Luke 6:38(NKJV) 38Give, and it will be given to you: good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be put into your bosom. For with the same measure that you use, it will be measured back to you.”
Yesterday we looked at both the motivation and the method of divine prosperity. The only proper motivation for us to seek prosperity is the love of God. This manifests in two areas. First, we should prosper so we can finance the preaching of the Gospel. It requires resources to maximize the outreach of the church to the world. Second, the church has the responsibility of caring for the poor. Those of us who truly know the Lord should believe for the blessing of God so we can be a blessing to others. If these things motivate us, we will keep the right attitude towards wealth and prosperity will be a blessing.
We also looked at 2 Cor. 9 6-11. In these verses we find that God loves a cheerful giver. The Amplified Bible says God will not do without a cheerful giver. That means that God will provide what we need to give if we give according to the scripture. To me this implies a “draw” that is created in the realm of the spirit that will cause wealth to flow to a cheerful giver.
I want to look at another related verse today. In Luke 6:38 we read another principle from the word of God. It is a very plain statement that we should take at face value. If I give, something will be given back to me. Once again, we see the idea of a draw created in the spirit by giving. If these were the words of men I could not stand on them, however, they are the Words of the son of God himself. He said his words would never pass away. I can trust my life to his words.
If this principle is true in the positive, it is also true in the negative. If I do not give, I cannot expect anything to be given back to me. When a Christian stops giving he cuts off the supernatural flow of wealth that God wants to come to him. At that point, he is limited to whatever his natural resources can supply. I do not know about your life, but in my life, I need more than my natural resources. As we look at this promise, let us expect faith to receive a supernatural supply for our lives.
If we give, something will be given back to us. That is where we begin, but who is going to be giving back to us? The original King James Version says men will give back to us. You will notice that it does not come out that way in the New King James above. It leaves out the words “shall men.” In the original language, these words are not there. Young’s Literal Translation says, “they shall give into your bosom.”
I believe that God will use men to give back to us, but I like the New King James the best. It is going to be put into my bosom, period. To me this makes it clear that no matter what channel is used, God is going to see to it that, if I give what I give will come back to me.
How is it going to come back to me? Will it be given back to me in like kind? The answer to that is yes. The end of the verse tells us that the measure we use to give is the measure that will be used to return our giving to us. However, God uses a qualifier. It will be given back to us, “good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over.”
The measure that is used to give back to me will be a good measure. We can rest assured that God will use an accurate measure. We do not have to wonder if we will be treated fairly. If we choose to be givers, we can trust that we will receive at the exact same level that we give.
Matthew 19:29 tells us that if we give up anything for the gospel it will be returned to us a hundredfold. That means 100 times what we gave can be expected in return. We got into a little problem using this scripture. There was a time when I would try to hold God accountable for the hundredfold return. If I gave $10, I expected $1000 back. This is not necessarily bad, but when we start to think that we must do God’s accounting, we are missing the meaning of the promise.
God will give back to us with a good measure. We do not have to keep track. In fact, when we simply expect $1000 to every 10 we are actually limiting God. A hundredfold is the minimum God will bring back to us. However, if we go back to Luke 6:38 we get a clearer picture of what God really wants to do for us.
What do the terms “pressed down” and :shaken together” mean in this verse? Have you ever looked at sugar? It is a granular substance. The grains are irregular in shape. When we fill a spoon with sugar, there is probably more air than sugar in the spoon. This is because we cannot cause all those little crystals to fit perfectly together. When God fills a spoon with sugar it is a very different thing.
God will press the sugar down and shake the sugar together. We will do this in order to get more into a container. When God does it, he makes each grain of sugar to fit perfectly against the next grain. In the end, there is no air left. Once he has finished with shaking it down and pressing it together, he will cause it to run over the top of the spoon. His spoonful of sugar is substantially more than ours is. It will be at least one hundredfold more.
If we give, God will give back to us using the same measure we use to give. Nevertheless, he will cause it to be at least one hundred fold greater than what we give. That is a great promise. If it is true, I want to think about the measure that I am using to give. You see, we limit God’s ability to prosper us by the measure of our giving.
2 Corinthians 9:6 told us that if we sow sparingly we will reap sparingly but, if we sow abundantly we will reap abundantly. If I use a spoon as my measure of giving, God uses a “good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over spoon to give back to me. If I increase the measure so does God. I want to move from spoons, to shovels and eventually to dump trucks. When I increase my measure, God will increase his measure.
Let me give you one final thought. The measure is not determined by quantity but by our hearts. When Jesus observed people giving at the temple, he saw rich people giving large amounts. He pointed out one widow who gave a very small amount compared to the rest. He said she gave the most because she gave all she had.
God determines the measure by how much of our heart is put into our giving. You may only have a spoonful by the world’s standards, but if it is the best gift you can give and it is from the heart, God will give back to you at the dump truck level. Just start where you are. When you have given what is comfortable, stretch and give a little more. That will greatly increase the measure.
Once you have given, trust God to receive. He said he would give back to you. You can trust him to be true to his Word. Say this with me. “If I give I will receive. I will receive a good measure that will be pressed down, shaken together and running over. That is my promise from the Lord!”