Appreciation [Phil. 4:15-20]

15 And you, Philippians, know that in the early days of the gospel, when I left Macedonia, no church shared with me in the matter of giving and receiving except you alone. 16 For even in Thessalonica you sent [gifts] The bracketed text has been added for clarity. for my need several times. 17 Not that I seek the gift, but I seek the fruit that is increasing to your account. 18 But I have received everything in full, and I have an abundance. I am fully supplied, having received from Epaphroditus what you provided—a fragrant offering, a welcome sacrifice, pleasing to God. 19 And my God will supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus. 20 Now to our God and Father be glory forever and ever. Amen. [Phil. 4:15-20]

What is appreciation? Appreciation is thankful recognition for what someone has done for you. Appreciation is a necessary part of any relationship we engage in. Our relationships with a person or persons can be strengthened by a little appreciation. So, lets read and explain Paul’s letter of appreciation to the Philippian church:

15 And you, Philippians, know that in the early days of the gospel, when I left Macedonia, no church shared with me in the matter of giving and receiving except you alone.

When Paul had left the area of Macedonia (Acts 16:40), the Philippian church was the only group to support his needs.

16 For even in Thessalonica you sent [gifts] The bracketed text has been added for clarity. for my need several times.

When Paul was in the area of Thessalonica preaching (Acts 17:1-14), the Philippian church still supported his needs. Not only one time, but they sent gifts several times.

17 Not that I seek the gift, but I seek the fruit that is increasing to your account.

Paul says he is not seeking the support of the Philippians, but he wants to see them showing their fruit as Christians. As they were giving of themselves to Paul, they were also storing up treasures for themselves in heaven (Luke 6:38).

18 But I have received everything in full, and I have an abundance. I am fully supplied, having received from Epaphroditus what you provided—a fragrant offering, a welcome sacrifice, pleasing to God.

He had received all that they had sent to him with Epaphroditus. Not only did Paul have what he needed, but he had an abundant supply. Their sacrificial gift to Paul was pleasing to God.

19 And my God will supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus. 20 Now to our God and Father be glory forever and ever. Amen.

By sending sacrificial gifts to Paul, the Philippians had probably depleted some of their resources. Paul tells them that God will continue to supply for their needs.

So, what does this have to do with appreciation? First of all, the Philippian church appreciated Paul. They obviously believed in him and his ministry or they would not be willing to sacrifice to support him. Second of all, Paul showed appreciation to the Philippians by basically writing them a thank you note. He made sure they knew how much he appreciated their support, not only him, but God as well.

Appreciation is thankful recognition for what someone has done for you. Paul expressed his appreciation in a thank you note. How are we expressing our appreciation to others? Or are we?

Aaron

Refined by fire [1 Peter 1:6-7]

1Pe 1:6 You rejoice in this, though now for a short time you have had to be distressed by various trials
1Pe 1:7 so that the genuineness of your faith--more valuable than gold, which perishes though refined by fire--may result in praise, glory, and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

Refined by fire. This statement reminds me of a story I heard a few years ago about some women who took a trip to a silver smith (where silver is refined). Here is what happened:

A group of ladies had a bible study group that met every week on Thursday nights. Each week they would study the Bible and encourage each other in the upcoming weeks. Recently, they had been going through the book of 1 Peter and came across the verse that talks about gold being refined by fire. Well, the ladies did know of a silver smith in the next town over and decided to take a trip that following week to see what refining of these precious metals was all about. So, that next week they met at the church early in the morning and headed to the silver smiths. When they got there they were introduced to the owner and he took them on a tour. About 10 minutes into the tour one of the ladies asked, “Sir, can you show us how you refine the precious metals?” The owner then took to the refining area and began to refine some silver. He took the block of silver and put it in a small metal cup with a handle and held it over the fire. He then held it over the blue area of the flame. A lady asked, “Why do you hold it over the blue part of the flame and not the red?” “Ma’am”, he replied, “The blue portion of the flame is the hottest part. It is only in the hottest part of the flame that all the impurities can be purged out.” The silver smith never looked away from the silver or the fire. He was focused. So, after a few minutes of heating the silver and scraping of the impurities another lady asked, “How do you know when the silver is completely pure?” He replied with a grin, “Oh that’s easy! I know it’s done when I can see my reflection in it…”

Refined by fire. Is God holding you over the blue part of the flame? As with this story we know that He will never look away. God has His eyes on us and will always take care of us. It is when He sees His Son in us that we are pure.

Is God refining you?

