"Upon the first day of the week let every one of you lay by him in store, as God hath prospered
him, that there be no gatherings when I come" (I Cor. 16:2).

The text before us refers, no doubt, to a certain collection for the poor at Jerusalem, and may
seem, and has seemed, to many on this account, to speak simply of what was suited to a particular
occasion, and not at all of an habitual custom to be observed. There is just so much truth in this
as to make the deception easy; and yet it is but a deception. Why observe the first day of the
week? Why break the bread then rather than at any other time? Why break it so often as once a
week? There is no law about any of these things:nothing more than what might seem a casual
statement of what the disciples at such a place did at such a time. Here, in fact, people have found,
and find, occasion to object, and will find. The Christian has no positive law about such things
as these. The thing God values is not enforced observance of rites and days, but a heart that prizes
opportunities of service and the privileges of His love. For such, there is guidance and
encouragement:he who requires more is not in the spirit to serve or to enjoy.

For surely these words, as all else in Scripture, are "written for our learning." They are not mere
records of the past, but the voice to us of the Living One, present with us as with those in the
apostle’s days. We are by grace Christians as they were. In all the principles which govern our
path eighteen hundred years can make no difference.

And the word before us is no mere arbitrary or reasonless injunction. It contains principles of very
great importance, which bear upon our spiritual life, which we cannot without loss neglect, and
that a loss which it would be hard to estimate. He who has forbidden idle words, Himself speaks
none. It is my purpose now to show, as He enables me, how great significance there is in these.

For those to whom this epistle came, it is plain that there was a direct apostolic injunction, leaving
much indeed to the conscience of the individual, but bringing him face to face with his
responsibility before God; making him view it also in the light of the grace shown him. "Upon
the first day of the week"_the day in which Christ rose again from the dead for our
justification,_he was to consider how God had prospered him, and estimate what would be a
proportionate return to Him, such as would manifest his sense of the divine goodness shown him.
How healthful a thing to be brought to consider this, and to be called in a practical way to show
at what we value the grace that has visited us!

Is it too much to express a fear that many and many a child of God never does face seriously his
accountability in this way? and that few there are indeed who habituate themselves to such a
reviewing again and again of benefits received, and of response invited to? In a loose way it may
be easy to say, "We give what we can afford"; but who without such a reckoning with himself,
seriously carried out, Can undertake to say what he can afford? And how profitable this
summoning before one, from time to time, of receipts and expenditure, in view of our
stewardship! What sort of a steward is he who keeps no particular account?

The question must be thus raised, not merely, How much have I in hand out of which to lay by

for Him to whom all belongs; but rather, How does He who looks upon all my life here as
elsewhere view it all? Would I have Him the Auditor of all these accounts,_the income and the
outgoing? What a time for these questions, the day of rest and quiet in His presence, the day of
remembrance of my Lord’s immeasurable outlay, giving Himself a ransom for my soul!

Seriously this is to be weighed and decided. Am I giving (not what others give, not what many
would think right, or perhaps a great deal; but) to please Him really,_what with an honest,
upright, and thankful heart I can put into His hand, and count upon Him to receive at mine?_a
hand anointed with the blood of sacrifice?

Seriously,_not hastily; not under sudden impulse:"that there be no gatherings when I come." Yet
how much the apostle’s presence might quicken the spirit of giving among them! How much in
the present day is known to depend upon the presence and exhortation of some one of recognized
power and influence, and the oratorical appeal to human sensibilities? All this the apostle
disclaims. For it he substitutes the power of the divine presence, and the deliberate purpose of
heart derived from realization of God’s wondrous grace. The common mode to-day shows, alas!
wise calculation, if the amount of a collection from a promiscuous audience be the thing under
consideration. We may reckon upon the stirring of man’s emotional nature under outside influence
brought to bear upon him. He to whom the earth belongs, and the fullness of it, values but the
fruit of His own Spirit in the heart of him" who is a worshiper in truth.

