Paul's Thank-you Note, Part 3

Introduction: The Christian Thank-You Note Model

0:02 This sermon was preached on Sunday morning, February 28th, 1982, at the Trinity Baptist Church in Montville, New Jersey. Now we turn again this morning to Philippians chapter 4, Philippians the fourth chapter, and will you follow in your Bibles, please, as I read verses 18 through 20, having already read the entire paragraph 10 through 20 on several occasions. I direct your attention this morning to the reading of verses 18 through 20.

0:37 But I have all things and abound. I am filled, having received from Epaphroditus the things that came from you, an odor of a sweet smell, a sacrifice acceptable, well-pleasing unto God. And my God shall supply every need. And every need of yours, according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.

1:06 Now unto our God and Father be the glory forever and ever. Amen. Now I want to begin our meditation this morning by asking a very personal and rather mundane question. And the question is this.

1:27 Have you ever sat down to compose a thank-you note to a Christian friend for a moment? Or a gift received or a kindness shown, and wondered, how in the world shall I begin this thing? Your heart is full of gratitude for the act of kindness done or for the gift given, but you just don't know how to begin and carry on that expression of gratitude in an appropriate manner. On the one hand, you desire to express your sincere thanks, and yet you fear, anything that would indicate insincere gush or saccharine sentiment.

2:11 And on the other hand, you want to express your thanks in such a way that glorifies God, but without giving any appearance of a sickening kind of artificial piety. And you struggle. How do I express my thanks in a manner that conveys some of the measure of my felt gratitude, and yet, in a manner that also glorifies God? Well, in a very real sense, Philippians chapter 4 verses 10 through 20 form an excellent model of a Christian thank-you note.

2:49 There is a theology of composing a thank-you note in Philippians 4 verses 10 through 20. For as we have seen, that's precisely what this paragraph is. The Apostle is at Rome, in prison. The Apostle is at Rome, in prison. The Apostle is at Rome, in prison. The Apostle is at Rome, in prison. The Apostle is at Rome, in prison.

3:04 The Apostle is at Rome, in prison. The Apostle is at Rome, in prison. The Apostle is at Rome, in prison. He is received from Epaphroditus, a messenger from the church at Philippi, some gifts which administered to his need.

3:13 And as he writes back to the church, having expressed his deep pastoral concerns, before he concludes the letters, with general greetings and with a benediction, he writes his P.S., namely his thank-you note for their gift. And in our two previous studies, we have noted that that that thank you note is composed, first of all, of Paul's declaration of his joy.

3:40 Verse 10, I rejoice in the Lord greatly. And then he qualifies his joy in verses 11 through 13. And then in verse 14, we have Paul's commendation for their recent gift. How be it you did well that you had fellowship with my affliction?

3:59 Then he reflects back upon their previous gifts in verses 15 and 16. And then in verse 17, he makes a qualification concerning the whole subject of their gifts. Now we come this morning to verses 18 through 20. And what do we have in these verses?

The Effect of Their Gift on Paul: Fullness and Contentment

4:20 Well, we have, first of all, in the first part of verse 18, the effect of their gift in relationship to Paul. I. I have all things and abound, I am filled. That's a statement of the effect of their gift in relationship to Paul.

4:39 Then he goes on in the latter part of verse 18 to describe the essence of their gift in relationship to God. An odor of a sweet smell, a sacrifice acceptable, well-pleasing to God. And then in verse 19, we have the result of their gift. In relationship to themselves, and my God shall supply all your need.

5:06 And so the effect of their gift in relationship to Paul, verse 18a, the essence of their gift in relationship to God, 18b, and the result of their gift in relationship to themselves. Now I go over those heads not to display any homiletical cleverness. God knows I abominate that. But I do this for your help, so that you can even just write in the margin of your Bible those key words, so that when you read through this section, you have before you the substance of what God has revealed.

