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[0:00] The following message is given by Walt Alexander, lead pastor of Trinity Grace Church in Athens, Tennessee.! For more information about Trinity Grace, please visit us at TrinityGraceAthens.com.

[0:12] Go ahead and turn in your Bible to Philippians 4, please. Philippians 4, my name is Walt and my birthday is today.

[0:24] And I got to talk to the committee immediately after the meeting. That was not what I had planned this morning.

[0:38] But yeah, we're going to dive back into Philippians, believe it or not. We're in second to last sermon from this book, so I'm pumped for us to dive in together.

[0:49] Look with me in verse 14. I'm going to continue to read through verse 20. This is the Word of God. It says, Yet it was kind of you to share my trouble.

[1:03] 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.

[1:16] 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.

[1:34] I have received full payment and more. I'm well supplied, having received from Epaphroditus the gifts you sent, a fragrant offering, a sacrifice acceptable and pleasing to God.

[1:49] And 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.

[2:08] Amen. Amen. Amen. That is the Word of God. The authoritative, sufficient Word of God. And I can imagine there is nothing you want to hear less than a sermon about money.

[2:25] All preachers know that there's two types of sermon that make us immediately uncomfortable. Sermons about evangelism and sermons about money.

[2:38] And there's nothing I want to preach less than a sermon about money. Now that may be a little bit overstated, but you get the idea.

[2:49] Most preachers, including myself, don't relish the opportunity to preach on money, especially preachers who serve the church full time like myself. We'd rather preach on grace or the cross or heaven or almost anything except money.

[3:10] Yet, there are few things Jesus preached on more than money. Many estimate that about 15% of our Lord's teaching was about money.

[3:23] Very little about marriage, very little about work, almost nothing about parenting, a lot on the cross, and quite a bit on money.

[3:34] So why all this teaching on money? If you spent time, if you were one of the disciples who spent a couple years with our Lord, you would ask that question at some point.

[3:44] And what Jesus continued to say in so many different ways, there's a fundamental connection between our spiritual lives and how we think about and how we spend money.

[3:55] Again and again, Jesus said this in different ways. What we think about God will shape how we spend money, and how we spend money will say something about what we think about God.

[4:08] Now, you and I both know that in and of itself, money is just a medium of exchange. Dollars have no inherent value. They're just pieces of paper. I mean, they're elaborate.

[4:19] They're cool. They've got some holograms on them, but they're just pieces of paper. They're assigned value by our economy. That's why money can inflate and, I guess, deflate.

[4:33] But they're also assigned value by us. And that's what Christ is getting at in all of His teaching. That's what Jesus is after. That's why the New Testament continues to talk about money and to warn us about money, because when we spend money, we show what we really value.

[4:52] And perhaps that's what makes the subject of money so difficult to talk about or so difficult to hear about. Maybe it's perhaps it's why we bristle at the thought of talking about money or we're anxious about it.

[5:08] Perhaps it's because conversations about money begin to reveal what we really value. And sometimes it's not what we think. So we need a heart of wisdom and humility.

[5:23] You know, in these verses, Paul talks about money. You know, in so many ways, the core of what he says in these verses are the core of what Jesus taught again and again in His verses or in His teaching.

[5:39] And they're very personal. And yet, in God's kindness, these verses are for us. I believe this morning, God's led us to this passage. There are a word and season.

[5:50] There are a word we need in our culture. And a word where we're going is, Use money to show others your real treasure is Jesus. That's pretty straightforward.

[6:00] Use money to show others your real treasure is Jesus. Point one is, Nothing reveals what we treasure more than money. Nothing reveals what we treasure more than money.

[6:14] As I mentioned last week, we're coming to the end of the letter, and Paul's writing a letter in response to a gift. He's writing a letter in response to money. So Paul's in prison, and unlike the prisons of our day, prisoners weren't provided for in Roman times.

