Philippians chapter four, beginning in verse 14. It was kind of you to share in 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 our God and Father be glory forever and ever. Amen. This is the word of the Lord. And you may be seated. My God shall supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus. In popular evangelical culture today, this verse has taken on a life of its own. Paul's bold declaration seems simple enough, and it is. It's not one of the more obscure statements in scripture. It is as straightforward as it sounds. The problem is that today many have lifted it out of its context and the definition of key words have been wrongly assumed. One of those words that has been wrongly assumed is the word need. The word need isn't a synonym for want or desire. It isn't telling us that God will supply every wish of ours. It's not what we think we deserve. And it's not even what we think we need. It's just our need, our true need. You know, the word in the Greek simply means what you lack that is necessary. And it has a connotation. It's what is needed to meet a particular objective or to perform a particular task. And what's important about understanding this verse is that objective isn't a fill in the blank. the context defines the objective. In other words, it's not your objective, it's not my objective, it's God's objective. So Paul is confident, as he says in this text, that God will indeed supply every need of his people, but for what purpose? You know, many are the plans in a man's heart, but it's the Lord's purpose that prevails. And so if you're reading Philippians in that particular context, This is what you'll come to realize. What is the purpose and for what reason will God supply every need of ours? It's for the good work that he has begun in his saints, a work that Paul is confident that he will complete. The promise that God will supply whatever we need is the promise to supply what is necessary to fulfill his purpose. So in a lot of this, we need to ask ourselves, what do we truly need? I mean, that's the wrench in the works, isn't it? The fly in the ointment, it's what trips us up. We think we know what we need, but we don't. Now, truth be known, aside from food to eat, clothes to wear, and some sort of shelter. Beyond that, we're relatively clueless as to what we really need. I mean, that is obvious, isn't it? That we're going to have to have food to live, that we're going to have to have clothes to wear, that we're going to have to have shelter. We need sustenance if we're going to fulfill the will of the Lord. But beyond that, only God knows what we truly need. And we will never understand what we truly need by looking around us, by taking in our circumstances and attempting to assess this on our own. We have to look to the word of God. We have to look up. We must look to him from whom all blessings flow. And so Philippians 419, as we've seen, is a promise, but it's not an unqualified universal promise that many people take it to be. It's a promise given in a specific context. And as we've said, it's essentially the same promise that Jesus offers to us in the Sermon on the Mount. He tells us not to be anxious about the necessities of life. Our God, the Lord of heaven, who feeds the birds of the air, the Lord of heaven, who clothes the grass of the fields, he knows what we need. And he considers us, Jesus says, far more important than birds or wildflowers. After all, we're his image bearers. And so Jesus tells us not to worry, not to fret. He says, our God will provide what we need if we'll simply seek first his kingdom and his righteousness. Well, that's the context. of the promise in Philippians as well. These saints were faithful partners with Paul in the gospel. And by supporting the apostle, they were investing in the enterprise of God's kingdom. These saints had a heart for the gospel. They were passionate about God's purpose. They were zealous about investing in God's enterprise. And they had done so faithfully and with joy. This is the context in which Paul says, my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches and glory in Christ Jesus. That's the context. You know, as we've seen, Paul's letters to the Corinthians and his letter to Timothy make it clear that all who labor in the gospel should be supported by those who benefit from that labor. I mean, this was based on Christ's own words in Matthew 10.10. But Paul never solicited funds for himself. In fact, he occasionally worked as a tent maker, we find in Scripture, to support himself in his missionary ministry. Why? Because Christianity was spreading quite rapidly, and there were opportunists who saw Christianity as a burgeoning movement that was ripe for exploitation. These self-serving rogues, whom Paul sarcastically calls super apostles, They were preaching for profit. And like the prosperity teachers of today, they confused gain with godliness. They made money the measure of spirituality. And the apostle Paul wanted to make sure that there was no one who could ever rightly accuse him of such an appalling motive for preaching. Oh, they might well accuse him, but those accusations, Paul insists, must be slanderous lies. For Paul, it was never about the money. And so this is why even as he commends the Philippians for their gift, he makes it clear that he was perfectly content before their gift ever arrived. Yes, investing in the gospel laborers of Paul and his ministry was the right thing to do. Paul never decries that. But he wants him to know that his trust never