Contentment and Giving

ReCAST Church of Mattawan

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You are listening to the podcast of Recast Church in Matawan, Michigan. I'm Rob Knold, as Dave mentioned, and I have been an elder here for seven years.

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It's kind of hard to believe how long, and it's really an honor and a privilege to serve as an elder here.

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It's also an honor and a privilege to bring God's Word to you this morning in Don's absence.

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I'm excited to do so this morning, and I don't take the

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Word of God lightly. This is God's revealed truth to us, a very important book, and I want to respect that and speak correctly to God's Word this morning.

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Today, I'm going to be preaching from the Philippians. In fact, I'm kind of excited to tell you that I'll be wrapping up the longest series in history.

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So I looked back over my notes, and it turns out that I started—my first sermon here was five years ago,

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August of 2011, and I preached on the first part of chapter one in August 2011.

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Now it's five years later. This is my eighth sermon, so I don't preach that often. Eight sermons, five years, you can do the math.

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Not real often, but I am wrapping that up today. Philippians.

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Why Philippians? You know, honestly, it's one of my favorite books of the

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Bible. Do you guys have a favorite book of the Bible, maybe a favorite passage, something that you've just really received a lot of encouragement from over the years, some verses maybe that have meant a lot to you?

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Philippians has been a special book to me. When I was a kid, I learned a few memory verses. Who here was in Iwanas, maybe, or some

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Sunday school program where you memorized verses, maybe? That's a great thing to do, and for me, some of those verses in Philippians really, really stuck.

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For example, I think of Philippians 4, 6, and 7. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, present your requests to God, and the peace of God that passes all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.

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I learned those two verses as a kid, and that was really transformative. I remember going through some anxiety in middle school, and what a powerful couple of verses to lean on.

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Also, there's some other popular verses in Philippians. Philippians 4, 13. Who's memorized

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Philippians 4, 13? Probably a few people. Maybe you don't even know the reference, but it's, I can do all things through him who gives me strength.

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What a popular verse. We're going to be talking about that one today in the message, and in Philippians 4, 19, for my

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God will supply all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus. What an amazing verse that is, but what does that mean exactly?

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We'll be digging into that. Don't worry. But first, I'd just like to give you a quick introduction. So this morning, before worship happens,

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I'm going to just summarize the book of Philippians, just in case you missed one of those earlier sermons over the last five years.

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I know there's a chance that you might not have been here. I'm not going to hold that against you. We'll be good. I'm going to just quickly summarize the book of Philippians.

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So Philippians is a letter. It's simply a letter written by Paul, who is a mentor, and a pastor, and evangelist.

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He was writing it back to the church at the city of Philippi. And Philippi was actually a very significant city.

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It was a Roman colony, and if you remember the story, Acts chapter 16,

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Paul was beckoned by the Macedonian man in a dream, in a vision, and this man was saying, come into Europe.

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And so Paul, actually, his entrance point into Europe was this city of Philippi. And he met, and he saw some ladies,

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Jewish ladies, meeting outside the city. Lydia was the first convert to Christianity in the city of Philippi.

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And then that developed into a small church. You may remember the story of Paul and Silas in the jail cell, and the earthquake comes, and the jailer is saved, and the jailer's whole family.

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And then eventually a church is started there, and Paul leaves. Well, fast forward 10 years.

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10 years have passed, and Paul is now imprisoned in Rome. You may remember

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Paul's journeys, his missionary journeys, and he eventually was imprisoned in Caesarea. He appealed to Caesar.

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He was a Roman citizen. So to Caesar you will go, and he was transported to Rome. We know Paul was imprisoned in Rome at least once, and so it's likely in Rome that he's now writing this letter 10 years later.

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He's writing back to this church plant, the very church that he started in Philippi.

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And it's very interesting to read in chapter one as you start to dig into the book. It's a loving letter.

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Paul uses very affectionate terms for the Philippians. This is a group of people he really cared about, and they really cared about him.

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And he's writing this letter back, and as Paul's writing, you've got to remember his circumstances.

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Paul is in prison. He's shackled, most likely shackled to a guard 24 hours a day on a rotating basis, different guards guarding him.

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And he's in a prison, not a pleasant place to be. And not only that, but he's awaiting an outcome of this trial.

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He doesn't know whether, and Caesar is not always real friendly. So he's facing a potential death sentence.

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He's imprisoned and shackled, and yet he talks in the most amazing way about a joy that he has.

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He has joy in the midst of that circumstance. In fact, joy is a theme in the book of Philippians.

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19 times in all, it's mentioned joy or rejoicing. How can Paul rejoice when he's in prison?

