Contentment & Confidence Philippians 4:10-23 The tenth, and last, in a series of messages from Pastor Laurel Neal on the book of Philippians. September 25, 2016 Rev. Laurel Neal
Philippians 4:10-23 I rejoiced greatly in the Lord that at last you renewed your concern for me. Indeed, you were concerned, but you had no opportunity to show it. I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do all this through him who gives me strength. Yet it was good of you to share in my troubles. Moreover, as you Philippians know, in the early days of your acquaintance with the gospel, when I set out from Macedonia, not one church shared with me in the matter of giving and receiving, except you only; for even when I was in Thessalonica, you sent me aid more than once when I was in need. Not that I desire your gifts; what I desire is that more be credited to your account. I have received full payment and have more than enough. I am amply supplied, now that I have received from Epaphroditus the gifts you sent. They are a fragrant offering, an acceptable sacrifice, pleasing to God. 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. Final Greetings Greet all God s people in Christ Jesus. The brothers and sisters who are with me send greetings. All God s people here send you greetings, especially those who belong to Caesar s household. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. Amen.
Contentment & Confidence Philippians 4.10-23 I When I was a kid, my mom made us write thank-you notes especially after Christmas and birthdays. I remember I liked getting the presents, but not writing those notes. Writing them was hard work. It was also boring and seemed sort of pointless. But the lesson took. Now I believe in thank-you notes. I don t think they re boring or pointless anymore. And I ve written and received enough of them to recognize a strange thank-you note when I see one. Like this thank-you note of Paul s in Philippians 4. As you remember, being in jail in the 1st century meant you had no way to earn a living but you still had living expenses. And probably legal expenses as well. So Paul didn t have any income, but he had bills to pay. The Philippians who certainly weren t rich had supported Paul financially in the past. They d done so when Paul left Philippi in the year 50. They d done it while he was working in places like Corinth and Thessalonica. Now it s maybe the year 60 or 62, and Paul s in jail. The Philippians were concerned about his welfare so they sent him a gift, using Epaphroditus a man from their own congregation as a courier. From the way Paul refers to this gift, it sounds like it was substantial even though the Philippians aren t a wealthy congregation. So one reason Paul writes to the Philippians at all is to thank them and he did express thanks at the beginning of the letter. Then he went on to talk about a variety of topics related to his own circumstances and theirs, both of which involve opposition and suffering and, in the Philippians case, some struggles with disunity.
Now, at the end of the letter, Paul expresses his gratitude again. But, as I say, it s a very strange thank-you note indeed. II What s strange about it? Well, first of all there s the language which is predominated by business terminology especially in verses 15-20. Paul s done this before. You might remember Heather s sermon on Philippians 3.1-11 where Paul used the image of bookkeeping ledger to describe the value of his personal accomplishments in comparison to the accomplishments of Jesus Christ. Well, here in chapter 4 he again uses a lot of accounting terminology. Specifically, he uses words like: giving and receiving, profit, accounts, receipts, interest, credit, riches, and paid in full. Except that here in the context of a thank-you note all the accounting terminology seems really out of place. At least it does to me. It reminds me of a distant relative Fitz and I have who always talks about money. He tells you how much he pays for everything. He asks what you paid for stuff. He talks about what everything costs and I have a feeling he s a lousy tipper. It s all very off-putting sort of like all this accounting terminology in Philippians 4. Then there s the tone of Paul s note which is strangely detached. Look at verses 10-15, where Paul basically says he didn t really need the gift the Philippians sent. He appreciates it, he says, but he d also have gotten along fine without it. After all, he s learned to be content in all kinds of circumstances: I know what it is to have little, and I know what it is to have plenty. In any and all circumstances I ve learned the secret of being well-fed and of going hungry, of having plenty and of being in need. Seriously, does this sound like a thank-you note to you?! And, finally, there s the purpose of Paul s thank-you note which seems to challenge the Philippians more than it thanks them. Paul actually
uses the Philippians own gift as an object lesson uses it to prod them toward greater spiritual maturity. Once again, Paul suggests the Philippians imitate him. Especially when it comes to what they focus on and especially what they focus on when life s difficult, or uncertain, or changing as it is, right now, for them. Paul, apparently, doesn t focus on himself. He focuses on God. He doesn t focus on what he s able to do. He focuses on what God is able to do. He doesn t focus on his own resources either their abundance or their scarcity. He focuses on the resources God has, which are always plentiful. So you see, the language, and tone, and purpose of this thankyou note are pretty strange and it s worth asking why. III The great Methodist preacher, Fred Craddock, writes helpfully, I think, about where Paul s coming from in general in this letter to his favorite church: More than once we ve been struck by both the intimacy and the distance expressed by Paul [in this letter]. Our life of partnership in the gospel, Paul said to them, depends neither upon my being present or absent. The advance of the gospel doesn t depend upon my being executed or being set free. My relationship to Christ, he said, doesn t depend upon living or dying, because to live is Christ and to die is to be with Christ. His relationship to the Philippians, his return to them, his execution, his witness, their witness: everything has to be set in the context of the gospel and the meaning of life in Christ Jesus...In the same way [Craddock writes] their gift must be understood. 1 1 Fred Craddock, Philippians (Atlanta: John Knox Press, 1985), 77.
