Philippians chapter number four, we'll be finishing our series entitled, Giving is greater than receiving. Can we all say that together? Giving is greater than receiving. And we have been over the last few weeks looking at really just biblical stewardship. Biblical stewardship and the value of it, and what does the Bible say about stewardship?
And I recognize that, you know, I've said this, I think about every week, that churches get a bad rep sometimes talking about money. And I think we've done a poor job really talking about money through the years, just not just Union Grove, but just pastors in general. And we get a bad rep for it from sometimes because it's uncomfortable to talk about finances and wealth and possessions and things like that. But I'll tell you this: Jesus talked a lot about money. And he talked a lot about possessions.
And the reason why I think he talks so much about it is because there's a direct correlation between wealth and possessions in our heart. And so it's important that we make sure our heart is purified so that we don't allow wealth and possessions to become idols in the place of God. In fact, in the first two weeks of the series, I want to kind of do a brief recap. In week number one, the big idea that we learned about from Scripture is this: that wealth. It can become an idol in the place of God, or it can be used as an instrument for the kingdom of God.
And I'm sure every single one of you would prefer that it be used for kingdom work and not as idols in the place of God. Last week, our big idea was this: God doesn't care about as much about the amount that we give as He does the heart in which we give it. And so it's a heart issue. And so giving and generosity, whether it be wealth or whether it be, you know, generous with your time and talent and things like that, it's really about where our heart is. And from the beginning, here's what I'll tell you: God, He doesn't need our money, He desires and wants your heart.
And that's the core of what I want you to understand from this series: that he is constantly after our. our hearts. And so today as we conclude the series This is the big idea that we're going to look at from Philippians chapter number four: is that joy is found in supporting the mission of God. That joy Is found in supporting the mission of God. And here in Philippians chapter number four, we really get this idea.
And Paul is writing to the church at Philippi, and he's writing as he concludes his letter to them. He's writing about this idea that joy can be found in supporting the mission. Of God, I want to give you just a brief background of the book because it'll help kind of give us a little bit of a runway to our topic here today of conversation. And so if you were to look back, we don't have time to do it, but in Acts chapter number 16. Um we find the start of the the uh Philippian church.
And the Apostle Paul was a part of starting it, and he was traveling around preaching. And he comes to Macedonia, around this area. And he really, three individuals get saved, and they help kind of kick-start. Uh the church at Philippi. And one of those people was Lydia.
You would remember her name. And she was, the scripture says, a seller of purple, which was, you know, portrayed royalty. And so she was a very wealthy individual. The second person was the demon-possessed slave girl, if you remember when she got saved. And then the third person that helped kind of kickstart the movement here at Philippi was the Philippian jailer, if you remember him.
And so these three get saved. And by the way, you got a jailer, you got a demon-possessed girl, and you got a rich girl named Lydia. What a group of people to plant a local church, huh? And it's just a reminder that the ground is level at the foot of the cross, and all of us have to come the exact same way: the churchgoer, the rich person, the jailer, and the demon-possessed girl. It took the same amount of grace to save any of them as it does.
as you and I here today. And so they start this Philippian church, and the church at Philippi was growing. But in the first century, This was, you know, historians would tell you that this was the most persecuted the church has ever experienced. In the first century, the Roman leadership and government was super, super harsh towards believers. Those who believed that Jesus indeed was the Messiah.
And we could go into detail, and I mean, there's terrible things that they would do. Many, if you profess to know Jesus, people wouldn't, you know, buy from you, they wouldn't, you know, sell to you and different things. It was really hard on Christians in that first century. And if you got arrested for it and tried, many times they would kill Christians in terrible ways, like bring a Christian into the middle of a Coliseum and kill them in front of a lot of people. It's very common in the first century.
It's cruel and it was harsh. And because of that, the churches sometimes they scattered and they had to do somewhat of this underground type of church for fear of losing their life. It's something that you and I don't really understand. Here in America. And I am grateful for the freedom that we have in America to worship.
Because it's not that way everywhere. And it definitely wasn't that way in the first century. And so, in the midst of all of that, Paul, he actually was in prison. For preaching in the name of Jesus, for preaching that Jesus indeed was the Messiah, and he finds himself in prison. You know, shackled up there in this dungeon of a prison, if you would.
And he writes this letter. Uh to the church at Philippi. And the theme of the book of Philippians is joy. It's this idea that you can have everlasting, you can have eternal. Joy, no matter what your circumstances look like.
