Being Strengthened and Sharing in the Ministry of Paul pt 2

All right, per usual, let's open our Bibles and we're going to read again. I'm going to begin with Philippians 4, 8, which I think is probably, we could go back to the beginning of the book of Philippians because the whole book leads to where we're at right now.

Bob in context, right? All right, verse 8. Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are noble, things that are just, things that are pure, Things that are lovely, things that are a good report. If there's any virtue and if anything is praiseworthy, meditate on these things. Just a pause there. You know, meditating on the Word of God, we used to memorize and then meditate. I think sometimes we should meditate and then the Word of God becomes clear. Patty's nodding her head. I think many of us experience this where ultimately meditating on the Word ultimately makes it more easy to memorize. So let's go ahead. Verse 9.

The things which you learned and received and heard and saw in me, these do, and the God of peace will be with you. But I rejoice to the Lord greatly that now at last your care for me has flourished again, though you surely did care, but you lacked opportunity. Not that I speak in regard to need, for I have learned in whatever state I am to be content. I know how to be abased, how to abound, and everywhere and all things I've learned both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

Nevertheless, you've done well that you shared my distress. And 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 and set aid once and again for my necessities, not that I seek the gift, but I seek the fruit that abounds to your account. In fact, I'll read down through 20, we'll not be covering those last three verses.

But indeed I have all abound, I am full, having received from Ephephrodites the things sent from you. a sweet-smelling aroma, an acceptable sacrifice, well-pleasing to God. And my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus. Now to our God and Father be glory forever and ever. All right.

So this is part two of the lessons entitled Being Strengthened and Sharing in Paul's Ministry. So part one was last week. So to summarize succinctly. So I'm going to summarize with a question. How does one do all things in Him who strengthens us? Would anyone like to take that one on? I think I mentioned last week that we can't do all things. Like even the Lord that strengthens me, I can't go out and lift up a car. But I think this has to do with the previous verses.

The contentment we have, whether we're rich, whether we're poor, whether we're in prison, whether we're free, whether we have a lot or don't have a lot, we can be content. And in all those things, we have that strength. What's that called, Bob? Contentment. Happy is the man who wants what he has. Trusting in God. Think of that. I'm looking for one word. Position. That's a good place to start. But we live in our condition, don't we? It's a life so close.

It's the new creation we are in Christ Jesus that accepts all things and walks in all things. His great platform of grace is what strengthens us. And I think looking down, whenever I'm kind of frustrated with the old man and my sin nature, I return to my position knowing that there's also no condemnation to those that are in Christ Jesus. I mean, that's really something that we need to remind ourselves of at all times. So do we always walk in the new nature? No, because we do have this other nature that keeps showing up all the time.

But we're doing all things in Him is in a life that we have in Christ Jesus. Crucified with Christ, in other words, I live, but not I, but Christ who lives in me, right? So again, like I mentioned last week, this isn't thinking about, gee, was that of the flesh or was that of the Lord? That drives you crazy. We walk by faith that that new life will bring glory to Him in everything we do, in all things, by the way, including lifting a car that you can't top. All right, so I think we answered that, didn't we? Or maybe we didn't. You could look the car if he wanted you to.

And the other thing from last week's lesson is Paul acknowledges that the church at Philippi had shared in his distress. Now, remember what we talked about last week in terms of what the sharing was all about? Was the sharing in the circumstances or the sharing that Paul was going through being imprisoned in Rome? I mean, the circumstances being The need for gifts. That gift could be food, actually.

I'm sure it was. Right. So it could have been both. Right. We don't know for sure, but we speculated that it could be. Except they were not. It had to be food in order for him to live. They didn't feed the prisoners. And Margaret and I have been to that prison. And ultimately the food needed to be thrown down. There's a pretty small hole in the floor down about 10 feet maybe.

All right, let's proceed into part two, beginning at verse 15. Now you Philippians know also that in the beginning of the gospel, when I departed from Macedonia, no church shared or communicated with me concerning giving and receiving but you only. So now seems to naturally follow verse 14. So somebody read verse 14. Nevertheless, you have done well to share with me and my afflictions. All right.

So now seems to naturally follow that and reflects a history of the Philippian church, not only giving, but perhaps even spreading the gospel. I mean, Paul's business was not only, you know, physical gifts, but ultimately he was there to spread the gospel. And I think we have to imply that the Philippian Church, remember who founded the Philippian Church? Paul. So they are grateful for Paul the Lord bringing Paul unto them to establish the body of believers in Philippi.

