Now, our lesson begins in chapter
four, Philippians, in verse nine. Where Paul writes those things
which you have both learned and received and heard and seen in
me do, and the God of peace shall be with you. Now, Paul says these
things, that's the whole message that Paul preached, the whole
message of Christ and particularly this letter that he's written
to them, these things that I've written unto you. In this letter,
Paul has exhorted us to rejoice in the Lord. He's exhorted us
to have unity of spirit, to show a genuine love and care and concern
for one another. He's exhorted us to have a humble
attitude. He's told us to avoid false preachers
and to rest in Christ alone, to rest in his righteousness,
to rest in Christ for everything that we need. He told us last
week in a lesson Jason taught, to think on these things, to
think on these holy things. And hopefully what we've heard,
this is not just doctrine. It's not something that we've
just been catechized, we've learned in our head that we can spit
back out. This is something that God's put in our hearts. He says
these things that you've learned, that you perceive, that you've
heard, These things that you've learned, not with your physical
mind, but with a new mind that God gives. These things that
you've perceived, that you've loved and embraced in the heart,
in the new heart that God gives you. These things that you've
heard with ears of faith, that you believe, with ears of faith
that God gives. And also these things that Paul
said that you've seen in me. Back here in chapter 3, verse
17, he said, Brethren, be followers together of me. And Mark then
which walks says, You have us for an example. You've seen these
things in Paul. He says, Now you follow my example.
Paul practiced what he preached. And you know why he practiced
what he preached? Because he believed this. This wasn't just
something he got up and talked about. This is what he believed. So he practiced what he preached.
And you know, it just doesn't do us any good to have really
good sounding words, to have real good sounding doctrine.
When our words and our conduct and our attitude out of the pulpit
don't match our words, don't match what we say our doctrine
is. But Paul's conduct matched his message. And God's grace
makes a difference if God's ever gracious to us. It'll show in
our conduct. Our conduct will match our message. Because when He gives a new heart
and a new will, a new conduct follows and flows from that.
Now Paul says, you've learned these things. You've received
them. You've heard them. You've seen
these things in action. Now do them. Put these things
into practice in your everyday life. As you go through your
everyday life, Paul's exhorted us in his epistle to love. and
unity. Well, put that into practice
in your everyday life. Show some love and care and concern
for your brethren. Look for a way to put that into
practice in your everyday life. As we go through our everyday
life, here's something we need to put into practice. Rest in
Christ. As we face the difficulties of
this life, don't get all up for now. Rest in Christ. Put that into practice in our
everyday life. Jason and I were talking about
the lesson last week. He said, I needed that as much
as anybody. I need this. Well, I'm just saying this to
me that you all follow along if you want. Rest in Christ. Put that into practice in your
everyday life. Do these things. Paul says, think
on these things. Put that into practice in your
everyday life to think on these things, to think on Christ. Paul
says, and you do this, and the God of peace will be with you.
Follow Christ more closely, and you'll simply enjoy more of His
peace. Our God is the God of all peace. Now do these things, and you'll
enjoy more of the peace that Christ bought for us with His
own blood at Calvary. I tell my children, you'll be
happier Your things will turn out better in your life if you'll
do what I tell you to do. I was a teenager once. I know
what it's like to be a teenager. I've come through that, and I've
learned a few things between then and now. If you'll do what
I tell you to do, life will be better for you. It's just so. The same thing's true about God's
children. The Lord's given us instruction in His Word. If we
follow His instruction, it'll go better for us. The God of
peace will be with us. Now, verse 10, Paul says, But
I rejoiced in the Lord greatly, that now at the last your care
of me has flourished again, wherein ye also were careful, but ye
lacked opportunity. Now, Paul begins to talk about
the financial support of missionaries and preachers, and that's a timely
lesson for us here as we take on the support, more full support
of a pastor. Now, this church at Philippi
had always given generously to support Paul and his ministry. But for some reason, we don't
know why, for quite some time, they hadn't had the opportunity
to send Paul any support. And Paul was sure. He always
thought the best of folks. He was sure that they wanted
to, but just didn't have the opportunity. He was sure they
remembered him in their prayers and so forth, but they just lacked
the opportunity to send him a gift. You know, they couldn't just
drop a check in the mail at this time. You know, somebody had
to gather all that together and take it wherever Paul was. But
now the opportunity had presented itself, and they gathered up
a gift and they gave it to their pastor Epaphroditus, and he went
and took it to Paul in Rome when he was there in prison. And Paul's
thanking him for it. Now, Scripture, you all know
this. plainly teaches us that we are to financially support
our pastor. And more than just financially,
we're to support him in every way, pray for him, hold him up,
be with him. You just can't stress strongly
enough the need to pray for your pastor. You know, Spurgeon attributed
the success of his ministry to that, that the men pray for me.
