I Can Do All Things

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Well, I learned at an early age that there are some things I just can’t do. I remember when my parents tried to take the, or not tried to, they took the training wheels off my bike for the first time, I remember being just infuriated that I could not ride it the first time perfectly. I kind of still carry that trait.

If I can’t do it perfectly, I don’t want to do it. But I’ve learned there are certain things that I just, I’m just not naturally equipped to do. I’m a little worried about it because my mother-in-law, I guess she’s a little tired this morning, she said, you’re going to have to keep me awake during the sermon this morning.

And I thought, I’m not sure I’m dynamic enough to do that. So, certain things I’m just not cut out to do. But what I’ve discovered is that when it comes to doing something that God has called you to do, even if you’re not equipped to do it naturally, God makes a way for it to happen.

God has this incredible knack for showing up at just the right time and giving you just the amount of grace you need to get through that moment. And one of the clearest times I remember this happening was several years ago on a mission trip to Canada. I was in Quebec.

They speak French, but they speak a different kind of French than I learned. And I was there with a group of students from various churches in various southern states, and we were there helping this church plant. We were going out through neighborhoods and little villages, and we were hanging flyers and tracks and things on people’s doors.

And most of the kids didn’t speak French, so they told us, you know, you don’t even have to knock on the doors, just hang these things out, and people will contact the church if they’re interested. So we’re going door to door. But we came up on it.

They said, you know, you can converse with people if you want to. But I was really struggling because, like I said, different accent, completely different accent. We came up on it.

And I’ve been struggling with the people at the church trying to understand them. We came up to this lady. She was sitting on her porch smoking a cigarette and drinking a beer and wanted to know what we had.

And so we’re handing her the thing. And she said, you know, I already have a Catholic church down the street I don’t go to. How are you all different?

And I’m struggling to understand her and struggling to make myself understood. And I began talking to her about salvation by grace through faith. And suddenly, I’m finding that I’m understanding her and she’s understanding me.

And that was the first time that whole week that I felt like I could communicate with somebody without asking them to slow down and speak to me like I’m five. And I’m not saying it’s an Acts chapter 2 situation. I wasn’t speaking in tongues.

I wasn’t speaking in a language I’d never learned. But God just somehow made the dialect barrier go away. And I wish it had stayed that way because then I went right on back to not being able to understand people.

But in that moment when that lady is asking, what makes you different? And I began to talk to her not about religion but about the gospel. God just cleared aside some of those obstacles and gave me what I needed in that moment.

And I see that sort of thing happen all the time. And you will too if you’re engaged in ministry work and serving the Lord and you’re looking for those things. We will have people come into the office with a problem.

And sometimes they go to church here, sometimes they don’t. And we’re looking at each other, especially in a counseling situation, saying, how do we address this? What do we do?

And God will give somebody, and frequently it’s Stella. I’m so thankful for Stella. God just gives her the right things to say.

But we’ll be sitting there scratching our heads going, how do we address this? And somebody will just come out with the right words, and we’ll talk about it afterwards. And we’ll all say, I don’t know where that came from.

It had to be the Holy Spirit. But God just steps in and equips us to do what He’s called us to do, even when it’s difficult. And as we study through the book of Philippians, as we come to the middle part of Philippians chapter 4, that’s what Paul writes about, and that’s what I want us to look at this morning, is this equipping that the Lord has given us to serve Him in ministry in ways we don’t feel like we are naturally set up to do.

That God just shows up and gives us everything we need in order to serve Him. So this morning we’re going to be in Philippians 4. And we’re going to start in verse 10.

If you would turn there with me in your Bibles, once you find it, if you’re able to stand without too much difficulty as we read together, if you would. If you don’t have a Bible, it’ll be on the screen for you. But Philippians chapter 4, we’re going to start in verse 10 and read through verse 14 this morning as Paul talks about this very thing.

He says, 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. Not that I speak in regard to need, for I have learned in whatever state I am to be content.

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. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

Nevertheless, you have done well that you shared in my distress. And you may be seated. The biggest thing that I want you to take away from this message and from this passage of Scripture this morning is that Jesus equips His people to serve Him in any situation.

And that’s important for you and for me. It’s important for all of us to know because you and I are going to be thrown into situations where we don’t feel like we are cut out to deal with the circumstances, we don’t feel like we are cut out to meet the need. We just don’t feel like we are wired or equipped or gifted or talented or whatever you want to call it.

We don’t feel like we have what we need to do what God is calling us to do. But the answer is not in any talents I have, any abilities I have. It’s all in how the Lord chooses to work through me and how He chooses to work through you.

and if He’s called you to do something, He’s going to equip you for that purpose. He’s going to give you the ability to withstand those circumstances and He’s going to give you the gifting that you need to be able to deal with that need. And we see in verse 10 here where He talks about rejoicing in the Lord greatly that your care for Me has flourished again.

