Bob Josey- Peace with Circumstances - Helping Others - Phil 4-14-23 Aug 13, 2023

SLIDES

Peace with Circumstances – Helping Others

Philippians 4:10-23

Introduction

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There is a story of a single young lady who went on the mission field for several years and then returned to the United States to be married. When she returned, the church gave her a wedding shower. When she came to the church for the shower, she noticed a large table piled high with gifts that friends in the congregation had brought her. When she saw the table loaded with those gifts, her first response was, “When will I ever get the thank-you notes written!” When you recognized the number of gifts you receive, did you have the same response? She recognized an obligation on her part as the receiver to express thanks to the giver and you probably did as well.

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Have you ever given someone a gift for which you did not receive a written or a vocal “Thank You?” For a person to be prideful enough to receive a gift and not express thanks to the giver is to say, “This is what I rightly deserve.” Thanks are not necessary for what is rightly deserved, because the gift has come in response to an obligation. The Apostle Paul in writing to the Philippians knew that the right thing to do was thank them for the monetary gift they had sent him. In this portion of the epistle, in which the apostle is concluding his letter, Paul is discharging his obligation to this church for the gift they gave him.

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For the last several weeks we have been discussing how to have peace with others, how to have peace with oneself, and how to have peace with circumstances. Last week we began discussing that one way to have peace with circumstances was by being content with the material things God has given you. This week we will discuss another way to have peace with circumstances is by financially caring for others. Yes, we are going to discuss something that everyone has to deal with but no one likes to talk about it. It is a touchy subject. Why do you think that is so?

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3. Peace with Circumstances (4:10-20)

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b. By financially caring for others (4:14-20)

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14 Nevertheless, you have done well to share with me in my affliction. 15 You yourselves also know, Philippians, that at the first preaching of the gospel, after I left Macedonia, no church shared with me in the matter of giving and receiving but you alone; 16 for even in Thessalonica you sent a gift more than once for my needs. 17 Not that I seek the gift itself, but I seek for the profit which increases to your account.

‌In this final section before his concluding remarks, Paul again commended the church at Philippi for being such a helpful, loving church. He commended them in three areas: One, their exceptional commitment as compared with other churches with which he was associated and even planted. Two, the abundant gifts which they had sent him over the years, when he was not in prison and when he was. Three, their sacrificial spirit in which they gave even when those in the congregation were struggling financially. In Second Corinthians 8-10 Paul commended the churches in Macedonia in the same manner concerning their attitude of helping the believers in Jerusalem who were struggling because of a famine. The churches in Macedonia also gave sacrificially when they were struggling financially to help the saints in Jerusalem. Macedonia was a large Roman province where several of the churches Paul planted and wrote to were located. Philippi was located in Macedonia.

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By using the term nevertheless, Paul is in the home stretch. He has transitioned to his last section of his letter to the church at Philippi before making his concluding remarks. He first commends the church at Philippi for doing a great job of sharing with him in his affliction. The word affliction refers to the hardships and troubles that Paul’s had to deal with while he was in prison. It’s interesting that the same Greek word translated affliction is the same word that is translated tribulation in reference to the seven years of tribulation found in the Book of Revelation. From this we see that there are different levels or degrees of affliction. They shared with him in his affliction in the sense that prayed for him, sent Epaphroditus to help him, and sent financial gifts to help him. At that time a prisoner depended on family and friends to take care of their daily necessities of life. The church at Philippi was his family and[RJ1]  his friends.

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When I lived in Dallas, Texas in the mid 1980’s, I went to hear a man one evening named Richard Wurmbrand. He was a Romanian pastor and professor who was of Jewish decent. In 1948 he publicly said Communism and Christianity were incompatible. Wurmbrand preached at bomb shelters and rescued Jews during World War II. As a result, he experienced imprisonment and torture by the then-Communist regime of Romania, which maintained a policy of state atheism.

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After serving a total of fourteen years, he was ransomed for $10,000. He left Romania with his wife, Sabina, who had also been imprisoned, to emigrate to America. He and his wife dedicated the rest of their lives to publicizing and helping Christians in prison and those who are persecuted for their beliefs. He died in 2001.

Philippians 4:15-16 - You yourselves also know, Philippians, that at the first preaching of the gospel, after I left Macedonia, no church shared with me in the matter of giving and receiving but you alone; 16 for even in Thessalonica you sent a gift more than once for my needs.

‌In verses 15-16 Paul made it clear that after he visited Philippi on his second missionary journey, he preached the gospel. The result was that sinners were saved by God’s grace, and a church was planted. They also gave to him on several occasions. They gave to him a parting financial gift when he left, and several financial gifts after that over the years. He pointed out that gave to him more than once while he was ministering in Thessalonica, but it appears from the end of verse 15 that the church at Thessalonica did not give him financial gifts for ministering there. For many years I spoke in different churches. There were three or four occasions when I would get up Sunday morning and drive several hundred miles to speak in Sunday school, the morning service, and then the evening service without receiving a financial gift of any kind. I was disappointed but just viewed it as ministering for the Lord.

