The Bible Doesn't Say That: “Obedience always leads to financial blessings”
The Bible Doesn't Say That • Sermon • Submitted
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· 15 viewsPaul has learned and will share the secret to contentment. We will examine his revelation with the thought of "Obedience always leads to financial blessings".
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Intro
Me: I remember after being married for about 3 or 4 months being frustrated with God. We wanted to have children, but it was just not happening for us. We were both healthy. I wondered what I had done in my past to have brought this dark cloud over my wife and I. I thought about all the children born to parents who don’t want them, all the children aborted, all the children born into families that would not be taken care of, and I was angry! I married the woman I loved, we were both faithful Christians, and yet God would not give us what many people were easily and accidentally doing. I believed then that my obedience was directly tied to my current circumstance.
Me: I remember after being married for about 3 or 4 months being frustrated with God. We wanted to have children, but it was just not happening for us. We were both healthy. I wondered what I had done in my past to have brought this dark cloud over my wife and I. I thought about all the children born to parents who don’t want them, all the children aborted, all the children born into families that would not be taken care of, and I was angry! I married the woman I loved, we were both faithful Christians, and yet God would not give us what many people were easily and accidentally doing. I believed then that my obedience was directly tied to my current circumstance.
Me: I remember after being married for about 3 or 4 months being frustrated with God. We wanted to have children, but it was just not happening for us. We were both healthy. I wondered what I had done in my past to have brought this dark cloud over my wife and I. I thought about all the children born to parents who don’t want them, all the children aborted, all the children born into families that would not be taken care of, and I was angry! I married the woman I loved, we were both faithful Christians, and yet God would not give us what many people were easily and accidentally doing. I believed then that my obedience was directly tied to my current circumstance.
1. Me: I remember after being married for about 3 or 4 months being frustrated with God. We wanted to have children, but it was just not happening for us. We were both healthy. I wondered what I had done in my past to have brought this dark cloud over my wife and I. I thought about all the children born to parents who don’t want them, all the children aborted, all the children born into families that would not be taken care of, and I was angry! I married the woman I loved, we were both faithful Christians, and yet God would not give us what many people were easily and accidentally doing. I believed then that my obedience was directly tied to my current circumstance.
WE: We all have faced situations where we have questions about the things that God allows to happen.
a. We may be a new babe in Christ, fresh out of the water, and wonder why your problems before baptism are still present after baptism.
b. We may have spent the better portions of our lives in sin, extreme opposition to God and then turned our lives around. Maybe even have been leaders in the church, brought many people to God… And then God allows for you or your loved ones to have an incurable disease.
c. We may be a great Christian example to our friends/brothers/sisters and yet we cannot pass our classes in school. Or people make fun of you for things you cannot change.
d. WHY WOULD A GOOD GOD ALLOW AN OBEDIENT FOLLOWER TO SUFFER?
e. Is there any truth to: “Obedience always leads to financial blessings”
“Obedience always leads to financial blessings”
God:
This letter written to the church in Philippi. It was an area ruled by Rome and the citizens were treated as such. This church was the first one planted in Europe and it had a strong core of women as its foundation starting with Lydia as mentioned in . In the latter portion of this short epistle Paul gives reason for his writing and his current situation. He encourages and exhorts while he is in prison. The man who is boldly proclaiming the Gospel (good news of Christ), against Jewish opposition, facing persecution, and probably losing some of his closest friends now sits in a prison. This same man who gave us between 13 and 14 of the 27 books of the new testament sits in chains!
WHEN THE MENTION OF PRISON IS MADE PLEASE CHANGE TO THE PRISON SLIDE SHOWING WHAT A ROMAN PRISON LOOKED LIKE...
10 I rejoice in the Lord greatly that now at last you have revived your concern for me; indeed, you were concerned for me, but had no opportunity to show it.
phil 4 10
10 I rejoiced in the Lord greatly because once again you renewed your care for me. You were, in fact, concerned about me but lacked the opportunity to show it. 11 I don’t say this out of need, for I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I find myself. 12 I know both how to make do with little, and I know how to make do with a lot. In any and all circumstances I have learned the secret of being content—whether well fed or hungry, whether in abundance or in need. 13 I am able to do all things through him who strengthens me.
10 I rejoiced in the Lord greatly because once again you renewed your care for me. You were, in fact, concerned about me but lacked the opportunity to show it.
i. This church had sent him an offering while he sat in jail.
1. This church was one that had faced poverty as one point in time.
a. Paul mentions this in (CSB)
1 We want you to know, brothers and sisters, about the grace of God that was given to the churches of Macedonia: 2 During a severe trial brought about by affliction, their abundant joy and their extreme poverty overflowed in a wealth of generosity on their part. 3 I can testify that, according to their ability and even beyond their ability, of their own accord, 4 they begged us earnestly for the privilege of sharing in the ministry to the saints, 5 and not just as we had hoped. Instead, they gave themselves first to the Lord and then to us by God’s will.
1 We want you to know, brothers and sisters, about the grace of God that was given to the churches of Macedonia: 2 During a severe trial brought about by affliction, their abundant joy and their extreme poverty overflowed in a wealth of generosity on their part. 3 I can testify that, according to their ability and even beyond their ability, of their own accord, 4 they begged us earnestly for the privilege of sharing in the ministry to the saints, 5 and not just as we had hoped. Instead, they gave themselves first to the Lord and then to us by God’s will.
POINT: That means that while Paul was in the process of being arrested for what he was arrested for, God was in two places at once. God was standing there in his misfortune and standing in the future where his blessing would come from!
Providence- literally means foresight, but is generally used to denote God’s preserving and governing all things by means of second causes.
1. Providence is God’s knowledge of what will be and the working of that thing for your good!
2. Example: Do we remember Joseph and the coat of many colors? Do you remember how he ticked off his brothers by explaining that his dream meant that they would all bow to him? Do you remember that his father favored him? Do you remember how all brothers but one sought to kill him and instead sold him into slavery? Do you remember that God allowed him to belong to Potiphar? Do you remember that God allowed him to be a prisoner after he was more faithful to God than Potiphar’s wife? Do you remember how he was forgotten by the men he helped in prison? Do you remember that he had a dream about seven years of plenty and seven years of famine? God then appointed him to be the right hand man of the most powerful man! God took care of his raggedy brothers and father through him by allowing him to be in a position of power! Do you remember the outcome?
3. : 5 And now don’t be grieved or angry with yourselves for selling me here, because God sent me ahead of you to preserve life.[1]
5 And now don’t be grieved or angry with yourselves for selling me here, because God sent me ahead of you to preserve life.
a. There came a point in his life where he realized that God was not against him but God knew what they NEEDED and set things in order! His brothers would not be servants to him but he would be a servant to his brothers!
4. : 20 You planned evil against me; God planned it for good to bring about the present result—the survival of many people.
2 He commanded his servants who were physicians to embalm his father. So they embalmed Israel.
a. He came to the realization that his suffering was not put into place for what he had done wrong but it was wisely ordered by the one who is able to stand in past, present, and future at the same time!
Point on Providence: Paul here understands that God has set things in motion for him. God allowed a needy congregation to remember him in his time of need. While they offered up something of a blessing to Paul he is about to give them something more valuable. Read verse 11…
11 I don’t say this out of need, for I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I find myself.
Point: Paul lets them know, I am not happy because of your gift.
He’s happy because of God!
God has sustained him
God has created this bond between him and the church
God has given him Jesus!
Point: Paul has learned to be content
Contentment is a learned thing.
It is not something you are born with.
It is not something that can be downloaded into your brains.
It is impossible to learn something if information and testing are not presented.
Contentment: Being happy with what one has
a. That’s a hard concept to learn when we have the American dream implanted in our hearts.
b. American Dream: the ideal by which equality of opportunity is available to any American, allowing the highest aspirations and goals to be achieved.
i. Example: Jurassic Park Quote “Your scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could, they didn’t stop to think if they should…”
c. Point: Paul continually in this epistle of Philippians deals with the way that a Christian heart should be. Paul here asserts that he has learned to be happy with what he has in all circumstances.”
12 I know both how to make do with little, and I know how to make do with a lot. In any and all circumstances I have learned the secret of being content—whether well fed or hungry, whether in abundance or in need.
phil 4 12
[1] Christian Standard Bible. (2017). (). Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers.
i. Little V Lot (making do)
1. He has had the experience of both and has learned contentment.
2. If you want what Paul has don’t be opposed to the little!
a. “We often don’t appreciate the warmth of summer until we have experienced the cold of winter. And we don’t appreciate the cold of winter until we have experienced the warmth of summer.” – C.W. Stephens
ii. “I have learned the secret of being content…
1. The word here is used within the context of uncovering something not previously known. Uncovering a religious secret!
Paul pulls us in closer to pay attention to what God is about to reveal to us all through his letter to the church @ Philippi
13 I am able to do all things through him who strengthens me.
i. I am able…
1. He is self sufficient because he has learned not to rely on self!
ii. ALL THINGS
1. EVERYTHING in its entirety!
2. Nothing that I am unable to do/experience/feel BECAUSE…
iii. HIM WHO STRENGTHENS ME
1. Paul states that what he is unable to do, God makes him more than himself!
iv. Point: Paul understood through experience that is possible to be suffer and excel while being obedient to God. He found comfort in this because He was comfortable in who knew the outcome!
“Obedience always leads to financial blessings”
The Bible does NOT teach that message...
YOU: When you know that you are an obedient child of God and you find your circumstances less than favorable understand that Jesus will enable you to pull through. When you know that you are an obedient child of God and you find your circumstance more than favorable understand that Jesus will enable you to handle the excess faithfully. Do NOT lose sight of the fact that “All things work together for the good of those who LOVE God.” No matter what be content with the providence of God!
WE:
a. Community: I wonder how many addicts and prostitutes would exist in this community if we modeled contentment with what God provides?
b. Church: Imagine our church if we were contentment was the goal instead of consistently grabbing for things before their time.
c. World: Imagine a world without outrageous debt, terrible credit scores, suicide, broken spouses, etc effected by the contentment of the Church of Christ!