Title: I Know How to Die into Abundance
Contents
Philippians 4:10-13 Knowing how to abound and abound
There was a certain middle-aged man who was troubled by family strife. He prayed earnestly to God for a solution to his problem. God heard his earnest prayer and appeared to him. And you asked him. "What will I do for you? What are your wishes? I will grant you only three wishes."
So how happy was he? Without even thinking about it, he made his first wish like this. "God, please take the wife I live with me to heaven, and give me a new wife instead."
If you thought your wife was fed up with family strife, how would she have made her first wish like that? God took his wife as he wished. However, on the day of the funeral of his deceased wife, a huge number of mourners came. And everyone started praising his wife who died of the same gender. "I'm sorry. How did that precious person die so early? He did such good things, did such good things, and did many precious things without others knowing, and it's really unfortunate that he passed away so suddenly."
As he listened to people praising his wife, he began to feel really bad about his wife's death. That is why he implied this to God. "God, I must not let that person die. So please bring him back to life."
In this way, his wife died and came back to life. Of the three wishes, two have already been fulfilled. Now there is only one last one left. However, no matter how deeply he thinks about it, he cannot think of anything valuable enough to invest his last wish. So he asked God: "God, what do I need the most right now? Please teach me that."
Then God said this. "Ask for a heart to be satisfied with your life now." So he prayed according to the word of God, and it came true. However, when he possessed a heart that knows how to be satisfied, the world has changed. I couldn't be more grateful, happy, and grateful for everything. Even his tired wife said he couldn't look so lovely. So he was able to make a really good wish come true. Of course, it must be something someone made up. But how happy a person is to be truly content with his life? May we all have the same grace.
In a village in the West lived a very wealthy millionaire. He was single all his life, just for fun making money. But one time, he made a mistake in investing in stocks and suffered a huge loss. I checked my bank balance and only had about $100,000 left. That's quite a bit of money though. However, he could not withstand the shock, and he collapsed and died of a heart attack.
The only blood that remained of him was a nephew, a nephew who was living in the countryside with hard farming. The remaining $100,000 was automatically passed on to the nephew. But what would happen when his nephew, who was usually poor, unexpectedly got his hands on a huge sum of 100,000 dollars? He, too, could not withstand the shock and died of colon paralysis.
For the same 100,000 dollars, one person dies for too little and the other dies for too much. The person in front did not know how to be afflicted with poverty, and the person behind did not know how to live in abundance. If they had learned to be self-sufficient, they would not have had to go through such misery. May all of us today receive the grace of contentment in our Lord Jesus Christ.
1. The Apostle Paul said, "I knew I was going to be in humiliation."
The Apostle Paul knew how to be humbled. He was a man who wanted to be humbled for the glory of Jesus. As we know, the apostle Paul was born into a good family. It was the tribe of Benjamin. He was of royal origin. He was a Hebrew among the Hebrews. He had Roman citizenship from birth. I also learned a lot. I learned the law under Gamaliel, a prestigious school at that time. He belonged to the Pharisees. He was truly a promising person.
But on the way to Damascus, he met the resurrected Jesus. His life has completely changed. He became a servant of Jesus Christ and sacrificed everything of his life for the Lord. He suffered a lot of persecution because of Jesus. It was impossible to sell. He was also stoned. He was also imprisoned several times. Because I had to go from place to place to preach the gospel, sometimes I struggled with the heat. Sometimes even fought the cold. I was also hungry, thirsty, and naked.
But the apostle Paul never once complained about his lowly condition. I didn't care at all. Why? Because he is a paper. When Jesus, the Lord, was honored and glorified through his life, he lived a sufficient life.
Paul also wrote several letters to the saints he loved while in prison. The four books of the Bible, including the epistle to Philippians, Ephesians, Colossians, and Philemon, recorded in today's text are the epistles written by the Apostle Paul while he was imprisoned in Rome. People were deeply moved by reading his letters.
Thus, Paul had a greater effect on the progress of the gospel than when he preached the gospel outside of prison. Paul was rather glorifying God through his humbleness. Everyone, think about it. What would have happened if Paul had been free to preach the gospel outside? In fact, if you think about it, he may have already been assassinated by the persecution of the Jews long ago.
?쏧 will neither eat nor drink until I have killed Paul!??Because the number of Jews who made this oath was forty. In a way, the Roman prison where Paul is now imprisoned served as a hiding place for him to keep him safe.
The same is true. Dear saints, Have you been in lowliness? The good will of God is in it. Through our lowliness, we can give God more glory. So let us not be discouraged because we are in lowliness. It is because we can give greater glory to God through our lowliness.
2. The Apostle Paul said, "I know how to be rich."
When Paul was in lowliness, he glorified God through his lowliness. Likewise, when Paul was in abundance, he did not forget to glorify God through his abundance. Some people work hard and do well in their religious life when they are in lowliness. I also do a lot of prayer life. But there are some people who lose their zeal when they are in abundance. Why? It is because they do not know how to face abundance. We also need to know how to live in abundance.
In Acts 14, we see this. It was when Paul and Barnabas preached the gospel in Lystra, Asia Minor. Many people gathered around Paul, listening to the gospel he preached. But among them, there was one person who had been lame since birth. He also listened intently to the gospel preached by Paul. Paul saw that he had faith in his heart to be saved. So Paul cried out to him. "Get up and walk!"
Then the crippled man jumped up from his seat. I was walking and running. When the crowds around them saw it, they all shouted at Paul and Barnabas. ?쏧t is not men, but gods who came among us in human form.??Then they went to Paul and Barnabas to slaughter an animal and make a sacrifice, as they would to the gods.
So how surprised Paul and Barnabas were. They tore their clothes in haste. And he cried out to the crowd: "Don't do this, folks! We are people just like you. Why do we preach the gospel to you? Don't work in vain like this, and serve only the true God, the Lord. We are not preaching the gospel to you. So, there is only one. Glory be to you alone."
Even in the midst of abundance, Paul never forgot to glorify God. Paul had only one purpose in life. Whether you eat, drink, or do anything to the glory of God. Even when he was rich, he glorified God through his abundance.
But the one who trembles arrogantly because he has a little more and ignores those who don't have a lot of money. He is a person who lives a life of shame and abundance. We hope that will not be the case. The more we have, the more humble we should be. And we should be good stewards of material things and use them worthy of God's glory. That is the one who knows how to live in abundance.
3. What was the secret of the apostle Paul's ability to be content?
Please see verse 13. ?쏧 can do all things through him who strengthens me.??In other words, the Apostle Paul always looked to Jesus Christ in all circumstances. Even when he was in lowliness, he did not look at his lowliness. When I was in abundance, I did not look for abundance Looking at Jesus, I was able to overcome all circumstances by receiving the strength that the Lord gave me.
It is easy to become discouraged when we look at our lowliness when we are lowly. On the other hand, it is easy to fall asleep when we look at our abundance when we are rich. Don't look at my circumstances and circumstances. May our gaze be fixed on the unchanging Lord Jesus Christ. When we do this, we too will be able to overcome all circumstances with the power that the Lord gives us.
Look at Peter. When he looked at Jesus, he walked well on the sea. Then, a strong wind blew, so Peter looked at the wind instead of looking at Jesus. I looked at the waves. At that moment, Peter lost his balance and fell into the sea. The same is true. Whatever the circumstances, we must look to Jesus. Only then will we be able to overcome all circumstances.
We can overcome all circumstances because our Jesus is with us today and gives us power. You could be in a bad mood. You can also run into abundance. May the grace of self-sufficiency in our Lord Jesus Christ be with all of us, in the name of Jesus.