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Philippians chapter four is a is a wonderful ending to the book of Philippians for us as a people. Because Paul Paul writes a book about joy in the broken. This whole book he’s writing from prison talking about rejoicing in the Lord, which is exactly the opposite of what I would talk about. I would talk about poor me, right? It’s like a sad song I would be singing and have a great country music song ending the book of Philippians with Paul circumstance. And in that circumstance, Paul, despite what’s happening around him being in prison, finds reason to rejoice and find joy in the Lord. There’s something about his walk with God where he finds, uh, particular strength in his life to endure all circumstances. Like I tell you around the holiday season, I think the way that Philippians chapter four ends is wonderful for us because during the holiday seasons, from from Thanksgiving to Christmas, statistics says some of the most depressing times for people. It’s the times where a lot of us, if we feel lonely, we feel even even more lonely, and we struggle. And during that season of life and but but Christmas for us is about to. It should be the opposite of of that struggle. The reason I say that is because when Jesus came in Isaiah chapter nine and verse six, it says to us that he is the Prince of Peace. God reconciled us to him. God brought peace for us. God brought contentment that we can enjoy in him.
And Paul concludes the book of Philippians about joy in the broken, just revealing the secret to how he finds contentment regardless of his circumstance. In our lives. We encounter things that cause us stress, that cause us worry, that bring us anxiety, anxiety to our circumstances. But Paul finishes his book by saying he’s not the victim of circumstance, but rather the victor over circumstance. And so he says in verse 11, I can do all things, and in verse 13, or excuse me in verse 11, he says, I can accept all things. Verse 13, I can do all things. In verse 18 I have all things. Learning to be content. Contentment doesn’t have to be complacency. In fact, contentment isn’t complacency. Contentment doesn’t mean all of a sudden you’ve developed this super ability to not care because you’ve hardened your heart. Or containment doesn’t mean this. This will for willful ignorance. When everything around you is just burning, you’re like dee dee dee dee dee dee, just walking through your day. That’s not what what contentment is. But Paul begins to reveal this idea of contentment and how to find that. But before he starts talking about the contentment that he finds in in his life and his circumstances, he says in verse six and seven, all of us struggle with it. In fact, that’s why he starts verse six. Be anxious for nothing. But in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.
And the peace of God. Which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. We struggle with contentment. And if you’re like me and things in life don’t go your way. Maybe your heart is one that gets anxious. That’s people. We like to control our circumstance. But in reality. We don’t have control of anything outside of ourselves. And in truthfulness, we even struggle with ourselves. Paul said in Romans chapter seven. He wrestled with it. He wrestled with even himself, and he concludes seven by saying, O wretched man that I am, who will save me from this body of sin and death? We wrestle in our lives to control our circumstances and recognizing that really outside of ourselves, we can’t dictate anything that happens. If you don’t believe me, try Black Friday shopping. Right before you get through the front door, you’ve met three people you’d like to punch, right? We’re not in charge of those things and we can’t control. But our our desire is to be in control. And when we recognize that we may be out of control, we get anxious and we start looking and reeling within our lives for things to trust in. And that’s how the American dream works for us. And we think that the definition I’ll define the real way of thinking about this at the end. But we think the definition of life is just about being happy.
And so we look for the thing that we can fill ourselves with to make us happy until we get discontent with it. And then we look for the next thing to fill ourselves with what can make us happy. Just reeling and trying to trust in anything, in circumstances that we face, the calm, the anxiety, and to bring us peace and joy. And I love what Paul says in Philippians chapter four. In Christ, we find the place where there’s not a need to be anxious, because even though we may not control our circumstance, God does. There’s the truth of the matter. Trusting outside of ourselves is what God desires for us to do. Not in other things. But in him. Within our lives. We’re not always equipped to want to just lean into something else, because what we learn to trust in as people is ourselves. Because we look around us and other relationships, we know they have disappointed us. And so we we sometimes develop these scars where the only thing that we think we can trust in is God or excuse me, us. What Paul is about to say in verse 11. Is that even him and his walk with God, he struggled with trust. Here’s what we rest assured knowing. That not only is God in charge. God is also good. And God supplies and can provide for you far better than you could ever do for yourself. In fact, he created you for that reason.
