Giving with God in Mind

Philippians 4:14-20

“Alfred Nobel dropped the newspaper and put his head in his hands. It was 1888. Nobel was a Swedish chemist who made his fortune inventing and producing dynamite. His brother Ludvig had died in France. But Alfred’s grief was compounded by dismay. He’d just read an obituary in a French newspaper—not his brother’s obituary, but his! An editor had confused the brothers. The headline read, “The Merchant of Death Is Dead.”

Alfred Nobel’s obituary described a man who had gotten rich by helping people kill one another. Shaken by this appraisal of his life, Nobel resolved to use his wealth to change his legacy. When he died eight years later, he left more than nine million dollars to fund awards for people whose work benefited humanity. The awards became known as the Nobel Prizes. Alfred Nobel had the rare opportunity to assess his life’s story at its supposed end and still have the chance to change it. Before his life was over, Nobel made sure he had invested his wealth in something of lasting value.”

[Illustration copied as written from Randy Alcorn’s The Treasure Principle.]

What about you? Are you investing your finances wisely and generously? As believers, we have the opportunity to invest in something even more valuable and important than human improvement. We have an opportunity to in the work of God, partnering with one another to help people take their next steps in following Christ, and doing this is a source of great joy. Let’s take a close look at some things which Paul teaches about generous giving for Christ.

The gospel spreads through financial gospel partnerships.
Nevertheless you have done well that you shared in my distress. Now you Philippians know also that in the beginning of the gospel, when I departed from Macedonia, no church shared with me concerning giving and receiving but you only. For even in Thessalonica you sent aid once and again for my necessities.

Throughout history, God has accomplished the work of revealing himself to the world through the efforts of people who follow him by faith. In doing so, he does not rely exclusively upon a smaller subset of specially assigned and skilled people.

Consider ancient Israel, for instance. When God initiated them as a chosen, special nation, he announced that every person in the nation would be a priest for him. In Scripture, a priest is someone who devotes him- or herself to connecting, introducing, and representing God to the people around them.

“’You shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words which you shall speak to the children of Israel.” (Exo 19:6)

At the same time, we know that not every person in Israel performed the full-time, official duties of a priest. The majority of them functioned as craftsmen, farmers, soldiers, and tradesmen. Yet within the nation, God also assigned full-time, official priestly duties to people within the tribe of Levi. For these, God arranged for the rest of the nation to support them financially by providing food, income, housing, and even retirement.

“At the age of fifty years they must cease performing this work, and shall work no more.” (Num 8:25)

So, from the Old Testament (OT) we see that God accomplished his work of revealing himself to the world not only through the lives of all those who followed him by faith, but he did so in a heightened, full-time way through a smaller group of people who were supported full-time in their work by the rest of God’s people.

We find a similar arrangement during the ministry of Jesus Christ. Have you ever wondered how Christ and his group of disciples supported themselves financially as they spread God’s message of salvation (Luke 8:1-3)?

He went through every city and village, preaching and bringing the glad tidings of the kingdom of God. And the twelve were with Him, and certain women who had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities—Mary called Magdalene, out of whom had come seven demons, and Joanna the wife of Chuza, Herod’s steward, and Susanna, and many others who provided for Him from their substance.

From this we see that a group of women – some named and others remaining anonymous – supported the ministry of Christ and his twelve disciples. This financial and material support enabled Christ and his disciples to devote themselves wholeheartedly to full-time gospel ministry, so that they would not need to divert their time and energy to doing manual labor, such as fishing, masonry, or woodworking.

This pattern of God’s people providing full-time support to some people specially assigned by God to full-time gospel work continued with the apostle Paul. As we learned last week, the church and its members at Philippi provided regular, ongoing support for Paul’s ministry. Other churches and individuals also provided support.

This pattern continued beyond Paul, too, as Paul taught churches to take the same approach towards the men who served them as elders/pastors. In the same passage of Scripture in which Paul teaches the church to meet the financial needs of its widows and husbands to provide for the financial needs of their homes, he teaches the church to meet the financial needs of its pastors-teachers.

Let the elders who rule well be counted worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in the word and doctrine. For the Scripture says, “You shall not muzzle an ox while it treads out the grain,” and, “The laborer is worthy of his wages.” (1 Tim 5:17-18).

