The Christian and His Money - 23

Well, as you know, in our series through the book of Philippians, we've come to chapter 4, and we are now examining the last section before the greetings and conclusion that generally come at the end of Paul's epistles. And we have learned that verses 10 through 20 is an extended thank you note, Paul thanking the Philippian church for the gift which they sent to him in Rome and Roman imprisonment sent by the hand of Epaphroditus and those who traveled with him.

And this extended note contains two very famous texts that are often quoted but often misunderstood when they're not considered in the light of the context. Verse 13, I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me does not mean that I can do anything I put my mind to a beckoning Christ to help me since I'm a Christian. But rather, in the context, it says I can face hardship, I can face financial difficulty, I can face poverty with God's help, I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me. And extending beyond that, I can do all things that pertain to the difficulties of life as God appoints them for me, I can face them with a cheerful heart and with honor and glory to Christ. I can accomplish all of the things that are assigned to me by God, the duties that seem so difficult, but by Christ's strength, I can carry those out because he appointed them and he helps me.

I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me. Well, last week, we took the first part of this note in verses 1 through 13, and today we're going to take the center part where I've divided it into three parts. And so today we'll take up verses 14 through 17, and then, Lord willing, next week we'll take the final part of this thank you note in verses 18 through 20 with that second famous text about God supplying all of our needs. All of this, of course, of necessity because it is a thank you note in thanks for money that has been donated to Paul, the note, the section, the verses that we're looking at all pertain to the subject of money and to Christian giving, which can be a touchy subject for some people and certainly has been abused and misused down through the years. But nevertheless, it is an important part of Bible doctrine as our text before us makes clear.

It is included in the Word of God in many places and therefore is an important part of Christian development. And so let's continue to examine how Paul dealt with this touchy subject in the Philippian epistle, somewhat different from how he dealt with it, for example, in his Corinthian epistles. And in our section for today, we have number one, a word of appreciation, verse 14. Number two, a word of recollection in verses 15 and 16. And finally, a word of clarification in verse 17. But first of all, a word of appreciation for in verse 14, Paul says, Nevertheless, you have done well that you shared in my distress. Nevertheless, in spite of Paul's present lack of need, and that's what he said in the preceding verses, right? I thank you for your gift, but I and he didn't put it quite this way.

It was more delicate than this. But I thank you for your gift. But I want you to know, I really didn't need it. It's welcome. It's abundant.

It's greatly appreciated. But it really didn't come at a time of need. My needs were being supplied in other ways from other sources, which Paul does not specify. I'm not really short.

I'm not really hungry. I'm not unable to pay my rent in my rented house that I'm living in in Rome. I'm not unable to keep up with my living expenses. God has faithfully supplied all of these things even before your gift arrived. And so I just thank you for sending it. But I want you to know that God has already faithfully supplied my needs before your gift came. But that does not mean that your gift is inappropriate. And that's what the nevertheless is about. In spite of the fact that it didn't come at a time of need, as other gifts have come at a time of need.

In fact, you'll make reference to that in our section for today. But in spite of the fact that this particular gift did not come at a time of need, nevertheless, it came at, well, what should I say? It came at an opportune time for other reasons. Your gift is not inappropriate. And I am not ungrateful. I am most grateful.

In fact, he goes on from this clarification to this commendation. You have done well. Nevertheless, you have done well that you shared in my distress. You have done well. Even though God has already met all my present needs, you have done well in sending this gift.

Your gift is a good thing. It pleases the Lord. It reminds me of that gift that Mary gave to Christ and anointing him for burial with that expensive ointment. You remember that?

Think about it. That wasn't needed. But, oh, what a wonderful gift that honored the Lord and was highly commended by Christ.

In fact, let me read you that account as it's given to us in Mark just to remind you. And being in Bethany at the house of Simon the leper, as Jesus sat at the table, a woman came having an alabaster flax, a very costly oil of spikenard, then broke the flax and poured it on his head. But there were some who were indignant among themselves and said, Why was this fragrant oil wasted?

For it might have been sold for more than 300 denarii and given to the poor. And they criticized her sharply. But Jesus said, Let her alone. Why do you trouble her? She has done a good work for me. For you have the poor with you always, and whenever you wish, you may do them good.

