150215 Fruit That Increases

Philippians 4:14-20 Yet it was kind of you to share my trouble. ¹⁵ And you Philippians yourselves know that in the beginning of the gospel, when I left Macedonia, no church entered into partnership with me in giving and receiving, except you only. ¹⁶ Even in Thessalonica you sent me help for my needs once and again. ¹⁷ Not that I seek the gift, but I seek the fruit that increases to your credit. ¹⁸ I have received full payment, and more. I am well supplied, having received from Epaphroditus the gifts you sent, a fragrant offering, a sacrifice acceptable and pleasing to God. ¹⁹ And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus. ²⁰ To our God and Father be glory forever and ever. Amen.

In some ways the letter to the Philippians is the most “happy” letter in the New Testament. The Philippians have been firm supporters of the apostle Paul in his missionary journeys. The church in Philippi was only a few weeks old when Paul left there and went to Thessalonica. The Philippians helped to support Paul as he went on his way in service to the Lord Jesus. He commended them for their giving heart. Not because he wanted more from them but because he wanted them to be blessed. Remember, according to Jesus, it is more blessed to give than to receive.

We forget sometimes that when we give of our finances, or resources, that we are giving to God not to man. My father had the gift of giving. I have no idea how much money he gave to ministries and missionaries during his life. One day I asked him if he ever made an effort to find out exactly how the money he gave is being used. He replied that he was much more concerned about what he kept than what he gave. He told me that once he had given a gift the responsibility for the money was transferred from him to the person or ministry that received it. He said that he gave what he believed God wanted him to and from that point forward it was God’s problem. Paul could see that the Philippian church, in supplying his needs, was really giving to the Lord himself. He saw that…

Their gift to Paul — a sacrifice to God. Turn with me to Hebrews 13:16.  Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God.

The writer of Hebrews understood exactly what Paul was talking about. He commended the recipients of his letter to be careful to do good and share what they had. They could not give what they did not have but they could give out of what they have. And when a person gives according to what they have it is pleasing to God. I usually connect the word sacrifice with giving more than we seem to be able to afford. But the truth is everything offered to God is a sacrifice. Just as the Old Testament saint would bring a lamb, or a goat, to the priest it was offered to God and burned in the flames of the altar. In fact we are to give more than our material resources. We are to give ourselves “as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God,” (Romans 12:1) and when we do our needs become God’s problem and…

God will supply. Turn with me to 2 Corinthians 9:10-11. He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed for sowing and increase the harvest of your righteousness. ¹¹ You will be enriched in every way to be generous in every way, which through us will produce thanksgiving to God.

Everything that we have comes from God. In this passage “seed” is God’s provision for our maintenance. In our modern world the “seed” is usually in the form of money. We get confused sometimes and think that somehow we produced that money and of course we did work for it but we must remember that God supplied it. It matters very little who signed your check. It is God who provides it. And he supplies it for a particular purpose. God will supply all our needs so that we have food on the table (and we should offer thanks for it) and housing and clothing as well as the little extras in life that might make us more comfortable. Then God says that he would provide this for us and multiply it so that we can sow it into the lives of others. He says that we will be enriched in every way so that we can be generous in every way. God doesn’t have a printing press in heaven that turns out money which he drops on his people. If he did it would be counterfeit! His “printing press” is the paychecks of his people who are able to give to the needs of others and that will cause them to praise God for their supply. When we face a need we need to seek God’s way of providing it. We should not be anxious or troubled about our needs because God has promised to meet…

Every need of ours. Turn with me to Matthew 6:31-33.  Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ ³² For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. ³³ But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.

In this beautiful passage from the Sermon on the Mount Jesus shows us the path to provision. Someone who has put their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ should not be anxious about the everyday things that are needed. One of the things that should separate the church from the world is the ability to trust God for our resources. Our responsibility is to seek the kingdom of God first. If you are born again you have his righteousness that is part of his grace gift to his children. Since we have the kingdom and his righteousness he will give us all things that we need. He will do this, not according to our ability but…

According to his riches. Turn with me to Colossians 1:16. For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him.

