Philippians 4:14-20

Partnership in the gospel pleases God.

The church is fragrant…

At Reservoir, we have sloganized a biblical reality. What came out of COVID as a measuring stick for who to listen to and how to live has stuck around and remains as our aspiration.

To smell like Jesus!

I even have a shirt, made by the Bernals, that declares it. I was recently wearing it during a visit to Grocery Outlet, and a guy in the parking lot asked, “What’s he smell like?” I was a little confused as to what he was talking about, but then realized what I was wearing.

“Grace, love, peace, freedom, that’s what he smells like.” He responded, “I thought it would be frankincense."

But the slogan, more than clever marketing (clearly!), is rooted in a story the Apostle Paul told about ministry with or near Philippi.

2 Corinthians 2:12–17 “When I came to Troas to preach the gospel of Christ, even though a door was opened for me in the Lord, [13] my spirit was not at rest because I did not find my brother Titus there. So I took leave of them and went on to Macedonia.

[14] But thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession, and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of him everywhere. [15] For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing, [16] to one a fragrance from death to death, to the other a fragrance from life to life. Who is sufficient for these things? [17] For we are not, like so many, peddlers of God’s word, but as men of sincerity, as commissioned by God, in the sight of God we speak in Christ.” (ESV)

This is not only for Paul, it is also for the church. In Christ we are led, wherever we are, to spread the fragrance of the knowledge of him everywhere.

This is the ministry Paul gave his life to, the example he sets to be imitated by others, but he doesn’t do it alone. There is a partnership for the gospel, to advance, to transform lives.

Partnership that radiates outward.

In this passage, Paul describes how we live our lives before God as giving off a particular smell, the sweet aroma of an acceptable sacrifice.

In the OT, Israel’s worship before God included many different kinds of offerings. Leads us to ponder, what does your life smell like to God?

Partnership in the gospel pleases God.

As we work through these verses, our path will be marked by what is shared in the text. Pain, profit, and promise.

Shared Pain

We have just come off of the soaring heights of contentment in Christ. Paul reveals what he has learned in a life of sacrifice. How to be brought low, and to abound. How he can do all things “through him who strengthens me.”

Then he returns to his relationship with the church in Philippi.

Philippians 4:14 “Yet it was kind of you to share my trouble.” (ESV)

Paul loved this church. It was birthed after sharing the gospel with God-fearing women outside the city. Paul and Silas would be jailed, and freed, seeing the salvation of the jailer and his family.

The church bore witness to the suffering of the ministry, but also witnessed the power of God to protect and provide for his people.

All of it forged an ongoing partnership.

Philippians 1:3–5 “I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, [4] always in every prayer of mine for you all making my prayer with joy, [5] because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now.” (ESV)

“The Philippians entered into gospel partnership (koinōneō) with Paul from the very beginning of his ministry among them (v. 15).” Jason Meyer

Mutual care, sharing of the trauma and pain, and troubles he and the church would experience.

Philippians 1:12 “I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that what has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel, (ESV)

Then he spends the bulk of the letter recounting what a transformed life in Christ looks like. And now returns to thanking the church for their partnership.

They share his troubles.

When the uncertainty of life hit him, Paul knew the support of the church. In prayer, in the sending of people to deliver aid, but also to minister alongside him.

While partnership would be practical, it is also keenly felt here, at a spiritual level.

There is deep relationship here, empathy, awareness, labor on his behalf before the Lord.

In the church, and flowing out to others afar.

This takes sacrifice, exposure of yourself, and a humble honesty about life.

You can find plenty of spaces to perform, pretend like everything is good, and not be known. The church should not be one of those places.

This week, Stacy and I were in Denver with Adia for appointments with her medical team. I reflected back on what was just over a year ago, when her arterial aneurysm left us desperate and in pain.

The way in which Reservoir, all of you, cared for us as a family, it was sharing in our trouble. Throughout those early days, I was consistently struck by the question of how anyone could get through an experience like that without Christ and the care of the church.

Prayer, practical help, and presence with us.

It has been to me a beautiful picture of partnership in the gospel, more than merely proclamation but sharing burden. Maybe you have your own story…

Galatians 6:2 “Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.” (ESV)

The law of love, sharing the weight of life with each other, facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need.

So keep on, it smells good on you!

And it reveals the care of Christ to others.

Shared Profit

Paul is thankful for this uniquely comprehensive partnership for the gospel which also expresses itself in material support.

