Philippians 4:10-23 – To Be Content

Philippians
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Text: Philippians 4:10-23
Title: To Be Content
Date: January 29th, 2023
Location: Christ Covenant Church – Centralia, Washington

10 But I rejoiced in the Lord greatly, that now at the last your care of me hath flourished again; wherein ye were also careful, but ye lacked opportunity. 11 Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content. 12 I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound: every where and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. 13 I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me. 14 Notwithstanding ye have well done, that ye did communicate with my affliction. 15 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. 16 For even in Thessalonica ye sent once and again unto my necessity. 17 Not because I desire a gift: but I desire fruit that may abound to your account. 18 But I have all, and abound: I am full, having received of Epaphroditus the things which were sent from you, an odour of a sweet smell, a sacrifice acceptable, wellpleasing to God. 19 But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus. 20 Now unto God and our Father be glory for ever and ever. Amen. 21 Salute every saint in Christ Jesus. The brethren which are with me greet you. 22 All the saints salute you, chiefly they that are of Caesar’s household. 23 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen

Prayer

Father as we conclude this letter from Paul to the Philippians, I ask that you would seal up Your Word in our hearts. Make the truth alive in us, that we also may be content in every circumstance. We ask for your Holy Spirit in Jesus name, Amen.

Introduction

We have come to the end of our sermon series through Philippians, and as is typical in Paul’s letters, he closes by giving various greetings, salutations, and partings words of grace in the Lord Jesus Christ. And so what I would like to do in this final sermon is briefly walk through our text, and then spend the rest of our time talking about contentment and how it is that we can attain this virtue that Paul exemplifies.

Verse 10

10 But I rejoiced in the Lord greatly, that now at the last your care of me hath flourished again; wherein ye were also careful, but ye lacked opportunity.

  • As we have seen in just about every sermon, Paul lives his life rejoicing, and here he is rejoicing greatly because the love of the Philippians has flowered and borne fruit. The sun is out, the light of Christ has dawned, and they are opening to His love.
    • The Philippian church was eager to give but for some reason, lacked the opportunity. It might have been the distance, the lack of a messenger, the lack of funds, or some other obstacle, but whatever it was, that obstacle has been cleared, and they can now make good on their generous intentions.
  • Notice the logic of Paul’s joy. Why is Paul rejoicing? He is not rejoicing simply because he got some stuff, he is rejoicing in the blessedness that the Philippians are receiving because of their generosity. Paul has so internalized what Jesus said, that “it is more blessed to give than to receive,” that his joy is increased by their joy.
    • It’s like Paul saying, “I’m happy that you’re happy because it’s more happy to give than to receive, and I want that happiness.”
  • As we have already seen in this letter, Paul values people far more than possessions. The reason why Paul could be indestructibly joyful, is because he was in tune with reality, he knew the real and actual value of things. He knew what was going to last for eternity, and he knew what was going to fade away.
    • People are forever, possessions are not. As he says in 1 Timothy 6:7, “For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out.”
    • The only thing you can bring with you is other people. The only treasure you can store up forever is heavenly treasure, and Jesus says, if you want to be rich, be rich toward God (Luke 12:21).
    • Paul knew that the Philippians were being rich toward God in their generosity to him. And that is what makes Paul rejoice greatly in the Lord.

Verse 11

11 Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content.

  • Here he continues to qualify the manner in which he received their gift. He is saying, “It’s not like I was depressed or dejected because I needed stuff, for I can be content no matter what.”
  • He goes on in verses 12 and 13…

Verses 12-13

12 I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound: every where and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. 13 I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.

  • This is the context of that famous verse.
  • Paul has learned how to have nothing and how to have way more than he needs, and to not let his material circumstances dictate his joy. This is the emotional self-control that we call contentment.
  • We’ll return to this later.

Verse 14

14 Notwithstanding ye have well done, that ye did communicate with my affliction.

  • He is saying, “Although I am content in everything, I praise you for your generosity and participation in my suffering.” This is Paul’s way of saying, “It’s the thought that counts, and you have done well in thinking of me by sending this gift.”

Verses 15-16

15 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. 16 For even in Thessalonica ye sent once and again unto my necessity.

  • This harkens back to Paul’s second missionary journey, which you can read about in Acts 15-18. After Paul planted the church in Philippi, he went on to Thessalonica, then Berea, then Athens, and then Corinth, and all the while was being hunted by angry Jews.
  • This is important for Paul to note, because if you read 1-2 Thessalonians, and 1-2 Corinthians, both of those churches had problems with money.
    • The Thessalonian church had problems with people being busybodies, not working, freeloading off other people, and Paul says, “this we commanded you, that if any would not work, neither should he eat.” So needless to say, the Thessalonian church did not financially support Paul, in part because some were lazy and unreliable.
    • The Corinthians had a whole host of other issues, and because of this, he does not want to let money get in the way of telling them many hard things. For immature churches and people, money often just complicates things.
    • So the Philippians are exemplary in this regard, they have their priorities straight, and apart from the conflict between Euodias and Syntyche, they seem to be a thriving healthy church, and generosity is one of the chief signs of health. Where there is love, there is generosity.
  • Just this week we finally put together our budget for the year (we’ll be presenting this at the next HOH meeting), and I can say on behalf of the elders, we were all incredibly encouraged by what God has done in just a year and half. To be where we are at this stage in the church planting process is remarkable. God really planting this church..
    • Some of you might not know this, but the majority of church plants fail (usually within 5 years), and money is one of the big reasons for this.
    • So we should thank God for providing, and seek to be the kind of church that the Apostle Paul would want to have supporting him. We want to become mature enough to handle money in a way that honors God. To be rulers over our possessions and not ruled by them. Money is a wonderful servant and a terrible master.
  • In verse 17, Paul continues to clarify the why behind his partnership with the Philippians. Why does he receive anything from them?

