Philippians chapter four, beginning in verse 14, the Apostle Paul speaking to the congregation. 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 increases to your credit. I have received full payment and more. I am 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 God and the Father be glory forever and ever. Amen. This is the word of the Lord. And you may be seated. Well, if you were with us this year for the passion and resurrection of Christ, we considered Christ's triumphal work in light of particular theological themes that we have found in our study throughout the book of Philippians. Well, this morning we return to our verse by verse exposition of the book as Paul commends these saints for their support of his gospel ministry. And as we just read, it's a rather lengthy commendation filled with all sorts of qualifications. So grasping the context of the situation helps us see why Paul takes this particular approach, why he didn't just simply say, thank you for the gift. Now, though these saints were faithful partners in his ministry, it had been quite some time since the apostle Paul had heard from them. Of course, if you've been with us, you know it's for good reason. He was in a Roman prison chained to a guard. Now, it all began in Jerusalem almost four years earlier as a mob of angry Jews laid hold of the Apostle Paul intending to kill him. The Roman authorities intervened and took him into custody for fear that there would be a riot. And when the officer in charge decided to get to the bottom of things, he ordered an interrogation of Paul by flogging. And that's the way they did it in those days. Well, Paul informed him he had rights. He said, I'm a Roman citizen. Are you really going to flog a Roman citizen? Tribune, the scripture says, was afraid at Paul's declaration, so he had to proceed cautiously. But meanwhile, the Jews were hatching a plot to finish what they had started. And so they told the Sanhedrin, summons Paul under the guise of clarifying the facts of this case, and then we will lie in wait and ambush him and kill him during his transport. But of course, By God's providence, the apostle's nephew overheard the plot and he warned him. And when Paul told the Romans about the scheme, the tribune, out of fear, sent him to Caesarea with the protection of 270 soldiers, scripture says. Well, in Caesarea, the apostle Paul was made to appear before dignitary after dignitary, Festus, Felix, Agrippa, and he used that opportunity to present the gospel to them. As for the Jews, however, they hadn't given up. They hatched another plot. Knowing he was in Caesarea, they requested Paul be returned to Jerusalem so they could ambush the convoy and kill him on the road. But Paul thwarted their plan by appealing to Caesar. After a long and perilous sea journey then from Caesarea, he finally ends up in Rome. So those are the series of chaotic events that have made it difficult for this church to keep track of where Paul is and what's going on with him. But he's now settled in a Roman jail and these saints seize upon the opportunity. So they collect among themselves a generous gift and they send it by way of one of their own, Epaphroditus. And Paul receives this gift with joy. The scripture says he rejoices, but it's not over the gift. He rejoices because after so long a time, he finds that they're still passionate about the gospel. They're standing fast. They're exhibiting the character of Christ. That's why he rejoices. And so Paul goes to great lengths to make it clear his concerns are not about the money. You see, there were also false brethrens in that day who were using the name of Christ as a means of financial gain. The more things change, the more they stay the same, right? And so though Paul was often in need, he went out of his way to make sure that no one could accuse him of such an atrocity. The apostle himself was once a man of means, but no more. When he converted to Christianity, he was ostracized from his family, and he had to forfeit the wealth and prestige of his Jewish inheritance. Paul had impoverished himself in pursuit of Christ, and he never asked for money. He freely admits, of course, that there are times when he had an abundance. He's told the Philippians that in the previous context. And of course, it was due to the generosity of the saints. But most of the time, he had little or nothing. But it didn't matter to him because he had learned the secret, he says, of being content in any and every circumstance. He was strengthened for any situation, every situation through the power of Christ. The Lord was his source. And if God didn't supply it, Paul said, I just simply don't need it. You know, the Lord, however, uses means, doesn't he? And in this particular occasion, it was the Philippian church that Paul received this from, and it was God using them as the means to supply his need. And so, though he commends these saints for their obedience to the Lord, first and foremost, as we saw in the beginning of the letter, he gives all the thanks to God. Well, as we noted last time, he begins this paragraph with their commendation. It was kind of you, he says, And that phrase, as we mentioned, is better translated, you did well, or you acted nobly, or you did what was right in sending this gift. Now, I don't want you to misunderstand Paul. He isn't dismissing their gift as if it were just a matter of duty. No, he acknowledges their thoughtfulness. He is grateful. But again, gratitude is not so much for the gift as for the godly behavior that they exhibited by sending it. Nonetheless, Paul is showing his approval. He isn't saying, thanks for the gift. Not. I don't need your gift. I don't need you. I can do all things through Christ. That doesn't sound at all like Paul, does it? He was a humble man, not a man of pride and boasting. Now, Paul actually rejoiced over their concern for him. He was deeply moved by their act of love and devotion, and that's what it