We must remember that he is the creator of all things. There is nothing in heaven, the heavens, or the earth that is not the result of God’s creative force. He has the right of ownership of everything. Even the resources of the ungodly belong to God. Everything was created by him and everything was created for him! When we talk about his riches we are talking about wealth beyond the imagination. Resources that are more than we can ever consider. Through the psalmist God said that he was not in need of anything because every beast of the forest belong to him and the cattle on a thousand hills are his. Not only that, but he said that everything that moves in the fields is his. (Psalm 50:10-11) God has all the resources necessary to meet all the needs of his people.

One problem is that we get confused about what our needs are! He promises to provide our needs not our greeds. The next time you have a need that is not being met spend a little time with God in prayer about whether or not you really need it. If it is a real need then it will be provided in God’s time and God’s way. All of the resources that we need God has…

In glory in Christ Jesus. Turn with me to 1 Peter 1:3-5. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, ⁴ to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, ⁵ who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.

Our salvation includes an ownership of an inheritance that is reserved for us in heaven. I believe that God’s heavenly resources include our financial needs. No, I’m not saying that God has money in heaven I’m saying that he has, in Christ Jesus, people who will provide our resources. Usually we look to the wealthy and forget that everybody can give something. When Paul wrote to the Philippians he was commending them for their giving to him. They were sharing in his trouble. In fact from the very beginning of his ministry in Europe the Philippians had been giving to his needs.

They were not a wealthy people! They did not hold back because of that instead they deprived themselves in order to get the gospel to the rest of Greece. They were so grateful to God for their salvation that they gave more than they could afford. Now God is going to supply every need of theirs according to his riches in Christ Jesus…

Because they gave out of their poverty. Turn with me to 2 Corinthians 8:1-7. We want you to know, brothers, about the grace of God that has been given among the churches of Macedonia, ² for in a severe test of affliction, their abundance of joy and their extreme poverty have overflowed in a wealth of generosity on their part. ³ For they gave according to their means, as I can testify, and beyond their means, of their own accord, ⁴ begging us earnestly for the favor of taking part in the relief of the saints— ⁵ and this, not as we expected, but they gave themselves first to the Lord and then by the will of God to us. ⁶ Accordingly, we urged Titus that as he had started, so he should complete among you this act of grace. ⁷ But as you excel in everything—in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in all earnestness, and in our love for you—see that you excel in this act of grace also.

The churches of Macedonia include, but may not be limited to, the Philippian church. They had two things going for them. They had an abundance of joy and extreme poverty. That combination is something that God is able to use for his glory. When Paul went to Thessalonica, and on to Corinth and Athens, he was being supplied with funds from Macedonia. It seems from this passage of Scripture that Paul had tried to turn aside their giving because they had such great need of their own. So they begged him earnestly for the favor of allowing them to give.

I remember once when I was a young child at church with a nickel that I had brought for the offering. I was sitting in the back of the church and when the ushers passed the plate they did not come to me. I still recall the pain I felt at not being able to participate in that offering. I wanted to give. I am sure that my five cents would not affect the ability of the church to minister. After the service I took the money and put it in the offering plate. No one wants to be ignored or rejected. Every gift is of value and often the accumulated “small gifts” will make up the need meeting. It is not just the rich who give. God gives resources to the poor so that they can give as well and be blessed. And when we give according to our ability it is God who should get the glory not us.

Too often people seem to think that the ability to give for the needs of others is reserved for the rich. Paul wants the Philippians to know that giving out of their poverty always results in God taking responsibility for their needs. Today we need to apply these truths to our own lives. Since God gave us his Son we should be willing to give back to him all that we have. Tithing is a good beginning but legalistic tithing is not what God wants. God wants everything we have to belong to him. We are simply caretakers and need to recognize God’s ownership of all things. As we practice a giving heart God will meet our needs. Do you have a need? In the words of our Lord Jesus, “Give and it will be given to you. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap. For with the measure you use it will be measured back to you.” (Luke 6:38) Let God supply your needs! Don’t keep struggling in your own strength! Put your faith in God for salvation and then for all your needs!

All scriptures quotes are from: The Holy Bible: English standard version. 2001. Wheaton: Standard Bible Society.

150208 Power to do All Things

Philippians 4:10-13  I rejoiced in the Lord greatly that now at length you have revived your concern for me. You were indeed concerned for me, but you had no opportunity. ¹¹ Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. ¹² I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. ¹³ I can do all things through him who strengthens me.

