1. "How you handle money says a lot about you. Sometimes it says more than you would like. We often like to keep things buried beneath the surface that how you handle money actually brings up into view."

2. "The Christian life is a triangle of eternally enriching fellowship. If you trust in Christ, then everything you need and more you receive from God by his sheer grace. And so you're enabled to both give and receive in the committed fellowship of God's people."

3. "When you quote that verse, remember, half of it is suffering. Paul spoke from experience here. He tells us in 2 Corinthians 11 that he had been lashed, beaten, stoned, and shipwrecked, all because of his faithful witness to Christ."

4. "Contentment is never a matter of circumstances. It's a matter of the heart."

5. "If it varies with circumstances, it isn't contentment."

6. "Contentment is like a spiritual firework. It packs in a lot of powerful ingredients altogether to spectacular effect. Contentment fuels endurance. It helps you keep going in the same direction, whatever hard circumstances would threaten you."

7. "Discontent is the mother of envy. Contentment is the mother of generosity."

8. "To support the advance of the gospel is to move toward and share in whatever suffering is necessary for the gospel to advance."

9. "You cannot repay God for his generosity. Anything you try to use to repay him, he's already given you in the first place. But what you can do is return something fitting, which is praise."

10. "In this cycle of generous partnership in the gospel, we can identify three steps. Grace comes down, generosity goes around, and glory goes up."

Observation Questions

1. In Philippians 4:10, what does Paul say caused him to rejoice greatly in the Lord, and what reason does he give for the Philippians' previous lack of action?

2. According to Philippians 4:11-12, what specific contrasting circumstances does Paul list that he has learned to face with contentment?

3. In Philippians 4:15-16, what unique distinction does Paul give to the Philippian church regarding their partnership with him, and what specific example of their support does he mention?

4. What does Paul call the Philippians' gift in Philippians 4:18, and how does he describe it from God's perspective?

5. In Philippians 4:19, what does Paul promise God will do for the Philippians, and what is the source or measure of this provision?

6. According to Philippians 4:22, who sends special greetings to the Philippians, and what is significant about their location?

Interpretation Questions

1. Paul says he has "learned the secret" of contentment in all circumstances (4:12). Based on verse 13, what is this secret, and why does Paul describe contentment as something that must be learned rather than something that comes naturally?

2. In verse 17, Paul says he does not seek the gift itself but rather "the fruit that increases to your credit." What does this reveal about how Paul understands the ultimate purpose and reward of Christian generosity?

3. How does the phrase "a fragrant offering, a sacrifice acceptable and pleasing to God" (4:18) reshape our understanding of giving money to support gospel work? What Old Testament imagery is Paul drawing upon?

4. The sermon emphasized that Christian financial exchange is "three-way" (God, giver, and receiver) rather than merely "two-way." How do verses 17-20 demonstrate this three-way dynamic, and why is this distinction important?

5. Paul describes the Philippians as entering into "partnership" with him in "giving and receiving" (4:15). How does this language of mutual partnership differ from a simple donor-recipient relationship, and what does it suggest about the nature of gospel community?

Application Questions

1. Paul learned contentment in both abundance and need. What specific circumstance in your life right now—whether a season of plenty or a season of lack—is most testing your contentment, and what promise of God could you pray back to Him this week to strengthen your satisfaction in Christ?

2. The sermon stated that "if it varies with circumstances, it isn't contentment." Think about your emotional state over the past month: how much has your sense of peace and joy fluctuated based on external circumstances? What practical step could you take to build a lifestyle of humble dependence on Christ's strength?

3. The Philippians demonstrated long-term, committed partnership with Paul rather than one-time giving. Is there a missionary, ministry worker, or gospel cause you could commit to supporting consistently over time—not just financially, but through prayer and communication? What would that look like practically?

4. Andy Crouch's insight that money promises "abundance without dependence" exposes a seductive temptation. In what ways has increased financial resources (or the desire for them) tempted you toward self-sufficiency or away from dependence on God and meaningful relationships with others?

5. Paul was more concerned for the Philippians' eternal reward than for his own physical provision in prison. How might this perspective change the way you think about your own giving? Is there a specific area where you could "turn temporal goods into eternal reward" by giving more generously this month?

Additional Bible Reading

1. 2 Corinthians 11:23-30 — This passage details the specific sufferings Paul endured for the gospel, providing context for understanding what circumstances he had learned to face with contentment.

2. 2 Corinthians 9:6-15 — Paul teaches the Corinthians about cheerful, generous giving and God's abundant provision, reinforcing the same three-way dynamic of grace, generosity, and glory emphasized in Philippians 4.

