SERMON TITLE: The Secret to True Contentment
SERIES: Verses in Context part 1
TEXT: Philippians 4:10-13
SPEAKER: Cody Ohnmeiss
DATE: 05/01/2022
Watch the sermon here.
Take notes with the Sermon Discussion Guide here.
Good morning Gateway - it is always an absolute joy to be with all of you each weekend. And of course, that’s whether you’re joining us here at County Road 9 or if you’re joining us at North Main - wherever you are worshiping from, we are thankful you’re here and hope that you feel welcomed today.
And in addition to that, my prayer for us each time I preach is that we will all be challenged and encouraged as we dive into God’s Word together. And fortunately for you all, you get to see this face not just this week, but next week also. Over the next three weeks, we’ll be doing a mini-sermon series looking at verses in the Bible that are commonly used or quoted incorrectly. I’ll preach the first two sermons this week and next, and Adam will preach the final sermon in the series.
And let me start right away with a disclaimer - this 3-week series will more than likely step on some toes. It might even be convicting to many people here. But please hear me clearly! We are not doing this series because we are trying to be boastful or mean - but we’re doing it for the following reasons:
First, because it is so easy to misunderstand the Bible.
Think about this: How many of you know somebody, or have heard somebody misquote the Bible, use a Bible verse out of context, or even heard someone claim something as Biblical truth when in reality, it wasn’t. Any one? Another question - how many of YOU have misquoted the Bible, used a verse out of context, or claimed something as Biblical truth even though it wasn’t?
This is a super common thing - all of us at some point in time have been guilty of this, probably more often than we’d like to admit. And the truth is, there are a lot of, what I would call misconceptions out there about God’s Word. Let me give some specific examples:
How many of you have heard someone else, or maybe you yourself have, quoted things that sound like Bible verses that aren’t really in the Bible?
But these aren’t the only ways that people misunderstand or misuse the Bible. I’ve heard people quote or look for books that aren’t in the Bible.
I know some of those are goofy examples - but they show how easy it is for people to have these common misconceptions centered around the Bible. And perhaps the one that I see more frequently than either of these, are people using verses that are in the Bible - out of context. See oftentimes, people misunderstand or misquote these verses simply because they don’t know the context. So the goal over the next three weeks is to show how important it is for us to read our Bibles contextually instead of making a Bible verse or passage fit our agenda or narrative.
As I said a few moments ago, it’s easy to misunderstand the Bible - It’s a large book, written in several different genres, in multiple languages, over the course of thousands of years. That’s why it’s so important for us to study it. To meditate on it. To recognize its authority over our lives. And that’s the second reason why we’re doing this - because it is extremely important to know our Bibles and to read & study them properly.
We call ourselves ‘Bible-believing Christians’ and we call Gateway a ‘Bible-believing church’ and what we mean when we say that is that we believe all Scripture is self-attesting – and being Truth, requires our unreserved submission in all areas of life. The infallible Word of God, being the sixty-six books of the Old and New Testaments, is a complete and unified witness to God’s redemptive acts culminating in the incarnation of the Living Word, Jesus Christ. The Bible, uniquely and fully inspired by the Holy Spirit, is the supreme and final authority on all matters on which it speaks. That’s taken right from the top of our “Essentials of Our Faith” of our denomination. (https://epc.org/about/beliefs/)
In addition to that, God’s Word itself tells us:
All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work. 2 Timothy 3:16-17 ESV
So the Bible is useful in a variety of ways - and, it completes us! We are incomplete without God’s word! It equips us to do what God calls us to do.
The Bible also tells us:
Your word is a lamp to guide my feet and a light for my path. Psalm 119:105 NLT
Meaning - the Bible provides us with perspective, hope, and guidance in dark times.
I cannot emphasize enough how important THIS BOOK (hold it up) should be to us. At the end of the day, knowing God’s Word better, helps us to know God better. It helps us grow closer to Christ - which is the third reason for why we are doing this series.
In a few weeks, Pastor Josh will pick back up in our ‘Finding Jesus’ series - where he preaches on a book in the Old Testament - and shows us how the Bible is one large book, telling one story - the whole Bible is about Jesus. Because of that, the Bible should be precious to us - we should desire to know it better and better each day.
And part of knowing God’s Word better - part of understanding individual versesthat we may quote, better - is knowing the context. Reading the verses that come before and after the verse we are quoting, or digging in even deeper - learning the history, learning about the writer, studying the setting - all of this helps to understand what we are reading even better.
