Philippians 4:19; All Your Needs

PastorRodney’s Weblog

01/27 Philippians 4:19; All Your Needs; Audio available at: http://www.ephraimbible.org/Sermons/20241027_philippians-4_19.mp3

In Philippians 4, Paul acknowledges a generous gift from the church in Philippi. He uses this as a teaching opportunity to instruct them about the place of money in the life of the follower of Jesus.

He tells them (10-13) that their gift to him expressed their thoughtfulness toward him, and the fact that they remembered him and were thinking of him brought him great joy in Jesus. He uses botanical imagery; their thoughtfulness broke out into full bloom after a period of dormancy.

But he clarifies; he is not speaking out of lack. He doesn’t want them to think that it was the money that made him happy. His joy is not contingent on his income or his circumstances; he has learned the secret of contentment in any and every circumstance. His joy is rooted in Jesus, not in whether he is full or hungry. Christ is enough for him; he has the strength to persevere through any affliction through the resurrection power of Jesus in him.

Nevertheless, he tells them (14-17) that it was a good and right and beautiful thing that they did to fellowship with him in his affliction. He celebrates their history of generosity in advancing the gospel.

But again he clarifies; he is not seeking their gift; he is seeking the fruit – evidence that their hearts have been transformed by Jesus – fruit that increases to their credit. They are storing up for themselves treasures in heaven, and this is what Paul seeks.

In verses 18-20, he acknowledges their latest gift and says that he has more than enough; he is abounding. He describes their gift in Old Testament sacrificial terms; it is a fragrant offering, a sacrifice pleasing and acceptable to God. He received their gift, but their gift was really to God, not to him. And God accepted it. It brought him pleasure.

Jesus the Fragrant Offering and Sacrifice

The only other place in the New Testament that uses this phrase ‘a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God’ is Ephesians 6, where it points to Jesus.

Ephesians 6:2 And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.[προσφορὰν καὶ θυσίαν τῷ θεῷ εἰς ὀσμὴν εὐωδίας]

Jesus is the one who is a fragrant offering. Jesus offered up himself in our place as a sacrifice to God. Jesus is the only one who fully pleased his Father in all things. Jesus is the one who according to Philippians 2

Philippians 2:7 …emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. 9 Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Jesus is the only one worthy to be called a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. Nothing I could ever do could possibly warrant that acclaim. But here in Philippians 4 Paul calls their gift to him a ‘fragrant offering and sacrifice to God’. Jesus is the one who ‘gave himself up for us’ on the cross. But look what Paul does in Ephesians 6; he tells us to ‘walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us.’ This is the same thing he does in Philippians 2:5; ‘Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus.’ As followers of Jesus, we are called to walk in the pattern he set for us of giving ourselves up for others, and when we do that, following the pattern of Jesus, in the power of his Spirit, we become a ‘fragrant offering and sacrifice acceptable to God’.

Paul pictures his own life interconnected with the church using this kind of sacrificial imagery;

Philippians 2:17 Even if I am to be poured out as a drink offering upon the sacrificial offering of your faith, I am glad and rejoice with you all. 18 Likewise you also should be glad and rejoice with me.

Paul considers this kind of sacrifice the highest of privileges; worship acceptable to God.

Promises of Every Need Supplied

Philippians 4:18 I have received full payment, and more. I am well supplied, having received from Epaphroditus the gifts you sent, a fragrant offering, a sacrifice acceptable and pleasing to God. 19 And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.

Today I want to focus our attention on verse 19. What does it mean that ‘God will supply every need of yours’? Is this a promise that no Christian will ever go hungry? Is it a promise of a roof over our heads in a safe neighborhood? Is this a promise contingent on sacrificial giving like the Philippians gave to Paul? Is this a promise of prosperity to those who give enough? How much is enough to qualify for this promise?

This is not the only place we find big promises like this. Here are some other similar promises God has given us in his word:

Jesus himself said:

Matthew 6:33 But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.

What does he mean ‘all these things’? This is the section in which Jesus taught us to pray ‘give us this day our daily bread’ (6:11), and in the context, the ‘all these things’ which will be added are the things we are not to be anxious about:

Matthew 6:31 Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all.

Or consider some promises in the Psalms:

Psalm 23:1 The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.

Psalm 34:9 Oh, fear the LORD, you his saints, for those who fear him have no lack! 10 ​The young lions suffer want and hunger; but those who seek the LORD lack no good thing.

Psalm 84:11 For the LORD God is a sun and shield; the LORD bestows favor and honor. No good thing does he withhold from those who walk uprightly.

I shall not want. We lack no good thing. No good thing does he withhold. Or consider this assurance in Romans 8

Romans 8:32 He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?

If God gave us the best, he will surely give us all the rest.

Promises Contingent On Doing Enough?

What do we do with these grand sweeping promises? Are they contingent? If we are not experiencing every need met, should we conclude that we have not given enough, that we are not seeking his kingdom above all, that we are not seeking the LORD or fearing him enough, not walking uprightly enough?

Here’s the problem. Paul just got done telling us that he knows how to find contentment even in hunger, even in lack. Are we to conclude that during those times of contentment in hunger and lack of necessities, that Paul was not seeking the Lord enough? And what of our brothers and sisters around the world who lack the daily necessities, who die of persecution or hunger? Is their lack evidence that they are not seeking first God’s kingdom?

