Thank you Sam. Good morning. It is good to be with you all here in the room and online. If you are an online or I just want you to know that we are so thankful that you're watching and we miss you, can't wait to see you when we can all be back together in person again. And for those in the room as well, it's such a great privilege to be here with you this morning. I want to invite you to turn with me in your Bible to Philippians 4. We have been studying the Book of Philippians for the past 10 weeks and we will be bringing our study of the Book of Philippians to a close this morning as we look at the things that Paul says to this congregation that he loves at the end of this letter. As we've talked about during this whole study, the Book of Philippians is a letter from the Apostle Paul to what appears to be his favorite congregation, his favorite church, which was this church in Philippi. You are my favorite church by the way in case you didn't know that. And he loves this congregation and he's teaching this congregation about what it looks like to have a more and more Christ-centered life and the transformation in our lives that takes place when that happens as well as the joy that we experience when we trust him more and more. So let's take a look at what the Apostle Paul says here in Philippians 4, 14 through 23. And then we'll see what the Lord has to say to us today through his word and spirit. Here now, God's holy, true, and life-giving word. Yet it was kind of you to share my trouble. 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. Even in Thessalonica, you sent me help for my needs once and again. Not that I seek the gift, but I seek the fruit that increases to your credit. I have received full payment, and I am well-supplied, having received from the Paphroditus, the gift you sent, a fragrant offering, a sacrifice acceptable, and pleasing to God. And my God will supply every need of yours, according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus. To God our Father be glory forever and ever. Amen. Greet every saint in Christ Jesus, the brothers who are with me greet you. All the saints greet you, especially those of Caesar's household. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. This is the word of the Lord. Let's pray together. Father, we do thank you that you have lavished your love upon us in Christ. You have drawn us to yourself through your Holy Spirit. You have made your grace and kindness known to us through your word. And we thank you, Lord, that you speak to us even today through your word and spirit. And so we have expectation that you would speak to us even now.
And would you use this time, Lord, to help us to know you more and to love you more. Trust you more. And would you also equip us and excite us to continue our mission to make disciples. We pray in Jesus name. Amen. Some of you probably remember Ellie Dissant. Do you remember Ellie Dissant? She was a member at our church for a long time. She's been with the Lord now for many years. But she was always really kind to my children. And I remember a number of years ago we were having one of our Thanksgiving services over in the other building. And we had cookies, which I was thinking about that this morning. Where have the cookies been the last several Thanksgiving services? We need to bring those back, write that down. And so there were cookies at our Thanksgiving service. And I took some cookies and I walked over to my son who was probably two or three at the time. And I gave him a cookie and he took it into his hand. And then Ellie, who was sitting on a chair right next to the aisle, said, Noah, don't you think you should give your dad a bite of that cookie? And Noah looks at the cookie for a while.
And then it was so sweet. He just offers it up to me. The whole thing. So I took it and I ate it. I'm just kidding, only half. No, I said, oh, buddy, you can have it, you have it, I don't want you to have it. But it was a sweet thing and I think about that sometimes. And I was thinking about it this week as we see what Paul is doing here, what he's celebrating here. He's celebrating the way that this congregation that he loves and that loves him so much, have been so free with their giving and with their support to him. And he's celebrating the way they have supported his ministry. And I was just thinking about how much I want to be free with the resources that God has blessed our family with so much so that it comes to me that it would be easy to just hand it all right back. And that actually is a freedom that you and I can continue to grow into as we trust, Christ more and more. And so we're going to see that a little bit this morning as we look at this passage. And it's really important for us as we think about following Christ and realizing that a big part of what Christ wants is for us to feel that freedom from what's natural, what's natural is a great dependence on money, on resources, on possessions. And our God is a liberating God. He wants us to be free from that dependence. And so we actually see here what I love about this as as Paul is celebrating the ways the Philippians have been so generous and given so much for his ministry. He's not commanding them anything. He's just celebrating and he's celebrating things that are actually benefits to them because of their giving. By the way, kids, if you're looking for a word of the day, the word of the day will be give or giving any form of that word. And also I want to say that if you're new with us, I know what it's like to go to a church for the very first time and they talk about money and you're like, see, that's all they do here. Okay, we don't. But we do talk about whatever's in the text. And that is in the text this morning. Actually, we see what we see is Paul is going to show us three big incentives we actually have for being generous givers, giving so that we have our ministries funded, other ministries funded. As we see that the more and more we center our lives on Christ, the more sacrificial giving becomes a joy, we're going to see three things. The more we sacrificial give, the more we grow spiritually. We'll see that in the text. Number two, the more we give sacrificial to fund ministry, the more we experience God's dependability. We'll see that in the text. And then third, the more we give sacrificial to fund ministry, the more communities we're going to impact as a church. We'll talk about those three things this morning, all as we seek to