Being amply supplied

We are closing out Chapter 4 this morning, and then next week we're going to have a review of Chapter 4, and it might kind of be a whole book review, summary review, yeah. But we're going to just read, starting back in verse 15 through to the end of 23, just because we'll review a little bit of what we covered last week and get to context here. So beginning in verse 15, of chapter 4.

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. For even in Thessalonica you sent a gift more than once for my needs. Not that I seek the gift itself, but I seek for the profit which increases to your account. But I have received everything in full and have an abundance. and amply supplied, having received from Epaphroditus which you have sent, fragrant aroma and acceptable sacrifice, while pleasing to God.

And my God will supply all your needs according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus. Now to our God and Father be the glory forever and ever. Amen. Greet every saint in Christ Jesus. The brethren 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. So we're looking at 18 through 23 today, but let's start with some of the stuff we covered last week. Now, there was a little bit of discussion last week. I wasn't in the class, but I was able to listen to the recording.

There's a little discussion about where was Paul? Was he... when this took place? Because we're kind of... we're talking about his needs here and the supply of his needs. And what was Paul's situation? So, was he... it's kind of the question came up, was he in a dungeon or was he under house arrest?

And if you turn to the very end of the Book of Acts, chapter 28, the last two verses, we'll look at those in a minute, but the chronology of the last few years of Paul's life is a little bit difficult to nail down. And so kind of cobbling together what seems to be the most common understanding of it is that Paul was under house arrest for two years. Now that we do know for sure. That's what we see in Acts here.

And that is almost certainly when he wrote Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, and Philemon. And then it seems likely that Paul was released from house arrest and probably wrote First Timothy and Titus during that period of time. And we think that because Paul makes reference to traveling to some degree, moving around. So he has some freedom to move during that period.

And then we believe that Paul was rearrested. put into prison. This is probably the dungeon at this point, the one that Bob referenced last week, and was ultimately executed. And so Second Timothy was written shortly before Paul's execution. So, I just, I thought I'd just put that up here this morning to get a bit of an idea of Paul's situation. This is probably when he was under house arrest.

But let's read a few verses of Acts that tell us about that house arrest. It says, and he, Paul, stayed two full years in his own rented quarters and was welcoming all who came to him, preaching the kingdom of God and teaching concerning the Lord Jesus Christ with all openness unhindered. Now you might say, well, that doesn't say anything about being under house arrest. It just says he rented a house.

But we know that Paul, of course, came to Rome under guard. He was there as a prisoner and he was there to stand trial before Caesar. This is the, I guess, the standard operating procedure in this situation. Paul wasn't a dangerous criminal, so I guess in that regard, they didn't feel like they needed him in a dungeon, but they did put him under house arrest. Now, we do actually, if we kind of pay attention to the details there, we realize, oh yeah, he was under arrest because it says that he was welcoming all who came to him. He couldn't go out to them like he would typically do, you know, go to the synagogue and preach there and then go, you know, and so forth. He had to stay put.

And we understand historically that he would have had a Roman guard chained to his wrist 24 hours a day. So we'll come back to that point because of verse 22 in a bit. But Luke also says here that Paul's preaching was open and unhindered. So apparently he could say whatever he wanted to to those who would come to him. But we get the idea that he couldn't move about freely. So house arrest, as we understand it here, was a pretty efficient idea for Rome. I mean, they didn't have to build any prisons. Or at least for some of their prisoners, right? They did have prisons.

But think of the predicament in which Paul found himself. Apparently, Paul had to pay rent on his own place. And I would assume he also had to provide for all of his other needs as well, physical needs, such as food and clothing. And we know that Paul was happy to work for an income, you know, the tent maker. But in this situation, he couldn't do that. And so Paul was forced to be dependent on other believers to supply his needs. And so, because of the situation, the Philippians had the opportunity to supply Paul's needs.