To never find contentment within you. The purpose of life is never found within you. Rather it’s found in him. And God is good. And Romans eight tells us all things work together for good to those who trust in God. So be anxious for nothing, but in everything in prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your request be made known to God and all the things you could trust in. In this world. The one thing you were built to trust in is is in the Lord and in trusting in him. There is this assuredness and this promise that you can rest in as a person. And knowing that God is good and cares for his people. So he says in verse seven. And the peace of God. Which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. I like what Paul says in verse seven. Sometimes I think we treat God like this. My circumstance isn’t the way that I want it to be. And so I’m going to pray to God and God’s going to change my circumstance. And Paul says that’s not how it works. In fact, if God changes your circumstance, there’s no guarantee that your next circumstance is going to be any better. Well, Paul says in verse seven, is what God desires to do in the circumstances rather than change the circumstance. Because we live in a fallen and broken world, it needs Christ’s healing. Rather than change your circumstance, what God desires to do is work on your heart and mind in that circumstance to strengthen you in that moment so that regardless of what circumstance you might face, you have the peace of God resting in your life.
And so Paul says, the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Here’s what happens when I get anxious. There’s something I worry about. Like, I don’t know. We bought this building with not enough money to buy this building. Then you get a little bit of heartburn sometimes when things like that happen. And. God in those moments supplies the strength that you need. A lot of times we get anxious about not knowing what the circumstance has, or we look at somebody else going through a difficult circumstance and think, how in the world am I ever going to get through that circumstance? And God says in those moments when you need me, in that circumstance, regardless of the circumstance, changes or not, I meet you. I minister to both your heart and your mind because when I get anxious, this is what I do apart from the Lord. I start worrying in my heart about how things are going to be taken care of, not trusting the one who takes care of those. As I follow him, I’ll start worrying in my mind and start believing things are of God. And God would rather in those moments. Teach me how to trust in him.
That regardless of the circumstance, my faith rests true in the one who provides, because I was created in him to find his provision in me. And so Paul says in chapter four and verse 11, not that I speak from want, for I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am. Let me say what Paul is saying. This passage is not that he’s super special, better Christian than anyone else. This word learned is that is this Greek word that carries the idea of of learning through experience. And what Paul is saying is when you go through anxious moments of your life, this is what’s happened to him. He went through these anxious moments and all of a sudden he hit this no duh moment where he thought, and all of this. I never trusted in God. Have you ever been there where you’re so stressed out about things that you start looking for all the solutions within yourself, and then and then about 7 or 8 options later, you realize. Why don’t I just take this to God to begin with? And Paul says in verse 11, this is something I had to learn. Maybe. Maybe he’d been burned by a bunch of people. It’s sad within our lives when we allow people to have the authority over our circumstance, to control our reaction to things. But maybe that’s how it happened with Paul. Maybe he saw enough things in this world not to trust in that.
He didn’t want to allow his trust to go without him outside of himself. But the thing that causes us to trust in the King who provides is the goodness of who he is. And this is something I learned, Paul says, for I have learned to be content. This word content means contained. It also carries the idea of being self-sufficient. Let me explain what I mean. When things aren’t going the way that you desire them to go. Sometimes we change who we are and the character of who we are and the ideals that we hold to and the things that we value. Just so that one circumstance can be, can be provided for. What I mean is you get so desperate in some situations that you become someone that you should have never been. Rather than trusting in godless moments. I see it happen in relationships. I see it happen in financial struggles. I see it happen in all kinds of circumstances. And Paul says in this passage that rather than trust outside of myself and my anxiety to depend on something that I was never created to depend upon, I choose to be content. I choose to be contained. And what Paul is recognizing here is the way that you and I are created as people. When God created all of creation. The Bible says it was good and all things reveal his goodness and glory. But when God created you, he said it was very good.
And the reason he described us as being created very good is that he placed His Spirit within us, that we could be a being that responds in connection to him being made in his image. We connect to our creator. The Bible tells us the minute that you put your faith in Christ, the Spirit of God dwells within you. That God created you, that His Spirit might be with you, that you may know him for all of eternity. And Paul is saying, regardless of the circumstances around me, this one thing that I have learned, I’ve learned to be contained. I’ve learned that what God desires for me to do is trust in Him as He rests in me. Because he’s the one. That controls the future. He’s the one who is good. So Paul talks about the anxiety that we face as individuals and seeking peace. Then he he discovers for us in verse 11 this this way to contentment. And he tells us it’s not something that comes easy, it’s not something that comes naturally. It’s something that he’s learned. And the answer has nothing to do with the circumstances around him. But rather in Christ who dwells within him. So what Paul does from verse ten into verses 20 is described for us three things that help us learn contentment. The first thing that he describes for us, and in verse ten of chapter four is that he learns contentment through the providence of God. Listen to this, he says, but I rejoiced in the Lord greatly, that now at last you have revived your concern for me.
