One of the strangest things that I enjoy is watching athletes being interviewed. I don’t really know why I enjoy watching interviews immediately after sporting events so much, but I do. It’s not like many of them have anything prophetic or thought-provoking to say. Maybe it’s the fact that you get to see some real emotion from these men and women who at times we forget are people just like you and me. If an athlete has just lost, you see the pain and frustration in their eyes. You can also tell by the determination in their voices whether they will choose to learn from an experience and get better or whether what just took place crushed them for good. The most notable one that I can remember was several years back after number 1 ranked Florida lost to Ole Miss in football and Tim Tebow took the stand and simply said “We’re not losing again, period.” And as history would have it, he was right. Maybe the reason I like watching interviews is that after winning a big game, athletes finally resemble all of us in their excitement. If you’ve ever watched a team celebrate after winning a championship, there’s a certain jubilation that makes you forget about the money they’re making, the contract disputes, and the business of it all. However, one of the things that I often get a kick out of is when they ask someone how they did it. Let’s say that after winning the World Series, a reporter asks a pitcher how he was able to throw like he did or another player how he was able to keep getting those timely hits. His response: “I just want to thank God. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” Now, many of us wouldn’t and don’t bat an eye or give a second thought to this person saying these words. There’s no doubt that God gives every athlete, performer, and everyone else some amount of talent in a particular area. I’m fully on board with giving God the glory. However, does the verse that we’re looking at today, Philippians 4:13, really have anything to do with a brilliant sports moment? Does it have anything to do with our moments of success and achievement in our daily lives? What are the reasonable and unreasonable applications of this most famous war-cry for overcoming an obstacle?
What I want us to do before we really even dive into this verse and see what is and is not a right application of these words, is to look at the context of what’s going on when Paul writes these words. You see, Paul’s relationship with this particular church, the church in Philippi, was unique in its closeness. There was a two-way love between Paul and this congregation that quite honestly didn’t exist between Paul and the other churches that he founded. It’s not that there was anything wrong with those other churches; it’s just that there was a special relationship that existed between Paul and the Philippian church. When he needed support (financial, physical, etc.) they were ready to help him out. Many times, Paul didn’t even need to ask them for help before they were already making plans to give him what he needed. Immediately before and after our verse for today, Paul’s words are about God’s provision. Paul is speaking about how God, many times through that very church in Philippi, saw to it that Paul had what he needed in both life and ministry. Even in circumstances and situations where Paul didn’t have everything that he needed, he somehow seemed to always get by. Just look at the words immediately before our verse. Paul says, “I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need.” In other words, Paul had developed (or more accurately God had developed within Paul) a sense of contentment that allowed Paul to persevere no matter what was going on around him. Have you ever had those moments in your life; maybe it was weeks, months, or even years, where you don’t know how you got by but somehow you did? It’s like if you went back and added up now how much you had coming in and how much you had going out and there’s no way that you should have been able to survive. Yet, you did and you really didn’t feel the sting of it in the moment like you probably should have or that you might feel thinking about it now. That’s where Paul was in life and ministry and he was completely comfortable with it. Now, don’t mistake comfort with complacent. Paul was anything but complacent. He was constantly moving forward for the sake of the gospel. It’s just that he wasn’t worried about himself or his health or his welfare because those things always seemed to work themselves out. He was fulfilling that command that Jesus gave us about not worrying about tomorrow because tomorrow will take care of itself; those words about the flowers having clothes and the birds having food. Paul placed his entire trust in the sovereignty and providence of God.
That’s the context in which we find these words, “I can do all things through him who strengthens me.” Paul’s not talking about being able to lift some massive amount of weight over his head. He’s not talking about being able to physically outrun any group of persecutors that may come after him. He’s talking about being able to fulfill the mission that God has set before him, and to do so faithfully while praising God the entire way through it. The brilliant reformer John Calvin says of this verse that “when [Paul] says all things, he means merely those things which belong to his calling.” Paul’s all things are his being able to preach and teach, to endure, persevere, and overcome the hardships of ministry, and to be able to rely upon God for endurance and strength. Paul’s all things are references to the task at hand that has been given to him to proclaim the gospel. Paul’s all things are not references to general life events, but to the hardships that he was enduring for the sake of and as a result of his being found in Christ. Look, I understand how this verse can be taken and used in an athletic setting or some everyday life type of context, and I think that to a certain extent there is some application there. We can do things because of the power of God working through us that otherwise we wouldn’t be able to do and that we can’t do on our own. I’m fully on board with that; I just don’t think (and more importantly the context of this verse doesn’t indicate) that these words are to be applied to every area of our lives. I don’t think that God is necessarily involved with whether or not you make a free throw or if you win an election or get a particular job. I think that God sometimes (not always) allows us to reach certain levels of influence and prominence so that our influence and impact for His kingdom can be enhanced, but that’s something different than just overcoming adversity. I think that God merely wants to see one thing in our situations in life: can you praise Him regardless of the situation? In other words, can we praise Him on both sides of the vows of marriage that we take: plenty and want, joy and sorrow, sickness and health. Can you praise Him; do you praise Him, on both sides of that equation? It’s often said that if you say that you need something in order to praise God fully then whatever it is that you need is your true god.
