Giving is a Fragrant Offering
4: 15-19
Giving is a fragrant offering DIG: What may have happened that changed Paul’s ability to provide for his own needs so that he needed others to help him? What three statements summarize Paul’s joy and gratitude? How was the Philippians’ gift a fragrant offering? What are the five principles of contentment?
REFLECT: Why do you think prosperity has done more damage to believers than adversity? How can Paul’s attitude towards giving and receiving enable you to be a better giver? Receiver? Which of these five principles of contentment are you doing really well at? What principle do you need to work on this week?
Service to the Lord is like the animal sacrifices of the Torah, a fragrant offering.
Five principles of contentment flow from this seemingly mundane conclusion of Paul’s letter. A contented person is confident in God’s providence, satisfied with little, independent from circumstances, strengthened by divine power and preoccupied with the well-being of others. (1) A contented person is confident in God’s providence (4:10); (2) A contented person is satisfied with little (4:11); (3) A contented person is independent of circumstances (4:12); (4) A contented person is strengthened by divine power (4:13); and (5) A contented person is preoccupied with the well-being of others (4:14-19).
(5) A contented person is preoccupied with the well-being of others: As John MacArthur relates in his commentary on Philippians, the final strand in the tapestry of contentment woven by Paul is concern for others. Those who live only for themselves will never be content, because contentment for them can come only when their circumstances are exactly as they want them to be. And that will never happen. Only those who unselfishly put others’ well-being above their own will find contentment. One of the qualities of true biblical love is unselfishness: Love is not rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of wrongs (First Corinthians 13:5). The apostle encouraged the Philippians to do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility or mind, regard one another as more important than yourselves; do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others (2:3-4). That is also the same attitude as Messiah (to see link click Av – Obedient to Death).
Nevertheless, you have done well to share with me in my affliction (4:14 Greek). Nevertheless initiates an important transition in Paul’s thought. What he had written in 4:10-13 could have easily been misinterpreted by the Philippians. Despite their poverty (Second Corinthians 8:1-2), they had sent a sacrificial gift to Paul through Epaphroditus (4:18). After staying in Rome for a while and ministering to the apostle, Epaphroditus had returned to Philippi, bringing this letter from Paul with him. In it, the church would read: Not that I speak from want, for I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I find myself. I know how to get along with humble means, and I also know how to live in prosperity; in any and every circumstance I have learned the secret of being filled and going hungry, both of having abundance and suffering need. I can do all things through Him who strengthens me (4:11-13). If the letter had ended there, the Philippians could have concluded that Paul neither needed or appreciated their sacrificial gift to him.
To make sure that the Philippians didn’t get the wrong impression, Paul hastened to reassure them that they had done well (Greek: kalos, meaning something noble or beautiful in character) to share with him in his affliction. But, he needed to explain to them how their gift could have been a noble act if he didn’t need it.
Paul began by taking his readers back ten years. As you know, you Philippians were the only ones who gave me financial help when I first brought you the Gospel. During that time, and even after he left Macedonia for the Achaian cities of Athens and Corinth, no other church shared with him in the matter of giving and receiving (4:15 Greek). That phrase points to business terminology. The word translated matter is sometimes translated accounts (Matthew 18:23 and 25:19) or accounting (Luke 16:2), and the terms giving and receiving can mean credit and debit. Evidently Paul was a careful steward of his resources and kept an account of his receipts and expenditures. Even before he left Macedonia, the Philippians supported him. During his ministry in Thessalonica they sent a gift more than once for his needs (4:16 Greek). Their generosity, along with Paul’s own hard work, allowed him to minister free of charge in Thessalonica (First Thessalonians 2:9 and Second Thessalonians 3:8) and Corinth (Acts 18:5 and Second Corinthians 11:8).
Paul could rejoice over their gift yet still be content in ADONAI’s sovereign protection for him because he was selfless. That selflessness led him to write: I don’t say this because I want a gift from you. Rather, I want you to receive a reward for your kindness (4:17 NLT). Their gift brought Paul joy, not because of its personal material benefit to him, but because of its spiritual benefit to them. The principle that those who give generously will be blessed is taught repeatedly in the Bible. Solomon wrote: If you are gracious to the poor, it’s as if you lent (whatever you gave them) to ADONAI, and He will repay you for your good deed (Proverbs 19:17). Later he wrote: He who is generous is blessed (Proverbs 22:9a; cf. 2 Corinthians 9:6 and Acts 20:35).
