Text: Philippians 4:10-13
INTRODUCTION:
Out text speaks about life at its roughest point, at its greatest pressure, under the hardest circumstances, but also how to handle life at its best. We will shadow Paul through these verses and see what he does.
Question: Do you know the difference between a thermostat and a thermometer? A thermometer is controlled by the temperature around it. A thermostate recognizes the temperature around it and then changes it to suit its settings. Thermometer is controlled by its circumstances and the thermostat controls its circumstances. Paul will show us how to be a thermostat.
Paul had learned, been instructed, to be content with whatever circumstances life dealt him. He had been serving the Lord for over 30 years.
We are going to shadow him as he preaches this text. He will teach us some of the most valuable lessons he had learned through life’s experiences.
He had learned, been instructed, to be content with whatever hand God dealt him. Paul is in his 60’s and has walked with Christ for over 30 years, so he has much to tell us.
I. SEASONS IN PAUL’S LIFE: (V. 10)
A. HIS GRATITUDE:
* Paul’s reason for writing this little book was to thank them for their care for him. There is a deep emotional appreciation for all they had done. Thank you, thank you, thank you!
Philippians 1:3-5
3 I thank my God upon every remembrance of you,
4 Always in every prayer of mine for you all making request with joy,
5 For your fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now;
* “I rejoiced greatly”. Paul founded this church 10 years earlier and now he is rejoicing because they are maturing. The fact that they had suggested him proved their concern to spread the gospel.
Question: How often do we have opportunities to send support (GIC) but we lack concern. Their gift proved that God was at work in them.
* “In the Lord” – this reminds us of the providence of God that is at work on our behalf. Paul had a need and God moved on their hearts to supply it and the obeyed the Lord.
* Providence: Latin: Pro-means before & video means to see. Providence means that God sees it beforehand. God is at work arranging circumstances and situations in order to fulfill his purpose in our lives.
* We should always show gratitude to God and the people He chooses to work through.
B. HIS GRACIOUSNESS:
* “Your care of me hath flourished again,” means to revive; a revival of giving to the cause of Christ. He knew they always cared but now they have the opportunity to express their love for Paul.
* “flourished again” = bloomed again: It speaks of a tree and how its blossoms in the spring. The life of the tree is seen by its leaves and fruit.
C. HIS GROWING:
* “lacked opportunity” = they had always cared but they didn’t have the opportunity to show Him. They had to overcome some major obstacles and they did.
Truth: Divine Providence: God is in complete control of everything.
ILLUSTRATION: THE LIFE OF JOSEPH:
“Joseph went through all that stuff: sold into slavery: head over Potiphar’s house until his wife tried to seduce him and then lied trying to make it look like Joseph was trying to force her. Then he is placed in prison and the Butler and Baker forget him, but God doesn’t forget him. Pharaoh’s dream of the fat and skinny cattle and corn. The Butler then remembers Joseph. Listen to his reprove to his brothers:
Genesis 45:5-7
5 Now therefore be not grieved, nor angry with yourselves, that ye sold me hither: for God did send me before you to preserve life.
6 For these two years hath the famine been in the land: and yet there are five years, in the which there shall neither be earing nor harvest.
7 And God sent me before you to preserve you a posterity in the earth, and to save your lives by a great deliverance.
Genesis 50:20
20 But as for you, ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive.
* God not only knows & sees beforehand, He is at work to arrange circumstance and situations to fulfill His purposes.
Quote: Warren Wiersbe: “Life is not a series of accidents; it is a series of appointments.”
Personal examples:
1. Ester and Mordechai—just be faithful where you are:
2. Land: Church, gift sold it for $45,000.00.
3. Mission and TTI: started over 3000 Churches….50,0000 in the next few years.
4. My becoming your pastor:
5. Pastors wife: meeting Katy
6. Boat:
7. Even before I was saved, god was working behind the scenes to bring me to Christ.
“Remember Satan is a counterfeiter”
Story:
PUSHING THE ROCK
I have been pondering a story of a weak sickly man. The man was so sick and he could not afford going to town to the doctor. The man lived in the deep back woods in an old log cabin, his condition seemed to grow worse.