was in the Philippians, nor in any other church. His trust is in the God who saved him by his grace and gave him his commission of ministry. Paul wants him to know then that it isn't their gift that kept him going in the ministry. He can do all things through Christ who strengthens him. It's God who supplies whatever he needs to fulfill his call. Yet Paul rejoices that they sent the gift. Why? Because the gift benefits them. They're investing in God's gospel enterprise. And that investment, Paul tells us in this paragraph, is yielding abundant return, both materially and, more importantly, spiritually. They're growing in the grace and knowledge of God. They are growing in the grace of our Savior. They're showing themselves to be wise investors, investors whose wealth is not in the corruptible riches of this sin-ridden world. Their wealth is the incorruptible riches of heaven. And this is why Paul rejoices. And so just as the other churches The apostle never solicited support from the Philippian saints. He never solicited support from any of the churches. The only time he ever collected funds from the churches was for the relief of the saints in Jerusalem. And so Paul never solicited these funds, but they had such a heart for the gospel that they earnestly appealed to Paul. They implored him for the privilege of giving. What a unique congregation. I mean, that's what the Apostle Paul says in 2 Corinthians 8. What a novel approach. They didn't have to be coerced to give rather than Paul pleading with them to give, which he would never do, by the way. They pleaded with him that they might give. And at least at the time Paul was writing this letter, they were the only church that had entered into such a partnership with him. You know, it seems ironic of all the churches that Paul established, this congregation seemed to be the least capable of such consistent and generous gospel partnership. I mean, the Philippian colony was a Roman colony that was quite wealthy, but many in the congregation had impoverished themselves for their commitment to Christ. In other words, they had to make a choice between making money or serving Christ. And for them, there was no choice. And so it's amazing. These saints always found a way to give generously. They had a giving heart. And you know, I'm thankful. You're a unique congregation as well. You're a unique congregation because so many of you have this heart to give to the cause of the gospel. You know, I read these surveys from churches. It's a rare thing. It's a rare thing that people will have a giving heart. And my prayer is that the next generation coming up will continue that in this church and in others as well. Now, this is important. This was a unique congregation. And they were, the Apostle Paul says, somehow able to give beyond their means. It even surprised Paul, he says so. How could they give beyond their means? Well, this is one way that the promise of Philippians 4.19 applies. Because as Christ's disciples, we are commanded to lay up treasure in heaven, are we not? We are commanded to invest in God's kingdom. That's needful for the Christian. We're called to be generous givers. And so the Apostle Paul, as he tells the Corinthians, it is God who supplies seed to the sower. We can only give what God has provided. But if we give, our Lord promises to give us more from which to give. In other words, as we sow the seed that God supplies, He causes that to grow into a mighty harvest, providing us with even more seed to sow. Listen, God doesn't measure generosity by how much we're able to give. We don't really know how large or how small this gift was. But all we know is it was a generous gift coming from this congregation. Because you see, God doesn't measure generosity the way we do. He measures it by our hearts. As Jesus told the Pharisees, if you'll remember, the widow who put in her two mites gave more than all the rich people who were giving their large sums of money. Two mites. You know, that's the equivalent of a fourth of a penny. But Jesus says she gave more than everyone else. Why? Because she gave all she had. In any case, the Philippians, they were a wondrous example of God supplying every need according to his riches in glory. And so God did supply their need, but he didn't make them wealthy by worldly standards. Yes, the Lord does bless some of his people that way. But as Paul tells Timothy to exhort those who are materially rich, they are to be humble and not trust in those uncertain riches. They must trust in God. And that's the rub, isn't it? If you have more than you need, the tendency is to be lax in your trust. Now, these saints had been given those resources. that they might be generous and ready to share. And so those who are wealthy, no matter how much you have, the principle still applies, but particularly if you're wealthy, you're to be generous and ready to share. Of course, that's not how God worked among the Philippian saints. He didn't give them earthly wealth, some large bank account from which to withdraw these gifts. Still, every time the occasion presented itself, they were able to give what Paul says is far beyond what seemed possible. What Paul says is their extreme poverty welled up and overflowed in rich generosity. Now, try to figure that one out. That will give a CPA a headache. How does extreme poverty well up and overflow in rich generosity? That's the work of the Lord, isn't it? So how were they able to give so liberally so often? It was God's provision. It was God supplying that need, their