Three statements summarize Paul’s joy and gratitude. The Greek verb in the phrase I have received everything in full was commonly used in a commercial sense in extra-biblical Greek to denote payment in full. And have an abundance translates to a Greek verb that means to overflow, to have excess or to have more than enough. The Greek verb in Paul’s final statement: I am amply supplied speaks of being filled up completely (4:18a Greek). Taken together those three phrases show that Paul, having been generously supplied with the gifts you sent me with Epaphroditus (4:18b Greek), was overwhelmed by the Philippians generosity.
Using sacrificial language of the Torah (see the commentary on Leviticus Ah – The Offerings from the People’s Perspective), Paul described the Philippians’ gift as a fragrant offering that is acceptable and pleasing to God (4:18c Greek; cf. Psalm 51:19). The apostle saw the Philippians’ gift as a sacrificial act of worship to ADONAI. Such spiritual sacrifices are required of believers in the B’rit Chadashah instead of the animal sacrifices of the Torah. In Romans 12:1, Paul commands us to Present our bodies as a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is our spiritual service of worship.
The writer to the Hebrews urges: Through Him, therefore, “let us continually offer God a sacrifice of praise” continually, for this is the fruit of the lips that acknowledge His name (Hebrews 13:15 quoting Leviticus 7:12, 22:29; Psalm 50:14, 23; 107:22, 116:17; Second Chronicles 29:31). The believer’s sacrifice of praise is to be offered continually. It is not to be a fair-weather offering, but an offering in every circumstance. Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Messiah Yeshua (First Thessalonians 5:18).
And do not forget to do good and to share with others, for God is well pleased with such “sacrifices” (13:16). Yochanan warns us that the one who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen (First John 4:20). In other words, if our praise of ADONAI in word is not accompanied by doing good and sharing with others, it is not acceptable to Him. Praise of God in word and deed are inseparable. The religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted with the world (James 1:27).
Paul knew that the Philippians would not only receive spiritual blessings in heaven for their generosity, but also that God would supply all their physical needs in this life. But ADONAI would not be in their debt. Because He is the ultimate Creator and owns everything, we cannot give Him anything that He doesn’t already possess. The Philippians had sacrificially given of their earthly possessions to support God’s servant, Paul (see the commentary on Second Corinthians Bn – A Biblical Model for Giving). In return, ADONAI would amply supply their physical needs; the Philippians would discover that it is impossible to outgive God. Having sown bountifully, they would reap bountifully (Second Corinthians 9:6); having honored the Lord from the first of all their produce . . . their barns would be filled with plenty and their vats would overflow with new wine (Proverbs 3:9-10).
The phrase, according to His riches in glory in Messiah Yeshua (4:19 Greek), reveals the extent to which ADONAI would supply the Philippians’ needs. He would do so according to His riches. His giving to them would be relative to His immense eternal wealth; that is, as generously as is consistent with His riches in glory in Messiah Yeshua. The B’rit Chadashah continually presents Messiah Yeshua as the source of all of God’s riches. In Him are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge (Colossians 2:3). To the Colossians Paul wrote: For it was the Father’s good pleasure for all the fullness to dwell in Him . . . for in Him all the fullness of the Deity dwells in bodily form (Colossians 1:19 and 2:9). The God and Father of our Lord Yeshua Messiah . . . has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Messiah (Ephesians 1:3). And He reminded the Corinthians of the grace of God which is given them in Messiah Yeshua, that in everything they were enriched in Him (First Corinthians 1:4-5). Echoing that thought, Peter wrote: His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence (Second Peter 1:3).
The crucial lessons in contentment illustrated here in the life of Paul may be summarized in five words: faith, humility, submission, dependence, and unselfishness. These five principles of contentment characterize all who have learned to be content (also see Bp – I Have Learned to be Content).182
Dear heavenly Father, praise and thank You for being the best Giver there ever could be. No one can out give You. You gave your very best, Your only Son, knowing the pain and shame that He would have to go through. The love that You show is absolutely unbelievably wonderful, overwhelming gracious and generous beyond what words can express! Offering Messiah as the atoning sacrifice is gracious beyond what man can grasp! The cost to ransom mankind was so very great in physical pain, in emotional pain and in shame, yet Messiah went through with the painful suffering of the cross even when He asked: My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me! Yet not as I will, but as You will (Matthew 29:40). Thank You for the joy of being able to offer the gift of obedience back to You. It is not as large as Your magnanimous gift, but it comes to You from a heart filled to overflowing with great love! In Messiah Yeshua’s holy Name and power of His resurrection. Amen
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