3. Matthew 6:19-24 — Jesus teaches about storing up treasures in heaven rather than on earth and the impossibility of serving both God and money, directly supporting the sermon's contrast between money's promises and the gospel's promises.

4. 1 Timothy 6:6-10, 17-19 — Paul instructs Timothy about the relationship between godliness, contentment, and the dangers of the love of money, offering parallel teaching to his own example in Philippians 4.

5. Hebrews 13:5-6 — The author exhorts believers to be content with what they have because God has promised never to leave or forsake them, connecting contentment directly to trust in God's faithful presence and provision.

Sermon Main Topics

I. How Money Reveals What You Value

II. Concern: Caring for Gospel Partners (Philippians 4:10)

III. Contentment: Satisfaction in God Regardless of Circumstances (Philippians 4:11-13)

IV. Commitment: Long-Term Partnership in the Gospel (Philippians 4:14-16)

V. Compensation: Eternal Reward for Generous Giving (Philippians 4:17-20)

VI. Communion: Unity in Christ Creates Unity with Each Other (Philippians 4:21-23)

VII. The Gospel's Promises Versus Money's Promises

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Detailed Sermon Outline

At the turn of the 20th century, the fantastically wealthy industrialist Andrew Carnegie was giving away vast sums of money through philanthropy. Naturally, many people wrote letters to him asking for money. One of those letters came from Carnegie's friend Mark Twain. Twain wrote, you, seem to be in prosperity.

Could you lend an admirer a dollar and a half to buy a hymn book with? God will bless you. I feel it. I know it. P.S.

Don't send the hymn book. Send the money.

How you handle money says a lot about you. Sometimes it says more than you would like. We often like to keep things buried beneath the surface that how you handle money actually brings up into view. How you earn money, spend it, save it, give it, and ask for it. Money promises freedom, power, security, and satisfaction.

If only you can get enough. But how much is enough? Usually just a little more.

If you gain money, you might be surprised how quickly your friends start to multiply. Proverbs 14:20 says, the poor is disliked even by his neighbor, but the rich has many friends. Money often changes relationships and not always for the better. But even more reliably, money reveals what you value.

In his excellent new book, the Life We're Looking For, Andy Crouch insightfully distills money's unique power. He writes, this is the power of money. It allows us to get things done often by means of other persons without the entanglements of friendship. The distinctive thing that money allows us, its most seductive promise, is abundance without dependence.

If you pay for a meal to get prepared by a restaurant and delivered to your front door, how likely is it that you're going to learn the name of the person who delivers the meal? Much less the person who cooked it. Crouch also discusses in this context the centuries long quest of alchemists to discover a secret for turning any metal into gold that would give you an endlessly renewable supply of money. So Crouch writes, Someone who is able to turn metal into gold would be endlessly able to work the magic that only money can do: to induce others to provide for our needs and satisfy our wants with no reciprocity or loyalty required. How does that sound to you?

Abundance without dependence. Getting others to continually satisfy your needs and wants without any reciprocity. Or loyalty required. Does that sound like the good life?

This morning we return to Paul's letter to the Philippians and we come to the final section of the letter, chapter 4, verses 10 to 23. This is the last bit of the letter but in some ways it's really the primary reason the letter was written, which is as a thank you note to the Philippians for their gift of financial support to Paul in prison. You can find the passage on page 982 of the Pew Bibles and you you might be surprised to discover that one of the passage's main focuses is money. But Paul's attitude toward money and his relationship to the Philippians is far removed from a vision of abundance without dependence. As I read the passage, consider how and why Paul's attitude to money is so different from what money intrinsically promises us.

Philippians 4:10-23.

I rejoiced in the Lord greatly that now at length you have revived your concern for me. You were indeed concerned for me, but you had no opportunity. Not that I'm speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need.

I can do all things through him who strengthens me.

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

The life we glimpse in this passage is the precise opposite of abundance without dependence. Instead, Paul models contentment through utter dependence on God. And he models self-sacrificial service through committed partnership with other believers. The key difference between money's seductive promises and the life Paul's living here is that the exchange in view is not two-way, just between parties as goods and services and money exchange hands. It's not two-way, it's three-way, between God and Paul and the Philippians.

God is the first and greatest giver. And his gift in Christ makes all the difference. So the Christian life is a triangle of eternally enriching fellowship. If you trust in Christ, then everything you need and more you receive from God by his sheer grace. And so you're enabled to both give and receive in the committed fellowship of God's people.