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What is he rejoicing about? Well, in chapter one, verse five, it says he's rejoicing that the

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Philippians have a partnership in the gospel with him. So that's a big part of his rejoicing.

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He's rejoicing that the gospel is spreading throughout the palace guard. Those poor guards didn't stand a chance. They're chained to Paul.

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Paul's witnessing. I mean, those guards didn't have a choice but to hear the gospel. So it's kind of interesting how many of the guards became

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Christians. In chapter one, verse 18, he's rejoicing that the gospel is being preached, regardless of the circumstances or what's happening.

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He's just grateful that it's preached. So we conclude chapter one. This is just a quick summary here.

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Trust me, we'll be through this in about five more minutes. In chapter one, with a challenge to the Philippians, live in a way that's worthy of the gospel.

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He says not only preach the gospel but live in a way that's worthy of it. And then in chapter two,

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Paul immediately steps into a challenge to the Philippians to be unified, to have unity in Christ. And then he ties that into humility.

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And I would tell you that those two are very, very closely related. It's, I believe, very difficult for a church to be unified if you have a bunch of egos walking around.

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Everybody's thinking my way or the highway. That is not going to be a unified church. And so Paul says, be humble.

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Consider others better than yourself. And then he pulls out the biggest example of humility,

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Christ himself. He says, look, God himself came down, took on flesh, and bore our sin.

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He experienced pain, humiliation, death, and then God raised him up to be glorified.

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So the most powerful example of humility is just Christ himself. Paul goes on to immediately following that in chapter two to exhort the

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Philippians. He then says, work out your salvation. He says, work out your salvation.

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So he's telling them, you've got to do something. You have to work out your salvation. But he says, it's because Christ is really the one working in you.

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And so you can work out your salvation with confidence. You can move forward in the Christian life in confidence because it's really Christ. Christ is really the one in you and strengthening you.

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And then he says, shine like stars in the universe. I love this word picture. Shine like stars in the universe.

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You may remember Jesus' parable of, you know, the light on a hill. And don't cover the light with a bushel, but let the light shine.

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Let your light shine before men so they can see. And in this case, it's

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Paul using the illustration of Christians shining like stars in the universe.

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And we know this culture is dark. We know sin is around us, and it's tough sometimes. How do you shine like a star?

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Paul says, shine like stars in the universe as you hold out the word of life. So this book we were just talking about, the word of life,

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God's revealed word to us, is how we shine like stars. How can you share that with others?

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Paul goes into chapter 3, and chapter 3, he actually gives his personal testimony. I don't know if you've read this passage before.

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Paul was a Pharisee. He says, I was the best of the best. I studied the law. I followed the law.

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I was perfect. I did everything right. But then he encounters Christ, and he says, all of that stuff, a bunch of garbage.

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A bunch of garbage compared to the ultimate prize of Christ. Just having

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Christ, knowing Christ, that is the ultimate prize. Chapter 3 ends with really a look forward.

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Paul just stops for a moment, and he just says, man, there's a glorious future ahead. These bodies we have, they're going to be changed out for like glorious bodies, sinless bodies, perfection.

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And we're going to be with God forever in glory. So he helps us catch a little bit of a glimpse of end times.

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And then finally, in chapter 4, Paul exhorts and challenges the Philippian church.

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He says several things right in a row at the beginning of chapter 4, and this was the last message I preached. He says specifically, stand firm.

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How do you stand firm? Stand firm in the Lord. Stand firm in the

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Lord. He also says, rejoice in the Lord. He says, put up with others.

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You know, we all have our idiosyncrasies, right? I mean, things bug us, right? People bug us. Let's just be honest.

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And we have to put up with others. If we're going to be a church, a local body of Christians, the

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Philippians were that as well. We've got to put up with things that bug us about other people.

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And finally, he says, do not be anxious. Do not be anxious, but instead pray and put your trust in Christ.

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That's that Philippians 4, 6, and 7 passage, which I've clung to throughout my life. And finally, he says, set your minds on right things.

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That's that Philippians 4, verses 8, 9, right in there. It says, put your mind on the right things.

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Man, our mind, what we think about, what we look at, what we dwell on, that is so powerful.

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You know, there's all this positive thinking stuff in our culture. The Bible tells us straightforwardly, put your mind on wholesome, right, good things.

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Don't dwell on junk and keep your mind out of the gutter. And that leads us right into the passage today.

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Paul concludes his letter to the Philippians with this passage. We're going to be in Philippians chapter 4, verses 10 through 23.

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Philippians 4, verses 10 to 23. And if you don't have a Bible, I'd love it if you would just raise your hand and we'll get one to you.

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We'd love to put a copy of God's word in your hand. And I love to have us following along and reading God's word.

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It's a gift to us to have His word. And in case you don't have a copy of the ESV translation that we'll be using today, feel free to hang on to that Bible, take it with you.

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That's yours, a free gift from us to you. And so please follow along. Philippians chapter 4, and we'll be reading verses 10 through 23.

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I rejoiced greatly in the Lord that at last you renewed your concern for me.

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Indeed, you were concerned, but you had no opportunity to show it. I'm not saying this because I'm in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances.

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I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I've learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well -fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want.

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I can do all things through Him who gives me strength. Yet it was good of you to share in my troubles.

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Moreover, as you Philippians know, in the early days of your acquaintance with the gospel, when

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I set out from Macedonia, not one church shared with me in the matter of giving and receiving except you only.

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For even when I was in Thessalonica, you sent me aid more than once when

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I was in need. Not that I desire your gifts. What I desire is that more be accredited to your account.

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I have received full payment and have more than enough. I am amply supplied now that I've received from Epaphroditus the gifts you sent.

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They are a fragrant offering, an acceptable sacrifice, pleasing to God. And my

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God will meet all your needs according to the riches of His glory in Christ Jesus.

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To our God and Father be glory forever and ever.

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Amen. Greet all God's people in Christ Jesus. The brothers and sisters who are with me send greetings.

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All God's people here send you greetings, especially those who belong to the household of Caesar.

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The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. Amen. Let's pray as Dave comes to lead us in worship this morning.

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Heavenly Father, I thank you for your word this morning, for this book of Philippians, this letter that we can read.

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And Father, as we study it, as we dig into it, God, I pray you would give us your spirit to correctly understand and interpret and apply it,

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Father. I thank you that we can be united and join together as a body of believers this morning, all different backgrounds and experiences and circumstances this morning as we come together.

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But Lord, as we are now gathered as one body and as Dave comes here to lead us in worship and singing and praise,

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Lord, I pray you would unite our hearts. God, help us to let go of the distractions and just the things, the problems and anxieties and things that get on our mind and help us to just focus on you,

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God. You are great. You are awesome. You're worthy of our praise. Lord, just be glorified and lifted up in our praise today.

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In Jesus' name, amen. Please have a seat. And Dave, thank you for leading us in worship.

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We just appreciate that. It's awesome to be led into God's presence, isn't it? Just be reminded of of our sinful condition, just to admit it and confess it and to be reminded of what

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Christ has done for us and to just worship Him and thank Him corporately. It's an awesome thing.

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I'm just going to awkwardly move this forward because I feel so far away from everybody. I don't know, the chairs keep creeping back.

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I'm not sure what's going on. Nobody's in the front row, so I don't have to worry about that. So, second row, second row.

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Listen, I am really excited to preach this morning. I don't preach very often. It's, you know, there's some nerves involved and awkwardness, but I think once I figure out what

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I want to say and I'm convicted about it myself, I just get excited. I have to be honest.

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I am excited to preach this morning. We're going to be preaching in the passage I just read, again,

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Philippians 4, 10 to 23. And I'm just going to give you the outline verbally for you this morning. I don't have any

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PowerPoint slides, nothing fancy prepared, but three basic points that I want to break this passage down into.

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Number one, it's verses 10 through 13, and the key point there is

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Paul's contentment, Paul's contentment. Despite all circumstances,

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Paul is content, and we're going to dig into that. Second key point or second part of the outline is verses 14 to 20, and that's the

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Philippians giving, the Philippians giving. So, get ready to be uncomfortable.

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We're going to be talking about giving this morning and what that means. They gave gifts to meet Paul's needs.

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That's a real thing recorded here, and we'll dig into that. Third thing, verses 21 to 23, this is really just the final greeting, the final farewell, or sorry, just the final ending to this letter that Paul is writing to the

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Philippians. So, starting off with verse 10, we see that Paul, first of all, he says he rejoiced in the

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Lord, that the Philippians renewed their concern for him. It's interesting that Paul starts off, his starting point here for the

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Philippians giving, he talks about here, is their concern for him. Concern, you know, a genuine care, love, concern.

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The Philippians are thinking about Paul, they care about Paul, and that's the starting point for what triggers the giving, the giving of a gift later in the passage that we read about.

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This is a good thing, having a concern. What are you concerned about?

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You know, what concerns you this morning? Maybe God's put something on your mind.

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You know, I think our concerns are the starting point, and then that leads us to maybe giving, perhaps serving, devoting our time and energy.

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Maybe it's through Matawan Pantry, or through the gospel mission. Maybe God's put some ministry, some need on your heart.

