Philippians 4:10-20
10 I rejoiced greatly in the Lord that at last you renewed your concern for me. Indeed, you were concerned, but you had no opportunity to show it. 11 I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. 12 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. 13 I can do all this through him who gives me strength.
14 Yet it was good of you to share in my troubles. 15 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; 16 for even when I was in Thessalonica, you sent me aid more than once when I was in need. 17 Not that I desire your gifts; what I desire is that more be credited to your account. 18 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. 19 And my God will meet all your needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus.
20 To our God and Father be glory for ever and ever. Amen.
A Recipe for Christian Thanksgiving
Thanksgiving is the perfect time of year to bust out your favourite recipes. Think of all the special dishes that are served on Thanksgiving, all the foods that you only eat once a year. Whether it’s your first time cooking a turkey or you’re a seasoned vet in the kitchen, recipes are essential to success on Thanksgiving. You need the recipe to tell you which ingredients to buy, how much butter and flour to use, and how long to put it in the oven. Thanksgiving dinner would be a mess if you had to make it up on the fly. Recipes point you in the right direction so that the food turns out alright. This Thanksgiving, let’s stop and look at a different kind of recipe: not a recipe for the perfect pumpkin pie, but the recipe for thanksgiving itself—for the outpouring of thanks in our hearts and lives. Unlike the recipe for Grandma’s famous cookies, the recipe for Christian thanks is not a secret: we find it plainly written for us all in our reading from Philippians this morning.
Philippians is essentially a thank-you letter from the apostle Paul to the church in Philippi. Throughout the letter, he expresses his joy and thanks for a gift they had sent him. But it’s important to note that Paul is writing this letter from prison in Rome. This is one of Paul’s most joyful and personal letters, yet we wonder how he could have such a positive attitude when his circumstances are so poor. But this is exactly what Paul addresses: Christian thanksgiving is not based on circumstances. Our joy shouldn’t fluctuate from day to day. When it comes to giving thanks, the right attitude is everything. The first ingredient in our recipe for thanksgiving: a big scoop of contentment.
It’s hard to feel thankful if you don’t feel content. Maybe you’ve heard it before, that small voice in the back of your head. A friend lends a hand moving some furniture, and your mouth says, “Thanks for your help,” but that small voice whispers in your head, “He owed you one.” You finally get that promotion at work, and there’s even a nice raise attached to it, but that voice says, “I could’ve used this 6 months ago.” On your drive home, you pass a dozen different gas stations; you don’t even need gas right now, but all you can think is, “Wow, gas is expensive. What has this country come to?” Discontent, greedy complainers: that’s who we are as human beings. We covet what others have, because God is so slow in giving me what I need. We fixate on ourselves and our problems so much that we become blind to the many blessings we already have. Or if we do count our blessings, we think that somehow we deserve them. When we’re so focused on ourselves, we forget to give proper thanks to others. When we make ourselves the masters of our own destinies, we fail to acknowledge what others have done for us, what God has done for us. He made us and the whole world; he daily provides for us and preserves our lives. We owe everything to him! Yet so often he slips our minds. For every time we forget about God as we enjoy his blessings, God ought to forget about us and withhold his blessings from such ungrateful, thankless creatures. But why should I be thankful? Why should I be content when I have so much to worry about?
Contentment is certainly a rare ingredient, and everyone seems to have run out of it. Where can we go to get some? The world might deceive you into believing that it can meet your needs, that you can find satisfaction if you achieve x, y, and z. But lasting joy and contentment only comes from Christ. He makes us content, not by granting us whatever we desire, because our desires are often selfish and sinful. Christ makes us content by giving us exactly what we need. And we are all very needy. Ever since the fall into sin, human beings have needed a Saviour from sin. And that’s exactly why Christ came. Jesus came to be our Saviour. He came to us as a poor vagabond, living in poverty and homelessness. In spite of this, Jesus never grumbled or complained. He was supremely content, trusting that his Father’s will was always best, even when it placed him in the worst circumstances possible—on a cross, where he suffered the pains of hell. There, Jesus paid the price for our greed and discontentment. He endured all this because he loves us, because he couldn’t be content unless we were in heaven with him one day.
Christ has met our ultimate need: his death freed us from sin, and his resurrection assures us of eternal life. Seeing this love and salvation, our hearts can change. We’ll still have many needs in life. But instead of worrying so much, instead of coveting what others have or looking to ourselves to fix everything, we place our trust in God. If God has already met our greatest need by giving us Jesus, can’t we also trust him to meet all our other needs? Faith in God is what changes our hearts and makes us content.