But me, you do not always have, you do not have always. She has done what she could. She has come beforehand to anoint my body for burial.

Assuredly, I say to you that wherever this gospel is preached in the whole world, what this woman has done, and I left the final words off in cutting up my photocopied section of the section in Mark. Anyway, what she has done shall be spoken of her in honor, for it was a good thing. What she did was a good thing, not because Christ needed it, not because it supplied a time of want or hunger or financial resources to pay bills that he needed to pay, as he, of course, had to live and to deal with these mundane affairs of life, just like all the rest of us. But no, it was a very extravagant gift. It was pouring out a year's salary in one anointing.

Just boom, there it was. She broke the alabaster box and poured the whole contents out upon Jesus Christ in an act of love and devotion and gratitude and extravagant giving. And she was criticized by some of the apostles for doing that. That wasn't needed. That's a waste.

You should give that money where it is needed. And Jesus said, No, you're wrong. It was good.

What she did was a good thing. And in similar fashion, Paul is now saying to the Philippian church, even though I honestly told you that I'm not in need, don't you appreciate my being honest with you? Don't you want me to tell you when I am in need? And don't you appreciate it when I don't act like I'm always in need? So keep sending, sending, sending, sending, because I'm always needy, needy, needy, needy. No, I was not in need when your gift came. But nevertheless, your sending it was the right thing to do. It was a good thing. A very honorable and noble thing, like Mary's anointing of Jesus.

It allowed Paul to enjoy some surplus. My needs have been met, but your gift gives me some comfort. It gives me some cushion. After all, I just told you, I go through these ups and downs financially in life. Sometimes I am hungry and sometimes I'm full. Sometimes I am abased and other times I abound. And I have been satisfied and needs taken care of until this time. But your gift now allows me some abundance, some extra, some elastic, some margin. And I thank you for it. You have done well. However, what is really important is what it communicated from you.

You have done well that you shared in my distress. The distress Paul is referring to, of course, is his Roman imprisonment. And though he was allowed to live in his own hired home, his own rental home, and had to pay the rent and had to feed himself and had to take care of his other expenses, purchasing the things that were necessary for his ongoing ministry. And so his situation was much better than if he had been thrown in the dungeon. But in that house, as you remember, he was chained 24-7 to a Roman guard.

That wasn't comfortable. And there were other severe limitations upon what he normally did in his life and ministry. And so he was in a time of what he calls distress.

It was uncomfortable. Paul's hindering his ministry as he normally carried it out. But they have, by this gift, entered into partnership with him in his distress and suffering.

That's what that word shared means. It not only demonstrated genuine concern, which in itself was a wonderful thing, and a very appropriate purpose for their gift to come to him, but it made them partners in Paul's suffering. It bound them together with Paul in an increased fellowship that was larger and greater than what they had had before. They are joining themselves together with Paul.

They can't be imprisoned with him, but they can become partners with him in his imprisonment through this way, by this gift. They're giving what they can in this situation to Paul in his situation, his distress, and giving him some extra comfort and help and encouragement, and by that they become his partners. And so he begins with this word of appreciation, deep appreciation, for the gift which they have sent. But secondly, we have a word of recollection in verses 15 and 16, where Paul gives a short rehearsal of the history of their giving for more than a decade. Now you Philippians know also that in the beginning of the gospel, when I departed from Macedonia, no church shared with me concerning giving and receiving, but you only, for even in Thessalonica, you sent aid once and again for my necessities. Paul begins by telling them that this is something that they know and he knows, mutual understanding. You Philippians know also, you Philippians know that you did this, but I want you to realize that I know also, and maybe not even so much a matter of knowing, but it's fresh on my mind as I'm sure it is on yours, human nature being what it is. It would be very likely that the Philippians would have a pretty keen memory of the number of times they had sent gifts. They had done it out of love, out of worship to the Lord Jesus Christ, out of appreciation for the Apostle Paul, out of a desire to give abundantly to the Lord, but they did it and remember doing it. We tend to do that when we do good things, right things, noble things.

We tend to remember those better sometimes than the other things we do that we just as soon forget. So it's no surprise that this history of their giving was still fresh on their minds, but Paul says, I want you to know it's also fresh on my mind. You Philippians know also as I know about this history of your giving.

