LESSONS IN CONTENTMENT

Philippians 4:10-13
Bob Bonner
October 12, 2008

For the past hundred years, many who have lived in this country have enjoyed a materially pleasing life like few others on our globe have ever experienced. Today we are seeing a huge geo-political and economic shift throughout the world. This shift is predicted to change the balance of global wealth. We in America are already feeling it in an acute manner these past months: the failure of banks, the rise in the price of oil, the purchasing of American banks, businesses, and real estate by Saudi Arabia, Dubai, China, and Japan. As a result, most Americans are beginning to realize that they have little hope of being as wealthy or as comfortable as their parents. One recent article I read stated that because of the change in our economy, statistics reveal that many non-immigrant families are joining households because they cannot afford to rent or own a home of their own. Parents are moving back in with their children, and children are moving in with their parents. Obviously, this is going to take some getting used to for many people. For the first time since the Great Depression, we are going to have to learn how to live life with less and be content with it. But how? 

One very wealthy Jewish religious leader learned how, after committing his life to Christ and being ostracized from all those with whom he had shared rank, privilege, and position. The Apostle Paul in his epilogue to the book of Philippians, which begins with Philippians 4:10, shows us how he learned to be content, whether he was wealthy or poor.

This morning we come to the final lines of Paul’s letter to his friends in the church of Philippi. This epilogue of Paul’s letter to the Philippians begins with 4:10 and carries through to the end of the chapter. When you come to the end of a study of a book of the Bible, it is often good to take a brief look back to see where you have been. The apostle began this epistle by sharing some personal information about his present situation in Rome in 1:12-26. Then he moved to his concerns for the Philippian church itself in 1:27-4:9, and now he returns to his own present circumstances in 4:10-20.

Up to this point in his letter, Paul has not directly thanked the Philippians for their financial support that made his ministry possible. He has hinted at it in 1:3-7; 2:25, 30, but not until now has he come right out and thanked them for their faithful financial support for the past 12 years. After all of Paul’s instruction to them about their need to become one-minded again and together pursue the advancement of the Gospel, these last positive words will be the ones he hopes are left in their minds--that their gift to him was a sweet smelling sacrifice, pleasing to God. As we work through this epilogue today and in weeks to come, you will see three different times Paul expresses his gratitude toward them for their financial support: verses 10, 14, and 18.

As we walk through this epilogue, you will see Paul swing back and forth from stating his own appreciation for their financial support to him in verses 10, 14-16, and 18-20 and then to insisting on his own independence and self-sufficiency in learning to be content in the Lord, in verses 11-13, and 17. Paul's point in swinging back and forth is to demonstrate that his joy lies not in the gifts of financial support that the Philippians gave him per se—these he really could do with or without—but in the greater reality of what the gifts represent. Such is the tangible evidence, now renewed, of their long-term friendship. He wants them to understand that he was more grateful for them, the givers, than their gift. 

A second thing he wants them to see through this back and forth pendulum swing between his gratefulness for their financial gift and his insistence upon not needing it is that the greater significance of their gift is not even their friendship but their long-term partnership or participation with him in the advancement of the gospel. In this section, we see that the first attitude which makes giving and receiving a joy is the concern for the work of the gospel and for those who do the work of the gospel. When the minds of the givers and receivers are focused on the work and on the workers of the Gospel rather than on the gift itself, financial matters will be kept in the right perspective.

 Finally, he wants them to realize that what gives him great joy is knowing that their sacrificial giving and service to him in the name of Christ will prove to be an eternally fruitful gain to them, by way of not only present blessings from God, but also eternal rewards. As we will see in our study of these closing words, these words of affirmation come from a genuine Apostle, and thus are heartfelt. They are not like these same words quoted by many modern day televangelists who use Paul’s words to take advantage of others to pad their own purses.

This morning, in verses 10-13, we will uncover Paul’s proper attitude toward the Philippians and their financial support of his ministry. In route, he will explain some lessons he learned about contentment and receiving gifts from others. Please follow along as I read. 

¹⁰But 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. ¹¹Not that I speak from

want, for I have learned to be content in whatever

circumstances I am. ¹²I 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. 

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

In verse 10, when Paul writes, “that now at last you have revived your concern for me” it could appear at first that he was frustrated with the Philippians, dependent upon their gifts, or maybe was fearful that they would suddenly quit supporting him. But history and this passage erase that possible interpretation. In fact, in these words, Paul is doing everything he can to affirm them and let them know that he understands the situation they are in and holds no grudges.

For some time, we don’t know for sure how long, maybe two years or more, the church in Philippi had lost touch with Paul and thus had been unable to send him any kind of physical or financial support. J. V. McGee supplies the most probable explanation of all.  He cites that the Philippians simply did not know where Paul was after he had been arrested in Jerusalem and then put in prison in Caesarea for two years. The next time they heard about him, he had been transferred to a prison in Rome. Upon hearing about his situation, they quickly sent their fellow church member, Epaphroditus, with money and supplies and an apology/explanation as to why their gifts ceased coming to him during those years. Having understood their situation, Paul in verse 10 is excusing them in a most gracious manner. Paul rejoiced in the Philippians’ renewal of interest.  Note his first cause is not to rejoice in the gift, but them. So important is this to Paul that he makes sure there is no confusion here. He rejoices over their renewing their support of him. He goes to great lengths to make sure they know that he knows that they had no opportunity to support him, and that he’s okay with that. Hence, Paul’s words here are meant to be a positive complement, not a subtle rebuke. 

And there is more to his words. Do you see the word, “revived”? It is a horticultural or gardening term that means to “blossom again” like perennials or the spring shoots of deciduous trees and bushes. After a period of dormancy, the plant’s giving has come back to life in the spring. Paul’s gardening metaphor reflects his patient confidence in the God of nature who always provides in his perfect timing. Likewise, Paul knew that one way or another, this same God would sovereignly and providentially meet his needs. There was no panic on his part, no attempt to manipulate people, no taking matters into his own hands. Hence, God providentially used the Philippians to meet his needs just at the right time. Their care of him, as the New English Bible puts it, had "blossomed afresh.”  Hence Paul is saying to them, "Like a person rejoicing over the signs of spring after a hard winter, I rejoice to see again the signs of your personal concern for me after such a long interval of silence."

To further clarify, the expression “at last” does not necessarily suggest that Paul was expecting something from them, but points rather to the conclusion of the hiatus. Thus, “Now, finally you are able to do what for a long time you could not.”

Have you ever had obstacles hinder your normal giving to others? Maybe a check you were expecting or had sent got lost in the mail. Or maybe you have experienced what Becky and I did recently. The expiration date on our credit card, from which we support one missionary, had expired. We didn’t know that because the date changed when the new card was issued, preventing our automatic withdrawal of support to be sent to these missionaries. It was only as I noticed on my charitable giving accounts on Quicken that our support gift was missing that I searched and found out why. We have since notified them of the problem and promptly made up our back support.

Those uncontrollable things happen, and Paul knew it. And he was even more relieved for them to know that he was not upset with them, but happy for them.

But just in case some might think that Paul’s friendship with them was based on his greed or need for them, as grateful as he was, Paul now digresses to explain that his friendship with them is not based on their fulfilling his need. Instead, he tries to explain that his needs have been, are, and will continue to be met by Christ. Christ has and can meet his needs without their help.

Trying to explain that to your supporters without appearing arrogant can be rather dicey, but Paul does an excellent job of it in these verses. This concern is the reason why he begins verse 11 with, “Not that I speak from want.” From there, he continues through verse 13 to explain that he rejoiced in three lessons he had learned during these past years while having to trust the Lord to meet his needs without their support. Twice in these two verses he repeats that he “learned” lessons during this time. The verb tense used both times implies that Paul's whole experience up to the present, especially as a Christian, has been a sort of schooling from which he has not failed to master the lessons. In this case, one of those lessons dealt with how to be content. But most importantly, in the backdrop of these closing verses, Paul wants to remove any doubt from the Philippians’ mind that his real joy comes from their mutual friendship, not their monetary gifts.

The following are three lessons Paul says he learned during this time. First, he learned to be “content.” This is the only place in the New Testament that this word occurs. It is a word made up of combining two Greek words, “self” and “sufficient.” It speaks of being self-sufficient and not being dependent upon others. Contentment is a highly-prized virtue. Though, as Paul had to learn and so do we, true contentment comes only from being rightly related to God and learning to trust in His sovereign, loving, purposeful providence. Typically, all of us tend to seek contentment in places it cannot be found—money, possessions, power, prestige, vacations, travel, other people, various and abundant activity, and so on.

Typically, there are two ways being preached in our world to achieve “self-sufficiency” or “contentment”. One is the road that the Stoics would have us travel, and the other is what Paul describes here. The difference between a self-sufficient Christian and a self-sufficient Stoic is simple to detect. The self-sufficient Christian lives a life of independence from the world through dependence upon Christ living in and through Him. The Stoic’s self-sufficiency pretends to be absolute, only depending in himself. The Christian’s self-sufficiency or contentment is founded upon faith in Jesus Christ. The Stoic’s is founded upon personal pride. Cato, a Stoic, and Paul, a Christian, both stand erect and fearless before a persecuting world: Cato with a look of rigid, defiant scorn, and Paul with a face lit up with unutterable joy in the Lord.

Once again, let me point you to Paul’s own confession concerning contentment. Contentment was something which he had to learn just like the rest of us. Paul, contrary to popular thinking, was not perfect, and just because he learned something once, we should not presume that he always succeeded in applying what he knew. Bit by bit, test by test, circumstance by circumstance, he persevered through the lower degrees of a spiritual education until he finally graduated, and the secret to contentment was his. Once he learned, he day by day got better at applying what he knew. To others, it appeared that he never failed, but Paul himself knew of his own private times of failure, because in chapter three he tells us that he had yet to arrive spiritually.

Paul informs us of the second lesson he learned in verse 12: how to get along with humble means. Specifically, Paul learned through the previous 2 to 3 years of imprisonment to be equally content with little or with much materially, because he was rich spiritually. Paul had experienced the truth of which the wise man Solomon wrote in Proverbs 30:7-9: 

Two things I ask of you, O Lord; do not refuse me before I die:

Keep falsehood and lies far from me; give me neither poverty

nor riches, but give me only my daily bread. Otherwise, I may

have too much and disown you and say, ‘Who is the Lord?’ Or

may become poor and steal, and so dishonor the name of my

God. 

Paul had learned that both poverty and wealth bring temptations with them. Through his years walking with Christ, he was exposed to both temptations and learned how to handle both need and abundance in every individual situation.

The third lesson that Paul learned is the ultimate secret to contentment in all things. He gives us this secret in verse 13. “I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.”  But to correctly understand what Paul really means in verse 13, one must keep in mind that all the six terms that he has just used in verse 12 pertain to physical or material needs, not spiritual needs. Hence, when we get to verse 13, where Paul says “I can do all things,” the context is in reference to his physical, not spiritual, concerns. He doesn’t mean he could physically survive indefinitely without food, water, sleep, or shelter. What he is saying is that when he reached the limit of his human resources and strength, even to the point of death, he was infused with the strength of Christ to complete the Lord’s will. The ultimate secret to Paul’s contentment was to trust in Christ’s enablement.

Some have mangled this verse by taking it out of context. Sometimes they have made it to say that “I can do all things [especially extraordinary things] through Christ who strengthens me.” Some even act as if there were nothing they could not do.

A few weeks ago while watching a college football game, I saw a presumably Christian lineman with those black sun reflector patches under his eyes. It has become a new way for football players to make a personalized statement to the TV audience or to advertise something, because the players can write in white or silver a message on these patches. I saw one player wear “Hi” under one eye and “Dad” under the other. But one player’s personalized statement particularly struck me. Under the right eye was “Phil.” and then under the other “4:13.” I could be wrong, but it seemed to imply that the player believed that with Jesus on his side he could be stronger, and that because He was a Christian, he believed he could do all things through Christ who physically strengthened him to play ball. But what would happen if his opponent on the opposite side of the ball was also a Christian? Who would win that contest?

