Philippians 4
McGeeCHAPTER 4THEME: Power for Christian living; joythe source of power; prayerthe secret of power; contemplation of Christthe sanctuary of power; in Christthe satisfaction of powerWe have seen the philosophy of Christian living, the pattern for Christian living, the prize for Christian living, and now we shall see the power for Christian living. All the others would be meaningless and useless if there were no power for them. A philosophy of life is no good unless there is power to carry it out. A pattern is no good unless there is power supplied to have that pattern in our own lives. A prize is no good if we cannot achieve the goal. Therefore, power is all important. I would think one of the reasons that the Spirit of God did not let Paul end this epistle when he wrote in Php_3:1, “Finally, my brethren,” was because He wanted to let us know today that there is power for Christian living. We need to know that we can do all things through Christ who strengthens us. We will find in this chapter that joy is the source of power; prayer is the secret of power; and contemplation of Christ is the sanctuary of power.
Philippians 4:1
JOYTHE SOURCE OF POWER"My joy and crown"you see, they were going to be in the presence of Christ someday, and Paul expected to receive a crown for winning these folks to the Lord. Also they were his joy down here. Oh, how he loved these believers in Philippi! “So stand fast in the Lord, my dearly beloved.” And, as Paul said to the Ephesian believers, “…take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand” (Eph_6:13). The Christian faith will produce stability of life.
Philippians 4:2
Now he comes to the only problem in the Philippian church. There was a ripple on the surface, but it was not serious. Paul doesn’t even mention it until near the end of his letter. Apparently these two ladies were not speaking to each other. We have already seen this when he admonished the Philippian believers to be of the same mind in the Lord. He did not mean they must be carbon copies of each other. They may have differences of opinion about many different things, but that will not separate two people who have the mind of Christ. It is one of the glorious truths about the body of Christ that each member can be different and yet all are one in Christ.
Philippians 4:3
It is apparent that women occupied a prominent place in the early church, and for a woman to be prominent was unusual in that day. Now that I am no longer a pastor I can say this (I always said it reluctantly or very carefully before): I believe that the reason women become preachers is because women have not been given their proper place in the church. The office of deaconess, even if it exists in the church, is treated very lightly. I believe that is an important office and should be recognized as such. The more I study the Word of God, the more I am convinced of this. Paul plainly said that “those women …laboured with me in the gospel.” “With Clement also"here is a believer over in Philippi whom we haven’t met before. “With other my fellow-labourers"apparently there was a great company of believers in Philippi “whose names are in the book of life.” That was the important thing: their names are in the Book of Life.
Philippians 4:4
This is a commandment to a Christian, a believer. Rejoice in the Lord always. That means regardless of the day, whether it is dark or bright, whether it is difficult or easy, whether it brings problems and temptations or clear sailing on cloud nine. We are commanded to rejoice. He repeats it, in case we missed it the first time: “again I say, Rejoice.” Joy is something we cannot produce ourselves; it is a fruit of the Holy Spirit. There is no power in a Christian’s life if he has no joy. One who does not experience the joy of the Lord has no power at all. After Nehemiah had finished building the wall of Jerusalem, they set up a pulpit at the Water Gate, and there Ezra read from the Scriptures from morning until midday. These people had come out of captivity in Babylon. Most of them had never in their lives heard the Word of God. It overwhelmed them. They began to mourn and to weep. So Nehemiah said, “Wait a minuteyou’re not to weep! This is a great day. You are to share in the blessings, the physical blessings, that God has given to you, and God wants you to enjoy them.” God has given to us richly all things to enjoy, and to enjoy means to rejoice. That’s your strength, that’s your power. You can’t be a Christian with power without joythat’s what gets up the steam. Joy is the source of power. Let me illustrate this because it is something that the world has taken over. In fact, the commercial world has made it rather hypocritical. A successful salesman is a very happy fellow. You have never gone into a store to buy something and had the salesperson weep on your shoulder when you asked about a certain product! Of course not. He begins to smile and say how wonderful the item is. How far would the Fuller brush man get if he were a sad little fellow who went around weeping at every door? Believe me, he doesn’t use that approach. The Fuller brush man calls at our house on Saturdays. He is not a sorrowful fellow by any means. I don’t know whether he is having trouble at home or not, but he sure radiates joy. One Saturday morning my wife had gone to the market, and from my study window I saw him coming. I thought, I’ll ignore him because I’m busy, and I’m not going to fool with brushes today. So he came and pushed the doorbell.
