LESSON 28

Classroom Goals of this time together:
* here to see and meet and learn of Jesus; 
* to grow TOGETHER in our own personal lives/relationships with Jesus
* to grow in our daily day-to-day JOY IN Him
* to grow in our vision /understanding of Jesus as our SAVIOR and REDEEMER everyday in the midst of our lives in a pagan world

ROE: 
* all questions are encouraged all the time
* TO LOVE ONE ANOTHER THROUGHOUT OUR TIME TOGETHER, WHETHER WE AGREE OR NOT ON ISSUES OF VARIOUS THEOLOGICAL THOUGHT, WE MOST CERTAINLY MUST AGREE ON THIS: THAT WE HAVE BEEN BOUGHT BY THE PRECIOUS BLOOD OF A MOST LOVING SAVIOR AND BECAUSE OF THAT WE MUST LOVE EACH OTHER

SUMMARY:
We're studying the final section of Pauls letter: 
4:1-23  The Peace of the Christian Life: The Presence of Christ
4:1-3  Peace with Others
4:4-9  Peace with Ourselves
4:10-23  Peace with Circumstances

4:4-9  And now we begin the section where Paul yearns for us to learn how to have peace with circumstances; 

[HAVE THEM READ VSS 10-23]

4:10   Paul has just finished addressing his precious spiritual children about seeking peace through their Saviour first with each other (mentioning the personal conflicts and struggles that can arise even between close sisters in the Lord and in Pauls ministry), and then with ourselves (talking to their burden of fears and nagging dragging worries, showing them how a living loving God hears our deepest needs and guards us with HIS peace, both heart and minds held safe in His care)
Both did imply a certain negative sense of their church having problems between it's members and also within it's members; But NOW here he is able to start on a more positive note; 
"But..." (KJV), can perhaps better be rendered as "Now...", as a way of introducing a new topic;
How like Paul to start with REJOICING and doing it IN THE LORD; He wants them to know how precious and important their gift was to him, to make sure that after having to deal with issues that might have been somewhat painful for them as a church (ie contention between members) that he really WAS able to rejoice because of what THEY had done for him; Like any good parent not wanting to lean on them to much and maybe risk squelching their spirits too much; 
"...now at the last..." (KJV); some have thought that this phrase implies Paul was getting ready to slam them for FINALLY getting around to doing their duty after dragging their feet; But the Gr does NOT carry any such connotation, rather it's merely an expression of something anticipated now able to be met (READ ROM 1:10); 
And WHAT was it that was now at last able to be, to occur?? (KJV) "...your care of me hath flourished again..."; "your care of me" uses that word phroein which we've seen several times before in this letter; it LIT means "to think", but as we seen before this it means MUCH more than a mental exercise of calling their faces to mind; it carries with it a sense of a sympathetic interest and deep concern, expressing an action of the HEART as WELL as the intellect; so some trans it as "your concern for me";
The word trans in the (KJV) as "flourished again" is a horticultural term (you know, horticultural, fancy $3 word for farming?); it denotes plants and flowers that are "blooming again"; a better trans might be "REVIVED", as in "it was there before and now it's REsurging, REcurring, coming back again"; The agricultural term then implies that there was life ALREADY IN the plant, but NOW it's becoming VISIBLE AGAIN; the OUTSIDE of the plant is NOW demonstrating what had ALWAYS been true about the INSIDE of the plant, BUT JUST NOT EVIDENT OR VISIBLE; even withOUT the blossom, that plant had always been alive, only NOW you can see the EVIDENCE; 
Reminds me of a story about a old Godly traveling preacher that a church had invited to come and "preach revival" to them; the first night he plead with passion and power to the church the gospel of salvation; afterwards some of the elders came to him and said "we appreciate the beauty of the message, but we thought you were gonna preach on revival, not on salvation"; His answer was "before you can get REvived, you better be sure you're really actually VIVED FIRST"; 
Paul chose his terms carefully, to make the MOST of their meanings and implications; because the above "revived" fits together with what follows: (KJV) "...wherein ye were also careful..."; "wherein" is better trans "indeed"; and the word trans as "ye were careful" is derived from that word phronein again, so Paul is telling them "you had a thoughtful desire and concern to aid me"; NOTE THIS, the Gr verb tense is in the imperfect which is BEST trans as "you were all along concerned" or the AMP: "you were indeed thinking of me..."; 
BUT WHAT?? They lacked the opportunity to SHOW it UNTIL NOW with the arrival of Epaphroditus; 

