In the book of Philippians, Paul makes such an outrageous and controversial statement in comparison to American thinking that I decided to do a word study just to confirm that the translators were accurately portraying what Paul was suggesting. Paul said,
…I seek the fruit that abounds to your account (Philippians 4:17).
In this statement, Paul was referring to the finances that the Philippians were giving into his ministry. In Philippians 4:15-20, Paul is saying that the Philippians, by giving into his ministry, were creating and depositing credit into an account with God that they would be able to draw upon to get all their needs met.
And my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus (Philippians 4:19).
This could be compared to the American Social Security system where people make contributions all of their lives with the promise that when they retire they will be able to draw upon Social Security for retirement. The difference is that instead of making a deposit with the government, Paul is suggesting we make deposits with God.
The word I questioned for this study was the word “account,” just to make sure Paul was actually referring to a credit or financial account. The word Paul used for “account” is the Greek word “logos.” This is the Greek word that describes the word of God as God’s revelation to man. That said, it is also used in certain tenses (“logon,” as it is used in this passage) to refer to logic or reasoning for financial accounting. It is used this way in Matthew 18:24 and Matthew 25:19, where Jesus spoke parables about investors coming to settle accounts with the people with whom they have invested.
After my study, I believe the translators got it right. In plain American English, Paul is suggesting that by giving into God’s ministry we create a credit account with Him that we can then draw upon to meet all of our needs. I personally consider this a better account than Social Security, personal savings, pension plans, 401(k) s, IRAs, or any other investment vehicle. It is one more good reason to become a consistent and generous giver of finances in Christ.
The simple phrase “but God” can be a game changer. I did a concordance search using the New King James Version of the Bible and was amazed at how many times the phrase “but God” came up. The Bible is full of “but God” intervening in man’s life to change his natural ways. When we are relating to God and this world, we have to learn to get the “but” in the right place. Many people place the “but” after God rather than before Him. This is a mistake because it causes their testimony to go something like this, “I know God's Word says…but this is reality…” The reality of the gospel is actually that God is intervening in man’s worldly reality with “...but God” to change things. Here are just a few of the “but God” sayings in Scripture: “You…were dead in trespasses and sins…but God who is rich in mercy…” (Ephesians 2:1-4). He/she/it “meant it for evil…; but God meant it for good” (Genesis 50:20). People step on one another to climb the ladder, “but God… puts down one, and exalts another” (Psalms 75:7). People lie, “but God knows [our] hearts” (Luke 16:14-15). People are prejudiced and don’t like to associate with people who are unlike them, but God breaks down prejudice by placing people who are unlike each other together in Christ (Acts 10:28). People are basically selfish, “but God demonstrates His own love for us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). People are sinners, “but God be thanked that though you were slaves of sin, yet you obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine to which you were delivered” (Romans 6:17). I believe that if we keep the “but” in front of God rather than behind Him, His power will enable us to live a quality life in Christ and be transformed by His Gospel in every circumstance of life.
Editor's Note: On November 4, 2011, World Magazine published an article called "Turning Inward: Giving Declines as Mainline Churches Focus More Resources toward Themselves," by Tim Dalrymple. The article provided the findings from a study on tithing in mainline churches. The magazine has provided a link to this article for us to use on our website. Please read the article and Pastor Davis's response below.
http://www.worldmag.com/articles/18789 Response by Pastor Davis
I appreciate the author’s intent to address the problem of mainline churches turning inward with their limited giving. That said, there is a key problem with the terminology used in the article.
The author states, “…these denominations tithed a mere 2.38 percent of their income, down from 2.43 percent….” It is impossible to tithe 2.38% or 2.43% of a person’s income.
Tithe literally means “tenth.” To tithe is to give a tenth of our increase to the Lord as a covenant response to God’s faithful provision. This is an important distinction because the whole of the Bible calls man back to a tithing covenant relationship with God. As long as man is only giving 2.38% of his increase, he is merely giving God some of his leftovers, not a tithe.
When God’s people return to a tithing covenant relationship with God, His prosperity will begin to flow in their lives for practical solutions to today’s problems.
The prophet Jeremiah wrote:
“Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, Let not the mighty man glory in his might, Nor let the rich man glory in his riches; But let him who glories glory in this, That he understands and knows Me, That I am the Lord, exercising lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness in the earth. For in these I delight,” says the Lord (Jeremiah 9:23-24).
God’s lovingkindness is His grace. That is always the first lens that we have to look through to come to know Him. His grace was expressed through the cross of Jesus Christ and is sufficient for all our needs. When we look through the lens of grace first, we see clearly into the ways of God for our lives and those we care about.
