Grace to Give

“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; for even when I was in Thessalonica, you sent me aid more than once when I was in need. Not that I desire your gifts; what I desire is that more be credited to your account. 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” (Philippians 4:15-18).

Paul, in our verses today, continues his reflection on the Philippian church’s generosity toward him. He reflects on their gifts in the “early days” of their acquaintance with the gospel. They had, it seems, experienced the generosity of God’s grace and responded, as many new Christ-followers do, with passion and eagerness to serve.

But Paul assures the Philippian church that the situation is not one where he “desired” their gifts. While he was grateful for their support, Paul was not financially desperate, believing that God’s mission was dependent on the Philippian church. He did not see them as simply business partners. Rather, he desired their generosity so that they themselves would experience the grace of giving, that “more [would] be credited to [their] account.”

There are two things we have to be careful of here. First, as Paul’s comment indicates, we cannot treat our generosity as something upon which God’s mission is dependent. Christians and Christian ministries have, at times, exploited well-intentioned people because of a lack of care given to language around calls to generosity. We give, not because God is impotent without our doing so, not because people will not be saved if we don’t, but because we are given the gift of participating in what God is doing in the world.

We also have to be careful not to think of generosity as transactional. That was a common way of thinking in the Greco-Roman world, and is, if we are honest, often the way we think about giving too. But neither we nor the Philippian church are called to give and then wait around expecting to receive blessing because of a sense of our own righteousness. Rather, we are to understand that our generosity is, as Paul describes in today’s verses, “a fragrant offering, an acceptable sacrifice, pleasing to God.”

Recall Paul’s words earlier, in chapter 2:17: “But even if I am being poured out like a drink offering on the sacrifice and service coming from your faith, I am glad and rejoice with all of you.” Here, Paul also uses the language of sacrifice to refer to the potential for his own impending death. And for Paul, as we’ve seen throughout the letter, his own death was an opportunity for him to imitate Christ, who poured himself out knowing that those his sacrifice was for could never afford to pay him back.

And this is the ultimate gift of generosity–that in being generous, we participate with Christ. The same gift of grace that allows us to freely receive–without guilt or shame, as Pastor Michael described yesterday–allows us to give. We, like Paul, can be assured that we are “amply supplied” by what already belongs to us in Christ Jesus.

So as you journey on, go with the blessing of God:

May the peace of the Lord Christ go with you: wherever he may send you. May he guide you through the wilderness: protect you through the storm. May he bring you home rejoicing; at the wonders he has shown you. May he bring you home rejoicing once again into our doors.