Philippians 4:10-23
Notes
Transcript
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.
Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content.
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.
I can do all things through him who strengthens me.
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.
Not that I seek the gift, but I seek the fruit that increases to your credit.
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.
And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.
To our God and Father be glory forever and ever. Amen.
Greet every saint in Christ Jesus. The brothers who are with me greet you.
All the saints greet you, especially those of Caesar’s household.
The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit.
Introduction
Introduction
Philippians has been called the epistle or letter of joy.
And we will be finishing going through the letter today.
It has been my great pleasure to go through 1 Peter and Philippians in these past 10 years, btw we always talk about how long it takes Philip to go through a book, I think I have you beat!
And it certainly is a truth that I learn more in studying to preach than I could ever get across to you in the preaching, so I think the bigger blessing is always mine.
Going through these two books has been on purpose, because I think they really do complement each other.
1 Peter really was about the Christian’s hope through diverse troubles and trials and Philippians really can be summed up as the Christian’s joy through diverse troubles and trials.
As we have progressed through the letter we have found Paul’s attitude in the midst of sickness, persecution, and adversity to be a great example to us.
His Christian maturity has gotten him through some very tough times.
At the heart of his steadfastness was an unwavering belief that God has promised to take care of him and God always keeps His promises.
He is always pointing to Christ and he is always thankful for what he receives from Him.
Paul looked forward to seeing how God would work in His life, how God would work things out so that He would get the glory.
In living this way he experienced the rock solid assurance that God would provide for him.
It was in this provision that Paul found satisfaction.
Because of this...
Every believer must find contentment in God’s provision.
By Learning to Find Your Strength in Christ’s Provision v. 10-13
By Learning to Find Your Strength in Christ’s Provision v. 10-13
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.
Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content.
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.
I can do all things through him who strengthens me.
Considering Paul’s situation, in house arrest, chained to a Roman soldier, awaiting trial by the Roman Caesar, we have to consider how hard of a life it must have been.
He is away from friendly human contact. He has no freedom to serve or minister like he was used to in the past.
And everything he had wasn’t very much. He got by on the barest necessities.
F.B. Meyer wrote: “Deprived of every comfort, and cast as a lonely man on the shores of the great strange metropolis with every movement of his hand clanking a fetter and nothing before him but the lion’s mouth or the sword.”
So I want you to feel the overwhelming sense of thankfulness that Paul must have felt when after learning of his imprisonment in Rome, stirred to be a blessing they sent gifts and the brother Epaphroditus to encourage him.
Notice in verse 10 his expression of thankfulness.
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.
Have you ever watched the facebook videos of soldiers coming home and surprising their family? Or the expression on Tim Robbins face when he escaped from the prison he was wrongfully sent to? This was Paul’s reaction to his brother Epaphroditus and his gift from the Philippians, he rejoiced in the Lord greatly!
But look at the rest of his sentence. I rejoiced in the Lord greatly that now at length you have revived your concern for me.
Gee Paul, that’s not a very nice way to put it! I rejoice greatly that FINALLY you sent me some help! I’ve been here just suffering for the Lord, and you finally send me some help! What took you so long?
Obviously, this was not Paul’s intention. Paul was always a master at understanding his audience’s reaction and followup questions in his writing.
Consider Romans 9’s questions and answers. He explains a very difficult subject and then gives some expected responses and answers them right away, focusing in on what he actually meant and not different ways he could be taken.
This is wisdom, wisdom which I could grow in! I often get myself into trouble by saying something that is true, but maybe imprecisely enough to have my intentions questioned.
Paul was not this way, he anticipated the reactions of his hearers.
The truth is there gift did take awhile to get to him, but it mostly had to do with the carrier of the gift, Epaphroditus, getting extremely sick on his journey.
I have thought it necessary to send to you Epaphroditus my brother and fellow worker and fellow soldier, and your messenger and minister to my need,
for he has been longing for you all and has been distressed because you heard that he was ill.
Indeed he was ill, near to death. But God had mercy on him, and not only on him but on me also, lest I should have sorrow upon sorrow.
So Paul was able to speak the truth, it took awhile for the gift to get to him, but also follows with an explanation of why. Look at the last part of verse 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.
Not only did Epaphroditus take awhile in bringing it, it took awhile for the church to raise enough to bring.
They had the desire, but they didn’t have the means right away.
The mega church hadn’t been invented yet, so these were not necessarily the most wealthy of people, but they worked hard and sacrificed and were able to make the gift a good one.