5:47 First of all, then, this morning, the effect of their gift in relationship to Paul. Having just underscored that his great concern in talking or writing, thinking about their gifts, was not to prime the pump for further gifts, but according to verse 17, to increase their own reward of grace, I seek not for the gift, but that these things may overflow to your account. Yet Paul, you see, very tactfully does not want them to think he despises what they have done. And so he describes in simple language the effect of their gift

6:28 in relationship to himself and to his needs. And he says concerning that gift received from Epaphroditus, who was the mediator, the conveyor of that gift that ultimately came from the Philippians, he says three things that this gift did for him. He uses three verbs. He says, first of all, I have in full.

6:56 And some commentators suggest, that this may well be a commercial term and that Paul may actually be using a little bit of humor, saying, in essence, I hand you the receipt with this letter, saying, paid in full. Anything you owe to me in a debt of love for my service to you has more than been met paid in full. I have in full. Then he uses a second verb and says more than that.

7:25 I am overflowing. When you fill a cup, sometimes you kids are pouring yourself a glass of water, a glass of milk. Once you fill up the cup, you pour any more and what happens? The water or the milk spills all over the table and mommy has to come and mop it up.

7:42 Well, Paul uses a verb to say, I am not only full, but I'm full to overflowing. I have in full. I am overflowing. And then he uses another verb.

7:53 He says, I have been made full. And I remain so. He uses a form of the verb which speaks of action in the past, the results of which continue into the present. And so by the use of these three words, the apostle makes it abundantly clear that the effect of the gift brought by the hand of Epaphroditus was to make him full, to overflowing, to make him full in such a way as that.

8:28 He says, I am in full. He remains full. Now, what did that mean in practical terms? Did it mean if you sat where Paul sat writing or dictating this letter, you would have seen a Lincoln Continental outside of his home sitting in the driveway?

8:44 Does it mean you would have looked out the other window and seen an ornate, beautiful, tear-shaped backyard pool? Does it mean if you looked through his personal effects, you would have found a ticket for a two-week trip to Hawaii? Does it mean to stay in the Hilton on Waikiki Beach? When he said, I have in full, I am overflowing, I have remained full, in what circumstances was he?

9:13 He was in prison, with very modest clothes upon his back, with no retirement fund, with no social security to back him in a pinch, with probably very little money to his name. And yet he says, I'm a wealthy man. I'm a wealthy man. Now, was this pious exaggeration?

9:38 No. It was not pious exaggeration. He was able to say, I have in full, I am overflowing, I have been made and remain full, because he was the man who could say, verses 11 and 12, I have learned in whatsoever sense. State, I am therein to be content.

10:06 I know how to abound. I know how to be abased. And in everything and in all things have I learned the secret both to be filled and to be hungry, to abound and to be in want. When you come to a man who sings his hallelujahs, when his stomach is playing a tune on his backbone, and his clothes, they're rotting off his back, and his body is crawling with vermin.

10:39 When you come to a man who sings his hallelujahs in that state, and you merely take the vermin off his back, give him enough food that his stomach is not screaming, and enough clothing that he's not socially embarrassed, and he feels like a king in a palace. You see, it's all a relative thing. What is some men's fullness is other men's. Poverty.

11:04 What is some men's fullness is other men's poverty. And Paul could say, I have in full, I'm overflowing, I have been made and remain full because he had learned the secret of contentment, irrespective of his relationship to things. And only such a man can say with Paul, when he gets a few modest gifts, expressing the love and concern of some poor saints, hundreds of miles away,

11:46 I have in full, I am overflowing, I have been made and remain full. And here I want to bring a very pointed word of application to you, my hearers, this morning. In the book of Proverbs chapter 30 and verse 15, the writer of the Proverbs, as observed, there are some things that never say enough.

Application: The Curse of Discontentment and Covetousness

12:15 There are three things that are never satisfied, yea, four that say not enough, Proverbs 30, 15, and then he names them in verse 16.

12:28 Sheol, or the grave, and the barren womb, the earth that is not satisfied with water, and the fire that saith not enough. And without being irreverent, may I say I have observed, there are three, yea, four, yea, five things that never say enough. And we could add to this list of the fire that never says enough, but continually seeks fuel to consume in itself, the parched earth that cannot have enough water, we can add to that list a covetous, discontent heart. It never has enough.