He’s talking about the church of Philippi being concerned for him in jail. Indeed, you were concerned before, but you lacked opportunity in verse 19, talking about God’s providence again, my God will supply all your needs according to his riches and glory in Christ Jesus, God supplying for his needs. God’s providence. God cares. God meets our needs. When God created the earth, he created it to reveal his glory. Psalm eight and Psalm 19 talk about the goodness of creation. When we look at the beauty of what creation is, it should require or cause our soul just to sing praise to the glory of God. I love looking at the canyons and the oceans and the mountains and never get tired of that stuff. You know what’s interesting about all of that is it’s still fallen. Even as glorious as it is, we still live in a broken world, and even in the tops of the mountains, you can see death and decay and the effects of sin. But God’s glory is made known in those things. But do you can I tell you all the things that God created, the the thing that God created, that most reflects his glory? As people. God created you and I in his image with His Spirit. After he created creation. He said it was good when he created you. He said, it’s very good.
And so sometimes we’re looking for God to supply, or maybe more times than just sometimes we’re looking for God to supply. The way that God chooses to work is within his people by moving upon their hearts. And so that’s why in verse ten, when Paul talks about the providence of God and rejoicing in what God’s doing, he doesn’t necessarily think the people, though he’s happy for the people. What he does is rejoices in the Lord in these moments, because he understands that we are created in God’s image and God works through his people. He learns to be content by seeing the hand of God moving in the world in the way that he’s seeing the hand of God move is through the evidence of his hand being made known in the lives of others. And I’ll say all that to say this, but don’t put your trust in people. Rather that people and creation both serve and point to the same purpose, which is to ultimately point us to Christ. It’s about God’s glory being made known. It’s not about seeing the the resources of of people as being the ends to, to the means that we need, but rather seeing God as the one who works through the lives of individuals to help meet needs, that the Lord will receive the glory and praise. The second thing. Excuse me, let me move on. In verse 11 and 13, Paul goes on from there and he says, not that I speak from want, for I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am.
I know how to get along with humble means and also know how to live in prosperity. And any and every circumstance. I have learned the secret of being filled and going hungry, both of having abundance and suffering need. I can do all things through him who gives me strength. The second thing that Paul trusts in is the unfailing power of God. And what Paul lists in this passage of Scripture are things in life that we as people may trust in to supply ourselves with what we need to be content and find peace. Some people choose to live like monks. Get rid of all their earthly possessions, get rid of all of their wealth as if having nothing will be. Bring contentment. As Americans, I think sometimes we say that I got too much junk, like we’re going to get rid of it, but we’re not. You know, if I just simplify it, it would bring me contentment. Or how about this? Sometimes when you recognize the the the lack of funds, if I just had a little bit more money, that that would make me happy. Well, there’s plenty of of people without and plenty of people with that. Both cases, they aren’t happy for us to recognize that contentment isn’t found in wealth. Contentment isn’t found in hunger or being full. I’ll tell you on Thanksgiving, I’m content for like, everything I’m eating until like five minutes after.
But the contentment doesn’t sustain. Paul says in his circumstances, he knows he’s looked at the external things that people might say brings contentment, whether it’s full, whether it’s possessions, whether whether it’s wealth. But contentment isn’t there. And so he says this in verse 12. I know how to get along with humble means and also know how to live in prosperity. And in every circumstance I have learned the secret of being filled and going hungry. This word secret was one that was used from by pagan religions. It means like this inner secret religions like to use this as a hook, and they got one hook to get you to buy into their system, right? Don’t. Don’t ask questions about all the things that don’t make sense. Just know that we have the one secret. The one way to find out how to get where you need to get right. This one thing. If you do this one thing in our religion because we’re true, then that that will do it for you. And then you try it and you find out, ah, I just bought into another tool that for a little bit maybe seemed like it satisfied. But in the end it’s not right. Paul says in this passage. If you want to know that secret that all the religions claim to have. I found it. And I found my contentment in that. And I found my peace in that, that regardless of the circumstance I’m going through, that the Lord ministers to both my heart and my mind.
