Contentment through Generosity - Philippians 4:14-21 (May 19) Myles Holmes

Hello and welcome to the Redemption Church Podcast.

We're a church in Newmarket, Ontario, Canada that exists to glorify God through the fulfillment of the Great Commission and the spirit of the Great Commandment.

Thanks for joining us today.

So good to be with you this morning.

In every family, there are uh stories.

You could call them maybe family lore.

I know that's especially true in my family.

Over the course of years, these stories really take on a life of their own.

But one of the stories I want to share with you this morning, it's the story of the pumpkin pie bake-off.

It was a competitive affair.

It was my brother's idea that one Thanksgiving we would see who could make the best pumpkin pie.

And it was interesting to watch as a spectator myself, not much of a baker.

It was interesting to watch.

My dad over the years had kind of become known as an expert pie baker.

And my wife came from a real rich heritage of strong baking.

And it was my brother's idea, so we just thought he was up to something.

He must have something up his sleeve.

And so we figured that might be a pretty competitive contest.

ESPN wasn't there, but it felt like they should be as I watched.

Three pies enter the contest, but one was different.

Two of the pumpkin pies were beautiful, pumpkin pie colored, but one was darker and concerning.

If looks showed that something was up, taste left no doubt that something was up with this pie.

It was earthy, but more concerning, it was very spicy.

And we will never let my brother live down that he chose to freestyle this pumpkin pie recipe and add coffee grounds and cayenne to it.

Now, I share the story maybe to illustrate that one wrong ingredient can ruin an entire recipe.

In fact, there are other stories in Holmes' lore about recipes that have been ruined, like the one time that we made mashed potatoes and mistook the garlic for ginger.

I don't know if you ever tried ginger mashed potatoes, but they hit they hit a little differently.

There was another time that we made pancakes and accidentally thought the sugar was salt.

And that doesn't work out too well either.

The moral of the story here is be careful when you eat at my house.

But more so, we get the sense that one ingredient either wrongly added or missing from a recipe ruins the entire thing.

And in Philippians 4, Paul has been giving us this recipe for contentment.

Here we see a man who has had little and he's had much, and he's showing us how we can find contentment in whatever circumstance we find ourselves, even if we can't control the circumstance.

Now this week, as Paul turns from really contentment in his own life to now in verse 14, the contentment that the Philippians had experienced, the thing that he wants us to understand is this that without generosity, contentment is impossible.

Generosity is a necessary ingredient to Christian contentment.

In other words, you can say this, that contentment can only happen in your life when you are more concerned about giving to others than getting yourself.

When you're more concerned with contributing than you are with consuming.

The reverse of that is that contentment will never be possible when your greatest concern is yourself.

You will never be able to be content if that is the case.

This is the paradox of the Christian faith.

There's no way to contentment without generosity towards others.

And God is really giving us this sense, this lesson for many of us, a reminder for a few of us, that the way to Christian contentment is not by pulling in as many resources into our kingdom as we possibly can, but by pouring out as much as we possibly can.

This is the way to Christian contentment.

This is why Jesus said, whoever desires his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life will find it.

We just sang these words this morning.

All we want and all we need is found in him.

And then the very next song we sang these words, Blessed are those who give it all to Jesus.

And the question for us this morning is, do we believe that?

Do we believe that our greatest contentment is when we live with our resources, especially our money, and we have this open hand and we say, God, take what you want, and I have the faith to say that I will be more blessed in giving than I will be in receiving.

I have the faith to believe Jesus' words that it's more blessed to give than it is to receive.

This is the paradox of Christian contentment, generosity.

It ushers into our life a gain that nothing else can.

And yet I just recognize how hard it is for us to believe this.

I sang these songs this morning with a sense of, you know, what God was going to say to us this morning.

And I just had this recognition, like it's so much easier to say we're going to give it all to Jesus.

It's so much easier to say, Jesus, my life is yours.

But then when the checkbooks open, when it comes to our money, this can be incredibly difficult.

It's a heart struggle.

So many of us try to make life all about us.

We try to run and establish our kingdom, our way.

We try to make everything fit the mold of what we want our life to be.

And God wants to stop us in the crazy race that that is and say it will never work.

It ruins the recipe of contentment.

God designs contentment and God gives contentment, and so He is telling us this morning, He gives it through generosity.

I want you to see this in Philippians chapter 4 before we turn to the Lord in prayer.

Philippians 4 · chapter mention

Read along with me, chapter 4, verse 14.

