Philippians chapter 4, beginning in verse 14 and going through 19. Nevertheless, you have done well to share with me in my affliction. And you yourselves also know, Philippians, that at the first preaching of the gospel, after I departed from Macedonia, no church shared with me in the matter of giving and receiving but you alone. For even in Thessalonica you sent a gift more than once for my needs. Not that I seek the gift itself, but I seek for the profit which increases to your account. But I have received everything in full and have an abundance, and I am amply supplied, having received in Ephrathidus what you have sent, a fragrant aroma, an acceptable sacrifice, well-pleasing to God. and my God shall supply all your needs according to his riches and glory in Christ Jesus. This particular week we're looking in this particular passage and the topic has to do with a word that's used several times, verse 14 is the first time it's used, sharing. And this concept of sharing is in relationship to giving. But it's more than the principle of just giving. So we're gonna look at that this week and what this topic has to do with. But if you notice in verse 14 that Paul talks about his affliction, my affliction. And so the first thing that you notice in terms of this principle of sharing is that all of us go through difficult times where we're afflicted. And we can be afflicted in all sorts of different ways. We can be afflicted physically. In other words, our body can be afflicted. We can be afflicted in relationship to want. In other words, we don't have enough money or whatever in terms of physical things are not being supplied. We can be afflicted psychologically or we're depressed. Or we're just struggling psychologically to make it true because of this particular affliction. We can be afflicted in terms of circumstances. Circumstances can be very, very difficult, like the death of somebody. Or we can be afflicted spiritually, where we are battling within our own souls in relationship to what is happening in our lives. We're speaking and talking to God. Sometimes we're bitter. Sometimes we're angry. Sometimes we're hurt. Other times we're confused. There seems to be a blackness that we cannot seem to get through. And so this is a kind of affliction. Or we can actually be afflicted by Satan himself, which can be a part of all of these categories. But spiritually, particularly, there might be temptations or things that are part of our lives. So these These could be all the categories of affliction. So when we're talking about sharing in relationship to this affliction, it certainly is not just monetary. Because very often when we talk about giving, you think of it in terms of monetary. And most often it's not monetary. If you go through your day on a day-to-day basis in relationship to the idea of sharing with another person, and your life giving to their life, it has very little to do with money. So that category is not rare, but it is not the one that happens most often. So we need to be aware of that in relationship to what's going on. Now last week we looked at the principle, or actually the word secret, which is very rarely used in the Bible, the secret of contentment. What's the secret of contentment? because that's what the passage 10 through 13 talks about. And what we're seeing is Paul is demonstrating in the middle of his own affliction that a part of the area that had brought to him the contentment that God used to strengthen him was a person. Now this person brought money in this particular case. but it also brought more than money, it brought themselves. And so the contentment that came a part of Paul's life, the strengthening that became a part of Paul's life, had to do with people. So what you find in this passage when you're looking about sharing has to do with a person bringing something to another person that literally brings to them a sense of contentment, a sense of strength. So this is what's going on with Paul. And he called this an affliction. In other words, he understood pain. This is not a word that is devoid of pain. The word affliction means pain. And so even though, and you look at the circumstances that Paul talks about, and when he talks about contentment, he says contentment is not devoid of pain. And that's what we looked at last week. Paul says, I have learned in the middle of pain as well as in the middle of prosperity about how to be content. And so we asked the question last week, well, what's that secret? And we're going to look at that just a second to kind of bring that back to play a little bit and rehearse it in your mind a little bit. And for those of you who were not here last week, you can join us in on that. But, uh, That's that's the way I always try to do that that because it does lead into The understanding of Paul in terms of his own affliction. Here's a this was an affliction type time where Paul is saying to you to the Philippians I Have found contentment to who you are and what you have brought to me Okay, you have shared with me and I was in affliction and I was not in prosperity, I was in affliction, I was in pain, and you came to me. Now he also mentions in verse 15 that they had done that in the past. Three times that they had literally come into a point in Paul's life where he was in a state of affliction and they ministered to him. Once when he left Macedonia, and Macedonia is where Philippi is, he said, after I ministered