If you have your copies of God's Word, I invite you to turn to the book of Philippians chapter 4. Philippians chapter 4, it's on page 982 in URP Bibles. I've never done this before where I come to a text and realize that it is not only a text that will take one week or two weeks, but three weeks at least to understand and see all that's here. And the more that I got into this text. It's only verses 10 to 13 that we looked at last week and that we'll consider this week and next week, Lord willing. But when I was getting into this and the text itself was drawing in so many other texts from Old and New Testament to give insight on this, that it was so much and so beneficial for me. And I think in God's kind providence that a text that I maybe in my own heart didn't want to think too much about contentment has led to several weeks looking at it. It is such a helpful thing for us to learn contentment, and every situation and as you recall Philippians is a letter that was written by Paul in prison to this church that he loved that loved him and in many ways it's sort of like a missionary letter giving a report of how things are going and sending Epaphroditus back as his carrying the letter. Last week, we looked at what it means to learn contentment, and specifically, we looked at six ways that we learned contentment last week. And we're still in that theme of learning contentment. And one thing that we can't forget is this aspect of God's sovereignty. And in our text, we'll see again that in any and every situation, whether we have plenty or want, that we are to be content. How do we do that? How do we do that when so many things that we're living in is difficult? And I think maybe even the greater difficulty is what we're actually looking at specifically today is how do we abound? How do we actually live in abundance? If you are in a season where there is abundance, it seems like a much harder lesson to learn to find contentment there than it is maybe in a season when you are in want. And so that's what we're looking at today, specifically how... How do we abound as as he writes it here and just I mentioned this last week just two book recommendations I mentioned these two books last week briefly But one of them is by Thomas Watson called the art of divine contentment the art of divine contentment by Thomas Watson and the other one both of these are English Puritan, so part of the English Heritage Reformation, Thomas Watson. And then Jeremiah Burroughs wrote, The Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment. The Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment. And I think he's spot on with that. So both of those, Jeremiah Burroughs was a member of the Westminster Assembly. Both of those would be well with your time. And I've actually received several comments from some of you saying that you've purchased the books and you are starting to make your way through them as well. So if you're able, would you please stand for the reading of God's word. Philippians chapter 4. We'll be looking at verses 10 to 13. I rejoice in the Lord greatly that now at length you have revived your concern for me. You were indeed concerned for me, but you had no opportunity. Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. I can do all things through Him who strengthens me." This is God's holy and inspired word. You may be seated. For several years, some of you know this, Aaron Little and I both worked for a life insurance company. I won't give a long story about Aaron's experience with that, which is you'll need to ask him about someday. But as I was being recruited to be a life insurance agent, what they did is they would sit us all down in a room and they would have someone wealthy come in. and they would talk about, here's what you'll be able to get, the mansion, and the yacht, and things like this. He showed me, he's one of the guy that was there, sat down, the recruiter next to me, and he showed me his Rolex and said, this is what you could obtain. So what it was is, all those things, they were communicate. If I had all of those things, I would be happy. Therefore, life insurance agent equals happiness. I said, that sounds nice. I'll do that. and I realized that I'm not a good salesman. Anyway, it was a tough thing. What they didn't mention in all of those conversations is the difficulties that often come with prosperity, the difficulties that oftentimes come with wealth. And in reality, I think that prosperity and abundance oftentimes bring some of the strongest temptations to pull our hearts away from the Lord. In Deuteronomy, several weeks ago, we looked at this in our scripture reading, but in Deuteronomy chapter 6, This is before the people of Israel went into the Promised Land, before they entered into Canaan. And it says, And when the Lord your God brings you into the land, He swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give you with great and good cities that you did not build, and houses full of all good things that you did not fill, and cisterns that you did not dig, and vineyards and olive trees that you did not plant. And when you eat and are full, then take care lest you forget the Lord. He brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. Why would He say that? Why would God say that? When you eat and are full, you're in abundance. Why is it easy to forget the Lord in that time? Well, we certainly saw this with Solomon. He had great wisdom, but he was a poor steward of his wisdom, and he pursued all kinds of things in this world. Lots and lots of wives, and lots and lots of riches, and they pulled his heart away from God. I think it's one of the reasons that we see so much in Scripture, warnings against those that have great wealth. Luke chapter 6, Jesus says, Matthew 19, as you no doubt are probably thinking of now, Jesus says, So we need to be careful that wealth, money, in and of itself, is not a sin. That's not evil. And people oftentimes misquote the passage there in 1 Timothy 6 that money is the root of all kinds of evil. But what does it actually say? It's the love of money. Right. And I think this is why there's so many warnings here because in Old and New Testament, because the pursuing, the chasing after the abundance There's even these books today. This just disturbs me. You know, these best-seller books. You know, the abundant life. And the abundant life is not because we have Christ, who's the all-satisfying treasure. It's because we have stuff. Creflo dollar wanting a new jet. I mean, it's this kind of stuff that we think we deserve. And I think it's what pulls hearts away from the Lord. I've noticed how, oftentimes, those that are wealthy, they are less teachable. and maybe more controlling. I see this in churches sometimes, where in churches that people have put, and I know this is true even in the PCA, there has been churches in the PCA even, where someone was put onto the elder, becoming an elder because they were wealthy or because they had a prominent position. And that's not biblical. And I think we see some of the difficulties of this, because temptation is not just for the person with the wealth, but for those around them. And that's why I think that the love of money is the root of all kinds of evils. It has ripples, it has effects. Jeremiah Burroughs, he says, if adversity has slain her thousands, prosperity has slain her ten thousands. It is the abundance of outward prosperity that is the undoing of many men. With that background, let me just give you today five ways that I think that we can learn how to abound. If you are in a place right now, or if you've been in a place, or maybe you... Maybe this is a preparation for a time in your life where you come into a place of abundance. How do we do that? How do we rightly abound? And I think Paul and God's providence in his life brought him through various seasons. Sometimes it was very hungry. Sometimes he had a lot of food. But there's a way in which we find contentment in both. And so the side of this, of finding contentment or how we are to abound. Five quick ways I think we could do this. And the first is that we learn how to abound when we see our possessions for what they really are, their true value. That they are to be used for enjoyment, for their usefulness, right? We don't devalue them and just cast them aside as if they mean nothing. nor do we elevate them to a place more than what they are. We can enjoy the gifts of God, but we don't... our comfort and our joy isn't dependent upon those gifts. That's a careful distinction. We can enjoy those gifts, We should, He's given them to us, but we don't put all our dependence of our comfort and joy in them. Psalm 104 says, You cause the grass to grow for the livestock, and the plants for man to cultivate, that he may bring forth food from the earth, and wine to gladden the heart of man, oil to make his face shine, and bread to strengthen man's heart. These are all gifts of God. They're gifts of the Lord to be used, to enjoy, to be thankful for them. But we don't put all our dependence of our joy and happiness in them. There is a danger, I think, in chasing after the gifts above the giver. There is a danger in that, in chasing after the gifts. And maybe the Lord is showing that to you right now. Maybe the Lord into this understanding of contentment is exposing some of that. Maybe that's pushed deep down in your heart. I think we see this sometimes, if only I had fill in the blank. then I would be at a place where I could be happy. I'd be at a place where I could praise the Lord. For maybe four or five years, I helped lead a team to Cherokee, North Carolina, mission teams to Cherokee, North Carolina, the Indian reservation there. Maybe you've been there before. to Cherokee and what I learned my first year that I was there is that when a Cherokee teenager becomes 18, they get between $120,000 to $150,000 at 18 years old. Now, there's things happening now where they're trying to encourage those 18-year-olds not to just blow it all because what was happening is in three months they were back at home. That was the average. They were three months. They had spent it all and they were broke. They were typically addicted to something and back at home. And the Native American people groups in America have the highest suicide rates, the highest drug and substance abuse than any other people group in our country. There's a giving of all this money at one time like that. And it pulls their hearts away from the Lord. It pulls their hearts. They see what they can do with that. All they can buy with that. And I think this is what Ravi Zacharias, when he says that the loneliest moment in life is when you've just experienced that which you thought would bring the ultimate, and it's let you down. And so when we chase after those gifts rather than God, who's the greatest treasure, this is what happens. It exposes that we see these gifts not in their true value. A second way that we learn how to abound is that when we realize it is easy to become, easy to become a slave to our possessions, possessed by our possessions. It's easy to become a slave to them. And I think that we should enjoy these good gifts, but be willing to let them go if necessary. Be willing to part with them if God is leading you to do that. Again, Jeremiah Burroughs, he says, A man has learned how to abound when he can use the gifts of God and yet remain ready to part with all his comforts if God calls for them. I enjoy comforts, but in such a manner," he says, that my heart lies down before God and is prepared to give up those comforts I enjoy whenever God would have me to do so, then I've learned how to abound. For a short season in my life, I worked as a manager of a outfitter store, backpacking camping equipment. We sold higher end North Face type jackets and that sort of thing. There's a new company that had come out with a new product called Gore Windstopper. It's a material that stopped wind. There's a Sierra Designs company that produced this jacket. The company that I was working for gave me the jacket. as a gift, $450 jacket to try out, to test, to experiment. And it became my treasure. It became my deep treasure. And I love that jacket. Over the years though, I saw, someone actually confronted me on it, and I saw how much it was actually taking a hold of holding me. It's a jacket. But we do this with silly stuff, don't we? But here was a jacket. And in 2011, I led a mission team down to Peru. And I was there and I took that jacket on with the purpose of giving it away. The young man who was in seminary down there had no idea, all this background and burden. But when I gave it to him, I felt that I'd come to that wicked gate and the burden had fallen off, like Christian in the Pilgrim's Progress. He had no idea. He was happy to get a jacket. But here, I'd become enslaved to a possession. I'd become trapped by it, by my love for it, and there was a freedom in letting it go. I think a third way that we can learn how to abound We can learn the principle of moderation. We can learn the principle of moderation. Proverbs 30 says, Give me neither poverty nor riches. Feed me with the food that is needful for me, lest I be full and deny you, and say, Who is the Lord? Or lest I be poor and steal and profane the name of God. Now of course, you might be asking, wait a minute, how does this reconcile with our text? Because it says in any and every situation. Well, here in Proverbs, it's a wise saying. Because we know both in abundance and in poverty, there's certain temptations that go along with both of them. And so in some ways you're asking what the Lord's Prayer is asking, you know, keep me from temptation, God. That's sort of what he's getting at here. Keep me from temptation. But God gives us these gifts that we are to exercise self-control over, not to be overindulgent of them. There, I don't know if you've ever been to Pigeon Forge before. There is all kinds of stores that you can go into. I think the greatest store in Gatlinburg, Pigeon Forge, Sevierville, that area right above the Smokies, is Krispy Kreme. And right there, and I usually take it as a sign of the Lord when the sign is blinking hot. That's God's way of saying, that's running in turn. Actually, this is before Lydia was born. We're taking just a couple, the two of us up there to get some time together and spend time in the woods. Of course, we were driving through Pigeon Forge. We see the sign, we pull in. We're going to be there for two days. And I said, we'll just get six, right? So, you know, and we get up there, and they had some deal, I guess, going on, and they said, hey, for 50 cents more, you can get, you can double that. You can get a full dozen. Of course, just the two of us. I'm thinking, great, so I get a dozen. I asked her the whole time thinking, You know, are you going to eat a dozen doughnuts? She's not going to eat any. I'm going to eat a dozen doughnuts. And of course I can, I was making myself sick trying, because I now felt bad eating, you know, buying all of them. I needed to eat all of them. But this is what lack of self-control, I see this in my life over and over and over again, in areas where we lack self-control and moderation. And this is one way that I think we can learn abundance. Learn how to abound in abundance. I think a fourth way is that when we realize that God gives abundance for a purpose. God is not arbitrary. He doesn't make mistakes. It's not by chance that you have abundance. If you're in that season right now of abundance. It's not by chance that you're there. That you have abundance for a purpose. This is what John Flavel called the heavenly use of earthly things. That these things are for God's glory. He says whatever you do, whether you eat or drink, Do it all for the glory of God. And I think this is where we come to see that we need, as the capacity for giving grows, so is our generosity. So as we gain in abundance, maybe. There's a season that you find yourself in great abundance. Asking God, how can I use this abundance for your glory? How can I be generous? Show a greater generosity. And I think certainly the scriptures teach this, to whom much is given, much is required. 