The Best of Masters

Spurgeon takes Christ's contrast — "not as the world gives, give I unto you" — and unpacks it thoroughly, showing that the world's gifts are hollow compliments, empty wishes, always deferred to the future, and ultimately delusions that must all be surrendered at death, while Christ's peace and every other gift he gives are sincere, powerful, present, real, and eternal, surviving even the grave and entering glory with the believer. He extends the contrast across many dimensions of giving: the world gives scantily, half-heartedly, only to friends, with selfish motives, and always demands it all back in the end; Christ gives fully, whole-heartedly, specifically to enemies and the most needy, with no ulterior interest of his own, and deliberately gives more grace to make his people hunger for still more. He closes with a stirring practical challenge: if Christ gives so much better than the world, his people ought to serve him with far more devotion than worldlings serve their cause — pointing to the handful of early disciples who turned the world upside down, and lamenting that the church of his day has become a race of dwarfs where giants once ran, urging believers to give Christ not occasional service but their whole lives, wealth, and energy in return for gifts that never fade.Sermon delivered by Charles Spurgeon on April 10th, 1859.