This morning,
God’s word took me back through a variety of themes in the way a crescendo at
the end of a symphony ties together every thread of music already expressed.
It began
with, “I rejoiced in the Lord greatly
that now at length you have revived your concern for me.”[1]
First I saw that Paul was taking great care to assure the Philippians that his
joyful response to their financial gift was not joy in the material gift, but
joy “in the Lord” because of the
gift. In other words, he did not want to leave them thinking that his happiness
was dependent on their gift, and neither did he want them to think he was
ungrateful for their help in his ministry. Their consideration of him brought
him joy, but because Paul looked at financial things “in the Lord.”
This took me
back to the previous couple of paragraphs where Paul had introduced some
instruction about prayer, what we think about, and what we put into practice,
with the all-encompassing exhortation of, “Rejoice
in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice.”[2]When
he now addresses his contentment in relation to any description of financial
conditions, he shows how rejoicing in the Lord always means rejoicing in the
Lord for financial provisions rather than rejoicing in financial provisions
themselves.
However, to
understand what it meant to Paul to rejoice in the Lord always, we need to go
back to his testimony of how he had once thought he had attained everything of
personal achievement anyone could ever desire, until he met Jesus Christ.
Suddenly he considered “everything as
loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.”[3]
Remember that
“everything as loss” included
whatever financial standing he had attained with his exemplary good works, and “the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus
my Lord” covered everything in life. Therefore, when it came to a financial
gift, Paul’s rejoicing was “in the Lord”
who was his greatest treasure, not in anything he would gladly consider loss if
ever there was a conflict between finances and faith.[4]
As we take
this another big step back in Paul’s symphonic letter, we remind ourselves that
Paul’s over-riding example of what it means to relate to one another in the
church was that of Jesus Christ. Jesus gave up all the glory of his Father’s
heavenly presence in order to come into our sin-cursed world, to give up his
life for us in death, even the most shameful death of crucifixion, so that he
could satisfy our deepest need and interest of all, which was to come out from
under the wrath of God against our sin, and enter into the fullness of
fellowship with his Father.[5]
When Paul
deals with finances at the end of his letter, he wants the church to see in him
his willingness to bear all things (including poverty) because of his love for
them,[6] and
that he wants them to know the freedom of having “this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus.”[7]In
other words, he wants them to know how joyful their gift made him feel in the
Lord, even though he knows contentment in everything, and he wants them to
continue with their generous consideration of other people’s needs because “God will supply every need of yours
according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.”[8]
As we go back
further to the earliest strains of Paul’s symphony, we realize that Paul’s joy
in the financial gift, and his greater joy in the Lord, were already expressed
in his declaration, “For to me to live is
Christ, and to die is gain.”[9]With
Christ as his greatest treasure, to live his earthly life for Christ was his
highest earthly goal, and death would be gain since it would lead him “to depart and be with Christ, for that is
far better.”[10]With
such a joy in Jesus Christ, living or dying, or “facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need,”[11]all
helped Paul live rejoicing in the Lord.
Finally, for
brevity’s sake, we skip back over Paul’s expression of joy that the gospel of
his blessed Savior was proclaimed no matter how good or bad the motives of the
preachers,[12]
and his beautiful declaration of affection for his family in Christ,[13] to
his introductory expression of: “I thank
my God in all my remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine for you all
making my prayer with joy, because of your partnership in the gospel from the
first day until now.”[14]
By the time
Paul gets to the concluding crescendo of his symphony, we know that the thing
that connects him and the believers together is their partnership in the gospel
because it is the gospel that brings them all to Christ who is the greatest treasure
of all because he brings them all to life in the Father. Paul’s thankfulness
and his joy revolved around their fellowship in Christ through the glorious
gospel, the good news of salvation.
All of this
shows why Paul dealt with finances at the end of his letter rather than
somewhere sooner. On one side, he wanted there to be no doubt what caused him
to have joy, which was Jesus Christ and anyone who was with him in Christ. On
the other side, he wanted them to see how their partnership in the gospel made
him rejoice in the Lord over their partnership in finances.[15]
There is a
sense in which I wish we could sit and listen to Paul’s Philippian Philharmonic
together and hear the themes that play throughout the music from the first
strain of, “Grace to you and peace from
God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ,”[16]to
the final line of, “The grace of the Lord
Jesus Christ be with your spirit.”[17]From
one end of the symphony to the other, Paul shows us how to rejoice in the Lord
always, even in the secret of contentment that remains the same no matter how
much or little financial help is in sight.[18]
I hope that
this little review of Paul’s glorious and gracious letter to the churches will
encourage you to enter into the treasure of God’s word to know this constant
rejoicing in Jesus for yourself.
© 2015 Monte Vigh ~ Box 517,
Merritt, BC, V1K 1B8 ~ in2freedom@gmail.com
Unless otherwise noted,
Scriptures are from the English Standard Version (The Holy Bible, English
Standard Version Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good
News Publishers.)
[1]
Philippians 4:10
[2]
Philippians 4:4
[3]
Philippians 3:8
[4]
This is a HUGE examples to pastors, churches, and ministries, that seem all too
willing to sacrifice issues of faith for pseudo-security in finances.
[5]
Philippians 2:5-11
[6]
I Corinthians 13:7
[7]
Philippians 2:5
[8]
Philippians 4:19
[9]
Philippians 2:21
[10]
Philippians 1:24
[11]
Philippians 4:12
[12]
Philippians 1:12-18 shows how Paul rejoiced in Christ so much that even though
some of his brothers were preaching about Jesus out of bad motives, seeking his
harm, he still could rejoice because Jesus was being preached. Paul being in
prison was not stopping God from making Jesus known, even through mean-hearted
brothers.
[13]
Philippians 1:7-11
[14]
Philippians 1:3-5
[15]
Let me make very clear that there is no comparison between Paul’s view of
finances and the stereotypical money-grubbing TV evangelists that are the scourge
of the church in modern times.
[16]
Philippians 1:2
[17]
Philippians 4:23
[18]
Philippians 4:10-20
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