So WHY was he going to all this trouble to tell them this?? Obviously THEY knew already what he had said about them; So what was his point in stating the obvious?? 
[LET THEM ANSWER!] 
Paul wanted them to know that HE knew AND APPRECIATED their gifts and labors on his behalf; PAUL KNEW THAT PEOPLE NEED RECOGNITION OF THEIR EFFORTS, ESPECIALLY IF THEY HAD NOT BEEN ABLE TO MAKE GOOD ON THEM BEFORE; 
It can be SO EASY to just take for granted the efforts of those who do it all the time; It's as if we get to expect it from them so maybe we think "whats the big deal, they ALWAYS do that...", FORGETTING THE BURDEN THEIR EFFORTS ARE STILL PLACING ON THEM; forgetting that it's just as demanding NOW as it was when they first started to labour for us; 
NOTHING can quench a hearts burning desire to serve faster than percieved INGRATITUDE; It's a form of rejection by being ignored that can pierce even the strongest heart, hurting even the strongest Christian; 
HOW CRUCIAL it is that we ALL seek to have grateful hearts and EXPRESS our gratitude EVEN for what might seem the SMALLEST effort, because we may NEVER KNOW WHAT THAT "SMALL" EFFORT MAY REALLY HAVE COST SOME BROTHER OR SISTER; Gratitude is a frequently neglected expression of LOVE, the ONE THING that the Lord called us ALL to do, and ESPECIALLY to EACH OTHER; 
MEN, I can not BEGIN to tell HOW IMPORTANT THIS IS TO OUR WIVES!! WHY are anniversaries etc SO important to them that we REMEMBERED?? Because it speaks to them of our gratitude for ALL their many multitudes of sacrifices, both great and small, they have made for US; How we NEEDLESSLY HURT them with our foolish callous indifference that SHOUTS of ingratitude; How GREATLY we would help them to endure hardships and even REVIVE their spirits IF ONLY WE WOULD LEARN TO LIVE LIVES OF GRATITUDE, TO LEARN HOW TO SPEAK THE LANGUAGE OF GRATEFULNESS; 
Paul was telling them "Hey, I KNOW you've wanted to help for so long a time now, BUT JUST HAVEN'T BEEN ABLE TO UNTIL NOW; but that doesn't matter; all that DOES matter is that YOU ALWAYS WERE CONCERNED AND NOW YOU ARE ABLE TO SHOW IT; I am So grateful to God and to YOU for ALL your constant love and concern"; 
[READ THE AMP]
We never know the reason why they couldn't help out before now, just that Paul knew it was OUTSIDE their control; 

4:11  Here Paul seems to realise that there could be some misunderstanding of his point here; This is NOT a "old" problem, as similar troubles haunt us even today; The issue seems to be an uneasiness about his desire to express sincere appreciation of the financial help given and yet to still make them understand that he was above issues of money; He didn't want them to MISS THE POINT which was NOT ABOUT WHETHER OR NOT THEY GIVE HIM BUCKS!! It was about caring and SHARING IN LOVE, desiring to act out in real terms what LOVE REALLY MEANS; 
Some of them may think he's fussing at them for leaving him in real distress because they took so long in coughing up the cash; So, he inserts a brief digression to dispell any thought that he was feeling any personal disapointment or chagrin at the delay in their support; to make SURE they understand that it's NOT an issue of external circumstances AT ALL with him; 
He has learned to be "content"; trans from the Gr autarkees, it LIT means "self-sufficient"; it is a word only used this once in the NT, it's a MORAL term used by the Stoics, expressing their favorite doctrine that man should be sufficient to himself for all things; able, by the power of his own will, to resist the shock of circumstances; Is THIS what Paul is advocating??
NO, he was NOT depending on HIMSELF for this ability to be content, for his personal sense of sufficiency; His sufficiency comes form ANOTHER source than himself  and we can see WHERE it comes from in the next verses;