I let him push it. He pushed it two or three times. I thought, He’ll leave now. But he didn’t leave. He knew somebody was in the house, so he just put his thumb down on the doorbell and held it. Finally in self-defense I had to go to the door.
When I opened the door, I expected him to be a little irritated because I had made him wait. But no, he was happy about it. Everything pleased him. He greeted me joyfully, “Dr. McGee, I didn’t expect to see you today!” With a scowl I said, “My wife has gone to the market. She’ll see you the next time you are around.” But that wasn’t enough for him.
I do not know how he did it, but in the next ten seconds he was in the living room and I was holding a little brush in my hand. Then I couldn’t order him outhe’d given me a little brush. And so I stood there listening to his sales pitch. When he had finished, I said, “Now look, I don’t buy brushes and I don’t need one. My wife generally buys from you, and she’ll probably buy next time, but I haven’t time to look at them. I’m busy this morning.” So he thanked me and started down the walkway whistling!
You would have thought I had bought every brush he had! I met a man who trains Fuller brush salesmen, and I told him about this experience. He said that they were so instructed; they are trained to radiate joy. Now I do not know if that Fuller brush man was happy or not, but a child of God ought to have real joy, the joy of the Lord, in his life. The world spends a great deal of money trying to produce joy, which they call happiness. Comedians are millionaires because they tell a few funny stories. People shell out the money to hear them. Why? Because they want to laugh. They are trying to find a little happiness as they go through life. The child of God who goes through life with a sour look and a jaundiced approach to this world will never have any power in his life. “Rejoice in the Lord alway: and again I say, Rejoice.” The world tries to work up joy in another way. They call it the happy hour or attitude adjustment hour. They spend a couple of hours drinking and hope it will help them overcome the problems of life and give them a little happiness. I have watched the folk who go in there, and none of them look happy when they go in. In an hour or two when they come out, I can’t see that there has been any improvement. But they have had a “happy hour.” A great many people are trying to compensate for the inadequacies in their own lives in that manner. I have thought it would be nice if churches could have an attitude adjustment hour. Here comes Mrs. Brown. She has just heard some choice gossip during the week, and she can hardly wait to spread it around in the church. Wouldn’t it be wonderful to take her into an attractive room and have a cup of coffee with her and get her into a sweet mood of rejoicing in the Lord so she would not go around spreading her gossip? Here comes Deacon Jones, breathing fire like a dragon because something doesn’t suit him.
It would be nice to take him to that room and help him recover his cool so he could go in and enjoy the sermon. We need an attitude adjustment hour, a happy hour, in the church. Frankly, the Devil has gotten in his lickshe has made folk believe they can’t have fun going to church, and I think they can. I think it ought to be a joyful place and a place of power. Sometimes prayer meetings are called the hour of power. Well, that is nice, but we need to get back to the source of the power, which is joy. In our prayer meetings, before we ask God for something else, let’s pray that He’ll give us joy in our lives. There was a little song we used to sing at summer Bible schools (which I used to conduct as a young preacher) with these words: Down in the dumps I’ll never go; That’s where the Devil keeps me low. That song has a sound theological message, because this is exactly what the Devil tries to do. He attempts to take away our joy because it is the source of power.
Philippians 4:5
PRAYERTHE SECRET OF POWERMatthew Arnold, in one of his delightful essays, interprets it this way: “Let your sweet reasonableness be known unto all men.” I like that. We need to be reasonable believers, not bigots in our faith. Of course we ought to have deep convictions, but we should not be given to bigotry or riding a hobbyhorsealways emphasizing some little point. What we need to do is emphasize the big pointwe do have onethe big point is the person of Christ. If we are going to ride a hobbyhorse, let Him be the hobbyhorse. “Let your sweet reasonableness be known unto all men.” “The Lord is at hand.” Paul believed that the Lord Jesus would come at any moment. He was not expecting to enter the Great Tribulation; he says, “The Lord is at hand.” That’s quite wonderful!
Philippians 4:6
“Be careful for nothing” is sometimes translated: Be anxious for nothing, or not overly anxious. The fact of the matter is that Paul seems to be making a play upon two indefinite pronouns: nothing and everything. Let me give you my translation, which I call the McGee-icus Ad Absurdum. It goes like this: “Worry about nothing; pray about everything.” Prayer is the secret of power. “Worry about nothing.” In verse Php_4:4 we were given one of the new commandments God has given us: Rejoice. Now here is another commandment: Worry about nothing; pray about everything. Nothing is a very interesting word. If you have something, it’s not nothingthat is not correct grammar, but it is an accurate statement. Nothing is nothing, and you are to worry about nothing. Does this mean we are to look at life through rose-colored glasses, that we are not to face reality? Are we to believe that sin is not real, that sickness is not real, that problems are not real? Are we to ignore these things? No. Paul says that we are to worry about nothing because we are to pray about everything. Nothing is the most exclusive word in the English language. It leaves out everything. “Worry about nothing.” I confess that this is a commandment I sometimes breakI worry. But the reason we are to worry about nothing is because we are to pray about everything. This means that we are to talk to the Lord about everything in our lives. Nothing should be left out. Some years ago, I am told, a dowager in Philadelphia came to Dr. G. Campbell Morgan with this question, “Dr.
Morgan, do you think we should pray about the little things in our lives?” Dr. Morgan in his characteristically British manner said, “Madam, can you mention anything in your life that is big to God?” When we say that we take our big problems to God, what do we mean? They are all little stuff to Him. And what we call little He wants us to bring to Him also. As believers we need to get in the habit of bringing everything to Him in prayernothing excluded. When I go on a trip in my car and it involves several hours of driving, I invite the Lord Jesus to go along with me.
I talk to Him and tell Him everything about Vernon McGee, things I wouldn’t tell you or anyone else. I tell Him everything. I think we ought to learn to do that. We ought to pray about everything. Let me share with you an admonition by Fenelon, one of the mystics of the Middle Ages, which seems to encompass what Paul meant when he said, “Pray about everything.” Tell God all that is in your heart, as one unloads one’s heart, its pleasures and its pains, to a dear friend. Tell Him your troubles, that He may comfort you; tell Him your joys, that He may sober them; tell Him your longings, that He may purify them; tell Him your dislikes, that He may help you to conquer them; talk to Him of your temptations, that He may shield you from them; show Him the wounds of your heart, that He may heal them; lay bare your indifference to good, your depraved tastes for evil, your instability. Tell Him how self-love makes you unjust to others, how vanity tempts you to be insincere, how pride disguises you to yourself as to others. If you thus pour out all your weaknesses, needs, troubles, there will be no lack of what to say. You will never exhaust the subject. It is continually being renewed. People who have no secrets from each other never want subjects of conversation. They do not weigh their words, for there is nothing to be held back; neither do they seek for something to say. They talk out of the abundance of the heart, without consideration, just what they think. Blessed are they who attain to such familiar, unreserved intercourse with God. For many years I have carried this quotation in my Bible, and every now and then I take it out and read it. Maybe you think it sounds very pious when I am willing to testify that I take my burdens to the Lord in prayer. I must confess that after I spread everything out before Him, when I finish praying, I pick it all right back up, put the problems back on my shoulders, and start out with the burden again. That is my problem. The Lord wants us to trust Him so that we worry about nothing, pray about everything. I wish I could say to you that I’m as free as the bird in the trees, free as the bees gathering honey. That’s the way He wants us to be. We have a mockingbird in our yard. He gets my fruit, but I feel it is right for me to pay him something for the song he sings for me in the night. Now, actually, he isn’t singing for me. I don’t think he cares much whether I hear him or not. But he has a mate sitting on some eggs, and it would be a pretty boring job to sit on a bunch of eggs. So this mockingbird sings to his wife all during the night.
The other morning I awakened around two o’clock, and my, how he was singing to her! How lovely. While sitting outside on my patio I noticed this mockingbird. He looked at me with disdain, flew right over to my apricot tree and started to eat apricots. He never asked me for permission to eat. He is free.
He doesn’t worry about finding something to eat. He knows those apricots will be there for him. My friend, do we really trust God like that? Worry about nothing and pray about everything. “With thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.” Paul never lets prayer become a leap in the dark. It rests on a foundation. “So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God” (Rom_10:17). Prayer rests on faith, and faith rests on the Word of God. Now he says that when you go to God with a request, thank Him. Thank Him right then and there. I know some commentators who interpret this to mean that when you get your answer to your prayer, you are to go back and thank God. Well, that’s not what Paul said. Paul was able to express himself in the most versatile language which has ever been in the world, the Greek language, and he was able to say what he wanted to say. What he says is that when you make your requests, right there and then you are to thank God for hearing and answering your prayer. Now perhaps you are thinking, But maybe God won’t answer my prayer. I have many unanswered prayers. My Christian friend, I do not believe that you have unanswered prayers, and I think you ought to be ashamed of yourself for saying that you have a heavenly Father who won’t hear and answer your prayers. You may have prayed for a certain thing and didn’t get it, but you did get an answer to your prayer. Let me illustrate this with a very homely illustration. My dad was not a Christian, but he was a good dad. He ran a cotton gin, and the machine would always be running. I would go in there when I was a little fellow and ask for a nickel for candy. He would reach down in his pocket and give me a nickel. One time I asked him for a bicycle.
He said he couldn’t afford it, and the answer was “No.” I can tell you today that I never made a request of him that he didn’t hear and answer. Most of the time the answer was no. Actually, my dad’s no was more positive than his yes. His no ended the discussion. In fact, I have never understood young folk today who keep on arguing with their parents after the parents have handed down a decision. When my dad said, “No,” that was the end of the discussion.
I have learned now that the wise reply to most of my requests was no, although I did not think so at the time. But the fact is that he gave an answer to my every request. God has a lot of spoiled children. When He says no to them, they pout and say, “I have unanswered prayers.” You don’t have unanswered prayers. God always hears and answers your prayers. You can take anything to God in prayer, the big things and the little things. How can you sort them out? They are all little things to God. Let me give you another homely illustration. At the time of the building of the Panama Canal, after two or three failures, when the successful project was under way they wanted to go right through with it, and so the crew had no vacations. To compensate for it, the workers’ families were sent down to be with them.
So a certain young engineer, his wife and little son were sent down. Because of the danger of malaria, they were put out on a houseboat. Every afternoon that young engineer could be seen rowing himself out to the houseboat. One evening he had those long blueprints all spread out while his little son with his toy wagon was playing at his feet. Suddenly the child began to cry. A wheel had come off his wagon.
The little fellow had worked with it and tried his best to put it back, but it was a hopeless project for him. Now would you think that the dad would shush him and put him out of the roommaybe tell the mother to come and get him because he was disturbing his work? No. He just laid aside the blueprints of that great canal, picked up his little boy and asked him what was the matter. The youngster held up his wagon in one hand and the wheel in the other. The father took the wheel and put it on the wagon with just one twist of the wrist.
He kissed away the little fellow’s tears and put him back on the floor where he played happily. He was a good father. Now, my friend, it is God who put that father instinct deep down in the human heart of man because He is a compassionate Father. When a wheel comes off your wagon, it may look like an impossible problem to you, but He will hear and answer your cry. If He says no, it is because that is the best answer you could have. After I lost my human father, I lived several years before I turned to God and found that I had a heavenly Father. I learned that I can go to Him with my requests, and He answers me, as my human father used to do. And many times His answers are no. When I was a young pastor in Texas, just married, I went to a certain city to candidate in a church. It was considered a strategic, outstanding church. After I’d preached twice that Sunday, I was given a call by the church. Then later they had to come back and tell me that the denomination would not permit them to call me. As I said, it was a strategic church and they needed a church politician therewhich I was not. I didn’t go into the ministry for that purpose.
