“How Much is enough”
Because God Is Generous Series
Philippians 4:10-20
(quotes taken from the NKJV unless noted)
Wakelee Church ~ November 14, 2004
Theme: Strength and supply come from the contentment
we find in our relationship with Christ, not in how
much stuff we’ve accumulated.
Introduction – How do we know when enough is enough?
I’ve been struck by something lately. It seems as if we’re always carrying something either into or out of our homes. It is a very rare day indeed when I pull our Grand Voyager or Mazda into our driveway without having to haul plastic bags into the house.
Probably nothing strange here, being that we live where we live, if you need something you try to make the most of each trip right?
But what got me to thinking was this, just about every other day or so, my wife goes around to just about every room in our house and fills up another plastic bag to be carried out of the house. In that bag is some of the same stuff that we had hauled into our house sometimes just days earlier, along with stuff, we’ve determined to be no longer valuable.
The short story…stuff comes in on a regular basis in plastic, and stuff in plastic goes out on a regular basis. Is the conclusion that its good to own stock in plastic? Maybe.
But it struck me as ironic. We buy stuff and when we find no value in what we’ve bought we through it away and then buy more stuff that we’ll eventually find no value in and throw away…what we bring in eventually gets carried right back out again…how much is enough?
I remember an African missionary who once came to our home when I was a child. It was harvest time and peaches were plentiful, and we were blessed to have a half-bushel of them. After dinner we ate them for desert, but something became obvious almost immediately.
As we were scarfing down one peach, then two, the African missionary was still suck the pit of his first peach. And when we offered him another, he simply thanked us and continued enjoying that first pit.
Finally, being impatient at my young age, I finally blurted out, “Why suck the pit when you can have another peach?” The missionary simply replied, “I don’t need another when I’m content with one.”
How much is really enough?
The Philippian story…
The church in Philippi was much like a poor African village. They didn’t have much of anything. In fact, if you have your Bibles turn them over to 2 Corinthians 8:1-5. Hear Paul talks about the Macedonian churches, of which the church of Philippi was one. I’ll be reading from The Message, Peterson’s paraphrase…
“Now friends I want to report on the surprising and generous ways in which God is working in the churches in Macedonian province. Fierce troubles came down on the people of those churches, pushing them to the very limit. The trail exposed their true colors: They were incredibly happy, through desperately poor. The pressure triggered something totally unexpected: an outpouring of pure and generous gifts. I was there and saw it for myself. They gave offering s of whatever they could—far more than they could afford—pleading for the privilege of helping out in the relief of poor Christians.
This was totally spontaneous, entirely their own idea, and caught us completely off guard. What explains it was that they had first given themselves unreservedly to God and to us. The other giving simply flowed out of the purposes of God working in the lives…”
The church at Philippi was sucking on its last pit, but it still found a way to support Paul in ministry. Paul responded to their giving in this closing section of his letter with a personal, flowing statement out of Paul’s love and appreciation for their trust, their confidence and their sacrifice.
In this passage, Paul tells us the secret for knowing how much is too much by saying…I have learned to be content because I find my strength in Christ and I know that God will supply.
I – We need to find contentment…vs. 11
The first step is finding contentment.
Did you know that much of the advertising we see is focused on changing our level of contentment? The careers of any good marketing or sales person is to make you feel like you could not live without whatever they are trying to sell…
Your car isn’t good enough, you need the newest model.
Your clothes are in fashion enough, you need to be in style. Your television is too old, your computer too slow, your VCR is ancient, don’t you know it’s all DVDs now…
And what’s great about the process of owning all this new stuff is a thing called financing…that’s right, ladies and gentlemen, if we don’t have enough money to
buy all this stuff that we need we can refinance our homes, get loans against our next paycheck, or if those aren’t options, we can always get another credit card…just sign right there on the bottom line, and they will happily take care of the rest for you.
And many folks have bought into this idea as a mantra for their lives. An interviewer asked Mr. Rockefeller, one of the richest men in the world, "How much money is enough?" Rockefeller replied, "Just a little bit more."
Paul said, “…I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content…” Paul had toured some of the richest cities in the world. He had seen extravagance taken to its limits in towns like Corinth and Rome and Greece. But in his final conclusion all he could say was “Whether I have stuff or I don’t have stuff…” Paul says, “I am content.”