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The believers in Philippi were committed to Paul by praying, giving financially, and by sending individuals to help him while he was in prison. All this because he had stopped in Philippi and preached the gospel. This resulted of people being saved was a long-term relationship between Paul and the believers in Philippi. One never knows what will happen if you share the gospel with someone and as a result trust in Jesus as their Savior. The same could be said of discipling someone. 

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Now we come to the phrase “giving and receiving” at the end of verse 15 which has intrigued me for a long time. I’ve always understood about the giving part of that phrase, but how about the part about them receiving? Have you ever heard of the term reciprocity? PsychologyDictionary.org defines Reciprocity as the act, process or situation in which one person has received a benefit from another and in return chooses to provide an equivalent benefit back. An illustration of reciprocity is when we moved to Dallas, Texas. The state of Texas recognized Linda's cosmetology license from Mississippi and issued her a Texas cosmetology license. If someone moved from Texas to Mississippi, the same thing would happen. When we moved from Texas to Georgia, Georgia recognized Linda’s Texas license. Here we see reciprocity at work. There is also a negative principle of reciprocity, as well as, a positive principle. The negative is found in Exodus 21:26. It’s called Lex Talionis in Latin and in English is called the Law of Retaliation. 

 “... eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot...”

Today we are only concerned with the positive principle of found in Philippians.

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So, we see reciprocity at work among Paul and the Philippians. The Philippians gave to Paul and the Philippians continued to receive Paul’s thankfulness and friendship. But better than that, the Lord blessed the Philippians for helping Paul. Jesus talked about the principle of reciprocity in Luke 6:38.

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‌“Give, and it will be given to you. They will pour into your lap a good measure—pressed down, shaken together, and running over. For by your standard of measure it will be measured to you in return.”

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I call the principle found in this verse, “Give to get to Give.” When you give to someone in need whether it’s someone in physical need or a missionary who needs support to do ministry, God will repay you back more so you can give more to those in need. If you don’t believe it, try it sometimes. So therefore, when the Philippians gave financially, sent Epaphroditus to minister to Paul, and prayed for him, they were blessed because of the biblical principal of reciprocity. By blessing others, you will be blessed to give again.

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Officials at the Louisiana Baptist Convention are used to receiving donations, but a recent gift was unexpected and extraordinary. A group of twenty men from the Island of Sumatra sent a gift of $854 to help those hit hard by Hurricane Katrina. The men experienced the tragedy of natural disaster when their island was hit by the tsunami on December 26, 2004. Teams from Louisiana traveled to the stricken areas to help with the recovery and relief effort. When the news about Katrina and the damage it caused in New Orleans reached Indonesia, many Indonesians who were impacted by ministry efforts wanted to do something to help Americans in the midst of their disaster. Disaster strategist Gibbie McMillian said the gift shows the spiritual impact of the tsunami relief work. McMillian said, “This gift is amazing. Just think people on the other side of the world felt led to make a contribution to our disaster relief work here in Louisiana.” What makes the gift even more amazing is that the average monthly income in Sumatra is around $100. The men who gave the gift gave sacrificially, because they remembered how these Americans helped and cared for them.

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In verse 17 we come to another unexpected teaching of Paul, but in reality, if one knew him, they would expect something like this. So should we. The NASB95 reads, “Not that I seek the gift itself, but I seek for the profit which increases to your account.” The ESV reads, “Not that I seek the gift, but I seek the fruit that increases to your credit.” The NKJV reads, “Not that I seek the gift, but I seek the fruit that abounds to your account.”

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Note that all three of these Bible versions have "Not that I seek the gift...” The word seek means “to be seriously interested in or have a strong desire for” and is a present tense verb that means he was continually not interested in receiving a gift from the Philippian church. Paul’s mindset is so much different than any missionary or evangelist that I know. Missionaries and evangelists who depend on the financial gifts of individuals and churches to live and do ministry, do not expect prayer or financial gifts from individual and churches, but certainly pray that both of those will be graciously given by churches and individual believers. Paul certainly implied that even though he did not seek a gift that he could certainly use it. The word “but” that begins the second half of verse 17 is the strongest adversative in the Greek. Instead of Paul seeking a financial gift from the church in Philippi, he is strongly desiring that the gift they gave to Paul would become the profit which increases to the Philippians account. The word profit literally means fruit and is translated that in several Bibles. Paul saw the gift they gave him as an investment that would increase or pay dividends to their heavenly account. Their monetary support wound not go unrewarded. This maybe compared to Jesus exhorting the Israelites to store up for themselves treasures in heaven which are the rewards given to believers the Judgement Seat of Christ. Paul insists that his motive is not his self-interest but their interest.

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There is also an application for those in the ministry as well. If there anyone here in the ministry who supported by churches and individuals through prayer and finances, one of the foremost desires should be to use any financial contribution and gift and prayer  for the purpose of building supporters spiritual rewards in heaven.

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A paraphrase would be something like “I am thankful for your gift, not because of what it did for me, but because of what it did for you in that your heavenly rewards account may increase."

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Philippians 4:18 But I have received everything in full and have an abundance; I am amply supplied, having received from Epaphroditus what you have sent, a fragrant aroma, an acceptable sacrifice, well-pleasing to God.

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The financial gift that Epaphroditus brought from the church at Philippi was certainly a blessing from the Lord. Since these people had already helped him so much, Paul did not want them to think he was still looking for more from them. He had received from the Philippians full payment, all the money they had sent, so he was then abounding and was fully supplied. The gift they gave Paul was like having fragrant aroma and was certainly a sacrifice that was certainly pleasing and acceptable Paul and God to God. By saying this Paul was thinking about the Jewish ceremonial system of giving an animal sacrifice at the Temple in Jerusalem such as Exodus 29:18.

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“You shall offer up in smoke the whole ram on the altar; it is a burnt offering to the Lord: it is a soothing aroma, an offering by fire to the Lord.

This is figurative language to say that the Lord accepted their sacrifice and was pleases with it.

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Hebrews 13:15-16 - Through Him then, let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that give thanks to His name. 16 And do not neglect doing good and sharing, for with such sacrifices God is pleased.

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In Hebrews 13 we see that both praises to God helping those in need are considered sacrifices to the LORD in which He is well pleased. Please pray that the Lord will guide you to help those in need whether they are in need of prayer and financial assistance to live or prayer and financial assistance for missionaries. He will be pleased for you to help both of these. When you partner with missionaries, you are partnering with God who sent them.

One thing that must be kept in mind is that there is a difference between giving a sacrifice to the Lord and giving sacrificially. Most Israelites gave several sacrifices to the Lord at the Temple every year, but an example of someone giving sacrificially is the widow who gave all she had, two mites, to the LORD.  

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Philippians 4:19

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“And my God will supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus.”

‌In this verse we find the result of the Philippians partnering with Paul through financial gifts and prayer. They sacrificed to send Paul the gift that Epaphroditus delivered to them. God was pleased with their attitude and their sacrifice. The result of God being pleased with partnering with Paul is that He would supply all the needs of the Philippian church needs. The word supply literally means to fill full. If they had a need, God promised He would fill that need. God would reward them for partnering with Paul.

Psalm 14:1 “There is no God.”  

The fool has said in his heart, “There is not God.”

The key to interpreting this Scripture, and any Scripture is context. Paul was speaking to the church at Philippi and their financial circumstance. God was pleased with gift that the church at Philippi gave sacrificially. It was pleasing and accepted by God because, first of all, they gave and second of all that they gave sacrificially.

1 Corinthians 8:1-5 give us a little more information about the Philippians.

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8 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.

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The church at Philippi not only gave a sacrificial gift to Paul, but they gave a sacrificial gift to believers in Jerusalem who were experiencing a famine from AD 44- 48. The following is a story written by Jim L. Wilson. It’s dated but the rate is probably the same or worse.

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According to the IRS, in 2003, people with and average income of $12,685 had $1,469 in charitable contributions (11.6%) as compared to those with an income of $54,503 who claimed $2,094 in charitable contributions (4%). Those with an average income of $288,335 gave $7,182 (2.5%).

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B. Farewell (4:20–23)

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Philippians 4:20-23 - 20 Now to our God and Father be the glory forever and ever. Amen. 21 Greet every saint in Christ Jesus. The brethren who are with me greet you. 22 All the saints greet you, especially those of Caesar’s household. 23 The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit.

I want to show you one last thing, At the beginning of the book in Philippians 1:2 we read, “Grace (Divine Enablement) to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.” Now, let’s read Philippians 4:23, “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit.”

What do you see? In both verses Paul’s desire was that God give the believers in Philippi grace, Divine Enablement. He begins the letter with it and ends the letter with it desiring that God give them Divine Enablement. This is a figure of speech called an INCLUSIO in Latin. In English we would call it INCLUSION. This means that everything from 1:2 and 4:23 is to be seen as God Grace or Divine Enablement. It like a circle that has been completed and everything inside the circle, which is the book of Philippians, is either seen as God’s Divine Enablement or can be accomplished by God’s grace or divine enablement.

SELAH!