10/29/23 Philippians - Part 14 “A Fragrant Offering”
“A Fragrant Offering”
Philippians 4:14-23
Have you ever been away from your house for an extended period of time?
Maybe you took an extended vacation for a couple of weeks….or perhaps you stayed with family who lived out of the area for a little while.
Think about the last time you did something like this – you were away from your house for a while – and then you return home and walk through the front door……do you notice something….different?....something that you don’t notice when you are around the house all the time?
Every time Lisa and I come back home from being away for a while and I walk through the front door – the same thought always runs through my mind:
“So this is what my house really smells like!”
“So this is what guests smell when they come over to our house!”
Have you ever noticed that when you’ve been away from home, your brain sort ‘forgets’ what your house smells like – then, upon your return, you walk in and the ‘true aroma’ of your home comes wafting through your nostrils….?
Now, when this happens, there are really only two possible reactions to the information that your nose sends to your brain concerning the aroma of your home:
1) This odor is pleasant….or
2) This odor is NOT pleasant!
Folks, this is why it’s probably a good idea to take a vacation now and then!
That way if your nose lands on reaction #2, you can begin taking aromatic countermeasures before inviting anybody over!
Now, some of you may stack the deck at your house by plugging in some of those air fresheners – I’m sorry, but that’s just an aromatic band-aid folks!
You could have a fragrance emergency right ‘under your nose’ and not even realize it!
In today’s passage of scripture, we encounter a different type of aroma…
We’ll be looking at what Paul refers to in verse 18 (Philippians 4:18) as a “Fragrant Offering” that is pleasing to God…it’s a sweet-smelling act of obedience on the part of the church in Philippi.
This act of obedience to God was in the form of a monetary gift given to Paul in order for him to further his ministerial efforts – even while he was in prison.
If you recall, this entire book of Philippians is a letter from Paul to the church at Philippi, thanking them for their monetary gift delivered by Epaphroditus – remember him?
Epaphroditus was a member of the Philippian church that either volunteered (or was chosen….maybe he was volun-told) to embark upon that 800 mile road trip from Philippi to Rome with his mission being to deliver the church’s monetary gift to Paul.
Today’s sermon is on the topic of giving, specifically, financial giving.
It’s a topic you won’t hear me preach on a whole lot.
It’s a topic that I believe needs to be settled between you and God as to what amount, and how often, you give of your finances to the local church – or to parachurch ministries - or to missionaries working in the field.
There are certain ministries that bring up the need for financial support literally every opportunity they get – well, as you’ve probably noticed, this church is not one of those kinds of ministries.
As you all know, we simply leave a ‘Tithe Box’ in the foyer for you to deposit what the Holy Spirit has laid upon your heart to give to the ministry here.
At this church, you won’t find any yearly pledge contracts, the pastor here will never put a guilt-trip on you in an effort to shake a few more pennies out of your pocket…
I’m sure you’ve noticed that we no longer pass the offering plates around for others to see what you throw in – or what you don’t throw in - as it passes by.
We never want anyone to visit here and go home saying to themselves (Or say to others) “That Advent Chistian Church – all they care about is getting my money!”….folks, there have already been way too many churches that have turned people off to the gospel message of Christ because of how they have pressured people to provide financial support….let that never be said of LACC!
Now….that being said (Here comes my annual financial pitch!)
Just because you may not hear a lot about money around here, does not mean that we do not need your financial support…
As you all know, costs for utilities, supplies, food, materials, etc. are all going up – and with the looming reality that we will soon be in need of a new roof on this building – your tithes are definitely as vital as ever.
When we look at our passage of scripture for today, I believe we see a similar attitude toward financial giving in the Apostle Paul’s ministry.
Remember last week, Paul made the statement in verses 11 & 12 (Philippians 4:11-12) that he considered any and all financial support to be a blessing - no matter what his current ministerial finances looked like.
Paul simply depended upon God to move in people’s hearts to give to his ministry – and that’s the quiet, confident kind of mindset that we strive to maintain here at this church as well.
In verse 14 of our passage for today (Philippians 4:14) Paul tells the church at Philippi that it was “Good of you to share in my troubles.”
