Yet it was good of you to share in my troubles. 15 Moreover, as you Philippians know, in the early days of your acquaintance with the gospel, when I set out from Macedonia, not one church shared with me in the matter of giving and receiving, except you only; 16 for even when I was in Thessalonica, you sent me aid more than once when I was in need. 17 Not that I desire your gifts; what I desire is that more be credited to your account. 18 I have received full payment and have more than enough. I am amply supplied, now that I have received from Epaphroditus the gifts you sent. They are a fragrant offering, an acceptable sacrifice, pleasing to God. 19 And my God will meet all your needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus. Phil. 4:14-19
I remember as a kid at Crescent Lake Bible Camp in Rhinelander Wisconsin, a preacher challenged us to name the top 10 chapters in the Bible. I suppose now you would just ask AI and get a pretty good list. Of course, Psalm 23, Isaiah 53, Genesis 1, Exodus 20, John 3 immediately come to mind but in that top 10 he included Philippians 4. There are a lot of classic verses like 4, 6-8, 13, and finally 19 that I memorized as a child. How do I know they were as a child - they are all in King James. Verse 19 is the second of the two verses that I alluded to in the previous blog as being taken out of context.
It says that God will meet all your needs basically because He owns everything and because of Christ's sacrifice, you are in His family, and He will take care of you. I fully endorse that interpretation and believe it to be on point. So how are people misinterpreting it? I think that in context, Paul is thanking the church in Philippi for their financial support. Paul refers to their gifts as a sacrifice so I would take that it wasn't out of their abundance but was a strain on their finances to give. I think of the land that David bought from Arunah as the death angel stopped at his plot of land. Arunah said, "Take it, it's yours!" David said, "I will not offer to God that which cost me nothing" and paid a large fee. This is, I believe, the sacrificial style of giving that the Philippians participated in.
When Paul pens the famous verse 19, what he is getting at is that as we give to the Lord in such a manner that it hurts, God won't let you starve or be homeless - He will meet those needs. Charlatans have abused this principle to say that God will give it all back to you with interest but actually it just says that He promises to meet your needs. Does that mean that God will meet your needs even if you don't give sacrificially because you are His child? I don't think we can assume that from these verses. I have a friend who struggles with just one verse in the Bible, "I've never seen the righteous forsaken or their seed begging for bread." He says, but I have! Maybe taking this verse along with Paul's verses, the righteous are the ones who are giving sacrificially? Just a thought.
I tend to not give sacrificially. We probably give close to 25%, maybe more maybe less (I don't want to reap the consequences of Ananias and Saphyra if I exaggerate) but it doesn't hurt. We need to give more. I feel like my needs are met by my savings not supernaturally by the Lord. I realize though that the savings are a gift from Him as He has given us everything, but I don't want that to serve as a cop-out either. What about you? Do you give sacrificially or out of your excess? Don't say, "I can't give because I won't have enough to get by" - that is what Paul is saying is a flawed statement.
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