment and get the house that they could move into, or an apartment that could move into. And so we extended, or opened, our home, just like you see this woman here in 2 Kings, this Shunammite woman. And it was a wonderful arrangement. They were able to take the time they needed to get themselves established in the area, get some work, and then move into a home without being under the pressure to try and do this rapidly and to not have the finances to do it.

See, we have, there’s so many opportunities to give. We just have to look for those opportunities and see that we can walk as Christ. Certainly there’s many opportunities to pray for people, and when we see needs, to operate the gifts of healings. That’s giving. But we just look to be able to walk like Christ walked.

Acts 16: The Man of Macedonia and the Call to Come and Help

Look at Acts chapter 16. Here in Acts 16 is another example. Now Acts 16 opens up with the Apostle Paul is traveling with Silas. Silas and he are moving into the areas of Asia Minor, and they’re endeavoring to give people the word. Paul has made a trip here previously and met this particular family among other families, but he’s met this family, the family of Timothy. And here on his return trip he approaches Timothy’s parents and asked if Timothy, this young man Timothy, can travel with them. Timothy has established a great rapport in the household, and so the family consents to allow Timothy to go with Paul and Silas.

And they begin to travel further into Asia Minor, endeavoring to speak the word, to give people the word. And yet as they travel the doors are not open to them as they move from one city to the next, and eventually they get over to the Aegean, and on the coast of the Aegean is this city called Troas. And it appears that this is where Luke lives. We’re introduced to Luke in this record, Luke that writes the gospel of Luke. Luke also is the one that wrote the book of Acts. Not, he didn’t know this at this time, no one knew this at this time except for God. But here Timothy and Silas and Paul have come to the Aegean, to what appears to be Luke’s house, and they want to give.

And Paul receives the revelation of where they need to go, and we’ll read it in chapter 16 verse 8. And they, Paul, Silas and Timothy, passing by Mysia came down to Troas. And a vision appeared to Paul in the night, and there stood a man of Macedonia, and prayed him, saying, Come over into Macedonia and help us.

Now I want to point out here that Macedonia is just on the other side of the Aegean. So when Paul and Silas and Timothy left the area where Timothy had grown up and where Paul had met him and his family, which is Derbe and Lystra and Iconium, if you took a map and drew a line from that area, Derbe, Lystra and Iconium, to Troas, you would see that the Macedonia is a straight line, just a little bit further east. They just had to cross the Aegean and they were in Macedonia. So they’ve been heading in the direction that God wanted them to go, where they could give. See, God will direct our steps and give us opportunities to give, to love.

Luke Joins the Journey: Why Acts 16:10 Says We

Here it says in verse 10, And after he had seen the vision, immediately we endeavored to go into Macedonia, assuredly gathering that the Lord had called us for to preach the gospel unto them. An interesting thing to note here is that the pronoun we is used in the first sentence. After he had seen a vision, immediately we endeavored to go. This book is written years, years later, but Luke is the writer. He’s the holy man of God that’s given this revelation to write the book of Acts. And he says, we endeavor to go. Luke determined that he wanted to be a part of this. He wanted to give as they were giving, and so he travels with them over into Macedonia.

And it says, assuredly gathering that the Lord had called us to preach the gospel unto them. See, the previous verse, it says the man of Macedonia was in the revelation saying, Come over to Macedonia and help us. The word help is a word rescue. So here they are going to travel over there to rescue these people. They’re going to save them. They’re going to make them whole as they give them the word. You know, just as if you were to see, you know, a lifeguard is watching over the beach and he sees someone that’s in need of rescuing, he immediately goes and saves this person. That’s what he’s there for. Well, they’ve put themselves in this position where they can go and rescue people, and that’s the revelation that God’s given them.

Rescuing People in Philippi: Lydia, Deliverance and Prison

So they travel over to Macedonia, they’re in Philippi, and I’m not going to read the whole record here, but they are enabled to help people. They meet this woman named Lydia who has a prayer time down by the river with some other women, and it says when Paul approached, it says, whose heart the Lord opened, that she attended to the words of Paul. And he gets her to the place where she now knows what is available as he makes known Jesus Christ.