This is a direct reference to the gift of money that the church in Philippi had sent to Paul through Epaphroditus.
Paul is telling them that they did the right thing by supporting his ministry – not because Paul was greedy for more funds (He actually said back in verse 11 that he was not in dire need of funds at the moment)….Paul tells the church they did the right thing because he knew that by giving sacrificially, they demonstrated obedience to God - which would result in future blessings for them, both corporately as well as individually.
Paul reminds the church at Philippi in verse 15 (Philippians 4:15) that they – for a season - had been the only church that supported his ministry – no other church ‘stepped up to the plate’ like the Philippian church did.
Despite being in a relatively poor area, the church in Philippi was a very generous church.
Folks, this is another reason why our church reminds me of the Philippian church – over the years you have proved yourselves to be a giving church, and I believe that is an important factor in why God has - and continues to – bless this church and its ministerial efforts.
Paul mentions blessings in verse 17 (Philippians 4:17) of our passage for today.
The primary reason why Paul is happy with their financial gift really isn’t about the money at all – It actually has to do with what it says about the people’s willingness to prioritize ministry over money….Their generosity is proof that they have a spiritual outlook on life, rather than a physical, temporal mindset.
In case you haven’t realized, it can be difficult for some of us to part with our money…amen?
Jesus knew this. Remember his conversation with the young rich ruler in Matthew chapter 19? The young man wanted to know wat was needed for him to be granted eternal life. Jesus knew that the young man was wealthy, so he tells him to sell his possessions and give them to the poor…. then he would have treasure in Heaven. If you remember, the young man walked away disheartened.
Why? because the young man did not own his money – his money owned him!
What about you? Do you own your money, or does your money own you?
The great preacher Charles Spurgeon once said “The last part of a man to be converted is his wallet.”
Similarly, Martin Luther was quoted as saying “There are 3 conversions that happen when a man comes to Christ – His Mind, his heart, and his purse.”….apparently men in the 16th century carried purses…who knew? 😊
Jesus himself says in Matthew 19:23-24 “…I tell you the truth, it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of Heaven. Again, I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.”
You may hear that passage of scripture and think that it probably doesn’t apply to you – we all tend to define ‘rich’ as people who have just a little more than what we have.
For context, put a world map on the wall and – while blindfolded – throw a dart at it….make sure it lands somewhere outside of the U.S.
Now, hop on a plane and fly to that destination.
Guess what… there is a 99% chance that wherever you happen to touch down, the standard of living in that area will be worse than what you are used to….in many cases…much worse!
Folks, in the grand scheme of things, every one of us has to take Jesus’ words regarding the rich very seriously – if we are not careful, our money can end up owning us rather than the other way around.
It’s no wonder the Bible talks a lot about money.
Did you know that of the 29 parables told by Jesus, 16 of them deal with the issue of money!
And for context, the bible has roughly 500 verses that mention prayer – but it contains nearly 2,000 verses that deal with money!
Get this - Jesus taught more on the topic of money than his teachings on Heaven and Hell combined!
If God’s Word gives this much attention to a proper relationship with money, it serves us well to do the same.
At this point, it’s important for us to remember that money itself is neutral – it is neither good nor evil.
Paul tells his protégé Timothy in 1 Timothy 6:10 that the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil.
Paul is not telling Timothy that money itself is evil -It’s the love of money that can cause us to be owned by our wealth.
There are plenty of examples of wealthy people from the Bible who are also described as righteous and devout.
People like Abraham, Job, Joseph, David, Lydia, and Joseph of Arimathea were all very wealthy individuals – yet they all honored God with their resources.
They owned their money – their money did not own them!
One of my friends from school was motivated to make money from a young age.
In middle school while many of us were focusing on sports, or music, or games, or relationships, this kid was focusing on becoming a millionaire by the time he was 30 years old.
And…he did just that. He is now a multi-multi-millionaire with many successful offices throughout southern Wisconsin.
Making money was (And IDK, maybe still is) the driving force in his life.
Imagine if we all had that kind of motivation to serve the Lord with our finances!
Imagine what God could do with our offerings if we all lived by the reality that God owns everything anyway – and we are just stewards of what he has given us – and even that being for a very limited period of time.
Referring to disobedient Israel, God says in Hosea 2:8 “She has not acknowledged that I was the one who gave her the grain, the new wine and oil, who lavished on her the silver and gold – which they used for Baal.”
The Psalmist relays these words of God in Psalm 50:10 “For every animal of the forest is mine, and the cattle on a thousand hills.”
A couple of verses later in verse 12 he concludes “….For the world is mine, and all that is in it.”
We’ve all heard the funny quote about how no one ever sees a U-Haul trailer being pulled by a hearse, right?....its a good reminder that we can’t take our ‘stuff’ with us when we leave this world.
Job 1:21 says “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I will depart. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away, may the name of the Lord be praised.”
The minute you step through the door of death, your bank account goes to zero, your possessions become someone else’s, and your 401k…just up and flies away!
So, the question becomes…what is your attitude toward giving?
Do you put money into that tithe box a bit begrudgingly out of an empty sense of duty?....or do you put something in that box with a heart full of love and gratitude for what God has done for you?
2 Corinthians 9:7 reminds us that “Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion. For God loves a cheerful giver.”
When it comes to giving, the question always arises – How much do I need to give? Do I follow the OT standard of tithing? Am I to give some other amount?
Although the New Testament stops short of prescribing an exact percentage of our income that we are to give to the church, many Christians look to the OT tithe as a benchmark – and there’s certainly nothing wrong with that.
However, before you cut that check representing 10% of your paycheck every week, you may want to hear a little more about how the tithing structure was set up under the Mosaic law.
The general tithe was indeed 10%, but did you know that the people of Israel also had 2 other annual tithes, there was also a special tithe every 3rd year, there was a temple tax….and on top of that, portions of fields were to be left unharvested for the poor to find food – this, of course, resulted in less income potential for the farmer…
Many theologians estimate that if you actually compiled all of these monetary sacrifices together, the Israelites were actually giving somewhere in the neighborhood of 25% of their total income each year to the Lord.
Wow, this is cool – A look of terror has suddenly come upon all of your faces…
Don’t panic – remember Paul’s words in 2 Corinthians 9:7….The amount of money that you give to the church strictly is between you and God.
A 10% tithe is certainly an honorable benchmark to shoot for by any standard, but, another question would be…..why stop at that?
If God owns everything anyway, why limit yourself to giving Him just 10%?
Instead of thinking “Oh, man…I have to give God 10% of my money”, think of it as “What a blessing, God let’s me keep 90% of what he’s given me the ability to acquire”…or whatever percentage you and the Holy Spirit land on.
Jesus says in Luke 6:38 “Give and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.”
This passage is all about giving, and how God will always bless our benevolent actions with further blessings.
What is not being said here is that if you give your entire life savings to a particular ministry, God is somehow compelled to double it back to you in the next 3 months – be careful regarding false teachers and preachers who make such unbiblical promises….
What is being said here is that the more we give, the more God will provide for us to continue to give….not to store up in our own bank accounts or to purchase expensive material items for our own purposes.
A smart man once said “A big pile of manure just smells bad….but if you spread it around, it makes things grow!”
Proverbs 11:25 says “A generous man will prosper; he who refreshes others will himself be refreshed.”
Proverbs 22:9 says “A generous man will himself be blessed, for he shares his food with the poor.”
Folks, you will never be able to outgive God!
In conclusion today, Paul tells us that our generous giving is like a fragrant offering to God….He delights in our sacrificial offerings of money, time, and talents.
Just as sacrifices and incense in the temple were burned and gave off a pleasing aroma to God, so too our cheerful offerings are like a fragrant offering to the Lord.
Just remember –
Money can buy a bed, but not sleep
Money can buy books, but not brains
Money can buy food, but not an appetite
Money can buy finery, but not beauty
Money can buy a house, but not a home
Money can buy medicine, but not health
Money can buy pleasures, but not peace
Money can buy a crucifix, but not a savior
Money can buy a church building, but not Heaven.
Let’s all leave this place today with a healthy perspective of what money can - and what money cannot – do.
And let’s all make absolutely sure that we own our money….rather than our money owning us!
If we do this, it will be a pleasing aroma to our Lord.
Let’s Pray.