Out in front of his cabin was a huge boulder. The rock was massive in front of his place. One night in a very real vision, God told him to go out there and push the huge rock all day long, day after day. The man got up early in the morning, and with great excitement he pushed the rock until lunch, then he rested a while and pushed the rock until supper time. The man loved pushing against the rock, it gave him meaning.
The dream was so real that it was with great excitement he pushed against the rock. Day after day he pushed. Day rolled into week, and week into months, he faithfully pushed against the rock.
After 8 months of pushing the rock, the weak sickly man was getting tired of pushing the rock so much, in his tiredness he started to doubt his dream. So one day he measured from his porch to the rock, and after daily pushing the rock, he would measure to see how much he had moved the rock. After two weeks of pushing and measuring, he realized he had not moved the boulder not a 1/32 of an inch? As a matter of fact, the boulder was in the same place as when he started.
The man was so disappointed, he thought the dream was so special and now after 9 months he saw his work had accomplished nothing, he was tired and his dream seemed dashed upon the rock. The man sat on his porch and cried and cried, he had invested many hundred hours into nothing. Nothing, it was all nothing!
As the sun was sitting in the west, Jesus came and sat down next to the man as he cried. Jesus said, “Son, why are you crying?”
The man replied, “Lord, You know how sick and weak I am, and then this dumb dream gave me a false hope and I have pushed with all that was within me for over 9 months, and that dumb old rock is right where it was when I started.”
Jesus was kind and said to him, “I never told you to move the rock, I told you to push against the rock.”
The man replied, “Yes, Sir, that was the dream.”
Jesus told the man to step in front of the mirror and look at himself. As an act of obedience the man stepped in front of a mirror and looked at himself. The man was amazed, he had been so sickly and weak, and what he saw in the mirror was a strong muscular man. The man realized that he had not been coughing all night. The man started thinking of how well he felt for several months and the strength that he had built by pushing on the rock. Then the man realized that the plan of God was not for the rock, but for the man.
So, I suggest to you today, that God is building people. God is building churches. The storms, the trials, the heartaches, the disappointments, are all but part of the process. We should never use people to build the church, we must use the church to build people. Don’t start measuring your success, trust the God that will take the process, and build His people. God is stretching you, God is growing you! Understand the plan! Trust His Hands!
WHY DID THEY LACK OPPORTUNITY?
*Their present conflict:
Philippians 4:1-2
1 Therefore, my brethren dearly beloved and longed for, my joy and crown, so stand fast in the Lord, my dearly beloved.
2 I beseech Euodias, and beseech Syntyche, that they be of the same mind in the Lord.
*Their deep poverty: They were among the churches in Macedonia.
2 Corinthians 8:2
2 How that in a great trial of affliction the abundance of their joy and their deep poverty abounded unto the riches of their liberality.
2 Corinthians 8:4
4 Praying us with much intreaty that we would receive the gift, and take upon us the fellowship of the ministering to the saints.
Proverbs 3:27
27 Withhold not good from them to whom it is due, when it is in the power of thine hand to do it.
Illustration: Divine Appointment: God has them for all of us who know Him as Savior.
II. SUFFICIENCY FOR PAUL’S LIFE: (V. 11)
There are many things in our lives that are not gifts but learned traits: Patience – Romans 5:3
Character – Romans 5:4
Contentment – Philippians 4:11
A. GOD’S SCHOOL: “I have learned in what so ever state…”
* By experience Paul had learned to be content.
* “What so ever state” – refers to things or circumstances. He had learned to adapt & adjust. He learned to accept and embrace.
* This is exactly what Paul is meaning in this verse, Rom. 8:28-29:
Romans 8:28-29
28 And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.
29 For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.
B. GOD’S SOVEREIGNTY: “to be content”
* Paul was convinced that God was right in the middle of his life every day. He was fully confident in the all-sufficient God.
* “Content” = this Greek word is only used here: sufficient for one’s self, strong enough to not need aid or support:
= literally means satisfied, adequate: not in himself, but because he is “in Christ”.
= He didn’t need anyone else or anything else to be fulfilled; he had it all “in Christ”.
2 Corinthians 9:8
8 And God is able to make all grace abound toward you; that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work:
2 Corinthians 3:5
5 Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think any thing as of ourselves; but our sufficiency is of God;
2 Corinthians 12:9
9 And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.
Psalm 32:8
8 I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go: I will guide thee with mine eye.
Quote: “Christian contentment is the God-given ability to be satisfied with the loving provision of God in any and every situation.”
ONE TEAR TO ANOTHER
Two little teardrops were floating down the river of life. One said to the other, “Who are you?” It replied, “I am a teardrop from a girl who loved a man and lost him. Who are you?” The first responded, “Well, I am a teardrop from the girl who got him!”
Life is like that. We cry over things we cannot have. If we only knew it, we would probably cry more if we had received them. Paul had the right idea when he said, “I have learned in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content” (Phil. 4:11).
(Bible Illustrations – Bible Illustrations – A Treasury of Bible Illustrations.)
III. SECRET OF PAUL’S LIFE: (V. 12)
* “I am instructed” = through trials and testing Paul was brought into the wonderful experience of contentment, in spite of poverty or prosperity.
* Bit by bit, test by test, circumstance by circumstance, Paul persevered until he finally graduated in this spiritual school. Contentment did not come easy, it was learned by consistent discipline.
3 contrasts: The valuable lessons he had learned:
1. Abased = humbled; live humbly
Abound = have more than enough; live in prosperity
2. Be Full = entertained in Lydia’s house
Be Hungry = Imprisoned in a Roman jail
3. Abound = times he had everything
Suffer Need = times he had nothing
1 Timothy 6:6-10
6 But godliness with contentment is great gain.
7 For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out.
8 And having food and raiment let us be therewith content.
9 But they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition.
10 For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.
IV. STRENGTH WITHIN PAUL’S LIFE: (V. 13)
* The most important part of the tree can’t be seen, it is the root system.
* Paul reveals his inward source of strength.
Note: Contentment is not determined by what one has but what one’s relationship is to Jesus Christ.
Paul’s motto: “I can – through Christ.”
* Paul knew he was ready for anything and could do everything God asked of him through the strength of Jesus Christ who lived within him.
* “strengtheneth” = make one able or enables at all times.
Psalm 46:1-2
1 God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.
2 Therefore will not we fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea;
2 Corinthians 9:8
8 And God is able to make all grace abound toward you; that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work:
* Paul knew there was absolutely nothing that God would ask him to do that He would not give him the strength to do it.
I can do all things through drugs: NO
I can do all things through education: NO
I can do all things though money: NO
I can do all things through success: NO
I can do all things through friends: NO
I can do all things through positive thinking: NO
I can do all things through political office: NO
I can do all things through Christ: YES: nothing else fits.
CONCLUSION:
Story: Once there was a wealthy man in England who possessed a wonderful and unique art collection worth about a million pounds ($2,000,000 U.S.). This man had one son whom he loved very dearly and had desired to leave his art collection to him upon his death. The son however, was killed during the World War II.
Since the wealthy Englishman had no other living heir, he stipulated in his will that his art collection was to be auctioned off upon his death, but with the requirement that the portrait of his son be sold first.
Eventually the wealthy man died. On the day of the auction, people from around the world were in attendance to bid on this priceless art collection. The rich man’s lawyer stood and informed the people present of the stipulation placed upon the auction by his client.
When the bidding was opened, no one wanted to bid on the portrait of the owner’s son, because they were waiting for the more valuable pieces to come on the auction block. However, there was a former servant of the owner in attendance, who had greatly loved the owner’s son, and had cared for him for many years. It was he who made the only bid on the portrait of the owner’s son. Finally, the auctioneer said, “Going, going, gone; Sold, to the man at the back of the room.” The rich man’s lawyer immediately stood up and said, “Ladies and Gentlemen, the auction is now closed. According to the terms of the will, whoever purchased the portrait of the owner’s son is to receive the rest of the collection as well.”
Dear folks, Jesus is the secret of contentment. If you have the Son, you have it all.
Resources used: Reality Living, Jeff Adams, Philippians and Hebrews by John MacArthur, Stress Reduction by Paul Decker, Philippians by Warren Wiersbe, Philippians by Johnny Hunt, Philippians by Guy McGraw, Philippians by Dana Chau, John R. Rice study Bible, Sermon Central Illustrations, Illustration Exchange
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