Maybe resources is a better word. I hesitate to use “profit” because it carries connotations other than sacrificial partnership, but it was a P.

This is the sharing of treasure.

When no one else would financially support the ministry, the Philippians had been faithful in the partnership of giving and receiving.

They sent help for Paul’s needs once and again. He needed to eat, to shelter, to write, to keep proclaiming Christ, and it all came at a cost.

This is the church sharing resources to advance the gospel.

What is happening here is what we might describe as “missions” or the sending of resources to someone on the frontier of spreading the fragrance of the knowledge of Christ everywhere.

Many of you support global work directly, which is wonderful. But it is vital that the church do so as well.

We do so in response to what we have received in Christ, but we also do so to keep our posture outward, toward the expansion of the kingdom.

As Reservoir, we have been blessed to regularly support a couple of specific ministries in Southeast Asia and Latin America. But we’ve also helped ensure our partners are well supplied. We aren’t great about telling you… But we’ve sent help in response to flooding to one ministry, and just this last month, we were able to support workers in Asia and North Africa with meaningful financial gifts.

This type of support spreads afar but begins at home, in the local church.

We could not have shared with these ministries without your continued partnership in the gospel and generosity at Reservoir.

We see the fruit of that in Philippians.

“Fellowship means to share something in common with another person in a partnership. The idea is to be a participant with others in a common enterprise. By sending a financial gift, the Philippians were close partners with Paul in the gospel ministry.”

Now, there are as many perspectives on Christian giving/generosity as there are people in the church. Paul here doesn’t indicate a percentage of income to be shared, or a frequency to giving. We just know from the text that it was significant (well supplied), sacrificial, and sourced in God’s provision for them.

What we do with our resources (money) is a window into our souls.

The prevailing worldview of the age hates this. It says, “you first.” Get what you want, you worked for it. Live up to a standard that matches or exceeds your means. Pass everything through a framework of significant return on investment.

Gospel partnership gives the only return that is eternal.

Matthew 6:19–21 “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.” (ESV)

“Robert Arthington lived in a single room, cooked his own meals, and shared his friendship with students in need. Yet he gave tremendous amounts of money to Christian missions during his lifetime. When he died, his estate was worth about five million dollars, which he willed entirely to missions. He was, in Paul's language, a "partner in giving and receiving" — not for recognition, but for the gospel's advance.”

A beautiful picture of living for a different kind of profit.

I try, (want to) live toward this; it can be done, and I am willing to be an open book to show you how we handle money!

We are funny about money. But how we handle it can reflect a heart transformed or longing for transformation.

Sam Houston (1793–1863) is a good example of someone who encountered this grace and was never the same. Houston was a colorful soldier and politician best known for his role in bringing Texas into the United States. He surprised everyone when he became a Christian. He surprised everyone even more when, after his baptism, he declared his desire to pay half of the local minister’s salary. When someone asked him why, he responded, “My pocketbook was baptized, too.” The conversion of our wallets should be included in our conversion to Christ. Gospel partnerships inevitably involve financial partnerships, for what we value most is making much of Christ and spreading his fame.” Jason Meyer

Hebrews 13:14–16 “For here we have no lasting city, but we seek the city that is to come. [15] Through him then let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that acknowledge his name. [16] Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God.” (ESV)

This is not only resources in shared profit, but the fruit of it too.

Philippians 4:17 “Not that I seek the gift, but I seek the fruit that increases to your credit.” (ESV)

Paul is good, he is not asking for more, but seeking their benefit.

Paul affirms that he is not primarily interested in money. He wants to counteract the idea that he either solicited their gift or is asking for more. Instead, his real desire is not his own gain but theirs.

“Their gift brought Paul joy not because of its personal material benefit to him, but because of its spiritual benefit to them.” John McArthur

It is better to give than receive!

Luke 6:38 “give, and it will be given to you. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap. For with the measure you use it will be measured back to you.” (ESV)

“It is often more difficult to receive graciously than to give graciously. Paul wants his friends to know he is truly grateful for their financial contribution, without making them feel obligated to send more. He does this by expressing the greatest joy he derives from their generosity. Their offering will be an “acceptable sacrifice,” which pleases the Lord. And they will experience God at work to meet their own needs.” Lawrence O. Richards

Lives pleasing to God. Love lived out. It’s one thing to say you love, it’s another to live it. There is presence and participation.

Spurgeon's Carrot and the Horse: A gardener presents his king with the greatest carrot he has ever grown. The king is touched and responds by giving the gardener a large plot of land. A nobleman who witnesses this event decides it would be advantageous for him to present the king with something as well... (The nobleman gives his finest horse, expecting land in return, but the king simply gives him the carrot.) The point: the gardener gave out of love; the nobleman gave to get. Paul is celebrating the Philippians for giving like the gardener.

Jim Elliot's famous line: "He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep, to gain what he cannot lose."

You don’t take it with you; generosity in the kingdom is never a loss.

Shared Promise

Philippians 4:18 “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.” (ESV)

Paul is equating their partnership to the Old Testament memorial sacrifice to God. Now, as the temple of God, we go on giving a fragrant offering that pleases God.

Our generosity, partnership in the gospel, smells good to the Father; it pleases him.

“Here is the ultimate purpose and the greatest motive for our financial giving to gospel ministry. More than meeting the needs of God’s ministers, the highest aim is the pleasure it brings to the Father. Such sacrificial gifts are offered as an act of worship that brings pleasure to God.” Steven J. Lawson

And what’s more, he responds.

Philippians 4:19 “And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.” (ESV)

Supplying every need according to all of his riches that are in Christ.

What a glorious promise, and how he has proven it over and over.

“God’s ‘full provision’ should be understood to cover material needs, but presumably also their need for the qualities which Paul has been encouraging in this letter: joy and steadfastness in Christ, humility and concord amongst each other.” Markus Bockmuehl

The first half of this grand promise is closely linked with and echoes the preceding context. Just as the Philippians had kept Paul “well supplied” (v. 18), so now God will most certainly “supply every need” of theirs. So we see that this promise of supply is for generous people like the Philippians and cannot be claimed by those who live for themselves.” Hughes

“This generosity from God would come “according to” his riches. There is a vast difference between God merely giving them out of his riches and, more correctly, according to them. His giving would be in proportion to his vast resources.”

The prepositional phrase “in Christ Jesus” identifies where these riches are found: in the person of Christ Jesus. The fullest revelation of God’s glorious riches is found in him alone. This is a stunning statement. God has revealed “the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory” (Col. 1:27). Jesus is very God of very God, and all the riches and fullness of deity dwell bodily in him (Col. 2:8–9). Jason Meyer

Our generosity reveals what we believe of Christ’s riches.

It is worship.

For Paul this translates into worship. He leans in doxology.

Philippians 4:20 “To our God and Father be glory forever and ever. Amen.” (ESV)

“This verse serves as a concluding doxology in response to all that Paul has written in this letter. Throughout the course of this epistle, Paul has taught the extraordinary truths of the saving grace of God. Each chapter has been packed with triumphant teaching that has magnified the greatness of God, including his grace that is persevering (1:6, 10), faith-granting (1:29), sanctifying (2:13), justifying (3:9), empowering (3:10), glorifying (3:21), and comforting (4:5). The God of such abounding grace must be ascribed the glory due to his name.” Philippians for You

“It is the appropriately worshipful response to God’s generous and sovereign providence in Christ Jesus.” Markus Bockmuehl

Generosity is glory-giving.

Why should glory be given to the Father? Because he is the Giver of grace (1:2), the Worker of salvation (1:6), the Exalter of Christ (2:9–11), the Conformer of Christ-likeness (2:13), the Father of believers (2:15), the Revealer of truth (3:15), the Giver of peace (4:7, 9), and the Supplier of needs (4:19).

Partnership in the gospel pleases God.

“The key to it all is in Christ Jesus. He mediates to us all the benefits and blessings of God. More than that, he is himself the sum of all the blessings, for the preposition is not ‘through’ but ‘in’. He is not a channel along which they flow, but a place in which they are deposited. It is finally because of Christ that Paul is content, and it is Christ whom he offers to us as the means and guarantee of our contentment. For Paul, the person who possesses Christ possesses all.” J. A. Motyer

His life, death, and resurrection for you. For forgiveness of sin, righteousness, and new life, eternal life with him.

Live to give. This is Christlike, as he gave all of himself for you, for forgiveness, salvation and new life.

Give to advance the gospel. This is not a statement to give you an out, but to remember why we are giving, to see others receive all in Christ.

The Philippians' generosity not only helped Paul — it advanced the gospel and brought glory to God in places as unexpected as Caesar's household. When we give, we rarely see the full ripple effect. But God does. And one day, we will too.

This smells good to God. Keep going, start sharing, and together, experience this promise.