The Bounties of God's Provision

OK, I'm going to welcome you again to Laurel Bible Church. And it's my privilege to preach this morning and in the place of Pastor Rob, who's in California.

But nice to be here and always just a privilege to preach

God's word. So I'm going to open in prayer, and then we'll get right into our word today.

OK, Heavenly Father and gracious God, your word tells us that the law of the

Lord is perfect. The testimony of the Lord is sure. The precepts of the

Lord are right. The commandment of the Lord is pure.

The fear of the Lord is clean. The judgments of the Lord are true.

So we thank you, Lord, that your word is truth. And we rely completely on it.

We ask you, Lord, today that your words would be my words and that the word we study in the book of Philippians would come to life for us, that we would know more of you, that we would experience you in fullness,

Lord, that you would give us a revelation of yourself. And that, Lord, those who do not yet know you would come to know you,

Lord. And those that are here, that iron would sharpen iron.

So we pray that in the name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

Amen. Now, it's amazing when you consider how quickly time passes.

And that alone should remind us to use our time wisely to serve our great God. And it's in that spirit that we started our study in Philippians.

I should say that Rob started the study in Philippians, I believe, all the way back in end of January.

So we're looking here at six months to study the word of Philippians.

And today, I have the privilege to complete that journey through the book.

So when Rob comes back, he doesn't have to open the Bible to Philippians because we are going to complete that study today.

In fact, we're going to be looking at Philippians chapter 4, verses 15 through 23.

So if you haven't already opened your copy of God's word, the Bible, to Philippians chapter 4, well, that'll be the place you'll want to open it.

And that's where we're going to go. But before we get there, I think we're going to have some fun today.

I'm going to throw you a little bit of a curveball. I went to the Mustangs game last night and saw a lot of curveballs.

But I'm going to throw you a little bit of a curveball. And we're going to look at some history, which

I think you will find fascinating. And it's a history that will directly connect with the end of Philippians.

So if I seem to be out of wobble on my curveball, why, just hang in there because I think it'll curve right over the plate for a strike.

But so that's kind of what we're going to do. We will start by winding the clock back to Paul's second missionary journey.

And he started out from a city called Antioch. It's in modern -day Syria, where he had been teaching and preaching and gradually made his way, along with Silas, his sidekick, through modern -day

Turkey, passing through the ancient regions of Syria, Sicilia, to the city of Lystra.

There, they encountered Timothy, who was a believer and the son of a Jewish woman. Paul wished that Timothy would come with them, and Timothy did so.

They passed through Phrygia and eventually came to Mycenae, which is on the western coast of modern -day

Turkey and on the eastern edge of the Aegean Sea. And as they arrived in the coastal city of Troas, Paul wanted to continue further north to Bithynia.

But it is at Troas that Paul receives a unique vision in the night, which he interpreted to be from the

Lord himself. A man of Macedonia is standing in this vision and appealing to him, imploring him to come to Macedonia and help us.

This is a pivotal event for Paul, who now understands that he's been given a divine call to evangelize

Macedonia. Now, this province lies west across the

Aegean Sea, which makes Troas, where he was, an ideal jumping -off point for his mission.

A two -day boat ride across the Aegean Sea lands them in a city called Neapolis, which is a coastal city.

And from there, they walk 10 miles to Philippi on a well -established roadway called

Via Ignatia. And that roadway is still there today, Via Ignatia.

It was paved by cobblestones at that time, so it was obvious that it was headed somewhere important.

Now, for the interested Bible student, this portion of Paul's second missionary journey is chronicled in Acts 1535 through Acts 1640.

So if you want to know more, when you get home, that's where you can read.

In Acts 1610, the writer of the Book of Acts, who is the good physician

Luke, writes, we got ready at once to leave for Macedonia.

Now, this is the first of what they call the we sections of Acts.

And it appears that Luke unobtrusively, and I lost my place here, inserts himself as the fourth member of the missionary team to sail from Troas.

The team now includes who? Well, who are the four? Well, Paul, Silas, Timothy, and Luke.

The next we section begins when Paul revisits Philippi after his third missionary journey, and that's in Acts 20, verse 5 through 15.

And it is therefore reasonable to conclude that Luke stays in Philippi after Paul leaves.

Paul, Silas, and Timothy make their way across Macedonia, and eventually they go south to Achaia.

Some conclude that Luke is left in Philippi to build and organize the church there.

Now, Philippi was a Roman colony in northern eastern Greece, and there was a number of Jewish believers meeting by the river on the

Sabbath for worship. One of these believers was

Lydia, and the Bible tells us that the Lord opened her heart to respond to Paul's message.

