Untitled Sermon

Turn with me to Philippians chapter 4. Philippians chapter 4. We finished the book of Philippians today. We really will. We did first service, so I know we can do it this time. Philippians chapter 4. We're looking at the last half of Philippians chapter 4, but let's begin, if we could, with verse 10 reading. My computer broke down. It's the first time it's happened to me.

So I had to do my study the old-fashioned way, you know, with scribbled notes and really, you know, no cross-references on the computer. I had to do it all by hand, so don't you feel sorry. Thank you. Yeah, that's all right. I rejoice greatly, verse 10, in the Lord, that at last you have renewed your concern for me, Paul says. Indeed, you have been concerned, but you had no opportunity to show it.

I'm not saying this because I'm in need, for I've learned to be content, whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I've learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well-fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do everything through him who gives me strength.

Yet it was good of you to share in my troubles. And moreover, as you Philippians know, in the early days of your acquaintance with the gospel, when I set out for Macedonia, not one church shared with me in the matter of giving and receiving except you only. For even when I was in Thessalonica, you sent me aid again and again when I was in need. Not that I'm looking for a gift, but I'm looking for what may be credited to your account.

I have received full payment, and even more, I am amply supplied now that I have received from Epaphroditus the gifts you sent. They are a fragrant offering, an acceptable sacrifice, pleasing to God, and my God will meet or supply all of your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus. To our God and Father be the glory forever and ever. Amen. Greet all the saints in Christ Jesus.

The brothers who are with me send greetings. All the saints send you greetings, especially those who belong to Caesar's household. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ. And may he be with your spirit. Amen. Our study in Philippians has been under the heading of Learning to Rejoice in the Lord. And again I pray that that is happening in your lives. Rejoicing in the Lord is something we have to learn.

You'd think it should come naturally because of all that the Lord is and does, but because of what we are as human flesh, now made alive by the Spirit of God, we are learning about God. We are learning about the Lord. We are learning about His nature. We are learning about His characteristics. Those have been example to us in Christ. They have been revealed to us in the Word of God.

And they are made clear by the Spirit of God in our hearts, in our lives. But we have to learn these things. And so we are learning to rejoice in the Lord. And that's what the focus of the Philippian letter has been, is learning to rejoice in the Lord. And we've broken each chapter down into a heading so that we can look at each chapter and then put it back together as the whole.

And so we come to chapter 4, and the heading here has been learning to rejoice in the provisions of Christ. Learning to rejoice in the provisions of Christ, what He has provided for us. He's provided us some wonderful things. In verses 1 through 7, we've seen that He provides us with His peace. And to realize that peace, we've seen that our hearts have to be prepared for that.

We have to stand firm in what we know. God's peace is available to you. And as you set your heart upon Him and stand firm in the word that you've received, you'll experience that peace. If you are anxious, the word means distracted. If you become anxious and distracted about other things, you will not experience His peace. So don't be anxious. He says, don't be distracted.

But instead, in all things, pray. And as we stand firm, verse 1, as we, in verses 2 and 3, seek to maintain unity with one another, because there's such a special flow of God's grace through the fellowship, through the body of Christ. As we maintain that unity with one another. And then down a couple of verses, verses 4 and 5, as we just simply rejoice. We talked about that before.

Just when things begin to happen and things start falling apart, just rejoice. Just make the effort to rejoice because it helps to focus your mind, to move your mind away from the circumstances. And you realize the nearness of the Lord, then pray. Bring all things to the Lord in prayer. Not being anxious, not being distracted from Him, but just bringing those things to Him in prayer.

And then we find that it's that peace of God, that provision of Christ, that transcends our understanding. It goes beyond what we can comprehend and guards, garrisons our hearts and our minds in Christ Jesus. In verses 7 and 8 is where we have kind of the crossover with His provision because we realize the provision of His peace and His presence. In verses 8 through 13, we looked at the provision of the presence of Christ.

His presence with us. He gives us His peace and we realize His presence. And as we pray, as we begin to not be distracted, we are to set our minds upon Him and He tells us to think about certain things in verse 8. And we use the mnemonic to help us remember what those things are. The nine raccoons prayed, lifting all 18 paws. Remember that? Therefore whatsoever is true,

whatsoever is noble, whatsoever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable, if anything is excellent, if anything is praiseworthy, think on these things, He tells us. Set our hearts on those things. We begin to realize His glorious presence with us as we live in His presence and we are learning to rejoice and we are learning to realize His peace. In the midst of that is where down is where the two major verses of this chapter that everybody seems to remember come to be fulfilled.

Verse 11, I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. Again, that's a learning process. As you learn to rejoice in the Lord, as He takes you through the circumstances, as you're not distracted from Him in the midst of the circumstances, you will learn to be content. But it's something you have to learn. It's not just the memorizing of a verse, although I encourage you to memorize that verse.

But it's the actual learning that will transpire as you go through the processes of pressure and trial and temptation. And then verse 13, I can do everything through Him who gives me strength. We learned that that doesn't mean everything, everything. I can just do anything, anything, anything, everything. You know, like the telephone conversation. I mean, anytime.

That means anytime, anytime. But in relationship to the context, it's dealing with chapter one. I'm rejoicing in the opportunities to serve Christ. Well, this opportunity, you know, I've got to go do this or do that. Well, I can do everything through Him who gives me the strength. I can take advantage of this opportunity to serve Him. Chapter two, rejoicing in learning to have the mind of Christ,

that mind that is submissive and surrenders itself even under the point of death without grumbling or complaining. Then that's hard to do, but I can do. Everything through Him who gives me strength. Chapter three, rejoicing in the calling of Christ, where He has called you in the circumstances and the situations that He has called you to right this minute. Oh, but it's so hard.

It's so difficult. You don't understand the pressures. You don't understand the turmoil that's in my heart, but I can do all things. You see, I can do everything through Him who gives me strength. I can rejoice in the midst of this calling. That's what He's referring to. Oh, but this weight is so heavy and it's so difficult. Chapter four, well, I can rejoice in His provisions.

He's provided me peace, but I don't feel peace. Well, you can, because you can do everything through Him who gives you strength. Sometimes I feel so distant and I want to know His presence. You can. You can do everything through Him who gives you strength. And so we're learning that. And just hearing it is not going to be enough for us to get it. I mean, hearing it

and putting it into practice is how we really learn. So you've been experiencing this. You will continue to experience it. And may God bring your heart back to Philippians and back to these passages and back to the things that He has shown us that He wants us to learn so that we can rejoice in the Lord. And we come to verse 14 here in chapter four as we close out the book.

And I want you to see that He wants us to rejoice in the provision of His perspective. Verses 14 through the end of the chapter, I want you to learn to see that we are to learn how to rejoice in the provision of His perspective. What does that mean? Well, a perspective is the way you view something. It's the way you see things because however you see it is how you interpret it.

How you interpret it is how you respond to it. And so you respond to situations daily in life based on how you perceive them. As Christians, we have a Christian worldview of life. In other words, we look at the things that are going on. You hear the news. You hear the things that are going on overseas, the different conflicts rising up again in Bosnia. We're sending troops to Zaire

and all the stuff in the Middle East going on. And you have a perspective. You have a perspective on that based on your Christian worldview. You know prophecy. You may not know it all, but you know that we're in the last days. These things are going to transpire. God's getting the Middle East ready for war. Ezekiel 38 and 39 is about to be fulfilled. You know that from your worldview,

from your perspective that you have. Crimes rising. Weather patterns are crazy right now. All over. It's part of the last days. You know that because of your perspective, because of the Christian worldview that you have. God wants us to have His perspective in every circumstance. You see, it's when we fail to do that that we become distracted and anxious about the circumstances.

It's because we've lost our perspective. We've lost our view of Christ. And so as we close out this book, as we close out this chapter, it's not like, okay, we're done with this one. Log it, you know, scratch, chalk that one up. We cranked out another book. Now let's go on to something else. It's what have I learned from here that I carry on tomorrow and the next day

and the next month and the next year until God takes me home or the rapture happens. And so you see, He's leaving us here with an idea of realizing the provision of His perspective in every area. But we're going to focus on three that He shows us here in chapter four, the last part of chapter four. These three, I think, are key to our Christian walk, but they are by no means to be exclusive.

I mean, these three are God's perspective and that's it, no more. No. He wants us to have His perspective in every situation so that you see chapter one, you can rejoice in every opportunity that you have to serve Christ. Which is when? Every minute of every day, every circumstance, every event, everything that happens in your life is an opportunity to serve Christ.

You got to have that perspective. You got to keep bringing that back into focus. And so these three are simply three that are key, but by no means are the only, okay? So let's look at this. In verses 14 through 18, I want you to see that He's given us this glorious provision of His perspective on giving and receiving, on giving and receiving. Oh boy, a message on tithing.

I knew you'd fit that in somehow, Pastor. Well, I tell you, I don't do it unless it's in here. And when it's in here, I do it. And it's in here, so we're going to do it. So look at verse 14. Paul's talking about the gift that they had sent to him while he's down in Rome. And they sent it through Epaphroditus. And Paul says, it was good, verse 14, for you to share in my troubles.

Moreover, as you Philippians know, in the early days of your acquaintance with the gospel, when I set out for Macedonia, not one church shared with me in the matter of giving and receiving. See, it's there in the text. So I can talk about it. Except you only. For even when I was in Thessalonica, you sent me aid again and again when I was in need. Not that I am looking for a gift.

I am looking for what may be credited to your account. I have received full payment and even more. I am amply supplied, now that I have received from Epaphroditus the gifts you sent. They are a fragrant offering, an acceptable sacrifice, pleasing to God. We need to realize, God's perspective on giving and receiving. The reason this is so important, the enemy knows it's important.

The enemy has distorted the church's view regarding that because of the corruption in the church, because of the highly visible televangelists and all that have been corrupt. The enemy has used that to distort the idea of giving and receiving in the body of Christ and as such has hindered, has hobbled a lot of the body of Christ as far as God's use. And God's blessing. Now follow me with this because this is something I think God wants us to really gain his perspective on.