Yet it was kind of you to share my trouble.

And you Philippians yourselves know that in the beginning of the gospel, when I left Macedonia, no church entered into partnership with me in giving and receiving, except you only.

Even in Thessalonica, you sent me help for my needs once again.

Not that I seek the gift, but I seek the fruit that increases to your credit.

I've received full payment and more.

I'm well supplied, having received from Epaphroditus the gifts you sent, a fragrant offering, a sacrifice acceptable and pleasing to God, and my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.

To our God and Father be glory forever and ever.

Amen.

Greet every saint in Christ Jesus.

The brothers who are with me greet you.

All the saints greet you, especially those of Caesar's household.

The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit.

Let's turn to the Lord in prayer together.

Father, that is what we desire, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ.

And maybe even now, Lord, Lord, as we reflect on what you're going to talk to us about this morning, about a contentment that is impossible without generosity.

Lord, maybe even right now there's just the sense of guilt.

Lord, the sense of knowing.

Lord, that we should be generous, that we should be giving, but but maybe we just find ourselves in a situation where if it feels impossible, it feels incredibly difficult.

And God, I just am reminded that your desire here is for your grace to be lavished over your people.

And so I give you all the praise.

God, every time you speak to us, it's good news.

And if Lord, we we walk away from your word feeling like it's bad news, we just have not heard you.

And so, God, I pray that you would speak so clearly.

God, that you would speak by the power of your Holy Spirit.

And that is the sense that we come to you this morning, God, like asking you to accomplish in us what we could never accomplish in ourselves.

God, do a work in us, we pray.

Help us to hear your word and to hear, Lord, that every time you speak, you speak life.

So, God, we thank you.

And we pray for this time together.

We pray this in the name of your son.

Amen.

Amen.

God's teaching us that there's no contentment without generosity.

I want you to see then three ways this truth calls us to respond.

I want you to see first that generosity is what God calls me to.

Now, last week in verses 10 to 13, we really saw Paul was almost indifferent to this large gift that the Philippians had given to them.

Paul received the gift, and it's really his first words about the gift are, I don't need this.

And I'm sure you could, you know, emotionally sympathize with the Philippians.

That would be incredibly discouraging if that's where Paul ended off the letter.

And yet Paul continues in verse 14 and he shows an appreciation for what they had done by saying this: it was kind of you to share my trouble.

He says it was kind of you, and really is expressing two things about generosity for us this morning.

First, that generosity is truly what God uses to help progress the mission.

It's what advances the gospel.

Certainly, this gift had met Paul's need in his missionary work.

It had helped him to advance the gospel that he had been laboring to preach to the Gentiles.

Paul says in verse 18, I am well supplied.

He'd been given all that he needed.

In fact, this gift actually meant that they were partnering with him in his ministry troubles.

And so you see that in verse 14.

It was kind of you to share.

The word there is fellowship, partnership.

You're sharing with me in the ministry work.

And this is what our generosity needs to primarily do.

Primarily, we give our resources as Christians because we desire partnership in the advance of the gospel.

This is why the main avenue of our giving is to be the local church.

It's this to be this expression of I'm so thankful for what God has done in my heart.

I'm so thankful for how the gospel is continually transforming me.

And out of this genuine desire to see the gospel advance, to see the kingdom of Christ grow larger and larger, I am now giving my resources to the institution that Jesus created to accomplish that mission, and that is the church.

Generosity comes from this love of what the gospel has done, and this desire then to share the gospel more.

And so you'll notice this about your own maturity.

You'll notice this about your own growth.

That as the gospel drives deeper down into your lives, as the roots of the gospel become entangled into your soul, so that it's like a weed that cannot be pulled out, like a beautiful flower, you will find that as the gospel grows deeper, your hands become more and more open.

You're more and more willing to release to the Lord what is rightfully his, and you more and more desire that you can use these resources God has given you for the advancement of the gospel.

This is why we're told that God loves a cheerful giver, because giving is a window into our soul that shows us and God what we really want.

This is a reality, isn't it?

We spend money on the things that we want and we need.

And if we have to spend money on something that we don't want or need, we're incredibly frustrated by that reality.

That's the worst thing to have to do, to have to buy something you don't want or need.

Paul says it was kind of you, and this word kind in the Greek, it also carries another meaning.

Greek word is callous.

It means right or good.

Some of your translations probably pick up on this.

Some of your translations probably say, it was good of you to share my trouble, or or something along the lines of, you have done well in sharing my trouble.

And what God wants us to understand about generosity is that it is what we're called to.