What Is A Need?

Maybe we should go at this from a different angle. ‘God will supply every need of yours’. Maybe we ought to evaluate our assumptions. What is a need? Maybe we are defining ‘need’ incorrectly.

Here in Philippians Paul makes it clear that he is familiar with need; that he has experienced hunger, that he knows lack, to not have enough. But he also uses ‘need’ in a different way; he is not speaking out of need. He doesn’t ‘need’ their money. He has learned the secret of contentment even in adverse circumstances. And this is not the contentment of God supplying his physical needs. This is strength for contentment in Jesus even when the hunger doesn’t go away.

Redefining Food and Drink and Clothing

If we look more carefully at the context of some of these passages we gain clarification to our question. Matthew 6 seems to define our ‘needs’ as what we will eat or drink or wear. But when we look at the context, we find this statement (6:25) ‘Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?’

In John 4 Jesus had a conversation with a Samaritan woman about food and drink; she was focused on the water she had to draw from the well; he redirected her attention to himself, the souce of living water (Jn.4:10-14). When the disciples come back with lunch, Jesus says ‘I have food to eat that you do not know about (Jn.4:31)

John 4:34 Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work.

What shall we eat? What shall we drink? What shall we wear? 2 Corinthians 5

2 Corinthians 5:1 For we know that if the tent that is our earthly home is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. 2 For in this tent we groan, longing to put on our heavenly dwelling, 3 if indeed by putting it on we may not be found naked. 4 For while we are still in this tent, we groan, being burdened—not that we would be unclothed, but that we would be further clothed, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life.

Jesus teaches us to look to the greater realities of which food and drink are mere pointers, to that which is truly life. Paul acknowledges our mortality, and points us beyond, to being super-clothed in glory.

The Presence of God our Good

The Psalmist in Psalm 23 talks about walking fearlessly through the valley of death because ‘you are with me’.

Psalm 34:9 says ‘those who seek the LORD lack no good thing’. The verse immediately before says ‘taste and see that the LORD is good’.

Psalm 84:11 says ‘No good thing does he withhold from those who walk uprightly’, and the whole Psalm expresses a deep soul longing to be in the presence of the LORD. That is the good the psalmist considers better than every other thing.

Let’s consider for a moment, if this Psalm promises that God withholds no good from his followers, and something I want is being withheld from me, I can safely conclude that it would not be good for me. Conversely, if there is something I would prefer to avoid, a difficulty, a trial, persecution, that is not withheld, I can safely conclude that God determines that difficult circumstance to be good for me; it is a good he will not withhold from me.

Romans 8; Nothing Can Separate

Let’s look together at Romans 8. Romans 8:32 falls toward the end of a magnificent passage beginning with the gospel affirmation;

Romans 8:1 There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

And continues with the transformation the Holy Spirit brings to the believer, and the deep longing, even groaning for glory, for the redemption of our bodies (8:23-25). It is in the midst of this groaning out of our weakness that the confident declaration that ‘for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose’. The called are those who find themselves in the middle of God’s unbreakable chain of being foreknown by God, predestined, called, justified, glorified. The response to this glorious truth is:

Romans 8:31 What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32 He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?

And the passage climaxes

Romans 8:35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? 36 As it is written, “For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.” 37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

God gives us all good things in Christ. Nothing can separated us from the love of Christ. No evil we endure can take away the fact that we are secure in Jesus. This passage is realistic; it lists all the bad things that do happen to followers of Jesus all the way up to and including being treated as sheep to be slaughtered. And it is not by escaping these things, but in these very things that we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. Even the worst things we can imagine, God promises to work out for our good.

That Christ Be Honored

If we bring this understanding that our greatest good is gospel good, knowing the LORD, being in his presence, that no evil man can bring can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord; if we bring this understanding back to Philippians, we see how it fits into what Paul says throughout this letter.

Philippians 4:19 And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.

What is my true need? As Paul said in chapter 3

Philippians 3:7 But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. 8 Indeed, I count 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 9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith—

Knowing Christ. Being found in him, being clothed in his righteousness. That’s what I need. That is what is of surpassing worth.

Let’s look at how Paul thinks about this and lives it out in his own situation. How is God supplying Paul’s every need? Back in chapter 1, enduring the uncertainty of prison, Paul confidently asserts:

Philippians 1:20 as it is my eager expectation and hope that I will not be at all ashamed, but that with full courage now as always Christ will be honored in my body, whether by life or by death. 21 For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. 22 If I am to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me. Yet which I shall choose I cannot tell. 23 I am hard pressed between the two. My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better.

What I need, what I long for and eagerly expect is that Christ be honored in my body. This can happen through a life of fruitful labor, or through a martyr’s death that displays God’s sustaining power and brings me instantly into his presence.

God will supply every need of yours. He who began this good work in me will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ (Phil.1:6). What do I truly need beyond God’s riches in glory in Christ Jesus? Is that enough for me?

***

Pastor Rodney Zedicher ~ Ephraim Church of the Bible ~ www.ephraimbible.org