Material Sacrifices – Well-pleasing to God

Descipleship

18But I have received everything in full and have an abundance; I am amply supplied, having received from Epaphroditus what you have sent, a fragrant aroma, an acceptable sacrifice, pleasing to God.

– Philippians 4:18
(NASB® © 2020)

Paul’s letter to the Philippians was really an acknowledgment of a gift he had received from the believers in Philippi. We can probably assume that it was a gift of money. What is surprising is the way the apostle exalts the gift. He calls it “a sweet savor, an acceptable sacrifice pleasing to God”. In Ephesians 5:2 he uses a similar expression to describe the great gift of Christ on Calvary. He speaks of it as “an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma”. It is breathtaking to think that a gift given to a servant of the Lord should be commemorated with language similar to that which describes the unspeakable gift.

H. Jowett beautifully comments on this point. “How vast, then, is the range of an apparently local kindness! We thought we were ministering to a pauper, and in reality, we were talking to the King. We thought that the fragrance was locked up in a petty neighborhood, and behold, the sweet fragrance steals through the universe. We thought we were dealing only with Paul, and we find that we are ‘serving’ Paul’s Savior and Lord. When we understand the true spiritual nature of Christian giving and its far-reaching influence, we are freed from giving grudgingly or out of necessity.  We see that giving is a form of priestly ministry, not a legal transaction. We give because we love, and we love to give.”

The truth that my tiny gifts to the Great God fill the throne room of the universe with fragrance should inspire me to humble worship and joyful giving. Never again will the Sunday morning offering be a dull, if necessary, part of the worship service. It will be as real a means of giving directly to the Lord Jesus as if He were physically present.

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