More Than a Bumper Sticker | 30 Days of Joy - Philippians 4:10-13 | Matty Finlay

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Silverdale's Lead Pastor is Tony Walliser.

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Listen, as you're taking the seat, if you've got your Bible, go ahead and pull that out for me, and you can turn to the book of Philippians, gonna be in Philippians chapter four this morning. If you and I have never met, my name is Maddie. I have the privilege of serving as a part of the team here on a bunny oaks campus, and this morning I have the joy of opening God's word with you. It is wild to think that here in just a few short weeks, we will be knee deep in summer activities. School will be out, but everyone will be hitting the road, head to the beach or the lake or going sightseeing, going to see family. Now, I don't know about you, but one of my favorite things to do on a road trip is figure out how to pass the time. Like, how many of you have played that game when you're in the car where you're trying to find the license plate from every and every state in America on the road? Anyone else in play that game? Just me? Uh-huh. Come on, there we go. Lots of us have played that game. Typically, for us, when our family goes on a road trip, we get in the car, the boys are in the back there, generally occupied by a movie, an iPod, a coloring book, or whatever it is that they're doing. My sweet bride gets in the car. No sooner are the wheels rolling, she's got the pillow up against the window, the blankets up, and she is out like a light. Doesn't matter where we're going for how long, do not disturb her until the movie's over. The kids need something else. Anyone else got a wife like that? The guy's like hesitant to raise their hand, like maybe. Listen, I am generally the designated driver on all of our road trips. Like it doesn't matter if it's a nine-hour trip, an 18-hour trip, or a two-hour trip. Like I'm driving a car. Lots of people like that? Awesome. I don't know if that's because I'm a control freak or my wife's a passenger princess, but one or the other, I'm the designated driver. So often I find myself in the car trying to figure out a way to pass the time because the last thing I want to be stuck with for two or three hours are my own thoughts. So I'm finding ways to pass the time. One of the ways that I love to pass the time in a car is by noticing bumper stickers. Anyone else? Like you, what people put on the back of their vehicles is quite fascinating most of the time. And I want to share with you some of the more appropriate bumper stickers that I have found enjoyment from as we have been on the road. Here's a couple of them. Here's the first one. If you can read this, you're too close. Anyone seen that one before? And nine times out of ten, my response is yeah, but I wouldn't be if you'd get out of my lane. Amen. Like move. Let me go. How about this one? I had a life, but then my job ate it. Amen? How about this third one? This maybe is one of my favorites. Help Dad farted, we can't get out. Bumper stickers, right? They can be funny, they can be silly, but many people will also use bumper stickers to make a statement about who they are or what they believe, right? How many of you have seen this one? Probably lots of us, maybe all of us. This coexist bumper sticker, right? This idea that everyone should get along, everyone's right, and your truth is the truth, and so on and so forth. Right? Bumper stickers can make a statement about who we are, what we believe. Every four years or so, there are political bumper stickers that show up all over the place. They're making somewhat of a statement about who somebody is and what they believe. For many of us here in the South, in the Bible belt, we can so often be described as having a bumper sticker faith. Now, what do I mean by that? I put it on the top of your outline so you can fill it in as we go. A bumper stick of faith is a faith that is reduced to short and catchy phrases that lack depth and understanding of the Bible. A bumper stick of faith is a faith that is reduced to short and catchy phrases that lack depth and understanding of the Bible. Somebody with a bumpers stick of faith can be described as a permanent person who'll use statements that contain partial truths, but they lack understanding of what those truths mean. They lack the depth that comes with the context of the Bible, and they can often oversimplify the scriptures to mean something that they were never intended to mean. As we turn to our passage in Philippians 4 this morning, we're gonna get to one of those verses that is a bumper sticker verse for many people in the room. Something that has been often misapplied and misused more than maybe any other passage of scripture. It's been put on t-shirts, mugs, bumper stickers to give the impression that it says something it was never intended to say. Let's look at it together. Philippians 4, 10 through 13 says this. You're indeed concerned for me, but you had no opportunity. Not that I'm speaking of being in need, for I've learned in whatever situation I am to be content. I know how to be brought low and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance I've learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. I can do all things through him who strengthens me. I can do all things through Christ, through him who strengthens me. It's one of the most quoted verses in all of the Bible, but it's also one of the most misapplied. Paul isn't making some comprehensive declaration about any and all situations. Paul isn't saying that through Christ I can accomplish anything, that we can accomplish anything we set our minds to. Paul isn't saying that through Christ there are no obstacles, there is no ceiling. Paul is not saying that through Christ, if I get in the batter's box and face a hundred mile an hour fastball, then I'm gonna rip it over the center field fence. That is not what Paul is saying, but so often we see it on things like this. That I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. I'm a five foot two white guy and I'm going to the NBA. No, you're not, bro. We love you, and Christ can do a lot of things. I don't know about that one though. That phrase, that verse, Philippians 4 13, I can do all things through him who strengthens me, is given power within the context that it's housed in in Scripture. And anytime we stick it on a t-shirt to mean something, it doesn't mean we rip it of its power. And what I want for us to do this morning is beginning in verse 10, we're gonna work our way into and toward verse 13 so we can know and understand the context that surrounds it, what Paul is saying, what he intended for it to mean, so that it can have power in our lives. So if you're taking notes this morning, I want you to jot this down. It's the first thing, it's Paul's joy. Paul's joy. Look at verse 10 with me. Philippians 4 10 says this I rejoiced in the Lord greatly that now at length you have revived your concern for me. You were indeed concerned for me, but you had no opportunity. So Paul finds himself rejoicing because the Philippian church, through this man Apaphroditus that we've already read about earlier in the book, had sent a gift to him, that sent this monetary gift that Aphyroditus had brought to them. Now remember, Paul is a prisoner at this time. And as the time that he was a prisoner, he was dependent on and needy of everyone outside of the prison to meet all of his needs for everything and anything. Here's what's fascinating, though. Paul doesn't tell us he's thankful for the gift. Paul doesn't tell us, I rejoice greatly now that I've got clean clothes. I rejoice greatly now that I can eat, that my stomach's full. Paul doesn't rejoice at the gift, he rejoices that the church expressed their love and care for him in a tangible way. Paul is rejoicing at the fact that they've cared for him, not what they've given him. The rest of verse 10 shows us that Paul never doubted that care, but he's excited that it's been revived. Look again, Philippians 4:10. I rejoiced in the Lord greatly that now at length you have revived your concern for me, for you were indeed concerned for me, but you had no opportunity. Paul knew that the Philippian church were concerned for him, but understood that whatever the reason, maybe their own poverty, maybe they couldn't get somebody to actually go visit Paul, maybe their own persecution that they were under, but for some reason they hadn't been able to demonstrate that care in a real tangible way. And Paul is saying, I rejoice that you can show me now, and I've never doubted that you were concerned for me. There's a really subtle lesson in here for all of us, and it's this. I want you to write it down on your outline for me. We've got to be slow to interpret a lack of action as a lack of care. We've got to be really slow to interpret a lack of action as a lack of care. I know in the past that is, I have walked through hard times and trials and difficult seasons. It's been easy for me to assume when somebody hasn't shown up, when somebody hasn't reached out, when maybe they've been absent in those situations, it's been easy for me to assume the worst and begin to believe that they don't care about me. But what Paul demonstrates for us is that we have to choose to believe the best about what we know and who we believe the character of those people to be. So many of us in these difficult situations find our joy being robbed, not because of the situation, but because we've begun to believe that somebody doesn't care about us because of a lack of action. And we gotta be really slow to interpret a lack of action as a lack of care. One of the words that Paul uses in that passage is the word revive. It's anathallo in the Greek, and it could also be translated as to blossom again. That Paul has great joy when their care has blossomed again. I don't have much of a green thumb, but I remember when we bought our house several years back. We moved in in about December, and as we're carrying boxes into the house and back and forth, I remember noticing in on our across the front porch, you got this rock bread, and there's some flowers in it and whatnot. There's this really ugly twig-looking tree thing. And I only noticed that, I only remember noticing it because I remember noticing how ugly this thing was sitting in front of the house. And I thought to myself, as I'm carrying boxes in one day, man, my wife's gonna have me pull that thing out, and it's gonna be a nightmare. So we carry on going, we're taking boxes in and out of the house. Pay no attention to this front bed, right? Like you know, if you've moved house, you all you focus is getting things situated inside the house. You really couldn't care less about anything going on outside. Well, a few months pass, the spring comes around, and I'm walking up the front porch steps and into the house one day, and all of a sudden I stop halfway up the steps because this ugly tree-looking thing has now caught my attention. Because it's no longer this ugly tree-looking thing, it's this beautiful, deep, bright red thing, and it's gorgeous. Like it, I hadn't paid any attention to it. I hadn't paid attention to it in the months leading up to that moment, but I remember it catching my eye and stopping and looking at me like, whoa, that thing is beautiful. And now every year I wait for this Japanese tree thing to bloom again in the spring. Every winter I notice it, and every winter I think, man, that thing is so hideous. I wish we could get something else. And then every spring I'm like, oh, but there it is, it's beautiful again. That's how Paul felt. When this care was expressed, when this care was demonstrated, it like lifted his heart. When it blossomed, when this care blossomed again, it made him smile. Paul's joy came from the reality, from the fact that his friends in Philippi cared for him and not in what they gave him. When that care had been revived again, had blossomed again, it brought him great joy. He found joy in knowing they cared, not in how they cared. Look how he doubles down on this in verses 11 through 12. He says, not that I'm speaking of being in need, for I've learned in whatever situation I am to be content. I know how to be brought low and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I've learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. Take a note, I want you to jot this down for me. The secret to joy is contentment. The secret to joy is contentment. It's almost as if Paul anticipates the arguments that are gonna be made. It's almost as if he presumes to know what people are gonna say. How easy would it have been for someone to make the accusation of Paul that no, you're actually only finding joy, you're only rejoicing because now you've got a belly full of food. Paul, you're only rejoicing because now you've got some supplies, now you've got clean clothes, now you don't smell like a sewer, whatever it may be, it would have been easy for people to have accused him of that. So he immediately addresses the fact that his joy is not rooted in stuff, it's not rooted in material things. Look at his verse 11 to 12. Not that I'm speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. I know how to be brought low, I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance I've learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. Paul says, My joy, my rejoicing is not because of stuff, it's not due to material things, it's because I've learned to be content, whether I have a little or a lot, whether I have abundance or I am in need, whether I am hungry or I have plenty. The secret to his joy is not materialism. The secret to the joy-filled life that Paul is experiencing, even when he finds himself in a prison cell, is contentment. Church, we don't need more stuff. We have convinced ourselves that joy comes from getting more stuff, accumulating more things, having what other people have. But what Paul is saying is the joy-filled life comes from being content in any and all situations. The degree to which we are content in and with life will direct you directly contribute to the joy we experience in our lives. Joy is found in contentment. Just a couple weeks ago, I was chatting with one of our pastors, Pastor Travis, and he was telling me about this study that was done in Philadelphia. There is a theory in behavioral economics called conspicuous consumption, which is driven by the need to keep up with the Joneses, if you would. The study done in 2016, it focused on lottery winners and the neighborhoods in which they lived in. What the study revealed is absolutely fascinating. Listen to this. It revealed that for every $720 a person wins on the lottery, the likelihood of somebody who lived in that same neighborhood experiencing bankruptcy increased by 2.4%. And it all hinged on a lack of consent. People in those neighborhoods, they see the new car or the new truck. They see the kitchen cabinets going in, they see the pool being put in, and all of a sudden we need a new car. We need a new truck. We should go in the kitchen too, and the pool we need a big one. They went through content and satisfied. So all of a sudden, discontent is the key to a joyful life. It's funny to me how as a pastor, God begins to teach us these things before we ever stand here and teach a me. Just a few weeks back, you remember the snow apocalypse back in like January that came through and Channel was gonna end and all the rest of it. Well, that weekend, I was going to West Tennessee to teach at a college conference. And West Tennessee actually did get some snow, the roads were pretty bad, the weather was pretty awful, if you remember that. So as I'm getting ready to go to West Tennessee, I looked at my wife and I was like, babe, I don't know that my little Honda Accord can necessarily handle any of the snow that we might encounter out there. So I'm gonna go and rent a car that has four-wheel drive and I'm gonna head out there that way. If something does happen, if the roads are bad, you feel good, I feel good, and I can still make sure we get home. So I show up at Enterprise and they hand me the keys to a 2026 GMC Sierra truck that has about 7,000 miles on