Think about it in the way we are with movies. When you watch a movie, you can’t fast forward to the middle, watch 1 or 2 minutes of it, then shut it off and go around telling people that you’ve seen the movie, that you know what the movie is about.
No, what do we do, we watch movies from start to finish. And not only that, but we learn about the characters, we want to know the setting, we want to focus on the plot, and we even like to look into who the actors are, who’s the director - because that all helps us to understand it better.
If you watch 2 minutes of a movie, then try to have a conversation with someone who’s seen that movie, it probably won’t take long for them to realize that you actually haven’t seen that movie, and they may call you out.
In a similar way, we can’t jump into a passage of text just to pull out 1 verse, and jump back out. That’s what results in people misleading themselves, and misleading others.
So with that intro, let’s move over to our text for today. Perhaps the verse in the Bible that is taken out of context most often - we’ll be looking at Philippians chapter 4 verses 10-14. Go ahead and turn there now, Philippians 4:10-14
10 How I praise the Lord that you are concerned about me again. I know you have always been concerned for me, but you didn’t have the chance to help me. 11 Not that I was ever in need, for I have learned how to be content with whatever I have. 12 I know how to live on almost nothing or with everything. I have learned the secret of living in every situation, whether it is with a full stomach or empty, with plenty or little. 13 For I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength. 14 Even so, you have done well to share with me in my present difficulty. Philippians 4:10-14 NLT
How the verse is most commonly used out of context
So we’re going to get to what this passage means, why Paul is writing, and ultimately, what he means when he says he can do everything through Christ - but before that - I think it’s worthwhile to look at some of the ways that this verse has historically been used out of context.
And I’ll start with a story. Raise your hand if you have heard of “Lawn chair Larry” before? For those that don’t know Larry Walters as a boy dreamed of flying - but wasn’t able to become a pilot in the US Air Force due to having poor eyesight. As an adult, he had a career as a truck driver, but his desire to fly never left. He remembered seeing those big weather balloons as a kid, and thought he could use those to fly somehow.
So one day in 1982, Larry decided in his mind that he was going to make this happen - he was going to fly. He and his girlfriend at the time went to a California balloon store and purchased forty-five 8-foot weather balloons and several tanks of helium. Believe it or not, the rank-and-file consumer can’t just do that. He had to lie about what he was doing, and forge documentation to make it happen. He told them he was shooting a commercial.
If you’re wondering how he got the name “Lawn chair Larry,” it’s because his idea was to tie those 45 weather balloons to his lawn chair, strap himself in, float up about 30 feet in the air and over the Mojave desert in California for a couple hours, and then safely float back down.
Flight day arrived on July 2, 1982 - Larry attached the balloons to his lawnchair, filled them with helium, strapped himself in, and then grabbed a pellet gun to take with him - his plan was to shoot a couple balloons to pop them when he was ready to start descending back to the ground.
He also put on a parachute and took a CB radio, a camera, a couple sandwiches, and a case of beer - all the makings for a nice, relaxing lawn chair flight. But unfortunately for Larry, things didn’t go the way he planned.
After his friends cut the cord that was holding the chair down, Larry did not gradually ascend to a comfortable 30 or so feet in the air, he immediately shot up as if he were launched out of a cannon and kept rising and rising until he was nearly 16,000 feet in the air. There’s actually a recorded conversation out there on the internet that he had with his girlfriend over the radio, where she was hysterically pleading with him to come back down - and he was unusually calm and telling her he was fine.
Apparently he didn’t feel unsettled until he started to float into the controlled airspace of the approach quarters of Long Beach airport - where he was spotted by two different pilots flying commercial airlines. Could you imagine the call those pilots had to make to the tower…”Hey… now maybe I’m just crazy, but I’m pretty sure we just flew past a guy in a lawn chair…and he’s holding a 6 pack of beer, and a gun…”
Larry finally got to a point where he felt comfortable enough shooting out some of the balloons, and he did start to descend.
Unfortunately that took longer than he would have liked, because after he shot a few balloons, he dropped his pellet gun overboard. So he came down slowly until the balloons got tangled in some power lines in Long Beach. He was able to safely climb down, where he was immediately arrested by Long Beach police. Perhaps one of the funniest things to me, was the quote given from the Regional Safety officer, Neal Savoy, who said, “We know he broke some part of the Federal Aviation Act, and as soon as we decide which part it is, some type of charge will be filed. If he had a pilot's license, we'd suspend that, but he doesn't.” I’m sure this was a new one for them, they probably had never had to arrest a guy for crashing his lawn chair into some telephone lines.
