Victory Over Circumstances
Philippians 4:10-13 • Sermon • Submitted
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Victory over Circumstances
Victory over Circumstances
10 But I rejoiced in the Lord greatly, that now at the last your care of me hath flourished again; wherein ye were also careful, but ye lacked opportunity. 11 Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content. 12 I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound: every where and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. 13 I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.
You Cannot Defeat a Man Who Knows the Power of Thanksgiving (4:10–23)
In his letter to the Philippians Paul introduced us to three secrets for triumphant living:
Proper theology (3:1–21),
Positive thinking (4:1–9), and now
Perpetual thanksgiving (4:10–23).
Thanksgiving is an essential characteristic of the victorious Christian life.
37 Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.
MEMORY VERSE: “In all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us” ().
Man, with all his ingenuities, wisdom, accomplishments, feat and power of imagination is constantly disorganised, disabled and disgraced by circumstances of life that surround him.
His creativity, invention and resourcefulness are controlled, cancelled and shattered by circumstances.
We are all overwhelmed and extremely upset by circumstances that he has no control over.
Yet all circumstances are arranged to make life meaningful.
A picture will not be beautiful if all the colour is white.
The different colors including black and grey make a picture attractive and good.
Before we quit the stage, we may be called upon to taste any of these circumstances - birth, crying, sickness, pain, woe, accident, disgrace, poverty, wealth, joy, sorrow, death, etc.
God is never affected by circumstances.
He can allow them to remain so, He can change them or cause them to disappear for ever.
He knew about all the circumstances of our lives ever before we were born, or to be more exact, ever before the world was made. God can do and undo in spite of circumstances.
He raised Lazarus from the dead after four days. He is not gone. He is around.
To have victory over circumstances we must know how to wait
I Knowing How to Wait (4:10)
I Knowing How to Wait (4:10)
10 But I rejoiced in the Lord greatly, that now at the last your care of me hath flourished again; wherein ye were also careful, but ye lacked opportunity.
Paul Acknowledged the Final Coming of the Philippians’ Gift (4:10a)
“I rejoiced in the Lord greatly, that now at the last your care of me hath flourished again.”
In Paul’s day people under arrest were not cared for by the state.
It was up to the prisoners themselves to see that their physical needs were met. Paul had no visible means of support. He was cast wholly on the Lord and hence on the Lord’s people.
The Lord’s people in Philippi had sent Paul a financial gift. (Their thoughtfulness of him is a good example of positive thinking!)
Evidently this gift was not their first, for the apostle said their care of him had “flourished again.”
Paul did not take their gift for granted. One of the purposes of his Epistle to the Philippians was to express his thanks.
illustration know when to wait.......
1. Priorities become clear. Time has a beautiful way of sifting the important from the fluff.
More than ever, we find ourselves bombarded with opportunities and possibilities. It’s easy to get sucked into too many activities that have nothing to do with your purpose and drain your energy, time and resources. Waiting is the perfect vaccine for those things that have no place in your life. The ‘meant-to-be’s’ have built-in staying power that distractions don’t. Given time, temporary things will drop out of your life effortlessly, leaving you free to focus on that which is truly you. Time has a beautiful way of sifting the important from the fluff.
2. Develop perseverance
With ordinary talent and extraordinary perseverance, all things are attainable -Thomas Foxwell Buxton
Perseverance is defined as “persistence in doing something despite difficulty or delay in achieving success”.
4. Understanding yourself
There are high and low points in all our lives, yet these are not what define us. The best place to find out who we really are, is in the sticky bits in between the two. It’s in the slog of daily living that we discover our greatest strengths and weaknesses. Embrace normal life; don’t fight it. Knowing who you are while you’re up to your elbows in soap suds and floating leftovers will keep you grounded when success comes.
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The word translated “hath flourished again” can also be rendered “blossomed out” or “revived.”