This laying by week by week is not, then, the response merely to some appeal pressingly urged,
and affecting me emotionally; but the effect of recognized principle, and a heart weighing things
in the presence of God. And this alone is the true guard against being betrayed by mere emotion,
while it will leave us only the more open to be affected by every holy and right one.

The casual appeal, moreover, may easily find one really unprovided, if we have not, as a matter
of principle, taken care to make provision.

Little by little, with constant and steady increase, we may easily come to possess what, except in
this way, would be entirely beyond us. And this without exhaustion or distress. Men pay easily
in regular, small installments what in one sum, apart from this, they would never have competency
for. And the apostle has in mind, as he tells the Corinthians elsewhere, that they shall not be
burdened. On the other hand, on this very account, how many small sums, thought little of
because small, slip away from us in mere self-indulgences, which in the aggregate would be an
amount to startle us, or, put into the treasury, might be a matter of how much thankfulness to
God!

At the best, he who gives casually gives fitfully, and in general scantily enough, even though often
he may be lavish. On the other hand, the store laid by from week to week soon makes itself felt
as a call to wise economy. The Lord’s fund is to be managed and dispensed in the sense of
stewardship, which it will surely foster in the soul. It will not be then the question merely how to
relieve some need which is at hand, and which looks perhaps on this account larger or more
imperative, than it really is, but how to put out what is intrusted to us in the best possible way.
The wisdom that is from God will in this way come to be habitually sought more also, and surely

found.

A store, such as we are speaking of, instead of being reserved for casual demands upon it, comes
itself to demand channels for its outflow. Instead of merely being sought by the occasion, we
should become seekers of it. And having tasted the joy of this, the heart becomes enlarged:" he
which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully"_or, as the word is, "in blessing."
Enlargement of heart will surely find enlarged opportunities. Active sympathies will become
practical activities. And to him that is with God, God’s power will manifest itself. This will be
found a path on which if one has truly entered, there will be no turning back; one of those ways
in which men go from strength to strength. But how few have entered it!

The tithes in Israel were not all that God demanded from His people of old. The rest of the
sabbatic years was another large demand upon a faith in which He would have them practiced.
Beside all this, there were various offerings upon special occasions, while voluntary offerings
were encouraged beyond these. How poor, in comparison with all this, is in general the scale of
giving among Christians! a mere fraction out of superfluity often, and in no recognized proportion
at all! An uncertain, intermittent, dribbling out from a half-choked spring. The very freeness of
the giving_"every man as he is disposed in his heart"_taken as a permission for withholding
even! with no account made of what this speaks of the heart that can thus abuse God’s precious
grace; no consideration given to the balancing truth so solemnly urged by the apostle, "But this
I say, He which soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly,"_no care about the harvest in this
field!

Brethren, has God need of us and our money? "If I were hungry, I would not tell thee," He says.
Yet this is of divine grace to the heart that God is attracting to Himself,_as to the woman of
Samaria from the lips of love incarnate, "Give me to drink!" What answer shall the bride give to
the voice of her Beloved when He seeks the pleasant fruits of His garden? Have we given Him
His answer_fitting answer? Or when shall we give it Him?

My persuasion is, that if we would be really right with God, we must return to the apostolic rule
in this matter. And also that in proportion as we do return heartily to it, we shall find how God
has cared for us also, in seeking this from us. The voice of another dispensation still speaks to us:
"Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me
now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you
out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it."

FRAGMENT
There is a contrast well worth noticing between John 17 and Rev. 12. In the former, Christ, the
Intercessor and Supporter of His own, is heard speaking to His Father about His disciples. In the
latter, Satan is exposed as "the accuser of our brethren . . . which accused them before our God
day and night" (v. 10).

What a difference there is between the thoughts of Christ and of Satan concerning a believer!
Further, what a difference between those of Christ and of the world about a believer; yes, and
even between Christ’s thoughts and those of the believer himself!