After we look through the lens of lovingkindness (grace), we begin to see God’s judgment. The word for judgment is literally used for a judge that is deciding a case. As believers in Christ, we have the same one who is charged with our care, the God of lovingkindness, judging our case. When we have the God of lovingkindness judging our case, we don’t even need a lawyer to get justice, because the Judge is on our side!
Lastly, God is executing righteousness in the earth. The Bible word for righteousness is primarily about relationships. God is restoring right relationships in the earth. By His grace, He empowers us to keep our commitments and relate to one another with integrity. In Christ, we have a righteous standing before God (2 Corinthians 5:21), and the empowerment to live righteously with people in the earth today.
When we look through the lens of God’s lovingkindness, His judgment, and His righteousness, we can remove all the doubt of agnostics who claim “We cannot know for sure...”
I always find it interesting that at the end of each year, I start to receive letters from ministries encouraging me to do some end-of-the-year giving. These letters seem to imply:
1. People haven’t been giving as they should, so now is a good time to catch up on your giving before the tax season ends. 2. People are going to give from their leftovers at the end of the year, so this ministry would be a good place to give some of those leftovers.
At Abundant Life Covenant Church, we have never pushed end-of-the-year giving. Our end-of-the-year letter consists of a simple explanation that there are laws about when the last deposit can be made for a person to receive tax credit for that year, so there will be a deadline for giving in that year for tax purposes.
I believe a better approach to encouraging giving would be at the beginning of the year, rather than the end of the year. Here is why:
Honor the Lord with your possessions, And with the firstfruits of all your increase; So your barns will be filled with plenty, And your vats will overflow with new wine (Proverbs 3:9-10).
The Scriptural admonition is always to give from our first and best, never from our leftovers. As we give from our first and best, God’s promise is to make us people of abundance, more than enough, so that we will be a people with leftovers.
The best time to set goals for our giving in 2012 is January 1st. As we commit to give from our first and best, rather than from our leftovers, God promises to manifest Himself as a God of abundance, and in 2012 we can believe that our vats will overflow.
When the angel appeared to the shepherds to announce the birth of Jesus, he said,
Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people (Luke 2:10).
Since Adam’s first sin in the Garden of Eden, man’s response to God’s contact with him has always been fear. This is because the sin nature in man trains him to respond in “fight or flight” mode when God first makes contact. Therefore, even though the Lord can come to us with good tidings of great joy (it doesn’t get much better than that), we can often respond with “I want no part of that” in my life.
The good news is that after we receive Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, we receive a new nature; God’s very life that replaces our sin nature. This new nature responds to God differently than our old sinful nature. When He appears with good tidings of great joy, we receive it, embrace it, believe it, and act on it for good fruit in our lives.
Sometimes, a good response to God’s announcement of good tidings of great joy requires some retraining in our emotions. This is because the old sin nature has trained our emotions to respond with “fight or flight” to the good tidings. Even though we have the new nature in Christ, our emotions respond like we have the old nature. That said, if our emotions can be trained into “fight or flight” with God, they can be trained out of it as well, through the practice of yielding to His voice and gentle wooing of His Spirit.
If you have experienced the “fight or flight” response to God’s voice of good tidings, take heart. Many have gone before you and experienced the same thing. Many have also overcome those emotions for consistent victory in Christ.
In Scripture the theme of Immanuel, which means “God with us,” gets repeated over and over with God’s people. The prophecy of Isaiah 7:14 says,
Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son and shall call his name Immanuel.
This prophecy specifically predicts the king Hezekiah, who would be God’s man that would deliver Jerusalem from the Assyrian Empire. In history, Hezekiah represented Immanuel, God with us, because he stood his ground by trusting in the Lord even when the Assyrian army had surrounded and laid siege to Jerusalem. By Hezekiah’s trust in God, Jerusalem was delivered and the Assyrian army was defeated. The prophecy was repeated at the prediction of Jesus’ birth (Matthew 1:23). In Christianity today, we have commonly celebrated Jesus as Immanuel when we celebrate Christmas, but to Mary, Joseph, and the people of God in the first century, it had an actual historical meaning in their lives. For the angel to call the coming child (Jesus) Immanuel meant that God was going to raise up a man in their day who would be a leader who would take a stand for God. The person’s presence, called Immanuel, would literally mean that God was with them in their day to change things. Because of the prophecy, they were expecting God to raise up a Hezekiah–like figure who would deliver the people of God from the crises of their day. Jesus fulfilled this prophecy by performing signs, wonders, and miracles and demonstrating that God was with Him and with the people of His day. Further, He demonstrated Immanuel when He established the church, and the apostles began to imitate His works. God’s ways have not changed for today. He still gives prophecies of Immanuel, God with us, and raises up leaders to be Hezekiah–like and Christ–like people These leaders will take a stand for God and experience that God is with them. God then uses these leaders to deliver His people from the crisis of their day. In 2011, we can still say that Jesus is Immanuel, God with us. We can also say that God is still raising up Immanuel in our midst, by raising up people who will take a stand for God and experience God’s practical presence for victorious daily living today. You and I could be Immanuel.