Paul in verse 14 begins to thank, or he continues thanking, he began earlier in verse 10, thanking the Philippians for the gift that they had sent to him. And in this he demonstrates a real attitude of thanksgiving for receiving. Now it is difficult to receive graciously. It really is. It's hard to receive. I mean, it's not hard to want, you know. Wanting is not difficult.

Receiving is. When you, you, you're graced with a blessing, it's, it's, and you realize your unworthiness, it's really difficult to receive it. I mean, you know, you want to receive it and give God glory and yet you're so glad to get it. You're thankful, but you don't want to, you know, you don't want to focus on the people and, and, and the way that the gift came.

And so it's really difficult to receive. And Paul is wanting the Philippians to understand this, that it's a blessing to receive. And so he's thanking them for it, but it's also something that he wants to receive. It's also something that he wants them to realize he's not dependent upon. He's not dependent upon them. He's dependent upon the Lord. And he knows that he's going to say a little bit later,

God will supply the need. He's not dependent upon it, but he's grateful for it. But he realizes that it's difficult to receive. So he's demonstrating an example for us in the, in the attitude to have in, in receiving. A thankful attitude, a thankful heart for the effort that's given. Also, he's demonstrating a thankfulness because of their effort in giving when it's tight.

Paul knows that it's hard to give when things are tight and we know that, right? It's hard. A lot of us, and see a lot of us, the reason this is important is because a lot of us get the perspective that things are tight right now. The first thing to set aside is my giving to the Lord until I get things all squared away. I'll get my bills all laid out. I'll get them all paid.

I'll get them lined out. Once I get things caught up, then I can start giving back to the Lord. But right now, God wouldn't want me to shirk these things. No, he wouldn't. But he doesn't want you to set him off till later because he knows that there never will be a time in your life ever that you'll have everything lined out. And then you can put it away. You can put God back into your giving

because as soon as you get this bill paid off, this one's gonna come in. As soon as you get this piece of equipment fixed at the house, this one's gonna break. As soon as you get this child's braces paid for, this one's going into the hospital. You see? He knows that. The Philippian church was a poor church. It was a poverty-stricken church. And yet Paul knew it was difficult for them to give

out of the midst of their need, but they did anyhow. And he commends them in several places. Here, he commends them down in, look at verse 15. Moreover, as you Philippians know, in the early days of your acquaintance with the gospel, when I set out for Macedonia, not one church shared with me in the matter of giving and receiving except you only. For even when I was in Thessalonica,

you sent me aid again and again when I was in need. And he knows that they're a poor church. He mentions that elsewhere, that they gave out of the midst of their need, and he commends them for that. He knows it's hard, but he knows it's necessary. And so three principles I want us to see here in these verses, as far as, God's perspective on giving and receiving.

First principle, principle number one, is that our giving is reflective of our growth. Our giving is a reflection of our spiritual growth. Paul shows in these verses that they were giving with an understanding of worship. They were giving with an understanding of worship. And you see that idea has been from the beginning of the word of God. You go back into Genesis chapter three,

and as soon as Adam and Eve fall, I mean, before that, they had intimate communion with God all the time, communion with God. After the fall, they're set outside of the Garden of Eden. The way in is blocked by the sword that turns every way, the cherubim that are there. And yet we find, as you come into chapter four of Genesis, that there is some dispute between Cain and Abel over an offering.

And so the implication is there that as Adam and Eve were set out of the garden, they set up an altar there, probably where the sword was at the entrance, and regularly came and worshiped God with a sacrifice, with an offering, with a giving unto the Lord. Now, God killed the first animal in chapter three of Genesis to make the covering for Adam and Eve. And it's probably not wrong to speculate and think that that was probably a lamb or a sheep. And it's not wrong, I don't think, to think that because they saw God do that for them, then as they're set outside, they did that as an offering unto him, that they understood his provision for them.

You see? He had provided a covering for them. They understood. That became part of their recognition, their sacrifice back to him in worship. You see, that was the problem with Cain's offering, Cain's sacrifice. He didn't come in that prescribed way. He didn't come as an act of obedience and worship. He came with his own deal. He wanted to come his own way and not

have to come the way that God had laid out. And God refused his offering. And Cain rejected. He flakes out and kills his brother Abel because he didn't come to the Lord the way the Lord had already laid out. He laid out the example of worship, of giving, of sacrifice unto him. And that's the way it's been down through history then. You can go through the Word and you find that Abraham,

when he rescues Lot and brings back the spoils from the kings that had captured Lot and the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah and all, as he's coming back, the king of Salem comes out, Melchizedek, comes out to bless Abraham. And Abraham gives him a tenth of the spoils in worship to God. He worships God. As he gives Melchizedek a tenth of the spoils. This is before Moses, before the law, before tithing is instituted.

