How to be thankful

Philippians 4:10-16

a. Content with life’s circumstances (4:10-11)

b. Acknowledge God’s goodness through life’s circumstances (4:12-16)

1. INTRODUCTION

2. BODY

a. Content with life’s circumstances (4:10-11)

i. This helps us to understand Paul’s statement better. If we understand the opening of Chapter 4, Paul starts off by reminding the church at Philippi how they are his joy and crown and how he reminds them in verse 1, to stand firm in the Lord. Then he goes off to talk about a situation where two women were maybe arguing with each other (verse 2), that there was discord between them, but he tells them the church to help them.

ii. Verse 4, Paul reminds them all to rejoice in the Lord always, and tells them to live in harmony by being gentle in spirit. Then going back to helping the church remain firm in the Lord, Paul tells them in verse 6, that whatever the situation, in prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God. Remember, that contextually, Paul is addressing the church with the women, that there was strife among them and discord. But even in these situations, in everything, make your requests be made known to God and God will respond by giving you peace. When you pray and ask the Lord for strength and you are rejoicing in Him and being gentle with others because of the joy you have in Christ, peace will come upon you. Then in verse 9, Paul closes this section by telling them, what you have seen heard and seen in me, practice these things and the God of peace will be with you.

iii. Paul tells the church to do the things that he has showed them with his life and whatever you have learned from him, to practice these things. The result, the God of peace will be with you just as He has been with Paul.

iv. This leads us to verse 10 where Paul’s opening statement in this section starts with But I rejoiced in the Lord greatly. It’s thought provoking how this is connected and how this idea come to life. One of the things I’ve noticed in my own life is understanding how to rejoice. We have heard many times that as Christians, we are called to rejoice. Rejoicing is apart of the Christian life. It is the means we mature in the Christian life.

v. And as well as we know that we are to rejoice, in certain times, because of our circumstances, it is hard to rejoice. It’s hard to believe the words of the Bible because we are sinners and we think that God can’t fix our problems. We are covered with doubt and become overwhelmed with a sense of despair. We can imagine through our own life’s experiences that when we have discord with another person, when we dislike, even hate another person, the amount of anger and lack of thanksgiving we experience. We don’t rejoice. We are filled with rage. But even in those moments, Paul tells us in verse 4, rejoice in the Lord always, again, rejoice.

vi. Paul’s statement does not tell us to remember our anger and stay angry. Paul’s command is exactly the opposite. He tells us rejoice in the Lord. The phrase there, in the Lord, tells us to look to Jesus. Look at what He’s done for you. Yes, your situation right now isn’t the best, but look to what Jesus has done. Remember who you used to be before you knew Christ. Remember your life before you met Christ. Look to the mercy you have received through Him. Count your blessings.

vii. But what I love about Paul is that he expands on what he means. He doesn’t command us to be thankful without explaining why. Verse 10 is very helpful for helping us understand how we are to be thankful. Paul helps us to understand what this means through life. He helps us to see how God helps us to be thankful.

viii. Paul qualifies his statement by stating, that he rejoiced in the Lord greatly through how they revived, they blossomed their concern for him. What we learn from Paul’s statement and this isn’t always true, but it is true often is that we see the hand of God through other people’s actions.

ix. As a pastor, I am often greatly encouraged by how God uses people in my own life to remind me of His mercy. I am often encouraged when people call me or text me and remind me of God’s grace through encouragement and through their love and affection in how they try to love me by showing me their love for me. I am most often reminded by my wife and children of God’s grace to me.

x. This was no different for Paul. If you read verse 10, Paul is telling the church at Philippi that he rejoiced in the Lord greatly because of their concern for him. It’s not that they weren’t concerned about him prior, but because they didn’t have an opportunity to show him how much they appreciated him.

xi. The key here is that these people, they were the source of encouragement for Paul. He rejoiced in the Lord greatly because of their renewed love for him. Paul tells the church how thankful he is and how thankful he is to the Lord for their provision. This is what leads Paul to say in verse 11, that he wasn’t thanking them because of his want but that he learned how to be content in whatever circumstances.

xii. There could be misunderstanding here in this verse because it almost sounds like Paul is dismissing their love for him and their desire to meet his needs. But Paul’s focus here is not for the provisions themselves, it’s not that he is thanking them because of his need. Of course it helps him, but his focus for his purpose of thanksgiving is the people themselves. He loves them and he is so thankful for their desire to love him and care for him.

xiii. This is what makes the body of Christ so special. It’s not that we just help each other, but it’s the friendship. It’s knowing that people love me and want to be there for me. Can I just remind everyone that we shouldn’t help people because we are Christians? We should help others because we love them. We should help others because we understand how much we have been blessed. It should be the outward desire of what we have received in Christ and by being in Christ, the blessings we receive from others.

xiv. This is what separates the faith from the world. We help others and we love others because of the profound love we have experienced through the cross. Because of what Jesus has done, we try to share that love with others. Our motivation for loving others is found in this simple statement, in Christ.

b. Acknowledge God’s goodness through life’s circumstances (4:12-16)

i. Verse 12 begins with Paul’s acknowledgement of how he has learned to live through every circumstance. He explains that he has had times when he didn’t have much, on times when he had much, in times when he was both filled and hungry, in times when he had great abundance and when he suffered need.

ii. I think we can all agree to this statement with Paul. Most of us have experienced times in our lives when we had much and at times when we didn’t have much. But through this all, Paul’s boast is verse 13. Paul makes an emphatic statement that he could do all things, whether it be to experience times with great loss or great filling, he can do all things through Him.

iii. When we read verse 13, it doesn’t matter the situation or circumstance of our lives. There will be times in our lives when we don’t have much, when all our friends abandon us, when we are left to ourselves. And even in those times, through Him, we can do all things.

iv. I stated earlier that there are times when situations get so hard, that we are so discouraged that sometimes, there’s nothing that comforts us. Because of our sin, we are convinced that nothing can help me. I’ve been in those types of situations. It almost felt like I made a mistake and I am doing what God doesn’t want me to do. But as I look back, I can say, God was with me and encouraged me every step of the way.

v. How? Read verse 14, the people around him, shared with Paul his affliction. Not only that, they met his needs. They knew what he needed and they were active in trying to meet Paul’s needs. They knew of his difficulty and the amazing thing that Paul tells us is that the church at Philippi met his needs. Even when he was in Thessalonica, they sent him a gift more than once for his needs.

vi. This is a reminder of how God uses the church and how God uses His people to meet the needs of others. I have experienced so much of this. Every Sunday, even when I don’t feel like I preached a good message, people come up to me and tell me thank you for your efforts. They seek to encourage me. Others message me or text me and tell me how they were encouraged. It is an amazing thing how God uses other people to encourage us.

vii. So the next time you can encourage others, please make it your effort to encourage others. That is the means in which God helps His people to be thankful. God helps us to know that God loves us through His people and this allows us to be thankful to God. Notice that Paul’s thanksgiving is ultimately to God as we saw in verse 13, but the means Paul finds his confidence that he can do all things through Him is because of what they did in verse 14. Paul knew God loved him, but he knew God loved him through these people.

viii. I want us to never forget how important we are to each other. We can’t survive on our own and we were not meant to survive on our own. God gave us the church, people who care for us, who love us, who pray for us, so that we can know God better, so we can know the love of God better through these people.

3. CONCLUSION