So I think the idea here of their giving was not only to give him his earthly needs and including potentially financial support but President Rome, what's he going to do with money anyway? Probably not very much. But they're continuing to pray that he's spreading the gospel.

What kind of knowledge did the Philippians have? What's the Greek verb? Keep in mind, know comes in three forms. Eido, gnosis, and epignosis. Which Greek term is used here? What kind of knowledge is this? What kind of knowledge did the Philippians have here of Paul? Well, we don't all have to answer at the same time, but it's Ido.

This is factual or perceived or experiential knowledge. This is like the sun comes up in the east, or I just saw a car go down here on Holly. So is that epignosis or just gnosis? This is Ido. This is factual knowledge. But the Greek word. That's the Greek term here. Knowledge is using this factual or perceived or experienced knowledge. This is not gnosis or epi-gnosis. EIDO? E-I-D-O? That's it? EIDO. And Strong pronounced that for me. EIDO. I have this ability to kind of, in the blue letter Bible, you can ask the grape to be pronounced for you.

All right, so does in the beginning of the gospel relate only to Paul's departure from Macedonia? What do you think? It's kind of a strange thing, in the beginning of the gospel, it makes you think, gee, is this the new church? Founded, described in early chapters of Acts, or is this some other? Well, let's look at this and we'll mark each other. The word here is arche. In a relative sense, it's the beginning of the things spoken of.

So I think Paul is referring to it in the beginning of the gospel as the beginning of his spreading the gospel. This is not the beginning of the gospel. This is the beginning of his expressing the gospel and bringing, you know, the gospel news around Asia, Macedonia, and other regions of the world. So then it goes on to say no church shared a better kind of interpretations communicate with me concerning giving and receiving, but you only." So I guess, you know, the question comes up why, but we're not going to be able to answer that. But we can say, what was the timing of all this?

How many missionary journeys did Paul have? Three. And if a fourth is implied, but not documented scripturally. It's stated, and I don't remember where, in one of the letters of the Corinthian church, that there was an implication that there was another missionary journey that doesn't get clarified or documented in Scripture. So Constable has something to share here, and I think, no, this is, I'm sorry, this is Ortiz, which I think maybe Constable brought up.

On the first missionary journey, Paul went through Cyrus, Pamphylia, and Galatians. On his second missionary journey, he went through Galatia, Macedonia, and Achaia. And his third journey took him through Galatia, Asia, Macedonia, Achaia, and ended in Jerusalem. And after his third missionary journey, Paul was imprisoned in Caesarea for two years and later transported around where he was then placed under house arrest for two years. Now let's look at the maps. Okay I'm not sure how well you can see this but I think you can see well the second journey began in Jerusalem at the bottom and proceeded up through Cappadocia and through Tarsus where Paul was originally from.

Philippi is shown at the top And he comes down, then crosses over the Adriatic, and ultimately, I guess it's not the Adriatic, what is it? The GNC. The GNC, thank you. And ultimately back to Jerusalem. So here's where Philippi exists in the second missionary journey. So just keep that in mind. And here's the third journey. There's Philippi up on top again. and ultimately this began in Antioch and goes north and then west and south and then back north again and back across the Aegean and ultimately ended in Jerusalem.

Now, so do we have evidence as to what the timing was here of this gift from the Philippian church? What gives us a hint that maybe we can answer that question. Well, we read the verse this morning. It's not one we covered. It said, verse 18, Indeed, I have all and abound, I'm full, having received from Epaphroditus the things sent from you, a sweet-smelling aroma, an acceptable sacrifice, well-pleasing to God. What do we make of that? Do you think that what Epaphroditus brought back to Rome to Paul represents the gift? I think so.

So that would place it at the time that Paul was imprisoned in Rome when the gift was received, not his second journey. but his third. By the way, nobody ever addresses this. I can't tell you how much time I spent looking at commentary after commentary, website after website. Anyway, ultimately, I think we have to imply that verse 18 indicates that this was after his third journey when he was in prison in Rome.

When he wrote Philippians, was he under house arrest in Rome? He was in Rome. He was under house arrest, right? He was free to go back and forth, chained or not chained. Well, he could have visitors, right? So he wasn't in a deep dungeon. Well, I think he was. Was he not? I thought he was under house arrest. Wasn't he free to go around, move around? Especially when he says, all the saints breach, especially those of Caesar's household, which mean he would have met all of those people, wouldn't he have been free to roam around?