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3. Rest & regroup
Allow yourself downtime. Sleep until you’re finished; take walks in the fresh air. Waiting creates space in your life, precious time to get in touch with what is going on inside you. It creates space to come to grips with what makes your heart beat faster–what is important to you. Don’t waste it by filling it with rushing or busyness.
4. Patience
Did you grow up wearing hand-knitted sweaters made with love by your granny? It’s becoming more rare by the generation. Knitting takes patience, and there are few things left in our highly efficient society that are geared towards growing patience in us. Waiting is one of them. Like any classroom full of scholars, there are some who resist learning and others who embrace it. If life has you in a headlock and you know you’re going to be there for some time, use your energy wisely–don’t fight it; embrace it.
5. Resourcefulness
The process of waiting is often linked to lacking something. Waiting forces us to work with what we have in hand. This sounds terrifying, but once you shift your mind, it becomes liberating. Start to see things around, and inside you, with different eyes. It’s an adventure to make do with what you have, and not rush out to buy something new at the first twinge of lack. Try it! You’ll surprise yourself with your resourcefulness.
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8. Tolerance and empathy
Getting exactly what you want, when you want it, is not always a good thing. Ask any mom. Continual immediate gratification over a long period of time can sow seeds of entitlement and pride. When these mindsets are allowed to take root and grow, the end result is not pretty. On the other hand, waiting is a great humbler. A humble person is aware of the struggles of others and can empathize with their troubles. In short, waiting can make you a better person.
Most importantly we make mistakes and decisions when we don’t wait...
Waiting will lead you through situations you don’t believe you can cope with. You will come out the other side stronger, more capable and with a shot of Vitamin C to your self-confidence. We are not built to be rescued at the first sign of discomfort. How would we have learned to walk if those caring for us had been too worried to put such strain on our leg muscles? Waiting is hard. It is uncomfortable, inconvenient, and makes us face things about ourselves that we’d rather avoid. But if we let it, it stretches us beyond what we think our limits are, and there we discover there was a whole lot more to us than we ever knew.
10. Gratitude
Once you bend your head around the fact that waiting is your friend, and not your enemy, some important things will shift in your head. Instead of being frustrated by delays, you can be grateful for them, make the most of each one and soar through your time of waiting. On the other side of it, you will see how much has been grown in your character even though it felt like nothing was happening at the time. Now that is something to be grateful for.
Can't Help Procrastinating?The word translated “hath flourished again” can also be rendered “blossomed out” or “revived.”
The original word suggests a sudden, spontaneous, natural flowering of the Philippians’ love for Paul.
He was reminded of the thought behind the gift and it touched a responsive chord of praise in his soul. “I rejoiced in the Lord greatly,” he told them. Paul’s rejoicing was always in the Lord.
Why did Paul interject, “Now at the last”?
Paul had waited patiently ......
Perhaps his circumstances had been particularly straitened lately.
Perhaps he had been praying with increased importunity for his financial needs to be met. Perhaps God had been saying to him (as He so often says to us), “Wait!”
‘Perhaps Paul had been waiting for a long time as God tested his patience and trust to the utmost. “At last!” Paul burst out.
Wow here it is ....
The Philippians sent a gift to Paul, but where were all the other churches during his time of need? Where were all the other Christians, Paul’s children in the faith? Where were all the other apostles?
Where was the Jerusalem church? They especially should have had at least some concern for Paul’s financial needs.
It finally came .....
But at last the Lord had answered Paul’s prayer. And the apostle rejoiced that He had used a group particularly dear to him as His instrument.
Paul Acknowledged the Faithful Character of the Philippians’ Giving (4:10b)
“Ye were also careful, but ye lacked opportunity.”
The Philippians had wanted for some time to send help, but the opportunity to forward a gift had not come.
Mail service was not available in those days and travel, even along the celebrated Roman roads, was not a light undertaking. And who would want to seek out a man in prison in Rome under the suspicious eye of Nero?
Paul’s address might cause even the more generous of his friends to pause before volunteering. Thus finding a way to send a gift was a spiritual exercise for the Christians at Philippi.
