Phillipians 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.
I want to talk to us for just a little while, about….
LIVING ON A ROLLER COASTER
How many folks here have ever rode on a roller coaster?
I have. I like to ride those things. Some of those things twist and turn, and flip you all over the place.
There is an amusement park in Sandusky, Oh. that has been in business since 1964. Since then, they have accumulated 16 roller coasters, which is more than any other place on the planet.
Their latest creation is a roller coaster called the “Top Thrill Dragster”.
The “Top Thrill Dragster” stands 420’ tall, and you are launched out of the starting gates by a hydraulic blast that sends you from 0 to 120 mph in 4 seconds.
But today, I’m not going to be talking about the Top Thrill Dragster. I am not going to be talking about the Zippin’ Pippin’, or the “Wabash Cannonball”.
But I’m going to be talking the most complex roller coaster that ever has been.
It will take you to the highest of highs, and the lowest of lows.
It’s called “LIFE”.
The ROLLER COASTER called “LIFE”.
-How many of you have, at some point in your life, had a real good day?
-How many of you have, at some point in your life, had a real bad day?
-How many of you have been having a good day, everything going the way you thought it would, and then, all of a sudden something comes from out of nowhere, and changes everything.
-How many of you have been having a real bad day, and it seemed like everything was going wrong, but all of a sudden, something happened, and made your whole life seem so much better?
Just like a roller coaster is designed with hills up & down, and sudden turns, the same goes for our lives.
There are days that are good, and everything seems to be going your way.
And then there are days that are bad, and it seems like the whole world is falling apart and crumbling down on top of your head.
Sometimes things seem stable, but there are some days when things seem unstable, and unsettling, and disturbing, and sometimes you don’t know what to expect around the next corner.
And, it’s the goal of the devil to get your mind on these things, and off of the goodness of Jesus.
The devil wants to drop you off a hill so steep that you are overtaken by it, and you can’t think about anything else except that hill.
But even when the mountain looks steep, and hard to climb, and the valley that you are in, looks too deep to ever climb out of, the scripture still holds true…that “…all things work together for good to them that love God…”
You may not understand it right now, but God does!
You may not see around this obstacle, but God does!
We’ve got to get to a point in our lives, that we are Content knowing that God is in control!
Back to our text….
11 Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content.
Paul said, Not that I speak in respect of want.
The Phillipian church loved Paul very much. And they cared for him very much.
They did things for him. While he was in prison, they brought him things that he needed.
And back in verse 10 Paul said, “10 But I rejoiced in the Lord greatly, that now at the last your care of me hath flourished again…”
He was rejoicing that they wanted to help him.
But Paul wasn’t rejoicing because he himself wanted anything, but because the grace of God was working through those Phillipians.
One hundred years ago, in a survey, families were asked to list all the things that they wanted, and the average American family had 70 wants.
About 50 years later, a similar survey showed that the average American family had nearly 500 wants. We are a generation that has more and more wants and we are less and less content with what we have.
I found an illustration of a cartoon showing two fields divided by a fence. Both fields were about the same size, and both of them had plenty of green grass. In each field there was a mule with his head through the fence, eating grass from the other mule’s pasture. At the bottom of the cartoon was the word – DISCONTENT.
Many believers are like those two mules. They are always looking for greener pastures. They are never happy, never satisfied, never content.
But Paul didn’t operate out of want, but he said “…I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content.”
Whatsoever state he was in.
Whatever he was going through.
No matter what the roller coaster of life was sending his way.
He was going to be content.
In verse 12 Paul said, “I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound.”
He knew how to be abased.
That means down, depressed, humiliated.
He knew how it was to have one of those days when things weren’t going well.
I’d like to remind you that Paul wrote this epistle from a jail cell not a penthouse.
He didn’t have a servant waiting on him, but a soldier watching over him.
2 Corinthians 11:24-28 tells us some of what Paul went through.
24 Of the Jews five times received I forty stripes save one.
25 Thrice was I beaten with rods, once was I stoned, thrice I suffered shipwreck, a night and a day I have been in the deep;
26 In journeyings often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils by mine own countrymen, in perils by the heathen, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren;
27 In weariness and painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness.
28 Beside those things that are without, that which cometh upon me daily, the care of all the churches.
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And Paul knew how to abound.
Abound means to have more than enough, to have enough to spare, to exceed, to be over and above.