But I felt that the Lord had made a great mistake by not letting me go to that church as pastor. Several years ago Mrs. McGee and I went by that church just to see it. It had gone into liberalism. Things have happened there that I’ll not mention. I said to her, “Do you remember years ago when I thought I should have had the call for that church?” She said, “Yes.” Then I said, “I thank God that He heard and answered my prayer the right waynot the way I prayed it.” I can look back and remember how I had cried to the Lord.
I told Him how He had failed me and caused me to miss the greatest opportunity I ever had. Oh, I blamed Him, and I found fault with Him, and I actually scolded Him because He didn’t seem to know what was the best for me! He had shut that door so tight that the resounding slam was in my ears for several years after that. My friend, my heavenly Father had answered my prayer, and I am ashamed of the fact that I did not thank Him at the time. My advice to you is this: Instead of saying that God has not answered your prayers, say, “My heavenly Father heard my prayer, but He told me no, which was the right answer.” We are to let our “requests be made known unto God with thanksgiving.”
Philippians 4:7
The Scripture speaks of other kinds of peace which we can understand. There is world peace. We have the assurance that someday peace will cover the earth as the waters cover the sea. It will come through the person of Christ, the Prince of Peace. Also there is the peace that comes when sins are forgiven. “Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (Rom_5:1). Then there is the peace that is tranquility.
The Lord Jesus said, “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you …” (Joh_14:27). That is a marvelous peace, but it is not “the peace …which passeth all understanding.” I do not know how to tell you this, but I do know it is a peace in which we do not live at all times. I think it is a peace that sweeps over our souls at certain times. I stood on the big island of Hawaii and looked out at a sunset with Mauna Kea, that great snowcapped mountain out there in the tropics, in the foreground. As I looked at the majesty of God’s creation, what a peace came to me. I can’t tell you what it wasit “passeth all understanding.” And that same peace came when my heavenly Father let me have cancer.
I went to the hospital frightened to death, and then that night I committed it all to Him and told Him I wanted to know He was real. He made Himself real and that peace that “passeth all understanding” flooded my soul. I don’t know how to tell you what it is; I can only say that it is wonderful. This peace “shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.” There are those who say that prayer changes things. I can’t argue with that; prayer does change things. But that is not the primary purpose of prayer. Notice that we entered this passage in anxiety, with worry, and we came out of the passage with peace. Between the two was prayer. Have things changed? Not really. The storm may still be raging, the waves still rolling high, the thunder still resounding. Although the storm has not abated, something has happened in the individual. Something has happened to the human soul and the human mind. In our anxiety we want God to change everything around us. “Give us this.” “Don’t let this happen.” “Open up this door.” We should be praying, “Oh, God, change me.” Prayer is the secret of power. We enter with worry, we can come out in peace. Joy is the source of power; prayer is the secret of power.
Philippians 4:8
CONTEMPLATION OF CHRISTTHE SANCTUARY OF POWER"Finally, brethren"remember that he said, “Finally, my brethren” at the beginning of chapter 3, when he was just halfway through? Well, now he is nearly through and is giving his last admonitions. This has been called the briefest biography of Christ. He is the One who is “true.” He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. “Whatsoever things are honest"He is honest. “Whatsoever things are just"He is called the Just One. “Pure"the only pure individual who ever walked this earth was the Lord Jesus. He asked the question, “Which of you convicteth me of sin?” No one did. He also said, “…the prince of this world cometh, and hath nothing in me” (Joh_14:30). Satan always finds something he can hook onto in me. How about you?
