Never Just Right

Have you ever seen someone and thought that person has too much jewelry on or too much makeup on? The right amount of of either can improve someone’s appearance. Too little can be just as much a problem as too much. I have seen several people I thought wore too little clothes. We know from all different areas of life that both lack and excess can be a problem.

Being Baptist we are intimately familiar with food. We all know that with too little food you can starve to death and die. Even if you do not die too little food makes you uncomfortable, your stomach growls and then eventually begins to cramp, you become miserable and week and your body cannot function as it should. Interestingly enough many of the same symptoms can occur with too much food. Eat too much and your stomach begins to cramp and hurt. If your belly is too full it is hard to exert yourself physically, you body actually tries to shut you down so that you can process the food you have eaten. If you eat too much all the time your body becomes less healthy, you lose energy and become weaker. You can even cause severe heart problems and health problems from being overweight, some people actually die from the health problems associated with too much food.

Rest easy, this is not a sermon on gluttony. I just wanted to point out the problems of having too much and having too little because that is the topic of our text today.

Philippians 4:10–14 NASB95

But I rejoiced in the Lord greatly, that now at last you have revived your concern for me; indeed, you were concerned before, but you lacked opportunity. 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 I also know how to live in prosperity; in 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 strengthens me. Nevertheless, you have done well to share with me in my affliction.

Paul is responding to a gift or a series of gifts given to him by the Philippian church. These may have been food, clothing, paper, ink or other supplies to support Paul in his ministry. I wonder if part of the reason Paul was imprisoned for so long was for his own benefit, to remove from him what had been a source of pride and independence and force him to rely on God’s provision and the assistance of others.

In both letters to Thessalonica Paul reminded them that he did not rely on them for support that he worked for his food and his lodging.

2 Thessalonians 3:7–8 NASB95

For you yourselves know how you ought to follow our example, because we did not act in an undisciplined manner among you, nor did we eat anyone’s bread without paying for it, but with labor and hardship we kept working night and day so that we would not be a burden to any of you;

In his letter to the Corinthians Paul stated that he had the right to demand support but he did not want it, he wanted to support himself.

1 Corinthians 9:13–15 NASB95

Do you not know that those who perform sacred services eat the food of the temple, and those who attend regularly to the altar have their share from the altar? So also the Lord directed those who proclaim the gospel to get their living from the gospel. But I have used none of these things. And I am not writing these things so that it will be done so in my case; for it would be better for me to die than have any man make my boast an empty one.

It seems that it was a source of pride for Paul that he supported himself and did not rely on anyone else. Now Paul was in prison and could not work to support himself. He was completely at the mercy of other people. Others had to supply new clothes, pen and paper, food and whatever else Paul needed. I think prison taught Paul something important about relying on God, about accepting the mercy of others. I think Paul leaned this lesson well and he wanted to share it with us.

Paul began with a statement that makes no sense unless you know his background, unless you are aware of what I have just told you about Paul’s past

Philippians 4:10–11 NASB95

But I rejoiced in the Lord greatly, that now at last you have revived your concern for me; indeed, you were concerned before, but you lacked opportunity. Not that I speak from want, for I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am.

Paul was thanking them for a gift, stating that they wanted to send a gift beforehand but they had no opportunity. Why did they have no opportunity? Did Paul have no needs before, did he not wear clothes and eat food before, was he not writing letters and using paper and ink before, of course he was. But there was a time in Paul’s life when he would not let anyone help him, he wanted to do it by himself. Like the little child wanting to tie their own shoes he angrily shouted I can do it whenever someone tried to help. But then Paul was imprisoned. He could not help himself and he had to learn to accept the help of others.

Now Paul says something else that is strange, he is grateful for the help whether he really needs it or not.

Philippians 4:12–14 NASB95

I know how to get along with humble means, and I also know how to live in prosperity; in 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 strengthens me. Nevertheless, you have done well to share with me in my affliction.

When help came Paul was grateful for it, he used the help that God provided, he took advantage of the assistance provided to him by his christian brothers and sisters. When no help came Paul did without, he did not get bitter or angry that the help did not come but he learned to get along with an abundance of assistance or with no assistance at all, in either case God was sufficient for Paul.