I have a painting that hangs on our bedroom wall with the words to this verse on it. A friend of mine from my hometown painted it for me years ago and it has been on my wall ever since. When I was in college, it hung above my bed. After Amy and I got married and moved into our first home, it hung over our bed. Now, due to my wife’s decorating taste, it doesn’t hang over our bed anymore, but it’s still in the room. No matter where I have lived, that painting, that verse, has been on a wall in my bedroom, and I can’t think of a better place for it. I have absolutely no choice but to look at it every day (several times each day) and to think about it. I’m reminded every time I look at it about what it actually means. In other words, I’m reminded constantly to ask myself the question, “Is God enough?” Is God enough in my life regardless of whatever else happens? Regardless of what I lose or endure in this life, is God enough for me to overcome it? Do I live a life that tells people that all I need is God? Do I live a life that portrays the notion that because I am found in Christ, that there is nothing that I cannot do and cannot overcome? You see, it’s not a reminder to me that I can push myself that extra mile running in the morning. It’s not a reminder to me that I can have that type of life that I dream about. It’s a reminder to me that no matter what life throws at me that I have the power to overcome it because I have my hope in something that is greater than all the things of this world.
As I’ve thought about this verse over the years, and the type of person that it calls us to be, the type of belief that it calls us to have, there is one word that has just kept popping up in my mind: steady. Have you ever known someone that you would just classify as a steady person? There are never really any overly high highs and there are never really any low lows, but the person is just steady. They’re just really rock-solid folks, many of them being stabilizing forces within various communities (family, friends, work, church, etc.). They’re able to keep both good news and bad news in proper focus and a proper perspective. They bring a sense of calm to an otherwise chaotic situation. Now, I’m not saying that these folks are the models of this verse, although they very well might be in some cases. What I’m trying to say is that our faiths ought to resemble the steadiness of these folks when it comes to our reliance, devotion, and trust in God. When we are found in Christ, we ought to know that we are taken care of. And we’re not taken care of by our own efforts or our own power, but through the power and the strengthening of the Holy Spirit. Paul has spoken several times in this epistle already about the great power and blessings that are found in our being found in Christ.
In another one of Paul’s epistles, he speaks about what it means to be heirs with Christ. In Romans 8, Paul says that the children of God are “heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him. For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.” To be an heir of something means that you are to inherit it; it means that whatever that person owns is to become yours at some point. Paul is saying here that we are heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ. That means that all that Christ, the Son, inherits from His Father is to be ours as well. That’s why Paul says that he can endure any amount of suffering because no matter what he must endure in this life, it is nothing compared with the glory that awaits him. After all, life is fleeting in light of eternity. I heard someone say recently that they were born in 1954, they blinked and were in the second grade, blinked again and they were marrying their high school sweetheart, blinked again and had three adult children who were all married, and that they would blink again soon and wake up in the presence of Christ. The suffering that we endure in this world is nothing compared to the glory of heaven. There is nothing that we cannot endure, particularly because we have the sustaining hand of God covering us.
“I can do all things through him who strengthens me” is not a motto for superhuman strength or stamina. It’s not a verse that we should tell ourselves as a means of motivation for reaching our goals. Do you know what the most important words that you can tell to someone in the midst of strife or struggle are? It’s a short little five word sentence. It’s going to be okay. It’s going to be okay. You can get through this. This isn’t something that you can’t overcome. Sure, things may be different from this point on, but that doesn’t mean that life as you know it is over. You may have lost someone dear to you, you may have lost your job, your kids might not be making the choices that you want them to make, but it’s going to be okay. You can weather this storm. You may not think that you have the ability to get past this, but you. And do you know why you have that ability? It’s because you can do all things through Christ who strengthens you. You can get past this. You can get beyond this. You can overcome this and praise God the entire way through it. And the reason why you can do this is because you are found in Christ. You trust that God will provide you with everything you need. It may not be everything you want, but it most certainly is what you need. Just as Paul was able to rest in knowing that God would see to it that his needs were meet, we can rest in knowing that God will see us through whatever it is that we’re going through. We may not enjoy it and it may be difficult, but our instructions are simple. We are to press on, persevere, and praise God all the while. Glory be to God; in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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