But there was nothing in the Lord Jesus. He was “…holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners …” (Heb_7:26). He was lovely which means “gracious.” Virtue has to do with strength and courage. He was the One of courage, a real man. He took upon Himself our humanity. “If …any praise"He is the One you can praise and worship today. You and I live in a dirty world. You cannot walk on the streets of any city without getting dirty. Your mind gets dirty; your eyes get dirty. Do you ever get tired of the filth of it? Hollywood ran out of ideas years ago, which is the reason Hollywood has dried up. Television is boring; it cannot help but repeat the same old thing. So what have they done? They have substituted filth for genius. Someone has called it the great wasteland. It is like looking at an arid desert, and yet millions keep their eyes glued to it. Their minds are filled with dirt and filth and violence. If a Christian is going to spend his time with the dirt and filth and questionable things of this world, there will not be power in his life. The reason we have so many weak Christians is that they spend their time with the things of the world, filling their minds and hearts and tummies with the things of this world. Then they wonder why there is no power in their lives. We need a sanctuary. We need something to think upon that will clean up our minds. Here are some questions to think about: How much time do you spend with the Word of God? How much time do you spend contemplating Christ? “But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the spirit of the Lord” (2Co_3:18). The Word of God is a mirror, and in it we behold the glory of the Lord. The only way you can behold the living Christ is in the Word of God. As you behold Him, there is a liberty, a freedom, and a growth that He gives you. You cannot come by it in any other way. Oh, how puerile, how inconsequential is the impact of believers’ lives! I am amazed at how easily Christians are taken in by every wind of doctrine that comes along. They are not able to discern truth and error. The one explanation, as I have pondered it in my mind, is ignorance of the Word of God. To have power in our lives we must contemplate the person of Jesus Christ, contemplating Him in the Word of God. Too often people come to the church to be entertained. Someone has said that people come to church to eye the clothes or to close the eyes. Many seem to sit in a daze for an hour just to feel religious or pious. My friend, only the Word of God can bring strength to you. You need physical food when you are weak; you need bread and meat to give you strength. The Word of God is your spiritual bread and meat. The only way to grow spiritually is to spend time in the Word of God. It is the Word that reveals Jesus Christ. I believe He is on every page of Scripture if only we have eyes to see Him. We need to see Him. We need to have the reality of Christ in our lives. This is made possible as we, with an open face, behold the glory of the Lord. I think one of the things that will cause believers to be ashamed at the appearing of Christ will be their ignorance of the Scriptures when they stand in His presence. I’m of the opinion He will say to many of us, “I gave you all the information you needed in the Scriptures. You didn’t listen to Me; you didn’t hear Me.” We say that one of the problems with our children is that they don’t listen to their parents. The problem with the children of God is that they don’t listen to their heavenly Father. Contemplation of Christthat is the sanctuary of power. Many of us need to leave the busyness and dirtiness of this world and go aside with the Wrod of God where we can contemplate Him, worship Him, and praise Him.
Philippians 4:9
A better word for “do” is practice. Paul could say something that would be audacious if you or I said it: “Do what I do.” I don’t want my little grandson to follow down the pathway that I went. I don’t want him to have his grandpa for an example. But Paul could make his life an example to other believers. Paul lived in that sanctuary of power because He had made Christ the very center and periphery of his life.
Philippians 4:10
IN CHRISTTHE SATISFACTION OF POWERAt the beginning I said that the Epistle to the Philippians is primarily a thank-you note. Before Paul got down to the thank-you part, he dealt with Christian experience. He has been talking about Christian experience throughout the epistle. Now he is thanking them for their gift. For two years the church in Philippi had lost touch with Paul. They did not know where he was after he had been arrested in Jerusalem and then put in prison for two years. The next time they heard about him, he had been transferred to a prison in Rome. They apologized to him for not having contact with him and for not communicating their gifts to him during those years. Paul is excusing them in a most gracious manner. He says, “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.” In other words, “You had lost contact with me so that you didn’t have the opportunity to be helpful to me.” How gracious Paul was!
Philippians 4:11
Paul said that he never made an appeal to them. He never sent out an SOS for help. Paul had learned to be content in whatsoever state he was. It didn’t matter whether he was in prison or out of prison. Many of us think that if things are going right and if we are in the right place, then we will be contented. That means that we depend on the circumstances of life for our contentment. I have asked the Lord to give me contentment. I have prayed for Him to make me just as content tape-recording in my office as I am out in Hawaii enjoying the beautiful scenery. Our circumstances have a great deal to do with our contentment, don’t they? But Paul had learned to be content regardless of his state.
