1 Rose Hill Presbyterian Philippians 4:10-20 Rev. Brian North June 30 th, 2013 Philippians: The Pursuit of Joy Kirkland, WA Famous Last Words Today s passage brings to a close our series on Philippians. Next week we will begin a new series (graphic here) on the Fruit of the Spirit as outlined in Galatians 5:22-23. It will be an in-depth look at the fruit of the spirit, and will take us all the way through summer. By the way, on Wednesday nights we have been running a class looking at the passage and message from the previous Sunday. This Wednesday, no class. Linda Holbrook is willing to facilitate the class this summer. If you would be interested in participating in a class like that this summer, talk with Linda. (Joy/Philippians Graphic Here). To briefly recap the series that ends today, a few of the highlights we ve learned from God s word to us through Paul have been: the importance of partnership in Christ and the joy that partnership brings Paul; the joy that Paul has in following Christ regardless of his circumstances; the humble nature that Jesus embodied and modeled for us in becoming a servant; the surpassing nature of God s grace over our works; and last week we focused on Paul s admonition to look for stuff or people around us that are noble, lovely, true, praiseworthy, and so forth, and incorporate those things into our lives and faith. So at last, we come to this final passage. This letter of friendship and encouragement and exhortation ends on a note of Paul thanking them for their friendship, which is expressed in a gift they had sent to him - though interestingly enough, he never uses the words, thank you. But the joy and the gratitude he has as a result of their generosity comes through. And that should be no surprise, as throughout this letter Paul expresses his own joy and encourages the Philippians to live with joy, coming from knowing and trusting Jesus Christ. And throughout the letter, he relates everything to Jesus, which should also come as no surprise, because even as he sits in captivity writing this letter, he can t live a single day without sharing Jesus. Jesus is the hub around which everything revolves in Paul s life; and: It is Jesus who is at the center of this letter to the Philippians. Everything revolves around, and is built on, the grace and love of God in Jesus Christ.
2 So once again, as he writes his closing words, Paul comes back to Jesus as the foundation upon which everything else rests. And in this passage are some pretty famous last words. You know, throughout history, there have been many things said that we might call famous last words: A Western Union internal memo, in 1876 said: "This 'telephone' has too many shortcomings to be seriously considered as a means of communication. The device is inherently of no value to us." Charles H. Duell, Commissioner, U.S. Office of Patents, said in 1899: "Everything that can be invented has been invented." In 1929 just three days before the stock market crash and the beginning of the Depression, Irving Fisher, Professor of Economics, Yale University, said: "Stocks have reached what looks like a permanently high plateau." Decca Recording Co., upon rejecting the Beatles in 1962: "We don't like their sound, and guitar music is on the way out." I wouldn t want to be the person who made that decision. Those are all famous last words in the negative sense of the phrase. Paul wraps up his letter to the Philippians with some positive famous last words, in a letter that is full of famous words. 1:21, For me to live is Christ, and to die is gain; or 3:8, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things; or 3:14, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus; or 4:4, Rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say: Rejoice. Whether or not you have some of those verses memorized, or know that they come from Philippians, they are probably verses that many of us recognize when we hear them. And this morning s passage contains the Rudolph the red-nose reindeer of all these verses: It s the most famous verse of them all. Philippians 4:13,
3 I can do everything through him who gives me strength. In fact, it s one of the best known verses in all of Scripture, rivaling verses such as John 3:16, Psalm 23 (especially the first verse), and of course the passage that is every Sunday School kid s favorite verse to memorize: John 11:35, Jesus wept. So Philippians 4:13 is well-known. Unfortunately, it may also qualify as Paul s most abused sentence. So let s look this verse and the verses around it so we can better understand it. Whenever we re looking at a verse or passage in Scripture, it s important to keep in mind the context of the verse or passage. In other words, you have to remember the verses immediately around the verse you re looking at, as well as the book of the Bible in which you find the passage, and keep in mind the overall message of the whole Bible, too. Scripture becomes dangerous without context. When you take a verse like this and lift it from the verses around it, it becomes easily abused. For instance, verse 13 simply reads, I can do everything (all things) through him who strengthens me. Two questions. First one: How do we know who him is/through whom is Paul able to do everything? We know who he is referring to because of context. We know from the rest of the letter that Paul is fully dependent on Christ. Paul is a man who preaches Christ, serves jailtime for Christ, and lives for Christ - though he has a hard time deciding whether he would rather live for Christ or die for him (Philippians 1:12-13, 21-24). Therefore, it s a reasonable conclusion to draw that Jesus is the one who gives him this ability to do all things. Now, that begs a second question: what does Paul mean that he can do everything through Christ? Was Paul able to fly like Superman or make 50 tents in a day? Is he saying that when a person trusts in Jesus that we can literally expect to do anything? Do I just need enough faith and I can lift a car up off the ground? Can I sin and not experience consequences? Can I live however I want? Can I cheer loud enough so the Mariners will actually win some games? No. Paul, you, and I have our limitations even in Christ.