And what's interesting and so intriguing to me about it is that the guy. That is really a slave, if you would, that is shackled up in prison. Is the one writing that you can have joy to the fullest in a relationship with Christ?
Now, in our world, you would think that the free person, the person not in prison, could easily get up and say, Hey, you can have joy. But in this case, it's reversed. And so this guy is shackled up in prison. He's writing to the church at Philippi that you can have joy no matter what. You can have joy no matter what your circumstances.
Look. Like And in chapter 4, he's concluding his letter. And if you're familiar with any of Paul's writings, you'll always understand that at the beginning of his writings, he always does this kind of greeting, if you would. And then at the conclusion of his writings, he always gives kind of some closing remarks. He thanks some people.
I like to call him Paul's shout-outs here at the end of his books, if you would. And a lot of times when we read scripture, we kind of look at the meat of Paul's writing and we kind of ignore the first few verses because of the greetings, and we ignore the very end. Of his writings, because he's just kind of mentioning some names and giving some thanks to different people and different things like that. And there's a lot of things that God wants to teach us sometimes in the middle of those things that we typically skip. in our Bible reading.
And so today we're going to look at the end of Philippians chapter number four, and we're going to look at this theme that joy can be found in giving to or supporting. The mission of God.
Now, two more things about the church at Philippi. This is like one of the longest introductions I'll ever do. But here's what I'll tell you: you can learn this about the book. And so, if you do a deep dive study, we studied it as a church three years ago. And so, if you do a deep dive into the book, here's what you're going to find: the church at Philippi was a model church.
For generosity. They were a model for us as Union Grove to look at to really get a feel for what a generous church. really looks like. And they were, you know, a sacrificial. type of church.
They believed in sacrificial giving. A couple of things that you learn if you study the book. They supported Paul for about 10 years.
So they supported him as a missionary for about 10 years, and so they would give regularly to the Apostle Paul. They also sent a man by the name of Epaphroditus hundreds of miles to the Apostle Paul with what we would call in today's language like a care package. And clearly, in the care package that they sent with Epaphroditis, it contained money and different things like that. And you see that here. They were a church that believed in taking care of their missionaries.
It was a church that believed in giving to support the mission. Uh God. And so we can learn something from them. And here in his closing, here in Philippians 4, we learn several things about. Why joy is found in supporting the mission of God.
In fact, you could say that Philippians 4 shows us four reasons. Why joy is found. Number one is this. If you take notes, it'll be up on the screen. is that giving is commended.
Giving is Commended. And here's what we see. It's found in Philippians 4. I want to start in verse 11. I believe that on the screen I put 14 through 16, but we're going to kind of go back to verse 11 if you would.
Here's what he says. Not that I speak in respect of want. For I have learned in whatsoever state I am in, in other words, like remember, he's in prison in this moment. therewith to be content. Wouldn't it be good for us to learn the value of contentment?
I was reading this week and I was thinking about this idea. And here's what I will tell you: I think all of us. would be so much better off. If we could stop coveting the things that we don't have and be content with the things that we do have. And Paul here is learning: hey, whether I'm a free man.
Or whether I'm shackled up in a prison cell, I can be content. I can be content. And we need to learn that principle. Verse 12: he says, I know both how to be abased, I know how to abound everywhere and in all things. I'm instructed both to be full.
And to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. In other words, he's saying, listen, church, I've been on both sides of the fence. I've been the poor, I've been the rich, I've been the free, I've been the slave, I've been through everything, and what we learn is that we should be content because if we have a relationship with Jesus, we have everything that we need in life. And he goes on and he says, here's why we can be content. Because, verse 13, I can do all things through Christ.
which strengthens May. And then he goes on, verse 14: Notwithstanding, ye have well done. that ye did communicate with my affliction.
Now, ye Philippians, know also that in the beginning of the gospel. When I departed from Macedonia, No church communicated with me as concerning giving. And receiving But you only. For even in Thessalonica ye sent once and again unto my necessity. Here you learn, and I'm going to show you why, that giving or generosity.
is commended. Scripture talks about it in a positive light.
Now, I want you to understand, I hope you get the sense here. Money in and of itself and wealth and possessions in and of themselves are not evil. Everybody understand that. They're not evil. I mean, I don't want you to feel guilty that if you have been blessed financially, it doesn't mean I'm not telling you that, you know, you're not walking with God and things like that.
Here's what I am saying: that the scripture supports time and time again that money in and of itself is not wrong, but the love of money is. And the love of possessions is. That's where evil comes from. And so I want you to understand that money is not bad. Wealth is not bad.
Possessions is not bad. I mean, just you can look throughout scripture and find that out. Abraham was very wealthy. He had over 300 servants working for him at one point. Job, God blessed him with land and property and flocks.
And God ended up giving him, after he lost everything, more at the end than the beginning and different things. And so I want you to understand the Bible never really portrays this idea that money in and of itself is wrong. But time and time again, money can be wrong when it becomes the love of money. In other words, when money or wealth or possessions has your heart. Then, yes, that is wrong, and that is sin.
And here, giving and being generous with what God has blessed us with. is commended. In verse 14. He says this.
Now he's talking about giving. And he's talking about the Philippian church and how they were faithful and that they supported him when he had needs. The church at Philippi constantly went and met his needs. And he says in verse 14, notwithstanding you have well. Done.
You have, in other words, done well with your support of me. With your giving to me. You see, here giving is commended. It is praised. It is celebrated.
It is a positive thing. And giving is. is encouraged. And you say, why is that? It's really just this principle that throughout Scripture, generosity is always perceived as a good thing for Christ's followers.
And the reason is, is what we've learned through this series, is that when you see how generous God has been with you, the only response to that is you become generous with others. Because you realize that God was generous in his grace for you. God was generous in his love for you. God was generous in his mercy for you. God was generous in his compassion for you.
God was generous in his kindness towards you. And because of that, the only natural response is we have to become generous because we serve a generous God. If you believe that, can you say amen this morning? Listen, we serve a generous God, so therefore, for us, the only natural response is to be generous. And generosity is a good thing.
It is a positive thing. It is something that should be encouraged. And here, what we see is that they gave to Paul the missionary. And so I want you to understand: giving to God's word and to God's men and to our missionaries is a good thing.
Okay, and you can see, I mean, even in 3 John, if we were to turn there, John, he writes and he mentions a guy by the name of Gaius. And he mentions this guy, and he says that you're doing a good work for God when he would, Gaius clearly would take care of traveling evangelists that would travel through and preach the good news of the gospel. And apparently, by 3 John, John is reminding, hey, Gaius, you're doing a good thing by giving and supporting those who are preaching the gospel. And so, what you see here is that giving time and time again is a commended thing. It's a good thing.
And you say, why is that? Well, the Apostle Paul, he would support two reasons why giving is a positive thing for us today is because giving turns people into partners. He turns people, giving turns people into partners. If you flip back just a couple of verses. With me, the very beginning of Philippians chapter number one, I'll show you why when you give.
It turns you into a partner for the kingdom of God. In Philippians 1:5, it says this. Paul writing again, of course, for your fellowship in the gospel from the first day until. Until now. And the word fellowship, if you look it up in the Greek, it literally means partnership.
Partnership.
So he's telling the church that gave, the church that was generous in their support for him, he's saying that you're a partner in the gospel from the first day until now. And now go back to Philippians 4, verse 15. He says, Now ye Philippians know also that in the beginning of the gospel, when I departed from Macedonia, no church communicated with me as concerning giving and receiving, but you only. You see, what we learn here is that when you give. When you give, you become a partner.
In the kingdom of God. Like last year in our church, we saw 25 people take a step towards baptism. And many of which got saved in 2025. And here's what I will tell you: if you were generous and you gave. to the work of God, you become a partner in what God is doing.
And so you can say today, like, my giving is a good thing. My generosity that sometimes was sacrificial and sometimes was difficult and sometimes money was tight, but yet I was disciplined to give and be obedient to God. And so, what I want you to understand is you became a partner in what He did. Not only that, you're a partner every time you give with our missionaries around the world. Like, that's what this looks like.
You become a partner in what God is doing. I mean, I think about, you know, we support like 90 missionaries or something like that. And there are missionaries all around the world that when you give to the church, we as a church, we send money all around the world. Supporting the work of God. And so, you know, I can think like Lomax, you're in Germany for 41 years, right?
Am I right on that?
So, 41 years, Lomax was in Germany doing ministry. And if I remember, which I was. Not around at that point when you left for Germany. I just want to remind you about that, okay? I had not been even thought of when you left for Germany, okay?
And here's what I will tell you, though: is that we as a church started supporting you before you even went to Germany, right?