A few days later, or some days later, there’s a woman that’s possessed that Paul is able to deliver. This woman that has been in bondage to this devil spirit is delivered as Paul operates gifts of healings, and he’s able to cast out the spirit and make this woman whole. And for that, the town, the masters that were using this woman, they have Paul and Silas put in jail.

And while they’re in jail we can read in this chapter 16 that they are still having great confidence in God. It says in verse 19, And when her masters saw that the hope of their gains was gone, they caught Paul and Silas and drew them into the marketplace unto the rulers, and brought them to the magistrates, saying, These men, being Judeans, do exceedingly trouble our city, and teach customs which are not lawful for us to receive, neither to observe, being Romans. And the multitude rose up together against them, and the magistrates rent off their clothes and commanded to beat them. And when they had laid many stripes upon them, they cast them into prison, charging the jailer to keep them safely, who, having received such a charge, thrust them into the inner prison and made their feet fast in the stocks. And at midnight Paul and Silas prayed, and sang praises unto God, and the prisoners heard them.

See, they weren’t fearful. They had great confidence in God and who they were as God’s sons. And the record goes on where God breaks them out of prison. There’s an earthquake that comes that loosens all their bonds, and that in fact they’re able to save the jailer. The jailer here is distressed as he finds that all the prisoners are free, and Paul saves his life and gives him the word. As a matter of fact, the jailer brings him to his home.

Acts 17: When the Record Changes Back to They

And then shortly after this, Paul, Silas and Timothy depart further south to go to Thessalonica, further into Macedonia. And as we read in chapter 17, it says, Now when they had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where was a synagogue of the Judeans. See, the pronoun’s changed again, to they. So Luke has stayed in Philippi. He’s got these people to take care of that are brand new in the word, the women down by the river, the woman that got healed, the jailer and his family. So Luke stays there.

And you can follow the record where Paul and Silas and Timothy go to Thessalonica, Berea, eventually Paul goes down to Athens and Corinth and meets another couple there, Aquila and Priscilla, who together they work together and share a home together. And then they end up going to Ephesus, and Paul comes back to Ephesus for two years and three months. Eventually in Acts chapter 20 Paul returns through Macedonia and comes up to Philippi, and once again there’s where we see Luke joins with Paul in Acts chapter 20, and Luke accompanies Paul from there in Philippi all the way to Jerusalem.

And Paul is there in Jerusalem for about two years time, in the Jerusalem Caesarea area, as he went to give the word. But once again there’s great pressure that’s put on him, he almost loses his life, and he’s imprisoned again for just doing good. And yet God is able to arrange the situations where his life is saved when there’s an attempt to kill him, and eventually he’s appealed to Rome as a Roman citizen and makes it back to Rome, and is imprisoned in Rome when he writes some of the other epistles, including Philippians.

Philippians 4: The Church That Sent Once and Again to Paul’s Necessity

And let’s close in Philippians. Philippians chapter 4. See, Paul, it’s been about 10 years or more since Paul was first at Philippi, and he came there, he gave people the word, he healed people, and then he moved further south. And as he moved south there was a need that was recognized by these Philippians. Most likely Luke was the one that was leading them, and they saw an opportunity to give, and so they sent funds to help Paul. They sent relief to Paul down in Thessalonica, knowing that he would need a place to stay, as would Silas and Timothy, need food to eat.

And look what it says here. This is 10 years plus after the time that Paul was first in Philippi. And in Luke, in Philippians chapter 4 verse 15, it’s written, Now ye Philippians know also, that in the beginning of the gospel, when I departed from Macedonia, no church communicated with me as concerning giving and receiving, but ye only. For even in Thessalonica ye sent once and again unto my necessity. Not because I desire gifts, but I desire fruit that may abound to your account.

