Matthew 10:8 Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils: freely ye have received, freely give.
Give the Same Way You Receive
You and every other believer have been gifted by God, and you have been gifted for a reason. You have been gifted in order to give. In Matthew 10, Jesus is commissioning His twelve disciples, and though much of this is specifically for this group at this time, we find principles that are relevant to us.
Verse 1 says, “And when he had called unto him his twelve disciples, he gave them power.” He commissions them in verse 5, and in verse 8 He says, “Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils: freely ye have received, freely give.”
Can you imagine if you had the authority, power, and the gifting to do all these things the apostles were given to do! We all have this tendency to wish we had more than we have and the ability to do more than we can.
God has given us a wide variety of people with a wide variety of gifts. That is not bad; it is good. The most important words here are when Jesus says, “Freely ye have received, freely give.” In other words, you don’t decide what you are going to receive, but you do decide what you will give. The two are related. What you receive may be honed or improved, but it is always a gift given by God to you and through you to be a help to other people. We are to give in the same way in which we have received.
Now I want to show you three examples in this passage of the fact that what we have is by God’s grace and for Christ’s sake. This recognition provides us a balance in life, neither being arrogant of what we have nor jealous of what others have.
Notice in verses 18-19 how it is possible that we are persecuted for Christ’s sake. In verse 18 Jesus said, “And ye shall be brought before governors and kings for my sake.” Later, He says they will be “hated of men for my name’s sake.” In verse 24 Jesus says, “The disciple is not above his master, nor the servant above his lord.” Sometimes, on the negative end, the persecution we receive is precisely because we serve someone else, the Lord Jesus. It is not a personal matter about you. It is all about the Lord Jesus.
We are to speak with Christ’s words. Now verse 19 is not an alibi for a preacher to fail to prepare, but for these disciples at this time, Jesus said, “But when they deliver you up, take no thought how or what ye shall speak: for it shall be given you in that same hour what ye shall speak. For it is not ye that speak, but the Spirit of your Father which speaketh in you.” He is talking about disciples who suffer for Christ’s sake and who will speak in Christ’s behalf. They would be given the words they needed from heaven beyond their natural ability. So, it is Christ’s sake and Christ’s words.
A third example of how Christ’s followers are gifted by Christ for Christ’s sake is found in verse 40. This says, “He that receiveth you receiveth me, and he that receiveth me receiveth him that sent me.” So many times the favor I am given is not a matter of how great I am, but a matter of the Lord I serve. Both the opposition we face and the favor we enjoy, both the words we speak and the authority with which we speak them are a gift from heaven and should be employed for the cause of heaven in heaven’s strength. So, serve Christ’s servants. I am to serve those that are most highly esteemed and I am to serve the least among us, the little ones.
All of this highlights the fact that whether I am being harassed or helped, whether I am speaking or acting, I am to give in the same way in which I receive. I am to realize that my gifting is from Christ, my gifting is for Christ, and my gifting is for the help He came to save.