Philippians 4:13-21

I want each of you to go back twenty years in your memories. Now if you aren’t twenty years old, then just go back 10 years 2 times. Now think about your life experiences and my question is are you living the life you expected to live 20 years ago? I wish we had the time to tell our stories because the truth is that every person here has known the unexpected thrill of victory and at of times the agony of defeat. You may be living in a different country from what you expected. Some have lost jobs or gained jobs that they did not know about. You may be in a college that you never dreamed about. And happily, some of you did not expect to alive today and you were surprised too.

 So I think we can say that life in uncertain. Just like the stock market, we study and make our plans and then some stocks go and others go down and a lot of people guess wrong when the stock moves. Its such a complex topic that analysts don’t agree with each other. Some watch the fundamentals and others watch historical events, and some make their own secret formulas.

 There is only one way to know whether a stock is going to go up or down. And that is insider trading. Martha Stewart felt frantic to act because unlike the analysts, Martha Stewart knew without a shadow of a doubt that the stock was going down. Their prize medical invention was worthless and the news was about to be announced.

 And frankly, if I were choosing individual stocks today, I would look for companies where the directors and key staff keep buying their own stock. And conversely, if you see the company directors steadily selling down their shares, do you think they’re doing that just because they’re bored? Now try to use this without ending up where Miss Martha is.

 Well, the Scripture today is about insider knowledge for blessing. Blessing is that condition where you feel fortunate that life has worked out for you. It’s a great condition to have. And you have complete control over whether that is the feeling you have. Like insider trading, the result in your life is not a chance but a certainty. If you have honestly looked at life recently, and felt that the blessed feeling was missing, expect guidance and new salvation through the Word of grace from God this day.

 Paul left Philippi with Timothy on a journey to make the good news of Jesus Christ more public. He was spectacularly successful in a way that we can’t full identify with. His words about Christ are so controversial that Nero arrests him in Rome and he is awaiting trial and chained night and day to a Roman soldier. None of the churches that were supporting him have continued to send money and his needs were so great that he called them his ‘affliction.’

 The Christians had different responses to Paul. Some were annoyed that he had gotten arrested. They ignored the fact that people were asking them more about the gospel because it was such a popular topic after Paul’s arrest. Some of the others wanted to help, but felt that their own family had to come first. One person was heard to remark that charity begins at home even though in that day, there were not hundreds of Christian groups asking for money.

 The Philippians became known as the people who dug deeper with true generosity. They were not expecting a return. And they were not living in a time with a large middle class so they could not have a spaghetti supper or can drive to get the money. They looked for whatever they had in their poverty to make a gift of love.

 The Principles of True Generosity.  We need to know what principles to embrace in generosity. When you take care of your car, you have to start by understanding the principles on which it runs. Car repairs are always to get a principle going again, the principle of ignition, or the principle of combustion, or some other underlying principle that gave way and caused the difficulty.

 Giving and Receiving contains the Principles of True Generosity. Matthew 10:8, ‘Freely you have received, freely give.’ There is a connection between being blessed and blessing others. But most people are so caught up in their own sense of hurt and oppression that they scarcely notice the blessing. I suspect that we all have friends who are a little better off than we are and when they start complaining, you just look at them with amazement. One guy says to me ‘The leather upholstery in my car just doesn’t react well to cold weather.’ I have never had a car with leather upholstery. But I try to listen and help him with his psychological loss. Friends, if you come to me for counseling, just remember that pastors are human. And if I get a faraway look on my face, it means that I’m comparing your troubles to mine – and I’m thinking, what on earth is she complaining about!

 The principle of True Generosity means that we have to candidly admit when we have been blessed. Say it with me, ‘I have been blessed.’ That blessing includes your last raise, the money you saved with coupons this week, the cake that your neighbor brought, and the great prices on the auction yesterday.

And when that happens, you get ready to be a blessing. God said to Abraham, ‘I will bless you so that you may be a blessing.’ Genesis 12. And the principle works both ways. Jesus says in Luke 6:38, ‘Give and it shall be given unto you.’

There is a persistence in True Generosity. The Philippians gave again and again. Persistence means being ready for opportunities to give. We are about to enter a season where people will ask for your donations by mail, by phone, and on the street. And what I notice is that people who know the Principles of True Generosity look for some opportunities to give. They don’t give to every hand that comes outstretched, but they are ready to give. At my last church, the congregation was in contact with about 50 children that would not have a great Christmas. I knew maybe half of the children on the list and they were all children touched by the work of our church. And there were at least 50 people in that church who were determined to make sure that those kids had a Christmas as nice as our own. People took cards off the church tree and put on an ornament for every child that was sponsored. The beauty of the tree pictured the character of people who knew the Principles of True Generosity.

Paul notes that there is a Product of True Generosity. God cares that the generous person does not suffer as a result of generosity. God promises to supply our needs. We get nervous because we don’t like God’s delivery system. Paul survived because of a gift that he didn’t even know was coming. Elijah was fed by ravens. How can we use those methods in a world that demands rent and utilities?

The principles work just like insider trading. God says to us, ‘Sons and daughters, I want you to have generous hearts even though you have bills to pay, fixed incomes, special needs.’ That is God’s desire for us. And God’s promise is that if we practice true generosity, we will experience a peace of mind and have our own needs met too. And God says, practice the true generosity when you have been blessed and practice it in advance and you will be blessed. God wants to take the greed of the world and destroy it with people who are committed to True Generosity.

We are blessed to live in a church where there are people who have long known the Principles of True Generosity. You will hear their testimony in an upcoming service. I am not going to name people without their permission and I am sure that I don’t know all the giving stories there are here. But if you are hurting inside, it may well be that you have not placed the Principles of True Generosity there. Start with a special gift today, get into the practice of tithing and I have insider trading knowledge for you. You will be blessed.

In the last church, we had a stewardship campaign where a single mother with two young children and the father in prison had practiced tithing and true generosity. And she gave her testimony one morning. And we said in that campaign, try this for 90 days and if you don’t feel that God has been faithful, see the treasurer and we will restore every gift you have made in that period. God is faithful.

When we leave earth, you don’t even get to take your clothes. But Paul says that one of things that we do take is our Generosity blessings. Paul loved the Philippians. People call this book in the Bible the Tender Book because Paul is so emo in it. And Paul says, ‘not only did you help me, but your gift was added to your heavenly account so that you will receive the full blessing from God in the future.’ I don’t know fully what God was thinking about, but it sounds incredible. And he is so overwhelmed that he concludes, ‘To our God and Father be glory forever and ever.’

If you feel like I care about you as your pastor, I would say – trust your feelings. And because I care I delight when I see you take a new step in generosity. Of course I’m happy to see the bills paid. But I also want to see you living in blessing with a heavenly account growing. And this morning we have looked at some insider knowledge on how you can do it. And I truly pray that you will. God bless you all.