And it's interesting, the Philippians were some of the poorest believers. and at the same time, some of the most generous believers that we read about. It actually reminds me a bit of the widow and her two copper coins that we read about in the Gospels. You know, the poorest and yet the most generous. In 2 Corinthians chapter 8, Paul talks about how the Philippians gave out of their deep poverty, and he says, Now brethren, we wish to make known to you the grace of God, which has been given in the churches of Macedonia, that in a great ordeal of affliction their abundance of joy and their deep poverty overflowed in the wealth of their liberality. For I testify that according to their ability, and beyond their ability, they gave their own accord. And I included verse 3 there in that quotation because it tells us that the Philippians gave of their own accord. There was no obligation or arm-twisting involved in this giving.

And Bob highlighted last week 2 Corinthians 9.7 where it says, "...they were not to give grudgingly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver." So out of their poverty, the Philippians gave, but they did so cheerfully. They did it of their own accord. They were glad to do it. I think what this demonstrates is that the Philippians had a real wisdom about earthly possessions. And I think we could maybe say that the Philippians were wise investors. The term investment came up near the end of class last week.

And I think Bob Wolford made the comment, we don't want to come off sounding like the health and wealth preachers who say if you invest a dollar, you'll receive back, you know, 30, 60 or 100 fold. By the way, you know, when the prosperity gospel guys teach that way.

They're actually mixing the concept of financial giving, typically, with Jesus' parable of the sower in Matthew 13. Well, Jesus' parable of the sower has nothing to do with financial giving. He's actually talking about sharing the gospel of the kingdom with Israel. He's not talking about money at all. So it's a really terrible error to... Was there a comment there? Amen! Yeah, it's a really terrible error to say that whatever we give financially, God is going to give it back to us, you know, 30, 60, 100 times.

And if you think about it, you know, what's the motive for giving for these prosperity gospel people? What are they hoping to get out of this? that people will send them money. They're hoping to get a new jet airplane. Yeah, that was my other question here. You know, is Paul seeking to get a new private jet to take care of his ministry?

No. Yes. Do you think some of that might be deception on the part of the people who want donations to them? Yes. I think so. I think so. I don't think there's any question about it, I mean, unless they're really that adherent. But I think they're intelligent enough to know that what they're doing is horrible in terms of what the text actually says. You can't get that out of that parable, you know. It suits their needs very well, but I think they're crooks, honestly. Did you say Miles? Yeah.

In spite of the fact that we're talking about the prosperity gospel, And there is truth that when we give to the Lord, there is going to be a return to us. In verse 17, not that I seek the gift itself, but I seek for the profit which increases to your account. Now, we don't give to get back. But that's certainly what happens through the grace of God. Well, we may not recognize what that is. No, that's really good, Bob and Bob. The thing that I'm getting at here is that the prosperity gospel folks are looking for earthly blessing. They want to give financially and they want to get back a hundred times as much in terms of earthly blessing.

But we see in verse 15 here that Paul says, not that I seek the gift itself, He says, not that I speak from want, for I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am. 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 while having abundance and suffering needs.

So when it came to receiving financial gifts, Paul appreciated it, but he could honestly take it or leave it. He was just as happy to be in poverty and hunger as he was to be abundantly supplied. And what a wonderful secret, you can call it a secret, I mean, Paul learned to be content in whatever circumstance. In that respect, he was untouchable, I guess. You couldn't take away his contentedness. And I think the Philippians must have learned something of that same secret of contentment as well. Since they were content to be in poverty, they were able to share what little they had with Paul. It didn't bother them to give away their last dollar.

And I think the secret comes from understanding that whatever we have is from the Lord and not our own, anyway. You know, as a Christian, we can say, my money is not really my money. My stuff is not my stuff. And so, yeah, the Philippians had... They didn't hold on to their earthly possessions. They were content to let those go and had something much greater in view. And there was a benefit that accrued to their account, as Paul says. But I don't think that they considered that to be an earthly benefit.

So let's talk about today's verses. We better get on that. Verse 18 here. But I have received everything in full, and have an abundance. I am amply supplied, having received from Epaphroditus which you have sent, a fragrant aroma, an acceptable sacrifice, well-pleasing to God. I think the verse is pretty straightforward.

We gather from this context that Paul had received a gift from the Philippians. in order to supply his needs, and it had been sent by the hand of Epaphroditus. And you'll remember Epaphroditus back in chapter 2, verse 25. Paul says, I thought it necessary to send you Epaphroditus, my brother and fellow worker and soldier, who was also your messenger and minister to my need. So Epaphroditus had been sent, I believe, with this financial gift from the believers in Philippi, and And it's kind of interesting to think about as well, what does it mean that he was the minister to Paul's need?