Most of us have a hard time getting along without. Not having enough food or clothing or even enough emotional support from our friends makes us grouchy and angry. When someone else does not offer us the help or the support we think they should we can become bitter and angry at them and at the world in general. If our parents or our children don’t respond to us the way we think they should we become livid. If the church or the pastor or the other members don’t do what we think they should we are deeply hurt and offended. It is easy to be out of sorts when something is missing. It is hard to be a Godly person, a christian, a follower of the ways of Jesus when our needs are not being met.

Paul had had to learn to do without food and sometimes without friends or without help, when he had no help he learned to rely on God and trust God for all of his needs. In fact it is sometimes only when all other sources of help and support have been removed from us that we can find out if God is really enough for us. When our family and our friends, our church or our job or something else is helping us feel satisfied and helping us meet our needs we don’t have to fully rely on God, we have other sources to rely on. When we feel like everything else is removed from us, everyone else has abandoned us it is then, and only then, that we can find out if God is truly sufficient to meet our needs. Of course we usually find out later that everyone and everything else didn’t abandon us, in fact some were probably trying to help us out at the time we just couldn’t see it or wouldn’t accept it. If that is the case don’t feel lonely, you are right there with the apostle Paul.

The other side of that same coin is this. Sometimes we have a hard time getting along with an abundance. Sometimes too many people want to help and we just want them to go away. This often happens at our worst times of life, at a funeral or a tragedy. Sometimes we suffer not from a lack of support or a lack of worldly goods but from too much. That may sound crazy but it is true.

Have you ever been in a state where you had spend all day working up a good pitty party. Thinking about how terrible everything is and how awful everyone treats you and someone comes along and wants to help. Someone has the nerve to walk into the middle of your funk and try to cheer you up, but you don’t want to cheer up you have spent a lot of time and effort making yourself miserable, how dare they.

Have you ever seen someone who refused help time and time again and then complained about having to do it all.

When we go out with disaster relief and help people who have just been through a tornado or a hurricane most of them are very grateful what we do, but every so often someone gets angry. We go to a door and ask someone if they need help and they act as if we insulted them. It is as if accepting help made them somehow inferior. They just cannot bring themselves to admit that they might need help from someone else, their pride is too great.

I see the same thing in the church. Someone who teaches a class or runs the kitchen, many times they are overworked and overburdened but they just cannot bring themselves to accept help from someone else, It is their job and their ministry and no one else better intrude. They will not allow anyone else to work beside them and they will not let the church or anyone else help them with the costs or materials of what they do. Sometimes I wonder if they have reached the point where their ministry has stopped being about Jesus, or about his church or his people and started being about them. I don’t think they meant it to be, I don’t think they started out that way, they just never learned how to get along with much as well as with little. They can’t get along with lots of help or lots of support, they got used to doing it one way and that is all they know.

If it is truly all about Jesus, if we are doing what we are doing for him and because of him then the more people who help the more that gets done, if no one helps then our job is still the same. If we have lots of help and lots of supplies then that is great and we should rejoice in what God is doing and be glad to be a part of it. If we are all alone in what God is doing and no one else comes along side to help then we should be honored that God still lets us be part of his plan, that he is still working and still with us. Whether we have much or little we should be grateful to God and learn to rely on him.

We have been doing a lot of preparation for VBS, you can see the decorations all around. It took a lot of help to get all this put up, it took a lot of money to buy all the stuff, there was room for everyone to help, there still is room for many, many more. If God uses this VBS to change the life of even one person it will be worth all of the effort. I don’t know how our efforts will be used. I don’t know God’s plan. I do know that many people in the church have already come together to make this happen. I do know that some of us have gotten to know each other better and spent time working together toward a common goal and with a common spirit. If not a single kid got saved would we be angry with God and each other or would we be grateful for the relationships that were built and the time we had together. If no kids even showed up would we have gained something, would we be closer as a church and could we be grateful for that. If two hundred kids showed up and we were overworked and overstressed, if we were frazzled down to our last nerve and too exhausted to move at the end of the day would we thank God for allowing us to be involved in something so wonderful? Would we be grateful if we thought we received little return for our effort, would we be grateful for what we did receive? If we received too much, if we were overwhelmed and overworked would we be grateful for that too, or would we only be grateful if God chose to work within the limits of what we thought was appropriate, what we considered to be the right limits. Who is working for who here anyway.

Can we learn to be content with both much and little, can we learn to be content with God, with whatever he chooses to send our way. Can we? Can you?