Philippians is a great letter
and full of advice to us Christians. More than advice, things we should
be doing. This last time that I read it,
I noticed a theme going through it that was so predominant. I
thought I would share some of those thoughts with you. And
as I've said before, I always try to pick the things that I
need the most, and maybe you need them too. So that's what's
going on here. I would call this the the tug
between what we're supposed to be content about versus what
we're supposed to strive for as Christians. And there's a
real theme in Philippians about that from Paul, about what he
was content with and what he strove for. So, you know, in
our modern society, especially in America, as a capitalistic
society, which is not a bad thing, it's one of the best, it is the
best country on earth and the best situation, We are pressed,
all of us, all the time to, along with everybody else, to gather
more and more things and go for that kind of striving. And as
Christians, we live in a much different society than our forefathers
lived in. So what should be our attitude
these days about what we're supposed to be as Christians, what we're
supposed to be content with, and what we're supposed to strive
for spiritually? Philippians was written by Paul
from prison. And I guess there's some controversy
about what prison that was, although I think it's pretty clear that
it's Rome. He talks about Caesar's household. But there is a verse where he
says, I hope to come to see you soon. And I didn't think that
he thought he was going to get out of the Roman prison, but
maybe he did. So Philippi was named for Philip
of Macedon, the father of Alexander the Great. It was on the main
road between the eastern provinces and Rome, so it was a very commercial
site. It was a Roman colony with retired
Roman soldiers and Roman citizens. There's very little evidence
that there were any Jews to speak of in town because there's few,
or if any, Jewish names in Philippians. So the church is mostly made
up of Gentile Christians. There are many themes in Philippians. One is the joy we should have
for salvation, but they also had a lot of persecution going
on. There was warnings against false teachings. There were some
conflicts in the church. You have the famous Iodi and
Syntyche, the two women that must have been fighting with
each other all the time. Paul says, you know, you guys hold
it down in the last few verses there. So the church wasn't perfect,
as none of them were. And there's a lot of instruction
on practical Christianity and identification with our Lord
Jesus Christ and how we're supposed to do that. So let's talk for
our time together this morning about Paul's statements about
being content, first of all, and then we'll get to the striving
part. Content with what we have. That's
a tall order, isn't it? Philippians 4, Verses 10 through
20. Let's read it all first, and
then we'll come back and zone in on some of the things. Philippians
4, 10 through 20. But I rejoiced in the Lord greatly,
that now at the last your care of me has flourished again, wherein
ye were also careful, but ye lacked opportunity. Not that
I speak in respect of want, for I have learned in whatsoever
state I am therewith to be content. I know both how to be abased
and I know how to abound. Everywhere and in all things
I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound
and to suffer need. I can do all things through Christ
which strengthens me. Notwithstanding, you have well
done that you did communicate with my affliction. Now ye Philippians
know also that in the beginning of the gospel, when I departed
from Macedonia, no church communicated with me as concerning giving
and receiving, but ye only. For even in Thessalonica you
sent once and again unto my necessity, not because I desire a gift,
but I desire fruit that may abound to your account. But I have all
and abound. I am full, having received of
Epaphroditus the things which were sent from you, an odor of
a sweet smell, a sacrifice acceptable, well-pleasing to God. But my
God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory
by Christ Jesus. Now unto God and our Father be
glory forever and ever. Amen. Evidently, Epaphroditus
was either from the Philippian group itself or congregation
or somehow closely tied to them because they sent him over to
Paul with a gift who knows what it was maybe it was food or clothing
or some money and Paul so appreciated that. Epaphroditus earlier in
the book almost died while he was with Paul and then Paul was
sending him back and just so thankful that they had done that
the Philippian church had sent him Epaphroditus. So in verse
11, very famous verse, not that I speak in respect of want, for
I have learned in whatsoever state I am to be content. This
is a eros tense in the Greek. So he had learned it. It was
a done deal. Through all of his sufferings
and everything, he had learned this thing. In whatever I am,
it doesn't even have the word state in the Greek. It just says
in whatever, just drops it like that. In whatever I am, I have
learned to be content. What's that word? That's autarkes.
It means self-sufficient or satisfied. I have learned to be satisfied. Then in verse 12, I know both
how to be abased and I know how to abound. So he had seen both
extremes. He knew how to be abased. That
word is tapinusai. It means to humiliate or to humble. It denotes humble circumstances,
to be humiliated. And it's also used other places
in Philippians. In Philippians 2.8, he says, and being found in fashion as
a man. This is talking about our Lord
Christ. And being found in fashion as
a man, he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even
the death of the cross. A great example is the Lord Jesus
himself who humbled himself. So that's the same word. And
the same word is used in Philippians 3.21, where he says, when he's
talking about how during the resurrection, when the Lord comes
again, who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned
like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereof
he's able even to subdue all things unto himself. And so that's
our lowly body, that's the same word, body of humiliation. We
have a body of humiliation, because all these things go wrong with
it. Then the verse, the word in verse 12 for BAM, so he knows
how to be humbled, And he knows how to abound. And that word
is parasuo, or from the verb parasuo, to increase, abound,
overflow, excel, have more than enough, plenty. It's used in
classical Greek of bread. So when you have plenty of bread,
that's this word. There's a verse in Luke 12.15
that uses this word. very germane here, Luke 12, 15,
our Lord says, take heed and beware of covetousness, for a
man's life consists not in the abundance, that's this word,
persuo, in the abundance of the things which he possesses. So your life, my life, and our
life, reputation in our lives should not be built on the abundance
of things we have. That's what the Lord said to
us, and that's what Paul is really repeating here in Philippians,
that he knows how to have very little, he knows how to have
a whole lot, but that's not what matters, he says. I'm happy in
whatever state I'm in, whether I've got little or a lot. And
then he says in verse 12, everywhere and in all things.
So that covers all the time and in every circumstance. He's learned
to have this attitude. Of course, Paul is a tall order
to act like, but that's the goal of a Christian
here, is to see what we are supposed to be like. This is it. To be
full and to be hungry, that would be probably concerning food. To abound and to suffer need,
maybe concerning things. And then in verse 13, the real
core of the message is that no matter what his condition is,
he gets his strength from Christ. He says in verse 19, Well, he says in verse 13, I
can do all things through Christ which strengthens me. So whatever
the circumstance we're in, if it's one of those lowly ones
or if it's one of those high ones, we still look to Christ
to do all things. And in verse 19, but my God shall
supply all your need according to his riches and glory by Christ
Jesus. So we know at a base level, that,
and we see this in the Sermon on the Mount too, that all our
needs as Christians are guaranteed. Now we in America have much more
than our needs met, we know that, but what God promises us as Christians
is that our needs will be met. And then whether it's suffering
or having very little, that's not below our needs, but that's
related to that, or abounding much more then we should be content. Now, concerning that, if we're
content, what should it lead to? I think it should lead to
two things, thankfulness and not complaining. And this too
is a tall order for Christians. First of all, to live this kind
of life that Paul is describing here, with this kind of an attitude,
we need to be thankful people. Also in Philippians, this is
all from Philippians, that's what amazed me so much about
all this. In Philippians 4.4, he says, rejoice in the Lord
always, and again I say rejoice. So no matter what the state we're
in, whether it's a high state or a low state, we're supposed
to rejoice. In Philippians 3.1, Finally,
my brethren, rejoice in the Lord, to write the same things to you.
To me, indeed, is not grievous, but for you it is safe. So the
Lord wants us to rejoice in whatever circumstance we're in. In 1 Thessalonians
5.16, Paul says, Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything
give thanks, for this is the will of God and Christ Jesus
for you. One of my favorite passages or
stories in the Bible is Luke 17, if you would turn there for
a second. Luke 17 is the story of the 10 lepers. It's not a parable, it's a real
happening. 10 lepers in Luke 17, 11 through
17. Let's read about it. And it came
to pass as he went to Jerusalem that he passed through the midst
of Samaria and Galilee. And as he entered into a certain
village, there met him 10 men that were lepers, which stood
afar off, and they lifted up their voices and said, Jesus,
master, have mercy on us. And when he saw them, he said
unto them, go show yourselves unto the priests. And it came
to pass that as they went, they were cleansed. And one of them,
when he saw that he was healed, turned back, and with a loud
voice glorified God, and fell down on his face at his feet,
giving him thanks, and he was a Samaritan. Jesus answering
said, were there not 10 cleansed, but where are the nine? This
passage has always meant a lot to me, and I think you could
ask Kyle, with my four boys growing up, one of the things that got
to me more than anything else was ingratitude. And so we as
Christians need to be so thankful for all the blessings we have.