need to give, and he did it as the occasion arose. And so we mustn't assume that the way God will supply our need will necessarily look the same as how he supplies the needs of others. You know, there are two widows in the Old Testament that offer some insight. God provided both of them what they needed, but he did so in different ways. During Elisha's ministry, there was a widow of a prophet that came to him asking for help. A creditor had come to her threatening to take her sons as slaves in lieu of payment of what she owed, what debt her husband left her with. All she had was a small jar of olive oil. And so Elisha tells her to go around and ask all of her neighbors for empty jars. And he says, collect a lot of them. Don't be shy. Get as many as you can get. And he told her, now go into your house, shut your door, pour the small jar of oil you have into an empty jar. But then get another empty jar, and you'll find that you can fill it as well. and another, and another, and so on, and so on. And so she kept on pouring until all of the empty jars were filled. And then Elisha said, sell the olive oil, pay the creditor what you owe him, and the rest you will have for you and your sons to live on. The Lord chose to give her a certain degree of wealth, enough to supply the needs of her and her sons for pretty much the rest of their life. But she wasn't just anyone. Her husband had been a committed servant of the Lord. Their family was vested in God's kingdom. And God supplied their need by giving her the resources she would need for herself and her son's future. So sometimes God does bestow a measure of material wealth. However, God supplied the needs of another widow in a different way. During a drought-driven famine, God sent Elijah to a widow who was able to prepare just one final meal for herself and her son. That's all she had. And then she expected, fully expected, that after we've eaten this meal, we'll prepare ourselves to starve to death. All she had, a handful of flour, a little olive oil. So what does the prophet tell her to do? He says, take that oil and that flour that you have and make the first loaf for me. That's what he said. And then he says, make a loaf for you and your son. Well, she obeyed. She put the prophet of the Lord ahead of herself, the ministry of God above herself. She obeyed. But then when she went back to that jar, having emptied it out, she found that there was still flour and oil in them. And so she invested in God's kingdom by giving to Elijah and God supplied her need. And he supplied it day after day that same way. The jar was never filled, the flour was never full, but somehow every day she went back and there was just enough for today's meals. Do you see? God supplied her need, not by making her wealthy, but making sure that day by day, She had everything her and her son needed. Well, it seems to me that this is the way God supplied the need of the Philippian saints. Every time there was an opportunity to give, they somehow had the resources not only to give, but to give abundantly. And so the point is, God supplies our need in his own way and in his own time, often in very unexpected ways. You can't figure God out. All we know is God is a rewarder of those who seek him. And so, as I said earlier, God supplies our need, both material and spiritual. And Lord willing, we'll consider the latter in due course. But for this morning, I want us to consider how God supplies for us in the material needs that we have. And let us not get our eyes on how much or how little we have, but rather that he has supplied enough. As Paul says, it is sufficient what God supplies. And so what God supplied the Philippians, at least in part, was material need because they had given material gifts. And this is the response that Paul gives. They weren't giving out of material wealth, but they were giving sacrificially. And it seems that God was supplying their need as it arose, and they were trusting God and growing in his grace. And so as I look throughout scripture, the children of Israel provide another example of how God often meets the basic needs of his people. I mean, after being freed from Egyptian bondage, they wandered about in the wilderness for 40 years, the desert of Sinai. You know, we don't often think about that journey in practical terms, but if we were to look at it just from that standpoint, there were so many issues that made their survival improbable. Not only did they survive, but God did provide all of their basic needs. We're talking at least hundreds of thousands of people, and more likely a couple of million. You imagine a couple of million people milling around in the desert, going from place to place, and these weren't all strong and well-conditioned men who were accustomed to living in a wasteland. No, they weren't experienced survivalists. They wouldn't be on one of those television shows. I'm not sure what they're called, survival or something, I can't remember. They wouldn't be candidates for that at all. And what we're talking about are families, young and old, women and children. We're talking about slaves that were used to a plentiful food source because as they worked, their food was provided. So how is it that this wandering nation survived this barren wilderness where food was scarce and water even more so? I want you to think about it in the context of their times and the places that they had to live. Out in the desert, there's no DoorDash or GrubHub, right? And there wasn't anyway at that time. And even if there had been, good luck getting those services to deliver food for an entire nation in the desert, right? Well, as scripture tells us, God provided his people with food. He sent them manna, that mysterious sustenance from heaven. And it wasn't particularly to their liking. This is an important point. No, it wasn't what they wanted. It wasn't the diet they were used to. They seemed to have preferred the leeks and onions and melons that they had received while they were in Egypt. That's what the text tells us. So it wasn't what they wanted, but it was what they needed in more ways than one. It was nourishing enough. It was sustaining enough. But then again, there was another lesson here to be learned because they couldn't stockpile it. They couldn't store it up. They couldn't store up enough and say, well, you know what? I can just sit back and relax. I've got a lot of manna stored up. I don't have to worry about going and gathering it day by day, no. They could only gather enough for the day ahead, except on Fridays, whenever they were allowed to gather a double portion, because God wasn't gonna provide the manna on the Sabbath. Those who did try to store it up, when they got up on the Sabbath, the morning of the Sabbath, I mean, on any other day but the morning of the Sabbath, they found that worms had invested themselves in it. So they had to trust God. They had to trust that tomorrow God would supply more of this manna. And he was teaching them to trust him day by day. And scripture tells us they complained about this monotonous diet, didn't they? But listen, this is important too. Variety isn't a need, it's a luxury. Parents need to tell that to their children, right? But first, parents need to tell that to themselves. You know, children also, is this all we have to eat? How ungrateful, right? But don't we do the same? Quite often we do, you know, I've had that, I don't want that again, right? Listen, in Eden, Adam and Eve forfeited the privilege of variety. They had a wondrous assortment of food that God had provided, and as the scripture says, it was beautiful to look at, and it was tasty, and they had their pick of all of it, and God actually commanded them to enjoy it, to indulge in it, but they chose the one fruit God had forbidden instead, right? And so we're no longer promised variety, Now, God is often gracious to provide it, and I'm thankful for it, but we have no right to it. It's not promised, at least not yet. I mean, that wondrous abundance is promised in the new heavens and the new earth. On that day, we will feast in the house of Zion, right? We will sit down at the marriage supper of the Lamb, and we will have food as we have never had before. But the point is, for now, we need some perspective. You know, there are plenty of people throughout the world who are starving to death, and they would gratefully welcome a monotonous menu. And then what about water? There they are in the desert. There are no large bodies of fresh water in the desert. I mean, there's the occasional wadi, but that wasn't near enough for the enormous nation of nomads that needed their thirst quenched. Well, God didn't make it comfortable for them. He didn't create vast lakes along their route. No, he provided water from a rock that Paul says followed them through the wilderness. They had to trust God day by day. And what about their clothes and their shoes? There were no Walmarts, no JCPennies, right? They couldn't log on to Amazon for next day delivery. Now, this is the wilderness, and there wasn't even the raw materials, therefore, that were needed to make more clothes or more shoes. So how did God supply that need? He caused their clothes and shoes to hold up. They didn't wear out. They lasted 40 years. As hard as I am on shoes, I have a hard time getting to the last 40 days. Forty years. And still, you know, I'm sure that some of the people of Israel grumbled about that as well. Don't take offense, but I can hear the ladies complaining to their husbands, I haven't had a new outfit since we left Egypt. I've been wearing this shabby old thing for 40 years. Listen, a new outfit isn't a need, it's a want, right? And so they should have been rejoicing 40 years, traipsing about in a desert, and they're not barefooted and naked. Wonder of wonders, right? Our God supplies. So why did God choose to do it this way? As Moses says in Deuteronomy 8.3, God was teaching them a valuable lesson. But they were too dull and too hard-hearted to understand, so Moses had to spell it out for them. The Lord led them through the wilderness. This is what Moses says. He led you through the wilderness and let you experience just enough hunger to realize there's nothing you can do about it. You are dependent on me. You must rely on me. And then, Moses says, He fed us with the manna to teach us that He is our provision and that we don't live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of our God. You know, this is true for us as well, isn't it? As we're learning from our present supply chain troubles, our exorbitant fuel prices, the recalls on certain essentials, It doesn't take a lot to disrupt our comfortable lives of self-delusion. And they are self-delusion. You know, where have we been looking for our supply? That's the question for the Christian. The world doesn't know. The world is anxious about it. As the scripture says, Jesus says, the world, they're worried about this. The Gentiles, they're obsessed with it. But for the Christian, this is just a wake-up call. Where have we been looking for our supply? And