I. Intro: GODZILLA MEAT!
A. Want to be as strong as Godzilla? Eat Godzilla Meat! “Godzilla Meat—actually 3.5 ounces of corned beef from Tokyo toy maker Takara Company—is packaged with pictures of the stomping, fire-breathing, irradiated dinosaur made famous by movies that started coming out in the 1950s. People can eat Godzilla and become energetic and powerful. ‘It’s like Popeye and his can of spinach,’ said Takara spokeswoman Yoko Watanabe.”?
There are no plans to bring Godzilla Meat to the US, but the Japanese can look forward to other “power” meats like Godzilla Eggs (a can of about 15 quail eggs) and Rodan Meat (canned barbecued chicken named after the winged monster).?
APPLICATION — It would be wonderful to simply pop the lid on a can of power, but such a product has yet to actually hit the market. Or has it?
By virtue of the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit, we are granted continuous access to the powerful flow of God’s grace in and through our lives. “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me” (Philippians 4:13). Indeed, the Lord has promised, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” We too, then, can affirm along with the Apostle Paul, “Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me.” (2 Corinthians 12:9). (from illustrationexchange.com)
B. Paul is wrapping up his encouragement letter to the Philippians by acknowledging their genuine concern for him, and by reminding them that circumstances have no power over his perspective, for he knows that Christ in us is greater than any difficulty this world can produce
II. Keep Your Promises (v.10)
A. Ten years had gone by between when the Philippians first gave a gift to Paul to meet his needs and this most recent one delivered by Epaphroditus
1. By “revived,” Paul isn’t saying they had forgotten, only that they were heretofore unable to help him
2. “You have revived your concern”—no one needed to remind them of their burden for Paul, so they had never forgotten
3. “you lacked opportunity”—circumstances prevented them, not indifference
B. How often, in our day-to-day busyness, do we tell someone we’ll do something for them—or even simply pray for them—but immediately forget our commitments?
1. What does it say of what we think of “commitment”?
2. What does it say of us when we fail to “deliver” on our promises?
3. And what does it say of the church?
III. Keep Your Perspective (v.11-12)
A. “Not that I am … in need”—Paul isn’t saying he has no needs, he’s merely saying he isn’t responding here as though he were—this way they can be assured his praise of their love is genuine
1. “Content”—or “self-sufficient” or “satisfied”; same as the word “sufficient” in 2 Cor. 9:8, describes complete independence from need or help
2 Corinthians 9:8--"And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work."
2. “Whatever situation”—Paul is about to classify those
B. Paul has learned the 3-sided “secret” to this sufficiency:
a. Emotionally: “Brought low / abound”—how to get along with little physical means, and how to be prosperous—not so much “how to get poor and get rich,” but how to emotionally cope with being poor and being rich
b. Physically: “Plenty / hunger”—similar; “facing plenty” was a Greek term used for feeding & fattening animals—Paul knew how to physically function whether full or starving
c. Spiritually: “Abundance / need”—“Have too much” or “suffer need”—Paul knew how to spiritually survive whether God was bringing provision or not
C. Do we see ourselves like this? Do we really believe that God is in total control of our circumstances? Do we rely on Him for our every need—emotional, physical, and spiritual?
IV. Keep Your Power Source (v.13)
A. “I can do” = “I am strong / able”—Paul has the ability and strength to cope with the list he just mentioned, both the bad things and the good ones
B. “Strengthens”—literally, “puts power in”—we might think, “installs dynamite”: Christ Himself provides the necessary energy to “do all things”
C. When we complain about trials and difficulties, what are we saying about the power of Christ in us?
V. Conclusion
Silly Putty is an amazing little invention, but it was actually the result of an accident:
James Wright, an engineer at General Electric's New Haven laboratory, may have invented silly putty in 1943 when he accidentally dropped boric acid into silicone oil. Dr. Earl Warrick, of the Dow Corning Corporation, also developed a bouncing silicone putty in 1943. Both GE and Dow Corning were trying to make an inexpensive synthetic rubber to support the war effort. The material resulting from the mixture of boric acid and silicone stretched and bounced farther than rubber, even at extreme temperatures. As an added bonus, the putty copied newspaper or comic-book print.
Accident or not, if you've ever played with it, you know how resilient it can be. Apply pressure on it slowly, and it is pliable, moldable, able to take on new shapes in response to the pressure. Apply pressure fast and hard, as in throwing it, and it will bounce like a ball. But stretch it too thin, and it will "snap" and tear as the fragile hydrogen bonds which hold the molecules together suddenly break apart.
APPLICATION: Ever think of yourself as spiritual silly putty--able to resiliently bounce back from any pressure? We read in Scripture that we can do all things through Christ who strengthens us. But in our zeal, we sometimes stretch the bonds of our own human frailty too thin, and that's when we snap.
We are “the weak link"--like the frail hydrogen bonds in silly putty--that too easily break and tear under pressure. But when we fully rely on Christ--and not our own human effort--to keep it all together and withstand the pressures of life, then and only then can we hope to shape and reshape according to the need of the moment. Only then will we bounce back to serve another day.
(Have a ball of silly putty on hand to demonstrate the above as you describe its properties.)
"I can do all this through him who gives me strength" (Philippians 4:13). "That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties in pressure!. For when I am weak, then I am strong" (2 Corinthians 12:10). (from illustrationexchange.com)