To give generously is to do well in the eyes of God.

We're commanded to give to God's work so the gospel can flourish in the life of other people.

Now, this is incredibly important for you and I.

And this is something that you need to wrestle with the text on.

You need to hear this, not just from me, but ultimately from God, that the expectation is that we are giving.

These words here are taken from the accounting world.

And Paul is really saying this: that your giving is an act of worship.

Your checking account is a tool that you use to worship God.

It's an instrument that you're using to give praise to God.

These terms are taken from the accounting world.

And Philippians had used their resources to worship God.

This is why later he'll say that the Philippian gift was an aroma pleasing to God.

Ultimately, our giving is a sacrifice we give up to the Lord.

Now, this is incredibly important that some of us hear that because it's likely the case that Satan really has a grip on some of us right now because he's convinced us that giving is not something that's expected of us right now.

And I want you to see, and you're gonna see this throughout the course of hearing God's word this morning, that no one is more unhappy than the person who is stingy and holding on as tightly as they can to the resources that God has given to them.

Maybe the case right now that you're convinced that that giving is just not your calling, that right now in this place of life, you are not called to give.

Maybe one of the ways that God does this is he makes it so that we don't feel like we should give until we're comfortable with knowing where the money is going.

There's a lot of people who might give like that.

I'll give if I have a say on how you use this money.

And then I want you to understand here that that's not the case.

That as Christians, our calling is to give generously.

Now, if you're an elder, there's a day where you're gonna stand and give an account for the way that you allocated the resources that God gave to his church, and that's a thing that we take very seriously here.

But I want you to recognize this: that the expectation that is given to every believer in Jesus Christ is that out of this abundance of love for the gospel, you are given, giving to the gospel work.

This is just like our worship.

You don't get to withhold worship because you don't like something that the worship band does.

You don't like what the worship band wears, you don't like the songs that the worship band sings, you don't get to withhold worship because God commands it and God deserves it, and so it is with our giving.

We're called to generosity.

Second thing I want you to see in this passage, though, is that generosity is what God blesses me in.

This is what God blesses me in.

Notice what Paul says in verse 17.

He says, Not that I seek the gift, but I seek the fruit that increases to your credit.

A question we need to ask is this why does God call us to generosity?

And something I hopeful we can hopefully agree on is not because he needs it.

God is not broke in heaven hoping to make payment, asking you for a little to bummer a little extra cash so that he can get by.

God doesn't need your resources.

And so the question we ask is why why are we, why is he concerning himself with our generosity?

You and I, we've always wanted a money tree, right?

Hasn't that always been a dream?

You know, we talk about gardening.

Let's plant a money tree.

That's a gardening, that's gardening I'd be interested in.

You know, if you could plant a tree that money grew on it, and and God could literally do that.

God can be as creative as he wants to get all the resources in the world that he wants.

The psalmist says the cattle on the thousand hills are his.

And if that's not enough, we know enough to say that the hills are his also.

God owns everything.

Why does he need you to give?

Because God's not concerned with your generosity because he needs something from you.

What Paul is showing us this morning is God's concerned with my generosity because he wants to accomplish something in me.

You see the difference?

This is what Paul says in verse 17.

Not that I seek the gift.

Paul says, I don't need this gift, but I seek the fruit that increases to your credit.

God is seeking a credit to our spiritual account that can only come through generosity.

And so our question then is, what's the fruit?

What is the fruit of giving?

What is the fruit of generosity?

Well, first thing I want you to see is this the the first fruit is provision through trust.

It's provision through trust.

This is one of the scriptures that's re or one of the principles that's repeatedly affirmed in scripture.

Giving is really a way of letting go so then that God will return to you what you have given and more in abundance.

It's hard because it requires faith, but the principle is so clear.

Look at me at with me at philosoph, sorry, Proverbs.

I was gonna say phalopians, which sounds like the newest like falafel place.

I'm gonna copyright that.

That's my falafel restaurant.

Proverbs 11, verse 24.

Proverbs 11:24

It's gonna come up on the screen.

It says, one gives freely.

Well, if you want to ask yourself if you believe God's word right now, one gives freely yet grows all the richer.

Another withholds what he should give and only suffers want.

God's math is not our math.

God's ways are not our ways.

And what God is telling you about giving this morning is that giving grows us richer while withholding makes us poorer.

Why is that?

Well, I think it's because God is in control, and out of his love for you, when when your heart, when you're acting stingy and you're withholding what is rightly his, he will shut the floodgates of blessing on your life.