I can't answer that. I don't know. And also earlier, he was handcuffed to a guard every day. If he was down in the deep hole, I don't think he would be handcuffed to a guard. I can see him being handcuffed to a guard if he is under house arrest. And as far as the deep hole, I believe he was there just before he was executed. Okay, that's all relevant, but perhaps it still relates to the timing of this gift, right? Heidi and I are thinking that this letter was written during his first arrest, not the last arrest. In Caesarea or in Rome? In Rome. Yes.

But with what you had to say, I guarantee you this next week, I haven't looked at this for a long time. Thank you very much. I'm going to go back and restudy this because you might be right. Well, I don't know this house arrest versus, you know, lack of a house arrest and whether it was ultimately had the freedom to leave. That may be a very important sidebar to all this. The question I'm dealing with is what was the timing of this gift?

And I'm thinking it was after the third missionary journey when he's in Rome, not after the second. And some people kind of imply that this was after a second journey. But anyway, Macedonia is part of this. He went for Macedonia twice. So and then on to Thessalonica. Right. And Thessalonica is going to come up with the next first. Right. We'll deal with that. All right. All right.

So here's Constable. mentioned him before, but here's what he has to say. The Philippians had been very thoughtful and generous with Paul when he left their town after planning their church on his second missionary journey. Okay, so that's where the church was planted. That doesn't relate to the gift directly. He had traveled south from Philippi into the province of Achaia.

Probably the gift to which he referred in this verse is the same one he mentioned in 2nd Corinthians 11.8. the gift that reached Paul in Corinth. All right. So. So the gift reached him in Corinth, which is another interesting thing. We don't know whether the gift was received in Rome or whether it reached him in Corinth.

But here's what that those verses say, 2 Corinthians 11, 8, 9. I robbed other churches, taking wages from them, to minister to you, and when I was present with you and in need, I was a burden to no one for what I lacked, the brethren who came from Macedonia supplied, and in everything I kept myself from being burdensome to you, and so I will keep myself." So this actually made me suggest that the gift actually was received in Corinth, but I'm not sure that That is exactly how you interpret verses 8 and 9 of 2 Corinthians 11 too. So anyway, I think it's unclear that probably the importance of this is that the gift was given and Paul received it wherever in Rome, whether bound or not bound or in Corinth on his way to Rome.

But the interesting thing about this is ultimately the timing of this is perhaps 10 years earlier was when Matt, you know, also made people speculate that that was about the date of the time he received the gift from the time he was writing this. So about 10 years from his time in Philippi versus the time he received the gift. But I think this is all kind of academic and probably not so important. The issue is the gift itself. So Weiss goes on to describe this whole nature of the gift. The words giving and receiving are a business term referring to the credit and debit side of the ledger.

The Philippian saints owed Paul much since he was the one who won them to the Lord and matured them in the faith. Thus Paul had certain credits on their ledger which they were obligated to honor. And Paul referred to a like thing in 1 Corinthians 9-11, if we have sown unto you spiritual things Is it a great thing if we shall reap your carnal things? Meaning by carnal things, material things.

So anyway, so the idea here is he's thinking from a earthly business perspective in terms of the nature of this giving and receiving. Interesting comment. Your thoughts? Any thoughts about his business side of things? Part of this Jewish tradition probably related to this. And we know I'm generalizing this comment, but the Jewish nation has always been very concerned about business operations. Right. I don't think that's stretching too far in terms of a comment.

But I think also what we have to realize when when these people were in prison, they they got nothing. I mean, nothing from the jailers. Nothing. I mean, so if they were going to survive, eat, have clothing, I mean, everything had to be provided by somebody from the outside.

Everything. It doesn't describe what the gift was, does it? Whether it's monetary or physical things. It is a great thing if we shall reap your carnal things, which means material things. Yes. You know, I think it's a whole different world. Nobody took care of any prisoners. And he was in prison a long time, really. Several years.

Well, he's got to have food for the rats so they stay away from his toes. OK, the term sharing does imply giving. And the concept here is, as James has said, 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 sharing. So ultimately, I think that we have to really think that every gift is really from above, right? I'm sure Paul had that view, right? That these gifts were in fact of the Lord and ultimately very uplifting to him. So there's no shadow of turning away from the fact that the Lord is the source of all these gifts.

How should we interpret but you only? The false letter to the church at Philippi claimed that they were the only ones who were giving sight. Up until the time he went to the Thessalonica, nobody had supported him in any way except the Philippians church. Now after that, he was supported by other churches, but up until that time, up until his writing, it was only the Philippians.