During the Christmas season, people have different hopes based on who they are and what stage of life they are in. During the Black Friday/Cyber Monday/Green Tuesday Christmas shopping rush, parents are hoping they got good deals for their children for Christmas presents that didn’t bust their Christmas budgets. Children are hoping their Christmas list is getting filled. Retailers are hoping that consumers are buying and making their store profits go up for the year. Wholesalers are hoping the retailers are selling, so they can sell them more goods to sell later. Manufacturers are hoping…you get the idea.
God is hoping for something altogether different.
The famous Christmas prophecy of Isaiah describes God’s hopes.
Of the increase of His government and peace There will be no end (Isaiah 9:7, Luke 1:33).
To God, the Christmas season is about drawing us to Himself in such a way that we yield to His government of Jesus Christ within. When we yield, the peace of God is released in our lives.
And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which also you were called (Colossians 3:15).
What God hopes for, He also releases His faith for, so that we see practical results in the earth today. God is increasing His government in the earth in the person of Jesus Christ, and the Christmas season is a great time to more fully surrender to His lordship over our lives for His perfect peace.
“That's not fair!”
We’ve heard it; we’ve said it. We are hearing it again in our modern culture and perhaps still saying it ourselves. The good news is that people have been saying it for thousands of years before us, because it is recorded in the book of Ezekiel.
Yet the...people say, “The way of the Lord is not fair.” But it is their way which is not fair! (Ezekiel 33:17)
The people had a problem with what God was saying, and what He was doing. Earlier in the chapter, God was revealing His grace through the prophet Ezekiel. It went like this:
When I say to the righteous that he shall surely live, but he trusts in his own righteousness and commits iniquity, none of his righteous works shall be remembered; but because of the iniquity that he has committed, he shall die. Again, when I say to the wicked, ‘You shall surely die’' if he turns from his sin and does what is lawful and right, if the wicked restores the pledge, gives back what he has stolen, and walks in the statutes of life without committing iniquity, he shall surely live; he shall not die. None of his sins which he has committed shall be remembered against him; he has done what is lawful and right; he shall surely live (Ezekiel 33:13-16).
God’s ways of grace can be rough on people’s pride. In truth, most people would rather God be like the god of Islam, which teaches that God simply adds all the good and bad deeds of our lives up, and if our good deeds exceed our bad deeds, we have his favor. This comes out in sayings like, “Well, I just try to live by the Ten Commandments and be a good person.”
God’s revelation in Scripture is that He is not like the god of Islam. Rather, He is a God of judgment and grace: judgment on the pride of man’s ways, but grace upon the humble and repentant. I would rather live under God’s grace than to shake my fist at Him and say, “That’s not fair.”
I like it when James says, “But God gives more grace” (James 4:6).
A consistent theme in Scripture is that God’s grace both exalts people and humbles people. Therefore the apostles and prophets were always encouraging God’s people to humble themselves before the Lord, so that He can exalt them.
“God resists [literally “stiff-arms”] the proud, But gives grace to the humble” (James 4:6).
When God “gives grace to the humble,” His grace lifts them up and exalts them into His plan for their lives. This is why it is so important that we understand our righteousness is by God’s grace rather than by our own works. Righteousness based on our works takes those works and in pride demands a certain standing before God. At that point, we think God “owes us one,” and we’ve left the principle of grace. Righteousness by God’s grace still does the works, but gracefully lays these works before the Lord, acknowledging that all success and advancement comes by His grace, not as a debt that He owes for our goodness or works.
James continues,
Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up (James 4:10).
This principle is always true, no matter what our circumstances. The key to understanding it is to know what God’s intentions are for our circumstances. Firstly, He wants to produce a greater revelation of Himself in us. After that, He does at times change our circumstances and/or raise us up into leadership.
Therefore, we could say that when we humble ourselves before the Lord, His grace will lift us up:
These are all excellent rewards that are promised for humbling ourselves before the Lord for His exaltation in our lives.