13:12 It is always saying, more, more, and then I will be full. And you give it everything it cries for, and it cries out still, more, more, more, more, and then I shall be full. And you know what one of the great curses of our society is?

13:39 That everything is programmed in the whole climate of the commercial mentality of American society to create a vacuum of unnecessary longing for things. If the gross national product is to increase, goods and services must be demanded and produced. And where we are already wealthy, all of us, by any standard of wealth, we are continually bombarded with subtle and sometimes blatant, blatant suggestions.

14:23 You must have more, more, more, more, more, more, more, so that some of you sitting here this morning could receive a thousand times more than what Paul received. And you would never think to write a letter and say, I have to the full, I'm overflowing, I am full, and remain so. You'd say, well it's nice to have those things, but if I can have that, and this, and that, and the other, then I shall be full. And you know, dear people,

15:05 that the Bible warns us of that mentality again and again and again. What I'm saying this morning is not the fruit of the heated spirit of a preacher who's got a hobby horse to ride, nor are my words the excess of intense rhetoric. You listen to the word of God, this morning, dear child of God. Hear the word, listen to it, in Hebrews 13, Hebrews chapter 13 and verse 5.

15:37 This is as much a command as the command, do not commit adultery, do not murder, listen to it, be ye free from the love of money, content with such things as you already have. For himself hath said, I will in no wise fail thee, neither will I in any wise forsake thee. Be free from the love of money, content with such things as you have.

16:21 Again the word of God says, having food in raiment, turn to 1 Timothy 6, let us therewith be content. If we have sufficient food to keep us from conscious hunger, sufficient clothing to keep us from nakedness and public shame, we are to be content. Look at the language of the word of God, 1 Timothy chapter 6. Godliness with contentment, verse 6, is great gain.

16:57 For we brought nothing into the world, and we can carry nothing out, but having food and covering, we shall be therewith content. But they that are minded to be rich, and in the context, minded to be rich means, you're determined to have more than your fundamental needs met, and you're willing to pay any price to have it. Look at the passage. They that are minded to be rich fall into a temptation and a snare, and many foolish and hurtful lusts.

17:35 Oh, hear the word of God this morning, such as drowned men in hell, perdition, and men are drowned, because they won't be content with food in raiment. I didn't write it. God, the Holy Ghost. They that are minded to be rich fall into a temptation and a snare, foolish and hurtful lusts, such as drowned men

18:18 in destruction and perdition. For the love of money, as the medium by which I can get more than mere food in raiment, is the root of all kinds of evil, the evil of beginning to neglect the means of grace, the evil of beginning to have false priorities, the evil of rationalization. It is the mother of a thousand evils. The love of money is the root of all kinds of evil, the evil of forsaking the home and convincing yourself as a mother with children still at home, you have to work when the only necessity is born of your greed.

19:02 The love of money is the root of all forms of evil, which some reaching after have been led astray from the faith and have pierced themselves through with many sorrows. Do you know what God calls that spirit? He calls it idolatry. Covetousness, which is idolatry.

19:27 Colossians 3.5 Jesus said in Luke 12.15 A man's life consists not in the abundance of the things which he possesses. You say, Pastor, you speak like a man possessed.

19:42 What's eating at you? I tell you what's eating at me. I have trembled in the presence of God this morning for the souls of some of you in this very building. I have wept and trembled for you dear young people having been conditioned in a society which says having food, fancier food, having raiment, crave fancier and more raiment, and having a roof over your head, crave a fancier roof.

20:21 And if the price we must pay to maintain our economic system is national idolatry of things, then may God bring us with our things into the rubble of national judgment. Those are at stake. Prohibition! Prohibition!

20:54 Prohibition! I didn't write those words. God the Holy Ghost did. Paul could say, I'm full.

21:11 I have everything I need. I have been made full and I remain full. Because he'd learned the secret of contentment not in things but in God. Now as I've said on previous occasions, this is not to deny the biblical doctrine of the uneven distribution of goods.

21:35 Later on in this very passage, he speaks to rich people and he doesn't tell them they're sinning by being rich. He says, charge those that are rich to use their riches wisely. This church does not hold any doctrine of a flat, even, forced or unforced distribution of wealth. No.

21:56 But I'm seeking to press home to your conscience, my friend, whether or not you could have written this letter. Sitting in a prison, possibly with vermin crawling over you, with just a modicum of food, with no retirement benefits, your life in jeopardy, could you have written a letter saying, you know what I am? I'm a full man. I'm an overflowing man.

22:17 I'm a content man. Could you? Come on now, be honest. Does your lifestyle prove it right now?

22:26 Does the way you live right now prove it? Paul could. Because he said he had learned the secret both to abound and to be abased. May God help us to take the word of exhortation to heart.

The Essence of Their Gift to God: A Sweet-Smelling Sacrifice

22:45 But we hasten on. He not only says something about the effect of their gift in relationship to himself, but notice what he says about the essence of their gift in relationship to God. And this is amazing language. 18b.

23:03 Having said that the things received from Epaphroditus made him those three things, now he describes them this way. Look at the language. He says they are an odor of a sweet smell, a sacrifice acceptable, well pleasing unto God. Now he's obviously using a figure of speech that we call a metaphor.

23:30 He doesn't say they are like an odor of a sweet smell, like an acceptable sacrifice, like something well pleasing to God. But he takes language right out of the old sacrificial ritual of the Old Testament. In fact this language first occurs in Genesis chapter 8. And I want you to look at this passage because it sets as it were the framework for its use throughout all of the Old Testament.

23:58 It's after the flood and Noah has come forth with his family and in gratitude to God he offers a sacrifice, Genesis 8.20. And Noah builded an altar unto the Lord and took of every clean beast and of every clean bird and offered burnt offerings on the altar. Now look at the language.

24:24 And the Lord smelled the sweet savor. Now when they translated the Hebrew Bible into Greek, that's the very language that Paul uses writing in Greek in Philippians. The Lord smelled the sweet savor. Sweet savor.

24:42 And the Lord said in his heart, I will not again curse the ground anymore for man's sake. Now if you go home today and you find that the roast has been left in the oven too long and when you open the front door billows of smoke greet you, how do you regard that sharp acrid smell of burning beef flesh? You don't say, Woo, isn't that sweet? The roast is burning.

25:12 You don't regard it, you regard it as a terrible thing. When you smell flesh that's being burnt and yet here it says when Noah offered up these animals and their flesh was being consumed God smelled it and said it's sweet. Now it's a figure of speech obviously. God doesn't have a nose such as we have.

25:36 But it's a beautiful figure of speech. You see, it's what the sacrifice represented that was pleasing to God in his heart. And so this description of the offering in its smell ascending heavenward as a sweet savor, something acceptable and well pleasing to God became the technical language of acceptable sacrifices. That terminology, an odor of a sweet smell is used no fewer than twenty times in the book of Leviticus.

26:08 Again and again, God describes an offering and he says when you offer it it will be a sweet odor, a sweet savor unto God. So you see the figure of speech. Paul is saying that the essence of the gift of the Philippians was like that of an Old Testament sacrifice. When that sacrifice was offered in the way that God appointed from a person whose heart was experiencing the thoughts of obedience and faith and gratitude which God mandated, when a man offered a sacrifice in the right way, with the right spirit, God smelled the savor of the sacrifice

26:53 and it was well pleasing to him, it was acceptable to him. Now Paul says when Epaphroditus came from Philippi and he had his knapsack on his back, when he took it off and opened up that knapsack and took out the clothes that you sent to me and he took out the little leather pouch with the shekels in it, do you know what happened? My need was as it were an altar of sacrifice. Your gifts brought by Epaphroditus were the sacrifice laid upon the altar of my need.

27:33 And when Epaphroditus laid down that knapsack, God smelled something and he smiled and he said it's a sweet savor, it's an acceptable spiritual sacrifice, it is well pleasing to me because it is a sacrifice that would only come because of what Christ had done. It was Christ who in his mighty work had moved the hearts of the Philippians to be concerned for the Apostle and who under the impulse of the Spirit of Christ gathered this gift and sent it by the hand of their beloved servant and representative, Epaphroditus. And now the Apostle says

28:18 with respect to God your gift was nothing less than an acceptable spiritual sacrifice. That's the very language used of course in Hebrews 13. Let's look at just two parallel passages so that you'll be convinced that I have not expounded by imagination but letting Scripture interpret Scripture. Hebrews 13 and verse 15 Through him that is through Christ let us offer up a sacrifice of praise to God continually the fruit of lips which make confession to his name but to do good and to share

29:02 and that word communicate or share means exactly the thing that the Philippians did to Paul to share in the tangible needs of God's people do not forget for with such sacrifices God is well pleased. See the very language sacrifice well pleasing to God. And then over to 1 Peter chapter 2 and you find similar language in a more general sense where Peter says that the people of God saved by the grace of God who've come into living union with Christ he is the living stone verse 4

29:46 rejected indeed of men but with God elect and precious verse 5 you also as living stones having come into union with Christ we share his life ye also as living stones are built up a spiritual house then he changes the imagery to be a holy priesthood we are both the temple and the priesthood and what do we do as priests we offer up spiritual sacrifices here's the language again acceptable to God through Jesus what a lofty description

Application: Giving as Worship and Against Carnal Manipulation

30:30 of their mundane expressions of love a few shekels some ordinary garments perhaps and a few other things to minister to his elementary needs and yet Paul sees them in no lesser light than a sacrifice well pleasing unto God the odor of a sweet smell and it's in the light of this dear people that we as your elders in the ordering of our public worship have made the giving of our offerings to God an integral part of our worship services do you know why we do that

31:13 why don't we just have boxes at the rear everyone who gives out of principle will give whether you pass a plate or have a box available why do we do that you know why because of this very passage we are convinced by the word of God that giving out of Christian motives to the advancement of the work of Christ in the meeting the needs of the servants of Christ and the people of Christ is nothing less than a spiritual sacrifice it is now what it would have been for you in the old covenant if you believed in and loved and trusted the living God Jehovah how would you have expressed your love and trust and submission

31:58 you would have brought a sacrifice in the way appointed and as a true lover of and truster in the Lord had you come in the old covenant with your sacrifice and you brought it in the way appointed and the priest laid it upon an altar and it's consumed flesh sent up a smoke God would have smelled it and smiled Paul says now in the new covenant we bring no lambs we bring no turtle doves we bring no bullock no ox but we can bring the fruit of our labors in the form of gifts for the work of God and the servants of God and the ongoing progress for the work of God of the kingdom of God and brought in the way

32:42 of faith and obedience God smells it every time we bring it and he smiles and he says it's well pleasing to me you see God is here smelling every service and when he smells that which is a sweet odor gifts given out of a right motive gifts given reflective of the power of his gospel upon our hearts God is pleased and God accepts the sacrifice and so by way of application I underscore first of all that it is this concept which mandates our giving as an integral part of our worship but secondly

33:27 it is this lofty ideal which forbids all carnal manipulation and fleshly appeals for money in the work of Christ's kingdom one of the things that comes through again and again in the Old Testament ritual and then it's picked up in the New Testament in 2 Corinthians 10-7 God wanted no sacrifice that did not come from a willing heart he said it must be a free will offering it must come from the heart and Paul said in 2 Corinthians 10-7 let us not give grudgingly or of necessity for God loves a what a cheerful giving and you've been told before

34:11 that cheerful is a mild translation God loves a hilarious giver the person who in his giving says oh what a privilege to give to the God who gave his only begotten son to give that others may know of him that my own soul may be fed by the word of truth that men may be set apart to labor in the word and in doctrine what a privilege we do not give grudgingly saying well if I don't God will zap me and punish me or of necessity because my wife will check up on me and I know if she does she'll get out of my case if I don't give no not grudgingly nor of necessity God loves the cheerful giver and that's why in this place you will never hear

34:55 any carnal pressure to give never so long as some of us have any spiritual sanity or breath that's why and perhaps it surprised some of you you said well you know Pastor Martin and the other men can put things across pretty convincingly I wonder why they don't do a sell job on us about giving more this is why this is why because God doesn't want what is coerced out of you by psychological or emotional manipulation God wants that which comes from the heart

35:35 under the impress of the power of the gospel that's what God desires and there's a third line of application and it's this this glorious concept ought to make our weekly giving to the Lord a joyous occasion when the offering plates have passed is it something you just tolerate while your mind ranges from Dan to Beersheba and from the Red Sea to the Jordan River and back again or do you as the plate has passed think in these terms Lord a sweet incense is a sweet incense sending heavenward I'm going to add to the volume that incense when I place my check or my offering on the plate

36:20 you see this concept ought to be present with us in our very acts of giving you know nothing pleases an obedient son or daughter more than to know that that son or daughter is pleasing his or her father an obedient son or daughter looks for the slightest intimation in the eye the countenance the reaction of a mum or dad when they've done something to please them now they may have done it awkwardly and imperfectly maybe they thought they'd do up the dishes while mum was gone and they broke three in the process and the grease is just rearranged on a few of the plates but you know when a loving parent sees that the child meant well they overlook the broken plates and the rearranged grease

37:05 and they pat the little son or daughter in the head and say thank you for doing that for mummy or daddy now would that kind of response be in the heart of sinful fathers and mothers and not be in the heart of God it's a wonderful thing to know that he smiles when we bring in the way of earnest desire to please him that expression of our love as he has ordained but then we must hurry on and touch briefly not only on the effect of their gift in relationship to Paul the essence of their gift in relationship to God but now notice the result of their gift

The Result of Their Gift for Themselves: God's Promise to Supply

37:49 in relationship to themselves verse 19 begins with a conjunction and in other words it's something that flows out of verse 18 and my God shall supply so this verse is really setting forth the result of their gift in relationship to themselves and verse 19 is not valid if detached from the preceding context and if we were to summarize the result of their gift in relationship to themselves what would we say well simply this it placed the Philippians under the canopy of a sweeping and wonderful promise

38:34 of the full supply of their necessities look at the language and my God shall supply supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus let's break it down very briefly he says and you Philippians who have offered up this spiritual sacrifice to God who out of your own poverty have given for the ongoing of the gospel and the consolation of the gospel servant whose name is Paul Paul says and my God now there may be several reasons

39:18 as to why he personalizes his relationship or speaks at his personal relationship and I would not want to absolutize but perhaps this is part of the thought my God my God who heard my cry when I was pouring out myself in the work of the gospel and through no fault of my own I've landed in the Roman prison simply seeking to walk in the integrity of my conscience before God and in this prison destitute of my need and yet I have pleaded his promises that if I gave it would be given unto me good measure pressed down I have proven him he is my God he is not God in detachment

40:02 he is my God whom I have known and proven in my own time of necessity who has met my need through the grace that he's worked in your own hearts my God shall supply every need of yours more accurately rendered my God will fulfill every need of yours and he uses the same word for need that he used in verse 16 you Philippians sent once and again to my need when I had less than the bare necessities of life you became aware of this and responded and became God's instrument to meet my need

40:46 now my God shall supply or fulfill every need of yours that is when you are in a situation of pressing necessity you have less than the modicum essential for the bare existence in life that is acceptable you don't have food enough to eat to sustain your life clothing to protect you from the elements when you're in need my God shall supply every need of yours and then he says he will do it according to that is in reference to the standard of his own riches then we have two prepositional phrases

41:29 in glory and in Christ Jesus and the commentators go round and round on what the in glory means does it mean his riches which are in glory pointing to the place or his riches since they are his and he's a glorious God are glorious riches or does he mean he'll supply them in glory that is in the world to come well I think the easiest one to dispatch with is the last small comfort it gives to a Christian who is destitute of bare necessities to know well I mean it is a comfort to know that the time of pressing necessity will be over in the world to come but I don't think Paul was quite that spiritual in his perspective I think he is speaking of the same thing speaking of the same kind of need that he had

42:13 you sent once and again to my need my God shall supply your need but because he is a glorious God and his riches are as it were the expression of his own being they are riches characterized by glory so my God shall supply all of your need according to his riches in glory and he will do so in connection with Christ Jesus that is because you are united to him and because in him there are promises not only for the life to come the scripture says but pertaining to this present life he that spared not his own son but delivered him up for us all

42:56 how shall he not with him also freely give us all things imagine how this must have sounded to the Philippians the first day it was read in their hearing some of them perhaps like that widow all they had was a pittance and when the appeal went forth our brother Paul is at Rome he is destitute of some of life's barest necessities brethren though we do not have much and many of you are in a state of crushing poverty we must not be insensitive to the needs of our brother he has sent us no appeal but in the providence of God we have become aware of his need it has been ten years since we have been able to respond to his needs oh let us prayerfully seek to do

43:40 what is honoring to God one can imagine some poor widow struggling with her little pittance saying but this is all I have laid up for a rainy day this is all I have for next week's groceries does God expect something of me and she wrestles and yet in faith she gives something even out of her want as Jesus said and now what does God say my God shall support me my God shall supply every need of yours my God shall supply every need of yours we have heard the statement until it becomes trite in our hearing but it is true no man can out give God now how did Paul know

44:23 that God would supply all of their needs or every need of theirs well he may have known that by way of being an organ of direct revelation he was an apostle but I rather think what he was doing was simply distilling promises already given both in the Old and the New Testaments let's look at several of them Proverbs chapter 3 how did Paul know that God would supply every need of the Philippians this congregation so generous in its giving to his need well he knew Proverbs 3 verses 9 and 10 honor the Lord with thy substance and with the first fruits of all thine increase

45:06 so shall your barns be filled with plenty and your vats shall overflow with new wine you give to God and to his cause and God will reward that giving Proverbs 11 verses 24 and 25 there is that scattereth and increases yet more there is that withholds more than is meet but it tends only to want the liberal soul shall be made fat and he that waters shall be watered also himself you see the principle here's a man continually scattering his seed you say well he'll have no seed left for himself he says there is that scatters

45:51 and yet increases yet more and here's the man who says well I've got to hold on to some for myself it tends only to poverty and then in Matthew 6 in verse 33 our Lord's well known word seek ye first his kingdom and his righteousness and all these things shall be added to you what are the things necessary food and raiment and in the context he is saying seeking the kingdom means in this context laying up treasures in earth not being a grasper after material wealth and possessions seek first the kingdom of God and these things shall be added unto you

46:34 and then the wonderful promise of Luke 6 38 again from the lips of our blessed Lord give and it shall be given unto you good measure pressed down shaken together running over they shall give into your bosom for with what measure you meet or measure out it shall be measured to you again Paul knew those words he knew those words and he believed them and so because the Philippians had been watering when they themselves seemed to have so little water because they were scattering seed of Christian benevolence when they seemed to have so little because they were giving

47:18 when there seemed to be so little to give he says oh Philippians my God is the God of the promises of Proverbs my God is the God who promised in his own son that if you seek first the kingdom all other things will be added my God is the God who spoke in his son saying give and it shall be given unto you I have no problem saying to you Philippians my God shall supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus dear people that's one of the hardest lessons for us to learn

Application: Proving God's Faithfulness in Giving

48:01 because we don't want to walk by faith we want to walk by sight if God will give me this then I will do that I have one more thing to say when I was in the church my husband had a young couple come to me some months ago the husband came and said pastor before my wife and I were married we gave systematically and proportionally to the work of God after we were married we continued it at this present time they have no little ones both are working out of the home but they said we're facing a problem we've got certain needs that have come upon us and we don't see how in the world as we have given what should we do I said well I'll tell you what to do and I turned into some

48:42 passages in the word of God prove me now here with God says I said up till now you've given out of principle and that's been good you have given as habit that's good but it really hasn't cost you anything nor has it been a test to your faith now God is saying your principles are fixed your habits are fixed now I want to teach you some new lessons of what it is to give in a context of faith and I said you get down before God and tell God Lord we don't see how we're going to meet these needs and still continue to give but we're going to put you to the test not to tempt you but to prove that you mean what you say three or four months later the young man came to me after