Philippians 4:12
Paul says, “Though I appreciate your sympathy, I know how to live on the lowest plane economically, and I know how to live on the highest plane. I have done both.” There were times when he had nothing, and he was content. There were times when God had given him an abundance, and he had learned how to abound. When I retired from the pastorate, I told my wife that there would be a terrible letdown in income and in our standard of living. I knew it would be hard for us. Paul knew how to abound and how to be abased, but we’re not very good at that. I guess the Lord knew all about it, because due to the generosity of some very wonderful folk our standard hasn’t come down. We have been able to live just like we did before. We were prepared to come down, but the Lord didn’t bring us down, and we do thank Him and praise His name for it. It was the custom of Dr. Harry Ironside to go every year to Grand Rapids for a Bible conference at Mel Trotter’s mission. Mel Trotter had been an alcoholic, and after he had come to Christ, he opened a mission to reach other men who were in his former condition. The owner of a hotel which had just been built in Grand Rapids had been an alcoholic and had been led to Christ by Mel Trotter. He told Mel, “When you have a speaker or visitor come to your mission, you send him over to the hotel. We will keep him here free of charge.” When Dr.
Ironside arrived at that hotel, the man ushered him up to the presidential suite. He had the best apartment in the hotel. Dr. Ironside had never been in a place like that before. He called Mel on the phone and said, “Listen, Mel, you don’t have to put me up like this. I don’t need all this luxury.
All I want is a room with a comfortable bed, and a desk and a lamp where I can study.” Mel assured him that the room was not costing him or the mission anything; it was being provided free of charge. He said, “Harry, Paul said he knew how to abound and he knew how to be abased. Now you learn to abound this week, will you?” Now we come to a verse that is often quoted, but I think there are only certain circumstances in which it should be quoted. This verse is geared to life. It gets down where the rubber meets the road. This verse needs to be worked out in life.
Philippians 4:13
This really should be translated the way Paul wrote it: “I can do all things in Christ which strengtheneth me.” When Paul says all things, does he literally mean all things? Does it mean you can go outside and jump over your house? Of course not. Paul says, “I can do all things in Christ"that is, in the context of the will of Christ for your life. Whatever Christ has for you to do, He will supply the power. Whatever gift He gives you, He will give the power to exercise that gift. A gift is a manifestation of the Spirit of God in the life of the believer. As long as you function in Christ, you will have power. Let me give you an illustration. My favorite mode of travel is by train. I fly only because I must. The train has lots more romance connected with it, and it is much more enjoyable. It gets you there later, but it gets you there. The Santa Fe Railroad used to have a train called the Super Chief which ran between Los Angeles and Chicago. That was a wonderful train, and I enjoyed traveling on it. It traveled with tremendous power. That Super Chief could say, “I can do all things a Super Chief is supposed to do on the tracks between Chicago and Los Angeles. I can pull up the Cajon Pass, the highest pass for any railroad in this country. I slow down a little bit, but I do not hesitate. I go right up to the top and down the other side. I can do all things!” Now suppose the Super Chief had said, “For years I have been taking people back and forth from Chicago to Los Angeles, Los Angeles to Chicago, and it gets a little monotonous. I noticed a little group of people got off at Williams, Arizona, to go to the Grand Canyon. I’ve been coming by here for years, and I’ve never seen the Grand Canyon. I think I’ll just take off across the desert here and look at the canyon for myself.” Now I don’t know that the train actually ever said that, but I do know that it left the tracks one day over on the side toward the Grand Canyon. I’m here to tell you that it never did make it to the Grand Canyon. The minute it left the tracks, it was a wreck.
