Faithful Supplier Psalm 23 and Philippians 4:19

 

Grace, mercy and peace be with you, from God, our Father, our Faithful Provider, and our Lord Jesus Christ, our Good and Faithful Shepherd.

 

We’re going to talk about how God faithfully supplies all our needs, so that we might faithfully share with others in need.

 

It’s based on our Epistle, especially verse 19 19 And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.

 

And from the much loved Psalm, Psalm 23, verse 1, The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want, and verse 5, my cup overflows.

 

With the Lord as our Shepherd, we’re well supplied for, in body and soul.

 

Always, God would give us all we need for the well-being of our soul; and often, for the well-being our body, and our mind.

 

Last Sunday we talked about Christ’s return, our resurrection, and our life in Paradise.

 

In eternal Paradise, all the needs of the body will be totally supplied. There’ll be no want, as we just heard in our Psalm, The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want, or be in want, or in need.

 

That promise will be completely fulfilled in Heaven. There will be no want, no unsupplied needs, no poverty; but also no greed, no insecurity that makes us think we always need more. 

 

Sin is so effective at making us dissatisfied when it would be so much better for us to just be thankful and content. 

 

Like in the children’s movie, Over the Hedge, with the little animals that live in the woods by a huge new housing development, separated by a hedge. 

And the little raccoon tries to convince his little friends to go with him, over the hedge, to where the people live, because there’s lots of stuff to be had there.

 

And he tells the other animals about all that people have. And then he says, “With all that, you’d think it would be enough; but with people, enough is never enough. They always want more”.

 

In Heaven, all greed and dissatisfaction will be left behind, and enough will truly be enough; not just because we’ll be well supplied, but also because our hearts will be changed, God will supply us with a pure heart; we’ll be perfectly happy and content, and so we won’t scheme how to get more. 

 

And all we have, we’ll gladly share.

 

Besides serving as our great reward and our eternal life, Heaven also provides us with a model for how we try to live on earth. 

 

The way we will treat people in Heaven, is the way we try to treat others on earth.

 

As far as being satisfied and having enough, knowing the contentment we’ll have in Heaven, helps us to make us happier and more content here on earth; it puts our heart at peace.

 

As Paul says in our Epistle, I have learned in whatever situation I am, to be content. 

 

That’s a wonderful thing to learn. It makes us much happier, much more satisfied, more motivated to give thanks, and more willing to share from what God has given us, from our cup that overflows, as our Psalm says.

 

To remind us of all this, Jesus has taught us to pray these words: Give us this day our daily bread.

 

Martin Luther explains it like this: God certainly gives daily bread to everyone, without our prayers, but we pray in this petition that God would lead us to realize this, and to receive our daily bread with thanksgiving.

 

What we’re truly thankful for, means more to us, and we’re less likely to take it for granted, even when we have much of it.

 

Realizing what a gift it is, undeserved, truly a gift, makes us more likely to share. If the gift has been given to us, ought we not give to others?

 

If we’ve been given the greatest gift, the gift of God’s Son, His death to save our life, and His resurrection to make it last forever, then is there any gift too great for us to share; or too little to share?

 

God being so great a supplier, helps us to be better sharers, more willing to share, and gracious to receive. And more diligent to give all the glory to God!

 

It’s been a wild couple of years, with all we’ve gone through with Covid, and other things, maybe related to Covid, or maybe not. 

 

We had grown so accustomed to an almost endless supply, oversupply some might say, of material goods.

 

As my family knows, I like cars, and so I like driving through the car lot, to see what’s there and what the new models look like. 

 

My wife on the other hand, does not have that same appreciation for automobiles. She would roll her eyes when I would turn into the car lot.

 

For so many years, car lots were overflowing. I remember Waconia Dodge with their paved lot full of cars, and scores of cars parked across the street on the grass.

 

In contrast, for awhile there, some months ago, the car lots were almost empty. 

Or at the store, some of the shelves nearly empty where they used to have boxes of goods in the aisles because it couldn’t all fit on the shelves.

 

This is a new thing for many of us. It reminds us that there have been shortages before, and can be again, because the world can be a fickle supplier. 

 

If it’s ultimately the world we look to for what we need, we will ultimately be in want. 

 

The world can sometimes supply for our earthly needs, for the temporary needs of our earthly, temporary body and mind, but it can never supply for our eternal soul. 

 

God wants us to be responsible and capable in providing for people’s earthly needs, and on all the necessary levels, all parties involved: businesses, governments, charities, hospitals, schools, churches, and individuals; all to do their part in supplying people’s needs.

 

But He also wants us to remember, as Jesus told the devil in the Judean wilderness, that man does not live by bread alone, but by every word from the mouth of God.

 

God’s Word is the bread of life that lasts forever, for the sustenance of the eternal soul. 

 

God has supplied us with a Word above all words, with a Truth that goes beyond earthly facts and shows us salvation, with a Love from above, that has not even a trace of selfishness, as Jesus proved on the cross, and with a divine Grace that supersedes just being nice or gracious, but that forgives us and opens up Heaven’s glory to us.

 

We’re thankful and generous, because God has so faithfully supplied our earthly needs, not just the things we need, but the people we need -- our family and friends, co-workers and colleagues, church and community.

We’re even more grateful that God has supplied our everlasting needs, which the world is incapable of supplying. 

 

Our God is too faithful, too great a supplier to give us only what we need for awhile. He has the ability, the power, and He cares enough, so much, that He supplies our needs for eternity.

 

Imagine what an inventory there is and will be in Heaven; no shortages of what we will need, ever.

 

There’ll be nothing we can’t afford because it’ll all be God’s free gift; especially the abundance of spiritual gifts, love, joy, unity, peace and more. 

 

The greatest inventory in Heaven will be the gifts of the Spirit.

 

Let us give joyful thanks to God for all He gives us now, and all He will give us then. 

 

We praise Him now ahead of time, because we know He’ll do it.

 

And let us do our best to help supply for the needs of others, especially those nearby, and around the world, who are in desperate, dire need. 

 

And most of all, let us supply the Gospel, the good news the world needs to hear, God’s amazing love, and all the present and eternal blessings that flow from it.

 

Finally, as we give thanks, and love our neighbor, and share our gifts, the peace of God, which passes understanding, will guard our hearts and minds, making us content in Christ Jesus, our faithful supplier. Amen.