49:24 prayer meeting and said pastor I want to give you a report on what's happened you know what he told me he said our bills haven't been paid I've gotten myself hopelessly in debt no no his face was beaming and he said you said pastor you know what God did one item that we thought we had to have and it was going to cost us and us you know what God did God brought the price down about a full third and then you know such and such and he just began to tell me what God did to fulfill his word of me thank God

50:09 in spite of our failures we proved that to some degree with this phase one some of us can remember when we sat down on looked on paper at the economics of Trinity Church the economics in society and all the rest and said we can never expect to build this building it's built and there's no bank holding the is built in favor nine people question my sanity that I would encourage us to be taking on a project like the Academy when we had no building taking on more missionaries when we have no building and have no mission individual is still a failure you know and you know I find my people pushing and pushing in and pushing work and pushing work and pushing work and not building up massive cash reserves.

50:53 But brethren, it was this principle that motivated your leaders. It was this principle. If we do what we must do to respond to the needs that God deposits before us, God will not be debtor to us.

51:11 And this building, constructed and paid for, is a monument not of any man or group of men's cleverness, but of the faithfulness of Almighty God.

51:25 It's pretty hard to argue with brick and mortar and plaster and sheetrock and air-conditioning ducts. The living monuments of the faithfulness of God. And that's why Paul ends where I want to stop this morning. Verse 20.

Doxology: To Our God and Father Be the Glory

51:41 He can't think of these things without being caught up in a doxology. And so he moves right on, and he ends with those words to which I simply direct, direct your attention as we close. Having said these things, now unto our God and Father be the glory forever and ever. Amen.

52:06 You see, he cannot contemplate the work of God moving the hearts of the Philippians to respond to his need. He cannot think of his God who is the tender Father who supplies the needs of his people. He cannot think of his covenant faithfulness, as he meditates upon these things. Just as in Romans 9-11, after meditating on the great mysteries of the sovereignty of God in free and sovereign grace, it leads him up to the point where he cries out of him, through him, unto him are all things to whom be glory.

52:42 Now when he's even saying thank you for gifts, he's led up to the same fountainhead and says to this God, be glory forever and forever. And then he adds the word, let it so be. He adds his amen to his own doxology, so let it be. And oh may God bring us to that place where we have such a God-centered perspective on the most mundane elements of Christian duty and privilege and responsibility that overarching everything in our giving and our receiving, in our interaction with the needs of our own assembly

53:25 and the needs of our missionaries and the needs of the servants of God to the ends of the earth that the great passion of our hearts will be that unto our God and Father glory will be rendered forever and ever. And I trust there is not a man or woman, boy or girl in Trinity Church who cannot add his amen to that desire of the apostle. Now unto our God be glory forever and ever. Amen.

53:57 Can you add your amen from the heart?

54:01 You see that's the mark of a true Christian. He wants above all else that God shall be glorified in every department of his life.

Concluding Prayer and Exhortation

54:12 I'm going to kind of miss my little thank you note. It's been a wonderful companion for these weeks but I hope all of us by the grace of God will have learned something afresh if not new truths, old truths brought out in new light that will make us more and more a people with large hearts and open hands to respond to the needs of Christ's work throughout the earth. May we never be weary in well-doing knowing that in due season we shall reap if we faint not. Let us pray.

54:48 Our Father we stand before you again acknowledging that all things are naked and open before your eyes and we pray that the arrows of your truth will find their mark in all of our hearts for those who sit amongst us this morning held in the crippling chains of covetousness. Oh may something said this morning be efficacious in your hands and by the power of the Spirit to loose them from those terrible chains that we are in.

55:32 We pray that you will drown them in perdition and destruction help our dear children and young people growing up in a world that conditions them to be covetous oh that they may resist that spirit and learn what it is to be content with such things as they have. And our Father we pray that you will give us renewed joy in our giving knowing that our giving is indeed a sacrifice well pleasing unto you the odor of a sweet smell help us that this perspective will ever be with us so that our acts of giving week by week

56:15 may indeed be genuine acts of new covenant worship. Hear then our prayers and seal the word to our hearts and may we prove the very promise we have read this morning as by your grace we walk in the pattern of that Philippian church with its large heart and its large and open hands. Hear us and answer us for the glory of your name through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.