Gracious Father, forgive our
sins, wash us clean in the blood of Christ, that our minds may
be free of all condemning guilt that would cause us to hesitate
to approach you, that would hinder our ability to hear the word
of your grace. And we pray this in the name
of Christ. Amen. Verse 10. Philippians chapter
4 verse 10, I rejoice greatly in the Lord that at last you
have renewed your concern for me. Indeed, you have been concerned,
but you had no opportunity to show it. Now, evidently for a
period of time, the Philippians had been unable to communicate
with the Apostle Paul. I say communicate, I assume that
there was regular communications, and these communications involved
helping him financially with the ministry he conducted. Now
this, actually most of this passage is about the church taking care
of those that minister to them in the gospel, and then how those
who are ministers of the gospel should respond to the way they are taken
care of by others. But he says, I rejoice greatly
in the Lord that at last you have renewed your concern. Now,
he does not mean that they were not concerned. because he says,
indeed, you have been concerned. They were concerned in the sense
that they cared about him, they loved him. Their love for him
had not diminished, but for some reason or another, they had not
had the opportunity to send him gifts as they had before. Now, as we'll see in a little
bit, that this Epaphroditus that we've mentioned on a few occasions,
they had sent him with a gift to Paul in order to help him. Because he was in prison at this
time, there was nothing he could do to support himself, so they
had sent him a gift, but probably it had been quite a while. Now,
one of the lessons to be learned in this and it's a lesson he's
been teaching throughout the book of Philippians, is that
when you see these changes in the people of God, in their conduct,
be patient. Now, it could be that some would
withhold giving purposefully. They're upset about something,
so they decide, well, if that's the way they're going to do it,
I'm not going to give. I've heard that kind of stuff. There are
those who go through times when they just have nothing. They
have nothing to contribute to the general treasury of a church
or to the help of whatever. And in this case, there was evidently
just no ability to get the money to him. But think of this from
Paul's perspective. The only thing he knew is that
he had not heard from the church in Philippi for quite a while.
Now, that's always, when things change, when the general pattern
changes, that brings concern to the heart of anyone who ministers
in the gospel. Now, we have a congregation here.
And people have general patterns that they follow. And generally
speaking, as long as everybody keeps following the patterns
they normally have, I figure things are about the same. But
when I notice changes, for instance, somebody doesn't show up for
a while. That is, their regular pattern of attendance is broken
significantly and it goes on for a while. Well, there's always
concern on my part. You want to know why? Because
it could be for what we might call innocent reasons. It could
be due to some struggles. And it's always tempting to run
after such people and check on them. or try to encourage them
to return to whatever practice they were doing before. And I'm
not saying there's never a reason to do this. I have a time frame
in my mind that, generally speaking, I don't do anything unless things
change dramatically for a certain amount of time. And I usually
don't tell the amount of time, because then people say, OK,
I've got to wait so long before the pastor's going to show up.
And here's the reason. The reason is you want to pastor
people, not pester them. And I don't want people coming
here because they're afraid if they miss some week, I'm going
to be showing up at their door sometime in the coming week.
In fact, I don't want anyone ever coming here because they're
afraid of what I'm thinking about them, and they may want to make
a good impression on me. That's the wrong reason. If the
Lord worked that in you and you showed up, he might have done
that to get you here to hear something that you needed. But
I don't want to be promoting that. I'm not the one you're
supposed to follow. Another reason I don't jump at
these changes is if a person is going through some struggles,
it is better if that gets worked out between them and the Lord.
In many respects, I have nothing new to tell them. You know, in
my preaching, I do, like Paul said, I deliver to you the whole
counsel of God. What am I going to say? But the main thing is, people
go through struggles. All of us do. Now, I am here
every week. But let me be honest with you.
Sometimes I'm here because it's my job. Now, I'm always glad
that I made it. But sometimes the motivation
is, if I don't show up, you know, everybody's going to be at my
front door wondering what's going on. But people go through struggles.