So it may seem that Paul was chastising them on taking long to get him his gift, but really he was praising them and being grateful that they were able to sacrifice and put the desire to be a blessing into action!
Later in this chapter he mentions the gift being fruit that increases to their credit.
So people could mistake his thanks as a passive aggressive remark on their slowness, but it really wasn’t. They could also read it as a man’s desire for gain.
This would be extremely hypocritical of Paul.
If you remember back in the first chapter, Paul had his detractors who thought he was wrong for appealing to Caesar in the first place and wasting his ministry stuck in prison in Rome. Why didn’t he just maintain his innocence as he most likely would have been released.
Back in Acts when Paul was before King Agrippa and Bernice, he was being tried falsely by the Jews and was able to witness before the King.
After Paul made his statement to the court, Acts 26:30-32 said this:
Then the king rose, and the governor and Bernice and those who were sitting with them.
And when they had withdrawn, they said to one another, “This man is doing nothing to deserve death or imprisonment.”
And Agrippa said to Festus, “This man could have been set free if he had not appealed to Caesar.”
So Paul’s naysayers thought he should have stood his ground there and been released so he could go on with his ministry, but they didn’t know the Lord had spoke to him and told him:
The following night the Lord stood by him and said, “Take courage, for as you have testified to the facts about me in Jerusalem, so you must testify also in Rome.”
It was these preachers that Paul spoke of in chapter 1:15:
Some indeed preach Christ from envy and rivalry, but others from good will.
The latter do it out of love, knowing that I am put here for the defense of the gospel.
The former proclaim Christ out of selfish ambition, not sincerely but thinking to afflict me in my imprisonment.
So it would be wrong on so many levels for Paul to desire a gift for the gifts sake, to desire to make a profit on his ministry.
It is interesting to me that people, even Christians, can doubt your sincerity even if you go to prison for Christ’s sake!
But Paul answers this objection in the following very famous passage
Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content.
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.
I can do all things through him who strengthens me.
Paul didn’t need their money to be content! Paul had the spiritual maturity that no matter what his circumstances were, he could be satisfied.
The word here for content is very interesting and Paul used it on purpose. This is the only time in the New Testament that this word was used.
And his readers would have been instantly familiar with it. The time that Paul lived in was very similar to ours, it had many different philosophies about life, commerce, government and religion. Paul was a very learned man and was familiar with much of the modern thinking.
This word literally means self-sufficient. It has the idea of independence, a lack of need for aid or help.
This was a word used by the group called the Stoics at the time. It was considered by them to be the essence of all virtues.
The Stoic doctrine was that “man should be sufficient unto himself for all things, and able, by the power of his own will, to resist the force of circumstances”
One of there most famous philosophers was a man named Seneca who said: “The happy man is content with his present lot, no matter what it is, and is reconciled to his circumstance”
These were the ancient preppers of there day, not wanting to rely on anyone for their needs and they lived very minimalist lives and tried not to complain.
But where was the grounding or basis for their stoicism? This life will always be unsatisfying, even if you dissolve it down to the minimum of requirements. Sickness, poverty, and struggle will always be with you even if you train yourself to grin and bear it!
Paul is not advocating for this man as an island mentality. Paul, like all of us believers, had a grounding for his contentment: inner and outer peace with God.
That’s why he didn’t trust in his abundance when he had it and didn’t complain about his lack when scarcity was all there was.
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.
Keeping with the stoic wordplay, he says he learned the secret to facing plenty and hunger.
This is another term used by the culture of the time that alluded to initiation rites given to members of the pagan religions.
These religions would have secrets that only their members knew, and many had to learn them through ceremonies that proved their seriousness about their religion. Sounds like several societies we have today, like the masons.
Paul is turning this idea on its head. The secret handshake for Christians isn’t much of a secret at all, but it is difficult for our human nature to grasp.
I can do all things through him who strengthens me.
Besides John 3:16, this might be the most popular verse in the scripture today. The content of many a plaque to hang up in homes and offices. This verse has probably made more money for big eva on various Christian kitsch and knick knacks than any other verse.
Although it would have good reason to if it wasn’t so misused.
This is usually taken by itself as a motivational slogan to get to some personal goal. I can win this football game through him who strengthens me. I can get get this job… I can overcome this obstacle… I can be successful… We can get our political party elected...
But Paul wasn’t talking about some goal he had or something to be gained except for learning, “for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content” and “I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger”, learning that Christ has fulfilled every true need and the Christ is in control.
Christ’s person and work, who He is and what He has done for us, has supplanted every felt need that we have.
Philip talked about this in a recent sermon, that if our greatest real need, salvation from the wrath of a holy God is met, we can have a real inner peace that makes all the outer struggle and chaos in our lives pale in comparison.
If you have blessed assurance that whatever happens in this life cannot shake the truth that the next life is secured by Christ’s gospel, then really what can be done to you?
No lack of resources here can take away the shine of the fact that our cup runs over in abundance with Christ.
God’s providence is in control of every circumstance.
Providence means that God is in control of every circumstance of our lives and all of the things around it.
God is orchestrating everything, the laws of nature, the events, the struggles and trials, the government, everything to work His will in the world. And His will is our ultimate good.
He is trustworthy and faithful and he will make what seems impossible to understand for us and our puny minds, work out for His glory.
So our “self-sufficiency” is not about an iron jaw, poked out to face the world alone without any outside help, it is the work of God in our lives to teach us that we need nothing else but Christ to get us through this sometimes rough life of lack and to teach us not to rely on times of abundance for our satisfaction.
Those times of plenty are fleeting, vaporous, but God will never, never, never leave us.
Paul wasn’t relying on their gifts for his strength, he was relying on God’s provision on Christ for his every real need.
By Acting on the Strength God Provides v. 14-20
By Acting on the Strength God Provides v. 14-20
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.
Not that I seek the gift, but I seek the fruit that increases to your credit.
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.
And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.
To our God and Father be glory forever and ever. Amen.
The Christian life is not a passive life. Paul’s call to Christian contentment is not a call to just sit there and take whatever comes.
The “let go and let God” slogan is not what we are called to live.
The Philippians acted on their desire to help Paul. They sacrificed.
The strength that God gives is built through exercising the truth that you have learned through sanctification.
Again, Paul doesn’t want them to misunderstand what he was saying, he says yet, or nevertheless, it was kind.
In other words, I don’t want you to think that what you did was useless because I would have been just as content without your gift as I am with it, it was good that you gave it.
He knew their gift was extremely sacrificial. They were poor, in 2 Corinthians 8 he talks of the extreme poverty of the believers in Macedonia, where Philippi was located.
So Paul explained that through their sacrificial gift, they shared his trouble.
The word doesn’t simply mean his hardship, as in I’m miserable and because you have sacrificed you can be miserable, too.
It means his work, that they are taking a part in the work of his ministry. So when Paul witnessed to the Roman soldier attached to him with chains, the Philippians took part in that witnessing as well.
And this provides the basis for our giving as well. God, in His wisdom, has including the giving of offerings as a part of Christian worship from the founding of His church.
This church is made up of different people with different gifts and personalities. Not everyone is wired or gifted with the same ministries, but when we give to the church in support of its ministry, we all partake in it. So the one who is wired to be more introvertish can participate in the ministry of the one who has been gifted to preach publicly. And the one who is gifted to preach publicly can participate in the ministry of the one who is gifted administratively.
Our whole church can’t directly be a part of the everyday working of the Adopt-a-cop ministry to the officers at the Walker PD, but we can all participate by supporting it. We can’t all go to Kenya or India with Bro. Ed, but we can sacrificially give to make it possible for him to go.
And this wasn’t a one time thing, they understood and lived in the ministry of giving since their beginning.
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.
They were consistent, sacrificial givers.
Paul again ties his ministry’s ability to continue to the giving of the Philippians when he brings up Thessalonica!
Paul was very careful as he went around preaching the gospel and planting churches not to look like he was in it for the money.
It was a mark of a healthy church when the church gave, so it must have been a part of what he preached when he began the work of church planting, but he didn’t want to take any of it.
At Corinth, he made sure not to take any money, and also at Thessalonica.
For you remember, brothers, our labor and toil: we worked night and day, that we might not be a burden to any of you, while we proclaimed to you the gospel of God.
And again in:
nor did we eat anyone’s bread without paying for it, but with toil and labor we worked night and day, that we might not be a burden to any of you.
So how was he able to survive in the ministry if he wasn’t taking any money from the church he was planting? He worked himself and he relied on the gifts from other churches, like the church at Philippi!
They didn’t just “let go” and give Paul a hearty handshake and say the words thank you for his ministry, they were moved by their desire for the truth of the gospel to go out to the world, so they put their desire to action and gave to Paul so that they could participate in that truth being spread.
So Paul looked forward to their gift, not just for the gift’s sake, or even just for the ministry that it would make possible, but also for their sake.
Not that I seek the gift, but I seek the fruit that increases to your credit.
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.
This is a great example of Paul’s true heart for the ministry.
Their continued giving, even out of their poverty, showed Paul the work of Christ in them. That they had eternal things on their minds, not just the temporary comfort of this life.
And he continues to turn language to make his point.
All these financial terms:
Fruit which is the word for interest. Translated profit in the NASB.
Interest that increases to your credit.
Received full payment.
Well or amply supplied.
He is acting like a stock trader, as you invest in shares of the kingdom, the profit earns interest on your account.
And those gifts are pleasing to God, not because God needs your money, but because God uses your ministry of giving to further His glory in the world.
And those gifts, those sacrificial offerings are a “fragrant offering, a sacrifice acceptable and pleasing to God.
An allusion to the Old Testament in several places that speak of how God looks at offerings.
As a pleasing aroma I will accept you, when I bring you out from the peoples and gather you out of the countries where you have been scattered. And I will manifest my holiness among you in the sight of the nations.
and burn the whole ram on the altar. It is a burnt offering to the Lord. It is a pleasing aroma, a food offering to the Lord.
Then Noah built an altar to the Lord and took some of every clean animal and some of every clean bird and offered burnt offerings on the altar.
And when the Lord smelled the pleasing aroma, the Lord said in his heart, “I will never again curse the ground because of man, for the intention of man’s heart is evil from his youth. Neither will I ever again strike down every living creature as I have done.
Paul showing that God was pleased with their ministry of giving.
Finally, verse 19
And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.
This is the same truth that Christ spoke of in the sermon on the mount:
“Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?
Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?
And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life?
And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin,
yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.
But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?
Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’
For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all.
But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.
“Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.
Paul knew that their gift may have put a strain on the brothers and sisters in the church, so he finishes with a reminder that God will take care of His own. Just as Christ promised.
But even more than their physical needs, the riches in glory of Christ also takes care of their spiritual needs.
And with those needs taken care of, the inner peace that comes is enough to be content in any external trial or trouble.
Paul finishes the book with a doxology and his final salutations.
A doxology is a statement of praise to God and verse 20 is a perfect way to end Paul’s book of joy in trouble and also concludes this section succinctly
To our God and Father be glory forever and ever. Amen.
To our God and Father.
Not only is He our God, who deserves to be feared and reverenced for His holiness and power, He is also our Father, who cares for us and loves us and showers us with His grace and mercy and for those two things deserves glory forever and ever. Amen
Conclusion
Conclusion
Then as is his custom Paul ends his letter with greetings.
I just want to bring two things out to conclude our time.
Greet every saint in Christ Jesus. The brothers who are with me greet you.
All the saints greet you, especially those of Caesar’s household.
The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit.
In verse 22, the fruit and reason of his imprisonment is clear. His ministry was not shut off when he appealed to Caesar and was brought in chains to Rome. By God’s grace there were saints, brothers and sisters in Christ, from Caesar’s own household.
God works out His plan for His reasons and we are blessed to be able to be a part of those plans no mater what they bring us through.
And secondly, he finishes by praying the grace of Christ be with your spirit.
Christ is the overwhelming theme of this letter. Paul mentions his name 40 times in these 4 short chapters.
And everything we have is because of the grace, the underserved love from God to an unworthy sinner!
I’ll finish with a quote from John MacArthur on the book of Philippians:
Paul began by describing himself as a slave of Jesus Christ. He addresses the Christians as saints in Jesus Christ. When referring to his imprisonment he says my bonds are in Jesus Christ. When he speaks about life he says for to me to live is Christ. When he speaks about death he says for me to die is Christ. When he exhorts people to godly conduct, it is to be like Christ. When he calls for proper attitudes, it is to have the mind of Christ. When he speaks of choices and desires and hopes, he says they are to be built on trust in Christ. When he speaks about joy it is the joy of Christ. When he speaks about strength it is the strength of Christ. When he calls for power and knowledge and fellowship, it is the knowledge of Christ, the power of Christ, the fellowship of His sufferings that he longs for. And when he looks for eternal hope and glory, he says I am looking for Christ. And when it's spiritual steadfastness he needs, it is in Christ. And when it is sufficiency he wants, it is in Christ. It is Christ, Christ, Christ, Christ. And he says greet every saint in Christ and remember you're dependent on the grace of Christ.
Our whole life is Christ, beloved. If you get nothing else, get that out of Philippians. Called by Christ, saved by Christ, to have the mind of Christ, to serve the way Christ served, to become like Christ. That's the message. To be like the beloved Redeemer. We are saints, not yet all we should be, but moving to become like the one who called us saints.