Abraham is realizing he's learning. I mean, he'd already, you know, messed up where his wife was concerned. He'd already messed up not being obedient to God where coming directly to the promised land is concerned. And so now he's letting the Lord lead. He let Lot have whatever Lot wanted. Now he's coming back and he's worshiping God because he realizes that it's just with him

and his 300 men. It's God that provided the victory and he's worshiping God for his provision, for what God had provided for him. Hundreds of years later, here comes Moses and Moses lays it out in the legal sense through the Levitical system. This is how God's to be worshiped. Come to him this way. It's a realizing of his provision for you to give back to him.

I mean, we've seen it exampled up to that point by people who understood, people who knew how to worship. Now God lays it out so nobody can mistake it. This is how you worship the Lord is in your giving unto him. Jesus didn't abolish that when he came. He emphasized it only. He emphasized motive, not method. He's standing in the treasury there at the temple and the court of the women is where

the treasury was at the temple. And there were probably 10 to 12 big receptacles, either horn, cornucopia like horns or boxes with slits in them. And men and women could come into the court of the women. That's as far as the women could go. There was another court. Beyond that, which was for the court of the men, and then beyond that, the priests only could go.

So that's as close as most of the people could get to God. That's as close as they could get to the temple. And that's where the treasury was. That's where these receptacles were and the people would come and they would worship God by their giving as they would cast things into these receptacles. And so in this scene where Jesus is standing there with his disciples and this widow comes

up, you got to realize there are hundreds of people coming in and going out and dropping their gifts in and leaving. And yet Jesus focuses on the one woman on this widow. Why? Because she worships with her giving. She gives to God all that she has. It's just two mites in the eyes of the world, but to God it's special and blessed because she's worshiping with it.

She gives it unto him and Jesus commends her for that because that's the idea behind our giving, worshipfully. That shows our spiritual growth is when we learn how to give worshipfully to the Lord. Paul emphasizes that, he just goes on with that as he talks about giving cheerfully as God has increased you or as God has prospered you, joyfully. He removes the limits.

He removes the boundaries of the 10% or whatever. And you give worshipfully to God. Who could receive more than God's church, than those who have Christ dwelling in them? Surely they would give bountifully out of the riches that God has provided to them. So the boundary is removed, you see. The motive is worship out of a joyful heart. As we cheerfully give unto the Lord.

You see? As we cheerfully give unto the Lord. Now as you do that, you realize that you are growing spiritually in your life. If you're not doing that, then you're stagnating somewhere in your walk. That's why the emphasis here. Get his perspective on this because it'll affect other areas of your walk. Not just so you crank it out, so I'm giving 10% or whatever.

Lord, I'm giving it unto you obediently. That's what you desire. That's what your heart desires. I heard somebody say once, God doesn't want your money. No, he doesn't. God doesn't need your money. He doesn't need it. He wants it. He wants it. You don't have control of it. It will control you. And your attitudes and your desires will be controlled by the finances.

You will get irritated with each other. You will get mad at the world because the finances aren't coming in. They're not there. It's your fault. But if you lay it before the Lord and you acknowledge him in it by laying that worshipfully before him and you're giving, you see. He's got it. He's got my heart with it. That's why you go through that before you get down to verse 19.

He'll provide all your needs, supply all your needs. But you got to get the first perspective first. The first principle here is giving as a reflection of our spiritual growth. And Paul affirms this as evidence of the Philippians growth here. Second principle, second principle as far as giving and receiving is a giving is a marvelous investment. Now, this is one of those things where when you share it, you want to share it with caution

because that's not the reason you're to give. The reason you're to give is just what we went through, worshipfully unto the Lord for who he is and how you're acknowledging that he's provided. He wants us aware of the fact that he's given. He wants us aware of the fact that he's given. He wants us aware of the fact that he's given. He wants us aware of the fact that he's given.

He wants us aware of the fact that he's given. He wants us aware of the fact that our giving is a marvelous investment. Look at verse 17, not that I'm looking for a gift, Paul says, but I'm looking for what may be credited to your account. Interesting phrase, I'm looking for what may be credited to your account. Some investment there somehow. Proverbs chapter 19 verse 17 says, he that has pity upon the poor lends to the Lord.

So in other words, as you begin to give, you're not just giving out. giving up. You're giving up. You're laying it before the Lord. You're lending to the Lord as you give. And God wants us to see that. It's an investment. And here's something I don't know if you've thought of before. Hold your finger here. Go back to Luke chapter 16. Luke chapter 16. Interesting chapter, chapter 16. Some very major doctrinal kind of things in chapter 16. We're

going to look at just the first part of Luke chapter 16. Maybe you've read this before and wondered about it, as I have. This is a parable of the shrewd manager. The story of the shrewd manager in the first few verses of Luke 16. Just listen if you're still turning as we begin to read. Jesus told his disciples, and this is in red now. So this is Jesus teaching this. This is not

some squirrely disciple saying this stuff. This is our Lord. Okay. There was a rich man whose manager was accused of wasting his possessions. So he called him in and asked him, what is this I hear about you? Give an account of your management because you cannot be manager any longer. The manager said to himself, what shall I do now? My master's taking away my job. I'm not