[6:32] And so it was necessary for friends and family and people like that to send money to provide food and whatever he needs. So they sent him money, and now he wrote them back.

[6:45] Now, being the apostle that he is, he had a few things to say. In fact, four chapters of things to say to exhort them. And now he says, Thank you. That's what these texts are all about.

[6:58] You know, most thank you notes, you would thank the person for the gift. You know, some way you'd praise the gift, and you'd tell them what you've done with the gift. You know, I remember writing thank you notes, writing a lot of thank you notes after our wedding.

[7:11] You know, maybe it's a mixer. We'd say, Thank you for the mixer. It's great. You know, you kind of praise the mixer. It's black, you know. We made the best cookies the other night.

[7:23] We hope you can come visit. We can mix something up for you. You know, it means you're kind of like, It's all about the gift. But what stands out in this passage is Paul says very little about the gift.

[7:35] But what he does say is huge. Look again with me in verse 14. He says, Yet it was kind of you to share my trouble. You Philippians know that in the beginning of the gospel, when I left Macedonia, no church entered into partnership with me in giving and receiving.

[7:49] So again, right here at the conclusion of the letter, Paul's taking us back to the beginning of his relationship with the Philippians. He's saying, Remember the beginning. I was there. I planted that church.

[8:02] I was there in the beginning of the gospel. What he's talking about there is not the beginning of what God has done in Christ, but the beginning of this good work that God began in their hearts and life.

[8:14] It wasn't the moment they asked Jesus into their heart. It was the moment God sent the gospel and invaded that community such that he brought many from death to life.

[8:25] And from the beginning, he says, You partnered with me. Throughout the letter, he says this. In fact, at the beginning of the letter, he says, I thank God because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now.

[8:40] Throughout the letter, he reminds him of this partnership. It's threaded through this letter. He says, You've partnered with me. You've suffered with me. You've prayed for me.

[8:51] When I was in prison, you prayed for me. I have confidence that I'll be delivered through the help of the Holy Spirit and through your prayers. He said, You fought alongside me. You've taken up my trouble.

[9:03] In this verse, he says, You share my trouble. And here he says, You've entered into partnership with me in giving and receiving. Literally, he says, You've partnered with me in the matter of giving and receiving, in the matter of assets and liabilities, in the matter of profits and losses.

[9:26] I mean, the metaphor here that's going on, he's saying you've gone into business with me. You put your money forward. Match it with mine.

[9:38] And you've gone into business. Now, obviously, he's saying, You've supported me. Thank you. That's kind of Paul's way of saying it. You know, he doesn't praise the gift in a pronounced way.

[9:50] You gave me money. Thank you. But he's saying something so much more than that. He's made it very clear in this passage and the previous one that he doesn't care about the money.

[10:01] He's contending the way. He's not a hireling. He's not a mercenary. Like any faithful ministry, he's not in it for the paycheck. And so he's saying something more.

[10:12] He says, Thank you. The way you have partnered with me financially, on top of all the other things you've done with me, tells me that you've taken up the cause of the gospel and treasure it above all.

[10:23] Do you see? So he's underlining this partnership theme here to say, You partnered with me in so many things, and now that you've partnered with me in money, it just accents it all the more.

[10:35] In so many ways, he's just accenting what we're all about in this little church plant. We're partnering. Now, you aren't partnering with me.

[10:46] We're partnering together in the gospel of Jesus Christ. The glue that keeps Paul and the Philippians together is not Paul's ministry to them, but the commonness of the gospel.

[10:59] That's what they're all about. And they've partnered together in it. You know, money is not everything. Far from it. Yet money powerfully reveals what is everything to us.

[11:11] It's easy to read a sport letter. That's what he's saying. It's easy to read a sport letter. It's easy to offer to pray. It's easy to encourage someone. It's easy to help, but it's hard to give your hard-earned money and go into partnership.

[11:26] So indeed, what this point says, nothing reveals what we treasure more than money. Strikingly, in 2 Corinthians, Paul continues and talks about the church in Philippi.