You see, there had been times in Paul’s life when he had more than most. Paul had experienced the finest things in life. As a child, Paul probably had anything he wanted. As a student, he had been educated under Gamaliel, which was then a very expensive education. As an adult, he was a Pharisee, which carried a position of pomp and prestige.
Paul knew what it was like to be ON TOP OF THINGS.
He said , “I’ve been on top of the world, and I’ve been down in the pit, but “…I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content.”
In 1923, a group of America’s most successful financiers met at the Edgewater Beach Hotel in Chicago. Among them were:
Charles Schwab, the president of the largest steel company in America;
Samuel Insull, the president of America’s greatest utility company
Richard Whitney, the president of the New York Stock Exchange.
Also present were Albert Fall, a member of the cabinet of the President of the United States;
And Jesse Livermore, the Wall Street financier; Ivan Krueger, the head of the world’s largest monopoly.
Twenty-five years later, in 1948, Billy Rose wrote an newspaper article and he talked about this meeting, and about what had become of the successful financiers that had gathered at that meeting.
He found that:
Charles Schwab, the president of the largest independent steel company in America, had lived on borrowed money for five years before he died and died bankrupt.
Samuel Insull, the president of the greatest utility company, had died penniless, a fugitive from justice.
Richard Whitney, the president of the New York Stock Exchange, had only been recently released from Sing Sing Prison.
Albert Fall, the member of the president’s cabinet, had been pardoned from prison so he could die at home.
Jesse Livermore and Ivan Krueger had committed suicide.
It would seem that for many that had gathered in that meeting in 1932, instead of learning how to handle life, life had handled them.
And with so many today, it’s the same way. Instead of learning how to handle the up’s and down’s of life, the up’s and down’s of life handle them.
The Apostle Paul tells us, by his own testimony, how to handle the up’s and down’s of life. Paul had experienced both the high’s and the low’s of life. He knew what it was to be up and he knew what it was to be down. But, instead of the up’s and down’s handling him, he had learned how to handle them.
Now we’ve already established that we’re going to have up’s and down’s.
And there is nothing you can do, except die, to stop the up’s and down’s.
You can’t get close enough to God to stop them.
You can’t pay enough in the offering to stop them.
You can’t preach enough to stop them.
You can’t teach enough.
You can’t pray enough.
You can’t live holy enough.
You can’t stop the up’s and down’s that are going to come into your life.
You see, God has a supernatural way of knowing when you need an up, and when you need a down.
He knows when you need a curve, and He knows when you need a straight-away.
In your life as a Christian, there are no accidents, but only appointments.
God allows things, both good and bad, to come your way.
The Bible says it rains on the just and the unjust.
But you can be assured that He has it all under control.
The devil didn’t slip one past Him, but He’s got it all under control.
And, the Bible says that He will never put on you more than you can bear.
There have been times that I have prayed and asked God to deliver me from a pit, but He didn’t.
Why?
Because He wanted me to understand that His strength and grace is sufficient even in the pit.
He wants to build us to be able to have peace even in the presence of our enemies.
Peter said, “The trial of your faith is more precious than gold.”
Those trials build us,
they grow us,
they mature us as Christians.
“…I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content.”
Paul learned how to be content.
How many have prayed and asked the Lord for something, and it never came through.
He just never gave you what you asked for?
We’ve got to understand that God knows best.
He knows what we need.
He knows when we need it.
Sometimes we may pray for things that the Lord knows it would be best if we didn’t get that.
By the way, Do you realize that if every prayer was answered, nobody would ever die.
The world probably couldn’t hold all the people, because nobody would ever die.
Right?
Every one of your loved ones that have been in bad health, haven’t you prayed that the Lord would heal them and let them live?
We’ve got to know that the Lord knows best.
Paul told Timothy that, “…godliness with contentment is great gain.”
Paul was indeed wealthy, because he had learned to be content in whatever situation he was in. No matter if things were up or down, he was still gonna be content.
I said it earlier that the devil wants you to get your mind on all these up’s and down’s, and get your mind off of the plan of God, and the goodness of God.
I believe whole-heartedly that if the devil can take over your mind, he can take everything that you have.
And Paul undoubtedly agrees, because back in verse 8, he said, “whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.”
Don’t worry about all the junk that the devil wants you to.
Don’t worry about all the mess that the world is in.
Don’t worry about the trouble in the family.