strong enough to dig and I'm ashamed to beg. I know what I'll do so that when I lose my job here, people will welcome me into their houses. So he called in each one of his master's debtors and he asked the first, how much do you owe my master? 800 gallons of olive oil, he replied. And the manager told him, take your bill, sit down quickly and make it 400. Then he asked a second,

and how much do you owe? A thousand bushels of wheat, he replied. And he told him, take your bill and make it 800. The master commended the dishonest manager because he had acted shrewdly for the people of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own kind than are the people of the light. Jesus is telling this story and lest we think he's just giving us some story and it really

doesn't apply to us, he goes on in verse 9 to say, I tell you, now he's talking to us, he's talking to his followers, to his disciples. I tell you, use worldly wealth to gain friends for yourselves so that when it is gone, the worldly wealth, you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings. That's an admonition. He says, this parable, the story that I'm telling you about the shrewd manager, and do the same thing.

Now, does he mean we're to be dishonest? Because I read that and I look at that and I go, that guy was dishonest. He cut his manager's, his master's throat. He's not talking about the dishonesty of it. He's talking about the use of this world's goods, the money to invest in the lives of other people because he knew it would come back on him. And Jesus is affirming that. He's affirming the

thought process of this manager because the manager understood that he was dishonest. He was the principle of investing in lives, investing in other people. And as we worship the Lord, you see, as we give, when you put the finances in the boxes, it goes into ministry. It goes into touching other people's lives, ministering to needs, and you are investing in other people and it will come back to you. And so that's what Paul's saying here in verse 17 of Philippians

chapter four. I'm not looking for anything for me, but I'm looking for what may be credited to your account. Now, Paul's not the great holy, accountant of the apostles. He's not sitting there and, oh, here's Epaphroditus bringing us. And this goes to, to old, the old fellow there in, in Philippians and Philippi. Yes, that's, that's his. And this goes over here and he's not talking about that. He's not going to

send him a tithing receipt. He realizes there is an account with God that God brings back and enriches our lives with it. Listen, you cannot exercise Christian giving without unconsciously benefiting. You will not give that you will not receive back even more than you give. You will not give that you will not receive back even more than you give. Paul understood that. That's not to be our motive for giving. You see, we don't do that going,

well, gee, if I give a hundred dollars, I'll give a thousand. See, that's, that's a lot of the, a lot of the weird teaching that's out there today is that we'll give, and it's going to be multiplied back into you. And they use that as a motive for giving. That's like playing the holy slot machine or the holy lottery. We don't give with that purpose in mind. We give with that

understanding. Paul understood that. And Paul, he says, it's happened to me. Look at verse 18. I have received full payment and even more. I am amply supplied now that I have received from Epaphroditus the gifts you sent. Paul's saying, I've experienced that already. Now, wait a minute. Wait a minute. Paul's been stoned and he's been whipped and he's been beaten with rods and he's been adrift on the sea for days

without food. He's been shipwrecked. He's now in jail. And he says, I am full. He's received, God's taken care. God has blessed him and he's received. See, he invested his life in Christ. He gave everything to be the Lord's servant. And yet in looking back over it all, he can say, I am full. I have received full payment and more. How many of you work somewhere, you know, where you're working now? Maybe you've been there for

decades, you know, and you're, you get close to retirement and they go, here's this gold watch. I want you to have this nice gold watch. Invested 40 years of your life for a gold watch. No, fulfilled? No, I don't feel fulfilled. Paul's full. Paul's full, amply supplied for what he's given. He's realized the blessing of investing in the Lord. It's a marvelous,

investment. Second principle. That's the second principle you've got to grab a hold of as far as giving is concerned. Third principle I want you to see is in verse 18. Our giving is really to God. Our giving is really to God. Now, I hope you do that when you give anyhow, even if it's in a box. The idea of the boxes are that it's private. It's between you and the Lord rather than here comes

something down an aisle and you don't know what, and your neighbor there goes stuff something in and you feel guilty because you didn't stuff nothing in the bag, you know, and you hand the silver, and it can be a real guilt trip, or you can feel like, well, they're sticking, you know, they'll see a five going in there. This is a 20, you know, see how 20 goes in the bag. It can be a source of pride. The boxes are meant to be just between you and the Lord. It's to be that something

between you and the Lord, but when you give, I hope you do that. I hope you just don't. See, it can get as routine as, well, I've got to write you off. I've got to check out and put it in a box. Got to forget to put it in a box. I need to send it to the church so they can put it in a box. And it can become as rote and as meaningless as putting it in a plate or putting it in a bag.