His hand is on the tap, and he's very unwilling to turn that tap of blessing on you when you are not experiencing the heart change that he desires to see in your life.

This is how he revealed his love through the prophet Haggai.

Haggai was a prophet when it was time for God's people to leave Babylon to get back to Jerusalem and build the temple again.

But the problem, there is a great problem.

Building this temple would require all sorts of resources, it would require all sorts of time, and not only that, the people of God were getting pretty cozy in Babylon.

And so Haggai, at the very beginning of his book in Haggai 1.4, it says, the prophet says, Is it time for you to dwell in paneled houses while this house lies in ruins?

You get the picture.

Modern day translation, it's ship lapped all over.

I don't know if shiplap's even in anymore.

It's probably like way out.

Something new.

There's no resources to build the temple, and God looks at his people and he says, Where's the priority?

Your homes are paneled, but the temple of the Lord is in shambles.

And here's the problem.

Many of us are doing the same.

Many of us are paneling our homes with the money that is God's.

Instead of gospel progress, we have a brand new kitchen.

Instead of missional advance, we regularly eat meals that we can't afford.

Some of us have to make this confession right now that we're swimming in the pool that should have been God's, that we're driving in a car that should have been given to God, and we're luxuriously vacationing with money that should have been contributed to the advance of God's work.

It's God's money.

And I want you to know I'm preaching to myself here.

I I have such a need at a time like this to review the way that I've spent money and ask Is what I've been consuming actually what I should have contributed?

For some of you, maybe it's not money, maybe it's time.

Like you're just not giving any time to the Lord.

Like you think about your Sunday mornings, there's not a single Sunday morning that you serve God on that morning, whether it's by greeting or by kids' ministry, like you're just taking all the time for yourself.

But but the reason why you do that is you just say, I'm I'm so burnt out, I'm so overwhelmed, I never have time for anything.

And it's the same with our finances.

I can't give, I don't have any room to give.

But God is so gracious that when you're spending time doing other things or you're spending his resources buying other things that should have been given to the Lord, he will not give you the blessing that you long for until he receives what is like what is rightly his.

God loves you so much that he is at times willing to withdraw what you feel would make your life amazing in order that you might experience the internal heart change that he longs for you to experience.

So he says, This is what Haggai continues to say.

He says, He says, You have sown much.

This is in Haggai 1, verse 6.

Haggai 1:6

He says, You have sown much and harvested little.

You eat, but you never have enough.

Anyone get an amen there?

I feel like that all the time.

You eat and you never have enough.

You drink, but you never have your fill.

You clothe yourselves, but no one's warm.

And he who earns wages does so to put them in a bag with holes.

Anyone feel like your pockets have holes in them?

Like you just can't keep the money that you earn.

Continues in verse 9, you looked for much, and behold, it came to little, and when you brought it home, I blew it away.

Why, declares the Lord of hosts, because my house that lies in ruins, while each of you busies himself with his own house.

Therefore, the heavens above you have withheld the dew, and the earth has withheld its produce.

See, could it be that the reason that you are so tight on finances or so burnt out is because you lack generosity.

Because generosity is the needle and the thread.

It's the only thread and needle that can sew up the holes in your pocket.

It's the only thing that can put margin on your calendar, is to be generous with the time and the money that God has given to us.

God is speaking to many of us right now, even members of this church who are not giving, and he's graciously revealing right now why your life is so miserable, why you do not have discontent.

He loves you too much to let you spend what is rightfully his.

Now listen, I can speak personally to what the Lord will do when you return to him.

There was a time in my life where finances were really tight, and I knew down the road that I was, you know, there I figured there was a large lump sum of money coming in, and so I made this decision.

It was the wrong and foolish decision in hindsight, but I made this decision.

I would just stop giving, and then eventually, when that large sum of money came in, then I would kind of give and try to make up for all the giving that I hadn't done.

But after a time of doing that, greed begins to take over, and giving it only gets harder and harder.

And the Lord brought conviction into my life through faithful words of another Christian, and I turned to him in repentance, and I made this decision.

Whenever any money comes in, God, I'm gonna give it to you.

The first fruits is going to you.

And it was an incredibly difficult uh decision to make because finances were already tight.

You know what happened when I made that decision?

Nothing.

Nothing happened.

Life did not get any tighter.

My financial situation did not get any harder.

Why?

Because you give to the Lord and He faithfully provides.

This is God's math.

He provides for those who trust Him.