[11:37] And I just love this. He tells a little bit more about them, even more than what he tells us in this letter, and holds them up as an example. Look with me. In 2 Corinthians 8, he says, when he's writing the Corinthians, he said, I want you to know, we want you to know, brothers, about the grace of God that has been given among the churches in Macedonia.

[11:58] That's just, that's the area where Philippi is, but all the scholars say he's talking specifically in reference to Philippi. He says, For in a severe test of affliction, their abundance of joy, and their extreme poverty have overflowed in a wealth of generosity on their part.

[12:17] Now you do the math on that. Their severe affliction, extreme poverty, abundant joy, equals overflowing generosity.

[12:27] I just love that. No wonder he says right here in verse 15, no church is like you. There's no one like you. I mean, that's his way of saying thank you.

[12:39] There's no one like you. No one's entered into partnership with me like you have, except you only. No church except you only. Does that mean no other church supported Paul?

[12:50] No, I don't think so at all. It means, but no church supported him like Philippi. No church entered into partnership with him. In such a way, they became one soul. They gave money, but oh, they gave so much more.

[13:05] The money was just a reflection of what was going on in their hearts. It's not hard to know what people like that are all about. Philippi is all about the gospel and its advance.

[13:16] He says later that they gave sacrificially. Yes, they gave to meet the needs of Paul and others, but they gave to please God. It says a fragrant offering, a sacrifice acceptable and pleasing to God.

[13:36] The point is nothing reveals what we treasure more than money. Matthew 6, our Lord says it like this, do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven.

[13:52] Where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves don't break in and steal. For whether your treasure is there, your heart will be also.

[14:04] What we treasure is always reflected in how we spend. It cannot not be. Whatever we treasure, there our hearts are as well.

[14:18] What Jesus is saying is, I can't spend my money in one way and expect my heart to not be in it. I can't spend my money on comfort, adventure, safety, and entertainment.

[14:28] I expect my heart to be all about the Lord. The way we live, the way we spend, should reveal that Jesus is our main treasure. And in so many ways, it shouldn't make sense to people around us.

[14:43] Yeah, I love this story of William Borden, a missionary. I don't remember exactly the years, but he was born into a wealthy Chicago family.

[14:54] His dad made a lot of money in the West, in mining. His mother was saved for the preaching of the gospel, D.L. Moody, or what became D.L. Moody's ministry, and he was saved as a teenager, attending the same church.

[15:08] He went to a distinguished high school, went on to Yale, went to Princeton Seminary, and yet he rejected a life of ease in order to bring the gospel to the Muslims.

[15:22] He gave away hundreds of thousands of dollars in missions. He was a young man. At age 25, he boarded a ship for China to serve as a missionary, and yet due to his passion to reach the Muslim people, he stopped in Egypt to learn the Arabic language.

[15:46] After there, for only four months, he contracted spinal meningitis and died. His mom was actually on her way over to spend a month with him, on his birthday, actually, and so was able to be there for his funeral.

[16:05] Afterwards, his parents found his Bible. It's incredible. They found his Bible, and when he renounced his fortune to go to the mission field, apparently he wrote in his Bible, no reserve.

[16:20] I'm not keeping a barn in the back. You know, I'm not keeping a trust fund for when I decide I want to get out of missions. He said when his father told him that he would always have a job in the company, and then when his father later told him that he would never work in the company because of the life he was choosing, he wrote, no retreat.

[16:37] Reminds you of our Lord. We'll put your hand to the plow and let go of it and turn back. Shortly before his death, perhaps knowing his death was just days or moments away, he wrote, no regret.

[16:51] It's interesting to me that in Cairo, Egypt, a city filled with elaborate tombs and pyramids of Egyptian kings, his simple tombstone reads, apart from faith in Christ, there's no explanation for such a life.

[17:07] Now, we don't have to go to the mission field. In fact, I want you to be fired up about what you're doing where you are right now and working unto the Lord.

[17:19] And we don't have to give our lives to full-time ministry as if that ministry is sacred and every other ministry is not or every other place of ministry is not. But there should be something in our lives.

[17:30] When people get close and scratch the surface, when they watch the way we live and the way we spend, something shouldn't make sense. According to this passage, the Philippians don't make sense.

[17:44] This type of generosity, this joy and this poverty and this persecution and this generosity, it doesn't make sense. It's not addition.

[17:54] It doesn't add up in so many ways. This is already true of you. You're at a church plant. Oh, man. Definitely not in it for the ministry programs.

[18:06] You know? I think in so many ways, it speaks to me that you're here. I think it's the grace of God on your life. Because it doesn't make sense.

[18:16] Not even in our little Christian world. But let me keep going. Point two, give generously to treasure that will last. Give generously to treasure that will last.

[18:27] You know, if nothing reveals what we treasure more than money, again and again, Jesus calls us to give generously, Jesus and Paul in this passage to call us to give generously to treasure that will last.

[18:41] You know, these verses powerfully underline the generosity of the Philippians. And yet, packed into these few verses a history of their relationship with Paul and the way they gave generously.

[18:52] If you remember the backstory, which I told a long time ago, November 4th or something like that, Paul was passing through Asia. You remember? The Holy Spirit shut his mouth so that he was not allowed to preach in those areas because God was preparing for another place for him to preach.

[19:08] He saw a vision to go to Macedonia, which we've heard referenced already in our passage. And he boards a ship and he travels immediately to the town of Philippi, the Roman colony of Philippi.

[19:18] And there he stays for a few days to preach the gospel. He and Silas, if you remember, were beaten, dragged, and thrown into prison. That's when they were singing at midnight.

[19:30] After midnight, Paul and Silas were singing to the Lord. You know, shortly thereafter, they run out of town, but not before this little church, this little fledgling church was brought to life.

[19:43] They continue on to Thessalonica for three weeks and then to Athens, Greece, and Corinth. And from the get-go, this little church took up the cause of the gospel and gave generously.

[19:57] I just love this. In our passage, there's five references, or four, I think, to their generosity. Look, in verse 15, he says, you Philippians know that in the beginning of the gospel, when I left Macedonia, no church entered into partnership.

[20:11] The idea is that when I left, I left with something from you. They literally just came into existence. They gave him a gift. They gave him money. Later in Thessalonica, which I told you was just three weeks after he left, he stayed there for three weeks.

[20:25] They sent him money once and again. I just love that. He was only there for three weeks, Philippians found a way to send him money twice.

[20:36] That was after he was beaten, after he was run out of town. Later in Corinthians, beyond that passage I just read, in 2 Corinthians 11, he said, the brothers in Macedonia supplied my need while I was ministering in Corinth.

[20:49] So he went on from Macedonia, from Philippi, Thessalonica. He was in Corinth. They sent him money there. And now he's in Rome. He's at the end of his life, 13 years later.

[21:01] In verse 18b, he says, I've received full payment. I'm well supplied. I just love that. There's a timeline in this passage and the timeline is peppered by gifts.

[21:13] Timeline's peppered by generosity. They're just giving generosity. It's just flowing through their fingers. We love the gospel. We're just sending it out. We want to partner with people.

[21:24] We want to send you forth, Paul. Do your ministry. Don't work. Preach. Because he was a tent maker by trade. But I love this even more. in these verses, Paul, preserved for us, Paul's not rehearsing their past generosity to get another gift.

[21:41] Now sometimes we go to churches or we read support letters and preachers go on and on about how you gave in the past and then they turn and ask for a little bit more money, right?

[21:55] But Paul's not doing that. This is incredible. He's not rehearsing past generosity to get more gift. He's rehearsing it to point them to the reward. His heart is so pure.

[22:05] He says in verse 17, not that I seek the gift, but I seek the fruit that increases to your credit. Not that I seek the gift. What I'm telling you again and again and again, I'm thanking you for this generosity that you've shown me, but I don't want the gift.

[22:18] I don't want more money. What I want you to see is the reward that awaits. Now this word fruit literally means interest. So it's that business metaphor that's continuing.

[22:32] The idea is that you take up the cause of the gospel and give and you receive back blessings that have increased to your credit. Every finance guy or every finance investor wants to talk about interest.

[22:48] I'm talking compounding interest, right? That's the ticket to a 401k and to a comfortable, happy life, I guess, you know? And he's kind of playing on that terms.

[23:00] He's saying, give and you'll receive what you gave back with interest. Now Paul sounds a bit like a prosperity preacher. Give and you'll receive.

[23:11] Sacrifice and you'll gain. Sow and you'll reap with interest. Elsewhere he says, whoever sows sparingly will reap sparingly. Whoever sows bountifully will reap bountifully.

[23:22] And so prosperity preachers say, give and provide God's seed for sowing. You know, you want God to give a little blessing in your life? Well, give that money out and then he'll bless that seed with blessing.

[23:39] But we know Paul's not a prosperity preacher, right? He doesn't believe that a successful, suffering-free life is what's promised for all of us. But he is underlining some important things about finance, about money in the kingdom of Jesus Christ.

[23:55] One is eternal rewards flow to those who give generously. Eternal rewards flow to those who give generously. God wants us to live mindful of reward.

[24:09] In a passage just quoted, Jesus says, lay up for yourself treasures in heaven where neither moth nor rust, destroys, and where thieves can't. They don't break in and steal.

[24:21] The idea, one of the major motivations of giving in this life and investing, is investing in a treasure and a reward that will actually last. Everything we own in this life will someday rust or corrode or fall apart or be repossessed after we die.

[24:40] I love the story of John D. Rockefeller, one of the wealthiest men that ever lived. After he died, someone asked his accountant how much money did he leave. The reply was classic.

[24:52] He said, he left all of it. He left it all. He left it all. I mean, all these little things we get so close to. I think George Strait is right.

[25:02] I'd never seen a hearse with a luggage rack. Have you? You can't take it with you. You can't take it with you.

[25:15] You can't, you will not leave this world with anything. All the things that mean so much to you, mean so much to me, will be left behind.

[25:29] But you can send it ahead. That's what he's saying. That's the scripture he's talking about with money. You can send it ahead. Jim Elliott, another missionary, said he is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.

[25:45] Let me continue. Earthly blessings also, though, flow to those who give generously. That's where these prosperity preachers got it almost right. But because it's almost, it's wrong.

[26:00] Paul's not just calling them to look to eternal rewards. He's calling them to look to earthly ones. Jesus himself said, truly I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands for my sake and for the gospel who will not receive a hundredfold now in this time houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and land with persecutions.

[26:26] and in the age to come eternal life, earthly blessings follow. All those things you left, you'll gain back in this life is what Jesus says.

[26:39] So does that mean I prioritize giving so that I become financially rich? No. But there are a few things these things promise you.

[26:50] The earthly blessings this text, these scriptures promise you is that it does mean you will not lack or it means you won't lack. God will not allow you to provide for others and not provide for you.

[27:03] That's the facts. Paul said, or I mean, not Paul, David said, I've been young and now I'm old yet I've never seen the righteous forsaken or his children begging for bread.

[27:16] The Father will provide. Fear not for it is the Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom.

[27:30] Seek first the kingdom of God and all these things will be added to you. It does mean you will find joy. You know, maybe our discontentment is not because we have too little money but because we don't give enough.

[27:43] Now, I'm not taking an offering today. I don't want to. You guys are generous. But these texts push us. Giving generously untangles our hearts from temporary things and giving generously binds our hearts to God's purposes.

[27:59] You know, people talk about the joy of giving. The joy of just giving. It's incredible. I mean, even Scrooge found it at the end of the Christmas carol.

[28:11] It does mean you'll bear more fruit. There are many blessings that flow to giving. It's what the scriptures say. So how much should we give? I do think Piper is right.

[28:25] John Piper is right when he says we're talking about money. The better question is not how much should we give but how much dare I keep in light of what the scriptures say about money and the warnings they have.

[28:37] But a couple of the principles we agree on that I just want to say here in application would be one, begin with the tithe.

[28:52] You're giving 10%. That's what tithe is. Giving 10% of your income is not commanded in the New Testament. However, I would argue it's hard to believe with all the greater blessings of the New Covenant we should give less.

[29:06] I think we should give more. One of the things we agree on here is just this principle of first fruits of giving the first of what you've earned to the Lord.

[29:17] You know, 1 Corinthians 16 says we set it aside for the Lord's day. So start with 10%. I think 10% tithe is just the floor. It's the beginning of giving.

[29:27] If you're not there then I think you have a wonderful future ahead. Because I think giving can be a huge means of grace and encouragement to your soul.

[29:40] To not just give money but to partner in these ways. Secondly, one of the things we agree on around here is give first to the local church. While the broader church is mentioned in the New Testament the overwhelming majority of verses or references to the church in the New Testament are local.

[29:58] The idea is that it is implied that we live out our faith in rich partnership with a local church. A place where we hear the word.

[30:09] Where we bear one another's burdens. Where we give of our money to provide for ministry and the needy and so on. And these things are just distributed out through the church for the glory of Jesus Christ.

[30:22] And I do, I thank you as I said just a moment ago for the generosity you guys have shown to our little church plan. Three, third thing I'd say commit to increasing your giving as income increases.

[30:34] And this isn't the stuff we like to talk about. This is the very section where I said those opening comments. but this, just this idea that as income increases my desire to get doesn't need to.

[30:47] In fact, my goal would be by the end of my life to be consuming less and less and less and giving more and more and more. And so there's, there can be a wonderful accountability and that leads to my fourth thing is invite real accountability into your finances.

[31:03] Now there are a few things that make you start to sweat like having somebody look at your budget and ask hard questions. I've done it. I might hold myself up as a perfect example with finances but committed to not making financial decisions alone.

[31:20] In the body of Jesus Christ there's a wonderful help that comes with that type of accountability. Point three, trust God to provide everything else. If nothing reveals what we treasure more than money and if we give generously of our money to treasure that lasts we will be vulnerable.

[31:39] That's what Paul is getting at. If we're doing this right we'll have to trust God to provide. The numbers won't add up. And so Paul concludes this section with an astounding promise.

[31:50] Look in verse 19 he says, and my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches and glory in Christ Jesus. My God will supply every need.

[32:01] My God will supply every need. Obviously the first reference here is financial. This word need is pulled throughout this entire section and refers to financial need.

[32:13] He has needs and he's content even though he has needs nevertheless they supply his needs and after giving they have needs too and they have needs and their needs need to be supplied and so Paul's saying my God will provide for every financial need.

[32:28] That's what he's saying but this reference is not merely financial because he says every need. You know in so many ways as he closes this section on money he's closing the entire book.

[32:40] So many ways what he's saying is whatever lies ahead my God will supply it. All that you need to bring this work into completion he will supply. All that you need to live a life worthy of the gospel he will supply.

[32:51] All that you need to share Christ's sufferings he will supply. All that you need to do nothing out of selfish ambition or rivalry or conceit. All that you need to stop complaining and do all things without grumbling.

[33:04] All that you need to look not only after your own interests. All that you need to shine as lights in the world. All that you need to live in the good of grace.

[33:14] All that you need to live for the surpassing worth in knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. All that you need to press on. All that you need to walk in the way of the cross. All that you need to know about heaven and your reward and what awaits you and all that you need to get there.