4 While it may make us feel good to think that we can do literally anything through Christ, or maybe we think it is a license to do whatever we want as though sin is a thing of the past, the fact of the matter is, there are limitations on what we can do. And Paul does not say, I can do anything through Him He says, I can do all things or everything. So what does this mean? Again, context is key. Paul is limiting all things to the things he s mentioned in verse 12, immediately prior to this statement, and all things is limited by the rest of the letter, too. That is the context. Paul writes in verse 12: 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. This, in part, is what Paul means by I can do everything through him who gives me strength. He has contentment no matter what the situation. It s the peace that surpasses all understanding, and the ability to rejoice in the Lord always - both of which Paul writes of just a few verses earlier. But what he s saying here in verse 12 is that he can live with contentment regardless of being well-fed or hungry or living in plenty or in want. Those circumstances don t dictate his sense of contentment. How is he able to do this? Because of several things, which takes us to the larger context of the letter. For instance, Paul is in partnership with the Philippian church for the gospel. The whole letter makes that clear, but me explicitly mentions it in the first few verses of the letter. Being in community with them, being on the same team with these folks, in partnership in the ministry, brings him contentment. Another way he has contentment is through the assurance of his heavenly citizenship. That assurance is mentioned in 3:20 when he says, our citizenship is in heaven. Paul knows that no matter what happens, he belongs to God. That is his true home. I think it was C.S. Lewis who said, You re not a body with a soul, you re a soul with a body. No matter what Paul goes through well-fed or hungry, living in plenty or in want it s all temporary, and his permanent residence is not of this earth. He expresses this well when he writes, For me, to live is Christ and to die is gain (1:21). Anyone who can say that has a contentment in life that we all would do well
5 to have. We all want to say, I can do everything through him who strengthens me but how many of us can say for me to live is Christ and to die is gain? When you can say that those words, you can certainly affirm that you can do everything through Him who strengthens you. Jesus is the center of all he does, and the center of his very existence, and that s why Paul has such contentment, regardless of what he s going through. So what we see is that: The context of this verse (4:13), as given to us by the whole of Philippians, is the centrality of Christ. When we are focused on Jesus, when we are living in complete trust in him, when we are servants as Christ was a servant, when we are partners with each other and with God, Jesus gives us strength to do all these Christ-centered things, regardless of the circumstances. To take this passage out of the context and make the bold presumption that we can do literally anything or do whatever we want, actually reduces God s power and God s sovereignty in our lives. Gordon Fee is a professor of New Testament studies at Regent College in Vancouver, Canada. He has deep roots here in the Northwest, and his dad has a building named after him at Northwest University here in Kirkland. Dr. Fee writes in his commentary on Philippians, [Paul s] singular focus on Christ [1:21] already dictates what all things means for him. To take this sentence out of that singular Christ-focused context of his life is to doom it to serve for lesser, more often selfish, things (Dr. Gordon Fee). 1 Dr. Fee hits the nail on the head. To lift the verse out of the singular focus on Christ opens the door for us to try and manipulate God in ways that are important to us; It puts our will and our desires at the center, rather than the will of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. So it s easy to find ourselves reducing this verse in ways that are at best trivial, and at worst heretical, as we fill in the blank for what everything is: Jesus strengthens me when I m skiing. Jesus strengthens me when I m reading a novel. Jesus strengthens me to leave my wife. Jesus strengthens me to disobey my parents. Jesus strengthens me to sin. Those things are ridiculous abuses of the text. 1 Fee, Gordon D. Paul's Letter to the Philippians. Eerdmans Publishing; p. 434, footnote.