So, like, many of you were probably around at that point and you gave. And you consistently gave to missions, and you gave to our church. And for all those 41 years, our church would send money over to Lomax and missionaries all around the world. And here's what I want you to know: that this is what I think is happening: that one day you became a partner. And every person that came to faith in God in Germany, when you gave, you became a partner with Lomax for the gospel.
That's what he's saying here. That's what the Apostle Paul's telling the church. He's saying, listen, because you were generous and because you took care of me, when I was all around the place preaching the gospel, you became a partner with me in that. You might not ever travel with the Apostle Paul, but because you gave, you still were a partner in that. And so, what we learn from this is that giving, it turns people into partners, but it also giving, number two, it pleases God.
Pleases God. I mean, verse 18. It says in Philippians 4: But I have all and abound. I am full, having received of Epaphroditus the things which were sent from you. An odor of a sweet smell.
A sacrifice acceptable, well pleasing to God. Here's what I'll tell you.
So, Paul, he's recounting the times where. You know, he would be traveling and all of a sudden... You know, he would receive a A care package. Um we're not really sure what this Was, but a gift came to him from the church at Philippians. That's what he's referencing.
And so he'd be out traveling. He receives a gift. And its support. And as he opens that gift. He says it's like this sweet Aroma This sweet odor Of a sweet smell, a sacrifice acceptable to God.
Now, this means something. And don't skim over a verse like this. It means something. Here's why: is because the phrase. In a Roma, it's mentioned 16 times.
In the Old Testament, it was very common.
So, for the Jewish community, they would totally realize this because what they were required to do by the Old Testament sacrificial system, they would, you know, the priest would go in and he would offer up sacrifice to the Lord. And what would happen is the scripture would say that as he offered up sacrifice and that smoke went up, it went up as like an odor and aroma up to heaven. And you say, what's significant about that? It would satisfy and please God, the sacrifice that was done, it would satisfy and please God so that their sin was covered.
So now Paul is saying that that same odor, if you would, that same aroma is now when he opens up his care package from the church at Philippi, it's like sending up the same odor up to heaven. In other words, it pleases God.
So, when you give, every time you give to the work of God and to the mission of God, and you give to our missionaries and you give to traveling evangelists, and you give to the church, and the church, and our missionaries, and the evangelists go out and they preach the gospel, here's what I'm telling you: every time you give, it's this aroma that is going up to God, bringing just such pleasing and satisfaction in God's sight because his people are being generous. to the mission of God. And that's what we see. See, giving, it pleases God. And then, number two, I want to show you this: that giving is an eternal investment.
So, not only is giving commended, it's not only just a good thing, but giving is an eternal investment. Look at verse 17 of our text. And I know I'm kind of jumping around here in Philippians 4. But here's what he says. Not because I desire a gift.
But I desire fruit. Everybody say the word fruit. Fruit. that may abound to your account. You see, you know, if you um Think about money.
You know, investments are good. Um we invest money.
so that it can be doubled and tripled down the road, right? You would understand that if you run kind of the money in your house, that's just smart. You invest it and things like that. I can remember when Abby and I got married, we didn't have a whole lot, but we wanted to do that.
So we put some into investment accounts for our future and for our kids' future and stuff like that. And that just makes sense because when you invest, what happens is the goal is, and what most accountants and financial experts would tell you, that the goal is when you invest it now, it should double down the road, right? That's why we invest.
Okay. Doesn't always do that, but it it should. And here's what I will tell you.
So, you got to think of it like this: that giving, it is an internal investment. When you give to the work of God and you support the mission of God. What he's saying is that there's going to be fruit to your account. It has an eternal Investment attached to your to your giving. And so, in other words, what he's saying is that your account.
will have much fruit. When you give. You say, what does that look like? What is he trying to tell us?
Well, we'll use Lomax again, right?
So just say you have given to missions. Lomax is ministering in Germany all those years. And you might have never ever made it to Germany to serve with them, but what we learn already is that you became, the minute you gave, you became a partner with them.
Well then one day when we die Or, unless the rapture happens and we go to meet Christ up in the clouds, right? When we go to heaven, it's like this: that you get up to heaven and you're walking around and you're looking at all the sites and you meet somebody. Perhaps they're in the mansion next to you. Just just think of it that way. And you meet your neighbor up in heaven.
And you introduce yourself. I don't know if this is just hypothetical. We don't know how this is going to look, all right? Because you're going to know all things. You've got a glorified body.
