The Secret Series

Series: Philippians

Sermon: “The Secret”

Philippians 4:10-13

Pastor John Bright

Philippians 4 “10 But I rejoiced in the Lord greatly that now at last your care for me has flourished again; though you surely did care, but you lacked opportunity. 11 Not that I speak in regard to need, for I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content: 12 I know how to be abased, and I know how to abound. Everywhere and in all things I have learned both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. 13 I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”

If you use a streaming service, like Netflix, you may have seen the ad for a movie – “The Secret.” This is the sequel to a 2006 film and book by the same name. These were done by Rhonda Byrne and they made her a boat load of money! In “The Secret”, she offers to mere mortals the wisdom lost of thousands of years – the law of attraction.

Basically, she has repacked what everyone I know that did Amway in the old days did – putting pictures of your goals on the refrigerator. Actually, she claims that our thoughts actually create our reality. Let me share an example from her – “Rhonda Byrne talked about the weight she gained after her pregnancies. But once she applied “The Law of Attraction,” she realized her error: “Food is not responsible for putting on weight. It is your thought that food is responsible for putting on weight that actually has food put on weight.”

Is this the same thing we heard from Dr. Norman Vincent Peale when he offered God’s Word as “thought conditioners”? No – he taught that when we memorize scripture and replaced our negative thinking with God’s Word it would act like the air conditioner that changes the temperature in the room.

It this the same as speaking positive affirmations? No – many people have been plagued with abusive family and friends that left them with lots of negative thoughts and emotions. Many therapists have helped folks with lists of positive affirmations. I have shared with you before the list “Who I Am In Christ” from the Freedom Class (Neil Anderson, 2017). It helps the Believer discover who they truly are when they accept Christ as Savior and Lord.

Is “The Secret” harmless? NO!!!!! It is a form of New Age teaching that tries to deceive folks into believing that each and every person is divine and has a power within themselves to change and make a new reality exist… health, wealth, prosperity, eternal youth. Because of these goals, it was embraced by many in the church that preach the Prosperity Gospel – especially those who teach “Name it, Claim it.” This idea is that if the Believer speaks a promise of God it MUST come to pass.

I bring all this up because there are two verses in Philippians Chapter 4 that consistently get used by the Prosperity Gospel crowd:

“13 I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”

“19 And my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.”

Paul begins this part of the letter writing about what the Philippian Believers have GIVEN … not received.

Paul gives thanks for their generosity – v.10

“10 But I rejoiced in the Lord greatly that now at last your care for me has flourished again; though you surely did care, but you lacked opportunity.”

At the end of Chapter 2, we looked at Paul’s message about Epaphroditus. He was the one bringing a gift of money to Paul. I told you back then that this is necessary for prisoners in that day because without support from outside, all the prisoner gets is bread and water. They slowly starve to death. When I hear a TV preacher comparing their “need” for a bigger house or private jet to Paul’s needs – it makes me laugh and cry.

When Paul was traveling, he earned a living by working with leather and cloth – Acts 18:1-3 “After these things Paul departed from Athens and went to Corinth. 2 And he found a certain Jew named Aquila, born in Pontus, who had recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla (because Claudius had commanded all the Jews to depart from Rome); and he came to them. 3 So, because he was of the same trade, he stayed with them and worked; for by occupation they were tentmakers.”

Later, he is collecting for the needs of the Jerusalem Church and that’s where we get the concept of apportionments. We read of this in Romans 15:25-27 “25 But now I am going to Jerusalem to minister to the saints. 26 For it pleased those from Macedonia and Achaia to make a certain contribution for the poor among the saints who are in Jerusalem. 27 It pleased them indeed, and they are their debtors. For if the Gentiles have been partakers of their spiritual things, their duty is also to minister to them in material things.”