whom have we been trusting? God is the God who gives us all things, life, breath, and everything else. Listen, if God doesn't bless the crops so that they grow, we don't eat. If he doesn't restrain ungodly leaders, a nation suffers violence. If he doesn't grant a government wisdom, poverty ensues. Listen, our God is the source of all good things. As James says, every good and perfect gift comes down from above, from the Father of lights in whom there is no shadow of turning. no change, he is immutable. This God holds our next breath in his hands and we need to remember that if he closes his hand, we perish. We ought to know this, but we are a slow and forgetful people, aren't we? When you're reminded, of course you know it, but then you get out in the day-to-day world and we're so easily distracted, aren't we? We can become so engrossed in the affairs of this fallen world, what Jesus calls the intoxicating cares of this life, those cares of this life that'll make you drunk. Well, we become so captivated then by our present circumstances that it renders us numb to the reality of God's gracious supply. I guarantee you there's not a person in here that has not received of God's gracious and abundant supply far more than we ever deserve. We have nothing that we have not received from his gracious hand. Now, we might think that the way that God supplied the needs of his people in the wilderness then is the harder path to walk. I would suggest that if it were possible, we should talk to the Philippian congregation because I don't think that's the case at all. As Paul says, it is the rich in this world who are tempted to trust in their wealth rather than in God. And so if God supplies our need by giving us an abundance, we need to be all the more diligent. It's no reason to sit back and relax. To whom much is given, much is required. If God blesses us abundantly, as James reminds us, it is not for squandering it on our passions and pleasures. It's not for indulging ourselves and gratifying our wants. Living it up isn't a need. It isn't a need, and that's not what God has promised to supply. As Paul tells Timothy, those who have been given material wealth, those who are rich in this world should be rich in good works. They should be generous, ready to share what they have. That's why God gives the abundance and will be accountable as stewards for that abundance. And so whether we have an abundance, or whether we have just what we need for today, we must remember that it is always God who is supplying our need, that we might fulfill His purpose for our lives. Not the course we chart, the course He charts. So, what do we truly need? Well, we're gonna talk more about that, Lord willing, next week as well. But I can say this, we don't need a large reserve in the bank. That doesn't mean God has supplied your need just because you have extra money in the bank. Now, yes, God may choose to supply our need that way, just as he did with the widow who sold those multiplied jars of olive oil. But if he does, we mustn't come to trust in that surplus. That's the rub. That's the temptation. As Jesus says, earthly riches, earthly wealth is subject to ruin and decay. Just because you have it today doesn't mean you will have it tomorrow. You know, like the farmer whose harvest was so large, he thought, I need to retire and take it easy. All those things I've wanted to do, that bucket list, I'll get that bucket list out and I'll just start using all of this surplus and I'll live, I'll live everything to the fullest that I've ever wanted to do. I'll say to my soul, take your ease, take it easy. Ah, but it can all, as he learned, be gone in a moment. Because rather than planning to indulge himself, what does Jesus tell us? He should have looked for opportunities to do good, to be generous, to use that wealth to lay up for himself treasures in heaven. As it turned out, he was not only impoverished before God, Jesus says that, he was impoverished before God, he also lost his earthly wealth before he could enjoy any of his ill-conceived plans. We're not promised tomorrow. God may call us home at any time. And for the Christian, there shouldn't be anything here that would hold us back. There shouldn't be anything here dear enough to say, Lord, I'm not ready yet. I don't want to come. No. If our riches are there. in the presence of Him, and what are those riches for? We talked about this last time. Those riches are so we will have something to cast at His feet, to adore Him with, to worship Him. And so that should be our purpose. Whatever God chooses to give us then, our greatest need isn't the sustenance that we get from Him, Our greatest need is that we learn to trust Him day by day, moment by moment, situation by situation. We're such self-assured people, such independent people. We love to tackle things on our own, and we think that we can handle it. We think we've got the plan that works, but we don't. In humility, we need to present our plans before God and say, not my will, your will be done. So our Lord knows what we need. And this is the promise. If we seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, he will supply what we need. He will supply it when we need it, and he will supply it in the manner that he determines is best. And I can assure you, whatever our God ordains is right. Whatever He presents to us and puts in our hands, it is so we may serve Him, we may worship Him, that we may fulfill the purpose for which He has called us. And to our God be all glory forever and ever. Amen.