God Will Provide

Well today is the last sermon in our series through the Book of Philippians. We started this series the first Sunday of January, and over the last 23 weeks we’ve been looking closely at this book, verse by verse, line by line, and what we have found here is a vantage into Ultimate Reality. We have encountered God and his truth, which is what we consider to be the penultimate goal of preaching. 

The reason that we slow down and look at the words and the phrases, and try so hard to understand what Paul meant, is because we want to see and think what he saw and thought. 

Because Paul has written this letter under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. His words have been breathed out by God — God IS revealing himself through these words — and so we look at the words not to get stuck on the words, but to see through the words to God and his truth (Ultimate Reality!). That’s the second-to-last goal of preaching. 

That’s what we’ve been doing these past six months, and that’s what we’re gonna do one last time today as part of this series. 

Today we are looking at Philippians Chapter 4, verses 19–23, and the main thing I want you to know is this: God will provide for you. 

That’s the promise of Philippians 4, verse 19 — God will provide for you — and as you hear me say that, I want you to track what’s going on … How are you responding to this promise internally where nobody else but God can see?

I’m going to say it again and I want us to just sit in it for a minute. Here it is:

God will provide for you. 

Father in heaven, you know the hearts of every man and woman and boy and girl. You know where we’re at in this moment as you confront us with your promise to provide for us. You know what our hearts are doing and why, and this morning, we ask, as humbly as we can, whatever is going on in us that is unbelieving, or whatever is not pleasing to you, would you change us today? Would you work in us now, through your word, by the power of your Spirit, to change us, in Jesus’s name, amen.  

In this passage I want to show you three details about God’s provision for you, and then close with application. The first detail is this:

1) God will provide every need of yours. 

Look at verse 19:

And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.

In the Context

Now it’s important that we see this verse in its context, so let’s back up to the previous verses and remember what we saw last week: Paul is talking to this church about their true partnership. They’ve given money to Paul to support his ministry, and in verse 15 Paul calls what they have a partnership in giving and receiving. That was the criterion for a true friendship — there had to be mutual benefits — and we know that Paul received money from this church (physical money for physical sustenance). But what did this church receive from Paul? 

Remember we looked at verse 17, where Paul says that this church, in return for their giving material money, receive a spiritual credit — spiritual benefits. And last week we focused on that fact — that these benefits are spiritual — but here in verse 19 we see more about where these benefits are coming from. 

The church gave to Paul; now the church receives from Paul — except they’re not receiving from Paul himself, they’re receiving from God. (Verse 18 is like a parenthetical; it’s a comment to the side.) But we need to look at verse 19 in connection to verse 17. I’m going to try to paraphrase that connection — Paul is saying: We have a true partnership of giving and receiving! … Not that I seek your giving, but I seek your receiving, which has an increasing profit! I’m good. I’m well-supplied. And now my God will supply every need of yours …

It’s significant here that Paul says “my God.” Because he’s not just highlighting his personal relationship with God, but he’s saying that God will provide for this church on his behalf! Remember Paul is in prison. He doesn’t have anything to ‘give’ this church. Paul can’t give this church spiritual blessings — but God can. And Paul says my God will. My God will supply every need of yours.

Every Need?

And we have to ask, “Every need, really?” What does Paul mean here? 

Again, in light of the context, I think this applies to mainly spiritual needs, but it also includes material needs. 

On the material side, I think Paul is saying here what he said to the Corinthians about their generosity. In 2 Corinthians 9:10, Pauls says that God will supply seed to the sower. In other words: if you give, God will give you what to give. 

This is where we get the saying, “You can’t out-give God!”  — you’ve probably heard that before. I’ve always heard that saying (and used it myself) in terms of experience. People have experienced that reality; they’ve seen it to be the case — but the theological support for that saying comes from places like 2 Corinthians 9 and here in Philippians 4. If you give, God will not let you run out of what to give. That’s material provision.

But Paul says “every need” here and so he means more than material needs — but like, how much more? This is where we have to think. We need to drill into this …

When Paul says “every need” he could simply mean “every” as in both material and spiritual — God provides both categories of needs. Which is true. This could be just an umbrella statement.

Or — Paul could mean, not just that God provides both categories, but that God provides for every single need within each category — every single material need you have and every single spiritual need you have, God provides it all. In an absolute, literal way, God will provide for every single one need of yours. Is Paul saying that?

Well see, it really has to do with how we understand the meaning of needs — and that’s something that Paul has already talked about in this chapter. So we should go back a couple of weeks, back to when we looked at verse 11. In verse 11 Paul says, 

“Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content”

Whatever my need is, I have enough!

And we saw that the key to that statement is in the fact that needs are relative to goals. If the goal is to stay alive, then the needs would be things like oxygen (and food and water) … and for your head to stay attached to your neck. That’s an important need in order to stay alive (and that need was not provided for Paul about five years after he wrote this letter). So is staying alive the goal?

Well see, if this church’s goal was like Paul’s goal — if they were actually practicing what they had learned and received and heard and seen in Paul (verse 9) — then there goal would not be to stay alive, but their goal would be everlasting joy in Christ that honors Christ for the treasure he is (see 1:20!). 

Secret Turned Promise

Two weeks ago we saw that Paul’s secret to contentment is Christ-sufficiency. 

Finish this sentence here: “All that Paul truly needs to be happy in Jesus is … JESUS.”

That’s Paul’s secret, and here in verse 19 he turns that secret into a promise for this church: God will supply every need of yours …

Every need that you have in order to be eternally happy in Jesus, God will provide that for you.

Whatever you need to have joy in Jesus forever, God will provide. 

I don’t know how to say that so that it lands for you. I don’t know how to make you be helped by this truth. But I just want to tell you as best as I can: 

God sees every single need that you have, big and small, long-standing needs, brand-new needs, pain-inflicting needs, losing-sleep-because-of-them needs, thorn-in-the-flesh needs; God knows more about your needs than you do, and he knows that behind your every need there is your ultimate need to be happy in him, and he will give you what you need for that even if it means withholding from you other things … and even if that withholding hurts.

And we don’t know why exactly. God doesn’t give us all the details here, but he gives us himself and he will always give us whatever we need to have him forever.

That’s the promise of Philippians 4:19, church. That’s the promise in its fullest. 

Here’s the second detail about God’s provision.

2) God will provide for you according to his riches in glory.

Look at those words closely in verse 19: “according to his riches in glory.” This tells us more about the nature and capacity of God’s provision. 

The Nature

When it comes to the nature of God’s provision, it’s according to his riches — not according to what we deserve, not according to what he owes us (which is nothing). 

I want us to get this clear: God’s provision here, in context, is a response to this church’s generosity, but a response and compensation are not the same. God is not paying this church back. God is never in debt to anyone. 

But instead, because this church’s generosity in an expression of their faith in God — and God from all eternity has an unchangeable disposition of delight in response to the exercise of faith — God provides for this church in accordance with himself. 

“God takes pleasure in those who fear him, in those who hope in his steadfast love” (Psalm 147:11). That is true about God, and God provides for us in accordance with that truth of who he is! That’s what his riches mean. His riches is the resource of himself. 

And one thing that might help us wrap our heads around this is how we think of tipping. Now, this analogy is gonna break down if you push it too far, okay — I need you to take it easy on me — but in general, at a restaurant, every time you leave a tip you have one of two choices: either you will leave a tip based on the kind of service you received or you will leave a tip based on the kind of person you are. 

You will either give in accordance with the server’s performance or you will give in accordance with your own generosity. Now both are a response, but only one of those is to truly give. If it’s according to performance, we call that compensation; but if it’s according to your generosity, that’s truly giving — and see, God only gives.

He only gives in accordance with who he is as the eternal God, the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, of all things visible and invisible, who is all-sufficient — he does not stand in need of anything that he has made but instead all things are dependent upon him!

The nature of God’s giving is in accordance with himself, his riches.

The Capacity

And, they are his riches in glory, which tells us even more about the capacity of his provision. “In glory” here means that these riches transcend this world; they come from where God is — from where God dwells in his infinite splendor and majesty, in unapproachable light, whom no one has ever seen or can see. These riches are not sitting in a J.P. Morgan account. 

This is not “his riches in Miami real-estate.” 

It’s not “his riches in Tesla stock.” 

It’s his riches in glory — so it doesn’t just cover what you need now on this earth, but it will more than abound for what you need for eternity.

See, his riches in glory confirm for us that God’s provision is not mainly material and current, but it’s spiritual and eternal. Because, in the grand scheme of things, material provision here is peanuts. Easy. “His riches in glory” means that we are moving from more to more to more to more — more and better is always yet to come. God gives in accordance with his capacity in glory, and it’s bigger than what we can fathom.

Practiced in Prayer

And this is a fact that we bring to God in prayer. This is where we make this truth practical. It’s that when we come to God with our petitions — when we are asking God to provide for us — we are not appealing to how good we’ve been; we’re not asking God to give in accordance with the quality of our service; but we are asking him to give, to supply, to provide for us in accordance with his riches in glory. 

This is why we say: “Is anything to hard for the Lord?” In glory means there is nothing he cannot do; there is no deficit he cannot overcome; there is no amount he cannot make happen!

God will provide for every need you have in order to be eternally happy in him according to his riches in glory. 

Third detail:

3) God will provide for you according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.

And here is where Paul reminds us that every promise from God to us is fulfilled in Jesus. Paul says this plainly in 2 Corinthians 1:20 — “For all the promises of God find their Yes in him [in Jesus].”

This means that all that God is for us, and all the good that God wills to do for us, and all that God has ever said to us, comes to us through Jesus Christ. 

Jesus is the face of God’s revelation and redemption. We cannot know God apart from Jesus, and we cannot have a relationship with God except through Jesus — and keeping this front and center in everything we do is basic to the Christian life. And there are two very simple and clear ways we live this out: in baptism and again in prayer.