center our lives more and more on Christ and have sacrificial giving become even more of a joy. So let's start by looking at verses 14 through 17. If you have your Bible open, go ahead and we can just keep following along here. And the first thing we want to see here is that when we give sacrificial to fund ministry, we grow spiritually. We grow spiritually. Let's take a look. Notice what Paul says in verse 14, 15, 16, and 17 as well. He's talking about the way that this congregation has supported him financially. And if you notice, he talks about how at one point at least they were the only church that were providing financial resources for the Apostle Paul's missionary journeys. And it's clear that they helped him one time when he was leaving Macedonia and then it looks like they helped him twice when he was in Thessalonica or Thessalonica, however you want to say it is up to you. But they helped him, and then of course they have now just helped him once again. A Paphroditus brought him yet another gift, a financial gift to support Paul. We'll see that in verse 18. But first, what he's doing here is he's acknowledging that they have supported him. Their giving has been generous and it has really enabled his ministry in many ways. And what I love about it though is if you look at verse 17, something really jumps out. He says what he's really after when he has longed for them to give or what he really appreciates about their giving. Look at verse 17. Not that I seek the gift, but I seek the fruit that increases to your credit. Not that I seek the gift, but I seek the fruit that increases to your credit. So Paul's saying I'm not actually after the money, it's not the money that I really care about what I care about is the fruit. And what I would submit to you is he's talking about the growth, the spiritual growth that they had experienced as they gave to support his ministry. If you think about the way Paul tends to use the word fruit, it usually has to do with growth, things that grow in our lives as we trust Christ more and more. Think about in Galatians 5, when he talks about the fruit of the spirit. As we rely more and more on the power of the Holy Spirit to know God and obey him, the fruit appears in our lives. Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, faithfulness, goodness, gentleness and self-control. And if I forgot one, who knows? That's fruit that starts appearing, right? And so here he's saying that it's not after, he's not after the money itself, but he knows that there's fruit that comes when they have been giving to him. And that's what he's actually celebrating. And it's really important that we recognize that because not only is Paul not after the money but the transformation that takes place in our lives when we depend less on our money and therefore more on God, he's after, he's not after the money, he's after that transformation. And that's important because so is Jesus. Like if you read through the Gospels, you see that roughly 42% of Jesus' parables have to do with money or possessions or giving. And the reason that Jesus cares so much about that is not because he wants a bigger piece of your income but he does want a bigger piece of your heart. He wants a bigger piece of my heart, our hearts, our trust. So Jesus talks a lot about money, not because he wants the money but because he wants our hearts and the apostle Paul is I would suggest arguing the same thing right here. It's not the gift that I want. It's the fruit that comes about in your life. When we give sacrificial to fund ministry, we are going to grow spiritually. Now I remember the first time I was really challenged with this to give significantly more than I ever had. Hannah and I were engaged at this point and we were going to church at Brooklyn Park, Evangelical Free Church, Brooklyn Park, Minnesota, anyone? No, okay. And we were sitting under the preaching, my guy named Rick Andrewd, he was just a great guy still is and one Sunday he was preaching about the freedom that we have to give and he wanted to issue this challenge and so he did. He issued what he called the 10% challenge and he told us that there were these little yellow cards in the backs of the pews and he asked us to take one out and if we wanted to take the 10% challenge we could do it and here's what it was. He said that if you filled out the card which is your name and contact information and put it in the offering basket that that would then commit you to giving 10% of your income to the church for the next six months but the thing is he said that if you do that any time during that six months if you want any or all of the money that you've given to the church back for whatever reason no questions asked you can have it back and I have never given anywhere near that much but I was like this is risk free. I mean we're going to do this and we did it. We gave 10% of our income for the next six months and then at the end of six months I was like yeah I think I'll take it back so I went in no no I was actually I realized why he did it because that was a big season of growth for me because I had to the only way I was able to do that is to really trust that God would provide to really trust that I really am free to give an amount that seems like a lot to me because I have a God that provides so there was a lot of growth and there was fruit in my life I trusted God more during that six months and ever since Hannah and I have never turned back we've always given 10% to our church and even more to other places and it feels good it feels free now here's why we grow spiritually when we step out and give sacrificially to fund ministry we grow spiritually because number two we experience God's dependability we experience God's dependability when we sacrificially give in order to fund ministry we experience God's dependability take a look at verse 18 and following here he's talking about the payment the the financial gifts that the Philippians have now given to him he received it through a pafforditis who brought it to him and he says you know I'm well supplied I have what I need so he's rejoicing over the fact that they have given him what he needs to continue there and if you remember last week Dr. Lawson was saying that Paul needed funds because he was in house arrest and they were forcing him to pay rent in the house where he was under house arrest what a world but that's part of what they were doing and so they sent this gift and he's saying he has what he needs and what's interesting is he calls it a fragrant offering you see that in verse 18 a fragrant offering a sacrifice acceptable and pleasing to God it's pleasing to God he says that their financial gift is pleasing to God now why well it helps if we think about what he's doing here he's comparing that financial gift that they made to an Old Testament sacrifice in the Old Testament if you're new to the Bible in the Old Testament God had his people sacrifice an animal to symbolize the death that they deserve that we all deserve to suffer because of our sin so God would have them sacrifice an animal he would accept a substitute in their place and when they would offer that animal sacrifice number one that sacrifice was pointing forward to the ultimate sacrifice which would come in Christ where he would die for our sins but that sacrifice also in the moment at least it showed their dependence not on their own merit not on anything they've done but on the grace of God and his merciful willingness to accept a substitute death in place of their own death so as they offered their sacrifices in the Old Testament it was pleasing to God because it showed their dependence on him and our God wants us to depend on him that's what faith is depending on him not us and so Paul is equating or he's he's saying it's similar this financial gift that they have made the Philippians is pleasing to God because in order to give that financial gift they had to depend not on that money they're giving but on God to provide they had to trust that God was dependable that he would provide which is why then Paul says the very next thing look at verse 19 I love this Paul saying now they've given okay so they are without that money that they gave in faith to support Paul's ministry and what does Paul say verse 19 and my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus and that's such a powerful promise
that he knows that his God is going to supply all their needs make sure they have their needs they've stepped out in faith and they've given this amount that affected their lifestyles as far as we know and now he's saying good news my God will supply he is dependable you're going to have what you need are they going to get rich no that would be the prosperity gospel that's not true that's a lie and it's sad because remember he's not after the money he's after our hearts and when we trust him and give to the point where we need him to provide for us and then he does that's part of how he gets more of our hearts it's part of how we trust him more because we see that he is dependable I love this there was a well-known philanthropist who was asked how is it that you give so much money yet you still seem to have everything you need available to you and he says this I shovel out and God shovels in and he has a bigger shovel than I do I love that imagery because it just helps us think about our the freedom we have to shovel things out to our church to ministries in the area because our God will shovel into replace it and he does have a bigger shovel than we do it anybody anybody have Quaker Oats this morning more in the service than the first service so now we know where our Quaker Oats fans are Quaker Oats Henry Crowell was the founder of Quaker Oats and when he started his factory a little factory in Ohio to make what you know as Quaker Oats he was a follower of Christ and he wanted to increasingly give more and more of his income to the Lord for the purposes of ministry and so he made that commitment and later on in his life shortly before he died he was asked about that and after over 40 years of giving at least 60% of his income for ministry here's what he said I've never gotten ahead of God he has always been ahead of me in giving after the first service someone came up to me and they said I can prove what you're saying is true and he said my wife and I many years ago decided to increase our giving 1% a year annually and he said we've done that for well over a decade this is why I love talking about this this actually is this powerful opportunity where we learn you can't out give God and so we really are free to give to our church to give to ministries to give to people who are in need because God will provide he is dependable and that's what we learn when we step out and give sacrificially that he provides that he provides he provides and now notice how Paul does this so he wants us to believe this not simply because he's saying it but because of who he's also saying it about look back at verse 19 and notice how Paul very carefully tells us this and my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus and what that does is it helps us make the big connection for the reason we can trust God will provide if we're thinking about Christ he is the ultimate provision for our ultimate need right we talk about this every single week the gospel our greatest need our greatest need is not finances it's not possessions it's our greatest need is that we would be forgiven for our sins because we are all sinners we all fall short of the glory of God that's our greatest need our greatest need is to be forgiven and to be declared righteous so that we can spend eternity with God that's our greatest need and God has met that need not anything through what we've done but totally through what he has done by sending Christ Jesus by sending Jesus to die on the cross to pay for our sins so that through faith in him we could be forgiven and declared righteous and promised eternal life and so Paul wants us thinking about Christ as we think about God's ability to supply our needs because if we realize that in Christ God has met our greatest need then of course we can believe he's going to meet all of our far smaller need which leaves us very very free to give he will supply we will grow spiritually and we will experience his dependability as we seek to give sacrificially to fund ministry not only those two things but also number three we will impact more communities we'll grow spiritually we'll experience God's dependability will impact more communities look what he says here in the last couple versus 21 through 23 he says greet every saint in Christ Jesus the brothers who are with me greet you all the saints greet you especially those of Caesar's household the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit especially those of Caesar's household I think what Paul is doing here is he's showing us that when we give sacrificially to fund ministry we impact more communities you see Paul was under house arrest guarded by these Praetorian guards who were some of the top elite soldiers who guarded Caesar and what we see here is this amazing reality that as these guys were charged with watching Paul making sure Paul stayed there Paul was sharing the gospel with them we've talked about that a couple times Paul was teaching them about the good news of salvation by grace through faith in Christ and some of those guards were becoming Christians they were giving their lives to Christ they were experiencing the power of the gospel to transform who they were and they were also now in and around Caesar himself people in Caesar's household which shows us that because the Philippians kept giving to support Paul and his missionary journeys he not only was able to go from Macedonia and then to Thessalonica but all the way to Rome so that these soldiers these guards in Caesar's household would hear the gospel and they would believe and be saved in other words humanly speaking without the giving of the Philippians Paul may have never wound up in Rome and these this new community of people may not have come to know the glory of Christ and the free forgiveness we have through him and so I think another thing that Paul wants us to see here that God wants us to see is when we choose to give sacrificially not only are we going to grow spiritually and experience the dependability of God but we're going to position ourselves as a church to impact even more communities what communities around here I mean we should dream about what God might do through us as we seek to impact more and more neighborhoods more and more communities in the area and that sweet to dream from sanctified imagination it's a good thing we should do that now let me let me say this I know that talking about giving during the pandemic is challenging I think there's a lot of us who right now finances are very very difficult and you should know that when you don't have income God does not expect you to be giving and so definitely don't feel guilty we don't ever want to have our motivation for giving guilt rather love and trust and I do think that this is a great opportunity for us though some of us unable to increase giving maybe even need to stop giving because income is not coming but others might be able to increase giving in the next season think about how much more we could do as a church or think about the fact that if some of us cannot give as much cannot maintain if others are able to step up and give more then we'll still have all that we need and that's what's really cool about this whole thing is the way God works in any given church there's going to be enough if people give what they can then there's going to be enough if people step out in faith and give what they can seek to sacrifice to give there will be enough and we will see amazing things happening now read about this young married couple who got on a plane in November of 1994 and they were flying from New York to Orlando they were coming to Disney World and the wife whose name is Teresa she was pregnant and about 30 minutes into the flight she doubled over in pain and she started bleeding and so flight attendants announced to the whole plane that they needed a doctor and it just all happened there was a doctor from Long Island on the plane and that doctor ran forward to help to try to assist and sure enough minutes later this baby was born a baby boy but the baby was in trouble the umbilical cord had been wrapped around his neck and he wasn't breathing and he was blue in the face and it looked pretty scary well it turns out that there were also on that plane there just happened to be two paramedics one of which specialized in infant respiratory procedures and so he runs forward and he asks if anybody has a straw because he knew he needed to get in and suction the fluid away from the lungs of this little baby boy and the flight attendants told him we don't stock straws we don't have straws on the plane but someone on the plane realized they had a straw from a juice box that they had bought in the airport and brought onto the plane so he takes the straw and while the doctor is doing CPR this paramedic is going in and suctioning liquid away from the lungs then the doctor says okay we need something to tie off the umbilical cord and somebody rips the shoelace off of their shoe and hands it to them and they tie he ties off the umbilical cord and then about four minutes of terror passed as people waited to see what was going to happen and then all of a sudden this baby boy lets out this cry and the whole plane erupts and cheers and the flight attendants gets on the intercom and says it's a boy and everybody is just so excited and so this mother and this father who had been through this crazy ordeal they decided right there they were going to give this child a name that means gifts from God because they realized that it was God who had ordained that all that they would need in that moment for their son would be there all of these gifts the doctor the paramedic the straw the shoelace gifts and it's true everything we have and everything we need it is all gifts from God a God who has proven to us in Christ that he will always make sure we have what we need and more a God who has proven that he will always meet our small needs because he's met our greatest need by giving his son in our place and so good news because of the constant gifts from God and because of the ultimate gift of God you and I who trust the Lord Jesus Christ are absolutely free to sacrificially give to our church to other ministries to anybody in need we can't shovel it out faster than he can shovel it back in he will provide he always does so let's be givers and we'll grow spiritually we'll experience God's dependability and we'll impact more communities praise the Lord let's pray father thank you for these promises that we see here in your word this promise that you will supply our need and the proof that you already have supply our greatest need would you help us trust you more would you help us step up and step out in faith and give as we are able and then would you grow us spiritually would you help us find tremendous joy in experiencing your dependability and would you help our church impact more and more communities that your kingdom would continue to come that your will would be done and that more and more people would come to see the glory of Christ we pray in his name Amen