Aaron

You did that for me? Wow. [1 Peter 1:3-5]

3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. According to His great mercy, He has given us a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 and into an inheritance that is imperishable, uncorrupted, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, 5 who are being protected by God’s power through faith for a salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. [1 Peter 1:3-5]

I think we can all list the names of some “religious leaders” that people still follow to this day. Some names that come to mind are Joseph Smith, Mohammad, Buddha, that elephant guy with the eight arms. It’s crazy to think that people are willing to follow these people isn’t it? In reality what did they actually do? Well, most of them claim to be a prophet from “God” (I use that term loosely) and He gave them a special message for mankind. Others have claimed to have reached a new level of spiritual enlightenment and when others reach this enlightenment they to can be “gods”. What? Are you kidding me? How about we listen to THE religious leader! THE God of the universe! This religious leader had so much love for His creation that He came in the form of a human being. He left the perfection and glory of heaven and stepped down to earth to dwell among us. He showed us mercy and grace by being hit, beat, bruised, spat upon, facial hair ripped out, crown of thorns force onto His brow, nails in each hand, a nail through His feet, mocked, cursed, and humiliated. Why? Why would the God give up all His glory to go through that? Well, in the verse above we have to very good reasons as to why He did this. The first is He rose from the dead! He separated Himself from the pack. No other religious leader has ever came back from the dead! What about Mohammad? Still dead. Joseph Smith. Still dead. Buddha. You guessed it, still dead. And what about Jesus? Resurrected. Three days in the tomb and He conquered death. So, what is the second reason? Again, why did God give up His glory for us? He has an inheritance in heaven for those who believe in Him! Some of you reading this may have received or may someday receive and inheritance from the death of a relative or friend, but not like this one. Our inheritance in heaven doesn’t perish, it is untainted with sin, and it is forever. We read in John 1: 14, “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us.” Jesus showed us mercy and grace and gave us His inheritance. What are we doing to thank Him?
-Aaron

Lead By Example [1 Timothy 4:11-12]

11 Command and teach these things. 12 No one should despise your youth; instead, you should be an example to the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity.

1 Timothy 4:11-12

In the previous day, we talked about how we should train not only our bodies, but also our spirit. We learned that training the body only has limited benefit because our bodies are only alive as long as we are here on earth. Paul then told us that training in godliness is beneficial for us not only for as long as we are live, but in eternity as well. Now we move on and Paul is giving Timothy direct orders concerning his ministry. He tells him first off that he needs to command and teach everything that Paul has already written to him about. Now when you make a command to someone it is not really an option whether or not they follow the order. The word is most commonly referred to when describing a military general giving orders to a soldier. Timothy was told to command all these teachings Paul gave to his church. Not only command, but he was also to teach. When teaching something, the main idea is not only to present information, but to explain it as well as to gain understanding. As we are in ministry, we need to not be afraid to stand up and command God’s truth, but we need to also explain why it must be done God’s way. So, at this point Paul is foreseeing Timothy’s reaction of “I’m young and they will never listen to what I have to say!” Paul responds with “let no one despise your youth”. Timothy was not to let his age get in his way, but to be an example to the believers he was leading by his actions. He was to be an example in his speech, his conduct, his love for others, his faith in God, and by living a pure life. So, even though the people of his church may hesitate to listen to Timothy’s commands at first, it is when he leads by example that they will get on board.

How are you training? [1 Timothy 4:7-8]

In the verses before these, Paul is instructing Timothy not only to study the words of faith, but to act on them. He was commending Timothy for taking in the Scriptures and following what they say. Now he moves on to his next point. He tells Timothy not to have anything to do with teaching that is contrary to the Word of God. These are of no good to the Christian. Paul tells him that instead of getting caught up in those useless myths to train his body in godliness. He wants Timothy to get caught up in the Word of God. “The training of the body has a limited benefit”, he is not saying training your body has no benefit, but that it is all temporary. That training will only last as long as we are alive. He continues by saying that godliness is beneficial in everyway. Godliness does not have limited benefit, but benefit for now and eternity. It is interesting how a majority of people try to stay in physically fit shape. Now, I’m not saying that we all want o be athletic super stars, but everyone has some sense of wanting to be healthy. It is important to us. What about our spiritual health? Do we daily train our bodies in godliness? Are we spending time in the Word to train ourselves to be more like Christ? We can train our bodies and become physically fit, but that should not be our main focus. We need to train to be like Jesus because not only will it benefit us here on earth, but when we get to Heaven. And I don’t know about you, but I think I want to please my spiritual trainer, afterall He is God :)