Okay, so why the long story to start this? There’s an organization called “Senior Living Ministries.” And to be fair, I don’t know much about this organization, but I do know that you can sign up to receive a daily devotion from them - that’s supposed to be challenging and encouraging for seniors.
The devotional typically includes a title, then a Bible verse, and then a short message that filters from that. And one day, this devotional for seniors was titled “How to Experience the Fullest Life Possible.” The body of the devotional told this story about Lawn chair Larry and how Christians need to get up and go do things. I don’t think that encouragement in itself is bad - but the verse that was used to emphasize the devo for that day, was Philippians 4:13. (https://www.crosswalk.com/devotionals/seniors/senior-living-march-18-11531417.html)
And that is absolutely NOT what this verse is telling us.
Other common ways I typically see this verse used:
And let me be clear, I’m not saying that the mindset of “doing things through Christ” is wrong, but to use this verse as if Paul is telling us we can do or have whatever we want as long as we claim it “through Christ,” is a misuse of this verse. In just a little bit, we’ll look at what Paul means when he says he can do “all things.” But before that, let’s gather the overall context of this letter and why Paul is writing this.
We’ll start with the context of the letter as a whole. As I’ve said a few times already, the author of this letter is Paul. He’s writing to Christians in Philippi which is in the province of Macedonia. Something you may not know is that Paul actually brought the Gospel to Philippi originally - we see that in Acts 16. And immediately after he preached the Gospel here, there was opposition. Paul, along with Silas who was with him, was beaten severely, thrown in prison, and then asked to leave the city not much later.
But in the midst of all of that, a group of believers was established. And this is the group that he’s writing to. His purpose in writing them is to encourage them - as they are facing the same opposition that he did when he originally preached the Gospel there. So - we see multiple times - he thanks them for their partnership in sharing the Gospel and does his best to encourage them to persevere in doing so. One of the main ways we can see in this letter of how Paul tries to encourage them - is that he shares his own stories of persecution with them. He shares what struggles he’s faced personally and why he continues to persevere. Oh yeah, if you didn’t know, Paul wrote this letter while in prison in Rome. I’ve mentioned this before in another sermon of mine, but if Paul didn’t explicitly state that he wrote this letter while in prison, you may have a hard time believing that he was in prison because the whole letter is filled with joy! That’s why one pastor calls Philippians, “the happiest book in all of the Bible.” (Piper)
But the Christians in Philippi are being persecuted for their belief in Christ. Paul is being persecuted for his belief in Christ. Yet they are encouraging one another through their hardships - what a beautiful picture of community and faithfulness displayed in this relationship.
In addition to all of that, this group of believers in Philippi had sent a man named Epaphroditus to visit Paul in prison, and to give him a financial gift to help in his ministry. And so Epaphroditus returns to Philippi with this letter of thanks from Paul.
Something else that’s unique about this letter of Paul’s in particular, is that it doesn’t follow a specific, single idea from start to finish - like many of his other letters. Instead, it’s almost as if Paul has written many shorter sections, or vignettes that all address different things that he wanted to say to this group of Christians.
And in the particular section that we are looking at, Paul is beginning to close his letter by thanking them for their gift, and assuring them that he is not in need.
Remember at the beginning of the sermon when I said that it’s important to get all of the context of what we’re reading so that we can best understand it? ALL of this info is legitimately important to know so that when we get to verse 13, we can properly understand what Paul is telling us.
But we still have a couple of verses to get to before verse 13, so let’s jump back to verse 10 and then we’ll walk back through our verses:
10 How I praise the Lord that you are concerned about me again. I know you have always been concerned for me, but you didn’t have the chance to help me. Philippians 4:10 NLT
Okay, so honestly, if we read this verse by itself, it probably seems pretty insignificant. There really doesn’t seem like there’s much here - It just seems like he’s beginning another new one of these sections in the letter. And honestly, without knowing the context, what Paul’s saying really isn’t abundantly clear. If you read this verse without knowing anything about Paul’s journey or without knowing the rest of this letter, you’d probably just blow right through it. But believe it or not, this verse here is more important than you may even realize.
Knowing the context brings this verse to life. What he’s saying here, is that you guys sending Epaphroditus to me is a clear demonstration of your love for me and your care for me. That means a lot to Paul for a few reasons:
So why is all of that significant? This church had a super special place in Paul’s heart. His emotion writing this wasn’t just, “Yeah, I praise the Lord for you guys.” It was more like, “I PRAISE THE LORD FOR YOU GUYS!”
This is a small example of how much of a difference it can make in understanding one, seemingly insignificant verse by simply knowing the background.
