Giving and the Gospel - Philippians 4:10-20

Sermon Series: Partners in Christ

One of the central elements of the Gospel is the concept of ‘giving’ – starting with the truth of John 3:16, “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.” It’s one of the things that makes the Gospel news so incredible – that although we are sinners undeserving of anything but the full measure of God’s wrath poured out on us for our sins we are given so many incredible things. Allow me a moment just to share some of those things which we are given by God and some Scripture to serve as support. The first thing we are given is Jesus, God’s only Son, as evidenced by the text of John 3:16 which we just mentioned. In addition to Jesus we are given ‘belief’ so that we might trust in Jesus alone as our Savior from sin and as Lord over our lives. We saw this earlier in our examination of Paul’s letter to the Philippians in Philippians 1:29, “For it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ you should not only believe in Him . . .” To those that God has given belief in Jesus as Savior and Lord, God has also given ‘salvation’ (i.e. rescue from the eternal consequences of sin – primarily eternal separation from God and an eternal dwelling place in hell). Ephesians 2:8 and 9 say, “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.” As we begin to understand the salvation that we have been given by God we discover that encompassed in that salvation is more that we are given, including ‘redemption,’ ‘forgiveness,’ and ‘grace.’ Just a few verses earlier in Paul’s letter to the church at Ephesus he wrote, “In Him [Jesus] we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace, which He lavished [i.e. provided in abundance] upon us, in all wisdom and insight” Ephesians 1:7-8. All of these things are just the beginning of the good news of the Gospel though. The good news also declares that God gave us Himself, to reside with us in the Person of ‘the Holy Spirit.’ Jesus says in the Gospel according to John, “If you love Me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows Him. You know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you . . . These things I have spoken to you while I am with you. But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, He will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you” John 14:15-17, 25-26. Because we have been given the Holy Spirit both Jesus and Paul are able to tell us that we have been given ‘peace.’ Jesus says, “Peace I leave with you; My peace I give you” (John 14:27) and Paul tells the church at Philippi, “. . . the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:6-7). And still there is even more to what the Gospel declares we have been given. While the things we have previously mentioned certainly are beneficial to us, God also gives us certain things that are part of the Gospel, which are intended to point us and others back to Him and what He has done for us. In Paul’s second letter to the church at Corinth Paul declares that we have been given a specific ministry – the ministry of reconciliation. “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to Himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. Therefore, w are ambassadors for Christ, God making His appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake He made Him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God” 2 Corinthians 5:17-21.

The things that we have just mentioned are all things that the Gospel declares have been given to those who have trusted in Christ as Savior and Lord. And this isn’t a comprehensive list – the things we have just mentioned only scratch the surface of all the things that God has given to those who have believed in His Son. God is an incredibly generous and incredibly gracious Giver. And to declare or believe that these gifts from God are earned by our right behavior or our good works, as opposed to being freely given by God is to distort the news of the Gospel. The Gospel is good news about what God has done and what He has freely given through His Son to all who would believe in Him.

Keeping the concept of generous and gracious ‘giving’ tied to the Gospel is vitally important for those who are believers in Christ. The tendency for many believers in Christ is to become focused on the commands of God and the commands of Christ. Their desire is to live a life pleasing to God and Jesus and they strive to do this through obedience to their commands. (So their intentions are good.) But what sometimes happens in the minds of believers is that we begin to associate our performance with God’s favor. We begin to think that God will look more favorably upon us or give to us more graciously if we live our lives in greater obedience to Him. This way of thinking comes largely from the performance-based work culture in which we live and go to work in each day. We know that when we perform better at our jobs we receive recognition, we receive raises, and we receive promotions. But when we allow this kind of thinking to trickle into our faith in Christ it moves our hearts away from humble gratitude for what God has given us to self-righteous arrogance. We have to keep God’s generous and gracious giving at the forefront of our minds to protect us from this self-righteousness and because it will ultimately help us to be better “partners in Christ” as our hearts are moved by God’s generous and gracious giving to be generous and gracious givers ourselves.

The church at Philippi seemed to grasp the gracious and generous giving of God as it was revealed in the Gospel. And as partners in Christ, who were seeking to live for and make known the Gospel, their understanding of how ‘giving’ was tied to the Gospel had not stopped with what God had given them. They also realized that ‘giving’ ought to continue to be tied to the Gospel in their ministry partnerships through their gracious and generous giving to others. Paul says in Philippians 4:10, “I rejoiced 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.” In verse 10 Paul tells the church at Philippi that he is really rejoicing in God because of what has transpired that has let him know that the church at Philippi really is concerned for him. Paul will later reveal in verse 18 that he is making reference to financial and material gifts that the church at Philippi sent to him through their messenger, Epaphroditus, to help care for his physical needs. Paul suggests that a time or a season had passed by in which the church at Philippi did not have an opportunity to give to him. He doesn’t clarify what the circumstances were (e.g. if their inability to give to Paul had something to do with his imprisonment, if it had something to do with their own lack of means, etc.), only saying that He is rejoicing that when they did have an opportunity that they demonstrated their love and concern for him once again through their giving.

Be sure to note in Paul’s expression of joy in verse 10 who exactly Paul is rejoicing in, because that might actually catch you by surprise. Often times when we are recipients of great gifts we take great joy in and express great joy towards the giver. However, in verse 10 Paul says that he rejoiced, “in the Lord.” Remember from earlier in this letter to the church at Philippi that Paul had written, “Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord” (3:8); and “One thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus” (3:13-14). These verses help remind us of the context and Paul’s way of thinking - Paul had fixed his eyes completely on Jesus and was striving to know Jesus more. Jesus was the sole object of Paul’s focus. So Paul saw these gifts through more than just a horizontal, human perspective – one group of Christians giving to another Christian in need. Paul saw the gifts that he had received from the church at Philippi and saw an even greater hand at work – the hand of God. G. Walter Hansen says, “God initiates giving, empowers givers, supplies gifts, and meets needs.” And that seems to be what Paul saw taking place through this church. Paul saw evidence of God impressing upon the hearts of the Philippians a desire to give, empowering their gift, supplying them with the gifts to give, and then using them to meet his needs. So while Paul was grateful for the church at Philippi and their generous gifts, he was even more grateful for God and what He was doing in and through the church at Philippi – making God the ultimate object of Paul’s joy and rejoicing.

Paul continues to build the case in verse 11 that his rejoicing wasn’t simply a reaction from receiving gifts during a time of great need. He says, “Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content.” He then goes on to say in verse 12, “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.” Paul suggests that by God’s help he has mastered something that most people never do. He uses a verb in the Greek which means “to be instructed in or initiated into secrets or mysteries.” The secret or mystery he is talking about is that of ‘contentment.’ By God’s help Paul had learned how to be content in each and every situation that he found himself in. He says that he had first hand experience of living life in humble and needy circumstances when even his basic needs were going unmet. There were days when he wrestled with hunger pains and nights when he went to sleep hungry. But during those days he was able to remain content. He also says that he had first hand experience of living life with excess and abundance. But rather than becoming consumed with a desire for even more he was able to remain content. By the grace of God Paul had learned to remain focused on Christ (who never changes) and to find his satisfaction in Him, rather than trying to find his contentment in his circumstances that were constantly shifting and changing. This is why Paul says in verse 13, “I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.” Paul was not dependent upon the church at Philippi. And it wasn’t their gifts that had caused him to rejoice. Paul’s strength came from Christ alone and his contentment came from Christ alone. So even if the church at Philippi had not sent gifts and had not helped to meet Paul’s needs, Paul assures them that he would have remained content. The thing that caused Paul to rejoice and moved his heart to rejoicing was the evidence of what God was doing in and through the church at Philippi. The church at Philippi had begun to grasp the generous and gracious giving of God through the Gospel and was now making generous and gracious giving a part of their partnership within that ministry.

In verses 14 through 16 Paul shares with the church at Philippi the evidence he has seen in them that they are being moved by God’s generous and gracious giving – evidence that set them apart from all the other churches that Paul had spent time with. He says, “Yet it was kind of you to share my trouble. 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. Even in Thessalonica you sent me help for my needs once and again.” Paul shares with this church that from “the beginning of the gospel,” (i.e. from the time they first started to grasp and understand the good news of the Gospel and its implications for their lives), and from the time that he first set out from their church to continue his efforts to share the Gospel and plant churches in other cities that the church at Philippi committed themselves to partner with Paul in those efforts. They collected money and material items for Paul so that his needs might be supplied during his travels and his labors to make the good news of Jesus known. And to their credit, the church at Philippi was the only church that chose to partner with Paul in this. Verse 17 then reveals greater insight into Paul’s rejoicing in the Lord which he began this portion of his letter declaring. “Not that I seek the gift, but I seek the fruit that increases to your credit.” Paul begins verse 17 making it clear that he wasn’t requesting the gift from the church at Philippi, nor was he impatiently waiting around with his arms crossed for their gift for him to arrive. Paul was convinced of his call from God to take the good news of Jesus to those who had not yet heard it and was diligently laboring to that end. But when the gift from the church at Philippi arrived he accepted it, because by accepting their gift he was allowing them to be his partners in ministry. And while receiving their gifts did in fact benefit him (by supplying his physical needs), receiving their gifts and making the church at Philippi partners with him in the Gospel also greatly benefited the church. Paul saw their monetary and material gifts as deposits into the work of God and he fully expected those deposits to produce fruit (i.e. profit or gain) that would be credited to their account. This is what really excited Paul. He saw those whom he had discipled investing in the work of the Gospel and knew that God would both use and bless those gifts to further His kingdom. He saw those whose lives had been transformed by the Gospel in Philippi giving sacrificially so that others could hear the good news and have their lives transformed also. God had worked in their hearts and lives and as a result of their gifts was going to continue to work in the hearts and lives of others. That was exciting for Paul and that was what caused him to rejoice in the Lord.

In verse 18 Paul continues to comment on the gifts from the church at Philippi, focusing here on the quality of their gifts. “I have received full payment, and more. I am well supplied, having received from Epaphroditus the gifts you sent, a fragrant offering, a sacrifice acceptable and pleasing to God.” Paul uses OT language in this verse to encourage the church at Philippi with the way that God views the gifts they have given for the work of spreading the Gospel. Paul says their gifts are like “a fragrant offering.” In the OT when a person sacrificed an animal and offered it to God as a burnt offering (and did so from a right heart) it was said that the smell of the offering rose to God and that He was pleased by it (see Gen. 8:21 , Exodus 29:18 , Lev. 1:9,13,17). And “acceptable and pleasing sacrifices” continue to call to mind the imagery of the OT where either animals or grain were offered up to God. Of great importance in this verse is understanding how the value of these gifts is determined. The value of the gifts wasn’t determined by the financial cost of the gifts or by the social implications of the gifts – the value of the gifts was determined by God’s pleasure in them. And in this case God was pleased by the faith of the church at Philippi which led them to give above and beyond their means so that Paul could continue the work of making Jesus known throughout the Roman empire.

Paul concludes this section of his letter with verses 19 and 20, “And my God will supply every need of yours according to is riches in glory in Christ Jesus. To our God and Father be glory forever and ever. Amen.” Paul uses the personal pronoun ‘my’ in reference to God and the promise which he is about to make. While Paul knew that the church at Philippi was giving sacrificially and beyond their means, Paul also knew the first-hand experience that He had with God and His provision. While Paul was laboring for God, God had always (without exception) provided for Paul. His own experience with God and God’s provision for him gave him confidence that God would do the same thing for the church at Philippi too. So Paul is able to declare with confidence to the church at Philippi that his God would be faithful to supply every need that they had.

Connection Point Questions for Discussion

1. Think about a time when you were given a generous gift.  What was the gift and who gave it to you?  Why do you think that gift made such an impression on you and why are you still able to remember it?

2. We started this week by talking about some of the things that God gives to believers in Christ.  What were some of the things that we mentioned?  Do we ever tend to forget about these gifts?  Why or why not?

3. How does remembering God's generous and gracious giving in the Gospel help us to be better "partners in Christ?"  What are some of the things that we need to give generously and graciously for the work of the gospel?  What are some things that keep us or hinder us from being generous and gracious givers to the work of the gospel?

4. Who are some people or what are some ministries that we need to consider partnering with for the gospel?  What would that look like on an on-going basis?