Philippians 4:11-13; The Secret of Contentment

PastorRodney’s Weblog

09/29 Philippians 4:11-13; The Secret of Contentment; Audio available at: http://www.ephraimbible.org/Sermons/20240929_philippians-4_11-13.mp3

In Philippians 4:10-19, the final section of this letter, Paul addresses the issue of generosity. This church had been a faithful supporter of Paul in his ministry from the time the gospel had reached them. He is now in prison, and although he had not received a gift from them for some time, they had recently sent Epaphroditus with a gift to him in prison, and to minister to his needs. Paul wants to acknowledge their generosity, but he doesn’t want them to misconstrue what he says in a way he does not intend. He wants to be clear, so he clarifies.

This is not a subtle rebuke for taking so long in sending support. He acknowledges their heart and desire, and knows they lacked opportunity.

He also does not want them to think that his thanking them is a way for him to request more money from them.

And he doesn’t want to boost their ego in an unhealthy way, and imply that he couldn’t do it without them, that he is dependent on them. He doesn’t ever actually thank them directly in this passage; he does acknowledge their gift, but he rejoices in the Lord, because every good gift ultimately comes from God.

Paul doesn’t miss a teaching opportunity. This subject creates an opportunity to teach about contentment. He has taught them about joy in every circumstance, about bringing their anxieties to Jesus and receiving his peace. He taught them to fix their attention on Jesus and the gospel; that which is true, noble, just, pure, lovely, commendable, excellent and praiseworthy. Now in this section he will let them in on a secret, a secret he has learned; the secret of contentment.

Philippians 4:10 I rejoiced in the Lord greatly that now at length you have revived your concern for me. You were indeed concerned for me, but you had no opportunity. 11 Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. 12 I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. 13 I can do all things through him who strengthens me.

Modeling Contentment

I don’t say this out of lack. He is not speaking out of a place of need. He is going to say in verse 18 that he has received all and is abounding; having fully received from Epaphroditus that which is from you. But before he does, he wants to be clear that it is not because of their gift that he is rejoicing, as if he were depressed and in the doldrums up until their gift came. Paul had instructed them to rejoice always, and he was no hypocrite. He was modeling for them, even in prison, what it looks like to rejoice in the Lord always.

Paul has learned contentment. This contentment is one of the things included in verse 9; ‘What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me—practice these things’. Paul learned it and he invites them to observe and learn and practice contentment from his example.

But his contentment is not rooted in circumstances. His contentment is completely unrelated to their gift. His contentment is ‘in whatever situation I am in’.

Humbled, Hungry, and Lacking

To make clear what kinds of circumstances he is talking about, he gives 3 pairs of opposites.

‘I know how to be humbled and I know how to super-abound; both in being satisfied and in hunger; both in super-abounding and in falling short.

Being humbled, being hungry, falling short, destitute or deficient, to not have enough. He has learned to be content even when he lacks basic necessities. Because his contentment is not in his circumstances; it is in the Lord. His joy is in Jesus.

Humility echoes back to chapter 2, where he exhorted the Philippians to:

Philippians 2:3 Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility [ταπεινοφροσύνῃ] count others more significant than yourselves.

And he held up for them the example of Jesus, who

Philippians 2:8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.

Paul is not ashamed to stoop down, to be made low, to surrender his rights, to be like his Master. He has learned contentment even in humiliation.

Super-Abounding and Satisfied

And he has learned contentment in super-abounding. He uses this word twice in this verse, and again in verse 18, saying that he is ‘well supplied’; he has more than enough. He knows how to be content even when all his appetites are able to be fully satisfied.

This quite likely is the more difficult circumstance in which to find contentment. You might want to argue; ‘no, I am not content because there are things I lack, that if I had them, then I would be content.’ But that is a lie.

Charles Spurgeon exhorted his congregation in London:

“You say, ‘If I had a little more, I should be very satisfied.’ You make a mistake. If you are not content with what you have, you would not be satisfied if it were doubled.”

Let me ask you this; how many people do you know who are content with what they have? How much is enough? I’ve heard it said ‘just a little bit more’. The authors of the book ‘How Much is Enough?’ say:

“Experience has taught us that material wants know no natural bounds, that they will expand without end unless we consciously restrain them.”

Have you every been to a truly poor community, and seen joyful contentment with nothing? It is quite rare here in our land of plenty to find a truly contented person. There’s always a newer, better, bigger, faster, more powerful, more efficient… And if you don’t have it yet, your neighbor probably does.

Paul has learned to be content with what he has, whether that is not enough or more than enough. He learned contentment on the path of discipleship.

Initiated Into The Secret [μεμύημαι]

Paul says ‘I have learned the secret’. He borrows this word ‘learned the secret’ from the mystery cults of his day, who had secret wisdom that was only available to those who went through their secret initiation rites and rituals. Paul says ‘In all and in every I have been initiated’. Paul has been initiated in plenty and in hunger, in abundance and in lack. Paul is in on the secret hidden wisdom that brings contentment in any and every circumstance, and he intends to let us in on this secret.