And so, though our circumstances may change, our attitude can stay the same, because Christ stays the same. This is why Paul can write from prison, “In any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want, I can do all this through him who gives me strength.” Paul’s strength comes from Christ, the strength to endure persecutions and still be content. Whatever we may face in life, Christ empowers us to endure it and be content. Whether it’s the increasing stress of a job promotion, the struggles of making ends meet, or a changing relationship status, we can be content in any and every situation. You don’t need to worry, even if the sky seems to be falling on you. God’s got everything under control. As you go through the peaks and valleys of life, you can trust that God will provide for you. He’s already given you his Son, and he promises to meet your every other need as well. This is the peace we need. This is contentment.
If a big scoop of contentment is the first ingredient for Christian thanksgiving, next is a heaping measure of fruit—the fruits of faith, that is! Content with Christ in any circumstance, we begin to yield fruits of joy and thanks in our lives. A thankful heart leads to thankful hands, our attitude guiding our actions. As Christ freely and generously gave of himself to save us, we respond by freely and generously giving of ourselves back to him. Paul wrote a letter to thank the Philippians for their gift to him. How do we write a thank-you letter to God for his countless gifts to us?
It may sound strange, but it starts by thinking of others. Consider the Philippians. Ten years before his imprisonment, Paul came and preached the gospel in Philippi, proclaiming Christ as their Saviour from sin. This message brought the Philippians such joy and peace that immediately after Paul left them to start a new church, they kept sending him gifts! Their faith in God and his providing hand manifested itself in generosity toward Paul. By sending Paul gifts, by keeping him in their minds even as he sat under house-arrest, 2000 kilometers away in Rome, the Philippians were saying “thank-you” to God for all he had done for them in Christ.
Like the Philippians, we have been freed by the gospel. Trusting that God will always provide for us, we can look after the needs of the people God has placed in our lives. We can give generously to others to show they’re on our minds. Like the Philippians, it might be financial gifts to support the work of the church. Our weekly offerings are expressions of our trust in God. Paul didn’t demand gifts from the Philippians, and the church doesn’t demand offerings from you. Our offerings flow naturally from our faith, from the content heart that Jesus gives us. With our offerings on Sunday, we’re saying to God, “Lord, I trust that you will provide for me. Here, I give you only what you have given to me first.” But we shouldn’t limit it to our offerings on Sunday. God gives us many opportunities to show concern and generosity toward others: a phone call to someone you haven’t seen in a while, a prayer spoken with someone in the hospital, giving someone a ride or a meal. These are just a few examples of opportunities for Christians to show concern for others, to lift each other up and deepen our bonds of fellowship. We all can ask ourselves every day: “What are the opportunities God is giving me to be generous toward others?”
So our thanksgiving recipe includes a scoop of contentment and a measure of generosity, but is the final outcome any good? Yes, of course! Paul calls the gift of the Philippians a “fragrant offering, an acceptable sacrifice, pleasing to God.” Our generosity also pleases God when it flows from a thankful heart. In the Old Testament, there were different types of sacrifices and offerings. Some were sin or guilt offerings, performed to remove the sins of the Israelites. Others were thank offerings, given out of thanks for what God had done for the Israelites. Since Christ has already taken away all our sin through his sacrifice on the cross, we no longer perform sin offerings. But we do still give thank offerings, thanking God for all he’s done for us. When we show love and concern for others, that is our thank offering to God. He accepts the offerings we bring to him, the sacrifices we make for him when they come from a thankful heart. We love others because God first loved us; we give to others because God first gave to us.
Whether you’re the one giving or the one receiving this Thanksgiving, know that it’s not all about you. We don’t show generosity to others to bring ourselves honour. God gets the glory! He’s the one who created you, gave you all you have, died and rose again to satisfy your needs, and now allows you the opportunity to show him thanks. When you give generously, don’t take all the credit: give God the glory! If you receive generously from someone, give God the glory for this too! Tell the one from whom you receive, “I thank you, and I thank God for you. You are God’s gift to me.” From the beginning of our lives to now, God has provided for us richly through the generosity of others, and we can trust that he will continue to do so until our dying day. Receive such gifts with joy and thanks, looking for opportunities to give back as you have received.
As you read a dozen different recipes today and prepare a delicious meal for your family, remember that the recipe for genuine Christian thanks is simple: a scoop of contentment and a measure of generosity. And it all starts with Christ. He gives you rest from all your worries and empowers you to be content in every circumstance. Not only does Jesus give you the reasons to be thankful, but he also gives you the opportunities to express your thanks. So go and do just that. Let your thanks overflow into every corner of your life. And God will continue to pour out his blessings on you, so that you may generously pour out your blessing on others from the abundance God has given you. “To our God and Father be glory for ever and ever. Amen.”