And it's just right. It's just right to show some
care and provision for our pastor. We're like Philemon. Paul told
Philemon, you owe me your own self. So if we owe him our own
self, it's just right that we show some care and provision
for things of this life. No matter where we go as God's
children, here's what we'll never escape. We will never escape
being debtors. No matter where we go, we are
debtors to God, aren't we? Debtors to His grace. We're debtors
to the pastors and teachers the Lord sends us. We're debtors
to one another. And we always need to remember
that. We're debtors to the missionaries. We see each other every week.
We see John every week. It ought to be hard for us to
forget him. But let's not forget even the
missionaries that we don't see every day. These folks hadn't
seen Paul in a good long while, but they didn't forget him. They
sent him a gift. And Paul says when he received
this gift, he rejoiced in the Lord greatly. And he thanked
the Philippians. Make no mistake about it, he
thanked them. But he said, I rejoiced in the Lord. I rejoiced in the
Lord because He's the one that puts it in our hearts to give.
And He's the one that gives us the means to be able to give,
to be able to send a gift like that. And he says, now your care
of me has flourished again. And the reference he's making
is a tree. This time of year from now through
winter, you drive along the roads and you look at trees and you
think, that tree's dead. I mean, there's no... sign of
life in that tree. It's dead. It's barren. It looks
like it's just a brittle wind's going to knock it down. But before
you know it, the south wind is going to blow spring in. It's
going to start warming up. The rain's going to fall. Some
sun will shine on it, and that tree will blossom. It'll flourish
with leaves and fruit. And the same thing's true with
the believer. Scripture calls the believers trees of righteousness,
planting the planting of the Lord. And there are times we
look awful dead. There are times we feel dead,
don't we? Just dead. It's miserable when you're in
that condition. But the Lord's not going to leave
you that way now. He's going to tend to His trees.
Before you know it, the south wind of God's Spirit's going
to blow on you. Some rain of the Word's going to fall. The
sun of righteousness is going to shine in your heart. And you'll
flourish. You'll bloom again. And that's
what's happened here. They just lacked opportunity
to send Paul gifts, but the Lord opened doors and they flourished
again. And he says in verse 11, not
that I speak in respect of one, for I've learned in whatsoever
state I am therewith to be content. I know both how to be abased
and I know how to abound. Everywhere and in all things,
I'm instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound
and to suffer need. Now, Paul didn't bring this subject
up so he could drop some hints, so he could get some more gifts.
He wasn't doing that at all. Paul didn't need anything. He
didn't want anything, even though he didn't own anything. He learned
to be content with whatever the Lord gave. Paul knew how to be
abased. He knew how to conduct himself
when he had nothing. To be cold, be hungry, not know
where his next meal is coming from. He knew what it was like
to be abased, to be hated by everybody around him, just to
be hated for what he believed. He learned to be in that state,
abased, but not be depressed. And here's the key, and not to
murmur against God. That's the key. You can be in
want and be abased, and you don't have to like it. You don't have
to say, well, this is great. But not murmur against God when you
find yourself in that condition. And not question the Lord's wisdom
and providence. That's the key to this thing.
And Paul knew how to abound. On the other hand, on the other
extreme, he knew how to have plenty of everything. To be warm
and to be well fed. To have plenty of food and money
and supplies. To be surrounded by friends and
loved him. Just hung on his every word.