Let’s move on. Verses 11-12:
11 Not that I was ever in need, for I have learned how to be content with whatever I have. 12 I know how to live on almost nothing or with everything. I have learned the secret of living in every situation, whether it is with a full stomach or empty, with plenty or little. Philippians 4:11-12 NLT
So after all of that background. All of the context - seeing Paul’s thankfulness for the gift and encouragement from the Philippians - Paul then tells this group that he was never truly in need.
“But Paul, aren’t you in prison?” …Yep.
“And Paul, don’t you need funding for your ministry?” …Yep.
“And Paul, haven’t you been facing constant persecution for preaching the gospel?” …Yep.
“So what do you mean you aren’t in need?!”
“Paul didn’t you actually list out many of the things you went through during your ministry in another letter?”
23 …I have worked harder, been put in prison more often, been whipped times without number, and faced death again and again. 24 Five different times the Jewish leaders gave me thirty-nine lashes. 25 Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked. Once I spent a whole night and a day adrift at sea. 26 I have traveled on many long journeys. I have faced danger from rivers and from robbers. I have faced danger from my own people, the Jews, as well as from the Gentiles. I have faced danger in the cities, in the deserts, and on the seas. And I have faced danger from men who claim to be believers but are not. 27 I have worked hard and long, enduring many sleepless nights. I have been hungry and thirsty and have often gone without food. I have shivered in the cold, without enough clothing to keep me warm. 2 Corinthians 11:23-27 NLT
“PAUL! How can you say you haven’t been in need?!”
See, we have a totally different definition than Paul of what it means to be in need. Paul’s not saying he was never hungry. He’s not saying he never lacked sleep. He’s saying that even in those times, when he was struggling - he was CONTENT. Despite having no food, he didn’t need it to be content. Despite being without sleep or money - he didn’t need those things to be content.
For us, we tell ourselves that we need food, water, shelter, sleep, money, community, hobbies, entertainment, etc - and here’s the key - we think we need all of these things in order to be content with where God has us. (Repeat). What’s even worse is we become discontent the second our routine is broken - as soon as something is out of place - as soon as our plans fall through. Some of the things that we call inconveniences are just absurd.
We let things that we can’t even control spoil our contentment:
I thought this would be funny - that list I just read of Paul’s sufferings? Could you imagine what ours would sound like if we wrote it out? Don’t get me wrong, everyone has moments in life that are legitimate hardships or struggles. But do we to the extent that Paul did?
Here’s my list:
“I sometimes have to get up earlier than I would’ve liked after sleeping in my comfy bed in my warm house.
Sometimes, I have to wait in line for 10 minutes in the drive thru at Chick-Fil-A.
One time, I had to sleep in the airport on my way to Cuba for a mission trip.
Oftentimes, our junior employee, Adam Borsay, distracts me while I’m trying to work diligently at my desk.”
I know this sounds goofy, but these are truly some of the things that come between us being content with where God has us.
But the good news here is that Paul shares with us the KEY to being content with wherever God has us. In fact, he says that he’s learned “The Secret” to being content in whatever situation that he finds himself in. Man, this must be super profound, right?! I mean, this is THE Secret to being content with where God has you, no matter where it is, or what’s going on, or what trial you’re going through… So, what is it?!
13 For I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength. Philippians 4:13 NLT
There it is. The Secret - to being content in all circumstances, whether good or bad, the secret, Paul shares, of being content when going another night without sleep, the secret to contentment when thrown in prison, AGAIN, or going days without eating or drinking. Even being on the brink of death from being beaten, and whipped, and neglected - the secret to his contentment is dependence on the One who gives him strength - Christ.
And not only his dependence on Christ - but knowing that all of the things he’s faced, good or bad, have come from him doing the will of God.
Here’s what a commentary says regarding this idea of Paul being content in every situation.
[“Whatever my condition may be, I am satisfied with it” Why? Because saints know that they thus please God. Hence they do not measure sufficiency by abundance, but by the will of God, which they judge of by what takes place, for they are persuaded that their affairs are regulated by his providence and good pleasure.] (Commentaries on the Epistles of Paul the Apostle to the Philippians, Colossians, and Thessalonians)
Guys, we need to really consider this take. I know it’s bold, but this is important.
Think about the things that Paul is implying he DOESN’T need in order to be content with Christ. I listed them out a few minutes ago: food, water, shelter, sleep, money, community, hobbies, entertainment - what do all of these things bring us…COMFORT!
Paul’s saying, I don’t have to be comfortable to be content because whether my belly is full or empty, Christ is sustaining me.
Whether I’m laying in a bed at night or adrift at sea, Christ is my savior.
