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Philippians 4:4-13 November 23, 2014 Think on These Things> “I Can Do All Things” Philippians 4:13 doesn’t necessarily mean what you think it does.

Question of the Week What’s the relationship between success and contentment? Prayer Sermon “I can do all things through him who gives me strength.” It’s a verse millions of people know by heart and quote to themselves every day Google “Philippians 4:13 tattoos” for proof No, I’m not going to put any examples on the screen. Trust me on this one. Try the same search for Philippians 4:12 and you don’t get many hits. Here’s what it says: “I know what it is to have little, and I know what it is to have plenty. In any and all circumstances I have learned the secret of being well-fed and of going hungry, of having plenty and being in need.” Plenty of hits on tattoos of verse 13, no hits on tattoos for verse 12, and yet I don’t think it’s really possible to divorce one from the other See, reading the Bible well is all about context And tattoos are hardly a place for context They hurt too much for footnotes Remember, when we first started this series, I said that I wanted to know how Paul could write a letter like this? Something so beautiful, something so hopeful, something so positive – from prison, facing a death sentence? And remember that first week I said part of it had to do with remembering That revisiting particular moments with particular people in our lives help to get us through the difficult times

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The next week, Kathleen spoke about having the mind of Christ, about humility and service as a way of finding joy regardless of our circumstances And last week we talked about how the Christian life looks forward and not back – that sometimes to gain God’s best for us, we sometimes need to be willing to give up, to lose, even things we value very much It seems to me what we’ve been talking about over the past few weeks is focus “Rejoice,” Paul says. “Do not worry.” “Things in life that are true, honorable, just, pure, excellent…” “…think on THESE things.” Don’t dwell on the negative: the fear, the doubt, the evil that people do to each other or even to you. “Instead, whatever you can find that’s worthy of praise, think on THESE things.” Paul has found one thing – one life – more than any other – worthy of praise – the life of Jesus That’s his focus, throughout this letter Granted, he slips a little in pointing to himself – imitate what you’ve seen in my life – he says in this passage I always feel a bit self-conscious when I read that verse aloud “That’s Paul talking and not me” I want to say And that’s the problem, I think, with Philippians 4:13 That’s the problem with: “I can do all things through him who strengthens me.” You want to talk about focus? Too often with this verse we’re a little out-of-focus. Too often we emphasize the me and not the him. The result? Lots of terrible tattoos of what Ben Witherington, a Bible scholar from Asbury Seminary in Kentucky, calls “the Superman verse” It’s a favorite for athletes Tim Tebow – remember him? – used to put it in his eye black before games

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I’m sure tons of Christian marathoners and Ironman triathletes have clung to it to get them over the last hill And so, I can’t fault that. Jesus or no Jesus, I don’t see myself running a marathon anytime soon. Well, make that ever. So what does it mean to say, “I can do all things through him who gives me strength”? Let’s come back to context. Paul, when he says this, is thanking the Philippian church for a gift that they sent to him through their mutual friend Epaphroditus Most scholars think this is the primary reason for him to write this letter to the Philippian church But at the same time as he says thanks, he wants to make sure that they understand – “the fact that you send me money is not why you are so special to me” Friendship for mutual benefit was a recognized category of friendship in ancient times – as it is today – but just like now, it was not a friendship of the highest value I mean, when you go out with people from work after work – do you go out for the networking possibilities, or because you are genuinely friends? And then again, there are probably some people in your life where you have derived some kind of benefit from knowing them, but at the same time, they really are important to you – you love them So you go to great lengths to let them know that it’s not all about the money, or about the privileges, or whatever accrues to you from being their friend That’s why in this whole chapter, Paul is trying to walk the line – thanking them for their generosity – but also emphasizing that it wasn’t necessary “I didn’t need the gift,” he says, “it’s appreciated, but I didn’t need it” “I know what it is to have little, and I know what it is to have plenty” “I’ve learned to be content with whatever I have.”

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And that’s when we realize that Philippians 4:13 – about doing all things through Christ – isn’t a locker room pep-talk at halftime It’s not about completing a pass for the winning touchdown It’s not about pushing on with a run after you’ve hit the wall It’s not about finishing the last 5 miles of a 100-mile ride It’s actually closer to what happens when you fail at any one of those things When you worked really hard to get the promotion, and you got passed over When someone trusted you to make the pitch, and you screwed it up When someone in the family gave you a responsibility, and you blew it And you look at yourself in the mirror, and try to find the courage to tell yourself, “it’s ok” Because it’s not about striving for success, it’s about contentment even when we’ve failed That’s a recurring theme for Paul Not our strength, but our weakness – and you can say it many ways: God’s blessing through our weakness Giving thanks in our weakness Experiencing contentment despite our weakness In 2 Corinthians 12, Paul talks about a weakness he has “a thorn in his flesh,” he calls it “a messenger of Satan to torment me” We don’t know exactly what it is, but he says, “three times I asked for it to be removed” It was not The message he got from God instead was, “my grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness” That’s 2 Corinthians 12:9, which seems to be another frequently-tattooed verse (again, trust me on that) So which is it? “I can do all things through Christ, who strengthens me”? or “my grace is sufficient for you, my power is made perfect in weakness”?

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See, as Americans we gravitate toward “I can do all things through him who strengthens me” Because we read that with the emphasis on me, not him I’m certain if we could do an inventory of tattoos in America Philippians 4:13 would win out over 2 Corinthians 12:9 by about 20 to 1 Striving comes naturally to us Contentment does not So today, standing on the edge of Thanksgiving week, my question is this: Do we have the courage to read Philippians 4:13 as it’s really meant to be read – in context? Not as the “Superman verse,” but as a “contentment” verse “I know what it is to have little, and I know what it is to have plenty.” “In any and all circumstances I have learned the secret of being well-fed and going hungry, of having plenty and of being in need.” “I can do all things through him who strengthens me.” Friends, think on these things. Amen.

Question: How do we learn contentment? By Joe Monahan, Medford UMC, Medford NJ

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