Sermon Tone Analysis

“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.

Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content.

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.

I can do all things through him who strengthens me.

“Yet it was kind of you to share my trouble.

And you Philippians yourselves know that in the beginning of the gospel, when I left Macedonia, no church entered into partnership with me in giving and receiving, except you only.

Even in Thessalonica you sent me help for my needs once and again.

Not that I seek the gift, but I seek the fruit that increases to your credit.

I have received full payment, and more.

I am well supplied, having received from Epaphroditus the gifts you sent, a fragrant offering, a sacrifice acceptable and pleasing to God.

And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.

To our God and Father be glory forever and ever.

Amen.” [1]

It is easier to be a Christian at some times than at others.

At least most of us appear to think that to be true.

When life is going well, when there is no illness in our family, when difficulties are absent and when all our debts are paid and we have sufficient income to secure those things necessary to insure a comfortable life, surely it is easier to profess the Faith of Christ than when these things are not true.

Prolonged illness, unjust persecution, marital stress, crushing financial obligations—each takes a toll on the vibrancy of our Christian life and testimony.

But is it easier to be a Christian when everything is going well then when life turns sour?

I am not so certain that such is true.

Let's explore the issue together.

In the days immediately preceding his death, Moses recited a song for Israel.

What I find interesting is that in the midst of that song Moses included some sobering words for all who worship the Living God, especially when life is going well.

“Jeshurun grew fat, and kicked;

you grew fat, stout and sleek;

then he forsook God who made him

and scoffed at the Rock of his salvation.”

DEUTERONOMY 32:15

When Israel was blessed, they turned from God. Wandering in the wilderness—committed to God.

Fighting for survival—committed to God.

Prosperity—not so much.

Far more of us suffer injury resulting from prosperity then are ever destroyed by poverty.

Poverty, whether poverty of soul or poverty of possessions, forces one to resort to the Lord.

We know what it is to be in need; and when difficulties do come, we immediately run to the Lord.

However, sufficiency seems somehow to cause us to imagine that we have no need for the Lord.

In times of prosperity we imagine that we are able in our own strength to care for our needs.

A famous U. S. labour leader, engaged in prolonged contract negotiations, was asked what would make him satisfied.

His reply was revealing—given, in fact, for the whole of the race, I suspect—he answered, “A little more.”

His answer echoed that which Oliver Wendell Holmes wrote concerning contentment:

I care not much for gold or land—

Give me a mortgage here and there—

Some good bank stock, some note of hand,

Or trifling railroad share—

I only ask that Fortune send

A little more than I shall spend.

No matter what we have, the desire for “a little more” is always present.

Paul has pleaded with his readers, “Do not be anxious about anything” [4:6], extending the promise of “the peace of God” [4:7].

His plea is not that we be unconscious of needs, but that we be content with what God has provided.

How can we be content?

How can we fulfil this apostolic dictum?

What is the secret of being content the apostle mentions in our text?

*CONTENTMENT – WHAT IT IS NOT, AND WHAT IT IS.*

The stunning words which the Apostle penned seem somehow to mock modern Christians.

Paul expressed personal contentment through the words, “I have learned … to be content” [4:11] and “I have learned the secret” [4:12].

When he used these words, we are each confronted with our own failure to achieve contentment.

In these statements, the Apostle employed some words would have been common to the vocabulary of the Stoics and of the initiates into the rites of the mystery religions, words which his first century readership would have immediately recognised as common in that day.

When Paul said he had learned to be content, he used the Greek word /autárkās/.

In Stoic philosophy, the term /autárkās/ (“content” or “self sufficient”) described an individual who impassively accepted whatever came.

In stoic philosophy, circumstances were seen as unchangeable and were thus regarded as the will of the gods.

Therefore, fretting was useless.

Such a burdensome philosophy fostered a self sufficiency in which all the resources for coping with life were located within man himself.

This selfsame philosophical approach to life is even today witnessed among those impoverished souls who have embraced Islam.

The will of Allah must not be tampered with, and therefore the impoverished and the hurting within Islamic society are ignored and neglected.

Unfortunately, far too many who call themselves by the Name of Christ the Lord adopt a similar philosophical expression for life.

While hurt and injury may come into the life of the believer, it is not necessarily the will of God that such harm exists.

Further, the believer who recognises the impact of God's grace is conscious that his sufficiency is found in Christ and not within himself.

The second concept of import for us is found in the statement in VERSE TWELVE.

The Apostle states, “In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret.”

This is a translation of the Greek, /en pantì kaì pâsin memúemai/—“in everything and in all things I have been initiated” [literally].

Paul employs the language of the mystery religions, using the term which speaks of initiation into the secret rites of those particular and peculiar practises.

Because he uses the language of the mystery religion does not mean that Paul approved of them, or than he was willing to credit them as being worthy of discussion.

These words provide scant comfort for the neo-gnostic who imagines the existence of some secret knowledge or of some esoteric formula of faith eventuating in external evidence that God is either pleased with man or that the Holy One is compelled to do the will of that man.

Here the Apostle is employing the strongest possible language to clarify all that God has done for him.

Incidentally, he addresses the situation that results when God has done everything possible for any believer who is willing to accept what is done for his or her benefit.

Contentment is not stoic acceptance of our particular situation.

Christians are not called to persevere stoically simply in order to say they have persevered.

While it may be admirable to move blindly through the varied vicissitudes of life, such unheeding movement is not contentment.

Likewise, passive acceptance of injustice or of unfair conditions does not indicate contentment.

We can receive without complaint the blows and beatings of life and yet be consumed with discontent.

Ulcers plague the uncomplaining as readily as they do to grumblers and whiners.

Neither are blind and unsupported claims of blessing regardless of circumstance evidence of contentment; ignorance of reality is not contentment!

I note that many times those who are most discontented speak the loudest about their faith.

What is contentment, then?

Contentment must be identified as that satisfaction that grows out of knowledge and confidence—knowledge that one’s needs are fulfilled and confidence that one is not a victim of caprice, whether caprice arising from life itself or from unseen powers.

Contentment is the extreme opposite of covetousness; and in the text, the Apostle’s cup is full of Christ.

Clearly, the apostle relates his words concerning contentment to his state in life.

Whether in terms of material possessions or whether in respect to physical condition or personal state, the apostle is satisfied with his position.

This is no mere passing reference to an otherwise meaningless situation, for the apostle makes repeated references to the need for personal contentment with our situation in other missives.

Listen to the Apostle’s teaching revealed in instructions delivered to the faithful.

“Already you have all you want!

Already you have become rich!

Without us you have become kings!

And would that you did reign, so that we might share the rule with you!

For I think that God has exhibited us apostles as last of all, like men sentenced to death, because we have become a spectacle to the world, to angels, and to men.

We are fools for Christ’s sake, but you are wise in Christ.

We are weak, but you are strong.

You are held in honour, but we in disrepute.

To the present hour we hunger and thirst, we are poorly dressed and buffeted and homeless, and we labour, working with our own hands.

When reviled, we bless; when persecuted, we endure; when slandered, we entreat.