This idea of being content is the core of knowing how much is enough. It’s not the amount of stuff we have stuffed in closets, hoarded in attics, or piled in our
garages, it’s our attitude toward that stuff that makes the difference.
When we are content with who we are, then we can be content with what we have. And no advertiser will be able to tell us otherwise. If we want to know how much is enough, then we need to find contentment in the stuff we’ve already been given.
II – Christ does the strengthening….vs. 13
And once, we get that right attitude, then we begin to realize where our true strength comes from.
Martin Luther is quoted as saying, “I have held many things in my hands and I have lost them all; but whatever I have placed in God’s hands that I still possess.”
Riches don’t strengthen us, Christ does. Paul told us that we have amazing capacities to cope. Not only do we have the support of the Christian fellowship, but ultimately, when we will find ourselves at our limits trying to support all our stuff, we will eventually find that there is nothing greater to own, nothing greater to posses, than to know we stand not on our own abilities but on the “all sufficiency” of Christ.
The good life doesn’t come with stuff. Let’s look at the facts. In our culture today, we have: more possessions, more conveniences, more debt, more divorce, more crime, and more stress induced health problems than ever before.
But in that same culture, we have less time for family, less time to build ourselves spiritually, less joy, less peace, and far less happiness. We complain that we don’t have enough time, but if we know that our God is a perfect god, then we have to come to the realization that God created all that time we need, it’s our fault for not spending that time more wisely.
The good life comes when we rest in Christ…when we are content with what we’ve been given and when we turn to him for the strength we need to get through these days. Don’t tell me there isn’t enough…I’ll tell you we have too much.
Our God is a god of abundance. Our God is a god of joy. Our God is a god of happiness. Our God is a god of contentment.
Our God is the god who has said, “I have come that they may have live more abundantly.” (John 10:10)
Our God is the god who has said, “Bring all the tithes into the storehouse…and I will pour out such blessing that there will not be room enough to receive it.” (Micah 3:10)
Our God is the god who has said, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.” (Deuteronomy 8:3, Luke 4:4)
No wonder why Paul, could say, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” He knew this God, and it’s the same God we call upon today.
Strength comes from the contentment we find in our relationship with Christ.
III – God does the supplying…vs. 19
And when we begin to understand true contentment and true strength in Christ, then we begin to realize that our happiness and fulfillment doesn’t come from a comma in our checking accounts.
Illus. NBC’s highly paid morning person, Katie Couric, is reportedly unhappy with her new "Today" show boss, and her job, says New York’s Daily News. Couric says, "I’m tired, the hours are brutal . . . It’s hard to make yourself go to bed at 7:30 or 8 to get up" in time for the show.
Her salary is a humble $65 million.
[Source: SermonCentral staff. Citation: Silverman, Stephen. “Katie Quibbles On-Air About Her Job." People.com, February 20, 2002. http://people.aol.com/people/news/now/0,10958,211855,00.html]
Thankfully, there are others to emulate. Not as popular, a preacher by the name of Doyle Masters, had a better outlook. In November of 1978, Doyle was informed of an inoperable malignancy. He died at the too-early age of forty-eight.
One of list last sermons, entitled, “One Day at a Time” offered three points about God’s supply:
1. Today is all you have.
2. Today is all you need.
3. Today is all you can handle.
We can live with greater intention of God’s supply if we keep in our mind that his day is all we have. And to know that today is all we need helps us to focus our lives more creatively in the moment. And to have the permission to know that today is all we can handle, puts our focus back to an endless supplying God.
When Almighty God, the creator and possessors of all things, came to earth, He left the riches of Heaven to become a man. More than anyone who ever lived, Jesus realized that earth was not His real home. In fact, it seems he possessed little but often borrowed…
He borrowed the stable he was born in.
He borrowed the manger he was laid in.
He even borrowed Joseph, as the father who raised Him.
He borrowed a boat from which he preached to the crowds.
He borrowed a boy’s lunch with which He fed the 5,000.
He borrowed the donkey on which he rode into Jerusalem.
He even borrowed the tomb in he was buried.
In many ways, the Father-Creator part of God, shared his supply with the Son-Redeemer part, so the purpose would be achieved.
For us it is no different. Paul said, “And my God shall supply all your need, according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.” (v.19) Note, not ours, but his.