See, Paul is directed by God to write this to the Philippians, that they had contributed to the movement of the word. They had sent unto his necessity when he first went down to Thessalonica, that record we read about in Acts 16. See, it says in 2 Corinthians 9 that every man as he purposes in his heart, so let him give, not grudgingly or of necessity, for God loveth a cheerful giver.

We can seek out opportunities to give, to contribute to moving the word, to saving people’s lives. We can minister, we can teach them the word, we can help them in situations that arise, like these folks did from Philippi to help Paul in Thessalonica, like the woman did in 2 Kings chapter 4 where she opened up her home to this wonderful man of God so he could be able to take care of believers, he could give them the word. That’s how we are to walk as imitators of God. That’s how we can walk in the steps of Jesus Christ. We have great opportunities to love. We’re called to walk in love, and we can give in so many facets of our lives.

Let This Mind Be in You: Looking on the Things of Others

Let’s close in chapter 2, chapter 2 of Philippians. Certainly this is one of my favorite sections of the whole word of God. It says in verse 4, Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others. Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus. We can have the mind of Christ. We can walk as he walked. We can love as he loved. That’s what God’s called us to. We are to seek out opportunities to do good to one another, to help each other, to become the men and women that God’s called us to be. Our identity is in Christ, and as we walk this way we will be rewarded throughout all eternity. God bless you, thank you very much.

Key Takeaways

• Love is giving: God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, and 1 John 4 says that if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another.
• 1 John 3:17-18 is the test: do not love in word, neither in tongue, but in deed and in truth, and do not shut up your bowels of compassion when you see a brother have need.
• Ephesians 5:1 says be ye therefore followers of God as dear children, and the word followers can be translated as imitators. The greatest example of giving is Jesus Christ.
• There are many ways to give: giving the word, giving people assistance in the situations they have need, praying for people, ministering, and operating the gifts of healings.
• Peter and John did not walk by the need at the gate called Beautiful. Silver and gold have I none, but such as I have give I thee, and the man above 40 years old walked.
• In the Macedonian call of Acts 16:9 the word help is a word rescue, and years later the Philippians sent once and again unto Paul’s necessity, giving that moved the word.

Frequently Asked Questions

What does it mean that love is giving?

It means we give because God gave first. God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, and 1 John 4 says that if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another. Jon Ryan sets that beside 1 John 3:18, let us not love in word, neither in tongue, but in deed and in truth, and Ephesians 5:1, be ye therefore followers of God as dear children, where the word followers can be translated as imitators. We imitate God by giving.

What are practical ways to give according to this teaching?

Giving the word, giving people assistance in the different situations they have need, praying for people, ministering, and operating the gifts of healings. Jon Ryan works through examples: the Shunammite woman who made a room for Elisha in 2 Kings 4, Peter and John who stopped for the lame man in Acts 3, the Philippians who sent relief to Paul in Thessalonica, and two families in South Florida helped with professional movers and with a spare room.

What does the word help mean in the Macedonian call of Acts 16:9?

The word help is a word rescue. Jon Ryan compares it to a lifeguard watching over the beach who sees someone that’s in need of rescuing and immediately goes and saves this person. Paul, Silas and Timothy crossed the Aegean into Macedonia to rescue people by giving them the word, and Luke joined them, which is why the pronoun changes to we in Acts 16:10 and back to they in Acts 17:1.

Scripture References

1 John 4; John 3:16; 1 John 4:7-11; 1 John 3:17; 1 John 3:18; Ephesians 5:1; Ephesians 5:2; John 1:18; Luke 4:18; 2 Peter 1:2-4; Acts 2; Acts 3:1-7; 2 Kings 4:8-11; Acts 16:8-10; Acts 16:14; Acts 16:19-25; Acts 17:1; Acts 20; Philippians 4:15-17; 2 Corinthians 9:7; Philippians 2:4-5

This text was prepared from the teaching audio. Please verify scripture references against your own Bible.