1 Timothy chapter 6 says, "...as for the rich in this present age, charge them not to be haughty, nor to set their hopes..." I love this, "...on the uncertainty." of riches, but on God who richly provides us with everything to enjoy. They are to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share. And I think one of the reasons that God gives us things in order to be blessing and give to others, is because when we do that, we experience the joy of giving. I think that's why it's talked about, it's more blessed to give than to receive. Why is that? Why is that? I mean, from my earliest childhood, I remember trying to find something around the house to wrap at Christmas time to give to my parents. Of course, I couldn't buy anything, but I wanted to give. I wanted to give. I love giving to Lydia and Garrett, my children. Why do I love to give? I don't love to give on the other hand also, right? But there's something that's so wonderful and I love that. And God has given us so much. He's given us His Son. He takes great delight in us. He loved us enough to do that. And here I think, in that way, it's a way that God teaches us and grows us as we give. There's a way in which God actually grows your faith and your generosity toward others. Maybe a final way, a fifth way, that I think we can learn how to abound in seasons of abundance. And next week we'll come to being brought low in seasons of want. But for now, this is a harder lesson, I think, to learn how to abound rightly and biblically and with honoring to God. A fifth way is that our abundance should lead us to the source of our abundance. God Himself. It should lead us to the source of our abundance. We don't just want the peace of God, we want the God of peace. We don't want just the love of God, we want the God of love. We get God, He's the greatest treasure. And I think we were looking at this earlier from James 1 17, every good and perfect gift is from above. What do we have that we have not received from his hand? What do we have that we have not received from his hand? If that is true, it should mean at least a few things. One, that we recognize our dependence upon him for everything. The smallest morsel of bread. We are dependent upon Him. I think it is easier sometimes for us to see that in times of want and of hunger. This is why we do periods of fasting on occasion. Where we come to see that He is the bread of life. That when I'm hungry, I should hunger for Him and His Word. But it's sometimes easier to see that. It's harder for a rich person. It just is. It's sometimes harder for a rich person to see their dependence upon God. But they are just as dependent upon the Lord as the poor. The second thing we can learn from that is that it teaches us to be good stewards of what we have. We recognize that if he's the source of everything, he owns everything. He owns the cattle on a thousand hills. I'm not just taking that number literally. That means He owns all things. He owns all cattle. It's all His. The earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof. It is His. For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. Therefore, He has given you the great privilege and responsibility to be stewards of what is His. Which means we always go to Him and ask Him, how can we use this God? How can I use what you've given? It may not be money, but it may be something. Maybe time. How can I use this for you and for your kingdom, your glory? And maybe a final way that how this maybe works out in learning that He is the source of all good. He's the source of all things. Of the gifts as it makes us thankful. It makes us thankful, people. This is something we looked at last week in our benediction. And be thankful. Be so grateful for all that you have when you see how much we don't deserve and what God has given. It makes us thankful. I hope that we would be a thankful people here at Wayside. I hope that would be something that is very common among us, to be thankful for the things that we have, to catalog those good things that God has given. And even in the difficulties, to say, God, thank you for this trial. I pray that I would see you as enough in my life. Thank you for this, that I would count it all joy when I face these various trials. So what about you? Are there things maybe that you are holding on to too tightly? Like that jacket that I was holding on to. Are there things that maybe You're sensing that God is leading you to give away, to give up. Maybe it's a test of faith to say, God, you're enough for me. Are there things that maybe God is leading you to do that? You can have all the riches and abundance in the world and still be miserable. In fact, If you look at the stats of those who have won the lottery, I just looked at this, over 70% within five years, 70% of those who win the lottery are broke, have declared bankruptcy. You can have everything and be absolutely miserable. And that's why I think when we come and we see I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me, through him who strengthens me, who gives me strength, whether I'm facing plenty or want, He gives me the strength. He is the one that satisfies my soul. He is the one that gives me that comfort, that who gives me... I mean, when we ask this question, how do we abound? We abound because it is God who gives us the strength, because He is our great treasure. And I want you to leave today realizing that, that your satisfaction and joy, your heart is where God is. And because of that, that is a way that we bring Him glory. Next week, we'll look at what does it mean, if we looked at how to abound, what does it mean how to be brought low? How do we do that well? How do we be brought low well? And again, we'll look through the lens of our verse 13, through him who strengthens me. Let's pray together. Heavenly Father, I pray that we would come to a place to say with the hymnist, it is well with my soul. God, you are enough. Whom have I in heaven but you? On earth there is, I desire nothing besides you. My flesh and my heart may fail, but you are the strength in my heart and my portion forever. God, you are the source of all good. And what do we have that we've not received from You in Your hand? God, I pray that we would be a thankful people. A people that are good stewards of the things that are Yours. God, that we would see ourselves as wholly dependent upon You. And God, that would give us a great joy in believing. And we pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.