Don’t worry about the trouble in the church.
Don’t worry about the trouble on the job.
But let’s get our minds on pure & holy & honest & just things, & on the goodness of the Almighty God!
Let’s be content that He’s taking care of it!
But I want you to notice how Paul ties in being content
Paul was saying that he had learned to live a DETACHED LIFE.
A DETACHED LIFE.
DETACHED from the circumstances.
He said, “…whatsoever state I am…”
Whatever the circumstances are…….I’ve learned to be content.
There was a man that was walking by a house, and there were some kids playing out in the yard. And the family obviously didn’t have very much money. And the kids had an old log set up out there in the yard, and they were riding that log, pretending like it was a horse, or something. And the man said, “That looks kind-of slow. Wouldn’t you rather ride on a pony or on your bicycle?” And the kids replied, “Yes Sir, but we don’t have a pony or a bicycle, so we’re getting the most out of what we’ve got.”
And that is the way Paul was. He had learned to make the most out of whatever he had.
He had learned that he had to DETACH himself from the circumstances.
We can’t wake up in the morning wondering what kind of day we’re gonna have.
We’ve got to wake up knowing that whatever that day holds, we’re going to be content.
You may think I’m talking a bunch of hog-wash…
That it is impossible to live contently all the time…
“You don’t know what I’m going through…
I can be content in most things, but this one is just too much.”
But if you feel like that, Bro. Paul don’t agree with you.
In verse 13, he said, “I can do all things”…………. “I can do all things!”
Yes, Even That! You can do all things!
But before you go and start on this content life, we need to finish all these scriptures that we read.
Paul didn’t learn how to be content all on his own.
Paul didn’t think that he could be content in whatever state he was in, on his own.
But in verse 13, Paul said, “13 I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.
He knew that the strength wasn’t in him, but he had to rely on the Lord for his strength.
And through Christ, he was able to do all things.
You wonder why Paul said that he could do all things? He said that, because he knew that with God, all things are possible!
Psalm 18
2 The LORD is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I will trust; my buckler, and the horn of my salvation, and my high tower.
Psalm 28
7 The LORD is my strength and my shield; my heart trusted in him, and I am helped: …”
His strength is what will make you happy instead of sad.
His strength is what will make you feel comforted instead of lonely.
His strength is what will encourage you instead of discourage you.
His strength is what will make you content even through the up’s & down’s.
It’s His strength.
We’ve got to learn to depend on Him.
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Whenever you get into one of those situations, where something is trying you, and you don’t understand it, and you begin to get all down and out, Ask yourself some of the questions that the Lord asked Job when he was all down and out.
-----Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth?
-----Canst thou send lightnings
-----Who provideth for the raven his food?
It’s the strength of the Lord.
You can’t do it,
You can’t make it through your battle on your own,
You can’t figure out the right answer on your own.
It takes Jesus.
2 Corinthians 12:9
9 “…my strength is made perfect in weakness…”
How is His strength made perfect in weakness?
Because when You are Weak.
…And you’ve tried everything you can think of to try.
…And you’ve used all your resources.
…And you’re at the bottom of the barrel.
There at that low, weak place….If you will let Him, the Lord will take over that situation and work it out in a way you never thought of.
And there, you will see the strength of the Lord.
A strength that surpasses everything that you can do.
A strength that knows how to handle anything that comes your way.
CLOSING POINTS:
One of my favorite scriptures in the Bible.
Psalm 37
39 But the salvation of the righteous is of the LORD: he is their strength in the time of trouble.
He is my strength in the time of trouble.
On this roller coaster ride of up’s and down’s, happy days and sad days………
He is my Strength!
I want us to learn to rely on His strength more and more, and realize that we are weak.
He wants you to lean on Him.
He wants you to depend on Him.
He don’t want you to try and fight all the battles on your own.
He is your strength in the time of trouble.
465 times in the Bible, you will find the phrase, “It came to pass.”
The Bible don’t say, “It came to stay”not even one time.
Those things didn’t come into your life to stay, they just came to pass.
When it feels like you’re on the downhill slope of a roller coaster, You tell the devil, “It may be here now, but it didn’t come to stay, it came to pass.
Come on…Somebody say that…“It may be here now, but it didn’t come to stay, it came to pass.
Up’s and down’s are going to come to everyone of us, but we’ve got to know that God is in control.
Taken from a sermon by Brian Davis