The train was helpless and hopeless the moment it left the tracks. As long as the Super Chief was on the tracks, as long as it was doing the thing it was supposed to do, it could do all the things a Super Chief should do. It could go up and down over those mountains, back and forth from Chicago to Los Angeles. But it was absolutely helpless when it left the tracks. This is what Paul is saying about himself"I can do all things in Christ.” Now, friend, if you are a member of Christ’s body, He is the Head, and you are to function in the context of His will for your life. His will is the track on which you are to run. Now Paul is not saying that we can do all things. I can’t jump like a grasshopper can jump. When I was in school I was the high jumper, but I can’t jump anymore. You see, I can’t do all things, but I can do all things which God has for me to do from the time He saved me to the time He will take me out of this world. “Through Christ which strengtheneth me.” Christ is the One who will strengthen you and enable you to do all that is in His will for you. He certainly does not mean that He is putting into your hands unlimited power to do anything you want to do. Rather, He will give you the enablement to do all things in the context of His will for you. When you and I are in Christ, and we are moving in Christ on those tracks, we are irresistible. There is no stopping us. But the minute you and I step out of that glorious position, step out of God’s will either by sinning, by our own willfulness, or by lack of fellowship, we are as much a wreck as that Santa Fe Super Chief was, and we are not going anywhere.
But if we stay on that track, we can do all things in Christ. “If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you” (Joh_15:7). We had better make sure where we are before we start asking. It is essential to be in His will. My friend, let me emphasize this: It is essential to be in God’s will, and His will is determined by a knowledge of His Bible. So many folk feel that if they can take a little course, it will solve all their problems. Well, it won’t solve them. I asked a fellow who paid out quite a sum of money to take a certain course, and he told me how it had helped him and his familyhe said it had revolutionized them. Several months later I asked, “How is it going for you now?” He said, “We’re just about back where we were before we took the course.” Apparently it was not the problem-solver he thought it was. Then I asked him a direct question, “How much time do you really spend in the Word of God?” My friend, the Word of God is the answer; and it’s so simple I’m not able to charge for it!
Why not forget the little courses that are being offered and get down to a serious study of the Word of God? Don’t stop with the Gospel of John, wonderful as it is. There are sixty-five other books in the Bible. If you get the total Word of God, you will get the total will of God for this life, and you will have a basis on which you can operate. There is joy, there is satisfaction and sheer delight in being in the will of God and doing what God wants you to do.
Philippians 4:14
Paul wants them to know that he appreciates their gift"Ye have done well, that ye did communicate with my affliction.” This is his personal thank-you.
Philippians 4:15
This church was a jewel. There are churches like it across this country today. They have a wonderful fellowship and a heart for the things of God. God is blessing them in marvelous, wonderful ways. The Philippian church was close to the apostle Paul. They were the ones who sent support to himPaul was their missionary. Wouldn’t you have loved to have had Paul as your missionary and to have had a part in his support?
Philippians 4:16
We know from the account in Acts 16 and 17 that Paul had to leave Philippi by the request of the authorities. He went on to Thessalonica where those who opposed the gospel he was preaching set the city in an uproar. No one was helping Paul but the Philippian believers"For even in Thessalonica ye sent once and again unto my necessity.”
Philippians 4:17
That church in Philippi has been getting dividends on their contribution right down to the present time. Paul wrote them this epistle to thank them. We are studying the epistle today, and we are profiting from this study. This is a part of the dividends of their contribution. They have stock in the apostle Paul, if you please. They still have a part in getting out the Word of God!
Philippians 4:18
The priest in the Old Testament went into the holy place to put incense on the altar, and it ascended with a sweet smell. A Christian in his giving is like a priest making an offering to God. When it is made in the right spirit, it is, as Paul is saying to the Philippian believers, more than just making a donation or taking up a collection. It is an offering, an odor of a sweet smell to God. And that is what your gift is when it is given in the right spirit.
Philippians 4:19
Thinking of their sacrifice to supply his need, Paul assures them that God would supply all their needs. He doesn’t say all their wantshe doesn’t include luxury itemsbut all their needs. However, He does supply luxury items many times. When He does, it is surplus. He does it out of His loving-kindness.
Philippians 4:20
God gets all the glory. He will not share His glory with another.
Philippians 4:21
He greets each believer personally. The believers who are with Paul also send their greetings. Again we are told that some were patricians, nobility, members of the household of Caesar. They now belong to Christ, and they want to be remembered to the Christians in Philippi.
Philippians 4:23
Paul closes with a benediction, and I will close with a benediction. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen.