Sermon Tone Analysis

When Zacchaeus, the miserly little kingpin of the Jericho tax franchise, strode off to his home for a lengthy conversation with Jesus, no one anticipated the change that would be announced from his own lips for all to hear: “ ‘Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor.

And if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I restore it fourfold’ ” (Luke 19:8).

For starters, he gave away 50 percent of everything he had to the poor.

And from the remaining half of his fortune, he pledged to make restitution at four times the amount of what he had extorted.

In effect, Zacchaeus lived out Jesus’ command that had earlier caused the rich young ruler to depart from Jesus: “ ‘Sell all that you have and distribute to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me’ ” (Luke 18:22).

Tiny Zacchaeus had become huge!

The compulsive drive to make money and keep it was gone.

He went to Jesus mastered by the passion to get; he left mastered by the passion to give.

He went in as the littlest man in Jericho; he left as the biggest man in town.

Something wonderful had happened inside that house with Jesus.

And Jesus made it forever clear for all to hear: “Today salvation has come to this house, since he also is a son of Abraham” (19:9).

Zacchaeus had been regenerated—saved!

And the immediate evidence of his new heart was his desire to give.

His newfound generosity was prima facie evidence of his salvation.

Having concluded the main content of the letter which was about where we put our minds and learning from the example of Paul in both doctrine and life he is now finishing off with some encouragements.

And the main encouragement was one which he himself had received.

In the same way that Zacchaeus’ generosity demonstrated his received salvation so the Philippians had also demonstrated their salvation through their generosity.

He wants to thank the Church particularly for the way they have helped him financially.

He says in:

And indeed the Church in Philippi was established through the preaching of Paul.

The Philippians were extremely generous in giving and in showing their care for Paul.

You would think that he is writing this as some sort of begging letter but actually it is not so for he had already received a gift and as he says in verse 18: I am full having received from you.

Really, all he is incredibly thankful.

There is joy in finding out that people love you and look after you when the opportunity arises, as in this case.

And as a result Paul is looking again for Christ to be glorified in it all, that they are fruitful and shall receive a reward from God in Christ Jesus when He returns.

It is quite awkward to thank someone for their gift as anyone who has received would know.

You want to be thankful but it may be that there is an additional motive.

Thanks for the gift gets interesting responses from people.

I once thanked someone who gave us money just as we were running out – and as a result gave me even more money right there and then.

Afterwards I felt guilty because I genuinely just wanted to thank him and what happened was he was even more generous.

It is like thanking someone who’s invited you for a meal for the amazing cheesecake – the likelihood is that you will get more cheesecake – and you may even get invited again at some point to another meal and even more cheesecake!

Paul wants to genuinely thank them but not so much as to make them think he is asking for more and not so little that he seems ungrateful.

Hard one to do but it seems to be managed though I suspect that the Church after receiving such a message would only be too willing to send more and more again.

There are four things to pick out from this passage of which we will look at two today and two, God willing, next week to conclude Philippians altogether:

1.

To be content

2. That all things can be done in Christ

3.

That there is a reward, and

4. God shall supply every need

It seems that to be content is not an easy place to come to.

It is learned as we move on in faith.

Paul learned to be content when he had little or nothing, and he learned to also be content when he had plenty.

It seems easier to be content when you have but it is not necessarily the case.

When you have you want more.

Some Christians would rather be in need because it is then that their faith is real.

But whether we have little or much we are still to trust God – for as I said recently it may be that we will not have tomorrow – but we are to be thankful either way.

Paul speaks of being content in another place:

We fill our lives with so much stuff that is unnecessary.

If we have food and clothing this should be enough.

Money can cause us all sorts of problems.

We can only serve one master.

Greed only serves the god of money.

Greed is one of the deadly

sins.

Greed for gain only leads to pain.

It would not seem like it at the time.

Greed leads to a lack of fruitfulness for the Kingdom of God.

This is the opposite of being content.

Yet there are others who physically lack things such as sight itself and still find that there is no need for greed.

Here what one of the most famous and most prolific song writers wrote in verse: O what a happy soul am I! Although I cannot see I am resolved that in this world Contented I will be.

How many blessings I enjoy, That other people don’t.

To weep and sigh because I’m blind, I cannot, and I won’t.

--Fanny Crosby

She wrote over 8000 hymns just as evidence of this fact.

I have said this before but it is worth repeating something that Spurgeon relayed about a conversation he had with someone he knew:

How was it that St. Francis de Sales, who was an eminent confessor, to whom persons went in the Romish (Roman Catholic) church to confess their sins, found that persons confessed to him, in private, all sorts of horrible sins, such as adultery, drunkenness, and murder; but never had one person confessed the sin of covetousness?

I asked this friend whether he could tell me why it was, and he made me this answer, which certainly did take me rather aback: He said, "I suppose it is because the sin is so extremely rare."

Blind soul!

I told him that, on the other hand, I feared the sin was so very common that people did not know when they were covetous, and that the man who was most covetous of all was the last person to suspect himself of it.

Covetousness and contentedness are opposite ends of the spectrum.

Where are we closest too?

The second thing from this passage is that in Christ we achieve things.

We cannot do anything ourselves that will have any true lasting effect.

We constantly find ourselves to be weak especially if we try to go it alone.

But our strength is found in weakness when we trust in Christ for everything.

Paul says he has coped with what

life has thrown at him because Christ has strengthened him.

Last week we looked at Paul’s life and yet he could still say Christ strengthened him despite the things he described in:

He can be content because Christ strengthens him for whatever comes his way.

He knows that no matter what happens and whatever God calls him to do he will be able to do it all on accord of the fact that Jesus is with him, will never leave him and will on all accounts give him the strength to cope with life until the day of his death.

Both of these are incredibly important for us as Christians.

Being content and doing all things through Christ who strengthens us.

But many Christians never live up to these things.

Why?

It depends on who our source is.

Even as Christians we seem woefully inadequate in these areas.

All of nature depends on hidden resources.

The great trees send their roots down into the earth to draw up water and minerals.

Rivers have their sources in the snow-capped mountains.

The most important part of a tree is the part you cannot see, the root system, and the most important part of the Christian’s life is the part that only God sees.

Unless we draw on the deep resources of God by faith, we fail against the pressures of life.

Paul depended on the power of Christ at work in his life (see Phil. 1:6, 21; 2:12–13; 3:10).

“I can—through Christ!” was Paul’s motto, and it can be our motto too.

“I am ready for anything through the strength of the One who lives within me,” is the way J.B. Phillips translates Philippians 4:13.

The Living Bible puts it this way: “I can do everything God asks me to with the help of Christ who gives me the strength and power.”

No matter which translation you prefer, they all say the same thing: the Christian has all the power within that he needs to be adequate for the demands of life.

We need only release this power by faith.

Every Christian ought to read Hudson Taylor’s Spiritual Secret, by Dr. and Mrs.

Howard Taylor, because it illustrates this principle of inner power in the life of a great missionary to China.

For many years, Hudson Taylor worked hard and felt that he was trusting Christ to meet his needs, but somehow he had no joy or liberty in his ministry.

Then a letter from a friend opened his eyes to the adequacy of Christ.