And this is the lesson Jesus taught when he said to his disciples,—­“Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosoms.”  St. Luke vi:  38.

And when we come to consider these words of Jesus, there are three things to engage our attention. The first of these is the—­LESSON OF LIBERALITY—­here set before us.

The second is—­THE PROOF—­that this lesson is taught all through the Bible.

And the third is—­THE ILLUSTRATIONS—­of this lesson.

And then, when put into its shortest form, our present subject may be thus expressed—­the lesson of liberality; its proofs; and its illustrations.

And the lesson which Jesus here taught is all wrapped up in this little word—­“Give.”  Here we learn what the will of Jesus is on this subject.  This is not simply the expression of his opinion.  It is not merely his advice; no, but it is his command.  He is speaking here as our Master—­our King—­our God.  He commands us to—­give.  And when we remember how he said to his disciples, “If ye love me, keep my commandments,” we see plainly, that we have no right to consider ourselves as his disciples if we are neglecting this or any other of his plain commands.

And this command about giving is not intended for any one class of persons among the followers of Christ, but for all of them.  It is not a command designed for kings, or princes, or rich men only, but for the poor as well.  It is not a command for grown persons alone, but for children also.  As soon as we begin to get, God expects us to begin to give.

Jesus says nothing here about how much he expects us to give.  But, from other places in the Bible, we learn that he expects us to give at least one-tenth of all that we have.  If we have a thousand dollars he expects us to give one hundred out of the thousand.  If we have a hundred he expects us to give ten.  If we have ten dollars we must give one of them to God.  If we have only one dollar we must give ten cents of it to Him.  If we have but ten cents we must give one of them.  If we have no money to give, God expects us to give kind words, and kind actions, our sympathy and love.

Jesus does not tell us here how often we are to give, but simply—­give.  This means that we are to learn the lesson and form the habit of giving.  His command is—­give.  And in giving us this command he is only asking us to imitate his own example. He is giving all the time.  The apostle Paul tells us that Jesus is “exalted to the right hand of the Father to—­give.”  He never tires of giving.  “He giveth to all life, breath, and all things.”  And if we have not the Spirit of Christ in this respect, “we are none of his.”

This, then, is the lesson of liberality that Jesus taught when he said—­“give.”  And that giving is God’s rule for getting is what we are taught by our Saviour, when he said—­“Give, and it shall be given unto you.”