to you and I left that region of the country and went, to other regions of the country. There's only one church that followed me. There was only one church that went alongside of me, that comforted me and took care of me. And that was you. He said, even in Thessalonica, which is a far ways away from a town, a Philippian town, a Philippi, excuse me. He said, you ministered to me over and over and over again. And now here at the end of my life, Philippians is the last letter, and he knows he's going to be dead, not too far from this, more than likely. He has a sense of that. He says, now you've done it again. You've stepped in in the middle of my affliction, and you've shared with me and caused my life to find its contentment. Now, one of the things that I want you to understand and for all of us to look at on a day-to-day basis One of the major reasons for you to be alive is providing through your life, your heart, your soul, your love, your goodness, your mercy, all that's connected to the power of God and all that's a part of what God is. You are here to provide this, to share this with somebody on a day-to-day basis. That is one of the means of your life. It isn't some huge evangelistic goal, even though that's certainly a part of it. It is the nitty-gritty. It is the wolf and the woo of the movements of your life every day. And one of the things that you and I need to be constantly aware of and constantly praying about is having the quick-eyed love of God within our souls to see people who God brings into our paths on a day-to-day basis, so we step in and we share. We share. We share in their affliction, or even in their prosperity. In other words, the joy that they're having that day, that God has brought into their life, a blessing that God has brought into their life that day. And we as an individual have the privilege of participating and bringing into their life a contentment. What you find is verse 13 and 14 are linked and this whole area is linked together. The strength of God is often seen through the hands of a person. The divine end of God bringing his strength to a person. His plan for bringing strength to a person is another person. When Paul says, I can do all things through Christ which strengthen me, that's the secret of contentment. It's the strength of God, the adequacy of God, the understanding that God will supply every man's need. He is adequate for any circumstance that you go into. That's why you can be content. It's not you. It's not the circumstance. It's the adequacy of God. Actually, the peace of God is related to the adequacy of God. In other words, when you look at who God is and all that he is, What brings you peace is that you trust that he is able, he is adequate, to take care of the circumstances. Thus you become content. You find peace. That's what we studied last week. That's the secret. The secret of contentment is not your self-sufficiency, your ability to go through the circumstance, your ability to bring all your mind into play. It is your reliance upon the strength of God and your trust in his love, trust in his goodness and allowing his own strength. And this is a mystery because it's not something that you really can do except to trust and wait. And that's not simple to do. But Paul says, in the very next breath after he says this, he says, I want you to understand that God chose to demonstrate his strength to supply my need through you. So the strength of God becomes very practical at this point. The strength of God actually comes in the form of a person very, very often. So if you want to see what the shoe leather of God is in terms of a person receiving the strength, very often it comes directly from his heart moving your heart as it's in tune to him, and you share your life. And that provides something. It provides an adequacy. It provides a reassurance that God's there, and the person becomes content. So that's how these two sections link to each other in relationship to what's going on. So it's very important to see that. I wanted to look at something I couldn't get to last week, a very, very familiar passage with most of you. And I wanted to just share it with you before we get into the actual principles of sharing here that really helps us see a place in the Word where a person is being afflicted, enormously afflicted. And yet, in the middle of this affliction, he has turned to God for strength. And it is the strength of God that's going to help him get through this. And that is the secret to contentment, as we were looking at last week. what you find this is enormously poured out a soul that's enormously afflicted it's pouring out the affliction that's in his soul but in the middle of that he's seeking contentment okay there's overwhelming cloud that's just always on top of him what he's doing is turning in the middle of this home overwhelming cloud and he's turning to the source of God for peace And what he finds in terms of peace is God. God is adequate. God is super adequate. And so this is what brings him a contentment and a hope. But the thing that's emphasized is that he must bear it. In other words, the affliction is still there. The circumstance is not God. In fact, in this case, It says that God brought the affliction. And I've been rolling that over and over in my mind this week. You know, I hate to take, I hate to do these lessons. I mean, I just, all I do is go through these books and, you know, verse after verse. And as I, as I hit these dumb things, you know, God is always putting me in a situation where I have to apply it. You know, I really get tired of having to be the scapegoat for all you guys. you know, in terms of what's going on. You get tired after 26 years of doing this, of having to do these. I don't do them very good. So there are principles that are so far ahead in my brain and so far behind in my life, you know. And so God is always calling me up short and saying, you know, you're not doing this very well. I know I'm not doing this very well. And so, but I do try to help you understand that that we don't do these things real well. And there's a love that God has for us and a mercy that God has for us in the middle of us not doing them very well. But you must understand, and that's what I really felt this week, and as I was thinking through it as I was coming here, God does not give up on us. Okay? And what you're going to find in this passage is he brings it to bear. In other words, he puts the pressure on. It's like James 1. And very few of us are at a point where we still rejoice in trial. It is a testing. And the testing literally is, here are all the principles. Here I am. Can you reach for me in the middle of the affliction, or do you go under? Can you find contentment in me, or do you go under? Do you still rely on the self-sufficiency of who you are, or do you look and reach for my faithfulness, my goodness, and my love, and hope in it, and wait for it? Or do you just carry a cloud of anger, bitterness, hopelessness? Which is the exact opposite of contentment. And the reason you're not content is because you can't find my strength. And that is a big, big thing. It's a big thing within my own life. Well, this is found in Lamentations, Chapter 3. So if you'd open up your book, we'll quickly go through that, and then we'll get to the principles of fearing. Because I did want to mention this, and I've been thinking about it all week, and having to deal with it in many, many areas. Imitations 3, verse 19. This, again, very familiar passage to most of us. Remember my affliction and my wandering, the wormwood and the bitterness. Surely my soul remembers and is bowed down within me. That's the affliction. Okay, that's a really, really good definition of the affliction. And of course, this is Jeremiah writing this after the city of Jerusalem has fallen. And there's enormous pain, even though he knew that God would be faithful to cause the city to go down. Everybody in this room knows that like like K and Jeep, you know Everybody knows we're going to lose loved ones It's a fact But it's an affliction to go through it It is not fun Okay It is a part of life. It's very very very difficult and okay, is the wormwood. And if you cannot find the power of this passage that brings peace to a man's soul in the middle of this, you're harried at every step all day long to this process. And it's a very difficult thing to deal with. And that, of course, has to do with all sorts of other circumstances that are part of life. So he says, I am bowed down within me, but then I recall to my mind. In other words, there's a shift. It's like the pain is a cloud that is descended upon this person and the pain cannot, it's not gone. It won't disappear. And again, I think that this is the major fight that we talked about last week on the Hebrews chapter four. where we have to be diligent to enter into his rest, even though you find God, you seem to lose your hand. It's like Peter, whose eyes can see God, but the waves just keep coming. You know, he sees him, and he starts walking. Then he loses him. And I think within the middle of an affliction that is very, very deep, this is the diligence of prayer, that happens all day long is to keep the mind focused, to reach for and to wait for the strength of God. Because that is the process that you're about. That is what you're called to do. And then God is to provide the strength. So what's he do? He recalls, I have a hope, he says, because I've recalled this. Until I recalled it, I didn't have the hope. The hope is that there is loving kindness in God. That's the hope. And that it never ceases. It isn't here one day and then he forgets you. I had a lady who's a real close friend of ours this week, He told us that her daughter just tried to commit suicide. She's a schizophrenic, the daughter. Her son had a child out of wedlock. And the daughter, I mean, the girl wouldn't marry him, even though he wanted to marry him, and will not let this woman see her grandchild. Now, folks, those of you who have grandchildren, and somebody withdrew that child from you, and your daughter's over here and trying to commit suicide and schizophrenic, and you're having to work two jobs to try to hold this whole thing together, and you're going under. I mean, that's the affliction. And she says, I feel as though I can't find him. God. Every door I open is another door of pain. It's like he's gone. And yet this is the point, see, he's not gone. And after a period of time, her own heart found the strength of God to go through this. But that's what he's saying. He says, I've got to recall this to my mind. that the loving kindness of God does not cease. He does not go away. And that his compassion never fails me. And that it is new every single day. He doesn't see one day and then doesn't be there the next day. And that my portion is God himself. And that he is faithful to me. Then he goes on to say, but it is good for us to learn to wait. In other words, we open the door and he doesn't seem to be there. The strength doesn't seem to come. He said, it is good for us to wait. It is also good for us to understand the salvation of God doesn't come immediately, oftentimes. It is good for a man to bear it in his youth. to learn this lesson early. Let him sit alone and be silent since God has laid this on him to test him, to see if he will sit and recall and believe in the faithfulness and the goodness and the love of God. That's the test. And so for us to say to God, you know, remove the affliction or don't bring the affliction or all that that has to do, it just isn't going to happen. God is faithful to bring the affliction. That's what Paul is saying in verse 14 in Philippians. I am afflicted. And that affliction is good. that's exactly what it says is, for it is good for you to bear it. Because you will learn and you will believe, and it's no longer intellectual exercise, it's now a deep choice of your heart. And that's where you find out where it is. Now, I want to end this with, and if you need to study this more, go to Psalm 59 through 63. These are the psalms of God being strength. Okay? God being a strength in the middle of this. And one of the chief things that I learned from these psalms is that in the middle of affliction, I really am insufficient. In fact, I fail God very often in the middle of this. In other words, when he calls upon me to believe in him, trust in him, love him, you know, hold on to him in faith, I don't do that very well. And so I find myself having to fall down in front of him and say, forgive me for my inability to hold on to you and be content and wait for your strength. But the second part of the prayer that comes out of these psalms is, you must strengthen me to be able to hold on to you. Lead me to a rock that is higher than myself. This particular set of psalms is on the rock and the Tower of Refuge. And what you find in it is over and over again, the inadequacy of man to stand, but his understanding of that inadequacy leads him to reach for God. And so even if you feel insufficient and inadequate and fail, it's still a position to where if you will turn and ask for forgiveness and reach for God's hand, he will provide that. In fact, that's not a bad place to be. It is good to bear it. It's good to bear it. Because then you'll know the adequacy of God. Maybe for the first time in your life. But that is a fearful thing. It is not a simple thing. How many times have you run into fear when you're down at the bottom of these things? I think it's the major thing. You're not sure if he's going to come through. And it's a real test because you have to wait because the next day it isn't coming through. The next day, you're still having to deal with the affliction. The waiting is the tough part. OK, because he may choose to bring this about in six months or a year. And if he does that, you have to hold on to all of this and you're still in the middle of the affliction. So you have to be brought to the rock that's higher than yourself. David ends this section in Psalm 62 in verse 11 and 12 where he says, two things I have heard about God. Two things. That God is the source of power. God is the source of power and that God is loving. in his kindness to men. Those are the two things. This is Psalm 62, 11 and 12. So that's how David ends the whole way in these series of Psalms. So I couldn't get to that last week, but it's a place in the Word that helps us really see how this interaction of strength comes to a man. because it seems to be so mysterious. Paul says, I've got the key to contentment here, and it is, I can't handle this, only God can in his adequacy. He becomes my strength. But how does that happen? How does that happen in a person's life? Now, again, Paul does tie this, which we're now getting back to Philippians chapter four, verse 14. He ties it to, in this case, The strength of God is literally seen through the gift of the Philippians. It is such an encouragement to Paul, and it literally arrives at a time that physically takes care of him. In other words, he's been waiting, relying upon the strength of God, believing in the trust and trusting in the love of God and the goodness of God, and it hadn't come yet. And then all of a sudden Epaphroditus shows up with a gift. from a church that many people believe have stopped giving to Paul for 10 years. Sir Briscoe said in his analysis of this, he believes the Philippians had not sent him a gift for 10 years. So all of a sudden this gift arrives. And Ephraphroditus arrives, which is even greater than the gift. Okay? And so this is Paul saying, you have become the instrument your sharing has become the instrument of God's strength. And that is a fantastic thing to understand. That becomes the meaning of a person's life. Most of us have experienced this, where we've stepped into a person's life, even if it's just a, how are you doing today? Or putting your hand upon their shoulder when they're about to break apart, that somebody noticed that they're about to break apart. Okay? And that in itself was enough to lift them out. And if you hadn't have done it, they wouldn't have come out of it. Okay? It was literally God's hand that brought you out. And I remember last fall, I shared with you last week, a young lady who prayed for me when we were at lunch. I've never had a student pray for me out loud. And this girl was going off to be a missionary the next day to Bangkok. And we sat around a table, and she grabbed all her hands and said, let's pray. So she started praying. Well, last September, I was having a really hard time. My wife wasn't working. She was going down. Lots of things fell through. I couldn't see the front from the back, you know, in terms of where we were going. I still can't. But I was having a real tough, tough time believing in the goodness of God. You know, I just couldn't handle it. And I was essentially just praying, God, forgive me, lead me to a rocket fire of myself. I ask you to forgive me for my attitude, but if you don't supply strength here, I'm not going to be any better. And that day when she prayed, she prayed and thanked God that I had been a part of her life. and brought a lot of things to her. And it just snapped. It just snapped the gloom. It was like, see, you are significant to me. I do love you. Here's a young lady whose life has been touched by the very meaning of us together with her. And she's given that back to you. And she didn't hardly even know. I didn't tell her. I will. She's back, so I'll tell her. But that one prayer at that one moment snapped it all, broke it. Okay? And that's a person who was sharing. It was taking the time to pray for me instead of for everything else. And so those are the kinds of things that God brings to a person's life. And you've had it happen to you over and over and over and over again, and you've seen God use you. It is the significance of your life to share the strength of God to another person on a day-to-day basis. It is really your significance. It's one of the places that you find it. Of course, we are not very far into sharing, but that's okay. Right, that's right, that's right. Well, let me give you, there are five principles here that are found in this set of verses. And our time is just about up, so we'll have to get to them really next week. But I couldn't not help share these other things that God was teaching me through this week on the last passage that we were looking at. First principle is found in verse 15, and it's the principle of giving and receiving. And we will have to study that. We may get into that. We may have enough time to get into that one. It is the principle of giving and receiving. That's a broad statement, but we will make it into its particulars. In verse 16, the second principle, and it is the persistence in sharing. In other words, if a person is going to be godlike in what he's going to do, sharing becomes a persistency within his life. In other words, the question you can ask yourself is, when was it last week that God used me and who I am to strengthen another person's life? If you can't find that happening, then it's a good chance that last week was pretty dull and meaningless. You look back over, you can't see much that was really meaningful. And you may even ask the question to be, well, my life is not very meaningful. One of the reasons is because I don't think this issue of sharing is occurring. I mean, a telephone call or anything can be a step of sharing that has to do with the strengthening of God in another person's life, because every person needs that deeply, and that becomes your significance. So there has to be a persistence in this. If there's not a persistence in it, then your own life begins to lose meaning and significance. Number three, Of course, sharing has a great reward to it. Sharing has a great reward to it. We've already mentioned that one of the greatest rewards of it is your own significance. But he will point out some of the rewards. He will talk about the rewards. And this is found in verse 17 and 18. And in verse 19, well, at the end of 18, excuse me, the fourth principle comes along, and this is that sharing is an act of worship. Sharing is an act of worship. And there's a part of this that if you look at that verse, what you find is, is the little phrase, what you have done when you share causes God to look at your life and say, that was a well, You pleased me. You pleased me. And so some of the question is, well, how do I please God with my life? Well, this is what it's talking about. And again, remember sharing. Very often, we think of sharing as monetary. Monetary is just the one small part. Most often, sharing has to do with an encouraging word. stepping in and participating in the affliction of a person's heart. That's essentially more of what's going on than the actual gift of some kind of monetary thing. So that's important to understand. One of the most powerful roles that we are able to commit is telling another person what they have done and what they need to do that knowledge thing. And by the way, we don't do that very often. It's amazing how we don't do that. I mean, even your daughter or your son, your mom or your dad do things for you, and it brightens or helps your day, and you expect that should have been done. And that's not the truth. And the last principle, it's found in verse 19, God is committed to supplying the needs of a sharer. God is committed to supplying the needs of the sharer. The little phrase, you can't out-give God, is stated in that verse. This is verse 19. God is committed to supplying the needs of the sharer. You can't out-give God. We will see you next week and we'll look into this a little closer. And as you know, I'm not on a timeframe. You may be, but I'm not.