In fact, in Romans, excuse me, Philippians chapter three and verse five and six, Paul even told us in this main part of his personal life he shares how much of a religious individual he was circumcised the eighth day born of the tribe of Benjamin. He he was the Hebrew of Hebrews, the Jews, right? He he he lived the law to its fullest. And yet. Paul gave all that up. That secret religion of like, Chris Farley there didn’t work. But Paul says he’s found the secret. In verse 13 I can do all things. Through him who gives me strength. The Greek gives us thought or idea. I can do all things resting in the power of the one who supplies for my needs. This is sort of like maybe if we did it in medical terms, say like a blood transfusion. And people that get sick sometimes need that transfusion to meet particular needs within their lives, and so they set in those moments and allow themselves to be transfused by that power. And so it is with Christ. That’s what you were created for. That’s where you find purpose and meaning. It’s not in what you do or what you’ve done, but it’s it’s it’s not even what. It’s who you’re connected to. Working out in the Christmas tree lot. I got to tell you, it’s it’s beautiful to work out there and see the nice green trees.
But this is what I found out. I’m going to let you in on a little secret here. Not every Christmas tree is perfect. In fact, before they cut him and bring him down. Some of them are in a little bit of a unhealthy state, so we have to discount them and sell them for really cheap, right? But this is what I know about Christmas trees. Christmas trees of this took a lot of rocket science to figure out. Christmas trees. Need roots to survive. Their time is limited. As soon as you cut it off. It’s just a matter of time before it becomes useless unless you have a bonfire. The most important thing on any tree. Is the root system. The thing that allows a tree to sustain life, to weather storms, to endure difficulties and droughts. As the root system. The part of the tree that you don’t see. The root system. You know, we’re the same way. The most important part of you. The part we don’t physically see. It’s the spiritual part that’s intended to be connected to God. And the strength of that. That’s found in how well you connect to him. God’s created you. To rest in his presence. To find contentment in who he is, to discover who you are in light of him. That regardless of the circumstance, because we live in a fallen and broken world, that he may come in those moments and strengthen both your heart and your mind.
And so Paul, he Paul says to us, it’s the unfailing power of God. If you were to ask Paul, Paul, how do you endure all of this torture for Jesus and these circumstances that you perpetually allow yourself to be in as you serve for the Lord? And his answer is wrapped up in in chapter four and verse 13, I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. That is, God has led my life. I have trusted in him. And though I could have been anxious about the moment that I knew was waiting for me, Jesus met me in those moments as I looked to him and he gave me the strength that I needed, regardless of the circumstance. I didn’t allow people or stress to change who I was intended to be in Christ, and so I trust in him. Last thing that Paul just recognizes is this the unchanging promises of God. Let me just read a few of these verses in verse ten. He says, but I rejoice in the Lord greatly, that now at last you have revived your concern for me. And indeed you were concerned before, but you lacked opportunity. He says in verse ten, he is revived. It’s this description of a of a tree that’s budding and flowering and looking beautiful in the spring, saying, God used you in that circumstance to minister to me, that I could see his promises ringing true as he as he cares for me.
And it just brought life to my life. And so I’m flourishing. In verse 16, for even in Thessalonica you sent a gift more than once for my needs. Not that I seek the gift itself, but I seek for the profit which increases to your account. Holes, recognizing that when we do things for the Lord, it’s an investment that if you do things trusting and anything else in this life that that it ends in an discontentment. But when you, when you, when you or even a waste, but when you trust in the Lord and the things that you do, it’s an investment saying there’s nothing you do out of a genuine heart for the Lord that will ever be a waste. I love the way that Jim Elliott said it. We quoted a few weeks ago, he is no fool to lose what he cannot keep, to gain what he cannot lose. And so in verse 18 he says, but I have received everything in full and have an abundance. I am amply supplied, having received from Epaphroditus what you have sent a fragrant aroma, an acceptable sacrifice, well pleasing to God. This fragrant aroma that Paul is mentioning in this passage alludes to the Jewish temple. Inside of the temple was the Holy Place and the Holy of Holies, the holy place. The priests went in every day, and they would swap out the bread on the table of bread.
