Sermon: “Is There Enough?”

Text: Philippians 4:10-20

1^st Sunday in Lent (B)

March 1, 2009

Scripture introduction.  It’s easy to forget that there is no book of the Bible for which we have the original manuscript.  Each book has been copied over and over and passed down through the generations.  For the Old Testament we base our study and translations on a very good copy that now is almost a thousand years old; and we make minor corrections based on other ancient copies, such as the much older, but incomplete, Dead Sea Scrolls.  For the New Testament there are many more ancient copies available, although still no originals.  All of these copies are remarkable similar, but there are unavoidable and generally minor variations among the hand-written copies.  The challenge for modern scholars is to consider all of these ancient copies—some of which have been discovered relatively recently—and to figure out what was the original text.  If these scholars can see a reason why an ancient copyist might have made a slight change in the text—for example, leaving out by accident the second of two words that look alike—then it is easier to determine what the original text must have been.

In our Philippians text today, scholars have had to make a decision about what was the original text.  Near the end of the passage, Paul assures the Christians in Philippi that “my God will fully satisfy every need of yours.”  Some ancient manuscripts, however, change one Greek letter of the verb, making it not a statement but a prayer: “May my God fully satisfy every need of yours.”  Scholars account for these manuscripts by suggesting that the ancient copyists had difficulty accepting Paul’s unconditional statement and therefore changed his statement into a hope.  But the consensus, reflected in our translation, is that Paul meant what he wrote: “God will satisfy every need of yours.”

Sermon.  When I was a boy growing up in church, it was customary during the stewardship season for the preacher to ask members of the congregation to say publicly how they approached decisions about giving to the church.  That was a different denomination.  (And aren’t you glad!)  In that tradition, when you stood up in church and made a personal statement like that, it was called “giving your stewardship testimony.”  I clearly remember a testimony given by one middle-aged man, which went something like this:  “For years  
ut Paul meant what he wrote: God will satisfy every need of yours.", a prayer.  So, if we have difficulty accepting the uncondiI had been giving to the church out of what was left over.  My business had not been doing very well; and, frankly, there was not very much left at the end of every month.  So my gift to the church was small.  Two years ago during a service like this one, I decided that I was going to tithe—give ten percent of my income to the church.  I was not sure I could do it.  I didn’t know whether our family would have enough.  But God honored my decision, and as soon as I became a tither my business began to grow.  And now I can say that my after-tithe income is more than my pre-tithe income was before I made this important decision.  I urge each of you to do the same, and I assure you that God will bless you financially.”

Even as a boy, I was uncomfortable when I heard the testimony.  It was not because I felt guilty.  My parents had encouraged me to be a tither from the very beginning, and I did this.  Rather, I think I realized that this man could not promise that what had happened to him would happen to everyone.  This is a promise that only God can make and that only God can keep.

When he wrote his letter to the Philippians, the Apostle Paul was in jail—probably in Rome, probably very near the date of his execution.  The church at Philippi was the first he had founded on European soil, and he always maintained a special place for its members in his heart.  For their part, the Philippians felt the same way; and as Paul acknowledged in our text this morning, they supported him financially when no other church did.  There was a time in Thessalonica, just down the road from Philippi, when Paul was accused of being a moocher, and some have speculated that in order to rebut the charge he instructed all the churches to stop giving to him.  But from our text this morning we might reasonably infer that the Philippians ignored his instruction and continued to give.  The standard language of a modern “thank-you” letter is not present in this last chapter of Paul’s letter to the Philippians.  However, if we compare his language to what was customary in his day, we can see that his gratitude and joy and thanks to this special congregation overflowed.

Yet this is not a simple “thank-you” note.  As usual, Paul is making important theological points, even as he tends to the business of the church and to personal relationships.  Let me attempt to put it more in our language.  A modern Paul might say it this way:  “I am so happy to receive yet another gift from you, my faithful friends.  I know that you have wanted to send me something here in prison, but until Epaphroditus made his journey this way you had no way of getting it to me.  As joyful as I was to receive your gift, I don’t want you to worry about me.  I have learned how to be content with what I have, whether it is meager or an overflowing plenty.  And in my life I have had both.  My contentment does not come from my own inner power, but rather from Christ, who provides my strength.  Anyway, thank you for your kindness.  You Philippians have been more generous than any other congregation, and in all my difficulties I never doubted that you wanted to help me.  Yet, as thankful as I am, what really gives me joy is not the gift itself, but the spiritual growth you are experiencing through your generosity.  God understands that what you have given is a sacrifice, and this pleases God.  Be assured, God will remember this and will fully satisfy every need you have.”

Was Paul saying that the Philippians would never have another material need?  If so, then maybe the man who gave the testimony at my boyhood church was right.  If we give money to God, then God will give more money back to us.  I have trouble squaring that interpretation of Paul’s letter with what we know about him and with what he himself wrote.  Just a few lines earlier in the letter, Paul described how there were many times in his life when his material needs were not satisfied.  We know from his other letters that “through great endurance, [he] suffered afflictions, hardships, calamities, beatings, imprisonments, riots, labors, sleepless nights, [and] hunger.”[1]  Paul had given up everything for a life of following Jesus.  For goodness’ sake, he wrote this very letter from a prison!  It’s hard to imagine that Paul would promise the Philippians more than what he himself had experienced.  

So I have some sympathy with the ancient copyists who, when they came to Paul’s unconditional promise in verse 19, felt obliged to soften it to a hope, a wish, a prayer.  What I have concluded is that Paul was promising the Philippians exactly what he himself had experienced.  He was promising that through their generosity they were growing in faith and in the Spirit.  God would supply their every need, but God would do it the same way God had satisfied Paul’s needs—by giving them the strength and the insight to be content.  For Paul, there was always enough—enough to be content.  As Paul wrote in verse12, “I have learned the secret of being well-fed and of going hungry, of having plenty and of being in need.”  Now, he assures the Philippians, they, too, know the same secret.

Of course there’s a message in this, not only for the church at Philippi, but also for the church in Terre Haute.  It’s hard to get this thought to sink in, but God really doesn’t need our gifts.  The reason to give is that it changes us, it helps us, it causes us to grow spiritually.  For as we release our grasp on material things we grow in our appreciation of the spiritual law that contentment is not guaranteed by our possessions.  Examine your own lives.  Have you ever had lasting happiness because of the things you possess?  And do possessions give your life meaning?  I don’t think so.  A wise person once said that our lives are defined not by what we own, but by what we give away.  Paul was simply echoing the words of Jesus, which Scott read a few minutes ago.  “The measure you give will be the measure get back.”[2]  This is not a guarantee of material blessing; for remember, this same Jesus is the one who told us to take up our crosses and follow him.  Rather it is an assurance of blessing greater than any material thing the world has to offer.

It’s not a prayer; it’s a promise.