Today it is common to receive letters outlining dire circumstances and pleading for an instant and generous response, but the Philippians had not received any begging letters from Paul.
Paul told his needs to the Lord. The Lord impressed those needs on certain of His people, and the result was spiritual giving rather than high-pressure giving.
II.Knowing How to Want (4:11–13)
11 Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content. 12 I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound: every where and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. 13 I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.
There are ways to want ?
(1) What Paul Denied (4:11a)
“Not that I speak in respect of want.”
The word translated “want” here, husterēsis, occurs in only one other place in the New Testament: .
44 For all they did cast in of their abundance; but she of her want did cast in all that she had, even all her living.
want come from the Greek word meaning poverty
We read between the lines of Mark’s graphic account of a now-famous incident: One day when the Lord was sitting near the treasury in the temple in Jerusalem, He watched as with fanfare and flourish the rich cast in their donations.
Presently along came a widow, obviously poor. For a long time she hesitated, debating about her contribution. It was not that she was hesitant to give—she had already decided to part with the mite in her hand.
The problem was that there were two boxes—one marked “For the Lord” and other marked “For the Poor.”
4 For all these have of their abundance cast in unto the offerings of God: but she of her penury hath cast in all the living that she had.
luke 21
Then to the delight of the watchful Lord, she fished in her robe and uncovered another small coin Just like the other. Now she had two mites. Quick as a flash one went into the Lord’s box, the other went into the box for the poor, and away she went, melting into the crowd.
She had nothing left in the world and expected to go to bed supperless that night, but I like to think that the Lord, who is no man’s debtor, had a surprise waiting for her when she arrived home.
The Lord drew the disciples’ attention to the woman. “This poor widow,” He said, “hath cast more in, than all they which have cast into the treasury: For all they did cast in of their abundance; but she of her want [husterēsis, ‘destitution’] did cast in all that she had, even all her living” ().
43 And he called unto him his disciples, and saith unto them, Verily I say unto you, That this poor widow hath cast more in, than all they which have cast into the treasury: 44 For all they did cast in of their abundance; but she of her want did cast in all that she had, even all her living.
mark 12.
Paul was not as poor as the widow in .
In he was saying, “Please don’t think I was down to my last penny; I had not arrived at the point of destitution. Please don’t think I am complaining or criticizing or begging for more. God has never let me down.”
(2) What Paul Declared (4:11b–13)
(a) The Serenity of Contentment (4:11b–12)
i. The Apprehension of the Lesson (4:11b)
“I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content.”
Later Paul expressed a similar thought to his young colleague Timothy: “Godliness with contentment is great gain” (). Whatever his circumstances were, Paul was content.
6 But godliness with contentment is great gain.
When he was hailed enthusiastically upon his return to churches he had planted, Paul was content.
When he was chained to a particularly impatient and unsympathetic Roman soldier, Paul was content.
When he and his friends were on their way to Jerusalem to deliver a generous gift from Gentile converts on the mission field, Paul was content.
When he was preaching to scholars in the intellectual capital of the world, Paul was content.
When he was leading a runaway slave to Christ, Paul was content. When he was preaching to a king, Paul was content.
When he was writing a theological masterpiece, Paul was content.
Paul had learned to live in complete detachment from his circumstances.
2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.
Since his circumstances were all ordered by the Lord, all was well. God’s will was “good, and acceptable, and perfect” ().
Paul’s state of soul is enviable and is attainable only when one has a perfect trust in God. Such trust can only be cultivated at the feet of Jesus.
ii. The Application of the Lesson (4:12)
12 I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound: every where and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need.
phil 4.12
The word translated “abased” here is used elsewhere in the Greek language to describe a river in a time of drought
12 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.
phil 4
Most of us know what it is to be abased. The word translated “abased” here is used elsewhere in the Greek language to describe a river in a time of drought.
So Paul’s words can be rendered, “I know how to run low.” Most of us have learned what it is to run low, but have we learned how to run low?
We have perhaps also learned what it is to abound (to overflow), but have we learned how to abound? Paul had learned how.
Have we learned how to face poverty without panicking? Have we learned how to face sickness or rejection or disappointment?
Have we learned how to face prosperity without pride? Have we learned how to face success, applause, and exuberant well-being? Many have succumbed to life’s adversities because they never learned how to handle them. Probably more people have succumbed to life’s advancements because success went to their heads.
Joseph is the classic Biblical example of a man who learned how to face a life of abasement in prison and a life of abundance in the palace.
The Holy Spirit sets him before us as the most Christlike man in the Old Testament. The secret of Joseph’s victory over both frowning and felicitous circumstances was his implicit faith in God.
In his hour of testing in Potiphar’s house, in his hour of travail in prison when even the chief butler forgot him, and in his hour of triumph as the grand vizier of Egypt, Joseph was always the same—Christlike.
Neither lust nor lies, neither abasement nor abandonment, neither prosperity nor power could spoil him. Joseph learned how to face both a cross and a crown, and he emerged as a magnificent type of Christ.
In the New Testament Joseph is rivaled only by Paul. No matter why, no matter where, no matter what—Paul was in on the secret of an all-victorious Christian life.
No matter where! Paul said, “Every where.” Everywhere included the prison in which Paul sat as he wrote , and other prisons in which he had been chained and held under lock and key for years.
Everywhere included “the deep” where he spent “a night and a day” ().
We are left to imagine for ourselves what Paul was like as he rode the troughs and foaming crests of a stormy sea. Hanging onto a spar or plank of wood, he was adrift in shark-infested waters, but he was abiding and abounding in Christ. Perhaps other passengers, desperately clinging to some scrap of wreckage, heard a voice singing words like these:
Steadfast and sure while the billows roll,
Fastened to the Rock which cannot move,
Grounded firm and deep in the Savior’s love.
No matter what! Paul was victorious “in all things,” even in chains. He was a man made for high seas, distant horizons, and far countries. He had a restless, roaming spirit and would have understood the cowboy who sang, “Don’t fence me in.” Yet he was content in prison.
Paul was a “military” strategist of the widest vision. In another age, under different circumstances, if he had been born a Greek or Roman Gentile, he would have been an Alexander or a caesar. Instead he was born a Jew and born again a Christian, and his soaring ambition saw a world to be conquered and brought captive to the feet of Jesus. Paul had plans to conquer Spain, plans to go where the caesar’s legions had not gone, plans to cross the Rhine, plans to invade the islands of Britannia, plans to bring wild ungovernable tribes to Christ—but he was in prison. Who can tell how his captivity must have galled his soul? Eventually imprisonment would have crushed even his proud spirit if he had not known how to be content “in all things.”
In Paul also said, “I am instructed.” The word translated “am instructed” is mueō, which means “to initiate.” A derivative of mueō is musterion, which means “mystery.” So Paul was saying, “I have been let into the secret; I have been initiated into the mystery.”
(b) The Secret of Contentment (4:13)
“I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.”
How could Paul be content whether full or hungry? Knowing Paul, we can anticipate the answer. The secret, he said, is Christ! It was Christ who strengthened him.
13 I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.
phil 4.13
Then was Saul certain days with the disciples which were at Damascus. And straightway he preached Christ in the synagogues, that he is the Son of God. But all that heard him were amazed.…
Endunamoo also occurs in where it is translated “strengtheneth.”
This verse is Paul’s testimony at the other end of his life. He had learned how to handle all of life’s ups and downs not in his own strength, but in Christ’s strength.
Christ’s strength was the source of Paul’s strength. The apostle exhibited Christ’s strength, not his own. “I can do all things through Christ,” he said (italics added). The formula in is the same as the formula in 4:7: “Through Christ.” Christ, living His life in Paul, made all the difference. Paul commended the secret to his friends in Philippi and to us wherever we are today.[
[2] Phillips, J. (2009). Exploring Ephesians & Philippians: An Expository Commentary (). Kregel Publications; WORDsearch Corp.