This is why Proverbs 3 it says, Honor the Lord with your wealth and with the first fruits of your produce.

And here's grace, loved one, here's grace.

Then your barns will be filled with plenty, and your vats will be bursting with wine.

I don't know what a vat looks like that's bursting with wine, but I want a vat that's bursting with wine.

It sounds incredibly messy and like a huge inconvenience.

I want barns that are filled with plenty, and here's the promise: honor the Lord with your wealth, with the first fruits of your produce.

This is exactly what Haggai, to get back to the prophet Haggai, promised to the people when they returned.

And in Haggai chapter 2, he says, My spirit remains, this is verse 5, my spirit remains in your midst.

Haggai 2 · chapter mention

Fear not.

Look at this church, for thus says the Lord of hosts, yet once more in a little while I will shake the heavens and the earth and the sea and the dry land.

I will shake all the nations, so that the treasures of all nations shall come in, and I will fill this house with glory, says the Lord.

The silver is mine, the gold is mine, declares the Lord of hosts.

God is in control of all things, and his word is so clear that the moment you make this decision to trust God and faithfully entrust to him the things that you are holding on so tightly because you just don't have the faith to believe that he will return it to you.

God will return it.

He will shake the heavens, he will shake the trees, he will make a check, anonymously show up in the mail to support his children.

This is what God does.

The bonus you never thought was coming will come.

This is always how God moves.

And God is here this morning saying, test me, test me, be generous, test me, and see what I will do.

Now, listen, this isn't health, wealth, and prosperity.

This isn't give so that you can get rich, but this is that the gener that God is giving you resources so that you can participate in the gift and the grace that is giving.

That is generosity.

God gives so that we might give.

Question for us is do we have the faith to believe it?

Do you trust that that which you give to Him will be given to you in return?

That's not the only fruit.

There's also the fruit Paul wants us to see here of heart change through investment.

This is why Paul rejoiced in the gift, because our giving is really a window into our soul, and it shows us where our heart is.

The Philippians had given abundantly and sacrificially, and it showed that their heart was for the gospel.

It's true of a man that you can see his interests based on by looking at his bank account.

Where the money goes, so the heart goes also, and often in that order.

This is why Jesus spoke so much about money because he believed what he said when he said, Where your treasures are, there your heart will be also.

Isn't that true of our money?

Wherever we invest our money, we also have invested interest.

And so you buy a stock, and all of a sudden you're on your phone, you're checking that stock.

How's it do?

How's it doing?

You're rooting for it.

You've uh invested yourself, you've made yourself a partner of that thing, so it is with giving.

Giving unites our heart to the thing that we give to.

And so what we understand is this part of the reason why your heart may be so cold right now to God's work in your life is because you have so little invested in the advancement of the gospel.

If you're not willing to give your resources to the advancement of the gospel, then the heart of that is that in so many other ways, you're not really interested in the advancement of the gospel in your own life.

A lack of interest in kingdom growth really reveals a lack of interest in personal growth.

And so there's a principle here.

One of the surest ways that you know you can really fire yourself up for the gospel, and especially the gospel work in you and through you in Christ's kingdom, is to give to God's work.

Because Jesus says, where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

Here, Paul likens our generosity, our the offerings that we give to the Lord, to the sacrificial system of the Old Testament.

And the people of Israel were participated in a sacrificial system in which they would bring their choicest animals to the altar and they would be sacrificed there in atonement for their sins.

It was commanded of them, and it often pleased God.

And yet, as we read through the Old Testament, we find that sometimes these sacrifices that the people are bringing aren't pleasing to God because they're not brought in the right way.

So it is with our generosity.

Though our generosity is directed towards people, it is ultimately given to the Lord for his work.

And here we see God looks down on our generosity with great pleasure.

Now, this should be a great incentive to us.

We read this, God loves a cheerful giver.

Those of us who are parents in this room, we we know what it's like to give our children a gift and then to see them run off and immediately share that thing.

It brings so much pleasure to us.

And here God is showing us when he gives us the resources that we have, and we with an open hand return them to his work, he finds great pleasure in it.

But it also means that we we need a proper understanding of biblical giving.

Just as there's a right and wrong sacrifice, there is also a biblical way to give to God that ultimately honors him.

And I think what Paul is doing in this passage, especially from verses 10 to the end of the book, Paul is showing us a, he's really giving us a biblical theology of giving.

I hope this is gonna be as we work through a couple of points here in terms of a theology on biblical giving.

I trust this is gonna be instructive for many of us.