Whether I’m being beaten & thrown in prison, or safe and sound elsewhere Christ is on his throne. And He is ALL I NEED to be content in life. I don’t need wealth, or popularity - I just need Christ.
This is just not something that comes naturally to us. Perhaps that’s why Paul calls this “The Secret” to contentment.
He was able to learn this secret through all of the trials he had gone through. He was put in situations where the only thing he had to bring him contentment was the assurance of his salvation through Christ.
What else could have possibly brought him contentment while being adrift at sea, or after being beaten and thrown into a prison cell? When we learn to be content in Christ alone, then maybe such minor struggles won’t bring us to be discontented so easily.
But the key is centralizing our lives around Christ. Paul shows this in many ways just in this letter to the Philippians - watch how evident Paul makes it that his life is all about Christ.
This letteris from Paul and Timothy, slaves of Christ Jesus. Philippians 1:1 NLT
Slaves of Christ - meaning - we belong entirely to Him. We’ve completely surrendered our lives to Christ and are ultimately devoted to serving him in all we do.
For to me, living means living for Christ, and dying is even better. Philippians 1:21 NLT
In reference to his boldness for Christ, his point is that as long as he’s alive, he lives for Christ - and dying is better because then he’ll be with Christ.
7 I once thought these things were valuable, but now I consider them worthless because of what Christ has done. 8 Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the infinite value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have discarded everything else, counting it all as garbage, so that I could gain Christ 9 and become one with him. Philippians 3:7-9 NLT
All of the things that the Jewish people held in high regard about Paul, he says, are garbage compared to knowing Christ as savior.
So when Paul says that he can do all things through Christ who strengthens him. He’s saying that as long as there is breath in my lungs, I can endure the hardships that come my way - because Christ not only strengthens me, but satisfies me with a hope and peace that surpasses all understanding.
I mentioned earlier the ways I frequently see this verse used. It’s often used proactively as a weapon in order to gain achievement.
While it is absolutely true that even the high points in our life come through Christ, that is not what Paul is saying in this verse. So to use it in that context is to misuse what God is telling us in his Word.
So if you have used this verse in a way that it wasn’t meant to be used before, don’t let that defeat you. Instead, let the true meaning of the verse encourage you.
This verse is one of many ways that Paul points his readers to the life-changing truth of the Gospel. And the truth of the Gospel isn’t just life-changing, it’s life sustaining! I want to wrap up our time by looking at Paul’s words in Romans 8, maybe my favorite chapter in all of the Bible:
34 Who then will condemn us? No one—for Christ Jesus died for us and was raised to life for us, and he is sitting in the place of honor at God’s right hand, pleading for us. 35 Can anything ever separate us from Christ’s love? Does it mean he no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or hungry, or destitute, or in danger, or threatened with death? 36 (As the Scriptures say, “For your sake we are killed every day; we are being slaughtered like sheep.”) 37 No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us. Romans 8:34-37 NLT
Despite the hardships we may face in life, when tough times come - even in moments when we are at our absolute lowest point - Christ’s love never leaves us! Even in times when you may feel like God has abandoned you, not only is he still with you, but here in His word he says overwhelming victory is ours in Christ.
Jesus affirmed this same idea when he said, “In this world you will have trouble, but take heart; I have overcome the world.” Think about what this means - it’s kind of a good news-bad news. I’ll start with the bad. The bad news is, in this world we’ll have trouble. Life will get hard, tragedy will come, losses will happen - these things are inevitable living in a broken world.
But the good news? Is literally THE Good News! Because Jesus overcame the world - he overcame the tribulation that we may face in this world! So for those who are in Christ, who know him as Savior, no struggle can ever be stronger than Christ’s love for us. IT’S JUST NOT POSSIBLE. No trouble, or calamity, or danger, or near death encounter can pull us away from Christ’s love - because his death & resurrection brought overwhelming victory for his people.
So although our verse doesn’t mean that we can claim the worldly desires of our hearts because Christ gives us strength - it means something far greater.
It means that we can walk in the valley of the shadow of death, and not fear.
It means that we can live with hope during our time as exiles on this earth.
And it means that when we face uncertainty, heartache, tragedy, or even death - if Christ is the centerpiece of our life - then we can always remain content in Him. And in that light, we CAN do all things through Christ who gives us strength.
Let’s Pray!
May we all leave here today, rejoicing in the truth that because Christ has overcome the world, we can always be content in his love, and in his strength. Amen. Gateway Church, You Are Sent.
Stories, news, and resources for things happening at Gateway Church.
