"Be devoted to one another in brotherly love ... contributing to the needs of the saints. "
Romans 12:10, 13
GOD'S MATH
Read It: Philippians 4:10-16
I want to wrap up our study of stewardship by considering another potent passage of Scripture that has a lot to teach us. Philippians 4:19 is one of the most memorized verses in the New Testament. It would be easy to camp there, but we need to step back and see the context of this great verse to grasp what Paul is saying to us. The church at Philippi loved and cared for and supported Paul as did few other churches, and he felt very close to these believers. They did all of this for Paul and for the work of Christ despite the fact that they were persecuted and impoverished and barely had enough to live on themselves selves (see 2 Corinthians 8:1-6). So the first thing we need to understand is that Paul is writing about stewardship to one of the poorest churches around. An accountant might say you're wasting your time to teach poor people about stewardship. But not if you buy into God's mathematics. See, the world says one plus one equals two. But God says zero plus zero can equal a million when you plug Him into the equation. So Paul is thanking the Philippians for their recent gifts to his ministry. But he's not writing to pry another gift out of them. It's not that Paul was glorifying poverty. It's that he had learned to be content whether he had a little or alot. And he says he had times of both need and abundance. Notice that it's in the context of living contentedly on what God provides vides that Paul writes verse 13, another verse often quoted, memorized, and claimed by believers. This is a powerful truth that reaches beyond just your finances.
If you can be content where you are, then ultimately there's no problem you can't handle, because God has given you the greatest gift of all, His Son Jesus Christ, to strengthen you. That means you have all the resources of Christ to draw on in tackling whatever comes your way. Could you write your friends and honestly tell them you've found the secret to a life of contentment and joy? If so, you're a wealthy person! Think About It On the other hand, if you expect financial success alone to bring contentment, you're in for a long wait.
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