David Pawson - Philippians

Copyright “This David Pawson video is the copyright of ©David Pawson Teaching Trust 2020 and is streamed with the permission of the David Pawson Teaching Trust. For a full library of David’s teaching resources please visit www.davidpawson.org”

THOUGHTFUL THOUGHTS  6.2.26 BY JOHN DUNNING. 

PAUL’s LETTER TO THE PHILIPPIANS

INTRODUCTION

This  week and next the video covers both Philippians and Philemon. Instead of covering both books in both weeks, I will just cover Philippians this week, and Philemon, next.

-

UNDER HOUSE ARREST IN ROME…

Paul was in Rome under house arrest, in a house he rented… so he was at least living relatively comfortably compared to some of his experiences, and he was making tents for a living - hence a term used by some Christian missionaries, of being “a tent maker”, meaning those earning their living whilst being a missionary. 

-

THE LETTER TO THE PHILIPPIANS

After Paul received the gift of money, he wrote the letter to the Philippians which was the first one Paul sent from his house arrest in Rome. What is more, Philippians was the first city in which Paul ‘founded’ a church. Paul called it a “Colony of Heaven”. It was the only church to have helped Paul financially, and was the only church without problems. When I was in Philippi on a tour of New Testament churches, one of the things pointed out was the hole pictured above in a mound, which we were told was the ancient prison, where Paul would have been. Since then, a sign and fence has been erected.

I once saw the ruins of Philippi. The remains show it had once had its own version of high street shops and once been a busy market town. In that town, Lydia sold the rarest of coloured materials which was purple cloth. It was so rare that only officials were allowed to have materials made from the colour purple. It was made from a small sea creature. Because it was rare, that made it expensive and so for Lydia it was a profitable business. She sent Paul enough money to support him in his ministry, along with someone to help Paul. Paul was so moved that he wrote to the Philippian believers this thank you letter. Writing was so expensive that only Roman officials or the wealthy could afford to write them. Paul used money sent to him to write not just this letter, but also the letters we call Philemon, Colossians and Ephesians, which he had not been able to afford before receiving this gift of money. He hadn’t even been able to afford to spend money on his own needs. I think it is fair to say that Lydia’s gift enabled Paul to write part of the New Testament. Paul used the money on letter writing and  couriers, in spite of his many personal needs; (4:14.)

GOD’s FAMILY

Paul’s heart changed following his conversion, after being shown how wrong he was on the Damascus Road. 

Lydia’s heart changed after she met the Lord through Paul’s witness and became very generous. Before Paul came, Lydia led a prayer group by the river. By the time he left, a church had been started. I saw the ruins of what had been an early church building in Philippi, so Paul’s visit had been successful. They were the only church to offer Paul financial support for his missionary work. The only person mentioned who had the resources to do all that would have been Lydia, as far as I can see. Her gift to Paul enabled Paul to not only buy food and pay rent, but also buy papyrus so he could write to other churches, which also involved paying a courier to act as postman. 

Those letters are now part of the New Testament.

Paul and Lydia were all about using their resources to help God’s family, rather than living off believers. Here, a lot of money met Paul’s immediate needs, (4:14) much of which he redirected to write to many other churches, (Acts 2:45). 

Jesus said what we do to His disciples, we do to Him; Acts 9:4-5. God is creating a family. If we see that our giving is to God, then we should give where He directs us - and not just coughing up for empire building, to be thought well of. 

-

Content

Paul was a Roman citizen, so it was illegal for Paul to have been beaten in Philippi without first having had a trial. The Mayor had imprisoned him for upsetting a businessman by casting out an evil spirit from his slave girl, who was being used to make money as a fortune teller. That meant she could no longer be used for fortune-telling by her “owners”. As she lost the ‘gift’ her ‘owner’ was angry with Paul. That led to a complaint being made against him, and his imprisonment in the prison as per the photo. Once the Mayor was told he had illegally imprisoned a Roman citizen, he led Paul out of town apologetically - but Paul had left behind the church at Philippi…

This letter is a “Thankyou” letter, because what the Christians in Philippi did was so special. 

The church that Paul praised, supported Paul, and sent a helper in the form of Epaphroditus. Supporting missionary work was what this model church did. People came before buildings.

A missionary told me that it was through the generosity of a fellow missionary who was being generously supported from America, that he was enabled to continue.
When Paul wrote in 2 Cor.9:7 that we are no longer obliged to give, he also asked for a free will offering for believers starving in Jerusalem during a famine. Paul said that God loves a cheerful giver. Giving is now a heart thing now, and no longer the Law of Moses, which was the nation’s taxation.

-

EPILOGUE

In the ‘Old’ Testament, the widows, the poor and the orphans were supposed to be looked after from the three yearly tithe of produce, so that Israel didn’t have destitute Jews. They were supposed to be looked after first and foremost so that there would be no street people in Israel.

That is where the idea came from of the “Tithe Barns”, in the era when the Church of England had power. Paul explained that the giving had stopped being compulsory, but was now free will giving from the heart, in 2 Corinthians 9:7. 

The gift from the church at Philippi achieved so much more by Lydia giving where God prompted, enabling Paul to write this and many other New Testament letters. Buildings do not come before the needs of the body of Jesus - His disciples, (Acts 2:45), which is what we are, (Acts 9:4-5).

Paul became so altruistic that even the money he was given to help him in his distress, (4:14), he used for God’s people. Paul and Lydia are all about helping God’s family, not taking from it. (Note Jesus’ heart, from Acts 9:4-5). Money gets directed to help those in need (Acts 2:45), because God is creating a family. Now compare all that with what many churches have done with their buildings, before meeting the needs of people, (Acts 2:45). 

-

If giving is to God, then we should give where God directs. By reading the Bible, we don’t waste the great personal sacrifice made by others to make this Bible available to us.

Do read Philippians or at least listen to it on audio… We are reading of the personal sacrifice made from Lydia’s giving, and of Paul’s imprisonment to make this Bible book available to us!

A cartoonist at my old college summed it up Romans 12:1 with a cartoon with this caption…

“The trouble with a living sacrifice is that it is always crawling off the altar”...

-

Do share this study with your friends…

This is John Dunning signing off from “Thoughtful Thoughts” for another week.

If you’re not yet a member, simply join up and support us! 

---------  Click HERE for our previous posts  --------

Inspirational Radio… 

We have launched our new online discipleship ‘radio’ station…. which is streamed from our new website:-  https://InternetChristianRadio.com/

Our new website station “Inspirational Media Radio”, has hour-long Bible readings, David Pawson sermons, testimonies, and classic hymns. Just follow the website links. 

PS: In order to cut costs, our office has needed to move to being more of a part time service provider, so bear with us if there is a time lag in our responsiveness. If you wish to help sustain us, Memberships help us and enables you to have substantial benefits all round: