God will meet all your needs. (CC)

Sermon Text: Philippians 4:10-19 We rise for the reading by the Apostle Paul in his letter to the Philippians where we read from Chapter 4 beginning with Verse 10: I REJOICE GREATLY IN THE LORD THAT AT LAST YOU HAVE RENEWED YOUR CONCERN FOR ME. INDEED, YOU HAVE BEEN CONCERNED, BUT YOU HAD NO OPPORTUNITY TO SHOW IT. I AM NOT SAYING THIS BECAUSE I AM IN NEED, FOR I HAVE LEARNED TO BE CONTENT WHATEVER THE CIRCUMSTANCES. I KNOW WHAT IT IS TO BE IN NEED, AND I KNOW WHAT IT IS TO HAVE PLENTY. I HAVE LEARNED THE SECRET OF BEING CONTENT IN EVERY SITUATION, WHETHER WELL FED OR HUNGRY, WHETHER LIVING IN PLENTY OR IN WANT. I CAN DO EVERYTHING THROUGH HIM WHO GIVES ME STRENGTH. YET IT WAS GOOD OF YOU TO SHARE IN MY TROUBLES. MOREOVER, AS YOU PHILIPPIANS KNOW, IN THE EARLY DAYS OF YOUR ACQUAINTANCE WITH THE GOSPEL, WHEN I SET OUT FROM MACEDONIA, NOT ONE CHURCH SHARED WITH ME IN THE MATTER OF GIVING AND RECEIVING, EXCEPT YOU ONLY; FOR EVEN WHEN I WAS IN THESSALONICA, YOU SENT ME AID AGAIN AND AGAIN WHEN I WAS IN NEED. NOT THAT I AM LOOKING FOR A GIFT, BUT I AM LOOKING FOR WHAT MAY BE CREDITED TO YOUR ACCOUNT. I HAVE RECEIVED FULL PAYMENT AND EVEN MORE; I AM AMPLY SUPPLIED, NOW THAT I HAVE RECEIVED FROM EPAPHRODITUS THE GIFTS YOU SENT. THEY ARE A FRAGRANT OFFERING, AN ACCEPTABLE SACRIFICE, PLEASING TO GOD. AND MY GOD WILL MEET ALL YOUR NEEDS ACCORDING TO HIS GLORIOUS RICHES IN CHRIST JESUS. This is the Word of our Lord. Let us pray: Glorious and gracious God, may the words of my mouth and the meditation of each of our hearts be acceptable in Your sight, our only source of hope and comfort. Amen. [Text taken from the HOLY BIBLE: NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION 1973, 1978, 1984 used by permission of Zondervan Bible Publishers] Dear Followers of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ: You've just enjoyed a very good meal. You and your guests have spent time over that meal talking with each other enjoying the evening. And then the bill comes. And then there's that moment where you have to sit down with that bill and say: How much am I going to tip this server. It's a question that comes to all of our minds. The standard today is 16 or 20% because that server is not paid minimum wage and her employer expects that she will be making up that difference in her tips. So without thinking you say okay it's going to be 15%. But let's say that the service of that person was outstanding! Now! What is generous? What is generous? That's an interesting question, isn't it? Because I think so often, we get that bill and we can think in our heads all of the things that that server did not do to enhance our experience and it's very easy and quick for us to figure out how we are going to teach that individual a lesson in what it means in customer service by NOT tipping 15%. But what IS generous? Is generous to you what I would consider generous? Being generous is a very personal thing. Sometimes it is subjective. But it's something that we DO have to think about. Something that we have to mull over in our minds to say: THIS is what I feel is ... generous. And I gladly and willingly give that to the person who made our evening special and a good time. It's what we do in our daily living. But yet so often when it comes to our life ... with God and in our "church life" it's not so easy for us to do that. To understand what generous is. What it means for us to BE generous if God has called us to be cheerful givers of ourselves and of our time and of our finances. The way we begin that is to look at what the Apostle Paul told the church in Philippi. He said to begin with defining how generous we are going to want to be, we should look at how generous God was to us. That God HAS supplied all of our needs in Christ Jesus, our Lord. And that is the Truth! That is the fact of Scripture! That Jesus Christ came into this world to meet all of our needs. And especially, the greatest of our needs. Our need for a Savior. Our need to take us from the grasp and grip of Satan who holds us so tightly outside of God that we ourselves cannot escape. To come into our darkened lives darkened by sin and not understanding who God is or what He is. To come into our lives and to give us the Light of the Gospel. To shine in our lives and show us who our Savior is. Because we, by ourselves, are hostile to God. We are God's enemies and we are not going to approach Him or come to Him. But yet God in His tender mercy, and His love and His grace ... has come to us. And come to us to fulfill that greatest need by supplying a Savior ... by sending His Son to come into our darkened world and to let His Light shine in the darkness. To show people true obedience. To show people that He IS the perfect sinless Son of God who has kept those Commandments of God; who has not, in any way, broken God's Law; has done everything that God had asked and demanded and has done nothing that God does not want us to do. Jesus supplied that perfection that no human being could step up in their life and do. And then, He provided the perfect sacrifice. The sacrifice of His very life. On the cross of Calvary carrying that weight and that punishment of our sins. Destroying it. Destroying it forever and rising in triumph to annihilate Satan and death and its hold on people. That is our greatest need that Christ has fulfilled. And in that we rejoice ... that we have come to the knowledge that Jesus IS our personal Lord and Savior! That He has forgiven MY sins. That He has called me to be HIS brother. That He is the One who is MY Lord who governs my life! And He did that WILLINGLY! Self-sacrificing ... for someone as wretched as me. And then I begin to understand that Christ Jesus supplies ... all my needs! Because now I can turn to God in forgiveness, with hope, and peace of mind and comfort of knowing that my eternal welfare is secure. That heaven is mine today and I live in that glory as a child of God and I rest secure. And in this world, God supplies everything that I need. But I live in a world, that is filled with "wants". This is what I want. This is what I want! I want to have this; I want it NOW. I have to have this; I have to have