She and her household were converted and baptized. Lydia invites

Paul and the missionary team to her home, and the Philippian church is born.

But Paul's work in Philippi has just begun. He and Silas encounter a slave girl who has a spirit of divination, and Paul casts out the spirit from the slave girl in the name of Jesus Christ, and her powers of divination are lost.

This creates a loss of income for her owners, and they create quite a stir in the city.

In fact, Paul and Silas are beaten and placed in stocks in the inner jail.

And about midnight, they are praying and singing hymns of praise to the

Lord when an earthquake shakes the jail, opening all the doors and unfastening the chains.

When the jailer awakes, finding all of this has happened, he threatens to kill himself because he knows he's responsible for them.

But Paul cries out, and he says, do not harm yourself, for we're all here.

We haven't gone anywhere. The jailer then asks the same question that each one of us has had to ask, and he says, sirs, what must

I do to be saved? At which point, Paul offers him the gospel in such a brief but profound way, saying, believe in the

Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, and you and your household.

This is clearly Paul's shorthand for put your complete faith and trust in the

Lord Jesus Christ. Acts 16 .32 tells us, they spoke the word of the

Lord together with all who were in his household, and indeed, he and his household, that is the jailer and his household, were saved and baptized.

Now, was he the man of Macedonia that Paul saw in his vision? We don't know, but isn't that an interesting thought?

But after Paul and Silas are released from prison, they return to the house of Lydia, where they encourage their brothers and sisters in Christ, and then they departed.

After his third missionary journey, Paul is arrested in Jerusalem by a

Roman guard and taken to Caesarea, where he spends two years. He then appeals his case to Caesar, and he's transferred to Rome, where he spends at least another two years.

During this imprisonment, he writes the letter that we're studying today to the

Philippian church, and he writes that letter in around 61 or 62 AD.

And now I hope my curveball is starting to come back over the plate, because after that lengthy introduction, we've now arrived at our text for today.

And I think you can begin to see the relationships that have formed this written word to the

Philippian church. So follow with me in your Bible, and we're going to read the end of Philippians here.

And what a great word it is. You yourselves also know,

Philippians, that at the first preaching of the gospel after I left Macedonia, no church shared with me in the matter of giving and receiving but you alone.

For even in Thessalonica, you sent a gift more than once for my needs. Verse 17, not that I seek the gift itself, but I seek for the profit which increases to your account.

But I have received everything in full and have an abundance. I am amply supplied, having received from Epaphroditus what you have sent, a fragrant aroma, an acceptable sacrifice, which is well pleasing to God.

And my God will supply all your needs according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.

Now to our God and Father be the glory forever and ever. Amen. Greet every saint in Christ Jesus.

The brethren 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. Some translations add an amen to that.

Some don't. So anyway, amen. So we now have a strong sense of the relationship between Paul and his fellow missionaries to the

Philippian church. Paul remembers them fondly. And he tells us in Philippians 1 .5,

you participated in the gospel from the first day until now. Paul speaks with warm affections, remembering their manner of giving and receiving.

And he comments in here that it was from them alone. They single -handedly supported

Paul during this portion of his missionary journey. Now from 1 and 2

Thessalonians, those two books document that while trying to plant a church in Thessalonica, some of Paul's needs were accomplished by the work of his hands.

If you'll remember, he was a tent maker. But some of it was provided by the

Philippian church more than once, even when the Thessalonica church itself failed to contribute.

Paul sends this letter with warm remembrances and a thankful heart to the

Philippians. And you might have, and it ties with us, you might think back to someone you supported during a time of need.

The amount you gave might have been small. But if it came just at the right time, it would be remembered as being much more than you gave.

And it would be remembered for a long time. And I believe that's what Paul is trying to communicate here.

Although their gift might have been small, they were sent with love as directed by the

Lord himself. So in verse 17, Paul clarifies.

He says this. He says, not that he seeks the gift itself, but instead he seeks the profit or fruit which is credited by the

Lord himself to their account. Now, John reminds us of Jesus' words in the

Gospel of John, where Jesus himself said, I am the vine.

You are the branches. He who abides in me and I in him, he bears much fruit.

From apart from me, you can do nothing. Well, here is a biblical example of that fruit.

Jesus said in John, if we are his, we will bear fruit.

He didn't say that we might bear fruit. He said we will bear fruit.

He declares, in fact, that we will bear much fruit. Our bounty on this earth, no matter how large or small, belongs completely to God.

But we have the privilege of giving. And in this, we bear fruit.

We are never the poorer for giving as God directs us to give. For the largest gift or the smallest things are like a cup of water to a thirsty traveler and are counted as reward when we serve the

Lord with a pure heart. In addition to finances, sometimes we're asked to give of our time.

We could be asked to give of our expertise, our care, our hospitality, our empathetic concern or prayer for someone in need.

These are all valid fruits in the eyes of the Lord. And hopefully, they will be credited to our account, even as Paul prays here for the

Philippian church. So if we look at verse 18, but I have received everything in full and have an abundance,

I am amply supplied, having received from Epaphroditus what you have sent, a fragrant aroma, an acceptable sacrifice, well -pleasing to God.

So here, Paul reassures the Philippians first that he received everything they sent through Epaphroditus.

Nothing of their gift had been lost or stolen. And secondly, the fruit of the gift allowed for an abundance which amply supplied his needs.

He doesn't ask for more. You notice he doesn't solicit future funds.

He is satisfied with what the Lord has provided through the Philippian church at the time.

And we know this because he writes in 2 Corinthians chapter 8, verses 1 through 5,

Paul writes this. He says, now brethren, we wish to make known to you the grace of God which has been given in the churches of Macedonia.

That's the Philippian church. That in a great ordeal of affliction, their abundance of joy and their deep poverty overflowed in the wealth of their liberality.

I love those paradoxes in there. You know, isn't that interesting how he talks about their deep poverty overflowed in the wealth of their liberality?

For I testify that according to their ability and even beyond their ability, they gave of their own accord, begging us with much urging for the favor of participation in the support of the saints.

And this, not as we expected, but they first gave themselves to the

Lord and to us by the will of God. Well, that's a typical

Paul saying, isn't it? He's got a lot of twists and turns in there. What Paul is saying here is first, the

Philippians were not wealthy. Secular history reveals that the

Romans had taken much of their wealth when Philippi became a Roman colony.

And they were heavily taxed. You know, Rome needed money, and when you worked hard, they took the money, you know, liberally.

But despite all of that, the Philippians gave liberally of what they did have.

Like the widow's mite, they gave beyond their ability. They gave willingly and they gave generously, and they implored

Paul with urgency to receive their gift. For although they didn't have much to give, they wanted to give, and they wanted to participate in God's work of spreading the good news of the gospel.

The Macedonian Christians gave far more than what Paul expected. But what made their giving so spectacular, what made it as spectacular as Paul declares here?

It wasn't the dollar amount. It was that they first gave themselves to the

Lord, and then they gave to Paul and to the missionary team by the will of God.

In other words, he's telling us, if we give ourselves first to the Lord, the material giving will naturally follow.

We will want to give to the Lord's work, even as the saints in Philippi gave.

So their gift, Paul describes in Old Testament terms. He uses the term a fragrant aroma, like an incense that goes to heaven as a prayer, an acceptable sacrifice, which is well -pleasing to God.

Not a sacrifice of atonement, for none makes atonement for sin but Christ himself on the cross.

But a sacrifice of acknowledgement being more acceptable to God as the fruit of their grace than as to Paul for the supply of his needs, if you can see the twist in that.

Hebrews 13, 16 reminds us, do not neglect doing good and sharing, for with such sacrifices,

God is pleased. So that brings us to verse 19, and 19 tells us, and my

God will supply all your needs according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.

The Philippian saints could not provide for all of Paul's needs.

He was under house arrest at the time that he wrote this letter. But what they could supply was perhaps clothes, or maybe they could supply some food, they might have supplied some finances, which

Paul says he received in full, so the finances did not get pilfered.

And so we don't know exactly what was provided, but what was provided, Paul really needed.

But here, Paul promises that God will supply all of their needs in Philippi, according to his riches in the glory in Christ Jesus.

In other words, you supplied my needs according to your poverty, but God will supply your needs through his great riches.

The great preacher Spurgeon saw this verse as a great illustration of the wonderful miracle that you've read about in 2

Kings chapter four. This is where Elisha told the poor widow to gather the empty vessels and set them out and pour oil from one small vessel she had into the empty vessels.

Well, she filled and she filled and she miraculously filled until all of the empty vessels were now full of oil.

So when you look at that, all of our need is like empty vessels. God is the one who fills those vessels according to his great riches and the oil keeps flowing by grace given us in Christ Jesus.

It is in him, in Christ, that our needs are supplied. Luke chapter six, verse 38 declares this.

It says, give and it will be given to you. They will pour into your lap a good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over for by the standard of measures of, for by your standard of measure, it will be measured to you in return.

Verse 20, now to our God and father be the glory forever and ever, amen.

So here, Paul offers a brief doxology, a praise to the Lord. Now, what's in, this is more than a trite expression like we have in our modern church.

Oh, praise the Lord, this is much, this is much greater and has way more meaning than just praise the

Lord. First, he reminds us that God is our father and as a faithful father, he has our best interest at heart.