They they would put more oil in the lampstands. And then there was this altar of incense that stood next to the curtain, that separated the Holy place from the Holy of Holies. And in the Holy of Holies was the Mercy seat, the Ark of the covenant, where Israel would go in once a year. The high Priest would walk in and he would sprinkle the blood of the sacrifice onto the altar for the remission of sins for the people of Israel, which was a foreshadowing of everything that Christ would do. Known as the Bible tells us when Christ came, offered his sacrifice that the veil was torn into meaning, God’s presence was no longer there, but rather now God’s presence was in his people. And what God is saying or what Paul is saying in this passage of Scripture is that when you when you give your life before the Lord, it’s a fragrant aroma. It’s it’s that altar of incense that stands before the curtain, which is right in front of the mercy seat. This incenses it would burn was to symbolize the prayer of the saints coming up before God, a pleasing aroma before his nostrils. And so he’s saying of you in verse 18. That not only were you created to give your life to God. But when you do. It is a beautiful aroma before the Lord. That he sees it. He takes pleasure in it. He rejoices over you through it.
That as you come before his mercy seat. In prayer or in sacrifice and giving, as it says in this verse. Jesus sees that. And Jesus rejoices in that. The unchanging promises of God remind us of the goodness of the Lord as he looks to us, as we bring ourselves before him, and he provides for us both strengthening our heart and our mind. Bible tells us in Philippians four and verse 19 that God supplies according to your needs. Not according to your greeds. Reading. As people, we always want to change our circumstance. But more important than that. What God desires to do is for you to come to know him. That regardless of the circumstance, he meets you in your time of need and he strengthens. Strengthens you for whatever he has called you to in this world. Rather than change your circumstance, which is no guarantee of your satisfaction, he ministers to your heart and your minds, because you can do all things through Christ who strengthens you. Rather than change your circumstance, God would desire to use the challenge to show you how to find contentment in him. The truth is, it’s not until we’re discontent that we start to look for something that supplies our contentment and rather than fill it with something idolatrous, the the prayer and the hope, as Paul says here, is that it would rest in Christ to give everything up, that you may come to him. But coming to Christ isn’t something we do naturally.
Paul tells us even himself, he’s learned it and the actions of his life. Can I tell you as we close this morning? The truth is. You’re a way better person to be around when you’re happy. All right. When you’ve got joy. People enjoy your company when your life has happiness and joy. But I just want us to know this morning. That if your pursuit for happiness and joy is to start by looking for things that just make you happy and joyful. You’ll never find contentment. Because that’s not the way God designed you to find joy. Rather the way that God has designed you to find joy. And I believe that God desires for you to be joyful. He, in fact, he tells us that in John 15 that my joy may be in you, and your joy be made complete. The way that you were created. To find joy is to not start by looking for something that just makes you happy outside of yourself. The way that God desires for you to discover joy is to look to the one who created you for his purpose and reasons that as the tree develops roots so you might develop roots in Christ. Because the first thing that God has called you to before he’s ever called you to find joy is to your relationship with him that will endure for all eternity. And in that. In that there is joy. Because in Christ he is joy.
Which is why I would tell you this morning. As Paul concludes in chapter four, the thoughts of contentment in Christ. The only reason he concludes that way and can conclude that way. It’s because of what he said in verses and the verses in chapter three. Beginning of chapter three. He tells us everything that he gives up. For one pursuit in his life. And so I would say this, the whole book of the theme of Philippians and the whole ability that we have to rejoice in Christ, is wrapped up in just one idea. I want to know Christ. When your circumstances don’t go your way. I would tell you, as Paul had to learn. Don’t immediately look to jump to change your circumstance. Look to Jesus. Paul said, in all these things and all these trials and all this imprisonment and all this religious talk and all these secret things that people think. Solutions. Been there the whole time. Contentment was never found outside of me. Rather it’s found the one who created me. And if the goal of my life would just be about knowing him. Jesus reshapes the purpose of all of my living. And Jesus brings the peace that I need, regardless of my circumstance. That the goal of my life be so simplistic that it just simply be about knowing him and in him. Regardless of my circumstance, there are always reasons to rejoice because Christ has supplied for my need.