it now. There's a new version of it; I have to have it. I want it! And sometimes ... we lose fact, we lose focus of what we need. Because God supplies us with the things that we need to keep our body in welfare. To keep our body secure. He also supplies us beyond what we can imagine with blessings that come into our lives of abundance. But sometimes in our own selfishness, we don't see them because we somehow think we deserve them. Or we should have them. But the Apostle Paul said to the church in Philippi: It is good for you to learn to be content. To be content in every situation. Knowing that Jesus Christ has taken care of your greatest needs and He will provide you with all you need in this life keeping your soul safe in His hands for all eternity. And when we learn that ... we can be content. In any situation, we begin to understand what it means to be generous. Because if we are content and secure, we start looking at the needs of others. We start realizing that the blessings that God has given to us are blessings of abundance. And that we can share those things with the people around us. That we can take our time and use it to help other people ... whatever that gift may be that we have. Those many varied and talented gifts that God has given to us ... to be used to help others. And to do that willingly. To be cheerful about it. To go and help others with a smile on our face. To be generous with our time. As simple as listening. Generous with our time of listening. Because who of us hasn't been in a conversation with someone when the phone has gone off or it buzzed in their pocket and they HAD to take that text. They HAD to hear what was coming in. And obviously it was more important than whatever it is we were saying. But a lot of people don't even see that as an issue. Or as a problem. Or just spending time listening to someone else. Taking the generosity that God has given to us and using it. Using it for God's people. Using it in the church. This morning you are going to receive a copy of our 2012 Budget that was approved in December. And it is not an easy budget. It is a budget that depends on each and every one of us to look at and examine the blessings that God has given to us. And then to say: This is what I cheerfully set aside for God's purposes. To take that time and to make that effort to look over what our home budgets are. To see where we spend our money. To see where our heart's desire is. And to look at what we can do. And sometimes we do just need that old little kick or that push to take care of that. Our sinful nature doesn't always want to step up and do the things that we should do. Look at Queen Esther. She was basking in the royal palace being attended to by servants as the queen. And yet there was an edict out to kill her people and she was really wondering whether she should do something. Or what could she do? There's many reasons why she couldn't go and speak to the king. First of all, it was against the law even to ask for her. And what did Mordecai say to her? Maybe God has brought you and raised you up at this point for ... this ... very ... purpose. God has brought us together at this time for the very purpose of proclaiming His Gospel. As a congregation of believers, to do the work that He has called us to do. And He has asked us to look at the financial blessings that we have and to return blessings to Him that are in accord with that. To be cheerful about it. This is what we want to do. But we're also reminded that our offerings go also to our time. To our own energies. We may not have financial resources at this moment to contribute what we would like but maybe we have time to help out. To look at the needs of others. To take care of their needs. Think of those men who had that paralytic friend. That when Jesus came into Capernaum to preach that so many people filled the house that there wasn't even room outside the door. But those 4 men had time; they had energy, and they had ability to get it done. And they got it done! They went up on top of the roof. They dug through the roof and they lowered the man in to see Jesus. To be with Jesus. And how often aren't we the ones who are just standing around. Because our lives are so busy that our private and personal time belongs to us. That our private and personal time is so busy with just our own busyness, that we don't look to the needs of others or look for solutions as to how to get things done. To get up on the roof, dig through it, and lower the person to see Jesus. Because THAT was of first and foremost importance to them. And what an example for us to get things done! It's very easy for us to sit back and look at this building. To look at our ministry and say: This should be done and that should be done and this should be done. But maybe now's the time for us to all get up and get it done. To figure out how to do it. And to do it! And to do it cheerfully with hearts that realize the blessings that God has given to us and filled us with an abundance. To be generous with our time and generous with our offerings and generous with our prayers. And that generosity goes back to the fact that it is a very personal thing. Be generous with a tip ... maybe giving someone 50% of the bill. And if it was for a cup of coffee and a piece of pie ... it's not gonna break us. But that might break someone else. Maybe being generous to them is stopping by the manager and saying: That server was fantastic today. Met all of our needs. And I wanted you to know about your employee. The same thing's true in our life in the church. God presents us with tremendous opportunities. Opportunities to give generously with our offerings. To cheerfully give back to God of the riches that He has given us. To give our time to the work of the church. To look openly to the needs of others and step up and meet those needs because we care. And because we want to. Because we love them. Because God so loved us that He sent His One and Only Son who has met ... all our needs. Amen. Let us rise. Now may the peace of God, which goes beyond all of our understanding, keep your hearts and your minds, and especially your lives, in the one true faith unto life everlasting. Amen.