He knows our needs and it is his desire to provide for our needs, even as a good earthly father would try to provide for the needs of his children.

But even more, this brief doxology is a heartfelt expression of Paul's desire for God to be glorified in all that's happening in the, all that has happened and is happening in the

Philippian church. Paul reminds us that God owns it all and God orchestrates it all and all is for his glory.

To him and him alone may be the glory forever and ever and the amen here simply means in a

Latin expression, so be it. So in other words, all that received the letter were in agreement.

So verses 21 and through 23, we're getting close, closer to the end here.

Greet every saint in Christ Jesus, the brethren 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. So Paul remembers the saints in Philippi.

I think of him remembering them individually. Well, I remember Rich, I remember

Ben, I remember Bev, I remember David, I remember Diana. You know, to me that's what is going on here.

He remembers the saints individually in Philippi and here he sends them his love collectively.

He remembers each of them in kindness. The brothers and sisters who are with me in Rome also greet you.

In fact, all the saints greet you, especially those of Caesar's household. Well, this is an example of God's word never goes out in vain.

Paul reassures us that there are those in Caesar's household who have heard the gospel undoubtedly through him and answered

God's call to become saints, to become believers in the Lord Jesus Christ.

Now Nero was the emperor in Rome at the time and there was not a more despicable evil man anywhere but there were some under him in the guard and elsewhere in his entourage who came to know the

Lord Jesus Christ as savior. And then verse 23 is kind of written as a benediction.

Paul knows that the Christian life begins and ends with the grace of the

Lord Jesus Christ. So he begins and it ends his letter to the saints at Philippi with the wish that God's grace would be with them, reminding us that all progress through the

Christian life is accomplished through the grace of Jesus Christ.

But before we've kind of come to the end here, but before we officially end our journey through Philippians, let's just summarize all the things we've learned.

We've been covering this book now for about six months and I'm just gonna take another couple of minutes to say

I'm not gonna take another six months, believe me, our journey through Philippians and let's just summarize the things we've learned and hopefully the

Holy Spirit will give us each a point or two of application or maybe more than that.

So Paul, I like to think, why did Paul write this letter?

Why did he write the letter to the believers in Philippi? And he writes to the believers, the saints in Philippi, I remember you fondly because in my present circumstance of imprisonment and in the freedom of the gospel, you partake with me.

Well, there's another paradox. Oh, Paul just loves those. You know, here he is imprisoned under house arrest, but in the freedom of the gospel, which we all share, you partake with me.

Wow, that's just an exciting thought to Paul and it's an exciting thought to all of us.

Therefore, in all of this, I rejoice. He exhorts them to live in unity under Christ and beware of the false teachers and the legalists.

Do not put your confidence in the flesh, but instead put your confidence in the knowledge of Jesus Christ and the power of his resurrection through which we are saved by faith and faith alone through grace.

Amen to that. So Paul says again, rejoice in the Lord. I say again, rejoice.

He reminds us to follow his example and make every effort to discern the enemies of the cross, remembering all the time that we are citizens of heaven, so that under his present circumstances of imprisonment, he was content, but even more under all circumstances, he was content, especially to see the gospel go forth and be proclaimed.

He says, therefore, be anxious for nothing, but in everything let your requests be known through prayer.

Allow the peace of God to guard your heart and guard your mind and dwell on the things that are true and honorable and right and pure and lovely and of good repute, all of which are embodied in the person of Christ Jesus himself.

Give generously and trust the Lord to supply all of your needs, for we have a great and loving father in heaven and to him all glory and honor is due.

That's the reason he wrote the book to the Philippian church. That was an important word that he wanted to get out to them and an incredible word even to us, you know, what, almost 2 ,000 years later.

Well, let's end in prayer. Gracious God and father, it is through your grace that we have the privilege to study your word through the book of Philippians.

We are truly grateful for your word, oh Lord, for in the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was

God. He was in the beginning with God, all things came into being through him and apart from him, that is

Christ Jesus, nothing came into being that has come into being. We thank you, father, for the gift of the word which was your son,

Jesus Christ, for he has given us every reason to rejoice. We thank you,

Lord, for all we've learned through Philippians and we ask that you might help us to apply these things to our lives.

Give us a heart of generosity, oh Lord, that we might give to and serve others, especially your saints and allow us, oh

Lord, to trust completely in you, bringing all cares and petitions to you in prayer.

In these evil days, Lord, give us a spirit of discernment so that we might serve you and represent you well and allow our gentle spirit to be known to all of those who we encounter.

Send us forth with your grace to speak of your greatness in the name of your son,