When Paul wrote this, again, as I said when we started in Philippians several weeks ago, Paul was under arrest in Rome. He was imprisoned. It may have been a house arrest, but he was locked up.

And Paul didn’t know from day to day whether he was going to be dead or alive at the end of that day. He didn’t know if the Romans were going to release him. He didn’t know if the Romans were going to execute him.

He didn’t know if the Romans were just going to leave him in prison to wait for one of those two options another day. He just didn’t know. And while he was there imprisoned at Rome, Paul had received a gift of support from the Philippians.

They had sent him some kind of support, whether it was money, whether it was food, something like that, some kind of practical material support to take care of him during his time of imprisonment and his time of ministry. Because even while Paul was in prison, he was still looking at it as an opportunity for ministry. Paul’s attitude was, if they execute me, fine, I go to be with the Lord.

If they keep me in prison, hey, captive audience, because the prison guards can’t just leave. Who’s really in prison? The guards can’t leave me and I get to talk to him about Jesus all I want.

Paul was looking for ministry opportunities wherever he went. And the Philippians were sending gifts to him to help support him during this time. And we see later on after the passage that we just read, if you look at verses 15 and 16, which we’ll look at in a future message, we see that this was not the first time that they had sent him a gift.

It was not the first time they had sent some kind of support, But it was the first time in a while. That’s why he says in verse 10, your care for me has flourished again. Now, Paul knew that they cared about him and they cared about his work.

That’s why they had been sending these gifts, but they had been, for whatever reason, and we don’t know what it was, they had been unable to send anything for a while. Because he says in verse 10, though you surely did care, but you lacked opportunity. So for whatever reason, there had been a period of time where Paul hadn’t heard from these people.

He knew they cared, but the care. . .

Do you have people in your life that you know they care about you? Like maybe family members that live out of state, you know they care about you, you know they love you, but you may not hear from them for a while. You still know they love you, but when you get a card from them or a text or they just randomly show up to visit you, that care is reaffirmed.

And you just feel it in a different way. That’s sort of what Paul is talking about here. Now, he tells us in the next few verses, he told them, and it tells us, that he could go on just fine without a lot of resources.

It wasn’t necessarily the fact of the gift that meant so much to him. It wasn’t that Paul was begging them for money or for gifts because he needed them to survive. The reason why this meant so much to him is not so much the gift as what it represented.

It represented their care for Paul. That’s something that we all need. It’s something that we especially need in difficult times like what Paul was going through.

And it was particularly important because it reminded Paul of God’s care for him. As Paul is going through this trying time of being in prison, and he’s trying to stay faithful to the Lord and trying to minister to people in the midst of this difficulty, we know that no matter how spiritual you are, it’s easy to get discouraged when your situation is bad, right? And yet Paul said he rejoiced in the Lord greatly in verse 10 when they sent this gift.

He was thankful to them, but when they sent the gift, he rejoiced in the Lord because he knew that ultimately their care for him was a demonstration of the Lord’s care for him. The Philippians sent the gift, but as Christians, we recognize that God works through us to accomplish ministry. As Christians, we also recognize that everything we have is from him ultimately.

You might say, well, I’ve worked hard for this. well, who is it that gave you the legs and the back and the mind and the hands to go work for that? Everything we have is ultimately a gift from God.

And so when we are generous with those things, in a sense, it’s God’s provision because we are just giving forward some of what He’s given to us. And so He recognizes that it’s not only their care for Him, but it’s God’s care as well. And so He says in verse 14, you’ve done well that you shared in my distress.

That gift that they sent Him came at just the right time. That’s another part of why it was so important. It came at just the right time when Paul was in distress.

Not because he needed the. . .

He wasn’t necessarily in financial distress, but he was in a difficult situation. And this was the encouragement that he needed. And so while he is thankful for their generosity and he acknowledges it, he sees the hand of God in their generosity.

Not only in the gift that they gave, but in the timing of it. And so he recognizes that God is using them and their generosity to equip him to continue serving the Lord going forward. God is using it to equip him to keep going.

And he tells us in verses 11 and 12, he says, Not that I speak in regard to need, for I’ve learned in whatever state I am to be content. 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.

When he says, I’m not speaking in regard to need, what he means here is that even though they’re talking about needs and them meeting needs and him having needs. He said, I don’t really want to focus on needs. Paul’s goal here is not to whine about what he doesn’t have.

You and I, it doesn’t matter what circumstance we’re in in life, we can look around and see things that we don’t have, right? It’s easy to do. No matter how much you have, there are some things you don’t have, right?

Y’all awake this morning? Are there some things that you would like to have that you don’t have? Right.