Stoic Self-Sufficiency [αὐτάρκης]

The word he uses for contentment [αὐτάρκης] he lifted from the stoic philosophers who prized as the ideal man one who lives above every circumstance, detached, unfeeling and unphased; self-sufficient and content in and of himself. Paul says he has learned to find this self-contentment, but unlike the emotionless stoics, this passage abounds with exuberance and emotional connectedness; he rejoices greatly in the Lord at their blossoming thoughtfulness toward him. He told them in chapter 1 that he yearns for them with the deep gut emotions of Jesus himself (1:8). He told them back in chapter 2 that his joy is bound up in their gospel unity, and he desires that they fill up his joy by being of the same mind (2:2). He has learned stoic self-contentment, but unlike the stoics, he is not cold and detached, but deeply connected and affectionately attached.

I Am Strong to Do All Things

He has been initiated and has learned self-contentment, Like a self-sufficient stoic, he says ‘I can do all things’; I have the strength to do anything.

Now before we go further, we need to clarify what he is talking about. Does all mean all? This is on the top 10 list of most misquoted verses in the Bible. I saw a cartoon a few years ago, of a guy in the kitchen struggling to get the lid off a pickle jar, saying through clenched teeth ‘I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me!’ and his wife interjects ‘It’s a pickle jar, Tom… twist the lid, not scripture.’ This seems to be a popular slogan for rock climbing, weight lifting and other athletic competition. But what if you have opposing teams each claiming this Scripture? Then what? When Paul says ‘I can do all things, what is the ‘all things’ that he is talking about?

We must pay attention to the context. He just said in the previous verse that in all things and in everything he has learned the secret. The secret of contentment in plenty and in hunger, in abundance and in need. He is not saying that Jesus promises to miraculously put an end to my hunger. He isn’t saying that Jesus will never allow me to suffer lack. He is saying that he has the strength to find contentment in humility, in lack, even in hunger, even when those circumstances do not change. He has learned contentment in abundance and plenty, but his contentment is not rooted in those circumstances. The ‘all things’ he is pointing us to is contentment in all circumstances.

The Secret of Contentment

So what is the secret to his contentment? He has already told us. He rejoiced in the Lord greatly. His joy, his contentment is not in his changing circumstances. His joy is anchored in the unchanging one. His joy is in Jesus, who is the same yesterday, and today and forever (Heb.13:8). He has told us multiple times ‘Rejoice in the Lord, rejoice in the Lord always, again I will say, rejoice! (3:1; 4;4). The one thing he counts of surpassing worth is not his paycheck, not his favorite restaurant, not his house or toys or amenities, not even his family, it is the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord (3:8). This is how he can face the possibilities of release from prison or death by execution free from anxiety, because his hope is that Christ would be honored; to live is Christ, and to die is gain, to depart and be with Christ, is far better (1:20-23)

In The One Who Empowers Me

Paul makes a parody of the mystery religions, saying that he has been initiated into the secret knowledge of contentment in all circumstances. He parodies the stoic philosophers, saying he is self-sufficiently self content, fully able to rise above every circumstance, but he adds a theological clarification; in the one who strengthens me.

Paul is self-sufficiently dependent. He has this strength in himself, but it is only because he himself is in Christ. In 3:8-9 he spoke of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ and being found in him. More than anything else he wants to know him and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings (3:10).

He says something similar to Timothy

2 Timothy 1:7 for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control. 8 Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord, nor of me his prisoner, but share in suffering for the gospel by the power of God,

The Spirit of power is God’s gift. This power is specifically the power to share in suffering for the gospel. He goes on to exhort Timothy

2 Timothy 2:1 You then, my child, be strengthened by the grace that is in Christ Jesus, … 3 Share in suffering as a good soldier of Christ Jesus.

Strength is God’s gracious gift to us in Jesus. And it is strength to share in suffering.

Paul exhorts the saints in Ephesus to be strong:

Ephesians 6:10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might.

They are to be strong, but their strength is not in themselves, it is in the Lord. Their strength is the strength of his might, not their own. This is how Paul consistently talks; in 1 Corinthians 15

1 Corinthians 15:10 But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me.

Paul worked, but he acknowledged that his working was a gift of God’s grace; Paul worked, but it was really not him working.

In Colossians 1, Paul proclaims Christ and seeks to see everyone mature in Christ;

Colossians 1:29 For this I toil, struggling with all his energy that he powerfully works within me.

Paul toils, Paul struggles, but the energy he draws on for this toil and struggle is not his own; it is Christ’s. Paul draws on Christ’s limitless energy for his labors. This is something Christ powerfully works in him.

In 2 Corinthians 4, Paul says he is like a fractured clay pot, from which the light of the glorious good news shines out ‘to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us’ (2Cor.4:7). And he goes on to describe the way God’s power is made known;

2 Corinthians 4:8 We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; 9 persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; 10 always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies.

God’s power is keeping him, even through difficult circumstances. In 2 Corinthians 12, he is asking God for deliverance.

2 Corinthians 12:9 But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. 10 For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

Paul’s personal weakness is an opportunity for Christ’s strength to rest on in. And in his contentment with his difficult circumstances, at the very time he is weak, he is strong, because the power of Christ rests on him in his weakness.

With this Peter agrees;

1 Peter 4:11 …whoever serves, as one who serves by the strength that God supplies—in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. To him belong glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.

When we serve in our own strength, we get the glory, but when we serve by the strength God supplies, God gets the glory he deserves.

The secret of contentment is to rejoice in the Lord, in his strength, not our circumstances. When our joy is in the Lord, we can find contentment even in adverse circumstances, because these circumstances provide an opportunity to put on display ‘the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.’ (3:8).

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Pastor Rodney Zedicher ~ Ephraim Church of the Bible ~ www.ephraimbible.org