And I can see this. I mean, the Philippian church and Paul had a very special relationship that he had with no other church. There was a bond there. Paul started the church. Paul brought a lot of those people to Christ. There was a bond there that he had that he didn't have with any other church, I think.

I think that's all true, and we'll return to those comments in a moment. So Jason Fawcett Brown said, we are not to wait for others in a good work saying, I will do so when others do it. We must go forward. though alone. It's kind of an interesting comment about this. So kind of relates to things today, too, in terms of our faith and how it works out in our life. If we're depending on others, we may be disappointed, but we need to go forward, though at times alone, to allow the Lord to meet our needs. So interesting comment, I think.

So, Bob, to your point, for even in Thessalonica, you sent aid once and again, by the way, twice is perhaps the best interpretation for my necessities to my needs. So it's not just once they did it again. And many people interpret again as twice. Why does Paul bring up Thessalonica here, do you think? Well, he traveled through there, but why else? Well, I think it's to contrast.

Actually, Thessalonica was a much wealthier church, yet the Philippian church is giving Paul gifts. I mean, you know, there's a lot of messaging there, isn't there? What do you make of that, Bob, beyond the fact that Thessalonica may ultimately have given their support to Paul, but the relationship Paul had with the Philippian church, right? And also, Paul had the policy of he didn't want people, churches to support him. He would rather go in and do his tent making business rather than being supported by churches, because if he was supported by churches, there might have been a false obligation to them that he didn't want. And did he report this on his IRS form?

You know, on top of that, we've only been talking about like a money type gift, but there was also the gift of sending Aphrodite to minister to him. So that was part of that gift. The other thing is that Paul traveled to Corinth after he was in Thessalonica and he received the gift from the Philippians, presumably in Corinth. So, I mean, this kind of answers my question I failed to really pin down before, is the gift was likely not received in Rome, but still part of the third missionary journey.

I think that supports that position. Now, Constable says there's good evidence from the Greek or Roman world that the actual expression of thank you was not a part of friendship as such. As strange as it may seem to us, true friends did not need to express thanksgiving directly in order for it to be received. And bolded in what Paul is most likely doing here is keeping with social convention, is thus expressing his thank you indirectly but even more tellingly, by rehearsing their history in this way. Kind of interesting, huh? I mean, that's where I think people who are historically more informed and in-depth can help us interpret why no thank you. If we don't say thank you these days, we're looked at as heathens, right?

So the common way to express our response to people who do good things for us, right? According to Constable, that was not current in the Greco-Roman Empire of the day in which Paul lived. All right, verse 17. Not that I seek the gift, but I seek the fruit that abounds to your account. Wow, how about that? That's a view from above, isn't it? I say, isn't this an incredible statement, Paul? What do you make of this? He's more or less telling the Philippians that, thank you for that gift. But what it comes down to is that you're going to be incredibly blessed by your gift, by what you gave to me.

He said, I didn't need the gift. I could go on without the gift. But since I got that gift, it's going to rebound back to you. But I don't want to sound like that perverted gospel that some people have. If you give $10, I'm going to give back $100. That sounds like sports betting to me. Could leave that one on the table.

How often do we think about the gifts we've received or by way even our income or Social Security in this way? I mean, it's do we think about what the how that's going to abound to the account that ultimately that we have been given? I don't think so. I think that this is something we don't consciously think about.

But with the kind of the view is that I earned it. So it's mine. Right. Yeah, I think we all in our human condition really reflect on this in so many ways. But we need to pause here, I think, and think about how the gifts can impact what happens with them going forward.

I mean, Hebrews 6.10, for the God is not unjust to forget your work and labor, which you have shown toward his name, in that you have ministered to the saints and do minister. I mean, what do you think about that?

As we bring glory to God in our walk in him, right? That began our study in part one. Do all things in him who strengthens me or strengthens us. What brings glory to God in our walk by faith? I think, don't you think too, that the Lord's, I mean, I think when we're giving, we shouldn't be thinking about what we're going to receive because we've given. I mean, we shouldn't be giving because it's the right thing to do. within the Lord's plan, I mean whatever, and we've been blessed with whatever we've been given, but I think to have expectations that we're going to earn something by doing this.

It's part of worship. What's the expression of the support that we're given financially or even by grace, Heidi? Isn't it part of worship? Okay, yeah. What's the extension of the new life manifested in terms of what abounds in us? What's the work of the Holy Spirit? Oh, fruit, is it not? Does anybody have all the fruits memorized? Galatians? So the fruit of the Spirit is orderly what abounds, and the fruits mentioned here in this verse, the fruit that abounds to your account is that work of the Lord Jesus Christ in us, is it not?

