1 Chronicles 29:6-9 | Psalm 23 | Philippians 4:10-23 | Matthew 6:25-34
A number of years ago, now when Libby and I were young parents, when our oldest, who's now about six, almost six, was under a year old, we went through a few months where life just seemed very, very busy. Life was so full. We had an under one year old. I was starting a new ministry to college students at that time. And in the period of about a couple months, just a number of different demands of my time had cropped up. And it made things just feel so hectic and busy and difficult. And during that season, we got an unexpected call from two friends of ours, two new friends of ours, a young couple who had just come into the church community. And they said, hey, we see that you're busy. Can we come over to your house and clean your kitchen and make you dinner?
Libby and I immediately, we felt so blessed by them seeing us. We felt blessed by God. I felt blessed by God that God had inspired these friends to this kind of act of kindness. But I also felt something else. And that feeling was inspired by the reality that I knew, which was that our house was a mess. And our kitchen, especially the proposed site of this benevolent, gracious act, was a hot mess. I'm glad to report now six years into the parenting journey that things have just gone from bad to worse. The kitchen is still a huge mess. It's hard as we try. We got over it, though. I got over it. We got over our discomfort of welcoming these new friends into our mess. And we said, yes, we said, please come over and help us in this way. We welcomed them into our messy environs, and they bore up under the amazing load. And they cleaned our kitchen spotless and made us an amazing dinner. We went for a restful walk, came back a couple hours later, feeling rejuvenated and rested.
It's core to gospel living in the body of Christ. It's core to this life that we share in Jesus. The work of giving and receiving. Whether what we give our resources of time or of our talents or of our treasure, our money, our resources, we need things from others in the body of Christ. And we have things that others need. It's core to who we are in Jesus, this work of giving and receiving. And it's striking, I think, it's pretty amazing when we think about just how fundamental that is to living a finite human life, needing others and having things that others need, that we live in a culture that largely tries to avoid the work of giving and receiving. Consider just how much of modern life is built to avoid this kind of gracious giving and receiving. I'm fine with it if what I get is what I've earned or what I've paid for. And I'm fine if what I give is compensated or it's recognized publicly. But when it comes down to real gracious giving and receiving, giving and not getting something in return or receiving something and not being able to pay back, we start to squirm in our seats, we're uncomfortable with it.
I think that's because real giving and receiving, real gracious giving and receiving is an intimate matter, right? It is getting into the mess, getting close enough to see it's vulnerable, it's uncomfortable, it's risky, it's messy. When we truly receive, it means welcoming people close enough to see our mess. And when we truly give, we never know what kind of kitchen we're going to walk into. It's risky.
We’re now in our final week of this series that we’ve been doing throughout the fall in Paul’s letter to the Philippian church. We’re in the fourth chapter verses 10 through 23 that we just heard read a moment ago. Paul picks up in this final text, he picks up just this topic of giving and receiving. What does it mean to give and receive in the body of Christ? How do we do this truly in Jesus? In some ways, this question of giving and receiving has actually been hanging over the whole letter. It’s sort of an elephant that’s been in the room. We don’t notice that elephant as modern readers because we can miss the fact or forget the fact that the chief impetus of this letter, the real reason why Paul has written, is that he has just received a sizable gift of money from the Philippian church.
We assume that it was sizable because we know that the journey that Epaphroditus, Dave talked about this a number of weeks ago, the journey that he made was long and it was dangerous. The journey was costly and it was dangerous and we can’t imagine that the gift was anything less than sizable to warrant that kind of journey. This was a big gift that they had given to Paul, a monetary gift that they had given. Just more in the culture of the Roman milieu that they existed in, this elephant in the room would have been felt even more substantially because like our culture, Roman culture had also avoided the real work of giving and receiving. They had done this by structuring giving and receiving within the patronage system.
In Roman culture, every person was put within a highly stratified succession of social superiors and inferiors. You were a social superior to some, you were social inferior to others. And patrons, those on top of that ladder, would give to their inferiors money or political influence and those clients, those people under them, would give back to them public recognition loyalty. Giving and receiving was highly regulated, much as it is in our day, though in a different way. And so over this whole letter is hanging this question of Paul’s response to this sizable gift that they have given. And so he comes to it and as he addresses this question, he is aimed at the reality that in their culture, just as in ours, giving and receiving had been turned into exchange.