Some of you have just never been taught about this before.

Others of you, you've been taught from all these sources, and maybe you're trying to pull pieces together, but it just doesn't really make sense.

And so here is as comprehensive as I can find it in one place in scripture, a biblical model for giving and how we are to understand it.

This is the first thing I want you to see.

That our that giving that glorifies God is heartfelt.

Look at verse 10 with me.

Paul says, I rejoiced in the Lord greatly that now at length you have revived your concern for me.

Philippians gave out of concern.

It was a genuine gift from the heart.

It says later in verse 10 that they were indeed concerned for me, but you get you had no opportunity.

They were looking for this opportunity to give their resources to Paul for the flourishing of the gospel.

They wanted to see the gospel advanced, so they gave out of love.

This is why God loves a cheerful giver.

It's this internal joy for us.

It's it's not begrudging, but it's given freely to God.

Secondly, I want you to see that our giving is to be eager.

Notice that the Philippians gave as the opportunity arose.

They wanted to give earlier, but they had no opportunity until Epaphroditus raised his hand and said, I'll take the gift to Paul.

And as soon as that opportunity came, they were eager to give to the mission.

When God makes it possible for us to give, and the opportunity arises for us to give, then we are to give.

Giving it unites ourselves to God's servants.

The Philippians, through their giving, they now shared in a partnership, a fellowship with Paul's work.

And that's true of your giving as well.

A large portion of your giving at Redemption Church goes to those who preach the gospel, teach the gospel, shepherd God's people, and work and labor to advance the gospel, and you give to support those people.

And those people will stand and give an account for how they've labored with the resources that really God has given them, I think, in an especially unique way.

But our priority is to partner ourselves with those people who do that, and by doing that, we have fellowship in their work.

Fourthly, I want you to see that giving that glorifies God is consistent.

I love this in this passage.

We see the Philippians gave at the beginning when he left Macedonia.

Verse 16 Even in Thessalonica, you sent me help for my needs once again.

In the time between Thessalonica and the time when Paul was in prison in Rome, the Philippians were eager to give.

They wanted to give, but they had no opportunity until Epaphroditus went, and then they gave again.

There's this sense that their giving is consistent.

Paul instructs the church in 2 Corinthians to give on the first of every week.

The Israelites were to give the first fruits of their wealth and produce to the Lord.

And I think there's a principle for us here.

The principle is this as money comes in, you and I, in a way that honors the Lord, are to take the first fruits of that money and give it to the Lord.

That's wisdom because isn't it true that money just sort of flies out of the account?

And it's incredibly easy in our day and age with technology.

And many of you through e-transfer, but all of you through Planning Center can just set up regular giving that happens automatically.

That whenever you get a check, you can give a portion of that to the Lord.

Fifthly, here I want you to see that our giving is to be generous.

It's clear here that the Philippians had given in abundance.

Look at verse 18.

I've received full payment and more.

I am well supplied.

Traditionally in the church, Christians have taught that 10% is a good place to start.

And I think as we look in the New Testament, we really see that seems to be a starting place.

What we mostly see is sacrificial giving, this excitement for the gospel work, and this desire to be able to give as much as God allows to that work.

And so most of us, especially in this society and in this region, could and probably should do much more than 10% in giving to God's work.

In the Old Testament, people of God were commanded to give two tithes of 10%.

Plus, they were to give an additional tithe every three years.

At that point, that was 23% of their income that was given to the Lord's work.

And that was before the additional temple tax, before the corners of the field were given, before the extra harvest that fell off the wagon for the poor, and before the first fruit offering that was to be according to their heart's desire.

At this point, the people of Israel are much even above 25%.

And this is also for a nation that's a theocratic nation.

It's these tithes and offerings are what contribute to the running of the nation.

And so it seems to me that 10% really for us is a good starting place as we consider what generous giving is, but as the Lord makes it possible, we should give more.

Lastly, I want you to see that we're to give expectantly.

Whatever you give to God will be reaped.

Giving, what God is saying here is giving does not deplete our resources.

Why is that?

Well, this leads to our next point.

And the third thing I want you to see in this passage is this generosity is what God returns to me.

Generosity is what God returns to me.

You see, God is generous with those who are generous.

God does not stay in debt.

And we see this in verse 19.

Look at what Paul says in verse 19.

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

To our God and Father be glory forever and ever, infinite glory.

Multiple times.

Verse 21 to 23, Paul points out the grace of Jesus Christ.

God is rich in glory.

