And my God will meet all your needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus. To our God and Father be glory for ever and ever. Amen.
Philippians 4:19,20
As a young believer in Jesus, I was talking with someone about my newfound faith. I really didn’t know much, but I absolutely knew that my sins were forgiven once and for all. This excited and energized me like nothing I’d ever known. During one of these early conversations, this one person said something that I struggled with. They said that there was no way to know who God was, so everyone has their own view of God.
My initial reaction was to really push back hard against them. After all, we had the Bible, God’s Word and we had God’s Spirit. Shouldn’t all of God’s people believe exactly all the same things? No longer was there Jew or Gentile, slave or free, male or female, we were all one in Christ[1]. We were all baptized with the same Spirit[2]. There was unity in the Spirit through the bonds of peace[3].
The absolute convictions of my new found faith, along with the excitement of the fact that Jesus had so radically changed me, I knew that I was right. Period. And anything that wasn’t 100% the same as my beliefs were just plain wrong. How could anyone believe anything else?
But then I began to think about what they said. How could anyone be certain what was going on inside another person’s head? After all, they could say all the right words with their mouth, but that could be altogether different from what was going on behind the curtain of their mind.
That’s why Paul’s so careful and specific with what he says and what he writes. He wants them to know that he’s talking about “my God” not some other god[4]. Or some other Jesus[5].
And what will Paul’s God do? He’ll meet all the needs of the Philippians just like they met Paul’s needs. Since they emptied their pockets by faith and gave lots to Paul, God’s going to do the same for them[6]. They filled Paul’s needs and God’s going to fill their needs.
Some people have hijacked this verse to wrongly promote a false promise that God will just dump all sorts of blessings on them. And these blessings come in the form of cash, cars, country club memberships, cruises, and condos. But the list doesn’t stop there. It includes good health, perfect marriages, obedient children, bosses who only praise you, pay you, and then promote you.
I don’t know how to say this any clearer. This is wrong. Wrong, wrong, wrong. There is no guarantee anywhere in the Bible or in God’s personality that promises nothing but blue skies, a bed of rose pedals, and a walk on the beach.
With all respect, there isn’t some spiritual blank check that God writes that allows you to drive up and claim a dump truck full of goodies and blessings in this life. I’m not claiming to be smarter or more spiritual than anyone else. But Paul’s words are not just clear, they’re crystal. And God’s meeting your needs isn’t tied to some specific amount that you give either. This isn’t some spiritual “I’ll scratch your back if you’ll scratch mine” thing. This isn’t the Christian version of Karma.
Karma is a cruel boss that carries a whip and knocks people upside the head with guilt. It’s un unfeeling, unloving, robotic rule that’s designed to grind you us. Karma has no room for love, kindness, or grace. It’s a ruler that’s designed for one thing, to force you to obey under threat of punishment.
But Paul’s promise is that God will be gracious. His reward will be out of his riches in glory that are in Christ Jesus. And what did we do to deserve Jesus and his riches? A big fat nada. Zilch. Zero. We’d none absolutely nothing except to become his enemy[7].
God did everything to bring us back to himself before we did anything. That’s why Paul says God the Father is to receive glory for ever and ever. He’s earned all our love. All our praise.
That’s why we want to please the one who first loved us. Not out of guilt or to force his hand. And not to avoid getting slapped around either. No. Our desire to obey God is rooted in his first loving us[8].
This is a whole new thing. It was new to the Philippians that had been trying all their lives to earn God’s attention and kindness. But in Jesus, everything’s right side up. God’s the one who first loved us and paid for us to be one with him. Now and forever forgiven and in the loving embrace of the God who made us. Yes, he’s you God. He’s my God. He’s our God.
Noodling Questions
Does the phrase “my God” sound like a good thing? Why?
Why do people want God’s blessings right now? Why not wait?
Why is pleasing the one we love so powerful? So different?
[1] Galatians 3:28
[2] 1 Corinthians 12:13
[3] Ephesians 4:3
[4] 1 Corinthians 8:5
[5] 2 Corinthians 11:4
[6] Malachi 3:10
[7] Romans 5:10
[8] 1 John 4:19