was. He was no doubt encouraged. The apostle had a lot of enemies, and he often found himself without companionship. As he told the Corinthians, he knew what it was like to be forsaken. Of course, he was never completely abandoned because the Lord was always with him. but it's lonely sometimes. And sometimes it's nice to have someone to touch, someone to be with you, someone to talk to, someone to pray with. So often Paul found himself alone. However, he took great comfort because while he may not have had immediate companionship of believers, he had spiritual companionship with the church at Philippi. They were praying for him. They were looking for opportunities to help them to be involved in his ministry. But their gift was more than just a contribution. Paul says they were sharing in the fruit of his gospel ministry. These saints had joined with Paul. They had made his objectives their objectives, and in doing so, they were aligning themselves with God's objective. They were Paul's partners in the gospel. They were participating in his work. They identified with Paul, and as the text says, not only in the good times, but in the times of trouble. While the gospel was triumphantly advancing through the apostle Paul, those triumphs were achieved not in spite of his trials and troubles, they were achieved through those trials and troubles. They were often the means by which God advanced the gospel. And so by sending Paul relief, they were not only sharing in the triumphs of the gospel, they were sharing in his suffering as well. They were living out Hebrews 13.3, where we're told to remember those who are in prison as though you were in prison with them. That's what the Philippian congregation was doing. You see, unlike the Corinthians, the Philippians' criteria for giving had nothing to do with how impressive or successful a minister was in the eyes of the world. That had captured the Corinthians' imagination. They were giving funds to false teachers and giving nothing to Paul. Listen, those whom the world considers impressive and successful are most often so because they have compromised the message or they have reworked the gospel in some way to remove the offense of the cross. Some have even abandoned it altogether for the sake of the world's approval. They may try to rationalize it. We're just trying to reach them. But I assure you, the ends never justifies the means. We must be faithful to Christ. Well, in any case, the Philippians realized that in the eyes of the world, a successful gospel ministry is simply one that faithfully proclaims the truth. When the gospel goes forth in truth, it does not only unite, it sometimes divides. The gospel is successful even in that case, even if it's rejected, because such a rejection makes that division between the elect and the reprobate clear, between the regenerate and the world, between the seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent. The word of God divides the sheep from the goats. And so Paul writes with great affection and emphasis as he calls to mind our shared partnership with him. And I love the way he says this, you Philippians, you 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. You know, the apostle Paul goes out of his way with the word you. In the Greek, it is there repeated again and again. You Philippians, you 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. You know, I find that remarkable. Paul founded many churches, at least 14, some say as many as 20. But the church at Philippi was the only one at this time, the only congregation contributing resources to Paul's ongoing ministry. While the apostle had visited many churches collecting donations, some people make the mistake of what he was collecting. Those funds were not for him. They were for the persecuted saints in Jerusalem. Paul never asked for money for himself. And he hadn't asked these Philippians either. They took it upon themselves to join with Paul in the partnership of the gospel. They gave from their heart, and they did so from the very beginning of their relationship with him. In fact, they began sending help as early as his ministry to the impoverished Thessalonican saints. Listen, Thessalonica was Paul's very next stop after Philippi. It was only about 100 miles away. And so Paul hadn't even left the province of Macedonia before these saints began following his progress and backing his efforts with support. These saints established a faithful pattern of consistent support for Paul. Now, I want you to notice in this text how the Apostle Paul defines this partnership. He actually uses common financial terms of the day. We could translate the passage, no other church entered into partnership with me by opening an account of credit and debit. No church, but you. This is not a one-way relationship. This is a transactional partnership. So what we find is that the Apostle Paul doesn't just preach the gospel, leave and forget about these people. No, he's concerned about them. They don't just send money to the Apostle Paul and then put him out of their mind. No, this is a transactional partnership. Paul is using the language of investment and both parties were investing. And now, money is clearly involved in all of this because the context is, after all, about the financial help he had received from the Philippians. Paul is talking about economics, but it's not the economics of the world. It's the economics of heaven. Listen, the Lord isn't nearly as concerned about how much money we have as how we use the money he affords us. You know, as Paul reminded Timothy, God gives us all things richly to enjoy. And while money is neither good nor bad in and of itself, the love of money, we are told, is the root of all kinds of evil. So we must never idolize money. That's why Christ warns us, we cannot serve two masters. We can't serve God and mammon. We can't serve God and money. And what's more, it's awfully foolish to do so. because earthly riches are notoriously uncertain. They're fleeting. You can't depend on them. As Jesus said, moth corrupt our earthly treasures. Rust corrodes our earthly treasures. Thieves break through and steal our earthly treasures. And don't think that we're immune simply because we're Christians. Jesus is speaking to his followers there. God's people are not exempt from the ill effects of the fall. And so Jesus says, what's the remedy? He didn't say that you can find a way to protect all of your earthly riches. He said, no, the remedy is lay up treasure in heaven where the corrupting influence of sin cannot reach. So we should use what money God has given us to fulfill His purpose. I don't have time to go into that this morning, but very simply, what does the scripture say about how we're to use what we've been given? Always for His glory, but the Bible tells us to provide for those in our care, those whom we are responsible for. It tells us to support the ministry, and it tells us to give to every good work. This is what the scripture says. This is how we're to use what God has given us. So the giving of our money for the support of those preaching the gospel is one of those aspects of how we are commanded to use what God has given us. And so in Paul's word, It is what we ought to do. We mustn't muzzle the ox that treads out the corn, or the labor is worthy of his hire, or as the apostle says, those who sow spiritual things among you are entitled to reap material things. Those who faithfully minister, Paul says, if you faithfully minister to God's people, you're worthy of double honor, generous pay. That's what the scripture says. And Paul was no exception. He was a minister of the gospel. But at this time, the Philippian church was the only one doing so. In any case, as I said, money then is a part of the economics of heaven. But it is not the only part. And I would dare say it is not even the primary part. As Paul told Timothy, do you want to know what genuine gain is? Real riches is godliness accompanied by contentment. The contentment that comes from knowing that God's grace is always sufficient, that He is the God from whom all blessings flow. That's great gain. That's the highest gain. That's the greatest riches. And godliness is being like God. It's imitating Him as His dear children, as Paul says in Ephesians 5 too. So submission to God's authority and devotion to his will, that's the greatest gain because that's how we're conformed to Christ's image. That's how we become what we were meant to be. That's how we find fulfillment. There is no greater wealth than knowing Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his suffering. There's nothing worth more than being transformed by the renewing of our minds. There is no greater treasure than the fullness of inheritance that will one day be ours when we finally see our Savior face to face and we are completely conformed to the image of Jesus Christ. And all of this, by the way, is the gift of God. It is all His work in us. So in heavenly economics, everything begins with a deposit of new life from God, and it ends with what he does through us by the working of the Holy Spirit. So yes, as Paul has told these Philippians, we're to work out our own salvation with fear and trembling. But then he goes right behind it and tells us we can only do so because God is at work in us. He's the one making us willing, and he's the one making us able to be able to please him. I mean, the scripture tells us, yes, we are to walk worthy of our calling. We are to maintain the unity of the spirit. We're to put off the old man and put on the new self. But even this is the work of God in us. It comes by the renewing of the mind. It comes by the leadership of the Holy Spirit. It is his transforming power. It is the means of grace by which this occurs in us. That's the kind of heavenly economics. It all begins and ends with God. And he has just given us the wondrous privilege of participating. Well, this is the kind of open account of credit and debit the Philippians had with Paul in his gospel ministry. And so we'd have to say that it began with the Apostle Paul being confronted on the road to Damascus. The gospel transformed him there. And as the servant of the Lord, he began investing time in these Philippians by preaching Christ to them. As Christ gave himself to save us by his grace, Paul gave of himself to establish this congregation, to ground them in the truth. And they then invested their God-given resources in his gospel ministry. this open account pays dividends. They supported Paul with prayers and funds as Paul supported them with prayers and spiritual guidance. So this partnership, this mutual investment of God's given resources continued to pay dividends in their lives because Paul would go on preaching the gospel and these saints would continue to grow in the grace and knowledge of our Savior. And after Paul acknowledges them, this ongoing investment that they have made. He says, not that I seek the gift, but I seek the fruit that increases to your credit. Once again, Paul is careful to guard against any misunderstanding. The word seek here means to strive for, to hunt for, to pursue eagerly. So you see Paul saying, I'm not seeking a gift. I'm not hunting for funds. I'm not fishing for more money. The apostle isn't playing some psychological game with them, flattering them so they'll send him more. In the next verse he says, I've received more than enough. No, Paul's desire is not for more money, more gifts for himself. Paul doesn't desire the gift. Even if the gift hadn't been provided and hadn't met all of his needs, the Apostle Paul would have been fine. Because as he said, he had learned to be content regardless of the situation, regardless of the condition in which he finds himself. Nonetheless, by them sending this gift, they were identifying with Paul, they were sharing in his work, they were participating in his suffering. In the same way, they'll have a proportion of the rewards themselves as well. Although some plant and some water, again, we get back to the basis of heavenly economics, it is God who gives the increase. We plant, we water, God gives the increase. And this is what's amazing, is yes, there are rewards to be received, but what is God rewarding? He's rewarding His work in us. That's why the 24 elders in the book of Revelation take those crowns that were given to them, and what do they do with them? They don't put them on their heads and prance around and say, look at me, look at the great crown that I have achieved. Have you read it? Do you know what they do? They cast them at his feet. This is what it's all about, to glorify the God who made us, loved us, and sustains us by his grace. So what exactly is the apostle Paul looking to gain from all of this? He repeats the word seek to set up a very emphatic contrast. I am not seeking this, I am seeking that. What is he seeking? Fruit that will increase to their account. And again, he's using the terms from commercial accounting. The word fruit in that context refers to that which is harvested from labor or an investment. In other words, it's the interest gained through a business transaction. Paul is saying, I'm not interested in another gift. What I seek, what I am interested in, what I truly desire, what I want most of all is for interest to accrue to your account before God. The word increase means to multiply. And so in this context, it's not just simple interest, it's ongoing compound interest. Paul doesn't just want to see the investment grow. He wants it to grow abundantly and continually. He wants it to be ever increasing. Finally, Paul says, I have received full payment and more. I am well supplied by the gift that you sent. So Paul rounds out this language of commerce with a term that in his day was often written on receipts. And so it's as if the Apostle Paul is issuing a receipt to the Philippians for their gift, and he's marking that receipt paid in full. What is he doing here? He's just reflecting the work of our Lord Jesus Christ, who on the cross took that debt that was against us, that we owe to God, and he drove that nail through it, which is another way of saying it is paid in full. This is what Paul is doing. He is imaging Christ in this. And then he quickly adds, what you have sent has been more than enough. Remember the apostle Paul has said that he's content whether he's in need or whether he has abundant provision, doesn't matter to him. And he's letting this congregation know that they have provided him with one of those moments of abundance. That's what Paul's doing here. He didn't have many of them. But he wants him to know, even though I'm in jail, even though I'm chained to a soldier, I now have more than I need. This is a moment of abundance. Is that something we could say? That God having provided whatever God provides, it is more than enough. And so he's saying, don't worry, what you sent was enough. I am full, he says. Actually, the way the Greek puts it, it filled me up and I'm still full. I'm not hungry, I've got plenty. And so my point this morning is, from this text, what we can see is the Apostle Paul, by speaking to this church in those terms, shows us that this was a church well-schooled in the economics of heaven. While the world is obsessed with money, the world is obsessed with good investments that yield abundant returns. We have to remember you can't take it with you. That's what Paul says in 1 Timothy 6, isn't it? You came into this world with nothing and one thing is for certain, you're not carrying a single thing out either. So whenever we invest all in this world, we are investing in a bankrupt system. We are asking for disaster. The only momentary investment that will ever pay eternal dividends is that which we invest into the kingdom of God by obedience to his will. So Paul instructs us to be generous, to use our wealth in a godly way, or as James says, be rich in faith. As Jesus said, we ought to seek to be rich toward God because he says life isn't in the abundance of earthly possessions. What does the scripture tell us? Life is in him. He is everything. He is our life. And so a life invested in the gospel, both in the advance of the gospel and the dividends of the gospel accrued in the changed lives of those who hear it. That's what will truly matter when we stand before God. The Apostle Paul is going to tell us something about the benefit of giving, and we'll get there, Lord willing, in the next couple of weeks. You can see it there in the text, but I just don't want to rush this. I want us to understand what he's saying, because in the economics of heaven, money is involved, but it's not the primary part. And so we should seek to be rich in good works, the scripture says, to live godly lives of contentment, because great wealth is something everyone who knows Christ possesses, because great wealth is in knowing Christ through the transforming power of the gospel. And so my prayer is, God, you have control of all things, You have given us all things. We have nothing that we have not received. There is not a single thing that we have, according to Scripture, that we did not receive. So Paul, as he tells the Corinthians, be sure you don't boast. You have nothing to boast about. but indeed to surrender our lives to him. And that includes whatever resources God has placed in our hands. Whether they be resources of gifts and abilities to benefit the body of Christ, whether it be resources of money, whether they be resources of time, it doesn't matter. It all belongs to God. And we are to give to him the first fruits and not the leftovers. That's what scripture says. So great wealth is in knowing Christ through the transforming power of the gospel. And my prayer is God grant us this heavenly perspective as we seek to grow in the grace and knowledge of our Savior. And to him be glory forever and ever. Amen.