From this we see that such an arrangement applies not only to first-century apostles, but to devoted, effective, and faithful pastors/elders who care for the church. This is true, even as God also expects every believer in the church to serve him in a volunteer capacity as well, just has all Israel was called to do the same:

“You are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.” (1 Pet 2:9)

Let’s take a look at what Paul says about the financial partnership between him and the church at Philippi:

• They “shared.” “Share” here means to “associate, be connected with” in an official, financial way. The idea is to be a contributor, patron, sponsor, supporter, or patron – someone who believed in what he was doing and provided whatever was necessary for him to succeed.
• In the next few verses, Paul explains how the church at Philippi had supported his ministry regularly from the first time he departed from them (after the church began) and onward. They had provided support “once and again.”
• “Giving and receiving” refers specifically to financial, monetary support. It refers to something like a “gift” or a “grant,” a financial contribution given for a designated purpose. It also implies in this passage a contribution that recurs regularly, not just once.
• “In his distress” and “for his necessities” describe the range of needs they had met for Paul financially, being not only his occasional, unforeseen difficulties but also his predictable, daily needs.

So, we see that though God assigns everyone who follows him by faith the task of revealing and representing him to the world through Christian service, he also spreads the gospel through special financial partnerships in which the majority of believers provide financial support to some who serve God full-time in a devoted, effective, and faithful way. This biblical, historical, God-ordained arrangement is what influences us to partner with full-time pastors, church planters, and foreign missionaries today.

Which end of this partnership are you on today?

• Are you someone who is following and serving Christ in a volunteer capacity?
• If so, how specifically are you serving him?
• If so, also, who are you partnering with regularly “in giving and receiving” who is serving you and others full-time for the gospel?

Financial supporters receive increased eternal returns.
Not that I seek the gift, but I seek the fruit that abounds to your account.

At this point, Paul acknowledges what every faithful teacher of God’s Word – esp. those who serve the church full-time – acknowledge: teaching people in the church to provide regular financial support to its pastors/elders is an uncomfortable, sensitive topic.

Neither Paul nor any other church leader should be “seeking” a financial gift. This word “seeking” has a technical meaning of “collecting debts.” And the word “gift” is a rare word in the New Testament which has a technical sense of referring to “giving financial gifts to God’s servants.”

So, a pastor, for instance, should not care for, shepherd, and lead a church for the purpose of or in order to receive financial compensation. While a church should properly compensate a faithful and effective pastor, the pastor should not have compensation as his goal. His goal should be to represent God and serve God’s people faithfully.

Paul clarifies here that he is not teaching what he says in this passage for the purpose of gaining more financial support. He actually has another greater, selfless goal in mind! He was seeking something else – “the fruit that abounds to their account.”

This statement is loaded with financial terms:

• Though “fruit” does not sound like a financial term to most of us today, many business or financial transactions in the first-century world involved crops of some kind, whether that be giving, receiving, or exchanging crops or planting seeds which would eventually provide a harvest in exchange for certain agreed upon resources or services.
• “Abounds” describes what we would call “appreciation” or “interest” today. By “appreciation,” I am referring to something that increases in net worth or value from beyond what it was worth at the time you acquired or received it. And by “interest,” I am referring to how money when we invest money into a bank account, bond, fund, stock, etc., more new money is added to our initial investment over time.
• “Your account” is another financial term that describes an accounting book or ledger which records income, expenses, disbursements, and investments that a person makes. In this instance, Paul is describing not just a shared association with the outcomes of his efforts (such as converts reached, churches started, etc.) nor is it referring merely to increased godly character and virtue. It is, instead, referring to God’s divine record of our lives.

Consider, for instance, how compound interest works:

• If you place $10,000 into an investment that earns 15% annual returns, you add nothing to that investment after your initial deposit, it will be worth $163,665 after twenty years have passed.
• If you place the same $10,000 into an investment that also earns 15%, but does so on a monthly basis, and to which you also add $100 per month, at the end of twenty years, it will be worth $346,879.