Part of doing it this way is you've got to go to it. You know, you go, there. Part of the reason we have it outside that door is not because we want your money for you, come in, but again, to refresh us and remind us that there's a cost involved in our salvation, not dollar-wise. It just reminds us that Jesus paid the price, and it's not free. You know, we just don't skate in here. The Lord paid the price, and my worship back to him is something

he desires. And so as we give, we want to make sure that our minds are set upon him, and we give worshipfully. Pray about it before you come and put it in a box. And as you come, in your own mind offer it up to the lord as you drop it in it's his money and believe me we treat it that way it's there's an awe that we have for that the finances are concerned and if you're here the first couple weeks of january and we do the presentation uh you'll see that and you'll see where every nickel goes because we know we answered him it's his money and paul's paul brings that out here in the last half of verse 18 he says uh i'm not only amply supplied now that i received the

gift from epaphroditus the gift she sent they're a fragrant offering an acceptable sacrifice pleasing to god god received that god smelled that that offering that he gave now he's not smelling the money yeah that's a that's a grant yeah that's a that's a franklin new franklin's that's off to the side it's not he's receiving it as an attitude of worship as an act of worship as it's given that way and to him it's like the fragrance of his people the offerings that his people brought before him when they were obediently worshiping him remember it finally got to be wrote for them they were just cranking it out and living like they pleased and god said you shut them off the smelling makes me sick doesn't mean that he got sick of smelling lambs and goats

it meant that he got sick of the attitude with which they gave so just might as well shut it off it's not doing any good i'm not receiving that but a principle of our giving is that we are really giving it to god you are honoring him obediently as he has called us to do from his word and so as you give it give it with that attitude in mind as you're giving it unto the lord okay he wants us to have his perspective on our giving and receiving secondly he wants us to have his perspective on our giving and receiving secondly he wants us to have his perspective on our giving on god's provision he wants us to have his perspective on god's provision verses 19 and 20 and my god will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in christ jesus to our

god and father be glory forever and ever amen why does he say that right there he's commended them for their giving he's commended them for giving in the midst of their need he realizes it's a sacrifice he realizes they realize it's a sacrifice he wants them to know that god realizes it's a sacrifice he wants them to know that god realizes it's a sacrifice he wants them to know it's a sacrifice and as they're giving sacrificially that way god is going to take care of them god is going to bless them he wants them to realize that god will take care of their need they need to have his perspective on provision on his provision and so he says there in verse 19 and my god now

let's stop there and look at that and consider that for just a minute because usually we focus on the other part shall supply all your needs shall meet all my need in his riches according to his riches in christ you know and so and the and the thing we're thinking about at the time is our need you know my need is fill in the blank and my god will meet all my need shall supply all my need according to his riches in christ when we need to stop at the first part and my god stop and think when was the last time you referred to him that way as your god is that a habitual part of your daily walk is referring to god as your god or is there usually this distant kind of pithy the man upstairs you know the big guy the old boy in heaven see when paul

says my god paul is speaking about a god he knows he's speaking a personalness this isn't some superstitious act this isn't some god of religion this superstitious activity that he's calling us to do this is his god this is god he knows not some superstitious activity maybe these have been in the paper before and i haven't noticed them but yesterday in the traveler two of these were on the back page just almost together now i know you can read that in the back row that's why i hold it up right so but i want you this is a real ad and you may see this you can even look at a paper of your own if you'd like but this is called saint jude's novena it says may the sacred heart of jesus be adored glorified loved and revered throughout

the world now and forever sacred heart of jesus pray for us jude worker of miracles pray for us saint jude helper of the hopeless pray for us then it says in small print say this prayer nine times a day by the eighth day your prayer will be answered it has never been known to fail publication must be promised thank you saint jude so evidently these are placed in the paper by people who have done this who have prayed that prayer uh nine times a day for eight days and that particular prayer has been answered and so they print that a thanks to saint jude there were two of them in the paper saturday that's superstition that's god doesn't god doesn't want to be worshiped that way god doesn't want you to take the lord's prayer

and just say it every time you're in church you know he doesn't want you to say it every time you sit down at your meals our father who art in heaven hallowed be thy name we've gone through that before a superstition james dobson's dad said superstition is the worm that crawls out of a dead faith see it's when we lose that relationship with god that we get into these acts of superstition well if i say this nine times a day for eight days maybe god will hear my prayer you know if i call a call down the via dolorosa on my knees with a cross on my back at easter maybe god will think i'm lowly enough and humble enough to grant me a petition paul says my god because it's a god he

knows personally it's not through some superstitious action he knows him there's a personalist there and before you get to the rest of what he says in that verse it's got to be that way with you he's got to be the god we know not some superstitious religion some philosophy of God. Oh, God's out there. He's the higher power, however you conceive him to be. He's the God I know. He's not just, listen, and this is where we can get trapped too. He's not

just the God of my theological conception. You see, the Bible reveals the character and the nature of God to us. In the person of Jesus Christ, we have those things revealed. And it's good to have your theology of God developed so that you know why you believe God is who he is and does what he does. You need to have your theology of God based on the doctrine of scripture. But a lot of times

as Christians, too many times that's our theological concept of God. That's all he is to us. He's a God who does this. He's a God who is called Jehovah Jireh, Jehovah Rapha, Jehovah Nisi, Jehovah Shalom. I can say all the names of God in Hebrew, but do I know him? Do I spend time with him deepening that relationship? See, Paul says, my God, because it's the God that he knows personally. He communes