[33:29] All that you need to rejoice. All that you need to not be anxious. All that you need to keep on praying. All that you need to be content. If you know what you need or you don't know what you need to be content it's all that you need is right here.

[33:41] All that you need for food and clothing and life and bread. Everything. You know and honestly this lesson is not just the lesson of this text but the lesson of the Bible. God is not glorified when people hold on to money with one hand and try to lean on him with the other.

[33:56] God is glorified when people let go of the money and lean wholly on Jesus Christ. That's what this text is saying. It's calling us to bank everything on him.

[34:12] Obviously it calls us to bank eternity on him. It calls anybody in here who's not sure how they relate to Christ to come to him. It says he will supply all your needs.

[34:27] Scriptures say all we like sheep have gone astray. All of us have wandered on our own way. All of us have sinned against God and we need a savior and this text says that Jesus Christ is held out before you.

[34:41] He is his savior. He'll supply all that you need but in addition to that he's saying everything. Don't just come for forgiveness. Come for everything. I love the story of the widow.

[35:00] All the rich were coming in throwing their fat checks in the offering. She comes in with two small copper coins.

[35:12] The smallest coin in use. The penny. Jesus said she put in more than all of them. He said she gave everything she had but the point though is not that she gave everything she had.

[35:26] The point is she refused to hold anything back. She refused to lean on anything else. She refused to look to anyone else for all that she needs.

[35:43] as if it could get better. It says he'll provide all that you need according to his riches in glory in Christ. It means he will provide for every need of yours out of his inexhaustible riches.

[36:01] But even more than that it means that he'll provide every need of yours in a manner worthy of his inexhaustible riches. You know the point is God is inexhaustibly rich.

[36:12] He's the creator. He's the Lord of all. The earth and the fullness thereof is the Lord's. He's in the heavens. He does what he pleases. Jesus says all authority in heaven and on earth is mine. God is rich in glory but he's not rich in such a way that we're just supposed to gape at him and be amazed at his wealth.

[36:27] He's rich in such a way so he can spend it. That's what he's saying according to his riches in glory. He's rich in this way that he can just exhaust it.

[36:39] God's not a measured giver. He wouldn't have given Christ. God's not a calculated giver. He wouldn't have given his very own son. He's not reluctant.

[36:50] He's not hesitant. He's not holding back in any way. He's given you his heart. That's what Romans 8.32 says. If he did not spare his own son how will he not also give us all things?

[37:02] That's an argument from the lesser to the greater. If he gave his son then everything else is included. David that's what rich people are supposed to do.

[37:13] Our culture is so ridiculous in about a million ways but we just applaud the rich when they give away money. That's what you're supposed to do.

[37:24] That's what I want to say to them. They don't need an applause. That's why you're rich biblically. And that's why the Lord's rich. You know that?

[37:35] He's not going to let you go hungry. He's going to supply every need. Let us use our money to show that Jesus Christ is the only treasure worth living for and worth dying for.

[37:50] Amen? Father in heaven we thank you for the gospel of Jesus Christ. Lord we'd be utterly sunk without it because the gospel announces to us that we have a trouble.

[38:04] we have a problem with God. We are desperate not just for financial resources we're desperate for a savior.

[38:18] That we've sinned against you in times without number such that we only deserve your righteous wrath. But you in mercy sent forth Christ.

[38:31] Scripture say while we were yet sinners Christ died for us. Therefore we come humbly before you to rejoice in Jesus.

[38:43] Lord we want to offer our lives to you again even if we've done it a thousand times. We want to follow. You want to lean more on you and less on worldly things.

[38:55] Lord shape our lives such that the world may see that Jesus Christ is the sweetest and most beautiful most wonderful most lovely most awesome treasure in the world.

[39:09] We need you God. Help us to live in that way in Jesus name. Amen. You've been listening to a message given by Walt Alexander lead pastor of Trinity Grace Church in Athens Tennessee.

[39:26]  For more information about Trinity Grace please visit us at trinitygraceathens.com Pr exported from