Just held him in such high esteem. He knew how to be in that condition
and not get lifted up in pride, not get too big for his britches
like mom used to tell me. He knew how to be abound and
not forget he's totally dependent on the Lord. And that first lesson
is as hard to learn as the second one. Now it just is. And for
a human being, abounding can be more dangerous. I don't know
about you, but this is the way it is with me. When I'm in want,
and I don't have much, and I'm not quite so sure where my next
meal's coming from or where the next mortgage payment's coming
from, I have no problem understanding I'm completely dependent on the
Lord. I have no problem, when I'm in that condition, looking
to Him and Him alone, because I know I can't do this on my
own. But when we abound, isn't it human nature to rely on the
arm of the flesh and forget how dependent we really are on the
Lord. Look back in Proverbs chapter 30. Solomon had something that
shouldn't surprise us. Very wise to say about this situation
in Proverbs chapter 30. In Proverbs 30 verse 8. Remove far from me vanity and
lies. Give me neither poverty nor riches,
but feed me with food that's convenient for me, lest I be
full and deny thee and say, where is the Lord? Or lest I be poor
and steel and take the name of my God in vain." That's a good
prayer. Just keep me from poverty and
riches because I could put myself in danger in either one. But
Paul said, I've learned how to be content in one And both in
abounding. And here's what Paul had learned. To keep the temporary things
of this life in its proper perspective. Because I don't care how much
stuff you accumulate in this life. It's temporary. It's just
vanishing. And Paul had learned to have
those things and use them, but not let them use him. And here's
how you can learn to do that. Here's what'll happen. If you
learn that when you have Christ, you've got enough. Then these
other things are not going to get out of their proper perspective.
And Paul didn't learn this lesson growing up at the feet of Gamaliel.
Oh, he had a good teacher growing up at the feet of Gamaliel, but
that's not where he learned this lesson. He learned this at the
feet of Christ. He didn't learn this lesson studying
the law. He learned this lesson through God's grace. And you
know, normally, we only learn this lesson in trial, in trouble. That's where we really learn
this lesson. And this lesson, to be content
in one and not be lifted up with pride when you're bound, cannot
be taught to the human nature. It can't be. How did Paul learn
that? How could he do that? Look in
verse 13, he tells us. I can do all things through Christ
which strengthens me." The only way any of us will ever have
this kind of attitude is through Christ strengthening the new
man. That's the only way. This phrase,
strengtheneth me, is in the present tense. And in the original, from
what I read, it's better translated, I can do all things by the Lord's
constant and renewed strengthening of me. It's constant. Then I
can do all things. But the moment He leaves me alone,
I'm going to fall sure of the world. It's His constant and
renewed strength. And the Lord gives us strength.
He gives His children strength for every situation He puts us
in. I was watching a ball game yesterday. I had in my notes to say that
we face a trial or a difficulty and we think, I can't do that. I was watching the ball game
yesterday, and they were talking about University of Miami hurricanes.
One of their players was shot and killed this week, and their
coach made this statement. He said, I know the Lord won't
give us more than we can bear, but I wish he wouldn't put quite
so much trust in me, because it's about all I can take. This
is the loss of that boy. Well, you know what? You're right
when you think that. We can't. We can't face that
trial. We can't bear it up alone. We
don't. Have the strength to bear up under that. But with Christ,
you can do all things. And I promise you, wherever it
is He puts you, He'll give you the strength to endure. And it's
not your strength, it's His. Look over back in Ephesians chapter
3. With Him, with Him strengthening
us, we can do whatever it is He calls us to do. In Ephesians
3 verse 16. Paul says that He would grant
you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened
with might by His Spirit in the inner man. That's where He strengthens
us. Look over another page at chapter 6 and verse 10. Finally, my brethren, be strong
in the Lord and the power of His might. See, it's His might,
His strength that lets us be able to endure whatever it is
the situation he calls us to. And that leaves us totally dependent
on the Lord. And that's a good place to be,
dependent on Him. So, verse 14, Paul says, Notwithstanding,
you have done well that you did communicate with my affliction.
You know, sometimes I've seen people do this. They want to
stress so much that it is the Lord that worketh in us, both
to will and to do His good pleasure. It's of the Lord. And we're so
careful not to give any glory to the flesh, that you don't
thank somebody. You almost kind of end up insulting
them. When they do something nice for you, you don't thank
them. It's like, well, you know, I don't know how to explain that,
but they just are so careful not to give any glory to the
flesh, they don't thank the person for doing something for them.
And Paul says, I do rejoice in the Lord, but I thank you too.