Sometimes we just need to take a little time to mention all
the things we can think of that we're thankful to God for, in
a positive way, in a negative way. Lord, I'm thanking that
I don't have these things. I thank you that I do have these
things. Ten lepers, you know, they were all in the same state,
and they all asked the Lord to heal them, and He did it. And
only one of them came back and thanked Him. How many times have
you and I, and I have done it so many times, we pray, Lord,
please, please, please give me this, give me this, and He gives
it to us, and we're so happy. At first, we don't even think
to thank Him. So we need to take note of this story here and not
be ungrateful for anything that happens to us. And we need to
be thankful somehow for the bad things too. Somehow they're in
God's scheme and we need to thank him for it. The second part of
being content is not complaining. That's also in Philippians. Look
at Philippians 2.14. Do all things without murmurings
and disputings. Murmur. And one of the greatest
examples of murmuring is in the Old Testament, isn't it? Children
of Israel in the wilderness. Look at 1 Corinthians 10.10.
1 Corinthians 10.10 says, neither
murmur ye, as some of them also murmured, and were destroyed
of the destroyer. You remember what happened to
the Jews in the wilderness. They had been in slavery in Egypt,
not a good life. They were making bricks for the
Egyptians and they're working hard and doing everything. And
so God redeemed them from Egypt and brought them out into the
wilderness first before they got to the land flowing with
milk and honey. They had to go through the wilderness for 40
years. It wasn't going to be 40 years, but they made it 40
years because of their grumbling. So what does God do for them
during those 40 years? Well, their shoes didn't wear
out somehow and things like that, so all their needs were met.
And then they were hungry and prayed to God He would give them
something to eat, and he started a series of mornings where the
manna fell. The manna fell with the dew,
and they gathered it up, and they had enough to eat for the
day. Well, what happens pretty quick
with humans? Oh, we don't like the manna. We want some variety
in our food. So we start complaining about
it. Well, what a slap in the face
to God, who was supplying them with daily manna when they started
complaining about, you know what they called it in Numbers 21?
They called it worthless bread. Wow. So that was complaining
for something that God had directly given them. There was also the
time when they, I think it's at the same time, where they
complained and said, we want some meat, we want some good. He gave them quail, fell out
of the sky until it ran out of their nostrils. So they got their
quail. So if we are trying to learn this lesson that
Paul has learned, Paul did learn, about being content, then we
should also learn to be thankful and not complain. All right then,
the final thing is that Philippians not only talks about what to
be content with as Christians, but it also talks about the fact
that we are to strive for something as Christians. Life is not just
being content. There's something that we should
strive for as Christians. We know that our salvation has
been completely paid for by the Lord Jesus. There's nothing we
can add to our salvation. But what are we to strive for
as Christians? And he's very plain about it here, and he's
plain about it from his own life and his own experience. In Philippians
three, back to Philippians, verses seven through 11, the third chapter
of Philippians is where we find out what he strives for. The
fourth chapter of Philippians is where we find out what he's
content about. So Philippians three, verses
seven through 11. Let's read that first. But what
things, he had already just described how he had such a pedigree as
a Jew. He was circumcised the eighth
day, the stock of Israel, the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of
the Hebrews, as touching the law of Pharisee, as concerning
zeal, persecuting the church, touching the righteousness which
is in the law of blameless. Do you have a picture of Paul
that I have at that time before he was saved? He was a driven,
I don't see him as being content with a thing. I see him as breathing
fire all the time. He wanted to kill the Christians.
He was just constantly going, is the way I see it. So what
a change when the Lord saved him. But concerning all those
things and all of his pedigree, now he comes to verses seven
through 11. But what things were gained to
me those I counted loss for Christ. Yea, doubtless, and I count all
things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus
my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things and do
count them but done that I may win Christ. and be found in him,
not having my own righteousness, which is of the law, but that
which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which
is of God by faith, that I may know him, and the power of his
resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made
conformable unto his death, if by any means I might attain unto
the resurrection of the dead. So here it is. Here's what he
strives for. Notice that it has nothing to
do really with his salvation. It has to do with his final salvation,
but it's not the fact that he believes he has to work for his
salvation. Neither is it trying to get righteousness
because he says, not having my own righteousness, but that which
comes through Christ. So what is it he's striving for?
He's just striving to know Christ better. That's all he wants,
is to know him better. We all know him if we're saved,
but do we know him better? And there's more to know. So
he wants to know him the power of his resurrection. He wants
to know his power. He wants to know the fellowship
of his sufferings. Now, quite frankly, I have never
prayed for that. I don't know that I ever will. I just can't bring myself to
ask the Lord to let me suffer. Paul was at a point in his life,
much more mature Christian, where he actually, he had plenty of
it, all the beatings and the shipwreck and all that, that
he actually didn't mind saying this, that he wanted the fellowship
of his sufferings being made conformable unto his death. And
then he says, if by any means I might attain unto the resurrection
of the dead. This is not that he doesn't think he's going to
be resurrected from the dead, he just says this is the final
result of all of it. Then in verses 12 through 16,
and really what we're describing here is sanctification. That's
what Christian life is about after salvation, is sanctification.
Verses 12 through 16, it goes on, not as though I had already
attained. This is a really interesting
word. Cata Lambano. Lambano means to receive and
cata emphasizes it. So it's to grasp or to grab or
to seize. It's used in John 1.5 of the
darkness not seizing the light. It's used in John 8.3 of the
woman taken in adultery, seized, grabbed. It's used in Romans
9.30 of righteousness. The Gentiles did not, who did
not pursue righteousness, but attained to it. It's used in
1 Corinthians 9.24 of winning a race, grabbing it, seizing
it. In Ephesians 3.8 of comprehending the love of Christ, the width
and length and depth. So, verse 12, I have trouble
with, I don't really totally understand it. not as though
I had already attained, obtained, grabbed, seized, either were
already perfect, but I follow after, if that I may apprehend
that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus." Wow. When you
try to dissect that, if you're like me, you get all bottled
up in it, and it is confusing. The best I could say about it
is that He says, first of all, I haven't, I'm not there, folks. I am not there, but, and I'm
not perfect, but I follow after, and he wants to seize that for
which I am seized of Christ. Well, I think it just may mean
the fullness of salvation. It just means perhaps that Christ
seized us for salvation, right? So he wants to attain to that
salvation for which Christ seized us. I don't know what else to
say about it, but it's something he hasn't got yet and he wants
to seize it. Brethren, I count not myself
to have apprehended, the same word again, But this one thing
I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching
forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the
mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. Let us therefore, as many as
be perfect, through Christ's sacrifice, be thus minded, and
if in anything you be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even
this unto you. Nevertheless, whereto we have
already attained, let us walk by the same rule, let us mind
the same thing. Finally, in verses 17 through
21, he describes that his citizenship is in heaven, and that's what
puts this all in perspective, is that if we realize where our
citizenship really is, it'll help us in all these matters.
Brethren, be followers together of me, and mark them which walk
so as ye have us for an example. For many walk, of whom I have
told you often, and now tell you even weeping, that they are
the enemies of the cross of Christ. whose end is destruction, whose
God is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who
mind earthly things. For our conversation is in heaven,
from which also we look for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ,
who shall change our vile body that it may be fashioned like
unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he's able
even to subdue all things unto himself. So in conclusion, I
believe Philippians teaches us Christians that we are to be
content in the circumstances we're in through life, and that
we are to, on the other hand, strive to know Christ better. You say, how do you do such a
thing? Well, through, I suppose, Bible study, prayer, meditation,
through the day, at times when we can do it. And that should
be our goal. And in all of this, to be thankful
and uncomplaining people.