Content with the Lord's Provision

Philippians 4:10-20 What has always been so remarkable to me when I read Paul’s letter to the congregation at Philippi is that this “epistle of joy” was written while Paul was in prison for preaching the gospel. 

He was separated from friends and family members and fellow believers.  He was in a dark and dangerous place.  He didn’t know from one minute to the next what the future held.  And yet it was joy that filled his heart because he knew that the Lord was with him and would provide for him in whatever way was best for him.

How much more can we testify to the same!  We are here in this beautiful place, surrounded by those we love who love us.  All our needs (and the vast majority of our wants!) have been abundantly met by the Lord since we gathered here on this same night last year.

We too can be thankful for what the Lord has provided to us!  We too can be content with the Lord’s provision!  We too can be generous with others!  And we too can be confident that in the same generous way that God has always provided for his people, so he will provide for us in the year to come.  Paul wrote:

I rejoiced in the Lord greatly that now at length you have revived your concern for me. You were indeed concerned for me, but you had no opportunity.

            People who were imprisoned in the Roman Empire were not cared for by the state.  If you were to have the necessities of life while you were in prison, if you were to survive, someone on the outside had to care for you and provide for you and meet your needs. 

That is what the saints of God at Philippi had done for Paul. 

Paul thanked God and rejoiced in the Lord for their generosity and care because he knew that they were the means that God used to bless him.

So it is for us on this Thanksgiving Day.  We are fed by the hands of farmers and ranchers.  We are protected by the hands of those who wield the sword in the state.  We are healed by the hands of medical personnel.  It is right to thank God for all these people because we know that it is God who is meeting our needs through them.

It is true that we are not in a Roman prison, but our lives are no less dependent upon the care and concern of others as was Paul’s when he was imprisoned-- and so we are thankful for the work of others on our behalf!

In the same way, we are also thankful that we are able to be of service to others—that our work can be the means that God uses to care for others.  Just think of what it must have meant to the Christians at Philippi to know that God had used them to help Paul! 

And so today we are thankful for our daily work and know that through it God meets the needs of others and cares for them in real ways—that we are God’s hands through which the needs of those around us are met.  Paul wrote:

I am not speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. I can do all things through him who strengthens me. 

            I have learned to be content.  That is what Paul says.  On this Thanksgiving Day can we say the same, that we are content, right here and right now with what the Lord has provided?

Please understand, Paul was not going to die of hunger and thirst and he was not going to freeze to death.  But he was still in prison.  He still did not know from one moment to the next whether he would be executed or not.  He had no idea whether he would ever be released or not.

But he was content, in that moment with the Lord’s provision no matter what the future held for him—whether it was plenty and abundance or hunger and need—he was content because he had learned the secret to contentment.

And so then, what about us tonight, are we content?  Do we even believe in or want contentment.  I’ll never forget a sermon I heard on this text when I was a young man and telling Pastor Wuensche that I thought contentment was a dangerous thing because it made us lazy and complacent. 

I hadn’t lived very long at that point and I still thought that I could move the universe (or at least my own part of it!) by working harder and smarter than everyone else-- and there was no way I was ever going to fall into this trap of contentment!  I didn’t really see that attitude for the idolatry that it was where I was my own sad, petty little god.

And yet, Paul said that he had learned the secret to contentment, that he could do all things through the one who gave him strength.  But wasn’t he in prison?  He was!  Wasn’t he helpless to escape?  He was!  Couldn’t he be executed in any moment?  He could!

But what Paul knew (and young Allan didn’t know!) is that the Lord was actually in control of his life—that the Lord had a plan for his life and the way it ought to go—that in every moment and circumstance and situation the only thing that mattered was God’s will being done and that the Lord would meet his needs so that HIS will was done.

That was enough for Paul and it is enough for us.  We may not have everything we want.  Our life may not be where we want it to be.  But the Lord’s good and gracious will is being done in your life in this moment—and the Lord’s provision for this moment—is more than enough for us to rest in—more than enough for our contentment. 

In fact, the Lord’s strength and the Lord’s provision is so overflowing that we can share it with others.  Paul wrote:

It was kind of you to share my trouble. And you Philippians yourselves know that in the beginning of the gospel, when I left Macedonia, no church entered into partnership with me in giving and receiving, except you only. Even in Thessalonica you sent me help for my needs once and again. Not that I seek the gift, but I seek the fruit that increases to your credit. I have received full payment, and more. I am well supplied, having received from Epaphroditus the gifts you sent, a fragrant offering, a sacrifice acceptable and pleasing to God.

            On this Thanksgiving Day we are thankful for everything we have received.  We know and rejoice in the fact that the Lord has given us every material blessing we have need to support our lives. 

But are we thankful for the material blessings we have been able to give to others?  We should be!

The Philippian Christians were known in the early church for their generosity.  From the very beginning they had supported the work of the Gospel throughout the world and now they generously supported Paul in his imprisonment. 

Paul said that their gifts—given in faith and love to meets his needs—were a fragrant offering and sacrifice that was acceptable and pleasing to God. 

Over this last year we have spent lots of money on lots of stuff that doesn’t really matter and with the Christmas shopping season starting tomorrow we are about to do the same thing all over again. 

We will spend because it is the expected social convention.  We will spend because others are spending on us.  We will spend and end up angry rather than thankful.

But when we give to others to meet their needs—when our giving is part of our partnership in the work of the Gospel—this spending and these gifts are something else altogether!

They are gifts that are ultimately offered to God—they are sacrificial acts of love that are pleasing to God and acceptable in his sight because they are given through faith in Jesus.

Here in a few weeks the calendar year will end and we will begin that happy task of gathering up all the financial information necessary to do our taxes and part of that will be our financial statements from church.  For Caroline and I there is nothing else in our financial life that gives us as much joy and opportunity for thanksgiving as what we have given to church and charities and those in need.

I am thankful beyond measure for the opportunities that the Lord gives me to make sure that the fruits of my labor are not just about some toy or trinket but are part of his work in the world to care for people in time and eternity. 

The generosity of the Philippians has never been forgotten and never will be forgotten because the Lord remembers even the smallest act of generosity on the part of his people and promises that the hand we empty through our gifts to others will be filled by again by him. 

Paul wrote:  My God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.  To our God and Father be glory forever and ever. Amen.

On this Thanksgiving Eve we look back at our lives over this last year and we must confess that there is not one thing needful for body and soul that our Lord has not graciously, generously, abundantly met since gathered here in this place, on this night, one year ago.  Not one! 

And the same has been true for every year before and we have the promise of God that it will be the same in the years to come.  Amen.