Do we just know every? I don't know. And so, but just say you meet them and they're like, Yeah, I grew up in a different part of the world than you. I grew up in a place called Germany, and you say, wow, what are the odds? You say, what a small world.
That's what you say, right? And And then they say, yeah, and I was far from God. And then some some man By the name of Lomax. met me in the community. And invited me to church, and I didn't know anything about God.
I didn't know anything about the things of God, and I wasn't living for God. And I came and I started coming, and Him and Linda welcomed me, and eventually I gave my life to Christ. And you can honestly say, you can say, wow, I knew Lomax. And I gave to Lomax, and so therefore, your neighbor can be fruit on your account because you chose to gave or to give. And that was terrible grammar.
And so, but... Come to Union Grove Christian School. We know all about grammar, okay? And so the point is, is that when you give Paul's saying that there's fruit that's being put on your account because you gave to support the Apostle Paul as he went around preaching the gospel, and you will not understand half of it this side of heaven. But when you get up to heaven, what you're going to find is that there's going to be fruit that is on your account because of your generosity while you were on earth.
And that's what he's trying to say. That's what he's saying to the church at Philippi: that there's an eternal vestment. And so when you give now, And you're generous now, there's an investment. That is coming one day. In heaven, there is fruit.
And by the way, that's lasting fruit. That's the kind of life we're called to live. Not a life that just accumulates stuff. Here on this earth, that's going to rot and decay and go away. No, we're called to lay up treasures in heaven.
That's the type of treasury he's talking about. That's the fruit that abounds. Number three, giving is rewarded. Verse 18, 19, it says this: but I have all and abound. I am full.
Everybody say the word full? Having received of Epaphroditus the things which were sent from you, an odor of a sweet smell, a sacrifice acceptable, well pleasing to God. Verse 19, but my God shall supply. Everybody say the word supply. All your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.
You know, There's two words here, and I have to kind of hustle here. There's two words. that I want to show you, and this is why word studies are so important. In verse 18. I had you say it out loudest the word fool.
And then in verse 19. The word supply. And here's what I will tell you is that those two words different English words what we have here. But if you do a word study in its original language the way this was written, it is the exact same Greek word. It's the wor the Greek word playru.
And the word, the Greek word, literally means to fill up. And if you look at that word in detail, it basically has this idea, playroom, to fill up to the brim. To its fullest. Right? And so it's the same word: full and supply.
And so you're saying, what is he trying to tell us?
Well, you got to look at it in context.
So in verse 18, he's saying, I am full. In other words, I am filled up.
Okay. Because of your generosity, because you have supported me. That's what he's saying. And then in verse 19, same Greek word, the word supply. In other words, he's saying...
I'm filled up in verse 18, and in verse 19, because of your gift, you're going to be filled up. You're going to be supplied for. You say, what's Paul trying to say by using the exact same Greek word in these two verses? Paul is saying that you filled me up.
So my God's going to fill you up. That's exactly what it is in the original language. And he's saying, You made me fool, and so now I'm going to make you fool. That's the point of what he's saying: is that you made me fool because of your gift and because of your generosity. And so, therefore, I'm going to tell you: because you were generous.
You will be made full. My God's going to supply all of your need.
Now, that's a verse that I think a lot of times Christians take out of context. We quote it, we say it all the time. You know, it's on decorative things in our house, and I'm not saying it shouldn't be. That's a good thing or whatever. But you got to understand the context in which this verse was written.
You want supply? You supply God's work. You want fullness? You supply and make full God's ministry and God's missionaries and God's evangelists. Because if we want supply, we have to supply them.
If we want fullness, we have to supply. There's a correlation between the two, and that's what Paul's saying: you made me full, and because you made me full as a missionary, and because of the kingdom of God, I have a promise that God has said time and time again that every need you have will be met. That's what generosity Looks like Lastly, giving spreads the gospel. Look at verse 20 and 23, and we'll be done. 20 through 23.
Now unto God and our Father be glory forever and ever. Amen. He's not done. This is how I know Paul is a great preacher. Because this is when he says amen and then there's still verses after it.
That's my type of preacher right there. You ever heard a preacher? You've heard me say it, I'm almost done, and then you're like, 10 more minutes, okay? And so he says, Amen. Then he goes on.
He says, verse 21: Salute every saint in Christ Jesus. The brethren which are with me greet you. All the saints. Salute you. Everybody say all the saints.
all the saints. Chiefly They that are of Caesar's household. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all.