6 Jesus doesn t strengthen us to do things contrary to His Word and will like leave our spouses, abuse our kids, stockpile money while ignoring the poor Instead, God wants to work through us to bring glory to Him, to spread the Good News to the lost, to shine the light of Christ in a dark world, to be His disciples following hard after Him in the context of community. Those are the things for which He strengthens us. In its context, this verse is saying, I can do everything for Him, as well as through Him who strengthens me. So, with the verse in its context, how does it impact us today? How are you and I going to walk out of this room in just a few minutes, different than when we came in? First off, don t expect to have super-human capabilities just because Jesus is your Lord and Savior. On Friday, I got invited to go water-skiing for the first time this season. I didn t go out and expect that I could ski like a professional water-skier or wake-boarder just because I repeated this verse 100 times while I was behind the boat. In fact, when I m behind the boat, I m just asking God to keep me smart and safe so I don t wreck my knee again like I did two summers ago. We ve got limitations, and this verse isn t a promise that we can live without limitations, or exceed our humanity. Secondly, and more importantly, no matter the situation or circumstances, our contentment is found in Jesus, the one who strengthens us. Our circumstances - our jobs, our age, the milestones we pass in life, being well-fed or hungry, in plenty or in want these kinds of things need not dictate our sense of contentment. Rather, Jesus, the one who strengthens us and will carry us through everything, will give us contentment when we are living as he has called us to live. We have a heavenly calling that we live out temporarily here, and he strengthens us to do what he calls us to do, whether that s serving as he served, spending time in prayer, reading and absorbing His word, interacting with people in the world and influencing them for the kingdom of God, engaging in ministry, and so forth.
7 Being content in all situations comes from knowing that His love is deep and wide, and never runs out on you or me. It s not contentment that comes from anything we do, it s from what he has done. And what we do flows out of that. And so even in times of difficulty, whether those difficulties are of a personal nature like marital struggles or difficulties with a child or grand child, or whether the difficulties are more communal in nature such as in the church or our neighborhood or our city no matter what the struggle may be, we are able to remain content, relying on the Lord and His promises, keeping in mind that His promises extend beyond this world, and our time-frame. They are eternal. So Just as Paul lives for Christ, may this letter to the Philippians convince us to make Jesus the hub around which everything in our lives revolves, the rock on which we build our lives, and as a result experience the joy that only comes from Jesus Christ. As we close this sermon, and the series on Philippians, I want to have us say together some verses, which will appear up on the screen in the next few moments. May we come to a place where we can affirm with Paul that, To live is Christ, and to die is gain (1:21) so that we might make the small sacrifices needed to live out our discipleship to an unchanging Savior in an ever-changing world. Also: May we live as children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation in which we shine like stars in the universe (2:15). May we take to heart Philippians 3:8 and For Jesus sake, let us lose all things, and consider them rubbish in order that we may gain Christ (3:8). Each and every day: Let us know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so somehow attain the resurrection from the dead (3:10-11). (SEPARATE SLIDE): May we forget what is behind and strain toward what is ahead (3:13). Then, whether in the joys of life or at the doorstep of death, we can say as our own famous last words: I can do everything through Him who gives me strength (4:13). Those are some famous last words for a Christian, and a church, to live by. And when we live by those words, when we live by the call of Jesus Christ, doing everything he calls us to do, trusting fully in Him, then there will be much joy in our lives, in our church, in our community, and in the heart of God. Let s pray Amen.