And at this point in the letter, Paul wants to give them this assurance as he looks at the gift that the Philippians had given, he knows that it's hurt them to give.

He knows that it's been sacrificial giving.

And so that the Philippians, it was a labor to be able to give this abundant gift.

It hurt them financially.

And I wonder if at this point you need to hear the same message that Paul had for the Philippians.

Maybe at this point in the message, there's like this sense of guilt.

You look back on the money that you've given and you know it's not enough, and you look forward to the money that you're being called by God to give, and you just are filled with this fear, like, I don't know how this will ever be enough.

I don't know how I'm gonna do it.

God has a word for you.

He wants to infuse your life with hope this morning.

Whenever God speaks, it is always good news.

And so if you leave this place with a sense of a sense of guilt about what giving is, I want you to understand you just have not heard what God has to say about giving.

God wants you to have this faith to believe He will supply your need.

And here's the promise in verse 19.

My God will supply every need of yours.

I think often we read a promise like this, and it's it's it's so mind-blowing that we like become, you know, Greek scholars and we get we get behind the words and we ask, okay, well, it can't merely mean this.

It can't really mean that God, you know, every need of ours is going to be provided by God.

And so, you know, if you really look into the Greek, need there really means this, and every, you know, it's not really every.

And I want you to understand exactly what this means.

It's so simple that when you give generously to God's work, this is what it means, ready?

God will supply every need.

That's just what it means.

It's as simple as that.

And you say, no, it can't be, it can't be.

Well, if that's what you're feeling right now, the Holy Spirit's just bringing like this doubt, then I want you to know you've stumbled upon the gospel.

That's the good news.

It's it's sometimes it just sounds too good to be true.

God will, not just God will supply some of your needs.

Like, listen, you're gonna give a lot and you're gonna sacrifice a lot, but God's like, hey, you can have some uh some peace, okay?

And you're like, I'm starving right now, God.

I'd love some material provision.

God says, here's some happiness, all right?

And you're like, listen, I need to be cared for.

God will supply every need.

I believe that Paul has in mind here especially certain and certainly material and earthly needs.

God will not let the person who has been materially generous materially starve because of their generosity.

He will supply every need.

Church, this is the promise for you that those who sow bountifully will reap, finish it for me, bountifully.

Bountifully.

Those who sow bountifully will reap bountifully.

And the question for us this morning is: is our faith strong enough to believe that?

If you have faith bold enough to let go of the resources God has given to you and trust his word enough that he will then give those back to you.

Again, this is not me saying this, this is God's word.

Those who so bountifully will reap bountifully.

Not only will he supply every need, God's word says here that he will supply according to his riches.

What a promise.

He doesn't supply out of his riches.

If you went up to a rich man and you asked him to supply you some money out of your riches, he could give you a quarter and he could satisfy that request.

But if you go up to a rich man and you ask him to supply according to his riches, all of a sudden that's an entirely different request.

He needs to give you an amount that accords to the riches that he possesses himself.

And what God wants us to understand here is that he's not stingy in blessing his people.

He doesn't give to you in a way that he's like, ah man, you know, that's the way we feel when the bills come in.

Oh, I gotta write this bill to Onbridge again.

Here we go.

That's not the way that God gives.

God is eager to pour out blessing on his children.

I mean, some of you guys think that your parents, as grandparents, you know, they do a really bad job with your kids because they just pour and lavish blessing after blessing after blessing, which really just means sugar after sugar after sugar into your kids.

Some of your grandparents are really happy with the connection I'm making between God's blessing and their blessing right now.

And yet look at God.

Ephesians 1, we read that God's desire is to lavish grace over us in Jesus Christ.

And Paul says there that in him we have every spiritual blessing.

The New Testament says that in Jesus are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.

That in Jesus the fullness of God dwells.

And here is the promise that when we are generous, God will supply every need according to that richness.

Maybe you're here and you don't know Christ and you've never even received anything from God you feel like.

I want you to understand that God's desire is for you.

He desires your salvation.

That's why he's calling you right now to place your faith in him for the very first time, to believe in Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior.

And you know what immediately happens?

He opens the floodgates of every spiritual blessing that is in Jesus Christ.

And he does not withhold any spiritual blessing for you.

It is all yours.

He says, Come eat and drink.

You who have no money to buy wine and bread, come and be satisfied in me.

And some of you for the first time, for the first time hearing this in a salvation way, you need to hear of Christ's call to you.

For many of us, this is what I'm praying that the Spirit is accomplishing, accomplishing in us in this moment.

The sense that giving truly is a grace.

It's a gift to be able to give.

And his grace is so abundant that whatever you give will be repaid both materially and spiritually.

If the Spirit's working in you, this isn't about guilt.

There's a sense of excitement here because God is really here bragging about the return on the investment you'll give.

Every dollar that you give, God says He will return your investment in unimaginable ways.

Even like your grandma was calling you and saying, like, listen, you gotta buy Bitcoin, okay?

Your life's gonna be changed forever.

There's all these promises about, you know, if you're not in this, you better feel pretty guilty about this because the returns are gonna be major.

And here's God saying, like, there's no earthly return on any investment that could even begin to scratch the surface of what I do with those who are generous.

I will supply according to my riches.

This isn't about guilt.

This is about grace.

This is about the grace of the one who is willing to supply your needs in abundance according to the riches that are in him.

Gives you out of the abundance of his goodness.

So here's the question for you: Do you believe his goodness?

Do you believe him when he says he will return generously to those who generously give to him?

And maybe some of you right now you're in this place of like, I just need assurance.

My faith it's weak.

I need assurance that God will truly do this if I'm to be a generous person, that he will lavish his blessing on me.

My question to you is, what more could God give us than what he has given us in Christ?

This is what Paul said in Romans 8:32.

Romans 8:32

He said, He who did not spare his own son, but gave him up for us all.

How will he not also with him graciously give us all things?

God has already given you imaginably, unimaginably more than you could ever, ever comprehend in the cross of Christ.

Everything he has left to give is so small in comparison to what Christ has given us on the cross.

This morning, as we take communion, we're given this confidence as believers that we can give generously because of the assurance of what he has already given to us.

Jesus did not even withhold his own son.

And this morning, as we take the cup, as we take the bread, we're reminded that Jesus was obedient to the point of death.

And so communion this morning is really an opportunity for us to have our faith bolstered to a level where we are willing to give into return, be in return to God because we've reflected on the abundance of what we have already been given.

If you don't have a communion cup, the ushers are making their way forward now, and you can raise your hand in the air and they'll get one into your hands.

You're not a follower of Christ, we just ask that you let this pass.

This is for those who truly, it's a symbol of those who've placed their faith in Jesus Christ and what Jesus is to them now.

If you're a believer and you have sin in your life that you haven't repented of, you're unwilling to repent of, we would also ask that you let this cut pass.

In this moment, I want you to take a invite you to take the opportunity, maybe just to bow your head, to close your eyes, but especially to bow your heart before the Lord and reflect on the gift that he has given you in Christ, which is more than you ever needed.

Heart bowed.

Let's turn to the Lord in personal, humble adoration of what he's done for us on the cross.

And maybe this is a time that we turn to the Lord in celebration of what we've been able to give.

Maybe it's a time we turn to the Lord in repentance and say, God, I I want to turn from my ways and I want to trust in you, and I want to trust your word that those who sow bountifully will reap bountifully.

Let's turn to the Lord and consider what way we might apply this word this morning.

Father, we thank you that in Christ we have every spiritual blessing.

All the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are in him.

His glory and his worth is infinite.

And God, we believe your promise that you will supply our every need according to the riches of glory in Christ Jesus.

It's infinite, God.

We couldn't even imagine it.

And so, God, we turn to you in faith now and we say we believe it.

Lord, we believe it because of the cross.

Because of this cup and bread that we hold in our hands, shed blood of Jesus, the pierced body of Jesus.

Lord, he has given to us already all that we have ever needed so that we are cared for for eternity.

And if Jesus will care for us for an eternity, we believe, Lord, that you will care for us for this lifetime as we give generously and sacrificially to the work that you are doing in our midst.

So, God, we give you praise.

We thank you for this cup that we celebrate.

And we turn to you now.

In the name of Jesus, we pray.

Amen.

Find there, there's two layers.

If you open up the first layer, you'll find the bread.

Paul writes in 1 Corinthians, for I receive from the Lord what I also deliver to you, that the Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread.

And when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, This is my body, which is for you.

Do this in remembrance of me.

In the same way, he also took the cup after supper, saying, This cup is the new covenant in my blood.

Do this as often as you drink it in remembrance of me.

Let's take the cup together.

Father, we praise you for your blood and your body.

We praise you for the life that we have in Christ.

And we worship you now because we believe in your goodness, Lord.

We have seen it at the cross.

We give you all the praise.

In the name of your Son, we pray.

Amen.