with him daily. He's not only speaking about my God is the God that he knows. He's speaking about a God he loves. He's speaking about a God he loves. Not only does he know him, but he's proud of him. He wants to show him off. He's made it his life's goal to know him more deeply, that he can tell other people about him because he loves him. The book of Revelation, I think it's chapter three,

the church at Ephesus. Remember? Jesus said to the church at Ephesus, you've lost your first love. So remember from whence you have fallen, repent and repeat. Do your first works again. Do those things you did when you first came to me. First thing you have to do is remember from whence you've fallen. Remember what it was like when we first got together. Then realize where you've gone to, repent of that and go back

and do your first works. Guys, that's where marriage relationships fall apart too. We can compare them because in Ephesians chapter five, Paul compares them. The relationship that a husband has with a wife is compared exactly to the relationship that we have with a wife. So the relationship that we have with a church. Remember guys, before you married your wife,

you guys right here, you know, you're just so proud to have them there. You just, you want to walk into someplace with them on your arm. You'll even go to a shopping mall and walk into stores because you're just, you're just so blessed to be with them. Then you get married. Watch this. A couple of years go by and you get familiar with them. Now it's got to go to the shopping mall,

you know? So you go in, you walk with your hands in your pockets and you kind of drag your feet and you walk either ahead of them or you walk with your hands in your pockets. And you kind of are behind them. And then they want to go in this store and I'm fine. I'm going to sit over here. I'm going to sit on this little bench that they provided for me. I'll sit here until you're done.

Then you can come out and get me. I'm guilty of that. Jesus said, that's what the Ephesians were guilty of. That's what we are guilty of as Christians to see, we get familiar with him. And yeah, I know about him and all of that. But Paul said, my God, this is a God that he loved. This is a God. He says in chapter three that he wants to know. I've known him for 30 years,

but I want to know him more fully. I want to know, I want to know the power of his resurrection. I want to have the mindset that's conformed unto his death, that I might attain somehow to the resurrection. He says in chapter one, verse 21, for me to live as Christ. I've known him all these years and yet I still haven't known him. I've known him all this time and there's still so much

more to know. And guys, that's the way it is with your wife. You may have known her all these years, but there's so much more to know. Wives, that's the way it is with your husband. There's so much there. You see that we neglect and we look at our marriages and we see the state of marriage in this country and we wonder why it's God forsaken. We've lost our perspective of God.

We don't, we know about him. We don't know him. We don't love him. Not like Paul said. And then we try and claim this verse, my God will supply all your need. Like it's a superstition. If I say it long enough, maybe I'll believe it. Paul knew him and Paul loved him. It's not only a God that he knew and it's not only a God that he loved, but it's a God that he had proven.

I'm spending a lot of time on this because unless you get this first two words, you don't get the rest of the whole verse. It's a God that he had proven. 2 Corinthians chapter one. You don't need to turn there. You remember the story Paul's telling them in Corinth that they went into Asia near to death and they despaired of even life, he says. And God did that, Paul says, so that he'd

bring us to the end of ourselves so that our dependency and our sufficiency might be in God. And he delivered us. Then you go to 2 Corinthians chapter 11 and chapter 12 and you find Paul saying that whole list of things that we talked about earlier. His credentials of being an apostle. I have been three times flogged. I've been five times beaten with rods. I've been stoned twice

and left for dead. I've been shipwrecked. I've been without food a day and a night in the sea. I've been put apart. I've been killed. I've been killed. I've been killed. I've been killed. I've been put upon by countrymen in the country. I've been put upon in the city. I've been put upon by my own countrymen. And on top of that, I've got the needs of the church, the daily caring

of the church. But God has delivered me. Chapter 12, he prayed because he had a thorn in the flesh. Some messenger of Satan sent to buffet him. We could argue all day about what it was. The thing is, is that he prayed and God said, my grace is sufficient for you. Paul was delivered from that in the fact that God's grace was sufficient. 2 Timothy chapter 4, Paul talks

about coming up before need. He said, I've been put upon by my countrymen in the city. I've been put upon by my own countrymen. And he says, the first time I stood before the king, I stood alone for everybody forsaken. And he says in verse about verse 16, he says, but the Lord stood with me and he delivered me and he will deliver me. You see, Paul's not just saying, my God shall supply

all your need according to his riches in Christ. It's a God that he knew. It's a God that he loved. It's a God that he had proved and God had been faithful. And so now when you read shall meet all your needs. You can realize that's it. That's all of them. That's everything includes all excludes none according to his glorious riches in Christ. What does Christ over? What's he in charge of?

Everything. Everything. If I have a need and it's a need that's necessary for an opportunity to serve Christ, an opportunity to have the mind of Christ and serve him in this particular circumstance. And now I need to stand strong in the calling that he's given me. I need to realize his glorious provisions of his peace and of his presence and of his perspective. I've got it.