Clear in Baptism

When we’re baptized as a sign of our faith-union with Jesus, the first question the pastors ask before we bring you under the water is this. We ask: 

“Are you now trusting in Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins and for the fulfillment of all God’s promises to you?”

And the person being baptized will say,

“I am!” 

And what they’re saying is that Jesus is not just the way to get their foot in the door — he’s not just giving them a clean record — but they’re saying that every good thing that God will ever give to them comes through Jesus. Jesus is the “Amen!” to all of God’s promises to us!

Clear in Prayer

And also we express that same hope every time we pray, when we end our prayers with “in Jesus’s name, amen.” 

First, we pray “in Jesus’s name” because that’s how Jesus told us to pray — he told us to petition the Father in his name (see John 15:16; 16:23, 26) — but also, when we’re deliberate with our words, from our hearts, to pray in Jesus’s name, we are recognizing that Jesus is only way we have any right at all to be speaking to God. 

We don’t receive from God based upon ourselves; and we don’t even come to God based upon ourselves. It’s all because of Jesus. That is his glory. The Father has highly exalted him to that place. 

In Christ

And so we live and move and have our entire being in Christ … And we endure present sufferings in Christ … And we strive side by side for the faith of the gospel in Christ … We follow Christ’s example of humility in Christ … We work out our own salvation in Christ … We do all things without grumbling and complaining in Christ … We shine as lights in the world in Christ … We seek to receive and honor one another in Christ … We rejoice in Christ … We worship God in Christ … We boast in Christ … In Christ, we consider everything else as loss compared to his surpassing worth … In Christ, we press on to know him more clearly and fully … In Christ, we will agree together and help one another agree … In Christ, we will not be anxious but we will pray … In Christ, we will think of whatever is true and honorable and just and pure and lovely and commendable … In Christ, whatever the situation, we will be content … In Christ, God will provide everything we need to be eternally happy in him. 

In Christ! — That is the Book of Philippians. That is our Christian existence. That’s this promise.

There is no greater security that you could have that God will provide for you than this. 

So we wanna just live in this promise. Let the reality of God and his truth surround you. Let us see him! (That’s the second-to-last goal of preaching.)

And then we come to verse 20.

The Application

So far we’ve looked at the details of God’s promise in verse 19, and I told you we’d close with some application, and that’s what we find in the text here in verse 20. 

What do we do with everything that we’ve seen about God and his truth in this book?

Eternal Worship

Verse 20 tells us:

“To our God and Father be glory forever and ever. Amen.”

This is worship, and worship is the ultimate goal of preaching. It’s what the seeing is for. We see God and his truth so that we will worship him — and it’s worship that will last forever, because eternal worship is what God is worthy of. Infinite worth deserves infinite praise, and that’s our ultimate calling. So Paul closes this letter by pointing us to what is vastly bigger than ourselves …

And Paul does this not just by calling us to the worship God deserves, but he also does this in final greeting in verse 21. Look at verse 21:

“Greet every saint in Christ Jesus. The brothers who are with me greet you. 22 All the saints greet you, especially those of Caesar’s household. 23 The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit.”

+ All the Saints

A final greeting like this is a normal way to end a letter. Paul does this in his other letters too, but look at verse 21 together with verse 20. Verse 20 says “to God be the glory” and verse 21 says “greet every saint.” 

Both of these verses point us to something bigger than ourselves: Worship is our ultimate calling — that’s why God made us! — but greeting “all the saints” reminds us that we’re not in this alone. “All the saints” are more than us, and “all the saints” are everywhere, even in Caesar’s household! 

There’s no place the gospel cannot advance, and it will advance — until the knowledge of God’s glory covers this earth as the waters cover the sea! One day all the saints will worship God together, but even today we are connected to what God is doing through the saints scattered all around the world.

That little comment in verse 22 is meant to remind this church what they’re a part of. The saints are in Caesar’s household in part because of how God has used the church at Philippi. This is bigger than you, don’t you see? God at work through you, church, has made you part of something vastly bigger than yourself — and that’s not only true of this church, but that’s true of our church, like right now …

Right now, as our church gathers in worship here … all the saints at All Peoples Church in Minneapolis gathers for worship, and all the saints at Westview Church in New Hope gathers for worship, and all the saints at Gospel Joy Church in Mankato gathers for worship. 

They gather, in part, because our church has sent them out to be a church. We’re connected and they greet you — and the same could be said of Exalting Christ Church in Northeast and Redemption City Church in Rochester and Horizon City Church in Orlando — we’re part of that.

Just like we’re part of gospel advance in Turkey and Oman and Cameroon and Ireland and France and Austria and southeast Asia and the Philippines and the Peruvian Amazon — All the saints everywhere, and the worship of God forever.

That’s what this is all about. And God indeed will provide for you … for you and for our church.

That’s what brings us to the Table.

The Table

We come to this Table to remember Jesus and to rest in God’s love for us. God proved his love for us in that while we were sinners, Jesus died for us. And if God did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?

All things that we need to be happy in him forever.