True Generosity Philippians 4:14-23
Today we continue the journey we began a week ago.
A journey in which we are traveling under God’s guidance.
What direction is He taking us on this journey …?
True North… that is the direction we are headed.
What will we find?
God’s plan for us in being the faithful servants of all He blesses us with.
One of the most important aspects of our lives as followers of Christ is being generous out of all that God has blessed us with.
Consider what God says to us in James chapter 2
There God says…
14 What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save him?
15Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food.
16 If one of you says to him, "Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed," but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it?
17 In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.
The Bible says that faith without action is dead faith.
Let me say that I am total convinced that faith without generosity is dead faith.
There is not a heart that truly lives for Christ… where that heart is absent of generosity.
Generosity is the result of belonging to Christ.
How can we say that we are God’s people if we are not people of generosity?
How can we as a church be generous to those in need…. if we will not first start by being generous toward God.
Needs surround us in this community and the complete desire of God is that those who belong to Him would practice TRUE GENEROSITY to those in need.
Are their people with needs in Medora ?
Are their people with needs in Fidelity?
In Shipman, Brighton and the rest….
God works through the generosity of our Southern Baptist churches who pool millions of dollars together to send missionaries to Kasikstan, Bulgaria, Asia, Africa and many other places.
Those millions of dollars go to meet the peoples needs in those places. But answer me this question…
Who is sending money or missionaries to Medora?
Who is sending money or missionaries to Macoupin County to reach people for Jesus?
If those needs are going to be met. It must happen through the TRUE GENEROSITY of people love Christ and want to see His will accomplished here in our own town and surrounding area where the needs are vast.
Turn in your Bibles to Philippians chapter four this morning as we think about….God’s people… putting into practice TRUE GENEROSITY.
The first thing God would have us to see this morning is this….
I. We must realize that TRUE GENEROSITY is only accomplished through our ability to be both spiritual and practical at the same time.
To be both spiritual and practical at the same time often can present as a great challenge.
How many of you can hop on my leg pat your head and rub your belly at the same time?
It requires a great deal of coordination but for most of us it can be done with some concentration and determination.
The ability for us to be both spiritual and practical at the same time is determined by our willingness to be lead by God’s Spirit, truly focusing on what God is saying,…. while at the same time realizing there are human ways in which God wishes to work through us.
Some people who decide to follow Christ turn out being entirely practical, while other followers of Christ turn out to be completely spiritual.
The follower of Christ that will be most effective for God’s Kingdom is the individual who is both spiritual and practical at the same time.
What do I mean when I talk about someone who has become all spiritual or all practical instead of being that right balance of both?
Well have you ever heard someone use the phrase
“That person is so heavenly minded that they are no earthly good?”
That phrase describes the sort of follower of Christ who is solely living for Christ Spiritually without any sensibility to be practical in their walk and in the usefulness for how God wants to use them in the world.
We need as followers of Christ to get both motivations going and get them into synchronization with God’s plan. We must be spiritual and practical in order to fulfill His plan of True Generosity.
Sure God wants us to be spiritual…
But if we are to be used by God on earth …..then we must be practical as well.
Every church has people who are so heavenly minded that they limit their true usefulness for the Kingdom of God.
In contrast to that truth there are people in every church who are so earthly minded they are no heavenly good.
Remember that the right balance of both the spiritual and the practical is the key.
Let’s look at Philipians 4 for a moment.
The Apostle Paul writes to the believers at Philipi and says in verse 10 these words:
10 I rejoice greatly in the Lord that at last you have renewed your concern for me.
(What Paul is saying is I am grateful to God for your generosity.)
Paul says
Indeed, you have been concerned, but you had no opportunity to show it.
11 I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances.
(Paul is talking about being spiritual there))
He says in verse 12
12 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 any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want.
13 I can do everything through him who gives me strength.
( Paul has said here in those verses that from the spiritual knowledge he has God is going to take care of all his needs.)
But let’s look at the practical side of things.