And Paul had all the junk and yet he was able to say in verse 18, I'm full. I'm fine. I'm provided. I want that. That's what I want. That's where I see God meeting my need. And Paul's saying, that's what God will do for you. My God will supply all of your need according to his riches in Christ Jesus to him be the glory forever and ever. It's all part of the same verse. You see,

that's why he's doing it. He's not just doing it to make you feel better. He's not just doing it. So you'll have this particular need. He's doing it for his glory forever. See, whatever your particular need is for right now, it's going to be gone for after a while. The need's going to be gone. The circumstance is going to be gone, but his glory remains. And as you

realize, he's going to provide for your need. The thing that stays in focus is not the circumstance and the need, but it's his glory. It's his goodness. It's his righteousness because he's my God that I know, my God that I love, my God that I have proved, and he has never, ever failed. And God wants us to have that perspective of his provision so that when Philippians is,

but a memory in your studying, you will remember not only nine little raccoons lifting 18 pond, you'll remember the glorious provision of your God. And thirdly and finally, what you thought was just a benediction, a goodbye, you know, say hey to the wife and kids, send me some snaps when you got time, you know, drop a line, whatever you think of me, is really powerful. These last couple of verses, greet all the saints in Christ Jesus. The brothers who are with me send greetings.

All the saints send you greetings, especially those who belong to Caesar's household. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. He wants you to have a perspective of the fellowship of the saints. You do not realize the power of God that's in this room. You do not realize the marvelous blessing of God that you are to one another. We forget that so often. In the very

resources that God has laid in our laps, we just walk by on a Sunday morning. We just, when God has empowered each one of you to be a blessing in the lives of everybody else here. He has gifted you. He has enabled you. He has graced you with the power of his Holy Spirit, with all of the riches and glory in Christ to provide, to minister to one another. And Paul,

when he says, greet all the saints in Christ Jesus, he's not just saying, Gomer says, hey. He's writing to the church in Philippi that's made up of Jews and Greeks and other assorted Gentile barbarians. Been made one through faith in Jesus Christ. He says, greet all of them there. Oh, by the way, all the brothers that are with me send their greetings. Well, that's probably Titus and

Epaphroditus and maybe Timothy's back by now. And maybe Luke's there. They say, hey, as well. They're ministering to Paul's needs. They've been off and on. They've been sent to Ephesus. They've been sent back to Thessalonica, but they're there now ministering to Paul and he to them. And then he says, not only that, all the saints send you greeting, especially those who

belong to Caesar's household. I mean, this is Nero. This is Caesar Nero. And there's people in his household that are saved rather than being upset with maybe a current administration that's in power. Pray. God has some powerful people in high places that love him with all of their hearts in Caesar's household today. There is really nowhere that you can go that you won't

meet a saint. And the saints, as we know, are not canonized people by the church. They're believers in Jesus Christ. You are saints. I've been overseas. I've been to Scotland. I've been to England. I've been to Amsterdam. I've been to Israel. I've been to Africa. And in every place, you find saints of God. Now, granted, there's some times we went and we went to minister to churches in Nigeria and you find the saints there in the

church. But you go down in a marketplace, in a dust road marketplace, chickens hanging up, you know, and gutted calves and all that stuff hanging up. And there's brothers and sisters of Christ right there. It wasn't a scheduled church visit. There's brothers and sisters in Christ right there, downtown in Scotland, in the different towns in Scotland that we went to.

You just run into them on the street. God's saints are everywhere. And he wants us to understand the blessing of the networking of his fellowship. And also, when he mentions this as far as Caesar's household, that's to encourage us that nobody is beyond the reach of God's hand. There have been a lot of people showing up here in a fellowship that people have been praying for for a long time. A lot of family members, people have been

praying for for a long time. And all of a sudden, they're showing up in church and it hasn't frozen over yet. There's no pigs with wings. But God's moving, you see. And he's moving in such a way to say, don't give up. And as he's looking at this, he wants us to pray for him. And he's to have his perspective on our fellowship. There is such a power that's here that is such a draw.

People are drawn to this. They're drawn to the love of God moving in the body of Christ. They desire that. They want that. They need to see it. Paul says, be encouraged. In the very last verse, he says, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. That word be in the Greek could be translated either be or is. So it could be either a blessing, may the grace of our Lord

Jesus Christ be with your spirit, or it could be a declaration of fact. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. Jesus Christ is with your spirit. If you're going to leave somebody with something, man, leave them with that. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ is with your spirit. Paul had experienced that. My grace is sufficient for you. Hey, all right. I can do all things through him

who gives me strength. His grace indeed is sufficient for Paul. His grace indeed is sufficient for you and I. And it is with us. It's with us to empower us to rejoice in those opportunities that he's given us to serve him, to rejoice. That we can have that mind of Christ that is sacrificing and self-denying, even under the point of death. That we can do these things without grumbling and complaining. That our

gentleness can be made known to all. That we can rejoice in the calling that he's given us in Christ. No matter where we are, no matter what circumstances we're in right now, we have his glorious provision of his peace and of his presence and of his perspective. His grace is with us. Father, thank you. Thank you for this beautiful tour through. Through this time in Philippians. Father, may it not only just be things we've read through,

verses we've memorized, but may you carry the truths that we've seen here and personalized through our daily experiences as we're growing in our relationship with you. May we carry this.