Second, where the Lord led Paul, Paul knew he had power to do whatever the will of God was. The will of God limited the application of the strength he knew. Many who misapply this verse step out of God’s will for their lives. They hope to cover their actions by a blanket promise of power, but power comes in the will of God. Paul expressed a crucial paradox in 2 Corinthians 12:9-10. Having suffered for years with a thorn in the flesh, probably some physical ailment, Paul had pleaded three times with God to strengthen him physically by removing this thorn. But after three “No’s” from God, he recorded the lesson he learned and it is passed on to us. He writes what God told him after the third “No.” God said to Paul:

My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in

weakness. Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my

weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is

why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in

hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak,

then I am strong.

Paul recognized that living life as a Christian is no panacea. Life would still be filled with challenges and problems that, on his own, he could not handle or remove himself from. Sometimes it was God’s will for Paul not to be removed from a difficult situation, like being stoned and left for dead. At these times he would experience God’s supernatural strength or ability to overcome, because it was God’s will for him to overcome. For example, while in the Philippian jail, Paul could have physically escaped due to the earthquake God caused, but rather than run, he stayed and led the jailer, who feared for his life had Paul escaped, and his family to Christ. Yes, Christ can strengthen us physically to do a job. But for Christ to strengthen or enable us to do a job better than normal, it must be according to His will. 

Another common misapplication of this verse takes a form exactly the opposite of Paul’s—with a bit of verse 19 thrown into the mix: “When in want, I shall receive plenty because of my relationship with Christ.” This misapplication is often found in the name-it and claim-it brand of false teachers in Christianity today. How ridiculous to believe this interpretation or claim this when you consider all of the verses that surround the two verses in this chapter, where Paul’s point is that he has learned to live in either want or plenty through the enabling power of Christ.

When Paul faced difficult times, when he was hungry, physically weak, sick, and cold, he did not join the Stoic school of philosophy which stated, “If it’s going to be, it’s up to me.” Neither did he join Norman Vincent Peale’s school of the power of positive thinking. No, when Paul was in physical need, having done all he could himself, he turned to Christ, who enabled him either to break through or to carry on being content with whatever situation he was in.

Earlier in this letter, in 3:7-11, Paul explained that the most important thing in life to him was to know Christ and the power of His physical resurrection in his life to meet his daily needs. How comfortable or safe and secure he lived was not his number one priority, and neither should it be ours in this geo-economic upheaval we are living in today. Paul says that he has the power to cope with or is competent and able to handle all these things. Christ enabled him to face all conditions of life: humiliation or exaltation, plenty to eat or not enough, wealth or poverty. Contentment is a fruit of living this life of faith in Christ and of His will for one’s life.  Paul was to be content in whatever condition his Master placed him, knowing that Christ was able to meet his needs should it be His will. Have you learned that yet?

The Old Testament prophet Habakkuk discovered this same truth, that contentment is the fruit of having placed one’s faith in Christ and His perfect will for our lives. Habakkuk in 3:17-19 wrote:

Though the fig tree should not blossom

And there be no fruit on the vines,

Though the yield of the olive should fail

And the fields produce no food,

Though the flock should be cut off from the fold

And there be no cattle in the stalls,

Yet I will exult in the Lord,

I will rejoice in the God of my salvation.

The Lord God is my strength,

And He has made my feet like hinds’ feet,

And makes me walk on my high places.  

How good of God to never abandon us during hard times. How good of God to use hard times to bring us closer in our walk with Him. How good of God to encourage us to rejoice in Christ and to join Him in fulfilling Christ’s mission on this planet. The key to contentment was handed to us by King David when he wrote in Psalm 37:4-5, “Delight yourself in the Lord [meaning in His purposes], and He will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the Lord, trust also in Him, and He will do it.” Make this your life’s goal.

“Father, You are indeed good and our ultimate and faithful provider. We praise you for your past, present, and future care for us. In these days ahead may we find this exhortation of yours, found in Hebrews 13: 5-6, to be the foundation of our thoughts as we concern ourselves with our material needs. For you have said to us, “Make sure that your character is free from the love of money, being content with what you have.” For you have said to us, “I will never desert you, nor will I ever forsake you.” Therefore, we can confidently believe and say, “The Lord is my helper, I will not be afraid. What will man to me?”

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