it. I spent the rest of that weekend, it was freezing cold, but I'm chicken winging out the window, I got the window down, like I'm riding high on the hill. You know what I'm saying? Like I'm feeling pretty good about myself and this brand new truck. So I drive out to West Tennessee, do the thing, drive back, everything goes great. Roll up to Enterprise on the Monday, put the car, give them the keys back, and get back in my 2012 Honda Accord that has more lights on the dashboard than a Christmas tree, then some dings in here from where the kids have banged it and hit it with baseball batch, you name it, and all of a sudden I had this thought. I need a new car. I need a 2026 GMC Sierra truck. I deserve that truck. I work hard, I serve the Lord. I don't need to be in this 2012 according to more lights on the dash than the Christmas tree. I need a new truck. And what I found, what I noticed over the next several days, is every morning when I would get in my car, I was sad. See, in my sin, this discontentment had grown with what I had. This discontentment had grown in my life because of my sin, and all of a sudden, I needed something else. I was no longer content and joyful with what I had and where I had and what I got to do. All of a sudden, I needed something more, and I needed something different because I was discontent with what I had, and I found the joy of my life being stolen because of something that was never mine to begin with. And that's a silly example, and we laugh and we chuckle, but isn't that where most of us spend a lot of our lives? Hard to be content and find joy because of something we don't have. The secret to joy is contentment. So, what's the key to finding contentment? I want you to jot this down on your outline for me. The key to contentment is Christ. The key to contentment is Christ. The key to content is a vibrant, growing relationship with Jesus. The joy Paul has talked about all the way through this letter to the Philippian church. Even in these last two verses, Paul has wanted to make sure that we know and understand that joy does not come from anything material. It's all been leading us to and pointing us to this bumper sticker verse of Philippians 4.13. I can do all things through Christ, through him who strengthens me. When we allow Philippians 4.13 in the context of Philippians 4 to mean what Paul intended it to mean, it's not a declaration to be applied to any and every situation to suggest that we can do everything and anything. It's a declaration to suggest that in any season of our lives, in any situation of our lives that we find ourselves in, but by the power of Christ that works within us, we can be content and have joy. That the joy in our lives is not dependent on anything or any situation. The joy in our lives comes from being content with who Christ is in our lives. Don't miss this, church. Paul is riding from a prison cell and he's reminding us that our situations and circumstances don't get to determine the joy we experience in our lives. Paul's reminding us that if we believe the truth of the gospel, if we believe that Jesus is who he says that he is, if we believe that Jesus can do what he says that he can do, then that should shape and define our entire lives. That we should be content with the truth of the gospel because it's all that we need. That we can be content with Christ, because Christ is all that we need. That in Jesus we have everything we need for life and godliness. That's what Peter would tell us in the scriptures. That we can be content in any and in every situation of our lives because of him. Who's at work in us because it's him that's all we need. We don't need stuff, we don't need things, we don't need a new car, bigger house, not a clothes. Let me give you some ways that we can see this flesh out real practically when we find contentment in Christ. Want you to jot these down for me. When we find our contentment in Christ, we will have gratitude instead of entitlement. We'll have gratitude instead of entitlement. We'll begin to see everything, big or small, as a gift from God and not something that we are owed by God. We'll have peace and uncertainty. Even when life feels unsteady, uncertain, or unstable, we will have a confidence and trust in God. We'll have hope in our suffering. We'll understand that pain and hurt doesn't get to have the final say in our lives. God is at work, his promises are true, and he is working all things together for our good. We'll have freedom from comparison. Contentment of Christ, contentment in Christ will break us from the need and desire to compare ourselves to other people. And we'll have patience in waiting. Instead of trying to force outcomes, instead of always looking to the next thing to climb the ladder, we'll be content and have understanding that God is moving and working on his time and not ours. When we are content in Christ, we'll have gratitude instead of entitlement, peace in uncertainty, hope in suffering, freedom from comparison, and patience in waiting. And I could go on and on and on and on. That list is endless. Some of us find ourselves in the room this morning, and a lack of contentment in our lives has stolen the joy from our lives. We are so concerned with what we don't have that we've forgotten to be thankful and gracious for the things that we do have. Many of you know that a little while ago, a couple weeks back, I went on a mission