Verse 17

17 Not because I desire a gift: but I desire fruit that may abound to your account.

  • In other words, “I want your heavenly bank account to be accruing interest.” If you know how compound interest works on earth, imagine the compounding of our investments as they grow into eternity.”
  • Paul wants the Philippians to experience that exponential growth of fruit, and by allowing them to give to him, he gives them that opportunity. This is part of the reason for his joy.
  • Finally in verse 18 he rejoices in the gift.

Verse 18

18 But I have all, and abound: I am full, having received of Epaphroditus the things which were sent from you, an odour of a sweet smell, a sacrifice acceptable, wellpleasing to God.

  • This is the language of worship. Just as you would bring your gift to the altar in the temple and offer it to God, so the Philippians have done the same by supporting Paul.
  • Our tithes and offerings are sacrificial worship, and when they are given to support God’s church with a cheerful spirit, they not only abound to our heavenly account, they ascend as a pleasing aroma to God.
  • Because of this, Paul can offer them the promise of verse 19…

Verse 19

19 But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.

  • This is a precious and profound promise, but what exactly does it entail? What can you count on from God?
    • Some people try to spiritualize this verse to mean that God shall supply only your spiritual needs. And while that is true, that’s not the whole true, nor the intention of this text. This is a promise that God will take care of our physical and material needs as well (our needs, not our wants). There are many passages that prove this:
    • Jesus says, if you “seek the first the kingdom of God, all these things shall be added unto you” (Luke 12:31). The “all these things” there refers to food and clothing.
      • It’s not talking about making us all millionaires, we’re talking the basics of food and clothing.
    • David says in Psalm 37, “I have been young, and now am old; Yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, Nor his seed begging bread.”
      • Jesus says, if God adorns the lilies and feeds the ravens, you who are far more valuable than birds and plants, will be cared for. Your job is to prioritize and seek first the kingdom (that’s what the Philippians were doing), and when you do that, you can be assured that God will supply all of your needs. Now how does God do this?
    • This provision can come in different ways.
      • 1. It can come “naturally,” as by sowing and reaping, working hard and earning wages.
        • Paul says in 2 Corinthians 9:6, “He which soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly; and he which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully.” God is not mocked; this is His world. A man reaps what he sows.
        • So often, God provides through the natural miracle of sowing and reaping. This is when your business is thriving, you get a raise or promotion for good work, etc.
        • Deut. 8:18 puts it this way, “you shall remember the Lord your God, for it is He who gives you power to get wealth.”
        • God supplies you with the strength to work, and then he blesses your work and brings increase as you offer the first fruits to him. That’s the most normal pattern.
      • 2. God can also provide in miraculous or supernatural ways.
        • Examples of this would include:
          • Jesus feeding the five thousand with five loaves and two fish (Matt. 14:13-21).
          • Elisha and the widow in 2 Kings 4, who has a vessel of oil, and God miraculously multiplies it so she can pay off her debt and support her children.
          • Or if you remember Elijah, there was a drought in the land because of the people’s idolatry, but God sends ravens to bring Elijah bread and meat every morning and evening (1 Kings 17).
        • God has no lack, everything is His, and He gives to whom He will, some more and some less, but always to those who love him, exactly what they need.
      • This is the promise for those who belong to God and who seek first his Kingdom.

Finally, verses 20-22 close with praise and salutations.

20 Now unto God and our Father be glory for ever and ever. Amen.

21 Salute every saint in Christ Jesus. The brethren which are with me greet you. 22 All the saints salute you, chiefly they that are of Caesar’s household. 23 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen

  • The savor of this letter is joy and thanksgiving, and it is grounded on the rock-solid promise that God is for us, God loves us, and God will take care of us.
    • As Paul says in Romans 8:32, “He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?”
    • The whole world belongs to Christ, and we are inheritors of everything with Him. And if we believe that promise, then we can learn contentment just as Paul learned it. We too can learn how to abound and how to be abased, and to rejoice through all of it.
    • So let’s return to this question of contentment, how can we be content?

How To Be Content

In verse 11 he says, “I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content.”

