Jesus is ours not because we are climbing the right ladder in the right way. Jesus is ours because He has given Himself to us.
Next year, Advent gets Philippians 4:4-7 as the epistle text. Thanksgiving reads Philippians 4:6-20 for the epistle annually (should you have a service, this is, in fact, the occasion I have had most often in my career to preach the Philippians 4 text). This season, the pericope caps off the Philippians series before the epistle of the Three-Year Lectionary finishes Pentecost with the Thessalonian correspondence.
There are some ringers in the appointed text, good stuff to put into memory, and inviting passages to build a whole sermon around. 4:4-7 begins with rejoice in the Lord always and ends with the lesson about prayer and thanksgiving and the peace of God that passes understanding. 4:13 is the refrigerator-magnet verse, I can do all things through Him who strengthens me. Of the many sermons you can preach on this epistle pericope, the smart money is on exploding 4:13 and its context. Why? Because our people are bombarded with success, addicted to the fetish of getting ahead, and preached at from all corners about leadership and being all we can be. It is nice to take a pause on a sabbath, a time out, and hear in 4:13 not a theology of glory, as can be concluded out of context, but rather a theology of the cross, the way it was first written, and the way it ought to be preached still today.
The first thing I want you to notice is the most important of all prepositional phrases in the New Testament and the first rule of real estate: Location, location, location. Paul tells us where Christian life begins: In Christ (Philippians 4:4-7). Rejoice in the Lord always. Let your gentleness, your toleration, your put-up-with-each-otherness be known to everyone. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious, but in everything, by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. There is a lot here, and it is all gift (all grace, all God, as my friend Mike Middendorf loves to repeat about the gifts given in Christ). The Lord is near. The peace of God is given as a gift.
However, the Christian does not open a gift box from God and find a set of techniques for achieving a successful life. The gift we open is God’s promises, to be received in the middle of a life lived as it actually is. And that includes the anxious life, the troubled life, the life that has not worked out according to (our) plan. Paul does not say Christians never experience anxiety or that prayer is a lever to pull to make the universe deliver what we want. The Apostle directs us, rather, to the one who is near, at hand (Philippians 4:5), the one who hears, the one whose peace guards us in Christ (Philippians 4:7).
And then comes the refrigerator magnet: I can do all things through Him who strengthens me. Wonderful! Put it on the fridge. Paste it on the coffee mug. Plaster it on the inspirational poster in the gym. Except, Paul is not talking about winning the game, getting the promotion, passing the exam, or becoming the most successful version of yourself or any other variation of “your best life now.” Paul is talking about being hungry. He is talking about being full. He is talking about having plenty and being in need. He is talking about a life that has known the entire range of human circumstances and the secret to being content in all of them. Philippians 4:13 is not a promise that Christ will make me successful at whatever I set my mind to. It is a promise that Christ is sufficient for me in every circumstance. Christ is the strengthener, the location in which and from which the weak are strong, the insufficient are sufficient, the needy are full, the sick are whole, and the dead live. Hear that opposite game? That is a sure sign you are running with a theology of the cross.
Christ is the strengthener, the location in which and from which the weak are strong, the insufficient are sufficient, the needy are full, the sick are whole, and the dead live.
That is the secret Paul has learned. He knows how to abound, and he knows how to be brought low. He knows what it is to have plenty, and what it is to go hungry. He has learned contentment, not because he has mastered the power of positive thinking, not because he has discovered the secret of success, and not because he has become so spiritually adept that circumstances no longer matter. The Apostle is strong with respect to all things in the one who empowers him. The strength belongs to Christ. The life belongs to Christ. The contentment is found in Christ. Outside of Christ, I have nothing which can finally answer sin, death, and the Devil. In Christ, though (location, location, location!), I have everything that can.
The theology of the cross is the thing, confessed comprehensively right here at Philippians 4:10-13. Where does Jesus point us if we want to know the strength of God? Not to “your best life now,” not the trophy room, the corner office, or the beautiful house, not the healthy body, the enviable family, the successful career, or the life that makes everyone else wish they were you. Jesus points us to His cross.
So, let us look at the text as preachers this week. Look at the cross. There hangs your God. No success there, just defeat. No worldly wisdom, just the foolishness of the cross. No visible strength, just weakness. No life, just death (hear that opposite game?). Yet, this is precisely where God has chosen to save you. He takes your sin, your weakness, your poverty, your inability, your death, and He bears it Himself. Jesus lives for you. Jesus dies for you. Jesus rises for you. The strength of God is not a fantasy of human glory. The strength of God is the crucified and risen Christ, given for sinners.
When Paul says I can do all things through Him who strengthens me, he is not giving us a magic charm to rub when we want the world to go our way. Rather, he is confessing the sufficiency of Christ in the whole of life: In plenty and in want, in health and in sickness, in success and in failure, in the days when we are proud and the days when we are ashamed. Christ is no mere accessory to a life that is otherwise going swimmingly, some kind of middle-class messianic value-add. Jesus is our life. Jesus is our righteousness. Jesus is our strength. Jesus is our peace. And Jesus is ours not because we are climbing the right ladder in the right way. Jesus is ours because He has given Himself to us.
Jesus, His devotion to us, His sacrifice for all, His humility and exaltation by which He earns the name that is above all names (Philippians 2:9), His salvation of the world, and His salvation of you (Philippians 3:9-10) are the gifts which make Christian contentment possible. Christian contentment is not satisfied because everything is fine. Christians do not find contentment only when suffering is gone or because we can imagine poverty does not matter. Christians ought not pretend the world is not broken. It is. It is messy. And we live in the hurt of it along with our neighbors who are hurting too.
What a joy to read some straight scoop, to hear that Paul knows it too, knows what hunger and need are. The cross tells the truth about suffering and sin. What a great lesson on the theology of the cross and its distinction from a theology of glory. For extra value, you might want to scare up and reread the Heidelberg Disputation on that point. Pay special attention to theses 20 and 21!
But the cross also tells the truth about God’s love: God has not abandoned you. He has come for you, in Christ. Christ crucified for you. Christ risen for you. Christ giving you Himself. In Christ, you are forgiven. In Christ, you are held secure. In Christ, you have a peace the world cannot manufacture, and circumstances cannot ever take away.
Therefore, hear the promise again, so you are equipped to preach it, preacher. I can do all things through Him who strengthens me. Not because you are strong, no. Not because you are wise. Not because you are good. But because Christ is strong. Christ is wise. Christ is good. And Christ is for you and for your hearer too. The Lord is near. The Lord is at hand. His peace guards you (what a promise in Philippians 4:7!). His righteousness is yours. Christ’s death is your death. Christ’s resurrection is your life. You are free from the endless striving to make yourself worthy, free from the lie that God’s favor can be measured by your worldly success, and free from living up to your (or anybody’s!) version of “your best life now.” You may abound or you may be brought low. You may have plenty or you may be in need. But you are in Christ, and Christ is yours.
That, preacher, is no refrigerator-magnet theology of glory. That is the theology of the cross, plain and simple. That is the promise of the Gospel. And that is strength enough for all things, in Christ who strengthens your hearer, strengthens me, and strengthens you.
Additional Resources:
Craft of Preaching-Check out 1517’s resources on Philippians 4:4-13.
Concordia Theology-Various helps from Concordia Seminary in St. Louis, MO to assist you preaching Philippians 4:4-13.
Lectionary Kick-Start-Check out this fantastic podcast from Craft of Preaching authors Peter Nafzger and David Schmitt as they dig into the texts for this Sunday!
The Pastor’s Workshop-Check out all the great preaching resources from our friends at the Pastor’s Workshop!
