|
| |
| |
|
Philippians 4 Good Afternoon Brothers, I forwarded an email to all of you from Erik, be sure to read it, I goofed up a little, I have written before that if you disagree with me, write. I am serious about that. Thanks Erik. I am going to be more careful in the future, I apologize for posting junk. It did not come across the way I intended for it to, but that is no excuse, thanks for the clarification. He sent another response today, it is also forwarded to you. Great stuff Erik! Once again we are finishing another book. After this one, we go to The Gospel of Luke tomorrow. I will be jumping around in this chapter, there are a few nuggets that I want to go after. Once again, the key word in this chapter seems to be rejoice. To take an attitude of rejoicing regardless of the circumstances. Phil 4:1-7 There seems to have been
some discontent between two women and Paul is urging someone to help out
with the situation. He also notes that all of their names are written
in the book of life! Then in v. 4, he says rejoice. It seems
out of place after telling them to straighten out a problem, but then we
need to have an attitude of rejoicing even in our problems. How can
someone rejoice when they are living in disharmony? It is an attitude,
and it is a decision, we make the decision to rejoice and we make the decision
not to. Then he exhorts the believers along with rejoicing, to let
their gentle spirit be known to all men. What do they do with the discontention
and problems? Pray about it, vs. 6-7, "be anxious for nothing, but
in everything by prayer and supplication let your requests be made known
to God." Wuest translates these verses like this: Phil 4:8-9
As a direct result of placing all of your worries on Jesus, now that
you don't have that burden on your shoulders, here is what you replace
it with. There are a lot of whatever's and and's listed here,
Paul is using his unique style once again to get us to focus on praise
from all different angles. First the whatever's, true, honorable,
right, pure, lovely, of good repute. These attributes describe
what we should be dwelling upon in our minds. Paul would be horrified
if he saw the media today and what TV crams into our minds. We
are dwelling on anything but these attributes in our daily lives.
We are actively focusing on everything opposite of these attributes
and entertaining them in our homes with TV and video's. No wonder
we have trouble with some of the concepts in the Bible such as rejoice
always. Now the and's, "The things you have learned-received-heard-seen
in me." Paul is saying I am preaching concepts that you have
learned, you have received them as truth, and as a result of that,
you have heard me preach them and put them into action in my own life,
now you go and do the same things, literally practice them as a habit,
then "the God of peace will be with you." It is not enough to
just listen to the Word of God. We can sit and be sponges the
rest of our lives. If we do not go out and put what we learn
into shoe leather, how are we going to trust God by placing our cares
upon Him as we are encouraged to do in vs. 6-7? If we do not
practice as a habit being in the Word of God, how is our minds going
to be cleared of all the junk that we are fond of putting there through
the media? Does this mean that God will not be with us if we
are not practicing these things? No, God is always with us, but our
awareness of His presence is darkened by sin in our lives. When
we are not walking in close fellowship with Him, we are not as aware
of Him as when we are. Our perception is colored by our devotion.
We are not any closer to God or further away, we are still abiding
in His life, but our perception is sharpened when we are walking in
fellowship with the Lord.
Phil 4:10-19
I bunched these verses together for a purpose, once again, we are fond
of quoting Phil 4:19, and ignoring the rest. How come God is
going to supply all their needs according to His riches? Let's
look at what Paul is talking about in context. Paul was in trying
times, sometimes he had plenty and other times he barely had enough
to live on, yet he rejoiced in the Lord regardless of the circumstances,
vs. 10-12. Paul says that regardless what financial situation
that he is currently in, he draws his strength from Christ. Ever
think of v. 13, "I can do all things through Him who strengthens me." when
you are in financial hardship? He is referring to his being
able to deal with financial need here. Then in verses 14-18 Paul
commends them for giving to help his ministry. These people were
sharing their finances to support Paul in his ministry. They
were not tithing to Paul, they were giving love gifts of money to Paul
as a missionary, supporting his needs through giving financially.
When we give financially, God promises that He will return what we
give, and abundantly. Paul is saying in verse 19 that since they
have so unselfishly given to support his ministry, God is going to
make sure that they are blessed in return. "My God" meaning the
God that I serve is my personal God, I have a personal relationship
with Him. Giving of our money is a sacrifice, it is a sacrifice
that is "a fragrant aroma, an acceptable sacrifice, well-pleasing to
God." v. 18. How often do we think of giving as offering an sacrifice
to God? Do we offer it as a sacrifice to God or do we give because
we are required to give, out of obligation? Either way, God promises
He will bless it when we give, but Paul wants us to focus on
praise, and on rejoicing. We are not under the law in regard
to giving, so our attitude should not be that of obligation, we are
under grace, therefore we are offering a sacrifice willingly to our
God. As a result of this offering, God will supply all
of our needs. That is the promise, not that we will have everything
that we need even if we hoard it for ourselves. This is not a
blanket promise that covers every area of our Christian lives, like
the get rich quick people would like us to think. I think that
this promise is specifically related to when we give, God will give
back to us, abundantly.
vs. 20-23
Closing Blessings and Glory to God!
Thank You Lord for
the study today, I pray that each one of us will look at our situations
differently and focus upon praise and rejoicing in our lives, especially
in this season.
In Him,
Joe Turner
|
|
|