|
Introduction
Last Sunday we convened a three-part series that I think will help us
understand the content of these final verses in
Philippians. I see three themes showing up at different points in
this passage. The first one we dealt with last week: What Your Giving
Means to Your Pastor. I don’t remember which one I promised next,
but this morning we’ll consider What Your Giving Means to You,
and conclude next Sunday with What Your Giving Means to God.
One of our discoveries last week was Paul’s insistence that the
monetary support that the Philippians had provided for him, most
recently in the gift they had sent by Epaphroditus, was a blessing to
Paul because it helped him in times of need, but moreso, it was a
blessing to the Philippians themselves.
Verse 17: I am looking for what may be
credited to your account.
That will serve well as our
first point of instruction this morning. When you give, whether it be to
missions, local benevolence or the church general fund, if you are
giving in faith and in the name of Jesus, it is “credited to your
account.” What does that mean? I didn’t even know I had an “account.”
Well, apparently you do.
But it’s a rather odd account, isn’t
it? Your bank account is only credited when you put money into it,
right? This one is credited when you pay out of it for kingdom purposes!
The first odd thing is that this spiritual accounting is backward—a sort
of bizarro accounting method. Notice, it’s real money that goes out as a
debit against your account; but what is credited to your account are
promises from God.
Secondly, when you give, you get. Accounts
are normally depleted when you give out of them, but in the kingdom,
when I give in the Name of the Lord, I have more, much more! Now, while
it’s true that in kingdom economics, when you give you get, it doesn’t
really count as kingdom economics if you give in order to get. Godly
reward comes from Him Who sees in secret and discerns the motives of the
heart.
Consider an example. Let’s say you give an offering check
(#101) to the Lord by way of your church. You debit your checking
account in that amount. But Paul says that you are credited, not money
back into your checking account (that would not be an offering at all),
but your life will be credited nevertheless. You will received credit
to your account - you will be repaid with the promises of God.
Let’s say you feel led of the Lord to give by sowing into the
ministry of Gateway Center for World Missions. You write the check for,
say, $100.00, and the money goes right out of your account. But, just as
fast, the Lord deposits back into your life His own promises worth much
more than the value of your gift. Again, if you run into a person with a
need. You pray and confirm that God is nudging you by His Spirit to
help. You write the check, God deposits His promise to bless you more.
What does that mean that I will have credited to my account the
promises of God? It is the consistent and frequent teaching of the Bible
that God will pour back into your life more, much more, than you give.
It is also the consistent and frequent testimony of believers who have
taken God as His Word and given into His kingdom work regularly,
generously, sacrificially and cheerfully, that they have learned that
you just cannot outgive God.
He is faithful to His promises to
bless those who prove their devotion to Him through this kind of giving.
In fact, you’ll recall His promise that He will bring back to you
blessings in proportion to what you give, only immeasurably more than
you give. And those blessings come not just as financial returns (in
fact they are usually much greater than money), but in multi-faceted
blessings.
Here is how God Himself stated the promises:
Give and it will be given to you. A good
measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured
into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.
That’s in God’s Word at
Luke 6:38. You know how cereal boxes and other products have that
little line: Some settling of contents may have occurred during
shipping? Well, the promises of God may “settle” a bit, too; but He just
keeps refilling the container until it’s running over.
To the
generous man who gives not reluctantly or under compulsion, the Word of
God gives this promise at
2 Corinthians 9:8-11 - God is able to make
all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times having all
that you need, you will abound in every good work . . . you will be made
rich in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion and…your
generosity will result in thanksgiving to God.
In almost
unblievable language, God challenged His sinfully stingy people in
Malachi 3 to resume their tithing to Him – “Bring
the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house.
Test me in this,” says the Lord Almighty, “and see if I will not throw
open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you
will not have room enough for it . . . then all the nations will call
you blessed, for yours will be a delightful land. (Malachi
3:10-12)
These are the promises--not of some huckster or
fly-by-night salesman. This is God, “the Lord Almighty” says Malachi,
the One whose promises are trustworthy because He is faithful. When you
give in His Name He will overwhelm you with His blessings.
To
receive the Promise, you must fulfill the Premise. If you will give in a
manner that honors God (biblically, that is regular, generous,
sacrificial and cheerful), you will be credited the promises of God. And
these are temporal blessings, not just heavenly. But never discount the
heavenly reward either. It was said in the book of
Revelation of those who die in the Lord, “...they will rest from
their labor, for their deeds will follow them.”
You’ve heard it
said, You can’t take it with you! But in this case there is something
you can take with you—the blessing of God for good works done well in
His Name.
2 Peter 1:10 promises those who excel in God’s good work
will receive a rich welcome into the eternal
kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. I want that for me;
I want that for you; Paul wanted that for the Philippians when he said I
am looking for what may be credited to your account.
Paul says
that’s what your giving means to you. Your regular, generous,
sacrificial and cheerful giving prompts the promises of God in your
life. But there is another thing that happens: your gifts become
worship.
It doesn’t matter where the money you give in Jesus’
Name gets applied by those who further allocate it, for you it is
worship before God. And not just any worship—it is excellent worship.
You make a contribution to your church, the money enters the general
fund, and eventually it is used by trustworthy leaders who also are
committed to good stewardship of the funds for whatever is needed. Part
of it went to building payments, part to salaries, part to missions in
Haiti or Brazil, part to pay the electrician who fixed the wires or the
guy who cleared the snow from the parking lot, or to meet a benevolence
need.
But wherever it went, as far as you, the giver, are
concerned, it is, for you, your worship before God. Sometimes people
worry if the donations they contribute to the church or some other
non-profit organization are being used correctly. And I think it is a
good idea to check that out at least a little. I use the BBB and ECFA to
clear the reputation of groups I might give to. I think it is wise to
stay up to date on church finances, and that the church undergoes
periodic audits. I’m glad to say that we can all be thankful for the
good accounting and ethical practice of our leadership and Finance
Ministry Team.
Once you’ve done your homework, though, I suggest
you relax. You are giving your contributions to the Lord, remember, not
to man. When you give to Him as an act of worship, you have released
control of those funds into His hands. And you can be confident that He
can and will handle those who administer the funds from that point on.
When it comes to your giving, focus on it as worship. That’s how God
sees it.
That’s how Paul saw it. Look at the latter half of
Verse 18 – He says the gifts the Philippians sent to Paul were not
just so many coins in a bag. Nor were they any sort of gratuity to Paul.
Paul said, They are a fragrant offering, an
acceptable sacrifice, pleasing to God. Every dime you give is a
part of your worship to the Lord. Those baskets on the communion tables
are not just receptacles woven from some fabric. They are vehicles of
worship for the people of God. Every check you write, every offering
envelope you fill out, is an act of worship.
I believe that one
of the reasons Paul wrote that the believers’ offerings are an act of
worship was to reinforce that teaching to the Philippians. And I believe
one of the reasons God’s Spirit recorded that teaching was to reinforce
to us that our offerings are an act of worship.
So our giving in
the Name of the Lord is, first, credited to our account; secondly, our
giving in the Name of the Lord is our worship before Him. Thirdly, I
want you to see in this text the vital connection between giving and the
contentment that Paul experienced as a mature believer. Remember how
Paul said that he had learned the secret if being content in any and
every situration, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty
or in want?
That kind of mature Christian living is part of
what Paul was living out as an example for the Philippian believers. He
was modeling contentment as a lifestyle. When Paul said he wasn’t
looking for another gift from the Philippians, rather he wanted what was
best for them, I think one of the things he wanted for them was
contentment.
Earlier in the letter, you’ll recall, Paul bravely
encouraged them to follow his example. He said, All of us who are
mature should take such a view of things, referring to his approach to
pressing on toward the high calling of Christ. When he said I have
learned to be content, and I can do everything through him who gives me
strength, do you know what happened in the hearts of every one of those
Philippian disciples? They said, I want that contentment; I want
that confidence!
How do I know that giving in the Name of
Jesus produces contentment? Because I’ve read the rest of the New
Testament, and it teaches me that if I want contentment, I will have to
give up my love for money. And the fastest way to give up my love for
money is to give it away. And the best place to give it is to the work
of the Lord.
1 Timothy 6:6 – Godliness with contentment
is great gain. Paul told Pastor Timothy to command his people in
Ephesus to do good, to be rich in good deeds,
and to be generous and willing to share. In this way they will lay up
treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that
they may take hold of the life that is truly life. (1
Timothy 6:17-19) And what is the life that is truly life? The
contented life.
Most of us are miserable when it comes to
finances. There are a host of ways to help cure that, but the express
route to healing is to learn to be content in any and every
circumstance. In this way your desires are curbed, your impetuous
spending is fixed and self-control grows.
Writer Don Kistler
beautifully summarizes the problem of discontent: "The person with the
discontented heart has the attitude that everything he does for God is
too much, and everything God does for him is too little."
We
ought to pray that we learn this secret of contentment Paul wrote about.
Ask the Lord to teach us how to be contented people. But I have a
suspicion that the first lesson He will take us through is learning
about regular, generous, sacrificial, cheerful giving. Learning this
kind of giving is the express route to contentment.
Once upon a time, there was a man who lived with his wife, two small
children, and his elderly parents in a tiny hut. He tried to be patient
and gracious, but the noise and crowded conditions wore him down. In
desperation, he consulted the village wise man.
"Do you have a
rooster?" asked the wise man.
"Yes," he replied. "Keep the rooster in
the hut with your family, and come see me again next week."
The
next week, the man returned and told the wise elder that living
conditions were worse than ever, with the rooster crowing and making a
mess of the hut. "Do you have a cow?" asked the wise elder. The man
nodded fearfully. "Take your cow into the hut as well, and come see me
in a week."
Over the next several weeks, the man--on the advice
of the wise elder--made room for a goat, two dogs, and his brother's
children.
Finally, he could take no more, and in a fit of anger,
kicked out all the animals and guests, leaving only his wife, his
children, and his parents.
The home suddenly became spacious and
quiet, and everyone lived happily ever after.
To learn and obey the art of giving is the key to so much of our growth
as Christians and just as people. Giving brings us the joy of gaining
the promise of God’s blessing, the thrill of worshiping God in a
fulfilling way and a graduate degree in godly contentment.
That’s
what giving means to us. And that is why God wants us to learn the art
of giving—regular, generous, sacrificial, cheerful giving. Because He
loves us and knows what is best for us.
|