I thank you. You're the one that sent the
gift. And Paul says, I can be content. Whether I'm in need
or whether I'm bound, I can be content. But I sure appreciate
your gift when I'm in need, because it helps. And you've done well. You did what you should have
done when you knew I was in need and sent this gift. And you do
what you should have done when you provide for those who preach
the gospel to you. And you do what you should have
done when you provide for someone, anybody that you know of that's
in need. Look over in 1 Corinthians chapter 9. Paul, in 1 Corinthians, is talking
to the church here at Corinth about support of preachers and
pastors. In 1 Corinthians 9, verse 7.
Who goeth to warfare any time at his own charges? Who planteth
a vineyard, and eateth not of the fruit thereof? Or who feedeth
the flock, and eateth not of the milk of the flock? Say I
these things as a man, or sayeth not the law the same also? For
it is written in the law of Moses, Thou shalt not muzzle the mouth
of the ox that treadeth out the corn." Does God take care for
the oxen? Or saith he it altogether for
our sakes? For our sakes, no doubt this
is written, that he that ploweth should plow in hope, and he that
thresheth in hope should be partaker of his hope. Now if we have sown
unto you spiritual things, is it a great thing if we reap your
carnal things? And Paul says, we preach to you.
You reap spiritual blessings from us. You've done right when
we are able to partake of some of your carnal things. And the
Lord may have given our pastor grace to be content in want. He may have given him that grace.
But we should never be content for our pastor or any of our
loved ones here to be in want if we have the ability to relieve
that one. He may be content, but we should
never be content. And Paul says, you've done well
in sending this gift to relieve my one. You know, that's a good
work. That's why he's saying you've
done well. And sovereign gracers get awful afraid of this term
good work. But you know, you don't have to be afraid to use
that term. That's a scriptural term. And you don't have to be
afraid to use that term to God's children, because you know that's
not a good work done to gain salvation. Of course not. That's
what Christ does for us. The work of salvation is the
work of the Godhead alone. Yet Scripture says, we do good
works. Paul told her, I want you to
abound in good works. Well, a good work is simply an
act. that's done in faith and love, love for Christ and love
for his people. Paul says, you've done well,
done what you ought to have done. And verse 15 says, Now you Philippians
know also that in the beginning of the gospel, when I departed
from Macedonia, no church communicated with me as concerning giving
and receiving, but ye only. For even in Thessalonica you
sent once and again unto my necessity. Now apparently, this is what
a lot of the writers think, that the only church that ever asked
Paul any questions about giving and supporting pastors and missionaries
was this church at Philippi. And when Paul first went out
on his first missionary journeys, the only church that supported
him by sending him gifts as he was on those journeys was this
church at Philippi. And when Paul was in Thessalonica,
those Thessalonicans didn't support him. The church at Philippi,
they sent gifts to me. Now, some people think, well,
Paul is in Thessalonica, the culture or whatever it was there
that they just wouldn't give or they would if they would give
it only begrudgingly. And Paul said, I'm not taking
it then. If it's not going to be of a free heart, I'm just
not going to take it. Some people think that the culture
there was the Thessalonians just wouldn't work. So Paul. They didn't have anything to
give, first of all, since they wouldn't work, and second, Paul
set the example to them. And he went and worked with his
hands, making tents, so he could support himself and support the
men with him. He worked full time and he preached,
too. And this church at Philippi, they didn't want that, so they
sent him some support to help him. And we've got to be careful,
so careful, to guard against forgetting to support our pastor,
forgetting to support missionaries. You know, it's just human nature
to forget. You just go along, you know,
your everyday life week after week after week and you forget.
Even the early church forgot that. They forgot when the apostles
themselves were the first missionaries, they forgot. So we need to be
careful to guard against that. And this is interesting, this
term giving and receiving. That's a business term. That's
a term used in commerce, and it refers to keeping accounting
ledgers. I'm no accounting person, but
I know this is something that's stressed in Accounting 101. The
credit and the debit side always have to equal. They always have
to do. It's a hard and fast rule. Well, that's what Paul's talking
about. Pastors, teachers give us spiritual things. And in response,
we give them our physical things. Now that ledger is never going
to balance. I don't care. There's no amount
of money worth a faithful pastor to teach us the Word, to preach
Christ to us. There's no amount of money that's
worth that. But you get the idea. Even though
a ledger would never balance, we give out of a thankful heart.