I think that implied here is that Epaphroditus also came to serve Paul, not just to bring financial gift, but to serve his needs in whatever ways that he was able to, whether that just meant, you know, actually running to get the groceries, because Paul couldn't leave the house, apparently. You know, whatever it was. Sending and receiving messages, supplies, so forth.

But it had apparently... Whatever went on during that time, Paphroditus had apparently become quite sick. We read that in Chapter 2 as well. And... And so we're not sure how much time Epaphroditus had spent with Paul, but it must have been some time, because we read that Epaphroditus was longing to see the Philippians again. And he was distressed that they had heard that he had almost died from the sickness and so forth. So now, Paul is about to send Epaphroditus back. But he was the one who came with this gift and to serve Paul's needs.

So, let's focus on the last part of that verse there. It says, "...a fragrant aroma, an acceptable sacrifice, well-pleasing to God." And, of course, we've covered this already a little bit in our review portion, but we know that the Philippians were giving out of their deep poverty, not out of their wealth. And I think it's important to realize that the Philippians were giving out of a proper spiritual attitude. Otherwise, Paul couldn't say this. He couldn't say this is an acceptable, well-pleasing gift.

And these words here in 418 should draw our attention back to chapter 2, verse 17, where Paul says that even if he is put to death, he is joyful about being poured out as a drink offering upon the sacrifice and service of the Philippians' faith. And I think we can now connect the dots in Paul's thinking to recognize that he viewed the Philippians' sacrificial gift to him as being their sacrifice and service of faith back here in chapter 2. In fact, I think we can understand from the way Paul is speaking that he views his ministry there in Rome not as his own ministry, but as really the Philippians' ministry. Paul viewed their part as being the sacrifice and service which was acceptable and well-pleasing to God, and Paul sees himself simply as being a drink offering poured out on top of the sacrifice of the Philippians.

I think this teaches us a lot about service in the body of Christ. We tend to look at the one who's doing all the teaching or the missionary as the one who has sacrificed for the sake of the gospel. And that may be true, but they're not alone. The work of the gospel is the sacrifice of the entire church. And as the Philippians sacrificed out of their deep poverty, Paul viewed their part in the work as being very significant.

So... Hey Myles? Yes. I noticed there in verse 18 a fragrant aroma and acceptable sacrifice. A lot of times we think of worship as as a worship service in church, we come to church, we sing praises, we listen to the gospel, we think of that as worship. But our giving is a form of worship. And our sacrifice and service all throughout our lives is a form of worship to God, if done in the right way.

That's good. That's true. Yeah, right on. For sure. Well, let's look at verse 19 here, and this is the interesting... we're going to connect back with that thought earlier about giving and receiving here. So, verse 19 says, "...and my God will supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus." Oh, I see I had my other verse show up earlier. It's okay.

I think that living in, you know, 21st century North America, we have to really grapple with that little word, needs, and we need to ask the question, what are needs, really? I think of what Paul wrote to Timothy, and that's the verse there at the bottom. 1 Timothy 6, 7-8, for we have brought nothing into the world, so we cannot take anything out of it, not even if it was a hundredfold multiplied of your gift. So, if we have food and covering, which I think is the word clothing, with these we shall be content.

Yeah. When we talk about needs, I think we have to kind of adjust our conception of needs to what Paul has in mind when he uses the word needs. So, yeah. I'll just make a quick point. I don't want to delay your lesson. But, you know, Paul in chapters 2 and 3 refers to one-mindedness frequently in the body. We're not hearing about individuals and how they feel about this gift. It's a fact that the entire Philippian body are providing the gift, right? So, in a sense, that's evidence of a one-mindedness, I think, that at least Scripture reflects what the Philippian church had.

No, that's right. St. Myles? Yeah. We've been talking about giving here. Shouldn't verse 19 read, My God will supply all your needs according to what we have given to Him in glory? Shouldn't it read that way? Prosperity gospel. No, that's exactly... I guess really it's according to His riches in glory. Yeah, it's not... the relationship is not to what you have given.

The relationship is to His grace, which we'll get to in the next few verses here, right? So when Paul says, my slides seem to be out of whack here, okay, when Paul says that my God will supply all your needs, I don't think he's talking about having everything that you desire.

So I wanted to ask the question then, what about this verse? Because this is a popular verse on Christian, things you buy at a Christian bookstore, right? Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart. That's a verse that'll sell, right? So is there a contradiction between between Psalm 37 verse 4 and Philippians 4 19.

Miles? Yes. David was a man after God's own heart, right? Yes. Yeah, that's that's a good, very good point. Miles? Yes. And I think, too, if your heart is focused on him and your life is focused on him, then he gives you the desires for what he wants you to have. And so I think that's part of it. Any guy in the street, what is your heart desire? He's talking about people who are focused on God. So he has changed the desires of their heart for what he wants them to want. Yeah, that's true, that's true.

We can also look at the facts of the context in which this verse comes. A little further down the psalm it says, but the humble will inherit the land and will delight themselves in abundant prosperity. You know, these comments about earthly prosperity are very common in the Psalms, because David and the other psalmists, really all throughout the Old Testament, they were looking forward to the earthly abundance and prosperity that the Lord had promised to the nation of Israel. But that is earthly prosperity for Israel in the future kingdom. For the Church, we have every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.

And so there's a sense in which we can, even in the Church, take Psalm 37.4 and say, yeah, well, we delight in the Lord and He gives us the desire of our heart, which is Him, and intimacy with Him, but even in the original context here of being earthly blessing in the land, it wasn't given to us in the church, it was given to Israel, and so it has that meaning. So we have to keep the context in mind when we look at at a psalm like that.

But let's look quickly at Hebrews 13. If you want to flip there, Hebrews 13, verses 1 through 6. I don't have it on the screen, so if you want to see these verses, you'd have to go there. Let's see. Oh, I have part of it. I do have it. Okay, I put it up here. Never mind.

So, we see that in verse 1, the author instructs us about the love of the brethren. That's the context. In verse 3, he instructs believers to remember the prisoners as though imprisoned with them and who are ill-treated since you yourselves are in the body. So interestingly, you know, it's the same, very similar situation here. So, you know, someone in prison and fellow believers remembering them. And then in verse 5 and 6, in the context of loving brethren and caring for those who are in prison, he writes, make sure that your character is free from the love of money, being content with whatever you have. And for he himself said, I will never desert you, nor will I forsake you. So that we confidently say, the Lord is my helper, I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?

And so, I think this is really quite connected. As a believer, you can be content with whatever you have, even if it's almost nothing. And on the basis of the fact that our Savior never leaves us or forsakes us. The Philippians were really living out this instruction here.

They were caring for Paul. in his needs, and being free from the love of money, and being content with what they had, they were able to send what little they did have to Paul. Because think about that. If you're content with whatever you have, and then you give away whatever you had, well, you're still content. Because you're still content with whatever you have, right?

There's no losing. You just keep giving it away. Hey, Miles? Yeah. And just a side note on verse 10, it says, I rejoiced in the Lord greatly that now at last your care of me has flourished again. That's parallel to your thought, isn't it? Yeah. Yeah. They were ministering to him and their activity as a church had him in their focus, didn't it? Yeah. Yeah. That's good. That's really good.

So understanding the fact that Jesus is always present with us is a tremendous comfort. It tells us that he's never forgotten about us. He's always working in our lives and he will provide the things that are needed until his work is complete in us. And sometimes hunger for a little while is needed, right? But until he's done with you here, he is the one who is sustaining.

So back to Philippians here now. It says, "...and my God will supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus." Now, in my Charles Ryrie study Bible, I had a footnote that said, "...the church that gives to missionaries will have its own needs supplied." So is that what these verses teach?

I just want your thoughts. I hope not. I know. We're not sure about that. Yeah, well, in my mind, that turns God's supply of our needs into a conditional provision, more of a legal idea of rewards for works done. So I say no. Paul doesn't say here, since you have given me a gift, God will supply all your needs. It's not an if-then formula. Paul simply says that I have received your gift, and then he reminds them of the promise that God will supply their needs. we don't give so that we will be provided for by God. Rather, we rest in the truth that God will supply our needs, and on that basis we freely share with the body.

And so I think that enabled the Philippians to give out of their deep poverty. And before we move on from this verse, as Bob mentioned earlier, what is the source of the supply? It's according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus. And that is a bank account that's never going to run dry, right? His supply is not according to what we have given or what we have done. It's not conditional in that way. His supply is according to His infinite riches. We could probably add that word quite safely. We have that term in Christ, which means that's our position. We have all this as our position in Christ. Yeah, that's right.

It sounds like manipulating God, you know, that's ridiculous. Yeah, I don't know exactly where he, you know, it's it sounds it sounds kind of like maybe that makes sense here. But when you look at the text, it doesn't really is not teaching that, you know, the flip is we're going to be supplied because they gave to Paul. That's really not what the text says. So. Yeah, well, so where's 20 miles? Yeah. Also, What needs are we talking about here? Spiritual needs or material needs? That's a good question, actually. Hey, Paul? Yeah? Sorry, I didn't know if I... Glory. I mean, it says the rich is in glory. To me, that's not material. Yeah, not material things. It's our position. What we're going to have when we're in glory. I mean, that's what Yeah. I think it's both.

I think that, you know, in the context Paul is talking about having had his earthly needs supplied, and I think that this includes the fact that God will take care of the Philippians' earthly needs, but our needs are much more than just food and clothing, aren't they? You know, our great need is to know Him and to have intimacy with Him. And sometimes the removal of certain earthly comforts is exactly what is needed in order to gain that.

And so He'll supply all our needs richly. according to His glory and according to our position in Christ Jesus, because we are in Christ. That's part of the promise, is that He is supplying all those needs. And, you know, I mean, because you have to really think about this. If God's always going to supply your need in terms of, you know, food and clothing and so forth, well, then there should never have been a Christian who starved to death, but we know that there have been. And so, Sometimes your need is even greater than for food. So I think the idea is that God supplies what is needed to accomplish His ultimate goal and purpose in your life. And so, so long as that need involves you being here a while longer, then he's going to supply the food to keep you here a little while longer, right? But if that need has to do with a period of hunger and so forth, then he'll make sure that you're hungry as well. Trials are very, very important in God's work, supplying your needs. Yeah, there's a real helpful verse that our Lord taught when he was here.

He said in John 15 7, I'm going to read it out of Weist. Sure. If you make your home in me, in other words, your dwelling place, that's our position, isn't it? And my words make their home in you. If his word is what we are focused on him through, whatever your heart desires, I command you to ask at once something for yourself and it shall become yours. But that's all out of our position, in our condition, thinking as positioned in Christ.

We're going to have his thoughts, aren't we? And so that's sort of a summary of what we've been talking about here, I think. Yeah. Yeah, that's good. You know, we'll kind of close on this note today, and then we'll pick up the last few verses when we do our review next time.

But that really is a theme in Philippians, is having the mind of Christ. And if we think of chapter 3, he says, I count all things to be loss compared to the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. You know, so all things, every earthly thing, every material thing is considered a loss. You know, every earthly gain of whatever sort it might be is a loss compared to the value of knowing Him. So, yeah, that's...

So the idea, I think, is very much that God's supply of our needs is with His view of things. And for Paul at this point, that meant that his earthly needs were supplied so that he wouldn't starve to death under house arrest. And for the Philippians, it meant that their earthly needs would be supplied as God saw fit, but God also supplies the difficulties that are required so that we might know Him. He provides the needed suffering so that we might fellowship with Christ in His suffering.

So, there's so much to think about here. We'll have lots to think about throughout the rest of this week and we'll come back together next week and we'll close off with those last few verses, the doxology and some greetings and then we'll kind of see if we can do some summary comments on the book in the last chapter. But thank you guys so much for so much insightful commentary today on the verses, I really appreciate it. I feel like I learned a lot. Thanks, Miles. That was great. Thank you. Thank you, guys.

Let's close in prayer. Heavenly Father, we thank you for your Word. We thank you that it is so instructive and that there's so much more there than we even realized. And Lord, we pray that you would be the one who continues to teach us and to instruct us from your Word. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.