So the triangle is you, God, and God's people. God starts the giving, but the giving doesn't stop there. As Paul portrays it in these verses, the Christian life is lived out in a partnership in the gospel that flows from fellowship with God. So here comes the structure of the sermon. We'll see five elements of the gospel partnership that is the Christian life.

Five elements. Of the gospel partnership that is the Christian life. Point one, concern, concern. Looking at verse 10, I rejoiced in the Lord greatly that now at length you have revived your concern for me. You were indeed concerned for me, but you had no opportunity.

So when Paul says that the Philippians have revived their concern for him, he's referring to the financial gift they sent with Epaphroditus who was from their church and was the sort of letter carrier and courier for their gift to bring it to Paul in prison. This was a revival of concern because as Paul says in verse 15, the Philippians had previously supported him again and again. Now we don't know what had hindered the Philippians from supporting Paul most recently. He simply says they lacked opportunity. It could simply have been the logistical difficulties involved in delivering money that long of a distance from Philippi to a prisoner in Rome.

But in any case, the Philippians' renewed care and concern for Paul causes Paul to rejoice in the Lord because the Lord is the one who enabled their generosity. Paul rejoices in the Lord because of the Philippians' care for him. This is just what he said in chapter 1 verse 6, that God began this good work in them. Or as he says in chapter 2 verses 12 and 13, It is God who is at work in them both to will and to work for for his good pleasure. So on the human side, gospel partnership is founded on a mindset of loving, caring concern for the other's welfare.

And that concern is proved through practical support. So brothers and sisters, as a church, we aim to provide this kind of attentive, practical care to all of our supported workers. It's one reason two of our elders are halfway around the world right now, simply going there to encourage, to learn, to counsel, to support. This is also one reason why we send out a detailed questionnaire to each of our supported workers each year. And that questionnaire includes questions about any new or unanticipated needs that we should try to take into account in our support of them.

So how can you, as an individual Christian, expand the range of your care and concern for the progress of the gospel and those who give their lives to progressing it? One way is simply to come on Sunday evening and hear regular updates and pray. Another is to send supportive workers emails when you pray for them. Ask God to grant you a growing concern for the progress of the gospel elsewhere and for the provision of those who are advancing the gospel. Point two, contentment.

Contentment is a key element in the Christian life and in every gospel partnership. And Paul gives us a master class in contentment in verses 11 to 13. Paul has just expressed appreciation for the Philippians gift, but there's a sense in which he's saying he doesn't even need it. Look at those verses 11 to 13. Not that I'm speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content.

I know how to be brought low. And I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. I can do all things through him who strengthens me. These are some of the most challenging, encouraging, and frequently misapplied verses in the entire Bible.

Let's start with misapplied. A few weeks ago, I think it was at T4G, I saw someone wearing a black t-shirt with white letters that said, I can do all things through a Bible verse taken out of context.

And the context really is key here. So when Paul says, I can do all things, what he means is I can endure all conditions. Those conditions include prosperity and hardship, having more than enough and less than enough. So this is comprehensive, the all means all, but all things is not a blank check, open-ended promise that God will fulfill any possible desire you can ever come up with. If you can't throw a football, you will never be a Super Bowl winning quarterback.

And this verse offers no support for that pipe dream. In fact, let's stick with sports for a minute. This is a favorite verse of professional athletes. In fact, NBA phenom Steph Curry prints part of this verse on the side of his signature shoe. Shoes.

Now, more power to him. I'm not throwing any shade on Steph or on Steph's shoes. But here's a point that is often overlooked in athletic applications of this verse. It applies just as much to losing as it does to winning. That's the heart of Paul's point here.

In his list of all things Half of the things are bad. Half of the things are not having what you need or not having what you want or having something you really don't want. That's fully half of his list in the I can do all things. So when you quote that verse, remember, half of it is suffering.

Paul spoke from experience here. He tells us in 2 Corinthians 11 that he had been lashed, beaten, stoned, and shipwrecked, all because of his faithful witness to Christ. So what does it mean that Paul has learned in every situation, including all of those really rough situations, to be content? It means he had learned to be satisfied in God, regardless of whatever promises or threats his circumstances held out to him. It means his happiness derived from God's unchanging character and promises.

And so his happiness was unthreatened by any circumstances. As the Puritan Jeremiah Burroughs put it, Christian contentment is that sweet, inward, quiet, gracious frame of spirit which freely submits to and delights in God's wise and fatherly disposal in every condition. Burroughs adds, To be well skilled in the mystery of Christian contentment is the duty, glory, and excellence of a Christian. So how can you get content. Paul tells us in these verses, I have learned the secret.

What's the secret? I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.

Remember, he's writing from prison. How can Christ make you happy in prison? How can Christ satisfy you when your stomach's growling because you haven't had enough to eat for days? How does that work? How can you get that?

To understand this secret of contentment, you have to zoom all the way out and consider your whole life in light of who God is, who you are, and what he's done to save you in Christ. God himself is infinite fullness, infinite joy, infinite happiness and beauty and glory. And he created this world as a showcase for that glory. He created this world and sheer generosity so that we would enjoy his goodness in a thousand different ways and glorify him for every single one of them. But our first parents, Adam and Eve, made a bad trade.

They turned away from God and the satisfaction they could only have by trusting in God and keeping his word. And they turned to trying to satisfy themselves. All of us ever since have inherited their sinful nature. And have suffered the same futile and devastating effects of sin. We all have rewritten in our own lives that sad story of turning away from God, the only source of perfect and lasting satisfaction and earning ourselves condemnation as a result.

Because God is good and holy and righteous, he promises not only that a life of sin will be futile, and ultimately self-defeating and ultimately unsatisfying. But he also promises eternal condemnation for those who persist in turning away from him, rebelling against him, and rejecting him. But God is also overflowing in mercy. He's demonstrated an even greater and deeper form of the goodness that he's shown in creating us in the first place by how he sent his son into the world to save us. Jesus, the eternal son of God, became incarnate and he became obedient.

And as Paul says in chapter two, he obeyed his father all the way to the cross. To the lowest point of humiliation and degradation and shame. And he did that to pay the price for our sins. He did that to pay the debt that we could never pay. He did that to show God's marvelous grace toward undeserving sinners.

And on the third day, he rose again. He triumphed over death. He triumphed over sin. And now he reigns in power and glory at God's right hand in heaven. And he commands all people everywhere to repent and to trust in him.

To find in him their true and lasting satisfaction. If you're not a believer in Jesus, I would plead with you, I would urge you to turn from sin and trust in him today, to come to faith in Christ. If you have any questions about that or wanna talk, I'd be delighted to talk to you at this door afterward. Here's our fundamental problem. It's a problem of the heart.

Contentment is never a matter of circumstances. It's a matter of the heart. Here's why. Jeremiah Burrows again. My brethren, the reason why you have not got contentment in the things of the world is not because you have not got enough of them, but because they are not things proportionable to that immortal soul of yours that is capable of God himself.

So again, if you're not a believer in Jesus, we're glad you're here. You're welcome at any of our public services. We hope you are encouraged by this time. I wonder how all this talk of contentment strikes you. Would you say that you are content?

Who do you know whose happiness seems least dependent on their circumstances? And how do you think they got to be that way?

If you are a believer in Jesus, How does all of this help you when you are struggling not to be mad at God because of the hand he's dealt you? What can you do? Here's the key. What God has promised you in Christ has to weigh heavier in your mind and heart than anything he hasn't promised you.

He hasn't promised you health or a long life. He has promised you eternal life in fellowship with him. He hasn't promised that you'll get married or have children. He has promised in chapter 10 of Mark's gospel that you'll receive a hundredfold now in this time, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands with persecutions. And in the age to come, eternal life.

He hasn't promised you a promotion. He hasn't promised that you'll love your job. But he has promised that you will receive an inheritance from him as the reward for all your work, regardless of how well or poorly your work is rewarded by any earthly boss. In order to be content, you have to know and feel that what God has in store for you is bigger and better than any earthly prize. And that it can more than compensate for any earthly lack.

As one Christian philosopher put it, wanting what you should is better than getting what you want.

That's why Paul writes here about learning to be brought low and abound. It's not just poverty that's a trial. He had to learn the secret of contentment in prosperity too because prosperity is a trial just as much as poverty is. All forms of prosperity tempt you to pride, tempt you to self-sufficiency, tempt you to act as if you're the sole cause and guarantor of your own blessing. So you need the secret of contentment in prosperity just as much as in adversity.

Here's Paul's point in verses 11 to 13 in a nutshell. If it varies with circumstances, it isn't contentment. I'll say that again. Here's your negative test for whether you're living this out and you found this secret the way Paul has. If it varies with circumstances, it isn't contentment.

So practically speaking, how can you learn and practice this secret? The key is a lifestyle of humble dependence. That's why Paul says, I can do all things through him who strengthens me. So how can you obtain this strength? How can you get this strength in you to power your daily life?

Life. Brothers and sisters, this is one of the purposes of corporate worship, to get strength from Christ for our weeks. This is what honest searching fellowship is for, to help strengthen each other's souls by God's grace. This is especially what personal spiritual disciplines are for. When you wake up in the morning, whatever is most out of order in your own heart, move it to the top of your prayer list.

Find a passage of Scripture where God promises the true and better and lasting version of whatever good you're longing for. Pray that promise back to God and ask him to cause his presence through that promise to mean more to you than the painful absence you're suffering right now. Rinse, wash, repeat. Learning the secret takes work. It takes patience and practice.

Paul doesn't say, I obtained this secret by a revelation on my first day of being a Christian, he says, I have learned the secret. And so often when it seems like you've just crested the hill and you've come to a level place in your contentment and you're thinking, yeah, I think I'm satisfied in the Lord. I think I can handle trials. I think I've learned to be content. So often it seems like right when you get to that moment, God sends you back to contentment school.

Turns out you weren't as content as you thought you were. Turns out maybe circumstances had leveled out nicely. Ah, that's the breather. And then God throws you another curveball. That's what he does in his wisdom.

That's what he does in his kindness. To wean us off of our too strong attachment to good things in this world and to teach us what it looks like to rely on him alone. To be strengthened. Through him.

Contentment is like a spiritual firework. It packs in a lot of powerful ingredients altogether to spectacular effect. The chemical composition, as it were, of contentment involves love for God more than anything in the world, hope in God's promises, faith in what he's done for you in Christ, And what does it produce when you light it up and send it up into the sky? Contentment fuels endurance. It helps you keep going in the same direction, whatever hard circumstances would threaten you.

Contentment reinforces humility. It reminds you how little you are and how not far you've come and how needy and dependent you really are. Are. Contentment fuels joy because you're getting your happiness straight from the unfailing source instead of from lots of little spigots that might turn off at any moment. Discontent is the mother of envy.

Contentment is the mother of generosity. To be content in Christ, you have to depend on Christ. So this passage's answer to suffering and hardship is not not self-sufficiency but Christ's sufficiency. Paul's vision of the good life is not abundance without dependence but contentment through dependence. Point three, commitment.

Commitment. And I mean commitment to each other.

And commitment in gospel partnerships. Verses 14 to 16 display the Philippians' long-term commitment to Paul. Paul writes in those verses, 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 and again. So here again, Paul sort of comes back from on the one hand to on the other hand.

He doesn't want the Philippians to get the wrong idea. He could do without their gift. He knows how to be in need, but he's thankful for the way they've provided for his needs. And he encourages the Philippians by reminding them of their long track record in supporting him. So, to understand what's going on here and the kind of history of the Philippians' relationship with Paul, we need to consider the broader pattern of how Paul related financially to the churches that he was founding throughout his itinerant ministry.

So, the apostle Paul took several missionary journeys. He was constantly on the move, whether it was just a few weeks or a few months or a few years. And there's kind of a process, there's kind of a progression in his financial policy in the midst of that work. Basically, he had a financial policy that played out in two stages. Stage one, whenever Paul first came to preach the gospel in a new city, he consistently refused monetary support from those he was preaching to.

Now, he did this in part to distance himself from popular teachers at the time. You know, if you get rid of music streaming and podcasts and video and movies and professional sports broadcasts, what's your chief form of entertainment 2000 years ago in the Greco-Roman world? It was actually public speaking. There are these orators who would just hold thousands of people spellbound. You know, they were the big celebrities of the day and they were called sophists.

And these sophists would build up a huge personal following. They would enrich themselves. All the sort of trappings of celebrity, that's what was going on there. And so Paul coming into a city, preaching this message, he wants to both be and appear as different from the sophists as is possible. So Paul's policy of refusing to take money showed that his ministry was not about himself but about God, his message was not about was not about himself but about God.

His message was not from himself but from God. He was giving it away free of charge in an image of the freeness of the gospel itself. So instead of accepting money from those he ministered to, Paul worked at a trade as a tent maker or more broadly you could say a leather worker. That was in order to provide for his own needs. So we see this initial stage of Paul's policy playing out in passages like 1 Thessalonians 2:9.

So here he's reminding the believers in Thessalonica of what he did when he first came to them. Brand new missionary shows up in town. Well, what did he do? He says, for you remember brothers, our labor and toil. We worked night and day that we might not be a burden to any of you while we proclaimed to you the gospel of God.

So that was stage one, wherever Paul went. Stage two came when Paul left one city to go to another. Once a church in the first city was established and he felt free to move on, or maybe it was established and then he got forced out by persecution, Paul would accept help from the church in the first city as he went on and ministered elsewhere. So Paul mentions here in our passage that the Philippians supported him during his ministry in Thessalonica. Twice in fact, Thessalonica was the next city he traveled to after he left Philippi.

He's in Philippi in Acts 16, he's in Thessalonica in Acts 17. So while Paul was pioneering gospel work in Thessalonica, he was both tent making and he was being supported by the church in Philippi. Some combination of those two things provided for his needs. So the Philippian church progressed from stage one to stage two. Get this, not long after becoming a church, they became supporters and senders of missionaries in the form of Paul.

It didn't take that long for them to go from just being born as a church to then being supporters of Paul's ministry, which I think shows something about the progression that Paul has in mind for what collective Christian maturity looks like. It also says a lot for how we should think about our financial support of other people's work from afar. The fact that the Philippians made it from stage one to stage two demonstrates their grasp of the gospel and their maturity in Christ. So what's that mean for you and me? The Christian life is a constant two-step dance of giving and receiving.

We all start off as receivers only and the gospel turns us all into givers. The same gospel that supplies all our needs turns us into the kind of people who can be counted on to provide for others' needs. The gospel makes us not only generous but dependable. The Philippians didn't just give Paul a gift once, they provided for him multiple times in Thessalonica and then they found a way to do it even as far away as Rome. So brothers and sisters, this is one reason why as a church we tend to make open-ended commitments to the missionaries that we support.

We don't just write a check to check one time and say, see you later, we want to follow through over years and even decades. So one instance of this kind of commitment is in the increased support for student work in the Middle East that the elders are proposing in our upcoming budget. I won't go into all the details here, but basically there's been a ministry that's somewhat equivalent to campus outreach in the Middle East that we've supported since it began two decades ago. The founders of that work have come off the field, returned to the States, but the work continues to prosper and we know and trust the leader who's overseeing that ministry. You guys will know from supporting campus outreach here in the church that when you get new staff workers, they have to go raise support so they can try to do this full time.

They travel around to maybe a church that they have connections with back home, et cetera. This ministry in the Middle East has a lot of staff workers from countries that are not as wealthy, and they might not even have an established relationship with a home church. So there's a particular need for supporting those staff workers more from the outside, and that's the main reason we're trying to give just a little bit more in our budget to care for that work, something we helped start two decades ago. Ago that we're trying to keep on investing in faithfully today. Before we move on from these verses, I want us to look more closely at one more detail in the text.

Looking at verse 14, yet it was kind of you to share my troubles. You see the footnote it says, have fellowship in is another way you could put it. You could sort of over translate this to bring out the specific sense as Paul saying, Yet it was kind of you to become partakers of my affliction. By sending Paul a gift in prison, the Philippians identified themselves with Paul the prisoner. We know from this letter that the authorities in Philippi already viewed these Christians as troublesome.

But if they didn't already, they would start to now. To support the advance of the gospel is to move toward and share in whatever suffering is necessary for the gospel to advance. So pray that we as a church would share in suffering together with others with joy, patience, and commitment.

Point four: compensation. Compensation.

What reward are you seeking?

When will your payday come?

Look again at verses 17 to 20.

Not that I seek the gift. But I seek the fruit that increases to your credit. I have 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.

Like he did in verses 11 to 13, here Paul basically reprograms our entire way of relating to money, our entire system of payment and reward. Verse 17, Not that I seek the gift, but I seek the fruit that increases to your credit. In that phrase, Paul's alluding to God's promise of reward on the last day. By giving generously to Paul, the Philippians are investing in their own eternal account with God. And God's promised reward is backed by the ultimate gold standard.

This is, you could say, the ultimate government-backed bond. Because God's promised reward is backed by his own supreme divine sovereignty that is not threatened by anything in this created universe, there is not the slightest chance that that promised reward will default. God is able to more than repay any sacrifice you will ever make. For his sake.

In verse 17, Paul is more concerned for their reward than for his provision. Even in prison, Paul's more concerned for their spiritual health than for his physical condition. As Jamie Dunlop always tells us in members meetings, he cares far more about whether we're giving faithfully than about whether the budget is being met. So this is the fundamental motive to give. That you can turn temporal goods into eternal reward.

That involves some type of mortification of desire, some type of putting desire to death of what you could use that money for right now in a way that you might really appreciate, in a way that might make your life a little easier or richer or fuller. There has to be some element of saying no, otherwise, whenever you get more money, you'll just spend it on yourself. But this motivation of turning temporal goods into eternal reward is limitless because the more you do it, as Jesus says, where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. He doesn't just mean that in the sense of revealing your heart. He means if you put money into eternally fruitful causes, your heart will follow your money there.

If you put money into things that will only pay off in eternity, your heart will follow your money into eternity. That's what Paul's displaying. And it fits perfectly with Jesus's most basic teaching about money. In verse 18, Paul assures the Philippians that from his point of view, their gift is more than enough to cover his needs. He's basically giving them kind of a receipt.

Hey, I got it. Thank you. I'm good. But he doesn't just present their gift from his point of view, he presents it from God's point of view. He calls it a fragrant offering, a sacrifice acceptable and pleasing to God.

So if you're a believer in Jesus, when you give to others some of the resources that God has given to you, you're not just giving it to others, but you're giving it more fundamentally to God in a gospel partnership. As we've seen, every exchange is not merely two-way but three-way. Everything comes from God and starts with God and everything ultimately makes its way back to God.

Everything you have is from God and whatever you give to others, you give more fundamentally to God and God will repay you. This brings us to a fundamental point of the Bible's view of money and possessions and everything we have. It's all from God It all ultimately belongs to God and you will give an account of how you use all of it to God on the last day. If you want to think more about that, you can go to our stewardship course seminar that's going on right now. Money tempts you to cut God out of the picture because the more you have of it, the more power you have.

The more you have of it, the more you can get other people to gladly do stuff for you that you want done without you lifting a finger. A finger. But instead, any money you have should do the opposite of cutting you off from God. If everything you have is from him, then however you use your money and there's a whole lot of legitimate and necessary needs providing for your own needs, providing for others, there's all kinds of legitimate uses for your money. But if it's all from God, you want to use all of it in a way that takes him into it.

To account.

In verses 19 and 20, Paul breaks out into a promise and a praise. He says, 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.

Whenever you receive a gift from somebody, you might experience a kind of natural instinctive response. Of what can I do for them? How can I show them I appreciate this? How can I pay them back? I better remember their birthday when it comes around because they got me such a nice gift.

And in a sense, I think Paul's writing somewhat out of a similar dilemma. So, the Philippians have been providing for him but he's in prison. He can't offer any meaningful return on their gift. He wants to come to them and minister to them as soon as he gets free but he can't do anything right now to pay them back. Ah!

But he knows somebody who can. Not him, but God can richly supply whatever they need. So in verse 19, Paul reminds us of the infinite riches that God has to supply all of our present needs. From where does God fulfill our needs? Paul tells us, the bank account God draws on is to provide for our needs is the infinite riches of glory in Christ Jesus.

And of course, the fact that God is drawing on that endless account now is a preview and a promise that all of those infinite riches will one day be ours. So here Paul guarantees that God can and God will look out for you. And that also Self is a motivation for you to look out for others. You can trust that your needs will be taken care of. That'll free you up to be more generous with others.

If you want a wonderfully encouraging, mind-boggling, superhuman account of this, read George Mueller's autobiography or the Roger Steere biography of George Mueller. He was an English Christian in the 19th century. He just founded an orphanage and ran it and it served several thousand orphans over the course of his life. Even in those dollars passed through his stewardship. And he never even asked for a single dollar, a single, you know, a single any amount of money.

That was his personal conviction, was not to fundraise, not to ask, and God just provided in amazing, abundant ways. He was so confident God would provide that everything just passed freely straight through his hands. In verse 20, Paul draws the only fitting conclusion from this circulation of God's grace in an economy of generous giving. That only fitting conclusion is praise and glory of the God who gives so generously. So in this cycle of generous partnership in the gospel, we can identify three steps.

Grace comes down, generosity goes around, and glory goes up. Grace comes down, generosity goes around, and glory goes up. You cannot repay God for his generosity. Anything you try to use to repay him, he's already given you in the first place. But what you can do is return something fitting, which is praise.

In every gospel partnership, God is the ultimate giver and God is the ultimate guarantor. It is his generosity that sets this economy of grace in motion. And it's his promise to reward all of us who trust in him that guarantees the return on the investments you make to advance the gospel.

Point five, communion.

That is, communion with Christ that creates communion with each other. That's how Paul wraps up the letter in verses 21 to 23. 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.

In these final verses, Paul is sending greetings on behalf of all the Christians in Rome to all the Christians in Philippi. He's not just talking to a select few and he's not just speaking for himself because those he's writing from and those he's writing to are one family in Christ He has everybody over here greet everybody over there. Because we have communion with Christ, we have communion with each other. Because the grace of Christ is with us and for us, we are with and for each other. And there's a personal touch here in this concluding greeting that we shouldn't miss.

Verse 22. All the saints greet you, especially those of Caesar's household. Now, he's not talking about Caesar's immediate family. In the ancient Roman Empire, the phrase Caesar's household referred to several thousand people, including slaves and freed slaves and other staff members, all of whom carried out imperial business. But still, Paul's come to Rome under house arrest.

What does he find? Within the very households of the people wielding power at his expense, he's found people who are bowing the knee not to a Caesar who's deluded into thinking he's God but bowing the knee to this world's one true ruler whom every one day, every tongue will confess. Right now, Rome might look like it's a threat to Christ's kingship. And to those who confess his kingship. But there already are those who know better.

And some of them are right there in the household of power.

Paul offering greetings from saints within Caesar's household reminds me of another brush with state power that some of our brothers and sisters elsewhere in the world recently underwent. Someone that our church has trained for ministry is now serving in his home country in a nation that employs quite an extensive surveillance apparatus. A few months ago, this brother emailed out an update about a recent gathering of his church. He says that they had decided to take just a couple weeks off from meeting. Part of the reason we decided to have a short break is that the church experienced a disturbance from the local police two weeks ago.

Three local policemen visited during the Sunday gathering. While I was preaching they broke into the meeting place and asked us to stop. They took some pictures and asked to register everyone's ID number. I had no idea what I thought while the police officers came in. The only thought I had was to finish my sermon.

So I negotiated with the police officer that I would keep preaching while they were doing the registering. Surprisingly, the police officer agreed. Then I continued my preaching for another half hour to finish my sermon. Whenever I planned to preach to nonbelievers during the sermon, I also called the police friends to listen. Listen.

Afterward, one sister told me that she noticed one of the police officers was paying attention to the preaching. Praise the Lord. I was also encouraged that I saw the congregation paying more attention while I preached.

Some of them stretched their neck when the police officers blocked their view. You wouldn't believe that the police officers even witnessed the Lord's Supper. They not only heard the gospel, they even saw the gospel.

Sometimes official efforts to hinder the gospel advance the gospel.

What does money promise? As Andy Crouch put it so well, it promises abundance, without dependence.

What does the gospel promise? Contentment through dependence on Christ, partnership through mutually relying on God's grace, endless reward beyond this life and beyond anything we can comprehend. Those two promises, the promises of money, and the promises of the gospel will always compete.

Which set of promises is winning in your heart?

Two hearts in which the promises of the gospel decisively won were those of John and Betty Stam. John, as it happens, is the great, great uncle of Clara Flores, whose husband, John Henry, just finished up our internship. Betty grew up in China as the daughter of a missionary. John grew up in the U.S. They met when they were studying at Moody Bible Institute.

By the early 1930s, they were married and they were serving as missionaries with the China Inland Mission. In November 1934, they moved to the Anhui province just inland from Shanghai. On the morning of December 6, a messenger from the town government warned that the communists were approaching the city. The Stams prepared to leave, but the city was quickly overtaken. The communist authorities found the Stams' compound, broke it open, demanded all their money, and then arrested John.

Later soldiers came and took Betty and their baby daughter, Helen. The next morning, the Stams were forced to march away from the city they were in. The day after that, Betty and John were executed for being Christians. On the night before their forced march out of the city, John Stam wrote a letter that he addressed to his colleagues at last China Inland Mission. It wasn't delivered at the time, of course, but it was discovered afterward.

Dear brethren, my wife, baby and myself are today in the hands of the Communists in the city of Tsingtao. Their demand is $20,000 for our release. All our possessions and stores are in their hands, but we praise God, peace in our hearts. And a meal tonight. God grant you wisdom in what you do and us fortitude, courage, and peace of heart.

He is able and a wonderful friend in such a time. Things happened so quickly this morning. They were in the city just a few hours after the ever persistent rumors really became alarming so that we could not prepare to leave in time. We were just too late. The Lord bless you and guide you.

And as for us, may God be glorified, whether by life or by death. In him, John C. Stam.

On John's gravestone is the verse from Philippians that he quotes at the end of that letter, that Christ may be magnified, whether by life or by death.

Next to his, his wife Betty's gravestone bears the verse that follows: For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. Let's pray.

Heavenly Father, may we be able to say, along with those who have paid with their lives, that our desire is for Christ to be glorified, whether by life or by death.

Father, by your Spirit and the power of your grace at work within us, grant us to be able to say from the bottom of our hearts, For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. And Father, may we prove those confessions by how we use everything youg've given us and by the contentment that yout work in us, even when everything is taken away. We pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen.