Thanks

Philippians 4:10-23

It was July, and I was just getting situated in my new church assignment when the mission chair came up to me and told me she needed to step down. With that, she handed me the “mission chair folder.” When I looked at the folder, I realized one of the main reasons she had quit; the folder simply held envelopes of fund requests from various mission and ministry groups. This was all she had been given as the incoming mission chair, and it reflected the truth: that all we were doing missionally as a church was sending little bits of money to some of these groups. Now, I’m not saying that these groups didn’t need or appreciate the money. They all needed the money; otherwise they wouldn’t have sent out fundraising letters. But the problem was that we weren’t engaged in mission whatsoever. We felt like if we could send out some of our extra money, then our obligation to mission work was completed.

Moreover, our attitude was that we had an obligation to “do something” for the “less fortunate.” This put us on different levels – we, of course, were the top level, and the “less fortunate” – well, I probably don’t have to explain where they ranked. But as we come to the final section of Paul’s letter to the church in Philippi, we find that one of the main reasons that Paul wrote the letter was to thank them for their monetary gift. I love his fundraising letter: he says, “Not that I am looking for a gift…” Many of the fundraising letters I get come across as “well, if you won’t send any money, I guess you can pray for me.” Paul doesn’t have that attitude at all. He knows that the Philippian church is giving money out of their deep concern for him. He is not a “project.” He isn’t just somewhere for them to spend their mission budget. He knows why they gave – they gave because of their relationship.

This is a completely different paradigm than “giving to the less fortunate.” This is giving because “I love you and I want to be a part of the mission you’re on.” This is giving because we’re an important part of the mission. Remember that this was one of Paul’s church plants. We often think of places like this as being the ones who would be the recipients of a special offering, but that is a limited view. Consider the Vietnam initiative from the Shawnee Valley district*(see note below). We are the poorest district in all of West Ohio. Yet we almost singlehandedly funded the mission to Vietnam. The most recent number I have states that our district has given $579,000 to the Vietnam mission in less than five years. Five recession years in some of the poorest counties in Ohio.

Vietnam is the site of amazing church planting ministries – when our district went to Vietnam in 2009, there were 68 United Methodist Churches and now there are over 200. Yet they are not finished; there are 53 unreached people groups in Vietnam with a population of 15 million people. The Vietnamese United Methodists have presented a vision of reaching a certain ethnic group for Jesus Christ; when asked how many new Christians they want to see within that ethnic group, they said, “All of them.” Meanwhile, the Vietnamese churches are collecting missionary offerings for Laos.

I love the interactions here between Paul and the Philippian church. Now that Epaphroditus has come with their latest gift, all of Paul’s financial needs have been met, but through the scripture, it is clear that the relationship they have is more important to Paul than even the money they sent. I rejoice greatly in the Lord that at last you have renewed your concern for me. (Philippians 4:10)

Here’s the thing – sending money to missions is a good thing. There is no mistaking that. But it’s a first step. We can rarely say, “Well, I gave money – now I’m off the hook.” I won’t say “never” because maybe God is asking you to be more generous with the money he has given you to be a steward of. But usually giving money is a first step. Here’s how it often works: we start by sending some money. Then it grows to “let’s send somebody.” Maybe someone without the financial resources wants to go, so the church decides, “We’ll go ahead and help send him or her.” When they come back with the report about their trip, well, then we ought to get a team together. The team then goes and often builds something or leads something, often for the so-called “less fortunate.”

We can get stuck there, the one white face in a sea of nameless Central Americans or Africans. But if we are really astute, we can go back to the same place year after year and we can start to build relationships. You know, like when you go through the pictures of the mission trips and you can name the names of the people in the pictures with you… and you begin to really know them… and you realize that you have something to learn from them as well…

So you’re building relationships and encouraging the believers there, and meanwhile you’re learning from them and being encouraged by them. I don’t know how someone couldn’t be encouraged when they hear the stories of the Vietnamese Christians who are gung-ho about sharing Jesus with everyone they meet.

And here’s the thing – the outpouring of love we have for our mission partners will then drive the financial aspect. You’ll never go the other way round; giving money does not bring about love, but when you love somebody, things change. You actually want to give money. That’s why the Philippian church gave to Paul again and again and again.

I wonder what kind of mission we might get on board with. If you are someone who wants to participate in mission work with this kind of emphasis, let’s talk about it and let’s make it happen.

One of the biggest hindrances we have to really sharing Christ is that we are so comfortable and we don’t want anyone to interfere with our comfort. Just coming to church is uncomfortable for some people – the seats are hard, the temperature is never right, the preacher preaches too long… but if you think about it, coming to worship is uncomfortable for a lot of reasons for other people as well. Walking for hours to get there; hiding in fear of government reprisal; not having access to scriptures in your own language. I hope you get what I’m aiming at; the fact that we have it really easy. We put such great emphasis on our own comfort that we forget that our neighbors are on their way to Hell while we have the key to Heaven. Puts things into perspective, doesn’t it?

Paul puts things in perspective when he writes this: I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. (Philippians 4:11-12)

I know circumstances are often very tough, but Paul is content no matter what. Prison? No problem. Being in need? Having plenty? Well fed? Hungry? Paul is content. Often we look at someone like Paul and think he’s a superChristian or something. Or that this kind of contentment is for a special breed of Christian or for clergy only. There is no way that ordinary people could live like this. Yes, it is true that as an Elder in the United Methodist Church I have agreed to certain standards including the itineracy, meaning when the bishop says, “Move” I’m packing. But it’s ridiculous the way that some people think a pastor is, by office, a better Christian than everyone else. And especially when that kind of thinking leads church people to believe that they can treat pastors worse than everyone else.

But the point here is that Paul isn’t commending himself for something extraordinary or amazing. This is part of the normal Christian life. Why is it part of the normal Christian life? Because of Philippians 4:13. I can do everything through him who gives me strength.

This verse is often appropriated for athletes who think it means that they can accomplish their goals on the sports field (or even win) because God gives them strength to do so. That isn’t what this verse is about at all. This verse is about God giving us the strength to not only survive but thrive despite difficult circumstances. If you remember way back to chapter 1, Paul trusts that he who started the good work in you will be faithful to complete it until the day of Christ Jesus. (Philippians 1:6). Of course we can do whatever it takes to complete the task God set before us, because God goes with us and gives us the strength to do that which he has created us to do, no matter what else is going on around us.

Furthermore, as Paul says in Philippians 4:19: And my God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus.

God isn’t short on cash. We are guilty of acting as if everything is a Depression-era crisis; we can’t do this or that because the money and we don’t even think about what we might do if we had the money. I once served in a church that had a stripped-down budget with no money for ministry and the youth leaders had to come to the board and beg for money to take the kids to camp (not money for the campers – money for the adults who were giving their time and often their vacation in order to go to camp with a bunch of teenagers). Meanwhile the church was squirrelling away $7000 every quarter for the roof. Which didn’t need any work currently, but probably would in 5-10 years.

What if we worked from the assumption that if God wants us to do something, God will supply our needs according to his glorious riches? I know the answer to that; it’s because we would have to trust the Holy Spirit and obey him whenever he says whatever he says. It’s just too hard. Let’s just go with what we know, which is guessing how much money we’ll take in and limit our budget to that. That’s much easier. And I don’t know how it works here, but in another church when I suggested that we might fill out pledge cards, by the response I got, I might as well have been suggesting we sell our souls to the devil.

God entrusts us with money for a reason and that reason is so we can glorify him with it. So Paul wraps this letter up with a doxology: To our God and Father be glory for ever and ever. Amen. (Philippians 4:20)

And Paul concludes with greetings. Greet all the saints in Christ Jesus. The brothers who are with me send greetings. All the saints send you greetings, especially those who belong to Caesar’s household. His greetings are short and to the point for a couple of reasons. One is that a letter like this would be expected to be read first in one church and then passed along and read in another. How would you feel about getting a sermon in which I publicly thanked a bunch of people from my last church?

Another reason for the short greeting is that dear friends don’t require elaborate greetings. Besides, if Paul went long on the greeting, that would undoubtedly detract from the message he wanted to get across and what he most wanted to leave them with, namely God’s glory out of which he lavishes riches on them in Christ Jesus, to whom all glory is now due.

The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. Amen.

*NOTE: For the discussion on missions, the movement from sending money to building relationship and learning from one another, and for the leadership of the Shawnee Valley District in spearheading the Vietnam Initiative, I give credit to Rev. Joseph Bishman, the District Superintendent of the Shawnee Valley.