I want you to know that I remember what you have done. And he talks about their remarkable beginning when he says that at the beginning of the gospel, at the beginning of the gospel, and it ends up by saying, no church shared with me concerning giving and receiving, but you only at the beginning of the gospel. Now the beginning of the gospel is a bit ambiguous. What is Paul talking about? Is he talking about the beginning of his gospel ministry after he was saved on the Damascus road?

Well, clearly not. The Philippians didn't know him then. The Philippians were still in pagan idolatry at that time. You can't be talking about that beginning of the gospel or tracing it back even earlier to the life and death of Jesus Christ. He can't be talking about that as the beginning of the gospel. He's clearly talking about the time when the gospel came to them in the beginning. And we know a great deal about that in Acts chapter 16, when Paul came to Philippi and preached the gospel publicly down by the riverside where the women gathered to worship the Lord and in the streets where that slave girl was following him around. And the other members of the team, these men are servants of the Most High God, and he finally rebuked the demon in her and cast it out and then landed in jail.

And the earthquake came and sprung the jail open. And we know a great deal about the beginning of the gospel in Philippi. And we can identify some of the people who were saved in those early days.

Lydia, the seller of purple down by the riverside and undoubtedly some other women who worshiped there with her. No doubt the slave girl that was freed from demon possession and the Philippian jailer and his wife and his family, servants in his home, children, older children in his home is the passage makes very clear because he preached the gospel to them and they believed and were baptized. And a number of converts that took place very early on and then others to follow, no doubt.

And that's what Paul is tracing it to. He says back there when the gospel first came to you and you were first saved, shortly after that you began to exercise exemplary and remarkable giving way beyond that which most people do. Your generous giving began early in the beginning of the gospel as it came to you and changed your hearts. Most Christians grow into the grace of giving more slowly, but they hit the ground with their feet running in regard to giving. Some Christians never seem to develop the grace of giving beyond very minimal and occasional giving, but not these Philippians.

They gave generously from the very beginning, from the start. And in doing that showed remarkable spiritual maturity at a very early age in their Christian lives. You have to realize this giving to Paul was missionary giving and it was beyond giving. It went beyond the requirements of their own local church. They had God-given instructions and commands in regard to support of the ministry in their own church and taking care of people in need in their own church. And so those things always came first, the giving to their own local church, but this missionary giving beyond the needs of their local church was something that they got involved in very early when the other churches didn't. The other churches were a little slow about that. You were the only church that ministered to me in giving and receiving. No other church did that. The other churches were all struggling, I suppose, to collect enough money to take care of their own needs. All the other churches were those churches that most of us have been familiar with at one time or another down through our lives, and some people have been familiar with only this kind of church all of their life, where they're always on the edge, always ready to fall into difficulty and to debt and to financial problems, and they're always begging, please give, please give some more, we're not making it, we're in desperate need, please help. And that was going on in all the other churches. And in the Philippian church, the regular giving was sufficient to take care of their local needs, and they had a surplus to give to the work of missions, to give to the Apostle Paul as he went on his way down the road.

Do you suppose there's any connection there? Do you suppose that the Philippians' generous giving at home and this surplus that enabled them to help the Apostle Paul might have been blessed of God to enable them to give generously at home and abroad? And the others were struggling because they were not giving quite so freely and generously and cheerfully, perhaps, perhaps, that's not spelled out on the text, but it is clear that their giving demonstrated remarkable spiritual maturity. And I have learned over the years that people grow at different rates after they're saved, some people grow very rapidly, other people grow so slowly that sometimes you wonder, have they really been saved, but every now and then you see a little glimpse of spiritual life and a little glimpse of a little more growth come slowly, slowly. Some people who've been saved for decades still have difficulty understanding anything but the most simple truths from the Bible. But, of course, there are people in the Bible like that too.

The writer of Hebrews chided those he was writing to. When you should have been teachers, I've got to teach you again the elementary things. You haven't been growing very much in grace and knowledge. Some people grow quickly. One of the most rapid examples of Christian growth that I've seen over the years was our dear departed brother, Jerry Jarrell, who's now with the Lord, and almost from the day he was saved, you'd have thought he had been saved and studying God's Word for decades. It was just amazing.