Hey, a couple people are awake. We all have those things. I’ve been working on some remodeling on the house and all I can see is not what I’ve done, but what I’ve yet to do and what I wish I had to finish up.

We just focus on what we don’t have. Paul said, I don’t want to do that. I don’t want to be focused on what I don’t have.

That’s not what this is about. Because whether God provides a lot or a little, God always provides enough. Paul said, I’m not writing in regard to need, for I’ve learned in whatever state I am to be content.

Because sometimes God sent him a little. Sometimes God sent him a lot. but always it was that God sent him enough.

And the major challenge that you and I face is knowing how to be content with what God’s given us. That’s the hard part. The hard part is not recognizing how God has provided for us.

The hard part is learning to be content because it is part of our human nature to say, well, why don’t I have what he has over there? I sure wish I had what she had. Because if we don’t learn to be content, we’ll look at what we don’t have.

We’ll look at what we wish the circumstances were. And here’s the kicker. We will delay faithful obedience until we have those things.

Have you ever thought to yourself, I’ll be faithful to the Lord? Maybe we wouldn’t put it that way. But God’s calling me to do something.

I’ll do it when? And we fill in some condition that we think is perfectly reasonable that the Lord should meet if I’m going to step out and do this. God’s calling me to do this.

I’ll do that when the kids are older. I’ll do that when I have more money. I’ll do that when I have more free time.

I’ll do that when I have this area of my life cleaned up. We look at all the circumstances and what we wish they were. And Paul could have easily looked at the circumstances and what he wished they were.

I’ll do it when I’m not here in Rome worried about my life. I’ll serve the Lord when I’m free again. I’ll serve the Lord when I’m back with the people I love at Philippi.

I’ll serve the Lord when, when, when, when. Just keep adding on conditions. He could have easily done that.

But he said, I’ve learned whatever state I’m in to be content. because the truth is we’re called to serve Jesus in all kinds of circumstances. If you and I are waiting for a perfect set of circumstances, if we’re waiting for the stars to align in just the right way where it’s going to be completely convenient for us and every perceived need and every want are going to be met just the way we want them and then we’ll serve the Lord, it is never going to happen.

We are going to waste all the time we’ve been given on this earth and come to the end of our lives and wish we had done more to be obedient to the Lord when the opportunity was right there in front of us. He said, I know how to be abased and I know how to abound. This tells us in verse 12, he was able to serve in humble circumstances or he was able to serve in prosperous ones.

Both of those are a challenge. Sometimes we’ll look at conditions and say, Lord, you want me to serve here? Lord, you want me to serve with these people?

You want me to serve in this setting? Lord, are you kidding me? It can be a challenge to convince ourselves to serve in humble circumstances.

It can also be a challenge to convince ourselves to serve in prosperous circumstances. Because sometimes when we’re living high on the hog, we don’t see things with the same sense of urgency. We get distracted by all the stuff we do have.

But Paul said, whether I am abased or whether I abound, I’m going to serve. I’m going to be content and I’m going to serve. He says, I’ve learned both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need.

He was able and he was willing to serve whenever he felt like he had everything he could possibly need. And he was able and he was willing to serve even when he had just barely enough to survive. See, Paul’s circumstances didn’t dictate whether he was going to serve.

And for you and me, our circumstances do not determine our ability to serve the Lord faithfully. The only thing that determines our ability to serve the Lord faithfully is our relationship with Him. This is where we come to verse 13 and set all of that to set the stage for this because it’s important we understand this verse in context.

I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. When you take that verse just on its own, it seems like a blanket promise that everything you try to do is going to work out just the way you want it to because Christ strengthens you. Let me tell you what.

There are a lot of things that I have tried to do and cannot do despite clinging to this promise. I remember that verse from growing up, hearing it just on its own. We were taught a song about that verse in children’s church.

So I thought I could do anything. I thought I could ride that bike the first time. And it didn’t happen.

I was involved in the fellowship of Christian athletes despite not being athletic at all. I went to FCA camp one year and had to pick a sport. I thought I could go to the tennis lessons without making a big fool of myself.

I could not, right? Despite Christ strengthening me, I could not do that without making a fool of myself. What about football games where high school football games where people on both teams are praying for victory?

Are both sides going to do all things in the sense of winning that football game through Christ who strengthens them? No, somebody’s going to lose. Or best case scenario, I guess it comes out of tie.

That verse does not mean I can do anything I want. When we take it in context here of what Paul is talking about, it is a promise. It is a promise.

But what Paul is talking about is his ability to serve and his ability to be faithful and his ability to persevere no matter what the circumstances are. His willingness to suffer even. His ability to go forward and suffer for Christ no matter what the circumstances, because it’s Christ who strengthens him.

But that whole context doesn’t fit on a bumper sticker. And it’s not quite as positive and upbeat. It’s every bit as important.

And when we think about it from the proper perspective, it’s just as positive. But sometimes we want a bumper sticker slogan that says, I can land the job, I can win the game, I can do all these things through Christ who strengthens me. Paul is talking in context here about his ability to persevere and keep going and keep struggling, even when it gets difficult, to be faithful and be obedient and continue to serve no matter what the circumstances, no matter what prison awaited Him, no matter what beatings awaited Him, no matter what execution ultimately awaited Him because Christ strengthened Him.

This verse is not there to cheer us on in our life goals. It’s telling us that no matter how undesirable our circumstances get, we can overcome those circumstances and we can serve Christ anyway. And we can do that because He has called us, He has equipped us, He has empowered us, and He’s always with us.

If you are a believer, if you have trusted in Jesus Christ as your only Savior and you’ve been born again, those things are all true of you this morning just as much as they were true of the Apostle Paul when he wrote these 2,000 years ago. Jesus Christ gives you everything you need to remain faithful to Him no matter what the circumstances are. And we do face some times where the circumstances are getting a little bit challenging.

No, we don’t suffer the same kind of persecution Paul did. But there was a time not too long ago in our country and in Western society as a whole where to live for Christ, more or less, generally speaking, meant that you were swimming with the tide, swimming with the stream of the way the culture was going. That tide has now reversed.

And to live for Christ, you and I are swimming upstream. I don’t want to be dramatic about it and send you out of here with a persecution complex, but we do need to understand it is more challenging to follow Christ, to be faithful to Him, and to be a faithful witness for Him. It is more challenging to do that today than it was 10 years ago.

It is more challenging to do that today than it was 50 years ago. If the Lord tarries, it will probably be more challenging 50 years from now than it is today. So when you and I get in those circumstances where we say this is getting hard, I’m being penalized at work, I’m losing friends, I’m bombarded with messages in the culture that make me feel like I’m the only one who still believes what the Bible says, you and I need to remember that if we belong to Him, He’s called us and He’s equipped us, and we can do all things.

When it comes to standing firm for Him, when it comes to remaining faithful to Him, when it comes to serving Him and doing what He’s called us to day by day, we can do all things. Abounding, abasing, being full, being hungry, we can do all things through Christ who strengthens us. We can continue to serve Him faithfully in any circumstance.

Not because we’re so good, not because we’re so spiritual, but because Christ has strengthened us. And so as we look at this passage today, and I think the key verse here is verse 13, I can do all things. But again, to properly understand it, we need the context of the verses behind it.

If you’re a believer today, the Lord may be calling you to do something that seems difficult if not impossible to you. He’s going to equip you to do what He’s called you to do. The circumstances may seem difficult.

You may look at it and say, how am I supposed to serve when this is going on? How am I supposed to serve with this circumstance in my life? How am I supposed to meet this need of this person over here?

How am I supposed to fulfill this command that the Lord has given with the way the culture is going? How am I supposed to do any of these things? Listen to me, if you’re relying on your strength, if I’m relying on my strength, it’s never going to happen.

But you and I can do all things through Christ who strengthens us. And so this morning, the message of the Bible to us is clear. Serve Jesus faithfully.

Serve Him faithfully, regardless of what the circumstances look like. Sometimes the circumstances are going to look great. Life is going to be easy.

you’re going to need a reminder to serve Him faithfully. Sometimes the circumstances are going to be tough and you’re going to wonder how it’s possible. Serve Him faithfully.

Serve Him faithfully regardless of the circumstances and trust Him to make it possible. Trust Him to do the work through you. Trust Him to shape and mold you into the person you need to be to carry out what He’s called you to do.

There’s a transformation that takes place in us that is ongoing that only Jesus can do. You and I can change some of our behavior around the edges, but only Jesus can transform us completely from the inside out. And that’s what’s necessary for us to serve Him the way that He’s called us to.

And the transformation that He makes in us begins with salvation. It begins with recognizing that we all fall short of His standards. We can’t serve Him faithfully.

We can’t obey Him consistently. And when we fall short of His standards, the Bible calls it sin. when we make the willful choice to disobey Him, which we’ve all done.

The Bible calls it sin. And that sin separates us from God. And you and I can’t be faithful enough to undo all of our sin.

We can’t be faithful enough to make it up to God. And so the only way to bridge that separation, the only way to be in a right relationship with God, was for Jesus to come and take responsibility for my sin and for yours. And to be nailed to the cross and shed His blood and die, taking all the punishment that we deserved, paying all the penalty that we owed so we could be forgiven.

He did that for you and me. And then He rose again three days later to prove it. And He offers forgiveness.

He offers a clean slate to all who will trust in Him and trust in Him alone. And not only that, but He promises this transformation where it’s not about you and me trying to clean up little behaviors around the edges of our lives. It’s about trusting Him to do the work of transforming us the inside out.