In verse 14 Pauls says…
14 Yet it was good of you to share in my troubles.
15 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;
16 for even when I was in Thessalonica, you sent me aid again and again when I was in need.
17 Not that I am looking for a gift, but I am looking for what may be credited to your account.
18 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.
19 And my God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus.
20 To our God and Father be glory for ever and ever. Amen.
I want us to focus in particularly on what Paul says in verses 13 and fourteen because in verse 13 Paul says
"I can do everything through Him who gives me strength."
That was the spiritual trust that Paul had in Christ the Lord but then immediately afterwards Paul says
in verse
14, "Yet it was good of you to share in my troubles."
What we are reading is a prime example of TRUE GENEROSITY by God’s people that is the spiritual balanced out with the practical.
Paul’s words in verse 13 reveal his understanding of the unfailing spiritual truth that Christ will provide for his needs.
The practical part of it comes in where in verse 14 it becomes obvious that God works through the people at Philipi to make that providing possible.
Let’s just imagine that tomorrow a mother with 4 children comes knocking on the church door and says to me.
“Pastor, I have no money and no food and my children are very hungry.”
Now, The person who is too heavenly minded to be any earthly good will simply pray for that person and say God will provide for you somehow (and we’ll just pray and trust that He will).
The person however, who is spiritual and practical recognizes that Christ followers understand the practical side of what God asks us to do and that is to provide through us.
God’s plan for True Generosity is that God grows us spiritually as we minister practically.
God is working out a divine ends through a human means.
The divine ends is that God is going to provide for that mother and her family….Why because God provides that is a spiritual truth.
How God provides is up to Him. If God wanted a miracle of groceries showing up in that woman’s home while she is gone then God can do that with no problems.
HOWEVER God delights not in just doing the supernatural but God delights through using His people to get the job done.
God works divine ends through human means.
Not because He has to…. but because He chooses to.
The next time that a situation arises where you are challenged to practice True Generosity just remember that God may be doing His spiritual work through the practical action of you.
God might be calling upon your human means to bring about His divine ends.
In Paul’s case…. Paul knew spiritually that God would provide for him.
God knew however that he would use generosity in the hearts of the believers at Philipi to get the job done.
Do you know what it means to truly be generous followers of Jesus?
Are you surrendered to letting God work through you with TRUE GENEROSITY?
It wont happen unless you have a willingness to be both spiritual and practical.
Now does anyone remember from last Sunday what I said about God using you?
I said it’s not about your assets but it’s about your what?
(Your ATTITUDE right?)
Here is a second thing we need to consider today
II. When it comes to True Generosity it is about being CARING without being CRITICAL.
So what MIGHT have been some peoples critical comments toward Paul’s needs?
Some people’s criticism might have been a lot like people’s CRITICISM still today.
Criticizing People’s Commitment
A. Some people might question commitment.
They might have said …
”Well, now before we meet this persons need let’s find out how committed they are to Christ.”
It is that whole criticism against a person if he or she is not committed to what I like or they are not committed as much as I would like them to be committed.
Sadly sometimes people let that criticism keep them from practicing TRUE GENEROSITY.
They decide…. “ I am not going to help them.”
How many times have I sadly heard people say
“well, why should we help them they don’t even come to our church”
That is like nails on a chalkboard to me when I hear someone say that.
I have never read in the New Testament where Jesus said
“Hey disciples don’t heal that blind guy over there cause I never saw Him reading the Scripture.”
Jesus never said “don’t heal that lame guy because he did not participate in the Jerusalem prayer walk last week.”
I think Jesus met needs of people out of
“God’s Grace kind of Generosity” because He understood that God loves all people.
Yes that is right God loves all people despite their church attendance or lack of it.
God loves all people no matter how long or short their record of wrongs is.
Generosity has a lot to do with attitude doesn’t it.
It is a decision in attitude to care about or to criticize someone in need.
What are some other wrong attitudes when it comes to True Generosity?