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Maybe it's a concern for a neighbor, concern for a family member. That's a good thing. That's a good thing.

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What are you concerned about? I just encourage you to reflect on that and pray about that, and take some notes.

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You know, that can be the starting point for God's work in your life to use you in ministry to somebody.

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Verse 10 goes on to say that despite their concern, the Philippians just didn't have an opportunity to show it, did not have an opportunity.

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Kind of an odd thing to say. Perhaps they were prevented. And actually, when you stop and think about life in that time and that era, not that surprising.

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You know, communication wasn't so great. They didn't have a GPS locator. They couldn't just pinpoint

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Paul's location. They probably didn't even know if Paul was alive or dead for big chunks of time. You remember he was transported from Caesarea to Rome when he appealed to Caesar, and he was shipwrecked, and who knows what happened to him.

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So most likely there is a long stretch where the Philippians simply did not have any opportunity, no way of getting aid or help to Paul.

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But in verse 11, Paul makes a quick disclaimer, and it almost feels like he's making a disclaimer about what he just said.

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He says, not saying this because I'm in need. And that's the funniest thing. For a guy who's in prison, who's like chained up, and prison circumstances weren't very good.

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It says in another part where he says, hey, tell so -and -so to bring my cloak. I mean, it was cold and miserable depending on time of year, and circumstances were not easy.

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And yet he says, I'm not saying this because I'm in need, but clearly he was in need.

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So what does he mean? He makes it clear that his need is not the reason he's bringing this up. And he goes on to explain that he's learned to be content no matter what the circumstances.

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That's his point. I want to move us into verse 12. We see that Paul has been in plenty, and Paul has been in want.

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He has been hungry. He has been well fed. And he says that he's learned to be content in every circumstance, whether he has everything or whether he has nothing.

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And I just want to use this opportunity now to reflect a little bit on that. What's your experience been like in life so far?

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Have you gone through periods of life, phases of life, where you've been hurting? You've barely been making ends meet.

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Perhaps no food on the table even. Very bad circumstances. Or maybe you've been in periods of life where you've had a lot more than you need abundantly.

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God's blessed for some reason. When were you most content? Think about your own experience.

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When were you most content? Were you more content when you had a lot of stuff or when you didn't? I want you to answer that in your own mind right now real quick, if you could think of an answer.

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So here's my experience. I grew up on the mission field in South Korea. I spent about eight years there, and we didn't have a lot.

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As I look back on it, I mean, we didn't have a TV. I wore all my brother's old clothes.

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We didn't have a whole lot of stuff. But man, I look back on those years as some of the best years of my life.

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Honestly, like, I felt, I mean, it was not, I did not have, I can't remember any sense of discontentedness in my life at that time.

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And then I think forward in my life through the years of came back to the States, you know, went to school, got a job, acquired things, right?

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Strange that as I acquire things, as I buy something, I don't grow more content for some reason.

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Why is that? I just want something else. Have you noticed that in your life? Or when you buy something, are you completely content?

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And maybe you're different than me. I think, here's my conclusion. I think it's harder to be content when you have a lot.

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I think that's the harder challenge, not when you're hurting and when you're struggling, but when you have abundance.

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Can you be content? Can you be content? We always just want that next thing.

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Isn't that crazy? I mean, that is the culture we live in. So my point here is clearly having stuff, getting things doesn't make you content.

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Therefore, what does make you content? How do we get contented? How can we be content?

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That's the burning question. And it comes from someplace else.

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And let me get to that. Verse 13. This is the famous verse that I quoted earlier.

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One of the verses that I memorized as a kid. And it says,

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I can do all things through him who gives me strength. So when

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I was a kid, I just want to tell you a quick story. I had a poster on the wall. Who had posters on their wall when they were kids?

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Posters of things you liked, right? Things that, I don't know, whatever you were interested in, probably.

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Well, my poster was a poster of, I had a lot of posters, but most of them had basketball players on them, I'll be honest.

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And this particular poster, I think it might've been a Fellowship of Christian Athletes poster or something, but it had a basketball player and his back was to the basket and he had a defender right on him and he was clearly posting up.

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His head was turned up toward the basket. He was looking at the rim. And I'm telling you, I could tell he was going to put a spectacular move and go and score that goal.

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I just knew it was going to happen. And I remember, you know how a poster, it just kind of gets burned into your mind. You just keep looking at it.

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And the verse there said, I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength. And here's how

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I interpreted that verse, okay? A little confession. I thought, okay,

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I can score a basket because Christ is going to give me strength. I can make the team.

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I can get good grades. I can get into college. I can achieve whatever

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I set my mind to. Why? Because Christ will give me strength. Brothers and sisters in Christ, that's not what the verse means.

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Not so, it almost, it reminds me of that little nursery rhyme, that little engine that could.

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I think I can, I think I can. There's this mentality in our culture that says, you know, set your mind on something and keep working at it and you'll get there.

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And, oh, in Philippians 4 .13 says, oh, and Christ will give you strength to get there, to accomplish your dreams.

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No, no, no, no, no. That is not what this passage is saying, if the context is so important.

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The context here clearly says that you can endure hardship or plenty.

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And he specifically is talking about having things or not having things, having food or not having food.

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He talks about being hungry. He says you can endure those things because God is going to give you the strength.

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The passage is talking about endurance through difficulty, hardship, finding contentedness in the midst of all that.

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And that just is a completely different meaning. So I really want to emphasize that point. If you're struggling to be content this morning, and I'm not sure what area, you can be content.

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And the reason is Christ will give you the strength. You can do all things through Christ who strengthens you.

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I'm going to move now into the second part of the outline. And this is verses 14 to 20, verses 14 to 20.

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And here we see Paul focusing in on the Philippians gift that they gave to Paul. Verse 14 is a partly kind of a repeat of the idea in verse 10 where Paul was rejoicing that they had revived their concern for him.

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He now goes on to say in verse 14, it was good of you, it was good of you to share with me in my troubles.

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Paul is grateful for the gift that the Philippians sent. And in verse 15, he goes on to say that the

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Philippians, even though they were a very young church at the time, brand new converts, they sent him support.

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And they were the only church that sent him support. Pretty amazing. They were faithful in giving to Paul.

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And it says that they gave over and over repeatedly. This wasn't a one -time thing. And I think this is a great example.

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Philippian church is being upheld as a good example of giving. We find later on in verse 18 that Epaphroditus had already brought a gift to Paul.

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So there was an actual physical like monetary gift that had been brought from the Philippian church to Paul by Epaphroditus.

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And Paul says specifically that he is grateful for the Philippians generosity.

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He says, I am now amply supplied because of the gift you sent me. Way to go Philippians.

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Great job. The gift was helpful. It met a need. And Paul is now taken care of in his bad situation in prison.

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But I want to go back for a second and look at verse 17. I want to focus on this. Paul says that what he desires is not the gift for himself, but that more be accredited to the

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Philippians account. And I just want to point out that what Paul's talking about, he says more accredited to the

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Philippians account. What does that mean? The words are specifically in the Greek karpon, which is translated as a fruit or benefit.

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He's saying, I want a fruit or benefit. And then it's a plia nasanta, which means an increasing or growing amount.

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So he's saying, I want an increasing benefit to you Philippians as a result of your giving.

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So there is a benefit to giving. But what kind of benefit? And I really want to focus and camp out on this for just a little bit.

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What is this benefit Paul is talking about? He wants a benefit for the Philippians because of their gift. There's a lot of people who preach, and you may have heard this, if you give some dollars to my ministry, the

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Lord's just going to financially bless you. He's going to rain down cash on you. No, that is not the case.

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And I want to point this out and talk through this very carefully. There is no such guarantee in scripture.

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And I would encourage, I would challenge you, find the passage in the Bible to support that claim and read that book and read it in context because there is no guarantee you're going to be financially blessed if you give.

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That is not true. Now, you may receive, you may be financially blessed.

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God may choose to bless you, but it's not like you can manipulate God to give you money if you give money.

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But there is a benefit. There is an increasing benefit. So I want to talk about what is that increasing benefit.

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Sorry about that. I better not breathe out too hard. There are many ways in which we are blessed. And I want to talk about the gifts of the

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Holy Spirit. So one of the basic ways that we're blessed as Christians is the Holy Spirit comes and enters us, indwells us.

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And the Holy Spirit empowers us to live in a way that exemplifies the fruits of the

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Spirit. So you guys are familiar with the fruit of the Spirit? Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self -control.

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Those are the things that should start to show up in your life. And that's a blessing. Let me explain how.

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Let's just take peace, for example. God can give you peace in the midst of your circumstances, no matter whether you're going through hard times or not.

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And that is a huge blessing. We just talked about contentment. God can give you contentment, no matter what your circumstances.

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That is a blessing. Joy. Joy in seeing

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God work through you. How many of you guys have experienced the joy of seeing that?

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And I really hope and pray you guys have seen that. What I'm talking about is maybe you feel convicted and God just puts a burden on your heart.

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And maybe it could be a lot of different things. Maybe you're serving in a ministry, like a

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Sunday school class, and you see God using you as little kids are growing in their knowledge of God.

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Or maybe God's using you to give financially, to a ministry, or to serve and volunteer in some place.

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But wherever you've seen God use you, it's an amazing thing. You feel this sense of joy, don't you? I mean, it's not like you've just benefited financially, but you have joy in your heart.

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And that's more than money can buy. So I just want to point out that the rewards are not always financial.

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And there are eternal rewards that I haven't even talked about. Eternal rewards, salvation, eternity, glory, things we can only imagine, the good things

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God has in store for us. I just want to point out a couple of things. Matthew chapter 6, verses 1 through 4 says, let your giving be done in secret.

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Jesus is speaking. He says, give in secret that the Lord will reward you. Trust in God that he is going to reward you.

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But don't stop being faithful to give. And let me point out the amount is not the issue.

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This is not about how much you give. Do you remember the parable? It was not a parable. It was Jesus observing a widow who had very, very little.

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And she went to the temple treasury, and she put in two copper coins in Mark chapter 12.

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And Jesus commends her. And then there's these Pharisees, and they're just like dumping money, money bags into this thing.

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And Jesus commends her over them. The amount is not what matters.

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It's the heart. She had given everything she had, and Jesus commended her. So when the topic of giving comes up in church, and I know

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I'm probably offending some people to a certain degree, it feels like everybody wants our money, right?

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I mean, you watch commercials on TV, and marketers are after your money, and people calling you on the phone trying to get you to give to this and that.

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And there's just, everyone wants your money, and I understand that. And you come to church, and you're like, okay, God wants my money too.

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You know, it's a turnoff. Does God want my money? I'm going to answer that question. Does God want your money?

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Here's the answer. God wants your heart. God wants your heart. That's what he wants.

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And then Jesus says, where your money is, that's where your heart is. It's interesting how that ties together.

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So here's the point, and again, I'm quoting Jesus here. So if I'm offending you,

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I trust that it's Jesus doing the offense here. And he says, you cannot serve God in money. You cannot serve

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God in money. So if you're hung up on money, and making money your God, then that's a real issue.

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And I'd encourage you to pray about that. Remember, it's not that God needs your money.

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He owns everything, right? He owns it all. He can get money.

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He doesn't have a need for your money. But the question is, he's entrusted you as a steward for a short period of time with the good things that he's given you.

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And how are you going to respond with what you're given? That's the question. What kind of stewardship are you going to have with what he's giving you?

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So if you're struggling with this area of giving, I just ask you to pray about it. Ask God to lead and guide you.

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There is no New Testament commandment to tithe, okay? There is no New Testament commandment to tithe.

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Rather, there's no limit to 10 % either. Depends on how you look at that. You can give as much as you want.

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Give as God leads you. That's what I would challenge you to do. Give as God leads you. And it's also interesting to notice that Paul, the apostle, in Scripture, he never demanded support from his churches.

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He never did. He started this church in Philippi, but he doesn't command them to give him money.

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No, no, he doesn't do that. But when they do give, he rejoices in it. He's glad for it.

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He's grateful. Moving on to verse 19. Famously quoted verse, and my

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God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.

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My God will supply every need. What does that need, what does that word mean in the

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Greek? I'm going to give you a little hint. That word means need, not want. So it does not say, and my

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God will give everything you want. No, it does not say that. You know, in context,

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Paul is saying that the gift that the Philippians have just given to Paul, they don't need to worry about becoming impoverished because of their gift.

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That God who they serve will take care of what they need. So he's saying don't let fear of lacking things prevent you from giving.

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Remember God's provision. It may not be what you want, but he does promise to care for us.

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I want to point back just to a few verses earlier. Paul says that he knows what it's like to have plenty, and he knows what it's like to be in want.

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He knows what it's like to have food and go hungry. There's no guarantee you're going to have everything, or that you're going to even have food.

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Paul himself went hungry. So there's no guarantees here. We may struggle in life, and we know God does allow us to go through hardships in life, doesn't he?

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But God knows your need. That's what I want you to remember. God knows your need, and he does care about you.

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Ultimately, we can have full confidence that God will take care of us eternally. So verse 20 wraps up with these thoughts by saying, to God be glory forever and ever.

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Amen. This is really the ultimate aim of mankind. It's the master theme, if you think about it, the master theme for the whole universe.

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This is big picture stuff. To glorify God and enjoy him forever.

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We didn't create this world, God did. The world's message, as you look around and as you watch advertisements, as you encounter people,

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I think you're going to hear this message over and over again. You deserve it. You're worth it.

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You know, we're on humanity, focusing on humanity. We can fix our problems. Let's solve, you know, world conflict and world hunger.

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Let's have world peace. I just want to point out the fundamental fact revealed in the

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Bible that God created everything, that he ultimately is in control of everything, and that all things are working toward a conclusion.

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And that conclusion, you may remember from the series that Don's preaching in Revelation right now. He's, you know, that God is going to be glorified ultimately in everything at the end times.

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So my point here is, the bottom line is, it's all about God and it's not about us.

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So finally, moving into the third point of the outline, verses 21 to 23, Paul concludes his entire letter to the

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Philippians with a final greeting. He says that he wants every saint, all believers, to be greeted in Christ Jesus.

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Every saint, all believers, there is no distinction. He doesn't distinguish between Jew and Greek, slave and free.

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There's no distinction. And you know, back then, there was a lot of division. You may remember some of the passages that talk about some of those divisions.

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There was a lot of bickering and infighting and inequality and all kinds of things going on in that day and age.

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We have the same thing today. We have divisions, economic divides, racial divides. But the unifying thing here is

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Christ. We have unity in Christ. Paul's pointing that out. We are all saints and all believers in Christ and Christ breaks down all those barriers.

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He is what unites us. In verse 21, he goes on to mention that the brothers and sisters with him, and remember, he's even in prison right now, the brothers and sisters with him send their greetings.

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Interesting. Paul's sitting in prison and he's sending greetings from other brothers and sisters. And then he says in verse 22, all

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God's people send you greetings. I'm not sure who all these people are. I've been thinking about this as I read the passage.

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We know that they're fellow believers, but who exactly they are, it doesn't say. They could be the guards that he referenced earlier in the book of Philippians.

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He said even the palace guards are coming to Christ. Maybe it's those guys. Perhaps it's the people who are helping him in the community.

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They're coming into the prison and helping supply his needs. And perhaps that's who he's talking about.

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Or maybe it's fellow prisoners, other Christians that are in chains with him. But he's saying all these people are there with him.

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And the thing I really was impressed with is Paul is expressing that he has fellowship and encouragement with brothers in Christ even when he's in prison.

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What a critical thing it is to have fellowship, to have support, to have connection to the body of Christ.

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That's one of the reasons why we meet together as a local church, isn't it? Primarily it's also about hearing

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God's word preached. We need to be centered. We need to be reminded. What does God have to say to us? We need to be led in worship.

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We need to be led into the throne room of God and just reminded why. Sometimes we can worship on our own and that's great to worship

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God in everything you do. But corporately there's a special sense of worship and it's a great reminder.

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But the other aspect of the local gathering of believers is community. It's connection. It's coming together to help and encourage and exhort each other to godly living.

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And I would just ask you a question. Who are you connected to? Who are your best friends?

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And are you deriving encouragement from that, from those relationships? Do you have...

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So here's a question. When something goes down, something bad, you get bad news at work, you're frustrated, discouraged,

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I don't know, something bad happens, who do you call? Who do you turn to? Some people just turn to Facebook, post, you know.

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But you know, who do you turn to? Most of us might pick up the phone or go find a friend and call someone for encouragement, right?

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I'm just asking, who is that person? I hope it's a believer in Christ, someone who can come alongside you and help you and encourage you.

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Even better yet, I hope it's somebody here in the local gathering of God's people. And I'm not trying to lay a guilt trip on anyone, but if you don't have connections that are really close within the local church,

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I'd encourage you to reach out to somebody. That's why we have small groups. That's why we want to foster connections so that people can be encouraged and exhorted to be helped throughout the week in all kinds of practical ways, all kinds of practical ways.

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So here's what I would encourage you to do. You know, reach out to someone. Maybe you have somebody on your mind, man, I'd like to get to know that person better.

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Invite them over for lunch. Have them over for, you know, go get some coffee together. Maybe it's through some ministry connection.

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You serve with somebody in Sunday school or on the worship team or something. I would just encourage you to reach out and build those connections, invest in those relationships.

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That's really important. It's a fundamental part of the body of Christ. There's a passage in Hebrews that really talks about this.

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Hebrews 10, 24 and 25. I'm reminded of it because it's the lettuce verse, you know, like lettuce and tomatoes, but it says, let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, and let us not give up meeting together as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another and all the more as we see the day approaching.

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That passage just reminds me and refreshes my spirit, man. We need to encourage each other. We need to get together.

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We need to spur each other on toward love and good deeds and doing the right things in life. We all struggle in different ways, and we all need to use our gifts in the local body to lift each other up.

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Verse 23 concludes, with the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit.

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The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. Paul is praying that the grace, the grace that we sang about, that they've talked about during worship, this free gift of salvation, this amazing freedom from sin, the

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Holy Spirit himself, Paul's praying that this would be with the

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Philippians, and this is the ongoing experience of God's presence in your life. That's an awesome prayer that Paul prays there at the very end for the

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Philippians. So as we wrap up our sermon today, I really hope you picked up on the two main themes.

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If nothing else, I know it's hard to stay focused, but again, two main themes here, and I know

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I'm not the most exciting speaker, not like Don. I don't get up here and preach fire and thunder and stuff, but seriously,

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I really want you to catch these two things. First of all, contentment, and second of all, giving.

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Two important reminders. In contentment, we're never going to have enough stuff to be satisfied.

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Trust me, you're not. Stop chasing it. The only contentment is found in Christ.

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So be content with what you have. Be content. Ask God to help you find contentment.

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Stop chasing after stuff. Secondly, on giving, God has graciously given us many things.

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Are you being a wise steward with what God's given you? How are you using what he's given you? I'm not talking about just money.

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I'm talking about your talents, your time, your energy, your gifts. Are you being a wise steward?

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Are you giving the way God is directing you and convicting you? That's what I want you to think about.

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Again, there's no command about tithing in the New Testament, but rather an exhortation to give generously as the

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Lord leads you with a cheerful heart. I just want to point out something.

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I think there's a connection between those two themes, giving and contentment. There's a certain freedom in giving that I've experienced, and I don't know if you've felt the same way, but when you make a choice to give up something that you could buy and you choose instead to give that,

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I don't know, there's a certain freedom that you feel in your heart. There's a certain joy that you have in doing that, and I think that that's connected into that contentment theme.

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I think you find contentment when you give. You learn how to be content with this portion when you give that portion.

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So again, I think this is the lifestyle and the heart that God wants to see in his believers.

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It glorifies him. So glorify God in your giving. Glorify him in being content in all circumstances.

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And as we come to communion in just a few minutes, I want to just remind us of a couple of things about communion.

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God gave us everything. Everything. I want to just emphasize that for a moment.

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He's the creator of the entire universe. He invented every element on the periodic table.

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He established every physical law, everything that we've learned about science, everything.

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God invented it all. Come on. You know, the sunshine outside that you enjoyed, he invented those rays of sunshine that help us live and see and enjoy life.

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The molecules of oxygen you're breathing this morning, thank God for that. He invented that. He made that.

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He provided that. He also provides salvation, a way out of the sin, this mess that we're in.

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Have you struggled with sin this week? I have. Have you struggled with temptation? Have you struggled with your temper?

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Have you struggled in there? I have. Okay. We've all struggled with sin and we keep struggling.

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We just can't stop it. It's crazy, this mess that we're in. And that's why

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God gave himself. He sent his son, Jesus Christ, part of the triune

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God in flesh to pay the price for our sins, to completely wash away our guilt, to just wash it all away.

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Completely clean slate. God did that for you and he did that for me.

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And that's the amazing redemption that we enjoy as believers. You know, as we come together as a community of believers to take communion together, that's what we're celebrating.

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The amazing reality that God's saved us and rescued us from sin. And we want to be reminded of that.

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We don't want to forget that and go off on our own thinking we're awesome and great or something. We're not.

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We're dependent on Christ and what he's done. So that's why we have communion every week here. To be reminded of that simple thing.

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And that's why we're having communion. So let me just mention this.

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If you're not a believer this morning and you're still asking questions and searching and saying, I'm just not there yet.

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That's okay. No worries. Just sit and take in a song. Dave's going to sing a song here. We're going to enjoy and just reflect on what

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I've said. You know, if you have questions about the Bible, about the message of the gospel, I would love to talk to you afterward.

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I'm open to anyone who would just like to chat afterward. But if you are a believer, if you put your faith and trust in Christ, then it doesn't matter.

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You don't have to be a member of this church or not. If you're trusting in Christ, we just want to encourage you. Come. Take the elements with us.

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Take that little cracker. Take the juice and think about the symbol that that represents. Christ's body,

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Christ's blood shed for you for the forgiveness of sins. Let's pray as Dave comes.

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Heavenly Father, I thank you for communion. I thank you for this chance to be reminded of our need for you, our dependence on you,

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God. We cannot do it alone. We need you, God, in our life. We need you for salvation, but we need you for ongoing sanctification,

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God, to be made right, to help us live rightly, to turn our back on sin and to seek you.

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God, I pray you'd just give us strength to do that today. Lord, as we take communion today, help us remember the amazing sacrifice you made,

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God, on the cross for us. We thank you, God, for that. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.