01-19-14 Key To Contentment Pt. 2

We are returning to our study of the final chapter of Philippians this morning.

And to help us get our minds back into the study

I’ll back up just a step or two

and remind us of what’s happening in this passage.

This is the last chapter of this short letter.

It is also the last major section of the last chapter,

beginning with verse 10 of chapter 4

and running through verse 20.

I mentioned last week

that this final section contains

two of the better known verses

from the New Testament Epistles.

One of them is 4:13:

Phil. 4:13 I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.

And the second is 4:19:

Phil. 4:19 And my God shall supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus.

As we study this passage

one of the things we want to do

is to put both of these passages

back into their context

so we can understand why Paul said them

and what he meant by them.

Last week we started looking at the first half of this passage,

Philippians 4:10-13,

and spent most of our time

on verses 10 and 11.

Let me read that passage for us once again

and we’ll pick up our study

where we left off last week.

And just so we keep the whole thought together,

I’ll read through verse 14.

Phil. 4:10 But I rejoiced in the Lord greatly, that now at last you have revived your concern for me; indeed, you were concerned before, but you lacked opportunity.

Phil. 4:11 Not that I speak from want, for I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am.

Phil. 4:12 I know how to get along with humble means, and I also know how to live in prosperity; in any and every circumstance I have learned the secret of being filled and going hungry, both of having abundance and suffering need.

Phil. 4:13 I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.

Phil. 4:14 Nevertheless, you have done well to share with me in my affliction.

Paul begins his concluding comments

with a burst of gratitude

for the Philippians’ kindness to him.

They helped meet some of his physical needs,

and even more, they encouraged his spirit.

Then we moved on to a statement

in verse 11 that does not fit well

with our American brand of cultural Christianity.

Paul says,

Phil. 4:11 Not that I speak from want, for I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am.

And we saw last week

that Paul is telling us

that true contentment for the Christian

does not come from discovering

how to get God to change our circumstances,

but rather it comes from learning how

to be content

in whatever circumstances we find ourselves.

He doesn’t deny God’s ability

to change those circumstances

if it serves His purpose in Paul’s life,

nor does he fail to take

whatever steps he can take

to better his circumstances for himself.

But having done what he can do

within what he understands to be

the life and leadership of Christ within him,

he tells us that he has then learned

to be content.

In fact in the next verse

he strengthens this even more

by telling us that he has learned the secret...,

a secret he shares with us in the verse that follows.

And before we closed last week

we saw that

if our worship of

and submission to our Lord

is dependant upon whether or not

He changes our circumstances,

then it is not true worship or submission.

Worshiping God for what He has done

is not the same thing

as worshiping Him for who He is.

Submitting to God

when He does for us

whatever it is we want Him to do

is not true submission.

Now I want us to pick up our study

right here were we stopped last week

and see where Paul goes with this

in the next verse.

And if our cultural Christianity

has problems with Paul’s comment

in verse 11 about being content

in whatever circumstances we find ourselves,

it gets even worse in verse 12.

Paul goes on to say:

Now keep in mind that

this is Paul the Apostle describing his own life with Christ.

This is the most mature,

committed,

knowledgeable,

experienced believer alive.

This is the man

used by God

to establish and reveal the heart of true Christianity

to all Christians for all time to come.

And look at this little mini-history

of his own life experiences with Christ.

He tells us that there have been times

when he has been forced...to get along with humble means...

He then tells us

there have also been times

when he has lived...in prosperity...

But he doesn’t stop there.

He says that there are times

when his walk with Christ

has resulted in his being filled,

but there are also times

when his walk with Christ

has resulted in his going hungry.

There have been times

when he has had an abundance,

but there are also times

when he has suffered need.

And just so that we don’t misunderstand

what Paul is saying here,

I want to restate it as clearly as I can.

Paul says that there have been times

when his faithful submission to

the leadership of Christ in his life

has resulted in his going hungry.

There have been times when

Christ’s involvement in his life

has resulted in his suffering need.

I’ll bet you’ve never heard that preached

at an evangelistic service.

“Come to Christ and suffer need!

Place your life in His hands and go hungry!”

We are not always as accurate

in our presentation of the Good News

as we could be.

God, on the other hand,

has no such credibility gap

when He is presenting Himself.

Do you know what God said about Paul

to Ananias

at the time of Paul’s submission to Christ?

He said,

Acts 9:15 ‟...he is a chosen instrument of Mine, to bear My name before the Gentiles and kings and the sons of Israel;

Acts 9:16 for I will show him how much he must suffer for My name's sake.”

... I will show him how much he must suffer for My name's sake...

Do you remember last week

we were talking about

how uncomfortable our cultural Christianity is

with the message Paul gives us in this passage?

We are a success-oriented

and success-motivated society.

And success is measured

on the basis of whether or not

we have the freedom

and the resources to live the way we want.

We have a national level of affluence

unparalleled in modern history.

It’s not surprising that

when we Christians in our culture

formulate our presentation of Christ

we tend to present Him as a God

who will serve as our ally

in achieving our cultural success goals.

The next statement Paul makes

in this Philippian passage

is an excellent example.

It’s that frequently quoted verse

I told you we were coming to.

Phil. 4:13 I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.

When we yank that verse out of context

and quote it to ourselves

and to others in our society

what do we usually mean by it?

We mean that with Christ’s help

and His strength

I can achieve these success goals I value so much.

But in context

what are the “all things” Paul is talking about?

Well, one of them is going hungry.

And another is suffering need.

And a third is getting along with humble means.

Now it’s true that some of the others

are living in prosperity

and being filled

and having an abundance.

But there is an important distinction I want us to see here.