In six months, he was more mature and more knowledgeable in Scripture, more wise in spiritual things than the average Christian that's been saved 10 or 15 or 20 years. It was just remarkable. He just grew zip.

How did that happen? That's the way God does it. That's the Spirit of God.

He's able to do that, and sometimes he does. He did that in the Philippian church. They showed remarkable spiritual maturity in their giving from the very beginning, and that indicates probably they showed remarkable spiritual maturity in other areas early on as well. And so Paul rehearses in a few lines their instructive pattern of giving.

We can start in verse 16 because chronologically that comes first. They sent support to Thessalonica. He says, For even in Thessalonica you sent aid once and again for my necessities. That was Paul's next ministry location after Philippi.

He got kicked out of Philippi. Remember the officials came and said, We sure wish you would leave quietly. We know we did a bad thing. We made a mistake, big boo-boo, in flogging a Roman citizen and putting them in jail. So we sure are sorry that we did this.

Would you just kind of quietly disappear so that this whole situation will go away? And Paul said, No, not quite like that. They beat me openly, beat us openly, threw us in jail openly.

Let's have the highest city officials themselves personally come down and let us out of jail, okay? Just a little reminder. And they did. But Paul said, Okay, I won't make things any more difficult.

I think it's time for me to go. And now seeing what we see here, we can realize that Paul probably was confident that even though the church at Philippi had only been instructed over a period of a few weeks, short months probably, we don't know how long exactly, that their spiritual maturity was above average and Paul thought they would do fine on their own. And so he left them probably with at least one or two other missionary partners and his team behind. But nevertheless, on he went and he ended up next in Thessalonica about 100 miles down the road. You can read about that in the book of Acts. And Paul hadn't been at Thessalonica more than probably a week or two till here come messengers from Philippi bringing financial support.

Well, thank you. I needed that. Paul calls this a necessity. Even in Thessalonica, you sent aid once and again for my necessities. When he wasn't in need, prior to the gift from Philippi, he says so. God has already supplied my needs.

I wasn't in necessity. When you sent your gift to Thessalonica, that met a real need. Without your gift, I couldn't have ministered the way I did.

I would have had to cut way back on my gospel labors and made tents to support myself. But your gift, timely gift, generous gift, supported my ministry and enabled me to preach the gospel freely in Thessalonica. And he hadn't been there more than another week or two till who shows up? Another delegation from Philippi with another gift. Some people reading the book of Acts think that Paul was only in Thessalonica a total of three weeks before he moved on to Berea and eventually further south. I think there are a lot of indications that there must have been more time than that because it was not stipulated in the historical account in Acts, and this is one of them. It would have been very challenging for the church at Philippi who had to send their gifts by courier even though it was only a hundred miles. That wasn't a hundred miles on the interstate in a nice American automobile. That was a hundred miles on foot. That took some time just to make that distance and to come down and deliver their gift and go back and to do it again at least twice.

So he was probably there more than three weeks. But at any rate, he said, you sent a gift to Thessalonica on two different occasions and then when I left Macedonia you continued to send gifts. That takes us back to verse 15. Now you Philippians know also that in the beginning of the gospel when I departed from Macedonia. You see Thessalonica in verse 16 is in Macedonia. So he doesn't put this in chronological order.

He puts it the way that it came to his mind and he wrote it down that way. He first remembered their gifts that came to him after he departed from Macedonia. And then he said, well actually you even started giving before that. Even in Thessalonica in Macedonia you sent aid once and again for my necessities but after I left Macedonia and went to Achaea, I still continued receiving gifts from you. You in the beginning of the gospel when I departed from Macedonia shared with me concerning giving and receiving. And so his next stop was Athens and he was only there briefly read about it in Acts. And then over to Corinth where he had an extended ministry that went on for at least 18 months. And while he was there, now coming several hundred miles south, the church at Philippi on some occasions, we don't know how many, sent couriers down to Corinth with financial support for Paul so that he could minister to the Corinthians. And he talks about that in 2 Corinthians 11, 7 and following. Chiding them, he said, did I commit sin and humbling myself that you might be exalted because I preached the gospel of God to you free of charge?

I didn't take any financial support from you. And then this verse, verse 8, I robbed other churches taking wages from them to minister to you. Of course, he didn't literally rob other churches. But what he's saying is other churches supported me. I accepted support from other churches so that I could minister to you without you giving me any financial support. And that meshes perfectly with what Paul tells us here in Philippians chapter 4. The Philippian church sent financial aid to Paul after he left Macedonia when he was evidently in Corinth. And so what we have here, I've called this an instructive pattern, what we have here is a pattern for missionary support then and now.

This is how it was done from the very beginning. Missionaries who went into places where the gospel had not been preached and where churches were not established and where it was not advisable to receive financial support, maybe not even possible, and even if it were possible, maybe not advisable in the early stages, received their support from well established churches that now wanted to be in partnership with them in the work of missions. And so they are sending missionary support on a regular basis. We would say they put Paul in their missions budget and sent him support every month or so, like we do.

It sets a pattern, an instructive pattern. But beyond that, Paul refers here to a unique partnership when he tells us you were the only church to do this. He doesn't say shame on the other churches. He neither excuses them and justifies why they weren't able to do it, nor ignores their failure to do it.

He just states a matter of fact and goes on, you did it, they didn't. You were the only church to do this. You were the only church who was involved with me in this phrase, giving and receiving, which turns out to be a commercial term well known in that day, something like expenses and receipts. You were involved with me in a business relationship. It was a partnership to be sure.

It was a business partnership. It involved expenses and receipts. And you sent the money and I'm sending you the receipt, paid in full.

Here it is, this note. I received it, all of it. He goes on to say in verse 18, indeed I have all and abound I am full, having received from Epaphroditus the things sent from you. And so there is his receipt. And this is important business. Finances is important business. It's important in the business of the church.

It's important in the personal business of every Christian. It is not an untouchable matter that we don't talk about money. That's in the realm of the material. And we only talk in the realm of the spiritual. No, money is in the realm of both the material and the spiritual.

And it has a great effect on the spiritual. And we need to learn to do this in a God-honoring business way as the Bible teaches us how to do it. But this giving and receiving is a two-way street. In finances they gave and Paul received. In spiritual matters Paul gave and they received. In financial matters they gave and Paul received. In spiritual matters Paul gave. He ministered to them. He ministered the word. They'd come to salvation by his preaching. They had learned Christian doctrine by his preaching.

He had given to them greatly in things spiritual and they reciprocated by helping him financially exactly according to the biblical pattern. Which brings us finally to a word of clarification, verse 17. Not that I seek the gift, but I seek the fruit that abounds to your account. A word of clarification. This is a narrow distinction that is not easily made and sometimes even when made is not easily understood. A narrow distinction between what Paul was interested in and what it might have seemed he was interested in in this matter of their giving to him.

But though it's a narrow distinction, it's an important distinction. And Paul tells us first what he did not seek and secondly what he did seek. What did you seek, Paul? Not the gift.

Not that I seek the gift, your gift, that's not what I was seeking. Paul wasn't seeking money. Paul wasn't looking for money. Paul wasn't preaching for money. Though he was happy when they sent it and he was very happy to benefit by it.

There was nothing ungodly about that. But his personal welfare is not what he sought. That's not what he was most interested in in this situation of giving and receiving. But what did Paul seek? Well, verse 17, not that I seek the gift, but I seek the fruit that abounds to your account.

I seek the fruit, which is first of all continued evidence of their spiritual health. They had demonstrated remarkable spiritual maturity, remarkable spiritual health by their early giving and then as we know, there was a period of time when that stopped. And Paul said, I'm really glad that your care of me has flourished again after this period of lapse.

But he says, I know it wasn't for lack of concern, it's that you lacked opportunity. We talked about that last week, what those possible hindrances to their giving might have been. But Paul is delighted to see this continued evidence of the spiritual health. They had started out in a remarkable way. They were showing spiritual maturity, but had they grown cold, had they lapsed, had they backslidden, were they no longer growing spiritually, were they going backwards spiritually? Oh no, your gift at this time makes it very clear that there's still spiritual fruit developing in your life.

I'm delighted. I'm not so interested in the gift as I am in the fruit that it represents. And this fruit, he says, abounds to your account.

To your account, where was their account? In heaven, God's keeping track. God keeps track of your giving. It is a spiritual matter as well as a material matter. You have an account in heaven and your giving is accumulating interest or investments in heaven.

That's what he's saying. I seek the fruit that is added abundantly to your account in heaven where God keeps the records. You are earning great interest on your giving in heaven. These are investments that are being made both for time and for eternity. They are entered upon your account in heaven. These are dividends that you are earning on the giving that you have done.

And those dividends are the object of my greatest concern. Not that I seek the gift but that I seek the fruit that abounds to your account. And so it really was not for his sake but for theirs that he desired the gift. The only way this fruit could be manifested, the only way this fruit could be deposited in their account in heaven is if they gave it and, of course, the giving that they gave to their local church, the people there would benefit from that. Paul wouldn't necessarily know about that. But the giving that they gave to the apostle Paul serving as a missionary, Paul knew about. And this was evidence of their spiritual health.

And that's what he's looking for. He's not looking for the benefit of the money that they sent to him but he's looking for the fruit that is applied to their account because of the money which they give. Because, as the Bible tells us over and over, both in the Old Testament and the New, that the right kind of giving from the right heart attitude always enriches the giver.

These words. Just one statement in 2 Corinthians 9, 6, and 7. The words of the apostle Paul again. But this I say, he who sows sparingly shall reap sparingly. This is talking about your giving.

Give little, you don't get much return. He who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. So let each one give as he purposes in his heart, not grudgingly or of necessity. If I don't give, God's going to get me. If I don't tithe, I'm going to get sick. Not grudgingly or of necessity, but bountifully, abundantly, for God loves a cheerful giver.

Shall we close with a few applications. First of all, about the gospel and giving. The gospel is not about our giving, it's about his. You can give everything you've got and you won't buy one day in heaven.

You know that, don't you? Salvation is not by our giving, it's by his giving. He who gave his Son an atonement for our sins. He who gives us everything necessary to bring us into union with Christ and to secure our salvation.

He who sends his Spirit to regenerate us to life. It's salvation is of the Lord. Salvation is all his giving. It's not about our giving, it's about his giving. But here we must also understand that the gospel, when received, changes our hearts.

And one of the things that changes is our selfishness and our wanting to hold on to everything and turns us from hoarders into givers. That's one of the things that the new birth does in changing our hearts. One evidence of a changed heart is a desire to give. You show me a professing Christian who has no desire to give and I will have to put a question mark over his profession. I can't see his heart, but that's not very good evidence because the Bible shows us that when God saves a soul and changes a heart, he gives a desire to give.

That person has a changed desire. And so one evidence of a changed heart is a desire to give and one evidence of continued spiritual growth is continued desire to give. In fact, growing and giving as we learn to give more and more as we walk with the Lord and as we grow in our Christian lives. The gospel and giving. Number two, let's learn some lessons on giving in the various financial stages of life. And Paul makes references to different financial stages.

I know how to abound, I know how to be abased, I know how to be hungry, I know how to be full. I have been through all of these stages back and forth many times in my lifetime. They exist in the lives of all of us. In fact, I've identified three stages. Of course, you can continue to divide them and come up with more if you want. But three stages of financial stages of life.

Number one, financially tight. Some of you are there. Barely making it.

No extras. That's one stage. I've learned how to be hungry. I've learned how to be abased.

I've learned how to suffer need. Financially tight. A second stage in life is barely comfortable. You've gotten past the point where you are really wondering where your next meal is coming from, but you're barely comfortable. You still have to be exceedingly careful.

You have to be very disciplined. There are a few extras in your life. When you're financially tight and barely making it, there are no extras.

Absolutely none. If you say, well, I deserve this vacation. I deserve this extra that I can't afford. All you do is put yourself in more trouble and make things tighter.

You can't do that when you are financially tight. When you're barely comfortable, you have to be very careful. There are a few extras, but you have to be very, very disciplined in those. Then there's a third area we'll call comfortable. That's when God blesses you sufficiently to be able to enjoy some surplus. In that situation, you have some extras, but of course there's no such thing as unlimited extras, so there's always a limit.