Most of us have heard of Stoicism, which was a prominent philosophical approach to life before, during, and after Paul s lifetime. Stoics practiced remaining calm and unperturbed, no matter what was going on around them in the world, or happening to them. This involved managing their emotions maintaining their internal center of gravity, their balance amid the ups and downs of life. Stoics trained themselves to operate this way by turning inward. By looking inside themselves for the resources they needed. In this sense, Stoics thought of themselves as self-sufficient. They often used the word content to describe this experience of self-sufficiency this ability to face life calmly. Paul sounds like a Stoic in this passage, and even uses their word content in verse 11 uses it to describe how he weathers all kinds of ups and downs in life. But of course Paul wasn t a Stoic, and his centeredness his contentment doesn t come from within himself. Paul never makes any claims to self-sufficiency. The resources Paul needs for life, he says, reside in God and come from God. As a result, he can genuinely say things like this: I have learned to be content with whatever I have. Or this: I can do all things through him who strengthens me. Now many of us find it difficult to understand Paul s God-anchored frame of reference. We don t quite get his ability keep his balance, when we so often wobble and doubt. We aren t sure whether to believe him or not. But sometimes we get to see this in action: people who entrust themselves to God in general but then also in every particular situation that comes up. That s what Paul s talking about here and it s something he s gotten very good at doing. He himself has faced a lot of challenges and uncertainty. He himself has been under a lot of pressure. On multiple occasions. In Paul s case he s learned to entrust all these specific situations to God. He s learned to be content not resigned, but content. And he s learned to expect God to act. Not necessarily to give Paul his own way, whatever that is but to use every situation to advance the gospel. Which is just fine with Paul, because Paul as we ve noted before
cares about the gospel more than he cares about anything else: God redeeming the world in Jesus Christ rescuing it, setting it right, making it new. Let s remember: when Paul wrote to this letter, he was writing to people who were under pressure. People facing opposition and persecution for their faith in addition to all the normal ups and downs of life. Health and illness. Prosperity and scarcity. Joy and disappointment. Stability and change. He was writing to people like us. Calling you both personally and as a congregation to adopt a particular attitude. To set everything that s going on around you in the context of God redeeming the world through Jesus Christ and doing that in and through you. So, a few observations about MPC from this passage. IV First of all, you re a church in transition. You re in between installed pastors and you have a few things to figure out and agree on before you can search for your next installed pastor. According to Paul, this transition you re in is about the gospel. No matter who s coming or going around here, this time in your life is about Jesus. It s about you living gospelshaped lives and conducting gospel-shaped relationships. It s about how God wants you all to represent Jesus in the world and bring good news to others. Second, like the Philippians, you ve given a lot over the years to this church and its ministries. You ve supported the work of the gospel here and in a number of places around the world. You ve supported people people like Ron and Sue Newberg, who were with us last week. You ve remodeled your building and continue to take care of it. You ve nurtured the children and youth of this congregation in the faith. You ve focused on adults becoming strong in the faith in a variety of
ways. You ve reached out to the surrounding community in the name of Jesus Christ. Paul wants you to think about what s going on when you do that when you support the work of the gospel especially when it involves money and giving. He was being intentional when he chose that accounting terminology. He had a purpose in mind. You see, Paul knew the Philippians weren t wealthy people. But more than once he d experienced their inclination to provide financial support to him and his ministry. They d just done it again. Their gift helped him and he appreciated it. But here s what Paul knows about giving. He knows it s important for Christians to give money to support their churches and the ministries of their churches. And it s important because financial generosity is an essential part of our spiritual development of our maturity in Christ. Yes, of course giving helps the churches themselves. It helps their ministries and their staffs. But Paul thinks the Philippians financial gift was at least as important for the good it did them as it was for any good it might have done him. We tend to be squeamish about the connection between money, and giving, and spiritual development. But Paul isn t. Instead of downplaying the connection, he emphasizes it. Which means all of us probably need to ponder this connection, and pray about it, and also act on it. Then, finally, like the Philippians, you have an opportunity right now to be confident about what God is going to do here at MPC in the future. We re just getting started on the interim work. Beginning next Sunday I ll be preaching a series on what the interim work will involve. But, basically, these next few months are a time for you to take stock of the past, the present, and the future. To re-examine who you are and where you ve been as a congregation. To ask God to reveal who he wants you to be in the future, and what he wants you to be doing. As you join in doing this work, here s what you need to know. You need to know that God is fully able, and fully willing, to fully satisfy every
need you have as a church. God will do this, Paul says, and he ll do it according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus. V The novelist Anne Tyler has a character in one of her books who writes a lot of thank-you notes. The thing is, this woman writes all her thank-you notes before she attends the events the notes are about! It s a strange thing to do, but it sort of fits your situation. Because this is a time of transition here. You have a great history but you don t really know what the future ought to look like. So this is a great time to deepen your contentment and confidence. Contentment and confidence regarding what God wants to do here at MPC and what God is going to do here at MPC as you continue to center everything you do around God and his gospel. Generous God, let us thank you in advance for what the future holds for us personally and what it holds for this congregation. And this is our prayer: that our love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that we may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ, to your glory and praise. Amen.