So from giving and receiving to exchange. And Paul wants to speak to that. He wants to explode that system of the Philippians for the Philippians so that they can live out the true way of giving and receiving that is at the heart of the gospel. This is not an afterthought. It’s at the heart of the gospel. He wants to renew them. He wants to place the secret of Jesus at the center of their giving and receiving so that the Philippians can have this renewed understanding of their giving and receiving that they can know that whenever they give, they give out of Christ’s abundance and whenever they receive, they receive from Christ’s generosity. Paul wants them to see and tells them, give and receive within the mystery, the secret of Christ and know that as you do that, you receive from his bounty and you give from his bounty and in that discover true joy in abundance and in need.
All right. So we’re considering this final section. I invite you to turn there with me, chapter 4, verses 10 through 23. We’re going to consider in turn these three dynamics: giving, receiving, and then the reality of knowing Jesus in giving and receiving—giving, receiving, and knowing Christ.
So first, giving. At the heart of the Roman patron system, and indeed our own economic system, is the belief that when someone gives, they give out of their generosity and they give from what is rightfully and truly theirs. When I give, I do so out of my generosity and I do so out of what is rightfully and only mine. I am the king of that—of what I own—and I can give as I feel led, and I cannot as I also feel led. Within this belief, we can imagine that you could either feel proud and puffed up when you do choose to give, or you can feel quite entitled and justified in just being stingy, of not giving anything at all of your time, talent, or treasure. It’s rightfully yours. So we can be proud, or we can be stingy.
And Paul, of course, wants to flip this upside down. He does this by reorienting the nature of their gift. He puts their gift into the context of the old temple—the old covenant temple sacrificial system. Look at verse 18, referring to the sizable gift that the Philippians have given. He calls it a fragrant offering, a sacrifice acceptable and pleasing to God. Their gift is only secondarily a gift to Paul to sustain his needs, but is primarily an act of worship, an act of sacrifice and giving to God.
He draws one other linguistic link to the Old Testament temple system in verse 10. Paul says that upon receiving the gift—see in verse 10—he rejoiced greatly. These two words: rejoiced greatly. Notably, these two words are used as well in 1 Chronicles 29. Did you notice this in our Old Testament reading that we just heard? This chapter in 1 Chronicles 29 records the massive gift that Israel gave for the building and for the sustaining of the temple work. This humongous gift that Israel gives is then rejoiced at. The chapter says that the people of God, in seeing this extensive gift, they rejoiced, and that David rejoiced greatly—these two words again.
So what is the point? Why is he transposing the Philippians’ gift into this sacrificial temple language? David later in 1 Chronicles 29, in this chapter we’ve read, he puts the point on it very directly, and I think he says exactly what Paul is driving at. Here are the words of this prayer. David is praying this to God. He says this: But who am I? Who am I? And what is my people that we should be able thus to offer willingly? For all things come from you, and of your own have we given you. For we are strangers before you and sojourners, as all our fathers were. Our days on the earth are like a shadow, and there is no abiding. O Lord our God, all this abundance that we have provided for building you a house for your holy name comes from your hand and is all your own.
I wonder if you consider that when you have the opportunity to give of your time and you have the opportunity to give of your talents, when you have the opportunity to give of your treasure, of your money. Do you consider that you are returning to the Lord as you give that to your brothers and sisters, as you give that to the church, as you give that to missionary efforts or to justice and mercy efforts? Do you consider that you are giving back to the Lord what is already his? Of your own have we given you. Do you consider that the money in your bank account, the talents that you are known for, the very time and breath of your existence are his in the most profound and real way? You are not the king of your resources. You are not the queen of your time. What you have is his already.
And do you consider that you are not some gracious benefactor bestowing your blessings on the world of your time and talent and treasure? Hear what David says: Who am I? Who am I that I should be able to offer willingly? You see, this world of exchange, this world of giving and receiving what is due to us, convinces us that as we own what is rightfully ours, we are so generous, we are benefactors who give and bless the world and shower it. But the biblical picture is a lot more like this.
Venture capitalists sat down with a potential investment opportunity—an entrepreneur—and as that venture capitalist sat with that entrepreneur, as the pitch was being made, they realized that this is the best pitch they have ever heard. This is a rocket ship company; this is a unicorn. This company is going places, and it is a sure thing. But even as they hear that, they realize also that there are a hundred investors ahead of them in line who are more suited, more desirable to make that investment. And a deep sense and feeling of FOMO settles in—fear of missing out. But then that entrepreneur turns to them and says, And I want you to invest. That investor wants to throw their money at that business as fast as they can. They want to get on that train because they know absolutely that that return on investment is 10, 15, 20 times.
You see the picture that Paul is painting, what David is suggesting. You Philippians, you’ve heard in Jesus the best pitch of your life. You have been brought into a relationship with the living God that is not by nature yours as a fallen, broken rebel of him. You have been brought into that relationship, and he has placed you in his grace into the ecosystem of his kingdom where there are investment opportunities at every turn—opportunities to invest your time, to invest your treasure, to invest your talents in the people sitting around you in the pews, in mission efforts, in the church, in justice and mercy efforts around the world. And every one of them is a rocket ship, every one of them is a unicorn. Don’t you want to get your investment into that? Not because those people or those ministries are especially wonderful or they are going places or they are elite or incredible, but because I am sure of this: that the one who began a good work in you will see it to completion. Amen.
Do you feel that feeling of FOMO? I don’t want to miss out on that investment. The kingdom is here sitting among you, the kingdom is happening now, and the offer to invest is there. Give of your time, give of your talent, give of your treasure. Do so with that deep, joyful belly laugh, and know that you are getting in on the ground floor of the kingdom of God that will come in the next age, but there is a return as you lay up your treasure in heaven. Paul says it directly: Not that I seek the gift, but I seek the fruit that increases to your credit. You invest in me, and I am doing the work of the kingdom. We all have this opportunity. So let’s be generous. Let’s be generous with all we have, believing firmly that we can invest in that kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ.
So Paul is transforming. He is transforming our attitudes of the way we give. He is taking us from pride and from stinginess into generosity and humility. But he also wants to transform the way that we receive. In the body of Christ, giving well only functions when receiving well is also happening. And vice versa, receiving well can only happen when giving well is, in this way, humble and joyful and generous. If, in that dominant culture of exchange, giving is made proud and/or stingy, then receiving is often fearful and/or shameful. Being the person who has needs, being the person who has the need for someone else’s resources is often in our world a cause for being afraid or feeling shame.
If you’re in a season of substantial need—and we can all relate to this in the various kinds of substantial need that we’ve experienced, be it all sorts of different kinds of needs, right? Financial needs, emotional needs, spiritual needs, psychological needs—and we’re in that season, we can often feel a sense of fear. Are my needs going to be met? It’s often in these seasons that we are tested the most in our trust of God. Can I trust that God will supply what I need? Paul shows us the way to walk with Jesus in this need. Look again at the text, starting with verse 11: Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. I can do all things through him who strengthens me.
This phrase that concludes that little section—I can do all things through him who strengthens me—is perhaps one of the most often incorrectly applied and taken out of context verses. We can make that verse really, you know, “God will strengthen me in whatever I’m happening to do and want to find success in,” right? I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. It’s especially sad because Paul actually means something very specific about when he’s talking about this. He means something very particular.
What Paul means here is that as we are walking down the road of obedience with Jesus, as we are walking with Jesus in repentance and faith, and in that road of obedience we find ourselves shipwrecked on the rocks of want—of need—in any kind of way. We have a promise that we can rely on because we are walking in that road with the one who is able to sustain us, the one who is able to supply our need. I can do all things through him who strengthens me is about our continuing in the way of obedience because when we hit those rocks, when we are in that place of need, we inevitably hear that little voice that just says, “Just give up. Just turn off the road. Obedience is too hard. Walking with God, walking with Jesus. That’s just too hard.” We need to be sustained. We need to be kept in that way of obedience. And what Paul is saying is that you can do all things. You can make it through the darkest nights of need because Jesus is with you. Jesus is there with you in that place.
We need to speak this message over and over to ourselves when we are in that dark night. Whether I am walking through the green pasture or I am walking through the valley of the shadow of death, the good shepherd is with me and I shall not want. Whether we are walking through the green pasture or we are walking through the valley of the shadow of death, the good shepherd is with us and we shall not want. That’s the promise. We shall not want. Paul puts an even finer point on this. He says it directly in verse 19, speaking to the Philippians: My God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus. Not might supply, but will supply.
This of course doesn’t mean that God is going to give us absolutely everything that we want or that he will supply our needs in a precisely the way that we think that he should. Walking with Jesus is sometimes a matter of discovering that the things we thought we needed are not the things that we need. But we shouldn’t allow that caveat to blunt this promise of Scripture. Whether you are walking through the green pasture or you are walking through the valley of the shadow of death, the good shepherd is with you and you shall not want. Do you believe that? Do you know that? Can you say that to your fearful heart?
I know for me it happens in the middle of the night. I wake up and there is that nagging voice. There are those things that bother me, the things that I feel in need of, the things that I feel God is not providing. Can you say that in the night? I walk with the shepherd. I walk with the good shepherd. He has promised to not let me want. He has said to me, I will not leave you; I will not forsake you. Consider the lilies, consider the sparrows. How much more does your father care for you? He clothes them. He cares for them. How much more does he care for you? The end of your story is not dissipating into more and more want, is not being brought lower and lower by diminishment in that want. You shall not want. You have a good father who knows how to give good gifts to his children.
And because we trust, because we know this provision as we walk with Jesus, we also experience, along with fear being banished, we also experience shame being banished. If I receive from his hand, I have no reason to have shame. I have no reason to feel shame for the fact that I have deep need. When I’m in that valley season, and I need my hand and my heart to be filled by others in the body of Christ, I can keep my head up, because what I receive from their hand is from him.
In a few minutes, we’re going to come to this table. We’re going to come to this table and we will give and receive bread and wine. I imagine that if someone looked in through these windows from the outside, not having any context for what we were doing, they would describe what we are doing pretty simply: some people gave and some people received. But what we know is far more beautiful, isn’t it? It’s far more profound. This is not my table. This is not my table and this is not your table. This is the table of the Lord Jesus. And when we come, every one of us, we come in the same way to this table. We come needy and empty of what he has to give us, and we receive from the only one who is the giver. At this table, there is one giver, and we are all needy, beloved beggars who are not worthy to gather up the crumbs from under this table but are welcomed to it as sons and daughters.
If you feel shame in this season for being in a place of need that is substantial and persistent, I invite you to remember that we all come to this table as needy people. You are welcome. Paul in this text, he wants to renew our giving. He wants to renew our stingy, proud giving hearts and he wants to make them generous and joyful. He wants to renew our shameful, fearful, needy hearts and make them trusting and confident. He says simply, I have discovered the secret. I know how to be brought low, and I know how to be raised up. I know what it means to abound and be generous and joyful in my giving. I know how to be brought low and be trusting and confident in my neediness.
You see, in Paul’s instructions, in his leading us in giving and receiving, he is not primarily emphasizing something that is horizontal. He’s not trying to build in the Philippian church a well-functioning social entity. His point in this giving and receiving, his invitation to give and receive in Christ, is a vertical reality. He wants the Philippians to walk in this way because he believes and knows that as they do, they will know Jesus. He wants them to walk in this way because he believes that as they are transformed into a people who give and receive freely and fully, that they will encounter more and more the knowledge of the risen Christ.
He did not count equality with God, abundance, a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, gave himself by taking the form of a servant. Jesus is the model of giving and receiving, and so we, as we do this work, encounter him more deeply. Paul wanted to know this Jesus. Indeed, he says, I counted everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus, my Lord. For his sake, I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish in order that I may gain Christ, that I may know him and the power of his resurrection and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death.
This is a testimony that Paul was giving to the Philippian church. He was saying, I’ve been walking in this way a little longer than you. You’re in the same path, but I’ve been there. And I know that as you give everything, as you count it all rubbish and are willing to give and give and give, and receive and receive and receive, that you will understand. You will know—not just here, but here. You will know him in the power of his resurrection. You will become like him in his death, share in his sufferings. You will attain more and more what is of surpassing worth—to know Christ Jesus, your Lord.
That’s what’s on offer. That’s why I think he leaves it to the very end. He wants to emphasize it. He wants to say, all this that I’ve been saying about Jesus, his humility, and the call to humility, is bound up in this reality. Become a people who give generously, who receive in need, and do that dance. And understand, encounter the risen Jesus as you do it.
Church of the Cross, I want us to become and to be—we are, in so many ways—but to deepen in this reality. To know what it means to give and receive and encounter the reality of the risen Jesus as we do.
As we close, I want to share an often-repeated story that I think highlights this reality. It’s a story about Mother Teresa. Maybe you’ve heard this—it’s pretty well known. But Mother Teresa, the story goes, was on the streets of Calcutta one day where she ministered among the poorest of the poor. And she was, as she did, living out a life of radical giving, right? Radical giving and radical receiving. She was accompanied that day by a reporter ostensibly doing a story about her and her order’s work. And she happened upon a very poor and sick man.
Happening upon him, she bent down to tend to him. She began by picking maggots out of a festering wound on his body. And seeing this challenging act of love, of gracious giving, the reporter commented—presumably with a kind of disgusted befuddlement—“I wouldn’t do what you do for a million dollars.” Supposedly, Mother Teresa didn’t miss a beat and responded immediately with a wry smile, “Neither would I.”
There’s a great treasure, a pearl of great price, that we’re invited to in living as Jesus lived and giving our lives for the sake of his kingdom, for the sake of one another. There is a pearl of great price to be gained. Let us be a people of radical giving and receiving. Let us seek first the kingdom of God. Let us find that pearl of great price, the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus, our Lord.
May it be so. Amen.