  • So the first thing we need to know is that contentment is learned. It is not something you are born with, it is not a personality trait, it is a spiritual virtue that is taught by God in the school of Christ.
  • And the way that Paul learned this was by experience. He experienced being stoned and beaten and left for dead (multiple times). He experienced sleepless nights, hunger and thirst, cold and nakedness.
    • And he experienced these things, not because he did anything wrong, but rather, because he was doing exactly what Jesus told him to do. God deprived him of these basic human needs (sleep, bread, water, clothing) in order to give him something even better: the supernatural power of contentment, of joy and hope in the things that are eternal. That is what Paul needed more than food and clothing, and that is what all of us need to learn.
    • So when God strips things from you or gives things to you, sometimes it is the direct consequence of your actions (sin or righteousness), and sometimes it has nothing to do with them (no correlation). This is one of the lessons of Ecclesiastes, and there are countless examples of this in Scripture.
      • You might be the man born blind for no reason but the glory of God (John 9), or you might be the person who is weak and sick because of unworthy participation in the Lord’s Supper (1 Cor. 11:30).
      • You might be rich and wealthy because God is fattening you up for the slaughter (just like every kingdom before it falls), or you might be rich and wealthy because of God’s Deuteronomic blessings on your household (like Abraham and Job).
      • At one level, it doesn’t really matter how you got there, because contentment can be learned in every circumstance. You could be suffering for your own sin, or suffering for God’s glory, and contentment is possible in both of those scenarios, though the latter is more to be desired.
        • 1 Peter 4:15-16 says, “But let none of you suffer as a murderer, a thief, an evildoer, or as a busybody in other people’s matters. 16 Yet if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in this matter.
        • Peter is saying, “If you are gonna suffer, at least suffer for righteousness sake, don’t put yourself into the situation where you have to learn contentment while in prison for your sin.”

In verse 12, Paul says,

12 I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound: every where and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. 13 I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.

  • So Christ gives us the strength to be content, but what does this look like when we have plenty and when we are in want? How does Christ help us to avoid discontent in both scenarios?
  • To answer this, I want to look at 1 Timothy 6, where Paul gives us an inside look at the secret of contentment:
    • 6 Now 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 clothing, with these we shall be content. 9 But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and harmful lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition. 10 For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows… 17 Command those who are rich in this present age not to be haughty, nor to trust in uncertain riches but in the living God, who gives us richly all things to enjoy. 18 Let them do good, that they be rich in good works, ready to give, willing to share, 19 storing up for themselves a good foundation for the time to come, that they may lay hold on eternal life.
  • The first step to contentment after recognizing it’s something you must by learn by experience, is to remember what God owes you. What are the wages of sin? Death. What happens to those outside of Christ? Hell. That is what every sinner is justly entitled to.
    • Much of our discontent is us thinking God owes us something other than judgment. And so if you would learn contentment, you must start by humbling yourself before the mighty hand of God. Because when we do this, we are able to see that everything that we have as gift. And gratitude is the soil where contentment grows.
  • The second step, is to thank God for your food and clothing, the two things that Jesus promises to give us if we seek first the kingdom. “And having food and clothing, with these we shall be content.”
    • Most of us have an abundance of both of these things, there are very few people in America who live hand to mouth. We live in a society where clothing is cheap and abundant, and food as well. And Paul says, with these two things we will be content.
    • So resolve in yourself that if everything else is taken from you, God has given you all that you need if you have food and clothing.

So to summarize.

  • Step 1: Remember what you deserve (hell).
  • Step 2: Thank God for food and clothing (which we have in abundance!).

Now you’ll notice that in 1 Timothy 6, Paul spends almost all of his time talking about how to be content when you are rich. Not only do we have to learn to be content with very little, it can actually be much harder to do this when you have a lot. Because then you have so much more to lose!

  • And so if you have more than food and clothing, you are doing pretty good (that’s basically the whole western world today).
    • We are a fabulously rich society and yet we don’t feel rich. We buy things and they don’t ever satisfy us. We are what Psalm 106:15 says as a nation, “God gave them their request; But sent leanness into their soul.”
    • Our nation worships mammon, we prioritize money over the worship of God, we trample the Sabbath day, our food is polluted by the shedding of innocent blood that cries out for vengeance, we have sown idolatry and are reaping its fruits, and then we wonder why a nation as fat as ours is so dissatisfied. God has given us over to our lusts and sent leanness into our soul. As a nation we have not sought first the kingdom of God.
  • And so in contrast to the world, the church is to be marked by thanksgiving and contentment. Just as the Israelites plundered the Egyptians and took their spoils to build the tabernacle, so the Christian church shall inherit what the wicked has piled up, and from those spoils we build cathedrals, Christian schools, Christian universities, Christian hospitals, Christian society. That’s what we are promised if we put God first.
  • Proverbs 13:22 says, “A good man leaves an inheritance to his children’s children, But the wealth of the sinner is stored up for the righteous.”
  • How does someone become content when they are prospering? Paul says, “do not put your trust in uncertain riches but in the living God, who gives us richly all things to enjoy…be rich in good works, ready to give, willing to share storing up for yourselves a good foundation for the time to come, that you may lay hold on eternal life.”

Conclusion

Christ being rich, became poor for us, that we might inherit everything. And so trust Him, do what he says, seek first the kingdom, and my God shall supply all your needs according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.

In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, Amen.

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