Joy in God’s Provision

 

"And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus." (Philippians 4:19, English Standard Version)

 

Today, we're going to conclude our brief survey of the book of Philippians.  Paul closes this great letter with a teaching on God's provision for His children.  This is an area many Christians in North America struggle with.  Funny, you probably never have to preach a message on God's provision to believers in the Third World because they're living proof of God's provision.  However, because of our great wealth in North America, we are so tempted to think we don't need God as much.

 

Take a moment and reflect on the following:  If you live in the United States of America, you are blessed to live in the wealthiest nation on the face of the earth during the most prosperous period of human history.  Even people in the lowest economic strata in this country (I am referring to the working poor, not people who are destitute) would live like kings in some parts of the world.  I find myself thinking, "Why did God bless me in such a way?"  Yet wealth is a great obstacle to holiness.  Wealth creates the illusion of self-sufficiency, and self-sufficiency destroys intimacy with God.

 

Paul discusses the secret of contentment--celebrating in what God has provided, and not wanting any more or any less.  There is a great passage from Proverbs which states this principle:  "Two things I ask of you; deny them not to me before I die:  Remove far from me falsehood and lying; give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with the food that is needful for me, lest I be full and deny you and say, 'Who is the LORD?'" (Proverbs 30:7-9).  I see in this passage from Philippians three things regarding the secret of contentment:  1) The who; 2) the what; and 3) the how.

 

1. The Who ("And my God").  Who is it the provides for us?  God.  Pretty simple, huh?  Yet many people stumble in this area (myself included).  It's easy to sit in church and say, "Oh, yes, God will provide for all my needs. AMEN!!!"  Much harder to do when it's time to pay the bills and you don't have enough to pay them all.  Let's face it, many of us don't behave as if God will provide.  The Bible calls us to give sacrificially, yet many of us don't even tithe (i.e., give 10%).  According to the latest Barna poll, less than 10% of evangelicals tithe.  The sad thing was that as incomes rose, the percentage of people who tithed declined.  I'm not going to argue on whether or not tithing is mandated in the New Testament.  Whatever your position, I feel that 10% is a good starting point for giving, yet we don't even do that much.  Why?  Because deep down inside, we don't really believe God will provide; we hedge our bets.

 

2. The What ("Will supply every need of yours").  What does God promise to provide?  Every one of our needs!  People, this is a promise from our heavenly Father!  He has promised to provide every single one of our needs!  Does God lie?  Absolutely not (cf. Titus 1:2)!  Here's the catch--distinguishing between "needs" and "wants."  God, who is infinite in wisdom and knowledge, has promised to meet every single one of our needs.  Yet, we have the audacity to complain because we don't get what we want.  Question:  Who do you think knows better what we need?  Us or God?  Every time you don't think you're getting what you want in life, take a moment to consider this:  Maybe God has a better plan for your life than you do.  If you're not getting what you want, maybe God is saying, "You don't need that in your life right now.  Just trust Me."  I'd rather trust my all-loving, all-knowing, all-wise Creator for my needs than my shifting emotions.

 

3. The How ("According to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus").  How will God provide for our needs?  According to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus.  Here's another question:  How rich is God?  Umm...let's see...He owns EVERYTHING!  God is infinitely rich.  He can pour blessing on you that would stagger your mind!  Abraham, Isaac and Jacob were incredibly wealthy.  Job was also incredibly wealthy.  David was fabulously wealthy.  Solomon was stupidly wealthy!  God can bestow material blessings.  I want to make a careful distinction here.  The passage says God gives "according to His riches."  Notice, it doesn't say "out of His riches."  OK, what's the difference?  Let's say I have $10,000.  Suppose you come up to me and ask to borrow some money.  If I give you $100, I am giving "out of" my riches.  If I give you $2,500, I am giving "according to" my riches.  See the difference.  If you want to see a good illustration of this principle, see Jesus' encounter with the widow at the temple offering (cf. Luke 21:1-4).

 

Bottom Line.  We need to get off the fence and trust God to provide for every one of our needs like He promised to.  I want to close with a passage from the Old Testament prophet Malachi.  "Will man rob God? Yet you are robbing me. But you say, 'How have we robbed you?' In your tithes and contributions. You are cursed with a curse, for you are robbing me, the whole nation of you. Bring the full tithes into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. And thereby put me to the test, says the LORD of hosts, if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you a blessing until there is no more need" (Malachi 3:8-10).  God is saying here, "Test Me on this and see if I don't come through for you in a BIG way!"  All we need to do is take the first step in faith!

 

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