Happiness and fulfillment comes from a relationship with our God who has supplied, is supplying, and will supply all we need.
Conclusion – Proverbs 23:4-5
But the question remains, how do you get to a point where God’s strength and supply flows from true contentment.
“Nine Steps to Financial Freedom”
Well, I invite you to look on the back of your hand out. (see below) On it you’ll find nine steps to financial freedom. They’ve been compiled by a man whose name might sound familiar, Larry Burkett. Larry was an excellent Christian financial counselor who co-founded what is now Crown Financial Resources.
Short of preaching another sermon this morning on these nine, I invite you to look at these and match some decisions about your own finances. The first step is the one I believe to be the most important.
But let me leave you with some Biblical advice that sums this up nicely this morning...a word from Proverbs….
“Do not overwork yourselves to be rich; because of your own understanding, cease! Will you set your eyes on that which is not? For riches certainly make themselves wings; they fly away like an eagle toward heaven.”
Strength and supply come from the contentment we find our relationship with Christ...that’s something that no advertiser, marketer, or salesperson can sell you!
And the church says…Amen.
Prayer
Will you join me in prayer?
Heavenly Father,
We come to you with all our stuff.
We realize that financial decisions directly reflect our faith and trust in you. And we also realize that at times we’ve made some pretty poor decisions. Forgive us.
Forgive us when we fill our homes with the physical, but neglect to fill our hearts with the spiritual. Forgive us when we say, we just don’t have enough, when others around this globe have so much less. Forgive us when our concern is more directed toward our checking accounts that to the mission of your church.
We are thankful that through your Son’s death, you showed your love for us while we were yet sinners. We are thankful that we can say without hesitation, that since we have come to you in the spirit of confession, your mercy has been extended and we are a forgiven people.
Help us, Lord, to find our strength in you. Help us to turn to you for our supply. Help us to find that true contentment, not from any amount, but from the sheer attitude of gratitude we have because we know that you have given us enough, we have enough, and will we have enough to meet every need.
Give us an ability, Lord, a guideline within our selves to follow, so that we might not only be the people you have called us to be, but also enjoy the blessings you have prepared for those who call upon your name.
In the name of Christ we pray….Amen.
Closing Song - #410 – I Want A Principal Within
Benediction
May we leave this place not bound to the world’s standards
But content, knowing that Christ’s strength and God’s supply are ours.
In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit…Amen.
Nine Steps to Financial Freedom
[Adapted from Crown Financial Resources, www.crown.org, 1.800.722.1976, a company co-founded by Larry Burket]
1. Transfer Ownership…Christians must transfer ownership of every possession to God. This means money, time, family, material possessions, education, even earning potential for the future. There is absolutely no substitute for this step. (Psalm 8:4-6, Deuteronomy 5:32-33)
2. Become Debt Free…Have a written plan distinguishing wants (I Peter 3:3-4) from needs (I Timothy 6:8) and desires (I John 2:15-16). Determine essentials for living (Proverbs 21:17). Think before buying (Proverbs 24:3). Every purchase should be evaluated, credit buying should be eliminated, avoid buying on extended time, and practice saving.
3. Establish the Tithe…We cannot sacrifice God’s part—that is not our prerogative as Christians. (2 Corinthian 9:6) How can we say that we have given total ownership to God when we don’t give God his share?
4. Accept God’s Provision…God’s will can be accomplished through a withholding of funds or through and abundance. Each Christian must learn to live on what God provides.
5. Keep a Clear Conscience…As Christians we must have a clear conscience regarding past business practices and personal dealings. Freedom may require restitution, as well as a changed attitude.
6. Put Others First…this does not imply being a floor mat for others, but it simply means that as Christians we shouldn’t profit at the disadvantage of someone else. Again, the key lies in attitude.
7. Limit Time Involvement…There’s a time for business and a time for family. Many Christians are trapped in this cycle of overcommitment to business or money pursuits. First priority…develop our relationship with Jesus Christ. Second priority…is to family. Third priority…church activities. Fourth…social groups, hobbies, work, etc. (Proverbs 23:4-5)
8. Avoid Indulgence…the range in which God’s will can be found is between Luke 9:23 and John 6:27. We must first deny ourselves and take up our cross daily working for the food that endures to eternal life.
9. Get Christian Counseling… It is important to see counseling and not to rely solely on our own resources. (Proverbs 15:22).