4:12  "I know...I know..."; WHAT does he "know"?? First "...how to be abased..."(KJV); the Gr word trans as "abased" is the SAME one Paul used to describe Jesus in 2:8 when he described how Jesus "humbled himself"; It carries the thought of voluntary acceptance of lowly station, even poverty, FOR JESUS' SAKE; 
Second, he ALSO has learned "...how to abound..."(KJV); The Gr word trans for this LIT means "to overflow", suggesting a life of prosperity; 
Various men have tried to explain what particular meaning this idea might have had RIGHT THEN for Paul, some thinking maybe Paul had come into some real bucks due to contributions to the cost of his legal defense, others have tried to say he was really talking about having great spiritual wealth; 
ME?? I think they have made too big a deal about it all; Through out his life and travels, I am SURE Paul had times when he was living only on prayer and hope; but that there were other times when he had real financial resources to make his typically tough and spartan life a little easier; like instead of having to sleep out in the streets, he had enough cash to afford a few nights in a real "Holyday Inn" with clean sheets and soft pillows; 
Paul was trying to say that NEITHER was a burden to him; not the poverty with it's wearing aggrevations, NOR DID HE FEEL GUILT OVER THOSE TIMES WHEN HE COULD ENJOY A FEW OF THE LUXURIES FOR A WHILE; [READ THE AMP]
Then in typical "cover EVERY angle" Pauline fashion, he goes on to say (KJV) "everywhere and in all things", LIT "in everything and in all things", to make sure NO ONE tries to weasle out with some half-baked escape clause; 
(KJV) "I am instructed"; The Gr word is a technical term used in pagan mystery cults; the term refered to the "secret initiation" of their members; So perhaps a better trans would be "I have learned the secret"
This is the ONLY time this word is used in the NT; If "secret initiation" was the meaning Paul had in mind when he chose this word, it implies that, as a ritual initiation was no easy matter, the "school" in which HE was learning what life in Jesus could mean was ALSO often a hard one; And he elaborates even further as to the great variety and multitude of possibilities exist for EVERY believer: "full and hungry...to abound and to suffer need"; 
And Paul KNEW what he was talking about!! 
[HAVE THEM READ 2Co11:21ff]

BUT HE STILL HASN'T ANSWERED THE QUESTION OF HOW DOES HE DO IT??? It's ALMOST as if he's intentionally dragging it out to make you lean forward to finally get the bottom line, the POWER behind the performance; 
AND WHAT IS THAT SOURCE OF ALL SUFFICIENCY??

[READ vs13]
4:13  THROUGH HIS PERSONAL RELATIONSHIP WITH JESUS CHRIST; NOTHING MORE, NOTHING LESS, AND NOTHING ELSE; It was NOT the product of a mechanical self-discipline or fixed resolution like the Stoics; 
As one put it, Paul was self-sufficient through the power of the NEW self, that NEW man he became ONLY IN CHRIST JESUS, where he cries out: NOT ME, BUT CHRIST IN ME; 
(KJV) "through" is better trans "IN"; 
Paul was telling them that he had a deep and profoundly boundless confidence in the ability of JESUS to match every situation, and that it was Paul's union WITH Jesus that LIT "infuses power into me"; 
[READ THE AMP vs13]
So Paul wanted them to see that it WASN'T HIM, HE wasn't the Super Apostle, able to leap over tall heresies in a single bound because HE was so perfectly wonderful; 
REMEMBER what Paul wrote in 2Co 12:9-10, that this very same "power" is made perfect in his weakness;