This is what Paul is saying to the believers at Philippi. He wanted them to know that when they invested financially and regularly into his church ministry efforts, their contributions would yield compounding, exponential, increasing results for them, not just for him. In other words, the spiritual results of his ministry would attributed to them by God and would somehow be reflected in the New Creation, on the New Earth in eternity. That outcome will be exponentially more meaningful and valuable than whatever we invest into the regular financial support of faithful, effective, full-time servants of God today.

Think about it this way. Don’t just ask, “What can this money I have accomplish in the next 20 years?” Instead, ask, “What can this money I have accomplish in the next 200 million years if I invest in the work of God?” We don’t think this way enough!

As Randy Alcorn rightly says of our money, “You can’t take it with you, but you can send it on ahead.”

This is why Paul commended the church at Philippi for contributing generously and regularly to support his ministry. He wanted them to receive abundant returns from God in God’s future, eternal kingdom.

Generous partnership brings pleasure to God.
Indeed I have all and abound. I am full, having received from Epaphroditus the things sent from you, a sweet-smelling aroma, an acceptable sacrifice, well pleasing to God.

Having encouraged regular, generous giving while also denying any selfish, covetous motivation for doing so, Paul once again insisted that he was well-cared for. He says this because he does not want the Philippian church to feel human obligation or pressure to give him any more money. If they were going to give him more money, he wanted to them to do so knowing that they had zero obligation to do so.

• “Indeed” emphasizes what he is about to say, providing additional emphasis much like underling or italics would do today.
• “I have all and abound. “I am full …” “Have all” means that all of his needs have been met. “Abound” extend this concept further to say that he not only has all that he needs but that he has more than he needs. “I am full” provides additional emphasis, describing his financial situation as being “complete” and “fulfilled,” with nothing else left for them to do from a financial standpoint.

Next, Paul refers to the gift which Epaphroditus had delivered from them to him in prison, which we have looked at more closely before (Phil 2:25-30). The words “having received” here function as “a receipt,” Paul’s official record of having received a gift from the church at Philippi, stating how much he had received form them. Then he describes their more recent financial gift in three special ways: (1) “a sweet-smelling aroma,” (2) “an acceptable sacrifice,” and (3) “well-pleasing to God.”

With this threefold description, Paul refers to the OT sacrificial system, in which Israelite people would bring grain or meat offerings to the Temple in worship to God and how they would season their sacrifices in a special way that God enjoyed. Imagine walking into your kitchen on Thanksgiving Day and smelling the ham or turkey baking and the pies being made. Imagine yourself taking a deep smell of these things and smiling really big, looking forward to the feast that you will have a few hours later.

That’s what our generous partnership of pastors and missionaries is like to God today. We don’t offer grain and meat sacrifices on an altar, but we do have the opportunity to freely (not coerced) make generous financial contributions which support and partner with those who serve the church and advance the gospel in a full-time way. When we do this, we bring pleasure to the heart of a holy God.

God provides every need that generous partners may experience.
And my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.

Not only does God promise to provide abundant returns in his future, eternal kingdom to those who partner generously and regularly with full-time servants of God, but he also promises to provide all of your present needs as well. By saying this, Paul does not teach that we should give so generously that we create financial needs of our own. He is, instead, speaking to a major reason why we hesitate to give generously to meet the needs of full-time gospel ministers.

We often hesitate to give generously to the church out of concern that doing so may prevent us from meeting unforeseen needs which may arise in the future. So, while we should be responsible and wise in planning and saving for the future, we should not let doing so or a fear of not doing so well enough prevent us from also giving generously to full-time gospel servants in the present. We should do both things simultaneously rather than let future concerns eclipse or prevent us from giving generously, as well.

So, Paul insists that if the very believers at Philippi who had given so generously to him would ever fall upon financial hardships themselves, God would also provide for their needs as well. He writes this statement as an emphatic assurance and guarantee.

The way that Paul writes this, he also guards himself from an unhealthy sense of feeling the need to “return the favor” for the Philippians’ generosity towards him. In other words, he is not saying “I will scratch your back because you scratched mine,” as often happens in the political world between candidates/officials and wealthy supporters. Such exchanging of favors has no place in the church. Instead, Paul assures the Philippian church that not only had they given generously to God (not just Paul) but that God (not Paul) would return the favor.

And how would God do so? Answer: “according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.” By describing God’s potential future provision for their unforeseen needs this way, Paul reveals that God would be lavish and extremely generous towards them, far more generous that he could ever be in return. His description here of “riches in glory” also clarifies that God’s generosity would not be limited to financial or material provision alone. Commentator Mark Keown puts it this way:

“God will supply in the present every resource the believer needs to persevere in the faith no matter what they face.”

So, God would abundantly supply all that they would ever need in following Christ, whether those needs would be material or otherwise. So, we should not ask the question, “Can I afford to support full-time gospel ministers and partners generously and regularly?” Instead, we should affirm confidently that “I cannot afford not to support full-time gospel ministers and partners generously and regularly.” If we do so now in the present and make doing so a part of our regular financial plan and practice, we can rest assured that God will provide for any future, unforeseen needs that may come our way – guaranteed. Jesus Christ himself – whom we serve – will see to this personally.

In any gospel partnership, God must receive all the praise.
Now to our God and Father be glory forever and ever. Amen.

In conclusion, Paul wraps up not only this section of the letter but the entire letter as a whole by offering wholehearted praise and worship to God the Father. It is in this same spirit that the historic hymn we call the “Doxology” today (a word which means “words of praise”) was written:

Praise God, from whom all blessings flow
Praise Him, all creatures here below;
Praise Him above, ye heav’nly host;
Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost!

At the end of the day (and at the beginning of the day too, of course!), all praise must go to God himself, whether we be on the giving or receiving end of gospel generosity. When we receive a generous gift, we must praise God. When we give a generous gift, we must praise God.

• We should think no more highly of ourselves or expect any praise from others because we have received a generous gift, as though it somehow affirms our value or proves our worthiness and importance.
• Nor should we think any more highly of ourselves when we have been generous, for we are only able to be generous thanks to the undeserved generosity of God who has entrusted any resources to our care.

We are all merely servants and stewards of God’s blessings, deserving nothing from him at all. In another letter, the apostle James states things well when he says this about the relationship of God to any act or experience of generosity:

Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning. (Jam 1:16-17)

May God enable us to embrace such a selfless perspective on money, finances, and generosity. Randy Alcorn makes this inspiring and wise observation:

God uses giving to conform us to His image. Gaze upon Christ long enough and you’ll become more of a giver. Give long enough and you’ll become more like Christ.

Furthermore, May we expect or find no personal glory and praise and find no personal worth in what we give and receive, but may we glory in Christ and Christ alone. That’s exactly what Keith and Kristyn Getty emphasize in the song entitled, “My Worth is Not in What I Own”:

My worth is not in what I own
Not in the strength of flesh and bone
But in the costly wounds of love
At the cross

My worth is not in skill or name
In win or lose, in pride or shame
But in the blood of Christ that flowed
At the cross

As summer flowers we fade and die
Fame, youth and beauty hurry by
But life eternal calls to us
At the cross

I will not boast in wealth or might
Or human wisdom's fleeting light
But I will boast in knowing Christ
At the cross

Two wonders here that I confess
My worth and my unworthiness
My value fixed, my ransom paid
At the cross

I rejoice in my Redeemer
Greatest Treasure
Wellspring of my soul
I will trust in Him, no other
My soul is satisfied in Him alone

It’s this kind of total and complete satisfaction with Christ that enables – even inspires – us to be generous partners in the work of God so that we all may become more like Christ and help others to know Christ as their God and Savior. It’s this kind of generosity that brings us genuine joy.

“At the end of the movie Schindler’s List, there’s a heart-wrenching scene in which Oskar Schindler—who bought from the Nazis the lives of many Jews—regrets that he didn’t give more of his money and possessions to save more lives. Schindler had used his opportunity far better than most. But in the end, he longed to go back and make more generous choices. Five minutes after we die, we’ll know exactly how we should have lived. Unbelievers have no second chance to relive their lives, this time choosing Christ. But Christians also get no second chance to live life over, this time doing more to invest in God’s kingdom. We have one brief opportunity—our lifetime on Earth—to use our resources to make a difference.”

[Closing paragraph copied as written from Randy Alcorn’s The Treasure Principle.]