Criticizing People’s Needs
Some people just criticize others for getting into a difficult situation in the first place.
It could have been said by some people ….
“Well Paul you shouldn’t get yourself in those kinds of needful situations.
If you weren’t going around from place to place telling people about Jesus …you know if you would just concentrate on taking care of Paul you wouldn’t be in this situation.”
There are difficult situations that people find themselves in that are honestly there own fault because they have been lazy, or negligent….
but then there are difficult situations that people find themselves in quite unexpectedly.
Then there are those who people criticize the needs of others from the point of
Criticizing Personal Benefit
Some people will say
“Well why should we help him or her”….
“ What will they do for us?”
“Will they trim our shrubs?”
“Will they mow the church lawn?”
“Will they pay us back?”
True Generosity gives without the expectation of return.
So the next time the opportunity to practice generosity is opened to you…think about your attitude…
and if God’s Spirit would have you to be…
caring or criticizing.
A third thing for us to consider this morning about True Generosity
III, To understand True Generosity is to understand the chief principle of
"giving and receiv-ing."
Trace most any problem down and you find at the root of the difficulty an underlying principle at the core of the problem.
For example-Your automobile won’t run and so you begin to trace down what the problem might be.
You soon discover that the problem was related to the principle of combustion or the princi-ple of ignition or some other principle, but you can be sure there’s an underlying principle at the core of the problem.
The same is true with generosity.
Many times True Generosity does not exist because of a problem at the principle of
Giving and Receiving .
Jesus said in LK 6
38 Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you."
The problem so many have with this principle of giving and receiving…. is they have adopted the principle of getting and receiving instead of the principle of giving and receiving.
God can’t bless what we don’t invest.
If we are not generously bringing anything to God…then what are we asking God to bless?
I gave God nothing… but I want God to produce something out of my nothing.
God could operate that way but He chooses not to….Why ?
Because He is God and His principle is Give and receive not get and receive.
A final word about True Generosity this morning is the importance of persistence in generosity.
IV. The Persistence of True Generosity.
If you do something once it may have been only to save face or because you were pressured into doing it.
But to do something consistently speaks of your passion and persistence.
Paul spoke about the TRUE GENEROSITY of the PHILIPIANS as something they did with passion and persistence.
It becomes pretty clear that the Philipians gave and they gave again and again.
Look at how Paul spoke about the believers at Philipi referring to them as examples of persistent, generous giving.
Paul says in verse 16
16 for even when I was in Thessalonica, you sent me aid again and again when I was in need.
How many again-s was that?…. “again and again “
This was not a one time deal.
This was persistence in generosity.
Do you know what Christ is looking for in His followers?
He is looking for people who have persistence in their generosity.
That means it is part of their regular practice
because it is something they are passionate about.
How is it with you and your generosity as a follower of Christ?
Is their real persistence………. to generosity.
Or does it seem that there is a resistance in you to practice TRUE GENEROSITY?
Here’s what can take with us from this part of God’s Word today…
Those who can really put into practice TRUE GENEROSITY …..are those who seek to be spiritual and practical.
Remember not to be so heavenly minded…. that you are of no earthly good.
God wants us to be careful but not critical with the opportunities He gives for us to practice
True Generosity.
We can be certain that God is committed to looking after those who give generously.
The principle of giving and receiving is promised to all who will embrace it.
God wants us to be persistent and passionate in our True Generosity of giving.
But notice the final verses from what we read today.
Paul exclaims, "To our God and Father be glory for ever and ever. Amen."
You see what Paul is really saying in that verse is that your True Generosity is to the GLORY and HONOR of God!.
Don’t you want to honor God?
I think we all do.
We can do it best when we have done so by putting into practice in our lives
TRUE GENEROSITY.
How generous are you toward God?
How generous are you toward His Church?
How generous are you toward others?
The best question of all is that when you look at God and all that He did for you in sending Jesus to the cross for you….Ask yourself
How generous has God been to me?