Are we making that overly simple? It doesn't necessarily relate to the financial aspects, but the walk that we have, which is supported to some extent by the ability to sustain our life by the income we receive or our social security or other gifts we might be given. But we're not talking about here spiritual gifts as defined in 1 Corinthians. We're defining the fruit of the spirit that deals with the fruit that abounds to your account. And before, you know, when we go before the Lord, ultimately, you know, there's wood, hay, and stubble, which isn't even going to be mentioned. There's no account. But the things that have account to us is the fruit that we've been about bearing by faith, by the work of the Holy Spirit. Agree, disagree, too simple, too complex.

I think part of it too is that we have certain needs in this life that we have to pay money for and we have to get somehow, we need food, we need clothes, we need shelter of some sort. And, you know, some basic things that we need and, you know, we can appreciate that God gives those to us and that he is supporting us and other people are supporting us in other ways. But the gift that Paul received, I think, had monetary or earthly value.

But remember, part of this related to the Philippian church supporting the spread of the gospel. And is it that the life we have in Christ that others would see Christ in us? Back to how you may be the only Bible people ever read. I mean, I'm expanding this concept here a bit, perhaps maybe unscripturally, but I don't think so.

The fruit that abounds to our account is the fruit of the Holy Spirit. And it does relate directly, I think, to some extent to the gifts we receive monetarily and beyond. We said Paul is still defending himself against the slanderous assertion that he is using the gospel as a means of livelihood when he says, not that I desire a gift. The word desire is in the present tense, which usually indicates habitual action. Good insight by Weiss, don't you think? He's that I not desire a gift indicates in the present tense, which means something he's thinking about all the time. So we've dealt with this a little bit about your account. Constable has some thoughts on that.

And he says throughout this section dealing with gifts, Paul used common business terminology, the matter of giving and receiving. And he goes on to say that in verse 15, profit are credited to your account. In verse 17, received in full, Paul was very aware of business matters. Oops, my bad. Business matters, perhaps this reflects his Jewish heritage. His writings reveal a consistent concern over good investments that he regarded mainly as investments yielding eternal rewards received in full, verse 18. So anyway, the concept here is that to Paul, it's not the gift itself. It was what were things that are being done with the gift that brought glory to God. And that was credited to his account, his earthly account.

And reminded me of another verse in Titus 3.14, and let our people also learn to maintain good works to meet urgent needs that they may not be unfruitful. So that I think directly relates to where we're at today in terms of the church age with the Bible being replete in everything that relates to gifts. And here that is manifested by good works to meet urgent needs and that they may not be unfruitful. So I think that really does apply to us. Now the issue is, we brought this up last week, What's the basis of Christian giving in the body, then and now? Why do we give? What's the motive for our giving?

To tithing? Further and slower the gospel. I'm sorry? Further and slower the gospel. Oh, that's part of it, David. Thank you. Any other? ideas or thoughts here. Andrew, do I hear you? Thanksgiving. OK. Yes. Because you're thankful. Yeah. OK, good. And how does that relate to the attitude we have in giving? We don't give out of necessity. OK. We give freely. Not by necessity. Also, love. Love, okay. Manifestation of the new nature we have, correct?

But we have a verse to turn to and I love the verse because I think this is where we all need to be. Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. I don't know about you, but I grew up under tithing and it was tough, but ultimately when I came to this, I think we give as much as I did when I tithed, but now I have a whole different attitude about it. The only call to giving in the New Testament is being a cheerful giver. It specifically relates to the motive for giving. God doesn't need our money. In fact, we're giving it out of some kind of demand or compulsion. He wants our gift to be a gift that we give because we love the Lord, and this is manifesting in itself as being a cheerful giver. So I think that is in context related to what the Philippian Church was doing. They were cheerfully supporting Paul, not only in terms of his needs, but also in expectation that he was spreading the gospel and the life that he was living.

Other thoughts or comments here? All right. Let's close in prayer. Clark, would you close us briefly? Father, thank you for this wonderful day you've given us, and thank you for studying your scripture and all that that means. Thank you for the ability to fellowship with those around us to further explore the meaning of some of this scripture, Lord. Lord, thank you for allowing us to be cheerful givers and all that that means in our faith and the structure that surrounds that. Lord, we thank you for our salvation. And again, thank you for the fellowship we had this morning. Pray for all these things in your wonderful name. Amen. Amen. Thank you.