Rev. David Holwick Book of Philippians series
First Baptist Church
Ledgewood, New Jersey (very similar to 1984 sermon)
June 7, 1998
Philippians 4:10-13
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I. We live in a discontented age.
A. Move every 3 years, divorce in 7.
1) (Fellow Wheaton grads and recent divorces)
2) We change our jobs, our homes, our relationships, but we're
still not satisfied.
3) We feel we need more to be happy.
Howard Hughes was asked, "How much money does it take
to make a man happy?"
He replied, "Just a little more."
B. Several ways to deal with discontentment.
1) Shuffle around lives to keep minds off it.
2) Let someone else take control of your life. (cults)
3) Take the Stoic approach - very popular.
II. The "I don't care" approach. [mostly from William Barlay]
A. Popular religious philosophy in ancient Greece.
1) Main goal was contentment.
B. They believed this came from total self-sufficiency.
1) Any strength they possessed had to come from within
themselves.
a) They relied on no one else.
b) Secret is not possessing a lot, but wanting little.
1> "If you want to make a man happy, don't add to his
possessions, but take away from his desires."
2) Much wisdom in this.
a) However, Stoics took it to the extreme where
nothing, and no one, were essential to them.
b) They just cut themselves off from life.
C. They tried to eliminate all emotion.
1) Their aim was to be so unfeeling, they didn't care what
happened to themselves or anyone else.
a) They trained themselves to be unemotional.
b) One of their philosophers said you have to start with
little things.
If you drop a plate and it breaks, say, "I don't care."
After you get good at that, move up to an animal.
Maybe your pet dog has something happen to it.
Say, "I don't care."
At this point you move up to the big leagues.
If you yourself are hurt or injured in any way, shrug
it off as if nothing has happened.
If you train yourself long enough and hard enough, you
will come to a stage where your whole family dies
in an accident, and you don't raise an eyebrow.
2) Their aim was to abolish every feeling in the human heart.
a) Love was rooted out of life, and caring for people
was forbidden.
D. They believed everything in life is predetermined.
1) Fate controlled all your circumstances.
2) Circumstances cannot be changed, only accepted.
III. Should we be Stoics?
A. Many in America are.
1) Same as being "thick-skinned."
2) They respond to problems by shutting others out of their
lives.
3) They are ones who end up having nervous breakdowns.
B. Was Paul a Stoic?
1) He shared their emphasis on "contentment," with a twist.
2) Paul uses Stoic language of "SELF-sufficiency," but
radically transforms it into CHRIST-sufficiency.
a) The Stoic's "sufficiency/contentment" comes from
their own inner strength.
b) Paul's comes from outside, from his being "a man in
Christ," on whom he is totally "dependent" and thus
not "independent" at all in the Stoic sense.
IV. Christ is enough.
A. Two ways to handle pressure.
1) Bathysphere and deep-sea fish.
According to Jay Kesler, there are two ways to handle
pressure.
One is illustrated by the bathysphere, which is a miniature
submarine.
It is used to explore the ocean in places so deep that the
water pressure would crush a regular sub like a tin can.
Bathyspheres compensate for the pressure with a steel hull
that's several inches thick.
They are small and cramped.
When bathyspheres reach the ocean floor, however, they
find they're not alone.
When the outside lights are turned on and you look out the
thick windows, you see fish.
These fish cope with extreme pressure in an entirely
different way.
They don't build thick skins; instead, they remain elastic
and free.
They compensate for the outside pressure through equal
and opposite pressure inside themselves.
#1865
B. Application to Christians.
1) We don't have to be hard, thick-skinned and stoical.
a) We can have God's power within to equal the pressure
outside.
2) Godly contentment is based on the belief that God loves
us, and that he is in control of our lives.
a) It's not a passive acceptance of fate, but a
positive assurance.
b) The Greek word for "strength" is the word from which
we get the word "dynamite" or "dynamo".
1> A dynamo is something that gives continual energy.
2> Paul is saying, Jesus Christ is the dynamo of my life.
A> He gives me continuous energy.
B> I don't run out.
c) I am confident and capable to cope with the circumstances
of life because I draw on Christ's power.
V. We are not Superman.
A. "I can do all things" does not refer to our super-ability.
1) Context points to our ability to be contented whether
we are rich or poor.
B. Christ is not enabling us to DO anything, but to ENDURE anything.
1) Paul was usually poor. Sometimes rich. But didn't matter.
a) 1 Corinthians 11 and his disasters.
b) Beat him up, but couldn't touch his soul.
2) He had a tremendous ability to cope with life's problems.
VI. Learn to adapt to change. [adapted from Rick Warren]
A. How well do you handle change?
1) Do you get frightened? Moody? Angry? Uptight?
2) Paul says that one of the secrets of learning to be content
is the ability to adjust to all kinds of circumstances.
3) Your happiness in life will be largely dependent upon
your ability to adapt, adjust, be flexible.
B. Choose not to be a victim.
1) No matter what people do to me they are not going to
control my life.
2) No matter what hurt, experience or difficulty I go
through and I have every reason to have bad
memories, I will not let it victimize me.
C. Be independent of circumstances.
1) That is real freedom -- when you can say I am not controlled
by my circumstances, I am not manipulated by the external
things in my life.
2) People say "I'm OK, under the circumstances."
a) Circumstances were never meant to be something you
get under.
b) Get on top of them.
c) You don't have to live "under the circumstances" --
that's a choice.
VII. Do you sense the peace of God?
A. This peace is knowing that through thick and thin, God is
working in your life.
1) Christian contentment doesn't necessarily mean the
difficult situations will get better.
a) Some are contented because they have faith God will
turn the situation around in a week or two.
b) This is basing contentment on the situation, and not
on God.
2) Realists know that some situations never improve.
a) Severe illness, crummy jobs or unfulfilling marriages
don't tend to change for the better overnight.
b) Christians need to learn how to be contented RIGHT NOW,
whether the circumstances change or not.
B. The secret lies in our spiritual life with God.
Story in "Our Daily Bread" a few years back, about a
woman who had a mentally handicapped child.
She wrote:
We would have called our daughter's handicap the greatest
tragedy of our lives if it were not for the fact that
through it we came to know the Lord much better.
Words cannot fully express our keen disappointment when
our little girl failed to experience normal human
development.
Yet her condition made us understand just a bit how our
dear Savior must feel when his children do not mature
spiritually...
We have come through our trials bigger and better Christians
and with a new and brighter testimony.
Tan 6844
Kerux #30260
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