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“If you’re able, please stand.” Reading Phil. 4:10–20. “Thanks be to God.”
The Bible has a lot to say about money. It has as much to say about money as almost any other topic.
There are so many aspects to it. God’s Word talks about:
But the over-arching message with all these passages is this: It all belongs to God. Every bit of it.
All our wealth is his. We might be spending part of that wealth on a mortgage or groceries or helping support a friend. We make it. We spend it. We invest it. But it’s all his:
The silver is mine, and the gold is mine, declares the LORD of hosts. (Haggai 2:8)
Matthew Henry reminds us part of what that means for us:
Worldly wealth is given us, not only as maintenance to bear our charges through this world, according to our place in it, but as talent, to be used and employed for the glory of our great Master in the world.
Matthew Henry[1]
This morning we’re going to think about one aspect of using “worldly wealth” “for the glory of our great Master in the world”: Giving to the church and to Christian ministries.
This is the last of three sermons on giving ALL FOR HIM. First in the series: All our WORSHIP for him, two weeks ago. This means our worship on Sundays when we gather. But it also means giving our whole lives as worship, too. We want everything we do to be an act of ascribing glory to our God (Ps 29).
Giving ALL FOR HIM means doing ALL OUR WORK FOR HIM, second in the series a week ago. All of us have multiple callings given by God—paid work, unpaid work, family relationships. In all these callings we are to “work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men” (Col 3:23).
Today we’re thinking about our WEALTH. All our wealth is to for him.
To talk about this idea, we’ll look at Paul’s letter to the Philippians. His letter is really a “thank you note” for a financial gift they made to him.
But when we give to God and his purposes, it’s not just to be a financial transaction—like when we pay our taxes, pay for a toll road, buy gas.
Paul reminds us here that giving money to God and his purposes...is really giving ourselves. Giving is not just giving. But as we’ll see, (1) giving is concern, (2) giving is partnership, (3) giving above all is worship.
Paul’s a long way from Philippi at this point. He’s in a Roman prison (see chap 1) serving his 2-year house arrest (Acts 28:30–31).
This church sent Paul a financial gift through Epaphroditus, one of Paul’s co-workers and apostles (Phil 2:25; 4:18). This letter is Paul’s thank you note. And in this case, this thank you is not just the words of Paul. It’s also the Word of God.
The sermon: Giving is not just giving: Giving is concern (4:10–13), giving is partnership (4:14–17), and giving is above all worship (4:18–20).
Prayer
Read Phil. 4:10–13.
Their gift reflects their “concern” (Phil 4:10).
The verb for “be concerned” has in it the key idea of “thinking about.” There are different ways to show your concern for someone but thinking about them is a big one.
That’s why when someone does something for us we sometimes say, “That was really thoughtful.” Meaning, you put real thought into that.
The thought-fulness of the Philippians was shown in their financial gift for Paul. They didn’t just FEEL affection toward Paul, but they thought through what kind of practical help they wanted to give.
And then HOW to make that happen. And then they executed that plan.
Paul at this time is in a Roman prison under his 2-year house arrest (Acts 28). It’s a long way from Rome in Italy to Philippi in Macedonia. You couldn’t just Venmo your financial gift to Paul. It’s all still the Roman Empire, but it was over 700 miles between these two cities.
All our wealth for him:
But then Paul speaks a clarification.
He doesn’t want them to be confused. He doesn’t “rejoice in the Lord greatly” (Phil 4:10), because finally he can enjoy the comforts of life.
He doesn’t rejoice in the Lord, because with their money he can finally be “content.” He already knows how to be content.
This is where he speaks the great passage about Christian contentnment. He says, “I have learned the secret” (Phil 4:12) of Christian contentment.
It’s a kind of spiritual secret that takes growth on our part and the grace of God. But when we learn that secret, our circumstances can change, but we’re still content.
We shouldn’t race over his words too quickly hear. We assume that learning contentment means learning how to be content when we’re poor, suffering, and facing some kind of deprivation in our circumstances.
But Paul knows better. There is a test of adversity where we have to learn how to be content when things are bad and we feel like we don’t have enough.
Paul knows there’s also a test of prosperity when things are actually good, and you are enjoying good health.
Think of King David. David had years of the test of adversity. Being on the run. Being betrayed. Facing military enemies.
But then he became king, all of Israel was following him, he no longer had to go to war with his soldiers, and he could relax.
He was facing the test of prosperity and he didn’t know it. And that’s when his DISCONTENTMENT got the better of him. He had everything. But he didn’t have Bathsheeba. And that’s when he fell.
He had passed the test of adversity, but he failed the test of prosperity.
Paul says right there in verse 12 that we have to “learn the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need.”
We aren’t surprised by having to learn the secret of facing “hunger” and “need.”
But “facing plenty” and “abundance”? That’s more surprising. The test of prosperity comes with a totally different set of temptations. Now you’re not tempted to be angry about God. You’re tempted to forget about God altogether.
When you’re facing “hunger,” it’s easy to pray for food. But when you have a full stomach, it’s actually a little bit harder to live in the thankfulness you should enjoy.
That’s why he says what he does in verse 13: “I can do all things through him who strengthens me.”
Notice where this promise is found. It’s not in a halftime speech by a coach when your team is down.
It’s not at a sales convention with all the top sellers from the company.
It’s not a music teacher trying to inspire a young musician.
It’s in a passage that talks about contentment. Christ is the one who strengthens us. And when he strengthens us, we can be content. Without him, we can’t be content.
This word contentment in a Greco-Roman context was often used by Stoics. They emphasized contentment a lot. They valued contentment that was grounded in self-sufficiency. Within myself, I have all that I need.
The Stoic philosopher Seneca the Younger wrote his work, “On the Happy Life” around this time (AD 58). In it he said,
The happy man is content with his present lot, no matter what it is, and is reconciled to his circumstances.
Seneca, On the Happy Life 6.2
The implication, though, is that he is “content” because he has mastered the art of self-reliance and self-sufficiency.
Paul says, no. That’s not the “secret.” The secret is in the Lord Jesus Christ. Phil. 4:13. “The One who strengthens me.” It’s not self-sufficiency. It’s knowing God is sufficient, and he will make me sufficient for what’s before me.
Giving is not just giving: giving is concern, and giving is also partnership.
Read Phil. 4:14–17.
Their gift reflects their “partnership” (Phil 4:14–16). Throughout this letter, Paul alludes to the Philippians as his partners in the gospel (1:5), sharers of grace with him (1:7). Now he goes back to that theme.
Through their giving, they are “sharing his trouble” (4:14). Just like in the past when they first “partnered with him” (4:15).
In this passage, Paul is looking back to a time maybe a dozen years before. When he talks about “the beginning of the gospel,” he’s talking about the beginning of the gospel in their area.
He first planted the Philippian church and then headed south to continue planting churches. This is talked about in Acts 16 and 17. He went through the cities of Macedonia, eventually making his way to Greece in the south. Modern Greece has swallowed up all these areas, as it goes up around the Aegean Sea.
Philippi is where Lydia was converted, the Philippian jailer, and there’s a good case to make that “Luke the beloved physician” (Col 4:14) is from Philippi.
Paul here is writing from Rome and reflecting back on their history together.
He wrote about their generosity in one of his earlier letters. It was these Philippians he’s talking about in 2 Cor. 8:1–5:
We want you to know, brothers, about the grace of God that has been given among the churches of Macedonia, 2 for in a severe test of affliction, their abundance of joy and their extreme poverty have overflowed in a wealth of generosity on their part. 3 For they gave according to their means, as I can testify, and beyond their means, of their own accord, 4 begging us earnestly for the favor of taking part in the relief of the saints— 5 and this, not as we expected, but they gave themselves first to the Lord and then by the will of God to us. (2 Cor 8:1–5)
Their partnership was a costly partnership.
But like before, Paul wants the Philippians to know that his encouragement of their giving is not really because he himself will benefit.
In Phil. 4:17 he says he’s seeking the gift because, “I seek the fruit that increases to your credit.”
This is the language of accounting, of business. Paul’s imagining that these Philippians have an account. But this account doesn’t work like your typical bank account. My Wells Fargo account doesn’t work this way.
With my checking account, when I spend my money, my account decreases. Immediately.
But Paul says here that when the Philippians gave to him, their “account” actually increased.
That’s how Christian giving works. Giving away to God’s people and God’s purposes doesn’t diminish our account, it increases it. Of course, this is a kind of heavenly account.
In a couple weeks we’ll hear Jesus talk about this in Matthew 6:
“Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, 20 but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” (Matt 6:19–21)
Paul is talking about something similar. Giving away our money on earth in the right way results in “heavenly treasure.”
Giving is not just giving: it’s concern and it’s partnership. But above all, giving is worship.
Read Phil. 4:18–20.
Once again Paul is going to speak of their gift and express true gratitude. But then he’s going to radically re-orient our thinking.
In Phil. 4:18 he says their gift represents “full payment, and more,” and Paul says he’s “well supplied” (4:18).
Again this is financial language. It’s as if Paul is giving them a receipt for their gift. Kind of like when you take something to Good Will, and they ask if you want a receipt for that. A paper trail of what you gave. A record that you in fact gave this particular book case or old shirt that you needed to stop wearing years ago.
Paul here is writing them a receipt. He has received the gift, and Paul declares it to be “full payment, and more.” That’s quite a statement, isn’t it?
Paul is essentially running a non-profit, a church planting apostolic ministry. There are always needs. There are co-workers that need funds. There are the poor he encounters along the way.
But his heart for the Philippians is such that he wants them to know their gift is complete and even beyond that. He knows it was a gift given from generous hearts of affection for him. And that makes their gift a “full payment, and more.”
Commentators (Gordon Fee, George Guthrie) have pointed out that Paul is writing in a context where friendship was understood in a particular way. Greco-Roman friendships had certain expected behaviors attached to them. One of these was a pattern of giving and receiving. If giving and receiving was between peers, true friends, then there was to be a reciprocity. What you gave to me, I would give back to you.
When a greater person gave to a lesser person, this wasn’t true friendship. It wasn’t a relationship of peers. In that case, giving back equally wasn’t expected. Reciprocity wasn’t expected.
Paul knows that he and the Philippians are Christian friends. They are co-workers in the gospel. There is a true partnership. There is affection.
The Philippians have given to him. So, does that mean he’ll return some gift back to them.
Here again Paul reorients us. He corrects our perspective.
He introduces God into the mix. What he says is that our friendship is not the only relationship. Our horizontal friendship is being lived out under God. We are friends, yes. But we are friends in Christ.
This transforms the financial gift of the Philippians in two ways.
First, their gift wasn’t just a financial gift to Paul and his ministry. It was a gift to God! Phil. 4:18b.
He uses three powerful phrases to describe their gift. The phrases come from the language of Old Testament sacrifices. Sometimes by priests. Always by God’s people.
Their financial gifts to Paul were also pleasing and acceptable sacrifices to God. We don’t offer animals on altars anymore. But that doesn’t mean sacrifices have ceased.
We give of ourselves. We give of our finances. And when we give these away to God and his purposes, they are “fragrant offerings,” “acceptable sacrifices,” and even “pleasing to God.”
So that’s the first way Paul transforms the friendship expectations of his Greco-Roman world. When we give to each other, we’re giving to God!
And then the second way is in Phil. 4:19.
The polite thing to do in Paul’s day was for a friend to return a financial gift back to the friend who gave him one. Paul says no. There’s a better reality. God himself will pay back to you what I owe, and his treasure house never runs out! His accounts never get to zero! There’s always an infinite amount. Because God gives “according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus” (Phil 4:19).
The Philippians gave to Paul, but they were actually giving to God himelf.
And in return, God would supply “every need of yours.”
And so yes, verse 20 is our response: “To our God and Father be glory forever and ever. Amen!”
Giving is not just giving: giving is concern, partnershp, and above all, worship.
God promises here to provide for every need of ours. Not every want we have, but every need.
There is a challenge to our faith here! A promise to cling to.
But don’t miss the obvious. Just a few verses before Paul spoke verse 19 he spoke verse 12. In verse 12, he said sometimes his “circumstances” are being “brought low.” Sometimes he’s not “facing plenty” but “hunger.” Sometimes he’s not facing “abundance” but financial “need.”
God will indeed provide for every need, but sometimes it’s only after we’ve faced circumstances of living with that need for a while.
The prosperity gospel is a false gospel. Suffering is a part of the Christian life.
But as we think about needs, we don’t want to miss that God has met our greatest need in Jesus Christ.
Because of our sins we were enemies of God, separated from him, destined for hell.
While we were in that fallen and rebellious state, God in love sent Christ to save us.
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16)
Eternal life is ours, because God met our greatest need in Jesus Christ!
Believe in him and let God meet that greatest need of yours.
But as we close, let’s not miss what this passage is telling us about our WEALTH. All our wealth for him.
The result? “Our God and Father” will receive “glory forever and ever. Amen” (Phil 4:20).
Clearly, giving is not to be “checking boxes.” “Check the box if you’ve read the terms and conditions.”
Giving is to be thoughtful concern, real affection, true partnership, and a sacrifice to the Lord who will provide for every need of ours.
Does our giving reflect that?
As we finish out our All for Him giving campaign this calendar year, this is a timely season to reflect on these questions.
Let’s let God have the last word, though:
And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus. 20 To our God and Father be glory forever and ever. Amen. (Phil 4:19–20)
Prayer and Closing Song
[1] Matthew Henry, Commentaryon the Whole Bible, see at Mark 10:17–31.
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