trip to Eastern Europe to a country that is at war with another country, and we got to spend several days there. And one of the cities that we went into, we spent about four days there, is on the front lines of the war. And the locals call this area the red zone because of the amount of attacks that happened there. It's about a quarter of a mile from the front lines where the soldiers are stationed. And on the fourth day of that trip, we meet up with this pastor, and he says, Hey, I want to take you in to this red zone, all the way to again to the front lines, and I want you to go meet with a guy who's a deacon at my church. So I want you to hear his story. And it was a tense morning. We knew exactly what we had signed up for. We knew exactly what that meant when we said, Yes, let's go visit with this guy. So as we're driving down regular roads at 100 miles an hour, windows down, being sure to look for drones and whatever may have been in the air, the tensions were high, nervous. We get out of the car. This pastor, who's a sure kind of stubby guy, funny as can be, is walking faster than I've ever seen him move. Through fear and anxiety of what could happen next. So he tells us, hey, don't walk in pairs, stagger. Anything that the that these the enemy sees in groups of people, they're gonna attack. So make sure we're spread out, don't get too close. So everyone's on edge, right? We get to this apartment complex. I think we've got a picture of that. We get into a door, we we we he says, right, we go up the stairs, you go up six flights of stairs, and as we get to the top of that set of stairs, you see this sweet old lady with the biggest smile on her face. She hugs this pasta, gives this big old bear hug. She leads us into an apartment, down this narrow corridor, the whole time you can hear the explosions going off around us, and he leads us into this room where we meet this guy, Sergei. And Sergei is sitting on that bed with that same smile on his face. He says, Come in, sit down, we sit down, and he begins to share with us his story. And as Sergei is sharing with us his story, you can hear the explosions going off around us. If you listen close enough, you can hear the glass in the windows rattling every time there's an explosion. And Sergei tells us that in February of that year, just a few months earlier, he was in the local market picking up some supplies, and he gets hit by a drone. And on that day, the drone hits him in the head, malfunctions, shoots up into the air, and explodes high above everybody, and everybody's safe. He's got a nasty little scar in his head from where it hit him. Four days later, Sergei is back in that same market picking up supplies for his family and is hit by another drone. Only this time, Sergei is not as lucky. There's an explosion, Sergei is knocked off his bike. And in the dead of winter, he's left outside for about four days. As the rescue teams come through, they miss him. Whether he's covered by rubble, unconscious, presumed dead, they miss him. And he's left out there in the snow and the cold for four days until a second rescue team comes through after an additional explosion and they find him. And Sergei threw the injuries from the drone and from frostbite, lost both of his arms from about the elbow down, his left leg from the knee down, and most of his right foot. And he's telling us this story. He tells us about that first drone and he kind of chuckles, like, yeah, man, hit me in the head and it goes up and he kind of laughs, like, whoa. But the whole time Sergei's talking, he's smiling, as he's telling us this story. And the whole time he's telling us a story and he's smiling, literally, we can hear the explosions taking going off around us. Looking at each other across the room, like, hey, do you do you hear like are we all on the same page? We're all hearing the same thing, like this is not safe. And then there comes this moment where Sergei's talking where we ask him, Sergei, the whole time you've been telling us this story, you're smiling. Why are you not bitter and angry? Like, can you can you help us understand? And he almost tilts his head to the side as if to say, What a stupid question. Sergei, as he's talked, for the most part, has talked through our translator. That was our pastor, so he would talk to the pastor, the pastor's related to us. But in this moment, he picks his head, he turns it around, and he looks at us dead in the eye. And he says this. I'm alive. I have a family that love me. And I have Christ in my heart. What do I have to be discouraged about? And for those next moment it was just like this. You could have heard a pain drop inside that. Philippians 4, 11 through 13 says this. Not that I'm speaking of being in need, but I've learned that in whatever situation I'm in, to be content. I know how to be brought low. I've learned how to abide. I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. My friend Sergei is living proof of Philippians 4.13. That when we understand the truth of the gospel, when we have the power of Christ at work within us, we can face any and every situation with joy and contentment because in a relationship with Christ, Christ is all we need. Not the five foot two white guy making it to the NBA. But that even when you've lost both your legs and both your hands, even when your life is under constant threat, that you can be content and have joy in all situations.