So, verse 18, Paul says, But I have all and abound. I'm full,
having received of Epaphroditus the things which were sent from
you, an odor of a sweet smell, a sacrifice acceptable, well-pleasing
to God. But my God shall supply all your
need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus." Now,
Paul says, I've got all the gifts that you sent with Epaphroditus,
and I'm full. You sent a wonderful gift. I'm
full, I thank you. And this gift is a sacrifice
that's acceptable. And he says, well, pleasing to
God. And again, you know, this is not a sacrifice for sin. The sacrifice for sin was done
once. Christ did that once and put
away the sin of his people forever. And this is not a sacrifice that
we may make in order to impress God and kind of get a better
standing with him. You know the Father can never
accept or be pleased with a sacrifice we make for sin or to improve
ourselves in any way. This is a sacrifice of thanksgiving
and praise. And when it's given in faith
and love, God will accept it and be well pleased with it.
Look over in Hebrews chapter 13. In thanksgiving and for the glory
of Christ, the Father will be well pleased with these things,
these sacrifices. Hebrews 13, verse 15. By him,
therefore, let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually.
That is the fruit of our lips, giving praise to his name. But
to do good and to communicate, to give, forget not. For with
such sacrifices, God is well pleased. And Paul says, now you've
sent this gift, and I can never repay you. But my God will. He'll meet your every need just
like He met my needs the same way. And you know, this is not
seed money. People talk about, well, you
just keep giving. You see this on TV all the time.
You keep giving. You sow this big harvest by sending
me all your money, and God will give you a big harvest. That's
a mercenary attitude. And God's children aren't mercenaries. They're loving children. Not
motivated by, you know, gain. It's out of love and thanksgiving.
Yet it is true that gifts given out of faith and love, the Lord
will supply your needs. The Lord said, whatever you do
to the least of these My little ones, you've done unto Me. The
Lord takes note of those things. Listen, nobody is telling you
not to. Don't give, put an offering,
your grocery money and just, you know, expect somebody, you
know, they'll go over to Kroger's and have free groceries. You
know, don't put your mortgage money or something in the offering.
You know, that's what false preachers do. They prey on widows and take
their money. That's not what we're saying
at all. But here's what Miss Luther always
taught her children. The Lord does always give you
enough to share. So give what the Lord's given you, just as
He provides. So verse 20, Paul says, Now unto
God and our Father be glory forever and ever. Paul says to God, be
all the glory for His unspeakable mercy and grace that He's shed
on us. You can never give God enough
glory for the grace He's given us, for how He's met our every
need. both physical and spiritual. He's met our every need. And
the amazing statement in this verse is the God of heaven and
earth, the eternal God, Paul calls Him our Father. He's not a tyrant king who's
ruling over us with an iron fist. He's our Father who rules with
love and care and concern for His children, giving us just
what we need. Sometimes it might be correction,
sometimes it's abundance. But he gives us just what we
need as a wise, loving father. In verse 21, Paul says, Salute
every saint in Christ Jesus. The brethren which are with me
greet you. All the saints salute you, chiefly they that are of
Caesar's household. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ
be with you all. Amen. Now here Nero had put Paul
in prison. And Nero, you know well, is famous
for hating Christians, how he persecuted them, tortured them.
Yet, when Paul sends greetings from the brethren that are with
him there in Rome, he includes those who are of Caesar's household.
He says, chiefly, those who are of Caesar's household, they really
wanted me to be sure I sent greetings from them to you. Now, I'm just
sure of this. When Paul first went to Rome
in prison, I'm sure there was not one believer in Nero's household
or in his court. I'm sure of it. It was known
to be a wicked, wicked place. But Paul ended up in prison there.
And God's providence somehow arranged for some of these people
to go hear that man preach. And they believed. They became
saints in Nero's court. Some of the people you read said
Nero ended up killing them for it. But be that as it may, Even
though that court was known to be so wicked, God's grace overcame. God's grace always overcomes
His people. Just like you and me, we're no
different. Just as wicked, just as rebellious, just as sinful.
And His mercy, His providence, His grace overcame. You know,
the theme of the book of Philippians is rejoice. That's a good reason
to rejoice. Alright, well Lord willing, we're
going to begin a study of the book of Hebrews next week.