Paul now turns to the conclusion of his letter to the Philippian church. He wants them to know that he greatly appreciates a gift they had sent him. He had rejoiced greatly, not over the gift, but over their concern for him. It is tremendously encouraging, anytime in life, for us to know that someone cares for us. From personal experience Paul had already told the Philippians that they will be provided for and they do not have to be anxious about anything. More than anything else Paul wanted them to know that the God of peace will be with them when they focus on the commendable things in life. In his words of appreciation he wants them to understand that God has also provided for him. That all his needs have been met.

It would have been very easy for Paul to be offended by help instead of…

Rejoicing in other’s concern. Paul was very familiar with the Old Testament Scriptures. In fact, he had probably memorized the passages I want to read to you now. Turn with me to Proverbs 11:2. When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with the humble is wisdom. Paul was a very self-sufficient individual. He worked with his own hands rather than taking support from the churches he had founded. Today he would be called a bi-vocational pastor. He had expressed pride in his self-support but he knew that disgrace is the companion of pride and wisdom is the companion of humility. Paul understood that there was a time to stand on your own two feet and there was a time to receive help from others. We can reinforce the concept by turning to Proverbs 16:18. Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall. I have quoted this passage many times. Most often I was talking to myself not to someone else. Paul would have known that he should not be prideful with regard to his support. Actually, since he was in prison he had very little opportunity to support himself.

When Paul was traveling to Jerusalem for the last time he stopped along the way to talk to the Ephesian elders. In that conversation he spoke of the support that he made for himself and those who were with him. Turn with me to Acts 20:34-35. You yourselves know that these hands ministered to my necessities and to those who were with me. ³⁵ In all things I have shown you that by working hard in this way we must help the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he himself said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’

He wanted to encourage the Ephesians to be givers. He quoted the Lord Jesus as saying, “It is more blessed to give than to receive.” In doing so he was laying down a principal for receiving as well as giving. In order for us to receive something someone has to give something. Often, out of pride or even selfishness, we try to be givers and that’s a good thing! However, when we are willing to be receivers we are giving someone else the opportunity to give and be “more blessed” as Jesus had said. We need to put aside our pride sometimes and just bless someone else by allowing them to help meet our need. It may be in physical help or in financial help. It takes faith to know that we will be taken care of even if it is by someone else’s hands. Because of the generosity of the Philippian church Paul would remind them that their gifts would lead to God’s supplying every need of theirs according to his riches in glory. God’s riches in glory — there can be no treasure larger than that! Paul had gone through a long period of time learning these truths.

Now let’s look at…

Paul’s education in faith. Turn with me to 2 Corinthians 11:22-30. In this passage Paul is correcting the Corinthians with regard to people who had come in to pervert their faith. In order to do so he needs to boast in some things that we usually don’t boast about. Listen while I read. Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they offspring of Abraham? So am I. ²³ Are they servants of Christ? I am a better one—I am talking like a madman—with far greater labors, far more imprisonments, with countless beatings, and often near death. ²⁴ Five times I received at the hands of the Jews the forty lashes less one. ²⁵ Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I was adrift at sea; ²⁶ on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from robbers, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers; ²⁷ in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure. ²⁸ And, apart from other things, there is the daily pressure on me of my anxiety for all the churches. ²⁹ Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is made to fall, and I am not indignant? ³⁰ If I must boast, I will boast of the things that show my weakness.

I often go to this passage of Scripture especially when I think that things are a little tough on me! What Paul went through in order to be able to preach the gospel is so much more difficult than anything we might face in America today.

When we were in college there was a ministerial student who lived near us. Now we were in the deep South and it did get very hot there. This particular student was having a very difficult time because he didn’t have an air conditioner and he just couldn’t study under those conditions. When I replied to him was, “Imagine the apostle Paul traveling along a Roman road with his air conditioner on his shoulder!” Needless to say my friend was not impressed with my level of compassion. You see Paul had learned that there were positive values in the things that had happened to him. Many times we must have difficulty in order to recognize God’s hand of protection.

These other preachers that had come in to take away Paul’s followers had not experienced what he had. He said that his labor was greater! Specifically, he was imprisoned more than they were! Imagine today a preacher boasting of being in prison. Or being beaten more times than he could count! In serving the churches Paul had been often near death. Five times he had been beaten with 39 lashes. Three times he had been beaten with rods. Once he was stoned (and I believe he died). And then he lists a long account of the dangers that he had faced. All of this was teaching him a faith-walk that he could learn no other way.

He had many things that he could boast of. He was a Hebrew, a descendent of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin and a servant of Christ. But he said that if he should boast he would boast about things that showed his weakness rather than his strength. Because when we are weak God is strong!

When Paul cried out for his thorn in the flesh to be removed God’s answer was, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” (2 Corinthians 12:9) He had come to understand that it is not our ability that gets us through. In fact, I believe the greatest ability that we can have is “avail” ability and “teach” ability. Paul had learned faith through trusting God during horrible persecution.

Through all the things that Paul had experienced he had learned how to be content whether he was experiencing need or…

Having plenty. Turn with me to Romans 8:31-32. What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? ³² He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?

If God is for us and he certainly is who can be against us? We need to remember that God’s only Son, born of Mary, left the glory of heaven to come to the gloom of earth for us. God was willing to give himself for us then how can we not expect that he will give us everything we need. NEED not GREED!

If God will give his Son for us shouldn’t we be able to trust him? To trust him for all that we need? In his second letter to the Corinthians Paul had said that, “God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work.” Surely God will meet all our needs. And yet at times we find ourselves…

Experiencing need. Turn with me to 2 Corinthians 12:7-10. So to keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited. ⁸ Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. ⁹ But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. ¹⁰ For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

Paul immediately saw that there was a reason for God not giving him a positive answer to this prayer. I think this passage tells us that Paul had a tendency towards pride or conceit. In order to keep him from being conceited God gave him a thorn in the flesh. We do not know exactly what that was. I believe the only hints we can find is in Paul’s letter to the Galatians where he refers to his writing with large letters. And earlier in the letter where he said that the Galatians would have gouged out their own eyes and given them to him. So it may be that Paul’s “thorn in the flesh” was an eye ailment. Some will argue that it could not have been physical but rather was a spiritual “thorn in the flesh”. Most of those who take that position do not believe that Christians should ever be sick. Our God is a healer in fact all healing comes from God. However, many times illness also comes from God. In my own life a number of times I have been stopped in my tracks by illness in order for God to talk to me before I did something really stupid.

Often we use this passage of Scripture to explain a time of need in our life. But remember, Paul said we might be “brought low” or “abound”. We might “face plenty” or “hunger”. We might have “abundance” or “need”. The consequence of this faith learning experience in Paul’s life is found in verse 13 of Philippians chapter 4. “I can do all things through him who strengthens me.” Weakness or strength, rich or poor matters very little in the life of a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ. God will meet all our needs and give us enough to share with others as well. We need to recognize…

The source of strength. Turn with me to Ephesians 3:14-19.  For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, ¹⁵ from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, ¹⁶ that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, ¹⁷ so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, ¹⁸ may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, ¹⁹ and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

This is a prayer that we can pray for ourselves or for our Christian friends. We have a great need to be strengthened with power through God’s Spirit. Christ dwells in our heart through faith and our strength grows out of the love of the indwelling Christ. We need desperately to be rooted and grounded in love. When we are we will have understanding that goes beyond knowledge being filled with all the fullness of God. This is not just for men like the apostle Paul. It is a privilege for every believer!

Paul was able to maintain an excellent balance in his life even though he was in prison. He was writing from the Imperial jail in Rome. It must’ve been especially difficult for Paul since he was cut off from his friends and in one of the largest cities in the world under arrest. When he received this gift from the Philippians he rejoiced that they cared for him. He had had an extensive education in believing God. God had revealed to Paul a mystery that had been held back from mankind for thousands of years. That mystery was simply that the gospel of Jesus Christ was going to bind together people from all races, ages, and nationalities into one body called the church. Without a doubt Jesus had given Paul (and us) everything needed to, not just survive, but flourish in service to Christ. I hope each of you have reached out to the Lord Jesus and come to him in salvation. He promises never to leave you nor forsake you if you put your trust in him. He will meet all your needs.

All scriptures quotes are from: The Holy Bible: English standard version. 2001. Wheaton: Standard Bible Society.