When Paul says “I can do all things through Him who strengthens me...”,

he is not saying that Christ has equipped him to ACHIEVE prosperity,

he is saying that Christ has equipped him to LIVE IN prosperity.

He is not saying that Christ

will give every Christian

the ability to accumulate prosperity,

but rather he is saying that

if God brings prosperity into our lives

and if we are determined to follow His leadership

our Lord can show us

how to live in that prosperity

without being destroyed by it.

And as long as I’ve gotten us into this area

let me take it just a little bit farther.

Every set of circumstances in life

contains its own potential enemies

to a healthy relationship with Christ.

Paul began this section

by telling us that He has learned

how to be content

in whatever circumstances he finds himself.

He then goes on to tell us

that he has learned the SECRET

that enables him to do that.

It may help you to know

that this is the only time Paul ever uses this term.

In fact, it is the only time it is ever used

anywhere in Scripture.

This is strong language even for Paul.

He talks often about knowledge

and the need for knowledge,

and growing in knowledge about Christ.

But only once,

in this passage right here,

does he ever refer to

knowing or discovering the secret of true contentment.

So what is it?

What is this remarkable secret he’s discovered?

I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.

So what does that mean?

Let me rephrase it

and see if it helps.

The secret of true contentment

is discovering that true contentment

does not come from what we are experiencing,

but rather it comes from Who we are experiencing it with.

And maybe if I state the lies

it will help make the truth more understandable.

When we are suffering need,

when our physical circumstances

are not what we would like them to be,

the great lie is believing

that the path to contentment will be found

through changing our circumstances.

And when we are living in prosperity

the great lie is believing

that if we can just figure out how to use our prosperity correctly

it will then bring us contentment.

If I just buy this house

rather than that one,

if I just drive this car

rather than that one,

if I just move my investment from here to there,

then I’ll feel secure

and be content.

If I just take this trip

or that vacation

then I will be content...

And Paul is telling us

that the secret to inner peace

is not found in the circumstances themselves,

but rather it comes from living through those circumstances

in the presence and love of Christ.

In the fall of 1970 I was young,

single,

and broke.

I’d just returned from my second trip to Trinidad.

I was working at a restaurant in Seattle as a busboy,

hoping a waiter position would open up

so that I could start making the really big money.

I heard about a seminar in Portland that I wanted to attend.

I had enough money to pay for the costs of the seminar,

and a full tank of gas

to get me down there and back.

But I didn’t have any other money.

I remember during the mid-morning break at the seminar

watching all the people lined up at the vending machines buying snacks.

When the crowd thinned down

I walked up to the coffee machine

and on impulse but my finger in the coin return slot.

In that slot I found enough change

for a cup of coffee.

I remember the joy I felt

and the tremendous sense of contentment

at knowing my Lord Jesus loved me so much,

that He wanted to buy me a cup of coffee.

Now, more than forty years later,

I’m married,

and my beloved life partner and I live in a wonderful home,

and drive well-maintained vehicles,

and receive a very adequate regular income,

and yet there is a sense in which

nothing has really changed

because I continue to know

the same depth of contentment today

that I knew in 1970,

a contentment that comes

from the constant presence

of my Lord Jesus Christ with me here, now, in these circumstances

just as He was with me

as I stood in front of that coffee machine so many years ago.

You see,

what the human spirit longs for

is not the illusion of security

that comes from careful control of our circumstances in a way that makes us think we are secure.

What the human spirit longs for

is the kind of contentment

that can only come from the secret Paul reveals to us in this passage,

“I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.”

In other words,

no matter what circumstances I face

I know I face them with my Lord,

and with His strength

and His leadership as my solid foundation.

And after saying all of that,

as I look back on it

I think I’ve still made it too complicated,

too obscure.

So I will try one more time.

Clearly Paul wants us to know

that there is a key, a secret, if you will,

to living with a spirit at peace

in the midst of a world that is out of our control,

a world that is saturated with evil,

a world that does not know our God,

and certainly does not honor Him

or respect us for our submission to Him.

So here’s the way it is for the child of God.

Each of us will have certain things in our life

that we cannot control

and cannot escape,

things that we hate,

things that bring pain,

or loss,

or turmoil into our lives.

And then, added to this,

there are times when our faithfulness to our God

will intensify that pain,

or that turmoil.

At the core of our calling as kids of the kingdom

is our demonstrating what it looks like

to live a life of light, of faith in the midst of darkness.

It is a high and noble calling,

but one that does not come without warfare raging around us.

And Paul’s secret, his key to contentment in the midst of this warfare

is his turning his point of focus

from what he’s going through

to Who’s going through it with him.

I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.

If our final point of focus at the end of the day

is on the turmoil,

if our first point of focus at the beginning of the day

is on the turmoil,

there will be no peace.

But if we, with determined commitment,

keep turning our eyes back to Him,

knowing He is right here with us,

and absolutely adequate for us, no matter what,

then our spirits will find that place of rest.

And just one final observation

before I close.

Both poverty and riches

have their own unique risks for the Christian.

Poverty can sometimes bring with it

a feeling of resentment against God

because we do not feel as though

He has provided for us

the way we think He should.

And with affluence comes the tendency

to cling to our possessions for our emotional security,

believing they have the power

to make us happy.

Neither poverty nor riches in themselves

can produce a healthy life in the Spirit.

The Book of Proverbs

says it far better than I can.

Prov. 30:7 Two things I asked of You, Do not refuse me before I die:

Prov. 30:8 Keep deception and lies far from me, Give me neither poverty nor riches; Feed me with the food that is my portion,

Prov. 30:9 That I not be full and deny You and say, "Who is the Lord?" Or That I not be in want and steal, And profane the name of my God.