You still have to be careful. We've all known of people who won multimillion dollars in the lottery and within a few months were flat broke. You say, how could that happen? All they had to do, if they wanted to have a good time, they could have just put half of it in investments and spent the other half, and they'd have been fine.

But no, they couldn't do that. They were just so caught up with all of this surplus. Woo wee, woo wee, woo wee, and it's gone.

Now they're broke. So even when you're comfortable and able to enjoy some investments and can have some extras, you still have to be frugal and wise. But in these three stages, what do we do?

Stage number one, tight, barely making it, no extras. What's your attitude toward God? Thankful to Him. He is supplying your needs, just barely, but He is supplying them.

Trustful, you've got to trust Him day by day and week by week in ways that other people may not. And giving by faith. You say, I can't afford to give.

You can't afford not to. Giving's part of it. It's part of the Christian life, and God will reward you for giving. God rewards a cheerful giver. Even if you can't give much, you need to be faithful in giving in those tight times, and you'll find that those tight times will be better for your giving than for your not giving.

I promise you that. Number two, what about the second level? The barely comfortable, very careful, few extra stage of life. Well, again, thankful to God, He's brought you out of the barely making it financial tightness category, but you still have got to be disciplined, but God has blessed you and brought you to a little bit better place, and that means you can increase your giving by at least a little bit. He who sows sparingly shall reap also sparingly. He who sows bountifully shall reap also bountifully.

And then what about stage number three? Comfortable, able to enjoy surplus, extras, be thankful, but disciplined even here, but now your giving should be enlarged a great deal. So that's giving in the various financial stages of life.

But let me quickly touch on this. How do we separate faithful preachers from money grabbers? We all know there are a lot of money grabbers out there who are preaching for money, and we can usually spot them if we have any wisdom at all.

And there are a lot of things we could look for, but I'll suggest three. Number one, how does that preacher live? If he's living in a multi, multi, multi million dollar mansion and driving one or two private jets and so forth, that might be a red flag. He might be a money grabber instead of a faithful preacher of God's words.

Now just consider that when you can see these areas of extravagance. How does he live? Number two, and this will be harder to tell, but how does he give? You may not have access to that information, but a preacher who isn't giving has no business teaching other people about giving. Preacher who isn't doing anything that he preaches is a hypocrite. If he's preaching for you to do this and he isn't doing it, he's a hypocrite. So is there evidence that he's giving generously?

But then this is very important. What else does he teach? What about the rest of his doctrine? For some, there isn't much else. Every sermon, every program is about giving. Plant your seed money and you'll get a great harvest in return. The way you plant it is send money to me. Send me money and you'll get more back in return. That's just about the extent of his preaching repertoire.

That's a red flag. Giving isn't the Bible, but it's not the only thing in the Bible. What else does he teach? And how sound is he in his preaching about the gospel?

Does he understand that right? How sound is he in other areas of teaching? That will help you to separate between faithful preachers and money grabbers. But number four, and here's where we shall conclude, what are some of the benefits of generous giving? And I'll just have to list these quickly.

I can't even quote any of the verses that support them. What are some of the benefits of generous giving? Number one, enlarged financial capacity. We see evidence of that in the Philippian church. Number two, a good conscience. When you know you're giving, you have a good conscience before God when you do spend some on some extras because you know you aren't being selfish and hoarded and taking away from what you ought to give to the Lord in order to do that. Number three, enriched fellowship with other believers.

We see that with the Philippians and the Apostle Paul. What a close relationship they had. What a loving relationship they had. What an appreciation Paul had for the church at Philippi, almost above every other church, and their giving had in large measure produced that kind of strong fellowship. Number four, increased joy and love. God loves a cheerful giver.

You give cheerfully. God will pour out His love upon you, and there's a mixture of joy and love in the right kind of giving. And number five, this one, increased rewards, both on earth and in heaven.

Both are taught in the Bible, and I don't have time to show you that. But those who give with the right heart attitude benefit materially on earth and even far more in heaven as you make to yourselves friends by means of the mammon of unrighteousness that they may receive you into everlasting habitations. Shall we pray? Father, teach us more about walking with you, trusting you, partnering with you and your servants who are preaching the Gospel, giving generously and receiving the rewards that you promise in return, growing in grace, becoming more mature. Help us, O Lord, we pray in Christ's name. Amen.