Sometimes, I remember Henry Mahan saying this, and I knew it had
to be a shock to a lot of people. But he says, if you miss some
Sunday, we're not going to get worried about you. He says, maybe
what you needed more than anything else was just a rest from everything. And that can be the case. Now, if it's often the case,
then maybe a change needs to be made in your life. But there's
times. In fact, I remember Henry saying, it could be that on some
particular Sunday morning, the best thing for you would be a
round of golf. You just need to get away from all of it. Of
course, that doesn't work unless you golf. And around here, most
of the year, it's not going to work at all. See what I mean? This going to church isn't a
rule. It's that and the other. But
when these things become a pattern, and when they go on for a significant
period of time, I usually will ask for one thing. Maybe somebody's
sick. Or somebody needs a word of encouragement. Now this is something that has
kind of surprised me, and maybe I was late to the game in understanding
this. I have nothing new to tell people,
but sometimes they need someone to come tell them what they've
been told all along, just to remind them of it. But here's
the thing. When you see a change, we don't
immediately or should not immediately jump to the conclusion something's
wrong. and even if it proves that something
is wrong. We take that within the context
that all things are of God, and even when people act as though
they should not, even that is part and parcel of the purpose
of God and He will use it to bring about his glory and bring
about the welfare of his people, even that one who is, quote,
doing wrong. Now, God does not tempt any man
to evil. That is, he does not enter their heart, as the devil
might do, and say, well, why don't you just forget about church,
or you need to throttle back? No, but he lets these things
happen. Why? Because, if I can put it this
way, our struggle is not dishonoring to God. When we struggle, even
as we're stumbling, it's not dishonoring to God. Here's what's
dishonoring to God when we quit struggling. You know, Job, in
all of his testings and trials, That was a struggle. He was hurting. He complained in some ways he
should not have complained. He made some statements about
himself that simply were not true. And yet in all of that, in all his stumbling and struggling,
it was not a dishonor to God because in the end, he came to
the right conclusion. So when you see your brothers
and sisters in Christ struggle, don't jump in and try to take care of their struggle for
them, unless it's something overwhelming. I'm not talking about helping
people with day-to-day problems that come up in their lives.
But Paul says, every man shall bear his own burden, that means
his own little load of faults, little things he's got to deal
with in himself. I was talking to a fellow one
time, well, he's somewhat older than me and therefore somewhat
wiser than me, but I was having some emotional struggles, and
he knew that as a pastor, you know, pastors tend to take on
the troubles of the people in the congregation. And he told
me, he said, Joe, you've got to remember, if God sends a trial
to someone in a congregation, he sent it to them, not you. You do what you can to help them,
but you can't bear the burden. It's theirs to bear because God
is teaching them something. And if you jump in and bear it,
they missed the lesson. So Paul is saying here, he says,
I greatly, I rejoice greatly in the Lord that at last you've
renewed your concern for me. He's not saying I've been upset,
I've been sad. He's just glad to see that what,
to this point, had been unknown. There was a silence, as it were,
and he doesn't know why. Well, now there's communication
again. So he knows, okay, there isn't
any trouble. He said, you have been concerned, you cared about
it, but you had no opportunity to show it. Now, verse 11, I'm
not saying this because I am in need, because I have learned
to be content whatever the circumstances. Now, contentedness is a wonderful
grace. Now, so long as we're here in
this life, we will never be satisfied. David said, when I awake, I will
be satisfied with seeing your likeness. And what he means by
that is, I won't be satisfied till I see you face to face.
That's what he means. And the satisfaction of the believer
will never come about until he's made like Christ. But in the
meantime, we can learn to be content whatever condition God
has put us in. And remember, whatever condition
you're in, God puts you there. You say, well, it's my fault.
Yes, it's your fault. Many times we make foolish decisions,
we get ourselves in trouble or whatever. And yet God has ordained
even all of that And it is working out for your eternal salvation. And when you mess up, you take
your lumps. And when I say take your lumps,
I mean it's being the natural things that happen, you know,
when you choose the wrong course. You know, if you jump off a building,
you can expect it's going to be painful when you hit the ground,
just like with an unbeliever. But you take your lumps, and
by the grace of the Lord, you get up and you just keep moving
on. He said, I'm not saying this
because I'm in need. It's not as though I'm excited
that you have sent me money because I needed some money. I've learned
to be content. I've had much. He says, verse
12, I know what it is to be in need and I know what it is to
have plenty. So I've known both of those.