Now what I said at the beginning, these are the verses nobody pays attention to. A lot of times, they're like, okay, get us to the next thing. There's something here that I think is just really intriguing to me. Giving, lastly, spreads the gospel. Here's why.
Um When You think. Of more and more people coming to faith in God and being a part of the family of God. It makes giving worth it. It makes giving worth it. Wh why is that the point here?
Well, there's something really interesting to me. I had you say the phrase, all the saints.
So as he's concluding this thing. He says You know, all the saints greet you. All the saints are going to one day salute you. And when you see all the saints, that literally means. All the saints.
Everyone. In other words, so every person that Paul led to faith in Christ. Is going to salute you one day. In other words, that's the fruit that is going to be on your account. But he mentions All the saints, which is everybody, but why did he distinctly add one specific household of people?
He said all the saints, that should include everybody. That was enough for us, Paul. But he says, but chiefly those that were of the Roman household, Caesar's household. Why would he specifically mention them?
Well, I perhaps it could be what I told you earlier. that those that were in Rome were what we would call today anti-God. They were the ones that you know, would buy the tickets for the Coliseums to watch Christians get brutally murdered. In front of everybody else. The people that you would think are the furthest away from God, those are the ones that he's mentioning here.
Perhaps this is what he's saying here at the end. He's saying church at Philippi, listen. You've been so generous with me. And here's what I it's rewarded. It's commended.
all these good things. There's fruit that's on your account. But ultimately, here's what I want you to know when you gave. Is that I was able to take your gift, and God provided for me through the church. And I was able to go.
And when I was in prison, And when I was around Rome, and I got a chance to witness to some really, really bad people. People that hated God, people that hated Jesus. But because of your generosity, God opened doors for me to go out and share the good news of the gospel. And here's what I want you to know. Is that one day All the saints are going to salute you because they're fruit that are on your account because of your generous gift.
But he said, I want you to know that there's a few people. that you probably perhaps thought was f too far that could never be reached. The ones that hated God more than anybody else. And I want you to know that there's going to be some of them one day in heaven. that are far from God.
That you would probably have thought don't even deserve the grace of God. And I want you to know that those of Caesar's household, there's a few of them. They're also Going to salute you. And they're going to thank you because God was able to use your generosity. to reach people that were far from Mm.
God. You see, what we have to understand is that our giving, our generosity. We get to be a part. of all of that. And here's the thing, if you're wondering, why is my giving matter?
Why is my generosity matter? Here's what I'll tell you.
We give. Because it's an opportunity. for those that are far from God to experience new life in Christ. I mean, think about it. You got to put yourself in.
And in you're in their shoes, right? Think about it. There was a time you were far from God. There was a time that you were in need of the grace of God. There was a time when you didn't know God, and maybe even, I don't know what your background and what your upbringing was, maybe you hated God and you were bitter at God.
And you had just made a mess of your life. That's every single one of us. Because the Bible says all of us were born far from God. The scripture would use the word alienated from Him. We were enemies of God.
Just like those of Caesar's household, you were that. As bad as we think, you were that. And when you put yourself in those shoes and you say, wait, somebody gave.
So that the gospel could get to me. And now I've experienced fullness of joy. I've experienced the eternal joy and the everlasting joy that Paul spends four chapters to the church of Philippi writing about. I've experienced that. And because God has been generous with me when I was undeserving.
The only response is out of how undeserving we are and how generous God has been with us, that we will be generous. We will be generous as a church, as Christ followers. We will respond in generous or in generosity because. Because we were of Caesar's household. We were far from God.
And because somebody was generous. We have experienced the grace of God, and so therefore we want more people to experience it. Listen, giving's commended, giving's an eternal investment, giving is rewarded. But ultimately giving spreads the good news of Jesus. And take the theme of the book, Joy.
Joy, true joy. It's not found in accumulating. It's not found in a big house. It's not found, and there's nothing wrong with having a big copy. There's nothing wrong with those things.
So, don't misinterpret what I'm saying. But true joy is not found in stuff. True joy, everlasting joy. Eternal joy. Joy to the absolute fullness.
is found when we as Christ's followers recognize that he's been generous with us. And so therefore we're going to give to the mission of God to support the kingdom of God so that one day we'll have fruit to our account and there will be an eternal investment that is attached to it that is greater than anything we will ever accumulate here. on this earth. That's why we Give.