He said, but I have learned the secret of being content in any
and every situation, whether well-fed or hungry, whether living
in plenty or in want." Now, I heard a sarcastic turn on a
common phrase. A fellow said, money isn't everything,
but make sure you got a whole lot of it before you ever say
a fool thing like that. That's kind of our natural way
of thinking. We can say money isn't everything as long as we
got plenty of it. Oh, to learn to be content when you don't
have particularly what we in America would call plenty. To be able to say I am as content
living hand to mouth as I would be If I had access to a million
dollars in cash, taxes already paid. Now I know which I would rather
be, but could we be content in either situation? Paul said he
could. He said, I've been hungry. I've
gone some time without food. And then there's times I've had
plenty. Well fed. I've had money in my pocket,
and I've had holes in my pockets, and I have learned the secret
of being content in both situations." So what he's saying of them and
what an attitude to have, he rejoiced in the fact that Once
again, they had been able to give to him, but his greater
joy wasn't coming from the fact now he's got more cash. His greater joy came because
that was evidence that they were remaining faithful to the gospel
and to the ministers of the gospel and that their love for him had
not waned. Oh, that we could all have such
an attitude. And then verse 13, this is a
terribly abused scripture. I can do everything through him
who gives me strength. People like to put this on t-shirts.
When I was going to college, you know, troubles had come up.
People say, I can do all things through Christ that strengthen
me. A test would come up. I'm not kidding. He said, well,
I've not had the opportunity to study like I should, but I
can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. Well, I suppose
if it was important to God that you get a good grade on your
test, he could infuse you with knowledge that you had not studied
for. But that's not at all what this
verse is about. Don't ever let anyone give you
the idea that everything is possible for you. After all, so far as
I know, Paul never attempted to fly because he knew he couldn't. He wasn't made for that. What's
he talking about? This is a typical use of a universal word, all
things or everything, that must be defined by its context. What's
he talking about? Being content in all circumstances. I can do everything. I can go
without. I can go with plenty. I can go
without and not become discouraged that God has forgotten me. I
can have plenty and not forget God. I can rejoice and enjoy life
and be confident no matter what my material circumstances are. She says, I can do that. Now, I'm not going to say I can or
can't. I don't know. Now I remember,
you know, early in our married life, there was a whole lot more
want than there was plenty. But it's been a long time since
we have had to look at, you know, how are we going to pay bills
next month or this month? There's been sufficient. So I've not been tested on the
want side, that is want in the old meaning of you don't have
something you need. I suppose all of us, in the modern
sense of want, we would like to have more than what we have. That's just so natural to us.
But I have to say, I cannot complain, not legitimately. I eat every
day. I have a nice house to live in,
good bed to sleep in, nice car to drive, got good friends. Good job. Brothers and sisters
in Christ, what am I going to complain about? All right, I
got a sore throat. I guess I could complain about that. But it's
working. I can still breathe through it
and talk. That's the everything. You see, whatever we are enabled
to do by grace, it will never give us an occasion to boast Now, if when he said, I can do
all things, it meant he could run the fastest 100-yard dash,
well, you get a trophy for that. If it meant all the things that,
or the kinds of things that some preachers will preach with this
in order to get people excited and give them a hope that has
no foundation in the scriptures, those things that they feel now
they're going to be able to do, They all seem to involve things
that they can boast in having done. Paul says, I can do everything
through him who gives me strength. He said, I can do these things,
but here's why. He gives me strength. Paul couldn't do that when he
was Saul. And probably it took a while
after the Lord had converted him before he learned this aspect
of life, a contentedness in all circumstances. 14, yet it was good of you to
share in my troubles. When we help others as God enables
us, we are sharing in their troubles. In Galatians, Paul says, bear
one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ. Then
he goes on to say, for every man shall bear his own burden.
Now that's the way it appears in the King James, and it seems
confusing. One is talking about overwhelming
burdens, which God may put on someone in order to prompt demonstrations
of love toward them. The other one, every man shall
bear his own burdens, that's just, like I said, the stuff
of life. So you're sick, okay, everybody gets sick. Or you've
got maybe some special challenges. Everybody's got special challenges,
unique to the kind of person they are, and we all gotta learn
to deal with them. But, he said, it was good of
you to share in my troubles. You heard I was in need. It was
good of you to help. Religion. thinks that it's good
to be moral. And it is, don't get me wrong.
But that's how they define goodness. Do this, don't do that. Touch
not, taste not, handle not. They're being good. They're not
being good to anybody but themselves, they think. Goodness always involves help. When we act righteously, we have
done only what we are required to do. And when a servant does
only what is required, you can't punish him, but there's no real
need for praise either, is there? I mean, if you pay someone $20
to mow your lawn and he mows your lawn and you hand him $20,
Now I know in politeness we'll say thank you and stuff like
that, but really, the deal's done. They did what they're supposed
to do, you did what you're supposed to do. Nobody's worthy of praise
on that account. Now if he mowed your grass, weeded
your garden, painted the house or something, still only for
$20, okay, wow, you did far and above what was expected. And
that's what he means. It was good of you to share in
my troubles. You didn't have to. You see, giving, While it's
expected in some sense, there is no law about it such as was
in the law of the old covenant when the tithe was imposed upon
all the people. There is no amount given in scripture
which you are required to give. Whatever you give out of love
and cheerfully, That is good in God's sight.
You know, I've mentioned before in the Old Covenant, a minimum
amount was given and impressed upon the unwilling. In the New Testament, excuse
me, a maximum amount for giving is given. And what is that? Paul says, never give more than
you can and never give begrudgingly. because the Lord loves a cheerful
giver. If you can't give cheerfully, don't bother. And no one ever has to feel that
they are required to give a certain amount, even though that would
not make them able to take care of their own needs. So he said, it was good of you
to share in my troubles. Moreover, as you Philippians
know, in the early days of your acquaintance with the gospel,
When I set out from Macedonia, not one church shared with me
in the matter of giving and receiving except you only. For even when
I was in Thessalonica, you sent me aid again and again when I
was in need." Now what's he saying? He's saying, I remember how well
you treated me. And let us never forget the things
that our brothers and sisters do for us in Christ. Now I realize
when they do it, that's God working in them. But that's okay too. We thank them and then we thank
God for them. Once again, he said, not that
I'm looking for a gift, but I'm looking for what may be credited
to your account. He said, I'm not looking for
what could be credited to my account down at the bank. I'm
looking for what may be rightly credited to you as having done
what is good and loving and pleasing in the sight of God. Now, not
pleasing in the sight of God, our judge, because God's not
our judge anymore. Judgment's been taken care of.
This is God, our Father. And you know you relate to fathers
differently than you do to judges. And fathers can accept the faulty
efforts of their children, understanding their children. So what he's
saying is, I'm just glad that you have done that which is pleasing
in the sight of the Father. I have received full payment
and even more. I am amply supplied now that I have received from
Epaphroditus the gifts you sent." So you see, he's not begging
for more. He said, boy, that gift you sent, that's enough.
It's more than enough. And notice now what he says here.
They are a fragrant offering, an acceptable sacrifice, pleasing
to God. Now, we often say there's nothing
we can do to please God. That's when you're working on
the righteousness scale. But we who have been born again
by the Spirit of God, when we out of love to God and love for
our brothers and sisters and our fellow man, cheerfully give
from whatever resources we have, whether it be time or energy
or money or wise counsel or comfort, whatever, it is like a sweet
smelling savor, a perfumed offering to God. And this hearkens back
to the temple worship. There was always these offerings
of incense and things like that. And then he says, verse 19, and
my God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches
in Christ Jesus. He said, now you have sent me
a gift And I know this, no one has ever outgiven God. He will
take care of everything you need. He will supply all your need
according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus. Never think
that you will ever, ever do something in love that will ultimately
cost you something you need. God will see to it you have everything
you need, always. To our God and Father be glory
forever and ever, amen. And that's a good way to sign
off, isn't it? All that goes on, glorify God
for it. Whether it seems good or seems
bad, whether it's pleasant or unpleasant, whether it's disturbing or cheering,
give glory to God. And then he gives his typical
greetings. Greet all the saints in Christ
Jesus. The brothers who are with me send greetings. All the saints
send you greetings, especially those who belong to Caesar's
household. I just want you to notice something here. He's in
jail. That may seem like a bad thing.
But you know one reason Paul was put in jail? Because guards
had to stand there and watch him, and they had to stand there
while he preached the gospel to them. And some of them believed. Paul had a prison ministry, and
it was fruitful. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ
be with your spirit. Amen. All right, not sure just
what we'll start with next week, but it'll be something.